Cardinals Notes: Nootbaar, Baez, Catcher
Lars Nootbaar still hasn’t played this spring as he works back from heel surgeries. Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat noted yesterday that the left fielder is trending towards beginning the season on the injured list. There’s no clear timetable for his season debut.
An injured list stint has been a possibility since the Cardinals announced that Nootbaar had surgery to address Haglund’s deformities on both heels. The health uncertainty seemingly took the veteran outfielder off the trade block over the winter. Nootbaar was loosely tied to the Rangers, Mets and Pirates at points throughout the offseason. There was too much uncertainty in his health outlook for the Cardinals to net a strong enough return to move him.
The Cardinals have two years of arbitration control over Nootbaar. The lefty hitter posted above-average offensive numbers over his first three and a half MLB seasons. He had a career-worst .234/.325/.361 showing across 583 plate appearances last year. Nootbaar is making $5.35MM this season and seems likely to be available at the deadline as long as he’s healthy.
Nootbaar’s injury leaves the Opening Day left field job available. The Cardinals were in the market for a right-handed hitting outfielder late in the offseason but didn’t come away with any MLB additions. They signed Nelson Velázquez to a minor league deal. He’s mashing at a .333/.440/.524 clip with four walks and two strikeouts in 25 plate appearances this spring. They’re also getting utility infielders Thomas Saggese and José Fermín outfield work in camp. One of those players could split time with lefty-hitting Nathan Church as a stopgap left field platoon.
One idea not under consideration: carrying highly-regarded outfield prospect Joshua Báez on the Opening Day roster. The Cardinals optioned the 22-year-old to Triple-A Memphis yesterday. Báez had an excellent camp, slugging three homers while going 7-21 in 10 games. Báez has no Triple-A experience, though, so it’s hardly a surprise that he’ll begin the season in the minors.
A former second-round pick, Báez floundered early in his minor league career. He firmly put himself back on the prospect radar last season. Báez combined for a .287/.384/.500 slash with 20 homers between High-A and Double-A. Even more impressively, he cut his strikeout rate to a league average 21.4% clip after fanning in more than 34% of his plate appearances in his first three professional seasons. He’ll look to follow up his impressive Spring Training by maintaining that improved contact rate in his first look at Triple-A pitching.
St. Louis also optioned catching prospects Jimmy Crooks and Leonardo Bernal over the weekend. That leaves Ivan Herrera, Pedro Pages and Yohel Pozo as the three catchers on the 40-man roster. Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that the team intends to carry all three on the Opening Day roster. Pages will be the primary option behind the dish, while Pozo will work in a traditional backup role. Herrera will continue seeing more time as a designated hitter than at catcher, though the Cardinals aren’t moving him off the position entirely.
Poll: Will The Astros Be Able To Add Another Outfielder Before Opening Day?
One of the biggest predicaments of the Astros’ offseason has been their as-of-yet unsuccessful efforts to reshape their outfield mix. After losing Kyle Tucker in a trade to the Cubs last winter, the team not only missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade but struggled to find production in the outfield. Their 88 wRC+ on the grass was the eighth-weakest in the majors, and while strong defense from Jake Meyers in center field helped to raise their ranking in terms of fWAR, the club’s outfield still ranked just 20th in baseball even by that measure.
Things have arguably gotten worse in the outfield for Houston this winter, depending on who you’d take between Jesus Sanchez and Joey Loperfido. As presently constructed, Meyers figures to handle center field with some combination of Loperfido, Cam Smith, Zach Cole, Brice Matthews, and Zach Dezenzo platooning in the corners. Smith is the only one with even 400 plate appearances at the big league level for his career of that group, and he’s a 23-year-old coming off a middling rookie season after getting just 32 games in the minors (and only five above High-A) before making his debut. It’s a very unproven group, and it’s been no secret that even after the calendar flipped to March with Opening Day just weeks away, the Astros are hoping to find a way to add some additional stability to their outfield.
For most of the offseason, the industry consensus was that they were most likely to accomplish that by dealing away Isaac Paredes. Paredes, at least on paper, was blocked all over the diamond after the team acquired Carlos Correa to play third base at last year’s trade deadline. With Correa at third, Christian Walker at first, and Yordan Alvarez at DH, there wasn’t much of anywhere for Paredes to play. Perhaps the team was still holding out hope that the right deal would come through at some point but a recent finger fracture suffered by Jeremy Pena perhaps changes that calculus. If Pena has to miss time, Correa could be thrust back into the role of everyday shortstop, which would leave the hot corner for Paredes to get regular at-bats to open the season.
That means a major trade for someone like Jarren Duran is extremely unlikely at this point. With that being said, though, there are certainly other ways the team could look to improve its outfield even as Opening Day creeps closer. Free agency (Jesse Winker, Jason Heyward) offers a couple of interesting if unexciting options who could likely be brought into camp on a minor league deal.
The best NRI candidates have been picked over by other clubs at this point, but if a player like Michael Conforto (who the Astros reportedly had interest in before he signed with the Cubs) or Mike Tauchman fails to make their current team out of camp, then it’s entirely possible they could opt out of their current deals and find a home in Houston.
