Drafted fourth overall by Baltimore out of high school in the 2011 draft, Bundy was long a consensus top prospect in the sport. He flew threw the minor leagues to make his big league debut in September of 2012 at the age of 19, throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings across two appearances in the brief cup of coffee. Unfortunately, injuries would keep him from returning to the big leagues for several years after that. Bundy underwent Tommy John surgery back in 2013, and rehab cost him that whole season as well as the first half of 2014. Bundy then made just eight starts in 2015 due to shoulder issues.

The right-hander finally re-emerged at the big league level in 2016 at the age of 23. He split time between the Orioles’ starting rotation and bullpen throughout his rookie season, pitching to an above-average 4.07 ERA and striking out 21.9% of batters faced. That performance was enough to earn Bundy a rotation spot entering the 2017 season, and he delivered a solid back-of-the-rotation season for the Orioles with a 4.24 ERA and a 4.32 FIP in 169 2/3 innings of work. The highlight of Bundy’s 2017 campaign came on August 29, when he struck out 12 batters in a complete game shutout of the Mariners that saw him surrender just one hit and two walks.

Bundy was the club’s Opening Day starter in 2018 and remained with the Orioles through the end of the 2019 season as a dependable starting pitcher, ultimately posting a roughly league average 4.67 ERA with a 4.75 FIP and 602 strikeouts during his tenure in Baltimore. Bundy’s time with the Orioles came to an end in December of 2019, when he was traded to the Angels in a deal that sent a package of four youngsters to Baltimore, including current Orioles starter Kyle Bradish.

While the 2020 season was cut to just 60 games by the COVID-19 Pandemic, Bundy nonetheless went on to post the best season of his career during the abbreviated season. In 11 starts with the Angels, the righty pitched to a strong 3.29 ERA (138 ERA+) with an excellent 27% strikeout rate in 65 2/3 innings of work. The strong performance earned Bundy a ninth place finish in AL Cy Young award voting that year, and his sterling 2.95 FIP ranked behind only Shane Bieber, Zack Greinke, and Framber Valdez among AL starting pitchers.

The strong performance during the shortened season earned Bundy Opening Day starter honors for the second time in his career, but the righty struggled badly throughout the 2021 campaign and eventually found himself moved to the bullpen in late June. After returning to the swing role in which he started his MLB career, Bundy performed a bit better with a decent. 4.21 ERA in nine appearances (five starts) through the rest of the summer before his season came to a premature end in late August thanks to a shoulder strain.

Bundy went on to pitch for the Twins in 2022 after signing a one-year deal with the club. He made 29 starts for Minnesota, though he struggled to a relatively pedestrian 4.80 ERA and 4.66 FIP as his strikeout rate dipped to just 15.8%. That left Bundy to sign a minor league deal with the Mets during the 2022-23 offseason, though he made just six starts for Triple-A Syracuse before being placed on the injured list in May of that year and eventually being released from the Mets that July.

In his interview with Kubatko, Bundy discussed his decision to step away from the game, noting that “nothing was feeling good” during his stint in the Mets organization last year as he sat just 87-88 with his fastball, which had averaged 91.7 mph throughout his big league career. After departing the Mets last summer, Bundy decided to stay home for the rest of the 2023 season and while he considered returning to pitching during the offseason, he ultimately decided to step away from the game. Kubatko added that Bundy has now begun work as a real estate agent for Ary Land Company in his hometown of Sperry, Oklahoma.

In all, Bundy pitched 910 2/3 innings in 190 appearances across eight big league seasons. He finishes his career with 852 strikeouts, 54 wins, and a 4.74 ERA. We at MLBTR congratulate Bundy on a fine playing career and wish him all the best in retirement.

Bundy, 30, signed with the Twins last year on a one-year deal with a club option, eventually making 29 starts with a 4.89 ERA. His 15.8% strikeout rate and 34% ground ball rate were both well shy of league average, but he kept runs off the board by limiting walks to a 4.7% rate. The Twins could have retained Bundy for another season by picking up his $11MM option but went for the $1MM buyout instead, returning him to the open market.

The righty lingered in free agency all winter as other starting pitching options flew off the board. He’s long been one of the best options still available, though he didn’t seem to garner too much public interest this winter. He’s had some solid years in his major league career but hasn’t quite lived up to the hype that surrounded him about a decade ago. Selected by the Orioles with the 4th overall pick in the 2011 draft, Bundy jumped onto Baseball America’s list of the top prospects across the league the following year. He nabbed the #10 spot in 2012, making his MLB debut that year and jumped to #2 going into 2013. Unfortunately, he required Tommy John surgery in 2013, wiping out that season and much of 2014 as well, with a shoulder injury limiting him to eight minor league starts in 2015.

Bundy finally made it back to the big leagues in 2016 after missing the previous three campaigns. He posted a 4.02 ERA that year and has had some decent seasons since then, but never really moving past the production of a mid-rotation starter. Though he posted a 3.29 ERA in the shortened 2020 campaign, his best figure in a full season is that 4.02 mark from back in 2016. His career ERA currently sits at 4.74. He’s struck out 21.9% of batters faced in his career but the drop off to 15.8% last year was certainly steep. His fastball averaged just 89 mph last year, a drop from 90.7 mph the year before and well down from the 94.4 he had back in 2016.

With the drop in velocity and strikeouts, it’s hardly surprising that Bundy had to settle for this minor league deal. That being said, it’s a very sensible addition for a Mets club that has question marks in its rotation. They went into spring with an excellent on-paper group of Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Kodai Senga, Carlos Carrasco and José Quintana. That was a group to be excited about, though there was also some risk, given that four of them are older than 34 years old. The youngest one, 30-year-old Senga, will be making the challenging transition from the once-a-week pitching schedule in Japan to the five-day rotation of North American ball. It was fair to wonder if that might leave the club vulnerable to health or fatigue concerns, and those fears were realized when Quintana went down with a fractured rib that will keep him out until July.

