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Cole Waites

Giants Re-Sign Cole Waites To Minor League Contract

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The Giants have brought back Cole Waites on a minor league contract, according to the team’s official transactions page.  Waites was non-tendered last week, and the new minor league pact means that the Giants won’t need to use a 40-man roster spot on the 25-year-old righty.

Waites had Tommy John surgery in mid-September, making it all but certain he’ll miss the 2024 season unless he can complete rehab in time for an inning or two right at the end of the regular-season schedule.  The transactions page didn’t indicate that Waites’ deal is anything more than a standard one-year minors contract, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it was a two-year deal or if the Giants signed him to another type of extension at some point in 2024 once they get a better read on how his rehab is progressing.

An 18th-round pick for the Giants in the 2019 draft, Waites has appeared in the big leagues in each of the last two seasons, totaling eight innings over 10 games and a 6.75 ERA with six walks and strikeouts apiece.  Waites fits the clasic profile of the hard-throwing but wild reliever, with a 15.32% walk rate over his 103 career minor league innings but also a fastball that routinely hits the upper-90s (and can reach 100mph).  When Waites has been able to find the plate, he has been deadly — he has a 37.61% strikeout rate against minor league hitters.

The potential is obvious if Waites can pair that heater with even average control, though his injury history now adds another obstacle to his future.  Waites also missed a big chunk of the 2021 season due to knee surgery, and between his injuries and the canceled 2020 minor league season, he has played in only 102 games (and thrown 103 innings) as a professional.

National League Non-Tenders: 11/17/23

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The deadline to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7:00pm CT. Here’s a rundown of fairly minor players on National League teams who have been non-tendered today. This post will be updated as more decisions are revealed. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for all players eligible for arbitration last month.

All players who are non-tendered before this evening’s deadline go directly into free agency without being placed on waivers. They’ll be eligible to sign with any of the league’s 30 teams. It’s not uncommon to see non-tendered players almost immediately return to their previous organization on a minor league deal.

The transactions:

Latest Moves

Earlier

  • The Reds have non-tendered relievers Derek Law and Reiver Sanmartin. Cincinnati also confirmed the previously reported non-tender of Nick Senzel.
  • In addition to Rowdy Tellez and Brandon Woodruff, the Brewers have non-tendered right-hander J.C. Mejía. He failed a PED test in September, the second such result of his career, and was suspended for 162 games.
  • Former Rookie of the Year winner Kyle Lewis was non-tendered by the Diamondbacks. He played in only 16 games after being acquired from the Mariners last offseason.
  • The Cubs non-tendered relievers Ethan Roberts, Brandon Hughes and Codi Heuer. All three are recovering from surgeries.
  • Right-hander Tommy Doyle was non-tendered by the Rockies. Colorado designated him for assignment when acquiring Cal Quantrill this morning.
  • The Cardinals have non-tendered catcher Andrew Knizner, first baseman Juan Yepez and starting pitchers Jake Woodford and Dakota Hudson. St. Louis reportedly tried to deal Hudson this afternoon but evidently did not find a taker.
  • The Mets have non-tendered relievers Jeff Brigham, Sam Coonrod and Trevor Gott. New York also cut loose infielder Luis Guillorme and confirmed the reported non-tender of Dan Vogelbach.
  • Left-hander Josh Fleming was non-tendered by the Phillies, the team announced. Philadelphia just snagged the southpaw off waivers from the Rays a few weeks ago.
  • The Marlins have non-tendered catcher Jacob Stallings and infielder Garrett Hampson, per a club announcement. Stallings spent two seasons as the primary catcher after being acquired from the Pirates at the 2021-22 offseason. Hampson signed a minor league deal with the Fish last season.
  • The Pirates non-tendered Osvaldo Bido and Hunter Stratton, tweets Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Neither had yet been eligible for arbitration. Both right-handers made their big league debuts in 2023; Mackey suggests the Bucs will try to bring them back on minor league pacts.
  • The Nationals announced they’ve non-tendered first baseman Dominic Smith and right-hander Cory Abbott. Both players were designated for assignment earlier in the week, making this an inevitability.

Cole Waites Undergoes UCL Reconstruction Surgery

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The Giants announced to reporters, including Maria I. Guardado of MLB.com, that right-hander Cole Waites underwent right elbow ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction surgery today. It’s unclear if it was a full Tommy John procedure or a modified internal brace procedure, but they list his timetable for return to play as 12 to 16 months.

