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Nationals, Cionel Perez Agree To Minor-League Deal

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The Nationals have agreed to a minor-league deal with left-hander Cionel Perez, according to Francys Romero of Beisbol FR. Perez earns an invite to major-league Spring Training. He will earn $1.9MM if he makes the roster, with $700k in incentives, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Perez is represented by Octagon.

Perez is an eight-year big-league veteran. After stints with the Astros and Reds from 2018-21, he was claimed off waivers by the Orioles in November 2021 and subsequently earned a larger role. His first season in Baltimore was his best. Perez posted a shiny 1.40 ERA in 57 2/3 innings across 66 appearances in 2022. His expected stats weren’t quite as high on him, though his 3.63 xERA and 2.80 FIP still painted the picture of an above-average reliever. Perez excelled that year by keeping the ball in the park and getting plenty of groundballs. His 51.3% groundball rate was tied for 33rd among 152 qualified relievers that year. His 0.31 HR/9 rate was 11th-best.

Perez’s 2023-24 numbers were more serviceable than great. His strikeout and walk numbers both trended in the wrong direction from 2022, leaving him with a 7.2% K-BB rate. He still excelled at inducing grounders, with a 58.3% groundball rate across those two seasons (including a career-best 60.7% in 2023). Altogether, he posted a 4.04 ERA in 107 innings from 2023-24.

Batters teed off on Perez in 2025. In 19 appearances in the season’s first two months, he posted an ERA of 8.31 with an elevated 16.4% walk rate, his highest since 2021 with the Reds. More surprisingly, after allowing just four home runs in total from 2022-24, Perez allowed three in only 21 2/3 innings in 2025. A .379 BABIP and 3.93 xERA suggest he was the victim of bad luck, but his 5.77 FIP implied he was doing poorly even independent of his defense. By the end of May, the Orioles had seen enough. Perez was designated off the 40-man roster and spent the rest of the year at Triple-A, pitching to a 6.85 ERA in 22 1/3 innings.

More to come.

Orioles Acquire Jackson Kowar

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The Orioles have acquired right-hander Jackson Kowar from the Twins in exchange for cash considerations, according to Roch Kubatko of MASN. The team placed fellow right-hander Colin Selby on the 60-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation in a corresponding move.

Kowar was designated for assignment by the Twins on Thursday. Prior to that, he had only recently been claimed off waivers from the Mariners. Kowar spent most of 2025 shuttling back and forth from Triple-A, though he did make 15 appearances (17 innings) at the big-league level. He had a 4.24 ERA in that sample, along with a 21.1% strikeout rate and a 9.9% walk rate. Kowar’s expected stats were more pessimistic, with his 5.15 xERA and 5.84 FIP suggesting he benefited from good luck.

Since his debut in 2021, Kowar has thrown 91 innings over 54 appearances (eight starts) between the Royals and Mariners. Unfortunately, he owns an unsightly 8.21 ERA in that time, with his expected numbers putting him in the upper-5.00’s. His 20.3% strikeout rate is serviceable, but the righty has struggled with control to the tune of a 13.1% career walk rate. He also struggles to keep the ball in the yard, having allowed 19 home runs throughout his career (1.88 HR/9). Injuries certainly haven’t helped his performance. In March 2024, he suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament and underwent Tommy John surgery while with the Mariners. Though he returned in May 2025, he missed the last month and a half of the season with a right shoulder impingement.

Kowar makes for an interesting low-cost flier for the Orioles’ bullpen mix. Statcast graded his fastball velocity in the 90th percentile and valued the pitch at two runs above average in 2025. Unsurprisingly, Kowar leaned on the pitch 57.7% of the time. The key for him will be improving his location and avoiding hard contact, as hitters slugged .476 against the pitch in 2025. His mid-80s slider was his second most-used pitch could be a plus pitch going forward. While it had a -1 run value this year, Kowar struck out 39.1% of hitters on that pitch. He has less than three years of service time and is out of options, so the club would need to pass him through waivers if he doesn’t make the roster.

