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NPB’s Hiroshima Carp Sign Freddy Tarnok, Re-Sign Elehuris Montero

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The Hiroshima Carp have signed right-hander Freddy Tarnok and re-signed infielder Elehuris Montero to contracts for the 2026 season, the team announced.  The terms of Tarnok’s deal aren’t known, but Montero will receive $1.25MM (broken down as a $750K salary and $500K signing bonus) plus incentives.

Tarnok has appeared in 11 games over parts of three Major League seasons, with five of those games coming with the Marlins in 2025.  Signed to a minor league deal last offseason, Tarnok had his contract selected to the 40-man and active rosters in June, and he posted a 2.45 ERA over 7 1/3 innings amidst several options back and forth from Triple-A and the majors.  The righty struck out 35.7% of batters during his small sample size of MLB work, but also had a 14.3% walk rate.

To some extent, Tarnok’s increasingly shaky control and his ability to miss bats has been the story of his minor league career, which consists of stops in the farm systems of the Marlins, Phillies, A’s, and Braves.  Tarnok has a 4.08 ERA over 161 innings at the Triple-A level, starting 28 of those 65 games as he has been used more frequently as a reliever in recent years.

The move to Japan might well give Tarnok another chance to re-establish himself as a starting pitcher.  Tarnok is just two days away from celebrating his 27th birthday, so he’s plenty young enough to post some good numbers with the Carp and perhaps get himself back onto the radar for big league teams as early as next winter.  If nothing else, signing in NPB will land Tarnok some guaranteed money, whereas he would’ve very likely had to settle for another minor league deal from a Major League team.

Montero hit .228/.277/.387 over 739 plate appearances with the Rockies from 2022-24, and is perhaps best known as part of the trade package the Cardinals sent to Colorado for Nolan Arenado prior to the 2021 season.  Montero’s first season in Hiroshima saw the 27-year-old hit .255/.301/.391 with nine home runs over 396 PA as the Carp’s regular first baseman.  While not huge numbers for a first base bat, Montero seems to have done enough for the Carp to pursue a reunion.

Giants Re-Sign Osleivis Basabe

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The Giants have re-signed infielder Osleivis Basabe to a new minor league contract, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reports.  Basabe spent 2025 in San Francisco’s organization and was outrighted off the team’s 40-man roster in June.  Since he wasn’t added back to the 40-man before the end of the season, Basabe became eligible for minor league free agency, but it wasn’t known if he chose to test the open market.

Acquired from the Rays in a trade last February, Basabe spent his entire season at Triple-A Sacramento, getting significant time at shortstop, second base, and third base.  Basabe hit .249/.309/.412 with 14 homers over 477 plate appearances, with that slash line more or less matching his career .266/.320/.398 mark over 1186 Triple-A PA.  Within the context of the Pacific Coast League, however, Basabe’s offensive production wasn’t much to speak of given the PCL’s notoriously hitter-friendly nature.

Basabe drew attention as a prospect during his time in Tampa’s Bay farm system, but his lack of consistent hitting above the Double-A level has stifled his progress.  The Rays gave Basabe a look at the MLB level in 2023, and his .218/.277/.310 slash line over 94 PA and 31 games remains his only big league experience.

Still only 25 years old, Basabe will now return to the same Triple-A role with the Giants in the hopes of another call-up to the majors.  Matt Chapman and Willy Adames have the left side of San Francisco’s infield locked down, with Casey Schmitt penciled into second base duty and Tyler Fitzgerald and Christian Koss on hand as other infield depth options.  There has also been speculation that the Giants might look to upgrade at second base this winter, which would push Basabe further down the depth chart.

Braves Sign Brewer Hicklen To Minor League Deal

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The Braves have signed outfielder Brewer Hicklen to a minor league contract, according to Aram Leighton of Just Baseball Media.  The deal presumably contains an invitation to Atlanta’s big league Spring Training camp.

