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The Best Fits For A Ketel Marte Trade

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Star Diamondbacks infielder Ketel Marte has dominated trade rumblings over the past month-plus. Despite frequently stating that he doesn't consider a trade likely, general manager Mike Hazen has been hammered by calls from opposing teams hoping to pry the All-Star slugger away from Arizona.

Marte is enough of a known commodity that we needn't run through an extensive breakdown of his résumé here, but it bears spelling out some of the basics. The three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger winner has steadily produced anywhere from above-average to elite offense dating back to 2018. He's a switch-hitter who touts a massive .283/.368/.519 slash (140 wRC+) over the past three seasons. Marte is a superstar talent who's signed to a contract more commensurate with a freshly extended arbitration player. He's owed $102.5MM over the next six seasons, with the final year of that being an $11.5MM player option. He'll be paid $15MM in 2026, $12MM in 2027, $20MM in 2028 and $22MM in 2029-30.

Arizona has reportedly been seeking multiple major league-ready starting pitchers to even consider parting with Marte. Specifically, they're targeting controllable arms who can be long-term cogs in the starting staff. They reportedly talked with the Rays about a deal including both Ryan Pepiot and Shane Baz before the latter was traded to Baltimore, for instance.

Hazen has been relatively open about listening to offers and his reluctance to actually move Marte throughout the winter. He indicated last week that one way or another, he'd like to wrap up this situation soon. That was understandably viewed by many as something of a call for best and final offers.

With resolution on the situation seemingly nigh, one way or another, it feels worth running through the league to find the best fits for Marte, some viable dark-horse spots, and also lay out the clubs that don't feel like they'll be much of a factor at all. Let's run through it all.

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Phillies To Sign Tucker Davidson To Minor League Deal

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The Phillies and left-hander Tucker Davidson have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. Sammon doesn’t mention whether or not the ISE Baseball client will be in big league camp in spring training.

Davidson, 30 in March, pitched in the majors from 2020 to 2024. He logged 129 2/3 innings for the Braves, Angels, Royals and Orioles, allowing 5.76 earned runs per nine. He had better minor league numbers in that span, tossing 219 Triple-A frames with a 3.86 ERA, striking out 24.5% of batters faced against an 8% walk rate while also getting grounders on about half the balls in play he allowed.

With the lack of big league success, he exhausted his option seasons in that span. Instead of sticking around in North America for minor league opportunities, he took an offer to go overseas. Going into 2025, he signed with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization. That stint in the KBO seemed to go well, based on the numbers. He made 22 starts for the Giants with a 3.65 ERA, 22.5% strikeout rate, 9.1% walk rate and 46.4% ground ball rate.

Despite those decent results, the Giants decided to make a switch in August. They signed Vince Velasquez and bumped Davidson off their roster. Davidson then landed a minor league deal with the Brewers. He made six starts for their Triple-A club with a 4.68 ERA, 22.9% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate. His fastball averaged under 90 miles per hour but he also featured a splitter, sinker, slider and curveball.

The Phillies have a bit of rotation uncertainty going into the season. They will have Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, Aaron Nola and Taijuan Walker in four spots. Zack Wheeler will certainly be in there if he’s healthy but he’s recovering from surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome and may not be ready by Opening Day.

If Wheeler is on the shelf or anyone else gets hurt, Andrew Painter could step up. However, he still has no major league experience and posted a 5.40 ERA in Triple-A last year. Other inexperienced depth options on the roster include Yoniel Curet, Jean Cabrera and Alan Rangel. Davidson gives the Phils some more depth without taking up a roster spot.

Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images

Giants Designate Justin Dean For Assignment

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The Giants have designated outfielder Justin Dean for assignment, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. That’s the corresponding 40-man roster move for their signing of right-hander Tyler Mahle.

Dean, 29, has never played for the Giants. He was only just claimed off waivers from the Dodgers in early November, shortly after he won the World Series with Los Angeles. The Dodgers mostly used him as a pinch runner and defensive replacement. He played in 18 games last year, making his major league debut, but only made two plate appearances. He then appeared in 13 postseason games without a plate appearance.

In the minors, Dean has been good for double-digit steals in each season of his career going back to 2018, with the exception of the canceled 2020 season. However, he’s never reached double digits in the home run department. He has 2,038 minor league plate appearances from 2021 to 2025 with a solid 12.1% walk rate but a high strikeout rate of 28.6%.

