After one of the offseason’s biggest trades last night, here are three things for MLBTR readers to keep an eye out for throughout the day today:
1. Cardinals press conference:
The Cardinals pulled off the aforementioned major deal yesterday. They sent Brendan Donovan to the Mariners as part of a three-way trade involving Tampa Bay, and in return received a haul of prospects and draft picks headlined by right-hander Jurrangelo Cijntje. As noted by Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat, president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom is scheduled to hold a press conference at 11:15 am CT to discuss the trade. That figures to offer additional insight into the club’s negotiations regarding Donovan, and perhaps an update on future plans regarding other trade pieces (such as lefty reliever JoJo Romero) or free agent additions as Spring Training draws closer.
2. Arb Decisions to be handed down:
Arbitration hearings are underway, and yesterday saw panels listen to cases for Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish and Astros catcher Yainer Diaz. The Associated Press reports that decisions on both cases are expected to come today. Bradish filed at $3.55MM while Baltimore filed at $2.875MM. Diaz and the Astros, meanwhile, had a larger differential between their filing figures as Diaz landed at $4.5MM while Houston countered at $3MM. Edwin Uceta and Dylan Lee have both also been through their hearings, but decisions on those cases aren’t expected until later in the process because they’d potentially impact ongoing hearings. That leaves Bradish and Diaz to be the first cases resolved in this year’s slate. Teams won five of the nine cases that went to hearings last year, though players won seven of 12 cases in 2024.
3. MLBTR Chat today:
Pitchers and catchers will begin reporting later this month, but some offseason questions still remain. Framber Valdez and Zac Gallen are among the top free agents still available, and while yesterday’s Donovan trade took the last major trade piece off of the market, a surprise deal can never be ruled out. If you’re wondering what’s left for your favorite team to do before spring begins or simply looking for the latest hot stove buzz, MLBTR’s Steve Adams has you covered with a live chat scheduled for 1:00 pm CT today. Readers can use this link to ask a question in advance, follow along when the chat begins, and read the transcript after the chat concludes.
Begin reporting later this month? Try NEXT WEEK!!
Red Sox Truck Day was yesterday!!!
Feb 10 is when they begin reporting …. can’t wait!
Fever,
You got some new faces coming into camp too, I bet you’re excited to see the new team additions lol
Fever, do you or anyone know how the pitcher St. Louis got racks up against Tolle and Early? Time will tell but I’m curious. Also, thanks all for the past kind words. My bride I believe will finally be coming home soon. She last saw her own bed on Thanksgiving! Again, this site was so important to me in getting through this ordeal that a special shoutout also goes to Steve and the others who do a remarkable job running it. It’s easy to nitpick and complain but how many could do it better?
Glad you’re lady will be home Dewey, that’s great news!
I would take Tolle over any single arm they got, but honestly the gap between Tolle and Cinjite (who know how that is spelled) is not huge. Bother are highly regarded potential mid rotation arms.
Honestly they took the “wider” offer, but they did not give up much in the end of high end. It feels like no one trades a top 50 prospect anymore, so these are the cream of the crop that actually gets moved.
You are not getting Tolle for Donovan.
Thank you Acoss. It’s been unreal on me and I can’t imagine being her.
Never wanted Donovan to begin with. I’d rather have Baty from the Mets due to perceived lesser cost, true ability to play third and more years of control.
If you like Keith Law’s prospect ratings at all, he has Tolle at #40 overall and Cjinite (sp) not even rated in the Top 125 or so. I believe Tolle is a much more regarded prospect with a higher ceiling. Tolle is regarded by Law as the 11th best pitching prospect in baseball. Again that’s one man’s rankings and he’s done it for 20 years.
Dewey – Great news about your wife!
No I’m not familiar with that pitcher.
I think Chaim will still be able to trade Romero before the season starts. Some team will unfortunately suffer an injury during Spring Training and they’ll be calling the Cardinals.
Acoss – Hopefully Bloom is smart enough to keep Liberatore, I think he will have a breakout season this year.
