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Vinny Nittoli

Cubs, Vinny Nittoli Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs and free agent right-hander Vinny Nittoli are in agreement on a minor league deal with an invite to big league Spring Training, tweets USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The Gaeta Sports Management client would earn a $775K salary in the big leagues. The Phillies designated Nittoli for assignment last week and released him a couple days ago, but he’ll only have a brief stay on the free-agent market.

The 32-year-old Nittoli made his big league debut in 2021 when he tossed an inning for the Mariners, capping off an eight-year grind to the big leagues. The former 25th-rounder spent the 2022 season with three different organizations, logging time with the Triple-A affiliates for the Yankees, Blue Jays and Phillies. He reached the Majors with Philadelphia in September, tossing a pair of scoreless innings out of their bullpen in the season’s final month.

In 52 innings between those three Triple-A clubs, Nittoli turned in a 3.81 ERA with a stout 30.8% strikeout rate and a similarly impressive 6.7% walk rate. He’s not a flamethrower, as his average 93 mph heater in the big leagues has been about a half mile per hour slower than the leaguewide average. That said, Nittoli still has plus strikeout and walk rates throughout his minor league career, including parts of three Triple-A seasons. He also has a minor league option year remaining, so if the Cubs select him to the 40-man roster at any point, he can be shuttled between Iowa and Chicago in 2023 without needing to first clear waivers.

The Cubs have had a quiet offseason on the bullpen front, which is line with recent trends for them. The front office has generally eschewed large-scale, costly additions since the ill-fated signing of Craig Kimbrel. Thus far, Chicago’s lone big league addition has been a one-year, $2.8MM deal for veteran Brad Boxberger. Nittoli, meanwhile, will join a growing list of non-roster invitees hoping to win a spot in a generally inexperienced Cubs ’pen; Chicago has also added right-hander Nick Neidert and southpaws Ryan Borucki, Roenis Elias and Eric Stout on non-roster deals this winter.

Phillies Release Vinny Nittoli

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The Phillies announced Tuesday afternoon that reliever Vinny Nittoli has been released. He’d lost his spot on the 40-man roster last week once the Phils acquired Erich Uelmen from the Cubs.

Assuming he clears release waivers, Nittoli will head to the free agent market. He’s bounced around a bit on minor league contracts over the past year-plus. After making his MLB debut with the Mariners in 2021, the righty went on to ink successive non-roster contracts with the Twins, Yankees and Blue Jays. He logged Triple-A time with all three clubs without reaching the majors.

Nittoli was set to exercise an opt-out clause in his deal with Toronto last August. Philadelphia jumped in to acquire him, immediately adding him to their MLB roster. The Phils gave him two big league appearances down the stretch, in which he tossed a pair of scoreless innings.

The 32-year-old has three MLB outings under his belt over the past couple seasons. He averaged just under 93 MPH on his fastball while leaning primarily on a slider during his brief look with the Phils. He’s coming off a solid year in Triple-A, where he posted a 3.81 ERA with a quality 30.8% strikeout percentage and a meager 6.7% walk rate over 52 frames. He’ll be a depth option for teams looking to add some upper level relief help, likely via minor league deal with a non-roster Spring Training invitation.

Phillies Acquire Erich Uelmen, Designate Vinny Nittoli

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The Phillies have acquired right-hander Erich Uelmen from the Cubs in exchange for cash and opened a spot on the roster by designating fellow right-hander Vinny Nittoli for assignment, per a team announcement. Uelmen was designated for assignment by the Cubs when they finalized their deal to re-sign southpaw Drew Smyly.

Uelmen, 26, made his big league debut with the Cubs in 2022, pitching to a 4.67 ERA with a 17.2% strikeout rate against a 9.8% walk rate in 27 innings. He averaged 93.8 mph on his heater, generally kept the ball in the yard (1.00 HR/9) and posted an above-average 47.6% ground-ball rate in that time.

