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Dodgers Claim Ryan Fitzgerald

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The Dodgers announced that they have claimed infielder Ryan Fitzgerald off waivers from the Twins. Alden González of ESPN reported the claim prior to the official announcement. Minnesota designated him for assignment a week ago when they acquired Eric Wagaman from the Marlins. The Dodgers had an open 40-man spot due to trading outfielder Esteury Ruiz to the Marlins last month, which prompted the Fish to designate Wagaman for assignment.

Though the teams surely didn’t plan it this way, it works out to essentially be an accidental three-team trade over the span of a couple of weeks. The Dodgers flipped Ruiz to the Marlins in late December for minor league pitcher Adriano Marrero. Miami bumped Wagaman off their roster and then traded him to Minnesota for minor league pitcher Kade Bragg. That led to Fitzgerald getting bumped off the Minnesota roster and landing with Los Angeles.

Fitzgerald, 32 in June, just got to make his major league debut. After years grinding away in independent ball and the minor leagues, the Twins called him up to the show last year a bit before his 31st birthday. He stepped to the plate 53 times in 24 games and produced a .196/.302/.457 batting line while playing all four infield positions. He stole just one base but his sprint speed was ranked in the 79th percentile of big leaguers last year. He had a better batting line of .277/.367/.469 in Triple-A last year, though that was aided by a .349 batting average on balls in play.

The Dodgers are one of the best teams in baseball, having won the World Series in the past two seasons. They won’t need Fitzgerald to be an everyday player but his versatility is surely appealing for depth purposes, especially considering the veteran nature of their infield. Their shortstop is Mookie Betts, who is 33 years old and was an outfielder until recently. They have 35-year-old Max Muncy at third and 36-year-old Freddie Freeman at first.

Second base is fairly open, with Tommy Edman, Hyeseong Kim, Miguel Rojas and Alex Freeland in the mix there. Edman can also play the outfield and is also coming off ankle surgery. Kim can play multiple positions. Rojas is about to turn 37. Freeland is one of the club’s top prospects and has options, so perhaps he could end up getting regular playing time in the minors as opposed to holding a part-time role in the big leagues.

Since Fitzgerald can play all over and has a bit of speed, he could be an attractive bench piece. He could give the veterans the occasional day off or replace them mid-game in blowouts. His wheels could also allow him to pinch run on occasion.

Fitzgerald also has a couple of options remaining, so he could simply be stashed in the minors as depth to be on hand for when injuries arise throughout the year. He has just 65 days of big league service time, meaning he’s still being paid around the league minimum and is at least three years away from qualifying for arbitration.

Photo courtesy of Jesse Johnson, Imagn Images

Dodgers, Brusdar Graterol Avoid Arbitration

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The Dodgers and right-hander Brusdar Graterol have avoided arbitration, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The righty will make $2.8MM this year, the same salary he made in 2025. He missed the entire season due to injury.

This isn’t an especially surprising result. The arb system generally sees player salaries rise each year. In cases where a player misses an entire season, their salary usually holds steady. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz therefore projected Graterol to make the same $2.8MM salary as he did in 2025, which has indeed come to pass.

By agreeing to the number now, the Dodgers will have a slightly shorter to-do list tomorrow. Thursday is the deadline for teams and players to file arbitration figures if they don’t come to an agreement. The Dodgers started the offseason with nine arbitration-eligible players but that’s now down to three for the deadline day tomorrow.

Tony Gonsolin and Michael Grove were designated for assignment and became free agents. Evan Phillips was non-tendered. Ben Rortvedt was claimed off waivers by the Reds. The Dodgers picked up a club option on Alex Vesia. With Graterol now settled, the Dodgers will have just Anthony Banda, Brock Stewart and Alex Call undetermined going into tomorrow.

2026 will be Graterol’s final season before he’s slated for free agency. He’ll be looking to bounce back after a couple of injury-marred seasons. He spent many years as a key setup arm for the Dodgers, with big velocity and huge ground ball rates. From 2020 to 2023, he posted a 2.69 earned run average over 173 2/3 innings. His four-seamer and sinker both averaged about 99 miles per hour. That oddly didn’t translate to many strikeouts, just an 18.9% clip, but he got grounders on a massive 62.5% of balls in play.

Shoulder problems and then a hamstring strain limited him to just seven appearances in 2024. He underwent surgery on that shoulder in November of that year. It was initially hoped that he could return in the second half of 2025 but that didn’t come to pass. Despite the injuries, he could go into free agency with good momentum since he won’t turn 28 years old until August, though he’ll obviously need much better health to boost his earning power.

Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images

Dodgers, Braves Among Teams To Show Interest In Freddy Peralta

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Though the Brewers have continually downplayed the possibility of actually trading him, ace right-hander Freddy Peralta continues to draw a wide array of interest. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic include the Dodgers and Braves among a list of teams to inquire with the Brewers, joining a group of previously reported clubs that includes the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox. All of those clubs are still believed to have interest in the righty.

Peralta’s appeal is obvious. He’s a durable 29-year-old righty with a 3.30 ERA over his past five seasons, including a career-low 2.70 earned run average this past season (albeit with rate stats and fielding-independent marks that suggest it’s more reasonable to expect a low-3.00s ERA than another sub-3.00 mark). Peralta averages nearly 95 mph on his heater, misses bats at a high level, has only slightly worse-than-average command and, crucially, is earning just $8MM next season. That’s his final year before free agency, but even as a one-year rental, a team surrendering young talent to acquire Peralta would know that he’ll likely net a 2027 draft pick, as he’s a virtual lock to receive and reject a qualifying offer.

For luxury-paying clubs, Peralta’s modest salary is particularly enticing. That’s all the truer for teams like the Yankees, Mets and Dodgers, who figure to be in the top penalty tier for at least a third consecutive season. Those clubs are effectively paying double for any subsequent additions to the payroll. The Dodgers are already in the top tax bracket and thus would pay a 110% tax on any new additions to the payroll. The two New York clubs are just shy of the top tax bracket, but even while sitting in the third penalty tier, they’d be subject to a 95% tax. And both are close enough to the fourth-tier threshold that Peralta would put them right up against it or push them over.

For the Braves and Red Sox, the penalties would be far less severe. Atlanta didn’t pay the tax at all last year and is currently in the first penalty tier. They’d receive only a 20% ($1.6MM) slap on the wrist for adding Peralta’s salary to the ledger. The Red Sox would be crossing the tax line for just the second straight season, as they were under the threshold in 2024. They’re currently about $3MM shy of the tax cutoff, per RosterResource. As a second-time offender they’d pay a 30% tax on the first $20MM by which they exceed the limit. For Peralta, that’d be only a hair over $1.5MM.

In terms of roster fit, it’s pretty easy to see how Peralta would fit onto any of the listed clubs. Atlanta currently has Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach, Reynaldo Lopez and Hurston Waldrep lined up as its likely top five. Each of Sale, Strider, Schwellenbach and Lopez missed time with injuries in 2025. Lopez started only one game. Sale missed more than two months with fractures in his ribcage. Schwellenbach’s season ended in late June when he suffered a fracture in his right elbow. Strider posted a 4.45 ERA in his first season back from UCL surgery. Waldrep was impressive as a rookie but tossed only 56 1/3 innings in the majors.

The Dodgers certainly don’t “need” more starting pitching, but the old “no such thing as too much pitching” adage applies to veritably any club. Adding Peralta would be about further deepening the club’s October options. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan and Justin Wrobleski give the Dodgers an embarrassment of riches, and high-upside younger arms like River Ryan, Gavin Stone and Kyle Hurt are all on the mend from 2024 surgeries. Top prospect Jackson Ferris isn’t far from MLB readiness. It’s a deep group, but the Dodgers probably don’t want to simply presume that all of their more established arms will be healthy for the postseason. Bringing in another top-tier arm to join the group would further bolster their choices as they pursue an elusive threepeat.

The Yankees have yet to make an addition to the big league roster, beyond re-signing Ryan Yarbrough on a cheap one-year deal and selecting righty Cade Winquest from the Cardinals in the Rule 5 Draft. With Carlos Rodon, Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt all ticketed to open the season on the injured list, they could use some rotation help. The Mets, meanwhile, have subtracted more big names than they’ve added this winter. President of baseball ops David Stearns knows Peralta well from his Milwaukee days. The current Mets rotation is heavily reliant on rebounds from Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea as well as notable steps forward from prospects like Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat. The Red Sox have added Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo to what was already a pretty deep mix, but Peralta would be a clearer No. 2 option behind ace Garrett Crochet than Gray or right-hander Brayan Bello.

Other teams have surely shown interest in Peralta. Earlier in the offseason, it was reported that the Astros had looked into him, but they’ve since added Mike Burrows in a trade and Tatsuya Imai in free agency. The Orioles have shown interest as well, though Baltimore acquired Shane Baz and re-signed Zach Eflin, at least reducing some urgency. (Peralta would still be a notable and needed upgrade to the top end of the staff.) The Athletic’s report notes that some lower-payroll clubs are also looking into Peralta, given that his $8MM price point is affordable for any team.

