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Michael Tonkin

Mets Sign Michael Tonkin

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December 6: Tonkin will earn $1MM, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post.  Feinsand adds that Tonkin’s deal is actually a split contract, so the $1MM salary will be prorated over the time Tonkin spends on the big league roster. Tim Britton of The Athletic relays that Tonkin will make $400K in the minors. The Mets also officially announced the deal today.

December 5: The Mets have signed right-hander Michael Tonkin to a Major League contract, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via X).

After posting a 4.43 ERA over 146 1/3 innings with the Twins from 2013-17, Tonkin didn’t play in the majors until resurfacing with the Braves last season.  The five-year odyssey saw Tonkin pitch in Japan, the Mexican Leagues, the independent Long Island Ducks, and within the affiliated minors with the Braves, Diamondbacks, and Brewers.  That stint with Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate occurred in 2019 when David Stearns was still running the Brewers’ front office, so today’s deal reunites Tonkin with the Mets’ new president of baseball operations.

Tonkin’s return to the big leagues was a success, as he posted a 4.28 ERA over 45 appearances and 80 innings last year.  Atlanta often used Tonkin in a multi-inning capacity, giving him a valuable role on a team that often had to figure out how to patch together innings in the wake of multiple rotation injuries.  A .241 BABIP did provide some help to Tonkin’s efforts, though his 3.87 SIERA was actually lower than his ERA, and his 7.1% walk rate was well above the league average.

Since Tonkin’s peripherals were otherwise pretty lackluster, that could explain why Atlanta opted to non-tender him, despite a modest $1MM arbitration projection.  The Braves were aggressive in moving a lot of arbitration-eligible players who were either obvious non-tenders or only borderline roster candidates for 2024, yet Tonkin didn’t linger in free agency long before catching on with another NL East team.

It would seem like Tonkin’s role in New York will resemble his assignment last year, as he’ll be called on to eat innings for a Mets club that currently has a lot of question marks on the pitching staff.  The Mets signed Luis Severino and have been rumored to be pursuing some big-name talent on the free agent market, yet for now there isn’t much certainty in the rotation beyond Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana.  The return of Edwin Diaz will fill the biggest hole in the Amazins’ bullpen, yet Tonkin will add a necessary long relief option to the mix.  Tonkin joins Austin Adams (who signed a split contact) and minor league signings Cole Sulser, Andre Scrubb, and Kyle Crick as relief signings for the Mets over the last few weeks.

National League Non-Tenders: 11/17/23

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

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

The transactions:

Latest Moves

Earlier

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

Braves Notes: Tonkin, Fried, Ritchie

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The Braves placed right-hander Michael Tonkin on the 15-day injured list today due to a neck strain, with Dylan Dodd called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.  Tonkin’s IL placement is retroactive to May 24.

Tonkin has a 3.42 ERA over 26 1/3 innings out of Atlanta’s bullpen this season, with a solid 5.8% walk rate and a heavy dose of batted-ball luck (.203 BABIP) helping make up for a below-average hard-hit ball rate, as well as a forgettable 18.4% strikeout rate.  It’s still a very respectable showing for a pitcher who last worked in the majors in 2017, as Tonkin had a 4.43 ERA over 146 1/3 innings for the Twins from 2013-17.  After being released in November 2017, Tonkin’s long path back to the Show included stops in Japan, Mexico, independent leagues, and in the farm systems of the Brewers and Diamondbacks before he inked a minor league deal with the Braves prior to the 2022 season.

Dodd allowed four runs in five innings in tonight’s start against the Phillies, which marked the left-hander’s fourth start of the season.  This is the third time the Braves have included the rookie southpaw on the big league roster, as Dodd has gotten some looks due to the ongoing health concerns in Atlanta’s pitching staff.  The Braves have been short-handed in the rotation for more or less the entire season, and that shortage will continue since Kyle Wright and Max Fried are facing extended stints on the injured list.

While Wright was moved to the 60-day IL, Fried remains on the 15-day IL after his initial placement on May 6.  Fried is dealing with a forearm strain, but after a few weeks of shutdown, played catch today for his first bit of throwing since his injury occurred.  It’s still too early in the recovery process to know when Fried might be able to pitch again, but the Braves did have a rough projection of early July for his return, which might represent a best-case scenario.  Given the May 6 placement and early-July estimate, Fried might still get placed on the 60-day IL just as a matter of timing and if the Braves need a 40-man roster spot, so a move to the 60-day wouldn’t necessarily be any hint about Fried’s progress.

In other pitching injury news from deeper within Atlanta’s organization, Baseball America’s Geoff Pontes (Twitter link) reports that JR Ritchie will undergo Tommy John surgery.  As per the procedure’s usual timeline, Ritchie will miss the remainder of the 2023 and probably at least half of the 2024 season, and a recovery setback could put the young righty’s entire 2024 campaign in jeopardy.  Pitching at A-ball this season, Ritchie had a 5.40 ERA over 13 1/3 innings that seems almost entirely due to bad luck, given his enormous .440 BABIP and his incredible 47.2% strikeout rate.

