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.

Catchers

• Alex Jackson (Rays)
• Andrew Knapp (Giants)
• Andrew Knizner (D-Backs)
• Reese McGuire (Red Sox)
• Jakson Reetz (Giants)
• Ali Sánchez (Marlins)
• Brian Serven (Blue Jays)

Infielders

• Diego Castillo (Twins)
• José Devers (Marlins)
• Thairo Estrada (Giants)
• Danny Mendick (White Sox)
• Cole Tucker (Angels)
• Jason Vosler (Mariners)

Outfielders

• Billy McKinney (Pirates)
• Cristian Pache (Marlins)

Designated Hitter

• Willie Calhoun (Angels)

Pitchers

• Phil Bickford (Yankees)
• Ty Blach (Rockies)
• Nick Burdi (Yankees)
• John Curtiss (Rockies)
• Kent Emanuel (Marlins)
• Cole Irvin (Twins)
• Casey Kelly (Reds)
• Matt Koch (Rockies)
• Steven Okert (Twins)
• Yohan Ramírez (Red Sox)
• Gerardo Reyes (A’s)
• Trevor Richards (Twins)
• Ryder Ryan (Pirates)
• Kirby Snead (Mariners)
• Touki Toussaint (White Sox)
• Tanner Tully (Yankees)
• Jordan Weems (Nationals)
• Mitch White (Brewers)

In either case, the 33-year-old southpaw will likely be a free agent during the offseason. Blach has more than enough service time to qualify for minor league free agency after the season even if he reports to Triple-A Albuquerque for the time being. If the Rox were to call him back up in the final couple weeks, they’d likely waive or non-tender him at the start of the winter.

The sides might work out another minor league deal going into next season. The Denver native has spent the past three seasons bouncing on and off the roster. He has started 12 of 20 appearances this year, allowing an earned run average near 7.00. Blach has yet to post an ERA below 5.54 in any of his three seasons in Colorado. Still, the organization has valued his willingness to work out of the rotation or in long relief and has retained him as a depth arm. He owns a 6.13 ERA across 193 2/3 innings in a Rox uniform.

Blach has pitched well this year in a limited stint in Albuquerque. He has managed a 2.48 ERA through 32 2/3 innings despite the extremely hitter-friendly setting. While he’s never going to miss many bats, Blach throws a ton of strikes and has kept the ball on the ground at a strong 54.2% clip in Triple-A.

Blach, 33, now wraps up his second stint on the big league roster with the Rockies this season. He’s generally performed poorly in 71 1/3 innings of work with the club this year with a 6.94 ERA and 6.28 FIP in 20 appearances, 12 of which were starts. A fifth-round pick by the Giants back in 2012, Blach found some success as a decent swing man with San Francisco early in his career. Over his first three seasons in the big leagues from 2016 to 2018, Blach pitched to a 4.36 ERA (93 ERA+) with a 4.14 FIP in 299 1/3 innings of work spread across 85 appearances and 39 starts. Overall, Blach posted a 4.56 ERA and 4.23 FIP in a Giants uniform but suffered through five disastrous starts with the Orioles after being shipped to the club in 2019. Those wound up being the last appearances he’d make at the big league level until he resurfaced with the Rockies back in 2022.

When the lefty signed a minor league deal with the Rockies back in 2022, that kicked off a string of what has now become three seasons where the veteran journeyman has bounced between Triple-A and the majors for the club. While he generally hasn’t pitched well for the Rockies, with a career 6.13 ERA (78 ERA+) and 5.46 FIP that are below average even for a hurler who calls Coors Field home, he’s served as a veteran depth option that has allowed the Rockies to avoid rushing young, promising pitchers to the big leagues amid the club’s number of rotation injuries in recent years. Going forward, Blach will have the opportunity to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency should he clear waivers.

Blach’s departure from the active roster makes room for the return of Vodnik. The 24-year-old hurler made his big league debut in Colorado last year as he struggled through a six-game cup of coffee, but quickly entered the club’s late inning mix this year. In 64 2/3 innings of work this year, Vodnik has impressed with a respectable 4.04 ERA (115 ERA+) and 3.91 FIP while collecting nine saves. Though Vodnik sports a strikeout rate of just 20.2% this year, he’s generated grounders at an impressive 52.9% clip that’s left him with a 4.19 SIERA, third-best among all Rockies pitchers with at least 40 innings of work this year. The hard-throwing right-hander was sidelined late last month by a bout of biceps inflammation but now that he’s returned, he figures to slot back into the club’s late inning mix alongside closer Tyler Kinley.

