Diekman, 38, has a long track record of walking a tightrope with a lot of strikeouts but also a lot of free passes. In 602 1/3 innings of relief dating back to his 2012 debut, he has allowed 3.91 earned runs per nine. His 28.7% strikeout rate in that time is a few ticks above average and his 46.9% ground ball rate around par, but his 13.4% walk rate is definitely on the high side.

He’s coming off a down year. He signed a $4MM deal with the Mets but was released in early August. He had a 5.63 in 32 innings. His 27.6% strikeout rate was near his usual range but his 16.6% walk rate was high, even for him. Among pitchers with at least 30 innings pitched last year, only youngsters Nick Nastrini and Joe Boyle had higher walk rates. He didn’t sign anywhere else for the final two months of the season.

Upgrading the bullpen has been a priority for Atlanta this offseason. They lost guys like A.J. Minter, Jesse Chavez and others to free agency at season’s end. In early November, it was reported that Joe Jiménez might miss all of 2025 while recovering from knee surgery.

Seemingly operating with a tight budget, they haven’t been too active in pursuing upgrades to the relief mix. Anderson Pilar was brought in via the Rule 5 draft and is arguably the most notable addition to this point.

They don’t specifically need a lefty, as they already have Dylan Lee, Aaron Bummer and Angel Perdomo in the mix, but Diekman doesn’t have huge splits regardless. Lefties have a .229/.344/.311 line against him in his career whereas righties have hit .210/.329/.357. He’s not coming off a great season but he adds some experienced depth for cheap, and without taking up a roster spot for now.

Covey, 33, is coming off a mostly lost season but had some intriguing results the year prior. After spending 2021 and 2022 pitching for the Rakuten Monkeys in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League, he split 2023 between the Dodgers and Phillies. He logged 43 innings between those two clubs with a 3.77 ERA. His 15.7% strikeout rate was low but he got grounders on 54.3% of balls in play.

A shoulder strain kept him on the shelf for most of 2024. He didn’t pitch in the majors at all and was limited to 20 1/3 innings on the farm. 15 of those innings were at the Triple-A level with intriguing results in a small sample. He had a 1.20 ERA at that level, 27.6% strikeout rate, 12.1% walk rate and 71.4% ground ball rate.

The Phils had outrighted him off their roster in August and he elected free agency at season’s end. He signed a split deal with the Mets but was recently outrighted off that club’s roster and elected free agency. Like Diekman, he’ll give Atlanta some cheap rotation depth without taking up a roster spot for now.

Covey, 33, signed a split big league deal with the Mets back in late October that would’ve paid him $850K in the majors or $350K in the minors, per the Associated Press. Since he has fewer than five years of MLB service, Covey would forfeit any guarantees on that deal (presumably just the minor league split) by rejecting the assignment and going back to the market.

Covey hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2023, when he logged a sharp 3.77 ERA over 43 innings between the Dodgers and Phillies. That year’s 15.7% strikeout rate was way shy of league-average, but Covey’s 8.9% walk rate was close to average and his 54.3% ground-ball rate was very strong. The right-hander had spent the 2021-22 seasons pitching in Taiwan for the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s Rakuten Monkeys, and he returned with a sinker that sat at 95.1 mph — an increase of 3.1 mph over the 92 he average in 2020.

The Phillies saw enough to keep Covey around in arbitration, tendering him a contract in arbitration and signing him to a one-year deal. A shoulder strain wiped out the bulk of his 2024 campaign, however. Covey didn’t pitch in the majors and logged only a combined 20 1/3 innings in the minors. His 2.66 ERA across multiple levels was strong, however, and Covey backed that up with a decent 22.6% strikeout rate and a mammoth 66.5% ground-ball rate (albeit against an ugly 10.7% walk rate).

