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Twins Outright Jordan Luplow

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The Twins announced to reporters, including Dan Hayes of The Athletic, that outfielder Jordan Luplow elected free agency after being outrighted off the 40-man roster. Outfielder Andrew Stevenson and right-hander José De León, who were outrighted last week, also elected free agency. The removal of Luplow opens up another spot on Minnesota’s 40-man roster in advance of the offseason.

Luplow, 30, has bounced around the league quite a bit in his career, with teams often trying to deploy him as a lefty-mashing right-handed role player. He has shown enough flashes of promise in this role that he has been employed in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Tampa and Arizona in previous seasons. His best stretch was with Cleveland in 2019 when he hit .276/.372/.551 in 261 plate appearances for a wRC+ of 141, most of that damage being done against southpaws.

He was cut by the Diamondbacks at the end of 2022 and then signed with Atlanta on a one-year deal with a $1.4MM guarantee. But he was optioned to the minors to start the year and was designated for assignment in early April, never suiting up for Atlanta at the big league level. Waivers claims would take him to the Blue Jays and Twins as the season progressed and he eventually got into 39 games in the most recent season. He hit a paltry .154/.267/.154 against righties but his .235/.350/.412 line with the platoon advantage amounted to a wRC+ of 110.

Despite that solid work in his specific role, Luplow didn’t crack the club’s playoff roster. He could have been retained for 2024 via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting a salary of $1.6MM, but it seems the Twins weren’t willing to keep him around at that price point. Since Luplow was outrighted, that means he passed through waivers unclaimed.

Players with more than three years of service time or a previous career outright can reject a further outright assignment in favor of free agency. Luplow qualifies on both accounts and will now head to the open market. He will likely garner interest from clubs this winter, likely for a similar depth role to the one he filled this year.

Twins Outright Andrew Stevenson, José De León

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The Twins have outrighted right-hander José De León and outfielder Andrew Stevenson, per the transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates both players were removed from the 40-man roster after passing through waivers unclaimed.

Stevenson, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Twins in March and was selected to the roster in September. He had a strong performance in Triple-A, hitting .317/.394/.522 while stealing 44 bases. He got into 25 games at the big league level down the stretch but hit just .189/.250/.216 in those, though he did add another four steals.

Any of the 30 other clubs could have added Stevenson via a waiver claim but he’s out of options, meaning he would need an active roster spot going forward as well. It seems none of them were willing to do so and he passed through waivers unclaimed. Since he has been previously outrighted in his career, he has the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency. His strong season at the Triple-A level will surely be enough to get him another minor league deal this winter.

De León, 31, was once considered one of the best prospects in the league but has been repeatedly setback by injuries. He tossed 17 1/3 innings for the Twins this year but required Tommy John surgery in June. It was the second such procedure of his career, the first coming back in 2018. He spent the latter months of the 2023 campaign on the 60-day injured list and will likely miss most of the 2024 season as well.

The righty would have been eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter but the Twins have removed him from the roster instead and the 29 other clubs passed on the chance to grab him, which is understandable given that he won’t be able to provide much in the upcoming season. Since he has over three years of major league service time, he has the right to elect free agency. Based on his prospect pedigree, he should be able to land a minor league somewhere, perhaps of the two-year variety since his 2024 is up in the air right now.

Twins Select Dallas Keuchel, Place Joe Ryan On IL

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The Twins announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Dallas Keuchel, who triggered an opt-out in his minor league deal two days ago. In order open space for him on their roster, right-hander Joe Ryan has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left groin strain while righty José De León will be transferred to the 60-day IL.

Keuchel, 35, is looking to bounce back from a rough stretch in the big leagues in the previous two years. After close to a decade of effective pitching, including a Cy Young-winning season in 2015, the lefty allowed 6.35 earned runs per nine innings over the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He started that time period with the White Sox but bounced to the Diamondbacks and Rangers last year, with each club trying unsuccessfully to get him back to his previous form.

The Twins signed him to a minor league in June of this year, at which time it was reported that he had done some work with Driveline Baseball to restore some velocity and movement to his pitches. The early results of that have been encouraging, as he made six Triple-A starts lately with a 1.13 ERA, 21.2% strikeout rate, 9.1% walk rate and 61.5% ground ball rate.

