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The Astros Have Work To Do In The Outfield

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For much of the offseason, the focus surrounding the Astros was how they'd improve their rotation and general starting pitching depth. It was an understandable qualm. Framber Valdez became a free agent, and while he's still lingering on the market, a reunion with Houston never felt all that likely, given the contract he'll likely command and the team's aversion to long-term deals of that magnitude. Hayden Wesneski had Tommy John surgery late last May. Ronel Blanco followed a couple weeks later. Lefty Brandon Walter was an out-of-the-blue success story ... at least until he also underwent Tommy John surgery -- his in mid-September.

The 'Stros have done well to bolster the starting staff. Their surprise deal with NPB star Tatsuya Imai gives them a potential high-end arm to replace Valdez. A trade acquisition of Pittsburgh righty Mike Burrows plugged a young, controllable arm into the fourth spot on the staff. Cheap rolls of the dice on former top prospect Nate Pearson and former D-backs/Royals farmhand Ryan Weiss, who's coming back over after a terrific two years in the Korea Baseball Organization, added some depth.

A six-man group consisting of Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, Imai, Burrows, Weiss and Lance McCullers Jr. could be solid -- particularly if McCullers can be even serviceable. Depth arms abound. Spencer Arrighetti, J.P. France, AJ Blubaugh, Colton Gordon, Jason Alexander and Miguel Ullola are all on the 40-man roster and all have minor league options remaining. Twenty-three-year-old Ethan Pecko had a nice season between Double-A and Triple-A last season and could get a look in 2026.

There are still clearly some question marks, but the Astros added an intriguing young arm (Burrows), a high-upside international star (Imai) and an under-the-radar 29-year-old coming off a big KBO showing (Weiss). Things look much better than they did a few months back.

The same can't be said in the outfield. To this point in the offseason, the biggest move the Astros have made, outfield-wise, is non-tendering Chas McCormick. Unless the Astros plan to use Yordan Alvarez in left field on the regular -- which is very unlikely to be the case -- it's easy to argue that they don't have even one everyday outfielder who can be confidently projected as a league-average hitter.

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Latest On Reds’ Payroll

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The Reds roster appears to be in a holding pattern due to off-field reasons. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic report that the club has interest in players like infielder Eugenio Suárez and outfielder Austin Hays but the club is waiting for more clarity on their broadcast situation before proceeding.

Cincinnati was one of nine teams who terminated a contract with Main Street Sports earlier this month. The company has been flailing for years and was in bankruptcy for most of 2023 and 2024, back when it was known as Diamond Sports Group. The company previously ran broadcasts under the Bally Sports moniker. After emerging from bankruptcy, they changed the company name and also signed a new naming rights deal, so the channel has had the FanDuel Sports Network label more recently.

Though the company did emerge from bankruptcy, they haven’t escaped trouble. They recently missed payments to a few clubs, which is what prompted the terminations. The regional sports network (RSN) model has been eroding for years due to cord cutting and streaming.

This puts some clubs in an awkward spot. The RSN model has been a good source of revenue in the past but it has been declining. Some teams have pivoted to having MLB running their broadcasts. This allows them to offer customers a direct-to-customer streaming option with no blackouts, increasing viewership. However, that model generally leads to revenues which are not only lesser but also not guaranteed, as they are contingent on how many people sign up.

Going back to Diamond/Main Street is another option but that usually involves the club taking in less money from rights fees than before. Going into 2025, the Reds looked around for different options but ended up working out a new deal with the company in mid-January.

At the start of the current offseason, president of baseball operations Nick Krall said that the Reds would likely have a similar payroll in 2026 to what they had in 2025, though that was before the Main Street situation cropped up.

Their winter has been fairly quiet, all things considered. They re-signed Emilio Pagán to a two-year, $20MM deal, a small raise over the two-year, $16MM deal which had just expired. They also gave one-year deals worth less than $7MM each to Pierce Johnson, Caleb Ferguson, JJ Bleday and Keegan Thompson, though Thompson was lost to the Rockies via waivers.

The Bleday signing perhaps made Gavin Lux expendable, as the Reds including him in a three-team trade a few weeks later to get lefty Brock Burke. That deal saved Cincinnati a few million, as Lux is going to make $5.525MM this year compared to Burke’s $2.325MM.

RosterResource currently projects the club for a payroll of $112MM. Cot’s Baseball Contracts put them at that same number at the start of 2025. It appears nudging this year’s number up a bit won’t happen without more clarity on the TV situation. Trading Brady Singer would free up some space, as he will make $12.75MM this year, but he has stayed on the roster despite trade rumors this winter.

Suárez would appear to be the less likely of the two potential pursuits. He is coming off a 49-homer campaign and MLBTR predicted him for a three-year, $63MM contract at the beginning of the offseason. Since he has lingered unsigned this long, perhaps it’s more like he ends up with a two-year deal, but it would still be with a decent average annual value.