Quintana’s injury meant that the Mets would have to turn to one of their depth options right away. They have some good arms on the roster, such as David Peterson and Tylor Megill, though it’s not ideal to be subtracting players from the mix before the season has even started. By bringing Bundy aboard on a minor league deal, they’ve added an starter with plenty of major league experience, without taking on any risk.

Since Bundy has essentially missed all of Spring Training, he will likely need a few weeks to get into game shape before becoming a realistic option for the club. In the meantime, he’ll likely head to the minors and start ramping up. If the Mets suffer another injury or two over the next little while, Bundy will eventually give them an extra layer of protection in the minors. For any other club still looking to add to its starting depth, some of the remaining free agent options include Chris Archer, Michael Pineda or Anibal Sanchez.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Across his 29 starts, covering 140 innings, Bundy struggled to a 4.89 ERA (79 ERA+, 21 points below league average) and he also registered by far the lowest strikeout rate of his career. His measly K/9 of 6.04 ranked third-worst among the 71 major leaguers who logged at least 140 innings in 2022. Granted, veteran starter Johnny Cueto was even more inferior in that regard (5.75 K/9) and yet he managed to score a one-year, $8.5MM contract from the Marlins that can max out at two years, $16.5MM if Miami also picks up his option for 2024.

The one calling card for Bundy, if he can’t recapture a bit more swing-and-miss, is that he does have impeccable control. He ranked in just the 8th percentile of all MLB pitchers last year in strikeout percentage and finished in the 15th percentile in whiff rate, but his BB percentage of 4.7 was a 93rd-percentile triumph of sorts. On the flip side there, he served up 151 hits and 24 home runs to the 595 batters he faced. Pitchers that are forced into more of a contact-inviting approach must ensure that it is soft contact, and Bundy did not meet that objective. That he’s being forced into a change at all at a relatively young age doesn’t speak well of the long-term outlook for the No. 4 overall pick from the 2011 MLB Draft. His fastball continues to lose velocity (89.2 mph average last year, compared to 93.8 mph in 2016) and his slider, curveball and changeup have all been rendered rather ineffective as out-inducing offerings.

Bundy is probably looking to land in a pitcher-friendly environment, but he had that with the Twins and it sure seems like he won’t get much of a choice of destinations in the end. Maybe the Cardinals would like to build out better rotation depth before camp gets underway in Jupiter, Florida? They’re asking a lot of Jack Flaherty, Steven Matz and a 41-year-old Adam Wainwright as that roster currently stands. Or perhaps the White Sox might be a fit, what with Mike Clevinger currently under investigation following allegations of domestic violence and child abuse. Keep in mind that this is a World Baseball Classic year and the door to a job on a contender could suddenly swing open.

The long list of projected non-contenders with rotation holes includes the Pirates, Nationals, Royals … and, well, the Rockies. Boston, sitting kind of on the borderline between contention and non-contention for 2023, could come into the picture here if things fall flat with Michael Wacha, who is still on the hunt for a multi-year deal. We’ve already seen how a younger and stronger version of Bundy plays in the AL East, and it was rarely pretty, but it’s not like there are a ton of established MLB starters languishing out on the open market. Wacha is the only one left that cracked MLBTR’s Top 50 list.

Bundy’s best showing on the mound came in 2020, the COVID-shortened season, when he rolled to a 3.29 ERA with 72 strikeouts (and only 17 walks) in 65 2/3 innings for the Angels. He received one third-place vote and one fifth-place vote for the AL Cy Young Award that year, the only time in his career that he’s been included on any BBWAA ballots. Shane Bieber ultimately took home the hardware in unanimous fashion, with Bundy placing 9th. And, again, this current version of Bundy looks quite different than that one.

There aren’t as many starting pitchers for clubs to sort through as there were bullpen targets, with 19 remaining hurlers who tallied at least 20 rotation innings this past season. We’ll look at the top half of that group by various metrics to determine who teams figure to prioritize as they seek starting pitching depth.

Note: all figures cited, including league averages, are looking solely at pitchers’ outings as starters.

ERA (league average — 4.05)

1. Johnny Cueto (RHP), 3.29
2. Michael Wacha (RHP), 3.32
3. Wade Miley (LHP), 3.34
4. Bryan Garcia (RHP), 3.54
5. Zack Greinke (RHP), 3.68
6. Devin Smeltzer (LHP), 4.02
7. Zach Davies (RHP), 4.06
8. Aníbal Sánchez (RHP), 4.28
9. Drew Hutchison (RHP), 4.52

Strikeout rate (league average — 21.6%)

1. Chase Anderson (RHP), 24.6%
2. Matt Swarmer (RHP), 22.4%
3. Bryan Garcia, 20.2%
4. Michael Wacha, 20.2%
5. Chris Archer (RHP), 19.2%
6. Wade Miley, 18.4%
7. Zach Davies, 17.9%
8. Chad Kuhl (RHP), 17.8%
9. Mike Minor (LHP), 16.7%

Strikeout/walk rate differential (league average — 14.1 percentage points)

1. Michael Wacha, 14.2 points
2. Matt Swarmer, 13.1 points
3. Dylan Bundy (RHP), 11.1 points
4. Chase Anderson, 10.6 points
5. Johnny Cueto, 10.5 points
6. Wade Miley, 9.2 points
7. Michael Pineda (RHP), 9 points
8. Aaron Sanchez (RHP), 9 points
9. Zach Davies, 8.8 points

Ground-ball rate (league average — 42.5%)

1. Wade Miley, 54.2%
2. Aaron Sanchez, 51.3%
3. Chase Anderson, 50.9%
4. Dallas Keuchel (LHP), 50.2%
5. Jared Koenig (LHP), 47.2%
6. Chris Archer, 43.7%
7. Zach Davies, 42.9%
8. Johnny Cueto, 42.5%
9. Zack Greinke, 41.3%

FIP (league average — 4.04)

