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Blue Jays To Sign Dylan Cease To Seven-Year Deal

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The Blue Jays are going to sign Dylan Cease, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. It will be a seven-year, $210MM deal for the Boras Corporation client. There are some deferrals, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, though the details of the deferrals haven’t been publicly reported. Though the Jays gave Vladimir Guerrero Jr. a $500MM extension, this will be the largest free agent signing in franchise history, surpassing George Springer’s six-year, $150MM deal. Cease rejected a qualifying offer from the Padres, meaning San Diego will receive a compensation pick while the Jays will have to forfeit two picks and international bonus pool space.

Cease, 30 next month, entered free agency as a test case of how much modern front offices care about earned run average. In two of the past three seasons, his ERA has jumped to the mid-4.00s, including a 4.55 mark in 2025.

However, in just about every other respect, he has been great. He has been incredibly durable. His control isn’t amazing but he has racked up strikeouts. He has kept his fastball velocity in the upper 90s, while also featuring a slider, knuckle curve and changeup.

Though Cease debuted back in 2019, he has actually never been on the major league injured list, apart from a very brief stint on the COVID list in 2021. He made 12 starts in the shortened 2020 season and has taken the ball at least 32 times in each full season since. In total, he’s made 174 starts since the start of 2020, which leads all major league pitchers. He generally doesn’t pitch deep into games, however, so he’s ninth in that span in terms of innings.

On top of the quantity, the quality has been strong. For that same 2020-25 span, he posted a 3.88 ERA. His 9.9% walk rate was a bit on the high side but he punched out 28.9% of batters faced with a 14.4% swinging strike rate.

As mentioned, his ERA has wobbled in recent years, but it has done so while other elements of his game have stayed more consistent. He actually saw his ERA drop to 2.20 in 2022. With the White Sox at that time, he finished second in American League Cy Young voting to Justin Verlander that year. His ERA then shot up to 4.58 in 2023, dropped to 3.47 in 2023 and then climbed back up to 4.55 this year.

But during those ups and downs, his strikeout and walk rates have been less volatile. His strikeout rate did drop from 30.4% in 2022 to 27.3%, but then it climbed to 29.4% and 29.8% in the two most recent campaigns. His 10.4% walk rate in 2022 decreased to 10.1% and 8.5% in the next two years, followed by a slight uptick to 9.8% in 2025.

His batting average on balls in play, which tends to be a bit more luck based, has synched up more with his ERA shifts. A standard BABIP is usually around .290 but Cease was down at .260 in that 2022 season. It then swung the other way to .330 in 2023 as Cease’s ERA climbed, then went to .263 and .320 in the two most recent seasons as his ERA dipped and climbed again.

As such, ERA estimators have considered Cease to be far more steady than his actual ERA. His FIP has been between 3.10 and 3.72 for the past four years. His SIERA was at 3.48 in 2022, jumped a bit to 4.10 in 2023, and then has been at 3.46 and 3.58 in 2024 and 2025.

As we were deliberating our Top 50 Free Agents post at MLBTR, we had many debates about whether the inconsistent ERA would hurt his earning power, perhaps leading him to accept a short-term deal with opt-outs, or if teams would overlook the ERA and sign him based on his consistency in other areas. In the end, we opted for latter, predicting a seven-year, $189MM deal. Cease has surpassed that in terms of sticker price, though it’s possible the deferrals end up putting the net present value closer to that projection.

The Blue Jays are coming off their best season in years, as they charged all the way to Game Seven of the World Series, ultimately falling to the Dodgers in extra innings. However, the season ended with plenty of rotation uncertainty. Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer became free agents. Shane Bieber had a $16MM player option he seemed likely to decline, going for a $4MM buyout instead. In the long term, Kevin Gausman is a free agent after 2026. José Berríos has an opt-out in his deal after the upcoming campaign.

