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Pirates To Designate Jack Suwinski For Assignment

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The Pirates are designating outfielder Jack Suwinski for assignment, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The 27-year-old has spent parts of the last four big-league seasons with the club. Pittsburgh has yet to officially announce the move.

As Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette pointed out this morning, the Pirates need to clear a 40-man roster spot for the addition of Marcell Ozuna. The new DH was practicing with the team, while Suwinski was not with the rest of the position players during today’s Spring Training activities.

More to come…

Padres To Sign Ty France To Minor League Deal

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The Padres are expected to sign first baseman Ty France to a minor league deal, reports Dennis Lin of The Athletic. The agreement includes an invitation to MLB Spring Training. France spent time in the big leagues with the Twins and the Blue Jays last season. The veteran infielder is a client of Equity Baseball.

France had interest from multiple teams, but ultimately landed back in San Diego, where it all started. The 31-year-old Southern California native was selected by the club in the 2015 draft. France debuted for the Padres in 2019, but was dealt to the Mariners the following season. He was part of the swap that netted Seattle’s future closer Andres Munoz. Catcher Austin Nola headlined the package that went back to San Diego.

The Padres add another right-handed bat to factor into the first base/DH mix that includes Miguel Andujar and Nick Castellanos. Gavin Sheets is slated to be San Diego’s primary first baseman. The lefty swinger posted an underwhelming .669 OPS against same-handed pitching last season.

More to come…

Padres Sign A.J. Preller To Multi-Year Extension

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The Padres and president of baseball operations A.J. Preller have agreed to a multi-year contract extension, per a team announcement. The exact terms of Preller’s new deal are not yet known.

Preller, 48, was entering the final year of his contract in 2026 but now figures to continue his work at the helm in San Diego for the foreseeable future. He began his tenure with the Padres late in the 2014 season, and while it took several years for him to pull the organization out of the basement of the National League they’ve become one of the NL’s premiere teams during the 2020s. The team has gone to the playoffs four times in the last six seasons, with a 470-400 record during that time that’s good for a .540 winning percentage. The Padres have only made it to the NLCS once in that timeframe, but it’s still undeniably the most successful stretch in franchise history given that the organization had just five postseason appearances under its belt in the 45 years it existed prior to Preller joining the team.

After more than a decade leading the Padres, Preller has become well-known among fans all across baseball as the league’s most free-wheeling executive. He pilots the Padres with dynamic energy, frequently making the sort of aggressive trades that most front office leaders around the game would shy away from. The results, in terms of stars brought into the fold, have spoken for themselves. In recent years, Preller has traded for Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Josh Hader, Joe Musgrove, Mason Miller, Dylan Cease, and Juan Soto at the height of their careers in order to augment a lineup built around likely future Hall of Famer Manny Machado and homegrown star Fernando Tatis Jr.

Impressive as Preller’s work to turn the Padres franchise into one of the premiere organizations in the majors has been, it’s not been without flaws. Extensions for players like Machado, Tatis, Darvish, Musgrove, and Jake Cronenworth (as well as the free agent deal signed by Xander Bogaerts) have contributed to a bogged-down payroll that has limited the team’s flexibility in recent seasons and forced some creative moves such as trading away Soto ahead of his final year under team control, as well as signing players like Nick Pivetta and Michael King to unorthodox contracts in order to fill out the rotation. Preller and his front office have managed to pull off the balancing act of keeping the team’s spending under control without trading away Tatis or another major asset under long-term club control from the big league club so far.

It’s a task that figures to only get more difficult as time goes on. For now, though, Preller has managed to keep his house of cards in San Diego from collapsing well enough to earn himself the opportunity to continue the work, and it’s not terribly hard to see why ownership would have confidence in his abilities. Preller’s penchant for trading away top prospects (including CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, James Wood, and Leo De Vries) has been compensated for by a knack for consistently churning out high-rated prospects, a few of which (such as Tatis and Jackson Merrill) have even made their way to the majors as impactful pieces of the club. Preller has also developed a knack for putting together talented bullpens stocked with high-end talent. Even after losing players like Hader and Robert Suarez, the team can still field an elite relief corps thanks to Miller, Adrian Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam, and others.