Broadly speaking, it stands to reason that any 2026 postseason hopeful in the sport has probably at least gauged the asking price on Peralta. Rosenthal and Sammon suggest that a major league-ready starting pitcher is very likely to be a starting point in any talks regarding Peralta. Milwaukee won an MLB-best 97 games in 2025 and is seen as a favorite in the NL Central as a result. The Brewers know they could also get a compensatory pick in the 2027 draft if and when Peralta departs via free agency. They’re a revenue sharing recipient who doesn’t pay the luxury tax, so that pick would come at the end of the first round. That establishes a pretty reasonable base line that needs to be exceeded in any trade talks, and targeting MLB-ready help for a win-now club is only natural.

A Peralta trade shouldn’t be seen as likely. Milwaukee brass has publicly downplayed the possibility, but the Brewers will never fully close themselves off to trades of any notable stars as they approach free agency. Milwaukee traded Corbin Burnes, Devin Williams and Josh Hader near the end of their original windows of club control, after all. However, the Brewers also held onto Willy Adames for the 2024 season, knowing he’d likely reject a qualifying offer and depart via free agency, which is precisely how things played out. Keeping Peralta would give Milwaukee a deep and talented rotation, as he’d be joined by Brandon Woodruff, Jacob Misiorowski, Quinn Priester and Chad Patrick, with depth options including Logan Henderson, Tobias Myers and former top prospect Robert Gasser, who’ll be returning from Tommy John surgery.

Yankees, Cubs, Dodgers Have Checked In On Bo Bichette

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Interest in free agent infielder Bo Bichette has mostly been limited to a pair of AL East teams this offseason. Toronto is known to be open to a reunion, while Boston has met with the two-time All-Star over Zoom. Three teams are now joining the Blue Jays and Red Sox in the race for Bichette’s services, as Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the Cubs, Yankees, and Dodgers have checked in on him.

New York is one of the few contenders without a concrete plan at shortstop. Anthony Volpe is coming off a brutal season and will miss the beginning of the 2026 campaign following labrum surgery. Utilityman José Caballero will likely cover shortstop until Volpe returns. The Yankees also re-signed Amed Rosario, who has plenty of experience playing up the middle.

Top prospect George Lombard Jr. is a candidate to handle the position in the future, but stepping in as soon as this season would be a tall task for the 20-year-old. Adding Bichette would obviously be a long-term commitment, though he could move to second or third base once Lombard is ready.

The Yankees have been primarily connected to pitchers and outfielders in free agency, but a notable internal development could adjust that approach. Reports emerged in mid-December that the team was listening to offers on infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. With the front office potentially less than enthused about extending Chisholm, who will be a free agent in 2027, flipping him now could make sense. Chisholm’s departure would open up a spot at second base, a position Bichette has said he’d be willing to play.

The case for the Cubs is similar. Chicago doesn’t have an obvious need up the middle, with Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner locked in at shortstop and second base, respectively. However, Hoerner is drawing trade interest. The speedy infielder is entering the final season of the three-year, $35MM extension he signed in 2024. Just like with the Yankees and Chisholm, if the Cubs aren’t planning to bring Hoerner back, moving him for other assets would be a sensible path. Hoerner is coming off a strong season in which he hit .297 with 29 stolen bases.

There’s also the third base option. The hot corner has been vaguely mentioned as a defensive landing spot for Bichette, who’s seen his metrics fall off considerably at shortstop. In a separate post mentioning several free agents, including Bichette, Heyman reported that he’s drawing interest at second base, shortstop, and third base. Bichette could be a fallback option of sorts if Chicago comes up short in its pursuit of Alex Bregman.

Bichette had only played shortstop at the MLB level until a brief cameo at second base this past postseason. In his return from a September knee injury, Bichette appeared in five games at the keystone in the World Series. He played 30 games at second base in the minors. Bichette has never appeared at third base as a professional. His subpar arm strength wouldn’t be ideal at the position, but it could be a better spot for his declining range. Bichette ranked in the first percentile in Outs Above Average last season. At third base, he’d have the foul line as a bumper on one side, with the rangy Andres Gimenez supporting him on the other side.

The Dodgers have Mookie Betts locked in at shortstop, but second base is a short-term hole, and third base could be a long-term need. Deficiencies are relative when it comes to the back-to-back champs, of course. The second base mix currently includes KBO import Hyeseong Kim, prospect Alex Freeland, and the recently re-signed Miguel Rojas. Tommy Edman could also factor in when he’s not playing the outfield. Even if there isn’t a clear standout in the group, there are probably enough options for LA to adequately cover the position without a major addition like Bichette.

Once again, third base is a more interesting discussion. The Dodgers reupped with Max Muncy via a $10MM club option. He’s only signed through 2026, though. Muncy will turn 36 before the end of next season. Injuries have cost him significant time in each of the past two years. His tenure with the Dodgers is likely coming to an end at some point in the near future. If the club views Bichette as a viable fit at third base, he could spend a year at second base and then transition to the hot corner for the rest of what is likely to be a lengthy contract.

Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images

Dodgers Trade Esteury Ruiz To Marlins

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8:48pm: The teams officially announced the trade, and Miami confirmed that Wagaman has been designated for assignment.

6:47pm: The Dodgers are trading outfielder Esteury Ruiz to the Marlins for minor league pitcher Adriano Marrero, reports Francys Romero. Miami reportedly plans to designate first baseman Eric Wagaman for assignment in a corresponding move. This drops L.A.’s roster count to 39.

Ruiz is best known for stealing an AL-leading 67 bases as a member of the Athletics in 2023. That’s the only season in which he has appeared in even 30 games at the big league level. Ruiz batted .254/.309/.345 with five home runs in 497 trips to the plate. He only walked at a 4% clip and, despite showing his plus speed on the bases, graded poorly as a center fielder.

It clearly wasn’t what the A’s had in mind when they chose Ruiz over William Contreras as the centerpiece of their return in the three-team Sean Murphy trade the previous offseason. He spent most of the ’24 season in Triple-A and underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee at year’s end. The A’s cut bait this past April, designating Ruiz for assignment and trading him to Los Angeles.

The 26-year-old has only taken 88 trips to the dish at the MLB level over the past two seasons. He’s coming off a big year in Triple-A, where he hit .303/.411/.514 while going 62-73 in stolen base tries. Ruiz has shown a more patient plate approach against minor league pitching than he did during his big league run a few seasons back.

Miami preferred Ruiz to Dane Myers, another righty-hitting backup outfielder whom the Marlins traded to Cincinnati last week. Myers is a superior defensive option in center but doesn’t have Ruiz’s upside as a base stealer. Ruiz is three years younger and has better career Triple-A numbers, as he owns a .315/.418/.505 line with an 18% strikeout rate at the top minor league level. Myers has fanned in 23% of his Triple-A plate appearances and owns a .295/.380/.440 mark in 98 games. Ruiz has played in more hitter-friendly settings, but the youth and superior contact skills make him a more intriguing depth piece. Both players are entering their final minor league option year.

The Dodgers making a roster-clearing move will fuel speculation as to whether they have anything imminently planned on the free agent or trade front. To this point, there hasn’t been any indication that Los Angeles has any kind of pending move lined up. DFA limbo is frozen between Christmas and New Year’s Day, so this presumably isn’t a move to accommodate a waiver claim.

Whether they have any follow-up moves on the horizon, the Dodgers add a lottery ticket arm to the farm system. Marrero is an 18-year-old righty out of Cuba. He pitched this year in the Dominican Summer League. Marrero wasn’t ranked among Miami’s top 30 prospects but signed for a decent $350K bonus. In September, Baseball America’s Ben Badler credited the 6’3″ hurler with a three-pitch mix (low-90s sinker, sweeper, and changeup) that gets promising lateral movement. BA ranked Marrero among the 20 most intriguing pitching prospects in this year’s amateur signing class.

Joe Kelly Announces End Of His Playing Career

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After 13 Major League seasons, reliever Joe Kelly has decided to call a career, as the right-hander told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford on a recent edition (audio link) of the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast.  In his usual irreverent fashion, the 37-year-old Kelly declined to say he was officially retiring, taking issue with the term itself.

“Retiring is like, something that my grandmother did….I’m sorry all you people out there watching this that work a real job.  You guys deserve to retire, athletes don’t,” Kelly said.  “We just stop [expletive] playing, okay?  Let’s cancel the word ’retirement.’  It’s used for people who [expletive] served in the military, used for people who worked until 65…When athletes are done playing, just say ’congratulations, they’re no longer playing.’ ”

Kelly last played during the 2024 season, tossing 32 regular-season innings for the Dodgers.  He didn’t sign a contract last winter, and stated last July that he was planning to showcase himself in a throwing session for the Dodgers alone, saying that he only wanted to pitch for Los Angeles if he returned at all.  That session came and went without any fanfare, and Kelly told Bradford that continued injury problems convinced him to hang up the glove.  “I can throw 98 [mph] like nothing…[but] I threw a pitch and like strained again, so like ’nah, I’m done,’ ” Kelly said.

High velocity has been a bedrock of Kelly’s career, as he averaged 95mph on his fastball in his MLB debut season with the Cardinals in 2012.  A move to the bullpen added even more heat, as Kelly had an average velo of 98.2mph over the final eight seasons of his career, and he topped the 102mph mark at his peak.  While Kelly’s fastball drew the most attention, however, his sinker (which also regularly sat in the upper 90s) and curveball were his most effective pitches at finishing off batters after Kelly set them up with his standard fastball.

