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Dodgers To Sign Kyle Tucker

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9:04pm: It’s a four-year, $240MM contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Tucker can opt out after the 2027 season. There’s also an opt out after 2028, according to Passan.

8:53pm: Kyle Tucker is in agreement on a deal with the Dodgers, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. It’s a short-term contract, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post.

The two-time defending champions have done it again. Tucker is the latest superstar addition to what was already MLB’s most feared offense. Tucker slots into a lineup that already included Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Will Smith, Max Muncy, Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman. He’ll join Hernández and Andy Pages as the primary outfielders, with Edman also capable of logging center field action when he’s not at second base.

More to come.

Rays, Angels, Reds Agree To Three-Team Trade Involving Josh Lowe, Gavin Lux

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The Rays, Angels and Reds agreed to a three-team trade that’ll send outfielder Josh Lowe to the Angels, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Infielder Gavin Lux heads from Cincinnati to Tampa Bay alongside minor league pitcher Chris Clark, who comes over from the Angels. Cincinnati acquired lefty reliever Brock Burke from the Halos.

More to come.

Red Sox To Sign Ranger Suárez

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January 15: The contract includes a mutual option for 2031, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. That doesn’t change much about the deal beyond allowing the Red Sox to kick some of the money back to the end of the 2030 season in the form of an option buyout.

January 14: The Red Sox are going to add left-hander Ranger Suárez to their already-strong rotation. It is reportedly a five-year deal worth $130MM for the Boras Corporation client. It appears to be fairly straightforward, reportedly not containing any deferrals, opt-outs or no-trade protection. The Sox have a full 40-man and will need to make a corresponding move to make this official.

The Sox came into the offseason with a rotation headlined by Garrett Crochet, followed by a notable gap to their other starters. They had a lot of options for back-end types and depth but were looking to bolster the front end.

“Because of the depth that we’ve built up over the last couple of years, we feel pretty good about just overall starting pitching, maybe No. 3-ish through No. 10-ish,” was how chief baseball officer Craig Breslow framed the situation in November. “And that’s not to take away from guys who are certainly capable of doing more, and more just to say I don’t think we’re going to spend a ton of time trying to add a No. 4, No. 5 starter.”

Since then, Breslow has made a couple of moves to alter that rotation group. He acquired Sonny Gray from the Cardinals and Johan Oviedo from the Pirates. They subtracted a bit from the depth by including Richard Fitts in the Gray deal and Hunter Dobbins in the Willson Contreras swap.

Gray is arguably the kind of #2 starter the club was looking for. His 4.28 earned run average in 2025 has some Boston fans disputing that assessment but he has a 3.63 ERA, 27% strikeout rate, 6.1% walk rate and 44.6% ground ball rate in 531 innings dating back to the start of 2023. FanGraphs ranks him fifth in wins above replacement among pitchers in that time, behind only Tarik Skubal, Zack Wheeler, Logan Webb and Cristopher Sánchez.

Since the Gray deal, Boston has seemingly been more focused on upgrading its lineup and position player mix, targeting infielders like Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette, Ketel Marte, Brendan Donovan and Isaac Paredes.

The club has hit a bit of a wall there. Bregman has signed with the Cubs. The Diamondbacks have reportedly taken Marte off the market. The Astros don’t seem to have much interest in moving Paredes. Bichette is still a free agent but it’s unclear if the Sox would be willing to go to the lengths necessary to sign him. Donovan should still be available but the Sox haven’t met their asking price, at least not yet.

In the wake of Bregman’s agreement with Chicago, Rob Bradford of WEEI as well as Sean McAdam and Chris Cotillo of MassLive suggested Boston could switch their focus to starting pitching. Earlier today, Bradford suggested the club was getting more aggressive on the trade market but the Sox have gone to free agency instead.

