Padres Notes: Pivetta, Song, Cronenworth
The Padres are pushing Nick Pivetta’s scheduled start on Sunday back due to arm fatigue, reports Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune. San Diego’s staff ace had been scheduled to throw a standard bullpen session this afternoon. That was also delayed, though Acee writes that Pivetta should throw a bullpen within a few days and could be back in game action next week.
There doesn’t seem to be any real concern. Pitchers are still building up arm strength at this stage of Spring Training. Pivetta also has one of the stronger durability track records of any pitcher in the league. Aside from illness, he has only gone on the injured list once in his MLB career — a month-long absence early in 2024 due to a flexor strain. He returned without issue and had the best season of his career for San Diego last year.
If the pause lasts more than a few days, it’s possible it’ll lead the Padres to reconsider the way they order their season-opening rotation. San Diego hasn’t announced who’ll take the ball against Tarik Skubal and the Tigers on March 26. Pivetta would be the obvious choice on the heels of a sixth-place Cy Young finish. He has made two starts this spring, building to 43 pitches on Tuesday. Michael King, Joe Musgrove and Randy Vásquez are expected to follow him in the rotation. There’s an open competition for the fifth starter role.
A more notable camp storyline is the health of utility player Sung-mun Song. The former KBO star tweaked his right oblique during offseason training. Song was cleared early in camp and has appeared in seven Spring Training games, batting .250 with one home run across 19 plate appearances. He felt renewed tightness in the oblique during Thursday’s game and was lifted after two at-bats.
Song didn’t play on Friday and is listed as day to day. Manager Craig Stammen told Acee the team will approach the situation with increased caution now that the oblique has flared up twice. He noted that it’s more general soreness than something that can be traced to one swing, which likely would have signified a more acute strain. Song’s status for Opening Day is nevertheless back in question. If he’s not available, Mason McCoy or Will Wagner could win a utility role.
A second/third baseman in Korea, Song was making his first professional start at shortstop in yesterday’s game. The Padres have also had him take outfield drills to build more defensive versatility. They’ll have Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado in the lineup most days at Song’s respective primary positions.
Cronenworth is out to a strong start in camp, batting .353 through his first 18 plate appearances. He connected on his first home run of exhibition play in Thursday’s 27-6 rout of the Mariners. AJ Cassavell of MLB.com notes that the longball came to left-center field. That’s not ordinarily noteworthy, but the lefty-hitting Cronenworth has never hit a regular season home run to the opposite field. He has 80 career longballs over six seasons, all of which have gone to the pull side.
One exhibition homer isn’t going to suddenly make Cronenworth an all-fields power threat. It came off a Double-A pitcher in a game where the wind was blowing out; the teams combined for 12 homers altogether. Still, it’s a positive indicator that aligns with some tweaks which Cronenworth made over the winter to his weight transfer and bat path. Cassavell chats with the veteran infielder and first-year hitting coach Steven Souza Jr. about the adjustments for a piece that Padres fans will want to give a full read.
Poll: Will Munetaka Murakami Or Tatsuya Imai Have The Better Rookie Year?
All around the baseball world, the offseason started with a great deal of hype for the two top talents coming over from Japan to play in MLB: slugger Munetaka Murakami and starter Tatsuya Imai. Both players seemed likely to follow in the footsteps of other recent stars to make the jump from NPB to the majors, including Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Seiya Suzuki, and be among the most coveted free agents on the market. Things did not pan out that way, however, as both players found surprisingly soft markets and wound up taking short-term deals with the hope of returning to the open market after establishing themselves as quality big leaguers.
As they prepare for their respective rookie seasons, Murakami as a member of the White Sox and Imai with the Astros, who is better positioned to do just that? When looking at the contracts the pair got, it’s easy to argue that Imai’s more lucrative deal indicates a greater level of confidence in his ability to succeed. He landed a three-year, $54MM contract with Houston back in January that provides him the opportunity to opt out after either the 2026 or ’27 season. That’s an extra year and $20MM relative to Murakami’s deal in Chicago, not to mention that Murakami doesn’t have an opt-out clause in his deal.
It’s easy to see why teams would’ve had a bit more confidence in Imai than Murakami. Murakami comes with multiple unique questions, including whether his defense will hold up in the majors at either first or third base and whether there’s room for improvement on his extremely low contact rates from his time overseas. Imai doesn’t really come with comparable concerns; his mid-90s velocity and four-pitch mix are strong bets to play in the majors in terms of floor, leaving the Astros less likely to come up completely empty on their investment than the White Sox.
What Murakami lacks in terms of floor, however, it can be argued that he makes up for with exceptional upside. Murakami’s contact rates might be among the lowest in the majors if translated over, but players like Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Kyle Schwarber, and Nick Kurtz are among the most productive hitters in the entire sport despite high strikeout rates and a proclivity for racking up whiffs. It’s easy to see why Murakami’s sensational exit velocities could allow him to compare to those elite sluggers, particularly given that he only just celebrated his 26th birthday.
It’s fair to wonder if Imai has that sort of elite upside to offer. While his velocity is impressive, scouts have suggested that his fastball lacks the movement necessary to be a high-end pitch. That in conjunction with the control issues he’s flashed at various points in his MLB career might cap his ceiling at something closer to the middle of a big league rotation. Murakami, by contrast, could find himself battling with the likes of Judge and Cal Raleigh at the top of the home run leaderboards if he manages to make enough contact to be productive and continues to grow as a player.