Recent reports indicated that Selby was dealing with shoulder inflammation. He’ll now open the season on the injured list, though the timing of the placement makes it possible for him to return in mid-April. Selby was acquired from the Royals in a July 2024 cash trade. He has thrown 18 big-league innings for Baltimore since then, 14 of them coming in 2025. In that small sample, he impressed with a 3.21 ERA and a microscopic 3.3% walk rate (which was admittedly an outlier from his career numbers). Selby’s sinker, slider, and knuckle curve all graded slightly above average in terms of run value. He has less than a year of service time and is also out of options, so he’ll need to perform well upon his return or else risk being placed on outright waivers.

Photo courtesy of Dennis Lee, Imagn Images

Padres, Germán Márquez Agree To One-Year Contract

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The Padres and right-hander Germán Márquez are in agreement on a one-year deal, according to Alden González of ESPN. The precise guarantee is not yet known, although there is a mutual option for 2027, per Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. The team has a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to open space for the L.A. Sports Management client.

The team was known to be looking for low-cost rotation pieces and a complementary bat, per comments from president of baseball operations A.J. Preller a few days ago. They achieved the latter by bringing in Nick Castellanos on a one-year deal upon his release from the Phillies. Now, they’ve addressed the rotation side through one-year-deals for Márquez and fellow right-hander Griffin Canning. Canning is coming off an Achilles injury and projects as a back-end starter once he is healthy enough to return. Márquez figures to serve as back-of-the-rotation depth as well.

The 30-year-old (31 later this month) is coming off a ten-year major-league run with the Rockies. After a brief debut in 2016, he settled in as one of the team’s most reliable starters from 2017-21. In that span, he totaled 793 2/3 innings over 135 starts and posted a 4.25 ERA, a 24.0% strikeout rate, and a 6.9% walk rate. Márquez excelled through a combination of control and strong groundball tendencies. He was worth 15.5 fWAR in those five years and continually posted groundball rates in the mid-40s and low-50s, including a career-high 51.6% in 180 innings in 2021.

His performance began to wane from 2022 onward. He still made 31 starts in 2022, but his strikeout rate fell below 20% for the first time since his 20 2/3-inning sample in 2016. His run prevention slipped as well, with Márquez posting a below-average 4.95 ERA and elevated peripheral stats. He then underwent Tommy John surgery in May 2023, costing him the rest of that year and the first few months of 2024. His return in July 2024 only lasted one start, and he spent the rest of the season on the injured list with elbow inflammation, although his UCL was reportedly fine.

In 2025, Márquez pitched 126 1/3 innings over 26 starts but was clearly working with diminished stuff. His four-seamer was down to 94.8 MPH after averaging 95.6 MPH in his most recent healthy season in 2022. His sinker, which used over 20% of the time, also slipped from 95.1 MPH to 94.3 MPH. Statcast graded his fastballs in just the first percentile by run value, while his knuckle curve, formerly his best pitch, also earned career-worst grades. The strikeouts dried up even further, with Márquez’s 14.0% strikeout rate ranking third-worst among starters with at least 100 innings. The Rockies decided to move on as Márquez reached free agency.

Perhaps a change of scenery will help Márquez recover some of his strikeout and groundball tendencies as he moves further from injury. He’ll get that chance with the Padres, who now have a decent amount of rotation depth. The team saw Dylan Cease depart for the Blue Jays but re-signed Michael King on a three-year deal in December. Yu Darvish will miss 2026 while recovering from an internal brace procedure, and he is reportedly contemplating retirement. Joe Musgrove is returning from Tommy John surgery and will be guaranteed a spot if healthy. That leaves King, Nick Pivetta, and Musgrove in the top three spots, with some combination of Márquez, Canning (when healthy), Randy Vásquez, and JP Sears taking the last two spots.

