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Terrance Gore Passes Away

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Longtime Royals outfielder and pinch-running specialist Terrance Gore passed away yesterday at age 34.  According to a social media post from Gore’s wife Britney, Gore unexpectedly passed following what was supposed to be a routine surgical procedure.

A veteran of eight Major League seasons, Gore had one of the more unique careers of any player in baseball history.  Gore played in 112 big league games, but made only 14 starts and 85 trips to the plate, as Gore was almost exclusively utilized as a pinch-running specialist.  Gore didn’t hit much in the majors (.216/.310/.270 over his 85 PA) or even in the minor leagues, yet he carved out a niche for himself due to his glovework and blazing speed.

On the basepaths, Gore stole 43 bases out of 52 attempts, and scored 33 career runs.  As a defender, Gore posted +2 Defensive Runs Saved and +6 Outs Above Average over 188 1/3 regular-season career innings in the outfield, seeing time at all three positions.

Kansas City selected Gore in the 20th round of the 2011 draft, and he spent five of his eight seasons in a Royals uniform.  The majority of Gore’s big league time at the plate came during his 2019 season with the Royals, and he delivered a .275/.362/.353 slash line across 58 PA.  Gore was a member of the Royals’ pennant-winning teams in 2014 and 2015, stealing four bases in five attempts over eight postseason games in those two iconic seasons in K.C. baseball history.

The Royals’ 2015 championship marked the first of three times Gore played for a World Series-winning team, as he also earned rings with the 2020 Dodgers and 2021 Braves.  The back half of Gore’s big league career saw him bounce around to several postseason contenders (the Cubs, Yankees, Dodgers, Braves, and Mets) looking to bolster their baserunning situation heading into the playoffs.  Gore played in two regular-season games with the 2020 Dodgers but didn’t see any playoff action, and he then spent the entire 2021 regular season in the Braves’ minor league system before being included on Atlanta’s NLDS roster.

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Gore’s family, friends, and loved ones.

Brewers Sign Jacob Hurtubise To Minor League Contract

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The Brewers signed Jacob Hurtubise to a minor league deal earlier this week, according to the outfielder’s MLB.com profile page.  Hurtubise has been assigned to Triple-A Nashville, and his contract doesn’t appear to include an invitation to the Brew Crew’s big league spring camp.

An undrafted free agent who started his pro career by signing with the Reds in 2020, Hurtubise has appeared in 41 MLB games, all with Cincinnati over the last two seasons.  The Reds designated Hurtubise for assignment in June, starting a whirl of transactions that saw the outfielder claimed by the Mariners, outrighted and released in July, and then Hurtubise joined the Astros on a minor league deal before being released again in September.

The 28-year-old Hurtubise will now look to return to the Show on another NL Central team.  Even after trading Isaac Collins to the Royals earlier this winter, the Brewers still have a decent amount of outfield depth beyond starters Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell, and Sal Frelick.  Hurtubise joins Akil Baddoo, Brandon Lockridge, and Greg Jones as outfielders providing depth behind fourth outfielder Blake Perkins.  Though Hurtubise has a minor league option remaining, being an outfield-only player might hamper his roster chances since the Brewers tend to favor more versatile players for their bench.

Hurtubise does have plenty of experience at all three outfield positions, plus his strong speed and baserunning ability makes him a pinch-running candidate.  Hurtubise has stolen 130 bases in 153 attempts over his minor league career, while hitting .260/.411/.324 over 576 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.  This on-base ability hasn’t manifested itself over the small sample size of Hurtubise’s time in the majors, as he has hit just .167/.291/.212 over 83 PA for the Reds.

Cardinals Sign Bligh Madris To Minor League Contract

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The Cardinals have signed first baseman/outfielder Bligh Madris to a minor league deal earlier this week, according to reporter Chase Ford.  The deal apparently doesn’t include an invitation to the Cards’ big league Spring Training camp.

Madris (who turns 30 later this month) is a veteran of three MLB seasons, appearing in 72 games with the Pirates, Astros, and Tigers over the 2022-24 campaigns and hitting .204/.273/.286 in 228 career plate appearances in the Show.  He has spent his last two seasons in Detroit’s organization on minors contracts, and after getting into 21 big league games in 2024, Madris spent the 2025 season entirely in the Tigers’ farm system.