Hicklen is entering his age-30 season, and he has appeared in 10 career Major League games spread out over three of the last four MLB seasons.  His most recent cup of coffee in the Show consisted of a single game with the Tigers in 2025, after Detroit acquired the outfielder from (appropriately enough) the Brewers right at the very start of the season.

The Tigers designated Hicklen for assignment and subsequently traded him to the Phillies in late July, and Philadelphia didn’t promote Hicklen up to their active roster before season’s end.  After electing minor league free agency, Hicklen has now landed in Atlanta.

Newly-acquired utilityman Mauricio Dubon will get some time in the Braves’ outfield, and Michael Siani and Eli White are the top backup outfield options slated for bench duty.  Further down the depth chart, however, the Braves don’t have any outfielders in their farm system with any big league experience, so even Hicklen’s modest 10-game resume could give him a leg up over the competition  He has a solid .240/.346/.464 slash line over 1731 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, though he batted only .221/.318/.403 in 393 PA with the Tigers’ and Phillies’ top affiliates in 2025.

Rangers Non-Tender Adolis Garcia, Jonah Heim

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The Rangers announced Friday that they have chosen not to tender 2026 contracts to outfielder Adolis Garcia, catcher Jonah Heim, and relievers Josh Sborz and Jacob Webb. All four were arbitration-eligible for the final time and were set to enter their final year of club control. They will instead immediately become a free agent without needing to pass through waivers. Both Garcia and Heim were being shopped by the Rangers throughout the early stages of the offseason. Clearly, no takers manifested at their arbitration prices. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $12.1MM salary for Garcia and a $6MM salary for Heim. Webb was projected at $2MM and Sborz at $1.1MM.

Garcia’s hold on his roster spot has appeared tenuous for months. While he was a focal point of the offense that helped the Rangers capture their first World Series title in 2023, the slugging right fielder’s bat has cratered over the past two seasons. He’s also become emblematic of the type of undisciplined, boom-or-bust offensive approach that the Rangers have openly voiced a desire to change since the season ended.

Back in 2023, Garcia bashed 39 homers while hitting .245/.328/.508 with plus defense in right field. That alone made him one of the shrewdest DFA pickups in recent memory, but it didn’t set the stage for him to emerge as a core piece like many expected at the time. His 2024 numbers took a major step back (.224/.284/.400), and in 2025 he slashed just .227/.271/.394.

Garcia, 33 in March, still makes thunderous contact when he connects with the ball, averaging 92.1 mph off the bat and logging a stout 46.7% hard-hit rate. However, his chase rate on pitches off the plate has spiked from 29.5% in 2023 to 35.1% in 2025. His overall contact rate in ’25 sat about five percentage points shy of league-average, and his 79.5% contact rate on pitches within the zone is six percentage points shy of average. Swinging through a bit more than one of every five offerings within the strike zone is nothing new for Garcia, but that flaw has been compounded by the manner in which he has increasingly expanded the percentage of pitches at which he’s willing to swing since that peak season.

Heim, who’ll turn 31 next June, broke out with a .258/.317/.438 line (107 wRC+) and career-best 18 home runs back in ’23. For a catcher who already boasted some of the strongest defensive grades in the game, that offensive performance was enough to earn him a spot on the 2023 All-Star team. In 924 plate appearances since, Heim’s bat has evaporated. He’s hitting .217/.269/.334 since Opening Day 2024.

Heim has also gone from an elite pitch framer and thrower behind the dish to more of an average framer and poor thrower. He nabbed 29.3% of thieves in ’23 but has just a 13.7% caught-stealing rate since. His average pop time has crept north of two seconds, and the average velocity on his throws to second base has fallen from 81.1 mph in 2023 (21st among 67 catchers) to 79.5 mph in 2025 (33rd among 63 catchers).