There was some recent improvement in terms of the punchouts, as he only struck out in 23.6% of his minor league plate appearances in 2025, a noticeable improvement compared to prior years. That helped him slash .289/.378/.431 for a 110 wRC+ in Triple-A last year while stealing 27 bases in just 90 games.

It’s the profile of a decent bench outfielder, as a floor. The Giants were intrigued enough to grab him off the wire a couple of months ago but he’s now been squeezed off their roster. Perhaps they are hoping he can be passed through waivers this time around, which would allow them to keep him as non-roster depth. He doesn’t have three years of big league service time nor a previous career outright, so he wouldn’t have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.

He does have a full slate of options, so perhaps he will appeal to other organizations looking for a depth piece of the speed-and-defense variety. He’ll be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Giants could take five days to field trade interest.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Rockies Interested In Veteran Rotation Additions

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The Rockies are looking for a few veterans to eat innings in their rotation, general manager Josh Byrnes tells Thomas Harding of MLB.com. “We’ve played out scenarios where we would attempt to bring in two guys who can stabilize that area — who can not only pitch well but know how to give us some bulk innings, which any team needs,” Byrnes said. “That’s probably how we’re trying to map it out. There is a lot of unknown with what pops up in trades or free agency, but we need to add in that area.”

It’s a sensible target for the club. The Colorado rotation was historically bad in 2025. The club’s starters had a combined earned run average of 6.65. According to a post from Harding back in October, that was the highest rotation ERA of any club since the stat became official in 1913. Coors Field obviously plays a role in the struggles but the numbers were bad even compared to previous Colorado clubs. The group was further thinned out at season’s end when Germán Márquez became a free agent. In short, there’s nowhere to go but up.

Right now, the club projects to have a couple of experienced arms in the mix. Kyle Freeland is going into his tenth big league season and is still under contract through 2026, with a conditional player option for 2027. Ryan Feltner has 339 2/3 innings under his belt. Those two have experience but don’t provide much in terms of optimism. Feltner has a career 5.19 ERA with average ground ball and walk rates but subpar strikeout numbers. Freeland’s ERA has been around 5.00 for three straight years now.

Antonio Senzatela was moved to the bullpen in August. Manager Warren Schaeffer said in September that the club planned to keep him there going forward, per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Senzatela is signed through 2026 with a $14MM club option for 2027. Given his 6.65 ERA last year and the fact that there’s no buyout on that option, it will surely be declined.

Beyond Freeland and Feltner, the other rotation options are lacking in experience. Chase Dollander came into 2025 as one of the top pitching prospects in the league but he posted a 6.52 ERA in 98 innings in his rookie season. The 40-man roster also features Tanner Gordon, McCade Brown, Carson Palmquist, Gabriel Hughes and Bradley Blalock but everyone in that group has fewer than 110 big league innings pitched. Hughes hasn’t yet pitched in the big leagues. The other four names in that cluster have ERAs north of 7.00.

Given that context, adding a few veterans would make plenty of sense. They could stabilize the group and give the decision-makers some freedom in keeping the younger guys in the minors until they’re ready.

Getting those veterans to Colorado has usually been a challenge. Given the hitter-friendly environment up at altitude, free agent pitchers generally don’t want to sign with the Rockies. Looking at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, which has data going back to 2006, the club has only thrice signed a free agent pitcher to a deal with an eight-figure average annual value in that span. They signed Jorge De La Rosa to a three-year, $32MM deal back in 2010, then a one-year, $15MM deal with Jeff Francis in 2012, followed by a three-year, $52MM deal for Wade Davis in 2017.

Byrnes provided a hint of optimism, for what it’s worth. “There are different tiers of free agency,” the GM said. “It’s kind of interesting, without naming names. But with guys on shorter deals, I think there’s some intrigue. Everyone around the game knows it’s harder to pitch in Colorado, but I think a couple of guys want to take on that challenge, and we’ve brought in a pitching group that will turn over every rock to get at it and solve this thing.”

Without Byrnes providing any details, it can only be guessed what kind of free agents he’s talking about. It would make some sense for a pitcher towards the end of his career to be more game for the experiment, since he wouldn’t have to worry so much about a poor performance tanking his future earning power. That could align with the kind of short-term deal Byrnes alluded to.

