The Phillies have a deal in place with right-hander Bryse Wilson, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. It’s unclear if it’s a major league or minor league pact for the Pro Edge Sports Management client. The Phils have multiple 40-man vacancies, so they won’t need to make a corresponding move even if this is a big league deal.
More to come.
The Tigers have traded right-hander Chase Lee to the Blue Jays in exchange for minor league lefty Johan Simon, according to announcements from both clubs. This move is likely to open a 40-man spot for the Tigers to make their signing of Kyle Finnegan official. The Jays had a 40-man vacancy but Lee takes up the final spot. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic first reported that Lee was headed to the Jays while Mitch Bannon of The Athletic first mentioned Simon as the return.
Lee, 27, doesn’t throw especially hard but is able to deceive batters with his sidearm delivery. Originally a draft pick of the Rangers, he was traded to the Tigers as part of the 2024 deadline deal which sent Andrew Chafin the other way.
In 2024 2/3 minor league innings, Lee has allowed 4.13 earned runs pere nine, with a fairly average 8% walk rate but a strong 30.9% strikeout rate. The Tigers called him up to make his major league debut in 2025. He gave them 37 1/3 innings with a 4.10 ERA. His four-seam fastball only averaged 89.2 miles per hour while he also threw a sinker, slider and changeup. He struck out 24.3% of opponents while limiting walks to a 6.1% clip.
For the Jays, Lee adds some extra bullpen depth. He still has options and can therefore be sent to Triple-A Buffalo and back throughout the year. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet recently wrote a piece about how the Jays appear to be prioritizing different arm angles, so it’s possible they are particularly attracted to Lee’s sidearming abilities. He has less than a year of service time and is therefore years away from qualifying for arbitration and even further from free agency. If he’s able to carve out a meaningful role in the big leagues, he could be a long-term piece for the Jays.
To get Lee, the Jays are giving up Simon, an international signing out of the Dominican Republic. In 2025, he began at Single-A and then climbed to High-A and Double-A. Across those three levels, he tossed 71 relief innings with a 3.42 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and a massive 64% ground ball rate.
For the Tigers, they had a 40-man roster crunch and needed to lose someone. With this deal, they’ve lost a bit of immediate depth but replaced Lee with a non-roster arm who is only slightly farther away from the majors.
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
The Mariners are in conversations with free agent catcher Andrew Knizner on a deal, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. If they reach agreement on a big league contract, he’d be in line to back up Cal Raleigh.
Knizner spent the second half of the 2025 season with the Giants. He’d begun the season in Triple-A with the Nationals but was released in the middle of May. He signed a minor league deal with San Francisco and jumped onto the MLB roster a few weeks later. Knizner spent the rest of the season working behind Patrick Bailey. The presence of a two-time Gold Glove winner blocked him from getting much playing time, though he had a brief run as the starting catcher when Bailey missed a week and a half with a neck strain.
The 30-year-old Knizner (31 in February) started 28 of his 32 appearances behind the dish. He stepped to the plate 88 times and hit .221/.299/.299 with one home run. Knizner has played parts of seven MLB seasons between the Cardinals, Rangers and Giants. He owns a .211/.281/.316 batting line in a little under 1000 career plate appearances. The former seventh-round pick has a much better .292/.387/.443 mark across 583 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level.
Knizner has caught more than 2200 major league innings. His early-career defensive grades weren’t great, as public metrics weren’t favorable on his pitch framing. He has rated closer to average in that regard over the past two seasons, though his blocking hasn’t been as strong. His arm strength is middling, and he has thrown out a below-average 16.4% of baserunners in the last four years.
San Francisco opted not to tender Knizner a contract for his final year of arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected him for a modest $1.3MM salary, but the Giants want to leave the door open for rookie Jesus Rodriguez to win the backup job in camp. Seattle doesn’t have a second catcher on their 40-man roster. Mitch Garver hit free agency and they traded rookie Harry Ford for lefty reliever Jose A. Ferrer last week.