Each of King, Musgrove, Márquez and Canning comes with injury risk, though the Padres always seemed likelier to stockpile depth than bring a big-name starter at this stage in the offseason. Zac Gallen was the last impact starter in free agency before re-signing with the Diamondbacks. Either way, his $18.7MM luxury tax number might have been too much given the team’s reported payroll constraints. Low-cost signings like Canning and Márquez seem easier to accommodate, barring a potential buyout agreement for Darvish.

Financial terms have not been disclosed yet for Canning or Márquez. RosterResource has the team at a $264.7MM luxury tax payroll for 2026, putting them in the second tier of penalization. The Padres paid the luxury tax in 2025 and would count as second-time payors in 2026. Thus, any money guaranteed to Canning and Márquez would come with an additional 30% surcharge.

Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images

Latest On Zack Thompson

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A torn lat muscle last March ended up costing Zack Thompson the entirety of his 2025 season, though the Cardinals left-hander was also dealing with another injury.  According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thompson had an arthroscopic surgery on his throwing shoulder in August, described as “a cleanup procedure.”  The recovery from this surgery has delayed Thompson’s mound work at the start of Spring Training, though he is playing catch and planning to ramp up his throwing.

It seems like this means Thompson will begin the 2026 season on the injured list, though the fact that he hasn’t already been put on the 60-day IL is perhaps a good sign.  A 60-day IL placement prior to Opening Day automatically rules Thompson out of action until at least late May, so the Cardinals might feel optimistic that Thompson will be ready to go at some point within the season’s first two months.

The shoulder surgery adds to this extended setback to Thompson’s career.  Now entering his age-28 season, the southpaw has appeared in parts of three MLB seasons since St. Louis selected him with the 19th overall pick of the 2019 draft.  After not playing anywhere in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season, Thompson has played only with Triple-A Memphis and in the majors, without much success at either level.

Thompson has a 4.50 ERA over 118 innings in the Show, along with a 23.5% strikeout rate and a 9.3% walk rate.  It seemed like he was making headway in his first two MLB seasons, but then struggled to a 9.53 ERA across 17 frames in 2024.  In Memphis, Thompson has a 5.92 ERA, 23.94K%, and an even higher 13.9% walk rate.  The lefty has worked mostly as a starter at Triple-A, but he has started only 12 of his 52 big league games.

Getting healthy is the first priority for Thompson, but once is ready to resume his career, it remains to be seen if the Cardinals will continue to utilize him as a starter or if he might be entirely slotted into relief work.  Given how the Cards are in a rebuild phase, there’s not much risk for St. Louis in giving him more looks in the rotation, to see if Thompson can still be a late bloomer who factors into the longer-term plan.  Thompson has one remaining minor league option, as since he spent all of 2025 on the big league injured list, he was never sent to the minors (and thus didn’t qualify for minor league free agency).

Dodgers, Max Muncy Agree To Extension

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TODAY: Muncy’s extension includes escalators based on plate appearances, as outlined by FanSided’s Robert Murray.  He can earn up to $2.25MM in bonus money in 2026, as once he makes his 401st trip to the plate this season, Muncy will earn $15K for every PA up to his 550th plate appearance.  His $7MM salary for 2027 can be boosted by an additional $3.75MM, since Muncy will earn $20K for each of his 401st through 500th plate appearance of the 2026 season, and $35K for each PA from 501-550.  This same $3.75MM bonus structure also applies to the 2028 club option, based on his plate appearances in 2027.

FEBRUARY 12: The Dodgers announced Thursday that they’ve agreed to a one-year contract extension with third baseman Max Muncy. He’s now guaranteed an additional $10MM in the form of a $7MM salary in 2027 and a $3MM buyout on a $10MM club option for the 2028 campaign. Muncy is repped by Hub Sports Management.