Blach, 33, pitched 63 2/3 innings for the Rockies earlier this year, his seventh season in the majors and third consecutive year as a member of the Rockies. Prior to his time with Colorado, Blach was a fifth-round pick by the Giants in the 2012 draft and acted as a swing man for San Francisco from 2016 to 2019 before being traded to Baltimore midway through the 2019 campaign. Blach posted a 4.56 ERA and 4.23 FIP in a Giants uniform but suffered through five disastrous starts with the Orioles that wound up being the last appearances he’d make at the big league level until he resurfaced with the Rockies back in 2022.

During his tenure with the club, Blach has been shuttled between Triple-A and the majors regularly with a cumulative 5.90 ERA and 5.25 FIP in 186 innings of work. It’s been more of the same of those lackluster results this year, as he struggled to a 6.36 ERA with a 5.75 FIP in 18 appearances (including ten starts) before being designated for assignment just before the trade deadline last month. With Quantrill unable to take the ball and potentially ticketed for a stint on the injured list, however, it seems that the Rockies are now left to call upon Blach once again to eat innings for the club down the stretch.

As for Quantrill, it’s not yet entirely clear whether or not the right-hander will require a trip to the shelf, or if the club hopes that merely skipping his turn through the rotation will allow him to return to the mound next time up. Quantrill was a speculative trade target for pitching-needy clubs at the deadline last month due to his solid results (4.09 ERA in 21 starts) and the fact that the Rockies are reportedly uninterested in retaining the right-hander long term, but no deal ultimately came together involving the righty. Perhaps that’s for the best in the eyes of his potential suitors, as Quantrill has posted a brutal 7.23 ERA and 6.64 FIP in five starts since the trade deadline. That brutal stretch has caused his ERA to shoot up to 4.64 while his FIP has ballooned to 5.04, both well below league average figures, though perhaps his current triceps issue provides some level of explanation for the sudden struggles.

Blach, 33, has pitched in parts of seven MLB seasons and spent each of the past three years with the Rockies. He’s split time between the bullpen and the rotation in a swing role ever since the club selected him to the roster back in April but has struggled badly in the role with a 6.36 ERA and a 5.72 FIP in 63 2/3 innings of work. While Blach has walked just 5.4% of batters, he’s struck opponents out at a paltry 11.5% clip and has struggled badly to keep the ball in the park with nearly two homers allowed per nine innings this year. Those numbers are worse than even his prior difficult seasons with Colorado, where he posted a combined 5.66 ERA with a 4.99 FIP in 122 1/3 innings of work between the 2022 and ’23 campaigns.

While the lefty was once a solid swingman for the Giants early in his career, posting a 4.36 ERA and 4.14 FIP in 299 1/3 innings of work from his debut in 2016 to the end of the 2018 season, he’s struggled to keep a role in the big leagues since then with a cumulative 6.81 ERA in 51 appearances from 2019 onwards. Assuming the Rockies don’t work out a trade involving Blach prior to the upcoming deadline on Tuesday, they’ll attempt to pass him through waivers at some point in the next seven days. Should he go unclaimed, they’ll have the opportunity to outright him to Triple-A, though he could reject that assignment in favor of free agency should he so choose.

Joining the 40-man roster in Blach’s place is Curtiss, who already appeared in a Rockies uniform for the first time earlier this year. The righty appeared in a game between Colorado and Philadelphia back in May but struggled badly in the appearance, allowing two runs on three hits while recording just one out. Prior to that earlier stint on Colorado’s 40-man roster, Curtiss was a journeyman reliever who had previously pitched for the Twins, Angels, Rays, Marlins, Brewers, and Mets across parts of six seasons in the majors. He’s mostly posted solid results in that time with a 3.81 ERA and 3.98 FIP in 106 1/3 innings of work entering the 2024 season.

Most of that success came in Florida, as he posted an excellent 1.80 ERA in 25 innings with the AL champion Rays during the shortened 2020 season before heading to Miami in 2021 and delivering a 2.48 ERA in 40 frames for the club that year. He’s struggled since leaving the south, however, with eight runs (six earned) allowed during a 4 1/3 inning stint with Milwaukee late in the 2021 campaign and a 4.58 ERA in 15 appearances for the Mets last year before his rough outing with the Rockies back in May. Going forward, Curtiss seems likely to be used in middle relief alongside Bird, Peter Lambert, and Justin Lawrence for the Rockies.

