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Cubs Sign Jeff Brigham To Minors Contract

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The Cubs signed right-hander Jeff Brigham to a minor league contract, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian reports.  Brigham’s deal includes an invitation to Chicago’s big league Spring Training camp.

Brigham (who turns 34 in February) is a veteran of six Major League seasons, with 120 2/3 innings pitched over 94 total games with the Marlins, Mets, and Diamondbacks.  Three of Brigham’s six seasons included four or fewer appearances, including his work with Arizona in 2025 — the righty posted an 8.10 ERA over four games and 3 1/3 innings.

The D’Backs signed Brigham to a minors deal last winter, and he hasn’t pitched since being released by the team last August while on the minor league injured list.  Injuries plagued Brigham for a good deal of the 2025 season, as he only pitched in 18 games (21 2/3 IP) in Arizona’s farm system in addition to his brief time in the majors.  This Cubs contract presumably indicates that Brigham is healthy and ready to vie for a bullpen job in Spring Training.

The bullpen has been a heavy focus for the Cubs this winter, with Phil Maton, Hunter Harvey, Hoby Milner, and Jacob Webb all signed to free agent deals.  Between this group and swingmen/backup starting options like Colin Rea and Javier Assad also in the mix, Brigham or any other non-roster invites face a tough competition to break camp with the team.  Brigham is also out of minor league options, which adds another layer of difficulty in his quest to both make the cut and remain on the 26-man roster.

Brigham has a career 4.85 ERA, with a 10.7% walk rate and an inflated home run rate contributing to his uninspiring ERA.  The right-hander has had trouble keeping the ball on the ground in the big leagues, though his 23.8% strikeout rate is respectable.  Over 191 2/3 career innings at Triple-A, Brigham has a 4.09 ERA, 30.27% strikeout rate, and 10.7% walk rate, with much better grounder rates but still some issues at limiting the long ball.

Rays Claim Tsung-Che Cheng

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The Rays announced Thursday morning that they have claimed infielder Tsung-Che Cheng off waivers from the Pirates. The Bucs designated him for assignment last month. Tampa had an open spot on the 40-man roster and didn’t need to make a corresponding move.

Cheng, 24, changes teams for the first time in his career. The Pirates signed him as an international amateur out of Taiwan in 2019. By the end of the 2023 season, he had climbed to Double-A. He found some offensive success with a low-power, low-strikeout approach. He was also considered a solid defender at either middle infield spot and showed a knack for stealing bases. Splitting 2023 between High-A and Double-A, he hit 13 home runs, swiped 26 bags, had a 9.7% walk rate and 18.7% strikeout rate. He slashed .278/.352/.456 for a 116 wRC+.

The total package was enough that the Bucs added him to their 40-man roster that November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. His offense declined over the past two years, with a combined .217/.319/.312 line and 81 wRC+. He drew walks at a strong 12.2% clip in that time but was also punched out in 23.8% of his plate appearances. He got to make his major league debut last year but went hitless in seven plate appearances with three strikeouts.

The Pirates bumped him off their roster December 19th. DFA limbo normally only lasts a week but there’s more wiggle room over the holidays, so Cheng was out there for almost three weeks. The Rays are a good landing spot for him, as their middle infield is pretty unsettled. They traded second baseman Brandon Lowe to the Pirates last month, the deal which led to Cheng losing his roster spot with Pittsburgh. Ha-Seong Kim was put on waivers late last year and claimed by Atlanta. He opted out of that deal but wound up re-signing with Atlanta.

Taylor Walls is perhaps the favorite for shortstop right now but he has a career batting line of .195/.286/.298. Carson Williams made his debut last year but struck out in 41.5% of his first 106 big league plate appearances. Richie Palacios might be the frontrunner at second base but he is a wild card as he has been injured for most of the past two years.

