The Giants announced Tuesday that they’ve signed right-handed reliever Jason Foley to a one-year, major league contract. The ACES client missed most of the 2025 season due to shoulder surgery and was non-tendered by the Tigers last month.
More to come.
December 16th: The Mariners announced today that they have signed Knizner to a one-year deal. Salary figures for the CAA Sports client still haven’t been reported.
December 12th: The Mariners are in conversations with free agent catcher Andrew Knizner on a deal, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. If they reach agreement on a big league contract, he’d be in line to back up Cal Raleigh.
Knizner spent the second half of the 2025 season with the Giants. He’d begun the season in Triple-A with the Nationals but was released in the middle of May. He signed a minor league deal with San Francisco and jumped onto the MLB roster a few weeks later. Knizner spent the rest of the season working behind Patrick Bailey. The presence of a two-time Gold Glove winner blocked him from getting much playing time, though he had a brief run as the starting catcher when Bailey missed a week and a half with a neck strain.
The 30-year-old Knizner (31 in February) started 28 of his 32 appearances behind the dish. He stepped to the plate 88 times and hit .221/.299/.299 with one home run. Knizner has played parts of seven MLB seasons between the Cardinals, Rangers and Giants. He owns a .211/.281/.316 batting line in a little under 1000 career plate appearances. The former seventh-round pick has a much better .292/.387/.443 mark across 583 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level.
Knizner has caught more than 2200 major league innings. His early-career defensive grades weren’t great, as public metrics weren’t favorable on his pitch framing. He has rated closer to average in that regard over the past two seasons, though his blocking hasn’t been as strong. His arm strength is middling, and he has thrown out a below-average 16.4% of baserunners in the last four years.
San Francisco opted not to tender Knizner a contract for his final year of arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected him for a modest $1.3MM salary, but the Giants want to leave the door open for rookie Jesus Rodriguez to win the backup job in camp. Seattle doesn’t have a second catcher on their 40-man roster. Mitch Garver hit free agency and they traded rookie Harry Ford for lefty reliever Jose A. Ferrer last week.
Knizner has five-plus years of MLB service and cannot be sent to the minors without his consent. If he signed a big league deal, he’d enter camp as the presumed #2 catcher. The Mariners will probably continue looking for depth options via waivers or minor league free agency to push him for that spot, but it’s not a position to which they need to devote many resources. Raleigh will be in the lineup almost every day at either catcher or designated hitter. He started 119 games and logged 1072 innings behind the plate this past season. Only J.T. Realmuto and William Contreras took a heavier workload.
The Phillies finalized their one-year deal with free agent outfielder Adolis Garcia, and that’s likely to be their only notable addition in the outfield this winter, it seems. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski tells the team’s beat that the outfield is “pretty well set” (via Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer). Garcia is expected to play right field regularly. Brandon Marsh will be in left field versus right-handed pitching. Most notably, top prospect Justin Crawford will be given a chance to take the center field job and run with it.
“If you’re going to give Crawford an opportunity, you’ve got to give it to him, and that’s where we are,” said Dombrowski. “We’re going to give him an opportunity and have him play a lot.”
Crawford, 22 next month, was Philadelphia’s first-round pick (17th overall) in 2022. He’s considered to be among the game’s top 100 prospects at both MLB.com (No. 54) and Baseball America (No. 83). There was talk of a potential midsummer promotion this past season, but Philadelphia’s acquisition of Harrison Bader (now a free agent) presumably contributed to the decision to leave Crawford in the minors, where he thrived with the Phillies’ top affiliate. Based on today’s comments from Dombrowski, a reunion with Bader seems unlikely.
Crawford has minimal power but plus speed that could make him a rangy, quality defender in center. He also upped his walk rate to a career-high 11.5% in 2025, nearly doubling his rate from 2024, while hitting .334/.411/.452 with seven homers and 46 steals (in 57 tries) at the Triple-A level this past season. Crawford struck out in 18% of his plate appearances and made the most of his wheels, putting nearly 60% of his batted balls on the ground.
