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American League Non-Tenders: 11/21/25

By Anthony Franco | November 21, 2025 at 4:22pm CDT

Every American League team has officially announced their non-tender decisions. It was a quiet evening in terms of subtractions, with only the Rangers parting with any marquee players. All players who were non-tendered are free agents without going on waivers. A few teams dropped pre-arbitration players from the back of the 40-man roster. It’s possible they preferred not to expose them to waivers and are hopeful of re-signing them to non-roster deals.

Here’s a full list of today’s activity in the AL, while the National League moves are available here. All projected salaries are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

  • The Angels announced they’ve non-tendered outfielder Gustavo Campero and catcher Sebastian Rivero. Campero is a depth outfielder who has hit .202/.272/.346 over the past two seasons. Rivero operated as the club’s third catcher for most of the season but spent the final few weeks on the active roster. Neither player had been eligible for arbitration. All their arb-eligible players were easy calls to retain.
  • The Astros technically made one non-tender, dropping infielder Ramón Urías after he was designated for assignment earlier in the week. He’d been projected at $4.4MM.
  • The Athletics officially non-tendered outfielder JJ Bleday, the club announced. He’d been designated for assignment on Tuesday, so this was inevitable unless they found a trade partner. Bleday had been projected at $2.2MM.
  • The only non-tenders for the Red Sox were first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and reliever Josh Winckowski, each of whom had been designated for assignment on Tuesday. Lowe was projected at $13.5MM, while Winckowski was at $800K.
  • The Guardians non-tendered outfielder Will Brennan and relievers Sam Hentges and Nic Enright. The latter had been designated for assignment on Tuesday. Hentges hasn’t pitched since undergoing shoulder surgery in September 2024. He underwent a right knee procedure a few months ago and will be delayed this offseason. Brennan only appeared in six MLB games this year and underwent Tommy John surgery while in the minors in June. He’d been projected at $900K.
  • The Mariners non-tendered reliever Gregory Santos, reports Francys Romero. He’d only been projected at $800K, narrowly above the MLB minimum, so the move was about dropping him from the 40-man roster. Seattle acquired the 26-year-old righty from the White Sox over the 2023-24 offseason. He has only made 16 MLB appearances with a 5.02 earned run average over the past two years because of lat and knee injuries. Seattle also non-tendered relievers Trent Thornton and Tayler Saucedo (the latter of whom was designated for assignment on Tuesday). Thornton had been projected at $2.5MM and is coming off a 4.68 ERA through 33 appearances. He suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in August.
  • The Orioles non-tendered swingman Albert Suárez, the team announced. Everyone else in their arbitration class was offered a contract, surprisingly including first baseman Ryan Mountcastle (as first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan). Suárez, 36, was a solid depth starter in 2024. He was limited to five MLB appearances this past season by a flexor strain but is not expected to require surgery.
  • The Rangers non-tendered each of Adolis García, Jonah Heim, Josh Sborz and Jacob Webb. MLBTR covered those moves in greater detail.
  • The Rays only non-tendered outfielders Christopher Morel and Jake Fraley, each of whom had been designated for assignment earlier in the week. Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times reported last night that the Rays were open to bringing back Fraley at a lower price than his $3.6MM arbitration projection.
  • The Royals non-tendered outfielder MJ Melendez and reliever Taylor Clarke, per a club announcement. Melendez, who’d been projected at $2.65MM, was an obvious decision. The former top prospect never developed as hoped and is a career .215/.297/.388 hitter over parts of four seasons. Clarke isn’t as big a name but comes as the more surprising cut. He’d been projected at just $1.9MM and is coming off a 3.25 ERA with a 21.4% strikeout rate over 55 1/3 innings out of the bullpen.
  • The Tigers are non-tendering utility player Andy Ibáñez, according to Romero. He’d been projected at $1.8MM. The righty-hitting Ibáñez had been a solid short-side platoon bat for Detroit between 2023-24. His production against southpaws dropped this year (.258/.311/.403), limiting his value. The Tigers optioned the 32-year-old to Triple-A in early June and kept him in the minors until shortly before the trade deadline. Detroit also dropped the six pitchers they’d designated for assignment earlier in the week: Tanner Rainey, Dugan Darnell, Tyler Mattison, Jason Foley, Jack Little and Sean Guenther.
  • The only Twins non-tender was outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr., who’d been designated for assignment this morning to make room for the Alex Jackson trade. Everyone in the arbitration class was brought back.
  • The White Sox non-tendered outfielder Mike Tauchman, as first reported by Bruce Levine of 670 The Score. The lefty hitter turned in a solid .263/.356/.400 line in 93 games this past season. Tauchman has gotten on base at plus rates in three straight years but was also non-tendered by the Cubs a year ago. The 34-year-old (35 next month) had been projected for a $3.4MM salary. The Sox also announced they’ve dropped lefty reliever Cam Booser and first baseman Tim Elko. Neither had been eligible for arbitration. The former posted a 5.52 ERA in 39 appearances after being acquired from the Red Sox last winter, while the latter hit .134 in his first 23 MLB games despite a 26-homer season in Triple-A.
  • The Yankees announced five non-tenders. Relievers Mark Leiter Jr., Scott Effross, Jake Cousins and Ian Hamilton were all cut loose, as was pre-arbitration righty Michael Arias. Leiter, who’d been projected at $3MM, never clicked in the Bronx after being acquired at the 2024 deadline. He posted a 4.89 ERA in 70 innings as a Yankee. Hamilton, Effross and Cousins were all projected just above the MLB minimum but are cut to clear roster space. Hamilton was on and off the active roster and posted a 4.28 ERA in 40 big league frames this year. Effross was limited to 11 appearances and has been plagued by various injuries for the past three and a half years, while Cousins is working back from Tommy John surgery. Arias has never pitched in the big leagues and could be brought back on a minor league deal.

