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Astros Designate Kaleb Ort For Assignment

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The Astros announced they’ve designated reliever Kaleb Ort for assignment. That opened the 40-man roster spot to finalize their three-year free agent deal with Tatsuya Imai.

Ort landed in Houston on a waiver claim from Baltimore early in the 2024 season. He turned in a 2.55 earned run average across 22 games the rest of the way. Ort made a career-high 49 appearances last year but was unable to maintain the numbers he showed in a smaller sample. He allowed 4.89 earned runs per nine across 46 innings.

The righty missed bats at an above-average clip and struck out more than a quarter of opposing hitters. That came alongside a near-14% walk rate, however, well above the 4.3% mark he’d posted in his MLB work a year earlier. Ort also allowed a higher than average home run rate for a third consecutive season. While manager Joe Espada preferred to use him in the middle innings, he was pressed into a few higher-leverage spots when Josh Hader and Bennett Sousa were lost to injury in August. That pushed Bryan Abreu into the closing role and left Ort as one of their more established right-handed setup arms.

It unfortunately didn’t take long before Ort joined his bullpen mates on the injured list. He went down with elbow inflammation at the beginning of September. That knocked him out for the rest of the season. There’s no indication he won’t be ready for Spring Training, but he was already on the roster bubble. Ort is out of minor league options and approaching his 34th birthday.

Houston has Hader, Abreu, Sousa, Steven Okert and Bryan King in the season-opening bullpen, assuming health. Enyel De Los Santos and Nate Pearson are out of options and near-locks to break camp. Pearson signed a $1.35MM free agent deal, while De Los Santos is guaranteed a $1.6MM salary after avoiding arbitration. There wouldn’t have been much flexibility for in-season maneuvering if they also carried Ort. He’ll be traded or placed on waivers within the next five days. Ort has less than three years of MLB service and no prior outright assignments, so the Astros could keep him around as a non-roster invitee if he gets through waivers unclaimed.

Astros Sign Tatsuya Imai

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The Astros officially announced the signing of right-hander Tatsuya Imai to a three-year contract that allows him to opt out after each of the first two seasons. It’s reportedly a $54MM guarantee for the NPB star, who’ll collect a $2MM signing bonus and $16MM salary next year. He’s owed respective $18MM salaries between 2027-28. Imai, a client of the Boras Corporation, would reportedly escalate his 2027 salary by $2MM apiece at reaching 80, 90 and 100 innings next year. His ’28 salary would also climb by $1MM at each of those thresholds, meaning the total value can jump another $9MM.

Meanwhile, the Lions will receive a posting fee based on Imai’s $54MM guarantee. The current system for international postings gives the original club 20% of the first $25MM, 17.5% of the next $25MM, and 15% of anything over $50MM. That works out to $9.975MM, so the Astros are on the hook for just under $64MM between the contract’s guaranteed money and the posting fee. If Imai opts out next season, Houston will have committed $27.975MM for one year of his services. The Astros would also owe a 15% posting fee to the Lions on any escalators that Imai unlocks if he doesn’t opt out.

Imai was one of the top starters available in free agency and coming off a career-best 1.92 ERA season with the Saitama Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. It was reported several days ago that he was meeting with teams in-person in advance of his January 2 signing deadline. The Yankees, Mets, Cubs, Phillies, and Orioles were among the clubs interested in signing him, so the Astros are a bit of a surprise destination.

We at MLBTR ranked Imai No. 7 on our Top 50 Free Agents list and projected him for a six-year, $150MM contract. This deal with Houston comes in at half the length of that projection, with around a third of the guaranteed money. It appeared that Imai had other offers on the table for longer terms but lower AAVs (link via Mark Feinsand of MLB.com). The opt-outs in his deal with Houston allow him to try for a bigger contract in future offseasons if he can prove himself in MLB.

Imai is 27 years old (28 in May) and has pitched to a 3.15 ERA in 963 2/3 career NPB innings. He debuted in 2018 at age 20 and made 16 appearances (15 starts), but struggled with a 4.97 ERA. Those early struggles continued from 2019-20. In the pandemic season, Imai had a 6.13 ERA in 61 2/3 innings and walked more batters than he struck out, which resulted in him temporarily being moved to the bullpen. He rebounded in 2021, posting a 3.30 ERA in 158 1/3 innings with an improved strikeout rate, and he has stuck as a starting pitcher ever since.

