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34 Players Elect Free Agency

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As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

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.

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Angels Outright Willie Calhoun

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Today: The Angels have sent Calhoun outright to Triple-A Salt Lake, the team announced. Calhoun has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, but it is unclear whether or not he plans to do so.

August 15: The Angels are going to designate first baseman/outfielder Willie Calhoun for assignment, according to Alden González of ESPN on X. Infielder/outfielder Jack López is being called up, per Jorge Castillo of ESPN on X.

Calhoun, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Angels in the offseason and was selected to the big league roster on the first day of May. Since then, he has stepped to the plate 254 times in 68 games. His 9.1% walk rate in that time is solid and he’s done a great job of avoiding strikeouts, just a 12.2% rate, but hasn’t done much damage. He has five home runs and his .245/.315/.380 batting line translates to a 94 wRC+. His .263 batting average on balls in play is below league average, but he’s one of the slowest runners in the league and he has subpar metrics in terms of exit velocity, barrel rate and hard hit rate.

That has generally been the recipe with Calhoun. Although he was once one of the top prospects in the league and had a 21-home run season in 2019, that was the juiced-ball season and he’s been far less impactful since then. He has 857 plate appearances from 2020 to the present with an 8.4% walk rate and 12.8% strikeout rate but just 18 home runs, a .231/.299/.360 batting line and 82 wRC+.

Calhoun isn’t a burner on the basepaths, as mentioned, and isn’t considered a strong defender. It was once thought that he could make up for those shortcomings with his hit tool but he hasn’t provided enough thump for that to be the case thus far. He exhausted his final option in 2022, which has led to him bouncing around the league in recent years, spending time with the Rangers, Giants, Yankees and Angels. With the trade deadline now passed, the Halos will have no choice but to put Calhoun on waivers in the coming days.

López, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Halos in the offseason. He has played 104 Triple-A games this year, hitting 12 home runs and slashing .274/.333/.421 for a wRC+ of 86 in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

There’s not much in his track record to suggest he’ll provide much more than that. He first reached Triple-A in 2017 and has played 687 minor league games from that year to the present. In that time, he has a .256/.306/.386 batting line and 77 wRC+. His major league experience consists of seven games with the 2021 Red Sox and he hit .154/.214/.308 in those.

However, he has regularly provided double-digit steals during his minor league career, including 15 so far this year. He’s also capable of playing all three outfield positions and the three infield spots to the left of first base. Calhoun has been the club’s designated hitter for much of the year but now they can rotate various players through that spot. With López giving them extra depth all over the diamond, they will have some cover for whoever is the DH on a given day.

Angels Select Niko Kavadas, Designate Luis Guillorme

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4:05pm: The Angels have now made all of these moves official. Lopez and Kavadas have been selected, with Guillorme and Calhoun designated for assignment.

12:59pm: The Angels are calling up first baseman/designated hitter Niko Kavadas to make his major league debut, as first reported by Chuck Freeby. In order to make space for Kavadas on the roster, the Angels will designate infielder Luis Guillorme for assignment, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register adds. The Halos are also reportedly set to select the contract of infielder Jack Lopez and designate Willie Calhoun for assignment. All of those moves will be announced later today.

Kavadas, 25, was acquired from the Red Sox alongside three other minor leaguers in the trade sending reliever Luis Garcia to Boston prior to the deadline. He’s posted a combined .264/.400/.521 slash between the two organizations’ Triple-A affiliates this year, though it’s worth noting he’s struggled mightily with the Angels’ top affiliate in Salt Lake, batting just .159/.229/.341 in 48 plate appearances.

An 11th-round pick by the Red Sox in 2021, Kavadas has clear plus power. He hit 26 homers in 515 plate appearances across three levels in 2022, belted 22 homers in just 480 plate appearances last year, and already has 19 long balls in 383 plate appearances this season.

That big-time power comes with a familiar red flag, however, in the form of strikeouts. Fans have seen plenty of three-true-outcomes sluggers over the years, and Kavadas embodies that approach to its fullest extent. A whopping 57% of his professional plate appearances have ended in either a homer, walk or strikeout. This season, he’s punched out in 33.9% of his plate appearances — and that’s actually an improvement over last year’s 35.8% mark. He’s also drawn a walk in a gaudy 16.2% of his trips to the plate.

