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Cubs, Curt Casali Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs have signed veteran catcher Curt Casali to a minor league contract, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. The BHSC client spent spring training with the Marlins but didn’t make the roster and was granted his release earlier this week.

Casali, 35, is a veteran of 10 big league seasons. He had a solid run with the Reds and (more briefly) the Rays from 2017-20, batting .262/.348/.444 over the life of 498 plate appearances, working primarily in a backup role. His bat has declined in the three seasons since, however.

Dating back to 2021, Casali has posted a lackluster .201/.311/.315 batting line — about 22% below league-average (78 wRC+) in a span of 504 plate appearances. He had a tough showing in camp with Miami, too, going just 1-for-17 with a double, a pair of walks and a pair of strikeouts.

Though his bat has seen a clear downturn in recent seasons, Casali is generally regarded as a sound defender. He nabbed six of 19 potential thieves on the bases last year (32%), and Statcast graded him as better than average when it comes to blocking pitches in the dirt. Defensive Runs Saved (+3) had a favorable view of his glovework as well.

The Cubs don’t have an immediate need behind the dish. Veteran Yan Gomes is slated to serve as the primary catcher for new manager Craig Counsell, and he’ll split time with 25-year-old Miguel Amaya, who’s out of minor league options and thus has to remain on the big league roster or else be traded or exposed to waivers. Presumably, Casali will head to Des Moines to suit up for the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate and be one of their first considerations in the event of an injury on the big league catching corps.

Cardinals Outright Jared Young

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March 29: Young cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Memphis, the Cardinals announced. He’ll remain with the organization.

March 27: The Cardinals announced that infielder/outfielder Jared Young has been placed on outright waivers. That opens up a spot on their 40-man roster for outfielder Victor Scott II.

Young, 28, was claimed off waivers out of the division-rival Cubs organization back in November. A 15th-round pick in 2017, he’s logged big league time in each of the past two seasons with Chicago, albeit in limited fashion. He’s appeared in just 22 games and tallied 69 plate appearances, hitting .210/.290/.435 in his brief cups of coffee at the MLB level.

Those numbers don’t stand out, nor do the results from Young’s first two seasons at the Triple-A level, but he laid waste to opposing pitchers with Triple-A Iowa last season in his third run through that level. In 90 games and 376 plate appearances, Young turned in a stout .310/.417/.577 batting line with 21 homers, a huge 13.3% walk rate and a 22.3% strikeout rate. He collected only three hits in 45 plate appearances this spring, but last year’s upper-minors results are genuinely intriguing.

Young has spent notable time at first base, second base, third base and in both outfield corners on the defensive side of things. The bulk of that time has come at first base and in left field, but any team that places a claim or looks to swing a minor trade to pick him up would be adding a lefty bat with some decent versatility. Young has a pair of minor league options remaining as well, which could add to his appeal. The outright waiver process lasts 48 hours, so Young should know relatively soon whether he’ll head to another club’s 40-man roster or stick with the Cardinals and be assigned outright to Triple-A Memphis.

Pitchers Approaching Career Milestones In 2024

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The 2024 season is just days away. It’s a time of renewed hope for at least the vast majority of teams. It also opens the opportunity for a few veteran players to continue building on what have already been very accomplished careers, some of which should happen early in the year.

Wins

There’s no pitcher who’s particularly close to a magic round number — unless we drop all the way down to 100, which is notable but not especially illustrious. However, Justin Verlander’s win total will still be worth tracking. The Houston ace will begin the season on the injured list but is hopeful of a quick return. The three-time Cy Young winner is at 257 wins in his career and will pass Ted Lyons for 41st all-time if he records even four victories this year. Eight wins will push Verlander into the top 40, surpassing Gus Weyhing. With nine wins, he’ll leapfrog Jim McCormick. Ten victories will be enough to overtake both Eppa Rixey and Bob Feller. With a dozen wins, Verlander will move past Jim Palmer. Recording 13 wins will eclipse Jamie Moyer, while 14 will pass Mike Mussina and Burleigh Grimes. Perhaps 17 is a long shot, but if Verlander can get to that point, he’ll pass Red Ruffing and move into 32nd place all-time. Each of Lyons, Rixey, Feller, Palmer, Mussina, Grimes and Ruffing is a Hall of Famer — a distinction that surely awaits Verlander in the future.