This is Libby’s make or break season along with Walker and Gorman. Gorman needs to play the whole season no matter what to see what we got and Walker shouldn’t even break camp unless he’s batting .500 all spring. I also want to see blaze jordan get a shot as a outfielder
I agree on Walker and Gorman- this is their make or break season. They both have had their extended flashes of both good and bad. They both need to figure out how to play through the rough patches faster and with less downside. Right now when they are not right, they are a mess. Everyone has hot streaks, but how you get in and out of hot streaks makes elite players.
Libby will be a 4/5 SP until his arm gives out or he breaks out for more. The upside is there, but i am not sure what adjustments are left for him to make that jump to mid rotation.
probably not a reason someone would come calling… relievers are typically replaced in house
depends on the level of releiver. IF a closer goes down, then maybe someone calls, but i generally agree with you.
I hope they cards trade romero. Can’t imagine his value gets any higher. I’d also trade burleson and a catcher. I could see a team like the padres being intrested in burleson, pages and romero with the cards taking back croneworth and some decent prospects. Hoping for a rebound from croneworth, then flipping him too
Why would the cards want/need cronenworth in a total rebuild? Jake Cronenworth just had a better season than the last 2 so I am not sure what you are talking about rebound.
None of those players are good enough to trade for from a padres perspective. Except for Romero but we are full on good relievers.
I’d really like the O’s to get him. Need a 1B ? Lol. I’d give a prospect maybe in 8-14 range, plus mountcastle and pay 75% of his salary
not sure how much they are willing to eat Mountys contract already. Not sure what they were thinking by tendering him in the first place.
Burley’s not going anywhere this season.
To be clear, I was talking about Romero. Wonder what it will take. Decent Lefty but only 1 year left of control right
What would the ask be for Coby Mayo? Kinda fell on his face and is getting passed up by those around him inside that organization.
He would be someone that could benefit from going to the Cardinals with no threat of people taking At bats from him. Plus the Cards need a RH bat/corner infielder anyway.
The Cards don’t have anything on the MLB team that would really fill any of the Orioles holes. They moved Gray already.
Romero looked very fortunate to post the numbers he did and certainly isn’t enough as a rental. The O’s would have to be willing to move Mayo for another Cardinals prospect for that to work
Payne Train — Coby Mayo has only 102 games played and 340 PA.
His last 24 games/84PA in 2025…
.301/.393/.548
Change of nothing.
And even with a year end slash line of .217/.299/.388…it’s still a 94 OPS+ season.
All the talk of Mayo not being what he projected are at the minimum, too early, at most not fully informed.
Yeah, Mayo hasn’t really been given much of a chance. His .941 OPS in September might mean that he was starting to figure things out at the major league level.
Why would they trade Burleson? He’s been a solid hitter for two years in a row now and will finally (theoretically) play a position he’s suited for in 1B instead of trying to play OF. He’s one of their best hitters and locks up 1B for at least 3 years. The Cardinals can trade him later if he shows further consistency and get a bigger haul for him. Right now he’s most valuable to STL. Herrera should DH full time and Pages should be the primary catcher.
We’ll see pretty soon if Herrera can stick at catcher.
With some tutelage from Yadi and hopefully a successful surgery, he’ll get every opportunity…but he’s got a long way to go to get his baserunner throwout rate up from his current MLB avg of 7%.
That said, he’s a really good athlete and I’d like to see him in LF as much as possible, if not at catcher.
Who would you have in the outfield then, on Opening Day assuming health?
Opening Day outfield currently looks like Nootbaar (LF, if healthy), Victor Scott II (CF), and Walker (RF), with Church as 4th outfielder.
Pretty thin out there, but everybody’s got something to prove and they’ll get their at-bats.
If Herrera doesn’t stick at catcher and can adjust to LF, that would help get Noot off his feet and hopefully stay healthy since he’s continually injured.
Church has potential and good minor league stats, but his lack cup of coffee last year wasn’t great. Should get a good look at some point this year.
