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White Sox To Hire Walker McKinven As Bench Coach

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White Sox manager Will Venable revealed during an appearance on Foul Territory today that the club will be hiring Walker McKinven as their new bench coach, per James Fegan of Sox Machine on X.

McKinven has been working with the Brewers for many years, with various titles over his time with that club. He had worked in scouting and coaching roles, with his most recent title being run prevention coordinator.

Per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com on X, McKinven was involved in daily game planning and was also involved in the club’s catcher development. The Brewers have a reputation for maximizing catcher defense, with the most recent example being William Contreras. He was considered a poor defender with Atlanta, posting -11 Defensive Runs Saved before being traded to Milwaukee. In the two years since, he has been worth +11 DRS.

The White Sox are totally remaking their organization at the moment. They just set a modern-day record by losing 121 games in 2024 and cleaned house as that season was playing out. Back in August, they fired manager Pedro Grifol and three coaches, including bench coach Charlie Montoyo. For the final few weeks of the season, Grady Sizemore took over as interim manager while Doug Sisson covered the bench coach job.

Venable was recently tapped to be the club’s new skipper and has poached McKinven from the Brewers to fill the bench coach role as the Sox look to emerge from their disastrous season and post better results going forward.

A’s To Select Gunnar Hoglund, Ryan Cusick

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1:15pm: The A’s are also adding outfielder Denzel Clarke to the 40-man, per McDaniel. A fourth-round pick of the A’s in 2021, he has since gone on to hit .261/.359/.467 over multiple levels while stealing 78 bases in 93 tries.

11:36am: The A’s have selected the contract of right-hander Gunnar Hoglund, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. They’ve also selected the contract of righty Ryan Cusick, per Ari Alexander of KPRC-2. Both are now on the 40-man roster and thus ineligible to be selected in next month’s Rule 5 Draft. The Athletics’ 40-man roster is up to 36 players, so there’s room for more additions throughout the day.

Adding Hoglund doesn’t register as much of a surprise. The 2021 first-rounder (No.  19 overall by the Blue Jays) was the centerpiece prospect in the trade sending Matt Chapman from Oakland to Toronto. He’s had a slow road back after Tommy John surgery but pitched 130 2/3 innings this past season, splitting the year between Double-A (104 2/3 innings, 2.84 ERA) and Triple-A (26 innings, 5.88 ERA). Hoglund punched out 22.7% of his opponents against a 7% walk rate during that time. MLB.com’s Jim Callis notes that Hoglund’s velocity hasn’t come all the way back since that elbow reconstruction; he sat at 92 mph in 2024 — a ways shy of his college days when he sat a couple ticks higher and topped out around 96-97 mph.

Hoglund, 25 next month, is still regarded as a strike-thrower with strong command who has the potential to start. Given the state of the A’s rotation and the fact that he’s now on the 40-man roster, his first opportunity to do so in the majors could come as soon as the 2025 season.

The A’s have JP Sears locked into a rotation spot but little certainty thereafter. Last year’s Rule 5 pick, Mitch Spence, tossed 151 innings with a 4.58 ERA, good command and below-average strikeout numbers. Right-hander Joey Estes totaled 127 2/3 frames with even better command but even lower strikeout numbers and a 5.01 ERA. Righty J.T. Ginn had similar rate stats to both and a 4.24 ERA in a smaller sample of 34 innings. Twenty-nine-year-old swingman Osvaldo Bido mopped up 63 1/3 innings with a 3.41 ERA, a strong 24.3% strikeout rate and an ugly 10% walk rate. Flamethrowing righty Joe Boyle sat 98 mph with his heater but posted a 6.42 ERA while walking 17.7% of his opponents in 47 2/3 innings (10 starts). Lefties Hogan Harris and Brady Basso both made a handful of starts in 2024, but both are already 27 and posted more concerning numbers in the minors.

Cusick is also 25 and also came to the A’s in a major trade — the one sending first baseman Matt Olson to Atlanta. The right-hander was actually drafted by the Braves just five picks after the Jays took Hoglund in 2021. He moved from the rotation to a bullpen role in 2024, and the switch clearly paid off. Cusick began the year with an dismal 6.69 ERA in 37 2/3 starts working primarily as  starter through July 12. He shifted to the ’pen full time after the break and rattled off 26 innings of 1.73 ERA ball with a 28.2% strikeout rate. His 11.8% walk rate in that time was still too high, but those rate stats are lightyears better than the ones he logged working as a starter early on (19.7 K%, 15.2 BB%).