As an aside, Verlander would also become just the fifth pitcher to ever record 200-plus strikeouts in 10 seasons of his career. Again, starting out on the injured list doesn’t help his chances. He hasn’t topped 200 in a season since fanning 300 back in 2019, but there’s always a slim chance. Only Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and Tom Seaver have recorded 10 or more seasons of 200 punchouts.

Saves

Heading into the 2024 season, the current No. 7 and 8 names on the all-time saves list will have active closer’s jobs: Kenley Jansen (Red Sox) and Craig Kimbrel (Orioles). Jansen currently boasts 420 saves. Kimbrel is at 417. Jansen and Kimbrel not only have a chance to finish the season in MLB’s top five all-time saves leaders — it seems quite likely both will get there with good health. Jansen needs three saves to pass Billy Wagner, five to pass John Franco and 18 to pass Francisco Rodriguez, who’s currently fourth all-time. Kimbrel is only three saves behind him, so he needs just six, eight and 21 to wind up in the top five right behind Jansen. It’s also possible the two will flip spots, given the proximity on the current leaderboards.

Way down the list, Braves closer Raisel Iglesias enters the season with 190 career saves. That puts him 58th all-time. He has a strong chance to become the 54th pitcher to ever reach 200 saves in a career. Iglesias saved 33 games for the Braves in 2023, and if he repeats that he’ll jump to 45th all-time. He’ll pitch this season at 34, and if he can remain a serviceable closer into his mid- and late-30s, he has a decent chance at passing Jason Isringhausen and Bruce Sutter — both at exactly 300 saves — and becoming just the 32nd pitcher to ever reach that milestone, though clearly that’ll take another few years.

Other possibilities to reach 200 saves this season include David Robertson, who currently sits at 175 saves in his career, and Josh Hader, who’s sitting on 165. Jose Leclerc might get first crack at the ninth inning over Robertson, but he’s been inconsistent and had his share of injuries. Hader is the clear favorite for saves in Houston, but he’s only reached 35 saves in a single season twice before. Both pitchers could get to that nice round number given their presence as late-inning options on contending clubs.

Taking a slightly different approach to career save totals, Kimbrel is already one of just four players in MLB history to have five or more seasons of 40-plus saves, joining Mariano Rivera (9), Trevor Hoffman (9) and the previously mentioned K-Rod (6). He hasn’t had a 40-save season since 2018, but if he can turn back the clock he’d tie Rodriguez with his sixth 40-save season. Similarly, Jansen is one of just ten pitchers to ever have four seasons of 40 or more saves. He reached that mark as recently as 2022. A 40-save season would tie him with Kimbrel at five and make him just the fifth pitcher to ever enjoy five such seasons.

Strikeouts

Max Scherzer likely won’t pitch in the season’s first half, but if he takes the ball at all this year he’ll be a virtual lock to move into tenth place on the all-time strikeout list, surpassing Hall of Famer Greg Maddux. Mad Max’s 3367 punchouts are just four behind the Professor. With a full season, Scherzer might’ve had a shot at Walter Johnson’s ninth-place mark (3509), but that’ll likely have to wait for future seasons — assuming Scherzer keeps going after the ’24 campaign.