If nothing else, a Marsh-Crawford-Garcia trio should have a strong floor as a defensive trio. Marsh has plus grades in left field throughout his career (19 Defensive Runs Saved, 9 Outs Above Average in 1751 innings), Crawford can fly (though some scouting reports suggest he needs further work on his reads and jumps), and Garcia has been an above-average to plus right fielder every season except 2024 (when he’d suffered a strained patellar tendon in the final weeks of the preceding season). For a club that spent much of last year trotting Marsh out in center field, where he’s miscast, and gave a team-leading 1208 outfield innings to Nick Castellanos, the defensive upgrade should be immense.
As for Castellanos, it seems increasingly clear that his Phillies tenure has come to an end. He’s owed $20MM next season, the last of a five-year, $100MM contract that hasn’t gone as the team hoped. Castellanos hasn’t hit like he did in Chicago and Cincinnati prior to signing with the Phils, and his long-maligned glovework has only worsened. The Phillies have been trying to offload a portion of his contract — no one is taking more than a small fraction of it — without success. It’s expected that he’ll be released if no trade comes to fruition.
The Philadelphia outfield isn’t so much remade as it is reshuffled, and it bears emphasizing that there are still concerns on the offensive side of the coin. Crawford has yet to take a major league plate appearance. Garcia was a star-caliber hitter with the 2021-23 Rangers, keying their 2023 World Series victory in many regards, but he’s seen a stark decline in performance over the past two seasons. Texas non-tendered him last month, and he’s a pure rebound play for the Phillies heading into the 2026 season.
Meanwhile, Marsh was productive overall in 2025 but is a career .213/.278/.303 hitter versus fellow lefties. He’ll need a platoon partner, clearly. In-house options include Edmundo Sosa, Weston Wilson, Otto Kemp, Johan Rojas and waiver claim Pedro Leon.
Neither Wilson nor Rojas hit lefties well in 2025. Leon has an uneven track record against southpaws in the minors but hit them well in 2024 before barely playing in 2025 due to injury. He’s a 27-year-old with only 21 MLB plate appearances, however. Sosa crushed lefties last year, but the Phils only put him in the outfield for a total of 11 innings. He’s primarily an infielder. Kemp popped four homers in 74 plate appearances versus lefties but also fanned at a 35.1% clip in those matchups. Like Sosa, he spent the bulk of his time in the infield, too.
The Phillies could look to address that platoon bat for Marsh with any number of those in-house options, but despite Dombrowski’s statement today, it also wouldn’t be a huge shock to see them keep an eye on the periphery of the free agent market for righty-swinging outfielders. There aren’t a ton of options out there, but names like Randal Grichuk, Austin Slater and Chas McCormick could all potentially help out. The trade and waiver markets will be worth monitoring as well.
That’ll all take a backseat to one other critical area, however. Dombrowski noted today that catching is “really our main focus” (also via Lauber) and reiterated a desire to re-sign J.T. Realmuto. The Phillies reportedly have an offer out to Realmuto’s camp. A reunion is generally expected, but if he signs elsewhere the Phils would be left looking, with Rafael Marchan and Garrett Stubbs atop the depth chart. Danny Jansen is already off the board on a two-year deal with Texas, leaving Victor Caratini as the top non-Realmuto option in free agency.
The Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization announced their four foreign-player signings for the 2026 season, as relayed by Yoo Jee-ho of Yonhap News Agency. They have re-signed right-hander Raúl Alcantara, who pitched for the Heroes in 2025. They have also added first baseman Trenton Brooks, right-hander Nathan Wiles and Japanese right-hander Yuto Kanakubo. Alcantara will earn a $700K salary with $200K in incentives available. Wiles gets a $910K salary. Brooks gets $700K plus $150K in incentives. Kanakubo gets $100K with $30K in incentives available.