Covey’s overall body of work in the big leagues isn’t great. He has a career 6.18 ERA in 307 1/3 MLB innings. That said, he pitched well in Taiwan (3.63 ERA in 198 1/3 innings), came back to North America throwing harder and has now had some degree of success in the big leagues and upper minors with a revamped pitch repertoire. He’s throwing far more sinkers and cutters since returning stateside and has scrapped his four-seamer and curveball entirely. Covey seems to rather clearly be a different pitcher in his early 30s than he was when he was getting hit hard with the White Sox and Red Sox in his 20s. He can provide another club with some depth in the rotation and/or in the bullpen as a long man.

Both players were offseason additions, so neither has played a game for the Mets. Covey signed a one-year split contract the day after the conclusion of the World Series. That came with an $850K base salary in the majors and a $350K salary for whatever time he spends in the minors. The contract is designed to make it likely that the Mets can keep him as depth. Covey has been outrighted multiple times in his career, which gives him the right to decline the assignment in favor of free agency. However, he’d forfeit his $350K minor league guarantee to test the market, so he’ll presumably accept the assignment and get a non-roster invitation to Spring Training.

Covey has a 6.18 earned run average over 307 1/3 major league innings. The 33-year-old has started 46 of his 100 big league appearances. Covey has been a long reliever for the past two seasons. He worked to a 3.77 ERA through 43 frames between the Dodgers and Phillies in 2023. His 15.7% strikeout rate was well below average, but he kept the ball on the ground at a strong 54.3% clip. A shoulder strain cost him most of last season. Covey tossed 15 Triple-A frames in the Philadelphia system. He posted a 1.20 ERA behind a massive 71.4% grounder percentage.

De Los Santos was a waiver claim out of the Toronto organization. He had signed with the Jays out of the Dominican Republic in 2015. He played eight seasons in the minors and was called up for the first time after the trade deadline. De Los Santos appeared in 13 games late in the year, hitting .172 with a pair of doubles across 31 plate appearances.

The righty hitter appeared in 43 contests with Triple-A Buffalo last season. He hit .268/.376/.486 over 154 trips to the plate. That improved his career Triple-A batting line to .228/.343/.393 in parts of three seasons. De Los Santos has shown a decent eye (12.7% walk rate) with below-average contact rates at that level. Primarily a shortstop, he has a decent amount of experience at all four infield positions. This is his first outright, so he’ll remain with the Mets.

Covey, 33, has never pitched for the Mets. He was with the Phillies in 2024 but was outrighted off their roster in August. He elected free agency at season’s end and the Mets signed him to a big league deal at the end of October.

The righty has been a starter for most of his career but converted to relief work more recently. He tossed 39 innings out of the Philly bullpen in 2023 with a 3.69 earned run average. His 15.6% strikeout rate wasn’t strong but he did manage to get ground balls on 54% of balls in play.

He wasn’t really able to follow that up in 2024. He started the season on the injured list due to a right shoulder strain, eventually getting transferred to the 60-day IL. He wasn’t able to start a rehab assignment until late July. Once he was healthy, the Phils ran him through waivers instead of adding him back to the roster. Before the offseason came, he managed to toss 15 Triple-A innings with a 1.20 ERA, 27.6% strikeout rate, 12.1% walk rate and 71.4% ground ball rate.

Covey has always been a ground ball guy, so perhaps the Mets were intrigued but that uptick in strikeouts to end the season. Per the Associated Press, his deal pays him an $850K salary while in the majors and $350K while in the minors.

That minor league salary is relatively large, which is probably by design. Per the minor league collective bargaining agreement that was worked out a couple of years ago, the Triple-A minimum salary is just under $36K, so Covey’s is almost ten times that.

If he were to clear waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency since he has more than three years of big league service time. But since he has less than five years of service, heading to the open market would mean forfeiting what’s left of his deal. If he clears waivers, that means no club is willing to give him a big league roster spot, meaning he would likely be limited to minor league offers on the open market. That means he should probably just keep his current minor league deal. It’s possible that all comes to pass in the next few days. If it does, the Mets will get to keep Covey as some bullpen depth but without him taking up a roster spot.

