Right-handed Paul Blackburn Anthony Dicomo of MLB.com reported that the waiver has been cleared and is now free to sign with any club. Metropolitan designated him on Saturday for missions, and he was later reportedly released from exemption.
Blackburn was not shocked. He made 4.05mm this year and will still pay nearly $900,000. This is more than some pitchers have earned throughout the season, so it will be a noteworthy amount in the final weeks of the campaign. Blackburn was also injured this year, pitching in just seven games, with an average score of 6.85.
Now that he has cleared the waiver, he may call him. The Mets will stay on most of their salary. A club can sign Blackburn and pay him only $760,000 in a league minimum proportional distribution, which will spend any time on the lineup, less than $4K per day. The amount paid by other clubs will be subtracted from the fees paid by the Metropolitan.
Blackburn did not perform well this year. He started the season on the injury roster due to inflammation in his right knee. He was activated in June, but the impact of his shoulder brought him back to the shelf. As mentioned earlier, he issued a 6.85 ERA around these IL tenures.
However, he reached out to be in good shape during his rehabilitation mission, which could attract clubs that require the innings. He started his rehabilitation mission in July, with his last four rehabilitation games being three games, and he played in five or more innings. He has an ERA of 2.42, strikeout rate of 18.3% and a walking rate of 4.3%. He then recovered from the IL and gave Atlanta a long-term relief on August 13, allowing two runs to get. Shortly thereafter, he was assigned as a mission.
While not a great season overall, Blackburn has had some major league successes. From 2022 to 2024, he threw 290 1/3 of the innings of 4.43 ERA, 20.2% strikeout rate, 7.5% walking rate and 44.8% ground ball rate. It’s been a challenging year, but he’s reached out and has been going on for good over the past month. Since he is basically free, it is possible that some clubs have the opportunity, especially the inherent difficulties of increasing influence talent after the trade deadline.
Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst, image