1. Johnny Cueto, 3.76
2. Wade Miley, 4.00
3. Zack Greinke, 4.03
4. Michael Wacha, 4.14
5. Chase Anderson, 4.37
6. Chris Archer, 4.49
7. Aaron Sanchez, 4.61
8. Dylan Bundy, 4.66
9. Zach Davies, 4.83

Innings pitched

1. Johnny Cueto, 153 1/3
2. Dylan Bundy, 140
3. Zack Greinke, 137
4. Chad Kuhl, 137
5. Zach Davies, 134 1/3
6. Michael Wacha, 127 1/3
7. Chris Archer, 102 2/3
8. Mike Minor, 98
9. Drew Hutchison, 89 2/3

Bundy signed a $5MM guarantee last offseason, with the Twins rolling the dice he’d bounce back after an injury-plagued 2021 campaign in Anaheim. The deal came with an $11MM club option for 2023, giving them some extra contractual upside if Bundy righted the ship in the Twin Cities. The right-hander did stay healthy enough to take the ball 29 times and soak up 140 innings, but he didn’t put up the kind of numbers the front office had envisioned. Bundy managed only a 4.89 ERA with a well below-average 15.8% strikeout rate and a modest 9.7% swinging strike rate. He demonstrated excellent control, walking fewer than 5% of opponents,  but he didn’t miss many bats and surrendered 24 home runs (1.54 per nine innings).

A former fourth overall pick and top pitching prospect, Bundy has seen his velocity trend downwards as he’s battled injury concerns throughout his career. He averaged only 89 MPH on his four-seam this year, the first time his already pedestrian fastball has dipped below 90 MPH on average. Bundy, who turns 30 later this month, will collect a $1MM buyout and head back to free agency. He’s likely looking at one-year offers as a depth arm again, and it’s possible his next deal will come with a lower base salary than this’s year $4MM figure.

Archer was also an offseason signee, joining Bundy as part of Minnesota’s efforts to bolster the back of its rotation. He inked an incentive-laden deal that guaranteed him a $2.75MM base salary and a $750K buyout on a 2023 option. He tacked on $3MM in incentives by making 25 starts this year, bringing Minnesota’s ultimate outlay to $6.5MM. Rather than trigger their end of a $10MM mutual option for next season, Minnesota sends the two-time All-Star back to the open market.

The 34-year-old posted a 4.56 ERA across 102 2/3 innings as Twin. That was his biggest workload since 2019, but Archer still had a pair of injured list stints due to hip and pectoral issues. When healthy, he posted a below-average 19.2% strikeout rate and walked batters at an elevated 11% clip. The righty still averaged 93 MPH on his heater, but this year’s 9.5% swinging strike percentage was his lowest mark since 2014.

Sanó, meanwhile, hits free agency for the first time in his career. Today’s move, while without suspense, looks as if it’ll officially close the books on his 13-year tenure in the organization. A high-profile amateur signee out of the Dominican Republic and subsequently one of the best prospects in the game, Sanó made his big league debut in 2015. He hit the ground running against MLB pitching, showcasing the massive raw power and lofty walk totals but huge strikeout rates that’d define his entire tenure in Minnesota.

The burly slugger looked capable of carrying a lineup at his best, including a .247/.346/.576, 34-homer showing in only 105 games in 2019. That earned Sanó a $30MM extension the following offseason, but that proved to be a misstep for the Twins. He posted only slightly above-average offensive numbers from 2020-21 and had an almost completely lost 2022 campaign. Sanó played in 20 games this year, putting up an .083/.211/.133 line in 71 plate appearances while battling persistent knee issues. The 29-year-old returned briefly from early-season knee surgery but spent the last two months on the IL.

Minnesota makes the easy call to pay Sanó a $3MM buyout rather than trigger a $14MM option on his services. He hits the market as a buy-low option for teams seeking first base help, with his huge power sure to get him some attention from another club.

Over the next two days, we’ll turn our attention to players with less of a say over their contractual status. A host of contracts around the league contain club options for 2023. Some of them will be easy decisions one way or the other, while there are others that’ll be more borderline calls. With teams having to make these calls a little over two months from now, it’s worth taking a look at how these players are performing in 2022.

Today, we’ll start with the American League. We’ll follow up with a look at the Senior Circuit tomorrow.

Orioles

• Jordan Lyles, SP ($11MM option, $1MM buyout)

Baltimore signed Lyles to a $7MM guarantee last winter, taking the form of a $6MM salary for 2022 and at least a $1MM buyout on next year’s option. He’s been a fine back-end starter, working to a 4.35 ERA across 130 1/3 innings. Lyles has below-average strikeout, swinging strike and ground-ball rates, but he leads the club in innings pitched and is throwing plenty of strikes. He’s also drawn strong reviews for his work in the clubhouse with the team’s younger arms. A $10MM call is borderline for a 4th/5th starter type, but the Orioles have almost nothing on the books next season and could keep him around as a veteran stabilizer.

Red Sox

• James Paxton, SP (team must decide on consecutive $13MM options this offseason; Paxton would have $4MM player option for 2023 if club declines)

Paxton signed a convoluted deal last winter that reflected his atypical situation. A mid-rotation caliber starter when healthy, he’s made just six starts over the past three years and hasn’t pitched in an MLB game since undergoing Tommy John surgery last April. He’s making $6MM this season and could be a rotation option for a team that’ll see each of Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill hit free agency. The club will have to decide whether to trigger consecutive $13MM options (essentially a two-year, $26MM pact) this winter. If they decline, Paxton could opt in to a $4MM salary for 2023 or test free agency. How things play out largely depends on how Paxton looks down the stretch. Manager Alex Cora recently told reporters the southpaw will throw a simulated game on Friday and could soon head out on a minor league rehab appearance (link via Chris Cotillo of MassLive).

