MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat today at 2:00pm central, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.
September 20: The Nationals announced today that Williams has officially been reinstated, as expected. In corresponding moves, they optioned right-hander Zach Brzykcy and transferred Adon to the 60-day IL.
September 18: The Nationals are planning to reinstate Trevor Williams from the 60-day injured list on Friday, tweets Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. The right-hander will get the start at Wrigley Field in his first MLB outing since the end of May. They’ll need to create a 40-man roster spot but could move Alex Call or Joan Adon to the 60-day IL if they don’t anticipate either player returning this season.
That would position Williams to make a pair of starts before the end of the season. It’s a bigger development for the pitcher than it is for the team. Washington is only trying to play spoiler at this point, but Williams is an impending free agent. The 32-year-old has been out for more than three months after being diagnosed with a flexor strain in his throwing arm. There’s only so much he can do in two starts to answer teams’ questions about his durability. That said, getting back on the mound and showing the caliber of stuff he had early in the season is certainly preferable to ending the year on the shelf.
The injury cut short one of the best stretches of Williams’ career. He worked to a 2.22 ERA in 56 2/3 innings covering 11 starts. He punched out an average 21% of batters faced while getting ground-balls at a 46% clip. Williams isn’t overpowering but he throws a lot of strikes and had dramatically changed his home run fortunes. He led the National League with 34 home runs allowed en route to a 5.55 earned run average over 30 starts last season. He’d surrendered just two longballs (0.32 per nine innings) through the first couple months this year.
There was some level of luck with Williams’ early-season results. He probably wouldn’t have maintained an ace-caliber ERA over a full season. Williams had clearly taken a step forward relative to last year, though, an improvement that coincided with an increased reliance on his breaking stuff at the expense of his four-seam fastball. The injury also robbed the rebuilding Nationals of a chance to flip Williams at the deadline. He won’t be a candidate for a qualifying offer, so they wouldn’t get any kind of compensation if he walks in free agency.
Washington has a rotation consisting of Jake Irvin, MacKenzie Gore, Mitchell Parker, DJ Herz and Patrick Corbin. Zuckerman notes that they’ll go to a six-man staff once Williams returns through season’s end. Corbin is playing out the final couple weeks of his $140MM free agent deal. The other four pitchers are under club control for an extended time.
Each of Irvin, Gore, Parker and Herz has turned in an ERA between 4.07 and 4.44 on the season. That group has tailed off in the second half, though, and none of them look like budding top-of-the-rotation arms. Gore probably has the highest ceiling, but he has yet to truly put everything together over an extended stretch. With Josiah Gray likely to miss next season and Cade Cavalli’s injury history, the Nats need to add at least one high-end starter if they hope to compete for a playoff spot in 2025.
Veteran Matt Carpenter is winding down his 14th big league season but isn’t necessarily going to stop there. He tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he’s willing to return next year, even if it’s in the part-time role he’s had in 2024.
“I’m certainly open to play,” Carpenter said. “I like this role. I think considering the role, I feel like I’ve done well in it, and I also think, more importantly, I understand the bigger picture of it. I’d be open to doing it again.”
Carpenter signed a one-year deal with the Cards for 2024, his age-38 season. He began the winter under contract to the Padres, triggering a $5.5MM player option. San Diego traded him to Atlanta alongside Ray Kerr and some cash considerations for minor league outfielder Drew Campbell, but mostly to get rid of some money. Atlanta took on a chunk of that salary to get Kerr in that deal, quickly releasing Carpenter, which allowed the Cards to sign him for the league minimum.
Around a couple of injured list stints, one for a right oblique strain and the other for a lower back strain, Carpenter has stepped to the plate 146 times in 54 appearances this year. He has struck out 31.5% of the time and drawn walks at a 9.6% clip. That walk rate is above league average but both of those rates are career worsts for Carpenter personally. He has hit four home runs and his .236/.317/.378 batting line leads to a 97 wRC+, indicating he has been just a bit below league average overall.
Most of that has come as a designated hitter or pinch hitter. His defensive contributions for the year have consisted of eight innings at first base, one at second base and three at third. Both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference grade his season just barely below replacement level.
Strictly looking at the on-field performance, there may not be a ton of interest there. He was a strong player for the Cardinals from 2012 to 2018 but hasn’t been above average at the plate for a lengthy stretch since then. After worsening struggles from 2019 to 2021, he tried revamping his swing and re-emerged with a vengeance in 2022. He put up a monster line of .305/.412/.727 with the Yankees that year, though in only 47 games. He didn’t get his shot until a couple of months into the season and then had his comeback shortened by injury. The Padres believed in the bounceback enough to give him a two-year deal, including the aforementioned player option, but the first year didn’t go well and they sent him packing after that.
Carpenter can perhaps bring other elements to the table in a less tangible fashion, serving as a mentor and clubhouse leader. But given his numbers, he may be limited to minor league offers or perhaps a veteran sage role on a rebuilding club.
