The White Sox announced this afternoon that they’ve designated catcher Drew Romo and right-hander Jairo Iriarte for assignment. The moves make room for Jordan Hicks and David Sandlin on the club’s 40-man roster after Chicago acquired the pair from Boston earlier today.
More to come.
The Red Sox are sending right-hander Jordan Hicks to the White Sox, according to a report from ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Right-handed pitching prospect David Sandlin is also headed to Chicago alongside Hicks, as noted by Passan. The Red Sox are receiving right-handed pitching prospect Gage Ziehl and a player to be named later in return, according to James Fegan of SoxMachine. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports that the Red Sox are including some cash in the deal, while the White Sox will take on the majority of Hicks’s salary. Will Sammon of The Athletic specifies that Boston will send $8MM cash to Chicago as part of the deal. Chicago will need to clear 40-man roster spots for both Hicks and Sandlin in order to make the deal official.
The move is a salary dump for the Red Sox, who clear $16MM of the $24MM Hicks was owed over the next two seasons off their books. The move lowers their current luxury tax payroll to $258MM according to RosterResource, just below the $264MM marker that represents the second threshold of the luxury tax. There have been some indications dating back to the early parts of the offseason that Boston prefers to stay under that second threshold this winter, though trades for pricey veterans such as Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras in addition to the signing of Ranger Suarez had previously pushed them over that line. Trading away the bulk of Hicks’s salary has allowed them to sneak back under, though with the team still known to be looking for infield help it’s entirely possible that additional moves could change that positioning.
In order to get Hicks off the books, the Red Sox are parting ways with Sandlin. Sandlin was ranked as Boston’s #11 prospect by Baseball America headed into the 2026 campaign. The soon-to-be 25-year-old righty struggled in a 23 2/3 inning look at Triple-A last year, but pitched to an impressive 3.61 ERA across 17 outings (13 starts) at the Double-A level with a 25.4% strikeout rate. Sandlin’s viewed as a player with a chance to stick in a big league rotation who could’ve helped Boston’s bullpen as soon as this year, but now he’ll head to Chicago where he’ll have an easier chance to find a big league role in the short-term. Shane Smith, Davis Martin, Sean Burke, Anthony Kay, and Sean Newcomb currently stand as the team’s projected starters entering Spring Training, but Sandlin could join players like Jonathan Cannon, and fellow former Red Sox hurler Chris Murphy in standing as a primary depth option behind those players, with a chance to earn a job on the big league club out of camp this spring.
Going the other way is Ziehl, who Baseball America ranked as Chicago’s #21 prospect headed into the 2026 campaign. Acquired from the Yankees over the summer in the Austin Slater trade, Ziehl made his pro debut last year with a 4.12 ERA in 22 appearances (21 starts) across the Single-A, High-A, and Double-A levels. The righty has a five-pitch repertoire led by a solid sweeper, but the rest of his arsenal draws unimpressive marks despite previous scouting reports that suggested his fastball could top out at 97mph. The righty figures to start the year at Double-A for the Red Sox, but questions remain about whether he can be more than a long reliever in the majors.
The deal is a sensible one for the White Sox to make as they look to accelerate their rebuild and gather more credible MLB talent. After trading Luis Robert Jr. to the Mets in a deal that garnered infielder Luisangel Acuna, the Sox have reinvested in the big league club by signing Austin Hays to replace Robert in the outfield and adding Seranthony Dominguez to a bullpen that needed a competent closer. This latest move adds another young pitcher close to the majors in Sandlin while also bringing an intriguing bounce-back candidate into the fold. While Hicks wasn’t likely to have a role with the Red Sox this year after struggling to an 8.20 ERA with the club, there’s little reason for Chicago to not roll the dice on a player with an upper-90s fastball and a history of success in the majors.
Hicks has primarily pitched as a starter in recent years after signing with the Giants as a rotation piece, but his biggest successes (including a dominant 2023 season with the Cardinals and Blue Jays) saw him pitch in relief. It’s unclear what role Hicks will take with the White Sox this season, but given their lack of quality bullpen pieces (outside of Dominguez) and their deep group of potential starting options, perhaps a move back to the bullpen could make some sense for the hard-throwing righty. Should he return to the bullpen this year, he’ll have the chance to join the likes of Mike Vasil, Jordan Leasure, and Grant Taylor in handling setup duties behind Dominguez.