Ritchie was taken 35th overall in the 2022 draft, selected by the Braves with the Competitive Balance Round-A draft pick they acquired from the Royals as part of the Drew Waters trade last July.  A high schooler out of Washington state, Ritchie took an above-slot bonus of $2.4MM (the 35th overall pick had a slot price of $2.0232MM) to start his pro career rather than honor his commitment to UCLA.  MLB Pipeline ranks Ritchie third among all Braves prospects and Baseball America ranks him fourth, with both publications praising the 19-year-old’s arsenal of four quality pitches.  BA’s scouting report felt Ritchie was advanced enough to possibly land in Double-A before the 2023 season was over, but now his Tommy John surgery will throw an unwelcome delay into his career.

Kyle Wright To Begin Season On 15-Day IL; Braves To Use Jared Shuster, Dylan Dodd In Rotation

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10:51AM: In related Braves roster news, right-handers Nick Anderson and Michael Tonkin will both be in the team’s Opening Day bullpen.  (Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was among those to report the news.)  Anderson and Tonkin will take over the roster spots created with Wright and Raisel Iglesias slated to start the year on the IL.

8:59AM: The battle to decide the Braves’ fifth starter has ended in something of a draw, as now both Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd will be making early turns in the rotation.  According to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (Twitter links), Kyle Wright is getting some “extra time” to fully prep for the season in the wake of some shoulder soreness, thus creating an opportunity for both Shuster and Dylan to make starts.  Wright will go onto the 15-day injured list, The Athletic’s David O’Brien notes, but it seems possible that Wright will leave the IL when first eligible.

Wright’s usual offseason routine was interrupted in January when he received a cortisone shot in his right shoulder.  That delayed Wright’s normal plan by roughly three weeks, and he didn’t make his first Spring Training start until last Monday.  The Braves intend to give Wright an outing in minor league spring camp, and then a Triple-A start before bringing him onto the active roster.  Counting the three days of IL backdating, Wright is seemingly in line to make his 2023 debut during the Braves’ series with the Reds from April 10-12.

Atlanta opens its season on March 30, has an off-day on March 31, and then has a game every day until April 13.  This busy early schedule creates an early need for a full rotation, though Bowman writes that Dodd may not officially break camp, as the Braves will wait to call him up until his planned start on April 4 in St. Louis.  That will give Atlanta a little more time in figuring out its 40-man roster maneuverings, as neither Dodd or Shuster are currently on the 40-man.  (Other non-roster invitees like Jesse Chavez, Ehire Adrianza, and Kevin Pillar also look like solid bets to make the team, creating more need for extra space.)

Shuster seemingly has the slight edge over Dodd in the race to stick in the rotation, but now both southpaws will get a further opportunity to audition on the big league stage.  It is a somewhat surprising outcome that didn’t appear to be on the radar when Atlanta started Spring Training, given that Ian Anderson, Bryce Elder, and Michael Soroka were the likeliest contenders to be the fifth starter.  However, Shuster and Dodd both pitched so well that the Braves narrowed the field down to the two rookies, who will each be making their Major League debuts.

Braves Select Michael Tonkin, Seth Elledge

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The Braves announced some roster moves today, selecting the contracts of right-handers Michael Tonkin and Seth Elledge. They also reinstated catcher Manny Piña and righty Huascar Ynoa from the injured list. The 40-man roster is now full.

Both Tonkin and Elledge signed minor league deals with the club last offseason and would have been able to elect minor league free agency today. However, it seems Atlanta was impressed enough by both of their minor league seasons that they wanted to prevent them from getting away and have given each of them spots on the 40-man roster.

Tonkin, 33 next week, got some MLB action with the Twins from 2013 to 2017 but hasn’t made it back to the big leagues since. He has a career 4.43 ERA in 146 1/3 innings from that time. In the years since, he’s bounced around quite a bit, including stints in Japan and with Indy Ball teams. In 2022, he spent the whole season with Triple-A Gwinnett, throwing 48 1/3 innings over 47 appearances. He posted a 3.17 ERA along with excellent rate stats, such as a 36.5% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate and 50% ground ball rate. He’s out of options but the club evidently thinks there’s a chance he can help the big league bullpen next year.

Elledge, 27 in May, got brief MLB stints with the Cardinals in 2020 and 2021, bizarrely throwing exactly 11 2/3 innings and posting a 4.63 ERA in each of those two campaigns. He was designated for assignment and outrighted in October of last year before joining the Braves on a minor league deal. He made 43 appearances for Gwinnett, tossing 46 1/3 innings with a 3.88 ERA. That came with an excellent strikeout rate of 33.7%. Unlike Tonkin, he does have options remaining and can serve as depth in the minor leagues next season.