The club may make further moves between now and Opening Day but there’s a path to playing time for Cheng if he can earn it. He still has an option remaining, so the Rays can send him to Triple-A as depth if they don’t need him in the big leagues or prefer him to get regular reps. He has just ten big league service days, so he can be cheaply retained for the foreseeable future if he’s able to carve out a role in Tampa.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

The Opener: Arbitration Filing Deadline, Cubs, Rotation Market

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

1. Arbitration filing deadline:

Today is a big day on MLB’s offseason calendar, as Thursday marks the deadline for teams and players to exchange figures ahead of salary arbitration. Most of those cases will end in the two parties settling on a salary to avoid arbitration, but any team that still has unsigned players after today will be scheduled for a hearing in front of a three-person arbitration panel. It’s a messy process that can cause discord between player and team. Arb hearings present a difficult balancing act for teams that simultaneously wish to avoid damaging the relationship they have with their players but also are incentivized to hold a firm line on arbitration-level salaries to avoid setting damaging future precedents. The official deadline to reach an agreement is scheduled for noon CT, but teams and players will continue negotiations until the more firm deadline to file figures at 7pm CT this evening. As always, MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz delivered projected arbitration salaries for every eligible player in the game at the outset of the offseason.

2. What’s next for the Cubs?

After what had been a quiet offseason focused mostly on retooling the team’s bullpen, the Cubs made their first big splash yesterday when they swung a trade for talented right-hander Edward Cabrera. Chicago surrendered top outfield prospect Owen Caissie (alongside younger infield prospects Cristian Hernandez and Edgardo De Leon) to the Marlins in exchange for Cabrera’s services. Cabrera is controlled via arbitration for the next three seasons and is projected for a salary of just $3.7MM in 2026. That should give Chicago ample space in the budget to get involved elsewhere in the free agent market. With a rotation that suddenly looks quite deep, that could mean a more aggressive pursuit of top free agent bats. The Cubs have been connected to Alex Bregman throughout the winter, and in recent days have also been tied to Bo Bichette and even old friend Cody Bellinger. A reunion with outgoing star Kyle Tucker still seems unlikely, but could a big free agent splash be in store for the Cubs before the season begins?

3. Will the rotation market keep moving?

Yesterday’s Cabrera trade took another big piece off of the trade market, leaving only a handful of starters left to pursue on that front. Brewers righty Freddy Peralta is perhaps the most talked-about player at this point and could be an impactful rental for an acquiring team, but other players (e.g. Nationals lefty MacKenzie Gore, Mets righty Kodai Senga, Royals lefty Kris Bubic, Reds righty Brady Singer) could all theoretically be available in the right deal. Meanwhile, the lower tiers of the free agent market saw a bit of movement yesterday when the Rockies agreed to a one-year deal with right-hander Michael Lorenzen. Less active has been the high-end rotation market in free agency, where arms like Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez still remain.

Cubs Acquire Edward Cabrera

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The Cubs and Marlins have completed one of the more notable trades of the offseason — a swap that’ll send righty Edward Cabrera from Miami to Chicago in exchange for top outfield prospect Owen Caissie and minor league infielders Cristian Hernandez and Edgardo De Leon.

Cabrera, 28 in April, is a former top prospect who has shown flashes of excellence in the past but wasn’t healthy enough to deliver on that potential until a breakout 2025 campaign. Though he still logged some IL time this past season, he turned in a career-high 137 2/3 innings with a strong 3.53 ERA and encouraging underlying numbers. Cabrera punched out 25.8% of opponents, logged a career-low 8.3% walk rate — far better than the 13.3% clip he carried into the season — recorded a 46.6% ground-ball rate and sat 97 mph on his four-seamer (and 96.8 mph on his sinker) in 2025.