Injury problems limited Madris to just 60 games last season, with the final 10 of those contests coming on a rehab assignment with A-level Lakeland.  The Tigers released Madris in August, and he didn’t resurface until he started posting big winter-ball numbers in Mexico.  This recent production and perhaps Madris’ solid career Triple-A production (.252/.343/.440 with 59 home runs in 1803 PA) seems to have caught the Cardinals’ eye as the team builds out its minor league depth.

St. Louis is known to be looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder, but Madris swings from the left side.  He has primarily played right field during his pro career with a good dose of work as a first baseman and left fielder.  Madris played mostly first base in 2025, though that could’ve been a nod to his health situation rather than necessarily a sign of a bigger-picture position change.

Being limited to first base wouldn’t be great for Madris’ chances of returning to the majors, and it also doesn’t help his case that the Cardinals have left-handed hitting starters at first base (Alec Burleson) and in left field (Lars Nootbaar).  Madris does have a minor league option remaining, since the Tigers never called him up to the bigs in 2025.

Yankees To Re-Sign Paul Goldschmidt

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TODAY: Goldschmidt’s one-year deal is worth $4MM, as per the New York Post’s Jon Heyman.

FEBRUARY 6: The Yankees are reportedly in agreement with Paul Goldschmidt on a one-year deal. Salary specifics aren’t known, although it’s reportedly expected to come in around $5MM or less. The Yankees have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move once this deal becomes official. Goldschmidt is represented by Excel Sports Management.

It’ll be Goldschmidt’s second season in the Bronx. The former MVP signed a $12.5MM deal last offseason to serve as New York’s everyday first baseman. The role will be different this year, as Goldschmidt seems ticketed for more of a short side platoon job after Ben Rice outplayed him last season. The left-handed hitting Rice connected on 26 homers with a .255/.337/.499 batting line across 530 trips to the plate.

Goldschmidt managed only 10 home runs in a similar amount of playing time. His .274/.328/.403 slash was a little better than league average. It came with dramatic splits, both in terms of handedness and timeliness. Goldschmidt started his Yankee tenure on a tear, hitting .338/.394/.495 with six longballs through the end of May. That plummeted to a .226/.277/.333 performance over the final four months of the season. It was essentially an inverse of his 2024 campaign in St. Louis. Goldschmidt started that year very slowly before picking it up in the second half.

Between his late-season struggles and Rice’s breakout year, the seven-time All-Star lost playing time as the season progressed. His plate appearance tally dropped in each month. Goldschmidt will remain in the lineup against left-handed pitching, as he continued to tee off on southpaws even as his numbers against righties dropped. He’s coming off a .336/.411/.570 slash against left-handers compared to a .247/.289/.329 mark when he didn’t hold the platoon advantage. Seven of his 10 home runs came off lefties even though he saw twice as many plate appearances versus right-handers.

Rice had seven homers in 119 plate appearances against lefties, but it came with a .208 average and .271 on-base mark. Even if the Yankees don’t want to make him a strict platoon bat, they’ll time some of his rest days against tough southpaws. Goldschmidt can pick up those at-bats and offers a fallback at designated hitter in case Giancarlo Stanton misses time. Lefty-hitting catcher Austin Wells had reverse splits last season but is a career .218/.282/.360 hitter against southpaws. If the Yankees want to continue giving Rice scattered reps behind the plate, they could shield Wells from a lefty and start Goldschmidt at first.

At 38, Goldschmidt is clearly on the downswing of what should be a Hall of Fame career, but he can still be productive if deployed in a more limited role. He’s also highly respected off the field and was just named to the U.S. World Baseball Classic roster for the third time in his career. He clearly made a strong impression in the clubhouse and with the coaching staff.

The late-season drop in playing time evidently didn’t sour him on giving it another go in pinstripes. Joel Sherman of The New York Post reports that he passed on more money from other teams to remain in the Bronx. The Padres were reportedly among the finalists as they look for one more bat after agreeing to a deal with Miguel Andujar. The Diamondbacks spent most of the offseason looking for a right-handed hitting first baseman. A reunion in the desert seemed to make sense, but it was clear that wouldn’t come to pass when the Snakes agreed to terms with Carlos Santana earlier this week.