The aforementioned Verlander is only 25 strikeouts behind Scherzer and thus all but certain to pass his former teammate. Verlander is currently tied with Phil Niekro at 3442, meaning his next strikeout will give him sole possession of 11th place all-time. And if he can return early enough in the 2024 season, Verlander will have a shot at the 168 strikeouts he needs to inch past Johnson on the all-time list. He’d need 193 to pass Gaylord Perry for eighth all-time, which probably won’t happen this year, but Verlander has said he wants to pitch into his mid-40s and has an option on his contract for the 2025 season.

We don’t know when Clayton Kershaw will pitch this year or whether the still-unsigned Zack Greinke will pitch at all, but both are within arm’s reach of 3000 punchouts in their respective careers. Only 19 pitchers have ever done so. Kershaw needs 56 whiffs to get to that point and is hopeful of rejoining the Dodgers’ rotation in the second half after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery. His deal comes with a 2025 option, so even if 3000 doesn’t happen this year, there’s a good chance we’ll see it in ’25. Greinke is just 21 strikeouts away from 3000. A return to the Royals seems unlikely, but if he decides he wants to pitch and chase down that 3000 milestone, he’d surely garner some interest from teams seeking depth.

There are a handful of names chasing down the 2000-strikeout mark as well. As of this writing, 87 pitchers have reached that threshold in MLB history. Yu Darvish, who currently has 1932 strikeouts, needs just 68 more to get there. Darvish, Lance Lynn (1906 strikeouts) and Charlie Morton (1880) are all practically locks to get to 2000 with full, healthy seasons.

Total Appearances

Jansen already ranks 50th all-time with 817 games pitched, but he can jump into the top-40 if he makes it into 32 games this season. He’s already one of only 54 pitchers to ever reach 800 appearances in his career.

Three more names will likely join that 800 club — two of whom I’ve already mentioned: Robertson (793 games) and Kimbrel (780). The third is veteran righty Bryan Shaw, who’s reportedly likely to make the White Sox’ roster. At 791 appearances, he already ranks 59th all-time. With just nine games this season, the rubber-armed Shaw can further his workhorse reputation and perhaps move into the top-50 all time.

Injury Notes: Twins, E-Rod, Dodgers, Jackson

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The Twins won their season-opener against the Royals yesterday, jumping out to a quick 1-0 lead with a first-inning homer off the bat of burgeoning star Royce Lewis. The former No. 1 overall pick singled in his next at-bat but departed shortly thereafter, coming up lame when going first-to-third on a Carlos Correa double. The Twins announced that Lewis had a quadriceps injury. He underwent an MRI last night, per Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Further updates figure to be available before tomorrow’s game, though Miller notes that Lewis was optimistic and described the feeling as cramping more than severe pain.

In many ways, it’s a three-inning microcosm of Lewis’ career. The 24-year-old is a .313/.369/.564 hitter in 284 plate appearances — not including last year’s four postseason homers in 26 plate appearances — but he’s also twice torn his ACL and had IL stints for oblique and hamstring strains. A healthy Lewis has superstar potential, but injuries have been far too frequent early in his career. If Lewis requires a trip to the injured list, top prospect Brooks Lee won’t be an option to replace him. The 2022 No. 8 overall pick is dealing with a back injury, and Triple-A skipper Toby Gardenhire tells KSTP’s Darren Wolfson that he’ll be down for about three to four weeks (X link). Minnesota also had an injury scare with right fielder Max Kepler, who exited the game after fouling a ball into his leg. X-rays came back negative, per the Star-Tribune’s Bobby Nightengale (X link).