As for Piña and Ynoa, those moves are formalities as there is no injured list in the offseason, meaning the club had to either reinstate those players or else cut them from the roster entirely. It was around this time last year when Atlanta signed Piña to a two-year deal. Unfortunately, he required season-ending wrist surgery in May after getting into just five games. As for Ynoa, he underwent Tommy John surgery in September and will likely miss the entire 2023 campaign. If he hangs onto his roster spot through the winter, he can spend all of next year on the 60-day IL.

Braves, Michael Tonkin Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Braves have signed reliever Michael Tonkin to a minor league contract, according to his transactions log at MLB.com. The 32-year-old returns to affiliated ball after splitting the 2021 campaign between independent ball and the Mexican League.

Tonkin has 141 big league appearances under his belt. He appeared in the majors with the Twins each season between 2013 and 2017, logging a personal-high 71 2/3 frames of relief in 2016. Tonkin pitched to a 5.02 ERA that season and owns a 4.43 mark overall, with some home run troubles (1.54 HR/9) offsetting passable strikeout and walk rates (23.1% and 8.4%, respectively).

Following the 2017 campaign, Minnesota released Tonkin to pitch in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. The California native worked to a 3.71 ERA across 51 frames with the Nippon-Ham Fighters the following season, then returned to North America on successive minor league deals with the Rangers, Brewers and D-Backs. Tonkin didn’t have a ton of Triple-A success in 2019, and he was cut loose by Arizona during the 2020 pandemic freeze.

Edwin Jackson, Travis Snider Among D-backs’ Minor League Releases

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The D-backs have released more than 60 minor league players over the past couple of weeks, and Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper reports several of the names that were cut loose (Twitter links). Veteran right-hander Edwin Jackson was the most experienced player to be released. Arizona also parted ways with outfielders Travis Snider and Dalton Pompey; right-handers Aaron Blair, Mauricio Cabrera, Damien Magnifico and Michael Tonkin; and lefty David Huff. All have big league experience. Each of the releases technically took place on either May 28 or May 22, per the Pacific Coast League’s transactions page.

Jackson, 36, threw a no-hitter for the Diamondbacks way back in 2010 and returned to the organization on a minor league pact this winter. He split the 2019 campaign between the Blue Jays and Tigers, posting a whopping 9.58 ERA in 67 2/3 frames. Still, Jackson is regarded as a revered clubhouse presence with experience pitching in variety of roles. As recently as 2018, he was a key part of the Athletics’ pitching staff in a season that saw them win 97 games and capture a Wild Card berth; in 92 frames for Oakland that year, Jackson worked to a 3.33 ERA (4.65 FIP) with 6.7 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9. More anecdotally, of course, Jackson famously has pitched for more teams than any other player in MLB history (14).

Snider, perhaps surprisingly to some, is still just 32. He hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since 2015, but the former No. 14 overall pick and ballyhooed top prospect turned in a terrific .294/.402/.497 slash in 93 games with the D-backs’ Triple-A club in Reno last year.

Pompey, Blair and Cabrera were all one-time top prospects themselves. Blair was a first-round pick by the D-backs and was the sometimes-forgotten third piece shipped to the Braves in the Ender Inciarte/Dansby Swanson/Shelby Miller blockbuster. Magnifico and Tonkin both have limited experience in big league bullpens, and Tonkin has had some success both in Nippon Professional Baseball and on the indie ball circuit.

Huff, 35, has spent the past four seasons pitching overseas. After starring for the LG Twins in the Korea Baseball Organization and serving as one of the better arms in the league, he spent two seasons with the Yakult Swallows in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Huff inked a minor league pact in hopes of a big league return this year but like Jackson now faces some uncertainty regarding the next steps in a lengthy career.

Diamondbacks Sign Michael Tonkin

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The Diamondbacks have signed right-hander Michael Tonkin out of the independent Atlantic League, per an announcement Long Island Ducks GM Michael Pfaff (Twitter link). He’ll head to Triple-A Reno for now,

Tonkin, 29, allowed just one earned run with a 31-to-9 K/BB ratio in 26 2/3 innings with the Ducks prior to signing with the D-backs. The 6’7″ righty went to Spring Training with the Rangers organization and latched on with the Brewers late in Spring Training after he didn’t make the cut in Texas. Tonkin headed to Triple-A San Antonio with the Brewers and posted a 4.26 ERA with 14 strikeouts and nine walks in 12 2/3 innings before being cut loose a second time.

