Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Rangers press conference scheduled:
The Rangers are hosting a press conference at 1pm local time to introduce newly-acquired southpaw MacKenzie Gore. Gore will be joined by president of baseball operations Chris Young and GM Ross Fenstermaker at the presser, which figures to provide insight into last week’s trade with the Nationals. In addition, Young and Fenstermaker are expected to field questions regarding spring training, which could provide hints as to whether the team is largely done adding for the offseason or if there are more moves yet to come. If this is it for Texas, it’s been a somewhat quiet offseason but certainly an interesting one. Marcus Semien, Adolis Garcia, and Jonah Heim are out the door after the former was dealt to New York and the latter two were non-tendered, while Brandon Nimmo, Danny Jansen, and now Gore have been brought into the fold alongside an overhauled bullpen.
2. Guardians presser also scheduled:
The Guardians are also hosting a press conference at 10:30am local time in Cleveland to formally announce the extension of star infielder Jose Ramirez. Ramirez will be joined by club owner Paul Dolan and president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti. An appearance from both ownership and the leader of Cleveland’s front office should provide insight into how the Guardians might look to spend the money freed up by Ramirez’s restructured contract. That’s a topic MLBTR’s Anthony Franco looked into for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers yesterday. The press conference will also surely serve as a celebration of Ramirez, who now is poised to remain a Guardian for his entire career as he continues on his Cooperstown-bound track.
3. DFA resolution expected:
One week ago today, the Rockies made their signing of utilityman Willi Castro official. When they did so, they created a 40-man roster spot by designating right-hander Garrett Acton for assignment. Acton has been in DFA limbo since, facing an uncertainty about where he’ll be playing next and whether he’ll be able to hang on to a 40-man roster spot. That should be resolved today, as Acton will either be plucked off waivers by a rival club or pass through them unclaimed. If the latter occurs, he’ll be outrighted to Triple-A and serve as non-roster depth for the Rockies headed into 2026. Acton made his debut with the A’s back in 2023 but most recently pitched in the majors with the Rays last year. He has just seven MLB outings to his name, but the 27-year-old Acton tossed 58 2/3 innings of 3.68 ERA ball with a 30.1% strikeout rate — albeit against an 11.4% walk rate — with the Rays’ Triple-A club last year.
That Gore trade will bite the Rangers
Neither of MLB or BA’s recently released top 100 prospects had any of the pieces traded for Gore listed as one.
That’s baffling to me as Gore is a pretty nice get with two years of control and serious upside. I would have thought some more heralded pieces would have been needed to front the package.
Not saying the package doesn’t have upside, just not what you would expect to see in this scenario.
Gore is a MoR people want to dream is better.
Rosario was t50 pre injuries.. He should be back from TJ in 27.
Fien and Fitz are uber-talented A ball IFs who ranked just outside of Kiley McDaniels t100.. Ortiz is MLB ready who could become a good 1B/DH platoon bat.Cabrera is a good teenage lotto ticket with A ball perfomrmance
That trade had plenty of value that will likely showcase itself a year from now.
Eh. Prospect hugging at its finest. More likely they’re all busts. Fien is by far the star of the package and promising prep shortstops are everywhere. There are like 20 of them in this coming draft alone.
yeah, saying any prospect is likely to pan out (especially all of these so far from MLB) is unwise. Rosario has the ceiling of an ace, sure, but he’s also gonna be 25 entering 2027 having never thrown a pitch above A ball, nor any pitches at all in 2.5 years. He hurts the most to lose as a Rangers fan but it certainly seems worth it at this point
Jose deserves some help around him, he’s giving them a discount not once but twice, and he’s deferring a good chunk of his money.
RE Acoss
Can this site write an article about how deferred money isn’t just a team and player agreeing to a deal and then the team saying, “and we’ll pay to half of that in 10 years”?
Seems like most of the readership here doesn’t understand anything about how deferred payments work.
We’ll probably get one next offseason when things slow down and free agency is halted.
Still waiting on corresponding move for Seranthony as well
I’m just glad Gwtz got a closer. So many losses late in the game cost the team…
Are you really?
Rangers rotation could be great. They have decent depth with Bradford returning and Latz having pitched well last season.
They could move Kumar Rocker and shore up their lineup.
Twins and the Rangers could get together, Matt Wallner could be a good fit with the Rangers.
Twins:
Matt Wallner
–for–
Rangers:
Kumar Rocker
Wallner would be a nice fit and would be insurance for Pederson. He can play some OF too and would be good in rotation with Carter, Langford and Nimmo.
I’d imagine CY would balk at giving up 6 years of Rocker for 4 years of Wallner since he wouldn’t even pencil in as a starter. The big upside arm with more control has to be more appealing than the uber high k bat that just hit .200.
Sadly, the Angels people have nothing to talk about. I mean nuthing!