The contract is notable on a few fronts. For one, Breslow has generally avoided long-term free agent deals since becoming Boston’s chief baseball officer. Coming into today, his longest deal for a free agent was to give Bregman three years, which turned into a one-year relationship when Bregman opted out. The Sox came into today as the only one of the 30 major league clubs to not have signed a free agent this winter. This deal will be a new benchmark for Breslow in terms of years and guarantee given to a free agent, as well as erasing Boston’s status as the only team not to spend money on free agency this offseason.

It’s also a notable deal for Suárez in a few different ways. For one thing, he was a fairly low-profile international signing of the Phillies at the start of his professional career, securing a bonus of just $25K. As he has become a major leaguer, he has pushed his salary up in arbitration with his strong results but his lack of volume has limited him. He just made $8.8MM in his final year of arbitration, relatively modest by modern standards, but will now be securing a much bigger payday than ever before.

Speaking of his strong results but limited overall workload, that impacted the view of his market coming into this winter. Broadly speaking, Suárez has been really good on a rate basis but he doesn’t throw especially hard and has dealt with some nagging injuries, impacting the overall quantity of his contributions.

He first became a full-time starter for the Phillies in 2022 and held a rotation job for four years. Over that span, he logged 588 1/3 innings with a 3.59 ERA. His 21.9% strikeout rate was around league average. His 7.5% walk rate was solid and his 50.8% ground ball rate quite good. He also earned a reputation as a cold-blooded playoff contributor, giving the Phils 42 2/3 postseason innings with a 1.48 ERA.

But his velocity has never been huge and has been trending down. His four-seam fastball averaged a bit over 93 miles per hour in 2022 and 2023. That dropped to 91.8 mph in 2024 and 91.3 mph last year. His primary pitch, his sinker, averaged just 90.1 mph last year.

He also still hasn’t really pitched a full big league season. He hasn’t had any major injury concerns but has had scattered issues over the years, with lower back problems being a recurring thorn. Thanks to those sporadic health problems, he’s never hit the 30-start mark or the 160-inning plateau in any season as a big leaguer.

Given his clear skills but also his question marks, MLBTR predicted Suárez for a five-year, $115MM deal at the beginning of the offseason, $23MM in terms of average annual value. The top of the free agent starting pitching market has been slow to move this winter. Dylan Cease and the Blue Jays quickly found each other but it’s been a bit tepid otherwise. Prior to this, no other starter apart from Cease signed a deal longer than than three years or for more than $75MM. Tatsuya Imai settled for three years and $54MM, significantly below the expectations from the outset of the offseason.

As Suárez and Framber Valdez lingered unsigned into the new year, it was fair to wonder if they would meet the initial expectations. But with this deal, Suárez has not only met MLBTR’s prediction but has surpassed it. He has matched the length with an extra $3MM in terms of average annual value, getting to $26MM AAV.

Despite some concerns with Suárez, the move gives Boston one of the best rotations in baseball, if not the very best. Crochet is the clear ace. Suárez and Gray will have two spots behind him, followed by Brayan Bello. Oviedo seems to be in a decent position to land the #5 spot but he would also have competition from guys like Patrick Sandoval and Kutter Crawford. It’s possible Tanner Houck jumps into the mix late in the year, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in August.

Prospects Connelly Early and Payton Tolle made big league debuts late in 2025 and could push for jobs as well. Kyle Harrison, David Sandlin, Shane Drohan and Tyler Uberstine are also on the 40-man roster. Those latter six names all have options and either have limited big league experience or none at all, so they could all be sent to the minors as depth. Crawford has a decent amount of big league experience but is still optionable, so it’s possible for him to be squeezed to Worcester as well.

But it also seems fair to wonder if this Suárez deal sets the Red Sox up to trade some starting pitching for the infield upgrade they didn’t get when Bregman slipped through their fingers. They have been connected to Donovan many times and have already lined up a few trades with Chaim Bloom, Boston’s former chief baseball officer who is now president of baseball operations with the Cardinals.

Donovan isn’t the only option out there. The Sox were also connected to Marte a bunch this winter. The Diamondbacks have reportedly taken him off the market but perhaps there’s some scenario where Breslow puts some big prospect names on the table and makes them consider it. Nico Hoerner’s name has also come up in some trade rumors after the Cubs signing Bregman. If the Phillies can sign Bichette, they are expected to trade Alec Bohm or Bryson Stott to make room. Jake Cronenworth of the Padres has been in a few rumors.

