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Cubs To Re-Sign Caleb Thielbar

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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 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.

More to come.

Pirates Sign Gregory Soto

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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.

Diamondbacks To Sign Merrill Kelly

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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.

Mutual Interest In Reunion Between Luke Weaver, Yankees

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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.

The Opener: Griffin, Rangers, Roster Moves

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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.

Phillies Sign Adolis Garcia To One-Year Deal

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December 16th: The Phils officially announced the signing today.

December 15th: The Phillies have agreed to a one-year deal with free agent outfielder Adolis Garcia, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. It’s still pending a physical. He’ll earn a guaranteed $10MM on the contract, per the report. Garcia is represented by Octagon.

Garcia was non-tendered by the Rangers last month. He’d been projected for a $12.1MM salary in 2026, his final year of arbitration, per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. Texas, looking to cut payroll and reshape an offense that had become to free-swinging and prone to low on-base percentages, moved on from Garcia rather than bring him back at that price.

Back in 2023, Garcia was a focal point in the offense that fueled the Rangers’ first-ever World Series title. He 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. Increasingly, Garcia became emblematic of the boom-or-bust approach the Rangers were trying to escape.

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 expanding the percentage of pitches at which he’s willing to swing.

The Phillies will hope for a return to that 2023 form — or at least something closer to that production than Garcia’s 2024-25 numbers. Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports that he’ll slot in as the Phillies’ new primary right fielder. That’s a role previously held by Nick Castellanos, whom the Phils have been hoping to trade throughout the offseason.

One way or another, Castellanos’ time in Philadelphia appears all but finished. He’s expected to be released if no trade comes together. The 33-year-old (34 in March) is owed $20MM next season in the final year of a five-year, $100MM contract that hasn’t at all gone as the Phillies hoped. That was never truer than in 2025, when Castellanos slashed a career-worst .250/.294/.400 and was valued below replacement level per both FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference due to those light rate stats and his poor defense in the outfield.

If nothing else, Garcia represents a massive defensive upgrade over Castellanos, who has long been viewed as a player best suited for DH-only work. Garcia has posted strong defensive grades in every season except 2024. His poor defensive grades that season could be tied to a knee injury suffered late in 2023, when Garcia hit the injured list with a strained patellar tendon. He returned from that injury and was a force at the plate in the postseason, but Garcia’s sprint speed (per Statcast) was a career-low in 2024. It bounced back a bit in 2025, albeit not all the way to its previous levels.

Still, Statcast painted the reason for Garcia’s 2024 downturn in defense as a major loss of range — his arm was still plus — which bounced back considerably in ’25. It’s reasonable to expect the former Gold Glove winner to provide above-average, if not plus defense. Compared to Castellanos, who was dinged for -11 Defensive Runs Saved last year, Garcia’s mark of +16 in that same category is a mammoth improvement.

There’s also still some hope that a change in scenery could bring about a rebound in the batter’s box. Garcia will work with renowned hitting coach Kevin Long in Philadelphia and be surrounded by a slew of veteran hitters, including Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Trea Turner. He’ll also be playing in a home park that’s friendlier to hitters than the Rangers’ Globe Life Field and have a stronger supporting cast around him in Philadelphia than he had in Arlington.

Adding Garcia to the mix bumps Philadelphia’s payroll north of $266MM, per RosterResource, while pushing the team’s projected luxury tax obligations to more than $297MM. The Phillies were already in the third luxury tier and are now within a few million of hitting the fourth and final bracket. They’ll pay a 95% tax on Garcia’s annual value, meaning he’ll actually cost the Phillies $19.5MM overall. That figure could change if the Phils are able to shed some of the Castellanos contract in a trade or if they move other pieces, but the Phillies also probably aren’t done adding. They’ll likely end up in that top luxury tier — or at the very least in the third tier, where they currently sit.

The Phils will likely have Garcia in right field and Brandon Marsh in left field on most days. They’ve looked into potential center field additions but also have top prospect Justin Crawford on the verge of an MLB look. Johan Rojas could get some time in center if Crawford doesn’t prove ready; Rojas is a light hitter but plus defender who still has a minor league option remaining. He’s a viable fourth outfielder or Triple-A depth, depending on the remaining slate of offseason additions and on how Crawford looks this spring.

Regardless of how center field pans out, this should be a much better defensive unit in 2026, and Garcia’s batted-ball metrics and track record create some hope that he could be a meaningful upgrade in the lineup, too. It’s a relatively pricey one-year gamble when factoring in the associated luxury hit, but Garcia comes with a nice defensive floor and more upside than most players available at this price point.

Braves Re-Sign Ha-Seong Kim

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The Braves are bringing back Ha-Seong Kim on a one-year, $20MM contract, per a club announcement. The team designated right-hander Osvaldo Bido for assignment to open the necessary 40-man roster spot. Kim, a Boras Corporation client, had declined a $16MM player option and earns a $4MM raise to return as Atlanta’s starting shortstop.