Given the success in a move to a relief role, it seems Cusick will likely be ticketed for a bullpen audition this spring. He’ll have to further rein in his command, but the uptick in strikeouts and the gains he’s already made in terms of limiting free passes in the ’pen are encouraging.

Astros To Select Colton Gordon

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The Astros are adding left-hander Colton Gordon to their 40-man roster, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (X link). The 6’4″ southpaw would otherwise have been eligible for next month’s Rule 5 draft. Houston has one additional opening on the 40-man roster, so it’s possible they’ll make another move before tonight’s deadline to keep players out of the Rule 5.

Gordon was an eighth-round pick in 2021. The Central Florida product has found success as a starter in the minors. He owns a 3.74 ERA in a little more than 300 professional innings. Gordon managed a 3.94 mark across 123 1/3 frames with Triple-A Sugar Land this year. He struck out a solid 23.8% of opponents while issuing walks at a respectable 7.5% clip.

Prospect evaluators have never graded Gordon especially highly. Baseball America has ranked him in the back half of their top 30 prospects in a thin Astros’ system for the last two years. Gordon doesn’t throw hard and had a middling 9.7% swinging strike rate in Triple-A. That limits his ceiling, but starting pitchers with upper minors success are often plucked away in the Rule 5 draft. The Astros ensure that won’t happen with Gordon, who could make his big league debut as a spot starter or long reliever next season.

Red Sox’ Cooper Criswell Eligible For Fourth Option Year

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The Red Sox’ pitching depth has more flexibility than might’ve been otherwise apparent at first glance. Right-hander Cooper Criswell exhausted his third and typically final option year in 2024, but Christopher Smith of MassLive.com reports that the Red Sox will actually hold a fourth option year on Criswell.

It’s standard in Major League Baseball for players to have three “option” years where they can be freely sent down to a minor league affiliate without first clearing waivers. An “option year” is used when any player on the 40-man roster is optioned to the minors and spends at least 20 days there. This applies even to players who’ve yet to make their big league debut but are optioned to a minor league affiliate out of spring training. However, the league grants a fourth option year for players who exhaust their three original three option years in fewer than five professional seasons (defined as 90-plus days on a major league or minor league active roster/injured list).

In the case of Criswell, he’s a 2018 draftee of the Angels who’s appeared in exactly five full seasons: 2019 and 2021-24. (He wasn’t on the roster for the abbreviated 2020 campaign.) The Halos originally selected him to the 40-man roster in 2021, and he was optioned in each of the three subsequent seasons throughout the course of stints with the Halos, Rays and Red Sox.

For the Red Sox, it’s a nice boon. Criswell goes from a back-end starter/swingman who’d have to be rostered on Opening Day to a valuable fifth/sixth starter who can be shuttled between their Triple-A affiliate in nearby Worcester and the major league roster. Criswell, who signed a big league deal with the Sox after being non-tendered by the Rays last winter, clearly pitched his way into the club’s plans with 99 1/3 innings of 4.08 ERA ball between the rotation and bullpen. He fanned a below-average 17.2% of opponents against a strong 7.3% walk rate and impressive 50.3% ground-ball rate.

Right now, the locks in the Boston rotation are Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford and Brayan Bello. Veteran Lucas Giolito, once healthy, will eventually join them. Criswell, Quinn Priester and Richard Fitts are among the other options near the back of the rotation.

The Sox figure to add at least one starting pitcher via free agency and/or trade. They’ve been linked to the top names on the market already and have at least signaled a willingness to act more aggressively than in recent offseasons. Criswell’s extra option year gives them some flexibility and will help the team preserve depth if and when additional rotation arms are added in the weeks and months ahead.

Giants Hire Bobby Evans, Jeff Berry In Advisory Roles

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The Giants are hiring Bobby Evans and Jeff Berry as advisors to first-year president of baseball operations Buster Posey, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (X link). They each have ties to the franchise icon. Evans was San Francisco’s general manager for a portion of Posey’s playing career, while Berry was the catcher’s longtime agent at CAA Sports.

As one would imagine, Evans has significantly more front office experience of today’s hires. He started working for San Francisco in the 1990s. Evans worked his way up the ladder amidst the Giants’ run of three World Series in five years early in the 2010s. San Francisco promoted him to general manager in April 2015, though he still served as something of the #2 decision maker behind executive vice president Brian Sabean. The Giants reassigned Evans near the end of the ’18 season, a precursor to their hiring of Farhan Zaidi the following offseason.

