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Orioles To Acquire Blaze Alexander

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The Orioles are reportedly acquiring infielder Blaze Alexander from the Diamondbacks. Right-hander Kade Strowd is going to the Diamondbacks along with a couple of minor leaguers: right-hander Wellington Aracena and infielder José Mejia. The trade is 40-man neutral, as Alexander and Strowd are the only guys with roster spots here.

Alexander, 27 in June, has appeared in the past two big league seasons for the Snakes. He has stepped to the plate 451 times with a .237/.322/.366 line. That’s a bit under league average, translating to a 95 wRC+, and has come with a high strikeout rate of 29.9%. He has shown some versatility by lining up at the three infield positions to the left of first base as well as some time in the outfield.

Though Alexander has been a somewhat useful utility player for Arizona, it was going to be harder for him to hold a roster spot going forward since he has exhausted his final option season. The Diamondbacks have been somewhat proactive in clearing out their fringe roster players this offseason. They traded another out-of-options player last month when they flipped Jake McCarthy to the Rockies.

Arizona has Nolan Arenado at third, Geraldo Perdomo at shortstop and Ketel Marte at second. Without Alexander, they have guys like Tim Tawa and Jordan Lawlar in the mix for multi-positional bench jobs, though John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM says the club will now turn to free agency to replace Alexander with someone else who can play second and/or third base.

The Orioles are seemingly more willing to hold Alexander as a multi-positional bench piece. They project to have Jordan Westburg at third, Gunnar Henderson at short and Jackson Holliday at the keystone. Prior to this deal, their top infield depth options were guys like Jeremiah Jackson and Bryan Ramos. Ramos is a fringe roster guy who was just scooped up in a DFA trade for cash considerations. Jackson has just 48 games of big league experience and still has options.

Alexander presumably jumps to being the club’s top bench option and will likely be used in a platoon capacity. A right-handed batter, he has a .269/.365/.434 line and 125 wRC+ against lefties in his career thus far. Baltimore projects to have a number of lefties getting regular playing time, including Henderson, Holliday, Dylan Beavers, Colton Cowser and Samuel Basallo. With Alexander’s split and defensive versatility, he should help the O’s shield those guys from tough lefties.

Though he’s out of options, his service clock is just a bit over one year. That means he’s still two years from qualifying for arbitration and could be controlled for five full seasons before reaching free agency, if he continues to hang onto a roster spot.

To make that complementary addition to their position player group, the O’s are parting with a major league arm. Strowd, 28, made his big league debut with the Orioles last year. He tossed 26 1/3 innings over 25 relief appearances, allowing just 1.71 earned runs per nine. He averaged around 96 miles per hour with his four-seamer and sinker but mostly threw a low-90s cutter while also featuring a curveball and a sweeper.

His 12.4% walk rate was definitely on the high side but his 22.9% strikeout rate was decent and he got grounders on a huge 56.7% of balls in play. There was surely some good luck in that ERA, as his .227 batting average on balls in play allowed and 83.9% strand rate were both to the fortunate side but his 3.40 FIP and 4.02 SIERA suggest he could have managed decent results even with more neutral luck.

The bullpen was a disaster for Arizona in 2025. Their relief groups was supposed to be headlined by A.J. Puk and Justin Martínez but both required major elbow surgeries last year and various other pitchers got hurt as well. The result was that the club’s relievers had a collective 4.82 ERA, ahead of just the Angels, Rockies and Nationals.

However, addressing the bullpen with a big splash wasn’t going to be likely due to the club scaling back payroll. General manager Mike Hazen admitted last month that he was basically deciding between re-signing Merrill Kelly for the rotation or spending that money on a reliever. He opted for Kelly, meaning the club would be going cheap on the bullpen.

Since Strowd just debuted last year, he has only 74 days of big league service time. He is still at least three years away from qualifying for arbitration and also has a couple of options, meaning he doesn’t even need to be guaranteed a permanent big league roster spot. Baltimore made a couple of notable bullpen upgrades this winter by signing Ryan Helsley and acquiring Andrew Kittredge. They seemingly feel they have enough relief depth to part with Strowd for Alexander.

The O’s are also dipping into their farm system a bit. Aracena, 21, was just acquired in July when the O’s flipped Gregory Soto to the Mets. He pitched 92 innings last year, at Single-A and High-A, split between starting and relieving. He had a 2.25 ERA, 30.3% strikeout rate and 46.5% ground ball rate but a huge 13.6% walk rate. Baseball America recently ranked him Baltimore’s #23 prospect. He had triple-digit heat but clearly needs to rein it in a bit more. That lack of control might push him to the bullpen in the future but he hasn’t yet reached Double-A, so his future is still up in the air. Mejia, 20, is even more of a long-term play. He’s younger and has just two games of experience in full-season ball.

Steve Gilbert of MLB.com first reported that Alexander was going to Baltimore for Strowd and a couple of minor leaguers. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic provided the identities of those minor leaguers.