The 6’1″, 235-pound Kavadas is a well below-average runner, and scouting reports peg his glovework at first base to be below-average as well. His huge power is his carrying tool, and whether he’s able to make enough contact to get to that power with regularity will determine the type of future he has. Players who whiff this much in the upper minors don’t tend to make enough contact to succeed in the big leagues, although Baseball America wrote in 2023 that Kavadas is an “intelligent hitter” with at least a chance to close some of the holes in his swing as he gains more experience.

Nolan Schanuel, the Angels’ 2023 first-rounder, skyrocketed to the majors less than two months after being drafted and has settled in as the primary first baseman. The 22-year-old Schanuel is in many ways the opposite of Kavadas: a first-base prospect with elite bat-to-ball skills but more a more suspect power profile.

After a slow start to the season, Schanuel is hitting .269/.382/.409 with nearly as many walks (14.6%) as strikeouts (15.2%) through his past 250 trips to the plate. He’s slumped lately, but the Angels presumably want to keep getting him exposure to big league pitching. That the promotion of Kavadas coincides with the DFA of Calhoun — who’s seen 60 games at designated hitter this year — suggests that Kavadas and his simultaneously thunderous and porous left-handed bat could get the bulk of the Angels’ DH reps down the stretch.

As for the 29-year-old Guillorme, he’s split the season between the Braves and Angels, batting a combined .218/.285/.290 in 138 plate appearances. He’s never been a big threat at the plate, but the versatile Guillorme offers strong infield defense across second base, shortstop and third base. He’s a career .254/.336/.327 hitter in 961 plate appearances — the vast majority of which came with the Mets from 2018-23.

With the trade deadline behind us, Guillorme will be placed on outright waivers or released. He’s earning just a $1.1MM base salary this season and has about $266K of that yet to be paid out. He’s versatile, experienced and affordable enough that another club might consider placing a claim. Guillorme has more than five years of service, meaning he can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency and retain his entire salary. As such, if he clears waivers he’ll surely become a free agent and look to latch on with a new club — likely on a minor league deal. The new team would only owe him the prorated minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster/injured list.

Angels Select Willie Calhoun

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The Angels announced today that they have selected the contract of outfielder Willie Calhoun. He will take the roster spot of infield Miguel Sanó, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 28. Sanó hasn’t been playing lately due to inflammation in his left knee. To open a 40-man spot for Calhoun, right-hander Zac Kristofak was designated for assignment. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reported that Calhoun was with the team prior to the official announcement.

Calhoun, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Angels in the offseason. He has taken 110 plate appearances in Triple-A this year, having hit .268/.345/.361. In the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, that translates to a wRC+ of 80.

He was once a top prospect, as he dominated Triple-A pitching a few years back. From 2017 to 2019, he hit .297/.365/.509 at that level for a 122 wRC+ and seemed destined to carve out a big role in the majors. But he’s managed to hit just .240/.300/.404 in over a thousand plate appearances in the big leagues, 84 wRC+, bouncing from the Rangers to the Giants and Yankees.

He’ll now return to the bigs to give another outfield option to an Angels club that just lost Mike Trout for a few weeks, as he requires surgery for a torn meniscus. The club added Kevin Pillar yesterday and now Calhoun will give them yet another option to roam the grass. Jo Adell and Taylor Ward should have regular roles in the corners while Pillar and Mickey Moniak could share center field. The club doesn’t have a regular designated hitter, so there could be some extra at-bats there. Calhoun could spell Ward or Adell in a corner at times as they fill the DH slot.

Sanó had been covering third base with Anthony Rendon on the injured list but now he follows Rendon to the IL. That perhaps leaves Luis Rengifo at the hot corner and Brandon Drury at second. Cole Tucker and Ehire Adrianza are on the roster as multi-positional backups for the infield and the outfield, though Calhoun’s addition perhaps allows them to focus on the former. Again, the DH spot could provide extra plate appearances to anyone in this group.

Kristofak, 26, was just added to the Angels’ roster on Sunday. He made one appearances of two scoreless innings and then was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake the next day. The Angels will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers.

He has been pitching in a swing role in the minors over the past few years. From the start of 2022 to the present, he’s appeared in 56 games, 18 of those being starts. In his 124 1/3 innings, he has a 3.84 earned run average, 19.9% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate.

Angels Sign Willie Calhoun To Minor League Deal

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The Angels announced the signing of outfielder Willie Calhoun to a non-roster contract. He’ll get an invitation to big league Spring Training.

Calhoun, now 29, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees last winter. He ended up getting selected to the big league roster and received semi-regular playing time in the first half. He was put into 44 games and took 149 trips to the plate. He only struck out in 13.4% of those but his overall line of .239/.309/.403 amounted to a wRC+ of 96.

