Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Marlins Outright Five Players

By | at

The Marlins announced that five players have been outrighted off the 40-man roster. They are right-handers Jesús Tinoco, Tyler Zuber, Valente Bellozo and Freddy Tarnok, as well as catcher Brian Navarreto.

There had been no previous indication that the Marlins had designated these players for assignment or put them on waivers. However, roster cleanouts like this are expected at this time of year. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series, meaning several players need to retake 40-man roster spots. The Marlins opened space with these five moves. They also lost Troy Johnston to the Rockies and George Soriano to the Orioles via waiver claims today.

Tinoco, 31 in April, seemed to have a breakout with the Marlins last year. He gave them 40 2/3 innings with a 3.32 earned run average, 25.9% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 46.7% ground ball rate.

He couldn’t keep it going in 2025, however. He made 20 appearances with diminished velocity, a diminished strikeout rate and a 5.12 ERA before landing on the injured list in June due to a forearm strain. He underwent flexor surgery in August and is slated to miss most of the 2026 season. The Fish could have held him through the winter and put him on the 60-day injured list in spring training but he’s been squeezed off the roster now.

He has previously been outrighted in his career and therefore has the right to elect free agency. Presumably, he will do so. Given his injury timeline, he may not find interest until he makes more progress in his recovery.

Zuber, 31 in June, was claimed off waivers the Mets in July. Not long after, he landed on the IL due to a lat strain and finished the season there. He has 64 2/3 big league innings with a 6.26 ERA, 24.7% strikeout rate and 15.2% walk rate. His current health status is unclear but he’s out of options and would have had a hard time holding a roster spot even if he were healthy. He has a previous career outright and therefore has the right to elect free agency.

Bellozo, 26 in January, has been a swingman for the Marlins in recent years. He has made 45 appearances since the start of 2024, 19 of those being starts, logging 150 innings. His 15.2% strikeout rate is fairly low but his 4.20 ERA isn’t bad. That seems to be thanks to a fortunate .267 batting average on balls in play and 79.6% strand rate. His 5.44 FIP and 5.08 SIERA suggest he would have a hard time maintaining that ERA going forward. He doesn’t have a previous career outright or three years of service time but should qualify for seven-year minor league free agency.

Tarnok, 27 this month, signed a minor league deal with the Fish last offseason. He was added to the roster in June but was mostly kept in the minors, only appearing in five big league games. He pitched 68 2/3 Triple-A innings this year with a 3.28 ERA. His 26.3% strikeout rate was good but he also walked 11.2% of batters faced. He has a previous career outright and will have the right to elect free agency.

Navarreto, 31 in December, signed a minor league deal with the Fish coming into the year. He was added to the roster in September to give them a third catcher, alongside Agustín Ramírez and Liam Hicks. He put up a strong .286/.267/.643 line in a small sample of 15 plate appearances down the stretch. His Triple-A games resulted in a more tepid .229/.301/.392 line. He has a previous career outright and therefore has the right to elect free agency.

Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images

Reds Decline Options On Brent Suter, Scott Barlow, Austin Hays

By | at

The Reds announced that they have turned down three contract options. Outfielder Austin Hays had a $12MM mutual option on his deal but the club has declined that in favor of giving him a $1MM buyout. Right-hander Scott Barlow receives a $1MM buyout instead of a $6.5MM club option. Left-hander Brent Suter gets a $250K buyout instead of a $3MM club option. All three players are now free agents.

None of the three decisions is a shock, though there did seem to be a chance of Suter being brought back. His earned run average jumped up to 4.52 this year and he’s now 36 years old but the price isn’t egregious. He also has a strong clubhouse reputation and local ties as a guy who played high school ball in Cincinnati.

It seems that wasn’t enough for the Reds to overlook the numbers. As mentioned, his age and ERA both crept up this year. He is still doing a good job limiting hard contact, so he should still be in line for a gig somewhere. Perhaps the Reds will circle back to him and try to bring him back at a lower price point.

Barlow, 33 in December, signed with the Reds last offseason. The one-year deal came with a $2.5MM guarantee in the form of a $1.5MM salary plus the aforementioned option buyout. His 4.21 ERA this year was fairly close to last year’s 4.25 but with concerning trends under the hood. His strikeout rate dropped from 28.2% last year to 24.8% this year, his walk rate climbed from 12.9% to 14.9% and his grounder rate dropped from 47.1% to 42.9%.

Though the ERA held fairly steady, given the direction of the other numbers, it’s understandable that the Reds didn’t want to give him a relatively hefty raise. The Reds aren’t a big spender and will have about the same payroll next year, so they are keeping some powder dry for now.

