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Nationals Claim Richard Lovelady, Designate Mickey Gasper For Assignment

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The Nationals announced that they have claimed left-hander Richard Lovelady off waivers from the Mets. New York designated him for assignment a week ago when they acquired Vidal Bruján. To open a spot for Lovelady today, the Nats have designated utility player Mickey Gasper for assignment.

Lovelady, 30, hasn’t found much major league success yet but has received a number of chances due to better numbers in the minors. He has 111 big league innings spread over multiple seasons and in various different jerseys. In that time, he posted a 5.35 earned run average, 21.1% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 50.9% ground ball rate.

Since he’s out of options, he bounced around the league via numerous transactions last year. He went from the Blue Jays to the Twins and then the Mets, the latter club bouncing him on and off the roster multiple times. He only made ten big league appearances around the transactions with an 8.49 ERA. But in Triple-A, he logged 38 innings with a 1.66 ERA, 26.3% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 52.6% ground ball rate.

He didn’t have a roster spot at the end of the season but the Mets quickly re-signed him in October to a split deal which would pay him $1MM in the majors and $350K in the minors. It might seem odd to sign a player and then put him on waivers a few months later but that was likely by design.

As mentioned, Lovelady is out of options, meaning he can’t be sent to the minors without first clearing waivers. If he were to clear, he would have the right to elect free agency, since he has at least three years of big league service time. But with his service time below five years, that means Lovelady would have to walk away from the money on his deal in exercising that right. The Mets likely signed him to that deal hoping that it would both disincentivize other clubs from claiming him and also motivate Lovelady to accept an assignment to Triple-A.

The Nationals have foiled that plan by swooping in with a claim. That’s understandable since their bullpen is one of the worst in the majors, if not the very worst. Washington relievers had a collective 5.59 ERA in 2025, highest in the big leagues. The Rockies were second-worst at 5.18.

Washington traded Jose A. Ferrer to the Mariners this winter, which thinned out the relief corps generally and also left them fairly light in terms of lefties. Before this claim, PJ Poulin was the only southpaw reliever on the roster, unless the Nats plan to move some of their starters to the pen. Poulin has only 28 big league games under his belt.

It’s possible the Nats try to pass Lovelady through waivers in the future and other moves could change the roster picture, but for now he has landed in a spot where he has a pretty good chance to earn an Opening Day job. If he still has a roster spot at season’s end, he can be controlled for another two seasons via arbitration.

Gasper, 30, hasn’t done much in the majors yet but has strong minor league numbers and defensive flexibility. He made his big league debut with the Red Sox in 2024 and appeared with the Twins last year, slashing .133/.250/.195 in his first 133 big league plate appearances.

He hit .285/.385/.531 in 208 Triple-A appearances last year. He was 29 years old at the time and that was his third season with at least some Triple-A action but the 137 wRC+ was nonetheless impressive. Even if that’s setting the offensive expectations too high, the defensive versatility is real. Gasper has experience behind the plate, at the three non-shortstop infield positions and left field.

The entire package makes him fairly attractive as a multi-positional bench piece, especially since he’s a switch-hitter. He also has options and doesn’t need to be guaranteed a big league roster spot. The Twins put him on waivers last week and he was claimed by the Nats, one of the clubs nearest the front of the waiver wire priority queue. Washington will now likely put him back on waivers at some point in the next five days.

Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images

D-backs To Sign Derek Law

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The Diamondbacks and righty Derek Law are in agreement on a minor league contract with an invitation to major league spring training, as first reported by MLB Transactions Daily (on Instagram). Robert Murray of Fansided reports that the CAA client would earn $1.5MM if he makes the roster and has another $500K available to him via incentives. He can earn $50K for reaching each of 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 appearances. He’d then earn $100K bonuses at 50 and 55 games pitched.

Law posted strong results for the Reds and Nationals in 2023-24 but didn’t pitch in the majors this past season due to arm troubles. He opened the season on the injured list, and by mid-July the Nats had announced that he’d require season-ending flexor surgery. That procedure came with a projected recovery period of nine to ten months, which would put Law on track for a return in April or May.