That marked the continuation of a solid showing in Triple-A, where Uelmen tossed 42 innings with a 2.79 ERA and a huge 55.3% ground-ball rate. He also fanned 29.1% of his opponents in Triple-A, but Uelmen’s 12.8% walk rate clearly left plenty to be desired. He has a full slate of three minor league option years remaining, and he was dominant against fellow right-handers in 2022, limiting them to a .206/.282/.326 output.

Lefties had more success at .234/.390/.318, but if he can rein in his command, Uelmen could be a serviceable option against hitters from both sides of the plate. That’s easier said than done, of course, and Uelmen has walked 11.2% of the batters he’s faced in Double-A, Triple-A and the Majors combined.

Nittoli, 32, reached the Majors for the first time in 2021 when he tossed one inning for the Mariners. It was a tiny sample but a notable one for the former 25th-round pick, as it capped off an eight-year grind to the big league level. He split the 2022 season between the Yankees, Blue Jays and Phillies organizations, with Toronto flipping him to Philadelphia in an August swap. The Phils selected Nittoli to the Majors when rosters expanded on Sept. 1 and got a pair of scoreless innings out of him during his brief time with the big league squad.

Nittoli posted a 3.81 ERA in 52 innings between the Triple-A affiliates for the Yankees, Jays and Phillies in 2022, whiffing 30.8% of his opponents against a tidy 6.7% walk rate. He still has a minor league option year remaining, and the Phillies will now have a week to trade him or place him on outright waivers.

Every Team’s Initial September Call-Ups

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Each season as the calendar flips to September, we see a flurry of transactions around Major League Baseball. Active roster sizes jump from 26 to 28 for the season’s final month, with teams permitted to bring up no more than one additional pitcher. We’ve already covered a host of transactions with 40-man roster implications throughout the day at MLBTR. Here’s a full round-up of teams’ initial September roster moves.

American League West

Houston Astros:

Los Angeles Angels:

Oakland Athletics

Seattle Mariners

  • Reinstated LHP Matthew Boyd from 60-day injured list
  • Recalled OF Taylor Trammell from Triple-A Tacoma
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Texas Rangers

  • Selected contract of RHP Jesus Tinoco from Triple-A Round Rock
  • Recalled OF Nick Solak from Triple-A Round Rock
  • Corresponding move: Transferred RHP Josh Sborz to 60-day injured list

American League Central

Chicago White Sox

  • Recalled OF Adam Haseley from Triple-A Charlotte
  • Recalled RHP Matt Foster from Triple-A Charlotte
  • Corresponding move: None required

Cleveland Guardians

Detroit Tigers

Kansas City Royals

  • Selected contract of RHP Daniel Mengden from Triple-A Omaha
  • Recalled OF Nate Eaton from Triple-A Omaha
  • Corresponding move: None required

Minnesota Twins

  • Added LHP Austin Davis (previously claimed off waivers from Red Sox) to active roster
  • Selected contract of OF Billy Hamilton from Triple-A St. Paul
  • Corresponding move: Transferred OF Trevor Larnach to 60-day injured list

American League East

Baltimore Orioles

  • Selected contract of 1B Jesus Aguilar from Triple-A Norfolk
  • Recalled LHP DL Hall from Triple-A Norfolk
  • Corresponding move: Designated INF Richie Martin for assignment

Boston Red Sox

New York Yankees

  • Recalled SS Oswald Peraza from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
  • Activated INF Marwin Gonzalez from paternity list
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Tampa Bay Rays

  • Reinstated RHP Matt Wisler from the 15-day injured list
  • Recalled INF Jonathan Aranda from Triple-A Durham
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Toronto Blue Jays

  • Recalled RHP Casey Lawrence from Triple-A Buffalo
  • Added OF Bradley Zimmer (claimed off waivers from Phillies this week) to active roster
  • Corresponding moves: None required

National League West

Arizona Diamondbacks

Colorado Rockies

  • Recalled INF Alan Trejo from Triple-A Albuquerque
  • Recalled RHP Chad Smith from Triple-A Albuquerque
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Los Angeles Dodgers

  • Reinstated LHP Clayton Kershaw from 15-day injured list
  • Recalled 3B Miguel Vargas from Triple-A Oklahoma City
  • Corresponding moves: None required