A third-round pick for the Cardinals in the 2009 draft, Kelly made his MLB debut with St. Louis in 2012 and he tossed his first 266 big league innings in a Cards uniform.  A notable swap at the 2014 trade deadline saw Kelly and Allen Craig sent to the Red Sox in exchange for John Lackey, and while the trade was panned by Boston fans at the time, Kelly’s development into a valued member of the Red Sox pen has made the deal a little more palatable for Red Sox Nation in hindsight.

Kelly struggled with injuries and consistency over his first two full seasons as a starter with the Sox, and a move to relief pitching in 2016 helped him at least spend less time on the injured list.  Kelly had a 4.33 ERA over his entire 359 1/3 inning tenure with the Red Sox, but he shone brightest when posting a 0.79 ERA over 11 1/3 frames during the 2018 postseason, playing a big role in Boston’s World Series championship victory.

After helping beat the Dodgers in that Fall Classic, Kelly then went to L.A. on a three-year, $25MM free agent deal.  Some early struggles made that signing look like a potential bust, but Kelly righted the ship and finished with a 3.59 ERA, 26.9% strikeout rate, 59.9% grounder rate, and 9.8% walk rate over 105 1/3 innings in that three-season span.  The highlight was another postseason success and a ring in 2020, with Kelly allowing one earned run over 4 2/3 innings during the Dodgers’ title run.

A two-year, $17MM contract with the White Sox followed for Kelly in advance of the 2022 season, but the injuries started to really pile up, leading to a only a 5.59 ERA over 66 innings in a Chicago uniform.  Acquired again by the Dodgers at the 2023 trade deadline, Kelly suddenly regained some of his old form in posting a 1.74 ERA the rest of the way.  Los Angeles brought him back for a one-year, $8MM contract for the 2024 season, but Kelly’s health problems continued and he managed just a 4.78 ERA in his final 32 innings in the Show.  While he wasn’t part of the Dodgers’ playoff roster, Los Angeles’ World Series victory meant that Kelly earned his third ring in what ended up as his farewell season.

Over 485 games and 839 career innings in the majors, Kelly had a 3.98 ERA, 51.8% grounder rate, 21.1% strikeout rate, and a 9.8% walk rate.  His postseason resume consists of a 3.45 ERA over 60 innings, and a particularly impressive 2.03 ERA across 13 1/3 innings in the World Series.

Along the way, Kelly created quite a reputation for himself as a character.  Kelly’s competitiveness sometimes led to a pair of high-profile suspensions, but his willingness to defend teammates only added to the fuel of the rivalries between the Red Sox and Yankees, and the sign-stealing scandal inspired feud between the Dodgers and Astros.  Between his big fastball, erratic control, and eccentric personality, Kelly welcomed all comparisons to “Wild Thing” Rick Vaughn, to the point of wearing #99 with the Dodgers after giving his #17 jersey to the incoming Shohei Ohtani.  (This gesture resulted in Ohtani gifting a Porsche to Kelly’s wife Ashley.)

We at MLBTR congratulate Kelly on a fine career, and we wish him all the best in retir….er, his post-playing endeavors.

Andrew Heaney Announces Retirement

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Andrew Heaney is retiring after 12 Major League seasons, as the 34-year-old southpaw announced via his social media feeds.  Heaney finishes his career with a 4.57 ERA over 1136 2/3 innings as a starter and occasional reliever with six different MLB teams, including seven seasons with the Angels.

“I will miss the game greatly, but all of my experiences and the lasting relationships have made me a better person,” Heaney wrote.  “The routine of showing up to the yard every day and working to improve each time out has been a driving force for me…I am now ready to return my focus and energy to being a husband, father, family man, and active member of my community.  I’m retiring from baseball, but I hope to give back more than I received.  Thank you to all of you for the love and support you have given me.  Y’all know who you are.”

Heaney spent his final season with the Pirates and Dodgers, posting a 5.52 ERA over 122 1/3 innings.  After inking a one-year, $5.25MM deal with Pittsburgh last February, Heaney’s struggles kept him from being dealt at the trade deadline, and the Bucs ended up demoting him to the bullpen and then releasing him entirely at the end of August.  The Dodgers brought Heaney back on a minor league deal for what was technically his third stint in the organization, and he appeared in a single big league game in late September but wasn’t included on any of Los Angeles’ postseason rosters.

Selected ninth overall by the Marlins in the 2012 draft, Heaney debuted in the Show in 2014 but was dealt after the season to the Dodgers as part of a major seven-player trade that brought Dee Strange-Gordon to Miami (and Enrique Hernandez and Austin Barnes to Chavez Ravine).  The Dodgers then flipped Heaney to the Angels that same day in another trade for Howie Kendrick, which has some historical import as the last time the two Los Angeles clubs engaged in a player-for-player swap.