• Hirokazu Sawamura, RP (team holds option currently valued at $3.6MM; Sawamura holds player option for 2023 currently valued at $1.8MM if club declines)

Sawamura signed a two-year, $3MM guarantee with the Red Sox over the 2020-21 offseason. The deal also included a club option for 2023 valued anywhere between $3-4MM, depending on whether Sawamura held his roster spot and based on his number of appearances. MLBTR has confirmed that escalators have already pushed the value of the club option to $3.6MM; that price escalates by an additional $100K for reaching each of 45, 50 and 60 appearances this season. (He’s presently at 43 games). If the team declines, Sawamura would have the right to trigger a player option currently valued at $1.8MM. As with the club option, the player option price escalates by $100K for reaching 45, 50 and 60 appearances. If both sides bypass their respective options, Sawamura would receive a $1MM buyout.

It seems likely that Sawamura’s team option price will fall somewhere in the $3.8MM – 3.9MM range, with a $1.8MM gap between the value of the club and player options. That’s an acceptable price to pay for a solid reliever, albeit one who’s been relied upon more in lower-leverage innings. Sawamura has a 3.14 ERA in 97 1/3 innings since coming stateside, striking out a decent 23% of opponents with a strong 51.7% ground-ball rate. He’s had issues throwing strikes consistently, but he’s an affordable power arm for a middle innings group that has been one of the team’s biggest weaknesses. That the Red Sox haven’t given Sawamura much high-leverage work in spite of their bullpen struggles is enough of a red flag to put this one in some doubt, but it seems likelier they’ll keep him around.

Yankees

• Luis Severino, SP ($15MM option, $2.75MM buyout)

Severino barely pitched between 2019-21 because of injuries, including a Tommy John recovery. He returned to the rotation this season and pitched to an impressive 3.45 ERA through 16 starts before suffering a lat injury that’ll cost him at least two months. The injury history is a real concern, but Severino still looks like an above-average starter when healthy. He’s averaged around 96 MPH on his fastball, struck out 27.2% of opposing hitters and has a tiny 7.2% walk rate. The Yankees would have to be very pessimistic about his health outlook to buy out his age-29 season, particularly since it’s only a $12.25MM decision once the buyout price is taken into account.

Rays

• Kevin Kiermaier, CF ($13MM option, $2.5MM buyout)

Kiermaier hit .228/.281/.369 over 221 plate appearances before suffering a season-ending left hip injury. It’s the latest in a long line of major health issues for the 32-year-old, and the Rays are planning to buy out the three-time Gold Glove winner. It’s possible the team tries to circle back at a lower price point, but the career-long Ray is likely to hit the open market for the first time in his career.

Blue Jays

• Anthony Bass, RP ($3MM option, $1MM buyout)

The Jays just acquired Bass from the Marlins at the trade deadline, fortifying their bullpen with a productive middle-innings arm. Bass has an excellent 1.49 ERA through 48 1/3 innings on the year, striking out 26.2% of opponents against just a 5.9% walk rate. It’s a career-best season at age 34, but Bass has a sub-4.00 ERA for five years running. He’s an underrated bullpen piece, and the Jays are sure to bring him back for what amounts to a $2MM decision.

White Sox

• Tim Anderson, SS ($12.5MM option, $1MM buyout)

This is as easy a call as any team will have to make this winter. Anderson has been one of the game’s better players four years running. He’s an elite contact hitter and baserunner, and he’s cemented himself as the Sox’s franchise shortstop. His 2022 season has been dinged by injuries, including a recent hand ligament tear that’ll cost him most of the remaining schedule. Frustrating year aside, Anderson has hit at a quality .301/.339/.395 clip this season and been an All-Star caliber performer in prior years. The White Sox are keeping him around next year, and they can do the same in 2024 via $14MM option.

• Josh Harrison, 2B ($5.5MM option, $1.5MM buyout)

Harrison signed a one-year deal in Spring Training and got off to a dreadful start. The veteran utilityman has turned things on since the calendar flipped to June, though, and he now carries a roughly league average .242/.312/.385 line through 281 plate appearances. The Sox will have to make a $4MM call this offseason on whether to bring him back for 2023. They’ll probably look for an upgrade at second base, but that’s a reasonable enough sum to dedicate to a quality infielder off the bench. Chicago already has Leury García making decent money in that role, and they might prefer to focus their finances on adding to the back of the rotation and bringing back star first baseman José Abreu.

Guardians

• Bryan Shaw, RP ($4MM option, $500K buyout)

Shaw is a longtime member of the Cleveland organization, having spent seven of his 11 MLB seasons there. He’s a durable bullpen workhorse who’s clearly a favorite of the coaching staff and front office, but his 2022 results have not been good. The 34-year-old righty owns a 5.36 ERA across 40 1/3 innings. He’s only striking out 17.7% of opponents, walking batters at an elevated 11.6% clip and has had some home run issues. The Guardians seem likely to go in another direction this offseason.

Twins

• Miguel Sanó, 1B ($14MM option, $3MM buyout)

Sanó is a longtime member of the organization who’s capable of carrying a lineup with his power at his best. His platform season has been a disaster, though, and the Twins are sure to buy out his option. The 29-year-old underwent surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his knee in May. He returned briefly but went back on the 60-day injured list last week with additional knee concerns. It’s not clear whether he’ll make it back this season. Sanó has an .083/.211/.133 line in 20 games this year after slightly above-average offensive performances in 2020-21.

• Sonny Gray, SP ($13.1MM option, no buyout)

Just as Sanó’s option is certain to be bought out, Gray’s is a no-brainer to exercise. Minnesota acquired the right-hander from the Reds in Spring Training, sending last year’s first-round pick Chase Petty to Cincinnati. Gray lost some time on the injured list, but he’s posted an impressive 3.19 ERA with slightly above-average peripherals through his first 16 starts in a Twins uniform. A mid-rotation starter of his caliber is a solid bargain at the cost of his option, which played into the fairly high asking price the Twins had to relinquish in the trade.