Early in the 2025 season, Cabrera missed two weeks with blisters on his pitching hand — his second career IL trip due to blister troubles. His second IL trip in 2025 was more alarming, as it was prompted by an elbow sprain late in the year. That’s a far more worrying injury, but Cabrera returned after only three weeks and fired nine generally solid innings across his final two appearances, sitting 97.7 mph on his four-seamer and 97.9 mph on his sinker during that time. Given the trade interest in him this offseason and a deal now nearing its completion, it doesn’t appear there’s any current concern about a major elbow injury looming on the horizon.

Beyond his premium velocity and quality rate stats, Cabrera’s contractual situation always figured to hold broad-reaching appeal. He’s entering the second of four arbitration seasons as a Super Two player and is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn a highly affordable $3.7MM in 2026. He’s under club control all the way through 2028, and based on the fairly low starting point in his arbitration journey, those three seasons aren’t likely to cost much more than $20MM overall.

Cabrera will slot into a deep Cubs rotation mix, joining Rookie of the Year finalist Cade Horton and veterans Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon and Shota Imanaga (who accepted a $22.05MM qualifying offer in November). Acquiring Cabrera likely pushes veteran swingman Colin Rea back into a long relief role to begin the season, though he’d be among the first men up in the event of an injury elsewhere on the staff.

Right-hander Javier Assad is also in the mix, though he missed nearly all of the 2025 season due to a severe oblique strain and posted a career-low 15% strikeout rate in the 37 innings he managed to tally late in the season. Assad still has minor league options remaining, so he could be sent to Triple-A to begin the year or else considered for a multi-inning relief role similar to the one Rea might occupy. Other options down in Triple-A include hard-throwing 26-year-old righty Ben Brown and former top prospect Jordan Wicks (also 26). Top prospect Jaxon Wiggins is not yet on the 40-man roster and has barely pitched in Triple-A, but he could be in line for a big league debut this coming season as well.

Of course, the Cubs will be eagerly awaiting the return of ace Justin Steele, ideally at some point in the season’s first half. The 30-year-old Steele was the team’s top starter from 2022-24, pitching a combined 427 innings of 3.10 ERA ball with plus strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates, but he made just four starts in 2025 before requiring UCL surgery in late April. Every rehab process is different, but it’s reasonable to expect that he could be back in June or July.

By the season’s second half, the Cubs could be looking at a rotation led by Steele, Horton and Cabrera, with veterans Taillon, Boyd, Imanaga and Rea among the options for the final couple spots. Injuries will almost always disrupt any team’s best laid plans, but that’s a quality group of arms that doesn’t even factor in Wiggins, who posted a 2.19 ERA and 31% strikeout rate in 18 starts (and one relief appearance) between Double-A and Triple-A last year.

On the Marlins side of things, Cabrera stood as an obvious trade candidate — but one who’d come at a fairly hefty price, given that salary and remaining club control. He landed on the back end of MLBTR’s Top 40 Offseason Trade Candidate list back in November.

It’s obviously not a financially driven move, but the Fish are deep in rotation options — with multiple top prospects nearing readiness — and have various holes in the lineup to fill. Swapping out Cabrera for a package headlined by Caissie works toward that end.

Even with Cabrera departing, Miami can roll out a rotation including Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, Ryan Weathers and Braxton Garrett in the top four spots. Journeyman Janson Junk had a surprisingly nice showing with the Fish in 2025 and is an option either in the fifth spot or long relief. The same can be said for righty Ryan Gusto, whom the Marlins acquired in the deadline trade sending Jesus Sanchez to Houston. Former top prospects Max Meyer, Dax Fulton and Adam Mazur are all on the 40-man roster, too. Current top prospects Thomas White and Robby Snelling could both debut this coming season. White, in particular, is regarded as one of the top prospects in the entire sport.

Caissie should step right into the Marlins’ outfield next season. The 23-year-old slugger made his big league debut this past season, struggling in a tiny sample of 27 plate appearances, but is a former second-round pick and longtime top prospect who has shredded minor league pitching. That includes a 2025 campaign in which he slashed .286/.386/.551 (139 wRC+) with 22 homers, 28 doubles and a pair of triples in 99 games/433 plate appearances of Triple-A work.