Kim spent the final month of the 2025 season with the Braves. They claimed him off waivers from the Rays, who were happy to get out from under the player option. Atlanta was long since buried in the playoff picture. The move was solely about building a relationship with Kim in the hope that he’d return next year. They preferred it’d be on the player option but felt that a few weeks within the clubhouse might give them an edge in re-signing him even if he opted out.

The righty-hitting Kim made a solid impression on his new club. He reeled off a 10-game hitting streak in the middle of September and recorded at least one knock in 15 of his first 19 contests. Kim finished in a 1-19 skid over his final five games, dropping him to a middling .253/.316/.368 line in 98 plate appearances. That was still quite a bit better than the .214/.290/.321 mark he’d put up in a similar amount of playing time over an injury-riddled few months in Tampa Bay.

Overall, Kim is coming off a .234/.304/.345 slash in 48 games. The Braves certainly feel that’s not representative of his true talent. Kim had been an above-average everyday player with the Padres between 2022-24. He was a slightly better than average hitter who played plus defense throughout the infield. Kim’s time in San Diego ended when he tore the labrum in his right shoulder diving into first base on a pickoff attempt in August ’24. He required surgery that led the Padres to opt against issuing him a qualifying offer.

The Rays surprisingly won the bidding for Kim last offseason, signing him to a two-year, $29MM deal with an opt-out. It was always a baffling move for a low-payroll club. The Rays signed Kim to a $13MM salary for the first season despite knowing he was unlikely to be a factor until a few months into the year. He didn’t make his season debut until shortly before the All-Star Break. Calf and back issues resulted in subsequent minimal injured list stays. While the Rays managed to offload the final few weeks of Kim’s salaries thanks to the waiver claim, they still paid a little more than $11MM for 24 games of replacement level production.

Kim should enter the 2026 season at full health. While his results were down this year, he posted career-high marks in average exit velocity and hard contact rate. That seems to bode well for his shoulder strength, at least in the batter’s box. There may be a little more cause for concern on defense. Kim’s arm strength was down around four miles per hour this past season, according to Statcast. His arm was closer to average than the plus weapon it had been in prior years, though it hasn’t dropped to a point where the team would have any concerns about his viability on the left side of the infield. Even the post-injury version of Kim threw harder on average than Mookie Betts, Corey Seager or Taylor Walls — all of whom were Gold Glove finalists at shortstop in 2025.

The Braves aren’t the only team that viewed Kim as a solid rebound candidate. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the 30-year-old rebuffed interest from clubs willing to go multiple years in order to get back to the market next winter. The Tigers were the only other team publicly linked to Kim this offseason, though clubs like the Giants and Pirates are known to be pursuing infield help. MLBTR had predicted Kim would receive a two-year, $30MM contract with an opt-out after the first season. He opts for the straight one-year deal at a higher salary to bet on himself.

Kim slots back in as Atlanta’s everyday shortstop. That’ll push trade pickup Mauricio Dubón into a utility role. The Braves were unable to make Kim a qualifying offer this offseason because they’d acquired him during the season. Assuming they don’t trade him midseason, they would have the ability to make the QO next winter. That’d entitle them to draft compensation if he plays well enough to reject and sign elsewhere.

Atlanta has been one of the most aggressive teams in the first couple months of free agency. Kim joins Robert Suarez, Raisel Iglesias and Mike Yastrzemski as significant free agent pickups. They took on Dubón’s final arbitration season, which costs $6.1MM. They have more than $245MM in guaranteed commitments for next season. They’re already well beyond this year’s approximate $208MM Opening Day mark.

The Kim signing also pushes them beyond the $244MM base luxury tax threshold, as calculated by RosterResource. They’re at roughly $255MM in CBT obligations. Atlanta had paid the luxury tax in 2023 and ’24 but stayed below the line this year. That reset their payor status going into 2026. They’re taxed at a 20% rate on their first $20MM above the line. For the moment, they have a minimal tax payment (roughly $2.2MM). That figures to climb throughout the offseason and into next year. The Braves still need to solidify a rotation that had been wrecked by injuries, and they’re certainly hoping to find themselves in position to add around the trade deadline.

With Kim staying at Truist Park, the shortstop market is essentially down to top free agent Bo Bichette. Depth types Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Willi Castro are the next-best options in free agency. There aren’t any obvious trade candidates at the position, which played into Atlanta’s decision to acquire a utilityman in Dubón to give them cover in case Kim priced himself out of their comfort zone.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that the Braves were re-signing Kim to a $20MM contract, which The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal specified was for one year. Image courtesy of Jordan Godfree, Imagn Images.

Angels Re-Sign Yolmer Sanchez To Minor League Deal

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The Angels brought back infielder Yolmer Sánchez on a minor league contract, according to the MLB.com transaction log. It’s unclear if he’ll get another invite to big league camp after appearing last spring as a non-roster invitee.

