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Yankees Avoid Arbitration With Jazz Chisholm Jr.

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The Yankees announced they’ve reached an agreement with infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. for the 2026 season. It’s a one-year, $10.2MM deal, reports Jack Curry of the YES Network. Chisholm is a client of Roc Nation Sports.

New York settled all eight of its remaining arbitration cases today. Chisholm was the only one to crack eight figures, though closer David Bednar ($9MM) wasn’t far behind. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz nailed both numbers. The 27-year-old Chisholm is in his final year of arbitration and will head to free agency next offseason.

Chisholm put together a massive 30/30 campaign in his first full season in pinstripes. He struck out at an above-average clip, but also pushed his walk rate to a career-best 10.9%. Chisholm’s 126 wRC+ was his best mark since the 134 he posted in an abbreviated 2022 season, when a back injury limited him to 60 games. Health issues hindered Chisholm for much of his tenure in Miami. That hasn’t been the case in New York. Aside from a minimum IL stint in 2024 and a one-month absence this past year, Chisholm has been a fixture in the Yankees’ lineup. He’s played at least 130 games in back-to-back seasons.

After making the move to third base when he first joined the team, Chisholm was locked in at second base after New York traded for Ryan McMahon. He should reprise that role in 2026, assuming he’s still on the team. Rival clubs have checked in with the Yankees about Chisholm. The pending free agent is interested in a contract extension, but New York hasn’t been as keen on the idea. There’s been no indication that the Yankees are actually considering trading Chisholm. He’s more than likely going to be back in the middle of a formidable New York lineup next year.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

Rangers Sign Patrick Murphy To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers announced the signing of reliever Patrick Murphy to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league camp. Texas also confirmed their previously reported agreement with veteran righty Nabil Crismatt.

Murphy will be in camp for a second consecutive spring. Texas signed the righty to a non-roster deal last offseason as well. He pitched well in exhibition play and made 14 appearances with Triple-A Round Rock before they granted him his release in July. Murphy wanted to pursue a foreign opportunity and wound up signing with the KBO’s KT Wiz. He had never played in Korea but spent the 2024 campaign in Japan as a member of the Nippon-Ham Fighters.

The former third-round draft choice started nine of 15 appearances with the Wiz. He tossed 60 2/3 innings of 3.12 ERA ball, albeit with a modest 17% strikeout rate. The Wiz wound up replacing both of their foreign-born pitchers. Lefty Enmanuel De Jesus also returned to affiliated ball on a minor league contract with the Tigers. The Wiz signed Matt Sauer and Caleb Boushley, who made 25 appearances for Texas last year, to fill those spots.

Murphy will try to pitch his way back to the MLB level for the first time in four years. He combined for 35 appearances for the Blue Jays and Nationals between 2020-22. He carries a 4.76 earned run average with slightly worse than average strikeout and walk marks in 39 2/3 MLB innings. Murphy sits around 95 MPH with his four-seam fastball and sinker and uses a low-80s curveball as his breaking pitch.

Mariners Avoid Arbitration With Arozarena, Gilbert

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7:50pm: Seattle announced agreements with all seven players in their arbitration class. That includes a $10.927MM deal with Gilbert, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He’d been projected at an even $10MM. Gilbert is coming off a 3.44 ERA showing across 25 starts. He’ll go through arbitration once more before reaching free agency.

12:37pm: The Mariners and slugging outfielder Randy Arozarena are in agreement on a one-year, $15.65MM contract, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. He’s entering his final season of arbitration control before becoming a free agent next winter.

Acquired from the Rays at the 2024 trade deadline, Arozarena has been an impactful source of power in the heart of Seattle’s lineup since that trade. He had a slow start to his Seattle tenure but in 2025 slashed .238/.334/.426 with a career-high 27 home runs and 31 steals (the second-highest mark of his career). By measure of wRC+, which weights for the pitcher-friendly confines in Seattle’s T-Mobile Park, Arozarena has been 22% better than average at the plate since landing in the Emerald City.

