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Marlins Claim Connor Gillispie, Designate Jhonny Pereda

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The Marlins announced that they have claimed right-hander Connor Gillispie off waivers from the Braves. The righty was designated for assignment by Atlanta last week. Catcher Jhonny Pereda has been designated for assignment by the Marlins as the corresponding move. Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase reported the moves prior to the official announcement.

Gillispie, 27, made his major league debut with the Guardians last year in limited fashion. He tossed eight innings over three appearances, allowing two earned runs, striking out eight and walking five. He was non-tendered in November, heading out to free agency without being exposed to waivers. Atlanta signed him to a split deal shortly thereafter but bumped him off the roster when they signed Jurickson Profar.

The major league track record isn’t much to go off, so the clubs in Atlanta and Miami are surely looking more at Gillispie’s minor league performance. Over the past four years, he has thrown 406 innings on the farm with a 4.12 earned run average, 24.1% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate. Gillispie has worked both as a starter and reliever throughout his time in the minors, so he can potentially provide the Marlins with a little extra depth in both areas.

Pereda, 29 in April, also made his major league debut last year. He started the season with the Marlins on a minor league deal and was selected to the big league roster in the middle of April. He lasted on the 40-man through the rest of the year but was mostly on optional assignment. He got 40 major league plate appearances, hitting .231/.250/.231 in those. His minor league numbers have been better, with a combined line of .286/.381/.400 over the past four years, production which translates to a 108 wRC+. Baseball Prospectus has given him decent marks for his minor league work behind the plate.

The Marlins are fairly thin at catcher, with Nick Fortes and Liam Hicks the projected top duo, though prospect Agustín Ramírez could force his way into some playing time this year. The club will have a week to figure out what’s next for Pereda, whether that’s a trade or some fate on waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade talks would have to come together in five days. If Pereda passes through waivers unclaimed, the Fish can keep him around as catching depth without him taking up a roster spot in the short term.

Blue Jays To Sign Adam Kloffenstein To Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays and right-hander Adam Kloffenstein have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. The righty will also be in big league camp with the Jays as a non-roster invitee.

Kloffenstein, 24, returns to his original club. The Jays selected him in the third round of the 2018 draft. For the next few years, he was a somewhat notable prospect in Toronto’s system. Baseball America ranked him in the middle parts of the Blue Jays’ top 30 from 2019 to 2022. At the 2023 deadline, the Jays flipped him to the Cardinals as part of the Jordan Hicks trade.

The Cards added Kloffenstein to their 40-man roster last offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. That allowed him to make his major league debut in 2024, though he tossed only one inning. His Triple-A numbers weren’t amazing on the year, as he allowed 4.74 earned runs per nine innings over his 17 starts. His 49% ground ball rate was strong but his 19.4% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate were both subpar.

After that uninspiring year, the Cards decided to move on. Kloffenstein was non-tendered in November, getting sent to free agency without being put on waivers. That allowed him to return to the Jays on this minor league pact.

From 2021 to 2023, Kloffenstein tossed 341 1/3 minor league innings, most of that with the Blue Jays. The results in that time were a bit better than in his 2024 season. His 4.85 ERA still wasn’t especially impressive but his 24% strikeout rate was significantly better than last year’s clip, with comparable amounts of walks and ground balls.

The Jays are plenty familiar with Kloffenstein from his time in the system, so perhaps they believe there’s a way to get him back on track after a challenging season. The Jays have Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and José Berríos locked into three rotation spots. Bowden Francis will probably get a chance to build off his strong finish in 2024. Guys like Yariel Rodríguez, Jake Bloss and Adam Macko are candidates for another spot. The Jays have been looking to upgrade that group this offseason and could push everyone down a peg but Kloffenstein gives them some non-roster depth alongside Eric Lauer. If Kloffenstein eventually gets a roster spot, he still has options and just a single day of service time.

Tyler Jay Elects Free Agency

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The Mariners announced Tuesday that left-hander Tyler Jay, who was designated for assignment last week, went unclaimed on outright waivers. He’s elected free agency in lieu of an outright assignment to the minors. Seattle had claimed Jay off waivers from the Brewers earlier this month.