If Murakami breaks out the way some both in Japan and the United States have believed he’s capable of doing, it’s hard to imagine Imai being able to hold a candle to that production no matter how close to his own ceiling he gets. With that said, it could be difficult for either to make much noise in Rookie of the Year conversations. The AL figures to feature a stacked class including players like Kevin McGonigle, Samuel Basallo, Dylan Beavers, Trey Yesavage, and Carter Jensen. Even if Murakami or Imai outproduces those players, their status as foreign professionals already in their mid-20s could still hurt them in Rookie of the Year voting, especially against younger players like McGonigle and Basallo.
How to MLBTR readers view the pair headed into their rookie seasons? Who will have the more productive year? Will either one manage to force themselves into conversations for the AL Rookie of the Year award? Have your say in the polls below:
Who will have the better 2026 season?
Will Murakami and/or Imai receive Rookie of the Year votes?
Peralta Seeking “Seven Or Eight” Years In Extension Talks
The Mets paid a fairly significant prospect price to acquire ace Freddy Peralta from Milwaukee in January. A bargain $8MM salary was a big part of his trade value. The Mets surely have some interest in keeping the impending free agent in Queens at what would be significantly higher prices beyond this year.
Although Peralta has expressed openness to extension talks, he’s targeting the kind of contract which the Mets have mostly avoided under president of baseball operations David Stearns. Peralta told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic earlier this week that he was looking for a long-term deal. He was more specific on Friday, telling Jon Heyman of The New York Post he’s seeking “seven or eight years.”
It’d be surprising if the Mets go to that length, at least before Peralta hits the open market. As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker (available to Front Office subscribers), the Mets haven’t signed a pitcher for more than three years since Stearns was hired in 2023.
Last winter’s three-year, $75MM deal with Sean Manaea is their only pitching contract beyond two seasons. They reportedly made a 12-year offer to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but he was an ace coming over from Japan at age 25. It has been a similar setup on the position player side. They were willing to do essentially whatever it took to sign Juan Soto, but they’ve otherwise pursued short-term deals at huge annual rates with their free agent targets.
Stearns has traded for Peralta twice and signed him to a bargain early-career extension when he was running baseball operations in Milwaukee. He understandably loves the player and clearly appreciates what he brings to the clubhouse.
That said, Peralta would be a more typical high-end free agent than a nearly unique case like Soto or Yamamoto. He turns 30 in June, so the first year of an extension or free agent deal would be his age-31 season. He’s an excellent pitcher but is a clear notch below the likes of Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes as the best arms in MLB.
Last season’s fifth-place Cy Young finish was the first time in Peralta’s career that he appeared on ballots. He’s coming off a career-low 2.70 earned run average through 176 2/3 innings. He ranked 11th among starters (minimum 120 innings) with a 28.2% strikeout rate. Peralta hasn’t missed a start in three seasons and ranks 15th in innings pitched during that time.
There’s some recent precedent for a seven-plus year deal with that profile. Aaron Nola commanded seven years and $175MM from the Phillies at the same age in 2023. Nola was extremely durable but didn’t throw as hard as Peralta does and had started to struggle with the home run ball.
Dylan Cease pulled seven years and $210MM (albeit with deferrals dropping the actual value closer to $185MM) from the Blue Jays last offseason. Cease throws a little harder and misses a few more bats than Peralta does, but his start to start efficiency was lacking. Max Fried is the only pitcher in his 30s to sign for eight years within the past decade. He got to $218MM from the Yankees as a lefty with plus stuff who hadn’t allowed an ERA higher than 3.25 in any of the five seasons preceding free agency.
Peralta fits in that group on talent. The difference between his current situation and the aforementioned trio is that he’s still a year away from the open market. Walk year extensions for Luis Castillo and José Berríos landed south of $150MM. Peralta presumably isn’t looking for an annual value in the low $20MM range simply to stretch the length of the contract.
Rosenthal reported on Monday that the sides had yet to seriously broach an extension. They’ll likely have those conversations within the three weeks leading up to the start of the regular season. Whether there’s a long-term deal in place or not, Peralta will make his team debut on Opening Day. Skipper Carlos Mendoza made that unsurprising announcement last week. They’ll host the Pirates (who’ll surely turn the ball to Skenes) in a marquee pitching matchup.
Chad Patrick To Open Season In Brewers’ Rotation
Jacob Misiorowski and Chad Patrick will open the season in the Brewers’ rotation, manager Pat Murphy tells Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. The rest of the starting five is still up in the air depending on injuries and camp performance.
Brandon Woodruff and Quinn Priester are locks for rotation roles when healthy. Woodruff is the likelier of the two to be available by Opening Day. The Brewers are exercising caution in building him back from last year’s season-ending lat injury. He’ll make his Cactus League debut tomorrow against the Angels.
Priester is behind due to what appears to be minor wrist discomfort. The righty threw batting practice early in Spring Training but hasn’t faced hitters since then. Priester told reporters yesterday that he’s still playing catch but occasionally feels the nagging soreness (video via Curt Hogg of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Testing hasn’t revealed anything off structurally, but he’s unlikely to be ready for the start of the season in less than three weeks.