Lambert opened the season in relief. He tossed 11 2/3 innings of three-run ball behind a 61.3% ground-ball percentage over the season’s first few weeks. Colorado gave him another look as a starter when they lost Kyle Freeland to the injured list. Lambert has started three of his past four outings and been hit much harder than he was early in the year. The 27-year-old righty didn’t make it out of the fourth inning in any of his appearances. He allowed at least four runs in all three starts, including a seven-run showing against the Giants on Wednesday.

A former second-round pick, Lambert has generally struggled over the past few seasons. He started 11 of 25 outings last year, allowing 5.36 earned runs per nine. Lambert actually fared much better as a starter than he did in relief in 2023, but that has been flipped this season.

Colorado’s pitching has been below-average in all respects. The bullpen entered play Friday ranked 25th in MLB with a 4.67 ERA. The starting staff has had an even tougher time, sporting an MLB-worst 6.17 earned run average. Even in the context of the game’s toughest home environment for pitchers, that’s subpar production. The Rockies are the only team with a single-digit win total. They enter tonight’s game against the Rangers at 9-28.

Blach, 33, is in his third season with his hometown club. He cracked the big league roster on April 21 after signing a minor league contract over the winter. The soft-tossing southpaw has done a decent job in the early going, allowing only five runs through 13 innings in a long relief role. Blach isn’t going to miss many bats, but he’s not afraid to attack the strike zone and has at least had some success this year. He started 13 of 20 big league outings last season, surrendering a 5.54 ERA through 78 innings.

Blach, 33, gears up for his seventh season in the majors and his third consecutive campaign in a Rockies uniform. The veteran southpaw was a fifth-round pick by the Giants in the 2012 draft and made his big league debut back in 2016. Over parts of four seasons in San Francisco, Blach proved to be a valuable swing man for the Giants with a 4.56 ERA (89 ERA+) and a 4.23 FIP in 87 appearances with the club, 39 of which were starts. Partway through the 2019 season, however, Blach was designated for assignment by the club and claimed off waivers by the Orioles. The lefty made five starts in Baltimore but struggled badly with an 11.32 ERA in 20 2/3 innings of work.

Blach found himself outrighted off the Orioles roster shortly thereafter but re-signed with the club on a minor league deal during the 2019-20 offseason. It appeared possible that Blach could make it back to the big leagues in Baltimore at some point during the 2020 campaign, but the season was shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic and Blach ultimately underwent Tommy John surgery in July of that year, just before the abbreviated campaign began. Blach remained with the Orioles on a minor league pact in 2021 and spent the season rehabbing in the minor leagues. He didn’t make it back to the big leagues before the end of the season but looked good in 16 appearances at the lower levels of the minors.

That performance was enough to earn Blach a look from the Rockies on a minor league deal prior to the 2022 season. It was the first of three consecutive minor league deals with the club and he’s been called up to the big league roster early in the season each year since. The lefty has returned to his familiar role as a swingman in Colorado with a 5.66 ERA (89 ERA+) with a 4.99 FIP in 44 appearances, 14 of which were starts. While with the Rockies, Blach has seen his velocity tick up slightly, though his 90.1 mph average on his fastball is still well below the league average and his 14.5% strikeout rate over the last two years leaves much to be desired.

Nonetheless, he’ll once again be an option for the Rockies in a long relief role or perhaps at the back of the club’s rotation. In the near-term, he’ll provide the club with a multi-inning relief option in today’s doubleheader against the Mariners alongside Noah Davis, who has struggled to a career ERA of 9.00 in 31 innings of work at the big league level since first debuting with Colorado back in 2022.

Geography surely plays a role in that decision, as Blach is a Denver native. He’s clearly comfortable with the Rox, as this marks a third straight offseason in which he has inked a minor league deal. Blach reached the majors early in each of the last two seasons. He logged 44 1/3 innings of 5.89 ERA ball in 2022 before tallying 78 frames — the third-highest workload of his career — last season. Blach allowed 5.54 earned runs per nine at the MLB level, leading Colorado to outright him from the 40-man roster at the beginning of the offseason.