Caissie is a lefty-swinging corner outfielder with big power and big swing-and-miss tendencies. He fanned in nearly 28% of his Triple-A plate appearances last year. He’s regularly been able to offset the damage of those strikeouts by walking at high clips, however. He drew a free pass in 13.2% of his Triple-A plate appearances last year and has an overall 13.6% walk rate in five minor league seasons.

Scouting reports on Caissie praise his plus throwing arm but predict he’ll be limited to corner work (despite some early-career experience in center field). He has the makings of a prototypical three-true-outcomes right fielder. The Marlins could go with 2025 breakout slugger Kyle Stowers in left field and Caissie in right, thus giving them a pair of high-powered bats to plug into the heart of their order for the foreseeable future.

Because Caissie only made a brief MLB debut this past season, he still has six full seasons of club control remaining. He’s still rookie-eligible, so the Marlins could potentially pick up a draft pick for him via MLB’s prospect promotion incentive program, depending on when he’s brought up for his Marlins debut and (of course) on how he fares in awards voting early in his big league tenure. Caissie was only selected to the major league roster last offseason, meaning he’s only exhausted one minor league option year and still has two remaining.

Caissie joins Stowers and breakout center fielder Jakob Marsee in comprising a talented and intriguing outfield core. The Marlins’ lineup, in general, has gotten more interesting over the past couple years, thanks largely to the emergence of Xavier Edwards alongside those young outfielders. Former top catching prospect Agustin Ramirez hit for power in his rookie campaign this past season but struggled to get on base and played extremely poor defense behind the plate. Marlins president Peter Bendix has emphasized that the club hopes to continue developing Ramirez behind the plate, but he could see time at first base and DH in 2026, especially once top catching prospect Joe Mack debuts.

Hernandez, 22, is a speed-and-defense shortstop who spent the 2025 season with the Cubs’ High-A affiliate. Baseball America recently ranked him 16th among Cubs farmhands heading into the 2026 season, noting that he has plus raw power but hits the ball on the ground far too frequently to ever tap into that pop. (This past season’s seven home runs were a career-high.) BA’s report notes that Hernandez has the tools to be an above-average defender but is often inaccurate with his throwing despite good arm strength.

Improving the accuracy on Hernandez’s throws seems like a more attainable goal than overhauling his offensive approach to get more loft without compromising his lower-than-average strikeout rate, but if the Marlins can fix both those traits, it’s possible they’ll have a starting-caliber shortstop on their hands. Those are big “ifs,” of course, particularly considering that Hernandez just hit .252/.329/.365 as a 21-year-old in his second stint with the Cubs’ High-A affiliate. He’s a project, but a capable shortstop coming off a 52-steal season (61 attempts) is a nice secondary piece to add to the system.

De Leon is the furthest from MLB-ready. He’s an 18-year-old who signed as part of Chicago’s 2024 international class. The 6′, 170-pound De Leon played with the Cubs’ Dominican Summer League club in 2024, hitting .277/.431/.433 in 181 plate appearances. He moved up to their Rookie-level Arizona Complex League affiliate in 2025 and slashed .276/.353/.500 in 153 turns at the plate. BA’s Geoff Pontes listed him as a sleeper prospect to watch heading into the 2026 season, citing his encouraging exit velocities and plus raw power.

With just 334 professional plate appearances under his belt and his 19th birthday still six weeks away, De Leon is a pure development project for Miami. He’s been a productive hitter in each of his two pro seasons, though, even with some moderately worrying swing-and-miss tendencies (28.8% strikeout rate in 2025). He’ll probably head to the Marlins’ Low-A affiliate to begin the 2026 season and doesn’t seem likely to be a potential major league factor until 2028 or 2029 at the earliest.

The Marlins remain a work in progress and will most likely enter 2026 as something of a playoff long shot, but there are a number of upward-pointing arrows on the roster, making it an encouraging time for Miami fans.