With Luis Arraez having departed for San Francisco on a one-year deal yesterday, it’s now official that the Padres will have a new face at first base this year. As noted by Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Gavin Sheets figures to get the first crack at the position for San Diego this year.
Sheets, 29, turned in a decent performance in his first year with the club last season. Across 145 games, Sheets slashed .252/.317/.429 with a wRC+ of 111. Sheets’s overall production was dragged down by atrocious defensive numbers in the outfield, however, and it’s possible that a return to his natural position for the first time since he was a farmhand in the White Sox organization (where he was blocked by Jose Abreu, prompting his ill-fated move to the outfield) could help him recoup some defensive value and build on 2025’s solid offensive numbers to become a more well-rounded contributor.
While improved defense as a result of moving from the outfield to first base would be a helpful, it won’t fix the hefty platoon split Sheets had last season. He posted a 119 wRC+ against righties while struggling to the tune of an 89 wRC+ against same-handed pitching. That difference was mostly seen in the power department; Sheets slugged 17 of his 19 homers against right-handers in 2025, as well as 37 of his 48 extra-base hits overall. Getting a right-handed complement to Sheets in the door would make plenty of sense, with Paul Goldschmidt, Ty France, and Rhys Hoskins among the right-handed first baseman still available on the market.
Such an addition could also factor into the DH mix, which has been unsettled by Sheets moving over to first. Offseason signing Sung-Mun Song and youngster Will Wagner could both factor in at the position, though they’ll also get the opportunity to handle some first base duties behind Sheets as needed. Song’s versatility as an infielder capable of handling first, second, or third base creates an opportunity for the DH slot in the lineup to be used to rest regulars at other positions. Manny Machado, for example, could get days to rest at DH while Song fills in for him at the hot corner. Xander Bogaerts could also see time at DH, with Jake Cronenworth capable of giving him a breather at shortstop as needed.
Sanders writes that utilizing the DH to rest regulars is part of the plan for newly-minted manager Craig Stammen, but Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune also relays that president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has not ruled out the possibility of a meaningful addition to the DH mix. If the Padres were to sign a platoon partner for Sheets, that player could surely factoring into the DH mix against right-handed hitters while spelling Sheets at first when a lefty is on the mound, thereby opening up DH to rest veterans like Machado and Bogaerts.
With all that said, it’s at least plausible that the most important signing the Padres make in the coming weeks is with Preller himself. While Preller acknowledged to reporters (including Heilbrunn) that he hopes to add players who will impact the roster in the coming weeks, as he has in previous years when making additions like Nick Pivetta and Dylan Cease late in the offseason calendar, he also noted that his focus on the roster has caused his own contract status to fall to the wayside.
As relayed by Heilbrunn, Preller told reporters that an extension ahead of his final season under contract not yet being in place is partially “on him,” and that while the sides have not yet reached a “win-win deal” he hopes to have something in place soon. That’s a different tone than was struck by reporting back in November, which suggested that Preller was in talks on a new contract with the club and that a deal could’ve been just days away. That obviously did not come to fruition, and now it seems at least plausible that Preller could enter 2026 without security about his future.
It’s an especially precarious position for San Diego’s front office leader to be in considering previous reports of behind-the-scenes tension between Preller and club CEO Erik Greupner. It will be worth watching Preller’s status until an extension is revealed, as he would surely be a coveted talent for rival franchises around the league if the Padres were to decide to let him go. Preller took over in San Diego in the final weeks of the 2014 season, and while the Padres have only made the playoffs four times under his leadership, the team’s body of work over the past six seasons represents the most successful stretch of baseball in franchise history.
The 2026 World Baseball Classic is just around the corner, three years after the last tournament ended in epic fashion with Shohei Ohtani striking out then-Angels teammate Mike Trout to give Team Japan the win over Team USA. Fans and players alike are excited for the event around the game, but a wrench has been thrown into the works as a number of players have been denied insurance coverage to participate in the tournament. As noted by Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the insurance concerns are significant enough that Team Puerto Rico has suggested they might need to withdraw from the tournament entirely due to eight to ten players on their expected roster being denied coverage.