All those players would have varying level of trade value due to their different salaries and years of control, but the same is also true of Boston’s pitchers. Early and Tolle are big prospects and would only be given up for a big return. Sandoval has one year left on his contract and has been injured for most of the past two years, so his trade value is far more marginal. Bello has even been in some rumors and he would be somewhere in between, as he is owed $50.5MM over the next four years and has been more okay than great.

Since it feels likely that at least one more significant move is coming, the club’s financial picture is probably still in flux. For now, RosterResource pegs the club’s payroll at $216MM with a competitive balance tax calculation of $266MM. That’s assuming the Suárez deal is broken down evenly at $26MM per year, as the actual breakdown hasn’t been publicly reported yet. If it’s front-loaded or back-loaded, that could alter the actual payroll. However, the CBT is calculated based on a player’s AAV, so that won’t change.

The Sox avoided the tax in 2023 and 2024. They went narrowly over the line in 2025, paying a tax bill of just $1.5MM. That will make them second-time payors in 2026, giving them a base tax rate of 30% for going over the first threshold of $244MM. The second threshold is $264MM and the Sox would pay a 42% on further spending above that line. If they go beyond $284MM, the tax rate would jump to 75% for spending above that line and their top pick in the 2027 draft would be dropped by ten spots.

Speaking of the draft, the Sox are going to be impacted by this Suárez signing in 2026. Suárez rejected a qualifying offer from the Phillies, meaning the Sox are subject to the associated penalties for signing him. Since the Sox paid the tax last year, they have to forfeit their second- and fifth-highest draft picks this summer, in addition to losing $1MM in international bonus pool space. The Phillies will receive a compensation pick after the fourth round of the upcoming draft.

Prior to this deal with the Red Sox, Suárez was connected to the Orioles, Astros and Mets, though other clubs presumably had interest even if they weren’t connected to him in public reports. For the teams who missed out on Suárez, there are still some options they can turn to, despite the relatively late stage of the offseason.

Valdez and Zac Gallen are the top two free agents, with Chris Bassitt, Justin Verlander, Lucas Giolito and others still unsigned. The trade market still has some potential options, including MacKenzie Gore and Freddy Peralta. Valdez has to be pleased with Suárez getting a deal beyond expectations even at this part of the calendar. They are fairly similar pitchers as groundballers. Valdez is a bit older but has the more impressive track record overall.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post. first reported that the Sox would be signing Suárez. Bob Nightengale of USA Today first reported the length and guarantee, as well as the lack of deferrals and opt-outs. Chris Cotillo of MassLive first reported the lack of a no-trade clause. Photos courtesy of Bill Streicher, Brad Penner, Imagn Images

Mariners Designate Samad Taylor For Assignment

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The Mariners designated utilityman Samad Taylor for assignment. That creates a 40-man roster spot for reliever Yosver Zulueta, whose previously reported acquisition from Cincinnati is official.

Taylor was on Seattle’s 40-man roster for the majority of last season. He didn’t get much of a big league opportunity, only stepping to the plate nine times over four games. The M’s otherwise kept him on optional assignment to Triple-A Tacoma. Taylor had an excellent season in the Pacific Coast League, batting .296/.378/.461 with 27 doubles, seven triples and 17 home runs across 657 plate appearances. He posted better than average walk and strikeout rates while stealing 44 bases in 54 attempts.

The right-handed hitting Taylor has consistently produced against minor league pitching. He owns a .281/.373/.432 slash line in nearly 2000 Triple-A plate appearances over four seasons. Teams have remained skeptical about his ability to carry that over against big league pitching. Taylor has minimal power, as he’s listed at 5’8″ and 160 pounds.

Despite last year’s decent home run total, his exit velocities in Triple-A have been well below average. He has used his smaller strike zone to his advantage and worked a lot of walks against minor league pitchers. That could be difficult to maintain against MLB arms, who have better command and should be more equipped to challenge Taylor within the zone.