“Going to cross that bridge when we get there,” Carpenter said to Goold of his offseason market. “I’m open to playing. We’ll see what that looks like. I’m open to doing this role again. I’m open to just a lot of things. We’ll see.”
With the final week of the regular season just over the horizon, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:
1. Soto undergoing testing:
Yankees superstar Juan Soto had a scary moment during the club’s game against the Mariners yesterday when he slid hard into the right field wall while making a catch in the outfield. Soto stayed on the ground briefly but got up and resumed play shortly thereafter. As noted by MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, the initial diagnosis on Soto’s knee was a contusion but the Yankees are still sending the phenom for x-rays to make sure there isn’t a more serious issue at play. The addition of Soto over the offseason completed transformed the Yankees’ lineup headed into the 2024 campaign, and the 25-year-old star has delivered with an incredible .286/.418/.575 slash line in 149 games this year. The Yankees clinched a spot in the postseason earlier this week, meaning they’ll be able to afford the pending free agent plenty of rest ahead of the postseason should that prove necessary.
2. Series Preview: Tigers @ Orioles
The Tigers have emerged as baseball’s most fascinating story this September as they’ve surged to a 11-5 record this month that’s allowed them to catch a flailing Twins club that’s gone 7-11 since the start of the month, leaving the two teams tied in the final AL Wild Card spot. Minnesota won the season series over Detroit and holds the tiebreaker between the two clubs, however, meaning that if the Tigers are to close out their surprise run to the postseason they’ll need to keep winning games, including a tough three-game set this weekend against the Orioles in Baltimore. Meanwhile, the Orioles have plenty of incentive to make the road as difficult as possible for the Tigers as they could clinch a playoff spot in front of their home crowd this weekend with a sweep.
Detroit has not yet announced their starter for tonight’s game, but the series will kick off at 7:05pm local time tonight with Corbin Burnes (3.06 ERA) on the mound for the Orioles. Tomorrow, right-hander Reese Olson (3.50 ERA) will take on lefty Cade Povich (5.74 ERA in 14 starts) and the series will wrap on Sunday with an as-of-yet undetermined starter on the mound for Detroit against breakout journeyman Albert Suarez (3.60 ERA).
3. Pitchers’ Duel in Texas:
Two of the league’s most talented starters are set to face off at Globe Life Field this evening when the Mariners send youngster George Kirby to the mound to face Jacob deGrom in the veteran’s second start since returning from Tommy John surgery. Kirby, 26, has had a down year by his lofty standards thanks to a brutal six-start stretch that began in mid-August where he saw his ERA balloon from 3.13 to 3.77 thanks primarily to a whopping nine home runs surrendered in 31 innings of work. He bounced back from that rare tough stretch in his most recent start, however, blanking the very same Rangers club he’s set to face tonight with seven scoreless innings that saw him allow just one hit in a 7-0 victory over the club in Seattle last week.
Also making his second consecutive start against the same club is deGrom, who struck out four in 3 2/3 scoreless innings of work against Seattle during his season debut last week. It was just deGrom’s 33rd start since the start of the 2021 season as the veteran ace has battled injury after injury in recent years, but on a rate basis he’s been the most effective starter in all of baseball over that time with a microscopic 1.99 ERA and an even strong 1.60 FIP in 190 1/3 combined innings of work that have seen him punch out 42.8% of opponents.
The Nationals are wrapping up a fifth straight losing season. They jumped the Marlins to get out of last place for the first time since their 2019 World Series, but there’s still a lot of work to be done to pull out of the rebuild.
Longtime general manager and baseball operations president Mike Rizzo chatted with MLB.com’s Bill Ladson this week. In response to a question about pursuing first base help in the offseason, the GM indicated he’d take a wider approach to acquiring offensive impact.
“I wouldn’t keyhole us at first base,” Rizzo told Ladson. “We need some offense. We need a couple of bats that can hit in the middle of the lineup and take the onus off some of these good young core players and assist them in the run creation of our offense. We have the core players to be middle-of-the-lineup hitters. If we add a bat or two into that group, it takes a little bit of pressure off everybody and everybody can relax a little bit more and develop into the players we think they are going to be.”
Rizzo predictably didn’t identify specific targets, but mentioning a middle-of-the-order bat naturally leads to speculation about the market’s top free agent. Last week, MLBTR’s Steve Adams explored the notion of Washington making a run at bringing back Juan Soto. There’s enough long-term payroll flexibility to make that a possibility, albeit a long shot. Having future payroll space doesn’t necessarily mean ownership wants to dole out a contract that could approach or top $600MM. Soto will also certainly have offers from teams that are clearer contenders in the short term.