It’s even possible that a deal involving a player on another team’s major league roster isn’t completely out of the question. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco explored a handful of little-discussed trade candidates who could make sense for the Astros last month. While there’s no guarantee any of those players are available, it’s fair to think a team like the Twins (who have all of Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach, Alan Roden, and James Outman vying for just a few spots in their outfield mix) could be willing to part with one of those pieces. That would be especially intriguing for Minnesota if the Astros were open to listening on some of their pitching depth, given that the Twins will be without Pablo Lopez this year and David Festa is also slated to start the year on the injured list.
What do MLBTR readers think of the Astros’ outfield situation? Will they be able to find some external help before the season begins? Or will they enter the year with some combination of their internal players handling the corners? Have your say in the poll below:
Will the Astros add another outfielder before Opening Day?
Matt Thaiss Has Upward Mobility Clause In Red Sox Deal
The Red Sox may have to make a decision on catcher Matt Thaiss soon. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports that several players in camp on minor league deals have upward mobility clauses or opt-outs in their contracts. Most of those will come during the season. With Thaiss, he has an upward mobility clause five days prior to Opening Day. Cotillo also notes that Thaiss would make a salary of $1.3MM if added to the roster.
When an upward mobility clause is triggered, a player is offered up to the other 29 clubs in the league. If any of them are willing to give the player a roster spot, then the signing club has to either give him a roster spot themselves or trade him to another club that will. If no club offers him a roster spot, then he can be sent to the minors as non-roster depth.
Thaiss, 31 in May, is competing for the job backing up Carlos Narváez. Thaiss’s defense is questionable but he clearly has a keen eye at the plate, having drawn a walk in 13.1% of his career plate appearances. That has helped him produce a .210/.320/.332 batting line. The resulting 84 wRC+ indicates his production has been 16% below a league average hitter but backstops are generally about ten points below par, so that’s not too bad for a backup catcher.
The Sox have Connor Wong on the roster but he still has a minor league option remaining and put up a dismal .190/.262/.238 line last year. Mickey Gasper is optionable and can also play other positions. If the Sox wanted to, they could add Thaiss to the roster and option Wong and Gasper to serve as depth in Triple-A. Doing so would require opening a 40-man roster spot for Thaiss. If they are not willing to do that, it’s possible they could be forced to send him elsewhere.
There are some other contract provisions the Sox will have to consider, but not as urgently. Cotillo adds that right-hander Kyle Keller also has an upward mobility clause but not until April 15th. Cotillo had previously reported a less specific mid-April date for that clause.
That means the Sox can keep Keller as minor league depth for at least the first few weeks of the season and delay their decision until then. Keller also has other unspecified chances to opt out of the deal beyond that April 15th date, as well as a clause that allows teams from Japan and Korea to pursue him if he doesn’t have a spot on the major league roster. Keller spent the past four years pitching in Japan and put up a 2.42 earned run average in 152 1/3 innings.
The Sox have even more breathing room with some other deals. Infielder Vinny Capra has a June 1st opt-out. Catcher Jason Delay has opt-outs on June 30th and August 15th. Delay is in the same catching mix as Thaiss. If Thaiss ends up elsewhere, then Delay’s chances of getting a spot would improve. If he still doesn’t like his situation this summer, he’ll have a couple of chances to seek out greener pastures.
Capra seems a bit blocked right now. The Sox project to have Isiah Kiner-Falefa as their multi-positional bench infielder. They also have Andruw Monasterio, Anthony Seigler, Nate Eaton, Nick Sogard and Tsung-Che Cheng on the roster. A spate of injuries could change the calculus but Capra will have a chance to walk away if the path doesn’t clear.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Blue Jays Sign Caleb Freeman To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays have signed right-hander Caleb Freeman to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. Freeman has been assigned to Double-A New Hampshire, so he’ll presumably be heading to minor league camp in spring training.
Freeman, 28, is a reliever who spent his entire career in the White Sox system until recently. He averages around 95 miles per hour with his fastball with a high-80s slider and low-80s curveball. For most of his career, control has been a big problem. Over the 2022 and 2023 minor league seasons, he walked 18.5% of the batters he faced. In the majors, relievers usually walk around 9% of opponents, so he was basically double par.
In 2024, he dialed things in, relatively speaking. His 13.6% walk rate was still high but an improvement. He also struck out a strong 29.3% of opponents, helping him post a 3.92 ERA in Double-A that year. In 2025, he got out to a blazing start. In his first 13 1/3 innings, he had a 1.35 ERA, 33.3% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate. The White Sox tried to ride the hot hand and added him to their big league roster.
He wasn’t able to keep the momentum going from there. He faced 16 big league hitters in five appearances. He only gave out one walk but also only punched out three, allowing two earned runs in the process. In the minors, he posted a 5.30 ERA the rest of the way with an 18.2% strikeout rate and 17.1% walk rate. He was outrighted off the 40-man in June and became a free agent at season’s end.
Freeman won’t have a great shot at a roster spot in the near term. The Jays have a pretty crowded pitching staff. They could have eight viable starters once Shane Bieber is ready to come off the injured list. That will have domino effects into the bullpen with some of their starting options pushed into relief roles. The Jays currently have Rule 5 picks Spencer Miles and Angel Bastardo on the roster.
