Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Braves To Sign Aaron Schunk To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Braves will have infielder Aaron Schunk in camp as a non-roster invitee, reports Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That indicates the CAA Sports client and the club have agreed to a minor league deal.

Schunk, 28, changes organizations for the first time in his career. He was drafted by the Rockies in 2019, selected in the second round, and has been with that club a few weeks ago. With Colorado, he got into 55 big league games over the past two seasons. He stepped to the plate 131 times but struck out in 31.3% of those plate appearances and only drew a walk 3.1% of the time as he put up a tepid .222/.246/.302 line.

His minor league offense has been better but not outstanding. In 1,170 Triple-A plate appearances, he has a .291/.348/.468 line. That looks good at first blush all those trips to the plate took place in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, where that kind of production translates to an 89 wRC+. That indicates he was actually 11% worse than league average. The Rockies outrighted him off the roster in October and he elected free agency.

Defensively, his reputation is pretty strong. He is considered an above average third baseman and has also spent a lot of time at the middle infield spots. The left side of Atlanta’s infield has some uncertainty. Austin Riley has finished the past two seasons on the injured list. He underwent core surgery in August of 2025 and spent the final few weeks of the campaign on the IL. At shortstop, they just signed Ha-Seong Kim to take over there. He returned from shoulder surgery in 2025 but battled other injuries and only got into 48 games.

Atlanta has Mauricio Dubón on the bench to provide backup at those two spots, as well as others. Second baseman Ozzie Albies is also a bit of a question mark after two straight down seasons at the plate. Vidal Bruján and Brett Wisely are also on the roster but both are out of options and could be on the roster bubble. Nacho Alvarez Jr. is on the 40-man but Atlanta would presumably prefer to have him getting regular playing time in the minors.

If Schunk is eventually able to earn a 40-man spot, he still has an option, meaning he could be shuttled to Triple-A and back. He has less than a year of service time, meaning he could also be cheaply retained for years to come if that becomes a consideration.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images

Mets Making Mark Vientos Available In Trade Talks

By | at

The Mets are informing teams that corner infielder/designated hitter Mark Vientos is available in trade conversations, writes Jorge Castillo of ESPN. That aligns with reporting from Will Sammon of The Athletic, who wrote last night that the Mets were willing to discuss each of Vientos, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña.

Vientos looked like a lineup building block at this time last year. The righty-hitting infielder was coming off a 27-homer season in which he’d hit .266/.322/.516 across 454 regular season plate appearances. He was even better in the playoffs, blasting five homers and a pair of doubles while hitting .327 across 13 games. Vientos was a huge reason the Mets made it to the 2024 NL Championship Series. He would have been the heir apparent at first base had Pete Alonso found a robust enough market to price him out of Queens.

Instead, Alonso returned on a short-term deal. That came shortly after the Mets had re-signed Jesse Winker as their designated hitter against right-handed pitching. Vientos moved back to third base, where he has never been a good defender. The numbers were predictably ugly. Defensive Runs Saved had him 10 runs below average in just 556 innings. Statcast had him at six runs below par.

Defensive struggles were to be expected. More surprising is that Vientos’ bat also significantly regressed. He only hit 17 homers with a .233/.289/.413 slash line in a similar amount of playing time as he had in 2024. The underlying numbers were more encouraging. Vientos made hard contact (an exit velocity of 95 MPH or higher) on half his batted balls. He cut his strikeout rate by five percentage points from an alarming 29.7% clip.

He probably didn’t change all that much as a hitter, but the regression suggested his ’24 level of play wasn’t sustainable either. Vientos had a career-high .324 average on balls in play that year. Among hitters with 400+ plate appearances, only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani had seen a higher percentage of their fly balls clear the fences. Vientos has big power but was unlikely to keep that kind of company. As is often the case, his true talent likely lies somewhere in between his numbers of the last two years. He’s an annual threat for 25+ home runs but has a worrying enough plate discipline and contact profile that he’s not going to post strong on-base percentages.