Heading into 2026, Arozarena will again play a key role near the top of manager Dan Wilson’s lineup. He’ll be joined by MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez and the recently re-signed Josh Naylor atop what should be a quality Mariners lineup. The M’s have been continuing their search for more bats, looking particularly hard at adding another infielder to the mix. They’ve reportedly shown interest in trading for Cardinals infielder Brendan Donovan and D-backs star Ketel Marte, and they haven’t yet closed the door on a reunion with slugger Eugenio Suarez.

Arozarena was the Mariners’ most expensive arb case this winter. They’ve also reportedly agreed to a deal with George Kirby ($6.65MM) and have pending cases with Logan Gilbert, Gabe Speier, Luke Raley, Matt Brash and Bryce Miller. Arozarena had been projected for a heartier $18.2MM salary by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. He’ll clock in about 14% lower than that mark, leaving the Mariners with more flexibility as they continue to look for additional help on the offensive side of things and in their bullpen.

Reds, Brady Singer Avoid Arbitration

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The Reds and right-hander Brady Singer are in agreement on a $12.75MM salary for the 2026 campaign, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. It’s the final year of arbitration for Singer, who is set to hit free agency next offseason. The contract is slightly above MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s projection of $11.9MM. Singer is represented by Excel Sports Management.

Cincinnati acquired Singer in a November 2024 trade that sent Jonathan India and Joey Wiemer to Kansas City. He had an up-and-down season in his first year with the club. Singer was bombed for seven earned runs in his first start out of the All-Star break, pushing his ERA to 4.84 on the year. He closed the season with a strong 12-start stretch, posting a 2.81 ERA with a 25.7% strikeout rate. The final result was a pretty standard Singer season, with an ERA just above 4.00 and slightly less than a strikeout per inning.

The Reds had a hefty 12 arbitration cases this offseason. Singer was easily the most expensive. Cincinnati agreed to a $5.525MM contract with Gavin Lux and a $4.725MM deal with Nick Lodolo today. None of the other cases settled by the club exceeded $4MM. Singer’s settlement was the second-highest of the day across the league, behind only Randy Arozarena ($15.65MM). As things currently stand, Singer will be the highest-paid player on the roster next season. Jeimer Candelario’s unfortunate deal is still on the books for $12MM, but no other active Red will make more than $10MM, barring a big free agent addition.

Singer will be joined by Lodolo, Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott, and Chase Burns on the 2026 staff. Cincinnati also has youngsters Rhett Lowder and Chase Petty waiting in the wings, along with injury returnees Julian Aguiar, Brandon Williamson, and Carson Spiers. It’s a deep group, which led MLBTR’s Steve Adams to ponder whether the club would trade pitching for hitting this offseason. President of baseball operations Nick Krall has downplayed moving any of his starters, though maybe seeing the ample returns for Shane Baz and Edward Cabrera could cause the club to reconsider that stance.

Photo courtesy of Cary Edmondson, Imagn Images

Pirates, Chris Devenski Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Pirates are in agreement with reliever Chris Devenski on a minor league contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. That presumably includes a Spring Training invite for the Suarez & Associates client.

Devenski was on and off the Mets’ active roster a few times throughout the 2025 season. The 35-year-old righty made it into 13 games overall, allowing four runs across 16 2/3 innings. He struck out 14 against five walks. Devenski also managed solid numbers with Triple-A Syracuse, where he pitched 37 2/3 frames of 3.35 ERA ball. He attacked the zone while posting a slightly below-average 21% strikeout rate at both levels.

That’s now 10 straight seasons in which the former 25th-round draft pick has pitched at the MLB level. Devenski was an All-Star in his second season as a member of the Astros. He has spent the majority of his career as a well-traveled long reliever. If he gets to the big leagues in Pittsburgh, they’d be his seventh MLB team. Devenski’s 92 MPH fastball velocity is below average, so he leans on a plus changeup as his most frequent offering.