A few more injury situations worth monitoring as they unfold…

  • The Diamondbacks lost Eduardo Rodriguez to a lat strain late in spring training — a discouraging development for the left-hander, who inked a four-year deal worth $80MM over the winter. No timetable was provided at the time of the injury, but manager Torey Lovullo told the team’s beat yesterday that Rodriguez could throw off a mound in about five days (X link via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). Jon Heyman of the New York Post, meanwhile, writes that the Snakes expect Rodriguez to be down for about a month. That’d be a notable absence but far from a worst-case scenario, as lat strains for pitchers can often result in multiple months on the shelf. In 152 2/3 frames last season, E-Rod notched a 3.30 ERA, 23% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate for the Tigers.
  • Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts provided a series of updates on some injured pitchers yesterday (X thread via Jack Harris of the L.A. Times). There was good news on both Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw, each of whom Roberts described as ahead of schedule. The Dodgers have made clear they’re being cautious with Buehler’s rehab from a second career Tommy John surgery, but the right-hander’s progress so far is encouraging enough that he’ll be back “sooner than I think we anticipated,” per Roberts. Kershaw, who had shoulder surgery in early November, is long-tossing from 120 feet and ahead of initial rehab projections. Roberts’ updates on righties Brusdar Graterol and Blake Treinen were far less encouraging. Both are playing catch but are “a ways away” from activation. Graterol was slowed by hip and shoulder troubles during camp, while Treinen suffered a bruised lung when a comeback liner hit him in the chest. The Dodgers originally suggested that it wouldn’t require a lengthy absence, but Treinen has yet to even throw a bullpen session.
  • Right-hander Luke Jackson exited last night’s game with Giants trainers after suffering some degree of back injury. Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that the 32-year-old Jackson underwent an MRI and will be further evaluated today. Jackson missed just under a month with a back strain last year but said following last night’s injury that the initial pain this time around was not as severe as it was in 2023. The Giants inked Jackson to a two-year, $11.5MM contract in the 2022-23 offseason while he was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. He made his team debut late last May and was excellent when healthy enough to be on the roster: 33 1/3 innings, 2.97 ERA, 30.1% strikeout rate. Last night, however, Jackson’s velocity was down more than a mile per hour from his 2023 average, and he allowed all three hitters he faced to reach base. All three came around to score.

Angels, Amir Garrett Agree To Minor League Deal

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Veteran left-hander Amir Garrett has signed a minor league contract with the Angels, according to the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. The Beverly Hills Sports Council client has been assigned to the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees.

Garrett spent spring training with the Giants as a non-roster invitee. After an up-and-down 2023 season, he was going to need to impress this spring to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster. Instead, he gave up nine runs in 6 1/3 innings of work, allowing 13 hits, seven walks, and two home runs while striking out only three of the 38 batters he faced. He was released last week.

The 31-year-old Garrett spent the 2022-23 seasons in Kansas City, working to a combined 4.39 ERA in 69 2/3 innings of work. The hard-throwing southpaw fanned exactly a quarter of his opponents in each of his two seasons as a Royal, but his longstanding command issues escalated to new heights. He walked 16.9% of his opponents with the Royals — including a sky-high 17.9% mark in 2023. Garrett routinely managed to navigate that highwire act, logging a 3.33 ERA in last year’s 24 1/3 innings, but he was released over the summer and didn’t make it back to the big leagues after signing minor league deals with both the Guardians and the Giants (who re-signed him just before camp opened).

Prior to his time in K.C., Garrett was a mainstay in the Reds’ bullpen. From 2018-20, he notched a 3.60 ERA with 49 holds, a save, a huge 30.2% strikeout rate and a bloated 11.6% walk rate. There’s little doubting Garrett’s raw ability to miss bats. His career 12.6% swinging-strike rate is well above average, and his 15.1% mark during his peak run with Cincinnati borders on elite. At this point, there are 325 1/3 innings of big league work showing his command to be well below average, however. It’s unlikely he’ll ever get to the point where he has plus command, but if he can even get back to the levels he had with the Reds, as opposed to the alarming walk issues he displayed in Kansas City, he could reemerge as a quality setup man.

For the time being, Garrett will serve as depth for an Angels club that dedicated the bulk of its offseason to remaking the bullpen. The Halos signed Robert Stephenson, Matt Moore, Luis Garcia, Jose Cisnero, Adam Cimber and Adam Kolarek to big league deals over the winter (though Kolarek was later outrighted to Triple-A). Anaheim also acquired righty Guillermo Zuñiga from the Cardinals and inked veteran Hunter Strickland to a minor league deal.

