Proper-hander Kendall Graveman missed the complete 2024 season on account of shoulder surgical procedure, however ESPN’s Jesse Rogers stories that the veteran reliever is now wholesome and producing curiosity in free company because the bullpen market continues to choose up steam late within the winter. MLBTR’s Steve Adams provides that Graveman was cleared to start throwing late final season and has had a traditional offseason program. He’s anticipated to be prepared for spring coaching and Opening Day.
A crew signing Graveman can be betting on a bounceback. He was a stable starter earlier in his profession however missed the 2019 season recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure and transformed to a aid function after that. He had a powerful run previous to his most up-to-date damage. From 2021-22, he threw 121 innings for the Mariners, Astros and White Sox, permitting 2.53 earned runs per 9. He struck out 25% of batters confronted, gave out walks to 9.1% of opponents and generated grounders on a hefty 54.3% of batted balls.
His 2023 was a bit uneven. Beginning the yr with the White Sox, his 10.8% stroll charge with Chicago was a bit elevated, however not alarmingly so. He pitched to a 3.48 ERA with the Sox, tallied eight saves and eight holds, and punched out a roughly common 22.6% of batters confronted. After getting dealt again to the Astros in trade for catcher Korey Lee, he walked 16.7% of opponents down the stretch. His 25% strikeout charge and a couple of.42 ERA have been each sharp, however the command was clearly missing. Past the uncharacteristically excessive variety of free passes, his floor ball charge was solely 38.7%, an enormous drop from the earlier seasons.
The Astros left him off their ALDS roster on account of some proper shoulder discomfort. In January of 2024, it was introduced that he required surgical procedure on the shoulder and would seemingly miss the complete season. In hindsight, maybe that damage explains a few of this 2023 struggles, as the rate on all his pitches dropped relative to 2022.
Graveman is now 34 years previous. He missed all of final yr and didn’t submit his greatest numbers the yr prior. There’s definitely danger in signing a pitcher on this place, however it might flip into a pleasant upside play if he’s capable of keep wholesome and get again to his earlier type.
The final time Graveman was a free agent, within the 2021-22 offseason, he signed a three-year, $24MM take care of the White Sox. Based mostly on what has occurred over the previous couple of years, he’ll certainly be restricted to one thing far much less this time round — seemingly a low-cost one-year take care of incentives based mostly on innings pitched (and presumably video games completed).
The aid market has picked up considerably this month. The Cubs and Reds acquired Ryan Pressly and Taylor Rogers, respectively, in trades over the previous week. Six totally different free agent relievers have signed eight-figure offers previously few weeks: Tanner Scott, Jeff Hoffman, A.J. Minter, Kirby Yates, Andrew Kittredge and José Leclerc. One other six relievers signed within the $3-8MM vary: Tommy Kahnle, Paul Sewald, Chris Martin, Ryne Stanek, Caleb Ferguson and Jorge López.
Pitchers like Kenley Jansen, David Robertson, Kyle Finnegan and others are nonetheless on the market however more likely to earn notable salaries, to various levels. Others, together with Robert Suarez, Ryan Helsley and Camilo Doval, may very well be out there in commerce, although buying any considered one of them would require giving up younger expertise and/or taking up cash. Graveman represents a extra reasonably priced different — one with far much less certainty than the majority of obtainable arms but additionally a very good bit extra upside than a lot of the relievers who’ve but to signal. In whole, from 2021-23, he posted a 2.74 ERA with 51 holds, 24 saves, a 24.5% strikeout charge, a ten.4% stroll charge and a 48.9% grounder charge.