There’s opportunity for Devenski to win a job out of camp. Dennis Santana, Gregory Soto, Isaac Mattson, and Justin Lawrence are locked into the Opening Day bullpen. They’ll hope that hard-throwing lefty Mason Montgomery — acquired from Tampa Bay as part of the Mike Burrows trade — locks down a job in Spring Training as well. That’d still leave as many as three bullpen roles up for grabs. Yohan Ramírez is out of options, but he’s a journeyman signed for barely more than the league minimum. Carmen Mlodzinski still has an option remaining, as do potential fifth starters Hunter Barco and Thomas Harrington.

Pirates To Designate Chase Shugart For Assignment

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The Pirates are designating reliever Chase Shugart for assignment, reports Jason Mackey of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. They needed to create a 40-man roster spot for Ryan O’Hearn, whose two-year free agent contract was finalized this afternoon.

Pittsburgh acquired the 29-year-old Shugart in a minor trade with the Red Sox last offseason. The Texas product had only six games of MLB experience at the time. He made it into 35 contests in his first and potentially only season as a Pirate. Shugart managed a solid 3.40 earned run average across 45 innings. That came with well below-average strikeout (17.1%) and ground-ball (33.3%) marks, and the majority of his outings came in low-leverage situations.

The Bucs kept Shugart on the active roster for most of the season’s first half. He went on the injured list with left knee inflammation shortly before the All-Star Break. That cost him more than a month, and the team optioned him to Triple-A shortly after he returned. He only made three MLB appearances in the second half.

Shugart sits in the 94-95 MPH range with his four-seam fastball and sinker. He has a pair of breaking pitches, a low-80s sweeper and a cutter that sits around 90 MPH. It hasn’t led to many whiffs against big league hitters, but he has posted slightly better than average strikeout numbers in the minors. He also has better control than most up-and-down relievers.

There’s a decent chance he’ll get him some attention on the waiver wire. Shugart has one year of big league service time and has one minor league option remaining. The Pirates will trade him or put him on waivers within the next five days.

Diamondbacks, Thomas Hatch Agree To Minor League Deal

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The D-backs and free agent righty Thomas Hatch are in agreement on a minor league contract, reports MLBTR’s Anthony Franco. Hatch, a client of Moye Sports Associates, will be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring.

Hatch turned 31 just a couple days after the season ended. He’s pitched in parts of five big league seasons between the Blue Jays, Pirates, Royals and Twins, ending the 2025 campaign with the latter of that quartet. In 103 MLB frames, the former third-round pick (Cubs, 2016) has a 5.24 ERA, 18% strikeout rate, 10.8% walk rate and 46.3% ground-ball rate.

Though he hasn’t found much in the way of consistent big league success, Hatch has been a solid starter in four Triple-A campaigns. He’s pitched 334 innings at the top minor league level and logged a serviceable 4.42 earned run average while punching out 22.3% of his opponents against a tidy 7.5% walk rate. Hatch also has brief experience pitching overseas in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, though he only made five appearances for the Hiroshima Carp during that 2024 stint.

Hatch has split his time in pro ball fairly evenly between starting and relieving. He’ll compete for a job this spring but would presumably be ticketed for a swingman role even if he secured a roster spot. Arizona’s rotation currently includes Merrill Kelly, Ryne Nelson, Brandon Pfaadt, Eduardo Rodriguez and Michael Soroka. Kelly and Soroka signed as free agents this winter. Depth options beyond that group include Yilber Diaz, Cristian Mena, Kohl Drake, Mitch Bratt and Dylan Ray. All five are 25 years old or younger, but no one from that quintet has proven himself in the big leagues yet; the latter three have yet to even make their major league debuts.