In the past few weeks and months, the long-term outlook has improved considerably. Trey Yesavage came up late in the year and was immediately able to get hitters out, quickly establishing himself as a rotation building block. Bieber surprisingly decided to trigger his player option and stick with the Jays for one more year. Now Cease is in the fold for the long run.

That gives the Jays a rotation of Gausman, Cease, Yesavage, Bieber and Berríos going into 2026, with guys like Eric Lauer, Ricky Tiedemann and Bowden Francis also in the mix. Though Bieber and Gausman are slated to depart after the upcoming campaign, with Berríos potentially joining them, Cease can serve as a bridge to another era. By then, it’s possible Jake Bloss has recovered from his Tommy John surgery and is back in the mix. Prospects like Gage Stanifer and Johnny King might have climbed into the picture by then as well.

More to come.

Rockies, Parker Mushinski Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies have agreed to a minor league contract with left-handed reliever Parker Mushinski, per the transaction log at MLB.com. He’s represented by the Ballengee Group. It’s not listed on the transaction log, but Mushinski will be in camp next spring as a non-roster invitee, MLBTR has confirmed.

Mushinski, 30, has spent parts of three seasons in the majors — all of them as a member of the Astros. He’s pitched 33 big league frames and worked to a 5.45 ERA with a 17.4% strikeout rate, 8.1% walk rate and 45.2% ground-ball rate. Mushinski has done a nice job avoiding hard contact overall (average 88.4 mph exit velocity, 35.2% hard-hit rate), but much of the hard contact he’s allowed has been of the maximum-damage variety, especially against righties. He’s faced 83 right-handed opponents in the majors and served up five home runs.

Houston originally selected Mushinski out of Texas Tech in the seventh round of the 2017 draft. He spent his entire career in the Astros organization until this past season. Mushinski became a minor league free agent following the 2024 campaign and signed a minor league deal with the Guardians. The 6’0″, 225-pound southpaw spent last year in Triple-A Columbus, tossing 50 innings of 3.78 ERA ball. Mushinski fanned almost 30% of his opponents there but also walked nearly 15% of the batters he faced. In parts of five Triple-A seasons, Mushinski has a 3.71 ERA in 179 2/3 innings pitched.

Signing with the Rockies is a double-edged sword for any pitcher. On the one hand, the utter dearth of established big league arms on the staff creates plenty of opportunity, particularly for a non-roster player hoping to secure a bullpen spot. On the other hand, winning that roster spot means pitching home games at altitude and at the notoriously hitter-friendly Coors Field.

Mushinski becomes the second left-handed relief addition for Colorado in the past week. The Rox, under new president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta, acquired lefty Brennan Bernardino from the Red Sox last week. Bernardino, unlike Mushinski, is already on the 40-man roster. However, he’s the only established lefty reliever the Rockies have on the 40-man roster. Luis Peralta and Welinton Herrera are both on the 40-man, but Peralta has a 6.03 ERA in 31 MLB frames and Herrera has yet to pitch above Double-A.

Angels, Anthony Rendon Discussing Contract Buyout With Rendon Expected To Retire

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The Angels and third baseman Anthony Rendon are discussing a buyout plan with Rendon expected to retire, reports Alden González of ESPN. Rendon’s seven-year, $245MM deal still has one year and $38MM remaining.

Rendon’s deal has been a punchline for a long time now and will certainly go down as one of the biggest busts of this era, perhaps even of all time. The Angels have gotten almost no return on their massive investment. Rendon was still a very good player in the first year of the pact, but that happened to be the 202o season, which was shortened to just 60 games on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, Rendon has been largely injured. Even when he has been able to take the field, he hasn’t been terribly useful.

When the deal was signed, Rendon was coming off an excellent stretch with the Nationals. From 2013 to 2019, he slashed .290/.369/.490 for a wRC+ of 128. He dabbled at second base but mostly provided strong defense at third. He had a well-timed career year in 2019, though that year would later become infamous for its juiced balls. His 34 home runs were a career high. He slashed .319/.412/.598 for a wRC+ of 155. He hit .328/.413/.590 in the postseason, helping the Nats win their first ever World Series title.