For many years, KBO teams have been limited to having three non-Korean players on their rosters. Starting in 2026, that number will jump to four, but one must be from another Asian country or Australia. In effect, KBO teams are still capped at three North American players, but the new rule has allowed the Heroes to add Kanakubo.
Brooks, 30, has had a lot of minor league success but hasn’t yet translated it to the big leagues. That’s a pretty common arc for a player heading overseas. He’s had brief looks in the majors with the Padres and Giants, getting 72 plate appearances in total with a dismal .136/.208/.212 line. But from 2021 to 2025, he took 1,994 plate appearances at the Triple-A level with a 13.9% walk rate and 16.6% strikeout rate while launching 66 home runs. His combined line of .279/.382/.472 translated to a wRC+ of 117.
Despite the consistently solid offense, Brooks was stuck in Quad-A status for a while. That’s perhaps due to his limited defensive abilities, as he’s mostly a first baseman with some experience in the outfield. He didn’t get to make his major league debut until he was almost 29 years old. The Padres passed him though waivers unclaimed in August.
If had he stayed in North America for the 2026 season, he likely would have been limited to minor league deals. By heading to South Korea, he will secure a guaranteed salary pretty close to the MLB minimum, which will be $780K next year. If he thrives with the Heroes, he could try to come back to the majors down the road or he could parlay his success into another deal in Asia.
Wiles, 27, just made his major league debut by tossing one inning for Atlanta back in April. He spent the majority of the season on optional assignment. He logged 112 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level with a 3.04 earned run average, 22.2% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate. He has generally had good control throughout his minor league career but without huge strikeout or ground ball totals.
Atlanta released him in November. Like Brooks, he was likely looking at minor league deals if he stayed in affiliated ball. Heading overseas gives him a chance to pitch on a bigger stage. Even if he had secured a major league deal, his salary would likely have been less than this deal with the Heroes.
Pitchers returning from pitching in Asia has become a popular route to take. Just this offseason, Cody Ponce, Drew Anderson, Anthony Kay, Foster Griffin and Ryan Weiss have signed multi-million-dollar deals after stints in Japan or South Korea. Wiles is still relatively young and could follow in those footsteps.
Alcantara pitched in the majors in 2016 and 2017. He’s been pitching for various Japanese and Korean clubs since then. He spent 2025 with the Heroes and gave them 121 innings with a 3.27 ERA. Kanakubo is a 26-year-old who has spent his career with the Yakult Swallows in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball but that club has mostly kept him in the minors. He hasn’t topped 14 innings pitched at the top level in Japan in any of the past four seasons.
Photo courtesy of Denis Poroy, Imagn Images
The Nationals are going to sign left-hander Foster Griffin, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. It’ll be a one-year, $5.5MM contract with another $1MM in incentives for the Excel Sports Management client. The Nats have 40-man vacancies and won’t need to make a corresponding move.
Griffin, now 30, got some brief major league action a few years ago. He made seven appearances, split between the Royals and Blue Jays, over the 2020 and 2022 seasons. He has spent the past three years in Japan, pitching for the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball, with great success.
He tossed 315 2/3 innings over those three campaigns, allowing 2.57 earned runs per nine. He struck out 25.1% of batters faced, only gave out walks to 5.1% of opponents and kept about half of balls in play on the ground. In 2025, a leg injury limited him to just 78 innings but it was his best season in terms of run prevention. He posted a 1.62 ERA with a 25.1% strikeout rate, 5.9% walk rate and 48.9% grounder rate.
Despite the solid numbers, there are some questions about whether how his stuff will translate to North American ball. Griffin’s fastball only sits in the low 90s, fairly soft by modern standards. He succeeds with a deep arsenal which also includes a slider, cutter, changeup, splitter, curveball and two-seamer.