The Opener: Montgomery, Steele, LeMahieu

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With MLB’s 2024 regular season officially underway, here are three things worth keeping an eye on for MLBTR readers headed into the weekend:

1. Montgomery deal to be made official:

The Diamondbacks landed the last top-tier free agent on the market earlier this week when they signed southpaw Jordan Montgomery to a one-year deal that includes a vesting option for the 2025 season. Montgomery, 31, helped the Rangers defeat Arizona in the World Series just five months ago but now figures to join the Diamondbacks’ rotation alongside Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Brandon Pfaadt when the group is at full strength. Montgomery’s deal with the Snakes is expected to be made official today with a press conference to introduce the club’s newest arm, as noted by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The club won’t need to make a corresponding move to add Montgomery to its 40-man roster after designating infielder Emmanuel Rivera for assignment yesterday.

2. Steele headed to the IL?

It was a rough Opening Day for the Cubs, as the club not only fell 4-3 in extra innings against the Rangers in Texas last night but staff ace Justin Steele exited the game in the fifth inning due to what manager Craig Counsell termed a hamstring strain. Counsell did not sound optimistic about Steele’s odds of avoiding a trip to the injured list over the issue and declined to speculate on a timetable for the lefty’s return to a big league mound in the immediate aftermath of the injury. Instead, Counsell indicated that the club will know more after Steele undergoes an MRI scheduled for today.

The 28-year-old hurler has been a major bright spot for the Cubs in recent years and finished fifth in the NL Cy Young award race last season. Since the start of the 2022 campaign, Steele has pitched to an excellent 3.09 ERA with a nearly identical 3.08 FIP in 297 innings of work across 55 starts. Steele’s dominance continued in his first start of the 2024 campaign, as he held the reigning World Series champions to just one run on three hits and a walk across 4 2/3 innings of work while striking out six. While Steele is out of commission the Cubs figure to either rely on Drew Smyly, who took the loss last night after entering the game in the tenth inning last night, or else turn to a younger arm currently at Triple-A such as Hayden Wesneski or Ben Brown to fill the gap in their rotation mix.

3. LeMahieu to undergo second MRI:

Veteran infielder DJ LeMahieu began the 2024 campaign on the Yankees’ injured list after fouling a ball off his foot during Spring Training. While it once appeared likely that the injury would result in only a minimal absence, Brendan Kuty of The Athletic earlier this week reported that the swelling in LeMahieu’s foot had yet to go down. The club scheduled a second MRI for today in hopes of confirming the severity of the issue after the injury hadn’t improved as much as both player and club were hoping. It’s possible today’s testing will provide more clarity on the veteran’s timetable for return, but in the meantime New York figures to turn to Oswaldo Cabrera and newly-acquired utilityman Jon Berti at the hot corner in LeMahieu’s absence. The 35-year-old LeMahieu was roughly league average at the plate in a down season last year but has a strong .285/.358/.430 slash line since joining the Yankees prior to the 2019 season.

Players Who Sign Extensions Prior To MLB Debut Are Not PPI Eligible

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A player who signs a contract extension prior to making his major league debut is not eligible for the prospect promotion incentive, reports JJ Cooper of Baseball America. He specifically mentions Jackson Chourio of the Brewers and Colt Keith of the Tigers, who both signed extensions with their respective clubs this offseason, as players who are not PPI eligible.

The latest collective bargaining agreement introduced the PPI to encourage clubs to carry top prospects on Opening Day rosters, rather than hold them down in the minors to gain an extra year of control, a move generally referred to as service time manipulation.