Selected with the No. 6 overall pick by the Twins back in 2015, Jay was viewed as a polished college arm who could move quickly as a reliever but also had a chance to start. He ranked as one of the Twins’ top prospects — and one of the top prospects in the sport — following that lofty selection, but repeated injury troubles derailed his once-promising trajectory. Jay dealt with continued shoulder and neck injuries throughout his time in the Twins’ system; Jay was at one point evaluated for symptoms believed to be related to thoracic outlet syndrome but wound up avoiding surgery.

Jay was out of affiliated ball entirely and pitching for the Joliet Slammers of the independent Frontier League when he caught the Mets’ attention and landed a minor league deal several years later, in 2023. The Mets gave him his big league debut in 2024 at 30 years old. He wound up splitting time between the Mets and Brewers, allowing four earned runs on nine hits and six walks with six punchouts in 7 2/3 innings of work.

While it was far from a dominant debut showing, Jay pitched quite well in the minors. In 56 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level this past season, the lefty notched a tidy 3.02 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate and very sharp 5.1% walk rate. He also kept the ball on the ground at a strong 47.3% clip and averaged just 0.64 homers per nine innings pitched.

Jay doesn’t throw especially hard, sitting just over 92 mph with his heater, but it was a nice season in the upper minors for a former top pick who seems to have put a good deal of the health troubles that plagued him early in his professional career behind him. He’ll now head to the market and look to latch on as a depth option for a club, likely one with a more pressing need for left-handed bullpen help (or at least fewer candidates to fill said need) than the Mariners have.

Cubs Designate Matt Festa For Assignment

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The Cubs announced Tuesday that they’ve designated right-hander Matt Festa for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to new closer Ryan Pressly, whose acquisition from the Astros has now been officially announced by both teams.

A former seventh-round pick by the Rangers, Festa has bounced around the league in journeyman fashion over the past few years. He broke into the majors with a strong rookie showing in a small sample of 8 1/3 innings for the 2018 Mariners and posted terrific Triple-A numbers the following season while also struggling in 22 MLB frames. Tommy John surgery wiped out Festa’s entire 2020 campaign and most of his 2021 season as well.

Festa returned in 2022 to throw 54 solid innings out of the Seattle ’pen, logging a 4.17 ERA but with a terrific 29.2% strikeout rate against a solid 8.2% walk rate. He’s never been a particularly hard thrower, but that blend of inducing whiffs and limiting walks showed genuine promise. Injuries popped up again in 2023, however. Festa was limited to nine big league innings and just 34 frames in Triple-A. He walked an alarming 27.9% of his opponents in the majors, prompting him to be cut loose from Seattle’s roster at season’s end.

Festa latched on with the Padres on a minor league deal in the offseason. He wound up landing with the Mets and Rangers on subsequent minor league deals and pitching well enough to earn a decent major league look in Texas, where he tossed 22 2/3 innings of 4.17 ERA ball with a 25% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate. His lone appearance with the Mets (four runs in one inning) ballooned his ERA to 5.70 on the season, but Festa was a solid enough middle relief arm with the Rangers that the Cubs picked him up for cash earlier this winter when he was designated for assignment by Texas.

The Cubs will now have five days to trade Festa themselves. If there’s no taker, he’ll be placed on outright waivers. He’s been outrighted once in the past, so if Festa does clear, he’ll have the opportunity to elect free agency if he chooses.

Astros Trade Ryan Pressly To Cubs

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Jan. 28: The Astros have formally announced the trade.

Jan. 26: After a few days of speculation, Ryan Pressly has agreed to waive his 10-and-5 no-trade protection to okay a deal that will send the veteran reliever from the Astros to the Cubs.  Houston will receive right-handed pitching prospect Juan Bello in return, plus the Astros are sending $5.5MM along with Pressly to help the Cubs cover some of the righty’s $14MM salary for the 2025 season.  In exchange for agreeing to the deal, Pressly will receive a new no-trade clause, plus an assignment bonus to cover the tax difference in relocating from Texas to Illinois.  The trade will become official once the standard medical reviews are complete.

