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Guardians Sign Colin Holderman

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The Guardians announced the signing of right-hander Colin Holderman to a one-year deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. It’s reportedly a $1.5MM salary for the ACES client. The Guards had a 40-man vacancy, so the roster is now full.

Holderman, 30, was non-tendered by the Pirates last month. That wasn’t a terrible shock, as his 2025 season wasn’t great, due to some injuries and struggles when healthy. However, he was actually quite good in the prior two seasons, so the Guards will see if they can find a bounceback.

Over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Holderman tossed 107 1/3 innings out of the Pittsburgh bullpen. His four-seamer and sinker both averaged above 97 miles per hour, while he also mixed in a cutter and a slider. He allowed 3.52 earned runs per nine frames. His 9.7% walk rate was a tad high but acceptable. His 24.6% strikeout rate and 45.8% ground ball rate were both a bit better than par. He earned two saves and 48 holds, living up to his surname.

But as mentioned, he wasn’t able to keep it going in 2025. He missed about three weeks in April due to a right knee sprain. After being reinstated, right thumb inflammation put him back on the IL for about six weeks. Around those IL stints, he posted a 7.01 ERA in 25 2/3 innings. He walked 12.8% of batters faced while only getting strikeouts at a 14.4% clip.

Holderman had qualified for arbitration a year ago as a Super Two player. The Bucs paid him $1.5MM in 2025. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Holderman for a modest bump to $1.7MM in 2026. The Pirates decided not to pay that after his poor season, so they non-tendered him and sent him to free agency.

Cleveland’s manager Stephen Vogt recently said that his club would be looking to add depth to the bullpen. Holderman is a low-cost pick-up and he also has options, so he can be kept in Triple-A if he’s not able to get back on track. He added a splitter in 2025, though he only threw it 3.9% of the time in his truncated season. Perhaps some better health will give him some time to flesh that out more. If he is still on the 40-man roster at the end of the season, he could be retained beyond 2026 via arbitration.

Robert Murray of FanSided reported the agreement. Zack Meisel of The Athletic reported the $1.5MM salary. Photo courtesy of James A. Pittman, Imagn Images

Orioles Sign Pete Alonso

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Pete Alonso is an Oriole. Baltimore announced the five-year deal on Thursday and will formally introduce their new slugger at a press conference on Friday morning. The Boras Corporation client reportedly receives a $155MM guarantee. He’ll collect a $12.5MM signing bonus and an $18.5MM salary in 2026. He’ll then earn $31MM per year over the next four seasons. There are no deferrals or opt-outs in the contract, and Alonso receives a limited no-trade clause. Catcher Maverick Handley has been designated for assignment as a corresponding 40-man roster move.

It’s the second major defection from the Mets in as many days. Edwin Diaz spurned Queens for a three-year, $69MM deal with the Dodgers just yesterday. Alonso now heads to the Orioles, with whom he met in person at this week’s Winter Meetings (which are being held in Orlando, not all that far from Alonso’s Tampa-area home).

Although bolstering the rotation has been the obvious goal for Baltimore all offseason, the O’s have also been in pursuit of a major upgrade to the lineup. They offered Kyle Schwarber the same five-year, $150MM terms to which he agreed in his return to the Phillies and have now pushed incrementally further to give Alonso a record-setting average annual value for a first baseman over that same five-year term.

Alonso, who turned 31 over the weekend, famously rejected a reported seven-year, $158MM extension offer from the Mets back in 2023. He drew a fair bit of criticism for that decision, particularly when his market didn’t develop as hoped during last offseason’s initial foray into free agency. Alonso wound up returning to the Mets on a two-year, $54MM deal that was frontloaded with a $30MM salary in 2025 and allowed him to opt back into free agency this winter.

Between that $30MM, the $20.5MM he earned in his final season of arbitration eligibility and the newly promised $155MM from the Orioles, Alonso will end up with $205.5MM over the same seven years that would’ve been covered under the extension offer he turned down.

In Alonso, the Orioles are adding one of the steadiest power hitters on the planet. He’s slugged at least 34 home runs in every 162-game season since his 2019 debut, plus another 16 round-trippers in the shortened 2020 campaign. Dating back to 2019, Schwarber (268) and Aaron Judge (285) are the only players with more home runs than Alonso’s 264.