Knizner has five-plus years of MLB service and cannot be sent to the minors without his consent. If he signed a big league deal, he’d enter camp as the presumed #2 catcher. The Mariners will probably continue looking for depth options via waivers or minor league free agency to push him for that spot, but it’s not a position to which they need to devote many resources. Raleigh will be in the lineup almost every day at either catcher or designated hitter. He started 119 games and logged 1072 innings behind the plate this past season. Only J.T. Realmuto and William Contreras took a heavier workload.
This year’s Winter Meetings were highlighted by two of the game’s premier sluggers signing two of the offseason’s biggest contracts so far: Kyle Schwarber re-upped with the Phillies for five years and $150MM, while Pete Alonso signed on with the Orioles for five years and $155MM. With such remarkably similar contracts and roles to play in the lineup, it’s fair to wonder which player would be better to roster in a vacuum.
Schwarber’s case is obvious, given that he’s coming off a career year where he bashed 56 home runs and finished second in NL MVP voting. Schwarber turned in a brilliant .240/.365/.563 (152 wRC+) slash line for the Phillies this year while playing in all 162 games. In addition to his massive home run total, the slugger added 23 doubles, 2 triples, and even managed to chip in ten stolen bases. That was good enough for 4.9 fWAR and 4.7 bWAR, an incredibly impressive total for a DH who fielded just 66 innings this year.
Alonso’s offensive numbers, while certainly strong, weren’t quite as impressive. The slugger hit .272/.347/.524 with a wRC+ of 141 while also playing 162 games for the Mets. While he hit “just” 38 home runs to Schwarber’s 56, he did manage to swat 41 doubles as well. His contributions on the bases were minimal, but he did play the field in 160 of his 162 games as the Mets’ everyday first baseman. Alonso’s 3.6 fWAR and 3.4 bWAR don’t quite measure up to Schwarber’s gaudy total, but his ability to play a defensive position on a regular basis did free up the DH slot in the lineup to allow the Mets the opportunity to rest their regulars and roster valuable pieces with defensive limitations like Starling Marte.
Digging in a little deeper, the comparison gets even more interesting. Advanced metrics indicate an even smaller gap between Schwarber and Alonso in terms of offense than the raw production does, as Schwarber’s .402 xwOBA eclipses Alonso’s .385 by just 17 points. On the other hand, Alonso benefited from a career-high .305 BABIP in 2025, while Schwarber’s own .253 figure was actually below his career norms. Schwarber’s time in Philadelphia has seen him produce a 133 wRC+ that’s almost a perfect match for Alonso’s own 131 wRC+ over the past four years, and while Alonso is two years younger than Schwarber, he also lacks some of the elite power projection that Schwarber offers. Schwarber’s incredible 54.2% hard-hit rate over the past five years trails only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, while Alonso’s 46.7% figure falls more in line with players a cut below that tier like Ryan McMahon and Max Muncy.
A look at how both players performed in the market would suggest that teams certainly value them similarly. The pair got the same number of years. Alonso signed for an additional $5MM in terms of total guarantee but Schwarber appeared to have a more robust market in terms of total suitors. The Pirates, Reds, and Orioles themselves were all known to have made offers of $120MM or more to Schwarber, with plenty of other teams such as the Mets, Giants and Red Sox rumored to be interested as well. Alonso, by contrast, saw his known suitors mostly limited to the Mets, Red Sox, and perhaps the Cubs in addition to the Orioles. Perhaps more teams simply had an opening at DH than at first base, but it’s also fair to wonder if more teams simply saw Schwarber as a game-changing talent.
Even if that’s true, however, Alonso’s ability to field a position at a competent (if below average) level on a regular basis and his relative youth would certainly be strong arguments in his favor. Schwarber will play the final year of his contract at the age of 37 and few players project well that late into their careers. Perhaps Schwarber’s elite and unique power capacity could make him an exception in the same vein as other great slugging DH-only bats like David Ortiz and Nelson Cruz, but that’s a much bolder gamble to make than expecting Alonso to remain productive through his 35th birthday.