Alonso’s free agent departure opens the door for Vientos to carve out regular first base or DH reps with the Mets. He shouldn’t get much playing time at third base anymore, as the Marcus Semien acquisition pushed Brett Baty firmly to the hot corner. The Mets are in agreement with Jorge Polanco on a two-year, $40MM contract and intend to play him mostly at first base. Polanco’s history of knee issues suggests he’ll probably need a decent number of DH at-bats. They could keep Vientos and have him split playing time with Polanco between those positions.

However, Sammon wrote last night that the Mets are kicking around possibilities to add another bat-first player. Acquiring a left fielder might not impact Vientos’ path to playing time, but bringing in a traditional first baseman or DH would push him out of the projected lineup. He’s out of minor league options, so a trade would seem almost inevitable at that point.

The Mets reportedly discussed Vientos with teams going back to the trade deadline. He was linked to the White Sox as the Mets kicked the tires on Luis Robert Jr., though New York balked at that framework. Robert suffered another injury shortly after the deadline and is now set to make $20MM. It’d be a surprise if the Mets give up four years of control over Vientos for him, even though they could still use a better center fielder than Tyrone Taylor to bridge the gap to prospect Carson Benge.

Acuña and Mauricio have also found themselves in trade rumors for months. Both players’ stocks are down. Acuña, 24 in March, is a good defensive infielder but owns a .248/.299/.341 line in 233 MLB plate appearances. He hasn’t hit much at the Triple-A level either and is out of options. Maybe another team thinks he’d be a Gold Glove caliber shortstop who can fit at the bottom of a lineup, but he increasingly looks like a utility player.

Mauricio is approaching his 25th birthday and coming off a .226/.293/.369 showing over 184 plate appearances. He’s a switch-hitting infielder with huge power but significant plate discipline questions. Mauricio debuted at the end of the 2023 season and missed the entire ’24 campaign after tearing his right ACL in winter ball. He still has an option remaining and is a boom or bust player who probably fits better on a non-contending team that can live with inconsistency at the plate.

Rangers Looking For Starting Pitcher, Right-Handed Bat

By | at

The Rangers just bolstered their roster with a few free agents, signing catcher Danny Jansen and left-hander Tyler Alexander. They reportedly also have an agreement in place with right-hander Alexis Díaz, although that deal isn’t official yet. President of baseball operations Chris Young and general manager Ross Fenstermaker spoke to the media today about the Jansen and Alexander signings and what’s still to come in the offseason. Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports relays that the club is looking for a starting pitcher, a right-handed bat and further bullpen upgrades.

Those are all sensible targets. The lineup struggled in 2025 and they have already subtracted two notable righty bats. They traded Marcus Semien to the Mets for Brandon Nimmo and non-tendered outfielder Adolis García, who has now signed with the Phillies. Nimmo effectively replaces García in the Texas outfield but Nimmo swings from the left side. The most likely replacement for Semien at second is Josh Smith, another lefty.

In addition to Nmmo and Smith, the Rangers have lefties Corey Seager, Joc Pederson and Evan Carter in the lineup. Nimmo and Seager are everyday guys. Smith has fairly modest platoon splits thus far in his career. Pederson and Carter, however, both struggle against southpaws. Manager Skip Schumaker has suggested Carter could get a bit of a longer look against lefties but could also be shielded from some of the tougher ones.

A righty bat who could play some outfield could help the club on the grass and also in the designated hitter spot. Ezequiel Durán and Michael Helman are on the 40-man roster, swing right-handed and can play the outfield. Sam Haggerty is a switch-hitter. However, all three generally profile as light-hitting utility types.