Steady as his power output has been, Alonso needed a “rebound” campaign of sorts in order to get this type of long-term deal. While his market last offseason was surely weighed down by a qualifying offer — players can only receive one QO in their career, so that wasn’t an issue this time around — Alonso had slugged a career-low 34 home runs with an increase in strikeouts and a downturn in his batted-ball metrics. His .240/.329/.459 output in 2024 was more good than elite.

The 2025 campaign brought improvements across the board. Alonso belted 38 homers and 41 doubles (up from 31 the year prior) while slashing .272/.347/.524 (141 wRC+). He lopped two percentage points off his strikeout rate, cutting it to a roughly average 22.8%, and saw enormous upticks in his average exit velocity (93.5 mph in ’25, 89.8 mph in ’24), barrel rate (18.9% vs. 13.2%) and hard-hit rate (54.4% vs. 46.4%). Alonso struggled through a poor month of July, but as the Mets were fighting for their postseason lives (and ultimately falling short), Alonso put the team’s offense on his back alongside fellow stars Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor. From Aug. 1 onward, the “Polar Bear” raked at a .297/.339/.584 clip (153 wRC+) with 16 home runs and 15 doubles in 239 plate appearances.

Despite that Herculean finish to the season, Alonso received tepid interest from the only club he’s ever known. The Mets were reportedly reluctant to go beyond three years in their talks with Alonso, and the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reported in the aftermath of today’s agreement that they never made a formal offer once it became clear where Alonso’s market was headed. That’s surely a point of frustration for the majority of Mets fans but also shouldn’t come as a major surprise; if the Mets were going to commit to Alonso long-term under president of baseball operations David Stearns and owner Steve Cohen, that likely would have happened last winter. The Mets were only comfortable with a short-term deal then and clearly didn’t change that thinking this time around.

Alonso is the second 30-homer slugger acquired by Baltimore president of baseball operations Mike Elias this winter. The O’s also picked up outfielder Taylor Ward (36 homers in 2025) in a trade sending talented but oft-injured righty Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels. The additions of Alonso and Ward should both add an influx of right-handed power to a team that hit just .231/.297/.364 against left-handed pitching in 2025 and also create myriad trade possibilities for Elias and his staff.

It’s feasible that the Orioles simply add a prominent starting pitcher via free agency as their primary means of addressing the rotation, but their newly acquired thumpers open the space for more creativity. Alonso’s addition could make it easier to trade young corner infielder Coby Mayo, while plugging Ward into a corner outfield spot makes one of Dylan Beavers or Colton Cowser easier to include in a trade for pitching help. Baltimore’s decision to tender a contract to Ryan Mountcastle, a defensively limited right-handed slugger coming off a poor season, now looks like all the more of a head-scratcher, though. The O’s could try to find a taker willing to buy low on him or, alternatively, hope that he can bounce back and be part of the solution between first base and designated hitter.

Payroll-wise, there was always clear runway to add a major contract to the books. The Orioles have spent the better part of the past decade in a rebuild and thus haven’t been handing out multi-year deals very often. The only players guaranteed anything beyond the upcoming 2026 season are Tyler O’Neill, Ryan Helsley and Samuel Basallo. O’Neill and Helsley are only signed through 2027, and Helsley can opt out of his contract following the 2026 season. (O’Neill’s $16.5MM salary in 2027 is all but immovable after his ugly 2025 showing.) Basallo’s eight-year, $67MM extension has just an $8.375MM average annual value. His salary will sit at just $1MM in each of the next three seasons and won’t top $10MM until 2031, at which point Alonso’s contract will have already wrapped up.

Alonso adds $31MM per year to the ledger — assuming an even distribution of his $155MM — but the rest of the books are so clean that it shouldn’t impede the Orioles from future additions of note and/or extensions for prominent young players. RosterResource now projects them for a payroll just under $148MM in 2026, but the 2027 books only have $62.5MM in guaranteed money ($48.5MM if Helsley turns down his player option). By 2028, Alonso and Basallo are the only players guaranteed anything.

Alonso’s contract becomes the second-largest in Orioles history, trailing only the seven-year, $161MM contract given to first baseman Chris Davis under a prior ownership and front office regime. That contract was laden with deferrals, too, which considerably weighed down the net present value.