Waites, 25, is already on the 60-day injured list. He was transferred there in July due to a right elbow sprain. There hadn’t been any updates on him in the past couple of months, but it seems that he and the club exhausted whatever non-surgical options they were considering and he will now go under the knife. He will miss the remainder of this season and quite likely all of the 2024 campaign.

Selected by the Giants in the 18th round of the 2019 draft, Waites has unfortunately been unable to log many innings since then. The minor leagues were wiped out by the pandemic in 2020 and then he required knee surgery in 2021. Despite those setbacks, he made it to the majors late last year and tossed 5 2/3 innings before adding another 2 1/3 this year. He currently has an earned run average of 6.75 in those eight big league innings and a mark of 3.76 in 103 minor league innings. He’s struck out 37.6% of minor league batters he’s faced but also walked 15.3%.

He will now have to battle through yet another significant setback, likely not pitching again until 2025, which will be his age-27 season. He will finish this year with less than a year of service time, meaning the Giants could potentially control him for another six years. But there’s no injured list in the offseason, meaning he would need to be added back onto the roster for the winter. Baseball America ranked him the #18 prospect in the system coming into the year, highlighting his triple-digit fastball.

Giants Place Cole Waites On 60-Day Injured List

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The Giants placed reliever Cole Waites on the 60-day injured list this afternoon. He’s dealing with a sprain in his throwing elbow, tweets Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. To take the open 40-man roster spot, outfielder Heliot Ramos was reinstated from a 60-day IL stint of his own and optioned to Triple-A Sacramento.

Waites, 25, has made three appearances for San Francisco this season. He debuted with seven games late last season. He’s allowed seven runs in his first eight MLB innings. Waites has spent the majority of the year on optional assignment to Triple-A, where he’s been tagged for a 6.16 ERA across 30 2/3 frames. The righty has walked nearly 19% of batters faced in the minors this year.

The club didn’t provide specifics on Waites’ return timetable, though his season could be in jeopardy. He’ll be out until at least mid-September. The only silver lining is that he’ll be paid at the prorated $720K MLB minimum rate and collect service for time spent on the major league injured list.

Ramos missed two months with an oblique strain. The former first-round pick has appeared in nine MLB contests in each of the past two seasons. Before the injury, he’d been off to a strong start in Triple-A. Ramos was hitting .314/.368/.589 in 27 contests for the River Cats early in the year.

Giants Select Shelby Miller

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12:23pm: The Giants formally announced that Miller has been selected from Sacramento and Waites has been optioned there in his place.

12:21pm: The Giants are selecting the contract of veteran right-hander Shelby Miller from Triple-A Sacramento prior to Thursday’s game against the Rockies. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweeted earlier that Miller was in the clubhouse, and Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic now adds that Miller has been informed he’ll be active for today’s game (and not simply on the taxi squad). The Giants designated outfielder Lewis Brinson for assignment yesterday, so they already have an open spot on the 40-man. Slusser adds that righty Cole Waites looks to have been optioned to Sacramento to open a spot for Miller on the active roster.

San Francisco will be the seventh Major League team for Miller, once one of the game’s brightest young arms but now a journeyman who’s found himself closing games for the Giants’ top minor league affiliate in 2022. Still just 31 years old, Miller opened the year with the Yankees’ Triple-A club but opted out of that deal early in the season and signed with the Giants in June. He’s logged a combined 2.87 ERA between the two Triple-A clubs this season, punching out 31.2% of his opponents against a 9.5% walk rate. He’s also picked up a dozen saves (eight with the Giants organization) and five holds out of the bullpen this year.

A former first-round pick who was regarded as one of the sport’s premier pitching prospects, Miller debuted with the Cardinals as a 21-year-old in 2012 and spent the two subsequent seasons as a mainstay in the St. Louis rotation. The Cards parted with Miller in a trade that sent then-star outfielder Jason Heyward from Atlanta to St. Louis, and Miller made the All-Star team in his lone season as a Brave (despite an MLB-worst 17 losses, which were the result of a dismal team surrounding him).

Despite Miller’s sterling 3.02 ERA in his first season with the Braves, Atlanta couldn’t resist when the D-backs offered up Dansby Swanson, Ender Inciarte and then-top pitching prospect Aaron Blair in return for Miller — just six months after Swanson had been drafted with the No. 1 overall pick. It’s gone down as one of the most lopsided swaps in recent memory, as Swanson has blossomed from steady everyday shortstop into one of the NL’s top all-around players in 2022. Inciarte, meanwhile, had several seasons as a strong everyday center fielder in Atlanta.