That kicked off a run of dominance from 2022-25. After posting a 2.41 ERA in nine starts with the Lions in 2022, Imai followed up with a 2.30 ERA and a 24.4% strikeout rate in 133 innings in 2023. While he did walk 11.4% of hitters that year, his strikeout and walk numbers improved year over year from 2023-25. This year, he struck out 27.8% of hitters (highest among qualified NPB starters) and walked just 7.0%. His 20.7% K-BB rate was third-best in that league. Imai also did very well at keeping the ball in the yard, allowing just six home runs all season (0.33 HR/9) and inducing groundballs 48.3% of the time. Overall, he enters the majors with a higher ceiling and much-improved control compared to his early career.

In terms of stuff, Imai profiles as a mid-rotation starter in the majors. His fastball sits in the mid-90s and can reach 99 mph, and he also throws a slider, splitter, and changeup. His excellent performance from 2022-25 made him an attractive target in free agency, although some evaluators were concerned about his secondary stuff and past struggles with control. It seemed that industry opinion was mixed on whether he could succeed as a big-league starter, which resulted in the lower-than-expected guarantee.

At the time of his posting, a $150MM deal seemed like a real possibility. These days, teams value youth and upside and are willing to pay a premium to get it. Recent offseasons have seen players like Juan Soto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. sign for over a decade and at least $500MM in guaranteed money. Among Asian players, right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto and outfielder Jung Hoo Lee came to the majors after their age-24 seasons and earned $100M+ deals. Imai is several years older than Yamamoto was when he signed and has a shorter track record as a front-of-the-rotation arm. While he was never going to match Yamamoto’s deal, Imai’s year-over-year improvement and relative youth were enough for the Astros to want him in their rotation.

Houston’s interest was not widely known, though it makes sense that they wanted another starting pitcher. Longtime ace Framber Valdez is currently a free agent. The team has had some discussions with Valdez’s camp, though the expectation is that he will sign elsewhere on a pricier contract. Hunter Brown was phenomenal in 2025, totaling 185 1/3 innings with a 2.43 ERA. That figure was third-best among qualified starters, trailing only Cy Young winners Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal. He also posted an 85th-percentile strikeout rate and a 77th-percentile groundball rate. Altogether, he was worth 4.6 fWAR and finished third in AL Cy Young voting. He’ll return as the staff ace in 2026.

Behind Brown, the rotation looks shaky. Cristian Javier currently projects as the No. 2 starter. He owns a 3.66 ERA in 538 career innings, but he pitched just 71 2/3 innings from 2024-25 due to Tommy John surgery. In just 37 innings this year, Javier had a 4.62 ERA with a 21.7% strikeout rate and a 9.6% walk rate. He is under contract through 2027. Meanwhile, Lance McCullers Jr. has had his own injury troubles, pitching just 103 innings in the past four years and missing 2023-24 entirely. Even if he performs well in 2026, the team will monitor his workload carefully. The recently-acquired Mike Burrows will play some role. He had a 3.94 ERA in 96 innings this year with an impressive 16.4% K-BB rate, though his overall track record is fairly minimal.

The addition of Imai gives the Astros a durable No. 2 or 3 starter at an affordable rate. It remains to be seen how his strikeout and groundball potential will translate against major-league hitting, though the club is surely hoping he can maintain his performance from Japan. The signing brings the Astros’ projected payroll to $242MM, according to RosterResource. The club was a second-time luxury tax payor this year and is hoping to avoid paying it for a third time. The first luxury tax threshold for 2026 is $244MM, so the club will likely need to shed payroll if it wants to add to other areas of the roster.

With Imai now off the board, any clubs in need of a starter will need to look elsewhere. Dylan Cease was the top free agent pitcher entering the offseason and has since signed with the Blue Jays. Valdez, Ranger Suarez, Zac Gallen, Chris Bassitt, and Lucas Giolito are still available in free agency. Valdez and Suarez are front-of-the-rotation options, while Gallen, Bassitt and Giolito are cheaper, mid-rotation arms.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported the Astros and Imai had agreed to a deal. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers was first on the three-year term with opt-outs after the first two seasons. Heyman reported the $54MM guarantee and $9MM in escalators at 80-100 innings, while Ronald Blum of The Associated Press was first on the signing bonus and specific escalator breakdown.