As for Hays, his option always seemed destined to be bought out. It’s been over a decade since a mutual option was triggered by both sides. They are usually added to contracts as a way for the team to delay paying part of the guarantee. The Reds signed Hays last winter to a one-year, $5MM deal, with a $4MM salary and then the $1MM buyout on the $12MM mutual option.

He had a decent season, slashing .266/.315/.453 for a 105 wRC+, but that wasn’t going to be enough for the Reds to double his salary. He’ll head out to the open market to look for his next opportunity. That will likely come from a club in need of help against southpaws. Hays swings right-handed and has been better against lefty pitchers in his career. That includes a .319/.400/.549 line and 155 wRC+ in 2025.

Photo courtesy of Aaron Doster, Imagn Images

Rangers Claim Willie MacIver, Michel Otañez

By | at

The Rangers announced that they have claimed catcher Willie MacIver and right-hander Michel Otañez from the Athletics. Additionally, Texas has outrighted outfielders Dustin Harris and Billy McKinney. Both outfielders have elected free agency.

There wasn’t any previous indication that the A’s had put anyone on waivers or designated anyone for assignment. However, roster maintenance is common at this time of year. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series, which can often lead to roster crunches.

MacIver, 29, is a longtime depth catcher who just made his major league debut. He was initially drafted by the Rockies back in 2018 and finally got to the show with the A’s in 2025. He got into 33 games and slashed .186/.252/.324. His Triple-A work this year was much better, as he put up an eye-popping line of .362/.426/.541. That took place in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League and was aided by a .428 batting average on balls in play, but it was nonetheless enough to intrigue the Rangers.

Texas has Jonah Heim and Kyle Higashioka on the roster. MacIver is the clear #3 catcher on the roster for now. He still has options and can be kept in Triple-A as depth, though his path to big league playing time could open up if the Rangers decide to shake things up with a trade. For the A’s, they still have Shea Langeliers as their primary backstop. Austin Wynns is also on the roster for now but he’s a non-tender candidate, so perhaps they will look to add more depth this winter.

Otañez, 28, has been on the Athletics’ 40-man since the summer of 2024. He has thrown 39 1/3 big league innings with a 4.81 earned run average. His 34.1% strikeout rate is impressive but he’s also walked 14% of batters faced. He has also tossed 55 minor league innings since the start of 2024 with a 6.05 ERA, 31.8% strikeout rate and 16.5% walk rate. The righty has powerful stuff, averaging in the upper 90s with his fastball, but clear control issues. He is still optionable, so the Rangers could keep him in the minors as they try to help him harness his arsenal.

Harris, 26, was once a notable prospect but his stock has faded in recent years. Dating back to the start of 2022, he has taken almost 2,000 minor league plate appearances with a .268/.364/.428 line and 103 wRC+. He has also stepped to the plate 50 times in the majors with a .217/.280/.435 line. He exhausted his final option season in 2025. The Rangers outrighted him to the minors in August but re-selected him later. Since this is his second career outright, he has the right to elect free agency.

McKinney, 31, is somewhat similar. He is also a former prospect who hasn’t delivered much on the hype. He has received almost 1,000 big league plate appearances but has produced a .209/.283/.382 line and 79 wRC+. He was added to the Texas roster late in the year as they were playing out the string. He has the right to elect free agency both due to having a previous career outright and three years of big league service time.

Photo courtesy of William Liang, Imagn Images

A’s Outright Three Players

By | at

The A’s announced that three pitchers have gone unclaimed on outright waivers: righty Anthony Maldonado and left-handers Ben Bowden and Jared Shuster. Maldonado and Bowden have each elected free agency, as is their right as players who have been outrighted more than once in their careers. This is the first outright for Shuster, so he’ll be assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas and remain in the system going into 2026.

These were three of five players whom the A’s placed on waivers this week. Righty Michel Otañez and catcher Willie MacIver were claimed by Texas. This gets their 40-man roster count down to 38. All teams need to be at or below 40 by Thursday, when they’re required to activate everyone from the 60-day injured list.

Maldonado was a waiver claim from Miami last winter. The A’s outrighted him shortly before the start of Spring Training but put him back on the roster in May. He held his 40-man spot for the remainder of the season but spent most of his time on optional assignment to Triple-A Las Vegas. The 27-year-old posted a 5.10 ERA despite an impressive 29% strikeout rate at the top minor league level. Maldonado walked almost 12% of opponents and gave up a decent number of home runs across 47 2/3 frames. He only pitched six times for the A’s at the MLB level, allowing eight runs on a trio of homers in six innings.