Misiorowski was a lock to make the season-opening rotation regardless of Woodruff’s and Priester’s statuses. Patrick entered camp as the favorite for the fourth starter role but seemed less assured of a job. That’s less a reflection of his own performance than the fact that Milwaukee’s depth pushed him out of the starting five in the second half of last season.
Patrick turned in a 3.52 earned run average over his first 19 career appearances. Milwaukee nevertheless optioned him to Triple-A on July 6 once Woodruff returned from shoulder surgery. Patrick spent six weeks in the minors. The Brewers used him in a swing role when they recalled him in mid-August. He pitched out of the bullpen in the playoffs, tossing nine innings of two-run ball with 11 punchouts across six appearances.
The 27-year-old Patrick never garnered much fanfare as a prospect. He’s a former fourth-round pick who was traded for Jace Peterson and Abraham Toro, respectively, before making his MLB debut. It’d be easy to lose him in the shuffle of Milwaukee’s more well-known controllable arms. Patrick nevertheless earned a roster spot by striking out more than a quarter of opponents with a 3.53 ERA across 119 2/3 innings as a rookie. He built up to three innings and 52 pitches this afternoon in his second Spring Training start.
If Woodruff avoids the injured list, the Brewers would have three-fifths of their opening rotation in place. Trade pickups Brandon Sproat and Kyle Harrison join Logan Henderson and Robert Gasser in the battle for the final two spots.
Murphy noted today that left-handers Aaron Ashby and DL Hall are being considered as potential starters as well. Both southpaws worked out of the bullpen or as openers last year. That’s likely where they’ll be used most frequently, though they can work as tandem starters or multi-inning relievers if they don’t win a traditional rotation role.
Mets Notes: Baty, Lindor, Scott, Minter, Stock
The Mets’ offseason signing of Bo Bichette displaced third baseman Brett Baty, and he’ll now take on a super utility role in Queens, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports. Baty is seeing work in the outfield and at first base this spring. His experience at the hot corner and at second base makes him a viable option at both those positions, too, should Bichette or Marcus Semien need a breather or a trip to the injured list at any point.
“It’s a valuable role,” manager Carlos Mendoza tells DiComo. “We’ve been pretty honest with him. He is on board. There are going to be at-bats for him in a lot of different positions. He could play third, second and first, and now the outfield is in play.”
While Baty might not have a set position, his 2025 breakout should put him in good position to be in the lineup more often than not. The former first-round pick and top prospect shook off a terrible start to last season and finished out the year with a solid .254/.313/.435 batting line (111 wRC+) and 18 home runs. From mid-May through season’s end — a span of 370 plate appearances — Baty delivered a .266/.327/.454 batting line with 17 of his 18 long balls.
Elsewhere in Mets camp, the team is still holding out hope that star shortstop Francisco Lindor, who suffered a left hamate fracture early in camp, won’t miss much time — if he misses any at all. Lindor took batting practice yesterday for the first time since his injury, and he felt well enough after the fact to tell Jon Heyman of the New York Post he’s confident in his chances of being on the Opening Day roster.
“One hundred percent, I think I can make it for Opening Day,” said Lindor. “…We’re checking the boxes along the way.”
Lindor’s injury first came to light on Feb. 10. A day later, the Mets confirmed that he’d undergo surgery to address the issue. The team originally projected a six-week recovery, and Lindor’s surgery came 43 days prior to Opening Day. In addition to batting practice, Lindor also began playing catch this week and has yet to show any ill effects.
The recovery period on hamate fractures tends to range from four weeks on the short end to eight weeks on the longer end. Based on how things are progressing, it seems there’s reason for cautious optimism among Mets fans that the five-time All-Star and 2024 National League MVP runner-up will be in the lineup when new ace Freddy Peralta and the Mets host the Pirates and presumptive Opening Day starter Paul Skenes on March 26.
The Mets’ pitching staff is also navigating some injuries. Former top prospect Christian Scott, now 17 months removed from the 2024 Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2025 season, hit 96 mph and tossed 48 pitches through 2 2/3 frames in an exhibition against Israel’s WBC team this week. Mendoza told the Post’s Dan Martin that the outing was “impressive, specifically touting the righty’s command in a walk-free return to the mound.
Scott, now 26 years old, made his big league debut in 2024 and posted a 4.56 ERA with 19.8% strikeout rate and 6.1% walk rate in his first taste of major league action. He’d previously tossed 42 1/3 innings with a 2.76 ERA, 33,5% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate at the Triple-A level. There’s no opening in the Mets’ rotation for him with Peralta, Nolan McLean, David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea all in the fold, but Scott will be a pivotal depth arm and one of the first names called if the Mets run into health troubles on their big league staff.
Left-handed reliever A.J. Minter, whose 2025 season ended in May due to lat surgery, pitched in a minor league game on a back field this week, Martin adds. It’s Minter’s first time back in a game setting since last year’s surgery. Previous indications have been that Minter could return at some point in May, but Mendoza indicated to Martin that late April is on the table for a possible return.
Minter signed a two-year, $22MM deal with the Mets last winter and got out to a terrific start for them. In 11 innings, he held opponents to two runs (1.64 ERA) on six hits and five walks with 14 punchouts. The 32-year-old southpaw has had his injury troubles over the years, but from 2020-25 he’s notched a sharp 2.80 earned run average with a 30% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate in 254 innings between the Braves and Mets.