Given the state of the club, the Rockies aren’t going to target the top available free agents like Framber Valdez, Ranger Suárez or Zac Gallen. But veterans like Wade Miley, Miles Mikolas, Alex Cobb, Jose Quintana, Patrick Corbin or Martín Pérez make speculative sense. They’re all 35 or older and will be looking at one-year offers in free agency.

The Rockies could also try to bring in starters via trade, though they don’t have a ton to offer other clubs. Any guys on their roster with trade value would ideally be flipped for prospects or controllable players. Perhaps they could take on an undesirable contract from another club, though that path also comes with challenges. The Blue Jays and Mets may be looking to move on from José Berríos and Kodai Senga, respectively, but grabbing someone like that would require the Rockies to take on a notable salary during rebuilding years. Berríos is slated to make $66MM over the next three years and Senga $28MM over the next two. Perhaps those clubs would be willing to eat some money to facilitate a deal but Berríos has an eight-team no-trade clause and Senga can block trades to ten teams. Given the state of the Rockies and the challenges of pitching there, it seems fair to assume that the Rockies would be blocked by both guys.

Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images

Astros Notes: Valdez, CBT, Infield, Brown

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The Astros came into the offseason clearly needing rotation upgrades, due to a variety of injuries and the departure of Framber Valdez to free agency. Valdez is still unsigned but it always seemed likely that he and the Astros would part ways. That’s seems even more likely now that the Astros have added Tatsuya Imai, Mike Burrows and Ryan Weiss to their starting pitching group. General manager Dana Brown was asked about Valdez in an appearance on MLB Network and acknowledged that Valdez is still available but also spoke about him as though he’s already gone.

“Well, look, Framber’s still out there,” Brown said. “We don’t know how that’s going to play out. But we know that we had to get some starting pitching. So, we’ve been able to acquire three starters because we know Framber is still on the market. Us getting Mike Burrows is big, and Ryan Weiss, that was also big. So, we added those three guys. When you’re losing Framber — he’s still on the market, he’s out there — but if you don’t get him, of course, you’re losing those innings. So, adding these guys, we feel really good about it. They’re all pretty good competitors as well.”

It’s not especially surprising that things are playing out this way. Valdez is one of the top free agents of this winter’s class. At the beginning of the offseason, MLBTR predicted him for a $150MM guarantee over five years, $30MM in terms of average annual value. The Astros generally don’t like to spend huge money on pitching. Their franchise record guarantee for a pitcher is the $85MM extension for Lance McCullers Jr. back in 2021. Back in December, it was reported that the club had some contact with Valdez’s camp, but that was before the Imai deal.

Beyond their natural aversion to spending on pitchers, the Astros seemingly came into this winter with a tight budget, due to their preference for avoiding the competitive balance tax. They had enough wiggle room to add Imai, but his three-year, $54MM deal comes with an AAV of $18MM. That’s still a decent number but well below the projections for Valdez. Weiss is only guaranteed $2.6MM on a one-year deal. Houston had to give up a couple of notable prospects to get Burrows but he’s still making the league minimum.

RosterResource currently projects the Astros for a CBT number of about $238MM. That puts them about $6MM below next year’s base CBT threshold of $244MM. In recent years, the club’s modus operandi has been to get close to the line without going over, though they ended up surging over the line in each of the past two years.

Going into 2024, they were a bit under the line until Kendall Graveman required season-ending shoulder surgery in mid-January. Suddenly feeling the bullpen was too weak, Houston signed Josh Hader and flew over the tax line. In 2025, they were under the tax line for most of the season but then jumped at the chance to pick up Carlos Correa, going into CBT territory in the process.

Once again, they have positioned themselves just under the tax, though final status isn’t calculated until the end of the season. That means that they could decide to pay the tax once again for the right opportunity.

“Everybody writes that I’m afraid of the luxury tax,” owner Jim Crane said yesterday, as relayed by Chandler Rome of The Athletic. “I’m not necessarily afraid of it but I run the team like a business and there’s only so much resources you can put into it without going deep in the hole. We don’t operate like a lot of the bigger market teams but you’ve seen over the years we’ll spend the money when we think it’s right and we’ll be aggressive when we have to be.”