The Reds have Ke’Bryan Hayes at third base but Suárez is not a great defender and is 34 years old, so he could be slotted into the first base and designated hitter mix, where the Reds have Sal Stewart and Spencer Steer. Stewart had a nice debut in 2025 but only has 58 big league plate appearances under his belt. Steer is coming off a couple of average seasons with the bat and could move into the outfield mix.

Hays should be more viable. The Reds signed him last year with a $5MM guarantee on a one-year deal. He had a solid season but his earning power shouldn’t be too much higher than it was then. He made for a nice complement to their outfield with his righty bat, pairing with lefties TJ Friedl and Lux. He could serve a similar role in 2026, but with Bleday swapped in for Lux.

That would be contingent on him staying unsigned while the Reds sort out their broadcast situation. Hays has also received reported interest from the Royals, Yankees, Mets and Cardinals this winter, though most of those clubs have made other outfield moves since those reports came out.

Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images

Yankees Claim Michael Siani, Designate Kaleb Ort For Assignment

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The Yankees announced that they have claimed outfielder Michael Siani off waivers from the Dodgers. Los Angeles designated him for assignment earlier this week to open a roster spot for Kyle Tucker. New York designated right-hander Kaleb Ort for assignment as the corresponding move for Siani.

Siani, 26, is primarily a speed-and-defense outfielder. In his 160 big leagues games over the past four seasons, he has stolen 21 bases in 26 attempts. He has logged 1,014 innings on the grass, spread across all three outfield positions. He has been credited with seven Defensive Runs Saved and 17 Outs Above Average.

His offensive numbers are less appealing. In 383 big league plate appearances, he has drawn a walk just 6.3% of the time while striking out at a 27.9% clip. He has a .221/.277/.270 line, which translates to a 58 wRC+, indicating he’s been 42% worse than league average on the whole. In the minors, he has done a bit more with the bat, but not by a wide margin. Over the past three years, he has taken 938 minor league plate appearances with a 14% walk rate, 24% strikeout rate, .217/.329/.337 line and 77 wRC+.

He clearly has appeal to big league clubs, in spite of the relatively lifeless bat. He finished 2025 with the Cardinals. This offseason, he has gone to Atlanta, the Dodgers and now the Yankees via waiver claims. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he could be retained as non-roster depth, so perhaps all these clubs have been trying to be the beneficiary there.

That means the Yankees might put him back on the wire in the coming weeks. For now, he gives them a potential bench outfielder. He also has an option remaining and could be sent to Triple-A while holding onto his 40-man spot.

The Yankees lost Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger to free agency at the end of the 2025 season but have re-signed both. Those two and Aaron Judge should have three outfield spots spoken for, with Giancarlo Stanton in the designated hitter slot.

Jasson Domínguez and Spencer Jones are also in the mix but don’t have great paths to playing time right now. They both have options and could be sent to the minors. Both have also been in trade speculation since Bellinger re-signed, though the Yanks may want to hang onto them as coverage for injuries. Grisham is also slated to go back to free agency after 2026, so they may want to keep the depth until then.

Siani’s role with the club would depend on how all that shakes out and would be contingent on him hanging onto his roster spot. Marco Luciano is in a similar spot, having also been claimed off waivers this week, though he is out of options.

Ort, 34 in February, was just claimed off waivers from the Astros a couple of weeks ago. He has upper 90s velocity but hasn’t yet translated that into strong big league results. He has thrown 122 1/3 innings over the past five seasons, allowing exactly five earned runs per nine. His 23.7% strikeout rate is decent but he has also walked 10.5% of batters faced.

He is out of options, which gives him a tenuous hold on a roster spot. Houston bumped him off earlier this month and the Yanks grabbed him. It’s possible the Yankees planned to put Ort back on the wire later, as he would stick around as non-roster depth if he were to clear waivers. DFA limbo can last a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours. The Yanks could wait five days before putting him back on waivers but they could also start that process earlier if they so choose.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

White Sox To Sign Seranthony Domínguez

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The White Sox and right-hander Seranthony Domínguez are in agreement on a two-year, $20MM deal, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Passan adds that the Epitome Sports Management is expected to be the closer for the Sox. Chicago has a full 40-man roster and will need a corresponding move to make this official.

Domínguez, 31, has mostly been an effective setup guy in his career. He debuted with the Phillies in 2018 and tossed 58 innings with a 2.95 earned run average. His 9.5% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 32% of batters faced while inducing grounders on 55.7% of balls in play.

He missed most of the next three seasons due to injury, including a Tommy John surgery in 2020. Over the past four years, he has been back on track and his production has had a somewhat similar shape to his 2018 season. He has thrown at least 50 innings in each of those four campaigns. Put together, he tossed 222 1/3 innings for the Phillies, Orioles and Blue Jays with a combined ERA of 3.60, a 27% strikeout rate, 10.7% walk rate and 41.9% ground ball rate. He racked up 24 saves and 55 holds.

In 2025, he changed up his arsenal. He still featured a four-seamer and sinker in the upper 90s with a sweeper as one of his breaking balls, but he switched out his changeup and slider for a splitter and a curveball. That led to a career-high walk rate of 13.8% but his 30.3% strikeout rate was his best in a full season since his rookie debut. He became one of the top setup guys in Toronto’s bullpen, making 12 postseason appearances as part of that club’s run to the World Series. He had a 3.18 ERA in those, though with more walks than strikeouts.

