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Cardinals To Sign Dustin May

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The Cardinals are expected to sign right-hander Dustin May, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. It’s a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2027. May spent last season split between the Dodgers and Red Sox.

May was sent to Boston at the trade deadline for James Tibbs and Zach Ehrhard. After scuffling through 19 appearances with L.A., he battled injuries and poor performance with the Red Sox. May set career highs in innings (132 1/3) and games (25) last season, but posted an unsightly 4.96 ERA with an xFIP and SIERA in the mid-4.00s.

St. Louis was in desperate need of rotation depth after trading Sonny Gray to Boston and watching Miles Mikolas hit free agency. The club also lost swingman Steven Matz, who signed with Tampa Bay. May is set to join holdovers Andre Pallante and Michael McGreevy in the rotation. May’s former teammate on the Red Sox, Richard Fitts, will likely be in the mix after coming over in the Gray trade. The Cardinals are considering converting Kyle Leahy into a starter to round out the staff.

The Dodgers spent a third-round pick on May in 2016. He emerged as one of the top pitching prospects in a system typically stocked with elite arms. May made his MLB debut in 2019, working largely out of the bullpen. He spent the majority of the shortened 2020 campaign in the rotation, making 10 starts. It would be the only time he would reach double-digit starts until this past season. Injuries capped May to just 20 games from 2021 to 2023. He missed all of 2024 due to flexor tendon surgery.

May stayed healthy for the first time in 2025, making 19 appearances for the Dodgers. He stumbled to a 4.85 ERA over 104 innings. Despite the performance, May still netted LA an intriguing prospect in Tibbs, a first-round pick in 2024 (by San Francisco). The veteran righty made just six appearances with the Red Sox before right elbow neuritis cut his season short.

The Cardinals are betting on May pairing the flashes of solid production he’s shown in prior seasons with the improved health from 2025. The 28-year-old recorded a sub-3.00 ERA in 2020, 2022, and 2023, albeit in abbreviated campaigns. While he did go down with the elbow issue in September, he still destroyed his previous career bests in terms of workload. May had totaled 101 innings over four seasons before putting up 132 1/3 frames last year. It was the first time in his six-year career that May showed the ability to stay on the mound for any kind of extended stretch.

May has a perplexing pitching profile. He has a GIF-worthy arsenal headlined by a high-spin sweeper and a fastball in the mid to upper-90s. Oddly, the repertoire hasn’t generated whiffs or strikeouts for much of his career. May spiked a 37.6% strikeout rate over five games in 2021, but he’s been at best an average strikeout pitcher in every other season. He posted a middling 21.1% mark between L.A. and Boston last year. May has a modest 8.8% swinging-strike rate for his career. None of his five pitches has a standout whiff rate.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post was first to report that the contract was for one year. MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo was first to note the deal included a club option for 2027.

Photo courtesy of Paul Rutherford, Imagn Images

Yankees Interested In JoJo Romero

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The Cardinals have been getting a lot of calls about left-hander JoJo Romero, and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Yankees are one of the teams showing interest.  The Mariners were the only other team publicly known to be in on Romero, though it isn’t known if Seattle is still involved now that Jose A. Ferrer has been acquired from the Nationals.

Romero is projected to earn $4.4MM in 2026, which is his final season of arbitration control before free agency.  With the Cardinals in rebuild mode, Romero is a logical trade candidate, and moving him now rather than at the trade deadline allows St. Louis to both land a larger return and avoid the risk of an in-season injury to the 29-year-old southpaw.

From New York’s perspective, Devin Williams and Mark Leiter Jr. have both departed in free agency, and Luke Weaver is still on the open market.  Ryan Yarbrough was re-signed to add more left-handed depth to the pen, though Yarbrough is more of a swingman than a true reliever.  Veteran Tim Hill is expected to hold down one lefty spot in the relief corps, and Brent Headrick and Jayvien Sandridge are other left-handers on the 40-man roster.

There’s certainly room here for the Yankees to add some left-handed experience to the mix, and Romero would be a nice fit after three seasons of success in the Cardinals’ bullpen.  Romero began his career in the Phillies organization but didn’t start putting things together until he landed in St. Louis as the return in the trade deadline swap that brought Edmundo Sosa to Philadelphia in 2022.

Romero has a 2.93 ERA over 156 2/3 innings for the Cards since Opening Day 2023, and his ERA has gotten progressively better in each season.  His sparkling 2.07 ERA over 61 innings in 2025 was the highlight, though a 4.10 SIERA reflects Romero’s lack of strikeouts and his mediocre 11.4% walk rate.  The latter number was by far Romero’s highest over his three seasons with the Cards, and is something of an ominous callback to the control problems that clouded his time with the Phillies.