Seattle successfully ran Taylor through waivers unclaimed last offseason. That’d give him the right to elect free agency if he clears this time around. Taylor’s minor league production and ability to play second base and anywhere in the outfield could get him a look on the waiver wire. He’s now out of minor league options, however, so a claiming team would need to carry him on the MLB roster or send him back to DFA limbo.

Mariners Acquire Yosver Zulueta

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The Mariners and Reds announced a trade sending reliever Yosver Zulueta to Seattle for minor league pitcher Dusty Revis. Zulueta was just designated for assignment by Cincinnati a few hours ago when they made their Pierce Johnson signing official. Seattle designated infielder Samad Taylor for assignment in a corresponding move.

Zulueta, who turns 28 next week, has a limited major league track record. He has thrown 23 2/3 innings for the Reds over the past two seasons. In that time, he has allowed 5.32 earned runs per nine frames. His 10.9% walk rate is on the high side but his 24.8% strikeout rate and 54% ground ball rate are both strong figures.

Despite the short résumé, the stuff is intriguing. His four-seamer and sinker have both averaged in the upper 90s during his time as a big leaguer. He has also thrown a slider and changeup in the upper 80s. His minor league numbers are also enticing, though with similar control issues as his time in the majors. At Triple-A last year, he tossed 60 1/3 innings with a 3.28 ERA, 31.2% strikeout rate and 56.5% ground ball rate but a 12.8% walk rate.

Zulueta first got a 40-man spot from the Blue Jays in November of 2022. He has mostly been on optional assignment in the three seasons since then, with a waiver claim by Cincinnati along the way.

That would normally position him to be out of options but he may qualify for a fourth option. A player can qualify for a fourth option if he doesn’t have five “full” seasons as a professional, with a “full” season usually consisting of 90 days on an active roster. Zulueta made his professional debut in 2021 but only made one appearance in Single-A that year, so he may only have four “full” seasons. That’s likely why his FanGraphs page lists him as still having an option.

The Mariners have a pretty good reputation of getting good results from unheralded relievers. That doesn’t mean they succeed with every guy they pick up but Zulueta clearly has a powerful arm, so perhaps Seattle can figure out a way to make good use of it. If things go well, Zulueta has less than a year of service time and can be affordably controlled into the foreseeable future.

Cincinnati takes a flier on Revis, whom Seattle drafted in the 11th round last summer. The 6’2″ righty turned in a 4.04 ERA across 15 starts during his final season at Western Carolina University. He didn’t pitch after the draft. Josh Kirshenbaum of MLB Pipeline wrote on draft day that he held his fastball velocity in the mid-90s while working out of the Catamounts rotation.

Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com first reported that Zulueta was being traded to Seattle. Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Sign Taylor Clarke

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6:42pm: It’s a $1.55MM guarantee, reports Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. The deal includes incentives that could push Clarke’s earnings above $2MM.

2:45pm: The Diamondbacks announced they’ve signed reliever Taylor Clarke to a one-year contract. They designated right-hander Gus Varland for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. The club did not announce salary terms for Clarke, who is represented by the Ballengee Group.

Clarke, 33 in May, should be a familiar name to Arizona fans. The Snakes selected him out of the College of Charleston as a third-round pick in 2015. He debuted in a swing role four years later and spent parts of three seasons with the MLB club. Clarke moved almost permanently to the bullpen by the shortened season and has been a full-time reliever for most of the last half-decade. He got some work as a starter with Milwaukee’s Triple-A team in 2024 but has worked from the bullpen as a big leaguer.

Arizona non-tendered Clarke after he posted a near-5.00 earned run average during the 2021 season. He landed a big league deal with the Royals a couple weeks later and spent the next two seasons in the Kansas City bullpen. Clarke posted decent strikeout and walk numbers but was plagued by an elevated average on balls in play, leading to a combined 5.08 ERA over those two seasons. The Royals traded him to Milwaukee, who ran him through waivers and kept him in Triple-A.