It’s a bit of a volatile profile but the stuff is tantalizing and his results have mostly been good. Coming into the winter, there was a clear top tier of free agent closers which included Edwin Díaz, Devin Williams and Robert Suarez. Domínguez was in the next tier of solid setup guys, including Tyler Rogers, Luke Weaver, Brad Keller and others. MLBTR predicted Domínguez for a two-year deal worth $18MM and he has come in just a hair above that.

Domínguez was connected to clubs like the Red Sox and Twins in reported rumors but presumably had interest from other clubs as well. The White Sox are an interesting landing spot for him. The club is clearly in rebuild mode, having just finished their third straight 100-loss season. However, a few of their prospects had nice breakout seasons in 2025, including Colson Montgomery and Kyle Teel.

The Sox have responded with a somewhat active offseason. They bolstered their rotation by giving Anthony Kay $12MM over two years and Sean Newcomb $4.5MM on a one-year deal. Munetaka Murakami seemingly fell into their laps when no one else wanted to give him a long-term deal, so they signed him for $34MM over two years.

They did subtract Luis Robert Jr. this week, trading him to the Mets for Luisangel Acuña and pitching prospect Truman Pauley, but general manager Chris Getz said that the money saved from that deal would be reinvested in the team. Robert was set to make a $20MM salary this year, with a $2MM buyout on his $20MM option for 2027. Assuming the Domínguez deal is equally spread out across the two seasons, then he’ll be taking half of the money that was slated for Robert’s salary in 2026.

No one is likely to pick the White Sox to win the Central this year but the club is at least trying to make the roster more respectable, which is commendable. Perhaps there’s a scenario where things go especially well and they hover in the race for a few months. If not, all of their pickups have been for one or two years, keeping the long-term payroll wide open for whenever they do return to contention. Of the signees, anyone who plays well could be on the trade block this summer if the Sox are behind the pack.

For Domínguez, it’s possible he may have preferred a more surefire contender but landing in Chicago gives him a chance to close. As mentioned earlier, he has picked up a few saves in his career but has mostly been a setup guy. If he fares well in the ninth-inning job, perhaps that will help him land with a contender via trade and it could help his earning power when he returns to the open market two years from now.

He immediately becomes easily the most experienced arm in the bullpen. Newcomb, who will have a chance to earn a rotation job, is the only other pitcher on the roster with even three years of big league service time.

Last year, eight different pitchers recorded a save for the Sox. Jordan Leasure led the pack with seven, followed by Grant Taylor with six. Those two both have live arms but are still pretty inexperienced. They can work setup roles with Domínguez in the ninth. If the younger guys take a step forward or Domínguez ends up traded, then the roles could change over the course of a long season. It’s also possible the Sox make another move if Getz still has some powder dry.

With Domínguez now off the board, the relief market gets a bit more barren. Díaz, Suarez, Williams, Rogers, Weaver, Keller, Ryan Helsley, Emilio Pagán, Kyle Finnegan, Raisel Iglesias, Phil Maton, Pete Fairbanks, Kenley Jansen, Gregory Soto and others have all come off the board. The group of guys still available includes Danny Coulombe, Justin Wilson, Andrew Chafin, Evan Phillips, Scott Barlow and more.

Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images

Twins Notes: Peralta, Jeffers, Bullpen

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Entering the offseason, most expected the Twins to continue the July fire sale that saw them trade 11 players for a combination of salary relief, prospects and controllable young big leaguers. Instead, after finalizing the addition of three new minority stakeholders, ownership gave president of baseball operations Derek Falvey and his staff at least some modest resources to add to a stripped-down payroll. That’s resulted in free-agent pickups of Josh Bell, Victor Caratini and, most recently, Taylor Rogers. (The latter two of those signings have not yet been made official.)

Minnesota at least looked into one far more notable swing, it seems. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Twins were among the teams to show some late interest in now-former Brewers ace Freddy Peralta before Milwaukee traded him to the Mets.

Given Peralta’s status as a one-year rental, it’s clearly a surprising fit. The Twins have made some relatively small additions but don’t stand as a clear contender, even in a perennially weak AL Central division. That said, Peralta’s $8MM salary would fit into even their stripped-down budget, and the Twins have a plethora of MLB-ready young arms as well as a glut of young outfielders who have either already made their MLB debut or are on the cusp of MLB readiness. Acquiring Peralta would’ve boosted their chances in the Central. Peralta could’ve been shopped again at the deadline had the season not gone their way, and he’s a clear qualifying offer recipient who’d net a team a compensatory pick upon rejecting.

It’s not clear how aggressively Minnesota pursued the idea, but it’s of at least minor note that they even looked into the possibility. The trade market has been largely picked over, particularly with MacKenzie Gore coming off the board in yesterday’s trade with the Rangers, but even faint Peralta interest suggests that the Twins could look into other moves on the buyers’ side of the trade spectrum.