It has been a relatively busy winter in terms of guys returning to North America after stints overseas. Cody Ponce got $30MM over three years from the Blue Jays. The White Sox gave Anthony Kay $12MM over two years. Drew Anderson got one year and $7MM from the Tigers and Ryan Weiss got one year and $2.6MM from the Astros. All pitchers have had some success in Japan or South Korea but the price differences are likely down to the stuff. Ponce is 6’6″ and 255 pounds with a fastball that averages in the upper 90s with a splitter/kick change that is considered a plus pitch. Griffin isn’t tiny, as he’s listed at 6’3″ and 225 lbs., but his crafty, soft-tossing lefty profile is obviously different than that of Ponce.
It’s still an intriguing package. Recent reporting indicated teams were showing interest in Griffin and that he was putting a priority on an opportunity to prove himself in a rotation. Washington is a good landing spot for him in that regard.
The Nats have been rebuilding for years but have struggled to return to contention. The slow progress prompted major changes, as the club has overhauled almost the entire front office and coaching staff in the past few months. It’s expected that the new regime, led by president of baseball operations Paul Toboni, will be focused on long-term goals. They are one of the clubs best suited to take a chance on an unproven arm like Griffin.
As of right now, the Washington rotation consists of guys like MacKenzie Gore, Cade Cavalli, Josiah Gray, Brad Lord, Griff McGarry, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker and others. Gore is just two years away from free agency and is widely expected to be traded this offseason. Cavalli and Gray haven’t pitched much in recent years due to Tommy John surgery. Lord had decent results as a swingman in 2025. McGarry is a Rule 5 pick with no major league experience yet. Irvin and Parker have each logged over 300 big league innings but they each posted an ERA near 6.00 this year.
In short, there’s very little locked into place in the Washington rotation, meaning Griffin should have a shot to hold down a spot. If he succeeds for the first few months of the season, he will likely end up on the trade block, allowing the Nats to potentially bring back more young talent for their rebuild. If it doesn’t work out, it’s a fairly modest bet from the team’s perspective, though it’s a huge amount of money for Griffin himself.
Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Raj Mehta, Imagn Images
The Cubs are re-signing veteran left-handed reliever Caleb Thielbar, per Jesse Rogers and Jeff Passan of ESPN. The agreement between the two parties is still pending the completion of a physical. Thielbar is represented by ISE Baseball.
Thielbar, 39 in January, spent his entire big league career prior to the 2025 season with his hometown Twins. He signed a one-year, $2.75MM contract coming off a down showing in his final year with Minnesota and bounced back in a major way with Chicago.
In 58 innings this past season, the South Dakota State product notched a sharp 2.64 earned run average and 25 holds — the latter tying him with Brad Keller (also a free agent this winter) for the team lead. Thielbar struck out 25.5% of his opponents, limited walks at an excellent 5.9% clip, and kept 40.7% of the batted balls against him on the ground (a career-high mark). He tacked on another 3 2/3 scoreless frames in the postseason.
While he doesn’t throw particularly hard (92.8 mph average fastball in ’25), Thielbar still managed to post a roughly average swinging-strike rate and an above-average strikeout rate thanks to dominant performances from his curveball and slider alike. Opponents hit just .135 and slugged .231 against the former while batting .169 and slugging .254 versus the latter. Thielbar dominated left-handed hitters (.161/.211/.276) and right-handed hitters (.205/.248/.342) alike during his lone season with the Cubs.
Thielbar is the third free-agent addition to the Cubs’ bullpen this winter, joining fellow southpaw Hoby Milner (one year, $3.75MM) and right-hander Phil Maton (two years, $14.5MM). Thielbar and Milner give manager Craig Counsell a pair of experienced southpaws, both of whom he’s previously managed, and create the potential for a trio of southpaws, should Luke Little also make the club. Thielbar, Milner and Maton will combine to help bridge the gap between the rotation and young closer Daniel Palencia.