San Diego Padres

  • Recalled INF Matt Beaty from Triple-A El Paso
  • Recalled RHP Reiss Knehr from Triple-A El Paso
  • Corresponding moves: None required

San Francisco Giants

National League Central

Chicago Cubs

  • Selected contract of RHP Jeremiah Estrada from Triple-A Iowa
  • Recalled INF David Bote from Triple-A Iowa
  • Corresponding move: Transferred Wade Miley from 15-day injured list to 60-day injured list

Cincinnati Reds

Milwaukee Brewers

  • Recalled RHP Luis Perdomo from Triple-A Nashville
  • Recalled OF Esteury Ruiz from Triple-A Nashville
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Pittsburgh Pirates

  • Recalled RHP Johan Oviedo from Triple-A Indianapolis
  • Recalled OF Calvin Mitchell from Triple-A Indianapolis
  • Corresponding moves: None required

St. Louis Cardinals

  • Selected contract of OF Ben DeLuzio from Triple-A Memphis
  • Recalled RHP James Naile from Triple-A Memphis
  • Corresponding moves: None required

National League East

Atlanta Braves

  • Reinstated IF Orlando Arcia from 10-day injured list
  • Added recently-claimed RHP Jesse Chavez to active roster
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Miami Marlins*

New York Mets

Philadelphia Phillies

  • Selected contract of RHP Vinny Nittoli from Triple-A Lehigh Valley
  • Recalled C Donny Sands from Triple-A Lehigh Valley
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Washington Nationals

  • Recalled C Tres Barrera from Triple-A Rochester
  • Recalled RHP Mason Thompson from Triple-A Rochester
  • Corresponding moves: None required

*Marlins moves reported by Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link)

Phillies Acquire Vinny Nittoli From Blue Jays

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10:38AM: The Phillies have announced the trade, with minor league catcher Karl Ellison heading to the Blue Jays in exchange for Nittoli.  Ellison was an undrafted player who played in independent leagues in 2019 and 2021 before signing with the Phils organization this year for his first season of affiliated baseball.  The 27-year-old Ellison has hit .123/.235/.192 over 150 combined plate appearances at the high-A and Triple-A levels this season.

10:13AM: The Phillies have acquired right-hander Vinny Nittoli from the Blue Jays, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link).  Nittoli hasn’t been on a big league roster or injured list all season, and is thus eligible to be dealt after the August 2 trade deadline.  Adding Nittoli now makes him eligible for possible inclusion on Philadelphia’s postseason roster, and Passan writes that the Phils will promote the righty to the majors tomorrow when rosters expand.

Reports surfaced a few days ago that Nittoli was planning to exercise an opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Jays, though today was his opt-out date, and Toronto dealt Nittoli before he could exercise the clause.  The 31-year-old Nittoli was only in the Jays organization for a little over a month, as he inked a minor league deal with Toronto after opting out of another minors contract with the Yankees.

While the trade means that Nittoli won’t get to choose his next destination as a free agent, he’ll still achieve his end goal of making it back to a Major League roster.  He’ll also return to Pennsylvania, after playing his high school ball in Gibsonia before heading to Xavier University and being a 25th-round pick for the Mariners in the 2014 draft.

Though Nittoli’s career first took him through the Blue Jays and Diamondbacks farm system, and a stint in independent baseball, his MLB debut took place back in a Mariners uniform, as he tossed one inning for Seattle last season.  The M’s released him in August 2021, leading to Nittoli bouncing around to the Twins, Yankees, and back to the Jays in search of another opportunity in the Show.

Nittoli has had a good season at Triple-A, with a 3.30 ERA, 7.61% walk rate, and 32.06% strikeout rate over 46 1/3 combined innings with the Blue Jays and Yankees’ top affiliates.  A lack of consistent Triple-A success might have been what prevented Nittoli from getting a longer look in the majors in the past, but he’ll now get at least some kind of stint with a Phillies team in the midst of a playoff race.