The Blue Jays tendered contracts to all unsigned players on the 40-man roster.

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Athletics Baltimore Orioles Boston Red Sox Chicago White Sox Cleveland Guardians Detroit Tigers Houston Astros Kansas City Royals Los Angeles Angels Minnesota Twins New York Yankees Seattle Mariners Tampa Bay Rays Texas Rangers Toronto Blue Jays Transactions Albert Suarez Andy Ibanez Cam Booser Christopher Morel DaShawn Keirsey Jr. Dugan Darnell Gregory Santos Gustavo Campero Ian Hamilton J.J. Bleday Jack Little Jake Cousins Jake Fraley Jason Foley Josh Winckowski MJ Melendez Mark Leiter Jr. Michael Arias Mike Tauchman Nathaniel Lowe Nic Enright Ramon Urias Sam Hentges Scott Effross Sean Guenther Sebastian Rivero Tanner Rainey Tayler Saucedo Taylor Clarke Tim Elko Trent Thornton Tyler Mattison Will Brennan

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Players Avoiding Arbitration: 11/21/25

By Steve Adams and Darragh McDonald | November 21, 2025 at 3:50pm CDT

The deadline for teams to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players is this afternoon at 4pm CT. Throughout the day, we’ll surely see a handful of arb-eligible players agree to terms with their clubs to avoid a hearing.

These so-called “pre-tender deals” usually, although not always, involve players who were borderline non-tender candidates. Rather than run the risk of being cut loose, they can look to sign in the lead-up to the deadline. Those salaries often come in a little below projections, since these players tend to have less leverage because of the uncertainty about whether they’ll be offered a contract at all.

Under the 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement, players who sign to avoid an arbitration hearing are guaranteed full termination pay. That’s a change from prior CBAs, when teams could release an arb-eligible player before the season began and would only owe a prorated portion of the contract. This was done to incentivize teams and players to get deals done without going to a hearing.

All salary projections in this post come via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. This post will be updated throughout the day as deals are announced and/or reported. Salary figures are from The Associated Press unless otherwise noted.