Notably, the vote of confidence Preller is receiving from ownership comes at a time when the team is in the midst of a transition at its highest levels. Longtime owner Peter Seidler abruptly passed away from cancer back in 2023, and since then the team has been under the control of a variety of Seidler’s family members and associates are various points in time. After some internal drama regarding the future of the franchise, things appear to be headed towards a potential sale of the franchise as the Seidler family announced that they’re exploring that possibility back in November. It’s unclear whether a sale will come to fruition at all, much less if progress is being made on that front. With that said, if a sale were to occur in the next couple of years, this extension ensures that Preller will remain in place to help guide the team through that transition on the field and provide some stability to the hypothetical new ownership group as they get settled in.

The Opener: Full Squad Workouts, Braves, Marlins

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Full Squad Workouts:

Spring Training is kicking into full gear, and yesterday saw the first handful of teams have full squad workouts yesterday. That continues today with additional teams. In Arizona’s Cactus League, the A’s, Cubs, Reds, Royals, and Angels all have their position players reporting today. Meanwhile, the Grapefruit League in Florida will host full squad workouts for the Orioles, Astros, Marlins, Twins, Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Pirates, Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Nationals today. Alex Bregman (Cubs), Pete Alonso (Orioles), Bo Bichette (Mets), Kazuma Okamoto (Blue Jays), Eugenio Suarez (Reds), Jeff McNeil (A’s), Isaac Collins (Royals), and Ryan O’Hearn (Pirates) are among a large number of players suiting up for new teams for the first time today.

2. Will the Braves add a starter?

The latest news out of Atlanta is not exactly encouraging, as right-hander Hurston Waldrep is battling elbow soreness and is scheduled to meet with surgeon Dr. Keith Meister later today. It’s unclear exactly how long Waldrep will be sidelined, and an MRI revealed no structural damage, but with Spencer Schwellenbach already on the 60-day injured list there’s a great deal of urgency for the Braves to put together some depth for their rotation, lest they enter the season already leaning on depth pieces like Bryce Elder and Martin Perez. Fortunately for them, players like Lucas Giolito, Zack Littell, and Max Scherzer remain available in free agency who could potentially help stabilize things in the team’s rotation. Of course, Alex Anthopoulos and his front office have long been known to buck expectations, and it’s certainly possible they could instead look to pivot to the trade market or find another creative solution to their rotation conundrum.

3. Bendix, Sherman to speak at Marlins camp:

As Spring Training kicks off, Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix and club owner Bruce Sherman are both expected to speak to the media this morning, as noted by Isaac Azout of Fish On First. Those comments from Bendix and Sherman will come on the heels of a busy offseason for the Marlins where they traded away Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers while also adding Pete Fairbanks to the bullpen, Chris Paddack to the rotation, and Owen Caissie to the lineup. It’s not hard to see why fans might view that as more subtraction than addition, at least when it comes to the big league club, though a rotation of Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, Braxton Garrett, Max Meyer, and Paddack still figures to be a very impressive one headed into the 2026 campaign, Fairbanks is a proven and decorated closer for the bullpen, and Caissie could certainly develop into a middle of the order, impact bat for the club. Bendix and Sherman could offer additional insight into the team’s internal expectations and plans for the remainder of the spring this morning.

Diamondbacks Notes: Kendrick, Trades, Kelly, Locklear

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As per RosterResource’s estimates, the Diamondbacks spent around $191.3MM on payroll in 2025, which translated to a $214.8MM luxury tax number.  The Snakes are currently projected for a $195.2MM payroll and a $223.7MM tax figure, as team managing general partner Ken Kendrick’s statement from last September that his club “will not be spending at the same level” has ended up being incorrect.