Even if those two can’t break camp, Toronto still projects for bullpen spots to go to Jeff Hoffman, Tyler Rogers, Louis Varland, Brendon Little, Braydon Fisher, Tommy Nance and Eric Lauer, with Mason Fluharty and Chase Lee also in the mix. Jorge Alcala, Josh Fleming and others are in camp as non-roster invitees. It’s also possible that starter Ricky Tiedemann, who has struggled to stay healthy, ends up in the bullpen as he builds up his workload after missing a lot of time in recent years. Over a long season, injuries are inevitable and opportunities will open up. If Freeman can eventually get a roster spot, he still has options.
Photo courtesy of Peter Aiken, Imagn Images
Angels Notes: Candelario, Infield, Lowe
Veteran infielder Jeimer Candelario is having a strong camp with the Angels and has been doing some drills at second base, reports Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register. “We’re just seeing what our options are,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Candy’s been swinging the bat really well. He’s been playing really well.”
Candelario, 32, has some strong major league seasons on his track record but was hobbled by injuries in the past two campaigns. For what it’s worth, he has posted good numbers so far this spring, with a .333/.429/.708 batting line in 28 plate appearances. He won’t maintain a .467 batting average on balls in play forever but six of his eight hits have gone for extra bases.
Some skepticism towards that small sample of spring plate appearances would be warranted, especially after Candelario put up a line of just .207/.265/.394 over 2024 and 2025, but he battled injuries throughout most of that time. He had a combined slash of .254/.329/.437 from 2020 to 2023, which is what prompted the Reds to give him a three-year deal worth $45MM. Cincinnati responded to his struggles by releasing him, which eventually led to Candelario being in camp with the Halos.
If the Halos are thinking about giving him a roster spot, it makes sense to see what kind of versatility he can provide. He currently has no second base experience. He has only played the infield corners in his career. That goes for both the majors and the minors. The Halos have shortstop and first base spoken for, with Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel manning those positions, respectively.
Third and second base are more open. Yoán Moncada is theoretically the everyday third baseman but he has been very injury prone, especially lately. In his ten big league seasons, he only reached 132 games played in three of them, with the most recent instance coming back in 2021. The Angels have to operate under the assumption he will miss some time.
Second base is also a question mark. Christian Moore could be the answer but he has a .198/.284/.370 line in his career thus far and still has options. He has also been spending some time at third base in camp, so there’s some flexibility there. Vaughn Grissom and Oswald Peraza are former prospects on the roster but neither has clicked in the big leagues yet. Both are out of options and could get squeezed.
Candelario is competing for a roster spot with other veteran non-roster invitees like Adam Frazier, Chris Taylor and Nick Madrigal. If he can play a bit of second base, it would add to his appeal and could give him a boost in that competition. The Halos will use one bench spot on backup catcher Travis d’Arnaud. Another will go to a depth outfielder, perhaps Bryce Teodosio. That could leave two spots for the group consisting of Candelario, Grissom, Peraza, Frazier, Taylor, Madrigal and others.
Candelario already has one thing going for him in that he’s cheap. The Reds are still on the hook for paying him this year, the final season of that aforementioned three-year deal. If the Angels give him a spot, they would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time he’s on the roster. The team seems to be dialing back payroll as they deal with a new broadcast revenue paradigm, so that’s surely an attractive element for them.
In a separate column, Fletcher provides an update on outfielder Josh Lowe, who has been battling left oblique soreness in camp. Suzuki said they will try to get him some game action as soon as Friday and suggested that should be plenty of time for him to get ramped up by Opening Day. Assuming Lowe avoids the injured list, he’ll be getting regular playing time in the outfield alongside Mike Trout, Jo Adell and Jorge Soler. Those four are expected to share the three outfield positions and the designated hitter slot.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Offseason In Review: Kansas City Royals
Improving the offense (and in particular the outfield) was the key focus of the Royals’ offseason, and there was plenty of speculation that K.C. would again look to move an arm for a bat. Instead, the Royals hung onto their rotation depth and made some moves that still leave the lineup with a few question marks.
Major League Signings
- Lane Thomas, OF: One year, $5.25MM
- Starling Marte, OF/DH: One year, $1MM
- Alex Lange, RHP: One year, $900K
2026 spending: $7.15MM
Total spending: $7.15MM
Trades And Claims
- Acquired OF Isaac Collins and RHP Nick Mears from Brewers for LHP Angel Zerpa
- Acquired LHP Matt Strahm from Phillies for RHP Jonathan Bowlan
- Acquired OF Kameron Misner from Rays for cash considerations or player to be named later
- Acquired RHP Mitch Spence from Athletics for minor league RHP AJ Causey
- Acquired RHP Mason Black from Giants for minor league RHP Logan Martin
Option Decisions
- Randal Grichuk, OF: Declined his end of $5MM mutual option for 2026 ($3MM buyout)
- Michael Lorenzen, RHP: Royals declined their end of $12MM mutual option for 2026 ($1.5MM buyout)
Notable Minor League Signings
- Abraham Toro, Brandon Drury, Elias Diaz, Hector Neris, John Means, Josh Rojas, Jorge Alfaro, Luke Maile, Kevin Newman, Aaron Sanchez, Jose Cuas, Eli Morgan, Connor Kaiser
Extensions
- Maikel Garcia, 3B: Five years, $57.5MM (includes $3.2MM buyout of $21MM club option for 2031)
- Salvador Perez, C: Two years, $25MM (extension overwrote Royals’ $13.5MM club option on Perez for 2026)
- Vinnie Pasquantino, 1B: Two years, $11MM (contract buys out Pasquantino’s first two arbitration seasons; Pasquantino still under control through 2028)
Notable Losses
- Zerpa, Bowlan, Lorenzen, Grichuk, Mike Yastrzemski, Hunter Harvey, Adam Frazier, Taylor Clarke, MJ Melendez, Dairon Blanco, Sam Long, Kyle Wright
After reaching the playoffs in 2024, the Royals hoped to significantly upgrade their lineup last winter, except the trade that brought Jonathan India to Kansas City from Cincinnati (with Brady Singer going to the Reds) ended up being the Royals’ biggest offensive addition. General manager J.J. Picollo was open with his frustration, telling Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star in February 2025 that “that’s probably the one area in the two years we haven’t been able to reach our goal of getting that [offensive bat]. It’s a little disappointing, but we can’t force teams to make trades they don’t want to make. We were active in the free-agent market; we just weren’t able to land the guys.”