The free agent market features Harrison Bader, Austin Hays, Miguel Andujar, Rob Refsnyder, Tommy Pham, Austin Slater, Randal Grichuk and other righty-swinging outfielders. No one in that group should command a massive deal but various reports have indicated the Rangers are reportedly dealing with a tight budget and have other things on the to-do list. Luis Robert Jr. seems to be available in trades but the White Sox are setting a high asking price. Nick Castellanos is out there but he hasn’t been an impact bat for a few years. The Astros are looking to flip Jake Meyers but he’s more of a glove-first outfielder. There’s also the intra-divisional aspect and the fact that Houston wants an immediate rotation upgrade that Texas can’t really provide.

Speaking of the rotation, the Rangers currently have a top-heavy group. Nathan Eovaldi and Jacob deGrom are a strong one-two punch at the front but it drops off after that. Tyler Mahle, Patrick Corbin, Merrill Kelly and Jon Gray all became free agents at season’s end. Jack Leiter is coming off a decent season, with a 3.86 earned run average over 151 2/3 innings. Kumar Rocker’s season wasn’t as smooth, as he had a 5.74 ERA over 14 starts. Jacob Latz had a decent year as a swingman but is still lacking in major league starting experience. There are some other starters on the 40-man but all are younger and even less experienced than Leiter and Rocker.

It would be prudent for the club to add a mid-rotation guy, one who would ideally slot in behind the Eovaldi and deGrom duo. Again, the financial constraints may play a role. Apart from the Dylan Cease signing, most of the top free agents are still out there, but the Rangers probably aren’t looking at that market. Perhaps someone like Chris Bassitt, Lucas Giolito or Zack Littell could be viable, depending on how much powder is dry and how the club attacks other spots. Guys like Kris Bubic, Edward Cabrera, MacKenzie Gore, Kodai Senga, Mitch Keller and others could be on the trade block, with varying degrees of trade value.

The budgetary concerns were a factor in the club’s bullpen-building strategy a year ago. They gave one-year deals to Chris Martin, Hoby Milner, Luke Jackson, Jacob Webb and Shawn Armstrong. The group ended up performing pretty well but almost the entire relief corps hit free agency after the 2025 season. As mentioned, they have added Alexander and Díaz but will presumably keep looking for more bullpen bargains. Wilson says the club isn’t expected to target the top of the relief market.

RosterResource currently projects the Rangers for a payroll of $175MM next year. That’s almost $50MM south of last year’s $224MM figure but all indications are that the club will spend less on the 2026 club, though it’s unclear exactly where they plan to end up.

Photo courtesy of Tim Heitman, Imagn Images

Reds To Sign Caleb Ferguson

By | at

The Reds are reportedly in agreement with reliever Caleb Ferguson on a one-year contract, pending a physical. Salary terms for the Excel Sports Management client have not been reported. Cincinnati has an opening on the 40-man roster.

Ferguson adds a needed left-handed option to Terry Francona’s bullpen. The Reds bought out Brent Suter at the beginning of the offseason. That left them with Sam Moll as their only lefty reliever. He had been up-and-down from Triple-A this year and gave up 16 runs across 18 1/3 MLB innings. Moll gets a decent number of whiffs and ground-balls and was a solid middle reliever between 2022-24, but the Reds couldn’t enter the season relying on him as their best option.

The 29-year-old Ferguson is coming off a solid season split between the Pirates and Mariners. He made a career-high 70 appearances and posted a 3.58 earned run average through 65 1/3 innings. He recorded 14 holds while relinquishing five leads. Ferguson got a lot of weak contact, but he benefitted from an unsustainably low home run rate and batting average on balls in play. That will probably tick back up in 2026, though it’s possible he compensates by missing more bats than he did this past season.

Ferguson is coming off an 18.9% strikeout rate that is by far the worst mark of his career. He had punched out at least a quarter of opposing hitters in each of his first six seasons. That’d be greater cause for concern if it were accompanied by a drop in his raw stuff. Ferguson’s 94 MPH average fastball speed was in line with that of prior years. He cut back on the four-seam fastball to more frequently use a sinker against left-handed batters. The result, as one might expect, was a drop in whiffs but a spike in ground-balls. Ferguson also did a much better job throwing strikes against southpaws, whom he held to a .184/.261/.204 line with zero home runs in 115 plate appearances.