• Dylan Bundy, SP ($11MM option, $1MM buyout)

The Twins bought low on Bundy on a one-year free agent deal, hoping he’d rebound from a dismal 2021 and look more like the mid-rotation arm he resembled in 2020. That hasn’t really transpired, as the right-hander has a 5.01 ERA through 93 1/3 innings. He’s averaging a personal-low 89.2 MPH on his fastball, and while he’s throwing plenty of strikes, that lack of velocity has been reflected in both his 18.6% strikeout rate and higher than average home run rate. It seems likely the Twins will decline the option and reallocate that $10MM elsewhere, particularly with the recent acquisition of Tyler Mahle and Kenta Maeda’s expected return reducing the urgency to add to the rotation next season.

Astros

• Will Smith, RP ($13MM option, $1MM buyout)

Acquired in a one-for-one deadline swap that sent Jake Odorizzi to Atlanta, Smith is having a generally disappointing year. He has a 4.17 ERA through 41 innings, striking out a personal-worst 24.1% of batters faced with a career-high 11.2% walk rate. Smith was an effective late-game arm as recently as a season ago and is still generating swinging strikes at a quality 14.2% clip, but the $12MM price tag seems likely to be too hefty given the mediocre strikeout and walk numbers.

Athletics

• Stephen Piscotty, RF ($15MM option, $1MM buyout)

Piscotty has spent five seasons in Oakland after being acquired from the Cardinals heading into the 2018 campaign. He had an excellent first season in green and gold, but he’s been a well below-average hitter fours years running now. Going back to the start of 2019, Piscotty has a .231/.288/.380 line in just under 900 trips to the plate. He’s sure to be bought out and could be looking at minor league offers next winter.

Mariners

• Ken Giles, RP ($9.5MM option, $500K buyout)

Seattle signed Giles to a two-year deal knowing he’d miss all of 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery. Unfortunately, hopes of a year two payout have been largely derailed by a finger issue that delayed his season debut and some shoulder tightness that has kept him out of action for the past month. Giles has thrown just 4 1/3 innings in a Seattle uniform, surrendering only one hit but four walks with six strikeouts. He’s averaged 94.8 MPH on his fastball, still solid but down from the 96.9 MPH range he showed during his incredible 2019 season with the Blue Jays. There’s a non-zero chance Giles returns — he’s currently on a rehab assignment in Triple-A — and dominates down the stretch to make Seattle think about the option. For the moment, though, it’s trending towards a buyout.

Rangers

• Garrett Richards, RP ($9MM option, $1MM buyout)

Texas signed the 34-year-old Richards to a one-year guarantee over the offseason, hoping he’d build off the promise he showed in a late-season bullpen stint with the Red Sox. That hasn’t panned out, as he has a 5.35 ERA across 38 2/3 innings of relief. Richards has an excellent 52.1% ground-ball rate, but he’s not missing as many bats as one would like and he’s giving up a lot of hard contact. Texas seems likely to buy him out.

• José Leclerc, RP ($6MM option, $750K buyout)

Texas signed Leclerc to an early-career extension in 2019, locking him in after a 1.56 ERA season the year before. He struggled with his control the following season, then missed virtually all of 2020-21 battling elbow issues that eventually culminated in Tommy John surgery. Leclerc returned to the mound in June but has a 4.01 ERA with a personal-low 20.4% strikeout percentage in 24 2/3 innings of generally low-leverage work. He’s still throwing hard and missing plenty of bats with his slider, so there’s a chance Texas takes an optimistic view and keeps him around. His deal also contains a $6.25MM option for 2024, so he’d be under control for multiple seasons if the Rangers are willing to give him a bit of a longer leash. This feels like it could go either way depending on how he performs down the stretch.

• Kole Calhoun, RF ($5.5MM option, no buyout)

The Rangers signing of Calhoun to a one-year deal over the winter hasn’t panned out. He’s hitting .211/.269/.363 through 350 plate appearances and is currently on the injured list with a heel issue. It’s a second straight below-average season for the veteran outfielder, who’ll be 35 in October. The Rangers will almost assuredly decline the option and look elsewhere in right field as they aim for legitimate competitiveness in 2023.

May 17: The Twins will designate right-hander Jharel Cotton for assignment today in order to open roster space for right-hander Dylan Bundy, who is being activated from the injured list, manager Rocco Baldelli announced (Twitter link via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press).

It’ll be the second DFA of the season for the 30-year-old Cotton, who was also designated back on April 13. Cotton cleared waivers the first time around and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A St. Paul, even though he has three-plus years of service time and a prior outright — either of which would allow him to reject the assignment in favor of free agency. The Twins will have a week to trade him or try to pass him through waivers a second time.

Cotton was claimed off waivers out of the Rangers organization at the end of the 2021 season and has tossed 6 2/3 innings for Minnesota thus far in 2022. He’s yielded just one run and punched out seven batters in that time, but he’s also walked six batters, hit another one and thrown a wild pitch. A former top-100 prospect who went from the Dodgers to the A’s alongside Grant Holmes and Frankie Montas in 2016’s Josh Reddick/Rich Hill swap, Cotton carries a 4.60 ERA with a 19.5% strikeout rate, a 9.2% walk rate and a 35.5% grounder rate in 195 2/3 big league innings.

As for Bundy, he’ll return after missing nearly two weeks following a positive Covid test. The former Orioles and Angels righty was brilliant to begin the season, combining for 15 1/3 innings of one-run ball with a 12-to-1 K/BB ratio across his first three starts as a Twin. He was clobbered for six runs in six innings against the Rays in his fourth start of the season, however, and his former Orioles club jumped him for a whopping nine runs in 3 2/3 innings the day before he landed on the injured list.