Evans hasn’t found himself in a ton of headlines over the past six years, though he reportedly interviewed for the Astros’ GM job on two occasions (in 2020 and ’23) and sat down with the Angels before they hired Perry Minasian in November ’20. He was floated as a candidate for the GM job in San Francisco this offseason, a position which would’ve put him only behind Posey in the front office hierarchy. The Giants went with Zack Minasian for that job, but Posey evidently values Evans’ input enough to bring him aboard in an advisory role.

Berry worked at CAA for more than two decades, becoming one of baseball’s most high-profile agents in the process. The 54-year-old stepped away from that job at the beginning of the 2024 season. (Berry spoke with Evan Drellich of the Athletic about that decision in June.) He’ll provide a bit of a different perspective as he moves to the other side of the aisle. It’s rare but not unheard of for agents to take team positions — most notably with Berry’s former CAA colleague Brodie Van Wagenen working as Mets’ general manager between 2018-20.

White Sox To Select Colson Montgomery, Juan Carela

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The White Sox have selected the contracts of shortstop Colson Montgomery and right-hander Juan Carela, per the team transaction log at MLB.com. Both are now on the 40-man roster and ineligible to be taken in next month’s Rule 5 Draft.

Montgomery, 22, was the Sox’ top pick in the 2021 draft, coming off the board with the No. 22 overall pick. He’s been the system’s top prospect since and currently factors prominently into top-100 lists at multiple publications (e.g. No. 38 at Baseball America, No. 37 at MLB.com). He ripped through High-A and Double-A as a 21-year-old in 2023 before struggling for much of the season as a 22-year-old in Triple-A this year. Montgomery did finish the season nicely, slashing .263/.357/.465 in his final six weeks of action, but his overall .214/.329/.381 slash obviously leaves plenty to be desired.

Even with those struggles, however, there’s no way the Sox were going to leave a prospect of Montgomery’s caliber unprotected. He breezed through the low minors and was four years younger than his average opponent in Triple-A. Montgomery hit .313/.511/.656 in 45 plate appearances during the Arizona Fall League as well, further adding to that nice finish. Scouting reports aren’t sold on him as a long-term shortstop, due primarily to his 6’3″, 225-pound frame, but Montgomery is thought to have the arm and defensive chops to handle third base even if a position switch is necessary down the road.

Carela, 22, came to the ChiSox from the Yankees in the 2023 trade that sent Keynan Middleton to the Bronx. He split the 2024 campaign between High-A and Double-A, logging sub-4.00 ERAs at each stop. Collectively, it played out as a 3.71 earned run average, a strong 25.2% strikeout rate and a 9.9% walk rate he’ll work to pare down in the future. Carela totaled 106 2/3 innings, all as a starter. He’ll likely head back to Double-A to begin the 2025 season, as he only tossed 32 2/3 innings there. Given his placement on the 40-man roster and the likelihood that he’ll split 2025 between Double-A and Triple-A, he’ll be a candidate to make his big league debut later in the 2025 campaign if he continues to pitch well.

Luis Severino To Decline Qualifying Offer

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November 19: Severino is indeed declining the QO, tweets Tim Healey of Newsday.

November 16: Right-hander Luis Severino is “likely” to decline the Qualifying Offer extended to him by the Mets earlier this month, according to a report from Will Sammon of The Athletic. Sammon adds that Severino “loves” playing in New York but is now expected to attempt to land a multi-year deal in free agency this winter.

Severino, 30, is entering free agency for the second time this year. The right-hander entered the open market last winter coming of a disastrous 2023 season with the Yankees where he surrendered a 6.65 ERA in 89 1/3 innings of work and landed with the Mets on a one-year, $13MM deal. That deal went quite well, as he pitched to a league average 3.91 ERA (101 ERA+) with a 4.21 ERA in 182 innings of work. He struck out 21.2% of opponents while walking batters at just a 7.9% clip. Those are all solid but unspectacular numbers, but that mid-to-back of the rotation production can still earn a strong guarantee in free agency, as the likes of Jameson Taillon and Taijuan Walker have in recent years (albeit without the QO attached).

Given that, it’s perhaps not much of a surprise that Severino would look to beat the one-year, $21.05MM Qualifying Offer. MLBTR predicted a three-year, $51MM contract for Severino earlier this winter, after the Mets attached a QO to him. That guarantee is in line with what veteran right-hander Michael Wacha received from the Royals just before free agency opened, and Wacha was viewed as a similarly borderline candidate for a QO as Severino was. Of course, Severino wouldn’t necessarily have to reach that projection for declining the QO to be a worthwhile decision for him. Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi landed a two-year, $34MM guarantee with the Rangers prior to the 2023 season that afforded him a vesting player option for 2025, and even a similar deal would net Severino a larger overall guarantee than the QO while still affording him the flexibility to return to free agency in short order.