Kendrick addressed this topic when speaking with the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro and other reporters at the Diamondbacks’ spring camp, saying simply that “well, sometimes you surprise yourself in life in what you do.”  The D’Backs are set for their third consecutive payroll increase since the team won the NL pennant in 2023, and while they haven’t since returned to the postseason, Kendrick remains intent on keeping the team in position to contend.

“I want us to be successful.  I want our fans to feel that we are committed to investing every dollar possible and putting the best team we can put together on the field….I don’t want to overplay it, but, to a degree, we’re in a partnership with the fans,” Kendrick said.  “That’s the way I see what we do.  We’re in a partnership with our fans. They generate revenue by buying tickets and coming to ball games and supporting us.  And as a good partner, we need to take the money they spend and invest it wisely, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

The spending may not be over, since Kendrick said “we have some room beyond where we are, but we don’t have a ton of room….Do we have the possibility of adding from the present moment?  Yeah, possibly.  Not highly likely of significance, but we have some room to add without getting into a tax problem.”

The D’backs are still well shy of the $244MM luxury tax threshold, though their current $223.7MM figure is as close as the organization has ever been to exceeding the tax line.  While Kendrick has obviously okayed larger expenditures already, it is probably safe to assume that $244MM is Arizona’s budget ceiling, though the team has some room to maneuver in terms of trade deadline upgrades.

Expanding the payroll has reportedly put the D’Backs into the red, as Piecoro hears from sources that the club lost around $30MM in 2025.  It is always a source of conjecture about how much or little any MLB team (apart from the Braves, who are publicly owned) is really making given all of the accounting that goes into a club’s many revenues streams, yet even if the Diamondbacks did operate at a loss, it hasn’t stopped Kendrick from continuing to spend on a roster he believes is capable of big things.  Further spending to ensure a more competitive team may well be the most logical way of getting the team back into the black, as a winning product leads to higher attendance, higher TV ratings, and extra games in the form of playoff contests.

More moves could come before Opening Day, albeit on a lower spending scale.  John Gambadoro of 98.7 Arizona Sports writes that the D’Backs are looking to trade a prospect for a utilityman type of player.  This new addition would replace the recently-traded Blaze Alexander as a multi-position asset coming off the Diamondbacks’ bench.  While an exact match for Alexander may not be a priority, Alexander is a right-handed hitter who saw time as second base, third base, shortstop, left field, and center field over his two seasons in the desert.

Most of Arizona’s offseason spending was invested in two familiar faces.  Zac Gallen spent most of the winter on the free agent market after rejecting Arizona’s qualifying offer, but this past week returned to the fold on a one-year, $22.025MM deal that technically matches the value of the QO, though $14MM of the money is deferred.  After the D’Backs traded Merrill Kelly to the Rangers at the trade deadline, Kelly was brought back in December on a two-year deal worth $40MM in guaranteed money, with a vesting option covering the 2028 season.

Soon after Kelly re-signed, reports emerged that a team on the West Coast made Kelly a three-year offer worth over $50MM, and that the Padres were one of Kelly’s prime suitors.  Speaking with Piecoro and other media today, Kelly said the Padres had a three-year deal on the table, though he didn’t confirm the dollar figure.  Beyond whatever numbers were involved, Kelly said his decision was based in large part on his family.  It may well be that the Kelly clan simply preferred returning to the familiar routine of living and playing in Arizona, and Kelly himself said last summer amidst trade speculation that he would be open to re-signing with the Snakes in free agency.

Turning to an injury update, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Alex Weiner of 98.7 Arizona Sports) that first baseman Tyler Locklear isn’t expected back until sometime around mid-May or possibly early June.  Locklear underwent twin surgeries to fix both a labrum problem in his left shoulder and a ligament tear in his left elbow.  There was some hope Locklear would be ready to return to the Diamondbacks’ lineup at some point in April, though today’s news puts more of a specific timeline in place.

Locklear will definitely start the season on at least the 10-day injured list, and a move to the 60-day IL would occur if the D’Backs are certain Locklear won’t be ready by the end of May.  The team can continue to monitor his progress throughout Spring Training and in April with no penalty, as a shift to the 60-day IL would still keep Locklear’s placement date as Opening Day.

