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
Yeah what the other it’s are saying is pretty true. Remember too that Ortiz is 24 and the Rangers didn’t even give him a MLB look last year, in a year when they truly needed help at 1B. Doesn’t mean he’s awful but he’s a flier without a huge upside. Fien is the wildcard probably, but he has a funky approach at the plate and isn’t a great defender at short. I can live trading these guys to dream on Gore as my number 3 for a couple years.
Gore surely was pitching like a top of the rotation starter during the first half of last year. He’s already shown that he can be better than a MoR starter.
@pad
We really have to stop using top 100 lists like they’re the Bible. They are completely fluid and get updated 3 times a year in efforts to reflect player development. From that Gore package you have Devin Fitz-gerald (not sure why is hyphonated). He went to Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS the same school that Roman Anthony, Coby Mayo and other peridot the last 4 years. He’s likely been well scouted by the Nationals. Tons of future stars debuted prior to being on a top 100 list. Yanks are hoping Cam Schlittler will be a future star that was never on a list. Maybe he would’ve if he wasn’t called up out of necessity and exceeded his rookie limit status.
This is true
How? They didn’t give up anyone of significance and added a rotation piece. Big win for the Rangers in my opinion.
It will bite them in four years when they suck?
Let’s say Fein progresses well enough to stay on Shortstop. Rangers already have Walcott, who’s closer to big league ready so they’d likely move him off the position anyways.
If Walcott is a bust and they have a superstar in Fein in 2031 — they’d probably move him with control to get prospects for their inevitable rebuild.
Rangers have one or two more kicks at the can with this Rotation and Seager anchored lineup. An excellent shortstop worth four wins five years from now does nothing but handicap their future draft lottery odds.
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.
Um Juan,
I think they’ve deferred that article.
I’m sure you could write a concise explanation
Can you expand a little more on what you’re trying to say? I’m a little confused about the distinction you’re trying to make.
Unless the CLE FO is laying in the weeds waiting to pounce on a dark horse FA, I don’t see them adding to the lineup at all. They could have $1B to do nothing but sign hitters, and they will still hem, haw, and make excuses for not signing anyone. Sorry if I seem jaded, but this is the reality of Guardians baseball.
Solaris – is there anybody out there you would even want at this point?
Bader was the one guy that I thought was a good fit. Antonetti mentioned during the press conference today that there were free agents they were in on that ultimately signed elsewhere, primarily because of playing time concerns. I wonder if Bader was on that list.
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.
pp
BTV
Rocker $21 million
Wallner $24 million
I’d like to see this with Rocker as a high leverage reliever.
Wallner had a .775 OPS last season and dropped his K% significantly. He hit .202 but had a walk rate of 11.7% and an extremely low .BABIP of .228.
He looks like a shoe-in for a few seasons of .800+ OPS.
The Rangers are crunched for time with DeGrom and Eovaldi. Two more great seasons with that pair is what the Rangers are hoping for, two more in ’28 and ’29 would be a bonus.
Gore for two seasons. Leiter, Latz and Bradford all under team control. That is a two to four year window with that group.
Wallner is a win now move. If the Twins like Rocker, I think Wallner would be a nice return and a good fit in Texas.
ABS
ZiPS projects Wallner for right at an .800 OPS (:shudders:) each of the next 3 years. And right around 2.5 WAR
It projects Rocker for roughly 1.5 WAR each of the next 3 seasons, but improving each year. The low WAR is more due to low playing time and not poor performance.
Sadly, the Angels people have nothing to talk about. I mean nuthing!
Nothing is something