When considering that wrinkle, the investment in Alonso can be considered the most significant expenditure in franchise history — but it’s also just one of several steps the Orioles will take this winter. Elias is still angling to upgrade his team’s rotation, and the O’s could still use help in the bullpen. This could very well end up being viewed as the signature move of the offseason — if not the entire Elias era to date — but the O’s aren’t likely to coast from here to spring training. There’s more on the horizon.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the sides were finalizing a five-year, $155MM deal. Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner was first on the limited no-trade protection. Jon Heyman of The New York Post had the salary structure.

Forst: “We’ve Made Offers” In Extension Talks With Young Core

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It’s been a relatively quiet offseason for the A’s so far, today’s one-year deal with non-tendered right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. notwithstanding. While there hasn’t been much hot stove buzz about the team yet this winter, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com relayed comments from GM David Forst where he made clear that the club has opened extension talks with a number of the club’s players. “Without naming anyone, we’ve made offers,” Forst said. “We’re having conversations here. I’m hopeful we’ll make progress.”

While Forst declined to get into specific extension targets, Gallegos notes that AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz and runner-up Jacob Wilson as well as catcher Shea Langeliers and slugger Tyler Soderstrom all make up the young core that the team is hoping to work out extensions with. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the A’s have made offers to all four of those players, or even plan to do so, but it does seem reasonable to expect that the team is having conversations with at least some of these names.

Trying to lock up young talent is a sensible approach for the A’s at this point. 2025 was a disappointing year for the A’s in some ways, as they finished with a meager 76-86 record. On the other hand, however, Wilson and especially Kurtz emerged as impact talents while the team played to an impressive 35-29 record after the All-Star break. That’s a nearly 89-win pace if maintained over a full season, which provides some hope that the team will be able to put together a stronger season in 2026 and get themselves into the playoff conversation despite a highly competitive AL West division.

Whether the club can break through to that next level and become true contenders or not, however, the A’s need to be building something. With a ballpark in Las Vegas under construction and an anticipated move-in date of the 2028 season, the team is clearly hoping to put itself in the best position possible to entice would-be fans into following the team once they arrive in their new home. Solidifying long-term deals with established players has been a big part of the team’s strategy so far, with contracts for Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler already on the books.

All four of the players mentioned above are already under team control through the start of the A’s anticipated time in Las Vegas. Assuming the A’s do move into their new ballpark for the 2028 campaign, Langeliers would spend one season in Nevada before reaching free agency while Soderstrom would spend two. Both Wilson and Kurtz would spend three years there before reaching free agency during the 2030-31 offseason. With so many of the team’s core pieces set to come off the books within their first few seasons in Las Vegas, it might be easier to convince fans in Las Vegas to adopt the A’s as their new favorite team if at least one or two of those big names were to sign extensions that would reliably keep them in town for a half-decade or longer.

While signing these young players to extensions might sound like an obvious call to make on paper, it wouldn’t be a shock if those deals proved too costly. The A’s have typically been among the lowest-spending teams in MLB under John Fisher’s ownership and the biggest deal in franchise history is Luis Severino’s $67MM guarantee. While they started to spend more last winter with some suggestions of increasing payroll as they get closer to their move to Las Vegas, it’s anyone’s guess whether the club would actually offer what it would take to get some of these impact players locked up for the long term.

The last first baseman to sign an extension (according to MLBTR’s Contract Tracker) with between one and two years of service time was Anthony Rizzo back in 2013. With over a decade of inflation, Kurtz should easily clear that $40.5MM guarantee. The mega deals signed by players like Roman Anthony ($130MM), Jackson Merrill ($135MM), Corbin Carroll ($111MM), and Julio Rodriguez ($210MM) are in an entirely different stratosphere, as all of those players provide additional defensive value as outfielders capable of handling center. Yordan Alvarez’s $115MM deal is perhaps somewhat applicable. He wasn’t a first baseman but was a designated hitter/left fielder with big offensive potential. He was closer to free agency than Kurtz is now but still hadn’t qualified for arbitration.