Further reinforcing the idea that subsequent moves will be geared toward improving, catcher Ryan Jeffers said in a recent appearance on the Inside Twins show (video link) that management kept him apprised of how things were developing throughout their pursuit of Caratini. At first glance, the Caratini signing would seem to make Jeffers, a free agent next winter, a possible trade candidate. Jeffers suggests that management indicated otherwise to him.

“Before all that happened, I had conversations [with management telling me] ’Hey, this might happen,’ and just reassuring me that my role as the guy who’s going to catch 100-plus games is not going to change,” Jeffers told host John Vittas. I’m excited to go back there and really get a full season in. Throughout my career, I’ve split time with a lot of guys, and I’m excited to catch a full workload and also be joined by a guy (Caratini) who’s been in the game for eight-plus years and has a lot of experience, has won a lot of games and has been with some organizations that have played really good baseball.”

Jeffers, 28, has quietly been one of the better-hitting catchers in the league over the past three seasons, hitting a combined .254/.338/.434 (117 wRC+) in 1264 plate appearances. A fair portion of that time has come at designated hitter while others handle the work behind the plate — veterans Christian Vazquez and Mitch Garver among them. Jeffers has never caught more than 88 games in a season, but the Twins have indeed signaled that the plan for him is to be behind the plate more often in 2026.

Caratini, of course, still figures to see plenty of time behind the plate. Even if the plan is for Jeffers to catch 100 to 110 games, that’d leave ample time at catcher for Caratini and Alex Jackson, who’s also on the 40-man and out of minor league options. Caratini has experience at first base and could log some DH reps himself, and he provides a nice fallback for the Twins in 2027 if Jeffers departs as a free agent. In that instance, Caratini could help to serve as a bridge to top prospect Eduardo Tait, whom the Twins acquired in last summer’s Jhoan Duran blockbuster with the Phillies.

While the Twins might not be making a full-fledged push for contention — they’re still going to end up with payroll that’s more than $20MM shy of last year’s $135MM mark, in all likelihood — it sounds as though there will still be some additions on the horizon. Rogers adds a veteran arm to the bullpen, but there’s still room for more additions. Rogers, Cole Sands, Justin Topa and Kody Funderburk are the only Minnesota relievers with even one year of major league service time.

Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune suggests that Rogers could be the first of multiple bullpen additions in the near future. Falvey told Nightengale and others that the Twins have been talking with multiple relievers. “We’re close to being able to add some guys that we think will fill out some experience in that group, but we’re going to need some young guys to step up,” Falvey said.

The Twins had at least some contact with right-hander Seranthony Dominguez before he landed with the White Sox on a two-year deal today. The open nature of their bullpen mix would make them an appealing destination for rebound candidates seeking opportunity at late-inning spots. Speculatively speaking, names like Michael Kopech, Liam Hendriks, Jose Leclerc and Drew Smith could see an unsettled Twins bullpen as an appealing opportunity where they’ll be afforded some leash to get back on track after recent injury troubles. Regardless of specific targets, it seems quite likely that Rogers won’t be the lone bullpen addition the Twins make between now and Opening Day.

Samad Taylor Elects Free Agency

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The Mariners announced that infielder/outfielder Samad Taylor has cleared outright waivers and elected free agency. He was designated for assignment last week when Seattle acquired right-hander Yosver Zulueta. Taylor had a previous career outright, which gave him the right to head to the open market this time.

Taylor, 27, has a small and unimpressive big league track record. He has appeared in 83 games over the past three seasons, split between the Royals and Mariners. He has stepped to the plate 83 times and produced a .205/.272/.260 line. However, he stole eight bases in that time without getting caught and has lined up defensively at second base, third base and all three outfield slots.

His offense has been better in the minors. Over the past four years, he has stepped to the plate 1,950 times at the Triple-A level. His 21.8% strikeout rate in that sample is fairly average but his 12.1% walk rate is quite strong. He has a combined .281/.373/.432 line in that stretch for a 108 wRC+. His base-stealing abilities have also been demonstrated more there, with 160 swipes in 200 attempts.

There’s appeal in a utility guy with wheels and a good eye at the plate but it seems that clubs deem Taylor just shy of rosterability. The Mariners passed him through outright waivers almost exactly one year ago, on January 21st of 2025. He was added back to the roster in April but spent most of the year on optional assignment. He exhausted his final option in the process, making it even harder for him to hold a roster spot.

Now that he has been outrighted a second time, he has the right to elect free agency. He has exercised that right and heads to the open market for the first time. Since he just cleared waivers, it can be assumed no club is willing to give him a 40-man spot. He will therefore be looking at minor league offers, with pitchers and catchers reporting in just over two weeks.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images

Mets Notes: Peralta, Senga, Benge

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The Mets acquired right-hander Freddy Peralta from the Brewers earlier this week, which led to immediate speculation about his new club potentially pursuing an extension. That probably won’t happen right away, however. Tim Britton and Will Sammon of The Athletic reported earlier this week that the club plans to give Peralta some time to get comfortable with his new club. President of baseball operations David Stearns later addressed the media via videoconference and his comments matched that reporting.