Sánchez is trying to get back to the big leagues for the first time since 2022. The switch-hitting infielder played seven seasons with the White Sox between 2014-20. He won a Gold Glove at second base in 2019. Sánchez hit .245/.300/.360 in nearly 2500 trips to the plate in a ChiSox uniform. He has spent most of the last five years at the Triple-A level. Sánchez got to the majors briefly again in 2022, suiting up for the Red Sox and Mets.

The 33-year-old spent the entire 2025 season with the Halos’ top affiliate in Salt Lake. He hit .246/.357/.329 with just four home runs through 492 trips to the plate. It’s a light bat, but the Angels clearly appreciate the defensive versatility that Sánchez brings as a veteran depth piece. He played all throughout the infield and made a few starts in both corner outfield positions.

Zach Neto is locked in at shortstop. The Angels could use a multi-positional infielder who can upgrade second and third base. They took a flier on former top prospect Vaughn Grissom in a trade with Boston at the Winter Meetings. Grissom and second-year infielder Christian Moore are the projected starters at second and third base, with Oswald Peraza and Denzer Guzman still in the mix. No one from that group has had any big league success, so the front office should look to raise the floor by adding at least an established veteran utility piece.

Miguel Sanó Finalizing Deal With NPB’s Chunichi Dragons

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The Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball are finalizing a one-year deal with slugger Miguel Sanó, reports Francys Romero. The signing is pending a physical.

Sanó hasn’t played in the regular season since being released by the Angels in July 2024. He has played winter ball in his native Dominican Republic for the past couple years. After posting an .856 OPS in 2024-25, Sanó has hit .315/.376/.663 with nine homers in 24 games this winter. That form earns him his first professional stint in Asia.

A former All-Star with the Twins, Sanó has a couple 30-homer seasons in the big leagues. He owns a .233/.325/.477 line with 164 home runs in just under 3000 career plate appearances. Sanó’s most recent above-average showing came in 2021. Injuries, strikeouts and his lack of defensive value pushed him to the fringe of MLB rosters after that. He played in 48 games with the Twins and Angels between 2022-24.

Foster Griffin Receiving Major League Offers

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Left-hander Foster Griffin has been eyeing a return to the majors after a strong three-year run in Japan. He’s received at least one multi-year offer, per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi.

The 30-year-old Griffin was a first-round pick, 28th overall, by the Royals back in 2014. He pitched in parts of two big league seasons between Kansas City and Toronto but totaled only eight innings. Griffin pitched well in the minors in 2021-22 and parlayed that into interest overseas, signing a one-year deal with the Yomiuri Giants.

Griffin re-signed with the Giants after a big first season and wound up spending three years in their rotation. He pitched to a sharp 2.57 ERA in 315 2/3 frames and fanned 25.1% of his opponents against a tidy 5.5% walk rate. Griffin still doesn’t throw particularly hard, sitting in the low 90s with his fastball, but he works with a deep arsenal. He primarily relies on a four-seamer, slider, cutter and changeup (in that order) but also mixes in a splitter, curve and two-seamer on occasion.

Griffin was on his way to another strong set of results in 2025 when he suffered a leg injury over the summer. He wound up pitching in only 14 games but totaled a terrific 1.62 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate in 78 innings. (Griffin also tossed 11 minor league innings, bringing him to 89 on the season overall.) He’s healthy now and going through a normal offseason progression.

Sources told MLBTR that Griffin has spoken to around eight teams with varying levels of interest. His priority in free agency will be latching on with a club that has clear rotation openings and a path to seize a starting job next season. It’s an understandable approach for a pitcher entering his age-30 season. A one- or two-year deal would put him back on the market ahead of his age-31 or age-32 season. That’s still young enough to command a more notable free agent deal if he can spend the next year or two proving himself as a credible big league starter by incorporating some of the changes he’s picked up overseas.

Teams in need of top-of-the-rotation upgrades aren’t going to look at Griffin’s NPB work and think it can transfer over. But the 6’3″, 225-pound lefty ought to be a relatively low-cost option for a club looking to plug some stable innings with a tinge of upside into the back of its rotation.

Griffin doesn’t have the premium velocity and whiff rate of Cody Ponce, who signed a $30MM deal with the Blue Jays in free agency earlier this winter, but we’ve still seen some solid paydays for pitchers returning to North America in recent years. Drew Anderson ($7MM) and Ryan Weiss ($2.6MM) both signed one-year, major league contracts coming back from Asia this winter. Left-hander Anthony Kay signed for two years and $12MM with the White Sox last week. Bringing starters back over from Nippon Professional Baseball and the Korea Baseball Organization is an increasingly popular way for teams to seek budget innings at the back of the rotation, which should bode well for Griffin on the back of a trio of nice seasons.

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