The other three extension candidates surely would not be as expensive as Kurtz to extend, though a deal for Langeliers that rivals the $73MM extension Sean Murphy signed in Atlanta (not to mention Cal Raleigh’s nine-figure pact in Seattle) would still constitute unprecedented spending under Fisher. The $63.5MM extension shortstop Ezequiel Tovar signed with the Rockies could be a viable benchmark for a deal with Wilson that would fall more realistically in the A’s price range, though, and it’s fair to suggest that Soderstrom might be the most affordable of the quartet given his lack of a certain defensive position and less impactful track record on offense as compared to Kurtz. That should leave the A’s with some viable extension candidates even if the club isn’t willing to break new ground in terms of spending, though for a star-caliber player to extend with the team, they could be looking for assurances that the organization would continue to build around them once they arrive in Las Vegas in order to field a consistent competitor.

Orioles Designate Maverick Handley For Assignment

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The Orioles announced that catcher Maverick Handley has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for their signing of first baseman Pete Alonso, which has now been made official.

Handley, 28 in March, got to make his major league debut in 2025. The O’s began the season with Adley Rutschman and Gary Sánchez as their catching duo but both of those two suffered a few injuries during the campaign. Baltimore had to dip into some depth, which led to Handley getting 47 plate appearances across 16 games, but he struck out in 38.3% of those while walking just 4.3% of the time and put up a .073/.133/.073 line.

The O’s called up catching prospect Samuel Basallo late in the season and signed him to an extension. Rutschman can still be retained via arbitration through 2027. Those two should be the primary backstops in Baltimore for the time being. As of a few days ago, Handley and Drew Romo were on the 40-man as optionable depth. However, Romo was designated for assignment yesterday, so the O’s now have just two catchers on the roster and two potential depth guys in DFA limbo.

Handley does not have a previous career outright, nor does he have three years of big league service time. That means he would not have the right to elect free agency if he were passed through waivers unclaimed. The same is true of Romo. If one or both clear waivers, the O’s might be content with their catching depth situation. If they lose one or both, that should increase the chances of Baltimore looking for extra depth via the waiver wire or minor league deals.

For now, they have a week of DFA limbo to figure out what’s next for Handley. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so they could take five days to talk trades with other clubs. His big league track record thus far is obviously unimpressive but in a tiny sample size. Dating back to the start of 2023, he stepped to the plate 765 times in the minors with solid 14% walk rate but only nine home runs. His .227/.352/.323 line led to a wRC+ of 87, which is not bad for a backup/depth catcher. If he lands with another club, he still has options and less than a year of service time.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images

Preller: Fernando Tatis Jr. Not Available In Trade Talks

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The Padres’ payroll reduction and lack of financial flexibility has led to plenty of hope from other clubs about the possibility of prying star right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. away from San Diego, but president of baseball operations A.J. Preller decisively stated at the end of this week’s Winter Meetings that the three-time All-Star won’t be changing hands.

“He’s one of the best players in baseball, is a two-time Platinum (Glove) winner,” Preller told Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune in response to Tatis speculation. “The guy has taken over portions of seasons and games and playoff series and everything like that. … Every one of the different versions and iterations of the team and roster we put up there, it’s ’Tati’ right in the middle. Hopefully, he is one of the top players on our team this year. He’s somebody that we’re not talking about, however you want to say that. If you want to say that’s ’untouchable,’ you can say that.”

A trade of Tatis has never seemed particularly likely, though some around the industry have wondered whether it’ll eventually be necessary, given the uncertainty surrounding Padres ownership and the ongoing efforts to scale back payroll. San Diego has reduced its spending considerably since the passing of late owner Peter Seidler. Earlier this offseason, Seidler’s brother, John, who has since been named the team’s control person, announced that his family will explore a sale of the franchise.

That announcement came less than one year after a tumultuous and very public-facing quarrel between Sheel Seidler — Peter’s widow — and the other two Seidler brothers, Bob and Matt. Back in February, Sheel filed suit against Bob and Matt Seidler, alleging that they’ve breached fiduciary duty and committed fraud as successors of Peter’s trust. She accused her brothers-in-law of selling assets to themselves “far” below market prices in an effort to consolidate control of the franchise and of violating Peter’s wishes that she serve as interim control person before passing ownership onto the couple’s children at a later date. Matt Seidler contested the suit in a formal response wherein he accused his sister-in-law of attempting to “manufacture claims against the Trustees in pursuit of the control that Peter intentionally chose not to give her.” To date, the suits have not been litigated, nor is there any indication that a settlement has been reached.