Taking the comments of Brown and Crane together, it seems possible that the Astros may have already made their most significant moves of the winter. A few depth transactions would still be likely but the roster might be mostly set. It’s theoretically possible for the Astros to trade an infielder, which would open up a bit of a playing time logjam and also potentially some payroll space, but Brown also downplayed that.

“I think there’s a chance where we can get all of these guys a ton of at-bats,” Brown said in the MLB Network appearance linked above, “whether it’s the DH slot, whether it’s giving some guys some time off. I don’t think all these guys are going to play 162 games, right? You have guys that may play 140 and so there’s going to be some at-bats. It protects you when you want to give guys rest. So, we’re looking at this in many ways. But, you know, we still are listening to other teams. We have teams calling us about some of our players. We’ll still listen.”

The Astros currently have Correa at third, Jeremy Peña at shortstop, Jose Altuve at second base and Christian Walker at first base. That leaves Isaac Paredes potentially splitting time at the corners with Correa and Walker. He has second base experience but hasn’t played there since 2023. Altuve played some outfield in 2025 but didn’t grade out well there. Yordan Alvarez should get most of the DH time. He can also play the outfield, where the Astros have Jake Meyers, Cam Smith, Jesús Sánchez, Zach Cole and Zach Dezenzo.

Walker is making $20MM annually through 2027. Paredes is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $9.3MM salary in his penultimate arbitration season. Given the somewhat crowded infield picture and the tight budget, there’s an argument for the Astros trading someone to free up some cash. However, based on Brown’s comments, it seems the club is leaning towards keeping the whole group and portioning out playing time with some off-days to keep everyone fresh.

Perhaps a trade will come together, given Brown’s admission that they will listen when other teams call. But if the status quo holds, that doesn’t leave much room for any more notable rotation additions, unless the Astros decide to again shoot over the CBT line. Barring that scenario, the Astros will likely open the season with a six-man rotation consisting of Hunter Brown, Imai, Burrows, Weiss and Cristian Javier with guys like Nate Pearson, AJ Blubaugh, Spencer Arrighetti, Jason Alexander, McCullers and Miguel Ullola in the mix for starts.

Speaking of Hunter Brown, Dana Brown was asked about the possibility of signing the righty to an extension and GM said they will broach the subject at some point. “We had some discussions with Hunter Brown about two years ago and we expect that to heat up again. Look, he’s got Boras, so it won’t be easy. But at the end of the day, we will definitely talk to Hunter Brown about an extension at some point.”

It was reported last year that Hunter expressed interest in an extension prior to the 2024 season but talks went nowhere and he lated hired Scott Boras to represent him. Boras clients do sometimes sign extensions but it’s a bit of a rare occurrence, as the GM alluded to.

What also complicates matters is that Brown has taken his performance up quite a bit since then. He posted a 5.09 earned run average in 2023, his first full season in the bigs. He dropped that to 3.49 in 2024 and then 2.43 last year, finishing third in 2025 American League Cy Young voting behind Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet.

Hunter is now three years from free agency, meaning his earning power could be pushing towards the upper levels of Houston’s comfort zone. The Astros signed Javier to a $64MM extension going into 2023, when he was between three and four years of service. Brown’s demand could be reasonably in that range and would only get higher as he gets closer to free agency. Crochet just set a new bar for guys within two years of the open market, signing a $170MM deal with the Red Sox last winter. Given the gap in those numbers, Houston would surely be wise to get something doon sooner rather than later.

A big extension for Brown has the potential for increasing the club’s CBT number. Even if the deal is structured so that his salary increases gradually over the years, a player’s CBT hit is calculated based on a contract’s average annual value. Perhaps the Astros would like to first sign Hunter to a one-year deal for 2026, where he’s projected for a $5.7MM salary. They could then have the extension start in 2027 so that it doesn’t impact the 2026 CBT. That would increase the CBT hit in future seasons but the McCullers deal is off the books after 2026 and it’s possible Imai will also opt out after one season in Houston, freeing up some future CBT room.

Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images

Cardinals Acquire Justin Bruihl, Designate Zak Kent For Assignment

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The Cardinals have acquired left-hander Justin Bruihl from the Guardians in exchange for cash considerations, according to announcements from both clubs. Bruihl had been designated for assignment by Cleveland last month. Right-hander Zak Kent has been designated for assignment by the Cards today in a corresponding 40-man roster move.