Twins Acquire Eric Wagaman, DFA Ryan Fitzgerald

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The Twins have acquired first baseman Eric Wagaman from the Marlins in exchange for minor league pitcher Kade Bragg, as confirmed by both teams this afternoon. Wagaman was designated for assignment earlier this week. To make room for Wagaman on their 40-man roster, the Twins DFA’d infielder Ryan Fitzgerald.

Wagaman, 28, spent several years in the Yankees’ minor league system before he was taken by the Angels in the minor league portion of the 2023 Rule 5 draft. He debuted for L.A. the following September, but he didn’t hit well enough to stave off a DFA at the end of the season. After electing free agency, he signed with the Marlins, and in 2025, he played his first full campaign in the bigs. Over 140 games, he slashed .250/.296/.378 for a .674 OPS and an 85 wRC+. He hit nine home runs, stole four bases on five attempts, and grounded into 11 double plays. On defense, Wagaman mostly played first base, though he also appeared in a handful of games in the corner outfield spots and stepped in at third base on a few occasions. Considering his well-below-average offense at a position where teams typically look for well-above-average offense, it was hardly surprising to see Wagaman DFA’d when the Marlins needed to make room on the roster for trade acquisition Esteury Ruiz. Evidently, the Twins must see a little more to like in his bat.

Bragg, 24, signed with the Twins in 2023 after they selected him in the 17th round of the draft. He made his professional debut in 2024 but landed on the injured list in late April and missed the rest of the season. Healthy again in 2025, the left-hander impressed in his first full season, rising from Single-A to High-A to Double-A. All told, he pitched to a 2.94 ERA and 3.73 FIP in 67 1/3 innings of relief, striking out 82 and giving up just six home runs. Walks were an issue, and clearly, the Twins don’t value Bragg all that highly. Neither do the prospect evaluators at sources like Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, or FanGraphs; he wasn’t ranked on any of their most recent Twins prospect lists. Still, based on his successful performance in his first full season, the Marlins’ development team has an interesting new project to work on.

Fitzgerald, 31, finally earned his call to the show in 2025. He started his career in independent ball, where he impressed the Red Sox enough to earn a minor league contract in 2018. Five years later, the Royals selected him in the minor league phase of the 2023 Rule 5 draft – the same draft that saw Wagaman join the Angels. However, Fitzgerald wasn’t able to make the majors with his new team, and he elected free agency after the 2024 campaign. He then latched on with Minnesota on a minor league contract, and finally, a month before his 31st birthday, he made his MLB debut. While his first stint with the Twins lasted less than a week, he earned another call-up in August following the team’s trade deadline sell-off and stuck around for the rest of the season. Altogether, he hit for an .837 OPS and a 119 wRC+ in 59 games at Triple-A and a .758 OPS and 110 wRC+ in 24 games in the majors. Unfortunately for Fitzgerald, his plus hitting and defensive versatility (he played all four infield positions) weren’t enough to keep him in Minnesota’s plans for 2026. At some point over the next five days, the Twins will either trade him or place him on waivers. If he were to clear waivers, the Twins could send him outright to the minor leagues and keep him in their organization.

Giants To Sign Tyler Mahle

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Today: Mahle is guaranteed $10MM on the deal, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Performance bonuses could bump it up near $13MM, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.

Dec. 31: The Giants are closing in on a deal with free agent right-hander Tyler Mahle, reports Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle. It’s a one-year pact, per Rubin. The 31-year-old Mahle is a client of ISE Baseball.

Mahle is coming off an injury-riddled 2025 with the Rangers, though he was productive when healthy. The veteran righty was one of the most pleasant early-season surprises, pitching to a 1.64 ERA over the first two months of the season. Mahle allowed two earned runs or fewer in 11 of his first 12 starts to begin the campaign. He was knocked around for eight earned runs across his first two starts of June, then hit the IL with shoulder fatigue. Mahle returned for a pair of outings in September, allowing a run over 9 2/3 innings.

Persistent maladies have limited Mahle to just 125 innings over the past three seasons. He made nine starts across a season and a half with Minnesota, missing time with a strained shoulder and a forearm issue. It was a disappointing outcome for the Twins, who parted with Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand to land Mahle at the 2022 trade deadline. After signing with Texas in December 2023, Mahle missed the first four months of the year while recovering from elbow surgery. After three games with his new club, he went down with shoulder tightness and missed the rest of the year.