Over 47 games and 165 career plate appearances with the Mariners and Diamondbacks, Locklear has hit just .169/.255/.277 against Major League pitching.  His impressive minor league numbers hint at more potential, though once he does get healthy, Locklear’s potential spot as a platoon partner with Pavin Smith at first base has now been filled by Carlos Santana.  Since Arizona doesn’t have a set DH, there is room for Locklear to potentially earn some at-bats down the road, but for the next three months, his only priority is completing his rehab.

MLBTR Chat Transcript

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Mark P

  • It’s a somewhat late-night edition of the MLBTR chat, at least in my time zone. Still, it’s never too late to talk some baseball! Let’s open up the question box….

Padres

  • German Marquez?  Really?  Are they really that cash strapped to dive this deep into the dumpster?

Mark P

  • Marquez is still relatively young, just a few days away from his 31st birthday.  The Padres have seen plenty of Marquez after facing him for so many years in the NL West, and might very well see some untapped potential now that Marquez is out of Colorado.

    For a low-cost flier, it’s a decent enough risk for a team that needs rotation depth.

Sean

  • Lars Nootbaar makes too much sense for at least a half dozen competitors. Is a May trade a legit possibility once health is proven?

Mark P

  • Probably closer to the trade deadline, just so the Cards have more time to gauge offers.  An earlier trade wouldn’t be out of the question since Nootbaar has had some suitors in the past, so STL might have some idea of what certain teams are willing to give up in return

Tim L

  • Given there’s some questions on the back end of the Giants rotation and Scherzer is there waiting for an opportunity, is that a situation where there needs to be an injury first or he signs regardless?

Mark P

  • Scherzer and Vitello’s close friendship has made the Giants a popular speculative choice as Mad Max’s next team, yet there haven’t really been any actual reports linking the two.  It could be that Scherzer would prefer to play for a more clear-cut contender, i.e. a return to Toronto.

    Scherzer has said he’s willing to wait until after Opening Day to sign.  That might give him more time to access his options, and perhaps wait and see if an injury or two creates more of a market for him.

Keith

  • AA absolutely has to do something now with the Waldrep injury right……right

Mark P

  • For instance, one might wonder if Scherzer could be an option for the Braves now that Waldrep and Schwellenbach are both out.

Read more

NL Central Notes: Saggese, Grichuk, Steele, Urias

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The Cardinals are known to be looking for outfield help, and preferably a right-handed bat given previous statements from president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom.  Adding a free agent is still a possibility, though Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Cards “have not expressed much interest in” Randal Grichuk, and target Austin Hays chose the White Sox over the Cardinals in part because Chicago was offering more playing time.

Rather than bring in a new player, the Cards are also exploring internal options by using Thomas Saggese and Jose Fermin as outfielders this spring.  This isn’t anything new for Fermin, who has played six MLB games and 19 minor league games as an outfielder in addition to his larger amount of playing time at second, third and shortstop.  For career infielder Saggese, he told Goold that he hasn’t played in the outfield since he was 10 years old.

Nonetheless, adding to his defensive versatility should help Saggese in his bid for more playing time.  Saggese drew some top-100 prospect attention prior to his big league debut in 2024, though he has hit only .250/.292/.336 over the small sample size of 347 Major League plate appearances.  Sticking in the infield could be tricky with Masyn Winn at shortstop, top prospect JJ Wetherholt on the verge of his MLB debut (likely at second base), and Nolan Gorman penciled in for third base.  It could be that St. Louis is trying to mold Saggese into a right-handed hitting version of the now-traded Brendan Donovan, as a super-utility option who can be bounced around the diamond.