White Sox Claim Drew Romo, Designate Ben Cowles

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The White Sox have claimed catcher Drew Romo off waivers from the Mets, according to a club announcement. Chicago designated infielder Ben Cowles for assignment in order to open a spot for Romo on the 40-man roster.

The No. 35 overall pick by the Rockies back in 2020, Romo garnered some top-100 fanfare earlier in his prospect days but has seen his bat stall out after a nice 2023 season between High-A and Double-A. He’s still a quality defensive catcher with a rocket arm behind the plate, but Romo’s offensive output at Triple-A has declined in consecutive seasons. He hit .264/.329/.409 (75 wRC+) in an extremely hitter-friendly Triple-A Albuquerque setting in 2025 and saw his strikeout rate balloon from 17.8% in ’24 to 25.8%.

The Rockies gave Romo a couple brief looks in the majors, but he totaled only 56 plate appearances and logged a .167/.196/.222 slash with a sky-high 37.5% strikeout rate. He still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, so he’ll give the South Siders some defensive-minded depth behind the plate.

The Sox have Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero on the big league roster already. Both were top-100 prospects this time a year ago. Quero held his own in his 2025 MLB debut (.268/.333/.356 in 403 plate appearances), and Teel excelled at the plate. In 297 trips to the batter’s box, Teel slashed .273/.375/.411 (125 wRC+) with a big 12.5% walk rate. Given that he not only outproduced Quero but also grades out as a vastly better defender, Teel staked his claim to the starting job in 2026 and beyond. Twenty-seven-year-old Korey Lee, who’s out of minor league options, will also have to break camp with the team (if he’s not traded first) or else be designated for assignment.

Both Teel and Quero have drawn offseason trade interest, though that doesn’t mean a move will come to fruition. Other clubs have called the White Sox about that catching tandem — not vice versa — which is only natural, given the scarcity of quality catchers in the game and the ever-increasing emphasis on cultivating young, controllable talent. Claiming another catcher doesn’t indicate that the Sox are more seriously considering a trade of either Teel or Quero; it’s more likely a mere matter of adding some depth (particularly some optionable depth, as Lee’s hold on his roster spot figures to be a bit tenuous).

As for Cowles, who’ll turn 26 next month, he’s a former tenth-round pick by the Yankees who has already twice changed teams in his pro career. New York shipped him to the Cubs alongside Jack Neely in the 2024 Mark Leiter Jr. trade, and the White Sox claimed him off waivers about 13 months later.

Cowles has yet to take a plate appearance in the majors. He split the ’25 season between the Triple-A clubs for the two Chicago teams, slashing a combined .235/.300/.371 with nine homers, 18 steals, a 7.2% walk rate and a 28.8% strikeout rate. He’s viewed as a serviceable defender at shortstop who can also handle second base and third base, giving him a chance to carve out a role as a utility player.

Although his 2025 numbers were ugly, Cowles hit .286/.372/.457 with nine homers, 14 steals, a 10.4% walk rate and a 17.7% strikeout rate in 92 Double-A games during the 2024 season. Between that production, his solid glove/speed combination, and a pair of remaining minor league option years, there’s a chance he’ll be picked up by another club hoping to secure some optionable infield depth.

Phillies, Alec Bohm Avoid Arbitration

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The Phillies and third baseman Alec Bohm are in agreement on a $10.2MM salary for the upcoming 2026 season, per Matt Gelb of The Athletic. That lines up neatly with the $10.3MM projection from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz at the beginning of the offseason. Bohm is represented by the Boras Corporation.

Bohm, 29, will be playing out his final season of club control in 2026. The former No. 3 overall pick looked like a star early on, when he debuted with a sensational .338/.400/.481 slash in 44 games as a rookie back in 2020. He’s settled in as more of a league-average bat in the five years since that time, hitting a combined .275/.323/.411 (101 wRC+) in 2769 plate appearances dating back to 2021.