The Rox will keep him around as a non-roster depth option. Blach doesn’t throw hard, averaging 89.3 MPH on his sinker this year. He has never missed many bats as a result, but the Creighton product has strong control. Blach has walked a little over 7% of opponents in his MLB career. He kept that to a 6.8% rate in the majors last season and handed out free passes to just 6% of batters faced at Triple-A Albuquerque. Blach posted a 4.40 ERA over 30 2/3 Triple-A innings, deceptively solid results in one of the toughest environments for pitchers in affiliated ball.

Now 33, Blach will look to earn a long relief or back-end rotation spot. Colorado only has three pitchers — Kyle Freeland, Cal Quantrill and Austin Gomber — who seem to have an inside track at a rotation spot. The front office will surely add more starting pitching options this offseason, but Blach’s ability to work multiple innings has gotten him extended run on Bud Black’s pitching staff two years running.

OCTOBER 18: The Rockies have outrighted three players off the 40-man roster, per their transactions tracker at MLB.com. Right-handers Karl Kauffmann and Matt Koch and southpaw Ty Blach all went unclaimed. The latter two will have the opportunity to test free agency. Kauffmann will remain in the organization without holding a 40-man spot.

Blach is the most well-known of the three. The former Giants starter has pitched parts of two seasons with his hometown club in Colorado. He threw 44 1/3 innings of 5.89 ERA ball a year ago and logged 78 innings across 20 appearances (including 13 starts) while allowing 5.54 earned runs per nine this year. The strike-throwing southpaw kept his walks to a modest 6.8% clip but struck out a below-average 14.2% of opponents.

With between three and four years of service, Blach would have been eligible for arbitration this winter. A projected $1.8MM salary always made a non-tender seem likely. The outright serves as an early equivalent. It’s possible the Rox could try to re-sign him on a minor league pact.

Koch inked a non-roster deal over the winter. Colorado selected him onto the major league team in June. The 32-year-old (33 next month) wound up logging 38 2/3 innings over 39 appearances down the stretch. He pitched to a 5.12 ERA with a modest 16.6% strikeout rate but an excellent 5.5% walk percentage. The former third-round pick has pitched in parts of six major league campaigns. This was his longest stint since he started 14 games for the 2018 Diamondbacks.

The Rockies selected Kauffmann with the 77th pick in the 2019 draft. The Michigan product made his debut this year, pitching 35 innings over 11 appearances. His initial look at big league hitters didn’t go well, as he allowed an 8.23 ERA with matching 10.1% strikeout and walk rates. Kauffmann spent the majority of the season at Triple-A Albuquerque. He started 19 games in that extremely hitter-friendly setting, posting a 6.43 ERA over 92 1/3 innings.

Colorado has taken six players off the roster since the regular season concluded. Barring additional changes in the next few weeks, their 40-man count will sit at 36 at the start of the offseason.

Alfaro spent a little over two weeks on the Colorado roster. The Rockies signed the veteran backstop to a minor league deal on June 10 and selected his contract five days later. Colorado has run a three-catcher system since then, keeping Austin Wynns and Alfaro on the bench behind Elias Díaz. Alfaro picked up 32 plate appearances, slumping to a .161/.188/.387 line with 12 strikeouts and zero walks.

Colorado will stick with Díaz and Wynns as the MLB tandem. Brian Serven is also on the 40-man roster and on optional assignment to Triple-A Albuquerque. Colorado will trade Alfaro or put him on waivers within the next week. If he clears waivers, he’ll have the ability to head back to free agency based on his MLB service time.

That seems the likeliest outcome. Alfaro hasn’t had much major league success of late, hitting .239/.279/.360 with a 34.2% strikeout rate through 717 plate appearances since the start of 2020. The Colombian-born backstop has had an excellent season in Triple-A, though, putting up a .323/.366/.524 line between the Red Sox’s and Rockies’ top affiliates.

Bryant returns to the MLB roster, which the club had suggested yesterday. The former MVP is hitting second and back in right field tonight against Detroit righty Michael Lorenzen. He missed a month with a left heel contusion, the second straight season he’s been bothered by a foot issue. Bryant is hitting .263/.346/.374 in his second season in Denver.