Thirteen months and another offseason later, an argument can be made that the Royals have again had to settle for a half-measures approach. To be clear, the additions of Isaac Collins, Starling Marte, and Lane Thomas should help the outfield, although that’s in part because there was really nowhere to go but up. The Royals’ outfield combined for a dismal -1.7 bWAR in 2025, so even if Collins and Marte just replicate their combined 3.1 bWAR from last season, that’s already a substantial step forward.
That said, Royals fans were surely hoping that the team’s biggest free agent expenditure of the offseason would be on a player who didn’t also have a sub-replacement year. Thomas played in only 39 games with the Guardians due to a bone bruise in his right wrist, and then multiple IL stints due to plantar fasciitis that eventually led to foot surgery in late September. Over 142 plate appearances for Cleveland, Thomas hit only .160/.246/.272, translating to -0.6 bWAR and just a total wash of a year for the 30-year-old.
Thomas isn’t far removed from a 23-homer, 109 wRC+ 2023 season with the Nationals, and he was still hitting well before his bat cratered following a trade to the Guards at the 2024 deadline. It could be that a change of scenery to another AL Central team will help Thomas get his career on track, but he can’t be counted on as a sure thing for 2026. For a Royals club working within a limited budget, committing $5.25MM to Thomas carries some extra risk, especially since he might end up being just a part-time player.
Kyle Isbel will continue to get regular work in center field, as his excellent defense makes up for the lack of punch from his left-handed bat. Thomas (a right-handed hitter) could end up platooning with Isbel in center, or take platoon duties or even everyday duties in right field depending on Jac Caglianone‘s development. The Royals would like nothing more than to see Caglianone start to live up to his top-prospect potential, though his first 232 plate appearances in the majors resulted in a measly .157/.237/.295 slash line. Given Caglianone’s bigger-picture importance to the organization, the Royals would have no problem relegating Thomas to platoon duty if it means Caglianone has a sophomore breakout.
Collins is expected to hold down the everyday left field job in 2026 and potentially for years to come. Kansas City’s most notable trade of the winter saw Collins and righty reliever Nick Mears acquired from the Brewers in exchange for left-hander Angel Zerpa. Milwaukee may yet explore moving Zerpa back into a starting role, but on paper, the Royals were able to land a controllable (through 2030) outfielder as well as some more bullpen help without dealing from their rotation depth.
The trade made some sense for both teams, beyond just the Royals’ outfield need and the Brewers’ surplus on the grass. From the Brewers’ perspective, they may have felt they were selling high on a late bloomer (Collins turns 29 in July) who didn’t make much hard contact in 2025 and may have benefited from a .326 BABIP. Teams may have figured Collins out a bit, given how his numbers cooled off drastically over the season’s last six weeks. For the Royals, Collins brings a switch-hitting bat, good left field defense, very strong walk and chase rates, and room to grow after his fourth-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting. Milwaukee has plenty of outfield depth, and Zerpa has an extra year of control over Mears, who like Collins struggled down the stretch (5.89 ERA in his final 20 appearances).
Marte signed with K.C. two weeks into Spring Training, bringing another notable name into the position-player mix. Nobody expects Marte to return to his old All-Star form at age 37, and he’ll likely spend most of his time at DH with only a handful of outfield appearances. But, Marte hit a respectable .269/.331/.398 with 16 homers over 699 plate appearances for the Mets in 2024-25 working in this same part-time capacity. The Royals will happily take those numbers for the low cost of $1MM and some incentive bonuses.
Kameron Misner was also acquired from the Rays in an early-offseason trade. Between Misner, John Rave, Drew Waters, and utility types Tyler Tolbert and Michael Massey, the Royals have depth on hand as they try to finally establish some stability in their outfield mix.
Marte may end up sharing DH at-bats with either Salvador Perez or Carter Jensen. The Royals will want to try to give Jensen at-bats beyond just a backup catching role, and also give Perez a fair amount of rest days (which opens the door for Jensen to get more reps behind the plate). The rest of the infield picture is set, with Maikel Garcia at third base, Bobby Witt Jr. at shortstop, India at second base, and Vinnie Pasquantino at first base.