Still, Romero’s bread-and-butter is inducing grounders and soft contact.  Romero has a 53.7% grounder rate over his MLB career, and his 35.1% hard-hit ball rate in 2025 was a personal best over a full season.  While his homer rate has been known to fluctuate, Romero did a great job of keeping the ball in the park last year, with just two homers allowed over his 60 frames.  Romero’s 22.8% career strikeout rate is respectable enough that Romero isn’t a complete groundball specialist, even if he doesn’t miss a ton of bats.

Some teams may balk at the lack of strikeouts, but overall, it makes sense that there’s broad interest in an inexpensive left-handed reliever with Romero’s track record for leverage work.  That said, it isn’t a lock that Romero will be dealt, as Goold writes that the Cardinals themselves are looking for experienced relief help in their bullpen.  If none can be found in free agency or on the trade market, it is possible St. Louis might just stick with Romero in lieu of a particularly attractive trade offer, and perhaps wait until the season begins to restart trade talks.  Or, if the Cardinals land another veteran reliever sooner rather than later, the Cards might feel secure enough to start more readily shopping Romero.

Blue Jays, Tyler Rogers Agree To Three-Year Deal

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TODAY: Rogers’ 2029 option will vest for a $12MM guarantee if he pitches in either 110 games over the 2027-28 seasons, or 60 games in 2028, Rosenthal reports.

DECEMBER 12: The Blue Jays are in agreement with free agent reliever Tyler Rogers on a three-year, $37MM contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The deal, which is pending a physical, includes an $11MM vesting option for the 2029 season, specifics of which have not been reported. Toronto has a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move. Rogers is represented by Frontline Athlete Management.

Rogers, who’ll celebrate his 35th birthday next week, secures a sizable payday to pitch at the back of the Toronto bullpen. One of the sport’s most distinctive pitchers, Rogers is a soft-tossing submariner who bided his time awaiting an MLB opportunity. He was a 10th-round pick by the Giants in 2013 who signed for $7,500 after his senior season at Austin Peay State University. Rogers spent the next six years in the minor leagues, performing well all the way up through Triple-A but without the raw stuff to get the attention of the big league club.

It wasn’t until the end of Rogers’ third full season in Triple-A that he received an MLB look. He was nearing his 29th birthday and close to calling it quits to pursue a career as a firefighter (as Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area covered in 2020). The Giants finally gave him an opportunity at the end of the ’19 season. Rogers tossed 17 2/3 innings of three-run ball to hold his roster spot. He broke camp the following year and has never gone back down to the minors — not even on a rehab stint.

Rogers has played six-plus seasons in the big leagues without going on the injured list. While there’s obviously some luck involved in avoiding any fluke injuries, it’s clear that his underhand delivery puts less stress on his arm. Rogers has made 403 appearances since the start of the 2020 season. That’s 30 more than any other pitcher. Most of those outings have come in high-leverage situations, as his arm angle continues to flummox hitters.

After posting a 4.50 earned run average as a rookie, Rogers has turned in a 3.04 mark or better in four of the past five seasons. He ranks near the bottom of the league in whiffs and has never posted a league average strikeout rate. That’s to be expected for a pitcher who throws an 82-83 MPH sinker and a sweeping breaking ball that clocks in around 74 MPH. It’s a profile designed for weak, ground-ball contact. Rogers gets that year after year, and he almost never puts batters on via base on balls.

While some pitchers with extremely low arm slots can struggle with opposite-handed batters, that hasn’t been an issue for Rogers. He has held lefties to a .235/.289/.336 line in 776 career plate appearances. Right-handed hitters haven’t fared much better, turning in .246/.282/.350 mark in nearly 1000 trips to the plate.

Rogers has spent the bulk of his career in San Francisco, including a two-year stretch where he overlapped with twin brother Taylor Rogers. The Giants fell out of contention shortly before the trade deadline and flipped the impending free agent to the Mets for middle reliever José Buttó and prospects Blade Tidwell and Drew Gilbert. Rogers continued churning out results in his new home, pitching 27 1/3 innings of 2.30 ERA ball. He finished the season with a career-best 1.98 earned run average behind a 62.1% grounder rate while leading MLB with 81 appearances.