Against left-handed opposition, Ferguson used his sinker roughly half the time and threw his four-seam fastball and cutter at a near-25% clip. He only sporadically mixed in a slurve. That was a much more frequent pitch for him without the platoon advantage. Ferguson almost never threw the sinker to righties, against whom the pitch’s arm-side run could leak back out over the heart of the plate. He instead mixed the four-seam, slurve and cutter versus opposite-handed opponents.

Ferguson is the second addition to Cincinnati’s bullpen this offseason. They also brought in out-of-options swingman Keegan Thompson on a split deal to compete for a long relief role. Their biggest move was to re-sign closer Emilio Pagán to a two-year, $20MM contract. He’ll be joined in the late innings by Graham Ashcraft, Tony Santillan and Ferguson. Power righties Connor Phillips and Zach Maxwell have the stuff to pitch their way into leverage roles as well, though it’s questionable whether either pitcher will throw enough strikes to earn that level of responsibility.

An already thin free agent lefty relief class is dwindling. The Pirates finalized their contract with Gregory Soto this morning, while Caleb Thielbar agreed to a new deal with the Cubs. Sean Newcomb, Danny Coulombe, Drew Pomeranz, Justin Wilson and Taylor Rogers are among those who remain unsigned.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the sides had an agreement, which Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer specified was for one year. Image courtesy of Jordan Godfree, Imagn Images.

Royals Sign Maikel Garcia To Extension

By | at

December 16th: The Royals officially announced the extension today.

December 12th: The Royals and infielder Maikel Garcia are finalizing a five-year contract extension that’ll contain a club option for a sixth season, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The Wasserman client will be guaranteed $57.5MM on the deal, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com, though he can eventually earn something close to $85MM on the pact via the option and some escalators.

Garcia, who’ll turn 26 in March, had previously been under club control through 2029 but will now be on a guaranteed contract through 2030. Between that 2030 season and the 2031 club option, Kansas City is picking up control over two would-be free-agent seasons. Garcia was arbitration-eligible for the first time this offseason. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $4.8MM salary on the heels of a breakout showing in 2025. As a Super Two player, Garcia would have been arb-eligible four times and thus due three more raises in subsequent seasons.

Though Garcia has been a regular with the Royals for three seasons now, the 2025 campaign was the first in which he provided any real value with the bat. He was a valuable player in 2023-24, but that was primarily due to plus speed (combined 60 steals) and quality defense at multiple infield positions.

The 2025 campaign brought a full-fledged breakout. After batting just .249/.300/.344 in 1141 plate appearances from ’23-’24, Garcia erupted with a .286/.351/.449 showing in a career-high 666 plate appearances. He posted career-best tallies in home runs (16) and doubles (39), tied a career-high with five triples, swiped another 23 bags and notched career-best walk and strikeout rates of 9.3% and 12.6%, respectively.

Garcia continued on as a plus, versatile defender this past season. He spent the bulk of his time at third base but also appeared at second base, shortstop and in center field. Third base has been his most frequent and best position, evidenced both by superlative defensive grades (15 Defensive Runs Saved, 18 Outs Above Average in 1144 innings) and the first of what could very well end up being multiple Gold Glove Awards.

Garcia profiles as the Royals’ long-term option at third base. With shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. also signed long-term, Kansas City should have an outstanding left side of the infield, on both sides of the ball, for the better part of the next half decade. It’s always possible that Garcia slides to a different position somewhere down the road, but the Royals tendered Jonathan India a contract this offseason and plan to deploy him regularly at second base after using him at multiple positions in 2025.