For the time being, none of that off-field tension seems to have an impact on Tatis’ status with the club. Certainly, an eventual ownership change could create a different financial outlook in San Diego one way or another, particularly considering the remaining nine years and $286MM on Tatis’ contract.

Hefty as that sum may be, it bears emphasizing that it’s still a “bargain” relative to what Tatis would command on the open market. Had Tatis never penned that extension, he’d be a first-time free agent right now, having accumulated his sixth year of MLB service in 2025.

Tatis would be a 26-year-old (27 in January) coming off a .268/.368/.446 showing (131 wRC+) with 25 home runs, 27 doubles two triples, 32 steals (in 39 tries) and career-best walk and strikeout rates (12.9% and 18.7%, respectively). As Preller referenced, he’s a two-time Platinum Glove winner (and three-time Gold Glove winner). Tatis has hit at least 21 home runs in every 162-game season he’s played (plus 17 in the shortened 60-game season back in 2020).

Given his youth, borderline elite production at the plate and superlative defense, Tatis would have been the clear top free agent in this offseason’s class, likely in line for a contract running into his late 30s or even age-40 season. He may not have matched Juan Soto’s jaw-dropping $765MM guarantee, but Tatis would very likely have been in line for a contract even larger than the 14-year, $500MM extension signed by fellow second-generation star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. last spring. He’s been worth an average of about 6.5 wins above replacement (6.4 fWAR, 6.6 bWAR) per 162 games played in his career to this point.

Though the Padres won’t be moving Tatis anytime soon, San Diego is exploring other ways to create more financial flexibility. As was reported earlier in the month, the Friars are at least listening on Jake Cronenworth, if not shopping him, and have been willing to hear out clubs who’ve expressed interest in right-hander Nick Pivetta. RosterResource projects the Padres for a payroll of about $201MM right now. Ownership reportedly wants to keep the 2026 payroll roughly in line with last year’s $210MM mark.

Cubs To Sign Hoby Milner

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The Cubs and left-hander Hoby Milner are reportedly in agreement on a one-year deal. The MVP Sports Group will make $3.75MM plus incentives. The Cubs have multiple 40-man vacancies and don’t need to make a corresponding move.

Milner, 35 in January, is an unusual but effective southpaw. He doesn’t throw very hard, averaging in the high 80s with his fastball and sinker. But he nonetheless manages to get outs with an unorthodox sidewinding delivery, with his arsenal also featuring a slider and a changeup.

Over the past four seasons, Milner has thrown at least 64 innings in each campaign. Put together, he has logged 264 innings in that span, allowing 3.55 earned runs per nine. His 22.6% strikeout rate in that time was close to average while his 5.8% walk rate and 51.1% ground ball rate were both notably better than par. His Statcast data in that span has also been better than league average, with Milner having an 87 mile per hour exit velocity, 5.4% barrel rate and 35.5% hard hit rate. He earned one save and 49 holds over that four-year stretch.

That span did feature a fluky ERA spike, as Milner posted a 4.73 ERA with the Brewers in 2024. The Brewers could have retained him for 2025 via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a $2.7MM salary, but they non-tendered him instead. The Rangers scooped him up with a deal for $2.5MM plus incentives and benefitted from a bounceback, as Milner posted a 3.84 ERA in 2025.

The Cubs have now given him a slight raise in the hopes that he can keep things rolling in 2026. Cubs manager Craig Counsell is plenty familiar with Milner’s abilities, as he was the skipper in Milwaukee when Milner established himself as a viable big league reliever.

Chicago had a decent relief corps in 2025. Their relievers had a collective ERA of 3.78, putting them just outside the top ten of MLB clubs. But at season’s end, Brad Keller, Caleb Thielbar, Drew Pomeranz, Taylor Rogers, Michael Soroka, Aaron Civale and Ryan Brasier all became free agents. The Cubs flipped Andrew Kittredge to the Orioles in the early days of the offseason, getting cash considerations back in return.

The Cubs generally prefer to build their bullpens on the cheap. From 2020 until last month, they didn’t sign any free agent relievers to multi-year deals, part of the reason why they just lost so many arms to free agency. They broke that pattern recently by signing Phil Maton to a two-year deal, but Milner is another low-cost, short-term commitment to the relief group.