There’s still room for Chicago to make further additions to the bullpen, which has at least three spots earmarked for relatively untested arms. Each of their bullpen pickups thus far has also been relatively low-cost in nature, leaving room for a significant addition elsewhere on the roster. The Cubs have been at least loosely tied to top free agents like Ranger Suarez, Tatsuya Imai, Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suarez, among others.
December 16th: The Bucs have officially announced the Soto signing.
December 9th: Another reliever has come off the board. The Pirates are reportedly in agreement with left-hander Gregory Soto on a one-year, $7.75MM contract. Soto is represented by ISE Baseball. Pittsburgh had an opening on the 40-man roster and will not need to make a corresponding move.
Soto made 70 appearances between the Orioles and Mets last season. A solid first half in Baltimore led to a swap with New York around the trade deadline. Soto began his Mets tenure with nine straight scoreless outings, but stumbled down the stretch. The veteran lefty posted a 7.94 ERA in September as New York fell short of a playoff spot.
Pittsburgh will be Soto’s fifth team in the past five seasons. He debuted for Detroit in 2019 and soon became a crucial part of the team’s late-inning mix. Soto emerged as the Tigers closer by 2021, finishing with 18 saves and an All-Star nod. He racked up 30 saves the following season, earning a return trip to the Midsummer Classic. Detroit shipped him to Philadelphia following the 2022 campaign for a package headlined by Matt Vierling. After a season and a half with a mid-4.00s ERA, Soto was dealt to Baltimore at the 2024 trade deadline.
The Pirates’ bullpen ranked 18th in SIERA and 22nd in xFIP last season. The unit lost longtime closer David Bednar and top lefty Caleb Ferguson at the trade deadline. Dennis Santana performed well in multiple stints as the closer and will likely retain the role in 2026. Pittsburgh has minimal proven options behind him, particularly from the left side. Evan Sisk was the only southpaw penciled into the bullpen prior to the Soto addition.
Soto struggled mightily with free passes while in Detroit, posting a walk rate above 12% in all four seasons with the team. He’s cleaned up those control issues in recent years and recorded a career-low 8.6% walk rate last season. Soto’s upper-90s sinker has typically led to healthy ground ball rates, though he finished with a league-average GB% this past season. The sinker velocity has ticked down in each of the past three years. Opponents hit .314 against Soto’s sinker last season. Most of the damage came during his time with the Mets, and a hefty .392 BABIP is likely to blame. Soto’s slider still got whiffs at an excellent rate, so he can still be effective if the sinker bounces back.
MLBTR had predicted Soto to receive a two-year, $16MM contract. He settles for one year just shy of the $8MM average annual value. The Pirates reportedly had roughly $40MM in payroll space this winter. This won’t impact their pursuit of free agent hitters after their unsuccessful pursuit of Kyle Schwarber.
ESPN’s Jorge Castillo first reported the signing.
Dec. 16: Kelly’s contract also contains a vesting option for a third year, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. If Kelly reaches 170 innings in 2027, he’ll lock in a $12MM salary for the 2028 season. If he reaches 185 innings in ’27, that ’28 guarantee will jump to $14MM.
Dec. 14: The Diamondbacks are in the final stages of completing a two-year, $40MM contract with right-hander Merrill Kelly, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The deal will be official once Kelly passes a physical (as per Jon Heyman of The New York Post). Arizona will need to clear a space on its currently full 40-man roster. Kelly is represented by Apex Baseball.
The 37-year-old Kelly returns to the team with which he has spent nearly his entire major league career. Though initially drafted by the Rays in the eighth-round of the 2010 draft, Kelly made his big league debut with the Diamondbacks back in 2019 after a four-season stay in Korea as a member of the KBO’s SK Wyverns (now known as the SSG Landers). After a pedestrian rookie campaign in the majors where he pitched to a league-average ERA in 32 starts, Kelly managed to fashion a role for himself as one of the better mid-rotation arms in the majors.