Mahle was routinely striking out more than a batter per inning during his peak years with Cincinnati, but those numbers have tailed off as the injuries have mounted. Mahle posted an uninspiring 19.1% strikeout rate last season. He sat at 92 mph with his fastball, down a couple of ticks from his best seasons with the Reds. The ERA estimators all suggest Mahle’s 2.18 ERA in 2025 should be viewed with skepticism. His xERA and xFIP were both above 4.00, while his SIERA was all the way up at 4.62. Mahle ran hot with home run luck (4.9% HR/FB), while also benefiting from a career-high 84.6% LOB%.

It was reported in mid-December that the Giants were still in the market for pitching after signing righty Adrian Houser. With Justin Verlander hitting free agency, the club entered the offseason with Logan Webb and Robbie Ray as the only guaranteed members of the 2026 rotation. Landen Roupp, who missed the final six weeks of the 2025 campaign with a knee injury, is also expected to be on the staff. Houser and Mahle are the favorites to round out the group.

President of baseball operations Buster Posey entered the offseason focused on adding to the rotation and the bullpen. While the club has been connected to some of the bigger names on the starter market, including Framber Valdez and Zac Gallen, the moves so far have been relatively minor. Houser came on board via a two-year, $22MM pact with a club option for a third season. The Giants added relievers Jason Foley and Sam Hentges on cheap deals. Mahle now joins the squad on a one-year deal.

Given the injury histories for Ray and Mahle, plus the limited track record for Roupp, San Francisco will likely need to lean on internal options for additional innings. Carson Whisenhunt, Carson Seymour, and Kai-Wei Teng all received opportunities last season, but none delivered useful results. Hayden Birdsong graduated from a long relief role to the rotation, but control issues led to a demotion to Triple-A. Keaton Winn and Blade Tidwell (acquired in the Tyler Rogers trade) missed time with injuries. Trevor McDonald might be the leading candidate to open the year as the sixth starter/injury fill-in. The righty closed the year with a pair of stellar outings, tossing six innings of one-run ball against the Dodgers and striking out 10 Rockies over seven frames.

RosterResource currently has the Giants’ payroll at $175MM for 2026. That mark doesn’t include Mahle’s deal or the $17MM payment owed to Blake Snell in mid-January as part of his deferred signing bonus. When adding in those considerations, the club is on track to comfortably exceed the $177MM it spent on payroll last season. The increase in expenses could be the reason the Giants ultimately rounded out the rotation with low-cost veterans in Houser and Mahle. A general hesitation by the front office to pursue long-term deals for starters likely also factored in.

Photos courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Alexander Canario Signs With NPB’s Seibu Lions

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The Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced the signing of outfielder Alexander Canario earlier this month. He had been non-tendered by the Pirates at the end of the season.

Canario, 25, heads overseas for the first time in his career. A notable prospect during his time in the Cubs system, he plateaued in the upper minors because of increasing strikeout concerns. Canario never got much of a big league look in Chicago and bounced around a bit last winter. The Cubs traded him to the Mets in February. New York designated him for assignment on Opening Day and flipped him to Pittsburgh for cash considerations.

The Bucs kept the out-of-options Canario on their roster all season. He played in a little over half their games and tallied a career-high 234 plate appearances. Canario struggled to a .218/.274/.338 slash while striking out 80 times (34.2%). Among hitters with 200+ trips to the dish, only Luke Raley, Gabriel Arias, Michael A. Taylor and Christopher Morel swung and missed more frequently. Canario graded well defensively in his 521 innings split between the three outfield spots, but the lack of offense and roster flexibility led the Bucs to drop him.

Canario takes a career .252/.345/.521 Triple-A batting line to NPB. He has connected on 32 home runs in 120 games at the top minor league level. He’s an above-average runner with a plus arm and significant raw power. It’s the kind of profile that generally plays better in foreign leagues, where the average velocity and strikeout rate is lower than it is MLB. Canario would have been limited to minor league offers had he remained in affiliated ball, and his out-of-options status meant he’d likely have bounced around the waiver wire even if he hit his way back onto a team’s 40-man roster.