With Severino poised to decline the QO, the Mets will now need to either re-sign him in free agency or replace him in their rotation. The club’s rotation also stands to lose southpaws Sean Manaea (who received a QO as well but has long been expected to decline it) and Jose Quintana, leaving them with only Kodai Senga and David Peterson penciled into their 2025 rotation. It’s certainly possible that the club could look to reunite with either Severino or one of the other exiting free agent starters, although the Mets have plenty of financial flexibility and are coming off a surprise trip to the NLCS. That could lead them to aim higher in free agency this winter, with top free agent starters such as Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell, and Max Fried all expected to be available. It’s even possible that they turn to the trade market in their search for rotation upgrades, as they’ve been linked to White Sox southpaw Garrett Crochet already this winter.

Should Severino ultimately land elsewhere in free agency, him declining the QO means that the Mets would receive a compensatory draft pick after the fourth round of the 2025 draft as a club that paid the luxury tax in 2024. Meanwhile, interested teams would have to surrender a combination of draft picks and international bonus pool dollars commensurate with their status relative to the luxury tax and revenue sharing as laid out by MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk last month. Teams that received revenue sharing in 2024 would surrender just their third-round pick in the 2025 draft to sign Severino, while teams that paid the Competitive Balance Tax this year would surrender their second- and fifth-round picks in addition to $1MM in international bonus pool space.

Nationals Add Robert Hassell III, Andry Lara To 40-Man Roster

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The Nationals announced that they have added outfielder Robert Hassell III and right-hander Andry Lara to their 40-man roster. Both players are now protected from being selected in the Rule 5 draft, with the deadline for such moves coming at 5pm Central today. Washington’s 40-man roster count climbs to 38.

Hassell, now 23, was one of six players who went from the Padres to the Nationals in the Juan Soto blockbuster. At the time, Hassell was considered one of the top 100 prospects in the league, having been selected eighth overall in 2020 and then performing well in the lower levels of the minors.

His stock has fallen since the trade thanks to some uneven results as he has battled wrist injuries. He spent most of 2023 in Double-A, getting into 106 games at that level. His 10.9% walk rate was solid but he also struck out at a huge 31.9% clip. He produced a line of .225/.316/.324 for a wRC+ of 81. In 2024, he got into 85 games across multiple levels, lowering his strikeout rate to just 21% but his .241/.319/.328 batting line wasn’t much of an improvement.

However, he is just coming off a strong performance in the Arizona Fall League. He got 100 plate appearances there across 22 games, hitting .281/.360/.517 in those. It’s a small sample but an encouraging sign nonetheless.

Though Hassell isn’t really considered a top 100 guy anymore, it’s possible that overcoming his wrist injuries could get him back on track going forward. The Nats clearly didn’t want him to get plucked away by another club, so he’s been added to the roster today to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

The Nats have Dylan Crews, James Wood and Jacob Young as their likely outfield trio at the moment but Hassell will give them some optionable depth. If he performs well enough to earn his major league debut, perhaps Young could be pushed into a fourth outfielder role, though the designated hitter slot is also fairly open at the moment. That could allow enough room in the lineup for everyone but that will naturally depend on what moves the club makes in the remainder of the offseason.

Lara, 22 in January, was an amateur signing out of Venezuela who just wrapped up a breakout season in the minors. From 2021 to 2023, he posted a 4.97 earned run average across various minor league levels with a 20.8% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate. This past year, he made 25 starts between High-A and Double-A with a 3.34 ERA, 24.3% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate.

The Nats gave him a roster spot today to keep him away from other clubs. He will presumably get a bump to Triple-A at some point in 2025 and give the club some optionable starting depth. The club’s projected rotation is fairly lacking in experience, as none of MacKenzie Gore, Cade Cavalli, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker, DJ Herz or Jackson Rutledge has reached 400 major league innings pitched yet. Gore and Irvin are the only two of that group with more than 151 frames.

The Nats could bolster that squad by signing or trading for a veteran this winter, but if any of those in-house guys struggle or get injured, Lara will be around and battling for a shot to make his major league debut.

Phillies Plan To Meet With Juan Soto

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Juan Soto’s tour through free agency has thus far taken him to meetings with the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, and Blue Jays, with another meeting set for later today between Soto’s camp and Dodgers brass.  Another big-market team can be added to the mix, as the New York Post’s Jon Heyman (via X) writes that the Phillies also intend to sit down with the free agent slugger, though a meeting isn’t yet known to be officially scheduled.