During that ’23-’24 run between Cincinnati and D.C., Law piled up 145 innings of relief work and notched a tidy 2.98 earned run average. His 20% strikeout rate was below average, but Law also kept his walks down nicely (8.3%), induced grounders at a sound 45% clip and deftly avoided hard contact: 87.7 mph average exit velocity, 34.2% hard-hit rate, 4.2% barrel rate, 0.81 HR/9. He tallied three saves and 20 holds across those two seasons.

When healthy in recent years, Law has sat 95 mph with both his four-seamer and sinker, but both of those pitches have taken a backseat to his 91 mph cutter and a slider sitting at 87 mph. He’s posted particularly impressive swinging-strike rates on that slider, especially in 2024, when the pitch flummoxed opponents to the point that they hit just .157 with a .220 slugging percentage against it.

Unless Law is quietly ahead of schedule, it doesn’t seem like he’ll be in the mix for an Opening Day bullpen spot. He’ll acclimate to his new organization and coaching staff while rehabbing with the big league staff this spring, however, and (again, based on that original timetable) it seems possible he could join the ’pen at some point in the first few months of the year.

Bullpen depth remains an area of focus for the Diamondbacks, who’ll be without their two top relievers (A.J. Puk, Justin Martinez) for the first several months of the 2026 season after they underwent season-ending elbow procedures in 2025. Left-hander Andrew Saalfrank and righties Kevin Ginkel, Ryan Thompson, Taylor Clarke and Drey Jameson are all in the running for key relief roles. Longtime Yankees reliever Jonathan Loaisiga signed on a non-roster deal as well and will look to win a spot this spring. Arizona remains in the market for more bullpen arms, with recent reports indicating that GM Mike Hazen and his staff have been more active on the trade market as of late.

Padres To Sign Marco Gonzales To Minor League Deal

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The Padres and left-hander Marco Gonzales have agreed to a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The CAA Sports client will make a salary of $1.5MM if he makes the team with an extra $1MM available via incentives.

Gonzales, 34 in February, spent many years as a solid mid-rotation starter in the majors but is coming off a few injury-marred seasons. From 2018 to 2022, he gave the Mariners 765 2/3 innings, allowing 3.94 earned runs per nine. His 17.7% strikeout rate was subpar but he also only gave out walks at a 5.8% clip.

In 2023, nerve issues in his forearm limited him to just ten starts. He required surgery in August of that year. Going into 2024, he was included in the Jarred Kelenic trade with Atlanta, seemingly as financial ballast. He was traded to Pittsburgh a few days later. Due to further forearm strains, he went on and off the injured list and only made seven starts for the Bucs that year. He underwent flexor tendon surgery that August.

The Pirates made the easy decision to turn down his $15MM club option for 2025 since he was looking at a lengthy surgery recovery. He didn’t sign anywhere else and didn’t pitch in any official capacity last year.

It’s anyone’s guess what he can provide after three straight issues more or less tanked by forearm problems. For the Padres, he’s a sensible flier to take as they certainly need pitching. Right now, their on-paper rotation is fronted by Michael King, Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove. There’s not a ton of certainty in there. King was injured for a lot of 2025. Pivetta has been in trade rumors. Musgrove missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Behind those top three, there are guys like Randy Vásquez, JP Sears, Kyle Hurt and Matt Waldron. Vásquez had a 3.84 ERA last year but that seems unsustainable since he only struck out 13.7% of batters faced. The other three all posted ERAs above 5.00 in 2025.

It’s unclear how much spending capacity the Padres have at this stage of the winter. RosterResource currently projects them for a $220MM payroll and $262MM competitive balance tax figure. At the end of 2025, those numbers were $214MM and $266MM.

If the budget is tight, that could explain why the Friars are open to moving Pivetta and his backloaded contract. He made a $3MM signing bonus and $1MM salary last year but his salary jumps to $19MM, $14MM and $18MM in the next three seasons, with an opt-out after 2026. Flipping him would save some money but further thin out the rotation.

Gonzales is hard to bank on after his injury odyssey but he would be nice value for money if he can return to something resembling his prior form. He will join Triston McKenzie as non-roster arms pushing for big league jobs with the Padres this year.

Photo courtesy of Rafael Suanes, Imagn Images

Angels Acquire Jayvien Sandridge, Designate Osvaldo Bido

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The Angels have acquired left-hander Jayvien Sandridge from the Yankees in exchange for cash, per announcements from both clubs. The Halos added that righty Osvaldo Bido has been designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. New York had designated Sandridge for assignment a couple days ago.