As can be seen in a quick look at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, this is the fourth extension of the past six years between the two parties. Muncy signed a three-year. $26MM contract covering his arbitration years back in 2020 and gave up control over his first free-agent season via a club option in that process. In Aug. 2022, he agreed to a new deal that saw his 2023 club option picked up in advance, with the Dodgers tacking on another year of control via a club option for the 2024 season. Following the 2023 campaign, the Dodgers renegotiated a two-year, $24MM deal with a $10MM club option for the 2026 season, which the club exercised back in November.

The new deal now covers Muncy’s age-36 season (2027) and gives the Dodgers a net $7MM decision on his age-37 campaign. With this contract, he’s effectively locked into spending an entire decade with L.A., as he made his Dodgers debut in 2018 after being cut loose by the A’s and signing a minor league deal.

Muncy will go down as one of the best minor league pickups in recent memory. He immediately broke out in Los Angeles, slashing .263/.391/.582 with 35 home runs in his debut Dodger campaign. He’s been a well above-average offensive performer in each of his eight seasons with L.A. so far, save for the 2020 campaign when his .192/.331/.398 slash checked in a bit shy of average overall (98 wRC+).

Injuries have hobbled Muncy in recent seasons, but he’s remained a threat in the batter’s box whenever healthy. He was limited to 100 games last season thanks to a bone bruise in his knee and an oblique strain, but Muncy still delivered a .243/.376/.470 slash with 19 home runs and a massive (career-high) 16.5% walk rate in the 388 plate appearances he was able to take. He’s averaged just 111 games per season over the past four years and regularly hits for a low average, but his impeccable patience and well above-average power continue to make him a productive player.

Muncy will reach 10 years of major league service on the 145th day of the 2026 season. At that point, he’ll gain 10-and-5 rights (10 years of service, the past five with the same team), granting him full veto rights over any potential trade scenario. Today’s extension all but locks him into third base at Dodger Stadium for the next two seasons. Muncy hasn’t been an option at second base in years now, and across the infield Freddie Freeman is signed through the 2027 season. Shohei Ohtani, of course, will continue to take the team’s at-bats at designated hitter.

Muncy’s glovework has always drawn mixed reviews, and that’s been no different in recent seasons. Defensive Runs Saved has pegged him as an above-average third baseman in each of the past two seasons, while Statcast felt he was average in 2024 and a fair bit below average in 2025. The Dodgers, clearly, are comfortable with any defensive concessions they’ll need to make to keep Muncy’s perpetually excellent on-base percentage and plus power in the lineup — at least against right-handed pitching.

While Muncy crushed fellow lefties early in his career, his numbers in left-on-left matchups have gone south recently. He still held his own against southpaws in 2024 but was well below average in 2023 and again in 2025, when he hit just .157/.250/.314 in 80 plate appearances. Platoon options at third base for the Dodgers include veteran Miguel Rojas and switch-hitting top infield prospect Alex Freeland.

Marlins Win Arbitration Hearing Against Calvin Faucher

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The Marlins have won their arbitration hearing with right-hander Calvin Faucher, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports.  The panel ruled that Faucher will receive an $1.8MM salary in 2026, rather than the $2.05MM salary he was seeking.

Faucher finished the 2025 season with two years and 156 days of Major League service time, thus qualifying for an extra year of arbitration eligibility as a Super Two player.  While Faucher and his reps at ACES are undoubtedly disappointed that the arbiters didn’t rule in their favor, the $1.8MM figure will now serve as the base for what the righty hopes will be steadily escalating salaries over his three remaining arb years.

Arbitration panels tend to look more at traditional counting stats than advanced metrics, so Faucher’s camp surely highlighted the righty’s 15 saves in 20 opportunities in 2025, as Faucher was the Marlins’ top choice at closer.  Faucher posted a 3.28 ERA, 23.1% strikeout rate, and 9.4% walk rate over 60 1/3 innings.  While the K% wasn’t anything special and the walk rate was below average, Faucher did a tremendous job of inducing soft contact, which helped him generate outs with his 45.8% grounder rate.