  • The Astros signed right-hander Enyel De Los Santos to a one-year deal and outfielder Taylor Trammell to a split deal, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Per Chandler Rome of The Athletic, De Los Santos gets $1.6MM, plus a $100K bonus if he appears in 60 games, while Trammell $900K if in the majors and $500K in the minors. They were projected for $2.1MM and $900K respectively.
  • The Athletics announced that they have signed right-hander Luis Medina and left-hander Ken Waldichuk to one-year deals. Medina gets $835K, while Waldichuk comes in at $825K.
  • The Braves announced that they have signed infielder Vidal Bruján, infielder Mauricio Dubón, outfielder Eli White and left-handers Joey Wentz and José Suarez for the 2026 season. Bruján’s deal was announced as a split contract; he’ll make $850K in MLB and $500K in the minors. Dubon will make $6.1MM, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post, right around his $5.8MM projection. Suarez gets $900K, per Ari Alexander of 7 News, below his $1.5MM projection. White and Wentz also get $900K salaries.
  • The Brewers announced that they have signed first baseman Jake Bauers for 2026. He’ll make $2.7MM, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post. He was projected for $2MM.
  • The Giants have agreed to a one-year deal with right-hander JT Brubaker, per Justice selos Santos of Mercury News. He commands a $1.82MM salary.
  • The Guardians have agreed to one-year deals with outfielder Nolan Jones, catcher/designated hitter David Fry and right-hander Matt Festa, per Zack Meisel of The Athletic. In a follow-up, Meisel also provides the salary figures. Jones will make $2MM, Fry $1.375MM and Festa $1MM. They were projected for $2MM, $1.2MM and $1MM respectively.
  • The Mets and outfielder Tyrone Taylor have agreed at $3.8MM, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, right around his $3.6MM projection.
  • The Nationals announced they have signed catcher Riley Adams to a one-year deal. It’s a split deal that pays $1MM in the big leagues and $500K in the minors.
  • The Orioles and right-hander Félix Bautista have agreed to a $2.25MM contract, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He was projected for $2.1MM.
  • The Padres announced they signed catcher Luis Campusano to a one-year deal. He’ll make $900K next year, per Dennis Lin of The Athletic. He was projected for $1MM.
  • The Phillies have agreed to a split deal with catcher Garrett Stubbs, reports Matt Gelb of The Athletic. Stubbs will make $925K in the majors and $575K in the minors. The major league salary is an exact match for his projection. The Phils announced that they also signed catcher Rafael Marchán. He’ll make $860K, per Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. He was projected for $1MM.
  • The Rangers announced they signed outfielder Sam Haggerty to a one-year deal. It’s a $1.25MM contract.
  • The Rays and right-hander Cole Sulser have settled at $1.05MM, per Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. Sulser was projected for $1.2MM. According to the AP, it’s a split deal that pays at a $600K rate in the minors.
  • The Reds and left-hander Sam Moll have agreed at $875K, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post. He was projected for $1.2MM. His 2026 deal also has $150K in potential incentives — $50K each for 45, 55 and 65 appearances.
  • The Royals and infielder Jonathan India agreed to an $8MM deal. You can read more about that in this post.
  • The Tigers and infielder/outfielder Matt Vierling agreed at $3.225MM, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post. He was projected for $3.1MM. Detroit signed right-hander Beau Brieske at $1.1575MM, per Heyman, right around his $1.3MM projection. The Tigers signed catcher Jake Rogers at $3.05MM, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, right around his $2.9MM projection.
  • The Twins signed right-hander Justin Topa to a one-year, $1.225MM deal. MLBTR covered that earlier in this post. The Twins turned down a $2MM club option for Topa, giving him a $225K buyout instead, but he remained under club control via arb. Between the buyout and next year’s salary, he’ll collect $1.45MM. Darren Wolfson of KSTP reported Topa’s 2026 salary. Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic adds that the guarantee is broken down into a $1MM salary in 2026 followed by a $225K buyout on a $5MM mutual option. The buyout can rise to $300K via unspecified incentives.
  • The White Sox announced that they have agreed to terms on a $900K deal with outfielder Derek Hill. He was projected for $1MM.
  • The Yankees and infielder Oswaldo Cabrera have agreed to a $1.2MM contract, per Jack Curry of Yes Network, an exact match for his projection. The Yanks have also signed right-hander Clarke Schmidt to a $4.5MM deal, per Robert Murray of FanSided, right around his $4.9MM projection.