That left-side infield duo of Garcia and Witt will now be the Royals’ only players signed beyond the 2027 season, though right-handers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha can be retained via club options. Kansas City also controls lefty Cole Ragans and first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino — another extension candidate — through the 2028 season. Team captain and franchise icon Salvador Perez is signed through 2027 and seems likely to continue re-signing in Kansas City until he opts to retire. That could increasingly be as a designated hitter, given the emergence of top catching prospect Carter Jensen (with fellow backstop Blake Mitchell not far behind him).

Between his previously projected $4.8MM salary in 2026 and what would have been three arbitration raises, it’s reasonable to think that Garcia’s four arbitration seasons might’ve cost somewhere in the vicinity of $35-40MM. That’s obviously just a rough approximation, but the extension seemingly values the free agent year around $17-22MM, depending on how bullish one is on Garcia’s earning power in free agency. In a best-case scenario, Garcia could have topped $40MM in earnings and hit free agency ahead of his age-30 campaign.

The Royals are clearly buying into him as a perennially productive regular, and if that proves to be the case, they’ll be rewarded handsomely with an extension that could play out like a bargain. For Garcia, this type of contract would’ve been unfathomable just nine months ago. As is the case in any extension scenario, it’s possible he could’ve earned more going year-to-year and reaching free agency at a younger age. However, it’s plenty understandable that a player who signed for under $100K as a 16-year-old back in 2016 and had well below-average offensive output in his first two MLB seasons would jump at the opportunity to lock in a deal that guarantees nearly $60MM and could top $80MM if that option is picked up.

Rays Designate Tristan Peters For Assignment

By | at

The Rays announced that outfielder Tristan Peters has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for their signing of left-hander Steven Matz, whose two-year deal is now official.

Peters, 26 in February, got to make his major league debut in 2025. The Rays added him to their 40-man roster in August but he was mostly kept on optional assignment. He only got into four games with 12 plate appearances in total. He didn’t get a hit or a walk and struck out seven times.

That’s obviously a small sample size. In the minors, Peters has done a lot of things well without a standout tool. His 11.7% walk rate and 18.1% strikeout rate are both a bit better than average. He has hit a few home runs but never more than 15 in a season. He can also steal about 15ish bases a year. He can play all three outfield slots.

The total package was enough to get him up to the big leagues but the Rays don’t view him as a key building block. Now that he’s been bumped off the 40-man, he’ll be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Rays could take five days to see if there’s any trade interest. Peters still has a couple of options and just a handful of service days. If any club acquires him, he could be a depth outfielder with roster flexibility and years of cheap control. If he is passed through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Rays as non-roster depth.

Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images

Rays Sign Steven Matz

By | at

December 16th: The Rays have now officially announced the Matz signing. Outfielder Tristan Peters has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. Per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, it is indeed a $15MM guarantee, with a $7.5MM salary in each year. There’s also a $500K assignment bonus if he’s traded.

December 9th: The deal is for $7.5MM per year, according to Brittany Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Unless there are other factors such as bonuses or options, it seems to be a $15MM guarantee.

December 8th: The Rays are reportedly in agreement with free agent left-hander Steven Matz on a two-year contract. The signing is pending a physical, and salary terms for the VC Sports Group client have yet to be reported. Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times first reported the sides were closing in on what was likely to be a two-year contract. The Rays’ 40-man roster is full, so they’ll need to designate someone for assignment once the contract is finalized.

Matz spent the 2025 season working out of the bullpen. The 11-year big league veteran split the season between the Cardinals and Red Sox. He combined for 76 2/3 innings of 3.05 ERA ball. Matz has a long background as a starter and worked in a swing role with St. Louis as recently as 2024. He could compete for a rotation spot or work multiple innings out of Kevin Cash’s bullpen.

The 34-year-old just wrapped up a four-year, $44MM free agent deal that he’d signed with St. Louis. That didn’t go as the Cardinals planned. Matz had a difficult time staying healthy. He missed most of the 2022 season to a shoulder impingement. A lat strain shelved him in the second half of the following season, and a lower back injury wiped out much of 2024.