More from around the NL Central…

  • Justin Steele told Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times that his rehab work has progressed to 30-pitch bullpen sessions, and he is planning to return to the Cubs rotation in May or June.  Steele underwent a UCL revision surgery last April that included the installation of an internal brace in his elbow, and “as I started throwing again, it felt the same.  There was no difference — whereas the first Tommy John I had [in 2017], it felt like I had a new arm, I had to re-learn how to use it.”  It remains to be seen if Steele can immediately recapture his old form once he returns, but having a former All-Star back should provide a nice boost for the Cubs in their request to return to the postseason.
  • Before Luis Rengifo was signed to a one-year, $3.5MM guarantee on Friday, the Brewers also had interest in free agent infielder Ramon Urias, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.  Since Milwaukee apparently plans to use Rengifo primarily as a third baseman, Rosenthal notes that the signing was “somewhat curious” from a glovework perspective — Urias was the AL Gold Glove winner at third base in 2022, and his career defensive metrics at both second and third base are far superior to Rengifo’s numbers.  The Brewers are the first team known to have interest in Urias since the Astros non-tendered him in November rather than pay a projected $4.4MM in arbitration salary.  Urias had a 108 wRC+ (from a .262/.328/.408 slash line) over 1465 PA in part-time action with the Orioles from 2020-24, but he slumped to an 87 wRC+ and a .241/.292/.384 slash in 391 PA with Baltimore and Houston in 2025.

Dodgers Notes: Hernandez, Phillips, Diaz

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Enrique Hernandez played through most of the 2025 season with a torn muscle in his left (non-throwing) arm, and he underwent surgery to address the problem back in November.  Hernandez suggested during an offseason interview with Adam Ottavino (hat tip to MLB.com’s Sonja Chen) that his recovery process would cost him “a month or two” of the regular season, but Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes suggested a slightly longer timeline, telling The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and other reporters today that the team expected Hernandez closer to midseason.

The status of Hernandez’s elbow didn’t stop Los Angeles from re-signing the utilityman to a one-year, $4.5MM free agent contract.  Hernandez hasn’t yet been placed on the 60-day injured list, so the Dodgers may think there is still some chance he might be able to return within the first two months of regular-season action.  Gomes noted that Hernandez will soon start swinging, which should provide some data on the 34-year-old’s progress.

Some might argue that Hernandez only needs to be ready for October, given his history as a postseason performer.  The veteran has a modest .236/.305/.403 slash line over 4152 plate appearances and 12 Major League seasons, but his postseason numbers (.272/.339/.486 in 328 PA) have made Hernandez a key part of the Dodgers’ three championship teams over the last six years.

Gomes also touched on Evan Phillips’ recovery from Tommy John surgery, and his comparison to Phillips’ return as akin to a trade deadline acquisition suggests that the reliever should be back around late July.  Since Phillips had his surgery in late May 2025, the timeline tracks with the usual TJ rehab period.  Phillips himself told Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times that he is aiming to be back with the Dodgers by August at the latest, with an eye towards being fully ready for playoff baseball.

L.A. non-tendered Phillips in November, but re-signed the former closer to a one-year, $6.5MM deal earlier this week.  It’s a fairly steep price for a pitcher who may pitch around a third of the regular season, yet the Dodgers can obviously afford it, and are counting on Phillips to regain his past status as a key leverage reliever.  Phillips posted a 2.14 ERA over 184 2/3 innings for Los Angeles from 2022-25, recording 45 saves during his time as the team’s closer.

Unsurprisingly for a pitcher coming off a Tommy John procedure, Phillips’ market was pretty quiet, as the Red Sox were the only team publicly known to have interest this winter.  Phillips told Harris that he had “plenty of teams kick the tires and check in” during the offseason, and talks with the Dodgers only started to reignite in early February.

Phillips won’t be returning to the closer role upon his return, both due to his long layoff and the fact that the Dodgers have now signed Edwin Diaz to handle ninth-inning duties.  The three-time All-Star became yet another marquee Dodgers signing when he inked a three-year, $69MM deal back in December, and the $23MM average annual value of his contract is a new record for a relief pitcher.