While Faucher pitched well, the Marlins still made a point of upgrading their pen by bringing in Pete Fairbanks on a one-year, $13MM contract.  Fairbanks figures to get the bulk of save opportunities, so a move back to a set-up role will hamper Faucher from an arbitration standpoint, as holds aren’t held in as high regard as saves.  With two solid seasons under his belt since arriving in Miami, Faucher has now established himself as a quality Major League reliever, and will again be a key piece of the Marlins’ relief corps.

Faucher’s case was the last arbitration hearing of the 2025-26 offseason.  Of the 18 players who didn’t have an agreement worked out by the January 8 figure-filing deadline, seven avoided a hearing by agreeing to a contract with their team, and the other 11 took their cases to the arb panel.  It was a successful year for the players, as they went 8-3 against teams in arbitration decisions.

Reds, Nathaniel Lowe Agree To Minor League Deal

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TODAY: The Reds officially announced Lowe’s contract.  Sheldon reports that Lowe will earn $1.75MM if he makes Cincinnati’s active roster, with another $250K available in contract incentives.

FEBRUARY 13: The Reds and first baseman Nathaniel Lowe are in agreement on a minor league deal, per Mark Feinsand and Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. The SportsMeter client will be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee.

A year ago, the notion of Lowe settling for a non-roster deal would’ve seemed far-fetched. From 2021-24, the now-30-year-old Lowe was the Rangers’ everyday first baseman — and a good one, at that. He slashed a combined .274/.359/.432 (124 wRC+) with 78 home runs, 104 doubles, 10 triples, 13 steals, a strong 11.3% walk rate and a 23.3% strikeout rate that was only a bit north of average. Defensive metrics were bearish on his glove early in his MLB run, but he posted quality marks in both Defensive Runs Saved (4) and Outs Above Average (10) in 2023-24.

As the Rangers began the process of paring down their payroll, they traded Lowe and his $10.3MM salary to the Nationals for left-hander Robert Garcia. The change of scenery didn’t work out whatsoever for Lowe. He appeared in 119 games and tallied 490 plate appearances with a .216/.292/.373 batting line (86 wRC+) before being designated for assignment and released in August. Lowe’s walk rate in D.C. dipped to 9.6%, and his strikeout rate climbed to 26.5%. He was also a bit more prone to pop-ups and hit fewer line drives than he had during his Texas stint.

The Red Sox, needing help at first base, quickly scooped Lowe up and got better production out of the veteran’s left-handed bat. In a smaller sample of 119 plate appearances with Boston, Lowe turned in a .280/.370/.420 slash that pretty closely resembled the production from his time in Arlington. His production was buoyed by a .361 average on balls in play that he’s highly unlikely to sustain, but Lowe was also dogged by a .267 BABIP with the Nationals — a whopping 72 points south of the .339 mark he carried into the season.

With the Reds, Lowe will have a chance to win a prominent role in the lineup. Top prospect Sal Stewart is the presumptive front-runner at first base, but he has all of 18 big league games under his belt. The 2022 No. 32 overall pick belted five homers in that time and had a big year in Triple-A as well (.309/.383/.524, 152 wRC+) but some veteran competition for him won’t hurt. Also in the mix at first base are Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Spencer Steer. The former hasn’t hit in the majors since 2023 and has minor league options remaining, while the latter can play all over the diamond.

There could be occasional DH at-bats available, although the returning Eugenio Suárez will likely take the bulk of those reps in 2026. Suárez could also see time at the hot corner if the oft-injured Ke’Bryan Hayes hits the injured list, which would open up additional avenues to get both Stewart and Lowe into the lineup — assuming Lowe performs well enough to make the roster, of course.