The Mets unsurprisingly wanted Rogers back, but they balked at what turned out to be a surprisingly lucrative contract. He more than doubled MLBTR’s prediction of a two-year, $18MM deal. New York has also seen Edwin Díaz, Gregory Soto and Ryan Helsley sign elsewhere. They’ve added Devin Williams to close but will need to find multiple setup arms from the right side.

That’s the role Rogers should continue to fill with the Jays. Toronto was open to supplanting Jeff Hoffman in the ninth inning, but they didn’t come away with any of Díaz, Raisel Iglesias or Robert Suarez. Rogers had a brief run as San Francisco’s closer in 2021 but has otherwise been a setup man. He was fourth in MLB with 32 holds this past season and handily leads the majors in that category over the last six years. Rogers joins Louis Varland as the top leverage arms in front of Hoffman.

The Jays could still look to add a better left-hander than Brendon Little, but Rogers becomes the fifth member of their projected bullpen who cannot be optioned to the minor leagues. Hoffman, Yimi García and Eric Lauer all have the five-plus years of service time to refuse any minor league assignment. Tommy Nance is out of options. Varland can be optioned but certainly isn’t in jeopardy of being sent down. If the Jays have all six starters healthy going into the season, that’d leave only one spot for Little or another left-handed acquisition. That’s to say nothing of the out-of-options Justin Bruihl and Rule 5 picks Angel Bastardo and Spencer Miles — all of whom have an uphill battle to stick on the roster.

Those are secondary considerations for an all-in Toronto team. The $12.333MM average annual value pushes their estimated luxury tax number to $294MM, as calculated by RosterResource. That’s already easily a franchise high before considering the possibility that they add Kyle Tucker or bring back Bo Bichette.

That’ll be their second straight season paying the competitive balance tax. They’re hit with a 42% tax on spending between $264MM and $284MM and taxed at a 75% rate from $284MM to $304MM. Any spending above the final threshold comes with a 90% penalty. The Rogers deal will come with an approximate $8-9MM tax bill. It also firmly pushes them beyond the $284MM mark at which their top pick in the 2027 draft is moved back by 10 spots (though that was basically inevitable after the Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce signings).

It’s a significant investment in a 35-year-old reliever. The Braves also went to three years, at $15MM annually, to sign Suarez on Thursday. That was the first three-year contract for a reliever that age since 2020. There hadn’t been a three-year term at more than $10MM per season for a 35-year-old bullpen arm since Mariano Rivera almost two decades ago. A closer who sits around 99 MPH, Suarez breaking that precedent wasn’t as surprising. The Jays are betting on Rogers’ unconventional style to age equally well.

Image courtesy of Kyle Ross, Imagn Images.

Mets’ Trade Talks With Padres Involve Nick Pivetta, Ramon Laureano, Mason Miller

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The Mets and Padres have been discussing the possibility of a trade that would send established talent to New York while San Diego obtained MLB-ready younger talent and some salary relief.  According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Dennis Lin, and Will Sammon, right-hander Nick Pivetta, outfielder Ramon Laureano, and star relievers Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and Jeremiah Estrada are players of interest for New York.  The Padres have shown interest in the Mets’ “young major leaguers and all of their top prospects, both pitchers and position players,” including Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, and Jonah Tong.

The Athletic’s reporters made a point of noting that Francisco Lindor, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jake Cronenworth weren’t brought up in these negotiations.  This only somewhat lessens the blockbuster potential here given all of the high-profile names already under discussion, though it is also possible that the talks remain somewhat exploratory in nature.  As Rosenthal/Lin/Sammon note, San Diego president of baseball operations A.J. Preller is always “weighing a dizzying number of possible moves and contingency plans,” and Mets PBO David Stearns is likewise no stranger to major trade concepts.

Pivetta’s name surfaced in trade rumors earlier this week, and Preller recently downplayed the idea that the Padres would trade any of their top bullpen arms.  San Diego had an elite relief corps in 2025, but one major name from that group is already gone since closer Robert Suarez left for the Braves in free agency.  The depleted nature of the Friars’ rotation also puts more pressure on the bullpen to pick up more of the run-prevention slack, and by that same token, makes it seemingly less likely that the Padres would trade Pivetta and further diminish the starting staff.

That said, Pivetta can opt out of his contract following the 2026 season.  The backloaded four-year, $55MM contract Pivetta signed last season still has $51MM remaining, which breaks down as $19MM in 2026, a $14MM player option for 2027, and an $18MM player option for 2028 if Pivetta chooses to remain in San Diego next winter.  The 2027 player option turns into a club option in the event of a long-term injury, but if Pivetta has the same kind of healthy and very effective season that he posted in 2025, he’ll surely trigger his opt-out.