January 29: The Mets are bringing back right-handed reliever Ryne Stanek. New York is reportedly in agreement with the MVP Sports Group client on a one-year, $4.5MM guarantee with an additional $500K available in incentives. The Mets will pay a 95% luxury tax on the contract, pushing their investment to $8.775MM. The team has yet to announce the signing, which is still pending a physical.

Stanek, 33, played the 2024 season on a one-year, $4MM deal originally signed with the Mariners. Seattle flipped him to the Mets over the summer in a deal netting them minor league outfielder Rhylan Thomas. Stanek had a pair of very rough outings early in his Mets tenure but finished out the regular season on a hot streak (2.92 ERA, 18-to-4 K/BB ratio in 12 1/3 innings) before playing a key role in the Mets’ postseason run. The big 6’4″ righty held opponents to three runs on five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts in eight frames during the playoffs. He got the final out in three Mets victories during the postseason (all of them non-save situations): Game 1 of the Wild Card Series and Games 1 and 3 of the NLDS.

Since establishing himself as a big leaguer back in 2018, Stanek has been consistently successful in short stints. He’s pitched 382 1/3 innings and logged a 3.53 ERA, fanning a very strong 27.6% of opponents against a less palatable 11.6% walk rate (about three percentage points north of average). Stanek has technically “started” 56 games in his career, though those were all working as an opener in Tampa Bay.

Stanek is typically good for one to two innings of high-octane relief, averaging 97.8 mph on his four-seamer in his career — including 98.1 mph over the past three seasons. His strikeout rate is strong, and his bat-missing ability is elite, evidenced by a hefty 15.1% swinging-strike rate in his career (and a mark of 15% or better in five of his seven seasons). Since Stanek debuted in 2017, only nine of the 214 pitchers with at least 400 innings pitched have a better swinging-strike rate — and that list is a veritable who’s-who of star pitchers (Josh Hader, Edwin Diaz, Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Raisel Iglesias, Ryan Pressly, Craig Kimbrel, Shane McClanahan). Poor command undercuts Stanek’s raw ability to generate whiffs at times, but that ability and his potent raw stuff continue to intrigue clubs.

Stanek joins A.J. Minter — who inked a two-year, $22MM deal — as a late-inning addition for president of baseball operations David Stearns this offseason. That pair will help set up for Edwin Diaz. The Mets have a deep collection of other arms to consider for the bullpen. Free agent pickup Griffin Canning seems ticketed for a long relief/swingman role, while short-relief candidates include Reed Garrett, Jose Butto, Danny Young, Sean Reid-Foley, Dedniel Nunez, Huascar Brazoban, Austin Warren, Max Kranick, Kevin Herget and Tyler Zuber. Each of Butto, Young, Reid-Foley and Dylan Covey are on the 40-man roster but out of minor league options; there’ll be some movement among this collection of depth arms between now and Opening Day.

Stanek is the third free agent addition for the Mets in the past couple weeks. They’ve also added Minter and Jesse Winker in that span — all at a time when they’re reportedly expecting longtime cornerstone Pete Alonso to sign elsewhere after he rejected a three-year offer from the team. The potential for a reunion there will continue to linger, owner Steve Cohen’s recent public comments notwithstanding, but the Mets have now added $23-24MM in 2025 salary and another $25-26MM worth of luxury taxes since Alonso turned down that offer.

Anthony DiComo of MLB.com first reported that the Mets and Stanek were in agreement on a one-year deal. SNY’s Andy Martino indicated the salary would land between $4MM and $5MM. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported the $4.5MM guarantee and the $500K in bonuses.