That pair of disastrous outings has overshadowed Bundy’s terrific start, and he’s now sitting on a 5.76 ERA with a 20.6% strikeout rate and 4.7% walk rate through 25 innings. With Bailey Ober sidelined by a groin strain and Chris Paddack landing on the 60-day IL owing to elbow inflammation, the Twins will be all the more dependent on a rebound from Bundy. If Bundy can put that pair of ugly outings behind him and right the ship, his one-year, $5MM contract contains an $11MM club option for the 2023 season. He’ll take the mound for tonight’s game in Oakland.

2:36PM: The Twins are going to select the contract of Devin Smeltzer today, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com, with the lefty getting the start in tonight’s game against the Guardians. Smeltzer is not currently on the club’s 40-man roster, meaning a corresponding move will be required to open a spot for him.

Acquired from the Dodgers in the Brian Dozier trade, Smeltzer had a solid MLB debut with the Twins in 2019. In 49 innings over six starts and five relief appearances, he put up a 3.86 ERA. His 18.8% strikeout rate was below average, but he limited walks at a rate of 5.9%. In the shortened 2020 season, he took a step backward, logging a 6.75 ERA in 16 innings. Last year, elbow issues limited him to just 4 2/3 innings and led to his outright in November.

The 26-year-old seems to have gotten things back on track this year, as he’s been healthy and starting in Triple-A. Over five starts, he’s thrown 21 innings with a 3.86 ERA, 20.5% strikeout rate and 6.8% walk rate.

For the Twins, as recently as a week ago, it seemed they were nearing a starting pitching surplus. Sonny Gray came off the injured list and joined Chris Archer, Chris Paddack, Josh Winder and Joe Ryan in the rotation. It seemed like the club would have to make a tough choice on how to assign the pitching duties once Dylan Bundy and Bailey Ober returned from the injured list. However, a few days later, Paddack left his start with elbow inflammation and is now on the 60-day IL, possibly heading towards Tommy John surgery.

While Paddack’s injury has created the need for Smeltzer to step in, it’s possible that it could just be a spot start. After today, the club plays four more before an off-day on May 19. However, after that, the club will play 18 games in 17 days, due to a doubleheader on May 31. Smeltzer is out of options, meaning the club will need to keep him on the roster if they hope to use him again during that stretch.

The recuperation of Bundy and Ober will likely play a role in determining Smeltzer’s status. Bundy is currently on the COVID IL and will need a spot on the 40-man roster when he returns. He has cleared COVID protocols but is still feeling some of the effects of the illness, per Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Ober went on the IL two weeks ago due to a groin strain but has been throwing bullpens recently, per Park.

Tingler and GM Thad Levine addressed the media today about the situation, with Levine saying that the club is waiting on the results of several other tests of team personnel.  If this wasn’t enough, outfielder Max Kepler is also under the weather due to another non-COVID illness that is floating around the clubhouse.

It is quite possible that more names could join Arraez and Bundy on the COVID list, but even in the best-case scenario that those are the only positive tests within what may be a minor outbreak, losing even two more players isn’t good for a Twins team that already has several key figures on the regular injured list.  Bundy will join Bailey Ober and Sonny Gray as rotation members on the 10-day IL, though Gray is on the verge of a return.  Utilityman Arraez was already plugging another hole, playing first base while Miguel Sano is out due to knee surgery.

As per the 2022 version of the league’s COVID protocols, Arraez and Bundy will miss at least the next 10 days, though they may make an earlier return if they meet three criteria — two negative PCR tests, at least 24 hours without a fever, and approval from a team doctor and a MLB/MLBPA joint committee of two other physicians.

Bundy profiles as a buy-low option for a Minnesota club that needs to significantly overhaul its rotation this winter. The former top prospect had settled in as an up-and-down but capable starter with the Orioles over his first few seasons before seemingly realizing his long-awaited breakout in 2020. Acquired by the Angels over the previous offseason, Bundy worked 65 2/3 innings of 3.29 ERA ball with a strong 27% strikeout rate during the truncated season.

Entering 2021, Bundy looked to be one of the more appealing arms in this winter’s free agent class. Few players’ stocks were dealt a more significant hit over the intervening months, though, as the right-hander struggled with both underperformance and injury. Bundy pitched to a 6.78 ERA over the season’s first three months, eventually being relegated to the bullpen.

His strikeout percentage dropped six points prior to his bullpen conversion, while he allowed an alarming 2.1 homers per nine innings pitched. That was in line with issues keeping the ball in the yard he’d experienced in Baltimore, a significant turnaround from the 0.69 HR/9 he posted during his first season in Orange County.

The move to the bullpen didn’t work as intended, as the Oklahoma native continued to struggle in shorter stints. Making matters worse, he hit the injured list with a shoulder strain in late August. While he’d initially expressed hope regarding a potential return, that proved impossible. Ultimately, Bundy hit free agency for the first time coming off a career-worst 6.06 ERA and an extended absence due to an arm injury.

There’s no doubt the 2021 campaign was a “Murphy’s law” type season. Yet Bundy’s only a year removed from looking like at least a mid-rotation caliber arm, and there’s not a whole lot of financial risk for the Twins in hoping for a bounceback. With Kenta Maeda likely to miss much of the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, the Twins have very little stability in the starting staff. Bailey Ober looks likely to have one spot after a quietly strong 2021 campaign, while rookie Joe Ryan pitched well down the stretch. There’s still plenty of need for more reliability in that group moving forward, and it’s likely president of baseball operations Derek Falvey, general manager Thad Levine and the rest of the front office will continue to scour the free agent and trade markets for starting pitching help.

Jon Heyman of the MLB Network reported contract terms.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Selecting Ramos and activating Detmers required opening a pair of spots on the 40-man roster. To do so, the Angels transferred Justin Upton and Dylan Bundy from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.

Ramos is in the majors for the first time this season. He’s best known for his early-career days with the Marlins, with whom he began his big league career in 2012. The right-hander was electric from essentially the outset of his career, ascending to the closer’s role within a couple seasons and earning an All-Star nod in 2016. Over his first four-plus MLB seasons, Ramos posted a 2.66 ERA/3.15 FIP across 287 2/3 innings of relief.