Nationals Claim Ken Waldichuk, Designate George Soriano For Assignment

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The Nationals have claimed left-hander Ken Waldichuk off waivers from the Rays, according to announcements from both clubs. Tampa had designated him for assignment a few days ago to make room for infielder Ben Williamson, acquired as part of the three-team trade headlined by Brendan Donovan. To open a spot for Waldichuk today, the Nats have designated right-hander George Soriano for assignment.

Waldichuk, 28, was once a notable prospect but his stock is down. When his stock was high, the Yankees traded him to the Athletics as part of the Frankie Montas deal. Over 2021 and 2022, between those two clubs, he tossed 205 minor league innings with a 2.94 earned run average, 35.3% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate. Baseball America ranked him as Oakland’s #5 prospect going into 2023.

He got a lengthy run in the majors in 2023 but posted a 5.36 ERA. Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2024 and part of his 2025. When he returned last summer, the A’s sent him to the minors, where he put up an 8.65 ERA in 51 Triple-A innings.

That performance has pushed him into the DFA carousel but teams clearly still have some faith in a bounceback. The A’s designated him for assignment in December when they acquired Jeff McNeil. He was claimed by Atlanta, who later designated him for assignment and traded him to the Rays for cash.

The Nats may try to pass him through waivers later but they would be a good landing spot for him if he can hang onto a roster spot. Their rotation has very little certainty, especially now that MacKenzie Gore has been traded to the Rangers. They project to have a largely unproven group consisting of Josiah Gray, Cade Cavalli, Foster Griffin, Brad Lord, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker and others. Waldichuk still has options and could be sent to Triple-A as depth while the Nats experiment with the guys in that group.

Soriano, 27 in March, spent his entire career with the Marlins until recently. He tossed 118 innings for Miami over the past three seasons with a 5.95 ERA. He exhausted his three option seasons in that time, which nudged him onto the DFA carousel.

Teams are clearly still intrigued, despite the lack of major league success thus far. That’s probably because he is coming off a strong season in the minors. He threw 42 2/3 Triple-A innings last year with a 2.32 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 55.7% ground ball rate. Since the end of last season, he has gone from Miami to Baltimore, Atlanta and Washington via the waiver wire.

Since he’s out of options, those teams have tried to get him through waivers to become non-roster depth. He has less than three years of service time and doesn’t have a previous career outright, so he wouldn’t have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of electing free agency. The Nats can take as long as five days to explore trade interest before putting him on the wire but could be motivated to do so sooner. The 60-day injured list opens up next week, which will provide teams greater flexibility for fringe roster moves.

Photo courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images

Yankees Claim Osvaldo Bido, Designate Braden Shewmake For Assignment

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The Yankees have claimed right-hander Osvaldo Bido off waivers from the Angels, according to announcements from both clubs. The Halos had designated him for assignment a week ago when they acquired left-hander Jayvien Sandridge from the Yankees. To open a 40-man spot for Bido today, the Yankees designated infielder Braden Shewmake for assignment.

Bido, 30, has been riding the DFA carousel all winter. He finished the 2025 season with the Athletics but has subsequently gone to Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, the Angels and now the Yankees via waiver claims. He has shown enough potential that teams like him but he had a rough season in 2025 and exhausted his final option. That has pushed him to fringe roster status and several clubs are seemingly hoping to get him through waivers and into the minors as non-roster depth.

The righty showed his potential with the A’s in 2024. Still playing in the Oakland Coliseum at that time, Bido gave the A’s 63 1/3 innings in a swing role, allowing 3.41 earned runs per nine. His 10% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 24.3% of batters faced.

The A’s moved to Sutter Health Park last year, a minor league facility, as a temporary home on their way to Las Vegas. That proved to be a hitter-friendly venue, with negative impacts for Bido. He had only allowed three home runs in 2024 but saw the ball go over the fence 19 times in 2025, in a slightly larger sample size of 79 2/3 innings. He was optioned to the minors a few times and finished the year with a 5.87 ERA.

Bido does not have a previous career outright and is shy of three years of service. That means he would not have the right to elect free agency if he were eventually passed through waivers, which explains to constant cycle of waiver claims and DFAs.

The Yankees will probably go down that same road. They don’t have room for Bido in the rotation and their bullpen already projects to have Paul Blackburn and Ryan Yarbrough serving as long relievers. For now, Bido has a spot and could report to camp with a chance to earn a job, but it’s also possible the Yankees put him back out on waivers with the hope of him clearing. If that is indeed the plan, they will likely put him out there quickly. The 60-day injured list opens up next week, which will open up extra roster flexibility for most clubs.

Shewmake, 28, was claimed off waivers from the Royals exactly a year ago today. He spent 2025 in the Yankee system but never got called up, exhausting his final option season in the process. He’s considered a strong defender at multiple infield positions but hasn’t shown much with the bat. He has a .118/.127/.191 line in 71 major league plate appearances. Over the past four years, he has a Triple-A line of .241/.304/.386, which translates to a 78 wRC+.

Now that he’s in DFA limbo, he will have resolution within one week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Yanks could theoretically take five days to field interest. His interest should be minimal with his light bat and lack of options. Like Bido, he does not have a previous career outright and is shy of three years of service, meaning he would stick around as non-roster depth if he clears outright waivers. With the aforementioned 60-day IL situation, the Yanks could be motivated to put him on the wire sooner rather than later.

Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images

Tarik Skubal Wins Arbitration Hearing

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Tigers ace Tarik Skubal has won his arbitration hearing against the team, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. He’ll be paid a record-shattering $32MM in his final season of arbitration eligibility and, in doing so, radically alter subsequent arbitration earnings for top-tier starting pitchers with five-plus years of big league service. The Tigers had submitted a $19MM figure, which was more in line with traditional arbitration earnings for elite starters. Skubal is represented by the Boras Corporation.

It’s a landmark decision that narrowly tops Juan Soto’s record $31MM salary (the most ever for an arb-eligible player) and absolutely shatters David Price’s longstanding record for arbitration-eligible pitchers. Coincidentally enough, Price was also a Tiger when he set that record, though the two sides came to terms without requiring a hearing; he settled on a $19.75MM salary for the 2015 season — a record that stood for more than a decade.

Skubal’s case was the most fascinating arbitration case in history. He and agent Scott Boras leveraged a clause in the CBA that allows players with five-plus years of major league service time to compare themselves not to prior arbitration precedents but to open-market prices for free agents. We haven’t seen a player try to break the conventional arbitration system in this way despite that clause’s presence, but Skubal’s consecutive Cy Young Award wins in the American League emboldened his camp to shoot for the moon.

It bears emphasizing that this clause pertains to players entering their final season of club control. For instance, while Paul Skenes will very likely file for a record salary for a first-time arbitration-eligible pitcher next offseason, he’s not going to submit a $30MM+ figure. He’d have no chance of winning. Rather, Skenes and his camp will likely look to move the needle forward beyond the current record for a first-time-eligible pitcher: Dallas Keuchel’s $7.25MM salary on the heels of his own AL Cy Young win back in the 2015-16 offseason.

Many onlookers marvel at the Tigers offering what appears to be a (relatively) low $19MM salary for Skubal’s final season. There’s a sentiment among fans that Detroit should have submitted a figure in the mid-20s, but that’s not how teams approach arbitration. Clubs generally fight tooth and nail to keep arb prices down — hence hearings over gaps of $200K or so every winter — because arbitration has historically been based entirely on past comparables within the same service class as the player in question. It’s not realistic to think any team would have willingly offered to move the needle for a service class forward by some $5-6MM.

The Tigers’ $19MM submission for Skubal already represented a raise of 87% over Skubal’s $10.15MM salary in 2025. On a percentage basis, that’s actually more than double the raise Price received; he’d earned $14MM in 2014 before a $5.75MM (41%) raise heading into 2015. Had Detroit offered Skubal a salary of $25MM, for instance, that would’ve represented a mammoth 146% raise over the prior year’s salary. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to say that perhaps they should have done so, but that hasn’t been the modus operandi of any team in arbitration at any point over the years.

Similarly, it hasn’t been the M.O. for any player or the union to try to leverage that until-now obscure CBA clause in an effort to entirely upend the arbitration system as we know it. Doing so represented a risk for Skubal and Boras; the two could surely have taken a more conservative approach, filing for a $21-22MM salary that looked to more incrementally advance the market for stars (pitchers, specifically) in arbitration. Instead, they gambled on Skubal’s historic pair of seasons and were rewarded with a historic ruling. Skubal’s $32MM victory will now be fair game to be cited as a potential comp for stars at any point moving forward — at least those with “special accomplishments,” as laid out in the CBA.

MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes points out that given that context, this case boiled down as much to the league versus the union as it did the Tigers versus Boras. Passan reports that Skubal’s camp went so far as to enlist MLBPA deputy director Bruce Meyer, which speaks to the long-term importance of this specific case. (It’s standard for the MLBPA to aid agencies in preparing for and arguing arbitration cases, though not necessarily with one of the union’s top executives.) Skubal’s case was so unique and his accomplishments so “special” (again, using CBA terminology) that he compared himself to starting pitchers who topped $40MM salaries in free agency, Passan adds.

Turning to the more immediate future, the arbiters’ ruling has major payroll implications for Detroit. The Tigers agreed to a three-year, $115MM contract with Framber Valdez just last night and will now pay Skubal $13MM more than they would have if the panel had ruled in their favor. In a matter of 24 hours, their payroll went from a plausible $164MM or to something in the range of $215MM, depending on how Valdez’s contract breaks down on an annual basis and how much deferred money the contract contains — all of which is yet unclear.

One would imagine that had the Tigers won yesterday’s hearing, there might have been some extra wiggle room in the payroll for further late additions to the roster. Perhaps that’s still the case, but the extra $13MM, coupled with the massive Valdez deal, thrusts Detroit into franchise-record payroll territory and could mean the heavy lifting is largely finished.

Fans from other clubs will surely hope that Skubal’s arbitration win opens the door for a potential trade. That’s overwhelmingly unlikely to be the case. Tigers brass has declined to wholly declare Skubal off limits at any point this winter but has done so more as a matter of principle than due to an actual willingness to move him. President of baseball operations Scott Harris has declined to speak in absolutes regarding Skubal but has also done so with regard to virtually all other roster matters when asked.