It was then that the Rendon headed to California. As mentioned, he was still quite good in his first season as an Angel. He played in 52 of the club’s 60 games, hitting nine home runs. His 16.4% walk rate was a few ticks higher than his 13.4% strikeout rate. He hit .286/.418/.497 for a 152 wRC+. FanGraphs credited him with 2.5 wins above replacement in that truncated campaign.

But in the five seasons since, mounting injuries have prevented from doing much of anything. From 2021 to 2024, he finished each season with between 43 and 58 appearances. He had stints on the injured list due to a left groin strain, a left knee contusion, a left hamstring strain, a right hip impingement, right wrist inflammation, right wrist surgery, another left groin strain, a left wrist contusion, a left shin contusion, a left hip impingement, a left hamstring strain, low back inflammation and a left oblique strain. He hit .231/.329/.336 for an 89 wRC+ over those seasons. In February of 2025, he underwent left hip surgery and eventually missed the entire season.

A lengthy injury history may be out of a player’s control but Rendon has been followed by questions about his attitude and commitment. Back in 2014, he said he doesn’t watch baseball because it’s “too long and boring,” per Jason Butt of The Washington Post. In 2022, he got a five-game suspension for getting involved in a brawl with the Mariners, even though he was on the IL recovering from wrist surgery at the time. Early in the 2023 season, he received another suspension for an altercation with an Athletics fan, which was caught on video. Rendon grabbed the fan’s shirt, cursed at him and swiped at him. In January of 2024, on the Jack Vita Show, he said the baseball season was too long and needed to be shortened.

Shortly thereafter, as rounded up by Sam Blum of The Athletic, Rendon was asked about these concerns. “It’s never been a top priority for me,” Rendon said of baseball. “This is a job. I do this to make a living. My faith, my family come first before this job.” He seemed to take umbrage with reporters for continuing to question him on the subject. “I have answered your question,” he said. “So why do keep picking at it?”

The combination of Rendon’s contract, his injury absences and his reputation have made him a frequent target for criticism from fans. The money owed to him has also been an obvious obstacle for the Angels, who have had a decent chunk of their payroll tied up in one rarely-available player. Despite having Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Rendon on the roster for many years, the Angels haven’t been a serious contender in a long time.

If some kind of buyout arrangement can be worked out, it could work for both sides. Rendon could walk away from the game after years of injuries, including a 2025 lost to hip surgery, as opposed to trying to get back into game shape. The Angels could open up some more payroll flexibility for the 2026 season.

As it currently stands, RosterResource has them slated for a $166MM payroll, with Rendon taking up almost a quarter of that. They are looking to bolster the pitching staff and their lineup ahead of next season. Speculatively speaking, a plan could perhaps be worked out which defers Rendon’s 2026 salary so he gets paid in the long run but the Angels have more near-term ability to spend on other players. Time will tell how the chips fall on that.

Assuming Rendon doesn’t play another major league game, he will retire with 5,022 plate appearances over 1,173 games. He notched 1,218 hits, including 295 doubles, 16 triples and 158 home runs. He scored 683 runs, drove in 671 and stole 55 bases. FanGraphs credits him with 33.8 wins above replacement and Baseball Reference 34.2. MLBTR salutes him on his accomplishments and wishes him the best in his non-baseball life.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Dyer, Tommy Gilligan, Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images

Marlins, Eury Pérez Had Extension Discussions In The Spring

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The Marlins and right-hander Eury Pérez discussed an extension earlier this year, according to reporting from Will Sammon, Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of The Athletic. However, they didn’t come close to getting something done. These talks occurred when the team approached the righty’s representatives in the spring and the two sides were about $15MM apart, according to Isaac Azout of Fish on First. Both Azout and Christina De Nicola of MLB.com say that the talks are expected to continue this offseason.