Blue Jays To Sign Josh Winckowski To Minor League Deal

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Right-hander Josh Winckowski is joining the Blue Jays on a two-year minor league deal, per MLBTR’s Steve Adams. The 27-year-old recently had internal brace surgery and hopes to pitch late in the 2026 season, notes Adams.

Winckowski didn’t break camp with the Red Sox this past season, but was called up in early April. He made six appearances with the club before getting sent back down. The righty hit the IL in May with an elbow issue that ended up being a flexor strain. The injury ended his season. Winckowski was designated for assignment in mid-November. He elected minor league free agency shortly after.

The additional news that Winckowski underwent internal brace surgery this month sheds more light on his potential timeline. The procedure typically allows pitchers to return sooner than they would if they had Tommy John surgery. Winckowski will be building back up as a starter, adds Adams. With several months of recovery still ahead of him, it makes sense that the Blue Jays inked him to a two-year deal.

It’s a return home for Winckowski, who was drafted by Toronto out of high school in 2016. He delivered promising results in the lower levels of the minors, reaching High-A by 2019. Winckowski was then involved in a pair of notable trades ahead of the 2021 season. Toronto sent him to the Mets as part of a package for Steven Matz. Two weeks later, New York flipped him to the Red Sox in a three-team deal that involved Andrew Benintendi going to the Royals.

Winckowski debuted with Boston in 2022. He made 15 appearances (14 starts) for the big-league club, pitching to a 5.89 ERA. Winckowski struggled to miss bats (13.9% strikeout rate) but got ground balls at more than a 52% clip. The Red Sox transitioned Winckowski to a bullpen role in 2023, and the change paid immediate dividends. The righty’s fastball velocity jumped more than 2 mph, and his strikeout rate improved to 22.3%. Winckowski continued to get ground balls at a well-above-average rate. The combination of an improved arsenal and the persistent ability to keep the ball on the ground helped Winckowski post a sterling 2.88 ERA across 60 appearances. He finished with 19 holds as an important member of Boston’s bullpen.

The 2024 campaign was a step back for Winckowski, both in terms of stuff and production. His fastball and sinker velocities fell a bit, and he reverted to underwhelming strikeout numbers. Winckowski was demoted to Triple-A on two separate occasions. The injuries limited him to just 11 2/3 innings with the Red Sox this past season. His health, along with his pending arbitration and the fact that he was out of minor league options, likely contributed to him getting bumped off Boston’s roster. Winckowski will now head to Toronto with the hopes of recovering in time to help the major league squad.

Photo courtesy of Eric Canha, Imagn Images

Spencer Howard To Sign With NPB’s Yomiuri Giants

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Right-hander Spencer Howard is signing with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball, according to reports out of Japan (h/t to Yakyu Cosmopolitan). It’ll be the second year in NPB for Howard, who pitched for the Rakuten Eagles this past season. Before heading to Japan, Howard spent parts of five seasons with four MLB teams.

Injuries limited Howard to just nine starts with the Eagles in 2025. He pitched well when available, posting a 2.22 ERA across 48 2/3 innings. Howard is the second foreign signing for the Giants in the past 10 days. The club inked former Red Sox infielder Bobby Dalbec last week.

The 29-year-old Howard was once among the top prospects in Philadelphia’s organization. FanGraphs and MLB.com both gave him the No. 1 spot in 2021. The righty had briefly debuted the year prior, making six uneventful starts in the shortened 2020 season. Howard made 11 appearances for the Phillies in 2021, pitching to a 5.72 ERA with a solid 24.4% strikeout rate but a concerning 13.4% walk rate. Philly shipped him to Texas at the trade deadline for a return headlined by veteran arms Ian Kennedy and Kyle Gibson.

Texas gave Howard his longest look at the big-league level, but injuries limited him to 62 2/3 innings from 2021 to 2023. He wasn’t particularly effective with the club, scuffling to an 8.37 ERA across 21 appearances. Howard’s results at Triple-A Round Rock weren’t much better in that stretch. Texas shipped him to the Yankees in August 2023. He would also spend time with the Giants and Guardians before making the move to NPB. Howard has a 7.00 ERA across 144 MLB innings. His 4.77 SIERA paints a rosier picture, though not enough to suggest a return to the big leagues is in the cards.

Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images

Cubs Sign Hunter Harvey

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Dec 31: The team has officially announced the Harvey signing.