Bleacher Nation’s Michael Cerami first reported that a Cabrera trade between the two teams was near completion. Kevin Barral of Fish On First reported Caissie as the likely headliner. Christina De Nicola of MLB.com and Craig Mish of SportsGrid broke the news of the other two prospects in the deal. Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported that the medical review process had been completed and that the trade was official.

MLB Mailbag: Dodgers, Reds, Marlins, Casas, Mets

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This week's Front Office mailbag gets into the Dodgers adding a top free agent, Boston's offer to Alex Bregman as well as the Triston Casas situation, which bats the Reds could add, what's next for the Marlins and Mets, and much more.

William asks:

Any substance to the rumor that Bichette is signing with the Dodgers? How would that affect their tax? And who might they trade away?

Ron asks:

The Dodgers seem set for 2026 and beyond. They have young starting pitchers coming along and younger outfielders on the way. Left field and third base are the positions that might need tweaking this year or next. Could they grab the 2 best F.A.'s still available?

On January 1st, Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote that the Dodgers (and Yankees and Cubs) "checked on" Bichette.  That's all Heyman gave us in that article - no further context.  Two days later in a tweet, Heyman added the Phillies to the list of teams that "have interest," beyond the well-known Blue Jays and Red Sox.

With all due respect to Heyman, that Dodgers-Bichette connection is pretty thin.  It'd almost be irresponsible for a big market team not to "check on" a quality player like Bichette as his free agency drags into the new year, especially a club with room for improvement in the infield.  We have no idea if anything more than due diligence has occurred between Bichette's camp and some of these clubs.

I hope we get better info, but GMs cannot shoot down free agent interest publicly, so if some of this is overstated we might not learn until after Bichette signs.

In late November, MLBTR's Anthony Franco included the Dodgers as a "plausible/on-paper dark horse" for Bichette, writing:

"There hasn’t been much in the way of Dodgers/Bichette smoke so far. This would feel a bit like overkill, but the Dodgers don’t have anyone locked in at second base. Their farm system is loaded with outfield talent but not as strong in the middle infield aside from Alex Freeland. Locking Bichette in at second would require them to play Tommy Edman mostly in center field coming off ankle surgery."

On Monday, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic wrote, "Dodgers people like to say that Andrew Friedman’s preferred method of operation is 'hanging around the backboard.' If a player’s price in trade or free agency drops, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations will attempt to grab him on the rebound and dunk on the industry yet again."

Friedman has had the Dodgers' top front office job for more than 11 years now, so we should have evidence of him "hanging around the backboard" and snatching up some top free agents whose market disappointed.  Below is what I found, which should help us determine whether the Dodgers might swoop in on Kyle Tucker or Bo Bichette:

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MLBTR Podcast: Contracts For Imai And Okamoto, And Thoughts On The Pirates And Giants

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images

Tigers, Burch Smith Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Tigers signed reliever Burch Smith to a minor league contract, reports Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free-Press. The righty receives an invitation to MLB camp and will be guaranteed a $1.5MM base salary if he makes the big league roster.

Smith, 36 in April, has played for seven big league clubs over a 15-year career that has taken him around the globe. Smith has pitched in Japan and Korea in addition to seven seasons at the Triple-A level. He has gotten to the majors in parts of six campaigns, working to a 5.79 ERA through 247 1/3 career innings.

The Oklahoma product’s most recent MLB action came in 2024. He divided that season evenly between the Marlins and Orioles, allowing just under five earned runs per nine over 56 1/3 frames. He spent last year on a minor league contract with the Pirates. Working for their Triple-A club in Indianapolis, Smith was tagged for a 7.08 ERA in 19 outings. He struck out nearly 27% of batters faced against an elevated 12.2% walk rate. The Pirates released him at the end of July.