It’s the second time this week that reports have emerged of the Marlins trying to extend one of their young players. Earlier this week, it was reported that they recently had some talks with outfielder Kyle Stowers. The Fish were even farther from a deal with Stowers, with a reported $50MM gap in those talks.

The situations have a few things in common but are also wildly different. Both players have between two and three years of service time, meaning each is a year from qualifying for arbitration and four years from free agency. However, they are far apart in age. Stowers is going into his age-28 season and therefore won’t be a free agent until he’s going into his age-32 campaign. Pérez is only 22 years old right now, turning 23 in April. He is therefore slated for the open market after his age-26 campaign.

That’s a reflection of his quick rise to the majors. Pérez shot through the minors and was in the big leagues by his age-20 season. Despite his youth, he was immediately successful. He tossed 91 1/3 innings that year with a 3.15 earned run average. His 8.3% walk rate was around average while he punched out a strong 28.9% of batters faced.

He missed the 2024 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Since the Marlins approached him about an extension in the spring, he was still recovering at that time and had fewer than 100 innings under his belt. He was able to get back on the mound in June and finished the year with 95 1/3 innings, a 4.25 ERA, 27.3% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate.

Pérez is still fairly inexperienced, with under 200 big league innings to his name so far. However, he was confident enough to turn down extension overtures a year ago while still on the mend. Now he’s a year closer to free agency and has returned to health.

It’s quite rare for a player to be on track to hit free agency so young. When it does happen, teams have shown a strong willingness to pay for that youth. Back in the 2018-19 offseason, both Bryce Harper and Manny Machado reached free agency ahead of their age-26 seasons, with each hitting the $300MM plateau on their free agent deals. More recently, Juan Soto hit free agency at the same age and blew those two out of the water. His $765MM deal was more than Harper and Machado combined. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was also able to get a $325MM guarantee ahead of his age-25 season, despite having no MLB experience. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. signed a $500MM extension with the Blue Jays just a few months before he was about to become a free ahead ahead of his age-27 campaign. Rafael Devers got to $313.5MM under similar circumstances to Guerrero, two years earlier.

For players in their early 20s, teams have made massive commitments to position players. Players like Fernando Tatis Jr., Julio Rodríguez and Bobby Witt Jr. all got at least $210MM guarantees in their pre-arbitration years. The same can’t be said for pitchers. Spencer Strider currently holds the record for a pre-arb pitcher with his six-year, $75MM deal. Like all players, getting closer to free agency will increase his earning power. Arms such as Clayton Kershaw, Stephen Strasburg, Garrett Crochet, José Berríos, Jacob deGrom, Luis Castillo and Homer Bailey have signed nine-figure deals in their arb years. Dozens of guys have been able to crack nine figures after reaching the open market.

If Pérez bets on himself, he could keep increasing his earning power, but that would also run the risk of him getting hurt or simply struggling to put up good numbers. Since he’s so young, perhaps there’s a nice middle ground where he can bank some early earnings while still having a good path to free agency. For example, he could sign away two years of club control and still become a free agent ahead of his age-29 season.

For the Marlins, they had an encouraging finish in 2025. They were 23-33 at the end of May but went 56-50 the rest of the way and narrowly missed the playoffs. They have almost no money on the books. Sandy Alcantara is signed through 2026 with a club option for 2027. That’s literally it for now, though they have tendered contracts to seven arb-eligible players. Even though the Marlins don’t have huge payrolls, they have lots of room for long-term deals if they want to lock up a few core players.

That will also help them with their reported desire to increase their competitive balance tax number in 2026. The idea would be to pre-emptively stave off drama when the collective bargaining agreement expires next offseason. If the Marlins spend a bit more next year, it could reduce the chances that the MLB Players Association or other owners take umbrage with how the Fish are using their revenue sharing money.