The 26-year-old Sandridge made a brief MLB debut this past season, allowing a pair of runs in two-thirds of an innings with the Yanks. He spent the bulk of the 2025 season in Triple-A, where he pitched to a 4.55 ERA with a huge 33.1% strikeout rate but a 12% walk rate in 31 2/3 frames. Sandridge averaged about 95 mph on his four-seamer and logged an outstanding 15.3% swinging-strike rate during his time in Triple-A. He still has a pair of minor league option years remaining.

A former 32nd-round pick by the Orioles, Sandridge has bounced to five organizations since the 2018 draft, primarily doing so via minor league free agency. Baltimore released him in 2020, when most clubs throughout the game were making sweeping cuts to their minor league personnel during the early stages of the pandemic, and he’s since signed minor league deals with the Reds, Padres and Yankees.

Sandridge has pitched in parts of seven minor league seasons but totaled only 241 2/3 total minor league frames. He’s logged a solid 3.99 earned run average in that time and punched out nearly one-third of his opponents — but he’s also issued walks at a 17% clip and plunked another 22 of the 1099 batters he’s faced (2%). Coupled with a whopping 44 wild pitches, it’s more than fair to say that command is a major hindrance for the hard-throwing southpaw.

As for Bido, today’s move is the continuation of an all-too-familiar refrain. He’s already been on waivers four times this winter and now appears poised to head back to the wire for a fifth time. Bido began the winter on the Athletics’ 40-man roster but has since bounced to the Braves, Rays, Marlins and Angels via waivers.

Bido turned 30 this past October. He spent seven seasons in the minors with the Pirates prior to making his debut as a 27-year-old rookie in 2023, and he’s spent the past two seasons pitching with the A’s, who signed him to a big league deal in the 2023-24 winter after Pittsburgh cut him loose. The wiry 6’3″, 175-pound righty has had an up-and-down run in the majors across the past three seasons, posting ugly numbers in 2023 and 2025 but logging 63 1/3 innings of 3.41 ERA ball with solid rate stats in 2024.

Overall, Bido has pitched 193 2/3 innings as a big leaguer. In that time, he carries a collective 5.07 earned run average. Metrics like SIERA (4.60) and FIP (4.67) are a bit kinder. Broadly, he’s pitched like a serviceable swingman/sixth starter for much of his time in the majors.

Bido averages 94.7 mph with both his four-seamer and sinker. His strikeout rate (20.9%) and walk rate (9.6%) are both worse than league average, but not by much. He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher but hadn’t been especially prone to home runs until the 2025 season — though that was surely due to the Athletics’ temporary home at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento playing like an absolute launching pad; Bido surrendered 13 home runs in 44 1/3 home innings but just six in 35 1/3 frames on the road.

The Angels can trade Bido or place him on waivers at any point within the next five days. Waivers are a 48-hour process. His DFA will be resolved within one week’s time.

White Sox Designate Bryan Ramos For Assignment

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The White Sox announced that infielder Bryan Ramos has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move to open a roster spot for right-hander Seranthony Domínguez, whose signing is now official.

Ramos, 24 in March, was an international signing out of Cuba back in 2018. He charged up prospect lists a bit in 2022. He stepped to the plate 519 times that year between High-A and Double-A, hitting 22 home runs. He produced a combined line of .266/.338/.455 and a 114 wRC+. The Sox added him to their 40-man roster that November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. Baseball America ranked him the #3 prospect in the system going into 2023.

Things haven’t been going as well for the past few years, however. He still had decent numbers in the minors in 2023 but missed time due to injury, only getting into 81 games. Over the past two seasons, he has a minor league slash line of .228/.314/.392 and an 82 wRC+. He has also stepped to the plate 120 times in the majors with a dismal .198/.244/.333 showing.

Ramos used up his three options over the past three campaigns. Now that he’s out of options, it was going to be tougher for him to hold a roster spot going forward. He has dabbled at first base, second base and left field but has primarily been a third baseman in his career. The White Sox signed Munetaka Murakami to cover first base, which will likely leave Miguel Vargas as the regular at third. The Sox also have guys like Chase Meidroth, Luisangel Acuña, Brooks Baldwin, Curtis Mead and Lenyn Sosa as other options for the infield corners.