Smith remained unsigned for the rest of the ’25 season. He has made a comeback in winter ball in the Dominican Republic, recording a 20:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio with three runs allowed in 15 1/3 innings. The Tigers add him to a deep collection of non-roster bullpen arms. Tanner Rainey, Sean Guenther, Scott Effross, Dugan Darnell, Jack Little, Tyler Mattison and Cole Waites have also signed minor league deals.

Takahiro Norimoto Weighing Offer From MLB Team

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Free agent relief pitcher Takahiro Norimoto has received an offer from a major league club, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The 35-year-old righty is weighing a move stateside but not firmly committed to making the jump. He’s also considering offers from clubs in Japan.

Norimoto has played 13 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, all with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. A starter for most of that time, he has transitioned into the Eagles’ closer over the past two years. Norimoto has gone 48-53 in save opportunities. He posted a 3.46 earned run average in 2024 and is coming off a 3.02 mark across 56 2/3 frames last season.

Despite his decent numbers at the back of the Eagles’ bullpen, Norimoto isn’t a power arm. He hasn’t recorded a strikeout rate above 20% in any of the past four seasons. Norimoto fanned just 17.2% of batters faced against an 8.4% walk rate last year. FanGraphs writes that he sits around 92 MPH on his fastball and features an above-average splitter as his best secondary pitch. He seemingly projects as a middle reliever or depth arm at the major league level.

It’d be a surprise if Norimoto commands more than a cheap one-year MLB contract. It’s possible he explores major league interest as a leverage play in negotiations for potentially bigger money in Japan. Norimoto has nine-plus seasons of service time in his home country, so he’s an unrestricted free agent who can sign with any club in NPB or a foreign league. An MLB team would not owe the Eagles a posting fee. Feinsand notes that Norimoto is likely to decide whether he’ll make the move to MLB within the next few days.

Rockies To Sign Michael Lorenzen

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The Rockies are in agreement with Michael Lorenzen on a one-year, $8MM contract, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The deal includes a $9MM club option for the 2027 season. Colorado has an available 40-man roster spot and will finalize the deal once Lorenzen passes a physical. He’s represented by CAA Sports.

It’s the first MLB signing of the winter for Colorado, meaning it is also Paul DePodesta’s first notable pickup as their head of baseball operations. (The Red Sox are now the only team that hasn’t signed a big league free agent this offseason.) It’s likely to be the first of a few pitching adds for the rebuilding club. General manager Josh Byrnes said this week that they were hoping to bring in two experienced starters.

The Rockies very rarely add to their rotation via free agency. This is the first time they’ve added a free agent starter on a $5MM+ guarantee since the Kyle Kendrick signing in 2015. Coors Field obviously isn’t a preferred destination for most pitchers. A seven-year streak of finishing fourth or fifth in the NL West doesn’t help matters.

One thing they can certainly offer is opportunity. Lorenzen would be a sixth starter or swing arm for a lot of teams. He’ll get a guaranteed rotation spot in Colorado, where he lands behind Kyle Freeland as their most established arms. The 34-year-old righty has spent the past season and a half with the Royals. He worked at the back of Kansas City’s rotation for most of that time, including 26 starts last year. Lorenzen pitched to a 4.64 earned run average over 141 2/3 innings.

A multi-inning reliever early in his career with the Reds, Lorenzen prioritized a rotation opportunity upon getting to free agency after the 2021 season. He has bounced around on a handful of one-year deals that have generally given him a back-end starting job. This is the fifth consecutive offseason in which he commanded exactly one year on an MLB contract. The deals have all guaranteed between $4.5MM and $8.5MM and have come with five different teams: the Angels, Tigers, Rangers, and Royals. He has also been traded twice and is now on his seventh team overall.

Lorenzen has surpassed 130 innings in each of the past three seasons. He has required an injured list stint in four consecutive years, but a 2022 shoulder strain led to his only lengthy absence. His recent IL stints have been for minor issues: groin, hamstring, neck and oblique strains — none of which cost him more than a month.