A major league season is 187 days long and a player needs 172 days in the big leagues to earn one year. By holding a player down in the minors for a few weeks, a club can prevent that player from getting to the one-year mark. Since a player needs a full six years of service to qualify for free agency, the club can gain an extra year of control over a young player by doing this. Some of the oft-cited examples of this practice are Kris Bryant of the Cubs and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays, both of whom were top prospects who were called up a few weeks into their respective rookie seasons, thus coming up just short of one year of service.

In an attempt to curb this behavior, the CBA introduced the PPI system, whereby teams could earn an extra draft pick by promoting certain players early in the season. To qualify, a player had to be on at least two out of the three top 100 lists at Baseball America, ESPN and MLB Pipeline, as well as being rookie eligible and have fewer than 60 days of service time. If such a player was called up early enough in the season to accrue 172 days of service the traditional way*, they would be PPI eligible and could net their club an extra pick just after the first round. To earn a pick, a PPI eligible player has to either win a Rookie of the Year award or finish in the top three of voting for Most Valuable Player or Cy Young prior to qualifying for arbitration.

(*There was another new measure in the CBA to disincentive service time manipulation, whereby a player could earn a full year of service even if called up too late. If they were otherwise PPI eligible and finished in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting, they could be bumped up to a full year, but they would not earn their clubs an extra pick. This situation arose with Adley Rutschman of the Orioles in 2022, who finished second in American League Rookie of the Year voting despite missing the first few weeks of the season. He earned a full year of service but the O’s would not have received a bonus pick for that if he had finished first.)

This new detail provides an extra wrinkle, as Chourio and Keith would have been in play for PPI picks. Both of them are top prospects who signed offseason extensions and then cracked Opening Day rosters. However, this new development means they won’t be in play for those bonus picks after all.

On the flip side, Cooper adds that Michael Busch of the Cubs and Joey Ortiz of the Brewers are PPI eligible. When Matt Eddy of Baseball America outlined the PPI rules back in February, he noted that players who debut in the majors and are then traded do not have PPI status with their new club. Busch debuted with the Dodgers last year and was traded to the Cubs this winter while Ortiz debuted with the Orioles before being flipped to the Brewers. Eddy provided a further update today, stating that they are PPI eligible since they were not moved via midseason trades.

Justin Steele Likely Headed To IL With Hamstring Injury

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Cubs starting pitcher Justin Steele left his Opening Day start early on Thursday after fielding a bunt and falling as he flipped the ball to first base. He seemed to be holding his left hamstring as he walked off the field, per Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. The team later confirmed to reporters (including Sharma) that Steele exited the game with left hamstring tightness.

After the game, a 4-3 loss to the Rangers in extra innings, Cubs manager Craig Counsell used the word “strain” to describe Steele’s injury (per Sharma). He added that the All-Star left-hander will likely go on the injured list, but as Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune notes, the skipper would not speculate about how much time Steele could miss. The southpaw will undergo an MRI on Friday (per Montemurro), after which the team will likely have a better idea about the severity of his injury and how long he might spend on the IL.

Counsell told reporters, including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times, that the team does not yet have a plan for who will take Steele’s spot in the rotation. Left-hander Drew Smyly and right-hander Hayden Wesneski seem to be the most likely candidates, given their presence on the 40-man roster and recent experience pitching out of the big league rotation. Smyly, 34, made 23 starts for the Cubs last year, while Wesneski, 26, made 11. However, Smyly found success in a bullpen role down the stretch in 2023; he made some starts this spring but was largely preparing to start the season as a reliever. Meanwhile, Wesneski struggled tremendously as a starter last year (5.51 ERA, 6.26 FIP) and looked even worse in six outings (four starts) this spring.

Ben Brown, 24, is one more name on the 40-man roster to keep an eye on. He transitioned to a bullpen role last season, but he has recent starting experience and looked sharper than either Smyly or Wesneski this spring. What’s more, his move to the bullpen may have simply been a way to accelerate his path to the major leagues, not a permanent change. He was quite good in 19 minor league starts last season, pitching to a 3.81 ERA and racking up 120 strikeouts in only 85 innings pitched. However, his lack of experience may work against him; Brown has yet to make his MLB debut.

