With Opening Day now just a few days away, here are a handful of things for MLBTR readers to keep an eye on today…
1. Late additions to the free agent market:
Last Friday marked the first of three uniform opt-out dates for all Article XX(B) free agents — i.e., free agents with six-plus years of service who finished the prior season on a major league roster/injured list — who signed minor league deals over the winter. More than a dozen veteran names triggered outs in their contracts, and while some were selected to the 40-man roster with their current teams (or promised that they would be prior to Opening Day), others were informed they haven’t made the club and were granted their release. There were also a handful of other recognizable names who did not meet Article XX(B) criteria but still had opt-outs negotiated into their minor league deals who’ve also returned to the market.
Each of Trey Mancini (Marlins), C.J. Cron (Red Sox), Julio Teheran (Orioles), Matt Duffy (Rangers), Drew Pomeranz (Angels), Bradley Zimmer (Rockies), Kolten Wong (Orioles), Sandy Leon (Royals), Carl Edwards Jr. (Cubs), Dominic Smith (Cubs), Charlie Culberson (Braves), Mike Moustakas (White Sox), Eduardo Escobar (Blue Jays), Mike Ford (Reds), Zach Davies (Nationals) and Elvis Andrus (D-backs) has been cut loose since last Friday. Veteran pitchers Danny Duffy, Chasen Shreve and Shane Greene were also informed they weren’t making the Rangers’ roster and were free to explore interest around the league — though each was also told he’d be welcome to head to Triple-A to begin the 2024 season there.
Clubs looking for veteran depth to help cover injuries or provide insurance against young/unproven players potentially underperforming have a whole new slate of names to consider.
2. Several roster moves on the horizon:
On the flipside, it’s already become clear that a handful of minor league signees will make their team’s Opening Day roster — but the moves have yet to be formally announced, and thus so have the corresponding transactions. The Blue Jays, for instance, will reportedly select the contracts of Daniel Vogelbach and Brian Serven. Sox Machine’s James Fegan tweets that righty Bryan Shaw is likely to make the White Sox’ roster. The Guardians will add righties Carlos Carrasco and Tyler Beede prior to Opening Day. The Cubs plan to select first baseman/outfielder Garrett Cooper. The Rangers need a move to select top prospect Wyatt Langford.
Some of these roster additions will be accommodated by simple 60-day IL placements. That’s likely to be the case in Cleveland (Trevor Stephan) and in Texas (Tyler Mahle or Max Scherzer). Not every team has an obvious 60-day IL candidate though, and even those that do could find themselves making multiple transactions to set their Opening Day rosters.
3. Rule 5 decisions nearing:
There were only 10 players selected in the major league portion of the 2023 Rule 5 Draft, and a few of the teams that made a selection will still have a decision on the fate of their Rule 5 picks. The Guardians returned third baseman Deyvison De Los Santos to the D-backs over the weekend, while the Rockies (Anthony Molina), Red Sox (Justin Slaten), Royals (Matt Sauer) and Padres (Stephen Kolek) have already decided to carry their Rule 5 selections on the Opening Day roster. Others, such as White Sox lefty Shane Drohan (shoulder surgery) and Rangers righty Carson Coleman (Tommy John surgery) will open the season on the injured list.
Oakland’s Mitch Spence (selected from the Yankees), Washington’s Nasim Nunez (from the Marlins) and St. Louis’ Ryan Fernandez (from the D-backs) are all still in big league camp with the teams that selected them.
Sign em all I say.
Allow me to introduce your 2024 Oakland A’s!
Allow me to introduce a troll
Seriously, let that list field a team and see if they can’t take a 7 game series from As or Rockies !?
That team sweeps the Angels.
Bad time to be a Duffy.
What a list ! And minors being as strong as ever.
Let’s go MLB ! Time to expend
Nunez is 5’6”, can’t hit a lick and hasn’t fielded consistently well this spring. Why would the Nats carry him all season?
I saw that and wondered why he was even worth the rule 5 selection in the first place. upon closer inspection, I guess he can take walks and steal bases. Maybe they can stash him at the end of the bench
Problem is he’s only taken 2 walks in 35 PA’s this spring. I don’t think Nunez sticks. I think Spence will break camp with the A’s while Fernandez may come down to the wire for the Cardinals
I mean, they’re keeping Jesse Winker on the team. They clearly aren’t going to contend and are handing out roster spots to several players that other teams likely wouldn’t give a spot to. Pretty sure they’re holding onto him for now since they have no plans on rushing any prospects up for a year they already plan to be a lost one, so that they can keep him in the organization. Their scouts must’ve seen something to make that determination.
They are hoping to flip Winker for a lottery ticket in July. No such hope for Nunez.
Someone can probably use Cron.
The moose is loose!!!
Drew Pomeranz could get picked up as a reliever
Matt Duffy, Carl Edwards, Dom Smith are the ones I would want on my team for sure having seen them this spring. A lot of bench talent on this list for sure…not many starting caliber players though.
If I’m Brian Cashman, I reach out to Mike Ford RIGHT NOW. Sign him to be the regular 1st baseman at Scranton, knowing full well that Rizzo is aging and brittle, likely to spend time on the IL as the season rolls on.
Ford, with his Stadium-friendly swing and NYY organization roots, could easily hold the fort in the Bronx for 2-3 weeks,
Ford may be hurt before Rizzo.
With the Jays already having to get into their pitching depth options, I wouldn’t mind bringing Teheran in if he’d start the year in Buffalo. I wouldn’t be surprised if Parsons is the one DFA’d so he might be gone and White might not be too far behind if guys start getting healthy. The depth we do have could end up drying up pretty quick.
4 out of only 10 Rule 5 picks that were selected are making @least opening day rosters, with 3 players final destination still in the air. What’s record of Rule 5 draftees on mlb teams to start season ? Seems like alot especially w/so few taken overall. Pilfer the good organizations depth and hopefully develop their talent and help them overcome whatever baseball warts they have that led them to being available in draft to begin with.
If this was a roster of a AAA squad, where would it finish in the standings?
Carl Edwards Jr. Should be calling the padres. It’s an ideal spot to try to become the LF for a month, then opt out again if your still in the minors when that deadline happens.
While you’re right in that the Padres have a LF hole, Carl Edwards Jr is a pitcher so that doesn’t really matter for him.
SD also really needs LH bats so Mike Ford/Dom Smith should be on their radar from this list.
Not sure who I was even thinking of, oh well, brain misfire I guess.
Are we gonna get some Grahm Pauley in LF? Couldn’t hurt, right?
Heading into the winter CLE had one big need – a corner OF/DH type with power who can drive in runs (2nd year in a row that’s been a need). De Los Santos was their low cost plan to fill that need even though he’s never played above AA. That plan failed. Do you think they’ll sign one of the available righty bats now to DH? No, they’ll still try to fill that need from within despite having nobody in the system even remotely ready to step into that role. It will still be a need next winter.
I think Cron would be a good fit for Cleveland.
Angels should sign Mancini. He’s practically free, gives them a RH option at 1B and even though Minasian has said they will alternate the DH spot between Trout and Rendon what is the plan for when both are inevitably injured