Pressly has been considered a trade candidate for much of the offseason, and probably even as far back as August, when he hit the minimum number of appearances to trigger the vesting option in his contract.  Initially a two-year, $30MM extension, Pressly gained a third year and an extra $14MM by making 124 appearances over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, blowing past the vesting threshold of 110 appearances.  While the Astros obviously valued the right-hander highly simply by dint of that frequent usage, Houston has been operating with fairly limited payroll space this winter, making a $14MM salary for a reliever entering his age-36 season seem a little pricey for their budget.

We already saw evidence of the Astros’ financial maneuverings in another major trade with the Cubs, when Kyle Tucker was sent to Wrigleyville for a trade package of Isaac Paredes, Hayden Wesneski, and prospect Cam Smith.  Like Pressly, Tucker was controlled just through the 2025 season, and he’ll be making $16.5MM in his final year of arbitration eligibility.  The Astros have already used some of the savings from the Tucker and Pressly trades in signing Christian Walker to a three-year, $60MM deal, and today’s deal will surely add more fuel to the speculation that a reunion might be possible between Houston and Alex Bregman.

RosterResource estimates the Astros’ 2025 payroll at roughly $217.6MM, with a luxury tax number of $236.3M.  This represents a drop from the Astros’ $244MM payroll and $262MM tax number in 2024, dropping Houston under the tax threshold by a bit less than $5MM.  Owner Jim Crane indicated that the Astros would be willing to spend at their 2024 levels under the right circumstances, so re-signing Bregman remains at least a possibility, now that more money has been cleared off the books.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported three days ago that a Cubs/Pressly trade was “on the verge” of being finalized, though some late hurdles emerged, such as some apparent late interest from the Tigers and Blue Jays.  Pressly ultimately held the final say given his no-trade protection, and it seems as though he chose Chicago over Detroit as his next landing spot.

Today’s news officially ends Pressly’s very successful run in Houston, which began when the Astros acquired the righty from the Twins at the 2018 trade deadline.  Pressly posted a 2.81 ERA, 30.9% strikeout rate, and 6.16% walk rate over 333 innings for the Astros, somewhat flying under the radar as one of the more effective relievers in baseball.  Beyond his regular-season work, Pressly posted a 2.78 ERA in 45 1/3 postseason innings for Houston, playing a big role in the club’s postseason success.

Initially used as a setup man, Pressly stepped into the closer’s role in 2020 and excelled as the team’s chief ninth-inning option, but the Astros still opted to sign Josh Hader to a five-year, $95MM contract last winter.  With Hader on board, Pressly was moved back to setup work last season, but he’ll now be Chicago’s top saves candidate, which Nightengale said was one of the assurances Pressly received in order to get him to approve the trade.

Rookie Porter Hodge pitched well after becoming the Cubs’ closer last year, and while Hodge is probably still viewed as the closer of the future, Pressly brings much more experience and a longer track record of quality.  Hodge will certainly still be used in high-leverage situations, and Pressly’s addition bumps everyone in the Cubs bullpen down a spot on the depth chart to strengthen the entire relief corps.

Pressly is the most prominent new face in a Cubs bullpen that has also added Eli Morgan and Caleb Thielbar to the mix this offseason.  Relief pitching was a clear need for the Cubs given how injuries greatly hampered their pen down the stretch last season, though the acquisitions still reflect Jed Hoyer’s preference of not over-investing in the relief market.  The Cubs did try to make a big splash as the runners-up to signing Tanner Scott, but with Scott off the board, Chicago pivoted away from another long-term options like Carlos Estevez to instead take on Pressly, who is a free agent next winter.  Some more moves might be coming, as The Athletic’s Chandler Rome, Patrick Mooney, and Sahadev Sharma report that the Cubs remain interested in adding to their relief corps even after acquiring Pressly.

The bottom-line results were still solid for Pressly in 2024, though there were some red flags in age-35 campaign.  Pressly’s strikeout, walk, and whiff rates were only slightly above league average, representing significant dropoff from his numbers in both categories just a season ago.  On the plus side, Pressly continued to generate grounders at a strong 48.8% rate, and his ability to keep the ball on the ground has long helped the right-hander counter-act his penchant for allowing hard contact.  Pressly also again was the among the league leaders in curveball and fastball spin rates, continuing his career-long run of elite spin.