That “never say never” mentality has led to plenty of wishcasting from fans who’d love to see Skubal in their club’s jersey, just as it’s led to hopeful inquiries from rival teams throughout the league. To this point, there’s no indication that a Skubal trade was ever seriously considered; Harris & Co. have seemingly given other clubs the chance to present a comical offer that they simply can’t refuse, but no team has done so.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported this morning that the Tigers, after adding Valdez, had no intent to trade Skubal even if he won his case. The addition of Valdez gives Detroit an arguably overqualified “No. 2” starter to pair with Skubal atop a rotation that now makes them the unequivocal favorites in a perennially weak American League Central.

Valdez’s relatively short-term deal also ensures that Detroit will have a high-end starter in place for the 2027 season in the event that Skubal departs as a free agent. If the Tigers are able to re-sign him on the open market, they’ll return that pairing for at least the ’27 season, after which Valdez could opt out — thus dropping the Tigers back down to “only” one immense, top-of-the-market salary for a member of their rotation.

Skubal and his camp are surely celebrating today, as is the Players Association at large. Players are now 3-0 over teams in arbitration hearings this year, and Skubal’s landmark win will have ramifications for future arb-eligible players for literal decades to come — assuming the system, as it currently exists, remains in place that long. The Tigers, even though they were handed a $13MM defeat, have cause to celebrate as well. Their rotation — which also includes Reese Olson and another pair of impending free agents, Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize — should be among the most formidable in the sport.

As for the rest of the American League Central — and owners around the game who now can look forward to heightened arb salaries for players with five-plus years of service — things may not be so rosy.

Pirates To Sign José Urquidy

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The Pirates and right-hander José Urquidy are in agreement on a contract, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. He’ll earn $1.5MM on a one-year deal, Jon Heyman of the New York Post adds. Urquidy, an Octagon client, can boost that salary further via incentives.

Pittsburgh generated headlines yesterday when they jumped in as a late entrant in the Framber Valdez bidding before he ultimately went to the Tigers last night. They’ll still add a former Astros hurler to reunite with new pitching coach Bill Murphy, though on a much smaller scale. Murphy coached Urquidy with Houston from 2021-24.

From 2021-22, Urquidy was an unheralded but quality member of the Houston rotation, starting 48 games and pitching to a solid 3.81 ERA with a 20.3% strikeout rate and a tiny 5.2% walk rate. Injuries began to slow him down in 2023. He missed three months with a shoulder injury that season, and his entire 2024 campaign was wiped out by an elbow injury that ultimately required Tommy John surgery over the summer. The 2025 season had been scheduled to be Urquidy’s final year of club control, so the Astros unsurprisingly cut him loose following the season.

Urquidy latched on with the Tigers on a one-year, $1MM contract that included a 2026 club option valued at $4MM. He returned from the injured list in September but pitched only 2 1/3 innings in the majors before consenting to be optioned. He pitched well in the minors last year (2.91 ERA, 22.2 K%, 6.2 BB% in 21 2/3 frames) but was hit hard in his small big league sample. The Tigers opted to decline their 2026 option and send Urquidy back to the open market.

With the injury troubles ostensibly behind him, Urquidy heads to the Pirates as an interesting buy-low candidate with some upside. Because he favors a changeup as his go-to offspeed pitch, he has substantial reverse splits in his career. Lefties have posted an awful .203/.257/.362 slash against him, whereas righties — with some help from the short left-field porch in Houston — have tagged him for a .267/.314/.468 batting line. Moving from one of the best environments for right-handed home runs to perhaps the worst in MLB will surely benefit his skill set.

Exactly what role the Pirates have in store for Urquidy, who turns 31 in May, remains to be seen. The Bucs are as deep as nearly any team in the sport when it comes to starting pitching but seem to add a low-cost veteran around this time of the offseason every year. In the past, that’s meant short-term pickups of Tyler Anderson, Jose Quintana, Martín Pérez and Andrew Heaney. Urquidy isn’t a lefty like that quartet but still seems to meet general manager Ben Cherington’s annual bargain starter quota.

Reigning NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes will, of course, be the Pirates’ Opening Day starter. He’ll be followed in some order by veteran Mitch Keller and young flamethrowers Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft, both of whom impressed as rookies in 2025. Urquidy will join a competition for the fifth spot that includes Carmen Mlodzinski, Hunter Barco, Thomas Harrington and Jared Jones, who’ll be returning from 2024 Tommy John surgery. Mlodzinski fared better as a reliever than a starter last season, so this move could push him to the ’pen. If Urquidy is outshined by Jones, Barco or Harrington in camp, he could open the season in a swingman capacity.

Angels, Brent Suter Nearing Deal

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The Angels are closing in on a major league deal with free agent left-hander Brent Suter, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. The Diamond Sports Management client would be the fourth veteran bullpen signing of the offseason for the Halos.