Bowden, 31, signed an offseason minor league contract. The 6’4″ southpaw had not pitched in the big leagues since his 2021 rookie season in Colorado. He made it back to the highest level early in the second half. Bowden posted a 1.36 ERA over 39 2/3 Triple-A innings to get an MLB look. He tossed 10 2/3 frames over 11 appearances, allowing six runs (five earned) with seven strikeouts and five walks. He went down with a season-ending lat strain in August.

Shuster, the only member of this trio who’ll stick with the organization, is probably the most well-known. That’s mostly a testament to his status as a former first-round pick of the Braves. He has pitched in parts of three MLB campaigns between Atlanta and the White Sox. The Wake Forest product carries a career 5.27 ERA with a well below-average 15.1% strikeout percentage in 141 2/3 innings. The A’s claimed him off waivers from Chicago around the trade deadline. He spent the rest of the season in Triple-A, where he was tagged for nearly a run per inning with seven strikeouts and walks apiece over 10 appearances.

Mariners Acquire Cole Wilcox From Rays

By | at

The Mariners have acquired right-hander Cole Wilcox from the Rays in exchange for cash considerations, per announcements from both clubs. The righty had been designated for assignment by the Rays earlier in the week. The M’s had 40-man space thanks to players recently becoming free agents.

Wilcox, now 26, came to the Rays in the December 2020 trade which sent Blake Snell to San Diego. The righty required Tommy John surgery in September of 2021, which wiped out most of his 2022. In the following two years, the Rays kept developing him as a starter in the minors, with fairly uninspiring results. In 250 1/3 innings over those two seasons, he had a 4.28 earned run average, 19.8% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate.

In 2025, he was used primarily as a reliever, which seemed to help him find a new gear. He tossed 58 1/3 innings over 39 appearances on the farm with a 3.70 ERA. His 10.8% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 25.1% of batters faced and got grounders on 50.3% of balls in play. The Rays added him to the 40-man in September and he tossed one big league inning, allowing three earned runs.

With the injured list going away this week, the Rays needed to open up some roster space and Wilcox was one of the casualties. Conversely, the Mariners had a few open roster spots and have used one to grab Wilcox. Seattle has a pretty good track record of coaxing good results from low-profile pickups like this, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Wilcox flourish with his new club. Even if that is setting expectations too high, he has a full slate of options and can serve as a depth arm in Triple-A.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Orioles Claim George Soriano, Designate Daniel Johnson For Assignment

By | at

The Orioles announced that they have claimed right-hander George Soriano off waivers from the Marlins. Outfielder Daniel Johnson has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

There wasn’t any previous indication that Soriano had been designated for assignment or put on waivers, but roster maintenance is common at this time of year. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the end of the World Series, which can often lead to roster crunches. RosterResource projects the Marlins to have 46 players on their 40-man roster. Soriano clears up one spot but further moves will be necessary this week.

Soriano, 27 in March, joins a new organization for the first time in his career. The Marlins signed him as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic way back in 2015. He climbed his way up the minor league ladder, initially as a starter but with more time as a reliever as he got to the higher levels. He was added to the 40-man roster in November 2022 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

He has spent the past three years as an up-and-down arm, getting shuttled between Miami and Triple-A Jacksonville. He hasn’t had a ton of major league success so far. In 118 innings, he has allowed 5.95 earned runs per nine. His 22% strikeout rate is close to average but his 10.3% walk rate is high and his 38.7% ground ball rate is low. He did show some potential in Triple-A this year. He logged 42 2/3 innings for the Jumbo Shrimp with a 2.32 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 55.7% ground ball rate.

Soriano has exhausted his option years and is therefore out of options going forward. That presumably led the Marlins to nudge him off the roster. The Orioles have a lot of work to do on the bullpen. They traded away a number of relievers at last year’s deadline and then lost Félix Bautista to a shoulder surgery. Soriano could compete for a bullpen job in the spring, though it’s also possible they look to pass him through waivers at some point in the offseason.

Some things last a long time but not Johnson’s most recent stint on Baltimore’s roster. The 30-year-old was claimed off waivers from the Giants in August. He has 152 big league plate appearances over four separate seasons, with a dismal .196/.243/.322 slash line. In the minors, he has generally performed better at the plate, with some speed to boot. Dating back to the start of 2023, he has a .266/.331/.464 line and 105 wRC+ with 54 stolen bases.

