{"id":18709,"date":"2024-11-07T10:21:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T15:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=18709"},"modified":"2024-11-07T10:21:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T15:21:02","slug":"mlfa-carnage-in-the-nats-farm-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=18709","title":{"rendered":"MLFA Carnage in the Nats Farm System"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/KieboomCarter-error-2019.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/KieboomCarter-error-2019-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-16669\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/KieboomCarter-error-2019-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/KieboomCarter-error-2019-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/KieboomCarter-error-2019-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/KieboomCarter-error-2019.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Kieboom set to leave the org as a 6year MLFA after hitting a AAA ceiling.\n Photo via Federal Baseball<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A critical day in the off-season calendar of baseball every year happened earlier this week; five days after the end of the World Series (11\/4\/24) all &#8220;6-year minor league free agents&#8221; get cut loose.  The Universal Player Contracts (UPCs) that players sign upon turning pro allow for six &#8220;renewals&#8221; before players must be either put on the 40-man roster or are declared free agents.  This means that every player who:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>was Drafted in 2018 or before<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>was an IFA signing in 2018 or before<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>was a 2024 MLFA signing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8230; and who didn&#8217;t sign a multi-year deal of some sort already this off-season or earlier this year<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Is now a free agent.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseballamerica.com\/stories\/minor-league-free-agents-2024\/\">Baseball America posted its list for all 30 teams<\/a> here, but it&#8217;s missing a few names for our system.  The <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/186nm-v5F-zTCoR2Be7TFYM3e2cZ-gYi2WVqJLEkHdmc\/edit?usp=sharing\">Big Board for 2025<\/a> is now updated with all MLFA&#8217;s removed and put onto the <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/186nm-v5F-zTCoR2Be7TFYM3e2cZ-gYi2WVqJLEkHdmc\/edit?usp=sharing\">2025 Release tab<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I count 27 players cut loose, including these notable names to long-time Nats farm watchers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Technically Meneses and Rucker were on the 40-man, were outrighted, and by virtue of their signing dates were immediately declared MLFAs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reid Schaller: 3rd round pick who just never was healthy.  Had higher hopes for this guy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tim Cate: 2nd rounder who spent time on the 40-man but just couldn&#8217;t solve AAA.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mason Denaburg: 1st rounder and one of our team&#8217;s biggest 1st round busts in terms of accomplishments.  Stuck around for years after he should have been cut loose based on performance in a blatant example of the team not wanting to &#8220;waste&#8221; its signing bonus.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Carter Kieboom: 1st round pick, former top 20 prospect in all of baseball, who mystified the industry by not being able to convert fantastic batted-ball skills in AAA to the majors.  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Israel Pineda; long considered an heir apparent catching prospect but who ended up bouncing around the minor leagues in 2024.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Trey Harris, trade bounty for Ehire Adrianza in 2022 but who never really did much for us.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Aldo Ramirez, trade bounty for Kyle Schwarber in 2021 and who was supposed to be a decent SP prospect.  Blew out his arm, missed two years, never really pitched again.  Too bad; Schwarber was a solid trade prospect and should have fetched something of value for us longer term.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rodney Theophile, who looks like he could be a promising SP prospect (2.33 ERA in 9 AA starts to close out 2024).  Surprised the team didn&#8217;t try to resign him before hitting MLFA.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As far as I can tell, the team has already done some re-signing of a few of its MLFAs; the following should be listed as FAs based on their draft\/signing status but are still listed as active:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Daison Acosta: AAA Middle Reliever, a 2023 minor league rule-5 pickup but a 2016 IFA signing initially<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Erick Mejia, AAA utility infielder, who was a 2022 MLFA signing\/2012 IFA signing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Viandel Pena High-A backup SS, a 2017 IFA signing but who is just 23.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bryan Caceres, High-A starter who was a 2017 IFA signing out of Panama<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Yoander Rivero, High-A backup middle infielder, also a 2017 IFA signing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jose Colmenares, Low-A backup Catcher (2018 IFA)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jeremy De La Rosa, just promoted AA outfielder (2018 IFA)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jose Atencio, High-A starter (2018 IFA)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Joan Otanez, Low-A middle reliever and 2018 IFA<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bryan Sanchez, also a Low-A middle reliever and 2018 IFA<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Samuel Vasquez, High-A middle reliever and 2023 rule-5 guy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Kevin Dowdel, a 2024MLFA but a 2023NDFA so he probably falls under the UPC for a while despite being a MLFA.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m not a complete expert on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, but I do find it interesting that many of these are 2018 IFAs: is there an additional  year offered to these players b\/c of Covid?  Do they get an extra year of control b\/c they were so young when they signed?  Did all these 2018 IFAs not eve play in 2018 so therefore their UPC renewals started in 2019?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, two minor league rule-5 guys seemingly should have been cut loose but who are still present; is there a different guideline for rule-5 pickups?  Nonetheless, even if all of these players just simply signed new deals to stay with the club one more year, there&#8217;s definitely a few that i&#8217;m glad are still here.  Acosta could be a decent lefty option for the MLB pen, De La Rosa was once a higher ranked prospect who is at least in AA, and Atencio was a very solid starter in Wilmington and i&#8217;d like to see where he goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The system\/big board now shows 147 players under contract in the Minor leagues, including a complete gutting of the AAA pitching staff.  Just five arms sit on the AAA roster right now; the rest were 40-man backups for MLFAs.  We only have 11 relievers in total on the 40-man right now, which implies to me that we&#8217;ll be signing a slew of veteran relievers this off-season, and that we&#8217;ll have a cattle-call of 1yr\/MLFA\/NRIs this coming spring to make up the bulk of the AAA staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A critical day in the off-season calendar of baseball every year happened earlier this week; five days after the end of the World Series (11\/4\/24) all &#8220;6-year minor league free agents&#8221; get cut loose. The Universal Player Contracts (UPCs) that players sign upon turning pro allow for six &#8220;renewals&#8221; before players must be either put [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4324],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natsgeneral","category-prospects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18710,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18709\/revisions\/18710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}