It’s the second cash deal of the winter for Bruihl, who will turn 29 in June. The lefty began the offseason with the Blue Jays but was bumped off the roster when Toronto signed right-hander Tyler Rogers last month. The Guardians sent some cash north of the order to grab Bruihl but then designated him for assignment three days later when they signed Shawn Armstrong. DFA limbo normally lasts a maximum of one week but there are different rules around the holidays, so Bruihl was hanging out there for almost three weeks.

He now finally has some resolution and it could be a good spot for him to carve out some big league playing time. Bruihl posted good numbers in 2025 but exhausted his final option season, which pushed him to the fringes of Toronto’s roster. The Jays have been busy upgrading their pitching staff for another run at competing in 2026 and bumped Bruihl off. Cleveland had one of the best bullpens in the league last year and was also going to have a tough time keeping the southpaw around for long.

But the Cardinals are rebuilding and should therefore have a bit more breathability in their relief group. JoJo Romero is currently the top lefty in their projected bullpen but he is one year away from free agency, making him likely to be traded in the coming weeks. If Romero is dealt, that would leave Bruihl and Nick Raquet as the two lefty relievers on the St. Louis 40-man roster. Raquet was called up late in the 2025 season and has just two big league innings under his belt.

Bruihl has thrown 89 2/3 innings over multiple seasons between the Dodgers, Rockies and Blue Jays. Toronto only let him throw 13 2/3 big league innings in 2025 but he fared decently, despite posting a 5.27 earned run average. His 10.8% walk rate was a bit high in that small sample but his 27.7% strikeout rate and 46.2% ground ball rate were both a few ticks better than average. He also logged 42 Triple-A innings last year with a 3.43 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate, 9.1% walk rate and 58.4% ground ball rate.

The Cards could perhaps sign some veterans before Opening Day but it’s a decent landing spot for Bruihl to get some more time in the majors. If he succeeds with the Cardinals in 2026, they could keep the relationship going. He currently has one year and 112 days of service time, meaning he’s five years away from free agency. He would also be affordable for the rebuilding club, as he is still in his pre-arbitration years.

Kent, 28 in February, has never pitched for the Cardinals. He was just claimed off waivers from the Guardians a month ago. He made his major league debut with the Guards last year, posting a 4.58 ERA in 17 2/3 innings. His 21.1% strikeout rate, 10.5% walk rate and 37.3% ground ball rate were all a bit worse than league average.

He does have some interesting minor league numbers. He tossed 38 Triple-A innings last year with a 2.84 ERA. He got grounders on 54% of balls in play at that level and struck out 31.4% of batters faced, though he also gave out walks at a high clip of 13.2%.

Like Bruihl, Kent is out of options, though Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported last month that he is eligible for a fourth option year. Perhaps that will help him latch on somewhere else. The Cards will now have seven days of DFA limbo to figure out what’s next for Kent. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so they will have a maximum of five days to field trade interest.

Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images

MLBTR Chat Transcript

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Steve Adams

  • Good morning, and happy New Year to all! I’ll get going around 1pm CT, give or take a couple minutes. Feel free to send in questions ahead of time if you’re so inclined. Looking forward to it!
  • Greetings!
  • Happy New Year
  • Let’s get going

Michael Young is my goat

  • Am I delusional in thinking signing Verlander, Coulombe, and Hoskins would both fit the Rangers budget as well as round out the roster in decent fashion. I view them needing a middle of the rotation guy, a leverage arm(some liberties here), and a part time RH bat who can dh and/or play a corner spot. Seems fairly realistic to me, assuming Verlander doesn’t want to specially go back to Detroit or Houston.

Steve Adams

  • We don’t have a great sense of the Rangers’ stopping point for their budget, but they’ve watched several guys who were good contributors in 2025 — Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb, Shawn Armstrong — sign pretty cheap one-year deals elsewhere, which doesn’t seem to bode well for them having the money to sign the guys you listed.I’m also not sure they’d see a big enough gap between Hoskins and Burger. Also imagine you’re probably underselling what Verlander can/will command on a one-year deal once he signs.
  • Tl;dr … I think that’s probably a more expensive slate of names than they sign. On an individual level, sure, I can see them bringing Coulombe back.

In Suspenders

  • Are my Giants going to “show the money”?