New York has a lineup that skews to the left side generally. GM Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone had spoken multiple times about wanting to add a righty bat for balance. Goldschmidt joins utility infielder Amed Rosario as righty options off the bench. José Caballero would also be in that mix if Anthony Volpe reclaims the shortstop job once he returns from shoulder surgery.

They’re going to carry lefty-hitting J.C. Escarra as a backup catcher. That would only leave one bench spot for Oswaldo Cabrera and Jasson Domínguez if everyone gets through camp healthy. The Post’s Jon Heyman wrote on Thursday that it seems likely Domínguez will be optioned to Triple-A to begin the season. That’s even more probable with Goldschmidt back, though Spring Training injuries could certainly change the picture.

The salary remains unreported. The Yankees will pay a 110% tax on it as third-time CBT payors in the top bracket. RosterResource calculated their competitive balance tax number around $330MM before this deal. They had a $320MM tax payroll last year, leaving them with a nearly $62MM bill at season’s end.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Yankees and Goldschmidt were finalizing an agreement. Ronald Blum of The Associated Press reported that Goldschmidt was likely to make no more than $5MM. Image courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images.

A’s Hire Mark McGwire As Special Assistant

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The Athletics hired Mark McGwire as a special assistant in their player development department on Friday (link via The Associated Press). He returns to the organization that inducted him into their team Hall of Fame in 2019.

McGwire, now 62, played the first 12 years of his career with the A’s. He won the Rookie of the Year award in 1987 and made nine of his 12 All-Star appearances with the club. He twice led the majors in home runs while wearing an A’s uniform and was an instrumental part of the teams that won three consecutive pennants and one World Series between 1988-90. He remains the franchise’s home run leader with 363, while his 941 runs batted in ranks fourth in club history.

Those on-field accomplishments and his overall legacy are complicated by his use of performance-enhancing drugs. He admitted in 2010 that he had used steroids for the majority of his career, including during his record home run chases as a member of the Cardinals in the late 1990s. The PED ties kept him out of the National Baseball Hall of Fame despite a statistical résumé that would have made him a first-ballot inductee had he achieved it without using steroids.

That said, McGwire obviously has an extensive knowledge of hitting that he can bring to his new role. He had a nine-year run on MLB staffs between 2010-18. McGwire was the hitting coach for the Cardinals when they won the 2011 World Series. He also worked as the Dodgers’ hitting coach and a bench coach in San Diego through the 2018 season. He stepped down during the 2018-19 offseason to spend more time with family. A special assistant role will allow him to be around the A’s organization without requiring the commitment of a full-time coaching position.

Padres Had Interest In Goldschmidt, Valdez

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Paul Goldschmidt is headed back to the Bronx after agreeing to a one-year deal with the Yankees. The Diamondbacks had been his only other known suitor for much of the offseason, but it may have ultimately come down to New York and San Diego.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post loosely linked the Friars to Goldschmidt last night. Dennis Lin of The Athletic reported this evening they were indeed among the finalists. The Padres are looking to add one more hitter even after agreeing to a $4MM contract with Miguel Andujar on Wednesday. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller said last weekend the front office was trying to add “multiple bats, that first base, DH, anything off the bench” (link via Greg Beacham of WKYC).

Andujar projects as the primary designated hitter. He can spell first baseman Gavin Sheets against left-handed pitching while splitting DH reps with Sung-mun Song. The KBO signee has multi-positional flexibility that’d allow them to accommodate another first base/DH type. The bench was a weakness for the Padres last season and still seems that way. Song and backup catcher Luis Campusano project for two spots. That leaves two openings with only four other position players on the 40-man roster: Bryce Johnson, Will Wagner, Mason McCoy and Tirso Ornelas.

They’re all fringe 40-man types. Johnson is out of options and hit .342 over 84 plate appearances last year, but that was driven by a .442 average on balls in play that isn’t close to sustainable. Ornelas has been a league average hitter in Triple-A over two full seasons and hasn’t gotten a significant MLB look before his 26th birthday. McCoy has been a below-average offensive player in the minors, while Wagner fell out of the mix in Toronto and hit .225/.324/.279 over 55 MLB games last year.

Rhys Hoskins, Wilmer Flores, Justin Turner and old friend Ty France are unsigned righty-hitting first basemen. Marcell Ozuna, Mitch Garver and Andrew McCutchen are available designated hitters. Speculative trade possibilities include Ryan Mountcastle, Lenyn Sosa and Ezequiel Duran.