“I’m not going to speculate on that Day 1 here,” Stearns said of the extension possibility, per Jorge Castillo of ESPN. “We’ll let Freddy get acclimated to the organization. And, you know, any conversations that we may have or have in the future I think we’re going to do our best to keep private and not talk about publicly.”

The reason Peralta was traded away from Milwaukee is that the Brewers generally don’t spend at a level to keep their best players. Guys like Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes and Devin Williams have all been traded in recent years as they reached free agency. Peralta ended up going down the same road but his new club has far deeper pockets than his previous team.

Stearns is very familiar with Peralta and is clearly fond of him. He already signed him to an extension once, when both were with the Brewers back in 2020. This week, Stearns surrendered a couple of notable prospects by sending Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat to Milwaukee in order to reunite with Peralta and acquire Tobias Myers.

Now that Stearns has access to more financial resources, he would presumably love to get Peralta to sign on the dotted line again. Based on this week’s scuttlebutt, it seems there won’t be a rush to get that done. Spring training is a common time for extension talks to take place, so maybe more news will trickle out in the next couple of months. In-season extensions are rare but not totally unprecedented. If Peralta gets to the end of 2026 healthy and without a deal in place, he would be a lock to receive and reject a qualifying offer on his way to free agency.

Stearns also addressed a couple of other players on the roster in a sit-down with team reporter Andy Martino. In that interview, Stearns says that outfield prospect Carson Benge still has a chance to break camp with the team even after the Luis Robert Jr. acquisition and that Kodai Senga is expected to be in the rotation.

Back in November, Stearns said that Benge would have a chance to make the team. Not long after making those statements, the Mets opened up a big hole in their outfield by trading away Brandon Nimmo for second baseman Marcus Semien. They then made a spirited effort to sign Kyle Tucker, offering him a four-year deal with a heavy average annual value, but he accepted a similar offer from the Dodgers. The Mets then pivoted and acquired Robert from the White Sox via trade.

After the shuffle, there’s still a path for Benge. The Mets currently project to have Juan Soto in right and Robert in center. At the moment, Benge would seemingly be battling with Tyrone Taylor for the job in left. Taylor is a light hitter but a strong defender, so he would ideally be pushed into a fourth outfielder role by Benge taking the left field job. And given Robert’s history, there’s a decent chance of Taylor ending up getting regular playing time in center as well.

Benge has no major league experience yet and isn’t on the 40-man roster. His Triple-A work is also short and unimpressive, though he was perhaps unlucky there. He began last year at High-A and tore through that level as well as Double-A, slashing a combined .308/.413/.513 for a 174 wRC+ at those two stops while playing all three outfield positions. He finished his 2025 with a .178/.272/.311 slash at Triple-A, though that was in a tiny sample of 103 plate appearances, during which he had a .188 batting average on balls in play.

The Mets are showing a good amount of faith in Benge by leaving a door open for him, even after he put up those rough numbers in Triple-A. If he doesn’t perform in the spring, they have a few fallback options in addition to Taylor. Brett Baty no longer has a position after the Bo Bichette signing and could end up out in left field. Vidal Bruján and Jared Young are infielder/outfielders on the roster. Cristian Pache and Ji Hwan Bae are non-roster options. The Mets may add to that group but it may be more depth additions if they want Benge to still have a path.

As for Senga, he looked dominant in 2023 when he posted a 2.98 earned run average but hasn’t been as much of a sure thing since then. He missed most of 2024 due to injury. Last year, he struggled enough to get optioned to the minors in September. He then popped up in some trade rumors this offseason but is still on the roster. Assuming Stearns is being forthright in his recent comments, Senga will have a rotation job when the season begins.

As of now, the rotation candidates include Peralta, Nolan McLean, David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Sean Manaea and Senga. McLean still has options but it would be quite surprising if the Mets sent him down, given how he dominated in his first eight big league starts. If everyone stays healthy, then the Mets may need to run a six-man rotation or bump someone to the bullpen.

Holmes was a reliever prior to last year and could return to that role but he had a pretty good season as a starter, posting a 3.53 ERA. Manaea and Peterson have occasionally been bumped to long relief roles and could perhaps do so again. A six-man rotation would keep all the starters a bit more fresh but would leave the Mets with a seven-man bullpen, given the 13-pitcher roster limit.

This would only really be an issue for as long as everyone is healthy, which doesn’t happen very often in today’s game. If multiple injuries arise, Myers, Jonah Tong, Christian Scott and others are on the roster and should be ready to step up.

Photo courtesy of Michael McLoone, Imagn Images

Max Scherzer Could Wait To Sign After Opening Day

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Future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer came within a few outs of winning his third career World Series ring before his Blue Jays fell to the Dodgers back in November, and with the end of the 2025 season came Scherzer’s third foray into free agency over the past five years. Now 41 and staring down his 42nd birthday this coming July, Scherzer is no longer the superstar ace he once was. Even so, the right-hander still believes he can help a team in the right circumstances. The right-hander told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic recently that, while he’s healthy and ready to sign if the right situation comes along, he would be willing to sit out the beginning of the season and sign after Opening Day if it meant finding his way onto a preferred team.