The Athletics were in a similar position last winter and ended up getting more aggressive than in previous years. They gave notable free agent deals to Luis Severino and José Leclerc and signed extensions with Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler. Extensions are quite good for bumping up the CBT since that number calculates contracts based on the average annual value of the whole deal. For instance, Alcantara’s $56MM extension over five years gave him an $11.2MM CBT hit for every season of that deal, even though he was paid far less than that in the first three years. He made $3.5MM in 2022, followed by $6MM and $9MM in the two subsequent seasons.

Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images

Orioles To Hire Mike Shildt In Player Development Role

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The Orioles are hiring former Cardinals and Padres manager Mike Shildt as their new coordinator of instruction in the upper levels of the minor league system, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. Samuel Vega, who had been the Orioles’ Latin American coordinator of instruction, will now be the organization’s coordinator of instruction in the lower levels of the system.

The 57-year-old Shildt surprisingly stepped down as Padres manager following the season, despite the fact that he had two years remaining on his contract. The decision was Shildt’s and did not come from the organization. In the wake of his decision, Shildt explained to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune that the daily grind of managing a 162-game season (plus playoff appearances) had “taken a severe toll mentally, physically and emotionally.” Subsequent reporting painted a somewhat strained relationship between Shildt and some members of the organization.

Shildt has publicly voiced a desire to remain involved in baseball — ideally in a less-demanding player development role. He’ll land just such an opportunity in Baltimore under president of baseball operations Mike Elias, with whom he overlapped during the pair’s early days as scouts (and, in Shildt’s case, a minor league coach) in the Cardinals organization.

Shildt’s ties to the Orioles organization run far deeper than that early overlap with the team’s front office leader now, however. As MLB.com’s Anne Rogers wrote back in 2020, Shildt grew up around the O’s. His mother worked for the team’s Double-A affiliate and frequently brought her son to the park. He eventually became a bat boy, scoreboard attendant and clubhouse attendant in the organization.

A 12-year-old Shildt was helping out in the Double-A clubhouse at the same time a top Orioles prospect named Cal Ripken Jr. made his way to that level, and a couple decades later Shildt was in attendance when Ripken both tied and broke the major league record for consecutive games played. Readers are highly encouraged to check out Rogers’ piece in full for a fascinating, detailed breakdown of Shildt essentially growing up in the Orioles’ system.

In many ways, the new role is a homecoming for Shildt — a return to the organization where he helped out during his formative years and a return to his player development roots. Specifics regarding his duties and his schedule aren’t yet clear, but he’ll play a notable role in helping to finish off the development of the next wave of O’s stars as they progress toward big league readiness in Triple-A (and presumably in Double-A as well).

The Best Fits For Bo Bichette

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Each offseason at MLBTR, we take a look at the potential markets for some of the top names in free agency. Steve Adams examined which clubs should be in the running for #1 free agent Kyle Tucker earlier this week.

We now move to the consensus #2 hitter in the class, Bo Bichette. The two-time All-Star is coming off a .311/.357/.483 showing with 18 homers across 628 regular season plate appearances. A sprained left knee ended his regular season and cost him the first few rounds of the playoffs. Bichette made it back for the World Series. Despite clearly being limited and having gone a month without the benefit of live at-bats, he came back to hit .348 in the Fall Classic. His towering three-run homer off Shohei Ohtani in Game 7 would have gone down as one of the biggest moments in Toronto sports history if not for the Dodgers' ninth-inning comeback.

Bichette is one of the younger free agents in the class. He'll turn 28 a few weeks before Opening Day. He's a middle infielder who has been a well above-average hitter in all but one season of his career. The lone exception (2024) was a year in which he had three stints on the injured list. He has otherwise posted an OPS above .800 in every season and owns a lifetime .294/.337/.469 slash line. He has twice led the American League in hits and would have done so again this year if not for the knee injury.

The lingering question is how long Bichette can stick at shortstop. He's a below-average runner with middling arm strength who rates as one of the weakest defensive shortstops in MLB. The glove was an issue even before the knee sprain, which could increase some teams' concerns about his lateral quickness even if it's expected to heal without surgery.