Matz combined for just 197 1/3 innings over the first three seasons. He posted a 4.47 ERA with an average 21.9% strikeout percentage. The Cards only gave him a pair of spot starts this year. He still frequently worked into a second inning out of the bullpen but wasn’t tasked with as significant a workload. Matz managed to stay healthy and turned in arguably his best season since 2021.

Over his first 55 innings, the southpaw turned in a 3.44 earned run average while striking out 20.7% of batters faced. The Cards dealt him to Boston at the deadline. His already middling strikeout rate dropped another six points with the Red Sox, though he managed to outperform his peripherals with a 2.08 ERA through 21 2/3 innings. Matz ranked among the bottom 10 relievers (minimum 50 innings) with a 7.8% swinging strike rate. He succeeded with excellent control, issuing walks at a career-low 3.6% clip. He pitched particularly well as a specialist, holding left-handed batters to a .211/.242/.341 batting line in 129 plate appearances.

Tampa Bay has a pair of power lefty relievers in Garrett Cleavinger and Mason Montgomery. Cleavinger is quietly one of the best in the game. Montgomery has the stuff to be an impact arm in his own right, but his control remains a significant question. He still has a pair of minor league options and can bounce between Tampa Bay and Triple-A Durham. Matz provides a different look as a control specialist but has decent velocity, averaging 94.5 MPH on his sinker.

There’s a decent amount of uncertainty in the rotation behind Drew Rasmussen and Ryan Pepiot. The Rays have Shane McClanahan and Shane Baz lined up for spots. McClanahan will be on an innings limit after consecutive missed seasons. Baz was inconsistent and is at least a theoretical trade candidate. Ian Seymour is probably the in-house favorite to work as the fifth starter, but Tampa Bay is likely to add a veteran innings eater or two. It remains to be seen if the Rays will give Matz an opportunity to compete for a back-end rotation job.

Image courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images.

Giants To Sign Adrian Houser

By | at

The Giants and righty Adrian Houser are in agreement on a two-year, $22MM contract, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. There’s a club option for a third season. Houser, a client of the BBI Sports Group, will presumably step right into San Francisco’s rotation next season after a rebound showing in 2025. The Giants, who also announced a one-year deal with former Tigers closer Jason Foley less than an hour ago, will need to free up a pair of 40-man roster spots, as they were already at capacity prior to either of those two agreements.

Houser, who’ll turn 33 in February, was a steady presence in the Milwaukee rotation for several years. From 2021-23, Houser started 68 games for the Brewers (in addition to five relief outings) and logged a 3.94 ERA. His 17.6% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate were both worse than average, but Houser piled up grounders at a 51.3% rate and managed to consistently avoid the long ball (0.83 HR/9).

The Brewers traded Houser to the Mets in the 2023-24 offseason, ahead of what was set to be his final season of club control. He struggled through his lone year in Queens (5.84 ERA in seven starts and 16 relief outings) before being designated for assignment and cut loose. He wound up settling for a minor league contract with the Rangers in free agency last winter. Texas didn’t bring him up to the big leagues prior to an opt-out date, so Houser returned to the market and signed a big league deal with the White Sox — a decision that now stands as a turning point in his career.

Houser hit the ground running and never looked back. In 11 starts with the ChiSox, he pitched 68 2/3 innings of 2.10 ERA ball. As was the case in Milwaukee, Houser posted a strikeout rate well shy of the 22% league average (17.1%), but he did so with better command (8% walk rate) and even fewer round-trippers (0.39 HR/9). Houser’s home run suppression didn’t seem sustainable; only 4.6% of the fly-balls he surrendered with the Sox turned into homers — miles south of the league-average 11.9% mark and his own career mark of 11.5%.