If Preller could turn Pivetta into multiple controllable players who can still help the Padres win in 2026, that would be quite a way of threading the needle for the long-time executive.  The Mets wouldn’t have much interest in giving up one of their top young talents for what might well be just one year of Pivetta’s services, and McLean might not be available at any price — the Athletic trio write that “McLean is thought to be untouchable, or close to it.”  The New York Post’s Jon Heyman adds that outfield prospect Carson Benge is also considered to be virtually unavailable in trade talks.

By comparison, the likes of Tong, Sproat, and Jett Williams may be more available, though Stearns has been naturally hesitant about trading away any top minor leaguers.  A trade package of Pivetta, Laureano as a short-term outfield add for 2026, and a reliever with four seasons of control like Miller or Estrada might well convince Stearns to part ways with some premium prospect talent, but on the other hand, that would be a lot for the Padres to move in a single trade.

The Athletic’s writers note that the Padres might get a greater overall return by sending Pivetta, Laureano, etc. elsewhere in individual deals, so it would take a gigantic trade package for the club to include multiple trade chips into a single swap.  For Miller in particular, San Diego would want a ton back, given how much the Padres had to give up to land the closer from the A’s just last July.

Getting Pivetta’s salary off the books is one way for the Padres to shake up the roster given the team’s limited payroll flexibility, while short-term commitments to Pivetta and Laureano probably hold more appeal to Stearns than signing free agents to longer-term contracts.  The sky is the limit when two creative executives like Preller and Stearns are cooking up trade scenarios, so this is certainly a situation worth monitoring as the offseason progresses.

Tigers To Sign Kenley Jansen

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The Tigers have agreed to a one-year contract with veteran closer Kenley Jansen, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports.  The deal pays Jansen $11MM, as per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, and The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen adds that the contract contains a club option on Jansen’s services for the 2027 season.  Earlier today, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reported that the two sides were “deep in talks” and heading towards the final stages of a deal.  Jansen is represented by the Wasserman Agency.

Will Vest is coming off a strong season as Detroit’s primary saves candidate, but Vest will now move back into a high-leverage setup role to accommodate one of baseball’s most experienced closers.  Jansen has 476 career saves, and is just three saves away from passing Lee Smith for third place on the all-time list.  It certainly seems possible that Jansen can reach the 500-save plateau this season, though catching Trevor Hoffman (601 saves) for the second-highest total in history doesn’t seem possible unless Jansen reaches his goal of pitching until at least through the 2029 season.

For now, however, the 38-year-old Jansen has a one-year commitment from Detroit, with the 2027 option representing a possible continuation into the right-hander’s age-39 campaign.  The Tigers entered the offseason looking to reinforce their bullpen, and the team has signed Jansen and re-signed Kyle Finnegan just within the last week.  Jansen’s deal probably takes the Tigers out of the running for another target in former Rays closer Pete Fairbanks.

Even after 16 Major League seasons, Jansen still has some gas in the tank, as evidenced by his 2.59 ERA over 59 innings with the Angels in 2025.  However, his secondary metrics left something to be desired, as Jansen’s 24.4% strikeout rate and 44.6% hard-hit ball rate were both easily the worst of his career.  A .195 BABIP and 85.2% strand rate helped Jansen’s bottom-line numbers remain in check, though his 3.94 SIERA was much higher than his actual ERA.

Jansen did post better numbers as the 2025 season went on, and the Tigers themselves were responsible for a big chunk of the damage on the righty’s ERA.  (Of the 17 earned runs charged to Jansen in 2025, Detroit scored six of them in an ugly meltdown for Jansen back on May 2 in a 9-1 Tigers win over the Angels.)  The stronger finish to the season provides some hope that Jansen can more fully get on track next year, and he might also be energized by again pitching for a contender after a year with the struggling Halos.

For a team that has thrived on “bullpen chaos” over the last couple of seasons, the Tigers will now move in different direction by installing a true closer in place for the ninth inning.  If Jansen can come close to his 2025 production, that’s a nice plus for the team, as Vest move to a set-up role will strengthen things all the way down the depth chart.

More bullpen moves may still be coming, as between Finnegan and Jansen’s 2025 numbers, the Tigers still haven’t solved their primary goal of adding more punchout power to their bullpen.  Detroit had the second-lowest bullpen strikeout rate (20.1%) of any team in baseball in 2025, ahead of only the lowly Rockies.

Marlins To Sign Christopher Morel

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TODAY: Morel’s deal pays him $2MM, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports.