It comes as no shock that the Phils will at least check in on the market for another big name, as ownership and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski haven’t been shy about courting and signing superstar free agents.  Bryce Harper and Trea Turner are two of those stars, and it is fair to assume that Harper and Turner have exchanged a few texts and calls with their former Nationals teammate Soto about a reunion in Philadelphia.

Earlier this month, Phillies chairman John Middleton acknowledged that his team would be involved in the Soto sweepstakes to some degree, though Middleton was rather candid in his evaluation of Soto’s market.  Middleton felt “Soto wants to be in New York, and I don’t mind being a stalking horse.  At some point, if Dave and I get that feeling, we’ll probably say, ’You know what, we’re not going to win this’ because we’ve both been the stalking horse before.”

This hints that the Phillies aren’t planning quite as pitched a pursuit as other suitors in the race, though it costs the Phils nothing to meet with Soto and agent Scott Boras to access the situation.  Just in case other teams don’t meet Soto’s asking price or some other obstacle arises, Philadelphia could position itself as a fallback option that still checks a lot of boxes on Soto’s presumed wish list, as the Phillies are a consistent contender who should remain in the playoff hunt for some time to come.

Signing Soto to a record contract would further elevate the Phillies’ already-large payroll.  As per RosterResource, Philadelphia has an approximate $269MM payroll and a $288MM tax number for 2025 even before any significant offseason moves have been made, so adding Soto would send the Phillies far beyond the highest tax penalty tier of $301MM.  Since the Phillies have made luxury-tax payments in each of the last three seasons, they already face an increased price tag for any further overages, so signing Soto would essentially come at twice the cost of his actual salary.

Middleton might not necessarily mind at least a one-year splurge, since Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto are free agents next winter, and thus represent some significant money coming off the Phillies’ books.  Ideally, the Phils would probably love to free up money this winter by moving at least one of Nick Castellanos or Taijuan Walker, though that is much easier said that done since both players have negligible trade value.

If Soto was signed and Castellanos stayed put, the two would handle the corner outfield positions in some fashion while Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas became a center field platoon.  This wouldn’t be an ideal arrangement from a glovework perspective, yet the Phillies probably wouldn’t mind a defensive step backwards if it meant putting Soto’s power bat into the lineup.

Brewers Add Logan Henderson, Chad Patrick To 40-Man Roster

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The Brewers added right-handers Logan Henderson and Chad Patrick to their 40-man roster in advance of today’s Rule 5 deadline, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports (X link).  Since Milwaukee has two more open spaces on the 40-man, McCalvy writes that more players could still be protected prior to 5pm CT.

Henderson was a fourth-round pick for the Brewers in the 2021 draft, though an elbow surgery kept him from making his pro debut until over a year after his draft date.  After pitching only 13 2/3 innings in 2022, Henderson tossed 78 2/3 frames at A-ball in 2023, then 81 1/3 innings across four different minor league levels this past season.  The overall numbers (3.32 ERA, 32.8% strikeout rate, 4.73% walk rate) were very impressive, though Henderson had a 4.56 ERA in 23 2/3 Triple-A innings and ran into some home run trouble.

Henderson’s signature pitch is a plus changeup that is so effective that it allows him to get away with a fastball that has movement but sits in the 88-92mph range.  This two-pitch arsenal could mean that Henderson will ultimately end up as a reliever, though obviously the Brewers will first give him plenty of looks to see if he can further develop as a starting pitcher.  Since the 22-year-old Henderson has already cracked the Triple-A level and could be close to his Major League debut, it stands to reason that he might’ve gotten a lot of attention from teams in the Rule 5 Draft.

MLB Pipeline ranks Henderson 11th among all Milwaukee prospects, while Baseball America ranks him 21st.  Patrick isn’t on either outlet’s top-30 list, though considering his solid amount (158 innings) of Triple-A experience, he also likely would’ve been on rival teams’ R5 radars.

Patrick was also a fourth-round pick in 2021, as the Diamondbacks took the right-hander nine spots before the Brewers selected Henderson.  Arizona dealt Patrick to the Athletics for Jace Peterson at the 2023 trade deadline, and the A’s then flipped Patrick to the Brewers almost exactly one year ago in the trade that sent Abraham Toro to Oakland.

After struggling badly in 2023, Patrick found his footing in his new organization, posting a 2.90 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate, and seven percent walk rate across 136 1/3 innings with Triple-A Nashville.  While a .267 BABIP and 79.2% strand rate helped Patrick’s cause, he started 24 of his 26 games and delivered quality bottom-line results, thus earning his first 40-man placement.  Since the Brewers frequently churn pitchers up and down from the minors, the 26-year-old Patrick also could get a look for his MLB debut next season.

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