Webb, 32, is a somewhat surprising non-tender. He pitched 66 innings of 3.00 ERA ball and fanned 21.7% of his opponents against a 7.1% walk rate. In 176 1/3 innings between the Rangers and Orioles, dating back to 2023, he’s pitched to a combined 3.22 earned run average with 33 holds and four saves.

Sborz, 31, didn’t pitch this season due to shoulder troubles. The right-hander had a bizarre campaign in 2023, pitching well for much of the season (3.83 ERA through mid-August) before being torched for 13 runs in 7 2/3 frames down the stretch, thereby ballooning his ERA to 5.50. Sborz then bounced all the way back — and then some — in the playoffs, serving as one of then-manager Bruce Bochy’s most trusted relievers. He pitched a dozen innings and allowed only one run (0.75 ERA) on four hits and four walks. He fanned 13.

The following season, Sborz got out to a nice start, logging a 3.86 ERA through 16 1/3 innings before landing on the injured list. He never returned. Sborz wound up undergoing shoulder surgery in the offseason. Originally, the Rangers suggested he’d miss the first two to three months of the 2025 season. Instead, Sborz pitched only 12 minor league innings in 2025, including a 5.79 ERA in 9 1/3 frames of Triple-A work.

Jesse Rogers of ESPN first reported that Garcia was being non-tendered.

Yankees Notes: Devin Williams, Kyle Tucker, Payroll

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The Yankees are interested in bringing free agent closer Devin Williams back to the Bronx. League sources told Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic that the team has discussed a reunion with Williams’ camp.

Williams is one of the top names on the closer market. He landed at No. 16 on our Top 50 Free Agents list, which put him second among relievers, behind only Edwin Diaz. The 31-year-old is expected to have many suitors, with the Reds and Red Sox linked to him last week, and the Mets, Tigers, and Giants joining the mix this week. The Dodgers and Marlins have also been connected to Williams.

New York sent Caleb Durbin and Nestor Cortes to Milwaukee for Williams in December 2024. He struggled in his first month with the team, losing the closer role by May. An injury to fill-in closer Luke Weaver allowed Williams to regain the role, and he pitched well in June and July. The trade deadline acquisition of David Bednar pushed Williams back into setup duty. He closed the year with his best stretch of the campaign, posting 13 scoreless innings from September 7 through the postseason.

Williams said he would “definitely be open” to returning to the Yankees back in October. As for whether being the closer would impact his next destination, Williams said it “depends on the scenario.” While Weaver is a free agent, New York still has Bednar and fellow trade deadline acquisition Camilo Doval under team control for next season.

Williams isn’t the only high-profile free agent on the Yankees’ radar. General manager Brian Cashman told reporters on Thursday, including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, that he’s been in contact with agent Casey Close on several players. That list of possible targets includes Kyle Tucker, Kyle Schwarber, Michael King, and former Yankee Paul Goldschmidt. Cashman also mentioned interest in Tatsuya Imai, who was posted by the Seibu Lions earlier this week. “We’re certainly engaging all these players in the marketplace,” Cashman said.

Tucker will likely have just as many suitors as Williams, perhaps more. Toronto is considered by some teams to be the favorite to land the star outfielder, but the Dodgers, Yankees, and Orioles have been linked to him. Given that he’s the big prize in free agency this offseason, additional teams are bound to come forward as potential candidates.

New York regained an outfielder when Trent Grisham accepted the qualifying offer, but lost one when Cody Bellinger opted out of his contract. Jasson Dominguez is penciled in alongside Grisham and Aaron Judge, but he hasn’t performed well enough to discourage the Yankees from going after a massive upgrade in Tucker. They could also re-up with Bellinger.

As far as paying for these potential acquisitions, Cashman was noncommittal about whether payroll would exceed $300MM. “I think it could go both ways. So it just depends on how things shake out and what opportunities present themselves,” he told reporters, including Hoch. FanGraphs’ RosterResource tool currently has the Yankees’ payroll at around $260MM next season. Grisham’s deal added about $22MM to the ledger, and he’s just the sixth-highest-paid player on the team next year. New York’s payroll was around $296MM this past season after topping $300MM in 2024.