San Diego probably also has a move coming on the pitching side. Preller said last week they wanted to add another starter. It’s likely that’ll be a cheaper back-end type, but they kicked the tires on what would have been a much bigger acquisition. Heyman reports that the Padres were among the teams involved on Framber Valdez before his three-year, $115MM agreement with the Tigers. The Padres were able to wait out the market to land Nick Pivetta as a February pickup a year ago, but Valdez commanded a much larger contract that was likely never in the budget.

Most of the remaining free agents of note are starting pitchers. Zac Gallen, Max Scherzer, Zack Littell, Justin Verlander, Lucas Giolito and organizational favorite Nick Martinez are unsigned. Walker Buehler, Patrick Corbin, Miles Mikolas, Germán Márquez and Jose Quintana will be limited to modest one-year salaries if they even command major league deals.

Signing anyone from that group could push JP Sears to long relief or to the Triple-A rotation. They’ll open the year with a strong top three of Pivetta, Michael King and Joe Musgrove. The talent level drops markedly after that. Randy Vásquez is out of options and seems ticketed for one of the final two spots. Sears, Kyle Hart and Matt Waldron are the only other starters on the 40-man roster. They’ve added Marco Gonzales and Triston McKenzie on minor league deals with invites to Spring Training.

Angels Release Cody Laweryson

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The Angels announced they’ve released reliever Cody Laweryson. He had been designated for assignment earlier in the week when they finalized their one-year deal to bring back Yoán Moncada.

Los Angeles claimed Laweryson off waivers from the Twins early in the offseason. The 6’4″ righty made five appearances with Minnesota as a rookie. He allowed two runs (one earned) across 7 2/3 innings, striking out seven without issuing a walk. Laweryson also pitched well in Triple-A, turning in a 2.86 earned run average while striking out a quarter of opposing hitters. The former 14th-round pick has a solid 3.39 ERA with a 27% strikeout percentage over his minor league career.

Despite the strong production, Laweryson was dropped by a Twins team that has one of the worst bullpens in MLB. His 93.2 mph average fastball isn’t especially imposing. He doesn’t have a power breaking ball either, sitting 85-86 mph with a cutter while mixing in a low-80s changeup. He’ll celebrate his 28th birthday in May.

It’s not clear why the Angels released Laweryson rather than assigning him to Triple-A. Speculatively speaking, it’s possible there’s an undisclosed injury at play, as injured players cannot be outrighted. (He dealt with a forearm strain in the minors midseason but finished the year healthy and on Minnesota’s active roster.) If there is some kind of injury, they’d presumably look to re-sign him to a minor league deal. In any case, Laweryson is now a free agent who can explore other opportunities.

Royals Re-Sign Luke Maile To Minor League Deal

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The Royals announced that they have brought back catcher Luke Maile via a minor league deal. The Meister Sports Management client also receives an invite to big league camp in spring training.

It’s a nice birthday present for Maile, who turns 35 years old today. The journeyman catcher has been a big leaguer for over a decade now, having made his debut back in 2015. He was with the Royals in 2025, bouncing on and off the roster throughout the year. He got into 25 games, stepped to the plate 54 times and hit .244/.346/.356.

Maile has never been a huge standing next to the plate, with a career .209/.277/.320 line and 63 wRC+. However, he has received strong reviews for his work crouching behind the plate over the years. FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus consider him to be an above average framer. Statcast ranks him just a smidge below average at framing but gives him strong marks for his blocking.

For the Royals, they should have Maile ticketed for a similar depth role that he had last year. Franchise legend Salvador Perez is catching less as he ages into his mid-30s but he still caught about 90 games per year for the past three seasons. The Royals traded Freddy Fermin to the Padres at last year’s deadline because they felt good enough about prospect Carter Jensen, who made his big league debut last year.

Perez and Jensen will be sharing the catching duties. Both will likely see notable time as the designated hitter as well. They are the only two backstops on the 40-man roster at the moment. The Royals added some non-roster depth by signing Jorge Alfaro last month and now Maile gives them some more.

Maile is an Article XX(b) free agent, which is a fancy way of saying he’s a standard free agent, one who has at least six years of service time and finished the previous season on a club’s 40-man roster. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, such players get uniform opt-outs dates in minor league deals. Those opt-outs are five days before Opening Day, followed by May 1 and on June 1.