Rosenthal made clear that Scherzer did not reveal what teams he would prefer to play for, but it’s easy to imagine that Scherzer will prioritize playing for a team that he believes has a legitimate shot to win a World Series this year as he enters the twilight of his career. While waiting to sign is always risky, Scherzer could make himself a valuable asset to contending teams in need of depth at some point this year in the event that he does remain unsigned after Opening Day. Rosenthal compares Roger Clemens’s final season in the majors, when he famously held off on signing until he was able to land a deal with the Yankees in early May. A more recent player who took a similar approach was righty reliever David Robertson, who was entering his age-40 season last year and held off on signing anywhere until the second half, when he landed with the Phillies and made 20 appearances down the stretch to solidify their bullpen.

Both of those comparisons demonstrate what teams should expect from Scherzer at this point. Clemens threw 99 innings for the Yankees in his age-44 campaign, pitching to a 4.18 ERA with a 4.14 FIP. That was the fifth-highest ERA of his storied, 24-year career. Likewise, Robertson turned in a decent but unspectacular 4.08 ERA and 4.95 FIP in his time with Philadelphia last season. In Scherzer’s case, the righty is coming off 17 starts for the Blue Jays where he at times looked like his typical dominant self and in other moments looked like one would expect a pitcher in his early 40s with nearly 3000 innings of mileage on his arm to look. That all added up to a 5.17 ERA and a 4.99 FIP, though he managed to turn things up a notch in the playoffs and muster a 3.77 ERA across three starts against the Mariners and Dodgers.

While Scherzer has indicated a willingness to hold out for the right fit, that doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t be able to find a match before Spring Training begins next month. Looking exclusively at teams that made the playoffs last year, the Brewers just traded Freddy Peralta and surely wouldn’t mind a veteran innings eater to pair with Brandon Woodruff as a leader for their young staff. The Padres could certainly squeeze Scherzer into their rotation and push JP Sears into a depth role. The Phillies figure to start the season with both swing man Taijuan Walker and prospect Andrew Painter in the rotation. The Tigers are reportedly looking for a back-end starter and could represent a fun homecoming for Scherzer, who won his first Cy Young award with the club. Other teams like the Marlins and Athletics could also surely benefit from adding Scherzer, but those clubs might not be clear enough contenders on paper to intrigue the veteran hurler.

The Opener: Nationals, Trade Market, Fan Events

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:

1. Will the Nationals sell off more pieces?

The big news around baseball yesterday was the Nationals swinging a trade that sent star lefty MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers in exchange for a package of five prospects headlined by Texas’s 2025 first-rounder, infielder Gavin Fien. President of baseball operations Paul Toboni hasn’t been shy about the fact that the team remains in a rebuilding period after five years near the bottom of the standings under GM Mike Rizzo, and the deal indicates Toboni doesn’t see things turning around in the next two years. Reporting has indicated that the team has also fielded offers for infielder CJ Abrams and center fielder Jacob Young. Abrams has three years of team control remaining, while Young has four. Nats fans will surely be watching the trade market for those players with significant interest in the run-up to Opening Day, as Toboni’s decision on whether or not to hold a player like Young could serve as a sign for just how long he expects the team to remain out of contention.

2. Who’s left on the trade market?

Gore was one of the most obvious trade candidates of the offseason, and with both him and Freddy Peralta off the board the pickings are starting to get slim when it comes to pitchers teams can look to trade for. The Royals could make someone like Kris Bubic available and perhaps the Red Sox would listen on some of their depth options like Patrick Sandoval, but the majority of the smoke on the trade market figures to center around position players at this point. Brendan Donovan has been the big name on that front, and the Cardinals still seem more likely than not to move him before Spring Training given persistent interest from teams like the Giants and Mariners. Whispers of the fit between Isaac Paredes and the Red Sox don’t seem likely to go away until Boston resolves the hole in their infield, and the possibility the Cubs trade a player from their infield like Nico Hoerner or Matt Shaw after Alex Bregman’s arrival created a logjam remains very intriguing as well. Meanwhile, Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu have seen their names in the Boston rumor mill for years at this point. Who will be the next to move?

3. Fan events this weekend:

While Spring Training is still a few weeks away, teams around the game have started holding their annual offseason events to hype fans up for the upcoming season. The Twins, Astros, Rockies, and Pirates are all hosting fan events this weekend, with details on the linked pages courtesy of MLB.com. The Rangers were set to host one as well, but the team announced that the event will be cancelled in light of the weekend’s inclement weather forecast. The Orioles, meanwhile, announced that Saturday’s events will be cancelled while today’s events will be limited in scope as a result of the coming weather. Fans planning to attend any of these events should keep a close eye on the team’s respective event pages (and club social media accounts) in the run-up to the event to stay updated in case inclement weather causes further cancellations.