The terms of the deal have not yet been announced, although it’s presumably not a very high guarantee. Indeed, it’s somewhat surprising to see Covey land a big league deal at all considering his limited track record and lack of MLB success. He made his debut with the White Sox in 2017 after they selected him from the A’s in the Rule 5 draft. Over three seasons in Chicago, largely as a starting pitcher, he produced a 6.54 ERA and 5.16 SIERA in 250 1/3 innings of work. It was hardly a surprise when the White Sox cut him over the 2019-20 offseason and he elected free agency.

Over the next few years, Covey bounced from the Rays to the Red Sox to the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan. His performance over two seasons with the Rakuten Monkeys convinced the Dodgers to offer him a minor league deal before the 2023 season. Yet, after just one appearance for L.A., he was designated for assignment. The Phillies, in need of a mop-up man, claimed Covey off of waivers and put him in their bullpen. In his first chance at regular MLB playing time as a reliever, he was rather effective, albeit in a low-leverage role, pitching to a 3.69 ERA and 4.53 SIERA over 39 innings.

However, Covey did not pitch in the majors at all in 2024. He sat out the first four months of the season recovering from a right shoulder strain, and the Phillies removed him from the 40-man roster and sent him outright to Triple-A upon his return from the IL. Nonetheless, the Mets must have liked what they saw over his 15 appearances with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. After giving up a solo home run to the very first batter he faced at Triple-A in 2024, the right-hander did not allow another run for the rest of the season. He struck out 27.6% of the batters he faced. The Mets have several open spots on their 40-man roster, and they will use one of those spots to slot Covey into the bullpen picture for 2025.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com log.

Outfielders

• Nick Gordon (Marlins)
• Rafael Ortega (White Sox)

Pitchers

• Andrew Bellatti (Phillies)
• Jonathan Bermúdez (Marlins)
• Taylor Clarke (Brewers)
• Dylan Covey (Phillies)
• J.P. Feyereisen (Dodgers)
• Brett Kennedy (Reds)
• Nick Nelson (Phillies)
• Wander Suero (Astros)

Covey, 33, has been on the injured list all year until this point. He began the campaign on the 15-day IL due to a right shoulder strain and was transferred to the 60-day version in June when the club claimed Freddy Tarnok off waivers.

He has been rehabbing in the minors for the past month but the club evidently didn’t want to squeeze him onto their major league roster or 40-man. He is out of options and couldn’t be sent to the minors, so they quietly passed him through waivers instead.

Covey has more than three years of major league service time, which gives him the right to reject this outright assignment and elect free agency. But since he has less than five years of service, doing so would mean forfeiting what is left of his $850K salary. Presumably, he will accept that assignment and keep cashing the checks he’s owed for the next few weeks, providing the Phils with some non-roster depth.

He posted some lackluster results as a starter earlier in his career but a pivot to the bullpen provided some encouragement. Last year, he tossed 43 innings between the Dodgers and Phillies with a 3.77 earned run average. His 15.7% strikeout rate was subpar but he got opponents to hit the ball into the ground at a 54.3% clip.

That was enough for the Phils to tender him a contract and agree to a contract slightly above the $740K league minimum, but the injury has prevented him from building on that season so far. If he’s not added back to the roster at any point this year, he’ll qualify for free agency at season’s end, as is the case for all outrighted players with at least three years of service time.

It wasn’t publicly known that Tarnok had been designated for assignment, but Oakland had to make some kind of decision since was nearing the end of his 30-day rehab assignment.  Tarnok has pitched in six games for Triple-A Las Vegas since May 8, and with a 13.50 ERA to show for those 7 1/3 innings of work, Tarnok might have simply pitched himself out of the Athletics’ plans.  Tarnok has been on the IL since Opening Day due to inflammation in his right hip, and he was moved from the 15-day to the 60-day at the start of May.