That’s only a bit below league average overall but Calhoun is generally considered a subpar defender in the outfield and was often in the designated hitter slot for the Yanks. A DH is naturally expected to produce above-average offense, so Calhoun was designated for assignment and outrighted in July. He elected free agency and didn’t catch on anywhere else until today.

Prior to 2023, Calhoun had been a top 100 prospect as a minor leaguer due to his bat. Since reaching the majors, he has continued to be tough to strike out but he hasn’t tapped into enough power or got on base much. He now has 1,085 MLB plate appearances, striking out in just 15% of them, but he’s also only walked at a 7.4% clip and hit 37 home runs in that time. His .240/.300/.404 batting line translated to an 84 wRC+.

The Angels currently project to have an outfield mix that consists of Mike Trout, Taylor Ward, Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell. Both Trout and Ward have battled injuries in the past few years while Moniak still has just 151 games of MLB experience. Adell only has 178 games of his own and has struggled badly with strikeouts. The club also has a DH vacancy with Shohei Ohtani having reached free agency.

Calhoun will give the club some extra non-roster depth and try to force his way into that mix. If he is able to get himself a roster spot, he can be retained for an extra season via arbitration but he is out of options.

Willie Calhoun Elects Free Agency

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The Yankees announced this morning that outfielder Willie Calhoun, whom they designated for assignment on Friday, rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

The 28-year-old Calhoun signed a minor league deal with the Yankees over the winter, was added to the big league roster in early April, and wound up hitting .239/.309/.403 (96 wRC+) in 149 plate appearances before landing on the injured list with a quad strain in late June. He missed more than a month of action, and when his rehab assignment was up, the Yankees opted to keep Jake Bauers, Billy McKinney and Greg Allen over Calhoun. All four were out of minor league options, meaning the odd man out ultimately had to be designated for assignment.

Calhoun once ranked as one of baseball’s top prospects but has never developed the type of offense that was projected of him during his minor league days with the Dodgers and the Rangers (who acquired him as the headline prospect in the deadline trade sending Yu Darvish to Los Angeles).  He’s a career .240/.300/.404 hitter in 1085 big league plate appearances. Calhoun doesn’t walk much (career 7.4%) but also has above-average bat-to-ball skills (15% strikeout rate). He typically makes hard contact at decent levels and was well above-average during this year’s stint with the Yankees, generating an average exit velocity of 90.7 mph and hitting 42.6% of his batted balls at 95 mph or more.

Calhoun has played left field almost exclusively in his career but carries dismal grades for his glovework from Defensive Runs Saved (-15), Ultimate Zone Rating (-13) and Outs Above Average (-14) in 1304 career innings at the position. Still, teams in need of a some outfield depth and, particularly, a left-handed bat could give him a look now that he’s back on the market.

Outrights: Calhoun, Ruiz

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A pair of players recently designated for assignment have gone unclaimed on waivers, per the transaction log at MLB.com.

  • The Yankees assigned outfielder Willie Calhoun outright to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. New York DFA him last Friday after his time on a minor league rehab stint lapsed. Calhoun hit .239/.309/.403 with five homers in 149 plate appearances between his contract selection in early April and the left quad strain that sent him to the injured list towards the end of June. He’s a .240/.300/.404 hitter in more than 1000 plate appearances over parts of seven big league campaigns. Calhoun has cleared waivers three times in his career, giving him the right to elect minor league free agency in lieu of an outright assignment.
  • Diamondbacks reliever José Ruiz was outrighted over the weekend. The right-hander had lost his spot in the Arizona bullpen last Tuesday. Acquired from the White Sox in an April trade, Ruiz pitched 34 times with the Snakes. He allowed a 4.33 ERA with a below-average 19.8% strikeout rate over 40 2/3 innings. The hard-throwing hurler carries a 4.51 ERA across 219 1/3 career frames. Ruiz has multiple career outrights and sufficient service time to test free agency, though he’d forfeit the remainder of his $925K salary to do so. That seems unlikely, so he’ll presumably head to Triple-A Reno and try to get back on the big league roster before season’s end.

Yankees Designate Willie Calhoun For Assignment

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The Yankees announced Friday that they’ve reinstated outfielder Willie Calhoun from the injured list and designated him for assignment. Calhoun had been on a rehab assignment in Double-A but is out of minor league options, meaning once he wrapped up that rehab he’d either need to be placed back on the big league roster or designated. The Yankees opted for the DFA route and will now have until Tuesday to trade him. He’ll otherwise be placed on outright or release waivers.

With reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge expected back from the injured list tonight, the Yankees’ outfield is on the verge of becoming more crowded. New York could’ve parted with any of Billy McKinney, Jake Bauers or Greg Allen as a means of getting Calhoun back onto the roster, but the former two have outhit Calhoun this year while the latter provides a far better glove and a backup option in center field.

Calhoun, 28, once ranked as one of the sport’s top minor league talents but has never delivered the type of offense that was expected of him as a bat-first prospect. He signed a minor league deal with the Yanks in the offseason and has since turned in a .239/.309/.403 batting line (96 wRC+) in 149 trips to the plate. Calhoun has walked at an above-average 9.4% rate against a considerably lower-than-average 13.4% strikeout rate, showing a keen eye at the plate and strong bat-to-ball skills. Calhoun also sports a 90.7 mph average exit velocity and 42.6% hard-hit rate — both strong numbers in their own right.

Be that as it may, Bauers and McKinney have both shown more power in their also-limited time with the Yankees. Judge and center fielder Harrison Bader are, of course, locked into the regular lineup now that the former is set to return from the injured list. Giancarlo Stanton is set as the primary designated hitter. None of McKinney, Bauers, Allen or Calhoun can be optioned, so the Yankees effectively had to decide between the four — and Calhoun proved the odd man out.

There’s a chance Calhoun will be moved between now and the trade deadline, but it could be the end of his time with the Yankees regardless. Even if he’s ultimately passed through waivers unclaimed, he’d have the option to refuse an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Yankees Place Willie Calhoun On IL With Quad Strain

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The Yankees announced today that outfielder Willie Calhoun has been placed on the 10-day injured due to a left quad strain. Infielder/outfielder Oswaldo Cabrera was recalled in the corresponding move.

Calhoun, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees this winter and had his contract selected just over a week into the season. Since then, he’s received 149 plate appearances in 44 games. He’s kept his strikeout rate to a 13.4% level while walking at a 9.4% clip. His .239/.309/.403 batting line amounts to a wRC+ of 96, indicating he’s been 4% worse than the league average hitter.

That might not sound like a significant loss, but it actually could be for the scuffling Yankees. They have dealt with injuries to a number of players, including superstar Aaron Judge, who has been out of action for almost three weeks now. Several other players have also dealt with their own injuries or underperformance. Aside from Judge, the only other Yankees to have produced a higher wRC+ than Calhoun in more plate appearances are Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres. The team’s collective wRC+ of 96 is right in line with Calhoun’s and places them 19th out of the 30 clubs in the league.

The Yankees haven’t yet made any announcements about how long they expect Calhoun to be out, but it seems there’s a decent chance it won’t be a minimum stint of 10 days. The outfielder told Chris Kirschner of The Athletic that he felt his quad “pop” while running to first base in yesterday’s game. He’s going for an MRI today and will be receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection in the coming days. There should be more specificity forthcoming but it seems the issue is potentially significant.

As for Judge, manager Aaron Boone provided an update today to members of the media, including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. Judge made an excellent catch at Dodger Stadium on June 3, crashing into the right field bullpen gate and hitting his foot on the concrete pad beneath. He was diagnosed with a bruise and ligament sprain in his right big toe and is coming up on three weeks of missed time. Boone says Judge has now advanced to pool/balance/strength work and could resume throwing and light hitting in the coming days. That seems to be encouraging progress but there’s still not much clarity on his timeline.

He’s following up his MVP campaign with yet another excellent performance here in 2023, having hit .291/.404/.674 for a wRC+ of 189. However, that production has come in just 49 games since he missed time earlier with a hip strain and now this toe issue. As mentioned, the club’s offense has been subpar overall this year but they are still in the postseason hunt. They currently sport a 41-33 record, enough for them to currently be in possession of a Wild Card spot, though each of the Astros, Angels and Blue Jays are within one game in the standings.

The Yankees Are Showing The Importance Of Minor League Deals

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Every offseason, there are huge moves that grab headlines and have the ability to transform franchises. Top free agents get nine-figure deals while other high quality players are traded for top prospects. Though there are also transactions that might fly under the radar but still go on to play an important role in the future, such as waiver claims and minor league deals.

The Yankees are illustrating the importance of those minor league deals this year, as various injuries have forced them to turn to players that weren’t on the roster initially. Let’s highlight some players who had to settle for non-roster pacts but have gone on to earn meaningful playing time for the Yanks in 2023.