In one other note related to the Mets, Tim Britton of The Athletic provides an update on non-roster invitee Robert Stock. The righty was recently with Team Israel for the World Baseball Classic but suffered some shoulder discomfort. He is out of the WBC and will be going for an MRI.
Adam Mazur To See Specialist For Elbow Discomfort
Marlins right-hander Adam Mazur is going to see renowned surgeon Dr. Keith Meister about some elbow discomfort, per Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. He has already had some imaging done, per Craig Mish of SportsGrid.
At this point, there aren’t many details, but it’s always a bit ominous when concerns arise with a pitcher’s elbow. Mazur was acquired from the Padres at the 2024 deadline in the deal headlined by Tanner Scott. He served as optionable rotation depth for Miami last year, making six big league starts with a 4.80 earned run average and 13.7% strikeout rate. In 22 Triple-A appearances, he had a 4.36 ERA and a much more encouraging 22.2% strikeout rate.
He was likely going to start 2026 in a similar role. He still has one option season remaining and wasn’t likely to be one of the top five starters to begin the season. Even though the Marlins traded away Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers this winter, they still project to go into the year with a rotation featuring Sandy Alcantara, Eury Pérez, Chris Paddack, Max Meyer and Braxton Garrett. They also have Janson Junk in the mix. He is out of options and should be on the big league roster somewhere, perhaps in a long relief role if there’s no room in the rotation.
Pitching injuries are inevitable and a team will need far more than just five or six starters to get through a season. The Marlins had 15 different guys make at least one start last year, for instance. Mazur was once of 11 guys to make at least three starts.
The depth has been challenged a bit here during spring training. Junk had an ankle sprain a couple of weeks ago but he seemed to be fine now. Per De Nicola, he is scheduled to make his Grapefruit League debut tomorrow. Prospect Thomas White recently suffered an oblique strain and will be sidelined for three to four weeks.
The Fish have Dax Fulton, Bradley Blalock and Ryan Gusto as optionable starters currently on the 40-man. Prospect Robby Snelling has 11 Triple-A starts under his belt and should push for a major league debut in 2026. If Mazur needs to miss some time, it would increase the likelihood of the Marlins turning to those other arms.
Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images
Offseason In Review: Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers retained one of their top starters on the qualifying offer. They traded their other veteran ace as he enters his walk year. Milwaukee was active as ever on the trade market — many of which were forward-looking moves — but they’ll expect to compete for another NL Central title.
Major League Signings
- RHP Brandon Woodruff: One-year, $22.025MM qualifying offer
- 3B Luis Rengifo: One year, $3.5MM (including buyout of ’27 mutual option)
- C Gary Sánchez: One year, $1.75MM
- OF Akil Baddoo: One year, $1.25MM (split contract paying $845K in the minors)
2026 spending: $27.025MM
Total spending: $28.525MM
Trades and Claims
- Traded RHP Freddy Peralta and RHP Tobias Myers to Mets for RHP Brandon Sproat and minor league SS/OF Jett Williams
- Traded 3B Caleb Durbin, IF Andruw Monasterio, 2B/C Anthony Seigler and Competitive Balance Round B pick (#67 overall) to Red Sox for LHP Kyle Harrison, IF David Hamilton and LHP Shane Drohan
- Traded OF Isaac Collins and RHP Nick Mears to Royals for LHP Angel Zerpa
- Claimed LHP Sammy Peralta off waivers from Angels
Option Decisions
- Exercised $8MM option on Freddy Peralta (later traded to Mets)
- RHP Brandon Woodruff declined $20MM mutual option in favor of $10MM buyout (returned via qualifying offer)
- Team declined $12MM mutual option on C Danny Jansen in favor of $500K buyout paid by Rays
- Team declined $12MM club option on C William Contreras in favor of $100K buyout (retained via arbitration)
- Team declined $18MM mutual option on 1B Rhys Hoskins in favor of $4MM buyout
- Team declined $15MM mutual option on LHP Jose Quintana in favor of $2MM buyout
Notable Minor League Signings
- Jordyn Adams, JB Bukauskas, Gerson Garabito, Jacob Hurtubise, Greg Jones, Eddys Leonard, Reese McGuire, Drew Rom, Peter Strzelecki, Jacob Waguespack
Extensions
- None
Notable Losses
- Freddy Peralta, Caleb Durbin, Isaac Collins, Nick Mears, Tobias Myers, Rhys Hoskins, Jose Quintana, Danny Jansen, Andruw Monasterio, Shelby Miller, Erick Fedde, Anthony Seigler, Connor Thomas, Jordan Montgomery
The Brewers were MLB’s best regular season team in 2025. They won a league-high 97 games and were comfortably in charge of the NL Central throughout the second half. After defeating the Cubs in the Division Series, they were blanked by the Dodgers in the NLCS. The front office was faced with the usual challenge of maintaining that level of success with a bottom half payroll and their two best pitchers at or nearing free agency.
Milwaukee’s first significant decision was whether to issue a $22.025MM qualifying offer to Brandon Woodruff. The two-time All-Star had an excellent 12-start run in his return from shoulder surgery. His velocity was down a few ticks from pre-surgery levels. Even more alarming is that he suffered a lat strain during a September bullpen session that wound up ending his season.