As for Houston’s bullpen, the Astros figure to be on the lookout for some bullpen help to fill the void left behind from Pressly’s departure.  Depending again on how much GM Dana Brown has available to spend, the team could pursue some lower-cost arms, or perhaps make more of a bigger strike if Bregman indeed goes elsewhere and the Astros won’t be adding another major long-term salary.  Bryan Abreu, Tayler Scott, Kaleb Ort, and Bryan King project as the top setup or high-leverage options in front of Hader in Houston’s current pen.

Bello (who turns 21 in April) was an international signing for Chicago during the 2022 signing period, and he had a 3.21 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate, and 7.7% walk rate in 89 2/3 innings for the Cubs’ A-ball affiliate in Myrtle Beach last season.  While not ranked amongst the Cubs’ top 30 prospects by either MLB Pipeline or Baseball America, BA’s scouting report cites his four-pitch arsenal and increased ability to find strikeouts with several of his offerings.  “He fits the Astros’ organizational philosophy of developing pitchers with three or more secondaries to play off of their fastball,” according to BA’s write-up.

The Athletic’s Chandler Rome was the first to report that Pressly agreed to the trade, and that at least one prospect was heading to Houston from Chicago.  ESPN’s Jeff Passan added the detail that the Astros would be covering some salary, with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reporting the $5.5MM dollar figure.  Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 reported Bello’s involvement in the trade package.  The New York Post’s Jon Heyman had the additional details about Pressly’s new no-trade protection, as well as the assignment bonus.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Pirates, Ryan Borucki Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Pirates have agreed to a minor league contract with free agent lefty Ryan Borucki, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Borucki, a client of ISE Baseball, will earn a $1.15MM base salary (with additional incentives available) if he makes the big league roster. He’ll be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring.

This will be Borucki’s third straight season in Pittsburgh. The Bucs originally signed the former Blue Jays southpaw to a minor league deal prior to the 2023 season. He was selected to the big league roster that May and stuck through the end of the 2024 season.

Borucki was excellent during his first season as a Pirate, logging 40 1/3 innings from the point of his original call to the majors that season and turning in a sharp 2.45 ERA with a 21.7% strikeout rate against a superlative 2.6% walk rate. He kept the ball on the ground at a better-than-average 45.9% clip, only allowed 0.89 HR/9 and was effective against both lefties (.149/.230/.254) and righties (.213/.224/.373).

Health troubles ruined Borucki’s 2024 campaign, however. He agreed to a $1.6MM deal avoiding arbitration, but a triceps issue limited him to only 11 innings. He opened the year with three shutout frames (five strikeouts, no walks) before being tagged for two runs in one-third of an inning and promptly heading to the injured list for what wound up being nearly five months. Upon returning in September, Borucki was roughed up for seven runs in 7 2/3 innings. He finished out the season with an ugly 7.36 earned run average in that small sample of 11 injury-marred innings.

Now back with the Bucs, Borucki will head to camp and look to work his way back into the team’s bullpen plans. The Pirates have added a pair of low-cost left-handed bullpen options this winter in Caleb Ferguson ($3MM) and Tim Mayza (just yesterday, at $1.15MM). They also have out-of-options former top prospect Joey Wentz, whom they picked up on a waiver claim and who pitched quite well for them in 12 innings down the stretch last year.

Borucki is the only veteran lefty who’ll be in camp on as a non-roster invitee. As such, in the event of injuries and/or significant struggles from that trio of southpaws on the 40-man roster, he could be one of the first men up — particularly since he’s already familiar with the organization and the bulk of the coaching staff.

The Opener: Padres, DFA Resolution, MLBTR Chat

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As spring training nears, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:

1. When will the Padres execute a trade?

Over the weekend, it was reported that the Padres might have more payroll capacity this winter than initially believed, allowing them to avoid shedding salary below currently projected levels. With multiple holes in the lineup and rotation, however, making a trade or two still seems all but necessary in order to make budget space available for additions to the roster. Right-hander Dylan Cease has long appeared to be available this winter, with infielder Luis Arraez and closer Robert Suarez among the other pieces that have been under consideration for a trade. The Friars are now also said to have fielded some interest in right-hander Michael King. Given the number of teams still interested in adding to their rotation, dealing Cease or King would bring the largest return of the group. There’s no indication San Diego is expressly shopping either right-hander, but it’s only natural that both would draw wide interest with the Padres willing to entertain the possibility of a trade.