Photo courtesy of William Liang, Imagn Images

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Athletics Atlanta Braves Baltimore Orioles Chicago White Sox Cincinnati Reds Cleveland Guardians Detroit Tigers Houston Astros Kansas City Royals Milwaukee Brewers Minnesota Twins New York Mets New York Yankees Philadelphia Phillies San Diego Padres San Francisco Giants Tampa Bay Rays Texas Rangers Transactions Washington Nationals Beau Brieske Clarke Schmidt Cole Sulser David Fry Derek Hill Eli White Enyel De Los Santos Felix Bautista Garrett Stubbs J.T. Brubaker Jake Bauers Jake Rogers Joey Wentz Jonathan India Jose Suarez Justin Topa Ken Waldichuk Luis Campusano Luis Medina Matt Festa Matt Vierling Mauricio Dubon Nolan Jones Oswaldo Cabrera Rafael Marchan Riley Adams Sam Haggerty Sam Moll Taylor Trammell Tyrone Taylor Vidal Brujan

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A’s Agree To Minor League Deals With Ben Bowden, Geoff Hartlieb

By Anthony Franco | November 20, 2025 at 9:19pm CDT

The Athletics agreed to minor league contracts with relievers Ben Bowden and Geoff Hartlieb. Matt Eddy of Baseball America noted Bowden’s signing on their latest transaction roundup, while the Hartlieb move is reflected on the MLB.com transaction log.

Bowden’s deal is a re-signing, as he spent the 2025 season with the A’s. The 31-year-old southpaw made 11 appearances, allowing six runs (five earned) across 10 2/3 frames. He struck out seven and issued five walks before suffering a season-ending lat strain. While that cost him his 40-man roster spot, the A’s like him enough as a depth option to bring him back. Bowden pitched well at Triple-A Las Vegas before his call-up, working 39 2/3 innings of 1.36 ERA ball while striking out a quarter of opposing hitters.

The A’s could lose Sean Newcomb to free agency. That leaves them with Hogan Harris as the only left-hander locked into the bullpen. Brady Basso and swingman Ken Waldichuk are the only other southpaws on the 40-man roster who aren’t set for rotation roles. The A’s will probably bring in a left-hander (or re-sign Newcomb), but there’s a decent path for Bowden right now to compete for a season-opening bullpen job.

Hartlieb, 31, is likely to begin the season in Triple-A. The journeyman righty made four MLB appearances between the Yankees and Tigers this past season. He gave up eight runs in 3 1/3 innings and has a near-8.00 ERA in his MLB career. Hartlieb posted strong underlying numbers in Triple-A, fanning 27.6% of opponents against a 7.6% walk rate over 53 1/3 frames. That gets him another non-roster opportunity for what’ll be his seventh Triple-A season.

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Athletics Transactions Ben Bowden Geoff Hartlieb

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Athletics Unlikely To Trade Hitter For Rotation Upgrade

By Darragh McDonald | November 20, 2025 at 1:00pm CDT

The Athletics need pitchers and have hitters but that doesn’t mean they will trade from one area to address another. Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that teams are trying to give the A’s controllable starting pitching in exchange for a young hitter but the A’s would prefer not to mess with their lineup and will focus more on adding pitching via free agency.

The A’s have been rebuilding for a few years now and have had more success on the position player side so far. While many of their young pitchers have scuffled in the majors, the club has put together a nice lineup featuring guys like Nick Kurtz, Tyler Soderstrom, Brent Rooker, Jacob Wilson, Lawrence Butler, Shea Langeliers and others. There’s an argument that they should make someone in that group available via trade in order to bolster their rotation, especially considering the difficulties they face in adding to the rotation via free agency.

Getting a free agent to sign with a rebuilding club is always more challenging than luring a player to a clear contender. The A’s showed some promise in the second half of 2025 but are still only theoretical contenders compared to clubs with more tangible recent success. On top of that, there’s the ballpark situation. The A’s are temporarily playing in a Triple-A park in West Sacramento while they are waiting for their new stadium in Las Vegas to be built. Free agents aren’t going to have that as their top choice.

Last winter, the A’s signed Luis Severino a three-year, $67MM deal. That was above most industry projections and it’s generally viewed as an overpay, which was necessary to get Severino to choose the A’s over other destinations. Even though Severino took that nice deal, he eventually made public complaints about the working conditions at Sutter Health Park. The pact hasn’t worked from an on-field perspective so far, as Severino posted a 4.54 earned run average in his first year with the A’s.