Heya! Yesterday in the Opener comments I posted how to join the MLBTR FANS Fantasy Baseball league. If you missed it, go check it out or lmk below if you’re interested. It’s absolutely free.
So far we have myself, WadeBoggsWildRide, MeowMeow,and Flanster with two more invites out. I want to get up to 10-12 managers for this inaugural league. I hope to update how things progress here as the season goes. So if you’re interested in competing lmk!
is this an auction league? Or lame snake draft?
Not lame snake draft.
Can you expand on the format (5×5, roto/h2h, yahoo/ESPN, how are deep rosters, keeper/redraft)?
It might help others to know what to expect.
Sure: 6×6, h2h, yahoo, 26 deep, redraft.
Salzilla I’m interested but haven’t fooled around in fantasy for 20 years or more, so I would need a refresher. But I also don’t want to be a burden or hold the league back for being a newb.
There’s both newbies and folks that haven’t played in awhile. Everyone is welcomed! We’ll go through it all together, no worries. Drop me a line at mlbtrfantasybaseball@yahoo.com for the link to join.
I think the Cardinals got a good young pitcher from Seattle but I think that he needs to decide which arm he pitches best with and refine his mechanics I looked up his minor league stats and discovered that he had a lot of wild pitches and hit batters although no one has ever thrown a pitch will both hands I tried bowling with both hands when I had been drinking and believe me when I say this I’m no Jason Bellmonte lol
He’s focused on the right side…for now.
yeah the reports are 99% righty, and only throwing the occasional bullpen as a lefty. At this point he looks like a quality starter from the right side, and a LOOGY from the left…. the only way i think he goes back is if he has TJS on the right side, and they think it is still a good idea to let him throw from the left during his recovery.
I was thinking the samething you are and the only way he would switch arms is because of TJS I one hundred percent age with your comment
Started watching baseball when older men could talk about watching Babe Ruth. Now I’m the old guy, But baseball is always young.
Just happened to see a clip from the early 80s of Phil Rizutto talking about watching the Babe hit homeruns that were like moonshots. It was really cool to hear from someone who actually saw him in real life, like he wasn’t a myth!! He really existed, ha.
Seems like a light return for a versatile, well above league average player with two years of control. I’m surprised Giants, Phillies, Yankees, Jays couldn’t/wouldn’t beat this offer.
I think it is a solid return. Cijntje and Peete are both top 150 prospects. I could see either cracking a top 100 list and i think Cijntje gets some top 50 love.. Peete is a toolsy OF that is boom or bust at this point, with Cijntje being a quality arm. I know less about Ledbetter, but have heard he has upside. the 2 comp picks are early and valuable picks. Since you still need to pay the players when you sign them- they move for less, but having so many early picks will allow them to stock their farm system very quickly and go above slot on guys that fall in the draft (like the Os last year, and being able to go over slot for Slater De Braun)
Overall, it was not so low that another team should have swooped in for a bargain basement price.
I do wonder what a realistic price is prospect wise for Jojo.
Last lefty available and late inning bullpen guys have been getting around a 45 and a 50 grade player at deadline.
With his arb price tag of $4m, he’s valuable, but also not a huge bargain. He CAN close games, but is really more of a setup guy. This is his last year of team control.
My guess is nobody’s going to beat down the door for him now, so I think he’ll bring a nice prospect return at the deadline.
I think Orioles would be interested, but they’re only going to move prospects that are 1-2 years from MLB. (And a lot of those guys are the pitchers (TB got a lot of the non-pitchers in the Baz trade))
Cards should keep JoJo to close games till the deadline and could increase his value if he can finish ballgames at a reasonable rate
There are other in house options for a similar role if they do move him, but this is likely a multi year rebuild so they can plan to cycle this action again next season with whoever they replace JoJo with in the late innings after the deadline. At least if there is a season in ’27.
Lez go! MLBTR chat. I wonder what Diaz got, hopefully he lost because he doesn’t deserve 4.5 million.