A third-round pick for the Braves in the 2017 draft, Tarnok made his MLB debut in the form of a single game and two-thirds of an inning pitched during the 2022 season.  That winter, Atlanta dealt Tarnok to Oakland as part of the huge three-team, nine-player trade that sent William Contreras and Joel Payamps to the Brewers and Sean Murphy to the Braves, with Tarnok being one of the younger, controllable players the A’s landed in one of several fire-sale type trades during their latest rebuild.

Tarnok’s first (and officially only) season with the A’s consisted of five outings and 14 2/3 innings due to multiple injuries.  Shoulder problems led to a 60-day IL stint to begin the 2023 campaign as well, and hip surgery then ended his season altogether in August.  Recovery from that hip procedure lingered into the offseason and Spring Training, necessitating Tarnok’s IL stint at the start of this year.

Unsurprisingly, Tarnok has run into some troubles keeping the ball in the park in the Pacific Coast League, and his walk and strikeout rates have been average at best even prior to 2024 across his 71 career Triple-A innings.  However, Tarnok has a solid 4.18 ERA in those 71 Triple-A frames, and is still only 25 years old.  There’s no risk for the Phillies in having some more big league-ready rotation depth ready at Lehigh Valley in the event of injury, or if Philadelphia just wants to give some of its starters extra rest in advance of what the team hopes will be a deep postseason run.

Covey has yet to pitch this season after suffering a shoulder strain during Spring Training, and he likely would’ve been placed on the 60-day IL much earlier than today had the Phillies been in need of a 40-man roster spot.  As a reminder, a 60-day IL placement is retroactive to the start of the initial 15-day placement, so Covey can now technically be activated at any time since it has already been more than 60 days since Opening Day.

These so-called “pre-tender deals” usually, although not always, involve players who were borderline non-tender candidates. Rather than run the risk of being cut loose, they can look to sign in the lead-up to the deadline. Those salaries often come in a little below projections, since these players tend to have less leverage because of the uncertainty about whether they’ll be offered a contract at all.

Under the 2022 collective bargaining agreement, players who sign to avoid an arbitration hearing are guaranteed full termination pay. That’s a change from prior CBAs, when teams could release an arb-eligible player before the season began and would only owe a prorated portion of the contract. This was done to incentivize teams and players to get deals done without going to a hearing.

All salary projections referenced are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. This post will be updated throughout the night as deals are reported.

Latest Moves

• The Orioles agreed to deals with outfielders Sam Hilliard and Ryan McKenna, reliever Keegan Akin and shortstop Jorge Mateo, as announced by the team. Mateo will make $2.7MM, as first reported by Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (X link). Jon Heyman of the New York Post has terms (on X) for Akin and Hilliard: $825K for the former, $800K for the latter.
• Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski has a deal for $7.9MM, Heyman reports. That’s a little above his $7.3MM projection. Yastrzemski has one additional arbitration year remaining.
• Reliever Yency Almonte and the Dodgers have agreed to a $1.9MM salary, per Heyman. That matches his projection.
• Lefty reliever Ryan Borucki agreed to a contract with the Pirates, the team announced. Feinsand reports it as a $1.6MM deal. He was projected at $1.3MM.
• The Rockies have a deal with lefty reliever Jalen Beeks, Heyman reports. He’ll make $1.675MM. Recently claimed off waivers from Tampa Bay, Beeks was projected at $1.8MM.
• The Cubs announced a deal with third baseman Patrick Wisdom. Jesse Rogers of ESPN reports that the power-hitting infielder will make $2.725MM. That’s narrowly above a $2.6MM projection.
• Outfielder DJ Stewart agreed to a deal with the Mets, per a club announcement. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports it’ll be for $1.38MM. Stewart had been projected at $1.5MM as an early qualifier via Super Two.
• The Phillies announced deals with right-hander Dylan Covey, catcher Garrett Stubbs and outfielder Jake Cave. Terms were not disclosed.
• The White Sox announced agreement with reliever Matt Foster on a deal for $750K, narrowly above the league minimum. The right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in April.