Seranthony Dominguez is still going to miss at least another week or two on the injured list, thus putting the Phillies on a search for bullpen help.  Chris Devenski was signed to a minor league deal yesterday, and it is possible that the Phils might still acquire someone else besides just Nittoli before the day is over.  Also, Zach Eflin threw a bullpen session yesterday as he tries to work his way back from a knee injury that has sidelined him for over two months, and if Eflin is able to return, he would pitch as a reliever rather than as a starter.

Vinny Nittoli To Opt Out Of Blue Jays Contract

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A little over a month after signing a minor league deal with the Blue Jays, right-hander Vinny Nittoli now plans to opt out of that deal, FanSided’s Robert Murray tweets.  Nittoli will hit the free agent market again, and could join his fifth different organization in just over a year’s time.

A 25th-round pick for the Mariners in 2014, Nittoli has already bounced around several times in his career — this is his second stint with the Blue Jays, and he also has two separate stints with Seattle.  It was with the Mariners in 2021 that Nittoli made his MLB debut, tossing a single inning of work on June 23, 2021.  After the M’s released him last August, Nittoli has since signed minor league deals with the Twins, Yankees, and Blue Jays, with Nittoli also opting out of his pact with New York.

Amidst all this movement, the 31-year-old has had a solid season at the Triple-A level, with a 3.30 ERA over 46 1/3 combined innings for the Yankees’ and Jays’ affiliates.  Nittoli also has a 32.06% strikeout rate and 7.61% walk rate, but despite these numbers, it appears as though he wasn’t on the radar of either AL East team for an in-season promotion.

Blue Jays, Vinny Nittoli Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays are signing reliever Vinny Nittoli to a minor league contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). The 31-year-old recently opted out of a similar arrangement with the division-rival Yankees.

A former 25h-round pick, Nittoli has spent the bulk of his career in the Mariners organization. He reached the big leagues with Seattle last year, getting the briefest cup of coffee with one inning of relief in his only appearance. The M’s outrighted him off their 40-man roster and later released him, and he caught on with the Twins for the stretch run. That agreement with Minnesota didn’t result in a big league look, and Nittoli returned to the open market as a minor league free agent, where he caught on with New York.

Assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for the entirety of the 2022 campaign, the right-hander worked 36 2/3 innings across 22 appearances. He posted a 3.44 ERA, punching out a strong 29.9% of batters faced against a fine 8.8% walk rate. He’ll add some non-roster depth behind a Toronto relief corps that ranks 21st in MLB with a 4.11 ERA.

AL Notes: Mariners, Athletics, Yankees

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The Mariners have reinstated Carlos Santana from the restricted list, the team announced. In a corresponding roster move, Kevin Padlo was optioned to Triple-A. It’s a good time to return to the Mariners, who are amid a 20-3 run, including an active 12-game winning streak. Santana has appeared in 15 games for the Mariners since being acquired from the Royals, slashing a robust .245/.383/.449 in that time. Elsewhere around the junior circuit…

  • Frankie Montas intends to return to the A’s rotation after the All-Star break, per MLB.com. The right-hander will throw a bullpen on Saturday in the hopes of being ready to make his first start since July 3rd. Montas knows that the sooner he gets back on the hill, the sooner he continues to showcase for a potential trade. “As much as I don’t want to think about it, I don’t know, I think it’s a big possibility that I still get traded,” Montas said, per Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle.
  • Vinny Nittoli plans to opt out of his contract with the New York Yankees, per Robert Murray of FanSided (via Twitter). The 31-year-old right-hander has just one career appearance in the Majors. That appearance came last season with the Mariners, who drafted him in the 25th round of the 2014 draft. This season he has logged 36 2/3 innings in Triple-A with a 3.44 ERA for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Yankees, Ender Inciarte Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees have a minor league deal in place with center fielder Ender Inciarte, according to the team’s transactions log at MLB.com (hat tip: Lindsey Adler of The Athletic, on Twitter). Their transaction log also indicates that right-hander Vinny Nittoli, outfielder Blake Perkins and infielder Wilkerman Garcia have signed minor league deals (or, in Garcia’s care, re-signed). Inciarte was able to sign a minor league deal because he did not finish the 2021 season on a team’s 40-man roster or 60-day injured list.