The Blue Jays used him at second base in the World Series to limit his defensive workload. Most or all 30 clubs would project him as a second baseman by the end of a long-term deal. There are some for whom he'd only fit as a second baseman already. Bichette hasn't tipped his hand publicly about whether he'd be open to a position change, but that'd create more opportunities that would drum up interest.

Bichette rejected a qualifying offer. A signing team would give up draft compensation and/or international signing bonus space to add him. That's not much of a factor for a free agent of this caliber. MLBTR predicted Bichette to command an eight-year, $208MM contract -- joining Tucker as the only players for whom we're predicting $200MM+ this winter.

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Phillies, Blue Jays Among Teams To Inquire On Ketel Marte’s Availability

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Ketel Marte’s name continues to pop up on the offseason rumor mill as teams check in with the D-backs on the star second baseman. Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen has already plainly indicated that a trade is “unlikely,” and reports out of Arizona generally suggest that the Snakes are loath to part with Marte but will at least hear interested parties out as a matter of due diligence. About one-quarter of the league had already inquired as of two weeks ago.

MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, playing up the chances of a trade in a recent on-air segment, noted that the Phillies and Blue Jays are among the teams that have contacted the D-backs about Marte. That clearly doesn’t indicate anything is close, nor does it suggest that Marte specifically is a top target for either party. Nevertheless, it’s of modest note that they’ve at least gauged Marte’s availability and perhaps put out some feelers on the potential cost of acquisition.

The Phillies are largely set in the infield, with Bryce Harper at first base, Bryson Stott at second base, Trea Turner at shortstop and Alec Bohm at third base (though Bohm is once again an offseason trade candidate himself). Marte has plenty of experience in the outfield, which is a more prominent area of need for the Phils, but he graded poorly as a center fielder over 1292 innings there earlier in his career (-11 Defensive Runs Saved, -7 Outs Above Average).

It’s a stretch to think that Marte, whose average sprint speed has fallen to the 29th percentile of big leaguers, could handle a move back to center field ahead of his age-32 season. The Phils have little set in place in the outfield aside from Brandon Marsh, though, so perhaps they’d consider plugging Marte into left field. Right fielder Nick Castellanos is widely expected to be traded or released this winter.

The focus in adding Marte wouldn’t be on his glove anyhow, but rather on his bat. The switch-hitting, multi-time All-Star is perennially excellent at the dish, evidenced by a .279/.360/.498 batting line (133 wRC+) dating back to 2021. Marte has been particularly dominant in the batter’s box over the past two seasons, slashing a combined .288/.374/.549 with 64 home runs in 1139 plate appearances.

The fit with the Jays is even more interesting, due to their expected run at retaining franchise icon Bo Bichette. Toronto already moved Andres Gimenez to Bichette’s shortstop position during the playoffs, when Bichette was originally sidelined with a sprained PCL. Even when Bichette returned in the World Series, he did so as a second baseman. Gimenez is a vastly superior shortstop defender, so if the Jays do plan to re-sign Bichette, they could well do so with a permanent switch to second base in mind.

Marte is four years older than Bichette, but he’d also be markedly more affordable. He’s signed through 2031 for a total of $102.5MM, though the final season on his contract is an $11.5MM player option. Marte would be 37 for that 2031 season.

It bears emphasizing that the Jays doing a bit of groundwork on a potential second base alternative — one who may not even be truly “available” in trade talks, save for an overwhelming offer — in no way suggests a shift in priorities. Toronto brass has voiced a desire to keep Bichette, and the resources to do so would’ve been present even without a deep World Series run further filling the team’s coffers.

If the D-backs were to move Marte, the goal would surely be to acquire controllable, MLB-ready young pitching to plug into the rotation. That’s not exactly a core area of strength for either Philadelphia or Toronto.