2. DFA resolution incoming:

Last week, the Mariners designated left-hander Tyler Jay for assignment after acquiring right-hander Will Klein in a trade with the A’s. Jay, 31 in April, made his big league debut in 2024 and with 7 2/3 innings of work between the Mets and Brewers. The southpaw was cut from the club’s 40-man a week ago to the day, and as such the one-week window for a DFA’d player to either be moved or clear waivers is closing. There should be an announcement regarding Jay’s future at some point today, whether that’s a waiver claim or him clearing waivers. If Jay clears waivers, he’ll have the opportunity to reject an outright assignment and test free agency after being outrighted earlier in his career.

3. MLBTR Chat Today:

With spring training just a couple of weeks away, we’re nearing the point where the baseball offseason starts to give way to preseason excitement even as major free agents remain unsigned and team needs remain unfulfilled. Whether you have questions about what’s left for your team to do this winter or a trade proposal in the back of your mind, MLBTR’s Steve Adams will be here to answer your questions during a live chat scheduled for 1pm CT. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.

Padres Have Discussed Michael King In Trade Talks

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The month of January is almost done, which means pitchers and catchers will be reporting to spring training in a couple of weeks, but there is still plenty of offseason business left to be resolved. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that part of the reason things are moving slowly is that there are still lots of ongoing trade talks, with Dylan Cease and Michael King of the Padres “among the starting pitchers who remain in play.”

Cease’s name has been in plenty of rumors this winter but this is the firmest indication of the winter that King is potentially available as well. The logic for the Friars considering a trade is the same for both pitchers, as each is going into his final season of arbitration control.

The Padres are clearly working with financial restraints this winter, though their exact spending ability isn’t totally clear. For much of the winter, reporting indicated that they needed to cut their projected 2025 payroll. But reporting from recent days suggests the club may be able to keep their projected spending around its current level, give or take.

Even if the Friars don’t have to significantly cut spending, considering trades of players like Cease or King is still understandable. The club needs to address left field, catcher, the rotation and maybe shortstop as well. With little wiggle room in the budget, signing free agents to fill those holes will be difficult. The club’s biggest contracts are hard to move since each of Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove has a full no-trade clause. Jake Cronenworth has partial no-trade protection and his contract isn’t terribly appealing at the moment.

In a similar position last winter, the Padres felt they needed to move on from Juan Soto while he was one season away from free agency. By flipping Soto and Trent Grisham to the Yankees, the Padres brought back five players who were less established but nonetheless improved the depth in the rotation and behind the plate. One of the players they got back was King, another was Drew Thorpe, who helped the Padres get Cease from the White Sox.

Now with another budget crunch, players like Luis Arráez, Cease and/or King could be this year’s Soto. All three are one year away from the open market and have no ability to stop a trade. Arráez will  make $14MM this year and Cease $13.75MM. King and the Padres didn’t come to an agreement prior to the arbitration filing deadline and are slated for a hearing. He filed at $8.8MM and the club at $7.325MM.

The lesser price is a reflection of King’s smaller track record compared to Cease. While the latter has been an established big league starter for a long time now, King really only has one season as a true bona fide rotation option. He spent much of his Yankee career in a swing role, oscillating between the rotation and bullpen. Late in 2023, with the Yankees out of contention, he put together a strong run of starts and seemed to have the potential for a larger role.

The Padres made a bet on him by acquiring him as a key piece of the Soto deal, and that worked out quite well. King tossed 173 2/3 innings over 31 appearances last year, with 30 of those being starts. The other was a long relief outing during the Seoul Series, before the season had begun in earnest. He allowed just 2.95 earned runs per nine on the year, with a 27.7% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate. He also made two postseason starts for the Friars, adding another 12 innings with a 3.75 ERA. He finished seventh in National League Cy Young voting.

That should give King plenty of trade appeal going into 2025. While the track record isn’t as long as that of Cease, the price is well below market rates for starting pitching. Alex Cobb and Justin Verlander each got $15MM one-year deals this offseason. Cobb is 37 years old and Verlander about to turn 42, with both pitchers having been injured for much of the 2024 campaign.