Miller, meanwhile, struggled immediately with Arizona and wound up limping through a trio of injury-plagued seasons in Phoenix. He’s since pitched in the Majors with the Rangers (2019), Cubs (2021) and Pirates (2021), but Miller has just a 7.04 ERA in 195 2/3 frames since being traded by the Braves nearly seven years ago.

There’s little denying, however, that he’s been impressive in a bullpen role with the top affiliates for the Yankees and Giants in 2022. Whether that leads to an eventual early-30s renaissance for Miller remains to be seen, but this is the healthiest and most effective he’s been in years. And with his 32nd birthday not yet having taken place, there’s still plenty of time for the once-vaunted righty to be reborn as a quality big league reliever. Both Miller and the Giants surely hope that today’s promotion can be the first step toward just such an outcome. He’ll be a free agent at season’s end, and a strong couple weeks to close out the season could make him an interesting, low-cost target for clubs over the winter.

Giants Make Five Roster Moves

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The Giants have made a series of roster moves prior to tonight’s game against the Braves.  The contracts of outfielder Willie Calhoun and right-hander Cole Waites were selected from Triple-A, and roster space was created by the placement of Tommy La Stella on the 10-day injured list, outfielder Austin Dean being optioned to Triple-A, and catcher Patrick Mazeika being designated for assignment.

La Stella is dealing with neck spasms, and given the calendar, it is possible La Stella might be shut down for the remainder of the 2022 season if he isn’t making progress by the time his 10-day minimum is up.  The IL has become an unfortunately familiar landing spot for La Stella over his two years in San Francisco, as he played in only 76 games in 2021 and 60 games this season due to a long list of health issues.  The infielder didn’t make his 2022 debut until mid-May due to recovery from offseason Achilles surgery.

All of these injuries have limited La Stella’s production, as he has hit only .239/.282/.350 over 195 plate appearances this year.  He has also mostly been limited to DH duty, which is a hit for a player valued for his ability to play third, second, and first base.  If this is indeed it for La Stella in 2022, the Giants can only hope that a full winter of rest can get him back to his usual defensive role(s) in what will be the final year of his contract.  La Stella signed a three-year, $18.75MM free agent deal in February 2021 that to date hasn’t panned out for the Giants.

Calhoun was acquired in a trade with the Rangers in June, and the slugger will now make his first Major League appearance outside of a Texas uniform.  A 21-homer season in 2019 seemingly served as a breakout for Calhoun, but several injuries and a lack of big league playing time stalled his career.  Calhoun was vocal about his desire for a trade after the Rangers optioned him to Triple-A earlier this season, as he’ll now get a fresh start with a late-season audition with the Giants.

Thus far, the change of organization seems to have helped, as Calhoun has hit .299/.386/.465 with five homers in 166 PA with Triple-A Sacramento.  Carrying that production from the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League to the majors will be a challenge, though if Calhoun can show some of his old form down the stretch, he could put himself into San Francisco’s plans for 2023.  Calhoun still has two years of arbitration control remaining, and he doesn’t turn 28 until November.

Waites was an 18th-round selection for the Giants in the 2019 draft, and the righty is getting his first call to the majors.  Due to both knee surgery and the canceled 2020 minor league season, Waites doesn’t have a lot of pro experience, with only 71 1/3 total innings in the minors (40 2/3 of them this year).  However, he has a stunning 45.12% strikeout rate and 2.78 ERA over those 71 1/3 frames, though his 13.8% walk rate indicates shaky command.

Baseball America (21st) and MLB Pipeline (29th) each rank Waites among the top 30 prospects in the Giants’ farm system, citing his plus fastball that can touch 100mph, as well as a slider that can be a dominant pitch when Waites can control it.  Waites has pitched exclusively as a reliever over the last two seasons, and projects as an intriguing bullpen arm if he can limit the free passes.

Mazeika was claimed off waivers from the Mets on August 21, and he’ll now return to DFA limbo after eight games with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate and no appearances at the big league level.  A long-time member of the Mets farm system, Mazeika has played in 61 MLB games over the 2021-22 seasons and hit .190/.236/.279 over 159 PA.  With Joey Bart now back from the concussion-related IL, San Francisco has made some adjustments to its catching depth in recent days, including Mazeika’s DFA and Andrew Knapp’s outright assignment to Triple-A.

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