DECEMBER 12: The Marlins and infielder/outfielder Christopher Morel have agreed to a major league deal, according to reporter Mike Rodriguez. It’s a one-year deal, per Christina De Nicola of MLB.com, though Morel can be controlled beyond 2026 via arbitration. The salary for the ISE Baseball client hasn’t yet been publicly reported. Morel is expected to mostly play first base for the Fish, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Marlins have an open roster spot but this will fill the 40-man once it’s official.

Morel, 26, has occasionally thrust himself into the spotlight with his ability to put the ball over the fence. However, he also strikes out a lot and hasn’t been able to find a true defensive home. The end result has been a clearly talented player struggling to fully establish himself as a viable big league regular.

Coming up as a prospect, Morel played a lot of shortstop and third base, with some time in the outfield and at second base also mixed in. He debuted with the Cubs in 2022 and showed off his power by hitting 16 home runs in 425 plate appearances. However, he also struck out in 32.2% of those trips to the plate. In 2023, he added another 26 homers in just 429 plate appearances, an even better rate than the previous year. His strikeout rate dropped a bit but stayed quite high at 31%.

Defensively, the Cubs bounced him around the diamond but without him fully taking hold of any one spot. His glovework was graded as subpar at shortstop, third base and in the outfield. He was more passable at second but the Cubs didn’t have regular playing time there due to the presence of Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson up the middle.

At last year’s deadline, the Cubs acquired Isaac Paredes from the Rays, with Morel being one of three players going back to Tampa. The Cubs later flipped Paredes to the Astros as part of the Kyle Tucker deal. The Rays still have Ty Johnson and Hunter Bigge from that swap but the Morel pick-up did not work out for them.

From the time of the trade through the end of 2025, Morel took 495 plate appearances as a Ray. He was punched out in 165 of those, exactly one third, also known as 33.3%. He hit just 14 home runs and produced a .208/.277/.355 batting line. That translated to a 78 wRC+, indicating he was 22% worse than the league average hitter in that time. The Rays mostly kept him in left field, where he received poor grades for his defense.

Morel crossed three years of service time in 2025, qualifying him for arbitration for the first time. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a $2.6MM salary next year. The Rays decided to move on and non-tendered him, sending him to free agency.

It was reported back in October that the Marlins would be looking for a lineup upgrade this winter. The team had some positive developments in their position player group in 2025 but no one took hold of the first base position. Seven different players lined up at the position during the season but Eric Wagaman was the only one to get more than 100 plate appearances at a first baseman. He finished the year with a .250/.296/.378 line and 85 wRC+.

Upgrading at first base was a sensible goal for the offseason. No one expected them to make a run at Pete Alonso but there had been some rumblings that the club could be more aggressive in free agency than in years past. Going after someone like Ryan O’Hearn or Rhys Hoskins seemed within the realm of possibility.

Instead, they are taking a shot on Morel, who has no professional experience at the position. First base is generally considered the least-demanding position on the diamond, so perhaps Morel can be more viable there than at the other spots he has tried, but there’s still risk in going with an unproven option.

There’s also risk within the bat, as mentioned. Though Morel has power, he has yet to prove he can strike out at rate less than 30% for a meaningful stretch of time. It is possible to strike out that much and still be good. Guys like James Wood and Riley Greene did so in 2025. Morel himself had a combined 115 wRC+ with the Cubs in the 2022-23 seasons, but his production tailed off more recently.

It’s a fairly low-risk move for the Marlins. Salary figures haven’t been reported but he’s surely not being paid much above the league minimum. It was reported yesterday by Edwin Hernández Jr. that Morel was getting interest from clubs in Japan. It’s unclear if he gave serious consideration to going overseas but the calls coming from Asia are perhaps a sign that his MLB interest was muted.

Though the Fish aren’t going to break the bank with this move, it’s perhaps disappointing for any fans who may have dreamt bigger after a somewhat encouraging 2025 campaign. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes that no significant payroll increase is likely forthcoming. He adds that the Marlins will be looking to add another bat this winter but most likely via the trade market.

Morel is probably not guaranteed anything in terms of playing time. If he doesn’t thrive with his chance in Miami, they could go back to Wagaman and also have guys like Connor Norby, Agustín Ramírez, Liam Hicks, Griffin Conine, Graham Pauley, Deyvison De Los Santos and others in the mix. If Morel doesn’t pan out, he is out of options. If it does work, he could theoretically be retained through 2028 via arbitration.