India’s return is the only surprising element of the otherwise stable K.C. infield. The Royals opted to give India another chance by signing him to an arbitration-avoiding one-year, $8MM contract, rather than simply non-tendering the veteran second baseman.
While it seems like the team simply believes India can bounce back in his second year in Kansas City, committing $8MM to this belief is another matter. Owner John Sherman indicated in October that the Royals would be spending at roughly the same levels as their $138MM payroll from last year, and as per RosterResource, K.C. has around $148.6MM on the books for 2026. India and Thomas combine for $13.5MM of that number, and one has to wonder whether the Royals could’ve done more with that money than investing in two players who simply weren’t productive in 2025.
Letting India go would’ve created another hole to address at second base, though since Collins has some experience there, the Royals could’ve still acquired him and toggled him between both the keystone and left field. Even after agreeing to India’s contract, the Royals were still linked to a couple of prominent infield trade targets. Kansas City was among the many teams who had interest in Brendan Donovan, though the utilityman might well have seen more time in the Royals’ outfield than the infield. The Royals’ interest in the Nationals’ CJ Abrams indicated a scenario of Abrams moving to second base (since Witt obviously wouldn’t be moved off shortstop) and India then perhaps dealt back to Washington or dealt elsewhere.
Abrams and Donovan were just two of the many players linked to the Royals in hot stove chatter. On the free agent front, K.C. had some interest in re-signing old friends Mike Yastrzemski and Adam Frazier, and other outfielders like Harrison Bader, Adolis Garcia, Austin Hays, and JJ Bleday were all reportedly on the radar. Most of this group ended up signing one-year deals on modest salaries, though Yaz (two years, $23MM from the Braves) and Bader (two years, $20.5MM from the Giants) might have been beyond Kansas City’s preferred price range.
Without much to spend in free agency, the Royals featured in several trade rumors over the winter. Apart from exploring MacKenzie Gore‘s availability as part of their talks with the Nats, most of the Royals’ reported targets were outfielders, including Boston’s Jarren Duran, Houston’s Jake Meyers, and the Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernandez.
Since there are still more than two weeks before Opening Day, we can’t entirely rule out the possibility of a late-spring swap involving any of the outfield trade candidates. Hernandez is the least-likely of the group due to his hefty remaining salary. Meyers is the most established player within the Astros’ own shaky outfield, so it could be tricky for Houston and Kansas City to line up on a deal that addresses both teams’ needs. The Red Sox and Royals, meanwhile, seemed like logical trade partners for most of the winter due to Boston’s outfield glut. No deal came together between the two sides, perhaps because the Royals weren’t interested in moving Cole Ragans.
It isn’t known exactly what players or offers were bandied about during all of these negotiations, but to return to Picollo’s words from last winter, “we can’t force teams to make trades they don’t want to make.” This naturally doesn’t absolve the front office of their responsibility to improve the team, but in relation to the 2025-26 offseason, perhaps the Royals’ rotation depth wasn’t quite as enticing as it seemed in terms of trade talks.
Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha weren’t going anywhere after being recently signed to extensions, so the trade speculations focused around the likes of Ragans, Kris Bubic, Noah Cameron, Ryan Bergert, and Stephen Kolek. There didn’t seem to be much chance that K.C. would move Ragans in the wake of an injury-shortened down year, which is only natural given that he looked like an ace when healthy in 2024.
Bubic showed some front-of-the-rotation ability in 2025 before a rotator cuff strain ended his season early, and while Bubic drew some trade buzz, the combination of his health status and his impending free agency after the 2026 season may have limited his trade value. For Cameron, Bergert, or Kolek, maybe the offers for any of these more back-end rotation types didn’t meet Kansas City’s expectations, if the plan was to bring back an everyday outfielder.
Again, it’s not out of the question that the Royals could still trade a starter in what remains of the offseason. Or, perhaps crucially, the Royals might be more open to moving a starter closer to the deadline, once the team has a better sense of its rotation mix. The 2025 rotation was hit with a number of injuries, so it makes sense that Kansas City wouldn’t want to trade away any starters unless the return was too good to ignore, or if the club was more confident in its starting pitching depth.
Turning to the relief corps, the Royals had to fill some gaps in the bullpen after Hunter Harvey signed with the Cubs, Taylor Clarke was non-tendered, and Zerpa was traded. Mears hasn’t shown much consistency over his six MLB seasons, but 2025 was his best year yet, with a 3.49 ERA and a 5.9% walk rate over 56 2/3 relief innings for Milwaukee. Alex Lange was another inexpensive free agent signing, with the Royals spending $900K to see what the righty can do after a lat surgery sidelined him for almost all of the 2024-25 seasons.
Zerpa’s role as the top southpaw relief option was filled by Matt Strahm, who broke into the majors with the Royals in 2016. Kansas City’s late-game trio of closer Carlos Estevez and set-up men Strahm and Lucas Erceg looks to be a strong group, as Strahm looks to continue his excellent recent track record as a workhorse reliever. He posted a 2.71 ERA, 30.5% strikeout rate, and a 6.2% walk rate over 212 2/3 innings for the Phillies during the 2023-25 seasons.