How do MLBTR readers value the two sluggers? If your team had openings at both first base and DH, which one would you rather have installed in your lineup for the next five seasons? Have your say in the poll below:
Anthony Franco
Reds
Anthony Franco
Breslow
Anthony Franco
Robert from SC
Anthony Franco
Willson Contreras
Anthony Franco
Hmm
Anthony Franco
Who signs first?
Anthony Franco
Pete Alonso
Anthony Franco
Coldstove season
Anthony Franco
Curious A's Fan
Anthony Franco
Joe from Milwaukee
The Nationals announced that they have signed a one-year deal with right-hander Josiah Gray to avoid arbitration. Gray will make $1.35MM in 2026, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. That’s the same salary Gray made in 2025 while recovering from elbow surgery.
Gray will celebrate his 28th birthday in a little over a week. Once a notable prospect with the Dodgers, he came over to the Nationals in the 2021 deadline deal which sent Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to Los Angeles. That deal hasn’t worked out especially well for the Nats so far. Gray and catcher Keibert Ruiz were hoped to be major building blocks in Washington but Ruiz has struggled to cement himself as a viable big league catcher. Gerardo Carrillo and Donovan Casey, the other two guys acquired in that deal, are no longer with the Nats.
As for Gray, he has had some decent but not overwhelming results for Washington. He made 28 starts for the Nats in 2022 but with an unimpressive 5.02 earned run average. He dropped his ERA to 3.91 in 2023 but with less impressive numbers under the hood. His 20.5% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk rate were both subpar. It seems a fairly high 80.4% strand rate helped him keep runs off the board. His 4.93 FIP and 5.08 SIERA were less bullish than his ERA.
He has mostly been on the shelf since then. He made just two starts in 2024 before landing on the injured list due to a flexor strain in his throwing elbow. He began a rehab assignment in June but then was shut down with renewed discomfort. He required Tommy John surgery in July. He finished that year on the IL and eclipsed three years of service time in the process. That qualified him for arbitration for the first time going into 2025. He and the Nats agreed to a $1.35MM salary to avoid arbitration.
Gray spent the year rehabbing. He made three brief rehab starts in September, getting stretched out enough to throw 2 2/3 innings in the final outing, but he didn’t get back to the big league club. The way the arb system works, player salaries almost never go down. For guys who miss an entire season, they usually see their salaries hold steady. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected that would happen with Gray and it has.
Much has changed since Gray has been out. The rebuild effort stalled out to the point that president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez were both fired in July. They have since been replaced by Paul Toboni and Blake Butera respectively.
It’s unclear when the front office plans to return to contention but Gray is now down to two years of club control. His teammate MacKenzie Gore is also two years from free agency and has been in plenty of trade rumors. Infielder CJ Abrams has also been in trade rumors despite being controlled for three more seasons. If Gray has a strong first half in 2026, it’s possible he will also be in a lot of trade talk this summer as well.
Photo courtesy of Reggie Hildred, Imagn Images
December 12th: The Dodgers officially announced the signing today.
December 9th: For the second straight offseason, the Dodgers are signing the top relief arm on the market. They’ve reportedly agreed to a three-year, $69MM contract with now-former Mets closer Edwin Diaz. It’s a record-setting annual value for a reliever, breaking the $20.4MM record that Diaz himself already held. Diaz’s contract with the Dodgers contains $4.5MM in deferred salary annually. The net-present value, for luxury tax purposes, is roughly $21.1MM.
Diaz, a Wasserman client, returned to the open market this winter when he opted out of the final two seasons of the precedent-setting five-year, $102MM contract he signed with the Mets the last time he was a free agent. The right-hander had been guaranteed $38MM over the final two seasons of that contract, so by opting out and testing the market, he secured himself an additional one year and $31MM in guarantees. The Mets, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, offered Diaz a three-year, $66MM deal with “slight” deferrals.
The 31-year-old Diaz (32 in March) has spent the past seven years in Queens and, after a rocky first campaign, has turned in a collective 2.36 ERA (2.12 SIERA, 2.15 FIP) with a mammoth 40.8% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate. He’s piled up 144 saves in 332 appearances as a Met.