Dec. 30: Harvey can earn an additional $1.5MM via incentives, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Dec. 28: The Cubs and right-hander Hunter Harvey are reportedly in agreement on a one-year contract that’ll guarantee him $6MM. Harvey, a client of the Beverly Hills Sports Council, still needs to complete a physical before the deal becomes official.

Harvey is looking to bounce back from an injury-plagued 2025 season that saw the reliever make just 12 appearances out of the Royals bullpen.  A teres major strain in early April kept Harvey out of action until late July, and he pitched in just six more games before being sidelined for good by a Grade 2 adductor strain.  The frustration of these two significant injuries was compounded by the fact that Harvey was looking great when healthy — he didn’t allow a run over his 10 2/3 innings pitched, while issuing one walk against 11 strikeouts.

Between these injuries and the back problems that marred the end of his 2024 campaign, Harvey ended up pitching only 16 1/3 innings in a Royals uniform after Kansas City acquired the righty from Washington in July 2024.  Unfortunately, health concerns are nothing new for Harvey, as his time as a top-100 prospect in the Orioles’ farm system was frequently interrupted by stints on the injured list.

It wasn’t until the 2022 season that Harvey (now with the Nationals) finally got an extended taste of MLB playing time.  He proceeded to post a 3.17 ERA, 27.83% strikeout rate, and 6.36% walk rate over 145 relief innings during his time in D.C., working in a high-leverage role and occasionally as a closer with the Nats.

Harvey has been prone to allowing a lot of hard contact, but his control and strikeout ability has allowed him to get out of jams when allowing baserunners.  Harvey has always been a hard thrower, though his 96.1 mph fastball in 2025 was the slowest velocity he has posted in his MLB career.  Of course, it’s hard to draw conclusions from that sample size of 10 2/3 IP, and it is certainly possible that Harvey will regain a tick or two on his heater once healthy.

Availability is the lingering question for Harvey, yet there is plenty of upside for the righty as he enters his age-31 season.  He is an ideal fit for Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, who has traditionally shopped for lower-cost bullpen arms who can (if everything works out) provide plenty of bang for the buck.

Chicago’s two-year, $14.5MM deal with Phil Maton counts as a relative splurge by Hoyer’s bullpen spending standards, but the Cubs have now signed Maton, Harvey, Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb, and old friend Caleb Thielbar in what has quietly become a pretty extensive remodel of the relief corps.  Daniel Palencia remains as the Cubs’ first choice for saves, but Harvey now provides some backup as a reliever with some ninth-inning experience.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the team pursue more veteran relievers on relatively inexpensive contracts, in order to give the Cubs as much depth as possible in advance of what Chicago hopes is a deeper postseason run.  The Cubs have been linked to a number of bigger-ticket position players and starting pitchers, but Maton’s deal remains their largest investment in a new player this offseason.

Will Sammon and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic first reported the agreement between the two sides. Jon Heyman of the New York Post added the contract’s length, and ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the salary.

Blue Jays Sign Nic Enright To Two-Year Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays have agreed to a two-year minor league deal with right-hander Nic Enright, according to a report from ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez.

Enright, 28, has had a difficult career to this point despite solid results. A 20th-round pick by Cleveland back in 2019, the righty made his way up the organizational ladder to reach Triple-A with excellent results in 2022. That seemingly put him on the radar for a call-up to the majors, but was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma in December of that year. The diagnosis came shortly after Enright was selected by the Marlins in the Rule 5 draft and severely limited him throughout the 2023 campaign, although he did eventually begin a rehab assignment while undergoing treatment. He struggled before being returned to the Guardians, but by 2024 was back to posting excellent numbers in the minors.

That earned Enright the opportunity to make his MLB debut this year, and he made the most of the opportunity with a sterling 2.03 ERA and a 23.7% strikeout rate in 31 innings of work. Enright had the look of a quality bullpen piece when on the mound, but his health derailed things once again when the righty underwent Tommy John surgery in October. The timing of that injury will cost Enright the entire 2026 season, which led the Guardians to non-tender him last month despite his status as a pre-arbitration player. That sent Enright into minor league free agency for the first time in his career, and he’s now managed to catch on with the reigning AL champions.