Rather than go down that road again, the A’s could turn to the trade market. A deal involving Soderstrom once felt like an inevitability. He came up as a catching prospect but his glovework wasn’t as impressive as his bat. He was moved to first base as a major leaguer but was eventually displaced by the arrival of Kurtz. With Rooker often in the designated hitter slot, Soderstrom was pushed to left field.

With Soderstrom awkwardly pushed to another position, there was a case for him to be traded to a club with a greater first base need. However, he surprisingly thrived after the position change. He spent 876 2/3 innings in left field in 2025 and was credited with ten Defensive Runs Saved and five Outs Above Average. That DRS tally was bested only by Steven Kwan, Wyatt Langford and Jarren Duran among left fielders this year, with Kwan the only guy who was meaningfully ahead of Soderstrom. In the OAA column, Soderstrom was tied for first with Kwan, Langford and Isaac Collins.

Presumably, that lessens the need for the A’s to consider a trade. Instead of a clumsy first baseman who is kicking the ball around in an outfield corner, Soderstrom may actually just be a good fit in left. He hit 25 home runs and slashed .276/.346/.474 for a 125 wRC+ while undergoing that position change as well. Still he still has four years of club control and hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration, he could just be kept around as a key piece of the lineup.

The A’s will need rotation help, however. Their starters posted a collective 4.85 ERA this year, which was better than just three other clubs. Last winter, it was reported that the A’s needed to have a competitive balance tax figure of around $105MM in order to avoid a grievance related to their revenue sharing status. That seemed to contribute to their pursuit of Severino, as well as signing extensions with Rooker and Butler. RosterResource projects them for right around that $105MM figure for 2026, so perhaps there’s less pressure for a CBT-inflating move this offseason.

Regardless, the A’s may need to spend anyway. It’s possible their preference for not trading from their lineup is just posturing for leverage in trade talks, but if not, then free agency is the way to go. It would be a shock if they targeted top names like Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, Ranger Suárez or Tatsuya Imai, but there are perhaps scenarios where guys like Michael King, Zac Gallen, Lucas Giolito or others don’t see their markets develop as hoped, which could increase their willingness to join the A’s as a way of getting paid.

Photo courtesy of David Richard, Imagn Images

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A’s Designate JJ Bleday For Assignment

By Anthony Franco | November 18, 2025 at 6:00pm CDT

The Athletics are designating outfielder JJ Bleday for assignment, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. The A’s are adding prospects Braden Nett, Junior Perez and Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang to their 40-man roster to keep them out of the Rule 5 draft.

The A’s are moving on from their Opening Day center fielder of the past two seasons. They acquired Bleday from the Marlins over the 2022-23 offseason in a one-for-one swap sending A.J. Puk to Miami. It was a change-of-scenery deal of former top 10 picks. Both players had brief amounts of success in their new home, but neither quite clicked in the way their acquiring club had hoped. Puk was beset by injuries, while Bleday struggled defensively and was up-and-down at the plate.

Bleday struggled in 2023, batting .195 with 10 home runs over 82 games. He followed up with the best season of his career, popping 20 longballs with a .243/.324/.437 slash while appearing in 159 games. It raised some hope of a late-career breakout, but Bleday’s bat regressed despite the move from Oakland to the much more hitter-friendly Sutter Health Park.

The Vanderbilt product batted .212/.294/.404 in 344 trips to the plate this year. He connected on 14 homers and still walked at a strong 10.5% clip, but his strikeout rate jumped by seven percentage points relative to the prior season. The A’s optioned him twice, but he spent the final two months of the season on the big league roster. He popped six homers and slugged .495 in that stretch, yet he also struck out in more than 30% of his trips to the dish.

Bleday’s overall production has been right around replacement level in two of the past three seasons. The A’s haven’t done him any favors in that regard by pressing him into center field — for which he’s clearly not equipped. He’s a fringe runner who has rated as arguably the game’s worst defensive center fielder over the past couple seasons. Bleday is serviceable but still subpar in the corners despite possessing above-average arm strength.

The 28-year-old surpassed three years of service this season. He’s eligible for arbitration for the first time and projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $2.2MM salary. The A’s decided they’d rather move on, potentially turning center field to defensive stalwart Denzel Clarke. They have three days to see if they can drum up any trade interest to flip Bleday for a lottery ticket prospect. He’ll otherwise be non-tendered on Friday and become a free agent.