The Phillies figure to give Bohm everyday reps at the hot corner once again this season. He’s improved his glovework considerably since ranking as one of the worst third base defenders in the game back in 2021-22, although both Defensive Runs Saved (-3) and Outs Above Average (-2) had him a bit below par in 942 frames there in 2025. Bohm has also logged plenty of first base time over the years and could see time there in the event that Bryce Harper misses time due to injury.

Bohm has frequently been the subject of trade rumblings in the past. The Phillies seemed to more seriously consider moving him last offseason then this time around, however. He’s coming off a solid, if unspectacular .287/.331/.409 slash (105 wRC+) with 11 home runs in 504 turns at the plate in 2025. Historically, Bohm has carried pronounced platoon splits, but while he’s still been better against lefties than righties, he’s been closer to an average hitter against right-handers in 2024-25. Over the past three seasons, Bohm is an overall .280/.333/.430 hitter. With another season like that, he’ll position himself for a multi-year deal when he hits the open market next winter.

Braves Claim Ken Waldichuk, Designate Vidal Brujan

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The Braves have claimed left-hander Ken Waldichuk off the Athletics’ waiver wire, as announced by both teams.  Infielder Vidal Brujan was designated for assignment to clear space on Atlanta’s 40-man roster.

The A’s designated Waldichuk for assignment on December 22 in a corresponding move for the Jeff McNeil trade, and Waldichuk then had an extended stay in DFA limbo through the unofficial holiday roster freeze.  The southpaw’s situation has now finally been resolved (by coincidence) on Waldichuk’s 28th birthday, and he’ll celebrate by heading to Atlanta looking for a fresh start to his career.

Once a top-100 ranked prospect, Waldichuk posted a 5.28 ERA over 175 2/3 innings for the then-Oakland team during the 2022-23 seasons.  While the results didn’t stand out, there was hope Waldichuk could continue to develop into a rotation piece for the Athletics, but a Tommy John surgery then interrupted the lefty’s career.  The May 2024 procedure kept Waldichuk from pitching at all in 2024, and he returned to toss 54 innings of minor league ball last season.  There was clearly still some rust, as Waldichuk had an 8.65 ERA and a 15.9% walk rate over 51 Triple-A frames.

Waldichuk is entering the first of four arbitration-eligible seasons as a Super Two player, and he had already agreed to a $825K salary for the 2026 season.  The Braves would therefore have plenty of control over Waldichuk if he can develop into a late bloomer as a starter or reliever on Atlanta’s pitching staff, and it makes for a low-cost risk on the team’s part.

Atlanta president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos is traditionally aggressive in taking fliers on former top prospects, and Waldichuk will take the roster space of another such player in Brujan.  The payroll impact is basically even, as Brujan had avoided arbitration (in the first of three arb years) by agreeing to a split contract worth $825K for time spent in the majors.

Brujan was a regular on top-100 lists during his time in the Rays’ farm system, but he simply hasn’t hit at the MLB level.  Over 645 plate appearances in the Show, Brujan has batted only .199/.267/.276 with five home runs, and his career has taken a journeyman’s path.  Since Tampa Bay dealt Brujan to Miami in November 2023, Brujan has suited up for four different teams — the Marlins in 2024, and then the Cubs, Orioles, and Braves all during the 2025 campaign.  Atlanta claimed him off Baltimore’s waiver wire in August, and Brujan’s .268/.362/.317 slash line over 47 PA for the Braves represents one of the better offensive stretches of his career.

Now entering his age-28 season, Brujan could still appeal to yet another team intrigued by his past blue-chip status, though is out of minor league options.  Initially a middle infielder, Brujan has experience at second base, shortstop, third base, and all three outfield positions as he has tried to increase his marketability by becoming a utilityman.  With over three years of MLB service time, Brujan would have the ability to reject an outright assignment if he clears waivers, though he would have to surrender his 2026 salary in re-entering free agency.

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