The Phillies were open to moving Strahm for a few reasons — some tension existed between Strahm and the coaching staff, and Philadelphia has other lefties in their pen, so the Royals’ offer of righty Jonathan Bowlan was a fit for both sides. Kansas City was also willing to absorb the $7.5MM owed to Strahm in the final year of his contract, which represents the Royals’ largest investment in new talent this offseason.
Three extensions represented the Royals’ biggest overall spends of the winter, including a deal with Pasquantino covering two of his arbitration-eligible years. The biggest investment was a long-term extension with Garcia that will pay the All-Star at least $57.5MM through 2030, with a club option for 2031. The Royals gain cost certainty through Garcia’s extended (as a Super Two player) arbitration years, and control over what would’ve been Garcia’s first two free agent-years. It’s a nice deal that reflects Garcia’s emergence as both an offensive and defensive force, and his breakout was of massive import to a team in need of hitting.
It was a foregone conclusion that the team was planning to at least exercise its $13.5MM club option on Perez for 2026, and the Royals took it a step further with a two-year, $25MM extension covering the 2026-27 seasons. The deal includes $12MM in deferred money, freeing up some shorter-term savings for the Royals and giving Perez a soft landing for what could potentially be the final two seasons of his big league career. Moving on from Perez and entrusting the catching job to Jensen and (further down the road) top prospect Blake Mitchell might’ve made sense from a pure logic standpoint, but there’s also obvious value for the Royals in retaining Perez, one of the most beloved players in franchise history.
Manager Matt Quatraro also got in on the extension action, as the skipper’s new contract keeps him in Kansas City through at least the 2029 campaign. The 2026 season was the final year of Quatraro’s previous deal, and there was little doubt the Royals were going to keep a skipper who has delivered consecutive winning seasons (and a playoff appearance in 2024) to bring the team out of a rebuild period.
Perhaps the most interesting wrinkle of the Royals’ offseason came not exactly off the field, but to Kauffman Stadium’s field itself. The team is slightly reducing the dimensions of the spacious outfield and lowering the wall from 10 feet to around 8.5 feet, all in the name of making the notoriously pitcher-friendly ballpark more conducive to power hitters. As Picollo told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters, the aim is “a very fair ballpark. We don’t want it to turn into a bandbox and every ball up in the air turns into a home run. We just want hitters to be rewarded when they hit the ball well, particularly in the gaps.”
Maybe there’s a metaphor here for the Royals’ offseason, as the team is also hoping that some minor adjustments to its roster can yield larger results. After winning 82 games in 2025, a return to the playoffs certainly seems plausible if the Royals can get more offense and the pitching stays healthy. Kansas City’s chances are helped by playing in the relatively weak AL Central. Giving Witt and Garcia more established lineup support would’ve been helpful, but the Royals are hoping that Caglianone and/or Jensen can deliver as much or more than the new additions.
How would you grade the Royals' offseason?
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good morning! We’ll get going around 1pm CT, give or take a couple minutes. Feel free to submit questions ahead of time, as always.
Astros71
- Jake Meyers is staying, right?
Steve Adams
- At this point that’s my assumption, yeah. The Astros are already short in the outfield. I guess in theory they could try to swap him out for a less-proven LHH center field option, but I don’t know that such a scenario is really out there. Feel like he’s more or less locked in there by now.
Littell
- Why did I sign with the nationals? I could have gone anywhere else!
Steve Adams
- If it were true that he could have gone “anywhere else” for that same money or more, he probably would have. The market for Littell clearly wasn’t anywhere near what he and his camp set out hoping to find early in the season. I’m sure there are more competitive clubs that would’ve given him $7MM back in November/December. Probably a fair bit more than that on a one-year deal. But Littell was surely seeking two- and likely three-year deals at that point and wasn’t going to be open to something like 1/12 at that time, even if it was on the table.
- Littell has pitched a bunch of innings the past two seasons, but he’s a low-90s guy with his velo and had one of the lowest strikeout rates in the majors last year.I think he was worth more than this and definitely like it for the Nationals, but I’m not entirely surprised that the market just didn’t show up for him
MarioSoto
- Honest thoughts on the Reds?
Steve Adams
- Had one of the five best rotations in baseball prior to the Greene news. That drops them down a ways (though obviously there’s a lot of upside if it gets someone like Lowder into the rotation).I don’t love the bullpen. Their fixation on dedicating a significant portion of their limited payroll to one of the most homer-prone relievers in baseball and having him close games in their bandbox park is weird, but Emilio Pagan posted decent numbers last year (with the help of a few game-saving home run robberies).
Offense should be improved with Geno there, possible full seasons of Stewart, Stephenson, Friedl … better health from Elly
- I think they’re probably behind Chicago and Milwaukee for me in the NL Central, but not by so much that a few breakouts for the Reds and/or a key injury or two elsewhere can’t make it a tight race. They should be in Wild Card contention at least.
Big Time
- Other than Giolito, what other free agents are out there that you are surprised don’t have a contract in hand right now?
Steve Adams
- Michael Kopech is probably the biggest one. Danny Coulombe, to a lesser extent.
Jesus Luzardo
- Thoughts on my new deal?
Steve Adams
- I’d have pegged him for something like Carlos Rodon money (6/156) in free agency (with an outside chance at seven years, depending how his 2026 goes), so getting him for five years seems like a nice win for the Phillies. But at the same time, Luzardo has had plenty of injuries throughout his career, and he was offered a pretty hearty nine-figure deal that spares him all the uncertainty surrounding the labor staredown and everything … I get it.