Soto is the crown jewel of the class but not the only player who’d qualify as a middle-of-the-order bat. Pete Alonso is one home run away from getting to 35 in all five full seasons of his MLB career. Anthony Santander hits the market with a career-best 41 homers and counting. Teoscar Hernández is probably going to get to 30 longballs amidst a resurgent .267/.334/.487 showing with the Dodgers.
Christian Walker is hitting .258/.342/.484 to go along with Gold Glove defense at first base. Tyler O’Neill has drilled 31 home runs for the Red Sox while obliterating left-handed pitching at a .315/.432/.756 clip. Alex Bregman is more of a well-rounded star than a true masher, but he’s certainly a good enough hitter to land in the middle of a lineup. Jurickson Profar has had a fantastic year in San Diego, while primary DH options J.D. Martinez, Joc Pederson and Justin Turner will be back on the market. There are fewer obvious trade candidates, but players like Jorge Soler, Brandon Lowe and Yandy Díaz could be available.
[Related: Previewing The 2024-25 Free Agent Class, First Base]
While Rizzo suggested they’ll cast a wider net than looking specifically at first base, that’s indeed a position of weakness. Washington first basemen have hit .240/.310/.378 this season, landing in the bottom third of MLB in all three slash stats. Things have been even bleaker at designated hitter, where the Nats are hitting .198/.268/.332. Only the Reds and Rangers have gotten less production out of the bat-only position.
Juan Yepez has hit well in a limited role, but he won’t stand in the way of an impact acquisition. Joey Gallo is headed to free agency and seems unlikely to be retained. Neither Andrés Chaparro nor Joey Meneses is a lock to hold a 40-man roster spot all offseason. The Nats could accommodate both a full-time DH and a first baseman.
They’re in a better spot elsewhere on the diamond. Dylan Crews and James Wood are flanking Gold Glove-caliber center fielder Jacob Young. Washington could certainly add an outfielder like Santander or O’Neill and rotate them through designated hitter while nudging Young into more of a fourth outfield role, but center field is no longer a huge weakness. Washington is unlikely to find an impact bat behind the plate, where they’re committed to Keibert Ruiz for the foreseeable future. The middle infield duo of CJ Abrams and Luis García is questionable defensively, but they’re both good hitters. José Tena seems like an adequate third base stopgap until the arrival of prospect Brady House. Bregman is the only marquee third baseman in the upcoming class.
The Patrick Corbin contract comes off the books this winter, giving the Nationals more financial room than they’ve had in a while. RosterResource calculates their 2025 commitments around $40MM. Their arbitration class — led by Kyle Finnegan, García and first-year salaries for Josiah Gray, MacKenzie Gore and Abrams — is manageable. There’ll be a lot of breathing room before reaching this year’s approximate $125MM season-opening payroll. It’s possible ownership is willing to push spending higher than that to exit the rebuild. The Nats will need to add at least one established starting pitcher and look to deepen the bullpen, so there’s a lot for the front office to weigh, but this should be their most interesting offseason in quite some time.
The Blue Jays sent catcher Brian Serven outright to Triple-A Buffalo, per the transaction log at MLB.com. Toronto designated him for assignment on Monday when they brought Tyler Heineman back via waivers.
Serven has occupied a 40-man roster spot since the end of Spring Training. He has spent a chunk of the season on optional assignment, hitting .265/.390/.379 with a trio of homers in 40 games for Buffalo. Serven appeared in 28 MLB contests and ran a .179/.243/.222 slash over 71 plate appearances. He’s a career .187/.247/.293 hitter across 101 games split between the Jays and Rockies.
The Arizona State product owns a .244/.325/.435 mark over parts of four seasons in Triple-A. Serven isn’t much of an offensive threat, though he has graded highly by public defensive metrics in 730 career innings. As a player with multiple career outright assignments, he has the ability to elect free agency. Even if he sticks in the Toronto organization for the last week of the season, he’ll be a minor league free agent at the start of the offseason. Serven’s defensive reputation should land him a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite.
The past few years have been challenging for right-hander Kyle Hendricks but he’s not thinking about stepping away from the game. He tells Patrick Mooney of The Athletic that he “100 percent” plans to continue his career next year. “Absolutely,” Hendricks said. “I’ll take a step back (once the season ends to) reevaluate and refocus, but I definitely would love to keep pitching.”
Hendricks is slated to reach free agency for the first time this winter. He and the Cubs signed a four-year, $55.5MM extension in March of 2019, with that pact also containing a 2024 club/vesting option. That deal came amid the strongest stretch of the righty’s career. From 2014 to 2020, he tossed over a thousand innings with a 3.12 earned run average, 20.8% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 47.5% ground ball rate. On top of that, he also made a bunch of postseason starts for the Cubs, including five outings with a 1.42 ERA for the curse-breaking 2016 team.