He had a couple of opt-outs on that minor league deal, the first of which was about two weeks ago. He skipped that first chance, likely due to the fact that his second chance would be on trade deadline day, when new opportunities might emerge. He triggered that second opt-out on Tuesday, giving the Twins 48 hours to either select his contract or release him back to free agency.

There were arguments to both sides of the choice. On the one hand, Keuchel had previously shown literal Cy Young upside and was again posting encouraging results. On the other hand, his recent improved form was a small sample in the minors and it’s been quite a while since he was effective at the major league level. Plus, the Twins had a strong group of five starters in Ryan, Sonny Gray, Kenta Maeda, Pablo López and Bailey Ober. But it now seems Keuchel will get his shot after all, with Ryan now going on the IL.

It’s unclear exactly when Ryan suffered his injury but his results have been getting worse as the season has gone along. His ERA was sitting at 2.98 after a complete game shutout against the Red Sox on June 22. Since then, however, he’s allowed 31 earned runs in 32 1/3 innings, bringing his season ERA to 4.43.

It hasn’t been reported how long Ryan is expected to be out, but it seems Keuchel will take his spot in the rotation for at least a couple of turns. The southpaw will try to revive his reputation as a viable major league starter while the Twins try to hold onto the lead in the American League Central. They just barely have a winning record at 55-54 but that’s still good enough for a two-game cushion in the division.

De León required Tommy John surgery in June, so this transfer was an inevitable formality. He’ll be out for the rest of this year and at least the first half of next year as well.

José De León To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Twins right-hander José De León has a torn ligament in his elbow and will require Tommy John surgery, reports Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune. As Nightengale points out, this will be the second Tommy John for De León, who also underwent the procedure in 2018.

It’s a very unfortunate blow for De León, 30, who has been repeatedly beset by injuries throughout his career. He was once considered one of the top prospects in the league, with Baseball America putting him in the top 30 of their top 100 list in 2016 and 2017. His first TJS wiped out his 2018 and part of his 2019, then he struggled to get on track in 2020 and 2021. He signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays last year but was injured in the spring and didn’t pitch in an official game until August.

This year, De León seemed to be on a good track. He joined Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic and tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings, racking up 10 strikeouts in that time. He then joined Triple-A St. Paul and posted a 3.62 ERA in 27 1/3 innings. That got him back to the big leagues and he had a 4.67 ERA through 17 1/3 innings for the Twins before landing on the injured list yesterday with a strain in his right flexor muscle.

Sadly, his most encouraging performance in years will now be ended prematurely. He will miss the remainder of the 2023 campaign and likely much of the 2024 season as well, given then 14 to 18 months of recovery that are generally needed after TJS.

He will surely be transferred to the 60-day injured list as soon as the Twins require his roster spot and will stay there for the rest of the season, collecting major league pay for the next few months. He will cross three years of service time in the process and be eligible for arbitration this winter, though the club will likely opt for a non-tender with his upcoming absence and uncertain health status.

Twins Place Jose De Leon On 15-Day Injured List

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The Twins placed right-hander Jose De Leon on the 15-day injured list due to a strain in his right flexor muscle.  Righty Josh Winder was called up from Triple-A to take De Leon’s spot on the active roster.

De Leon suffered the injury as he was preparing to enter yesterday’s game, a 3-2 Twins loss to the Tigers.  The righty was on the mound and throwing warmup pitches when he suddenly grabbed his arm in obvious pain after tossing his final pitch.  Speaking with MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park and other reporters afterwards, De Leon said his elbow had swollen and the sharp pain in his right arm felt like an “electric shock.”

There wasn’t any doubt that De Leon would be headed to the 15-day IL, though the full extent of the injury won’t be known until he undergoes an MRI.  Flexor strains can vary greatly based on the severity — some pitchers are able to return to action within a few weeks’ time, while others face the worst-case scenario of a Tommy John surgery.  De Leon is unfortunately no stranger to such a procedure, as a TJ surgery cost him the entire 2018 season.