The Royals liked Clarke enough to bring him back on a minor league deal last offseason. They called him up by the beginning of May and were rewarded with the best season of his career. The 6’4″ righty tossed 55 1/3 innings of 3.25 ERA ball. His 21.4% strikeout rate and 10.1% swinging strike percentage were each a little worse than average. Clarke was the beneficiary of an unsustainably low .208 BABIP against him, but he limited his walks to an excellent 4.4% clip and pitched particularly well in the second half.

It came as a surprise that Kansas City nevertheless opted not to tender him an arbitration contract that would likely have landed in the $2MM range. That set the stage for a reversal of the sequence from the 2021-22 offseason. Clarke follows up a non-tender from K.C. by signing a major league deal with Arizona.

Clarke has over five years of service time, meaning he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent. He’s locked into the Opening Day bullpen alongside Ryan Thompson and Kevin Ginkel. The Diamondbacks don’t have any elite back-end arms to cover leverage situations while A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez are injured. Clarke raises the floor in the middle innings but doesn’t have much high-leverage experience. The back of the bullpen remains arguably the biggest weakness as Arizona tries to compete for a playoff spot.

Varland, the older brother of Toronto righty Louis Varland, was a waiver claim from the White Sox in August. The 29-year-old righty was on the minor league injured list at the time due to a season-ending lat strain. He held a spot on Arizona’s 40-man roster for a few months but hasn’t thrown a pitch for the organization. The former 14th-round pick has a 4.82 ERA in 42 big league appearances between 2023-24. Varland divided that time between Milwaukee, the Dodgers, and the White Sox.

Arizona has five days to trade Varland or put him on waivers. He has never been outrighted and doesn’t have three years of big league service, so he’d remain in the organization if they get him through waivers unclaimed.

Image courtesy of Denny Medley, Imagn Images.

Cubs Could Use Matt Shaw In Outfield

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The Cubs made a big addition to their infield this week by signing Alex Bregman to a five-year deal. That has led to speculation about the club then pivoting to a trade of another infielder, such as Nico Hoerner or Matt Shaw. At Bregman’s introductory press conference today, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer admitted that they have received more calls from other clubs about Hoerner and Shaw this week, per Bruce Levine of 670 The Score. But that doesn’t mean they plan to trade either and Hoyer said Shaw could spend some time in the outfield this year, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN, which would help him get into the lineup more.

The Cubs came into the winter with a projected infield alignment of Shaw at third, Dansby Swanson at short, Hoerner at second and Michael Busch at first. Adding Bregman at third blocks Shaw from a regular role. He has primarily been a third baseman but has dabbled in the middle infield as well. That has contributed somewhat to the Hoerner trade speculation. Since Hoerner is an impending free agent, there’s an argument for flipping him now and putting Shaw at second base.

But Hoerner is far more established as a useful big leaguer than Shaw. The latter just made his debut last year and has 126 big league games under his belt. In that time, he produced a subpar batting line of .226/.295/.394, leading to a 93 wRC+. He was better in the second half, with a .258/.317/.522 line and 130 wRC+, but in a fairly small sample of 205 plate appearances.

Hoerner, on the other hand, has been a regular for years. He played in at least 135 games in each of the past four campaigns. He doesn’t have huge power but is tough to strike out and has consistently been an above-average hitter with that contact approach. He also has excellent defense and speed. The combination has been worth at least 3.9 wins above replacement for four straight years, per FanGraphs.

Subtracting Hoerner and subbing in Shaw would run the risk of noticeably downgrading the team in 2026, a year in which the Cubs clearly want to compete. They just made the postseason in 2025 and have been aggressively adding to the club this winter via their Bregman signing and the Edward Cabrera trade.

If some team gives them a strong offer, they would naturally have to consider the pros and cons. Just in the past week, the Giants, Mariners and Yankees have been connected to Hoerner in rumors. But it also appears the club could be leaning towards using Shaw in a utility capacity this year. If Hoerner is not extended, he would depart after 2026, opening up second base for Shaw to have a more regular role.