A Tommy John surgery and some other injuries limited Heaney during his time in Anaheim, but he delivered a 4.51 ERA over 569 1/3 innings his long stretch in an Angels uniform.  The tenure ended when Heaney was dealt to the Yankees at the 2021 trade deadline, and that winter he returned to L.A. for a more proper stint with the Dodgers when he signed a one-year, $8.5MM free agent deal.  Injuries were again a factor for Heaney during this year, but he had a 3.10 ERA and a whopping 35.5% strikeout rate over his 72 2/3 frames.

The Oklahoma City native’s next contract brought him a bit closer to home, as Heaney inked a two-year, $25MM deal with the Rangers in the 2022-23 offseason.  The deal was a hit for both the pitcher and the team, as Heaney had a 4.22 ERA with Texas while staying generally healthy — his 160 innings in 2024 and 147 1/3 innings in 2023 were the second- and third-highest single-season innings totals of his career.  During the 2023 postseason, Heaney had a 4.09 ERA in 11 innings over five games as a starter and reliever, helping the Rangers win the World Series.

Home runs were a constant issue for Heaney throughout his career, and his 199 career homers allowed inflated his ERA and perhaps kept him from breaking through as a front-of-the-rotation arm.  Still, Heaney carved out a long and successful career for himself as a starter on the strength of his strikeout ability (23.8% career strikeout rate) and quality control (7% walk rate).  Despite his struggles in 2025, it seemed like Heaney still had more in the tank if he’d chosen to continue pitching, and perhaps could’ve reinvented himself as a full-time relief pitcher.

Instead, Heaney has decided to hang up his glove and will now move onto his post-playing endeavors.  We at MLB Trade Rumors wish Heaney all the best, and congratulate him on a fine career.

Dodgers Sign Chuckie Robinson To Minors Contract

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The Dodgers have signed Chuckie Robinson to a minor league deal, according to the catcher’s MLB.com profile page.  It is a reunion between the two sides, as Robinson spent the bulk of the 2025 season in the Dodgers organization after being claimed off waivers from the Angels in May.

Robinson was designated for assignment and then outrighted off the 40-man roster within a few days of joining the Dodgers, and his previous stint with the team included a single MLB game on September 15.  This marked Robinson’s only big league playing time of the 2025 campaign, and the Braves then claimed the backstop off waivers a week later.  Atlanta outrighted Robinson off its 40-man roster in early November, and because he had a previous outright on his resume, Robinson exercised his right to become a free agent.

That lone game on September 15 was the 52nd Major League appearance of Robinson’s career, as he previously played in 25 games with the Reds in 2022 and 26 games with the 2024 White Sox.  Robinson has only a .131/.169/.192 slash line to show for his 138 plate appearances in the bigs, and even his career Triple-A numbers are pretty modest (.268/.329/.405 with 27 homers over 1039 PA).

Despite the lack of offensive pop, Robinson’s excellent defensive reputation has kept him on the radar as a backup option for multiple clubs.  He’ll now return to Los Angeles in a depth role, as the Dodgers are set behind the plate with All-Star Will Smith as the starter and former top prospect Dalton Rushing acting in a backup role.  Robinson is the only other catcher in the Dodgers’ system with any big league experience, so L.A. might look to bring in more catching help for Spring Training just purely for evaluation purposes, or so the team’s younger pitchers can work with another seasoned backstop.

Nine Teams Exceeded Luxury Tax Threshold In 2025

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Major League Baseball has finalized its calculations of teams’ competitive balance tax payrolls for the 2025 season. As first reported by The Associated Press, nine teams surpassed the $241MM base threshold. In a separate post, The AP lists the finalized CBT numbers for all 30 teams.

The payments are as follows:

  • Dodgers: $169.4MM
  • Mets: $91.6MM
  • Yankees: $61.8MM
  • Phillies: $56.1MM
  • Blue Jays: $13.6MM
  • Padres: $7MM
  • Astros: $1.5MM
  • Red Sox: $1.5MM
  • Rangers: $190K

Teams pay escalating penalties for exceeding the threshold in consecutive seasons. The Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Phillies and Rangers have all paid the tax in at least three straight years — subjecting them to the highest escalator fees. The Astros went over the line for the second straight season. The Blue Jays, Padres and Red Sox had gotten below in 2024 and are categorized as first-time payors.

This is the second straight year in which nine teams paid the CBT. The Braves, Giants and Cubs had gone over the line in ’24 but dipped below this year, which resets their status going into 2026. Atlanta’s active offseason puts them in position to go back into tax territory next year, when the base threshold climbs to $244MM. San Francisco and Chicago each have projected CBT numbers more than $40MM below that right now.