Since the start of the 2022 campaign, Kelly has pitched to a 3.47 ERA in 108 starts. He’s struck out 23.1% of his opponents while walking 7.7% in that time, leaving him with a 3.81 FIP. Although a 4.03 SIERA and other so-so peripherals cast him as a step down from your prototypical front-end starter, the veteran has managed to remain a durable and productive rotation piece. Kelly particularly endeared himself to Arizona fans when he delivered a brilliant 2.25 ERA over 24 postseason innings during the club’s run to the World Series in 2023.
Amid a disappointing 2025 season where the Diamondbacks were ravaged by injuries to everyone from star closers Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk to newly-signed ace Corbin Burnes, the team engaged in a sell-off at trade deadline and shipped Kelly to the Rangers in exchange for a trio of pitching prospects. Kelly put up fairly pedestrian numbers across ten starts with the Rangers: a 4.23 ERA and near-matching 4.18 FIP across 55 1/3 innings of work.
Even while the veteran was in Texas, an offseason reunion with the Diamondbacks was already being speculated upon. Kelly spoke fondly of Arizona and expressed an openness to re-signing when asked about the possibility while the Rangers were visiting Chase Field in the season’s final few weeks. “Definite” interest in a reunion with Kelly was reported on Arizona’s side shortly before last week’s Winter Meetings, and now the sides have come together on a deal.
Turning to the deal itself, Kelly’s $40MM guarantee clocks in just ahead of the two years and $36MM MLBTR predicted for the right-hander when ranking him as the #25 free agent in this offseason’s Top 50 MLB Free Agents list. The Snakes were aggressive both in their offer and the timing of the deal; while the free agent market for position players and especially relievers has kicked into gear already, Kelly is just the third starting pitcher from MLBTR’s Top 50 to sign a contract this offseason. He joins Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce, both of whom received guarantees that slightly eclipsed MLBTR’s predictions.
Now that he’s set to return to Arizona, Kelly stands as the favorite to start for the Diamondbacks on Opening Day this year. He’ll join a rotation that already added Michael Soroka and will reunite with former teammates Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt, and Ryne Nelson. Burnes could be a factor later in the season but is not expected to pitch until sometime in the second half after undergoing Tommy John surgery in June. While the team’s rotation certainly looks much more complete with Kelly back in the fold, bringing the right-hander back shouldn’t stop the team from pursuing other rotation additions after the club’s pitching staff finished 19th in the majors with a 4.29 ERA last year.
Of course, adding beyond this could prove to be easier said than done. The Diamondbacks are projected for a payroll just north of $171MM in 2026, according to RosterResource. That rises to north of $205MM for luxury tax purposes. GM Mike Hazen has suggested that, while Arizona’s payroll would likely be moving downward from its 2025 level, that would still leave the team with room to spend. The club spent $188MM on its payroll last season, however, meaning they currently sit less than $17MM from that mark.
Perhaps that leaves enough wiggle room to reunite with Paul Goldschmidt on an affordable one-year deal, a move the Diamondbacks have been said to be contemplating, but Kelly will surely go down as the team’s biggest expenditure unless an increase in payroll is approved or the team makes a trade that clears salary. To that latter point, the hot stove has been burning with Ketel Marte trade buzz in recent weeks. Moving Marte would certainly clear payroll off the books (and simultaneously add some young rotation options as part of the return), though Hazen has consistently downplayed the likelihood of a deal surrounding Marte actually coming together.
The Yankees have expressed “genuine interest” in bringing right-hander Luke Weaver back into the fold, according to a report from The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner. Weaver has likewise expressed interest in a reunion, though Kirschner notes that the righty is weighing his options and is seeking a multi-year deal this winter. The report adds that “about 10 teams” have at least checked in on Weaver this offseason.