He’s a solid speed-and-defense depth outfielder but he exhausted his final option season in 2025. He was going to have a hard time holding onto a roster spot next year, so the O’s have bumped him off today in order to grab Soriano. Johnson has a previous career outright, so he will have the right to elect free agency if he is passed through waivers unclaimed.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Rockies Claim Troy Johnston

By | at

The Rockies announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed infielder/outfielder Troy Johnston off waivers from the Marlins. Colorado also reinstated Kris Bryant and righty Jeff Criswell from the 60-day injured list, adding both back to the 40-man roster.

Johnston, 28, was a 17th-round pick by Miami back in 2019 and has been a career-long Marlin to this point. He made his big league debut this season after a lengthy run of productive campaigns n the upper minors. The Gonzaga product hit .277/.331/.420 with four home runs in 121 plate appearances during his first run at the MLB level.

In Johnston, the Rockies are adding an older but controllable player with a strong minor league track record. Johnston is a career .281/.367/.458 hitter in seven minor league seasons. His .267/.345/.438 slash in parts of four Triple-A campaigns is weighed down a bit by an awful debut there back in 2022 (116 plate appearances), but he’s been an above-average hitter with the Marlins’ top affiliate in Jacksonville each season since.

Though Johnston has primarily been a first baseman in the minors, with more than 4300 innings logged at the position, he’s also suited up for 826 innings in left field and 492 innings in right field. Since his contract was selected to the 40-man roster for the first time this season and he wasn’t optioned back down thereafter, he’ll join the Rox with a full slate of three minor league option years remaining.

It’s not entirely clear who’s making roster calls in the Colorado front office at the moment. The Rockies fired GM Bill Schmidt shortly after the season, and longtime assistant GM Zack Rosenthal left the club shortly thereafter. Owner Dick Monfort and his son, executive vice president Walker Monfort, have been conducting a search for a new baseball operations leader over the past month but have yet to announce a hire. It’s possible they’re making calls with input from some of the still-remaining midlevel baseball operations executives while continuing through a hiring process that as of last week was down to two finalists but once again appears more wide open.

Braves Hire Jeremy Hefner, Antoan Richardson

By | at

The Braves announced that they have hired Jeremy Hefner as pitching coach and Antoan Richardson as first base coach. Henfer replaces Rick Kranitz while Richardson replaces Tom Goodwin. Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports that third base coach Fredi Gonzalez won’t be returning to Atlanta next year either.

Atlanta is plucking a couple of coaches from a division rival. Over a month ago, it was reported that the Mets would be making major coaching changes. That included moving on from Hefner, their longtime pitching coach. More recently, it was reported that Richardson would be moving on from the Mets as well. Both of them now retake their previous jobs but in Atlanta instead of Queens.

Hefner, now 39, had a brief major league career. He pitched for the Mets in 2012 and 2013, making 50 appearances, before multiple Tommy John surgeries intervened. Once his playing days were over, he was hired by the Twins as an advance scout. He worked his way up to an assistant pitching coach role. The Mets hired him as their pitching coach prior to the 2020 season.

It’s always tough to separate the contributions of one coach from several individual players, but the team performed decently under Hefner’s watch. From 2020 to 2025, the Mets had a collective 4.03 earned run average, good enough for 11th in the majors. He’ll now head to Atlanta to join a club looking for a bounceback after an extremely disappointing 2025 campaign.

Bringing one pitching coach aboard means another is on his way out. Kranitz, 67, has spent most of the past two decades as a pitching coach in the big leagues. He first got that job with the Marlins in 2006 and has since gone to the Orioles, Brewers and Phillies.

Atlanta hired him ahead of the 2019 season. They had just finished a 90-72 campaign in 2018 but parted ways with pitching coach Chuck Hernandez afterwards. The club has had a lot of success under Kranitz but has been struggling more recently. Atlanta won the National League East in Kranitz’s first five seasons, a run which included a World Series win in 2021. However, they slid to a Wild Card spot in 2024 and then this past season was a nightmare. Atlanta finished 2025 in fourth place in the East with a 76-86 record. Evidently, it was time for a change.

Richardson, 42, has had various coaching roles with the Giants and Mets over the years. He has settled in more recently as a first base coach, having had that job with the Giants from 2020 to 2023 and with the Mets for the past two years.