It’s a defensible enough signing in a vacuum but seems to be an omen of another frugal offseason for the Marlins, which has become a habit under president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. Two years ago, their biggest deal was $5MM for Tim Anderson. Last winter, it was $3.5MM for Cal Quantrill. This is their first free agent deal of the 2025-26 offseason. Time will tell if they have anything bigger in the works.

Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Katie Stratman, Imagn Images

Yankees To Re-Sign Amed Rosario

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The Yankees are re-signing infielder Amed Rosario to a one-year contract.  The deal pays Rosario $2.5MM in salary, plus another $225K is available in incentive bonuses.  Rosario is represented by Octagon.

Acquired from the Nationals at the trade deadline, Rosario hit .303/.303/.485 over 33 plate appearances and 16 games for New York, and his playing time was further limited by a 10-day injured list stint due to a left SC joint sprain.  Still, Rosario lived up to expectations by chipping in at second base, third base, and in right field, while providing the Yankees with a productive right-handed hitting bat.

That righty-swinging balance is a plus within a New York lineup that is heavy in left-handed batters, and having Rosario back will give the Yankees some platoon flexibility with either Ryan McMahon at third base or even Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second base.  McMahon is a superb defender but a much lesser hitter than Chisholm, so Rosario will probably get most of his playing time spelling McMahon at least against southpaws.

Once regarded as one of baseball’s top prospects during his time in the Mets’ farm system, Rosario posted some okay offensive numbers as a regular with the Mets and Guardians.  His overall effectiveness was limited by a lack of walks, struggles against right-handed pitching, and subpar defending at the shortstop position.

Though he is only entering his age-30 season, Rosario now looks to have settled into a role as a part-time player who can fill in at multiple positions, though he doesn’t provide much defensive value anywhere.  His biggest plus is his ability to hit southpaws, as Rosario has a career .298/.336/.464 slash line in 1196 PA against left-handed pitching.

The Yankees clearly liked what they saw in Rosario last year, and after bouncing around to six different teams since the start of the 2023 season, Rosario probably appreciates some stability in returning to the Bronx for a full season in the pinstripes.  He receives a slight raise over the $2MM deal he received from Washington last winter.

With Rosario back in the fold, the Yankees have brought some experienced depth back into the infield mix.  Anthony Volpe will miss the start of the season recovering from shoulder surgery, so if Jose Caballero ends up getting a lot of the shortstop time in Volpe’s absence, Rosario’s presence helps fill the utility void on New York’s bench.  Brendan Donovan is another versatile player known to be on the Yankees’ trade radar, plus the club has also been more loosely linked to All-Star Bo Bichette, in what would be an even more seismic shake-up of the Bronx infield.

Jack Curry of YES Network was the first to report that Rosario was re-signing with the Yankees on a one-year deal.  Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported Rosario’s $2.5MM salary, and ESPN’s Jorge Castillo added the news about the incentive bonuses.

Royals Exploring CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Jarren Duran In Trade Talks

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The Royals have had discussions with the Nationals about shortstop CJ Abrams and left-hander MacKenzie Gore, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports.  Jarren Duran also continues to be a player of interest, as Passan writes that Kansas City is still considering the Red Sox outfielder after first being linked to Duran’s market prior to last summer’s trade deadline.

It is no secret that the Royals are looking to improve what has been arguably baseball’s least-productive outfield over the last couple of years.  Between Boston’s crowded outfield and Kansas City’s numerous rotation options, the two teams seem like natural and logical trade partners, especially given how the Red Sox have continued to pursue starting pitching even after landing both Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo.  Likewise, the Royals have added Lane Thomas to their outfield mix, yet an everyday starter like Duran would be a much more clearcut upgrade.

Acquiring Gore would represent a fascinating pivot for K.C., and perhaps a step in a somewhat more convoluted path to obtaining outfielders.  Gore would only add to the Royals’ rotation surplus, yet with Gore now in the mix as a front-of-the-rotation arm, Kansas City could be more open to sending a pitcher like Cole Ragans to the Red Sox in a hypothetical Duran deal.  Ragans has been cited as perhaps the most logical fit for Duran, as Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo both recently signed extensions with the Royals, Kris Bubic is only a year removed from free agency, and the Royals’ array of younger arms might not quite move the needle enough to pry Duran (who is team-controlled through the 2028 season) out of Fenway Park.