A deal for Tucker, Schwarber, Williams, or any of the other marquee names will likely require a big commitment across many years. The Yankees already have several of those types of deals on the books between Judge, Max Fried, Gerrit Cole, and Carlos Rodon, who are all on large contracts through at least 2028. Cashman expressed confidence he could make it work, though. “The job right now is to find out what’s available, and those all have different price points,” Cashman said. “There could be cheap players that are available that are good, or there could be very expensive players that are available that are good.”

Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images

Cubs To Sign Phil Maton

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Free agent reliever Phil Maton is signing with the Cubs, reports Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation. It’s a two-year pact with a club option for a third year, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. The team has yet to announce the deal.

Maton split last season between the Cardinals and Rangers. He joined St. Louis on a one-year, $2MM deal and pitched well for the first half of the season. After 38 1/3 innings of a 2.35 ERA, the Cardinals shipped him to Texas at the trade deadline for minor league pitchers Mason Molina and Skylar Hales. Maton’s ERA rose to 3.52 with his new team, but he upped his strikeout rate to 36.7% and picked up three saves over 23 appearances.

Chicago will be Maton’s eighth team in 10 big-league seasons. He was drafted by the Padres in 2015. Eye-popping strikeout numbers helped the righty zoom through San Diego’s system, and he reached the big leagues by 2017. Maton delivered decent contributions with the Padres in his first two seasons, though he missed time with a lat strain in 2018. After a half-season spent bouncing between the Padres and Triple-A El Paso the following year, Maton was dealt to Cleveland for cash.

Maton flashed the swing-and-miss upside he had shown in the minors for the first time at the big-league level with Cleveland. He posted a 33.3% strikeout rate across 23 games in the shortened 2020 season, then pushed it to 34.3% in the first half of 2021. Maton was on the move again at the 2021 trade deadline, heading with Yainer Diaz to Houston for Myles Straw. The deal turned out to be a big win for the Astros, even before factoring in Diaz’s contributions. Maton compiled a 3.67 ERA across 157 innings with Houston through 2023. He was phenomenal during the 2021 playoffs, allowing just one earned run in 12 games. Maton secured three holds in the postseason that year, including two in the World Series.

Maton hit the open market following the 2023 season and landed in Tampa Bay on a one-year, $6.5MM deal. He struggled with the Rays and ended up getting dealt to the Mets in early July. Maton put together 28 2/3 innings of a 2.51 ERA in New York, but stumbled in the postseason. The veteran was knocked around for six earned runs in 6 1/3 innings in the playoffs, including four home runs.

Velocity isn’t Maton’s strong suit, as his fastball barely cracks 90 mph. The veteran has found success by leading with his curveball and mixing in cutters and sinkers. Maton has used the hook as his primary pitch in two of the last three seasons. He threw it 38.2% of the time last year, and it recorded a healthy +10 run value. Maton’s cutter, curveball, and sweeper all had whiff rates above 32% last season.

Maton has excelled at limiting hard contact at every stop. He’s limited hitters to a 29.9% hard-hit rate for his career. Maton ranked in the 98th percentile or better in hard-hit rate, barrel rate, and average exit velocity last season.

With Brad Keller hitting free agency and Andrew Kittredge traded to Baltimore, Chicago had a clear need for a righty at the backend of the bullpen. Daniel Palencia will likely resume closer duties after battling injuries at the end of last season, but Maton should factor into the late-inning mix alongside Porter Hodge. FanGraphs’ RosterResource tool has the Cubs’ payroll at around $177MM for 2026. The club has been above $200MM the past two seasons, so there could be more room to add in the bullpen. Luke Little and Jordan Wicks don’t have a ton of big-league experience between them, so pursuing a veteran southpaw might make sense.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Padres To Sign Outfielder Carlos Rodriguez

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The Padres are expected to sign outfielder Carlos Rodriguez to a minor league deal, reports Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic. The agreement includes an invitation to MLB Spring Training. Not to be confused with the Brewers’ pitching prospect or the Rays’ executive of the same name, Rodriguez was most recently in the Braves’ system.