The 36-year-old Suter is a throwback in many ways — a soft-tossing, rubber-armed lefty who relies more on command and soft contact while often pitching multiple innings per outing. Last year’s 87.3 mph was the second-highest average velocity he’s posted on his four-seamer in any of his 10 big league seasons. His 89.1 mph average sinker was a career-high.

Obviously, Suter isn’t going to blow any hitters away with power stuff. However, he’s walked only 6.1% of his career opponents (6.2% in 2025) and perennially posts some of the league’s lowest exit velocity and hard-hit rates. Suter can still pick up some punchouts, but last year’s 18.2% mark was four percentage points shy of average. He hasn’t posted a league-average strikeout rate since 2021 and has an overall 18.8% mark in the four seasons since.

That hasn’t stopped Suter from being a generally effective relief option. Last year’s 4.52 ERA was a career-worst mark but was in part inflated by an abnormally low 69% strand rate. Playing his home games at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park didn’t help, as the 1.42 HR/9 he’s averaged over the past two seasons with the Reds is substantially higher than the 1.07 mark he carried into the 2024 season. That was surely a worthwhile trade-off for the Cincinnati native, who reportedly turned down some better offers to pitch for his hometown club the past couple seasons, but a move to Angel Stadium should bode well for the southpaw in terms of getting his home run rate back down.

Over the past seasons, Suter ranks 12th among all relief pitchers in innings pitched. He’s had just two IL stints along the way — three weeks for an oblique strain in ’23 and six weeks for a teres major strain in ’24 — and has logged a collective 3.76 ERA in that time. He’s typically been more of a long man or middle reliever but does have three saves and 24 holds in his career. He worked more than one inning in 22 of his 48 appearances with the Reds in 2025, topping out at 3 2/3 innings for his longest appearance of the season.

Despite restructuring the final season of Anthony Rendon’s contract such that it’ll defer his remaining salary over a five-year period, it’s been a quiet offseason for the Angels. They’ve added four relievers — Suter, Jordan Romano, Drew Pomeranz, Kirby Yates — on low-cost, one-year contracts. Yates ($5MM), Pomeranz ($4MM) and Romano ($2MM) will earn a combined $11MM. Suter’s deal will presumably be valued similarly to his three veteran counterparts. The team’s other moves include a buy-low trade of Rays outfielder Josh Lowe and re-signing Yoan Moncada for a year and $4MM.

That Lowe trade cost the Angels southpaw reliever Brock Burke. Signing Suter again gives the Angels a second lefty to pair with Pomeranz in a patchwork bullpen where the average reliever within is now about 33 and a half years old. Suter, Pomeranz, Yates and Romano will be joined by Robert Stephenson, Ryan Zeferjahn and out-of-options righty Chase Silseth. Recent waiver claim Kaleb Ort is out of options as well, so he’ll be in the Opening Day group unless he’s designated for assignment before that point; the Angels, notably, will need a 40-man move for Suter unless they wait until camp opens so they can move the aforementioned Rendon to the 60-day IL.

Konnor Pilkington Elects Free Agency

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The Nationals announced Thursday that lefty Konnor Pilkington, whom they had designated for assignment last week, cleared waivers and rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A Rochester in favor of free agency. He’s now free to sign with any club.

The 28-year-old Pilkington pitched 28 1/3 frames for the Nats in 2025, working to a 4.45 ERA with a strong 27.6% strikeout rate. The southpaw’s 13.8% walk rate was an eyesore, however, and marked the continuation of longstanding command issues that have plagued him since his early days in pro ball.

Pilkington is a former third-round pick of the White Sox. He’s pitched 88 1/3 innings in the big leagues and has a solid 3.97 earned run average with a roughly average 22% strikeout rate along the way. His 12.9% walk rate has held him back, and that’s actually an improvement over his work in the upper minors. Pilkington has pitched parts of four seasons at the Triple-A level but carries a grisly 6.10 ERA there, thanks in no small part to walking 14.1% of the opponents he’s faced.

A starter earlier in his career, Pilkington moved to a relief role full time and saw his four-seamer clock in at a career-high 94.5 mph average. He logged an 11.6% swinging-strike rate in the majors, just north of the 11% league-average, and logged a gaudier 13.8% swinging-strike rate in Triple-A.

Pilkington still has one minor league option year remaining, and while his overall track record in Triple-A isn’t good, he notched a 2.59 ERA in 42 1/3 innings with Washington’s top affiliate in Rochester this past season. Rival clubs could be intrigued by his uptick in velocity and the strikeout numbers following a move to the bullpen and take a flier on a minor league deal now that he’s a free agent, but he’ll need to rein in his walks considerably if he’s to carve out a long-term role in the majors.

Poll: Who Will Sign Zac Gallen?