For the Dodgers, Diaz represents the most on-the-nose means of addressing a problem that nearly doomed them in the postseason: a lack of reliable bullpen help. Injuries to Evan Phillips, Tanner Scott, Brusdar Graterol and others left the Dodgers with a thin enough stock of trustworthy relievers that L.A. turned to Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (one day after he threw nearly 100 pitches) in pivotal high-leverage settings during their World Series run. That they even progressed to the World Series was largely attributable to historic performances from starters Yamamoto, Snell, Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani in the postseason’s earlier rounds.
The Dodgers have now signed the top reliever on the market in consecutive offseasons. They inked Tanner Scott to a four-year, $72MM pact last winter, though that deal contained $21MM worth of deferred money, thus knocking down the present value. Scott’s first year in L.A. didn’t go at all as hoped; he limped to a 4.74 ERA with improved command but lesser velocity and strikeout rates. After yielding 11 home runs in the 2022-24 seasons combined, Scott served up 11 round-trippers in his first season as a Dodger.
Certainly, they’ll hope for better results with Diaz, whose track record is lengthier and steadier than that of Scott. While he’s naturally had some year-to-year variance in his earned run averages — as is the case for any reliever — Diaz has been at 3.52 or better in each of the past five seasons, including three sub-2.00 campaigns. He’s punched out at least 34.6% of his opponents each season along the way, and since a shaky walk rate in 2021, he’s sat between 7.7% and 9.3% in that regard for four straight seasons.
That’s not to say there aren’t any red flags at all with regard to Diaz. His average fastball velocity has dipped in two consecutive seasons. While this past season’s average of 97.2 mph was still well above average, it’s also two miles per hour shy of Diaz’s 2022 peak. He also gave up considerably more hard contact. Diaz’s 88.5 mph average exit velocity and 39.7% hard-hit rate were both the second-highest marks of his career, trailing only his disastrous 2019 season (his first as a Met). Neither is a glaring issue, particularly considering Diaz maintained elite strikeout and swinging-strike rates (38% and 18%, respectively), but he’ll want to avoid allowing those negative trends to continue, however slight they may currently be.
Diaz will slot into the ninth inning, pushing Scott to a setup role alongside Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen, Anthony Banda, Brock Stewart and Graterol. Will Klein, Ben Casparius and Jack Dreyer all had solid or better seasons in 2025, but if everyone is healthy — far from a given — there’s only room for one of that trio in the final bullpen spot. Of course, injuries will inevitably create opportunities for many of the Dodgers’ overqualified depth arms, and each of Klein, Casparius, Dreyer and Edgardo Henriquez have minor league options remaining.
The Dodgers have paid the luxury tax in (more than) three consecutive seasons and are more than $60MM over the $244MM first-tier luxury threshold, meaning they’ll pay a 110% tax on the AAV on Diaz’s contract. However the annual salaries break down, he’ll cost them an additional $25.3MM in taxes alone. Assuming an evenly distributed $23MM per season, RosterResource, now projects next year’s Dodgers payroll at just over $359MM (although that does not account for substantial deferrals to Ohtani, Scott, Freddie Freeman, etc.).
The Mets would have been subject to those same penalties had they matched or topped this offer. Diaz reportedly entered the market seeking a five-year contract. When that didn’t materialize, he clearly pivoted to a record-setting, shorter-term arrangement. The extent of the deferrals in New York’s offer aren’t yet clear, but there’s no indication (yet, anyway) that the Dodgers’ offer includes any deferred money.
While New York couldn’t have known when signing Devin Williams to a three-year, $51MM pact that Diaz would also sign for three years and a total of $18MM more, the results from those two high-end relievers will now be carefully watched by Mets fans for the next three seasons. If Williams returns to form, it’ll look like a savvy pivot to get a comparable reliever at a lesser rate. If not, there will be plenty of second-guessing and criticism from the fan base.