Rodriguez ranked among Atlanta’s top 30 prospects after signing in minor league free agency ahead of the 2025 campaign. FanGraphs and MLB.com both had him ranked at 25th. The 22-year-old torched Double-A pitching for 10 games, then moved up to Triple-A. Rodriguez posted an underwhelming .640 OPS with Gwinnett, but did pop a career-high eight home runs to go with 17 stolen bases. He hit minor league free agency once again at the conclusion of the season.

Milwaukee signed Rodriguez as an international free agent in 2017. He piled up knocks at the lower levels of the minors, hitting well over .300 in his first two professional seasons. Rodriguez slipped to a 91 wRC+ in his first attempt at High-A in 2021. He repeated the level in 2022 and delivered a respectable .268/.355/.415.

Rodriguez took a similar route at Double-A, producing close to league-average results in 2023 before putting together one of his best seasons to date in his second try. FanGraphs ranked Rodriguez (the outfielder) 34th among the Brewers’ prospects heading into the 2024 season. As a 23-year-old repeating Double-A, Rodriguez posted a career-best 130 wRC+ with more walks than strikeouts. The performance got him a bump to Triple-A, where his production fell off outside of strong plate discipline.

The 24-year-old Rodriguez will now get a chance to earn a big-league roster spot with San Diego. He’s performed well in the spring in back-to-back seasons, though the sample sizes are limited. Rodriguez went 6-for-13 over 10 spring games with the Brewers back in 2024. He had five hits and a stolen base over 16 at-bats with the Braves this past spring.

Photo courtesy of  Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Rockies Sign Drew Avans To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies recently added outfielder Drew Avans on a minor league deal, as Matt Eddy of Baseball America pointed out. Avans played a handful of games for the Athletics last season. He was most recently in the Brewers’ system. Avans elected minor league free agency in early November.

Avans made his MLB debut in May following a lengthy minor league career. He came on as a defensive replacement and singled in his only at-bat. Avans made seven appearances with the Athletics, recording a pair of hits in 15 at-bats. He was designated for assignment in early June and picked up by the Brewers. Avans played one game for the team, going 0-for-2 with a sacrifice fly. He was designated for assignment and outrighted to Triple-A shortly after.

The Dodgers took Avans in the 33rd round in 2018. He’d spent his entire career with the organization prior to 2025. Avans moved up the system fairly quickly, reaching Double-A by 2019. He posted a 114 wRC+ with 24 steals across three levels that season. Avans was bumped up to Triple-A in 2021, where his results plateaued. He continued to steal bases at a solid clip, including 40 swipes in 2022, but delivered roughly league-average numbers at the plate. Avans elected minor league free agency after the 2024 season and latched on with the Athletics.

Avans slashed a strong .328/.414/.444 across 48 games with Triple-A Las Vegas to open this past season. More notably, he reduced his strikeout rate to 14%. Avans had multiple Triple-A seasons with a strikeout rate above 25% while in LA’s system. The solid stretch with Las Vegas earned Avans a look with the Athletics, though he only lasted on the big-league roster for a little over a week. His strikeout rate went back up to 24.3% in 52 games at Triple-A Nashville. Avans did manage 40 steals between Las Vegas and Nashville, so there’s a chance his speed could help him become a factor in Colorado.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Hanisch, Imagn Images

Angels Hire Brady Anderson As Hitting Coach

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The Angels are hiring Brady Anderson as hitting coach and John Mabry as an assistant hitting coach, relays Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register. A three-time All-Star who played 15 seasons in the majors, Anderson gets his first major league coaching position.

