Relief Pitcher Looks for New Contract After Workhorse Season

For the first time, left-handed relief pitcher Jalen Beeks is a free agent after turning in a workhorse 2024 season.

Beeks and his take-the-ball attitude will surely draw some suitors once teams get active in the market.

Jalen Beeks Free Agent Profile Highlights and Statistics In 2024, Beeks, 31, pitched for the Colorado Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates, who he joined in a deadline trade for Double-A pitcher Luis Peralta .

Overall, Beeks was 7-4 with a 4.50 ERA, 10 saves in 19 opportunities, eight holds, and a 1.486 WHIP.

His 100 ERA+ and 4.00 FIP indicate major-league average pitching.

Hey, anybody can have a 98 ERA+ of 98 or a 4.02 FIP.

Try pitching precisely to the league average sometime.

Beeks was better as a Pirate than as a Rockie in 2024.

With Pittsburgh, his ERA was 3.92, although his 3.12 FIP indicates he pitched better than the ERA would suggest.

Even so, there were positives to Beeks 2024 performance, even if it wasnt the stuff of which legends are made.

He established himself as a workhorse, appearing in 71 games, tying him for ninth in the major leagues.

Previously, he had never appeared in more than 42 games in any major league season.

The most games hed pitched in a season, counting minor leagues, was 50 in 2023 when he split time between the Tampa Bay Rays and Triple-A Durham.

Furthermore, with his funky delivery that appears like hes pushing the ball to the catcher, Beeks held left-handed batters to a .202/.283/.287 slash line in 2024.

Beginnings Beeks was a 12th-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in the 2014 June Amateur Draft.

The Bosox called him up to the big club in 2018.

However, after only two appearances with Boston, he was dealt to the Rays, where he pitched through 2023.

For his major league career, which included missing all of 2021 with an injury, hes 23-15 with a 4.40 ERA and 1.421 WHIP.

His best season was 2022 with the Rays, when he turned in a 2.80 ERA and 1.164 WHIP.

The Rays waived him after a 5.95 ERA in 2023, but his 3.82 FIP suggested perhaps they should have released some of the players who played behind him instead.

Jalen Beeks: cold blooded pic.twitter.com/iIBBnR2xrS Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 7, 2023 Potential Landing Spots Beeks may not be the first choice of any team looking to sign a free-agent left-handed reliever.

But theres value in a relief pitcher who takes the ball night after night, especially one who throws from the left side.

Numerous teams are looking for bullpen help.

Here are three possible suitors.

Los Angeles Dodgers This is just a hunch on my part.

The Dodgers could lose starters Walker Buehler and James Paxton in free agency.

Another starter, Tyler Glasnow , went on the injured list with elbow discomfort on August 16 and never returned to action.

He expects to be ready for the 2025 season.

Then again, he tends to take longer than anticipated to return whenever hes on the IL.

Theres thought among those in the know that the Dodgers may decide to shore up their bullpen and shorten the games rather than pursue starters.

They squeezed good 2024 seasons from Anthony Banda and Brent Honeywell Jr.

, two relievers who were Pirates castoffs.

Is this perhaps a trend? The Dodgers could do worse than Beeks.

New York Mets The Mets top left-handed reliever, Brooks Raley , had Tommy John surgery after appearing in just eight games in 2024.

The Mets tried to fill the vacancy with Danny Young and Jake Diekman , but neither was satisfactory.

With Raley out for at least the first half of 2025, Beeks could be a cost-effective solution from the free agent market.

Pittsburgh Pirates Why not? Among last years left-handed relievers, the Pirates are certain to lose Aroldis Chapman , and its unknown whether Ryan Borucki will be back.

Joey Wentz was a late-season acquisition from the Detroit Tigers who pitched well in his brief time with Pittsburgh last year.

Hes likely to be back, but the Pirates will need another left-hander, and an experienced one at that.

The Last Word on Free Agent Beeks Beeks 2024 salary was $1.675 million.

According to Spotrac , his 2025 value will be around $2.8 million for 2025.

Cost wont be an object for any team signing him.

Performance is hard to predict, but his peripheral stats from 2022-24 indicate that hell be a reliable, not-too-bad bullpen option in 2025.

This article first appeared on Last Word On Sports and was syndicated with permission..

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