Waiver Wire Idea: J.B. Wendelken

[Yardball85]

Just DFA'ed by Oakland today, has been in their system since 2016, usually averages over 1K per inning.  Could be a solid bullpen piece, especially considering the struggles we have seen this year form the pen.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wendejb01.shtml

[interloper]

I hear "could be a solid bullpen piece", I claim.

We should be trying anybody right now. No shortage of guys to DFA. 

[Sports Guy]

Yea I saw he was cut for Puk.  Definitely a possibility.

[Pickles]

That is not a baseball name.  He sounds like a physicist.  Hard pass.

[interloper]

FIP of 3.69, ERA 4.32 in the ML this season, are you kidding - guy would instantly be our 2nd best reliever lol. 

[Matt Bennett]

Yeah, Plutko and Valdez have both been really bad since May. They can go. 

[SteveA]

Yeah I am on board with this completely.   This guy is a solid pitcher.   

And we get first crack at him, right?   If we want him, he is ours?

[interloper]

I think there's basically a 100% chance we make this claim unless there's a team with higher priority. 

[Just Regular]

I did step to Cots just in case he was Arb1 and making $1M or something, but for 2021 he is still at the minimum.

Arb1 for 2022 after these final 8 weeks.

[Hazmat]

Controllable through 2024.

[SteveA]

I can't think of a single reason not to claim him unless they are under such a strict payroll budget moving forward that they won't want to go to arb with him, and they are afraid he will pitch so well for us the last 8 weeks that it will "look bad" to non-tender him.

If we do have waiver priority and don't take Wendelken, huge alarm bells will go off in my mind about how this team is being run from ownership on down.

[Yardball85]

43 minutes ago, interloper said:

I hear "could be a solid bullpen piece", I claim.

We should be trying anybody right now. No shortage of guys to DFA. 

100%.  No reason to not have the bullpen be a revolving door until you find people that can get outs. 

[Yardball85]

29 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Yeah I am on board with this completely.   This guy is a solid pitcher.   

And we get first crack at him, right?   If we want him, he is ours?

I don't know exactly how the claiming rules work.  Are we before AZ because he is in the AL?

[Yardball85]

https://www.mlb.com/news/guide-to-baseball-s-waiver-trade-system-c140073380

 

When a player is on waivers, other teams can submit a claim. If more than one team does, those in the same league as that player's team get first priority, starting with the club with the worst record on the day of the claim. Then, the priority moves to the other league, starting with the worst record. For example, if a National League team puts a player on waivers, the NL team with the worst record gets the first shot at him, and the last-place American League club would be right behind the top NL club.
 

[SteveA]

1 minute ago, Yardball85 said:

I don't know exactly how the claiming rules work.  Are we before AZ because he is in the AL?

That's what I thought but I was waiting for someone knowledgeable to confirm.

Frobby must be off doing lawyer stuff.