All of those factors have squeezed Ramos off the roster and into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Sox could take five days to explore trade interest. His out-of-options status won’t help him land with another club but perhaps some team out there is intrigued by his former prospect pedigree. If he does land somewhere, he has less than a year of service time and can therefore be controlled for six full seasons.

Photo courtesy of Jesse Johnson, Imagn Images

White Sox Sign Seranthony Domínguez

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January 29th: The Sox officially announced their two-year, $20MM deal with Domínguez today, adding that it includes a $1MM signing bonus and a mutual option for 2028. Infielder Bryan Ramos was designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

January 23rd: The White Sox and right-hander Seranthony Domínguez are in agreement on a two-year, $20MM deal, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Passan adds that the Epitome Sports Management is expected to be the closer for the Sox. Chicago has a full 40-man roster and will need a corresponding move to make this official.

Domínguez, 31, has mostly been an effective setup guy in his career. He debuted with the Phillies in 2018 and tossed 58 innings with a 2.95 earned run average. His 9.5% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 32% of batters faced while inducing grounders on 55.7% of balls in play.

He missed most of the next three seasons due to injury, including a Tommy John surgery in 2020. Over the past four years, he has been back on track and his production has had a somewhat similar shape to his 2018 season. He has thrown at least 50 innings in each of those four campaigns. Put together, he tossed 222 1/3 innings for the Phillies, Orioles and Blue Jays with a combined ERA of 3.60, a 27% strikeout rate, 10.7% walk rate and 41.9% ground ball rate. He racked up 24 saves and 55 holds.

In 2025, he changed up his arsenal. He still featured a four-seamer and sinker in the upper 90s with a sweeper as one of his breaking balls, but he switched out his changeup and slider for a splitter and a curveball. That led to a career-high walk rate of 13.8% but his 30.3% strikeout rate was his best in a full season since his rookie debut. He became one of the top setup guys in Toronto’s bullpen, making 12 postseason appearances as part of that club’s run to the World Series. He had a 3.18 ERA in those, though with more walks than strikeouts.

It’s a bit of a volatile profile but the stuff is tantalizing and his results have mostly been good. Coming into the winter, there was a clear top tier of free agent closers which included Edwin Díaz, Devin Williams and Robert Suarez. Domínguez was in the next tier of solid setup guys, including Tyler Rogers, Luke Weaver, Brad Keller and others. MLBTR predicted Domínguez for a two-year deal worth $18MM and he has come in just a hair above that.

Domínguez was connected to clubs like the Red Sox and Twins in reported rumors but presumably had interest from other clubs as well. The White Sox are an interesting landing spot for him. The club is clearly in rebuild mode, having just finished their third straight 100-loss season. However, a few of their prospects had nice breakout seasons in 2025, including Colson Montgomery and Kyle Teel.

The Sox have responded with a somewhat active offseason. They bolstered their rotation by giving Anthony Kay $12MM over two years and Sean Newcomb $4.5MM on a one-year deal. Munetaka Murakami seemingly fell into their laps when no one else wanted to give him a long-term deal, so they signed him for $34MM over two years.

They did subtract Luis Robert Jr. this week, trading him to the Mets for Luisangel Acuña and pitching prospect Truman Pauley, but general manager Chris Getz said that the money saved from that deal would be reinvested in the team. Robert was set to make a $20MM salary this year, with a $2MM buyout on his $20MM option for 2027. Assuming the Domínguez deal is equally spread out across the two seasons, then he’ll be taking half of the money that was slated for Robert’s salary in 2026.

No one is likely to pick the White Sox to win the Central this year but the club is at least trying to make the roster more respectable, which is commendable. Perhaps there’s a scenario where things go especially well and they hover in the race for a few months. If not, all of their pickups have been for one or two years, keeping the long-term payroll wide open for whenever they do return to contention. Of the signees, anyone who plays well could be on the trade block this summer if the Sox are behind the pack.

For Domínguez, it’s possible he may have preferred a more surefire contender but landing in Chicago gives him a chance to close. As mentioned earlier, he has picked up a few saves in his career but has mostly been a setup guy. If he fares well in the ninth-inning job, perhaps that will help him land with a contender via trade and it could help his earning power when he returns to the open market two years from now.