While public estimates from RosterResource and Cot’s Baseball Contracts offer an excellent approximation of teams’ payroll commitments, the official numbers are not available during the season. It’s not uncommon for rounding errors in those calculations to vary by a few million dollars. That generally isn’t a big deal but can matter for teams that are hovering very close to the tax line. Each of the Red Sox ($249MM payroll), Astros ($246MM) and Rangers ($241.38MM) were believed to have gone narrowly beyond the $241MM cutoff, but that wasn’t 100% established until this evening — particularly in the case of Texas.

The Dodgers ($417MM), Mets ($347MM), Yankees ($320MM), Phillies ($314MM) and Blue Jays ($286MM) all had payrolls above $281MM. That was the third tier of penalization and marked the point at which a team’s top draft pick is dropped by 10 spots. The Mets were the only of those five that didn’t make the playoffs. Their top pick drops from 17th to 27th. The Yankees, Philadelphia, Toronto and L.A. all have their first-round pick dropped to between 35th and 40th.

Teams that paid the CBT are entitled to the lowest level of compensation for losing free agents who declined a qualifying offer. They receive a draft choice after the fourth round for each qualified free agent who walks. They’re charged the heaviest penalty — their second- and fifth-highest picks in 2026 and $1MM from their ’27 international bonus pool — for signing a qualified free agent from another team.

San Diego and the Mets receive a pick after the fourth round for losing Dylan Cease and Edwin Díaz, respectively. Toronto (Bo Bichette), Houston (Framber Valdez) and Philadelphia (Ranger Suárez) would receive the same if their free agents sign elsewhere. The Dodgers surrendered their second- and fifth-round selections for Díaz. Toronto is slated to do the same for Cease, but if Bichette walks, they’d give up that compensatory pick instead and get their fifth-rounder back.

The Dodgers’ combined payroll and tax bill for the 2025 season lands north of $586MM. The two-time defending champions’ tax hit alone is higher than the payrolls of the bottom 12 teams in the league. There were 14 clubs that had a CBT number above $200MM. The Braves, Cubs, Giants, Angels, Diamondbacks and Mariners were the other six teams above the median. All but Seattle spent more than $200MM.

On the other end, the Marlins ($87MM) and White Sox ($92MM) were the two teams with payrolls below $100MM. The Rays ($103MM), Pirates ($109MM) and Athletics ($118MM) rounded out the bottom five — followed by the Guardians, Nationals, Twins, Brewers and Reds.

Overall, the league will collect just under $403MM in taxes. Teams must make the payments by January 21. The first $3.5MM will be used to fund player benefits. Half the remaining money goes to players’ retirement accounts, while the other half is used for revenue sharing distribution from MLB to teams.

Dodgers Sign Edwin Diaz

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December 15th: The deal also contains a condition club option for 2029, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. That option has a $6.5MM base, with Diaz able to earn an extra $750K for 45 games finished and 50 games finished, plus another $1MM for 55 games finished. The specific conditions for the option aren’t known but Alden González of ESPN reports that it would be available to the Dodgers if Diaz spends a certain amount of time on the injured list.

December 12th: The Dodgers officially announced the signing today.

December 9th: For the second straight offseason, the Dodgers are signing the top relief arm on the market. They’ve reportedly agreed to a three-year, $69MM contract with now-former Mets closer Edwin Diaz. It’s a record-setting annual value for a reliever, breaking the $20.4MM record that Diaz himself already held. Diaz’s contract with the Dodgers contains $4.5MM in deferred salary annually. The net-present value, for luxury tax purposes, is roughly $21.1MM.

Diaz, a Wasserman client, returned to the open market this winter when he opted out of the final two seasons of the precedent-setting five-year, $102MM contract he signed with the Mets the last time he was a free agent. The right-hander had been guaranteed $38MM over the final two seasons of that contract, so by opting out and testing the market, he secured himself an additional one year and $31MM in guarantees. The Mets, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, offered Diaz a three-year, $66MM deal with “slight” deferrals.

The 31-year-old Diaz (32 in March) has spent the past seven years in Queens and, after a rocky first campaign, has turned in a collective 2.36 ERA (2.12 SIERA, 2.15 FIP) with a mammoth 40.8% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate. He’s piled up 144 saves in 332 appearances as a Met.

For the Dodgers, Diaz represents the most on-the-nose means of addressing a problem that nearly doomed them in the postseason: a lack of reliable bullpen help. Injuries to Evan Phillips, Tanner Scott, Brusdar Graterol and others left the Dodgers with a thin enough stock of trustworthy relievers that L.A. turned to Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (one day after he threw nearly 100 pitches) in pivotal high-leverage settings during their World Series run. That they even progressed to the World Series was largely attributable to historic performances from starters Yamamoto, Snell, Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani in the postseason’s earlier rounds.