Puerto Rico’s losses are headlined by team captain and Mets superstar Francisco Lindor, whose coverage was denied on the basis of a minor elbow procedure he underwent back in October. That denied coverage comes in spite of the fact that Lindor is expected to be ready for Spring Training and played in 160 of the Mets’ games last year. After injuries to Edwin Diaz and Jose Altuve during the 2023 tournament, Drellich and Rosenthal report not only that insurance has become more expensive but also that the league’s insurer has adopted more of a hard line stance on what players they will and won’t approve.
Recent surgery and trips to the 60-day injured list are typically disqualifying for receiving insurance coverage, according to Drellich and Rosenthal, though they add that the league’s insurer reviews each individual player on a case-by-case basis. Alden Gonzalez of ESPN offers a bit more detail on the standards of National Financial Partners, the MLB-partnered insurance broker who handles the policy. Players classified as having “chronic” injuries have a harder time getting insured. Players who were injured for 60 days or longer in the prior season, who missed two of their team’s last three games due to injury in the prior season, who underwent offseason surgery, have undergone multiple surgeries throughout their career, or were placed on the injured list on the final day of August or later in the prior season can all be flagged as having “chronic” injuries.
Another disqualifying factor is age, as Rosenthal and Drellich indicate that NFP will not cover players once they turn 37. That’s left Miguel Rojas to be denied coverage ahead of his 37th birthday on February 24, blocking him from participating with Team Venezuela. Rojas won’t be the only one denied coverage due to age, however, as Drellich and Rosenthal note that NFP is also unlikely to cover players who will turn 37 during the window of coverage associated a team would receive if the player gets hurt. Insurance typically covers two years of salary for position players and four years of salary for pitchers.
It should be noted that denial of insurance coverage doesn’t automatically disqualify a player from participating in the WBC. Rather, it then puts the onus on the player’s MLB club regarding whether the team is willing to stomach the risk of that player participating in the tournament while uninsured. It’s a rare but not unheard of step for a team to take. Rosenthal and Drellich note Miguel Cabrera’s participation in the tournament back in 2023 as an instance where a player was permitted to play uninsured. Of course, it should be noted that Cabrera was headed into the final season of his Hall of Fame caliber career and was already slated to be a part-time player, so the risk for Detroit if he did suffer a major injury was extremely small.
This isn’t only an issue that impacts players with hefty salaries. Team Puerto Rico’s operations manager, Joey Sola, told Drellich and Rosenthal that even some Double-A players without MLB salary guarantees or invites to big league Spring Training have been flagged in the insurance process. At the major league level, a number of relievers and other players with relatively low salaries have been denied coverage in spite of the substantially lower payout associated with them relative to the injury of a star player on a nine-figure contract.
Turning to Team Puerto Rico specifically, Gonzalez writes that Victor Caratini, Carlos Correa, Jose Berrios, Emilio Pagan, and Alexis Diaz are all expected to miss the tournament in addition to Lindor. So too is southpaw Jovani Moran, as noted by Tim Healey of the Boston Globe. Drellich and Rosenthal write that Moran’s case is under review, as are the cases of right-handers Luis Quinones and Yacksel Rios. Puerto Rico, with a population of just 3.2 million on the island, is being hit particularly hard by these losses due to a lack of quality substitutes. Puerto Rico’s capital of San Juan is scheduled to play host to one of the four pools in Round 1 of the WBC, joining Houston, Miami, and Tokyo. Multiple reports have indicated that Team Puerto Rico’s statements about potentially withdrawing from the tournament could lead to a less stringent approach towards approval for some of the team’s players.
The possible withdrawal of Team Puerto Rico isn’t the only controversy stemming from the coverage denials. As noted by Drellich and Rosenthal, Rojas and some in the Puerto Rican media have criticized the process as being particularly harsh on Latin American countries, with the United States and Japan receiving favorable treatment.
“My only question is: Why is it just with our countries [in Latin America], like Venezuela, Puerto Rico, a couple Dominican players?” Rojas said, as relayed by Gonzalez. “I don’t see that happening with the United States or happening with Japan. And I’m not trying to attack anybody, or attack what’s going on … but at the end of the day, it feels like it’s just happening with the players that want to represent their country from Latin America. So, there’s a lot of things I would like to talk about with someone in control, with someone from MLB.”