The 6’3″ righty works with one of the deepest arsenals of any pitcher in MLB. Statcast’s tracking metrics identity seven distinct pitches, none of which he uses more than a quarter of the time. His four-seam fastball checks in around 94 MPH. He also throws a sinker, changeup, and four breaking pitches (slider, curveball, cutter, sweeper). Nothing stands out as plus in isolation, but he carves out decent results by mixing and matching. Lorenzen has a 4.10 ERA with a modest 19.3% strikeout rate against an average 8.7% walk percentage over the past four seasons.

Anything close to that production would make him one of Colorado’s best pitchers. Freeland was their only pitcher who made more than six starts and allowed fewer than 6.33 earned runs per nine innings. The rotation’s 6.65 ERA was historically terrible. Germán Márquez isn’t expected back in free agency. Antonio Senzatela was demoted to the bullpen late in the season and is expected to remain in long relief.

Freeland and Lorenzen are locked into the top two rotation spots. Ryan Feltner, Chase Dollander, Gabriel Hughes, Bradley Blalock, Tanner Gordon, McCade Brown and waiver claim Keegan Thompson are the other options on the 40-man roster. Feltner is the only one of the bunch who has had any kind of MLB success, and he’s coming off an injury-plagued season. Dollander is a former top 10 pick who held his own on the road but was terrible at Coors Field as a rookie. They’re penciled into the rotation for now, while the fifth starter job would be wide open if they don’t succeed in bringing in anyone else this offseason.

Lorenzen will eat some innings and raise the floor when he takes the ball. He’s not the caliber of pitcher who’s going to net a huge trade return, but the Rox will hope for a solid first half that allows them to flip him for a lottery ticket prospect at the deadline.

Image courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images.

Rays Agree To Minor League Deals With Edward Olivares, Blake Sabol

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The Rays agreed to minor league deals with outfielder Edward Olivares and catcher Blake Sabol, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. Both players will be in camp as non-roster invitees. Additionally, Topkin reports that right-hander Brian Van Belle signed a two-year minor league contract after being released last month.

Olivares, a veteran of parts of five MLB seasons, is back stateside after a year in Japan. The righty-hitting outfielder signed with the Orix Buffaloes last offseason. Olivares only made it into 11 games at the NPB level, batting .182 without a home run. He appeared in 61 games with the Buffaloes’ minor league club, hitting .213/.327/.301 over 165 plate appearances.

The 29-year-old Olivares has played for the Royals, Padres and Pirates. He’s a .254/.306/.407 hitter in a little under 1000 big league plate appearances. He has solid tools headlined by above-average speed and a plus arm. A sub-6% walk rate has limited his on-base upside, and he doesn’t have the power to play everyday in a corner outfield spot.

Sabol gets a new job on his 28th birthday. A left-handed hitter, he played in 110 games for the Giants as a Rule 5 pick in 2023. Sabol connected on 13 homers and hit .235/.301/.394. That’s not bad for a rookie catcher, but a lack of defensive polish has mostly kept him in the minors since that season. Sabol combined for 19 MLB appearances with the Giants and Red Sox between 2024-25. He hit at a league average level in Triple-A two seasons ago but limped to a .183/.296/.326 showing in 66 minor league games last year.

The Rays have Hunter Feduccia and Nick Fortes lined up to split the catching work. Prospect Dominic Keegan is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. Evaluators have questions about Keegan’s defense, especially his arm. That has been the primary issue for Sabol as well, but he’ll provide some experience as a non-roster player in camp.

Van Belle will miss the entire 2026 season after undergoing late-season elbow surgery. The Rays outrighted him at the beginning of the offseason, then released him entirely in mid-December. Van Belle had been on track to qualify for minor league free agency at the end of next season. The transactional sequence allows the Rays to get a look at him in Spring Training ’27. Van Belle debuted last year with four appearances, tossing 8 1/3 innings of five-run ball.

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