Things haven’t been as smooth since then, however. In 2021, his strikeout rate dropped to 16.7% and his ERA climbed to 4.77. In 2022, he made 16 starts with a 4.80 ERA before a capsular tear in his right shoulder put him on the injured list. He didn’t require surgery but was out of action until late May 2023.
He was able to get back on track a bit from there. He made 24 starts in that 2023 season with a 3.74 ERA. His strikeouts were still down at 16.1%, but he lowered his walk rate to a tiny 4.7% clip and got grounders on 46.3% of balls in play.
That was strong enough to convince the Cubs to pick up their $16.5MM club option for the 2024 season, a move that looks regrettable in hindsight. Hendricks is slogging through the worst year of his career, which even got him moved to the bullpen for parts of May and June. He currently has a 6.25 ERA in 118 innings over 22 starts and five relief appearances.
The numbers under the hood perhaps provide some hope for a bounceback. His 16.1% strikeout rate is an exact match for last year. His 7.7% walk rate is up relative to 2023 but still right around league average. He is still elite at limiting damage, with Statcast putting him in the 98th percentile in terms of average exit velocity and 86th percentile in terms of hard hit rate. His 63.5% strand rate is the worst of his career and well below league average. Metrics like his 5.17 FIP and 4.74 SIERA suggest he hasn’t been as bad as his ERA would suggest.
His market will naturally be softened by his track record over the past few years, and since he’s turning 35 years old this winter, but teams always need innings and there should be some interest. Beyond his performance, Hendricks has a strong reputation as a clubhouse leader and thoughtful player, earning the nickname “The Professor”.
Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn, both in their mid-30s and coming off middling seasons, each secured eight-figure deals in the most recent offseason. Gibson got a $13MM guarantee and Lynn $11MM. Other vets like Martín Pérez, Wade Miley and James Paxton got guarantees a bit below that, each of them in the $7-9MM range.
What uniform Hendricks dons next year will be determined in the months to come, but it’s possible that he plays for a team other than the Cubs for the first time. Drafted by the Rangers, he was acquired as a prospect in the July 2012 trade that sent Ryan Dempster to Texas and has been with the Cubs since then.
Chicago’s 2025 rotation currently projects to include Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, Javier Assad, Jameson Taillon and Jordan Wicks, with guys like Ben Brown, Hayden Wesneski and Caleb Kilian also in the mix. Prospect Cade Horton hasn’t pitched since late May due to a subscapularis strain but there’s nothing to suggest he won’t be healthy by next year.
It might be difficult to find a spot for Hendricks in there, despite his strong reputation in the organization. Perhaps that will lead him away from Wrigley, which would be a symbolic end of an era for the Cubs. Hendricks is the last player from the 2016 champions still with the club.
With the regular season winding down, a number of teams (and their fanbases) are already starting to turn their attention towards the offseason. Identifying free agent targets is a big part of that prep work, so it’s worth taking an early look at the players who’ll be available on the open market.
MLBTR’s Steve Adams kicked things off with a look at a generally weak catching class. There’s a stronger group at first base, even if age is an issue for a lot of these players. A quick note on eligibility: we’re looking only at players who have appeared in the majors this season and are either primary first baseman or have logged 100+ innings at the position. Utility players like Enrique Hernández and Brandon Drury can play first base but will be covered in future positional previews. Ages are for the 2025 season. Stats are through play on September 18.
Top of the Class
Alonso is in a tier of his own in this year’s first base class. He is one of the sport’s preeminent power bats. Even in a relative down year, he has drilled 33 homers while slugging .472. Alonso has topped 30 longballs in all five full seasons of his career and was on a 43-homer pace during the shortened schedule. His .246/.331/.472 batting line is 26 points better than league average, according to wRC+. That’s tied for fifth among first basemen (min. 400 PAs) and feels like Alonso’s floor for the next few years.
The Mets will make him a qualifying offer, which he’ll reject. Alonso reportedly declined a $158MM extension offer in 2023 — made under former GM Billy Eppler. He’ll probably take aim at $200MM, though it has been more than a decade since any first basemen hit that mark. The more recent Matt Olson ($168MM) and Freddie Freeman ($162MM) guarantees may be more realistic benchmarks.
Everyday Players
Walker didn’t get a real MLB look until his age-28 season. He seized the opportunity once it finally presented itself and is one of the best all-around first basemen in the sport. Walker won consecutive Gold Gloves between 2022-23 while posting an OPS above .800 in three straight years. He has 26 homers — including seven in just 29 plate appearances as a visitor at Dodger Stadium — with an excellent .257/.342/.485 slash line. An oblique strain that shelved him through August is the main reason he might not get to 30 homers for a third straight year.
Arizona has an easy call to tag Walker with a qualifying offer. He’s likely to decline in search of a three- or four-year contract. Multi-year deals for first basemen in their mid-30s are rare, but Walker should be in high enough demand to merit it.