Shaw doesn’t have outfield experience as a professional. Since being selected 13th overall in 2023, he has played third base and the two middle infield spots in the minors. In the big leagues last year, he mostly played third with just six innings at the keystone and none at shortstop. He did play a bit of outfield in the early parts of his collegiate career but was mostly kept in the middle infield as time went on.

During his major league time last year, Shaw’s sprint speed was ranked in the 90th percentile of major leaguers. That athleticism gives him a nice head-start in terms of being a viable outfielder but the Cubs will presumably want to get him reps in spring if they plan to follow through on using Shaw as a super utility guy.

Teams love that kind of versatility and there could be clear benefits for the Cubs in terms of playing matchups. Shaw hits from the right side and had noticeable platoon splits in his first big league season. He had a .218/.287/.362 line and 82 wRC+ against righties but a .250/.318/.490 line and 125 wRC+ with the platoon advantage.

The Cubs project to have a few lefty bats in their regular lineup, with Pete Crow-Armstrong in center, Busch at first base and Moisés Ballesteros likely doing some catching and serving as the designated hitter. They all have fared better against righties in their respective careers, with Crow-Armstrong having particular struggles against southpaws. Ian Happ is also a switch-hitter who has had more success as a lefty bat in his career.

There’s also the fact that Seiya Suzuki could spend more time in the outfield with the way the roster is currently constructed. He was largely the designated hitter last year but the departure of Kyle Tucker means he is slated to take more time on the grass. Outs Above Average has ranked Suzuki as six outs below par in his career and Defensive Runs Saved has put him at negative five. Even if he gets a lot of starts, the Cubs could look to replace him defensively late in games. Having another viable outfielder on the roster naturally helps there.

This is all contingent on everyone being healthy, as one injury quickly changes the whole picture, but that also underscores the importance of having some versatility. If Shaw is able to viably play the outfield, then it makes it easier to rotate players around based on health and matchups. Currently, the bench projects to have backup catcher Miguel Amaya and first baseman Tyler Austin alongside Shaw and outfielder Justin Dean. The latter is a strong defender and baserunner but has bigger questions about his bat. He is also still optionable.

Getting into the lineup regularly would also be good for Shaw from a developmental perspective. As mentioned, he only just made his major league debut last year. He was subpar at the plate overall but seemingly got better as the season progressed. Going into a part-time role and missing reps wouldn’t be ideal for the long term, especially if he’s to take over for Hoerner at second base a year from now. Finding a way for him to take 400 to 600 plate appearances, even though he doesn’t have a clear position, would be good for both him and the club.

Photo courtesy of Michael McLoone, Imagn Images

Yankees Re-Sign Paul Blackburn

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January 15th, 2026: The Yankees officially announced Blackburn’s signing today.

December 21st, 2025: The Yankees are expected to re-sign right-hander Paul Blackburn, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. It’s a one-year deal worth $2MM. The Boras Corporation client can earn an additional $500K through incentives: $100K for 80, 90, 100, 110 and 120 innings pitched.

Blackburn landed with the Yankees after getting released by the Mets in August. He made eight appearances with the club, recording a 5.28 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning. Blackburn had been a starter for the majority of his career, but worked strictly as a reliever with the Yankees. The now 32-year-old had a miserable debut with the team, allowing seven earned runs in 3 1/3 innings to begin his time in the Bronx. He bounced back from there, holding opponents to just two earned runs over his next 12 innings.

Blackburn spent the first seven years of his big-league career with the Athletics. He offered modest results as a back-of-the-rotation depth piece, with stretches of above-average performance. The Mets picked up Blackburn in a minor trade at the 2024 deadline. He struggled through five starts with the team to close that season. Blackburn dealt with spine and knee injuries heading into the 2025 campaign. He didn’t appear in a game until June, and then missed another six weeks with a shoulder issue. Blackburn tossed five scoreless innings in his first outing of the season. He then gave up at least three runs in each of the next five appearances.