The southpaw contingent of the bullpen was particularly lacking before this move, with Thielbar, Pomeranz and Rogers all departing for the open market. That left Luke Little as the top option, despite having just 35 1/3 career innings with an 18.2% walk rate. Milner is now the most experienced lefty in the group, though the Cubs could make further additions before the offseason is through.

This move brings the Cubs to a $184MM payroll and $199MM competitive balance tax figure, according to RosterResource. It’s unclear where the Cubs want the payroll to end up. The base threshold of the CBT is $244MM next year, meaning the Cubs are $45MM away. They went narrowly over the tax line in 2024 but ducked back below in 2025. They are still on the hunt for a big rotation upgrade. They’ve been connected to free agent Alex Bregman. They will presumably be looking for more relievers. How it all plays out will depend on how much dry powder the Cubs have.

Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation was first on the deal. Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic noted it would be for one year. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com had the guarantee. Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Benny Sieu, Imagn Images

Brewers Sign Akil Baddoo To Major League Deal

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The Brewers added some outfield depth Thursday, announcing the signing of Akil Baddoo to a one-year, major league contract. Milwaukee already had an open 40-man spot. Their roster is now full following the addition of Baddoo, a client of Apex Baseball.

Baddoo, 27, was the No. 74 overall pick in the 2016 draft by the Twins. He never appeared in a big league game with Minnesota but landed in Detroit by way of the 2020 Rule 5 Draft. Baddoo showed plenty of promise in that rookie season, hitting .259/.330/.436 with 13 homers and 18 steals in only 461 plate appearances. The Tigers looked to have a steal on their hands, as the lefty-swinging Baddoo at least looked the part of a platoon corner outfielder with some speed, modest power and plate discipline.

Unfortunately, he’s never returned to that same level of production. Baddoo has been an up-and-down member of the roster in four seasons since that time, hitting a combined .201/.288/.323 in 682 plate appearances — primarily against right-handed pitching. He runs well and draws strong grades for his defensive acumen in left field, but Baddoo has well below-average marks in batted-ball metrics like average exit velocity (87.5 mph), barrel rate (5.9%) and hard-hit rate (34.6%) over the past four seasons.

Baddoo has one minor league option year remaining, so he doesn’t necessarily need to break camp with the Brewers. If he doesn’t make the Opening Day club, they can send him to Triple-A Nashville without needing to pass him through waivers. He’ll jump into a competition for reps in an outfield that’ll feature Jackson Chourio in right field and Sal Frelick in center.

Isaac Collins was the Brewers’ leader in left field innings last season, though he can play all over the diamond. Jake Bauers is also in the mix, but he has ample experience at first base and could always see time at designated hitter on days that Christian Yelich is in left or is out of the lineup. (Yelich played only 19 games in left field last year and was otherwise a DH.) Blake Perkins, too, will see time on the grass but is more of a fourth outfielder/backup center fielder than an everyday option. Former first-round pick Garrett Mitchell missed most of the 2025 season due to injury and will need to hit his way back into consideration for a more prominent role.

If Baddoo ends up playing a meaningful role of any sort on the 2026 Brewers, he could be a relatively long-term addition. He currently has just 3.021 years of major league service time, meaning he can be controlled via arbitration for at least three more seasons (including 2026). Depending how much time he spends on the big league roster, that window of control could extend an extra season. Baddoo would need 151 days of MLB service this year to reach four years. Of course, that’s putting the cart before the horse; he’ll need to play his way onto the roster and then show some staying power before that’s a real consideration, but it’s a nice theoretical bonus — particularly for a club with a reputation for maximizing the performance of its low-cost acquisitions.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported that the Brewers were signing Baddoo to a major league contract.

Braves Designate Ryan Rolison For Assignment

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The Braves announced today that left-hander Ryan Rolison has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding 40-man roster move for the club’s signing of right-hander Robert Suarez.

Rolison, 28, has never pitched for Atlanta. He spent his entire professional career with the Rockies until a few weeks ago. Colorado needed to open some roster space for new additions and designated him for assignment. The next day, he was traded to Atlanta for cash considerations.

The Rockies had selected him 22nd overall in the 2018 draft and he was a notable prospect for a few years but he hasn’t yet delivered on that pedigree. He lost some time on his way up the minor league ladder. The pandemic wiped out the minors in 2020 and then Rolison dealt with some injuries, mostly shoulder problems.