The Phils, of course, have top prospect Andrew Painter on the cusp of MLB readiness, but they’ve been staunchly against trading him in any deal over the past few seasons, even while he was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. Righty Moises Chace, another touted righty in the system, underwent Tommy John surgery last June. Mick Abel was traded to the Twins in July’s Jhoan Duran deal.

In Toronto, there’s even less high-end pitching near the majors. Trey Yesavage obviously isn’t going anywhere. Ricky Tiedemann missed all of 2025 recovering from Tommy John surgery. Like the Phils, the Jays traded one of their next-best young arms, Kendry Rojas, to Minnesota as part of a win-now push at the deadline (netting Louis Varland). Another, Khal Stephen, went to the Guardians in the Shane Bieber trade.

There’s at least some modest intrigue in the fact that a pair of World Series hopefuls of this magnitude has looked into Marte, but to this point there’s little in the way of smoke suggesting a trade is actually plausible. Even if the D-backs become more serious about trading Marte, the Phillies and Jays would face steep competition in bidding to acquire him — presumably from contending clubs with more controllable pitching to spare. For now, it’s worth revisiting what Hazen said when prompted on Marte earlier in the month, telling the Burns & Gambo Show on 98.7 FM:

“It’s what happens. Everyone checks in on your better players. They’re coming after your better players. … [Marte is] one of our best players. We have some of the top position players in all of baseball on our roster and we need those players to be good next year.”

Hazen doubled down when asked on 98.7’s Wolf & Luke Show:

“Ketel is one of, if not our best player. He’s a superstar in this league. You win with superstars in this league. Yes, I do know it’s a team game and putting a team together to win baseball games is also equally important. That’s on us to figure out what the right mix of players is.”

KBO’s Kia Tigers Re-Sign James Naile

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The Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization announced this week that they’ve re-signed righty James Naile to a one-year deal. The Sports One client will be guaranteed $1.8MM with an additional $200K available via incentives.

It’s one of the more lucrative one-year deals we’ve seen for a foreign player re-upping in the KBO, though it’s not hard to see why. The 32-year-old Naile (33 in February) has spent the past two seasons pitching for Kia in the KBO, working to a combined 2.38 ERA across 53 starts — a total of 313 2/3 innings. He’s fanned 22.2% of his opponents and only yielded a walk to 5.8% of the batters he’s faced — all with a ground-ball rate around 56%. Despite the hitter-friendly nature of the KBO, he’s surrendered only 17 home runs in his 313 2/3 frames (0.49 HR/9). Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency points out that Naile is the only qualified starter in the KBO with a sub-3.00 ERA across the past two seasons.

A former 20th-round pick by the Athletics, Naile appeared in parts of two major league seasons — both with the Cardinals. From 2022-23, he pitched a tiny sample of 24 1/3 MLB innings, during which he was tagged for 20 runs (7.40 ERA) on 35 hits and 11 walks with 12 punchouts. Though Naile never got much of a look in the majors, he’s a veteran of six Triple-A seasons. He pitched to a 4.15 ERA across 357 2/3 innings in that time and logged a 17.6% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate in that time.

Naile is now up to $3.95MM in guaranteed earnings since signing overseas. He’s cleared $4MM when you factor in incentives on his prior contracts and could end up around $4.5MM in total over his first three seasons in the KBO with another strong performance in 2026. Readers curious about the lifestyle of an American player overseas may be interested in Naile’s 2024 vlog about his experience in Gwangju, where he and then-teammate Cam Alldred (a former Pirates farmhand who very briefly saw the majors in Pittsburgh) took some fans through their daily routine.

There’s certainly a chance that Naile could eventually look to return to North American ball, but he’ll be entering his age-34 campaign next offseason and has never been an especially hard thrower, sitting 91.7 mph with his sinker in his brief MLB looks. Both traits could give MLB clubs some pause. Regardless of whether Naile pursues a big league return, he ought to have plenty of opportunity to continue being paid handsomely to pitch in the top leagues in Asia for the next few seasons.