Of course, owner Steve Cohen also clearly has the resources to have simply won the bidding on both relievers, but that’s ultimately not the route the front office chose. They’ll now look to other avenues as they seek to continue adding to the bullpen. The Mets were open to re-signing Diaz even after adding Williams, and while this deal clearly went past their comfort zone, there are other high-end arms still available — Robert Suarez, most notably. Choosing to let Diaz walk also frees up further resources for a potential re-signing of Pete Alonso or perhaps a run at another target of note.
The Mets bid farewell to Diaz, who rejected a $22.025MM qualifying offer, with only minimal compensation for his departure. Due to their status as luxury tax payors, they’ll receive a compensatory draft pick after the fourth round of next summer’s draft. The Dodgers, meanwhile, will surrender their second- and fifth-highest selections in next year’s draft. The league-allotted cap on their personal spending pool for international amateur free agents will also be reduced by $1MM.
Such considerations tend to be ancillary for the market’s top-spending clubs. Perennial luxury payors consider them the cost of doing business in the deepest waters of the free agent pool. The Dodgers have punted draft picks to sign Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman (among others) in recent seasons. For them, the allure of adding a closer with nearly unrivaled dominance takes precedence as they try to assemble a roster capable of winning three consecutive World Series for the first time since the 1998-2000 Yankees.
The Athletic’s Will Sammon first reported the agreement. Sammon and colleague Ken Rosenthal were also the first to report the three-year term. ESPN’s Jeff Passan broke the total guarantee. Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the Dodgers’ emerging interest in Diaz shortly before the agreement became public. Sherman reported on the deferrals.
Former Padres right-hander Sean Reynolds is signing with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. It’ll be the first overseas stint for the Ballengee Group client.
Reynolds, 27, was non-tendered by the Padres last month. He pitched parts of two seasons with the Friars after coming over alongside first baseman/outfielder Garrett Cooper in the trade that sent lefty Ryan Weathers back to the Marlins. Reynolds was outstanding in a small sample with the ’24 Padres, yielding only one run while piling up 21 punchouts in 11 innings (42.9% strikeout rate). He was hit hard in 2025, however, surrendering 16 runs on 20 hits and 17 walks in 27 frames. The resulting 5.33 ERA was an eyesore, and Reynolds saw his massive 2024 strikeout rate quite literally halved (21.4%).
Health may have played some role in Reynolds’ 2025 struggles. He opened the year on the shelf due to a stress reaction in his right foot and was promptly tagged for five runs in only 1 2/3 innings upon returning from the injured list. Reynolds then settled in with a tidy 2.14 earned run average over his next 21 frames before being optioned to Triple-A El Paso. He pitched well for the Chihuahuas for the next couple months and was recalled in September — only to be tagged for six runs (with nine walks) in his final 4 1/3 big league innings.
Reynolds has been a pure reliever throughout his professional career and will presumably be used in that same role over in Japan. The righty sat 96 mph with his four-seamer this past season and coupled the pitch with a slider clocking in at an average of 86.1 mph. He won’t turn 28 until April, so with a strong year or two pitching in Asia, there’s potential for him to eventual return to North American ball.
The Diamondbacks announced that right-hander Bryce Jarvis has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding 40-man move for their signing of Michael Soroka, which is now official.
Jarvis, 28 this month, was Arizona’s first-round pick in the 2020 draft. The Snakes took him with the 18th overall pick and signed him with a $2.65MM bonus. He was a notable prospect for a bit but his stock has been dropping effectively since he was drafted.
He posted lackluster results as he worked his way up the minor league ladder, working mostly as a starter. In 2022, he made 25 Double-A starts but allowed 8.28 earned runs per nine in the process.
In 2023, he had a 5.08 ERA on the farm, slightly better but obviously still not ideal. Nonetheless, the Diamondbacks called him up to work out of the big league bullpen. He posted a 3.04 ERA there, although that number was misleading. His 9.8% walk rate was subpar and his 13% strikeout rate well below average. A tiny .162 batting average on balls in play and a high strand rate of 74.5% helped him out.