That 2018 surgery and some other injuries quite possibly changed the course of De Leon’s entire career, as he had been a top-100 prospect over the previous two seasons while pitching in the Dodgers and Rays farm systems.  De Leon has since become a journeyman, pitching for six different organizations over the course of his career.  He has tossed 65 1/3 innings over parts of six MLB seasons, and his 17 1/3 frames for the Twins in 2023 marks the second-highest inning total of his big league career.

Minnesota signed De Leon to a minor league deal over the offseason and selected his contract to the active roster in May.  He has a 4.67 ERA with respectable strikeout (24.3%) and walk (7.1%) rates, and his 3.67 SIERA is a full run lower than his ERA, indicating that De Leon has been a bit unlucky with his bottom-line results.  For now, however, the hope is that De Leon can get some good fortune and avoid another long-term injury setback.

Twins Select José De León

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The Twins are going to select right-hander José De León to their roster, reports Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com. He will take the active roster spot of fellow righty Jorge Alcalá, who is going on the 15-day injured list. The club already had an opening on their 40-man roster after losing righty Dereck Rodríguez off waivers to the Braves yesterday. The club has subsequently announced the moves, listing Alcalá’s ailment as a right forearm extensor muscle strain. His IL placement is retroactive to May 15.

De León, 30, was once one of the top prospects in the league. Originally drafted by the Dodgers in 2013, he impressed prospect evaluators enough to land on Baseball America’s top 100 list in both 2016 and 2017, placing in the top 30 both of those years. Unfortunately, he’s battled significant injuries since then and still hasn’t been able to carve out a lengthy stay in the big leagues.

He was traded to the Rays prior to 2017 but then required Tommy John surgery going into 2018. He returned in 2019 and was traded to the Reds after that season. He struggled in his time with that club and was released after 2021. He was with the Blue Jays on a minor league deal last year but got hurt in Spring Training and didn’t debut until August.

Through all of that, he has an 8.44 ERA in the big leagues through 48 innings that have been scattered across five different seasons with three different clubs. He signed a minor league deal with the Twins this offseason and is off to a good start. He’s tossed 27 1/3 innings across nine Triple-A appearances, four of them starts. He has a 3.62 ERA, 22.2% strikeout rate, 10.3% walk rate and 41.6% ground ball rate.

That showing has impressed the Minnesota brass enough that the righty will get back to the majors. He is out of options and can’t be easily sent back to the minors later in the year, but he does have just two years and 95 days of major league service time. That means that he could be cheaply retained for future seasons via arbitration if he manages to hang onto his roster spot all year long.

Each MLB Team’s Players On WBC Rosters

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The World Baseball Classic is returning this year, the first time since 2017. The quadrennial event was supposed to take place in 2021 but was scuttled by the pandemic, now returning after a six-year absence. Rosters for the tournament were announced today and those can be found at this link. Here is a breakdown of which players from each MLB team are set to take participate. Quick caveat that this list is fluid and might be changed as more information becomes available.

Without further ado…

Angels

Astros

Athletics

Blue Jays

Braves

Brewers

Cardinals

Cubs

Diamondbacks

Dodgers

Giants

Guardians

Marlins

Mariners

Mets

Nationals

Orioles

Padres

Phillies

Pirates

Rangers

Rays

Red Sox

Reds

Rockies

Royals

Tigers

Twins

White Sox

Yankees

Twins To Sign Jose De León

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Right-hander Jose De León is joining the Twins, with the hurler himself announcing the agreement on Twitter. Presumably, it’s a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training, though no formal announcement has been made.

De León, 30, was once considered one of the best prospects in all of baseball. While in the Dodgers’ organization, Baseball America ranked him #23 in 2016 and #29 in 2017 among all prospects in the league. Unfortunately, injuries have been severely holding him back from living up to his potential since then.

He was traded to the Rays prior to 2017 but only pitched in 11 games that season. In March of 2018, he required Tommy John surgery, which wiped out that entire year. He returned and pitched in 22 games in 2019 before getting flipped to Cincinnati. He saw some brief time in the big leagues with the Reds in 2020 and 2021 but was released. For 2022, he signed a minors deal with the Jays but got hurt in the spring and didn’t make his season debut until August.