Weaver, 32, was a first-round pick by the Cardinals back in 2014 and struggled as a back-of-the-rotation starter in the majors for years before moving to the bullpen with the Yankees in 2024. He’s been excellent in that role over the past two years, with a 3.21 ERA and 3.58 FIP across 148 2/3 innings of work. He’s picked up 12 saves with the Yankees in that time, but struggled late in the 2025 season with a 5.35 ERA from the start of July onwards, including a 9.64 ERA in 12 September appearances. Worrying as that late-season meltdown might be, however, a 2.96 xERA and 3.44 SIERA both indicate that he’s still a quality reliever and remains among the best options available on the market.
That’s especially true after the run on high-end relievers that’s taken place in the early weeks of free agency. Edwin Diaz, Devin Williams, Tyler Rogers, Raisel Iglesias, Kyle Finnegan, and Emilio Pagan are just some of the names on an expansive list of late-innings arms who have already landed somewhere, while the Yankees have yet to add to their bullpen at all this winter. The summer’s additions of David Bednar and Camilo Doval help to reduce pressure to land a high-end relief arm, but the loss of Williams and the potential loss of Weaver still leave a hole towards the back of the Yankees’ bullpen. Weaver is joined by former Rays closer Pete Fairbanks and 2025 standout Brad Keller as the top remaining relief arms in free agency, and it would surely behoove New York to add at least one of those players.
Of course, that doesn’t mean a deal will necessarily come together. The Yankees, as Kirschner notes, have recently been hesitant to give out multi-year deals to relievers in free agency. With Weaver seeking a multi-year contract and garnering interest from as much as a third of the league, it’s entirely possible that he’ll find the offer he’s looking for elsewhere if the Yankees aren’t willing to meet that price tag. The Cubs, Marlins, and Mets are among the other teams known to be looking for late-inning relievers this winter. If the Yankees continue to be hesitant about adding a multi-year reliever, they could move down a tier in free agency and target arms like Pierce Johnson, Chris Martin, or perhaps even old friend David Robertson. The trade market could provide another alternative, where Cardinals lefty JoJo Romero is among those known to be available.
Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Griffin nearing deal?
Yesterday, it was reported that left-hander Foster Griffin has received major league offers, including at least one multi-year offer. A former first-round pick by the Royals, the southpaw has just eight innings of MLB experience but enjoyed a brilliant campaign in Japan this year, with a 1.62 ERA and a 25.1% strikeout rate in 78 innings of work for Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yomiuri Giants. MLBTR’s Steve Adams reported yesterday that Griffin has spoken to eight different teams with varying interest levels in his services, while MLBNetwork’s Jon Morosi added that a deal could come together soon for Griffin. Which team will land the intriguing lefty?
2. Rangers press conference today:
The Rangers made official a pair of previously reported free agent signings yesterday when they announced the additions of catcher Danny Jansen and left-hander Tyler Alexander. Jansen replaces Jonah Heim in Texas’s catching tandem alongside Kyle Higashioka, while Alexander adds another lefty to the club’s bullpen to complement setup man Robert Garcia. At 11am local time today, president of baseball operations Chris Young and GM Ross Fenstermaker will be holding a press conference over Zoom to discuss the club’s latest signings with reporters. Amid an offseason where the Rangers are known to be limited in their ability to spend, today’s press conference could offer some indication towards the club’s plans for the remainder of the offseason and how much flexibility remains in the team’s budget.
3. 40-man roster moves incoming:
The Tigers, Diamondbacks, and Cardinals worked out deals with free agent right-handers Kenley Jansen, Merrill Kelly, and Dustin May, respectively, over the weekend. All three of those clubs have 40-man rosters already at capacity, however, and as a result each club will need to make a corresponding move the clears space on the 40-man before it can bring its new player into the fold officially. Those corresponding moves could be as simple as designating a player for assignment, though it’s also possible that a trade could be worked out that creates additional breathing room on the roster by trading someone already on the 40-man for non-roster prospects. That could be a particularly realistic route for the Cardinals, who are known to be engaging in trade conversations regarding a number of players on their roster as they enter a rebuilding period.
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