Blach returns to the big leagues two months after clearing waivers. The 32-year-old made six relief appearances in April, allowing 13 runs in 11 innings. He has pitched reasonably well in Albuquerque, working to a 4.40 ERA over 30 2/3 innings in an extraordinarily tough environment for pitchers. Blach doesn’t throw hard or miss many bats; he’s a control specialist who induced grounders at a quality 54.6% clip for the Isotopes this season. He’ll offer skipper Bud Black a long relief option for the middle innings.

Blach spent the 2022 campaign in Colorado. The Denver native first signed with his hometown franchise going into last year and made the MLB roster in the season’s first week. He bounced between the majors and Triple-A, working 44 1/3 innings of 5.89 ERA ball at the highest level. At year’s end, Colorado outrighted him and sent him to free agency. Blach returned on a minor league pact a couple months into the offseason and earned another MLB job out of Spring Training.

The 32-year-old southpaw appeared in six games through the season’s first month. He tossed 11 innings, allowing 13 runs (10 earned) with four strikeouts and two walks. While Blach has never been one to miss many bats, this year’s 4.6% swinging strike percentage was the lowest of his career. Colorado took him off the roster over the weekend when Randal Grichuk returned from the injured list.

Blach has now appeared in parts of six big league campaigns. Between the Giants, Orioles and Rockies, he carries a 5.19 ERA in 381 2/3 innings. Most of his early-career work was out of the rotation but he’s pitched primarily in shorter stints since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2020.

Grichuk underwent surgery in early February to correct a bilateral sports hernia, and the outfielder’s recovery sidelined him through all of Spring Training. As a result, Grichuk spent the first month of the season in extended spring camp and then an eight-game minor league rehab assignment at Triple-A Albuquerque. Though Grichuk has struggled to a meager .288 OPS over 36 Triple-A plate appearances, he is apparently healthy and the Rockies feel he’s ready to return to the big league lineup.

Acquired in a trade with the Blue Jays in March 2022, Grichuk hit .259/.299/.425 with 19 homers over 538 PA with Colorado last season. Between the lack of offense (88 wRC+) and mixed reviews on his defense in right and center field, Grichuk was below the replacement-level line in 2022, with -0.2 fWAR.

Assuming everyone stays healthy, Grichuk likely won’t be getting regular at-bats this season. Kris Bryant and Jurickson Profar have gotten most of the corner outfield work, and the Rockies are giving Charlie Blackmon the occasional start in the corners when he isn’t a DH. Yonathan Daza is currently dealing with a hand injury, so center field might be an avenue for Grichuk to garner some playing time until Daza is better.

Just like in 2022, Blach signed a minor league deal with the Rockies in the offseason and then earned a spot on the Opening Day roster. While Blach didn’t fare too well (5.89 ERA in 44 1/3 innings) in a long relief role last season, things have been even rougher this year, as Blach has allowed at least one run in five of his six outings en route to an 8.18 ERA over 11 innings.

If Blach clears waivers and is outrighted off Colorado’s 40-man roster, he has the ability to reject that assignment and become a free agent. Should he not want to test the open market again, Blach could accept the outright assignment and remain at Triple-A as bullpen depth.

In addition, the Rockies are set to select the contract of left-hander Ty Blach, sources tell MLBTR’s Steve Adams. Allentuck adds that infielder Harold Castro will also be on Colorado’s Opening Day roster, and that Brendan Rodgers, Sean Bouchard, and Ryan Rolison were moved to the 60-day IL to clear 40-man roster space for Moustakas, Blach, and Castro.

Over twelve seasons as a big leaguer, Moustakas has proven to be a roughly league-average bat with a career slash line of .247/.308/.434 (97 wRC+). That being said, he was an above average regular from 2015 to 2020, as he slashed .262/.326/.490 with a wRC+ of 113 in 661 games for the Royals, Brewers, and Reds. The past two seasons have been difficult for Moustakas, however. In 140 games between 2021 and 2022, Moustakas has struck out in 24.6% of plate appearances, a significant leap from his career 16.8% rate. Between that strikeout rate and a dip in slugging (his .145 ISO from 2021-2022 is a step back from his career level of .187), it’s no surprise that the aging slugger struggled to a wRC+ of just 73 the past two seasons.

Despite his struggles, the Rockies decided to take a chance on Moustakas following Rodgers’s shoulder injury this spring, which will likely cause him to miss the 2023 campaign. Moustakas figures to be the everyday third baseman for the Rockies, with Ryan McMahon sliding over to second to cover for the injured Rodgers.