A qualifying offer would nevertheless have been an easy call for a team running a $200MM+ payroll. Woodruff’s track record is so strong that he’d be great value at that price point if a team knew he’d stay healthy. It’s a much bigger roll of the dice for a club that opened last season with a $115MM payroll. Woodruff could realistically account for 20% of their spending on players.
The Brewers took the upside play and issued the offer. Woodruff accepted and will be back for a ninth season. The Brewers may have been a little surprised that he took a one-year offer, but it certainly wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. The team wouldn’t have issued the QO if they feared it’d cripple them financially.
At the same time, it immediately ramped up speculation about Freddy Peralta’s future. Exercising an $8MM club option was the easiest decision the team made all winter, but that didn’t preclude a trade. (Woodruff, by contrast, couldn’t be traded without his consent until June 15 as a major league free agent signee.) President of baseball operations Matt Arnold initially downplayed the possibility of dealing Peralta, but those conversations would pick up steam in the second half of the offseason.
Milwaukee reportedly discussed Peralta with the Yankees, Astros, Dodgers, Braves, Padres and Twins (presumably among others). The most natural destination, however, always seemed to be the Mets. New York front office leader David Stearns knows Peralta well from his time running baseball operations in Milwaukee. The Mets’ rotation lacked an established headliner alongside touted rookie Nolan McLean. They had a deep enough farm system that it made sense for them to push in some chips below their top prospect tier in a consolidation trade.
The Brewers were probably willing to carry both Woodruff and Peralta on the payroll, but this kind of trade is par for the course. They simply weren’t going to spend what it took to keep Peralta off the open market. They could hold him until free agency and make the qualifying offer, as they did with Willy Adames, but they’d surely get a more valuable trade return than the compensatory draft pick.
The question was whether they were getting enough back that it outweighed the hit they were taking to the 2026 roster in trading one of the National League’s five best pitchers. The Brewers never operate as clear-cut buyers or sellers. They weren’t kicking off a rebuild one year after winning 97 games. As was the case with the Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes and Devin Williams trades, they needed to feel the package itself was too strong to ignore.
Each of those previous three deals netted cost-controlled major league players. That’s a clear priority for a team trying to remain annually competitive. Arnold eventually pulled the trigger on a deal that sent Peralta and swingman Tobias Myers to Queens for rookie starter Brandon Sproat and top infield/outfield prospect Jett Williams.
Sproat is a 6’3″ righty who sits in the 96-97 mph range and has a five-pitch mix. He made his first four MLB starts last September. The command is a work in progress, but he’s around the strike zone enough to project as a starter. He has mid-rotation caliber stuff and is competing for a rotation spot this spring.
Williams, a 5’7″ utility player, is coming off a .261/.363/.465 showing with 17 homers and 34 stolen bases in the upper minors. He’s a plus athlete with good strike zone discipline and more power than one might expect based on his height. There’s some swing-and-miss to his game and questions about his position, but he fits well in a group that emphasizes defensive versatility and aggressiveness on the bases. Williams has yet to reach the majors but should be up this year, perhaps as soon as Opening Day.
The trade almost certainly makes the Brewers worse in 2026. They were never going to get a McLean-level prospect for one year of Peralta. Myers is overshadowed in the bigger picture but had developed into a nice swing option in his own right over the past two seasons.
It’s similar to the 2024 Burnes trade, which also netted two MLB-ready pieces who’d recently been at the back of Top 100 prospect lists (DL Hall and Joey Ortiz). They didn’t get much out of either of those players last season, but Ortiz had a 3-WAR campaign as Milwaukee’s third baseman in 2024. Getting that kind of combined value from Sproat and Williams this year would go a long way toward keeping them competitive while stockpiling long-term value.
Ortiz was the most vulnerable position player in the starting lineup entering the offseason. He moved seamlessly (from a defensive standpoint) to shortstop to replace Adames but didn’t perform offensively. His .230/.276/.317 line was third-worst among hitters who tallied 500 plate appearances. Top prospects Cooper Pratt and Jesús Made figure to eventually push Ortiz off the position, but neither player is likely to get consideration for the Opening Day roster.
Williams has a better chance of taking over shortstop within the first half of the season. If Ortiz bounces back enough offensively to hold the job, they can use Williams as a multi-positional piece. That could include work in the outfield or at third base, where the Brewers made potential sell-high trades on unheralded prospects coming off strong rookie seasons.
That started in mid-December when Milwaukee dealt left fielder Isaac Collins and middle reliever Nick Mears to Kansas City for lefty sinkerballer Angel Zerpa. Collins finished fourth in Rookie of the Year balloting behind a .263/.368/.411 line across 441 plate appearances. He’d been a good Triple-A hitter as well but surprised evaluators with that kind of performance in his age-27 season. His batted ball metrics weren’t as impressive. There’s a decent chance he’s closer to a league average hitter moving forward.
Mears is a power arm who had a career-low 3.49 ERA last season. His strikeout rate was down more than eight percentage points relative to 2024, however, and he’d fallen out of favor as he struggled and battled injuries in the second half.