Goldschmidt had one of the worst stretches of his career early in the season. As Steve Adams explored this week, the 2022 NL MVP has kicked things into gear in recent weeks. This will be Goldy’s worst season overall, as he has career lows in all three slash stats (.242/.302/.412). His .270/.322/.485 line since the All-Star Break is more in line with what the Cardinals were expecting. Goldschmidt has never hit free agency — he signed extensions with both Arizona and St. Louis — and therefore has never received a qualifying offer. It seems unlikely that St. Louis would risk him accepting a salary exceeding $21MM for next year, but that’d be an alright investment if the Cards expect him to carry his second-half form into 2025.
The Twins signed Santana for $5.25MM in February. He had a terrible April but has been a steady, productive player over the past few months. Since the start of May, the switch-hitter owns a strong .253/.339/.446 line with 18 homers across 446 plate appearances. He remains one of the three to five best defensive first basemen in the game despite his age. The ultra-durable Santana has again avoided the injured list and has reached 140 games for the 12th time in his career. He certainly doesn’t carry the upside of Alonso or Walker, but he has easily outperformed Minnesota’s modest investment.
Turner is more of a designated hitter than a full-time first baseman, but he has gotten 35 starts at the position between the Blue Jays and Mariners. Turner had a fairly modest .256/.350/.372 showing over 91 games with Toronto. It looked as if he might be slowing down at age 39, but he has found another gear since being traded at the deadline. Turner owns a .260/.361/.420 slash with five home runs in 39 games with Seattle — impressive power output in a home park that has stymied a lot of the M’s offensive acquisitions. By measure of wRC+, Turner has been 17 percentage points above league average at the plate. That’s slightly better than last year’s .276/.345/.455 showing with the Red Sox. Turner got $13MM last offseason and still hasn’t dropped off.
Platoon and Part-Time Bats
Bell had a rough first few months, hitting .239/.305/.394 in 104 games with the Marlins. He has found his stride after a deadline trade to Arizona, where he carries a .278/.364/.421 slash with four homers through 154 trips to the plate. The aggregate production is still middling — a league average .249/.320/.401 line with very poor defensive grades — but Bell is finishing the season on a high note. He has been a streaky hitter throughout his career who can hit in the middle third of a lineup when he’s at his best.
Canha has logged a career-high 356 1/3 innings at first base, a bit more time than he has played in the outfield. That’s probably a sign of things to come as he gets into his late-30s. The affable veteran has a .238/.341/.342 slash over 451 plate appearances between the Tigers and Giants on the season. He won’t match this year’s $11.5MM salary but should have no trouble finding another big league deal.
Late-career Solano just hits. The righty-swinging infielder has been an average or better hitter in six straight seasons. Solano has carried that over in stints between the Giants, Reds, Twins and Padres. He’s sporting a .286/.340/.412 slash with seven homers through 285 plate appearances for San Diego this season. The market doesn’t value Solano’s skillset highly — he had to settle for a minor league deal last offseason — but he’s a nice player to have in a bat-first role off the bench.
Tellez started the season horribly, went on an absolute tear midway through the summer, and has crashed back to earth in September. In aggregate, he has a .245/.302/.395 slash with 13 homers over 410 plate appearances for the Pirates. It’s slightly below-average offense and sub-replacement production overall considering his lack of defensive value. Tellez has decent career numbers against right-handed pitching (.235/.302/.450) and is a better fit as a lefty bench bat than a regular at first base.
Depth Types
Abreu was one of the worst players in the league in the season’s first half. The former MVP hit .124/.167/.195 over 35 games. The Astros released him midway through the second season of his ill-fated $58.5MM free agent deal. Reporter Francys Romero tweeted in June that Abreu would sit out the rest of the season but could make a comeback effort next year. It’d be on a minor league deal, but if he gets back to the majors, he’d only make the league minimum with his new team. Houston still owes him the rest of his $19.5MM salary.
Cooper appeared in 36 games between the Cubs and Red Sox, hitting .206/.267/.299 while striking out 30% of the time. He has been far better over a 19-game stint in Triple-A with the Orioles, where he sports a .299/.388/.493 slash with four homers.
Davis is in Triple-A with the Orioles, his fourth organization of the year. After being cut loose by the Giants in a late spring cost-saving move, he has slumped to a career-worst .218/.293/.338 line between the A’s and Yankees. Davis hasn’t hit at all in the minors either, striking out at a 44.4% clip while batting .150 in 30 games. He was a solid regular for San Francisco just last season and should be able to find a minor league deal somewhere.
Gallo is hitting .152/.276/.305 across 67 games with the Nationals on a $5MM free agent deal. Washington is going to decline its end of a 2025 mutual option. Gallo is striking out as much as ever and hasn’t hit for anywhere near the level of power necessary to offset that.