Perhaps complicating this idea is the fact that the Red Sox almost surely have interest in Gore themselves.  While the Sox haven’t been publicly linked to Gore’s market to date, their desire for frontline pitching and the fact that former Sox executive Paul Toboni is now Washington’s president of baseball operations makes it easy to connect the dots.  The Nationals have gotten so much interest in Gore that Toboni undoubtedly has plenty of creative offers to consider, and there still isn’t any direct urgency to deal Gore since he is under arbitration control through 2027.

Toboni’s hiring represented a fresh start for a rebuild that seemed to have stalled out under former Nationals PBO Mike Rizzo.  Washington hasn’t had a winning season since its 2019 World Series title year, yet even with impatience growing amongst District fans, the sense is that Toboni is more focused on adding more young talent than trying to contend.  That could mean dealing away such top players (and trade chips) like Gore and Abrams, who were supposed to be cornerstones of the rebuild process when acquired in the 2022 Juan Soto trade.

Abrams is controlled through the 2028 season, so the Nationals have even less reason to trade the shortstop immediately than Gore.  The Royals’ younger pitchers or more longer-term minor league prospects would likely have more appeal to the Nats than to a win-now team like the Red Sox, but Kansas City would have to pay a hefty price to extra Abrams given his team control and All-Star ceiling.

With that ceiling, however, comes a low floor.  The last two seasons have seen Abrams excel in the first half only to tail off badly after the All-Star break.  The lack of consistency also extends to Abrams’ splits, as the left-handed batter hasn’t been very productive against left-handed pitching.  Defensively, Abrams is a mixed bag at best — the Outs Above Average metric has long hated his work at shortstop, while the Defensive Runs Saved metric has been more positive in general but graded Abrams as a -6 in 2025.

A move to second base might be in Abrams’ future anyway, and that would work for a Royals team that already has Bobby Witt Jr. entrenched at shortstop.  Jonathan India is the incumbent at second base after K.C. agreed to a one-year, $8MM salary with India for 2026, which came as something of a surprise since India’s unimpressive 2025 season had made him a non-tender candidate.  In the event that Abrams did land in Kansas City, the Royals could look to trade India or just relegate him to bench duty, as inefficient as that would be for a team with a limited payroll.

Mets To Sign Jorge Polanco

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The Mets and free agent infielder Jorge Polanco have agreed to a two-year contract, The Athletic’s Will Sammon reports (multiple links).  The deal is worth $40MM, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.  Polanco is represented by the Octagon Agency.

It’s a big strike for a Mets team that lost Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz to free agency just within the last week, not to mention last month’s trade that sent another longtime Met in Brandon Nimmo to Texas.  New York acquired Marcus Semien in the Nimmo deal, and while Polanco also has a long history of playing second base, Passan writes that the Mets will deploy Polanco primarily as a first baseman and DH.  Polanco could also potentially chip in at third base, though it looks as it the Mets view Polanco a piece of the puzzle in replacing Alonso at first base.

The 32-year-old Polanco hit .265/.326/.495 with 26 home runs over 524 plate appearances for the Mariners last season, playing a huge role for a Seattle team that won the AL West and fell just short of reaching the World Series.  It was a fine bounce-back performance for Polanco after a down year in 2024, which still resulted in a one-year guarantee to return to the Mariners in 2025.  That deal paid Polanco $7.75MM in guaranteed money, and he made enough plate appearances to turn an $8MM mutual option for 2026 into a $6MM player option, and Polanco unsurprisingly rejected that player option to re-enter the market after his much improved platform year.

The 132 wRC+ Polanco posted in 2025 was the highest of his career, and he drastically cut back on his strikeouts after seeing his K% balloon in each of the previous four seasons.  While Polanco walked less than usual, his 45.8% hard-hit ball rate was a career best.  Overall, the advanced metrics suggest that Polanco’s resurgence in 2025 was legitimate, and if anything, his .269 BABIP indicates that he perhaps deserved even better numbers.

One concern within Polanco’s otherwise strong year was that he made 89 appearances as a designated hitter, after amassing only 45 DH days over his 11 previous big league seasons.  Polanco sustained an oblique injury early in the 2025 season that wasn’t quite serious enough to merit a trip to the injured list, but the Mariners compensated by using Polanco less frequently in the field, and cut back on the switch-hitter’s usage against left-handed pitching.

While there hasn’t been any concern that Polanco will be similarly limited going forward, the Mets’ plan to use him as a first baseman may also reflect Polanco’s age, his modest defensive numbers as a second or third baseman, and the fact that a stellar fielder like Semien is already in place at the keystone.  Throughout his long pro career, Polanco has made exactly one career appearance as a first baseman, and it was just a late-game cameo for a single at-bat in Seattle’s 5-4 loss to the Giants last April 6.