Nett is the highest profile of the three prospects. The 23-year-old righty came over from the Padres as part of the Mason Miller return. He spent the entire season at Double-A between the two affiliates. Nett started 24 games and combined for 105 2/3 innings of 3.75 ERA ball while striking out nearly a quarter of opponents. He walked 10.3% of batters faced and has struggled to throw strikes consistently throughout his career. Nett has a four-pitch mix that gives him a chance to start, though the command development will determine whether he sticks in the rotation or moves to relief down the line.

Perez, 24, also began his career in the San Diego system. He was traded to the A’s while he was in rookie ball for Jorge Mateo in 2020. A native of the Dominican Republic, he’s a right-handed hitting outfielder who connected on 26 homers between the top two minor league levels. There’s a lot of swing-and-miss to his game, but he has power and takes a lot of walks.

Zhuang is a 25-year-old righty from Taiwan. He signed with the A’s in 2021 and has worked as a minor league starter. He tossed 145 2/3 innings at Double-A Midland in 2025, pitching to a 4.08 ERA with solid underlying numbers. Zhuang fanned 24% of opponents while showing excellent control with a sub-6% walk percentage. Baseball America ranked him 25th in the A’s system coming into the year, crediting him with plus command and an above-average changeup but fringy breaking stuff.

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Athletics Newsstand Transactions Braden Nett Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang J.J. Bleday Junior Perez

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A’s, Joey Meneses Agree To Minor League Deal

By Anthony Franco | November 15, 2025 at 11:32am CDT

The Athletics are in agreement with first baseman Joey Meneses on a minor league contract, reports Francys Romero. The deal includes an invite to MLB camp, according to Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. The MAS+ client spent this past season in Triple-A in the Mets organization.

Meneses is coming off a .265/.322/.447 line with 11 homers at the top minor league level. He put the ball in play but didn’t walk much and posted average batted ball marks. That wasn’t going to be enough to force his way onto the MLB roster behind Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos. He’ll have a similarly uphill path to a big league job with the A’s. They have Nick Kurtz and Brent Rooker locked into first base and designated hitter, respectively.

The 33-year-old Meneses is likely to head to Triple-A Las Vegas. He’s a career .282/.338/.480 hitter over parts of five Triple-A seasons. Meneses played in the big leagues with the Nationals between 2022-24. He had a huge showing out of nowhere as a 30-year-old rookie, hitting .324 with 13 homers in his first 56 big league contests.

A rebuilding Washington team gave him a full year as a starting first baseman to see if they’d stumbled on a late-career breakout. That didn’t prove to be the case, as Meneses hit .261/.311/.370 in nearly 1000 trips to the plate in 2023-24. The Nationals dropped him from the roster at the beginning of last offseason.

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Athletics Transactions Joey Meneses

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A’s, Nick Anderson Agree To Minor League Deal

By Anthony Franco | November 12, 2025 at 8:04pm CDT

The Athletics are in agreement with reliever Nick Anderson on a minor league contract with an invite to big league camp, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. The Gaeta Sports Management client would be paid at a $1MM rate if he cracks the MLB roster.

Anderson made 12 appearances with the Rockies this past season. He allowed 10 runs over 14 2/3 innings, striking out 10 while issuing a pair of free passes. The 35-year-old righty pitched in Triple-A with the Cardinals, Rox and Mariners. He combined for a 5.26 earned run average over 38 outings despite striking out an above-average 27.1% of batters faced.

A veteran of six big league seasons, Anderson has moved around as a depth piece since excelling in leverage spots with the Rays from 2019-20. Anderson has missed bats in Triple-A over the past couple years but hasn’t translated that into many whiffs against MLB competition. He still has mid-90s velocity and a career 3.43 ERA over 177 big league outings. That has gotten him various looks on minor league contracts over the past couple years.

The A’s have one of the younger bullpens in MLB. None of their projected relievers have even two years of service time. They’ll surely make more impactful bullpen pickups over the next couple months, but it’s no surprise that they’re looking to add an experienced arm like Anderson to compete for a middle relief spot in Spring Training.