Earlier Tonight

• The Royals announced agreement with lefty reliever Josh Taylor. He’ll make $1.1MM, tweets Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Acquired from the Red Sox last winter, Taylor allowed an 8.15 ERA over 17 2/3 innings before undergoing season-ending back surgery. He was projected for a $1.3MM salary.
• The Athletics announced today that they have agreed to one-year deals with infielders Miguel Andujar and Abraham Toro. The club claimed Andujar off waivers from Pittsburgh earlier this month and swung a deal to acquire Toro from the Brewers earlier this week. Andujar hit .250/.300/.476 in 90 trips to the plate in the majors this year while Toro appeared in just nine games at the big league level but slashed .444/.524/.778 in that extremely limited action. Andujar will make $1.7MM (Heyman link); Toro is set for a $1.275MM salary.
• The Giants have a deal with outfielder Austin Slater for $4MM, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid (X link). That’s a little north of his $3.6MM projected salary. Slater has over five years of service time and will be a free agent next offseason. The right-handed hitter is coming off a .270/.348/.400 showing over 89 games. He’s a career .285/.374/.463 batter against left-handed pitching but owns a .227/.314/.333 mark versus righties.

Covey is now ineligible to return until at least October 12, so he wouldn’t be available for a playoff roster unless the Phillies reached the NLCS.  Even in that best-case scenario, the Phillies might not prefer to activate a pitcher coming off an extended layoff, and Covey might have been something of a borderline candidate to make the postseason roster even if healthy.

Regardless of the unfortunate ending, 2023 has still been Covey’s most successful season in the big leagues.  He posted a 6.57 ERA over 264 1/3 innings with the White Sox and Red Sox from 2017-20 before heading to the Chinese Professional Baseball League for two seasons with the Rakuten Monkeys.  Covey pitched well enough to attract the attention of North America, and he inked a minor league deal with the Dodgers that resulted in a single MLB game in Dodger Blue.

Covey was designated for assignment after that lone game in May but quickly claimed off waivers by the Phillies.  Powered by a 54.3% grounder rate and a lot of soft contact, Covey has a 3.69 ERA over 39 innings with Philadelphia, posting some quality bottom-line results despite a very modest 15.7% strikeout rate.  Even his ERA is somewhat skewed by Covey’s lone start with the Phillies, as he lasted just two-thirds of an inning while allowing five earned runs.  In 42 1/3 other innings as a reliever in 2023, Covey’s ERA is 2.76.

Philadelphia followed up its NL championship with an active offseason headlined by free agent deals for Trea Turner and Taijuan Walker. Those pacts have had mixed results in the early going, but Philadelphia has found more defined success in another area — a complete restructure of the bullpen.

Seven pitchers have thrown 30+ innings out of the ’pen for Rob Thomson on the season. Six of them were acquired since the start of last offseason. One of the offseason pickups, left-hander Andrew Vasquez, has since been designated for assignment and lost on waivers to the Tigers — though even he provided the Phils with 39 2/3 frames of 2.27 ERA ball before being cut.

Of the relievers currently on Philadelphia’s active roster, only Seranthony Domínguez was on the roster at this time a season ago. Some of that is by chance; José Alvarado is currently on the injured list and will surely reassume a high-leverage role when healthy. Yet it also hints at how aggressively the front office has turned things over.

It’s hard to argue with the results. Philadelphia relievers entered play Thursday ranked ninth in the majors with a 3.76 ERA. Their 24.9% strikeout rate ranks eighth. They’re in the bottom half of the league in blown saves. Philadelphia’s bullpen isn’t the best in the league, but it’s strong enough the front office went through deadline season without supplementing the group.

A look at some of the Phils’ bullpen upgrades since last winter:

• Craig Kimbrel

Philadelphia rolled the dice on Kimbrel at a time when his stock was at a low ebb. The veteran righty is one of the best relievers of his generation, but his recent track record has been up-and-down. Kimbrel was excellent for the Cubs in the first half of 2021, struggled after a deadline trade to the White Sox, then had an average ’22 season with the Dodgers. While his 3.75 ERA through 60 frames last year wasn’t bad, the Dodgers were concerned enough about his performance down the stretch to leave him as a healthy scratch in the postseason.