Gurriel spent most of the season in Triple-A with the Braves. He had an impressive .292/.378/.485 showing. While that didn’t earn him a look in Atlanta, the Royals acquired him in a minor trade after losing Vinnie Pasquantino to injury. Gurriel is hitting .385 over 10 games with Kansas City.
Smith got a decent run as the Red Sox’s fill-in while Triston Casas was injured. The former Met took 278 plate appearances and posted a slightly below-average .237/.317/.390 line with six home runs. He briefly caught on with the Reds after Boston let him go. Smith didn’t hit over a minuscule nine-game sample in Cincinnati and has been a free agent since the Reds removed him from the 40-man roster earlier this month.
Urshela is primarily a third baseman, but he logged 15 starts at first base for Detroit this year. Between the Tigers and Braves, he owns a mediocre .241/.280/.335 slash with six homers across 422 plate appearances. It’s his least productive year since he broke out as an everyday player with the Yankees in 2019.
The former All-Star hasn’t been the same since a bout with thoracic outlet syndrome. Walsh hit .226/.317/.321 in 17 games for the Rangers while Nathaniel Lowe was on the injured list early this season. He subsequently hit .185 with a 37% strikeout rate in Triple-A for the White Sox and was released a couple weeks before the deadline.
Player Options
Bellinger can opt out of his three-year, $80MM deal with the Cubs. He’d be leaving $50MM on the table to do so and has another opt-out chance after next season. Bellinger has had a nice season but hasn’t answered teams’ questions about his subpar exit velocities. He’s hitting .268/.330/.435 with 18 homers while striking out at just a 16% clip. He’s still capable of playing center field but has also gotten decent run in right field and at first base. Bellinger could probably beat $50MM if he simply wanted to maximize his guarantee, but he’s not likely to match next year’s $27.5MM salary on a multi-year pact. He could bet on himself and view the 2025-26 offseason as the right time to opt out.
Hoskins signed with the Brewers on a two-year, $34MM deal that allowed him to opt out after the first season. It’s a net $18MM call. He’d collect a $4MM buyout if he opts out or could secure an $18MM salary for next season (plus a matching $4MM buyout on a 2026 mutual option). This isn’t a great time to retest the market. FanGraphs and Baseball Reference have each graded the typically consistent Hoskins as a replacement level player this year. He has 25 homers but personal lows in batting average (.212) and on-base percentage (.299) while striking out a career-high 28% rate. If he goes on a tear in the playoffs, maybe the calculus changes, but this looks like an option that’ll be exercised.
Flores holds a $3.5MM option on his deal with the Giants. San Francisco would have an $8.5MM option if the veteran infielder declined his end. That won’t be necessary, as Flores looks like a lock to take the $3.5MM salary. He hit .206/.277/.318 across 242 plate appearances and suffered a season-ending right knee injury in July.
Club Options
The Orioles hold an $8MM option for next season. O’Hearn’s strong first half made that look like a clear bargain. The left-handed hitter went into the All-Star Break with a .274/.335/.456 line with nearly as many walks as strikeouts. His plate discipline is still strong but his power has dissipated in the second half. O’Hearn only has two homers with a .224/.317/.340 line since the Break, including a .163/.226/.245 showing this month. Baltimore should have a lot of payroll flexibility and could bet on O’Hearn to bounce back, but this is more of a borderline call than it seemed six weeks ago.
The Yankees are going to opt for a $6MM buyout in lieu of a $17MM option on Rizzo. The three-time All-Star is hitting .219/.285/.330 over 347 plate appearances. He missed a couple months earlier in the season after breaking his arm in a collision with Boston reliever Brennan Bernardino. This has been Rizzo’s toughest year since his rookie campaign.
Cubs right-hander Julian Merryweather will be undergoing knee surgery tomorrow, says manager Craig Counsell. As relayed by Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune on X, it will be a right patellar tendon debridement. The skipper says Merryweather is expected to be ready by Spring Training. The pitcher himself says the rehab process will take three months, per Bruce Levine of WSCR-AM on X.
Merryweather seemed to develop into a key bullpen arm for the Cubs last year, as he tossed 72 innings with a 3.38 earned run average. His 11.9% walk rate was on the high side but he punched out 32.3% of batters faced. He moved into a leverage role for the club, securing two saves and 17 holds.
He wasn’t able to carry that over into 2024. He missed over three months due to a rib stress fracture and landed on the IL a second time last month due to right knee tendinitis, with the latter issue now requiring season-ending surgery. Around those ailments, he tossed 15 innings with a 6.60 ERA. There was probably some bad luck in there, as his .375 batting average on balls in play and 63.3% strand rate this year were both on the unfortunate side, but his strikeout rate also plummeted to 18.9%.
The righty has always been a tantalizing arm thanks to his high 90s velocity, but health has often been an obstacle. The Blue Jays acquired him from Cleveland as the return for Josh Donaldson in 2018, though Merryweather was recovering from undergoing Tommy John surgery earlier that year. He made his big league debut in 2020 but has since gone on the injured list for right elbow tendinitis, a left oblique strain and a left abdominal strain. The 2023 season is the only one in which he’s been able to throw at least 27 innings.