Steve Adams

  • I think they’re of the mindset that they “showed the money” when they acquired Devers, signed Adames and extended Chapman.Their offseason has been wildly underwhelming to date, but they’ve repeatedly signaled that they don’t think they’ll be going particularly long-term on any prominent free agents.

    Would still love to see them grab Tucker or Bichette, but nothing they’ve done to this point suggests to me that they’re going to stretch to those levels.

The Real Steve Adams

  • Cijnte and Montes for Donovan, who says no?

Steve Adams

  • I think both is too steep for the Mariners to pay. Have a hard time seeing the Cardinals turn that down.

Douggy18

  • Why has Jonah Heim gotten no attention?  Has he fallen off that badly?

Steve Adams

  • He’s been terrible for two seasons and is probably the third- or fourth-best catcher on the market at the moment. Have to imagine he’s waiting on Realmuto and Caratini to sign.Heim probably gets a big league deal, but if you told me he had to settle for a minor league contract/NRI, I wouldn’t be stunned. He’s batted .217/.269/.334 over his past 925 MLB plate appearances, and his once-elite defensive grades have cratered.

    That’s not going to be a priority for any club.

Bucco Basement

  • Boras gets blamed alot for allegedly leaking information about interested teams to drive up contract offers. How true are these accusations and how much do you think this kind of information unfairly gets fans’ hopes up that their team is actually in on FAs when they are not realistic destinations (thinking specifically of the Pirates’ connection to Okamoto and the ridiculous assertion that they are “in” on Bellinger)?

Steve Adams

  • 90% of agents/agencies put things out to the media — it’s not a Boras-specific thing.

WandersLust

  • As the off-season progresses and teams firm up depth charts, does a trade of Brendan Donovan or Ketel Marte become less likely?

Read more

Jon Duplantier Signs With NPB’s Yokohama BayStars

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January 6th: Duplantier’s deal is for $3MM, per Yakyu Cosmopolitan.

January 5th: The Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced the signing of right-hander Jon Duplantier. The 31-year-old will remain in Japan for a second season after spending the ’25 campaign with the Hanshin Tigers.

A former highly-regarded prospect with the Diamondbacks, Duplantier was set back by injuries. He wound up making just 19 appearances between 2019-21. A lat strain led Arizona to drop him from the 40-man roster midway through the 2021 season. The Rice product subsequently bounced around on minor league contracts with Arizona, San Francisco, Philadelphia, the Mets, Dodgers and Milwaukee without getting to the majors. The Brewers granted him his release to pursue an NPB opportunity last year.

Duplantier’s first season in Japan could hardly have gone better from a performance perspective. He struck out 32.4% of opponents against a 5.7% walk rate while working to a 1.39 earned run average. Health was again the caveat, as he was limited to 15 starts and 90 2/3 innings by a lower body injury. His numbers were impressive enough that there was some thought he could return stateside. He evidently found a superior offer to join a new NPB club instead. If he can put together a full season at anywhere near his ’25 level of production, he should be in position to command a big league contract next offseason.

Poll: Will The Blue Jays Add Another Big Bat?

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The Blue Jays have been the most active team of the winter, making splashes in the rotation (Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce), bullpen (Tyler Rogers), and mostly recently the lineup with their signing of third baseman Kazuma Okamoto. While Okamoto has a chance to be an impact bat, given his track record as one of the best hitters in NPB, he’s not on the same level as a few other hitters to whom Toronto has been linked. On one level or another, the Jays have been connected to most of the top free agent hitters this offseason. Most recently, reports have centered around three names: outfielder Kyle Tucker, infielder Bo Bichette, and third baseman Alex Bregman.

Mitch Bannon of The Athletic reported yesterday that while the Blue Jays could add more from here, that might require the team to subtract payroll elsewhere on the roster. Buster Olney and Jesse Rogers of ESPN wrote this morning that the Okamoto signing does not take the Jays out of the running for either Tucker or Bichette.

It’s been relatively quiet on the Tucker front, though Rogers and Olney suggest he has both short- and long-term possibilities in front of him. Whichever route he takes, the annual commitment will be significant. Toronto has expressed a willingness to deal Jose Berrios this winter, but his contract is underwater. They wouldn’t be able to shed the full freight of the $66MM he’s still owed. Anthony Santander is making significant money as well, but he’d be even more difficult to trade coming off of a career-worst season where he was limited to 54 games by injuries; Santander also posted a .175/.271/.294 slash (61 wRC+) when healthy enough to play.