Whether it is Smyly, Wesneski, Brown, or another arm entirely, the Cubs have a difficult decision to make before what would have been Steele’s next turn in the rotation: the final game of the home opener series against the Rockies on Wednesday, April 3.

Rangers Re-Sign Matt Duffy

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After opting out of his minor league contract with the Rangers a few days ago, Matt Duffy has re-signed with the team on a new minor league deal (per his player page on MLB.com). He was assigned to Triple-A Round Rock.

Duffy has never been able to live up to the high bar he set for himself in his rookie campaign with the Giants. He hit .295/.334/.428 with 12 home runs and 12 stolen bases that season, finishing as the runner-up for the 2015 NL Rookie of the Year. Still, he had a handful of productive seasons from 2016 to ’21. The righty batter made the most of his above-average contact skills to compensate for limited power; over 366 total games, he put up a .708 OPS and 98 wRC+. He also held his own at all four positions around the infield.

Unfortunately for Duffy, things have gone downhill over the last two seasons. He spent 2022 with the Angels and ’23 with the Royals, putting up equally disappointing offensive numbers each year. The veteran has continued to field all three bases serviceably, but his versatility has hardly been enough to make up for his meager bat. Duffy continued to struggle at the plate this spring, and the defending World Series champions were unable to offer him a job on their Opening Day roster. The spot he might have earned went to fellow NRI Jared Walsh; Walsh also had a rough couple of years in 2022 and ’23, but he significantly outperformed Duffy this spring.

Now, Duffy will report to Triple-A. With first baseman Nathaniel Lowe already on the injured list, Duffy provides Texas with some extra depth in case another infielder suffers an injury. Considering his versatility and extensive MLB experience, he could be one of the first names the Rangers call upon. Still, he has to start hitting again at Round Rock if he wants to make his way back to the majors.

Mariners Re-Sign Brian Anderson

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The Mariners released third baseman/outfielder Brian Anderson from the minor league deal he was on earlier this week, but he’s already inked a new minor league pact to return to the M’s organization, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Anderson is headed to Triple-A Tacoma to begin the season. He’ll give the Mariners some corner depth with plenty of big league experience.

From 2017-22, Anderson was a regular with the Marlins, including a peak where he was one of the team’s best players for several seasons. From 2018-20, Anderson slashed .266/.350/.436 (115 wRC+), serving as a steady contributor in the middle of Miami’s lineup. He walked at a solid 9% clip along the way, struck out at a lower-than-average 21.6%, and even popped 20 homers during the 2019 season. Anderson split his time between third base and right field with Miami, posting above-average defensive marks at both spots.

Over the past three seasons, his bat has taken a step back, prompting the Marlins to non-tender him following the 2022 season. A change of scenery with the Brewers didn’t bring about the return to form he’d hoped. Since 2021, Anderson has 1008 big league plate appearances but just a .231/.317/.362 slash to show for it — accompanied by an inflated 27.2% strikeout rate that’s a good bit higher than his former levels.

Injuries have undoubtedly played a role in his decline. An oblique strain, a pair of shoulder subluxations — both requiring a 60-day IL stint — and multiple IL stints due to back injuries have taken their toll. But Anderson also had a nice showing in his limited look with the Mariners this spring, hitting .250/.344/.536 with two homers and two doubles in 32 trips to the plate.

The Mariners are far from set at third base or in right field, where they’re relying on a platoon of Luis Urias/Josh Rojas and a rebound from the oft-injured Mitch Haniger, respectively. They’re both reasonably shaky scenarios, and it’s not hard to see injuries and/or uneven performance prompting the M’s to tap into their upper-level depth — particularly if Anderson continues to produce the way he did during Cactus League play.

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