The deal between Toronto and Enright is for both the 2026 and ’27 seasons. While minor league deals are typically for just one year, two-year deals are somewhat common for talented players who are rehabbing from significant surgery. They serve as a way for the acquiring club to take control of the player’s rehab process with the assurance that they’ll be the organization with the first crack at reaping the benefits once the player returns to health. From the player’s perspective, the two-year guarantee offers some security that otherwise would not be afforded to them, saving them from having to go back into minor league free agency coming off a season lost to rehab.

While Enright won’t have an impact on the Blue Jays in 2026, it would hardly be a surprise to see him join the Toronto bullpen at some point in 2027 given his previous results and obvious talent when healthy. The Blue Jays’ pitching staff figures to look very different in 2027, as Shane Bieber and Kevin Gausman will depart the rotation for free agency after the 2026 campaign while Eric Lauer and Yimi Garcia figure to leave a hole in the bullpen when they hit the open market. It’s hard to know exactly how open the competition for Toronto’s 2027 pitching staff will be more than a year in advance, but it’s certainly plausible that those impending departures could help create an opportunity for Enright to join players like Jeff Hoffman, Tyler Rogers, and Louis Varland in the team’s relief corps once he’s healthy.

White Sox, Jarred Kelenic Agree To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox are signing outfielder Jarred Kelenic to a minor league deal, according to a report from Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Kelenic’s deal includes a non-roster invitation to big league Spring Training in February.

Kelenic, 26, was drafted sixth-overall by the Mets back in 2018 and exploded to become a top-five prospect in the entire sport early in his pro career. Kelenic’s prospect status saw him shipped to the Mariners as part of the deal that brought Edwin Diaz to Queens, and at the time the deal was viewed as a coup for Seattle thanks to Kelenic’s star power. Unfortunately, the outfielder is now five years into his MLB career and has yet to put it all together at the major league level.

After hitting at a well below average level in 147 games across the 2021 and ’22 seasons, Kelenic finally seemed to be steadying himself in 2023. That year, he slashed a respectable .253/.327/.419 with a 110 wRC+ in 105 games. He swatted 11 homers with 25 doubles and swiped 13 bags in 18 attempts. While that combination of decent power and speed with a respectable 9.9% walk rate was encouraging, Kelenic was held back in a big way by strikeouts. His 31.7% strikeout rate would’ve been the fourth-highest in the majors that year if he had enough plate appearances to qualify, just ahead of Teoscar Hernandez and Eugenio Suarez for the team lead. That led the Mariners to try and retool their lineup with a larger focus on contact during the 2023-24 offseason, and part of that effort was a deal that shipped Kelenic to Atlanta that winter.

Joining the Braves offered Kelenic an opportunity for a fresh start, but he didn’t make much of an impact even in spite of receiving the lion’s share of playing time in left field. With Atlanta, Kelenic reached a career high in games played (131) and plate appearances (449) but managed a wRC+ of just 87 as his walk rate and BABIP both declined significantly while his strikeout rate remained at a much too high 29.6%. A .286 on-base percentage is hard to justify for a regular no matter how much power they provide, but Kelenic’s 15 homers and 35 total extra-base hits in 2024 certainly wasn’t going to cut it.

That led Atlanta to pivot away from using Kelenic in a starting role this past year, instead signing players like Jurickson Profar and Alex Verdugo to try and fill the hole in left field. A PED suspension for Profar and deep struggles from Verdugo were enough to get Kelenic another shot in the majors, but he struggled with that opportunity and hit just .167/.231/.300 in 24 games with a 47 wRC+ and a 35.7% strikeout rate. Those numbers were essentially unplayable at the major league level and left Kelenic to spend most of his time in the minors last year. Unfortunately, he also struggled for the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett. For the Stripers, Kelenic hit just .213/.286/.309 in 95 games. While Kelenic’s strikeout and on-base woes persisted last year, his power completely evaporated.

All of those struggles led the Braves to designate Kelenic for assignment earlier this year, and he elected minor league free agency back in October. The outfielder is more of a project than a surefire piece at this point in his career, but given that he’s still just 26 years old, it’s understandable for the rebuilding White Sox to take a gamble on a talent once so well-regarded. If Kelenic shows he has more in the tank, he’d likely compete for a job in right field with Brooks Baldwin as Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi cover center field and left field respectively. A trade of Robert or even Benintendi can’t be ruled out given Chicago’s status as one of the league’s few rebuilding clubs, and a deal sending either of those two out of town would create a more substantial opportunity for Kelenic to get work in on the grass in the majors.

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