It’s not hard to understand that perspective, given that Ohtani would seem to fit the bill of a player with a “chronic” injury according to the process Gonzalez laid out after undergoing surgeries throughout his career. While Ohtani has been cleared to play for Team Japan as a DH, it’s also important to note that he will not pitch in the WBC and that reporting from Drellich and Rosenthal indicates he was not likely to be approved for coverage as a pitcher.
Another gripe that’s been expressed with the process is the extremely short turnaround time on decisions. WBC rosters are due this coming Tuesday, February 3, and will be announced on Thursday February 5. Some cases still remain under review and a number of decisions have come within just the last few days, leaving WBC teams to scramble for replacements when their expected players get denied coverage unexpectedly.
“In some ways, I think it’s a little bit unfair,” Sola said, as relayed by Drellich and Rosenthal. “Especially when you are three days from submitting your final roster. Who in the world would think Lindor wasn’t on the (eligible) list? You wait until the last weekend to get an answer on Lindor? C’mon.”
It remains to be seen whether Team Puerto Rico will withdraw from the tournament, or if some combination of players approved for coverage after review and a collection of substitute players will be enough to allow them to remain as part of the tournament. With less than 48 hours remaining until the day rosters are due, however, time is running out for the WBC, MLB, the MLBPA, and NFP to handle this issue.
The Giants and infielder Luis Arraez are in agreement on a one-year contract, according to Jorge Castillo of ESPN. Arraez will earn $12MM and is expected to play second base, according to Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. The deal is pending a physical. Arraez is a client of MVP Sports Group.
Arraez entered the offseason seeking a multi-year deal and was reportedly prioritizing teams that would play him at second base. He now gets his wish, as the Giants will slot him in at the keystone to round out their infield mix. Arraez passed up multi-year offers from other teams in order to play second base, according to multiple reports, including from Bob Nightengale of USA Today. We at MLBTR projected Arraez for a two-year, $24MM contract at the start of the offseason. This deal matches that in terms of annual value and allows Arraez to return to free agency following the 2026 season.
The addition of Arraez brings the Giants’ 2026 payroll to $206MM, according to RosterResource, nearly $30MM above last year’s payroll. Their CBT payroll for 2026 now stands at $232.7MM, which leaves about $11.3MM for future additions before the Giants reach the first luxury tax threshold. Arraez represents the second eight-figure signing this week for the club, after they inked Harrison Bader to a two-year, $20.5MM deal on Monday.
Arraez will add a contact-oriented bat to a power-heavy infield. Matt Chapman and Willy Adames combined for 51 home runs last season. Rafael Devers added 20 homers in his 90 games with the team. Top prospect Bryce Eldridge is waiting in the wings to add another big bat to the mix. Each of those hitters comes with varying degrees of strikeout concerns, and Arraez should help balance out some of the swing-and-miss in the middle of the lineup.
The 28-year-old Arraez is coming off a relatively poor season by his lofty batting average standards. He hit .292 in his lone full season in San Diego. That mark still ranked in the top five in the National League, but it was the lowest of his seven-year career. A .289 BABIP could be to blame for the dropoff, though Arraez’s batted ball profile also took a step back.
Arraez has never hit the ball hard, instead relying on a ridiculously low strikeout rate and an all-fields approach to rack up hits. He reached new depths with the hard-hit rate in 2025, ranking dead last among qualified hitters at 16.7%. His previous career low was a 22.7% hard-hit rate as a rookie with Minnesota. He still squared the ball up at one of the highest rates in the league (42.6%), but that doesn’t mean much when you have an extremely low bat speed. Arraez’s average bat speed was about 9 mph below league average last season.
The defensive fit is an unsettling one. Arraez earned poor grades in the field in 2023 and 2024, combining for -26 Outs Above Average across the two seasons. He served as Miami’s primary second baseman in 2023, but moved to first base after getting dealt to the Padres in May 2024. The vast majority of Arraez’s defensive reps came at first base this past season. He posted -9 OAA, though Defensive Runs Saved had him at +3. Arraez will now slot in alongside Devers, who has also earned ugly fielding grades over the past few seasons. Scouts are not excited about Eldridge’s defensive ability, either.