Tigers Select Enmanuel De Jesus, Place Troy Melton On 60-Day IL
The Tigers announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Enmanuel De Jesus. Righty Troy Melton, who’s been slowed in camp due to elbow inflammation, was placed on the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Efraín Zavarce of IVC and 107.3 La Mega first reported De Jesus would be added to the 40-man roster. Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base reports that De Jesus had been in talks with a team in Asia, so it seems the Tigers had to choose between adding him to the 40-man roster and cutting him loose to sign in NPB, the KBO or the CPBL. Jason Beck of MLB.com adds that there’s been no setback with Melton, but his expected debut had been pushed into May already by this point.
Adding De Jesus to the 40-man roster doesn’t guarantee that he’ll make the major league club on Opening Day. The 29-year-old has only limited major league experience and thus has a full slate of three minor league option years remaining. Now that he’s on the 40-man, however, he’s a clear candidate to break camp with the team or be among the first arms summoned to the majors in the event of an injury.
De Jesus, who pitched briefly with the 2023 Marlins, tossed 6 1/3 shutout innings this spring and held opponents to four hits and a walk with seven strikeouts before joining Venezuela’s team in the World Baseball Classic. He’s started one game in the Classic so far, holding Israel to one run on a pair of hits and no walks with eight punchouts through five terrific innings.
A stint in Asia wouldn’t have been surprising for De Jesus. He’s spent the past two seasons in the Kiwoom Heroes’ rotation in the Korea Baseball Organization, working to a combined 3.81 ERA in 343 innings. He’s fanned 23.8% of his opponents there against a 6.1% walk rate. Detroit scooped him up on a minor league deal and non-roster invite this winter, but it’s common for such deals to have foreign interest clauses that permit the player to ask for his release if an Asian club comes calling with a guaranteed offer. De Jesus seems to have had such a clause this time around, but his strong spring performance both with the Tigers and in the WBC has prompted his current MLB organization to keep him around.
De Jesus could open the season as a swing option on the big league roster, although righty Drew Anderson may have first dibs on that role. Like De Jesus, he’s returning to the majors after a strong run in the KBO — although Anderson’s dominance with the SSG Landers was enough to land him a $7MM guarantee on a major league contract. There’s no room for either Anderson or De Jesus in a Detroit rotation that will feature Tarik Skubal, Framber Valdez, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize and a returning Justin Verlander.
Starters Jackson Jobe (Tommy John surgery last June), Reese Olson (shoulder surgery last month) and Melton are all opening the season on the 60-day IL. In addition to a potential Melton return in late May, Jobe could be back in the season’s second half. Recently optioned Keider Montero had been the top depth option still on the 40-man roster, joining Sawyer Gipson-Long and Ty Madden in that regard. De Jesus provides some more cover and a possible southpaw arm for the bullpen, where Tyler Holton, Brant Hurter and Drew Sommers are the club’s other options on the 40-man roster.
Hunter Greene To Have Bone Chips Removed From Elbow, Likely Out Until July
Reds ace Hunter Greene will undergo surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow today, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The team is hoping to have him back at some point in July. He’ll be placed on the 60-day injured list whenever Cincinnati needs to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
The Reds revealed late last week that they’d sent Greene for multiple waves of imaging and hoped to have further news early this week. Greene himself said at the time that he’s navigated bone spurs for some time but had recently received a clean MRI on his ulnar collateral ligament. Doctors hadn’t recommended surgery for the bone chips until this point. He experienced some pain late last season, and doctors recommended an injection at the time. That allowed Greene to have a normal offseason, but he experienced renewed discomfort upon ramping up in camp and will now head under the knife.
Greene is far from the only pitcher in MLB to pitch through some known bone spurs or loose bodies in his elbow. Most professional pitchers have some degree of wear and tear in their elbow and/or shoulder, be it bone chips or mild damage to a ligament, flexor tendon, rotator cuff, labrum, etc. Reds fans will surely feel frustration that the discomfort dates back to last season but is being addressed in 2026. Surgery is a last-resort option, however, and hadn’t been recommended until this latest wave of discomfort set in.
Losing Greene is a gut-punch for a Reds rotation that had looked like one of the game’s strongest, on paper. He was in line to start Opening Day and be followed by Andrew Abbott, Nick Lodolo, Brady Singer and one of Chase Burns or Rhett Lowder, both former top-10 picks in the draft and highly touted top prospects. Greene’s injury now opens the door for both Burns and Lowder to make the staff — particularly after Chase Petty was optioned yesterday — although left-hander Brandon Williamson remains in camp and could be an option as he returns from a 2025 season lost to injury.
A former No. 2 overall draft pick, Greene has been one of the game’s best pitchers on a rate basis over the past two seasons. However, he’s also missed considerable time due to a pair of groin strains in 2025 and some elbow discomfort in 2024. He’s started 45 games across dating back to ’24 and worked to a 2.76 ERA with a 29.2% strikeout rate, 8.1% walk rate and 33.5% ground-ball rate. Last year’s 15.4% swinging-strike rate was fourth-best in MLB (min. 100 innings pitched), trailing only Tarik Skubal, Dylan Cease and Logan Gilbert.