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The impact position players are off the market for the most part at this point, and yesterday the top starter remaining followed suit as Framber Valdez landed with the Tigers on a three-year, $115MM deal. That leaves right-hander Zac Gallen as both the final remaining qualified free agent and the best starting pitcher still available. Gallen’s market has been a bit deflated coming off the weakest season of his career, though with a lifetime 3.58 ERA and 3.65 FIP across 1007 1/3 big league innings there’s no doubt that he could still impact a rotation-needy team if he can get back on track. Which teams would the right-hander be the best fit for, and where will he ultimately land? A few of the most likely options:

Arizona Diamondbacks

For a qualified free agent who lingers on the market, sometimes a homecoming simply makes the most sense. The Diamondbacks are the only team in the majors that wouldn’t forfeit a draft pick in order to bring Gallen into the fold, and that alone makes them a sensible fit. Beyond that, the Arizona pitching staff is in serious need of help. Adding Gallen would be prudent, given the team’s lack of experienced rotation depth and a fifth starter (Michael Soroka) who has had durability concerns. His addition could push some of those depth starters into the mix for a bullpen that lacks impact options with Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk both set to open the season on the injured list. The biggest obstacle for a reunion between Arizona and Gallen is money; ownership hasn’t been shy about their desire to bring down a payroll that has sat in the $190MM range over the past two years, and unless ownership makes an exception for a beloved longtime D-back, the Snakes are more or less at their limit.

Baltimore Orioles

The O’s entered the season with a need to upgrade the rotation. They’ve acquired Shane Baz and re-upped with Zach Eflin, but neither is a surefire front-of-the-rotation arm. That’s also true of Gallen after that shaky 2025 showing, but at his peak he’s been the type of arm Baltimore seeks. Adding Gallen to a rotation including Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Baz, Eflin and Dean Kremer would be a more aggressive approach than the O’s took last winter when signing back-end veterans like Tomoyuki Sugano and Charlie Morton to one-year deals. Baltimore’s payroll is still nearly $20MM shy of last year’s Opening Day mark, so there shouldn’t be any major financial hurdles.

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs have already had a big offseason, headlined by their Alex Bregman signing and a trade for Marlins righty Edward Cabrera. The Cabrera trade has given the Cubs a deep cache of starting pitching options that’s pushed Colin Rea and Javier Assad into depth roles, and even more help figures to be on the way when rehabbing southpaw Justin Steele returns at some point in the first half. Even so, the team’s starting pitching options all have worrisome injury histories. That includes Cabrera, who briefly went on the IL with an elbow issue back in September. Adding a healthy workhorse like Gallen could make plenty of sense to raise the floor, and with talented arms like Steele, Cabrera, and Cade Horton in the mix Gallen might be under less pressure to deliver the ace-level results he’s flashed in the past.

San Diego Padres

The Padres have been clear about their desire to add another starter, and Gallen could be just the sort of high-upside arm the team needs to credibly replace Dylan Cease. It wouldn’t be the first time president of baseball operations A.J. Preller pulled off a major move in the final months before Opening Day. Cease was acquired in March of 2024, while righty Nick Pivetta signed with San Diego last February. The biggest obstacle to Gallen following in their footsteps could be financial, as it’s unclear just how much wiggle room the Padres have left. Perhaps the team working out the details of veteran righty Yu Darvish’s possible exit from the club could create the budget space necessary to land Gallen.

Other Options

While the aforementioned quartet of clubs are perhaps the most likely destinations for Gallen, they aren’t the only ones. Detroit could have made sense as a Gallen suitor, but their agreement with Valdez surely takes them out of the starting pitching market at this point. The Angels have been connected to the right-hander recently, but they’re viewed as a bit of a long-shot and are by far the least competitive team among this group. Atlanta is known to be shopping for a veteran starter, but it’s unclear if the team has the stomach for the sort of $20MM+ annual salary for which Gallen figures to be searching. The Blue Jays were connected to Valdez shortly before he signed, suggesting a willingness to continue adding to their rotation, but Gallen might not be viewed as impactful enough to justify pushing Cody Ponce and Jose Berrios out of the fifth starter job. The Giants were also connected to Gallen earlier in the winter but have since signed Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle. President of baseball ops Buster Posey downplayed the idea of adding another starter last week, but the San Francisco rotation has both injury and workload concerns behind ace Logan Webb.

Where do MLBTR readers think Gallen will ultimately land? Have your say in the poll below:

The Opener: Skubal, Padres, Red Sox

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

1. Skubal decision expected:

Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal went to an arbitration hearing with the Tigers yesterday, and a report from the Associated Press indicates that a decision on the matter is slated to be announced today. That decision will have substantial financial ramifications, not only for the Tigers and Skubal but for future high-end starting pitchers who go through the arbitration process. If the Tigers win, the ball won’t be moved forward for those pitchers at all as Skubal will be paid just $19MM, lower than the $19.6MM record David Price set during his final trip through arbitration over a decade ago. That scenario would presumably leave the Tigers with some additional spending power, even after adding Framber Valdez last night. If Skubal wins, the Tigers will add an extra $13MM in salary to their books as they pay him a hefty $32MM in his final season before free agency.