De León continues to get chances based on his previous prospect pedigree but it’s been a while since he’s had an extended period of time to showcase his skills. For the Twins, there’s little harm in adding him to their system as a depth option in case injuries elsewhere on the roster create a need for him down the line.

Blue Jays Sign Seven Players To Minor League Deals

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The Blue Jays announced Monday that they’ve signed the following seven players to minor league deals: right-handers David Phelps, Jose De Leon and Casey Lawrence; outfielders Mallex Smith and Nathan Lukes; left-hander Matt Gage; and catcher Kellin Deglan. Phelps will earn a $1.75MM salary if he makes the club, tweets Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.

Phelps, 35, seemed on his way to an interesting year for the Blue Jays in 2021 until surgery for a lat strain ended his season in May.  Phelps hasn’t pitched 35 innings in a season since 2017, but he has bat-missing ability once fully recovered from surgery.  Phelps’ best year was 2016, when he posted a 2.28 ERA in 86 2/3 innings for the Marlins.

De Leon, 29, was once considered one of the 30 best prospects in all of baseball as a member of the Dodgers organization.  He was dealt to the Rays for Logan Forsythe in January 2017, beginning a four-year period in which he pitched only 12 2/3 innings in the Majors in large part due to March 2018 Tommy John surgery.  The Reds traded for De Leon in November 2019.  Though he made the Reds’ Opening Day rotation this year, De Leon was quickly bumped to the bullpen and was released by July.  The Red Sox picked him up on a minor league deal in August, but he made only two appearances for the club’s Florida Complex League team.

Lawrence, 34, worked 78 2/3 big league innings in 2017-18 for the Blue Jays and Mariners, posting a 6.64 ERA.  He spent 2019 with the Hiroshima Carp, and then landed a minor league deal with the Twins prior to the 2020 season.  He soaked up 86 innings for the Jays’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates in ’21.

Smith, 28, led all of MLB with 46 steals for the Mariners in 2019.  He ranked 23rd in MLB that year in sprint speed, but was unable to recapture the magic of his career-best 2018 season with the Rays.  In that campaign, Smith posted a 118 wRC+ and 3.5 WAR.  After ’18, the Rays traded Smith and Jake Fraley to the Mariners for Mike Zunino, Guillermo Heredia and Michael Plassmeyer.  Smith was booted from the Mariners’ 40-man roster in September 2020, subsequently landing minor league deals with the Mets, Reds, and Blue Jays that have yet to lead to a return to the Majors.

Lukes, Gage, and Deglan do not have Major League experience.  Lukes, a 27-year-old outfielder, posted a 115 wRC+ for the Rays’ Triple-A club this year.  Deglan is a 29-year-old catcher who toiled for the Yankees’ and Blue Jays’ Triple-A clubs in ’21.  Gage, 28, is a lefty reliever who posted a 5.57 ERA for the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A team this season.  He recently found his way to the Venados de Mazatlan in the Mexican Pacific Winter League.

Red Sox Sign Jose De Leon To Minors Contract

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The Red Sox signed right-hander Jose De Leon to a minor league deal earlier this week, as the right-hander announced himself on his Twitter feed.  De Leon was designated for assignment and then released by the Reds two weeks ago.

SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson tweets that the Pirates and Blue Jays also showed interest in De Leon’s services, and it isn’t surprising that multiple teams looked into taking a flier on the righty considering his past status as one of the game’s top pitching prospects.  Unfortunately for De Leon, his development was hampered by a Tommy John surgery that cost him the entire 2018 season, not to mention other injuries.

As a result, De Leon has only 48 Major League innings on his career resume since making his big league debut in September 2016.  De Leon has an unimpressive 8.44 ERA over his brief time in the majors, including an 8.35 ERA over 18 1/3 frames with Cincinnati in 2021.  Control (14.5% walk rate) has been a significant issue, though De Leon is missing a lot of bats with a 27.7% strikeout rate.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom is no stranger to De Leon, as Bloom was working in the Rays’ front office when Tampa Bay acquired the right-hander from the Dodgers back in January 2017.  There’s no risk for the Sox in seeing if their minor league development staff can sharpen up De Leon’s control and turn him into a real bullpen weapon, considering his obvious strikeout ability.

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