It was a similar story in 2024. Jarvis posted a 3.19 ERA but with subpar numbers under the hood. In 2025, his luck corrected, as he had a 5.73 ERA. He also continued to make starts at the Triple-A level, but with an 8.47 ERA in those.
Over the past three years, Jarvis has logged 105 big league innings. His 3.69 ERA doesn’t look bad but his 15.8% strikeout rate and 11.8% walk rate are both poor figures. He would have allowed more runs if not for a .251 BABIP and 76% strand rate. His 4.97 FIP and 5.11 SIERA are likely more accurate representations of the work he has done so far.
Jarvis has now been bumped off the roster in Arizona and will be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Snakes could take five days to explore trades. Jarvis does have an option remaining, so it’s possible some club takes a shot on his draft pedigree and hopes for a breakout.
Photo courtesy of Joe Rondone, Imagn Images
After missing out on both Pete Alonso and Kyle Schwarber, the Red Sox continue to pursue upgrades for their lineup. One target they’re recently looked into, according to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo, is Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras.
Of course, the Red Sox and Cardinals already completed one trade sending a notable veteran to Boston; right-hander Sonny Gray was traded to the Sox in exchange for righty Richard Fitts and minor league lefty Brandon Clarke earlier in the offseason. (The Cardinals included $20MM in cash to help facilitate the swap.) Like Gray, Contreras is a veteran on a pricey contract with a full no-trade clause who St. Louis would like to move in order to clear payroll and create opportunities for younger players.
However, while Gray was very clear about his willingness to waive his no-trade clause this winter, Contreras has been more on the fence. The catcher-turned-first-baseman said at season’s end that he would consider certain scenarios but preferred to remain in St. Louis. Contreras has reportedly warmed a bit to the idea of approving a trade as the offseason has progressed, but he’s still going to be particular about his potential destination. It’s not yet clear to which teams Contreras would be willing to approve a trade, but he’d presumably prefer a contender. Boston clearly checks that box.
The fit in Boston is a natural one. First base was a question mark throughout the 2025 season. Young slugger Triston Casas struggled through a cold spell for the first three weeks and then suffered a season-ending knee injury just as he was beginning to show signs of emerging from that slump. Boston turned to Romy Gonzalez, Abraham Toro and eventual free agent pickup Nathaniel Lowe for much of the season. Gonzalez thrived against left-handed pitching but was below-average against righties, as is typical for him. Toro struggled and was eventually outrighted off the roster. Lowe performed decently down the stretch but was non-tendered due to a hefty arbitration price and a poor four months to begin the season.
Acquiring Contreras, who’s batted .256/.356/.461 (130 wRC+) across the past four seasons, would add an everyday option to the lineup and allow Gonzalez to be deployed in more of a utility role. Though he’s new to first base, Contreras made a smooth transition to the position in 2025. The longtime catcher had a poor defensive reputation behind the dish but turned in solid marks for his glovework at his new defensive home. Statcast’s Outs Above Average metric pegged him as a positive defender (+6), and Defensive Runs Saved had him as a nearly average defender (-1). Those numbers could feasibly improve a bit as he takes even more reps at the position.
Contreras is earning $36.5MM over the next two seasons and has a $5MM buyout on a $17.5MM club option for the 2028 season. That remaining $41.5MM in guaranteed money is roughly in line with market value — at least in terms of average annual value — for a first baseman who’ll turn 34 next May. Christian Walker landed a three-year, $60MM contract covering his age-34 through age-36 seasons just last winter, for instance.
For the Red Sox, the $20.75MM in remaining AAV would put them over the luxury tax threshold, though given their pursuit of so many notable free agents and trade targets, that doesn’t seem like it’ll be a big impediment this time around. If the Sox don’t want to go too far beyond the tax line, the Cardinals’ inclusion of $20MM in the Gray trade shows a clear willingness to pay down salary in exchange for a better return. Those prior talks surely gave both parties an idea of which remaining players in Boston’s system would be of interest. And while it may not be a deciding factor in Contreras’ decision, the familiarity of having former teammates like Gray and Aroldis Chapman already on the roster could be somewhat of a perk.
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