Merryweather reached arbitration for the first time last winter. He and the Cubs agreed to a salary of $1.175MM for 2024. He’ll be due a raise for next year but it won’t be huge, on account of his limited workload this year. He could also be retained via arbitration for 2026, before he’s slated to reach free agency. He’ll turn 33 years old next month.
With the regular season winding down, a number of teams (and their fanbases) are already starting to turn their attention towards the offseason. Identifying free agent targets is a big part of that prep work, so it’s worth taking an early look at the players who’ll be available on the open market. We’ll start things off with catchers. Ages listed are for the 2025 season, and stats are up to date through Sept. 18.
Potential Regulars/Platoon Options
Elias Diaz (34)
Diaz was the MVP of the 2023 All-Star Game, but he’s struggled to the point where that feels like a distant memory. The Rockies released him in August, a move that surprised some but came on the heels of a bleak slump following a calf injury. He later latched on with the Padres. Diaz made enough contact early in the season that he’s still sporting a .262 batting average, but it’s an empty .262 as it’s coupled with a .310 OBP and .369 slugging percentage. Since returning from the injured list in June, he’s hitting .198/.238/.259.
While he’s never been considered a strong defender, Diaz has posted above-average marks in 2024’s relatively small sample. If a club thinks he can sustain those over a full year and bounce back to the form he had prior to his calf strain, he could land another starting job. It’s also possible that his shaky defensive track record and grim finish to the season relegate him to part-time offers or even a minor league deal, however. He’s the most volatile name in this category with regard to his potential contract status.
Kyle Higashioka (35)
Higashioka has saved his best output of his career for his age-34 campaign. In his first season with the Padres, he’s swatted a career-high 16 homers in just 241 plate appearances. He’s a perennially plus defender behind the dish who rarely gets on base, and that hasn’t changed, but this year’s power output could pique the interest of clubs on a one- or two-year deal, despite his age.
Higashioka strikes out too much and doesn’t walk frequently enough, and that’s true versus both righties and lefties. His .223/.271/.487 batting line is one of the stranger slashes you’ll see across the league this season, but between his power and plus glovework he’s been worth 1.3 bWAR and 1.6 fWAR. It’s not out of the question to think a catching-needy club could see a potential two-win catcher here and give him the biggest role of his career. To this point, Higashioka has never logged even 300 plate appearances in a big league season.
Danny Jansen (30)
Jansen looked like the clear top option in this class coming into the season, but he’s tanked his stock with a .207/.309/.356 batting line. That 91 wRC+ is still about average for a catcher, but Jansen’s typically strong framing grades have taken a dive this season, as has his power. He’s hit just nine homers this year after popping 17 in 301 plate appearances a year ago and 15 in 248 plate appearances in 2022. This year’s .146 ISO (slugging minus batting average) is a career-low mark.
Jansen is relatively young and from 2021-23 slashed a combined .237/.317/.487 with 43 taters in only 754 plate appearances — all while playing well-regarded defense. He could still land a multi-year deal based on that track record, but it’s not going to be nearly as strong of one as he’d have managed if he’d maintained his output over the three prior seasons. Jansen has also missed substantial time due to various injuries over the years — broken wrist, two separate broken fingers, oblique strain, groin strain, hamstring strain — and the “injury-prone” label won’t do him any favors.
Carson Kelly (30)
Kelly may have boosted his stock as much as Jansen harmed his own. The former top prospect has long been a terrific defender but looked absolutely lost at the plate in 2022-23. In 2024, he’s lopped nearly nine percentage points off his strikeout rate, maintained a nearly average walk rate and improved not only the frequency of his contact but the quality of his batted balls as well.
The resulting .243/.320/.373 batting line is right on par with that of a league-average hitter and about 10% better than the average catcher. He’s also still a premium defensive backstop, evidenced by better-than-average framing and blocking marks as well as a 26% caught-stealing rate (30% with the Tigers, where he spent the bulk of the season). Kelly’s rebound has flown under the radar, but a league-average bat with a plus glove behind the plate heading into his age-30 season is a recipe for a multi-year deal and a potential regular role in 2025.
Gary Sanchez (32)
Sanchez’s defense has improved over the years. He’s not a liability behind the plate despite still being unable to completely shake off that label from earlier in his career. As that uptick in defensive value has transpired, however, his contributions with the bat have waned. He’s hitting .224/.313/.399 this season — roughly league-average offense — and has smacked 10 homers in 256 plate appearances. Sanchez has spent more time at DH than at catcher over the past two seasons but has fared better offensively when he’s in the game behind the plate.