Diaz headed to Los Angeles after a successful six-year run with the Mets, and many expected New York to again re-sign the closer.  The Mets reportedly made Diaz a three-year, $66MM offer, but Diaz accepted the Dodgers’ offer without giving the Mets “a chance to counter,” MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo writes.  A source tells DiComo that New York was open to spending beyond $66MM to retain Diaz, but another source “said Diaz’s camp didn’t expect the Mets to increase their offer in a meaningful way,” which is why the closer settled on the Dodgers’ $69MM contract.

Diaz’s decision struck Mets owner Steve Cohen as “perplexing,” as he told team broadcaster Howie Rose in an interview earlier this week.  “Obviously, it’s a personal decision on his part, and I thought we made a pretty respectable bid.”  Diaz didn’t directly respond to Cohen’s statement, but told reporters yesterday that “I think the Dodgers did a great job recruiting me. At the end of the day, I chose to be here.  I have a lot of respect for the Mets organization, players, staff, ownership. They treated me really good. I don’t have anything bad to say about them. But at the end of the day, I’m here.”

Werner, Kennedy Discuss Red Sox Offseason, Bregman, Devers

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Red Sox president/CEO Sam Kennedy spoke with reporters (including the Boston Globe’s Tim Healey and MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith) today at the team’s Spring Training camp, while Sox chairman Tom Werner also took part in an interview with the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham.  The two executives covered many of the same topics, with much of the focus naturally centered around Boston’s offseason.

One of the matters discussed was Alex Bregman’s decision to leave Fenway Park and sign with the Cubs for a five-year, $175MM contract.  Reports indicated that the Sox offered Bregman a five-year, $165MM contract that (like Chicago’s offer) included a lot of deferred money, though Boston’s deferral plan covered multiple decades.  The bigger issue seemed to be Bregman’s insistence on a full no-trade clause, which the Cubs were willing to give but Boston wasn’t, apparently due to an organizational policy.

Werner and Kennedy each pushed back on these reports, with Werner flatly saying that the Red Sox “don’t” have any policy against no-trade protection.  Kennedy was more circumspect in saying that “we try not to talk about organizational policies and the finer points of negotiations because it just doesn’t serve you well if you do that,” but also said that “if Alex Bregman wanted to be here, ultimately he’d be here.”  Kennedy also essentially ducked the question of whether or not the Red Sox would’ve offered Bregman a no-trade clause if asked, saying “it’s theoretical.  It’s hard to know.”

More than the no-trade clause or “the fact that he was offered a bit more money in Chicago,” Werner felt Bregman was “happy to be in Arizona [for Spring Training] where his family is. I have enormous respect for Alex, but it wasn’t meant to be and we moved on.”  Likewise, Kennedy praised Bregman’s contributions over his one season in Boston, and said “he chose a different path, and we wish him well.”

These statements probably won’t do much to soothe Red Sox fans still upset that Bregman is playing elsewhere, after the third baseman’s leadership and on-field production (at least prior to a right quad strain) was so widely acknowledged as a key factor in Boston’s return to the postseason.  Signing Bregman last winter to take over at third base also sparked the chain reaction of events that led to Rafael Devers being traded to the Giants last June, following a lot of hard feelings from Devers over first being pushed off the hot corner into a DH role, and then being asked to learn first base once Triston Casas went down with what ended up being a season-ending knee injury.

Kennedy expressed regrets over how the Devers situation played out, saying better communication was needed between both sides, and that “Would we have done things differently leading into it?  Absolutely.”  Werner’s statement (his public comments since Devers was dealt) may again spark more controversy, as while Werner said that Devers is “a wonderful person,” the chairman found it “extremely discouraging” that Devers wasn’t willing to take over at first base.

“It was a discouraging episode.  Just pick up a glove,” Werner said.

While the Devers trade and Bregman’s departure may be talking points in Boston for years to come, the Red Sox are more concerned with how the team will fare in 2026.  Trades (for the likes of Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray, Johan Oviedo, and Caleb Durbin) have been a big part of the team’s roster remodel, and the Sox made a big free agent strike by signing Ranger Suarez to a five-year, $130MM contract.