I’d take Romero for my bullpen as a lefty setup guy.
Wow, Mariners gave up a lot to get their guy. They do have him for two years and he is a well-rounded player. Not Elite but he’s solid
I would think with the top tier clubs who are spending in the 100% tax range would be drooling over someone like Jojo. Even someone like the Dodgers would only have to pay 8 mil for him.
Seattle, Dodgers, Yankees, Toronto, Giants and Boston all make sense for him.
The Cardinals don’t look so bad.
Three top 100 catchers on the farm and Pages, Poho and Hererra on the big club. Pages the best defensive catcher, Poho a good hitter.
Id say Cardinals have a pair of top100 catching prospects to trade (Bernal and Crooks) and that the market is real soft.
Baez and Church are going to be in the OF everyday, Herrera locked in at DH and it will be difficult to move off of Pages at C. Wynn and Weatherholt are set up the middle. Gorman and Burelson at the corners.
Saggese, Poho, Fermin and Scott is a very good bench.
If the Cardinals get some starting pitching from their rookies this season, they could surprise everyone and be comoetitive this season.
No time to waste on Walker and Scott, have to get Baez and Church in ASAP.
How about Shane Smith for Bernal, Walker and Chase Davis?
The Cardinals will be batting the Rockies for the worst record in baseball this season. They’re literally tearing in down and doing a full scale rebuild. They aren’t even trying to win this season so they can accumulate higher draft picks and bonus pool money
Shane Smith is the White Sox #1 SP and only one of three guaranteed a rotation spot come opening day as we post. Your proposal offers no SP coming back and trading Smith reduces their already thin 2026 depth even more.
The only solid player you’re offering the White Sox is switch-hitting catcher Leonardo Bernal. Along with INF’s, that’s the one position they have ample quality depth at for 2026 and beyond.
The White Sox would certainly be interested in OF’s but the two you are offering have continued a downward slide as pros after each being former 1st round Cardinal draft picks. Ironically both were #21 selections, Walker in 2020 and Smith in 2023. There is nothing to suggest that the White Sox have the capability to reverse their negative trajectory.
The White Sox are hardly in a position to be trading away their top controllable MLB starter as they look to improve in 2026 and beyond. If the did take calls on Smith they should be able to get a much better deal than the one you’re proposing.
Smith is a solid 2/3 — the trade is definitely light, I didnt put much effort into working it up, thought that Smith would look good in the Cardinals rotation and that Bernal would look good on the farm in Charlotte.
As bad as Walker hit last season, he definitely still has some intrigue.
You are right though, Sox pass on that trade.
As far as trading Smith goes, I think he is legit. It would take a far better trade to get him. I dont know if Id even consider trading him, the more I look at his numbers, but the Sox have a lot of depth in the pitching department and its going to get jammed up sooner than later.
Smith is the best option to cash in. Strangely, I feel like Smith’s market is soft because of his Rule 5 pedigree, and that makes him a keeper.
@noabs — Neither Bernal or Rodriguez (ANOTHER premium catching prospect) appear to be on the table, at this point.
With Yadi now hooked up with all our young catchers, it’ll be fun to watch them progress.
BTW, Pozo is almost certainly going to be stashed in AAA, unless someone gets hurt.
The big club catching priorities are currently, Herrera, Crooks, and then Pages, in that order. Pages is a very good defensive backup, but his bat doesn’t really play. Crooks has more upside, so ideally, Herrera and Crooks would split duties this year while they develop…if Herrera can become able to throw out runners.
Let’s go!
Uncle, I sure wish I had your enthusiasm for the Cardinals season. I have never been more disappointed by their actions. They may challenge their 1908 season for 105 losses. In a way I do understand how like so many other clubs they cannot compete with the revenue streams being available but they are not placing any value on what experienced players can offer to these younger guys.This could be very ugly.
“Meanwhile” should START the sentence, not interrupt the syntax by coming in the middle between commas.