He finally made it to the big leagues in 2025 but didn’t find immediate success. He logged 42 1/3 innings for the Rockies this year, allowing 7.02 earned runs per nine. His 47.9% ground ball rate was pretty good but his 10.4% walk rate was subpar and his 13% strikeout rate very low. His minor league numbers this year were far better. He tossed 29 2/3 innings in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League with a 3.34 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 48.8% ground ball rate.

Rolison still has an option remaining, so he doesn’t need to be guaranteed a major league roster spot. Atlanta was intrigued enough to grab him in a cash deal but he has been squeezed off the roster.

Atlanta will now have seven days of DFA limbo to work with. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so they could take up to five days to explore trades. Rolison has a previous career outright and would therefore have the right to elect free agency if he is passed through waivers unclaimed. If any other club acquires him, he has between two and three years of service time, meaning he comes with four years of potential club control.

Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images

Nico Hoerner Drawing Trade Interest

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Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner has come up in trade conversations, according to a report from Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. The report emphasizes that while president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer gauges the market value of virtually every player on the roster during the offseason, that shouldn’t be taken as an indication the Cubs intend to move Hoerner.

It’s easy to see why teams would be asking after the 28-year-old. Hoerner is coming off a career year where he won his second career Gold Glove for his defense at second base while slashing .297/.345/.394 (109 wRC+) with 40 extra-base hits and 29 steals in 156 games. He struck out at a career-best 7.6% clip while walking 6.0% of the time. Only Luis Arraez (3.1%) and Jacob Wilson (7.5%) struck out less often among qualified hitters, and that trio was joined by Steven Kwan and Caleb Durbin to make up the full list of batters to strike out less than 10% of the time in 2025.

That contact-oriented offense combined with arguably the best defense in the sport at second base, creates a consistent four-to-five win package according to Fangraphs. Over the past four seasons, Hoerner has posted a 105 wRC+. His 123 stolen bases are the fifth-highest total in the majors over that time, and his 17.5 fWAR ranks 18th, tied with Alex Bregman. That’s the sort of player that virtually any team with a hole at second base would like to add, and Hoerner’s $12MM salary for the 2026 campaign is entirely affordable as well for even smaller market clubs. While Hoerner has played second base in deference to Dansby Swanson during the latter’s years in Chicago, he served as the club’s everyday shortstop in 2022 with elite fielding metrics and could surely provide plus defense at the position again if needed.

Speculatively speaking, teams like the Braves, Yankees, and Red Sox would all surely love to bring Hoerner into the fold ahead of his final season before free agency, but it would be surprising to see the Cubs actually deal their star infielder. Hoerner was a key piece of the team that took the Cubs back to the playoffs for the first time in half a decade last year, and the club could be better off simply holding onto him with the hope of either working out an extension before free agency or making him a qualifying offer next winter. After all, the Cubs have no clear internal option to replace Hoerner at the keystone. Jefferson Rojas is the club’s top infield prospect, but the 20-year-old struggled badly in 39 games at Double-A last year and isn’t likely to be ready for the majors in 2026.

Perhaps dealing Hoerner could become a more serious consideration if the club’s rumored interest adding help at third base were to come to fruition. The Cubs have been connected to both Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suarez this winter, and signing one of them would displace Matt Shaw at third base. Shaw, of course, was worth just 1.5 fWAR with a 93 wRC+ last year. That’s hardly a player who needs to be in the lineup on an everyday basis, but Hoyer offered Shaw a vote of confidence earlier this week that would suggest he remains a key part of the club’s plans for 2026. If the Cubs were to add Bregman or Suarez at the hot corner, trading Hoerner and installing Shaw at second base might be the easiest way to keep Shaw in the lineup on a regular basis.

With that being said, Shaw could also simply back up the rest of the infield while splitting time at DH with Moises Ballesteros and Owen Caissie, serving as a right-handed complement to those big lefty bats. Even if an addition at third base happens, it certainly wouldn’t indicate that the Cubs would need to trade Hoerner. On the other hand, doing so could provide an alternative pathway to bringing in rotation help this winter if Chicago finds itself unable to lure in one of the top starters available in free agency. The Cubs have made no secret of their desire to bolster the club’s rotation this winter, and reuniting with Shota Imanaga after he accepted a qualifying offer won’t be enough.