He immediately becomes easily the most experienced arm in the bullpen. Newcomb, who will have a chance to earn a rotation job, is the only other pitcher on the roster with even three years of big league service time.

Last year, eight different pitchers recorded a save for the Sox. Jordan Leasure led the pack with seven, followed by Grant Taylor with six. Those two both have live arms but are still pretty inexperienced. They can work setup roles with Domínguez in the ninth. If the younger guys take a step forward or Domínguez ends up traded, then the roles could change over the course of a long season. It’s also possible the Sox make another move if Getz still has some powder dry.

With Domínguez now off the board, the relief market gets a bit more barren. Díaz, Suarez, Williams, Rogers, Weaver, Keller, Ryan Helsley, Emilio Pagán, Kyle Finnegan, Raisel Iglesias, Phil Maton, Pete Fairbanks, Kenley Jansen, Gregory Soto and others have all come off the board. The group of guys still available includes Danny Coulombe, Justin Wilson, Andrew Chafin, Evan Phillips, Scott Barlow and more.

Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images

Rockies Open To Further First Base Additions

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The Rockies swung a pair of deals to add a couple options at first base yesterday, picking up Edouard Julien (and reliever Pierson Ohl) from the Twins in exchange for minor league pitcher Jace Kaminska and sending righty Angel Chivilli to the Yankees in exchange for first base prospect T.J. Rumfield. Both Julien and Rumfield could factor into the Rockies’ big league plans at first base, but new president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta indicated following that pair of trades that he’s still open to bringing in a first baseman (link via Manny Randhawa of MLB.com).

“I think really what we’re trying to do is to create really healthy competition on our roster,” said DePodesta. “Most of the players we have acquired do have a good amount of versatility.”

The 26-year-old Julien’s glovework at second base has been generally panned, and he hasn’t handled himself all that well at first base from a defensive standpoint, either. Still, DePodesta listed him as an option at both positions, noting that the Rockies are intrigued by Julien’s minor league track record and terrific rookie season.

Back in 2023, Julien indeed looked like a potential fixture in the Twins’ lineup. A top-100 prospect prior to his big league debut, he burst onto the MLB scene with a .263/.381/.459 slash (134 wRC+) and ripped 16 home runs in 408 plate appearances as a rookie. His 31.4% strikeout rate was clearly too high, but Julien also walked in nearly 16% of his plate appearances. Throughout his minor league tenure, he was hailed as something of an all-bat prospect who’d post huge OBP numbers with above-average power but lacked a clear defensive home.

The lack of a defensive home has proven true, but Julien’s bat has wilted over the past two seasons. He’s taken 509 MLB plate appearances since Opening Day 2024 and managed only a .208/.299/.324 batting line (79 wRC+). His walk rate has dipped to a still-strong 10.8%, while his strikeout rate has nominally climbed to 32%.

Julien, who’ll turn 27 in April, will be on the roster one way or another, given the fact that he’s out of minor league options. That could be at first base, second base or designated hitter. It’ll surely depend on who the opposing starter is, too, given that the lefty-swinging Canadian has hit just .209/.278/.313 in the 126 plate appearances he’s been afforded versus southpaws at the big league level.

Rumfield, too, could factor in at first base but isn’t a lock to do so from the jump — particularly not with Julien now in the fold. Rumfield is a 25-year-old who slashed .285/.378/.447 in Triple-A this past season and .292/.365/.461 there a season prior. He doesn’t have much left to prove in the minors, but the Rockies aren’t going to simply hand him the first base job, either. He’ll likely need to earn a spot with a solid showing this spring.

Even if Rumfield plays his way onto the roster, bringing in a veteran first baseman makes some sense. If the Rockies were truly confident that he’s ready for an immediate MLB look, they coudl’ve selected him in last month’s Rule 5 Draft. Rumfield was eligible for selection but not taken. Acquiring him via trade rather than the Rule 5 creates a path to give Rumfield some further minor league time.

There ought to be plenty of first base and designated hitter at-bats available in Colorado. Someone like Luis Arraez, Nathaniel Lowe or Rhys Hoskins would add some competition and a potential deadline chip, depending on how said veteran performs over the season’s first few months. A veteran signing would probably cut into playing time for players like Troy Johnston and Blaine Crim, but they’re both 28-year-olds with less than a year of big league service and fairly marginal Triple-A track records. There shouldn’t be any financial worries standing in the way of a more veteran addition; the Rockies’ projected $110MM Opening Day payroll (via RosterResource) would be their lowest since 2021 and second-lowest since 2015.