Braves Like Current Rotation, Open To Adding “Playoff Starter”

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Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said in November that starting pitching was one of the areas “we’re going to focus on” this winter, and such hurlers as Freddy Peralta, Zac Gallen, Chris Bassitt, and Lucas Giolito were linked to the team over the last few months.  Apart from a few veterans on minor league deals (i.e. Martin Perez, Carlos Carrasco), however, Atlanta has yet to bolster its rotation in any meaningful way, and the internal mix took a hit since Spencer Schwellenbach will begin the year on the 60-day injured list due to elbow inflammation.

Speaking with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Chad Bishop and other reporters yesterday, Anthopoulos said his club continues to search “for a playoff starter,” as in a pitcher who can be comfortably penciled into a postseason rotation right now.  “You can always make room for a front-line starter, right?  That’s the one commodity or the one asset in this game that is not blocked.  If you have five guys and you have someone that’s gonna slot in the top three, you make room for those guys.  That was always the goal for us,” Anthopoulos said.

Since the Braves have yet to find anyone who presents a clear-cut upgrade over their current starters, the team has stood pat, since Anthopoulos feels comfortable with at least his rotation’s top four starters.  Anthopoulos named Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo Lopez, and Grant Holmes as “four guys [who] are set in our rotation,” and with Schwellenbach sidelined, the team will have various internal candidates like Perez, Carrasco, Hurston Waldrep, Bryce Elder, or Didier Fuentes all competing for the fifth starter’s role.

The situation is still fluid if Anthopoulos can find an acceptable trade for a pitcher who raises the rotation’s ceiling, but there’s enough depth on hand that the PBO isn’t too interested in adding another depth starter to just raise the floor.  This is in part because Anthopoulos is loyal to his current starters and excited to see what they can bring to the table following an injury-marred season for most of the team.  The health uncertainty that centered around Lopez and Holmes in particular has dissipated to some extent, Anthopoulos said, so the rotation needs that seemed like a must in November are less critical now that Spring Training is underway.

“We’re so much more removed now [from November],” Anthopoulos said.  “We’re sitting here in the middle of February with those guys specifically, and we just know more about Holmes and Lopez, who we were checking on all offseason.”

Shoulder surgery limited Lopez to just one start in 2025.  Holmes pitched well over 115 innings (starting 21 of 22 games) last season, but his year was ended in late July by a partial UCL tear, and Holmes is attempting to pitch through the injury without a Tommy John or internal brace surgery.  Since Sale and Strider also have notable injury histories, adding even a depth arm would still seem like a worthwhile endeavor for the Braves, especially since acquiring a front-of-the-rotation arm is always difficult.

Anthopoulos is known for swinging surprise trades out of the blue, so we can’t close the door on the Braves’ chances of finding a prominent arm.  That said, it’s particularly tricky at this stage of the offseason to think of pitchers who might both be realistically available in trade talks, and who might be the kind of postseason-caliber starters Anthopoulos is seeking.  It is also fair to think that Anthopoulos is engaging in some gamesmanship by downplaying his team’s need for a back-end rotation type, if he is in discussions with rival clubs about such types of pitchers.

Of the aforementioned names on Atlanta’s target list, Giolito is still available, but Gallen has re-signed with the Diamondbacks, Bassitt signed with the Orioles, and the Brewers traded Peralta to the Mets.  Gallen and Bassitt just joined their new teams within the last few days, and it isn’t known if the Braves were still pursuing either of those pitchers right down to the wire.

Twins Sign Andrew Chafin To Minor League Contract

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11:55AM: Chafin will earn $2MM if he makes the Twins’ active roster, according to SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson.  Chafin’s contract also has another $1.25MM available in bonus money.

7:05AM: The Twins signed left-hander Andrew Chafin to a minor league deal, according to multiple team beat writers.  Chafin’s contract includes an invitation to attend Minnesota’s big league Spring Training camp.