Halfway through the 2017 season, Miami traded Ramos to the division-rival Mets. He had a decent year but fell off a bit from his previous pace. Ramos struggled badly through the first couple months of 2018 before it was revealed he’d suffered a labrum tear in his shoulder that necessitated surgery.

That procedure kept Ramos out of action for more than two calendar years. He began a comeback attempt in 2020 and landed successive minor league deals with the Dodgers and Cubs. While neither of those stops resulted in a major league opportunity, Ramos did get back to the bigs late in the year with the Rockies. He made three appearances with Colorado last September, his first MLB action in 28 months, and signed a minor league deal with the Angels over the offseason.

Ramos has spent the entire season with Salt Lake. The 35-year-old has avoided the injured list and logged 53 innings over 42 outings, pitching to a 5.26 ERA in a very hitter-friendly environment. Ramos has been extremely fly ball prone and has issued a few too many walks, but he’s continued to miss plenty of bats. He’s punched out 31% of opposing hitters on the strength of a big 15.4% swinging strike rate, and the Angels will give him a late chance to demonstrate his form against big league opponents.

As with last season’s stint in Colorado, it’s possible Ramos’ stay with the Angels will be quite brief. He’s scheduled to hit free agency again at the end of the season. The late-season look will allow him to showcase his current caliber of stuff before he reaches the open market.

The IL transfers officially bring Upton’s and Bundy’s seasons to a close. It was a third consecutive down year for Upton, who hit .211/.296/.409 with seventeen homers over 362 plate appearances. His campaign ends prematurely because of a right lumbar strain.

Upton will return to Anaheim next season on a $28MM salary, the final year of his deal. The Angels have youngsters Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh at the big league level, and Mike Trout is expected back at full strength. It’s possible Upton’s role is curtailed a bit moving forward, although he still brings enough right-handed pop to contribute in a part-time capacity.

It’s an especially disappointing end for Bundy, who expressed confidence two weeks ago that he’d make it back to the mound before the end of the year. Instead, his final five weeks will be wiped out by a shoulder strain. It ends a season in which Bundy threw 90 2/3 innings of 6.08 ERA ball, a massive drop-off from a 2020 season in which he picked up some down-ballot Cy Young support.

The career-worst showing couldn’t have come at a worse time for Bundy, who’ll hit free agency for the first time this winter. It’s possible the 28-year-old will be limited to a one-year deal in an attempt to rebuild his value before re-testing the market during the 2022-23 offseason.

As Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes, signing Pujols in 2022 has some baseball value to a Cardinals team that may have a DH spot to work with in next year’s lineup.  That is on top of the natural symbolism of bringing Pujols back for what would be his 22nd — and quite possibly final — MLB season in what Yadier Molina has already announced will be his own final season.  If Adam Wainwright also re-signs with the team and decides to hang it up next winter (which is no sure thing given how well Wainwright continues to pitch), the 2022 season will carry a storybook feel for an entire era of Cardinals baseball, as well as a renewed charge towards another title.

More from around baseball…

• The Orioles placed Matt Harvey on the 10-day injured list due to inflammation in his right knee.  O’s manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including BaltimoreBaseball.com’s Rich Dubroff) that Harvey will undergo testing on the knee, and it isn’t yet known if the veteran right-hander will be able to pitch again this season.  After signing a minor league deal with the Orioles in the offseason, Harvey ended up spending the entire year on Baltimore’s big league roster, and the oft-injured righty has tossed 127 2/3 innings over 28 starts.  That is the silver lining amidst an otherwise tough season results-wise, as Harvey has a 6.27 ERA/4.84 SIERA and one of the lower (16.7%) strikeout rates in the league, not to mention some poor hard-hit ball numbers.
• Dylan Bundy is “very confident” that he’ll be able to return to the Angels before the season is through, the right-hander told The Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher and other reporters.  Wednesday saw Bundy throw his first bullpen session since being placed on the 10-day IL with a shoulder strain back on August 25, and Bundy said the plan is for another bullpen on Saturday.  It remains to be seen if Bundy will be able to build up enough strength to make it back, or if he has already thrown his last pitch as an Angel, considering Bundy is a free agent this winter.  “As far as free agency, the only thing I’m thinking about is not being on the IL at the end of the year,” Bundy said.  Bundy has struggled to a 6.06 ERA/4.55 SIERA over 90 2/3 innings,
• “I don’t have a lot of conversations with them on that front,” Brian Anderson told MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola and other reporters about extension talks with the Marlins.  General manager Kim Ng said last December, soon after her hiring, that she wanted a season to personally evaluate Anderson before deciding on a potential extension.  By that standard, Anderson hasn’t done much to impress, hitting only .249/.337/.378 and being limited to 264 plate appearances in an injury-riddled year.  Anderson is currently considering multiple options in regards to an ongoing shoulder problem, and surgery is a possibility, with Anderson prioritizing playing as close to a full season as possible in 2022.  The Marlins control Anderson’s rights through the 2023 season, so an extension could still be in the cards if he is able to recover and get back to his old form next year.

Petricka’s back in the majors for the first time since 2019. A productive set-up man early in his career with the White Sox, Petricka bounced around the league in journeyman fashion after falling on harder times starting in 2016. He pitched for the Blue Jays in 2018 and had a brief stint with the Brewers the following season. Petricka re-signed with the Jays last season and spent the year at their alternate training site, but he never got a big league call. After beginning the 2021 campaign in the independent Atlantic League, Petricka hooked on with the Angels in early June.

Assigned to Salt Lake after signing, Petricka performed well in a hitter-friendly setting to earn his way back to the majors. He’s worked 31 2/3 innings across 19 games as a multi-inning relief option, posting a 3.69 ERA. Petricka’s 23.4% strikeout rate in the minors is around average, but he’s induced ground-balls at a huge 53.8% clip and thrown plenty of strikes (7.3% walk percentage).