Following a trade to Tampa Bay, Houser indeed saw his home run luck run out. His homer-to-flyball rate jumped to 11.9%, and he averaged 1.12 homers per nine frames. The resulting 4.79 ERA was pretty closely in line with his 4.62 SIERA with Chicago. Still, Houser proved a durable source of innings down the stretch for the Rays, pitching 56 1/3 frames across 10 starts. Overall, he finished out the season with a 3.31 ERA, 17.8% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate, 48.9% ground-ball rate and 0.73 HR/9.

Houser will slot into new skipper Tony Vitello’s rotation behind Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Landen Roupp. The Giants have a host of candidates for the fifth and final spot on the staff, including (but not limited to) Blade Tidwell, Carson Seymour, Kai-Wei Teng, Trevor McDonald, Hayden Birdsong and well-regarded prospect Carson Whisenhunt.

The Giants have been on the hunt for rotation help this winter, and while they’ve been connected to some of the more prominent names on the market, ownership has publicly expressed a reluctance to commit long-term to a starting pitcher. That’s made fits with pitchers like Tatsuya Imai, Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez seem unlikely, though it’s at least plausible that the Giants could look to further augment their starting staff via the trade market or another shorter-term deal such as today’s Houser agreement.

Given Houser’s inconsistent track record, lack of missed bats and generally unsustainable level of home run suppression with the White Sox, it’s a fairly steep price for the Giants to pay. Then again, San Francisco’s Oracle Park is one of the most pitcher-friendly venues in the sport. Oracle Park is particularly tough on left-handed home run power, which dovetails nicely with Houser’s skill set. He held right-handers to an awful .249/.293/.320 batting line in 2025 (.234/.296/.339 career) but was tagged by lefties for a .274/.356/.456 batting line last season (and .282/.367/.456 for his career).

The addition of Houser pushes San Francisco to about $203MM of luxury tax obligations, per RosterResource. The Giants are more than $40MM shy of the $244MM first-tier threshold. However, while they’ve paid the tax in the past — doing so as recently as 2024 — it’s not clear whether they’re comfortable doing so in 2026. Ownership comments downplaying the possibility of adding additional long-term deals would suggest at least some trepidation about spending to those heights.

The Giants are still looking for help in the outfield, at second base and/or in the bullpen. While the top-end free agents to whom they were loosely linked earlier in free agency (e.g. Imai, Valdez) don’t seem like realistic targets, barring an about-face from ownership on the team’s stance regarding long-term commitments, there are still various avenues to pursue. Free agency offers no shortage of veteran hitters and relievers available on short-term deals, and San Francisco is reportedly among the teams most aggressively pursuing Cardinals infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan.

President of baseball operations Buster Posey presumably has several more moves up his sleeve, and while the addition of Houser doesn’t necessarily raise the team’s ceiling much, it does boost the floor of a rotation that was pretty rife with question marks beyond the veteran Webb/Ray tandem up top.

Mariners Sign Andrew Knizner

By | at

December 16th: The Mariners announced today that they have signed Knizner to a one-year deal. The CAA Sports client will make $1MM, per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com.

December 12th: The Mariners are in conversations with free agent catcher Andrew Knizner on a deal, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. If they reach agreement on a big league contract, he’d be in line to back up Cal Raleigh.

Knizner spent the second half of the 2025 season with the Giants. He’d begun the season in Triple-A with the Nationals but was released in the middle of May. He signed a minor league deal with San Francisco and jumped onto the MLB roster a few weeks later. Knizner spent the rest of the season working behind Patrick Bailey. The presence of a two-time Gold Glove winner blocked him from getting much playing time, though he had a brief run as the starting catcher when Bailey missed a week and a half with a neck strain.

The 30-year-old Knizner (31 in February) started 28 of his 32 appearances behind the dish. He stepped to the plate 88 times and hit .221/.299/.299 with one home run. Knizner has played parts of seven MLB seasons between the Cardinals, Rangers and Giants. He owns a .211/.281/.316 batting line in a little under 1000 career plate appearances. The former seventh-round pick has a much better .292/.387/.443 mark across 583 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level.