Rangers Acquire MacKenzie Gore

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The Nationals have sent left-hander MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers for a package of five prospects, per announcements from both clubs. The five players are shortstop Gavin Fien, right-hander Alejandro Rosario, first baseman/outfielder Abimelec Ortiz, infielder Devin Fitz-Gerald and outfielder Yeremy Cabrera. Gore and Ortiz were the only players with 40-man spots, so the deal is 40-man neutral and no corresponding moves were required.

Gore, 27, has been one of the more obvious trade candidates of this offseason. Back at the start of November, MLBTR’s list of the top trade candidates of the winter had him in the #1 spot. That was partly due to Gore’s appeal as a potential budding ace and also the team’s situation.

The Nationals have been stuck in a rebuild for quite a while now. They won the World Series in 2019 but haven’t finished above .500 since then. They traded players like Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Juan Soto in 2021 and 2022. It was hoped that Washington could be back to relevance by now but the rebuild stalled out. Things dragged to such a degree that heads rolled. President of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez were both fired during last season.

Paul Toboni, previously an assistant general manager with Boston, was hired to replace Rizzo as the front office leader. The general expectation in the industry is that he will get some time to turn the ship around and get the Nats into contention again, as opposed to having the pressure of trying to win immediately. Gore is only two years away from free agency, making him a trade candidate in those circumstances. As a Boras Corporation client, a contract extension was probably going to be hard to put together.

On top of all that, there’s Gore’s track record and affordability. He was once a top prospect, getting selected third overall by the Pades in 2017. He was flipped to the Nats as part of the aforementioned Soto trade. Gore hasn’t quite lived up to his potential yet, with a 4.19 earned run average in 532 1/3 innings. However, he looked on the verge of a huge breakout for most of 2025.

Last year, Gore made 19 starts for the Nats through the All-Star break. He logged 110 1/3 innings in those with a 3.02 ERA. His 7.7% walk rate was a bit better than average and his 30.5% strikeout rate was quite strong. That strikeout rate was behind just four other qualified pitchers in baseball at that time. Tarik Skubal led the pack at 33.4%, followed by Zack Wheeler, Garrett Crochet and Hunter Brown.

Unfortunately, Gore wasn’t able to stick the landing. He went on the injured list at the end of August due to shoulder inflammation. He was reinstated about two weeks later but then returned to the IL late in September due to a right ankle impingement. Around those IL stints, he tossed 49 1/3 innings with a 6.75 ERA. That bumped his season-long ERA to 4.17.

Despite the poor finish, Gore remained an enticing player. The strong run to the All-Star break showed his ceiling and it’s an appealing arsenal. He averaged over 95 miles per hour with his four-seamer last year while mixing in a curveball, slider, cutter and changeup. He’s also quite affordable. He’s going into his second of three arbitration seasons and will be making $5.6MM this year. He’ll be due another raise in 2027 before he’s slated to reach free agency.

The trade market for starting pitching has been robust this winter. The Orioles sent four prospects and a draft pick to the Rays for three years of Shane Baz. The Cubs sent three players, including their top prospect, to the Marlins for three years of Edward Cabrera. Last night, the Mets sent two of their top prospects to the Brewers for one year of Freddy Peralta.

Gore’s track record of success isn’t quite as long as Peralta’s but Gore offers an extra year of control. Baz and Cabrera offered one extra year compared to Gore but haven’t shown the same kind of ace upside and both have checkered injury histories. Given the difficulty in evaluating the future outcomes of prospects, it’s impossible to say which package will provide the most long-term value.

For the Rangers, it’s understandable that they would prefer the trade route to free agency this winter, as there have been signs that money is tight. The team and manager Bruce Bochy parted ways at the end of last year with the club’s financial uncertainty cited as playing a role in that break-up. Pitching coach Mike Maddux departed for the Angels, with some suggestion that may have been financially motivated as well.

In terms of the roster, the Rangers traded three years of Marcus Semien to get five years of Brandon Nimmo, with Nimmo making less annually. Various reports from December suggested that the club couldn’t even afford mid-market free agents like J.T. Realmuto or Luis Arráez.

But upgrading the rotation was still on the to-do list. The club saw Merrill Kelly, Jon Gray, Patrick Corbin and Tyler Mahle all depart via free agency at season’s end. They went into the winter with a strong one-two of Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, but a drop-off after that. Jack Leiter seemed to earn himself a rotation job with a 3.86 ERA last year but his strikeout and walk rates were only average-ish. Jacob Latz had a good season in a swing role but hasn’t been a full-time big league starter yet. Kumar Rocker is a former top prospect but hasn’t put it together in the majors yet.

Gore immediately upgrades the group, especially if he can get back to his first-half performance from 2025. He slots into the front three with deGrom and Eovaldi, bumps Leiter to a back-end role for now and perhaps creates a competition for a fifth spot between Latz, Rocker and others. There is a cliff over the horizon as Eovaldi and Gore are both slated for free agency after 2027. deGrom’s deal has a club option for 2028, with the value conditional on Cy Young voting and inning tallies, though he’ll be 40 by then. But for the next two years, the rotation has a strong core three.