2. What’s next for the Padres?

The Padres have long been known to be hoping to find another bat and found one yesterday when they agreed to a $4MM deal with Miguel Andujar. The former Rookie of the Year runner-up is coming off his best season since that debut campaign; Andujar split the 2025 season between the A’s and Reds, slashing .318/.352/.470 (125 wRC+) in a platoon-heavy role where he torched lefties and was a slight bit above average versus righties. While Andujar has experience at all four corner positions, he’s a poor defender who figures to see plenty of DH work with San Diego. With Andujar aboard, will president of baseball operations A.J. Preller turn his attention towards acquiring a starter who can help fill the void left by Dylan Cease in the club’s rotation?

3. Are the Red Sox done?

The Red Sox reached an agreement with infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa yesterday, adding a talented and versatile defender to an infield that had questions at third base and second base. Though “IKF” raises the infield’s floor, he’s a well below-average hitter coming off a punchless .262/.297/.324 (75 wRC+) showing in 459 plate appearances — not exactly a replacement for the Alex Bregman-sized hole in Boston’s lineup.

It’s possible the Sox could go with some combination of Kiner-Falefa, Marcelo Mayer, David Hamilton, Nick Sogard, and Romy Gonzalez at second and third base, with Kristian Campbell or even Ceddanne Rafaela possibly mixing in, depending on health and performance (though indications are that the Red Sox prefer them in the outfield). It’s still unclear how much — if at all — Kiner-Falefa will impact the club’s pursuits of players like Isaac Paredes, Nico Hoerner, Matt Shaw, and other infield options on the trade market.

Tigers, Framber Valdez Agree To Three-Year Deal

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The Tigers land the offseason’s top remaining free agent, reportedly agreeing to a three-year deal with Framber Valdez that guarantees $115MM. The deal, which is pending a physical, allows the star left-hander to opt out after the second season. It contains a $20MM signing bonus and an unspecified amount of deferred money. Valdez is represented by Octagon.

Valdez reunites with A.J. Hinch and gives the Tigers a lethal 1-2 pairing at the top of the rotation. He’ll slot behind Tarik Skubal atop a starting staff that suddenly looks like one of the best in the American League. They’ll be followed by Reese Olson, Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize if everyone gets through camp healthy. That’d push KBO signee Drew Anderson into a swing role, while second-year righty Troy Melton can either pitch out of the bullpen or wait in Triple-A for a rotation spot to open.

The Skubal-Valdez pairing may only be together for one season, as the two-time defending Cy Young winner is a year away from what should be a record-setting free agent contract. Skubal and the club went to a hearing this morning that’ll determine whether he makes $19MM or $32MM for his final year under club control. The arbitrators will not reveal their decision until tomorrow, and Chris McCosky of The Detroit News confirms that neither the Tigers nor Skubal’s camp are aware yet of which way they’ll rule. The Valdez pickup is an independent decision.

It’s the kind of win-now strike for which much of the Detroit fanbase has waited all offseason. The Tigers had a fairly conservative trade deadline, and their biggest moves before tonight had been retaining Flaherty on a $20MM player option and Gleyber Torres via the $22.025MM qualifying offer. They also brought back setup man Kyle Finnegan on a two-year deal and added Anderson and closer Kenley Jansen on one-year contracts. They’d done a decent job building depth but without pushing the chips in for an impact player in what could be Skubal’s final season in the Motor City.

Valdez brings the ceiling that Detroit’s other acquisitions had lacked. He’s a two-time All-Star who has finished top 10 in Cy Young balloting in three of the past four seasons. Valdez worked his way from an unheralded amateur signee to the big leagues in 2018. He spent his first two seasons working in a swing role for an Astros club managed by Hinch. Valdez moved into the rotation permanently during the shortened 2020 campaign and has been one of the best pitchers in MLB over the last six years.

The southpaw has posted a sub-4.00 earned run average in each season since he became a full-time starter. He has been exceptionally durable as well, only twice landing on the injured list in his MLB career. He fractured his left ring finger when he was hit by a comebacker in Spring Training 2021. He was back from that injury by the end of May. His only other IL stint was a two-week absence for elbow inflammation early in ’24. He returned without issue and wound up making 29 starts between the regular season and playoffs.

Valdez is tied for 14th in starts and ranks fifth with 973 innings dating back to 2020. He has a cumulative 3.23 ERA in that time. That includes sub-3.00 showings in 2022 and ’24. Valdez was among the most consistent top-of-the-rotation starters in MLB — at least until the second half of his walk year. He posted an earned run average between 2.82 and 3.45 in each season between 2021-24. He topped 175 innings in each of the latter three years.

For the first half of last season, Valdez was on a similar pace. He took a 2.75 ERA over 121 frames into the All-Star Break. Valdez came out of the Break with two more quality starts and was sitting on a 2.62 ERA (a top 10 mark among qualifiers) as August arrived. He picked a tough time for arguably the worst couple months of his career. Valdez was blitzed for a 6.05 ERA with a dramatically reduced 17.7% strikeout rate over his final 10 starts. His sinker velocity dipped slightly, and opponents teed off on it in August and September. There’s no indication that he was tipping pitches, and it seems like the issue was mostly poor execution.

Valdez also found himself at the center of controversy during a start against the Yankees on September 2. Two pitches after giving up a grand slam to Trent Grisham, he hit catcher César Salazar in the chest with a 93 MPH sinker on a cross-up. Salazar was clearly expecting a breaking ball and didn’t have time to react to the fastball. Valdez didn’t check on the catcher in the moment. Salazar was not hurt and finished the game without issue.