December 16, 2021 – right-hander Jimmy Cordero

December 14, 2022 – first baseman/outfielder Jake Bauers

December 23, 2022 – right-handers Ryan Weber and Nick Ramirez

December 31, 2022 – outfielder Willie Calhoun

December 31, 2022 – outfielder Billy McKinney

February 5, 2023 – right-hander Ian Hamilton

The Yankees have dealt with a number of significant injuries this year. Aaron Judge went on the injured list in early May due to a hip strain and is now there again thanks to a toe sprain. Harrison Bader began the season on the IL due to an oblique strain. Though he eventually returned, he’s now back on the IL a second time because of a hamstring strain. Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson are with the club now but have missed significant time with their own ailments. In addition to those injuries, they also dealt with the struggles of Aaron Hicks, which eventually led to his release. All of that has created opportunities for other players, with each of Calhoun, Bauers and McKinney getting roster spots.

Calhoun had previously received chances from the Rangers and Giants but had continued to struggle. He had a career batting line of .240/.299/.404 as of this winter for a wRC+ of 84. But he had always hit well in the minors and was a former top 100 prospect. He’s now been given a roster spot with the Yankees and has received 140 plate appearances for the season. He’s walked in 9.3% of his plate appearances while striking out at just a 12.1% clip, launching five home runs in the process. His .238/.307/.413 batting line amounts to a 98 wRC+, indicating he’s been just barely below league average. For an emergency fill-in guy, that’s not half bad, and he might even get better results if his .238 batting average on balls in play ticks up closer to the .297 league average.

Bauers was in a fairly similar situation, having once been a top 100 guy who struggled in auditions with Tampa, Cleveland and Seattle. He hit .213/.307/.348 in the majors prior to this season, leading to an 82 wRC+. But in 104 plate appearances as a Yankee this year, he’s hitting .222/.308/.456 for a wRC+ of 109. He’s striking out in 32.7% of his trips to the plate but is also walking at an 11.5% clip.

Like those two, McKinney had also been on top 100 lists in the past. He had been put into action with the Yankees, Blue Jays, Brewers, Mets, Dodgers and Athletics, but had hit .206/.277/.387 for a wRC+ of 77 by the end of 2022. He was called up recently and has only been in seven games so far this year, but he’s put up a huge .320/.320/.640 showing in that small sample. His ability to play center field is huge for the club, with each of Bader, Judge and Greg Allen on the injured list.

The bullpen is another area where the Yanks have dealt with significant challenges. Scott Effross seemed to be emerging as a key piece for them last year but required Tommy John surgery in October, effectively ruling him out for 2023. Jonathan Loáisiga made just three appearances before requiring surgery for a bone spur, with his return still several months away. Lou Trivino began the year on the injured list and ultimately required Tommy John surgery in May, which will prevent him from contributing anything this year. Tommy Kahnle was supposed to play a meaningful role after signing a two-year, $11.5MM deal in the offseason but he was on the IL for the first two months of the schedule.

Those injuries have opened the door for the minor league signees listed above. Cordero was signed way back in the 2021-2022 offseason but the Yankees selected his contract at the end of last year to prevent him from becoming a free agent. He’s tossed 27 2/3 innings with a 28.2% strikeout rate, 8.2% walk rate and 55.9% ground ball rate. He has a 3.58 ERA but probably deserves even better since he has a 66.4% strand rate, leading to a 2.70 FIP and 3.07 SIERA. Ramirez has a 1.64 ERA in a smaller sample of 11 innings. Hamilton is currently on the IL but has a 1.23 ERA in 22 innings thus far on the season. Weber’s season is now in jeopardy as Tommy John surgery might be required, but he posted a 3.14 ERA in 14 1/3 innings before landing on the 60-day IL.

None of these players is going to be voted the Most Valuable Player or the Cy Young winner, but they have nonetheless showed the importance of depth. The Yankees been without key players like Judge and Bader while others have been slumping badly, but they haven’t been buried in the standings. They are 39-30 and still holding onto a playoff spot. Despite having one of the highest payrolls in the league with plenty of high-paid stars on the roster, they have had a few games recently where their entire outfield was guys whom they’d signed to minor league deals. Thanks to the contributions of these various players, they are hanging in the race with the all-important trade deadline just over the horizon. There’s an old saying that there’s no such thing as a bad minor league deal, and these pacts are looking quite good for the Yanks right now.

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