While Petricka’s soon to appear in his eighth big league season, this is Peguero’s first call. The 24-year-old was one of two players Los Angeles picked up from the Yankees for left-hander Andrew Heaney at the trade deadline. Peguero, who has worked exclusively in relief this season, has rather remarkably traversed four levels. He began the year with New York’s High-A affiliate, where he tossed 32 1/3 innings of 2.51 ERA ball to earn a promotion to Double-A. Peguero logged 17 2/3 frames at that level, then made a one-game cameo in Salt Lake before being bumped up to the big leagues. Between all three levels, he has a 2.79 ERA with a big 31.8% strikeout rate and a solid 8.5% walk rate.

Petricka and Peguero are coming up as COVID replacements. Under MLB’s 2021 health and safety protocols, they can be removed from the 40-man roster and returned to the minors without exposure to waivers whenever players come off the COVID IL. There’s no indication whether Detmers and/or Warren have tested positive at this point.

Bundy’s IL placement is the continuation of a disastrous season for the 28-year-old. He entered the season with high expectations after posting a 3.29 ERA in last year’s truncated campaign. His strikeout rate has dropped from a strong 27% to a below-average 21.2%, and his walk rate is up a couple percentage points. He’s also been killed by the home run ball, serving up 20 longballs in 90 2/3 innings en route to a 6.06 ERA.

The extent of Bundy’s underperformance briefly got him relegated to the bullpen, although he’d returned to the starting staff in late July. He was pulled from his start against the Orioles last night in the second inning with the injury that today landed him on the shelf. Bundy’s fastball was averaging just 87.6 MPH, per Brooks Baseball, his worst velocity of the season and the continuation of a worrying trend in that regard over the past few weeks. The Angels didn’t provide a timetable for Bundy’s return. With just over five weeks left in the season, though, it wouldn’t be a surprise if this ends his 2021 campaign.

The career-worst performance couldn’t have come at a worse time for Bundy, who will reach free agency for the first time this winter. Had he come anywhere close to replicating his 2020 production, he’d have been one of the most appealing arms on the market — especially given his youth. Instead, it seems as if he might have to settle for a one-year deal in hopes of rebuilding his value and targeting a return to form in advance of the 2022-23 offseason.

It’s the continuation of what has proven to be a difficult year for Bundy. He seemed to have turned a corner upon being traded from the Orioles to Los Angeles entering 2020, spinning 65 2/3 innings of 3.29 ERA ball during his debut season with the Angels. Things have gone completely south in 2021, though. The 28-year-old has been tagged for a 6.58 ERA in 67 frames this season. Bundy actually got off to a good start with three consecutive quality starts to begin the campaign, but he’s managed just a 7.88 ERA in twelve appearances since, with opposing hitters teeing off for a .297/.360/.568 slash line in that time.

In fairness to Bundy, the underlying numbers suggest he’s pitched a bit better than his bottom line run prevention would suggest. His 21.5% strikeout rate is disappointing, a below-average mark that’s nearly six percentage points below his 27% clip from last season. But it’s not disastrously low, and Bundy’s 10.8% swinging strike rate is serviceable. He’s always been a quality strike-thrower, and that hasn’t gone away either. Bundy’s only walking 7.2% of opponents, right in line with his career pace and better than league-average. Those strikeout and walk numbers contribute to a more respectable 4.30 SIERA.

The biggest issue for Bundy this season, as it was during his time in Baltimore, has been the long ball. He’s allowed a staggering fifteen home runs (2.01 HR/9). Among pitchers with 50-plus innings, only Matt Shoemaker (2.14 HR/9) has coughed up homers at a higher rate. Unsurprisingly, a glance at Bundy’s Statcast page confirms he’s given up plenty of hard contact.

That all makes for an interesting decision for teams this winter. Bundy’s slated to hit free agency for the first time this offseason. Obviously, this isn’t the platform year he’d desired, but his arsenal hasn’t evaporated. His four-seam fastball and slider velocity are actually up a tick relative to last season, as are Bundy’s spin rates. (His spin has dropped over the past month, coinciding with the league’s foreign substance crackdown, but Bundy’s slump predated reports of imminent enforcement of the ban on sticky stuff). The results simply haven’t been there this season, but we’re only a year removed from Bundy finding plenty of success with this level of raw stuff.

The Angels already bumped José Quintana to the bullpen a couple weeks ago, so Bundy’s the second member of the season-opening rotation to move into relief. That mostly reflects Quintana’s and Bundy’s down years, but it’s also a testament to the strong work of their eventual replacements, Patrick Sandoval and Suarez.

Sandoval has a 3.44 ERA/4.00 FIP across seven starts this year. Suarez was knocked around as a starter back in 2019, but he’s earned his way back into the rotation with quality work as a multi-inning reliever this year. The 23-year-old has tossed 27 1/3 innings over nine relief appearances, pitching to a 1.98 ERA with solid strikeout and walk rates (23.9% and 8.3%, respectively).

While the Angels haven’t had much luck in their rotation over the past few years, Bundy offered a rare outstanding performance for the team last season – his first campaign with the club. Bundy was the fourth overall pick of the Orioles in 2011 and someone who was regarded as a can’t-miss prospect in his younger days, but he couldn’t quite put it together in parts of five seasons as a member of the O’s, with whom he registered a 4.67 ERA/4.28 SIERA across 614 1/3 innings. Baltimore traded Bundy to the Angels in December 2019 for a handful of prospects.

The Angels’ playoff drought reached six years in Bundy’s first season with the club, but it certainly wasn’t his fault. The 28-year-old provided much-needed front-of-the-rotation production to the Halos with a 3.29 ERA/3.80 SIERA and above-average strikeout and walk rates of 27.0 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively, in 65 2/3 innings. If the Angels don’t extend Bundy before next winter, and if he comes close to last year’s numbers during the upcoming season, he should be one of the most coveted free agents on the market.