Though he hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2017, Tonkin does have experience in parts of five different MLB campaigns — all coming with the Twins from 2013-17. Once a relatively well-regarded bullpen prospect in Minnesota’s system, Tonkin pitched 146 1/3 innings for the Twins in that five-year span, compiling a 4.43 ERA with 9.2 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 1.54 HR/9 and a 39.9 percent ground-ball rate. Tonkin generated more grounders as he rose through the Twins’ ranks, but he favored his four-seamer over his sinker/two-seam fastball in the Majors. He averaged 94 mph on that four-seamer and 83.4 mph on a slider, his primary secondary offering.

Tonkin has been too homer-prone at the big league level to find consistent success, but he has a career 2.55 ERA with 10.6 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 in 173 Triple-A innings. He’ll give the Diamondbacks some additional pitching depth with Yoshihisa Hirano and Robbie Ray on the big league injured list and righties Greg Holland, Zack Godley and Ben Lively no longer in the organization.

Minor MLB Transactions: 3/22/2019

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Here are a few minor moves to round out the day’s transactions …

  • The Brewers announced that they inked reliever Michael Tonkin after he was released by the Rangers earlier today. Tonkin has pitched in parts of five seasons with the Twins and threw last year in Japan. The 29-year-old allowed just two hits and one earned run in his 4 2/3 innings this spring, though that’s obviously quite a limited sample. Tonkin threw 51 innings last year for the Nippon Ham Fighters, carrying a 3.71 ERA with an unsightly (and uncharacteristic) combination of 5.8 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9.
  • Righty Christian Bergman was cut loose by the Cubs, who had signed him in early February. The 30-year-old reliever was knocked around in limited spring action. He carries a 5.59 ERA in 215 2/3 total innings in the big leagues, compiled over the past five seasons.

Roster Notes: Padres, Paddack, Rangers, Cubs, Scahill

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The Padres #5 ranked prospect per MLB.com (#34 overall) is angling to get the nod on Opening Day, per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. Chris Paddack threw four scoreless innings, which included a stretch in which he struck out five consecutive Oakland A’s batters in his most recent spring start. Last season, Paddack made seven starts in Double-A after cruising through High-A, where he notched an eye-popping 14.3 K/9 versus 0.7 BB/9 in 52 1/3 innings. Double-A didn’t slow him much, going 3-2 with a 1.91 ERA in 7 starts, 8.8 K/9 to 1.0 BB/9. Still, from Double-A to an Opening Day start would be quite the jump for the 23-year-old, just a year removed from missing all of 2017 to Tommy John surgery. The competition is fairly wide open, however, as the Padres, by design, brought very little in the way of established talent to camp. Since the offseason departures of veterans Clayton Richard (traded to Blue Jays) and Tyson Ross (signed with Tigers), Robbie Erlin boasts the most experience in the group, and he’s not even a lock to make the rotation. Fellow southpaws Joey Lucchesi and Eric Lauer each have a shot to get the Opening Day nod, as well. Let’s check in on the Rangers’ and Cubs’ camps as teams begin to whittle their spring rosters…

  • The Rangers culled their number of players in camp to 60. Pitchers Taylor Guerrieri, Michael Tonkin, Miguel Del Pozo and Brady Feigl were all assigned to minor league camp, per the Rangers’ executive VP of communications John Blake (via Twitter). Guerrieri, 26, joined the Rangers after making his major league debut last season with the Blue Jays. A former first round pick of the Rays, he was a starter in the minor leagues until missing most of the 2017 season due to injury. Toronto claimed him off waivers before last season, where started 7 games in Triple-A before appearing 9 times out of the Blue Jays pen, pitching to a 5.02 FIP in a small-sample 9 2/3 big league innings. Tonkin, 29, appeared in parts of five seasons for the Twins from 2013 to 2017 with a 4.57 FIP across 141 games. Del Pozo, 26, reached as far as Double-A in the Marlins system before joining the Rangers as a non-roster invitee. While Feigl, 28, is back in the Rangers system where he has pitched for the past two seasons.
  • The Cubs made a number of roster moves today, with promising righties Adbert Alzolay and Jen-Ho Tseng being optioned to Triple-A, while Justin Steele and Oscar De La Cruz were sent to Double-A, per the Athletic’s Patrick Mooney (Twitter links). Also on the move, Duncan Robinson, Ian Clarkin, Colin Rea, Ian Rice, Charcer Burks and Jacob Hannemann are being moved to minor league camp (Twitter link). Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter) adds Craig Brooks, Alberto Baldonado and Evan Marzilli to the list of players headed to minor league camp. The Cubs spring roster has now been cut to 54.
  • Rob Scahill, meanwhile, was released outright by the Cubs, per Mooney (via Twitter). Scahill has pitched at the big league level for parts of seven seasons running, topping out at 31 appearances in 2016 spread between Milwaukee and Pittsburgh. In total, the 32-year-old boasts a career 3.95 ERA (4.67 FIP) in 124 games for Rockies, Pirates, Brewers and White Sox.
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