Astros Sign Ryan Weiss To Major League Deal

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December 11th: Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports that Weiss’s club option for 2027 is worth $5M with a $500K buyout.

December 9th: The Astros have now officially announced their signing of Weiss. The opened two roster spots last week by outrighting Taylor Trammell and Logan VanWey. Their 40-man count is now at 39.

December 2nd: The Astros have reportedly agreed to a major league deal with right-hander Ryan Weiss, who has been pitching in Korea lately. Weiss is guaranteed $2.6MM and there’s a club option for 2027. The Sports One Athlete Management client could potentially earn $10MM over the course of the pact. The Astros have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to make this official.

It’s a bit of an early birthday present for Weiss, who turns 29 next Wednesday. A fourth-round draft pick of the Diamondbacks back in 2018, he showed enough promise as a minor leaguer that the Snakes added him to their 40-man in November of 2021 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He had just tossed 78 1/3 minor league innings in that 2021 season with a 4.60 earned run average and 9.5% walk rate but his 27% strikeout rate was quite good.

He struggled in the minors in 2022 and was placed on waivers, with the Royals placing a claim. Kansas City then passed him through waivers unclaimed in October of 2022. The Royals then released him in May of 2023. At that point, Weiss had tossed 76 1/3 innings on the farm, dating back to the start of 2022. In that time, he allowed 6.96 earned runs per nine.

That release kicked off a nomadic period for Weiss. He then landed with the High Point Rockers of the independent Atlantic League. After a few months there, with a 4.61 ERA, he signed with the Fubon Guardians of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League. He had a decent 2.32 ERA there, though in just 31 innings. He started 2024 back with the Rockers, posting a 4.61 ERA over nine starts.

In June of 2024, he signed with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization. It was with that club that he seemed to unlock a new gear. In 2024, he gave the Eagles 16 starts with a 3.73 ERA, 25.5% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 48.2% ground ball rate. He returned to the Eagles in 2025 and took the ball 30 more times. He logged 178 2/3 innings with a 2.87 ERA, 28.6% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 48.5% ground ball rate.

Weiss then pitched in relief for the Eagles in the playoffs but the Astros plan to utilize him as a starter. Houston has plenty of uncertainty in their rotation mix. They just lost Framber Valdez to free agency. Luis Garcia required another Tommy John surgery late in 2025 and has been jettisoned from the roster. Hayden Wesneski, Ronel Blanco and Brandon Walter also had TJS in 2025 and are slated to begin next year on the injured list.

That left the Astros going into 2026 with Hunter Brown and a heap of question marks behind him. Cristian Javier will be in the mix but he had a 4.62 ERA in 2025 after returning from his own lengthy surgery layoff. Lance McCullers Jr. has had all kind of injury troubles and put up a 6.51 ERA this year. Spencer Arrighetti was good in 2024 but spent most of 2025 on the IL and only made seven starts. Jason Alexander had some passable results this year but he’s a journeyman depth guy who’s about to turn 33. J.P. France spent most of 2025 recovering from shoulder surgery. Colton Gordon and AJ Blubaugh are on the 40-man but lacking in experience.

Upgrading the rotation for 2026 makes plenty of sense but it appears the club doesn’t have a ton of spending capacity. Reportedly, owner Jim Crane would prefer to avoid the competitive balance tax in 2026. RosterResource projects them for a $218MM CBT number next year. That’s more than $20MM below next year’s $244MM base threshold but the club also has other needs to address this winter. Trading someone like Christian Walker or Jake Meyers might free up some extra space but it’s somewhat tight for now.

So far, their rotation additions have been of the low-cost wild card variety. They took a flier on former top prospect Nate Pearson, signing him to a $1.35MM guarantee. Now they’ve added Weiss into the mix as well. Perhaps there’s a more surefire rotation upgrade over the horizon. For now, the Astros are making a modest bet that Weiss transfer some of his strong KBO results to the MLB level. For his part, Weiss gets a nice paycheck despite still having no major league experience.

Reporter Daniel Kim first reported that the two sides were close to a deal. Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reported that an agreement was in place for a major league pact and that Weiss will be a starter. Jesse Rogers of ESPN reported the guarantee, the presence of a ’27 option and the possibility for the deal to go beyond $10MM. Chandler Rome of The Athletic specified that the option is a club option.

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