The Brewers will try to coax more out of Zerpa, who has an ERA right around 4.00 in 177 big league innings. He throws hard and has one of the highest ground-ball rates in MLB. Zerpa doesn’t miss bats at a high level and has gotten knocked around by right-handed opponents (.282/.340/.470 in 488 career plate appearances). Although Milwaukee has left the door open to building him up as a starter, the platoon issues suggest he’s better served in a relief role. He’s pitching out of the bullpen in Spring Training and should replace Mears in that spot.
Collins felt a little superfluous in a Milwaukee outfield that also includes Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and Christian Yelich on occasion. Blake Perkins, Tyler Black, Brandon Lockridge and offseason signee Akil Baddoo are all depth options on the 40-man roster. (Collins is a more decisive upgrade for a K.C. team that had arguably the worst outfield in the league.)
That wasn’t the case for the other second-year position player whom the Brewers surprisingly traded away. Caleb Durbin would have been Milwaukee’s everyday third baseman. Acquired from the Yankees in last offseason’s Williams trade, the 25-year-old Durbin hit .256/.334/.387 with 11 homers and 18 steals over his first 136 big league games. He placed third in Rookie of the Year voting. Durbin is small and doesn’t hit the ball hard, so he was never a marquee prospect. Yet he commands the strike zone, puts the ball in play, and has the athleticism to play a quality second or third base.
It stands to reason the Brewers didn’t enter the offseason looking to trade Durbin, whom they controlled for six more seasons. With the number of higher-ceiling infield prospects they have coming through the farm system, he’s also not someone they’d refuse to discuss. They wound up working out a deal with the Red Sox — who felt that his right-handed bat could play up at Fenway Park — centered around Durbin and left-hander Kyle Harrison.
There’s a clear parallel between the Durbin trade and last spring’s deal with Boston for Quinn Priester. Harrison is a former top prospect whose stock had seemingly dropped within each of his two previous organizations. The Giants included him as part of the Rafael Devers trade. The Red Sox shied away from calling him up for most of last season even as they navigated rotation injuries and stuck with a struggling Walker Buehler for the majority of the year.
Harrison has a 4.39 ERA with league-average strikeout and walk rates in just under 200 big league innings. He’s 24 and still has a minor league option remaining. He struck out roughly 26% of Triple-A opponents a year ago but has had inconsistent command. The Brewers control him for at least five seasons. It’s not easy to convince teams to trade controllable starting pitching. The Brewers got the higher upside end of the deal but are taking a risk in trading a solid everyday infielder for more of a developmental pitching play.
It wasn’t a direct Durbin/Harrison swap, though they’ll very likely be the players whose careers determine which team got the better end. The teams also exchanged utility infielders. Milwaukee reacquired speedster David Hamilton (a former Brewer draftee who was traded to Boston in the deal for Hunter Renfroe) while sending Andruw Monasterio, Anthony Seigler and the #67 pick in this year’s draft to Boston. Depth starter Shane Drohan, a 27-year-old who has yet to make his MLB debut, also landed in Milwaukee.
The Brewers needed to backfill an infield spot after the Durbin trade. They took a $3.5MM flier on Luis Rengifo, who is coming off a replacement level season for the Angels. Rengifo didn’t hit at all last year but turned in a .273/.323/.431 line in more than 1200 plate appearances between 2022-24. He can move around the infield but won’t provide strong defense anywhere.
Rengifo is the favorite to start at third base on Opening Day. That’s fine as a stopgap, though the Brewers are hoping he’ll be pushed into a utility role by someone from within the farm system (Williams, Pratt, etc.) before long.
The right side of the infield is more settled. Brice Turang is one of the game’s steadiest hands at second base. Andrew Vaughn played his way to the everyday first base job with his monster second half. Milwaukee tendered a $2.7MM arbitration contract to Jake Bauers as a left-handed bench bat, while Black could also hit his way into the mix.
Vaughn’s emergence made it an inevitability that the Brewers were moving on from Rhys Hoskins. They paid him a $4MM buyout on an $18MM mutual option. Milwaukee also bought out veteran starter Jose Quintana and backup catcher Danny Jansen.
William Contreras plays as often as any catcher in MLB. The backup catcher role in Milwaukee isn’t a huge priority. Jansen, who commanded a two-year deal from the Rangers, was overqualified. The Brewers want to allow prospect Jeferson Quero to continue playing regularly in the minors, so they needed to make a cheap depth move behind the plate.
Milwaukee circled back to old friend Gary Sánchez on a $1.75MM contract. He hit 11 homers in 89 games for them two seasons ago. Sánchez commanded $8.5MM from the Orioles the following winter, but his lone year in Baltimore was tanked by wrist and knee injuries. He only got into 29 games. The Brewers have some insurance in the form of minor league signee Reese McGuire.
Aside from the Woodruff qualifying offer, Milwaukee stayed away from the free agent pitching market. Sproat and Harrison will be in the mix, but they’re relying heavily on their collection of talented in-house arms to step up behind Woodruff.
Priester has a rotation spot once healthy, though he’s delayed by a wrist issue this spring and could start the season on the injured list. Manager Pat Murphy said today that right-handers Jacob Misiorowski and Chad Patrick are in the rotation (via MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy). Righty Logan Henderson and lefties Robert Gasser, Aaron Ashby and DL Hall are all in the conversation. The Brewers have a lot of flexibility to shuffle pitchers up and down from the minors. Woodruff is their only starter who can’t be sent down.