Astros Interested In Christian Vázquez

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The Astros’ focus this offseason has been on bolstering the pitching staff, and they’ve done that in a meaningful way with acquisitions of Tatsuya Imai, Mike Burrows and KBO standout Ryan Weiss. They’re not entirely done tweaking the roster yet, however. Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports that Houston has interest in a reunion with veteran catcher Christian Vázquez following Victor Caratini’s free agent departure. A deal between the two parties isn’t seen as close, Rome adds, but the interest is nonetheless notable in that it signifies interest in adding a veteran backup to 27-year-old Yainer Diaz.

At the moment, the out-of-options César Salazar is the only other catcher on Houston’s 40-man roster. Salazar will turn 30 in March and has 67 major league plate appearances under his belt. He’s a .232/.318/.268 hitter in that minuscule sample and hasn’t fared too much better in the upper minors. He slashed .213/.353/.353 in 186 Triple-A plate appearances last year and is a lifetime .226/.361/.348 hitter in 799 trips to the plate at that level.

Salazar is a fine defender who draws enough walks in Triple-A to post solid on-base numbers. However, the bit of power he showed earlier in his career — 27 home runs in 639 minor league plate appearances from 2021-22 — has completely dried up in recent seasons. Salazar has come to the plate 796 times between the majors and minors across the past three seasons and connected on 15 home runs. His 2025 season in the majors consisted of only 11 games and 16 plate appearances, but Statcast measured his average sprint speed at 22.4 feet per second — the second-slowest mark in Major League Baseball.

Vázquez, 35, isn’t much fleeter of foot (24.7 ft/sec) and has a long track record of sub-par to poor offense. He hit .189/.271/.274 in 214 plate appearances with Minnesota last season and slashed only .215/.267/.311 in 884 turns at the plate over his three years as a Twin. Vázquez is an elite defender, however, and he draws plenty of praise for his game-calling and ability to manage a pitching staff.

While Vázquez wouldn’t move the needle much in terms of Houston’s overall chances at contending, there’s something to be said for bringing in a veteran who can at least handle a bigger workload while providing plus glovework in the event of a Diaz injury. Presently, if Houston were to lose Diaz to an injury, they’d be looking at Salazar and either 2022 sixth-rounder Collin Price or non-roster invitee Carlos Pérez as their catching tandem. Price has split his time between catching, first base and the outfield. He draws decent framing marks but poor grades for his throwing and ability to block balls in the dirt. Pérez is a 35-year-old journeyman who hasn’t played in the majors since 2023 and carries a career .218/.267/.327 line in 859 plate appearances.

Vázquez spent the second half of the 2022 season with the ’Stros and still has some familiarity with several members of the staff. He caught Cristian Javier, Bryan Abreu and Lance McCullers Jr. that season, and current ace Hunter Brown made his MLB debut late in the ’22 campaign as well. Vázquez also knows Astros lefty Steven Okert from the pair’s time together in Minnesota during the 2024 season.

If not Vázquez, some kind of low-cost catching acquisition feels prudent. Alternate options in free agency include Jonah Heim, Gary Sánchez, Elias Díaz, Luke Maile, Mitch Garver and Matt Thaiss. It’s also likely that there will be some catchers passed around the waiver carousel over the course of spring training, and Houston could jump on any of those names as they become available as well.

The Astros want to remain under the luxury tax threshold in 2026. RosterResource pegs their current CBT obligations at about $238.5MM — $5.5MM shy of the $244MM threshold. Bringing in another catcher should be doable while still leaving some modest breathing room for in-season additions.

The Opener: Rangers, Guardians, DFA Resolution

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:

1. Rangers press conference scheduled:

The Rangers are hosting a press conference at 1pm local time to introduce newly-acquired southpaw MacKenzie Gore. Gore will be joined by president of baseball operations Chris Young and GM Ross Fenstermaker at the presser, which figures to provide insight into last week’s trade with the Nationals. In addition, Young and Fenstermaker are expected to field questions regarding spring training, which could provide hints as to whether the team is largely done adding for the offseason or if there are more moves yet to come. If this is it for Texas, it’s been a somewhat quiet offseason but certainly an interesting one. Marcus Semien, Adolis Garcia, and Jonah Heim are out the door after the former was dealt to New York and the latter two were non-tendered, while Brandon Nimmo, Danny Jansen, and now Gore have been brought into the fold alongside an overhauled bullpen.