Goodwin, 57, has coached for various clubs over the years. He spent the past two seasons as first base coach in Atlanta but will be looking for a new gig for 2026. Gonzalez, 61, has also bounced around to various teams. A lot of those bounces have been in Atlanta. He was on the coaching staff from 2003 to 2006 and was the manager from 2011 to 2016. He returned to the club in June of this year, a rare midseason replacement, taking the job from Matt Tuiasosopo.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images

Jorge Polanco Declines Player Option

By | at

Infielder Jorge Polanco is now a free agent, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Heyman says Polanco is turning down an $8MM mutual option but Polanco actually converted that to a $6MM player option during the season. Regardless of the details, the larger point is that Polanco is heading back to the open market, collecting a $750K buyout on his way out the door.

The decision is not a surprise. Polanco is coming off a tremendous bounceback season. He stepped to the plate 524 times and hit 26 home runs. His .265/.326/.495 batting line translated to a 132 wRC+, his best offensive performance over a full season in his career.

It wasn’t a perfect season. Ongoing knee problems kept him mostly in the designated hitter spot, though he appeared to get healthier as the year wore on. He made just 34 starts at second base but most of those were after the All-Star break, including 15 in September.

He undoubtedly has more earning power now than he did a year ago, despite being a year older. The aforementioned knee problems limited him to just 118 games with a rough .213/.296/.355 slash line and 93 wRC+. He underwent knee surgery in October. Despite that poor showing and uncertain health status, the Mariners still re-signed him to a one-year deal with a $7.75MM guarantee. That came in the form of a $7MM salary plus a $750K buyout on an $8MM mutual option. Polanco could convert that to a $6MM player option with 450 plate appearances, which he easily topped.

His better platform season and improved health outlook should line him up for a better deal, likely with multiple years, so turning down one year and $6MM is an easy call. The Mariners have interest in bringing him back but he will have other suitors as well and Seattle may be prioritizing a Josh Naylor reunion.

Photo courtesy of Jordan Godfree, Imagn Images

Cubs Not Expected To Pursue Top Free Agent Relievers

By | at

The Cubs are going to need to overhaul their bullpen this winter after trading Andrew Kittredge to the Orioles yesterday while Brad Keller, Drew Pomeranz, and Caleb Thielbar are all ticketed for free agency. Despite those four departures draining their entire high-leverage relief mix outside of Daniel Palenica, however, Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic reports that Chicago’s front office is not expected to be involved in the market’s of this winter’s top free agent relief arms.

That’s not especially surprising, as the Cubs have generally eschewed high-dollar multi-year deals for relievers over the years. There have been some rare exceptions to that rule, such as the three-year deal the Cubs signed Craig Kimbrel to in 2019 while Theo Epstein was in charge and the team’s pursuit of southpaw Tanner Scott in free agency under Jed Hoyer last offseason, but the Cubs have long preferred to build their bullpen on a budget. That includes last year’s group. Keller was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training, Pomeranz was acquired from the Mariners in a minor trade back in April, and Thielbar’s big league deal guaranteed him just $2.75MM total. Those three pitchers posted ERAs of 2.07, 2.17, and 2.64 respectively while combining for 177 1/3 innings across 192 appearances.

Sharma suggests that trying to find value on the margins of the market with minor league deals and reclamation projects figures to be the club’s goal once again this winter, though he does leave the door open for the possibility that the Cubs could jump into the market on a bigger name relief arm if their expected market doesn’t materialize and they linger into January and February. Otherwise, it seems as though the Cubs won’t be adding a top tier closer this winter. Sharma specifically names Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez, and Devin Williams as players who aren’t likely to be in the cards for Chicago at this point.

That doesn’t mean they won’t add any veterans who can offer some more certainty towards the back of the bullpen, of course. Sharma notes that the club brought in Ryan Pressly via trade this past offseason in an effort to provide that sort of certainty. Pressly was on the last year of is deal, and it seems likely that if the Cubs do add a bullpen veteran on a notable deal, it would be a similar one-to-two year arrangement. That could come via either free agency or trade; perhaps the Rays would make Pete Fairbanks available on the trade market ahead of his final year under club control, or the team could try and pursue a one-year deal with a veteran closer like Kenley Jansen.

Its possible the club could be banking on some internal improvements to their relief corps, as well. Any number of young arms might be able to take a step forward similar to the one Palencia made this past season, and with the Cubs seemingly like to pursue starting pitching additions this winter, that could make converting a young rotation arm like Ben Brown into relief full-time a viable option. Brown is held back as a starter by a lack of a quality third pitch, but he did strike out 28.6% of his opponents with a 2.97 FIP after moving into a bullpen role to open the month of August. Porter Hodge and Luke Little are among the other arms in the club’s relief corps who have shown flashes of dominance at the big league level but have yet to put it all together consistently.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top