A King trade would clear less payroll space for the Padres than one involving Cease or Arráez, since King is slated to make about half as much as the other two. Still, if the Padres find an offer to their liking, the logic would be similar. They could theoretically flip King for cheaper but less established players, perhaps addressing one of their many needs while also improving their depth in other areas. They’d also gain $8MM or so, give or take, to dedicate to other pursuits.

It would be a tricky tightrope to walk since the rotation already needs upgrading as it is and subtracting King or Cease would only add to their need in that department. But given the financial circumstances, it’s something they will have to think about. As of right now, the rotation consists of Darvish, King, Cease and plenty of uncertainty. Guys like Matt Waldron, Adrián Morejón or others could fill in the back but those guys have some question marks.

Time will tell if anything comes from these trade talks. The Padres have been in this situation for most of the winter but have been very quiet. Perhaps that’s due to the fact that they were a serious suitor for Roki Sasaki and wanted to know his choice before proceeding. With Sasaki signing with the Dodgers last week and spring training now so close, perhaps the Padres will blink on something. On the other hand, free agents like Jack Flaherty, Nick Pivetta and Andrew Heaney are still out there, which could prevent clubs from aggressively pushing the Padres for a deal. Pitchers like Marcus Stroman, Luis Castillo, Jordan Montgomery and Chris Paddack are likely available in trades as well. The position player market still features Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso, with those staring contests perhaps broadly holding things up as well.

Astros Have Continued Interest In Jorge Polanco

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The Astros have ongoing interest in Jorge Polanco, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. According to Chandler Rome and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Houston could experiment with Polanco in left field if they land him.

That’d be a first for the switch-hitting Polanco, who hasn’t played a single major league inning in the outfield. He has logged over 7500 defensive innings in his career. Nearly all of them have come in the middle infield, while he also has a handful of starts at third base. His professional outfield experience consists of 73 innings in rookie ball in 2011-12.

Playing Polanco in left field would be no less of a roll of the dice than it would be to send Jose Altuve out there. The latter option is seemingly on the table only if the Astros re-sign Alex Bregman, who’d retake his spot at third base while pushing Isaac Paredes to second base. Altuve has never started an MLB game at a position other than second base (or designated hitter), but he indicated over the weekend he’d be happy to try his hand in left field if it meant getting Bregman back on the roster. In any case, the Astros haven’t seemed enamored with the unsigned lefty-hitting outfield options (e.g. Alex Verdugo, Jason Heyward).

Houston’s interest in Polanco seems to be as a fallback if Bregman signs elsewhere. General manager Dana Brown said on Saturday that while Houston has had recent talks with their longtime third baseman, it remains a “long shot” that he’ll return. The Athletic reported last week that the team’s previously reported six-year, $156MM offer remains on the table. However, it’s not clear if the Astros are open to pushing that any further. Unsurprisingly, Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 wrote this afternoon that Bregman was unlikely to return unless the team upped its offer.

While Polanco would obviously be far less expensive, it’s questionable whether he’d fit in Houston’s spending plans. The Astros are set to offload $8.5MM of Ryan Pressly’s salary once his trade to the Cubs is finalized. That dropped the team’s estimated luxury tax number to roughly $236MM (per RosterResource). They’re now about $5MM below the $241MM base tax threshold; they were a little more than $3MM above the line before the Pressly trade.

Houston exceeded the luxury tax threshold last season. That their offer is still out to Bregman confirms they’re open to doing so again in certain circumstances. That’s not surprising with regards to a homegrown star who has been one of the faces of the most successful run in franchise history. Paying the competitive balance tax to accommodate Polanco — who hit .213/.296/.355 in a career-worst season with the Mariners last year — could be a tougher sell for ownership.

It seems likely that Polanco will beat $5MM wherever he winds up. He was one of the game’s better offensive second basemen between 2021-23. He’d played through a patellar tendon injury in his left knee last season. He underwent postseason surgery and is expected to be ready for Opening Day. The knee injury coupled with the challenge of hitting at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park make him an intriguing rebound target as he enters his age-31 season. Even if Polanco ends up settling for less than $5MM, the signing would at least put the Astors right on the border of the threshold. If they prefer to stay below the CBT line, they’d probably need to offload more money in a trade or have limited payroll room for midseason acquisitions.

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