Kennedy described the winter as “a successful offseason…long, arduous, lots of scenario planning, but excited that we improved the club in many ways.”  Werner was similarly positive, pointing to the team’s improvements on defense and a pitching staff that “I think…is elite.”  In regards to further upgrades at the trade deadline, Werner said the team is still open to more spending, saying “we actually have the powder to execute some more moves during the season.”

After completing the 2025 season with a roughly $208.9MM payroll and a $246.5MM luxury tax number, the Red Sox are projected (via RosterResource) for $195.5MM in payroll and a $263.7MM tax figure.  The latter puts the Sox just a hair under the second luxury tax penalty threshold of $264MM, so it would seem like Boston will probably finish in the second tier of tax penalization for the first time since the 2019 season, assuming the team indeed contends and bolsters the roster throughout the year.

Rays’ Garrett Cleavinger Drawing Trade Interest

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Teams interested in left-handed bullpen help have been calling the Rays about Garrett Cleavinger, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes.  There isn’t any indication that a deal is close, and Rosenthal didn’t specify any clubs in pursuit of Cleavinger’s services.

Cleavinger (who turns 32 in April) is entering his seventh MLB season, and his fourth full season in a Rays uniform.  Tampa Bay acquired the southpaw from the Dodgers at the 2022 trade deadline, and while Cleavinger showed some promise in the early stages of his big league career, he became one of many pitchers to hit another level of production after joining the Rays.  Cleavinger has a 2.96 ERA over 152 relief innings since arriving in Tampa.

In 2025, Cleavinger enjoyed his best season yet, posting a 2.35 ERA, 33.7% strikeout rate, and a 7.4% walk rate over 61 1/3 innings.  Just about all of his Statcast metrics were solidly above average or (in the case of his strikeout and whiff rates) elite, plus Cleavinger enjoyed some good luck in the form of a .244 BABIP and a whopping 91.6% strand rate.  Cleavinger has delivered strong results against both left-handed and right-handed batters over his career, and 2025 was no exception — righty-swingers had a .602 OPS against Cleavinger, while left-handed hitters did slightly better with a .620 OPS.

There wasn’t much that seemed fluky in Cleavinger’s 2025 performance, so even if the Rays feel they would be selling high on the lefty, there’s no reason to believe Cleavinger wouldn’t still be a valuable reliever in 2026 or beyond.  Broadly speaking, the Rays are always open for trade talks on any player, so it wouldn’t be entirely shocking if Cleavinger was dealt prior to Opening Day.  However, there doesn’t seem to be any real pressing reason for Tampa to move on from Cleavinger right now, given both his importance to the Rays’ bullpen and his modest salary situation.

Cleavinger is earning $2.4MM in 2026 and has one year of arbitration eligibility remaining before he qualifies for free agency following the 2027 campaign.  Even though Tampa Bay is forever looking to limit its budget, Cleavinger is a bargain at $2.4MM if he duplicates anything close to last year’s numbers, and an arbitration raise next winter may be limited due to a relative lack of saves.

The Rays don’t have a set closer heading into the 2026 season, as Cleavinger, Edwin Uceta, Griffin Jax, and Bryan Baker are all expected to earn save opportunities.  It is possible one of these pitchers emerges from the committee to become more of a full-time closer, but Cleavinger’s status as the only left-handed reliever projected to be part of Tampa’s bullpen could make him more suited for situational work rather than save situations.  The relative lack of left-handed relief depth is another reason the Rays would be hesitant to deal Cleavinger for anything less than a superb offer.

Speaking of the Rays’ bullpen mix, Uceta is dealing with some shoulder soreness, manager Kevin Cash told MLB.com’s Adam Berry and other reporters.  “We’re totally not concerned at all and have every intention of him being ready for Opening Day,” Cash said, though as a precaution, Uceta won’t pitch for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.  Cleavinger and Jax are both slated for WBC duty as part of the United States team’s bullpen.

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