As Chafin prepares for his 13th Major League season, the Twins will become the ninth team the southpaw has pitched for at the MLB level if Chafin can win a spot on the active roster.  The 35-year-old added two more clubs to his list by appearing for the Nationals and Angels in 2025, posting a 2.41 ERA and a solid 25.2% strikeout rate over 33 2/3 innings, but also with a 13.3% walk rate.

Between the inflated walk rate and an 81.9% strand rate, Chafin’s SIERA was 4.11 — far higher than his real-world ERA.  Most of his other underlying metrics were quite good, though Chafin’s biggest issue last season was staying healthy.  He had a pair of stints on the injured list due to a right hamstring strain and then left triceps inflammation, resulting in a little over five weeks’ worth of missed time.

This is the second straight winter that Chafin has had to settle for a minor league deal, as he also inked a non-guaranteed contract with the Tigers last February.  He opted out of that deal at the end of April and quickly landed a MLB contract with Washington, then pitched in 26 games for the Nats before the Angels acquired Chafin at the trade deadline.

Chafin’s lack of control continues to be a concern and his strikeout rate dropped from 28.5% in 2024, though his other numbers suggest he still has something left in the tank even at this later stage in his career.  Chafin is the latest relief addition for a Twins team that has brought Taylor Rogers, Anthony Banda, and Eric Orze into the fold, not to mention a long list of NRIs with experience on big league pitching staffs.  Rogers, Banda, and Kody Funderburk are all left-handers, so Chafin provides some more depth in that area as well.

Diamondbacks Sign Joe Ross, Oscar Mercado To Minor League Deals

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The Diamondbacks signed right-hander Joe Ross and outfielder Oscar Mercado to minor league contracts that contain invitations to Arizona’s big league spring camp.  The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal was the first to report Ross’ deal, while MLB Trade Rumors’ Steve Adams had the Mercado signing.  Ross is a Wasserman client, and Mercado is represented by Excel Sports Management.

Ross signed a one-year, $4MM guarantee with the Phillies last offseason, in the aftermath of a 2024 campaign that saw Ross post some strong numbers (1.67 ERA over 27 innings) once he was moved from the Brewers’ rotation into a bullpen role.  After a Tommy John surgery prevented Ross from any big league action over the 2022-23 seasons, his 2024 numbers were a nice rebound, and a sign that relief pitching could potentially be the way forward in his career.

Unfortunately, things didn’t really work out for Ross in Philadelphia.  He posted a 5.12 ERA, 17.1% strikeout rate, and 7.9% walk rate over 51 innings (starting one of 37 appearances) for the Phils, and was tagged for eight home runs while allowing a lot of hard contact.  Philadelphia released Ross near the end of August and he caught on with the Cubs on a minors deal, but didn’t receive any looks on Chicago’s active roster, even when rosters expanded in September.

Mercado last played in the majors in 2023, when he appeared in 20 games with the Cardinals.  The outfielder had a strong rookie year with Cleveland in 2019, but has since batted .206/.262/.334 over 491 plate appearances since the start of the 2020 season.  St. Louis outrighted Mercado in July 5 and he elected free agency, and he has since bounced around to the Dodgers, Tigers, and two stints apiece with the Padres and Phillies without getting any more time in the Show.

The D’Backs have a ton of pitchers in camp on non-roster deals, so Ross faces an uphill battle in winning a spot on Arizona’s Opening Day roster.  Though he worked almost exclusively in a relief role last year, Ross could be utilized again as a swingman, which might help his chances finding a niche with the Snakes.

Corbin Carroll will start the season on the injured list while recovering from hamate surgery, leaving the D’Backs thinner than expected in the outfield for at least the early stages of the 2026 campaign.  If other outfielders or multi-positional types (i.e. Tim Tawa, Ildemaro Vargas) on the depth chart have now been bumped up a slot with Carroll absent, Mercado’s signing adds more depth on at least the Triple-A level.  Mercado is best suited as a corner outfielder but he does have some experience in center field, so there could be some opportunity for Mercado to backup job if he has a big camp performance.

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