Tommy Pham Aiming To Play Several More Years

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Free agent outfielder Tommy Pham struggled early in 2025 with the Pirates before a torrid stretch over the season’s final few months. He’ll turn 38 next March, but Pham is fully intent on playing in 2026 and appears to be eyeing multiple more seasons in his big league career. The well-traveled outfielder tells Katie Woo, Will Sammon and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that he hopes to cross both the 200-homer and 200-steal threshold before retiring. He’s currently 51 homers and 69 steals away from reaching those lofty goals.

Notably, Pham tells The Athletic that he has played through plantar fasciitis dating back to late in the 2023 season. That, Pham contends, has hindered him on the basepaths. He’s swiped just 12 bags total over the past two seasons but stole 22 times in 2023. He’s gone through stem cell treatment to address his plantar fasciitis and now feels confident he can get back to being more of a threat on the bases.

Overall, Pham’s 2025 season in Pittsburgh was pedestrian. He finished out the year with a tepid .245/.330/.370 batting line — about six percent worse than league-average offense, by measure of wRC+. Defensive Runs Saved pegged him as a strong left fielder (+5), while Statcast’s Outs Above Average was more bearish and had him slightly worse than average (-2) in 925 innings.

It bears mentioning, however, that Pham’s modest batting line includes a middling stretch of two-plus months to begin the year. Over the final three months of the 2025 campaign, Pham came to the plate 273 times and turned in a hefty .278/.363/.468 slash (128 wRC+) with 10 home runs, 13 doubles, a triple, an 11.7% walk rate and just a 17% strikeout rate. He averaged 92.7 mph off the bat and turned in a huge 51.8% hard-hit rate in that time. Any team would love to have that type of output in its outfield mix.

If Pham can continue anywhere close to that pace, he’ll have a chance to get to the 200-homer threshold with another three seasons in the majors. Reaching 200 steals feels like a loftier goal, but Pham quipped that he’s “seeing all these guys that can’t run like me steal 30 and 40 bases now” and feels that with better health in his feet he can get back to running at higher levels. Both Josh Naylor and Juan Soto topped 30 steals in 2025 despite ranking in the second and 13th percentile of average sprint speed among big leaguers, per Statcast. Pham was in the 45th percentile even with his plantar fasciitis issues; back in 2023, he sat in the 61st percentile.

Working in Pham’s favor is that it’s a thin market for teams seeking outfield help in free agency this winter — particularly from the right side of the plate. Harrison Bader, Miguel Andujar and Austin Hays are all coming off productive seasons. There are a couple of notable rebound candidates in Lane Thomas and Adolis Garcia, the latter of whom was non-tendered by the Rangers last week. But most of the market’s top outfield options this offseason swing from the left side of the dish, and even in that regard, the supply of established veterans coming off healthy, productive seasons is limited. Clubs like the Guardians, Twins, Reds, Brewers, Marlins, A’s and Rockies all have fairly left-handed outfield groups and could look to balance things out with a righty, speculatively speaking.

There’s also one oddball record at least loosely in play for Pham, who in 2025 suited up for the tenth team of his major league career. He’s still four teams shy of the record 14 that’s jointly held by Rich Hill and Edwin Jackson, but Pham has added five teams to his list in the past three seasons alone. That’s probably not a consideration for the veteran corner bat, but those 200 milestones clearly are. “I don’t have an All-Star appearance or anything like that,” Pham tells The Athletic. “But getting to that number, I could look back at my career, and me, personally, I can be proud of myself.”

MLBTR Podcast: Some “Classic Baseball Trades,” Nimmo For Semien, And Ward For Rodriguez

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

  • Offseason Preview Megapod: Top 50 Free Agents – listen here
  • Surprising Option Decisions, Qualifying Offers, And Paul DePodesta – listen here
  • Offseason Preview Megapod: Top Trade Candidates – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

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