The pitcher denied that the cross-up was intentional. Salazar did his best to publicly downplay the incident, saying he pressed the wrong button on his PitchCom. Even if that’s the case, the pitcher’s seeming lack of concern on the mound made for poor optics. Valdez said postgame that he had apologized to his battery mate.

Did that have any impact on his market value? It’s impossible to know from the outside, though one imagines some teams asked Valdez about the incident during the free agent process. It’s worth noting that a Detroit team managed by his former skipper is the one that eventually signed him, so it seems they don’t have any concerns about his makeup or clubhouse presence.

The late-season dip in production and Valdez’s age were probably bigger factors in his extended free agent stay. He finished the year with a 3.66 ERA across 192 innings. His 23.3% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk percentage were in line with his career marks. It’s a solid strikeout and walk profile, but his game has always been built more around ground-balls. He has a career 62% grounder rate and kept the ball on the ground at a 58.6% clip last season, the third-highest mark among pitchers with 100+ innings.

It’s not the whiff-heavy approach that someone like Dylan Cease brought to the table this offseason, though Valdez’s statistical profile isn’t that dissimilar from that of Max Fried. They’re both ground-ball specialists who sit in the mid-90s with a sinker that leads the profile. Fried commanded an eight-year, $218MM contract last winter. The biggest difference is that came in advance of his age-31 season, while Valdez turned 32 in November.

Although a one-year age gap might not seem like much, teams have been reluctant to make long-term commitments to free agent pitchers at 32. Zack Greinke, Jacob deGrom and Blake Snell are the only pitchers that age or older to command five-plus years since 2011. They’d all had at least one Cy Young on their résumés by that point. Valdez’s inconsistent finish essentially took a six-year contract off the table. MLBTR predicted a five-year, $150MM deal at the beginning of the offseason. That he remained unsigned into February made it increasingly apparent that a five-year contract wasn’t going to be out there.

On the surface, Valdez seems to have done fairly well despite signing a week before the beginning of Spring Training. The deal’s true value can’t really be known until the extent of the deferrals are reported, however. The sticker price comes with a massive $38.33MM average annual value that’d rank 10th all time. The net present value will be reduced to at least some extent by the deferred money.

Regardless of the contract breakdown, this easily goes down as Scott Harris’ boldest free agent move in his four years running baseball operations. It’s Detroit’s first nine-figure investment since the ill-fated Javier Baez deal, which was signed under former GM Al Avila. The Harris front office hadn’t gone beyond $35MM on a free agent. That was their two-year contract to re-sign Flaherty almost exactly a year ago. There are some parallels with Valdez in terms of waiting out the market to get a high-end starter for short term, but this is obviously a much more significant investment.

The Tigers ran a $188MM competitive balance tax payroll last season. They’re going to top that this year, though the extent isn’t clear. RosterResource currently estimates their CBT number around $237MM while penciling in the midpoint of the arbitration filing figures as a placeholder for Skubal. The arbitrators don’t have that luxury, meaning that CBT estimate will change by $6.5MM in one direction or another. It’s also using the base $38.33MM annual value for Valdez, which overshoots the actual number to an unknown extent until the deferral breakdown comes out.

Detroit also forfeits draft capital because Valdez rejected a qualifying offer from the Astros. They’re a revenue sharing recipient so it’s the lowest penalty, their third-highest pick in the 2026 draft. That’s currently slated to be their Competitive Balance Round B selection, which is 69th overall. The Tigers could look to trade that pick — Competitive Balance selections are the only ones that can be traded — rather than losing it as the compensatory pick. They’d then forfeit their third-round selection (#98 overall), but another team might be more willing to give up something of value for the higher draft choice and accompanying slot value that makes it worthwhile for Detroit to lose the third-rounder.

Houston never had any interest in meeting Valdez’s asking price. As luxury tax payors, they receive a compensation pick after the fourth round. That’ll land around 133rd overall. Houston traded for Mike Burrows and signed Tatsuya Imai and Ryan Weiss to backfill the rotation depth, even if they’re unlikely to replace the ceiling that Valdez brought.

The Blue Jays, Orioles and Pirates were recently linked to Valdez. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports that the Twins surprisingly jumped in the mix as well. He was probably a unique target for a Toronto club that already runs six deep in the rotation. Baltimore could pivot to a mid-tier starter like Zac Gallen (the last unsigned player who declined a QO), Chris Bassitt or Lucas Giolito. A mid-rotation arm is also possible for Pittsburgh. At the very least, the Bucs figure to add a fifth starter for a few million dollars. Minnesota has a solid rotation but reportedly kicked the tires on a Freddy Peralta trade as well, seemingly staying on the periphery of the market for a potential impact arm.

Jeff Passan of ESPN reported the three-year, $115MM agreement with the opt-out after year two. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was first on the presence of deferrals. Jon Heyman of The New York Post had the $20MM bonus.

Image courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images.

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