With top prospect Ezequiel Tovar entrenched at shortstop, Castro appears set to play for the Rockies in a utility role this season. Such a role is familiar to Castro, who has played every position on the diamond except catcher during his career. Since debuting with the Tigers in 2018, Castro has appeared in 351 games, slashing .284/.309/.377 for a wRC+ of 88, just below the league average of 100. Despite that mediocre slash line, Castro still provides a versatile lefty bat off the bench for the Rockies.

Blach, meanwhile, figures to slot into a long relief role for the Rockies. With 370 2/3 career major league innings under his belt, Blach has a 5.10 ERA, good for an ERA+ of just 82, though his 4.35 FIP and a strand rate of just 55.4% in 71 1/3 innings since the start of the 2019 season indicate there may be bad luck baked into his run prevention numbers. With his first season following Tommy John surgery in 2020 under his belt, the 32 year-old Blach will look to bounceback into the swing role he held for the Giants from 2016 until 2019.

Blach returns for a second season with the Rox. A Denver native, he signed a non-roster pact last winter. The veteran made the Opening Day roster and spent the year as a long relief option for skipper Bud Black. Blach threw 44 1/3 innings across 24 appearances, working to a 5.89 ERA. He only struck out 15% of opponents but walked a minuscule 5.7% of batters faced and put up a decent 43% ground-ball rate. At the end of the season, Colorado ran him through outright waivers. He elected minor league free agency but has now circled back to Colorado for another year.

The 32-year-old has never been overpowering. Blach sits in the low-90s with his fastball and doesn’t miss many bats. He’s typically shown solid control and kept the ball on the ground over parts of five big league campaigns. Blach had a fair bit of run as a starting pitcher with the division-rival Giants between 2017-18. It’s possible he gets a look as rotation depth or battles for the kind of multi-inning role out of the bullpen he had last season.

It’s a similar story with Rogers. As with Blach, he’s a soft-tossing control specialist. Rogers has pitched at the MLB level in four of the last five seasons. He spent his first two campaigns with the Orioles, starting three of eight appearances. After not reaching the majors in 2020, he returned late in 2021 with the Nationals. Rogers posted a 3.28 ERA over six starts for a rebuilding Washington club late in the year, securing his spot on the 40-man roster over the following offseason.

The 28-year-old returned to Washington last season but didn’t recapture his prior year’s success. Working out of the bullpen for all but three of his 16 outings, he allowed a 5.13 ERA through 26 1/3 frames. His 10.6% strikeout rate narrowly topped his 9.7% walk percentage and he surrendered just over two homers per nine innings. Washington let him go shortly after the trade deadline.

Rogers hooked on with the Marlins on a minor league pact after that. He got the ball nine times with their top affiliate in Jacksonville, putting up a 4.75 ERA across 47 1/3 frames. Miami never gave him a big league look, and he returned to free agency at season’s end. He’ll join Blach in serving as rotation or long relief depth with Colorado.

A former Giants starter, Blach inked a minor league deal with his hometown Rockies over the offseason. He made Colorado’s roster out of Spring Training and pitched in long relief. Blach soaked up 44 1/3 mostly low-leverage innings for the Rox, posting a 5.89 ERA. The soft-tossing southpaw only struck out 15% of batters faced but had an excellent 5.7% walk rate and a useful 43% grounder rate. He has between three and four years of big league service and would’ve been eligible for arbitration this offseason. Blach was only projected for an $800K salary, but the Rox will reallocate his roster spot.

Olivarez has never pitched in the big leagues. Colorado selected him onto the 40-man roster over the 2020-21 offseason to keep him being taken in the Rule 5 draft. The hard-throwing southpaw had been a quality prospect during his early days in the farm system, but he managed only a 6.05 ERA in 99 2/3 High-A innings in 2021. He spent almost all of this year on the injured list with a shoulder strain.

Bernard is a minor league veteran who began his professional career a decade ago. He made his MLB debut at age 32 this August, earning the long-awaited call after a .333/.387/.590 showing in Triple-A. He started 10 games in the big leagues and collected 12 hits in 42 at-bats, but he didn’t draw a walk and only managed one extra-base hit (a double).

Blach and Bernard have the right to refuse an outright assignment in favor of minor league free agency. Olivarez, on the other hand, will stick in the organization for 2023 and look to work his way back onto the 40-man roster.