There’s a similar level of flexibility in the bullpen, where Rob Zastryzny is their only out-of-options arm. The Brewers already had one of the best relief groups in MLB. Aside from the Mears/Zerpa swap, they didn’t need to do much at the back end.
Milwaukee took calls on closer Trevor Megill, who is down to two seasons of arbitration control, but didn’t find an offer to their liking. He’ll probably be traded next offseason as part of the team’s usual operating procedure. They’ll hold him for now alongside Abner Uribe, Jared Koenig, and Zerpa. Ashby and Hall will be in the bullpen if they’re not starting. Milwaukee’s relief pitching should once again be a strength.
The Brewers also took care of some administrative business at the beginning of Spring Training. Murphy, who was entering the final season of his contract as manager, signed a new three-year deal that guaranteed him nearly $9MM. Murphy’s job security obviously wasn’t in question after consecutive Manager of the Year wins, but he’s now locked in for the foreseeable future.
There hasn’t been any reporting about extension talks with players this spring. It’s likely too late to get anything done with Contreras — as with Megill, he’s a likelier trade candidate headed into his walk year next winter — but the Brewers are happy to lock up pre-arbitration players long term. They’ve done so with Peralta, Chourio and Ashby in recent years.
Chourio’s was a pre-debut extension, and it stands to reason they’ll be open to that possibility with Made soon enough. Speculatively, any of Misiorowski, Frelick or Priester would stand as potential targets. Turang is earning a little over $4MM as a Super Two player and will go through arbitration four times. This spring might be the last one in which an extension could be within Milwaukee’s financial comfort zone.
That would cap off a very Brewers style offseason. They made one big trade that was widely expected and a couple more that almost no one saw coming. They’ll rely on internal development and a few of their upper level trade pickups to try to claim a fourth straight division title.
How would you grade the Brewers' offseason?
Angels To Create TV Network
There’s a bit more clarity on the broadcast situation for the Angels. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports that the club has an agreement in place to purchase a portion of Main Street Sports and launch their own TV network. Some final details are still being worked out, so it won’t be officially announced until next week.
The new network will also involve the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and has not yet been named, but it will replace FanDuel Sports Network on cable and satellite providers in Southern California. Fans can also purchase a streaming package directly from the league. It would be $99.99 for just the Angels or $199.99 for the full league experience.
The Angels were one of nine MLB teams who had a deal with Main Street Sports as of a few months ago. That company, who owned the FanDuel Sports Network channels, has been having financial troubles for years as people move away from cable subscriptions and towards digital streaming. Main Street missed some payments to some clubs earlier this year, prompting all nine of them to terminate their deals. Within less than a month, six of them pivoted to having MLB handle their broadcasts.
Atlanta, the Tigers and the Angels were the three left up in the air. Atlanta launched BravesVision last month, a team-owned entity which will sell streaming rights to fans and work out TV deals in the future. The Tigers announced Detroit SportsNet earlier this week. It seems like MLB will be heavily involved in that one, as the network will be “powered by MLB” and subscribers can stream the Tigers through the MLB app. The network will broadcast the Tigers and the NHL’s Red Wings on television.
The Angels’ network will seemingly share some traits with Detroit SportsNet. Both will involve one MLB club and an NHL team. Both will also seemingly involve the MLB handling the streaming side of things.
This seems to be a positive development for fans. For those watching on television, nothing will really change. Even the on-air talent is expected to remain in place. For those who wants to stream the club locally with no blackouts, that is now possible. The impact for the club’s bottom line is less clear. As of a few years ago, the Angels were getting $125MM annually from their deal with Main Street, then known as Diamond Sports Group. Opening up local streaming will make up for some of that but surely not all.
RosterResource projects the Angels for a payroll of about $180MM this year, roughly $25MM shy of last year. That doesn’t account for the fact that Anthony Rendon agreed to defer most of his $38MM salary, saving the Halos about $30MM in the short term. Owner Arte Moreno recently spoke on the club’s financial situation and acknowledged that uncertainty with in the TV department was impacting spending. “Will it get back to $200 million? Probably,” Moreno said of the payroll. “We’ve got to get our TV thing worked out and we just have to improve our brand.”
Presumably, the new broadcast deal won’t immediately impact the roster. The Angels still have to work out things in terms of cable and satellite. They also presumably want to feel out the new streaming setup for a bit before making any rash decisions. There are still some notable free agents unsigned, including starting pitchers Lucas Giolito and Zack Littell. The Halos could use some extra depth in the rotation but it’s unclear if they plan to make a push for either of those two, or any other free agents.
Internally, the Angels will have a new leader on the business side. President John Carpino is going to retire on April 6th and will be replaced by senior vice president Molly Jolly. General manager Perry Minasian remains the front office leader on the baseball side.
Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images
Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good afternoon! Hope you're all enjoying some spring and/or WBC games today. (I've got Panama/Cuba on at the moment!)We'll get started around 2pm CT, but feel free to start asking questions ahead of time, as always.
- Let's get underway!
Giolito
- Why isn't Giolito signed? Surely there's a place in the Athletics, Braves, Phillies, Padres or Astros rotations.
Stevie M
- Does Minnesota have a plan at all? The team doesn't strike fear in me. With Pablo out, should they sign Giolito? He's familiar with the Central. I don't know how effective he is anymore, but it's a thought.