As multiple Cardinals reporters pointed out, including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat, the addition of Arraez might remove the Giants from the Brendan Donovan trade discussion. The same goes for Nico Hoerner of the Cubs. San Francisco was known to be working hard on finding a second base upgrade and had engaged in trade talks for both players.
The club’s second basemen finished 26th in OPS in 2025. Tyler Fitzgerald, Casey Schmitt, and Christian Koss handled the majority of the at-bats at the position. Schmitt is the only one trending toward a role with the big-league club next season, assuming he’s recovered from offseason wrist surgery. Given his defensive versatility and underwhelming production at the plate, he’s best-suited for a utility role. Schmitt could conceivably earn second base starts over Arraez against lefties, though his .674 career OPS vs. southpaws is nearly identical to Arraez’s .673 mark.
Photos courtesy of David Frerker and William Liang, Imagn Images
Catcher Brian O’Keefe is heading to MLB Spring Training with the Mariners, the team announced Friday. O’Keefe joined the organization on a minor league pact that same day, per his MLB.com transaction tracker.
The agreement is a homecoming of sorts for O’Keefe. The veteran catcher made his MLB debut with Seattle back in 2022. He appeared in 10 games with the Mariners from 2022 to 2023. O’Keefe went to Spring Training with the Twins the following year, but was cut in March. He landed in Kansas City as a minor league free agent. He launched 18 home runs with a 130 wRC+ in 72 games with Omaha in 2024. The strong performance earned O’Keefe a Spring Training invitation with the Royals, but he ended up back with the Storm Chasers. He hit .158 in 43 games with the team this past year and was released in June.
St. Louis took O’Keefe in the seventh round of the 2014 draft. He was a well-above league-average hitter in the Cardinals system, but never made it beyond Double-A. O’Keefe ended up in Seattle’s organization in December 2019. A Curt Casali trip to the paternity list led to O’Keefe’s first callup. He spent a bit more time with the big-league club following a Tom Murphy injury.
Seattle has a rock-solid option in Cal Raleigh handling most of the reps behind the plate, though the club’s depth options have shifted this offseason. The Mariners dealt Harry Ford to the Nationals in a trade that netted reliever Jose A. Ferrer. A reunion with free agent Mitch Garver was mentioned in December, but nothing came of it. Seattle instead signed Andrew Knizner, traded for Jhonny Pereda, and handed Spring Training invitations to former big leaguers O’Keefe and Jakson Reetz.
Photo courtesy of Erik Williams, Imagn Images
Shohei Ohtani was on the mound for the final out of the last World Baseball Classic, striking out then-teammate Mike Trout to take home the trophy. The 2026 edition of the event won’t feature Ohtani the pitcher. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters, including Alden Gonzalez of ESPN, that the Japanese right-hander will not be pitching in the WBC. Roberts added that it was Ohtani’s decision.
Though Roberts said the team “absolutely” would’ve worked out Ohtani pitching in the tournament if he wanted to (per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register), recent developments around WBC insurance may have thrown a wrench into the situation. Evan Drellich of The Athletic noted Ohtani was unlikely to be covered as a pitcher, meaning he couldn’t have pitched in the WBC regardless of his personal preference. The insurance issues have led Team Puerto Rico to consider removing themselves from the event.
Ohtani will still be on Team Japan as a DH. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic relayed that the righty said he’ll be ready to pitch to open the regular season. Ohtani didn’t pitch at all in 2024 as he recovered from elbow surgery. A shoulder procedure at the conclusion of that season kept him off the mound until June of this past year. Ohtani made 14 starts for the Dodgers in 2025. He delivered a 2.87 ERA across 47 innings. Ohtani wasn’t as dominant in the playoffs, though he did toss six innings in three of his four outings, something he did just once in the regular season.
Health tends to be the main question mark for L.A.’s rotation, and Blake Snell is taking steps to make sure he feels right in 2026. The talented left-hander told reporters, including Ardaya, that he’s taking a more deliberate approach to building up strength this offseason. “Last year, I was rushing,” Snell said. “I wanted to pitch so bad.”