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Athletics Transactions Nick Anderson

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Nick Kurtz Wins American League Rookie Of The Year, Earns Full Year Of Service Time

By Darragh McDonald | November 10, 2025 at 11:56pm CDT

Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz has been named the 2025 American League Rookie of the Year, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. His teammate Jacob Wilson finished second and Roman Anthony of the Red Sox finished third in the voting. Kurtz, who was the unanimous choice for the award, will be retroactively awarded a full year of service time by finishing in the top two of the voting. The full voting results can be found here.

Kurtz was the fourth overall pick of the 2024 draft and came into 2025 as one of the top prospects in the league. He didn’t break camp with the club but was called up on April 23rd. Almost immediately, he started showing his talent for crushing the ball. Due to his late call-up and a brief injured list stint for a strained left hip flexor, he only got into 117 games, but that was still enough time for him to put the ball over the fence 36 times.

It wasn’t a perfect season, as Kurtz struck out at a high 30.9% rate. However, his 12.9% walk rate was quite strong. When combined with his aforementioned power, it was a very productive season. His .290/.383/.619 slash line translated to a wRC+ of 170. Among hitters with at least 20 plate appearances this year, only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani topped that wRC+ number.

It’s impressive that Kurtz did so much despite not even playing a full season. His late call-up also has notable implications for him and the club. The most recent collective bargaining agreement included measures to discourage service time manipulation. If a team promotes a top prospect early enough in a season for him to earn a full service year, the team can earn an extra draft pick if the player meets certain awards voting criteria, via the Prospect Promotion Incentive. On the flip side, if a player is not promoted early enough for a full service year and then goes on to finish in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting in his league, then he is retroactively credited with a full service year.

Kurtz came into the year as a consensus top 100 prospect in baseball, meaning he would have been PPI-eligible this year if the A’s had called him up earlier. He only got 159 days of service, 13 shy of the 172 needed for a full season. If he were PPI-eligible, this award win would have netted them an extra draft pick in 2026. Since they did not call him up early enough and Kurtz finished in the top two of the voting, he will get a full year of service anyway. That reduces the club’s window of control over Kurtz from six years to five, meaning he’s now on pace to reach free agency after 2030 instead of 2031.

Wilson is Kurtz’s teammate but the two are polar opposites when it comes to their offensive profiles. While Kurtz strikes out a lot but also draws walks and has huge power, Wilson has modest power and rarely walks but almost never strikes out. His 7.5% strikeout rate this year was the second-lowest among qualified hitters, trailing only Luis Arráez. Wilson only hit 13 home runs and drew a walk in just 5.2% of his plate appearances, but he still managed to hit .311/.355/.444 for a 121 wRC+ while playing the premium position of shortstop, even if his defense wasn’t highly rated.

The shortstop actually got promoted in July of 2024 but he landed on the injured list and missed enough time to still have rookie status coming into 2025. Despite having rookie status, he would not have earned the A’s a PPI pick even if he had finished first in the voting. Players are ineligible for the PPI bonus if they have at least 60 days of service time. Wilson earned 73 days of service in 2024, much of it on the injured list, meaning he was in a weird twilight zone of being rookie eligible but not PPI eligible.

Anthony came into the year not only as a top 100 prospect but most rankings had him first or second in the league. However, the Red Sox had a crowded outfield mix that was difficult for him to break into. Eventually, injuries opened a path and he finally got the call in June. By August, he had impressed the Sox enough that they signed him to an eight-year, $130MM extension.

Though he only got into 71 games, Anthony slashed .292/.396/.463 for a 140 wRC+ and stole four bases. He was credited with seven Defensive Runs Saved and six Outs Above Average. FanGraphs credited him with 2.7 wins above replacement in less than half a season. He would have pushed those numbers even further if not for an oblique injury sending him to the IL in early September.

Anthony only got 112 service days this year. He would have earned a full year if he had cracked second place in the voting, though that is largely a moot point with his extension. However, the result does impact him financially when looking at the details of his pact. The deal contains a number of escalators which Anthony can unlock via awards voting. Some extra money could have been tacked on with a top two finish but this third-place finish isn’t enough for him to add anything to the $130MM total. He can still push that up in the future by getting MVP votes.