Neither Berrios nor Santander would subtract enough payroll to fully offset the addition of a Tucker, Bichette or Bregman. Berrios is owed $18MM in 2026 and has matching $24MM salaries in 2027-28. Santander is owed $16.5MM in 2026 and ’27, $14.75MM in ’28 and $12.75MM in ’29. A hefty $10MM of his salary is deferred in each of those seasons.

If the Blue Jays are truly nearing maximum capacity when it comes to payroll, it’s hard to imagine them coming out on top for one of those star free agents. The Red Sox, Cubs, Dodgers, and Mets are among the other big market clubs to have been connected to at least one of those free agents in some capacity.

Of course, it’s possible the Jays don’t feel much need to subtract salary at all. Their $279MM payroll and $308MM of luxury tax obligations (according to RosterResource) are franchise records that thrust them into the top bracket of luxury penalization, but the Jays have a great deal of money coming off the books after this season. George Springer, Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Daulton Varsho, Yimi Garcia, and Eric Lauer are all set to reach free agency after 2026. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Varsho and Lauer for a combined $14.1MM in arbitration this year, while the other four will combine for $70.5MM. That’s nearly $85MM in salary set to come off the books, and declining Myles Straw’s club option for next season would push that figure even higher.

Some of that money would surely need to be re-invested in the roster to replace the departing veterans, but next year’s free agent class doesn’t figure to boast a transformational, middle-of-the-order bat on the level of Tucker or even Bichette. Seiya Suzuki, Randy Arozarena, Nico Hoerner, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. are among the top position players set to reach free agency next winter. While all are talented players in their own rights, none is a surefire perennial All-Star like the top bats of this winter’s class. That could make it prudent for the Jays to throw caution to the wind this year and do some of next offseason’s shopping a year early.

How do MLBTR readers expect the Jays to proceed this winter? Will they come away with another top free agent before Opening Day, or will Okamoto be their top addition on offense? Have your say in the poll below:

Tigers Trade Justyn-Henry Malloy To Rays

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The Tigers and Rays announced a trade that sends Justyn-Henry Malloy to Tampa Bay for cash considerations. Detroit had designated him for assignment before the holiday DFA freeze when they officially re-signed reliever Kyle Finnegan. Tampa Bay had two openings on the 40-man roster and didn’t need to make a corresponding move.

A sixth-round pick by the Braves in 2021, Malloy was traded to Detroit after his first full minor league season in exchange for reliever Joe Jiménez. Prospect evaluators praised the righty-hitting Malloy’s plate discipline but questioned whether he’d find a home defensively. The positional fit remains the biggest issue. Malloy was drafted as a third baseman but was well below average there. Detroit used him as a full-time corner outfielder in 2024 and split his time between the corner outfield and first base last season.

Malloy, 26 in February, is a below-average runner and athlete, so the hope is that he’ll be merely adequate somewhere. There’s a high bar to clear offensively if he’s limited to first base or a full-time designated hitter role. Malloy hasn’t been close to clearing that in his scattered MLB opportunities, as he’s a .209/.311/.346 hitter over 357 career plate appearances.

The big league numbers are probably weighed down by his lack of consistent playing time. Malloy has been a fantastic offensive player in the minor leagues. He has a near-.900 OPS in his minor league career, including a .296/.424/.478 line in more than 1200 plate appearances against Triple-A pitching.

Malloy has decent power and popped 23 homers in Triple-A a couple seasons ago. The calling card is an extremely patient offensive approach that has allowed him to work walks at a massive 17.2% rate in the minors. Major league pitchers are going to do a better job challenging him within the strike zone, yet Malloy has still managed a 12% walk rate over his MLB work. That has come alongside an elevated 32.8% strikeout rate that he’ll need to bring down if he’s to carve out a long-term role.

Tampa Bay has Yandy Díaz and Jonathan Aranda lined up for the first base and DH playing time. There’s more opportunity in the outfield if the Rays feel Malloy can be a passable defender on the grass. He’d otherwise be ticketed for a depth role, either as a bench bat or stashed at Triple-A Durham. Malloy still has two minor league options remaining, which gives the team some roster flexibility, though he doesn’t have much to prove against minor league pitching.

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