That was the case for Maile last year as well. He had signed a minor league deal with the Royals in February. He opted out of that deal in late March but then re-signed with the club on a fresh pact. He was selected to the 40-man roster for a little more than two weeks in May, was outrighted back to the minors, then was selected back to the roster in July.

Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images

White Sox Outright Jairo Iriarte, Drew Romo

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The White Sox announced that right-hander Jairo Iriarte and catcher Drew Romo have cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Both will be in big league camp in spring training as non-roster invitees. The two were designated for assignment earlier this week as corresponding moves when the White Sox acquired Jordan Hicks and David Sandlin from the Red Sox.

Iriarte, 24, was once a notable prospect. The White Sox acquired him from the Padres two years ago as part of the return for Dylan Cease. His stock has dipped since then. In 2024, he tossed 126 Double-A innings. His 3.71 earned run average wasn’t bad but his 22.8% strikeout rate was a big drop from the 33.2% rate he had the year before. His walk rate remained high at 10.7%.

The control problems were already present before he came to the White Sox, which hinted at a potential long-term move to the bullpen. The Sox mostly used him in relief in 2025 but he didn’t take to the move. In 46 Triple-A innings, he had a 7.24 ERA. His 21.6% strikeout rate wasn’t great and his control got worse, with Iriarte walking 16.7% of batters faced.

He still has an option year remaining but that wasn’t enough to convince another club to give him a 40-man roster spot. This is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, so he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency. The Sox will keep him in a non-roster capacity and try to get him back on track.

Romo, 24, was also once a prospect of note. The Rockies recently decided to move on, however, and he has been riding the waiver wire this winter. He has gone from the Rockies to the Orioles, Mets and White Sox via waivers. Now that the Sox have passed him through unclaimed, they will be the ones who get to keep him. Like Iriarte, Romo doesn’t have the right to elect free agency.

The Rockies took Romo with the 35th overall pick in 2020. Considered a strong defender, his offense was decent enough as he climbed the ladder that he was ranked as one of the top prospects in Colorado’s system and even got some top 100 love. But his stock has faded lately as he has struggled at the plate. He slashed .264/.329/.409 in Triple-A last year, which looks good at first blush but actually translates to a 75 wRC+ in the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League.

Romo will head to Charlotte and try to get back on track. He doesn’t currently have a great path to playing time, as the Sox have Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero and Korey Lee all on the roster. However, Lee is out of options and might get squeezed off. There has also been a bit of trade buzz around both Teel and Quero. It doesn’t seem like the Sox are motivated to move either but Romo’s path would improve if a deal does come together. As always, an injury could alter the calculus as well.

Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images

Giants Finalize 2026 Coaching Staff

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The Giants officially announced Tony Vitello’s first major league coaching staff on Friday afternoon. Although much of the staff had been previously reported, the team revealed the promotions of Shane Robinson and Hector Borg as their respective base coaches.

Robinson, 41, takes over as the first base coach. He was a depth outfielder who played parts of nine MLB seasons. He retired from playing after the 2021 season and jumped into a coaching role in the San Diego farm system. Robinson also worked for the Mets before taking a minor league outfield/baserunning coach job with the Giants last year. This is his first stint on a major league staff.

The 40-year-old Borg — the team’s new third base coach — is also an internal promotion. He’s an organizational lifer who played four seasons in the minors before moving into coaching in 2008. Borg has had various roles with the team’s affiliates over the past decade and a half. He also managed his native Dominican Republic at the Tokyo Olympics five years ago. This is his first job on a big league staff. Enrique Rojas of ESPN first reported that Borg would join the MLB staff in an unspecified capacity last month.

The remainder of Vitello’s staff is as follows: bench coach Jayce Tingler, hitting coach Hunter Mense, pitching coach Justin Meccage, director of pitching Frank Anderson, assistant hitting coach Oscar Bernard, assistant pitching coach Christian Wonders, bullpen coach Jesse Chavez, infield coach Ron Washington, field coordinator/catching coach Alex Burg, quality control coach Taira Uematsu, and bullpen catcher Eliezer Zambrano. Bernard, Uematsu, Zambrano and Burg are holdovers from Bob Melvin’s staff — though Burg was promoted to the field coordinator role in addition to his previous catching duties.

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