2. Guardians presser also scheduled:

The Guardians are also hosting a press conference at 10:30am local time in Cleveland to formally announce the extension of star infielder Jose Ramirez. Ramirez will be joined by club owner Paul Dolan and president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti. An appearance from both ownership and the leader of Cleveland’s front office should provide insight into how the Guardians might look to spend the money freed up by Ramirez’s restructured contract. That’s a topic MLBTR’s Anthony Franco looked into for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers yesterday. The press conference will also surely serve as a celebration of Ramirez, who now is poised to remain a Guardian for his entire career as he continues on his Cooperstown-bound track.

3. DFA resolution expected:

One week ago today, the Rockies made their signing of utilityman Willi Castro official. When they did so, they created a 40-man roster spot by designating right-hander Garrett Acton for assignment. Acton has been in DFA limbo since, facing an uncertainty about where he’ll be playing next and whether he’ll be able to hang on to a 40-man roster spot. That should be resolved today, as Acton will either be plucked off waivers by a rival club or pass through them unclaimed. If the latter occurs, he’ll be outrighted to Triple-A and serve as non-roster depth for the Rockies headed into 2026. Acton made his debut with the A’s back in 2023 but most recently pitched in the majors with the Rays last year. He has just seven MLB outings to his name, but the 27-year-old Acton tossed 58 2/3 innings of 3.68 ERA ball with a 30.1% strikeout rate — albeit against an 11.4% walk rate — with the Rays’ Triple-A club last year.

MLB Mailbag: Giants, Framber Valdez, Eugenio Suarez

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This week's mailbag gets into the Giants' rotation, why Framber Valdez remains unsigned, a thorough look at where Eugenio Suarez could land, the Tigers and Nationals, and more collective bargaining thoughts.

Paul asks:

Who makes sense for the Giants to add to their rotation?

Daryn asks:

Why is Framber Valdez not signed yet? He is the best starting pitcher in the market. Is it his age and asking for a lot of years, or it is the clubhouse thing we hear about?

At present, the Giants' rotation looks like this:

Like every team, they'll need reinforcements for injuries.  Ray is 34 and 2025 was his first full season in three years.  Houser is 33 and tossed a career-high 164 1/3 innings last year (Triple-A included).  Roupp missed 24 days with elbow inflammation and then saw his season end in August with a deep bone bruise to his knee.  Mahle missed over three months with shoulder soreness.

On the Mahle conference call, Giants GM Zack Minasian said, "I don’t know if we’re ever done. I think we’re very comfortable with the five that we have and then the bundle of arms behind them. Our depth is in a much better spot than it was at the beginning of the offseason, so we’re happy with where we’re at. We’ll keep working at it, but we do think this is a solid five-man rotation going into the spring."  That quote comes via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

That bundle behind the starting five may include Hayden Birdsong, Kai-Wei Teng, Carson Seymour, Blade Tidwell, and Carson Whisenhunt, all of whom made big league starts last year.  Trevor McDonald and Keaton Winn are options as well.

The Giants are paying $21MM in AAV for Houser and Mahle this year, but neither can be counted on for a 2-WAR season.  I don't know that Zac Gallen would be enough of an improvement over the Giants' existing back-end options, but slotting Framber Valdez in behind Webb would be huge.  The Giants have a good team at present, but Valdez could add a crucial three wins over whoever he replaces.

Back in November, Giants owner Greg Johnson expressed reluctance to sign a pitcher to a long-term deal.  Just before that, MLBTR predicted a five-year deal for the 32-year-old Valdez.  Ranger Suarez signed a five-year deal two weeks ago, so it is possible to get that type of contract in January.  That said, we haven't seen a free agent starter get five years on January 28th or later since Yu Darvish in 2018.  As we get closer to pitchers and catchers reporting, the chance of Valdez getting a true five-year deal like Suarez decrease.

There are several factors that likely contribute to Valdez being unsigned on January 28th:

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