Several other players received some recognition from the voters. Noah Cameron of the Royals finished fourth in the voting, followed by Colson Montgomery of the White Sox, Carlos Narváez of the Red Sox, Jack Leiter of the Rangers, Will Warren of the Yankees, Luke Keaschall of the Twins, Braydon Fisher of the Blue Jays, Shane Smith of the White Sox, Cam Smith of the Astros, Chandler Simpson of the Rays, Luis Morales of the A’s and Jasson Domínguez of the Yankees.

Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Daniel Kucin Jr., David Richard, Imagn Images

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Athletics, Austin Wynns Avoid Arbitration

By Charlie Wright | November 6, 2025 at 10:42pm CDT

The Athletics have agreed to a one-year, $1.1MM deal with catcher Austin Wynns, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The team has yet to officially announce the move. Wynns is represented by Klutch Sports.

Matt Swartz’s arbitration projections had Wynns receiving $1.8MM. While he fell short of that mark, his deal includes some incentives, notes Murray.

The Athletics acquired Wynns in June after the Reds designated him for assignment. They were in need of catching depth after Shea Langeliers went down with an oblique injury. Wynns hit .222 in 22 games with the team. An abdominal strain in early August cost him the rest of the season.

Wynns was drafted by Baltimore in 2013. He debuted with the Orioles in 2018. After a few seasons as a part-time player, Wynns elected free agency. He latched on with the Phillies in March 2022. Wynns was dealt to San Francisco in June of that season. The Giants gave him his longest opportunity to date, running him out there for 66 games. Wynns passed through multiple organizations over the next couple of years, finally landing in Cincinnati in 2024.

Wynns had several productive offensive seasons in the minors, but it never translated to major-league success. That changed when he got to the Reds. Wynns went 7-for-19 with four extra-base hits in his first year in Cincinnati, though a shoulder injury cut his season short. He posted a 35.7% hard-hit rate in that brief sample, which was more than 8% better than his previous career-best mark. Wynns maintained those gains in 2025, slashing .400/.442/.700 in 18 games with the Reds. He wasn’t as productive with the Athletics, but in 40 games between the two teams, he notched a hefty 46.6% hard-hit rate. Wynns’ barrel rate was an excellent 9.6% over 110 plate appearances.

Langeliers is coming off a breakout campaign and will handle the majority of the catching reps. If Wynns can keep up the improvement he’s shown at the plate, he’ll be a serviceable backup option. The Athletics may need to add a bit more depth at the position after losing Willie MacIver to the Rangers via waiver claim.

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MLBTR Podcast: Offseason Preview Megapod: Top Trade Candidates

By Darragh McDonald | November 5, 2025 at 11:58pm CDT

The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • The 2025 World Series between the Dodgers and Blue Jays (1:55)
  • The Cubs letting Shota Imanaga becoming a free agent (9:05)
  • Ha-Seong Kim opting out of his deal with the Braves (19:00)
  • MLBTR’s list of the Top 40 Trade Candidates for the offseason (28:15)
  • The Cardinals having six guys on the list (32:15)
  • Why the Nationals will likely make MacKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams available (42:40)
  • The Twins, Joe Ryan, Pablo López and Ryan Jeffers (54:05)
  • The Pirates have a bunch of pitchers they could trade (1:06:20)
  • The Rays, Pete Fairbanks and Brandon Lowe (1:18:05)
  • The Brewers and Freddy Peralta (1:25:50)
  • The Marlins having some arms who could move (1:31:50)
  • Tyler Soderstrom of the Athletics, who did not make the list (1:41:40)
  • A theoretical trade sending Brady Singer to the Angels and Taylor Ward to the Reds (1:47:20)

Check out our past episodes!

  • Bo Bichette’s Health, Kazuma Okamoto, And Dylan Cease’s Market – listen here
  • The Phillies’ Outfield, Tarik Skubal, And Hiring College Coaches – listen here
  • Murakami To Be Posted This Offseason, Managerial Vacancies, And More! – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images

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Athletics Atlanta Braves Chicago Cubs Cincinnati Reds Los Angeles Angels Los Angeles Dodgers MLB Trade Rumors Podcast Miami Marlins Milwaukee Brewers Minnesota Twins Pittsburgh Pirates St. Louis Cardinals Tampa Bay Rays Toronto Blue Jays Washington Nationals Ha-Seong Kim Shota Imanaga

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