Greene is entering the fourth season of a six-year, $53MM extension. The 26-year-old is being paid $8MM this season before making $15MM and $16MM in 2027-28. The Reds hold a $21MM club option (with a $2MM buyout) over his 2029 season. With Greene on the shelf to begin the year, Abbott has been named the Reds’ Opening Day starter. President of baseball operations Nick Krall said last week at the time Greene was being sent for an MRI that he didn’t envision turning to free agency even in the event that Greene would be sidelined for a significant period of time.
Nationals Sign Zack Littell
The Nationals have formally added a second veteran starter in free agency, announcing the addition of righty Zack Littell on a one-year deal with a mutual option for the 2027 season. Littell, a client of CAA, will reportedly be guaranteed $7MM with another $2.5MM available to him via innings-based incentives. Left-hander Richard Lovelady was designated for assignment to open roster space, per the team.
Littell’s deal reportedly pays him a $3MM salary but also includes a $4MM buyout on that mutual option. Since mutual options are never exercised, that amounts to little more than an accounting measure; the Nats are kicking $4MM of his $7MM commitment to the 2027 books rather than the 2026 books. The contract is also said to contain $100K bonuses for every tenth inning pitched from 100 through 140. Littell can earn $250K for reaching each of 150 and 160 innings, and the deal has $500K bonuses upon reaching 170, 180 and 190 innings.
Heading into the offseason, we ranked Littell 35th among the offseason’s top 50 free agents, predicting a two-year deal. He’ll have to settle for just a one-year pact, and the righty could be on the move again relatively soon if the rebuilding Nationals move him at the trade deadline.
The 30-year-old Littell is a veteran of eight big league seasons but spent most of that time in a bullpen role. In the first five seasons of his MLB career, Littell posted a 4.08 ERA (104 ERA+) with lackluster peripherals in 169 2/3 innings of work. After the 2022 campaign, Littell rode the DFA and waiver carousel throughout the 2022-23 offseason. He eventually wound up with the Red Sox to start the season, but he made just two appearances in the majors before being once again designated for assignment. That led him to the Rays, with whom he managed to transform himself from a fringe member of the 40-man roster into a solid rotation arm.
Upon arriving in Tampa, Littell moved into a swing role for the remainder of the 2023 campaign. He posted a 3.93 ERA with a nearly matching 3.99 FIP in 87 innings split between 14 starts and 12 relief appearances. Littell’s 19.8% strikeout rate in those outings was hardly exciting, but he made up for it with pinpoint command that allowed him to post a 2.5% walk rate and an 8.2% barrel rate.
That control and command style was enough to earn him a full-time rotation job headed into the Rays’ 2024 season, and he rewarded the team with a career year. In 29 starts for the Rays in 2024, Littell posted a 21.5% strikeout rate against a 4.7% walk rate while pitching to a 3.63 ERA (110 ERA+) with a 3.81 FIP. His 156 2/3 innings of work made him just one of just 71 pitchers to throw more than 150 innings that year, and only 15 of those pitchers surrendered fewer runs than Littell.
Littell remained generally effective in terms of run prevention last year, logging a 3.81 ERA (111 ERA+) in a career-high 186 2/3 innings across 32 starts for the Rays and Reds. The bottom-line results were similar, but Littell’s rate stats took worrying steps in the wrong direction. His strikeout rate plummeted to just 17.1%, while his barrel rate jumped to 9.8% as he allowed the second-most homers in all of baseball last season. Perhaps some of that can be explained by Littell pitching his home games at the hitter-friendly Steinbrenner Field and Great American Ballpark, but a 4.40 SIERA suggested that Littell was more of a back-end starter than his results may have indicated.
The result was a soft free agent market for Littell this offseason. A reunion with the Rays once seemed to be on the table, but Tampa Bay instead brought in Steven Matz and Nick Martinez. KSTP’s Darren Wolfson reports that the Twins at least checked in late in the offseason, but weren’t inclined to match the Nationals’ offer.
The Nationals were the ones to ultimately bring Littell into the fold, with some past connections possibly helped complete the deal. New president of baseball operations Paul Toboni formerly worked in the Red Sox front office, new manager Blake Butera spent years managing in Tampa’s farm system, and new pitching coach Simon Matthews was the Reds’ assistant pitching coach in 2025, so all three have direct familiarity with Littell’s work.
D.C. is unlikely to compete for a playoff spot this year as they reboot their rebuilding efforts under Toboni. As such, the team has pursued just short-term and relatively inexpensive veteran signings like Littell and Miles Mikolas, and made another move for the future in trading MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers. The Gore trade diminished an already questionable Washington rotation, so Littell will reinforce a starting five that seems set to include Mikolas and another new signing in Foster Griffin. The last two spots in the rotation figure to go to some combination of Cade Cavalli, Brad Lord, Josiah Gray, Jake Irvin, and Mitchell Parker.
ESPN.com’s Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan were the first to report the agreement between the two sides. The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka (multiple links) had the details about the one-year term and mutual option. The Banner’s Andrew Golden first reported the financial guarantee. Jon Heyman of The New York Post and Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic added specifics about the breakdown and incentives.
Inset photo courtesy of Joe Puetz — Imagn Images