The Phils guaranteed Kimbrel $10MM on a one-year free agent deal. They could hardly have expected better than the performance he’s turned in. Through 52 innings, he has a 3.12 ERA while locking down 19 of 21 save opportunities. Kimbrel has fanned an excellent 34.6% of opposing hitters after that mark dipped to 27.7% a season ago. He earned his ninth All-Star nod, has solidified the ninth inning, and is trending towards a more lucrative free agent trip next winter.

• Matt Strahm

Strahm inked a two-year, $15MM free agent pact. He has been an effective and versatile piece of the pitching staff. Pressed into rotation duty early on by injuries, Strahm was solid over nine starts. He’s been downright excellent in his traditional bullpen role. The emergence of Cristopher Sánchez and deadline pickup of Michael Lorenzen should position Philadelphia to keep Strahm in relief for the rest of the year.

Over 40 1/3 frames as a reliever, the southpaw carries a 2.68 ERA. He’s stifling opponents to a .207/.248/.407 batting line, striking out 31% of batters faced against a tidy 5.7% walk rate. Hitters are swinging through 14% of his offerings. Strahm handles hitters from both sides of the plate and has worked multiple innings out of the ’pen on 13 occasions.

• Jeff Hoffman

The most surprising name among this group, Hoffman wasn’t technically an offseason pickup. Granted his release by the Twins at the conclusion of Spring Training, he signed a minor league pact with Philadelphia during the first week of the regular season. The veteran righty spent a month in Triple-A before triggering an opt-out clause that required the team to either add him to the MLB roster or release him.

Philadelphia chose the former option. They’re unquestionably pleased they did. Playing on a prorated $1.3MM salary, Hoffman has turned in a career-low 2.86 ERA over 34 2/3 innings. He’s striking out over 33% of opponents after never topping a 23.6% strikeout rate in any prior season. Hoffman has completely overhauled his pitch mix. His average fastball speed is up to 97.1 MPH after checking in at 94.3 MPH with the Reds last year. More importantly, he’s leaned dramatically more heavily on a slider that has become one of the best weapons in the sport.

Among relievers with 30+ innings, just 12 are inducing whiffs at a higher rate than Hoffman’s 16.6% clip. After spending the better part of two months in mop-up work, Hoffman has deservedly pitched his way into higher-leverage innings coming out of the All-Star Break. At age 30, the former ninth overall pick is showing all the traits of an impact reliever. Only adding to the appeal: Hoffman will be eligible for arbitration next winter, so the Phils can affordably keep him around for another season.

• Gregory Soto

Philadelphia’s highest-profile trade pickup of the offseason, Soto has had more mixed results than any of Kimbrel, Strahm or Hoffman. His 4.73 ERA through 45 2/3 frames isn’t eye-catching. The southpaw’s underlying marks are better than the ERA would suggest, albeit not quite what the Phils likely envisioned when sending Matt Vierling, Donny Sands and Nick Maton to Detroit.

Soto has struck out a decent but unexceptional 23.4% of batters faced. He’s gotten his walk rate to a career-low 9.4% clip and is picking up grounders on a solid 48.4% of balls in play. His production has been exceedingly platoon dependent, however. Left-handed hitters have a pitiful .100/.179/.183 line through 67 plate appearances, while righties have tagged Soto for a .279/.360/.396 clip in 125 trips. He’s a useful reliever, but it’s hard not to feel there’s still some untapped upside with a lefty whose sinker averages 98 MPH. Soto is making just under $4MM this season and eligible for arbitration twice more.