Steve Adams
- I imagine Giolito went into the offseason looking for the kind of multi-year deal he might've been in line for were it not for that season-ending elbow scare, and it just wasn't there. Most clubs are probably looking at him as a one-year guy now, since the majority of offseason budgets have been spent.Especially with Profar's money being freed up, I'm surprised Atlanta hasn't signed him. He's a clear upgrade over the guys duking it out for the fifth spot (Joey Wentz, Bryce Elder, Jose Suarez), and the rest of the Braves' rotation is wrought with injury risk.
- All of that applies to Zack Littell, too.
- (Well, not the part about the elbow scare)
- Twins, too, make an easy and obvious fit for either Giolito or Littell. They've lost Lopez. Festa's shoulder is flaring up. Ryan already had a minor back thing. And the Pohlad du jour there, Tom, has spoken openly about wanting to be aggressive since stepping into the executive chair position
- With the other teams listed for Gio... he probably doesn't want a short-term deal to pitch in a hitter-friendly minor league park (A's), and he'd cost the Phillies more than double because of the luxury tax. Padres don't seem to have any money left (hence the cheap nature of all their late signings).Astros, I just disagree that they need him. Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, Tatsuya Imai, Mike Burrows ... that's a pretty decent top four, and they have Ryan Weiss, Lance McCullers, Spencer Arrighetti, AJ Blubaugh, Colton Gordon and Miguel Ullola as options at the back of the rotation. Their owner, Jim Crane, also doesn't want to pay the luxury tax -- and they're about $10MM shy of it right now.
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A’s Have Shown Interest In Extension With Shea Langeliers
The A’s have been the most active team in baseball when it comes to extending young players over the past year and are still trying to ink a few members of their young core of hitters to long-term deals. In addition to their recent extension offer to reigning AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz, the A’s have made some efforts to sign catcher Shea Langeliers, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
Athletics general manager David Forst and his staff have reached long-term deals with outfielder Lawrence Butler (seven years, $65.5MM), shortstop Jacob Wilson (seven years, $70MM), outfielder Tyler Soderstrom (seven years, $86MM) and designated hitter Brent Rooker (five years, $60MM).
Langeliers, 28, is a fairly natural extension candidate but also could be tougher to sign than many of his teammates. Unlike Butler, Wilson and Soderstrom, he’s already reached arbitration and commanded a notable year-one salary, agreeing to terms on a $5.25MM for the upcoming season. With another pair of arbitration raises looming before he reaches free agency in the 2028-29 offseason, Langeliers could realistically take home between $25-30MM over his three arbitration season.
Langeliers is also represented by the Boras Corporation, and while the narrative that Boras clients don’t sign extensions is a bit overstated, there’s no denying that such occurrences are rare. As can be seen in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, there have only been seven extensions of three or more years for Boras clients over the past decade. There haven’t been any extensions for Boras-repped players in Langeliers’ service class (between three and four years) that have bought out free agent seasons in that time (Contract Tracker link).
[Related: What would it cost for the A’s to continue their run of extensions?]
Acquired from the Braves in the trade that sent Matt Olson to Atlanta, Langeliers has steadily improved his offensive profile each year in the majors. He’s fresh off a breakout .277/.325/.536 batting line (132 wRC+) with a career-high 31 homers and a career-low 19.7% strikeout rate. Langeliers doesn’t walk a ton but tied with Colorado’s Hunter Goodman for second-most home runs among all big league catchers in 2025 (trailing only AL MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh). He also ripped 29 home runs in 2024, and his combined 60 round-trippers over the past two years give him sole possession of second place among all catchers in that regard (again, trailing Raleigh).
Defensively, Langeliers is somewhat lacking. He posted quality caught-stealing rates in the first few seasons of his career but dropped to a career-worst 15.6% in 2025. He improved upon what were previously poor grades for blocking balls in the dirt and framing pitches, but Statcast still ranked him average or slightly below in both categories. The 2025 version of Langeliers wasn’t a liability with the glove, but he’s pretty firmly established himself a bat-first option at the position.
Sorting our Contract Tracker for extensions among catchers who have already reached arbitration reveals a few recent comps of note. Langeliers probably wouldn’t be enticed by Alejandro Kirk‘s five-year, $58MM deal at this juncture, and the A’s would presumably balk at locking him in for the $105MM guarantee ($99.4MM in new money) that the Mariners gave to Raleigh. The man he replaced behind the plate for the A’s, Sean Murphy, signed a six-year, $73MM deal that might be more in the ballpark of market value for Langeliers.
It’s not entirely clear whether Langeliers is amenable to an extension, but it’s somewhat notable that they’re still working to get their most prominent unsigned regulars locked up on long-term deals.
Beyond Langeliers and Kurtz, the A’s don’t have any clear extension candidates. If they want to be especially aggressive, they could take a run at top pitching prospects Gage Jump and Jamie Arnold before either makes his MLB debut, although the latter has yet to even pitch in a professional game after being drafted with the No. 11 overall pick last summer, so that’d probably be a discussion for next spring rather than this one. Jump, 23 next month, was the No. 73 overall pick in 2024 and now ranks as a consensus top-100 prospect. He was excellent between High-A and Double-A last year and should be in line to make his major league debut in 2026.