To get that rotation upgrade while avoiding the free agent market, the Rangers have had to part with a notable pile of prospects. Fien appears to be the headliner here. The Rangers just took him 12th overall in the 2025 draft. They gave him a $4.8MM bonus to get him to forgo a commitment to the University of Texas. Still just 18, turning 19 in March, he’s a long-term play.

Baseball America lists him as the #3 prospect in the Texas system. He gets high praise for his offense but with bigger questions about his defense. Most evaluators expect him to be moved off shortstop in the long run, with third base or the outfield corners potential outcomes.

Kiley McDaniel of ESPN writes that the Red Sox really wanted Fien in last year’s draft but they didn’t pick until 15th, three spots behind Texas. Toboni was running Boston’s draft as assistant general manager at the time. Now that he is running his own front office, he apparently made Fien a priority and has used Gore as a means of getting his guy.

Fitz-Gerald, Rosario and Cabrera are a few spots behind Fien on BA’s list, coming in at #8, #13 and #14 respectively. Fitz-Gerald is a 20-year-old infielder who was drafted in the fifth round in 2024. He got into 41 games between the Complex League and Single-A last year, slashing .302/.428/.482. A left shoulder strain prevented him from taking on a bigger workload. He seems to do a decent amount of stuff well without a standout tool. BA suggests a future as a multi-positional player with a bit of pop and speed.

Rosario, 24, was a fifth-round pick in 2023. He had a strong season in 2024, posting a 2.24 ERA between Single-A and High-A, but has been on the shelf since then. He missed 2025 due to an elbow injury and is soon set to undergo Tommy John surgery, so he’ll miss the entire 2026 season as well. His strong 2024 campaign made him a top 100 prospect, with BA having him at #49 going into 2025, but he’ll be a long-term question mark after two entirely missed seasons. He’ll be Rule 5 eligible this coming December.

Cabrera, 20, was an international signing out of the Dominican Republic. He spent last year in Single-A with a strong walk and strikeout profile but only eight home runs. He’s considered a strong defender in the outfield and he stole 43 bases last year.

Ortiz, 24 next month, has the least prospect hype of this group but is the one closest to impacting the major league club. He split last year between Double-A and Triple-A, hitting 25 home runs and walking in 11.7% of his plate appearances. He had a combined line of .257/.356/.479 and a 124 wRC+. He was added to the Texas 40-man roster a couple of months ago to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

Though his numbers in the minors look good on the surface, he has a propensity to chase breaking balls. Evaluators fear that will limit him to being a platoon bat in the majors. He’s also not a strong defender or baserunner, so he needs to hit to carry the profile. Washington has a pretty wide open first base/designated hitter mix, so he can force his way in there if he hits. He also has three option years and can be kept in the minors if he doesn’t.

With four of the five players being long-term plays, it would appear that Washington is just trying to grab whichever players it considers the most talented, as opposed to trying to rush a move towards contending in the near term. Perhaps that was isolated to this deal of their biggest trade chip but it could perhaps indicate that the club is generally operating with a long lens. For the Rangers, losing most of these players won’t hurt them in the short term but it does cut into the system more broadly. As of August, BA ranked them 26th in the league in terms of overall system talent.

CJ Abrams has also been floated as a trade candidate for Washington but with less certainty than Gore as he has three years of club control remaining. The Nats could now pivot to marketing him but his stock is also down a bit due to a poor finish to his most recent season, and in 2024 as well. Perhaps they will hold him for another season to see if he can raise his trade value.

It is clearly an offseason about loading up on future talent for the Nats. They also traded reliever Jose A. Ferrer to the Mariners for catcher Harry Ford and right-hander Isaac Lyon. This deal adds five more intriguing young players to the pipeline.

It also opens up more rotation chances for their other pitchers. As of now, they project to have Cade Cavalli, Foster Griffin, Josiah Gray, Brad Lord, Jake Irvin and Mitchell Parker in the mix for starts. Arms like Jake Eder, Luis Perales, Riley Cornelio and Andrew Alvarez will be looking to push in there as well. Perhaps the Gore deal with be followed by the Nats signing a veteran to eat some innings but they could also leave space for the guys in that group.

Due to Gore’s appeal, he reportedly drew interest from half the teams in the league. Some of those clubs moved on to other trade candidates or signed free agents. For those still on the hunt for starting pitching, the market is drying up but they may still have options. As mentioned, a lot of the trade candidates have already changed hands. The Red Sox may have enough depth after their Ranger Suárez signing to flip someone else. The Royals may be willing to part with someone. Free agency still has Framber Valdez, Zac Gallen, Chris Bassitt and a few others.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported Gore was headed to Texas. Jeff Passan of ESPN first laid out the five-for-one framework. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News first reported Fien’s inclusion. Spencer Nusbaum of The Washington Post first mentioned Rosario. Grant then reported Ortiz and Fitz-Gerald, followed by Andrew Golden of The Washington Post adding Cabrera.

Photos courtesy of Brett Davis, Eric Hartline, Kevin Jairaj, Joe Camporeale, Imagn Images

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