Jacob Stallings (35)
Stallings’ elite defensive ratings from earlier in his career have declined to the point where he’s drawn below-average marks in three straight seasons. A downturn in his framing metrics are the primary cause for that deterioration, though he also posted well below-average caught-stealing marks in 2022-23. He’s rebounded with his throwing this season (23% caught-stealing). More than that, Stallings is enjoying far and away his best offensive season in the majors. His .260/.353/.450 batting line is “only” about 12% better than average by measure of wRC+, thanks to some heavy weighting for Coors Field, but Stallings has actually produced better numbers away from Coors than at home. A career year at age 34 is going to draw some skepticism, but he should draw a big league deal and receive decent playing time — perhaps even back with the Rockies, as there’s mutual interest in a reunion.
Backups/Depth Candidates
Tucker Barnhart (34)
Barnhart won a pair of Gold Gloves earlier in his career but has seen his glovework decline and his playing time dwindle as his bat has eroded. He hit .173/.287/.210 in 96 plate appearances with the D-backs this season and is likely looking at another minor league deal this winter.
Yan Gomes (37)
Gomes hit .154/.179/.242 in 96 plate appearances with the Cubs before being released in favor of fellow depth option Tomas Nido. He’s only a year removed from a solid season in Chicago, but coming off a season like that and heading into his age-37 campaign, he’ll very likely need to take a minor league deal if he wants to continue playing.
Yasmani Grandal (36)
A plus framer but one of the worst-throwing catchers in the sport at this point, Grandal has been a backup in Pittsburgh and posted a 9% caught-stealing rate this year. He’s hitting .218/.293/.371 with seven dingers in 228 plate appearances. He could land another backup gig, but he’s not a lock to land a big league deal.
Austin Hedges (32)
Hedges is as good as it gets defensively but nearly as bad as it gets offensively. He’s sporting a 23 wRC+ for the second straight season, indicating he’s been 77% worse than average at the plate. Since 2023, he owns a combined .173/.224/.227 line in 353 plate appearances. The Guardians love his glove so much they gave him $4MM and have kept him on the roster all season. He’ll likely command another low-cost one-year deal to serve as a backup.
Martin Maldonado (38)
Maldonado produced only a .119/.174/.230 slash in 147 plate appearances with the White Sox this season. He was better at the plate with the Astros from 2021-23 but still one of the sport’s least-productive hitters in that three-year stretch. Teams love Maldonado’s game-calling and work with their pitchers, but his lack of offense has reached dire levels.
James McCann (35)
McCann’s carrying trait used to be pummeling left-handed pitching, but he’s faded in that regard in recent years. He’s hitting .220/.266/.340 in 218 plate appearances with the Orioles. A minor league deal feels likely for the former White Sox and Mets backstop.
Omar Narvaez (33)
The Mets released Narvaez after he hit .154/.191/.185 in 69 plate appearances. He signed a minor league deal with the Astros and hit .203/.327/.316 for their Triple-A club. Narvaez hasn’t produced at the plate since 2021 and will be limited to minor league offers.
Tomas Nido (31)
Nido just signed a minor league deal with the Tigers. He’s been released by both the Mets and Cubs this season. Like many others on this list, he’s a plus defender with a negligible offensive ceiling. In his past 675 plate appearances in the majors, Nido is a .215/.249/.305 hitter — numbers that mirror his .210/.245/.309 line almost exactly.
Club Options
Austin Barnes (35) – $3.5MM club option
The Dodgers have long valued Barnes’ framing skills, but his throwing has cratered over the past two seasons, as he’s caught just 10.5% of runners attempting to steal against him. Barnes is hitting .261/.327/.306 in 149 plate appearances. It’s a borderline call for the Dodgers to keep him, particularly with Will Smith now signed for a decade and a trio of younger catching options behind him (Hunter Feduccia, Dalton Rushing, Diego Cartaya). If he’s bought out, he’ll get some interest as a framing-driven backup.
Travis d’Arnaud (36) – $8MM club option (no buyout)
The Braves love d’Arnaud, who’s posted a solid .242/.306/.446 batting line and 14 homers in 317 plate appearances this season. Even if Atlanta doesn’t want to retain d’Arnaud at $8MM, they could turn down the option, pay no buyout, and try to bring him back at a lower rate.
Luke Maile (34) – $3.5MM club option ($500K buyout)
Maile is typically regarded as a solid defender but has seen his glovework dip this year while posting one of the worst offensive performances of his career: .157/.255/.228 in 146 plate appearances. He’ll be a depth option for catcher-needy clubs on a minor league deal this winter.
Max Stassi (34) – $7.5MM club option with a $500K buyout
Stassi hasn’t played this season due to hip surgery. His option will be bought out. He last appeared in a big league game in 2022. He’s regarded as a premium framer who has at times shown offensive upside, but he’ll be looking at a minor league deal this offseason.
MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com
Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information
scroll to top