After signing a massive five-year, $182MM deal, Snell went down with shoulder inflammation just two starts into his Dodgers tenure. He posted eight walks to just four strikeouts in those two games. “Just never felt great, never felt what the normal (is) I’ve felt my whole career,” Snell said. He returned in August and looked like himself, piling up strikeouts and keeping opposing offenses off the board. The lefty limited the Reds, Phillies, and Brewers to two earned runs over 21 innings in the playoffs. The Blue Jays tagged him for 10 earned runs over three appearances, but Snell’s final postseason line still looks solid.
Even with the slower buildup, “the plan” is for Snell to be ready for Opening Day, per Sonja Chen of MLB.com. If Snell isn’t ready by late March, Roki Sasaki and Emmet Sheehan would likely fill out a rotation. The Dodgers are a good bet to rely on more than five starters anyway, given the injury histories and heavy workloads of their core arms. As Ardaya points out, the starters covered 137 1/3 of 165 innings during the 2025 playoff run.
Tommy Edman is also going with the gradual approach this offseason. The 30-year-old is recovering from ankle surgery. The procedure included ligament repair and the removal of bone spurs, notes Ardaya. Edman said the issues affected him as a baserunner and as a defender bouncing between second base and center field. Similar to Snell, his status for Opening Day is uncertain.
“I think it all depends on how the progression goes along,” Edman said. “I’m not putting that as a hard line in the sand. I am doing everything I can to be ready for Opening Day. But if it comes around to that time and my ankle is 90 percent, not quite where I need it to be, I’m going to do my best to be patient with it and get it back to 100 percent and not dealing with it for the rest of the year.”
The Red Sox have agreed to a minor-league deal with catcher Matt Thaiss, according to Andrew Parker of SoxProspects (link via Chris Cotillo of MassLive). Thaiss receives an invite to big-league Spring Training.
The 30-year-old was a first-round pick out of the University of Virginia in 2016 by the Angels. He debuted for them in 2019, batting .211/.293/.422 with an 86 wRC+ and a .211 ISO in 164 plate appearances that year. Thaiss has continued to post mid-80s wRC+ values throughout his career. After not getting much playing time from 2020-22, he got an extended look in 2023, making 307 PA in 95 games for the Halos. His 27.0% strikeout rate that year was worse than average, though his above-average 11.7% walk rate kept his on-base percentage above .300 even as he posted a low batting average.
In 2024, Logan O’Hoppe’s ascension to the starting catcher role limited Thaiss’s playing time. That November, the team signed Travis d’Arnaud as their new backup catcher and designated Thaiss for assignment. He was traded first to the Cubs and then eventually to the White Sox. He split 2025 between the White Sox and the Rays, batting .218/.349/.288 with an 89 wRC+ that was plenty serviceable for a backup catcher. Reviews of his defense were mixed. He was worth 3 Defensive Runs Saved in 411 2/3 innings behind the plate this year, drawing positive marks for his blocking. On the flip side, Statcast rated his caught stealing rate, framing, and pop time all in the 18th percentile or lower.
For the Red Sox, Thaiss is a no-risk depth option behind incumbent Carlos Narvaez and Connor Wong. Narvaez had a 97 wRC+ in 446 PA this year and was worth 10 DRS behind the plate. Wong and Thaiss won’t challenge him for starting time, but Thaiss’s consistent mid-80s wRC+ and above-average walk rate could challenge Wong for the backup spot, where Wong was a decent defender but a black hole offensively in 2025 (39 wRC+). Thaiss has over three years of service time and is out of options.
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images
With Spring Training set to begin in just a couple of weeks, three-time batting champion Luis Arraez continues to linger on the market. Having played out his final arbitration year with the Padres, Arraez always figured to be an interesting case in free agency. His high contact and low strikeout rates earn him plenty of old-school fans. On the flip side, his lack of power, low walk rates, and defensive limitations make his value questionable from an analytics standpoint.
The rumor mill has been extremely quiet on Arraez outside of the Padres’ reported interest in a reunion back in November. Early last week, 75.17% of MLBTR readers predicted that he would settle for a one-year deal rather than hold out for a multi-year pact. Now, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that Arraez is weighing one-year and multi-year offers from clubs, with a priority of returning to playing second base.