While Blackburn was solely a reliever for the Yankees, the contract incentives suggest there might be room for a rotation spot. He gets $100K if he reaches 80 innings, and an additional $100K for each 10-inning milestone he hits up through 120 innings. New York has a relatively soft rotation behind Max Fried and Cam Schlittler. Luis Gil, Will Warren, and Ryan Yarbrough will likely fill out the rest of the staff. Carlos Rodon, Gerrit Cole, and Clarke Schmidt are currently on the mend.

Takahiro Norimoto To Stay In NPB, Sign With Yomiuri Giants

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Right-hander Takahiro Norimoto has decided to remain in Japan and will sign with the Yomiuri Giants, according to a report from Sports Hochi in Japan. The 35-year-old had been weighing an offer from a major league club but will instead sign a multi-year deal with the Giants.

Norimoto has spent his entire 13-year career with the Rakuten Golden Eagles. After a long run in their rotation, he moved to the bullpen and has ascended to their closer role in recent seasons. The right-hander posted a 3.02 ERA with 16 saves, four holds and only two blown opportunities last year. He’s fanned nearly 24% of opponents in his career, but Norimoto’s strikeout rate dropped to 17.2% in 2025 and his fastball velocity took a dip as well, sitting around 92 mph this past year (down from his days of sitting 94-95 and climbing as high as 97-98 mph).

It’s not clear which MLB club had put forth an offer to Norimoto, nor is it clear whether it was even a guaranteed pact. It’s a moot point now, as Norimoto will pitch at least his age-35 and age-36 seasons out of the Giants’ bullpen in Japan. While it’s feasible that he could still make a late-career move to North American ball, that’s hard to envision unless Norimoto finds a way to miss more bats while working with what appears to be diminishing velocity.

In 1838 career NPB innings, Norimoto has pitched to a 3.12 ERA. He sports a 120-99 record, 48 saves, four holds, a 23.7% strikeout rate and a 6.3% walk rate in Japan’s top league. He led NPB in strikeouts for five consecutive seasons from 2014-18, whiffing 1044 batters in 958 2/3 innings (26.5 K%) during that time.

Angels, Miguel Castro Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran reliever Miguel Castro, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The Premier Talent Sports client will be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee.

Castro just turned 31 a few weeks ago, but the well-traveled right-hander has already pitched for seven teams across parts of 11 major league seasons. Because he debuted as a 20-year-old and has managed to stick in the majors for the bulk of the past decade, he’s just three days from reaching nine full years of major league service time.

Castro began the 2025 season in the Astros organization but didn’t appear in a big league game with Houston. The ’Stros traded him to the White Sox last May in exchange for international bonus pool space. Castro was immediately selected to the major league roster but made only six appearances before suffering a torn patellar tendon in his knee while covering the bag on a grounder to first base. He missed the remainder of the season.

In parts of 11 seasons, Castro has pitched 466 2/3 innings, almost exclusively in relief. (He has four “starts” in his career, though they’ve been as an opener in a bullpen game.) Listed at an incredibly lanky 6’7″ and 201 pounds, Castro owns a lifetime 4.24 ERA in the big leagues. His strikeout and walk rates of 20.4% and 11.7%, respectively, are both worse than average. He’s typically been a well above-average ground-ball pitcher, however, thanks in large part to a power sinker that has averaged 96.5 mph in his career. That number sat at 95.1 mph during last year’s small sample of six MLB innings but was at 95.6 mph in Triple-A.

The Angels’ bullpen currently features several veterans looking to rebound from injury and/or poor performance. Robert Stephenson, Kirby Yates and Jordan Romano all fit that description. Lefty Drew Pomeranz had a terrific 2025 showing with the Cubs, but that marked his first MLB work since 2021, so the 37-year-old is something of a wild card himself. Given the glaring lack of proven relievers in rookie skipper Kurt Suzuki’s bullpen, there should be plenty of opportunity for the veteran Castro to win a spot this spring, unless the Halos have some further guaranteed deals or trades coming to fortify the relief corps.

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