The Dodgers have now signed the top reliever on the market in consecutive offseasons. They inked Tanner Scott to a four-year, $72MM pact last winter, though that deal contained $21MM worth of deferred money, thus knocking down the present value. Scott’s first year in L.A. didn’t go at all as hoped; he limped to a 4.74 ERA with improved command but lesser velocity and strikeout rates. After yielding 11 home runs in the 2022-24 seasons combined, Scott served up 11 round-trippers in his first season as a Dodger.

Certainly, they’ll hope for better results with Diaz, whose track record is lengthier and steadier than that of Scott. While he’s naturally had some year-to-year variance in his earned run averages — as is the case for any reliever — Diaz has been at 3.52 or better in each of the past five seasons, including three sub-2.00 campaigns. He’s punched out at least 34.6% of his opponents each season along the way, and since a shaky walk rate in 2021, he’s sat between 7.7% and 9.3% in that regard for four straight seasons.

That’s not to say there aren’t any red flags at all with regard to Diaz. His average fastball velocity has dipped in two consecutive seasons. While this past season’s average of 97.2 mph was still well above average, it’s also two miles per hour shy of Diaz’s 2022 peak. He also gave up considerably more hard contact. Diaz’s 88.5 mph average exit velocity and 39.7% hard-hit rate were both the second-highest marks of his career, trailing only his disastrous 2019 season (his first as a Met). Neither is a glaring issue, particularly considering Diaz maintained elite strikeout and swinging-strike rates (38% and 18%, respectively), but he’ll want to avoid allowing those negative trends to continue, however slight they may currently be.

Diaz will slot into the ninth inning, pushing Scott to a setup role alongside Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen, Anthony Banda, Brock Stewart and Graterol. Will Klein, Ben Casparius and Jack Dreyer all had solid or better seasons in 2025, but if everyone is healthy — far from a given — there’s only room for one of that trio in the final bullpen spot. Of course, injuries will inevitably create opportunities for many of the Dodgers’ overqualified depth arms, and each of Klein, Casparius, Dreyer and Edgardo Henriquez have minor league options remaining.

The Dodgers have paid the luxury tax in (more than) three consecutive seasons and are more than $60MM over the $244MM first-tier luxury threshold, meaning they’ll pay a 110% tax on the AAV on Diaz’s contract. However the annual salaries break down, he’ll cost them an additional $25.3MM in taxes alone. Assuming an evenly distributed $23MM per season, RosterResource, now projects next year’s Dodgers payroll at just over $359MM (although that does not account for substantial deferrals to Ohtani, Scott, Freddie Freeman, etc.).

The Mets would have been subject to those same penalties had they matched or topped this offer. Diaz reportedly entered the market seeking a five-year contract. When that didn’t materialize, he clearly pivoted to a record-setting, shorter-term arrangement. The extent of the deferrals in New York’s offer aren’t yet clear, but there’s no indication (yet, anyway) that the Dodgers’ offer includes any deferred money.

While New York couldn’t have known when signing Devin Williams to a three-year, $51MM pact that Diaz would also sign for three years and a total of $18MM more, the results from those two high-end relievers will now be carefully watched by Mets fans for the next three seasons. If Williams returns to form, it’ll look like a savvy pivot to get a comparable reliever at a lesser rate. If not, there will be plenty of second-guessing and criticism from the fan base.

Of course, owner Steve Cohen also clearly has the resources to have simply won the bidding on both relievers, but that’s ultimately not the route the front office chose. They’ll now look to other avenues as they seek to continue adding to the bullpen. The Mets were open to re-signing Diaz even after adding Williams, and while this deal clearly went past their comfort zone, there are other high-end arms still available — Robert Suarez, most notably. Choosing to let Diaz walk also frees up further resources for a potential re-signing of Pete Alonso or perhaps a run at another target of note.

The Mets bid farewell to Diaz, who rejected a $22.025MM qualifying offer, with only minimal compensation for his departure. Due to their status as luxury tax payors, they’ll receive a compensatory draft pick after the fourth round of next summer’s draft. The Dodgers, meanwhile, will surrender their second- and fifth-highest selections in next year’s draft. The league-allotted cap on their personal spending pool for international amateur free agents will also be reduced by $1MM.

Such considerations tend to be ancillary for the market’s top-spending clubs. Perennial luxury payors consider them the cost of doing business in the deepest waters of the free agent pool. The Dodgers have punted draft picks to sign Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman (among others) in recent seasons. For them, the allure of adding a closer with nearly unrivaled dominance takes precedence as they try to assemble a roster capable of winning three consecutive World Series for the first time since the 1998-2000 Yankees.

The Athletic’s Will Sammon first reported the agreement. Sammon and colleague Ken Rosenthal were also the first to report the three-year term. ESPN’s Jeff Passan broke the total guarantee. Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the Dodgers’ emerging interest in Diaz shortly before the agreement became public. Sherman reported on the deferrals.

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