Anderson, 61, spent 14 years with the Orioles. He’s best known for his 50-homer season in 1996 but was consistently a very good player from 1992-99. He hit 210 career homers with a .256/.362/.425 batting line in more than 1800 games. Anderson recorded 1661 hits and stole 315 bases.

A little over a decade after his playing career concluded, Anderson was hired as Baltimore’s vice president of baseball operations. He held that position from 2013-19 until stepping down after one season under Mike Elias. Anderson had played a significant front office role under prior GM Dan Duquette but reportedly had a different vision from the one Elias brought to the front office. Anderson has not worked in affiliated ball since moving on from the Orioles.

That makes it important to have an experienced voice as his assistant. The 55-year-old Mabry certainly qualifies. He has worked on MLB staffs dating back to 2012 after a 14-year big league playing career. Mabry has been a lead hitting coach with the Cardinals and Marlins and spent the ’25 season on Brandon Hyde’s staff in Baltimore as a senior advisor.

Anderson and Mabry will work with an offense that finished 25th in scoring this year. The Halos had an MLB-high 27.1% strikeout rate and a .225 batting average that was worst in the league. Their .298 on-base percentage was better only than those of the Rockies and Guardians, while they were middle of the pack in slugging. The Angels had the fourth-most home runs in MLB — trailing only the Yankees, Dodgers and Mariners — but were too reliant on right-handed power bats with limited on-base skills. They traded Taylor Ward, who’s coming off a career-high 36 home runs, to roll the dice on a Grayson Rodriguez upside play in the rotation.

Kurt Suzuki is headed into his first season as a big league manager. They’ve added veteran pitching coach Mike Maddux and former manager John Gibbons as bench coach. Base coaches Adam Eaton and Keith Johnson, catching coach Max Stassi, and infield coach Andy Schatzley have also signed on. The Angels have yet to finalize the staff.

Diamondbacks Re-Sign James McCann

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The D-Backs announced they’ve re-signed veteran catcher James McCann to a one-year deal. It’s reportedly a $2.75MM guarantee with another $500K in bonuses for the Ballengee Group client. McCann would receive $100K for reaching 50 days on the active roster, $125K apiece at 75 and 100 days, and another $150K for reaching 125 days. The Snakes opened a 40-man roster spot by non-tendering reliever Taylor Rashi this evening.

McCann commands a big league deal after settling for a minor league contract last time around. The former All-Star signed a non-roster deal with the Braves and spent the first couple months of the season with their top affiliate in Gwinnett. McCann’s deal included an automatic out if any team were willing to add him to the big league roster. That opportunity arose when Gabriel Moreno broke his right index finger in the middle of June.

The Snakes initially signed McCann to back up Jose Herrera while Moreno was on the shelf. It didn’t take long for him to surpass the light-hitting Herrera on the depth chart. McCann recorded nine hits (including a pair of home runs) and six walks over his first nine games with the Diamondbacks. His production tanked from there, as he hit .232/.267/.364 over his final 106 trips to the plate. The early hot streak was still enough to finish with a respectable .260/.324/.431 batting line in 42 games.

Moreno returned in August. The Diamondbacks jettisoned Herrera instead of McCann, keeping the veteran as Moreno’s backup for the final five weeks. He’ll get a chance to reprise that role for a full season. Adrian Del Castillo had been the only other listed catcher on the 40-man roster. He’s more of an emergency/third option rather than a true backup, as his bat has always been well ahead of his glove. McCann has never graded as an excellent defender, but he’s a competent receiver with an acceptable arm who has long been highly regarded for his work with pitchers.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the Diamondbacks and McCann were in agreement on a one-year deal. Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic reported the $2.75MM guarantee and $500K in bonuses, which Steve Gilbert of MLB.com were noted were of the roster variety. David Brandt of The Associated Press had the bonus specifics.

Image courtesy of Mark J. Reblias, Imagn Images.

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