Inciarte is the most recognizable name of the bunch — a former All-Star center fielder and three-time Gold Glove winner with the Braves. Acquired by Atlanta alongside Dansby Swanson in the heist that sent Shelby Miller to the D-backs, Inciarte was outstanding in his first three seasons with the Braves, hitting at a .287/.342/.391 clip with elite defense and plus speed that provided plenty of value on the basepaths. His 2016 season was impressive enough that the Braves wasted little time in inking him to a five-year, $30.525MM contract extension that bought out all four of his arbitration years — Inciarte was a Super Two player — and one free-agent year, with an option for a second.

Unfortunately for both Inciarte and the Braves, by the midway point of the contract, things turned south — though not necessarily through any fault of Inciarte. While he largely replicated his 2016 production in 2017-18, Inciarte went down with a lumbar strain early in the 2019 season and missed more than two months while nursing that back injury. He returned from the IL in mid-July but was back on the shelf less than a month later, this time owing to a hamstring injury that kept him out for the final six weeks of the season.

Inciarte’s bat cratered in the 2020 season, and he didn’t rebound much in 2021 before another hamstring injury cropped up. Atlanta eventually designated him for assignment and released him this past summer, in what was the final year of that five-year extension. While Inciarte latched on with the Reds on a minor league pact, he didn’t return to the Majors last season. On the whole, since that strong run from 2016-18, Inciarte owns a meager .223/.306/.338 batting line through 450 trips to the plate at the MLB level.

The Yankees’ outfield mix is already rather crowded, with Joey Gallo, Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton all locked into outfield/designated hitter time next season. It’s not certain whether Brett Gardner will return to the Bronx once again, but if he signs elsewhere or calls it a career, that’d greatly improve Inciarte’s odds of breaking camp with the Yankees and earning an Opening Day roster spot.

As for Nittoli, the 31-year-old righty made his MLB debut this past season after an eight-year odyssey that included stops in Seattle (where he was a 25th-round pick), the then-independent St. Paul Saints (now a Twins affiliate), the Blue Jays and the D-backs. Nittoli found his was back to the Mariners in minor league free agency last season, and while his call to the Majors was exceedingly brief — just one game and one inning — it nevertheless marked the type of feel-good story of hard work paying off that so many sports fans love to see.

Nittoli returned to the Saints after being cut loose by the Mariners, this time as a member of the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate rather than a team in the independent American Association. He did not, however, end up pitching in the big leagues with Minnesota. Nittoli was quite home run prone in 2021, leading to a bloated 5.05 ERA in Triple-A, but he also posted an outstanding 51-to-10 K/BB ratio in 41 innings. Overall, he carries a career 4.61 minor league ERA with a 25.2% strikeout rate and a 7.3% walk rate.

Perkins, 25, was one of three players sent from the Nationals to the Royals in 2018’s Kelvin Gutierrez trade. The former second-round pick (2015) never really found his footing in the Royals organization and became a free agent after a 2021 season that saw him hit .202/.319/.332 in 280 Double-A plate appearances.

Garcia, 23, has spent his whole career in the Yankees organization and batted .234/.288/.318 in the low minors. He spent the 2021 season on the minor league 60-day injured list and hasn’t played in a game setting since 2019, when he spent the bulk of his time in Class-A Advanced.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/27/21

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The latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Minnesota Twins signed right-hander Vinny Nittoli to a minors deal and assigned him to Triple-A St. Paul, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com (via Twitter). Nittoli, 30, made his Major League debut earlier this season with the Mariners. He threw one inning, allowing a pair of runs on a pair of walks and a home run. He had a 5.61 ERA in Triple-A over 33 2/3 innings.
  • Bo Takahashi has been released from his contract to sign with the Kia Tigers in Korea, per his former club the Louisville Bats. The Bats, of course, are the Triple-A affiliate of the Reds. Takahashi had a 4.45 ERA in 89 innings while serving as a regular starter in Louisville.
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