The 28-year-old has played at every infield spot since debuting with the Twins in 2019. Second and first base account for the overwhelming majority of those innings. Defensive metrics have been largely negative on his glove at second. In 2,793 defensive innings there, Arraez has been worth -6 Defensive Runs Saved and -35 Outs Above Average. His most recent year as a regular second baseman was 2023 with the Marlins. In 1,124 innings that year, he was worth 4 DRS but -11 OAA. His glovework at the keystone was last seen positively by both metrics in 2022 (3 DRS and 1 OAA), but that was in just 277 2/3 innings.
Statcast considers Arraez’s range and arm strength well-below-average, both of which limit his value. Perhaps recognizing that, the Padres shifted him to first base after acquiring him in May 2024. From 2024-25 with San Diego, Arraez played 1,517 2/3 innings at first base compared to just 140 innings at the keystone. That move didn’t necessarily improve his defensive value. DRS painted him as an average first baseman in that span (0 DRS), while OAA remained negative in their outlook (-11 OAA). His -6 OAA in 2025 tied with the Athletics’ Nick Kurtz for third-worst among qualified first basemen.
From that track record, it’s not unreasonable that teams might want to limit his time in the field. Of course, that raises the issue of whether Arraez’s offense is enough for a full-time DH role. In 2025, designated hitters posted a 110 wRC+ with a .188 isolated power output. Arraez’s 107 wRC+ since the start of 2024 is comparable to that, but his .089 ISO is less than half the usual mark for the position. Feinsand’s post doesn’t specify the interested teams or the terms of their offers, so it’s still not clear how the market values Arraez overall. In any case, the fact that he is prioritizing a return to second base could limit his earning power, especially on a multi-year deal.
The one-year route may be his best option. Arraez turns 29 in April and has several prime years remaining, so if he performs well in 2026, he could return to the market still young enough for a multi-year deal. He’ll never become a Gold Glover, but a pillow contract could at least allow him to improve his offense relative to his walk year this time around. His .292/.327/.392 slash line in 2025 amounted to a 104 wRC+. Though above-average, it was underwhelming production at first base, a position with 9% better-than-average offense by wRC+ this year. In contrast, second basemen were 10% below average as hitters, though with much better defense than first basemen.
From that lens, the question is which version of Arraez the market values more. He doesn’t hit as well as the average first baseman, but poor defense isn’t unusual for that position anyway. As a second baseman, Arraez’s offense plays up, but his defense becomes a much bigger liability. He has reportedly been working on his defense at second base during the offseason (link via Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El Extrabase), though it remains to be seen how much that matters to the teams alluded to by Feinsand.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
The Mariners signed right-hander Michael Rucker to a minor league deal earlier this month, according to Rucker’s MLB.com profile page. Rucker’s contract included an invitation to the Mariners’ big league spring camp, as per the list of non-roster invites Seattle released yesterday.
Rucker began his college career at Gonzaga, so this deal with the M’s could represent a return to the Pacific Northwest if the righty is able to break camp with the team. After transferring to BYU later in his NCAA days, Rucker was an 11th-round selection by the Cubs in the 2016 draft, and he broke into the bigs with Chicago in 2021. Over 123 1/3 MLB innings from 2021-23, Rucker posted a 4.96 ERA, 22.6% strikeout rate, 46.6% grounder rate, and 9.4% walk rate out of the Cubs’ bullpen.
These uninspiring numbers weren’t enough to keep Rucker on the roster, as Chicago designated him for assignment in February 2024 and soon traded him to the Phillies in a cash deal. He was limited to 30 2/3 minor league innings for the Phillies and Nationals in 2024 due to an arterial vasospasm in his pitching hand. The Nats outrighted Rucker off their 40-man roster following the 2024 campaign, and he then didn’t pitch at all in 2025.
As he enters his age-32 season, Rucker is looking to revive his career and show what he can do in the Mariners’ Spring Training camp. Rucker is probably more of a candidate to pitch at Triple-A Tacoma than he is to win a spot on Seattle’s Opening Day roster, but he can provide the M’s with some experienced bullpen depth. The righty has a 4.01 ERA, 25.64K%, and 7.54% walk rate over 107 2/3 career innings at the Triple-A level.
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