——————————-

The Phils have had other more modest additions as well. Yunior Marté, picked up in a January trade with the Giants, has contributed 35 mostly low-leverage innings. Despite average peripherals, he owns a 5.14 ERA. May waiver claim Dylan Covey was tattooed in his lone start of the year but has chipped in a 2.96 ERA through 24 1/3 innings of long relief.

While those are relatively minor contributions, the Phillies turned the bullpen from a potentially serious weakness to a decent strength in a matter of months. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has faced criticism in prior seasons regarding the bullpens his front offices have put together. While it remains to be seen how this group will perform in October should the Phils hang onto a Wild Card spot, the regular season results have been quite strong — headlined by a pair of adept free agent pickups and hitting on one of the best minor league pacts of the season.

It was short stint for Covey in Dodger blue, as he was selected on Wednesday, threw four innings of relief after Dustin May was removed after just one inning with elbow pain. Covey was then DFA’d shortly after. The 31-year-old had been working at Triple-A, where he owned a 4.22 ERA over 32 innings.

The former fourth round pick by the Athletics owns a career 6.54 ERA over 268 1/3 big league innings between the White Sox, Red Sox and now Dodgers. The Phillies are in need of pitching depth as they try to recover from a five game losing run that the team is on. Through the month of May, they’re sporting an ERA of 5.36. They also saw Ranger Suarez throw just two innings last night, so had to rely heavily on their bullpen to get them through the game.

The Dodgers have been facing various challenges with their pitching staff in recent days, leading to much improvising. They played a 12-inning game against the Twins on Monday, using six relievers after Noah Syndergaard lasted just four innings. On Tuesday, Clayton Kershaw was also bounced after just four frames, requiring the bullpen to pick up the remaining five.

That led the club to select Covey’s contract yesterday to give the bullpen a fresh arm. It was a good thing that they did, since May had to depart after just one inning with elbow pain. It was later reported that he has a flexor pronator strain and will likely miss four to six weeks, making today’s injured list placement inevitable. Covey stepped in and threw four innings in relief of May, allowing a couple of earned runs on five hits and one walk with three strikeouts. Four other pitchers came in after him as the Dodgers managed to pull off a 7-3 victory.

Despite playing a key role in that victory, Covey has been nudged out of his roster spot as the club was once again facing an exhausted pitching staff and needed some fresh arms. Prior to joining the big league club, he had a 4.22 ERA in 32 Triple-A innings on the year. The Dodgers will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He hasn’t really been a major league regular for a few years, pitching in the CPBL in Taiwan in 2021 and 2022, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see some other club express interest given the mounting pile of pitcher injuries around the league. In the event he does clear waivers, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, by virtue of having a previous career outright.

1:06pm: The Dodgers are going to select the contract of right-hander Dylan Covey, manager Dave Roberts tells reporters, including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The righty isn’t currently on the 40-man, so the club will need a corresponding move or moves to get him a spot there and on the active roster.

Covey, 31, pitched for the White Sox from 2017 through 2019, primarily as a starter. He logged 250 1/3 innings over those three seasons but registered an unimpressive 6.54 ERA. He got grounders at a solid 50% clip but struck out just 15.3% of batters faced while walking 10.1%. The Red Sox gave him eight relief appearances in 2020 but he put up a 7.07 ERA in those.

He then spent the next two years with the Rakuten Monkeys of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan, faring quite well. He made 33 starts there over 2021 and 2022 with a 3.63 ERA in 198 1/3 innings. He returned to North America this winter by signing a minor league deal with the Dodgers and currently has a 4.22 ERA through 32 Triple-A innings over six starts and one relief appearance, getting grounders on 62.2% of balls in play.

He will add a fresh arm to a bullpen that has been busy this week. The club played a 12-inning game on Monday and then saw Clayton Kershaw last just four innings yesterday, leading to the relief corps getting plenty of work. Covey can slot in and potentially cover multiple innings if need be, with the club’s next off-day not until May 25, next Thursday.