Knizner has caught more than 2200 major league innings. His early-career defensive grades weren’t great, as public metrics weren’t favorable on his pitch framing. He has rated closer to average in that regard over the past two seasons, though his blocking hasn’t been as strong. His arm strength is middling, and he has thrown out a below-average 16.4% of baserunners in the last four years.

San Francisco opted not to tender Knizner a contract for his final year of arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected him for a modest $1.3MM salary, but the Giants want to leave the door open for rookie Jesus Rodriguez to win the backup job in camp. Seattle doesn’t have a second catcher on their 40-man roster. Mitch Garver hit free agency and they traded rookie Harry Ford for lefty reliever Jose A. Ferrer last week.

Knizner has five-plus years of MLB service and cannot be sent to the minors without his consent. If he signed a big league deal, he’d enter camp as the presumed #2 catcher. The Mariners will probably continue looking for depth options via waivers or minor league free agency to push him for that spot, but it’s not a position to which they need to devote many resources. Raleigh will be in the lineup almost every day at either catcher or designated hitter. He started 119 games and logged 1072 innings behind the plate this past season. Only J.T. Realmuto and William Contreras took a heavier workload.

Giants Sign Jason Foley

By | at

2:28pm: Justice delos Santos of the San Jose Mercury News reports that the Giants are expecting Foley to be ready to go sometime midseason. It doesn’t sound like he’ll be an option for Opening Day.

2:12pm: The Giants announced Tuesday that they’ve signed right-handed reliever Jason Foley to a one-year, major league contract. The Wasserman client missed most of the 2025 season due to shoulder surgery and was non-tendered by the Tigers last month. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports that Foley is guaranteed $2MM on the deal. The Giants haven’t announced a corresponding 40-man move but will need to do so soon, as they were already at capacity prior to signing Foley.

From 2021-24, Foley was a frequently used high-leverage arm with the Tigers, even climbing to the team’s closer rank in 2024, when he paced Detroit with 28 saves. He’s pitched 199 2/3 innings in the majors and sports a 3.16 earned run average. Foley’s career 18.1% strikeout rate is well below average, but he sports a strong 6.2% walk rate and a huge 54.1% ground-ball rate in his career, which should mesh well with the left-side infield tandem of Matt Chapman and Willy Adames.

Prior to his injury, Foley sat just under 97 mph with a power sinker that he threw at a near-62% clip. The 6’4″ righty complemented his two-seamer with a slider sitting 87.5 mph and a seldom-used changeup that sat 91.1 mph. Foley was surprisingly optioned to Triple-A Toledo following a relatively shaky spring training performance. He pitched well with the Tigers’ Toledo affiliate (6 2/3 shutout innings) but showed diminished velocity (95.3 mph average sinker) before hitting the minor league injured list.

About six weeks after that injury, the Tigers called Foley up to the MLB roster and placed him on the major league 60-day IL. That granted him major league service for the remainder of the season, but Foley spent enough time in Triple-A and on the minor league injured list that he didn’t accrue a full year of service in 2025. After entering the season with 3.033 years of service, he finished it out at 3.150. As such, he’ll be controllable via arbitration for two seasons beyond the 2026 campaign.

With Foley seemingly still on the mend, this is more of a long-term play than an immediate jolt to a Giants bullpen that’s in clear need of arms. San Francisco traded Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers prior to July’s trade deadline and lost breakout right-hander Randy Rodriguez to Tommy John surgery in late September. Ryan Walker, Erik Miller, Jose Butto and JT Brubaker are the only current members of the bullpen who were both healthy in 2025 and have even one year of major league service time. (San Francisco also signed lefty Sam Hentges in free agency earlier this winter, but as with Foley, he missed 2025 due to shoulder surgery.)

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top