Polanco is an experienced enough infielder that the Mets obviously feel he’ll be able to learn the position in due course.  For all of Alonso’s pluses at the plate, he was a poor enough fielder that Polanco will be a defensive upgrade even if he’s just an average first baseman.  Because the DH spot is open and because Polanco could also be utilized at third base, this signing also doesn’t necessarily close the door on the Mets’ chances of signing other known targets like Cody Bellinger or even a more first base-specific player like the Cardinals’ Willson Contreras.

Between losing both Alonso and Nimmo, the Mets’ offense has taken a hit by essentially replacing the duo with Polanco and Semien, given how Semien struggled in 2025.  Run prevention has been a stated goal for Mets president of operations David Stearns, and upgrading the defense is another way of making the lineup better, even if the team will still need to add some more pop as the offseason develops.

MLB Trade Rumors ranked Polanco 23rd on our list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents, and projected a three-year, $42MM deal for the veteran.  Polanco ended up just about matching that dollar figure on a two-year deal, as he opted for the higher average annual value rather than the extra security of the three-plus years he was seeking in his next deal.

The shorter term lines Polanco up for another free agent bid when he’s 34, and some continued production could line him up for another lucrative shorter-term pact.  Stearns is known to prefer shorter-term commitments for free agents, so this also aligns with the PBO’s ideal method of roster-building.

The Pirates and Red Sox were known to have interest in Polanco this winter, and the infielder was also drawing a lot of attention from the Mariners about a possible reunion.  Adam Jude of the Seattle Times hears from a source that the Mariners’ last offer to Polanco was also a two-year contract, and was “very competitive” price-wise with the Mets’ $40MM offer.

Seattle achieved its top offseason priority of re-signing Josh Naylor, and the team’s plan was then to explore Polanco and Eugenio Suarez as candidates to return.  With Polanco now in Queens, the Mariners could turn to Suarez as a DH candidate and part-time third baseman, or explore some other infield options on the free agent or trade fronts.  With plenty of internal candidates for third base, the M’s have been primarily looking at second basemen during their infield pursuits this winter.

Inset picture courtesy of Jordan Godfree — Imagn Images

David Dahl Announces Retirement

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Outfielder David Dahl announced his retirement on his X feed earlier this week, opting to end his playing career at age 31.  As Dahl wrote in his farewell post, “Baseball has been my life for as long as I can remember.  From being a kid in Alabama chasing a lifelong dream to stepping foot on a big-league field…after 13 seasons and several months to reflect on it, it’s officially time for the next chapter.  Thank you, baseball.”

Dahl appeared in parts of seven Major League seasons from 2016-24, playing in 350 games and hitting .268/.313/.460 with 46 home runs over 1311 career plate appearances.  The majority of Dahl’s pro career was spent in the Rockies organization, beginning when Colorado selected the outfielder with the 10th overall pick of the 2012 draft.

A regular on top-100 prospect rankings during his minor league career, Dahl’s progress hit an unexpected roadblock when he suffered a lacerated spleen after colliding with a teammate during a 2015 Double-A game.  Dahl opted to have his spleen removed entirely in order to get back onto the field before season’s end, as waiting for the spleen to heal would’ve likely cost him the entirety of the season.  This unusual situation in some ways defined Dahl’s career, highlighting his grit in trying to play through what ended up being a long list of injuries that set back his career.

Dahl had an impressive MLB debut in 2016, hitting .315/.359/.500 over his first 237 PA in the Show.  A stress fracture in his rib and then back spasms limited him to just 19 minor league games and no big league action in 2017, but Dahl was able to recover and appear in 177 games for Colorado over the 2018-19 seasons.  The outfielder batted .291/.342/.528 with 31 homers in 684 PA over this two-year stretch, helping the Rockies reach the postseason in 2018 and earning an All-Star nod for himself in 2019.

Even during those two seasons, however, Dahl missed a good deal of time recovering from a right foot fracture and then a right high ankle sprain.  2019 ended up being the high point of Dahl’s production, as after Opening Day 2020, he hit only .200/.237/.318 over the final 390 PA of his big league career.  Shoulder problems in 2020 led to a surgery after the season, and the Rockies chose to non-tender Dahl.  He bounced around to six different teams over the next four seasons, and saw some more MLB time with the Rangers, Padres, and Phillies.

After not playing at all in 2025, Dahl has now decided to hang up the cleats.  We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Dahl on a fine career and wish him all the best in his post-playing endeavors.

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