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Where Can The Guardians Spend The Money Saved On The Ramírez Deal?

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The Guardians hammered out their third extension with José Ramírez over the weekend. While the team still hasn't announced the contract as of Wednesday evening, it reportedly runs through his age-39 season. It more or less confirms that Ramírez will be a one-team superstar, but the biggest impact in the short term is that it involved a restructure to give the team some spending room.

Ramírez will reportedly be paid $25MM annually over the next seven seasons. $10MM of each season's salary is deferred until 2036. He'd been slated for a non-deferred $21MM salary this season. They saved $6MM against the 2026 payroll and $8MM and $10MM, respectively, over the following two years.

Any mention of the Guardians spending money is going to be met with sarcasm and skepticism. That's warranted given their usual spending habits, but this year's payroll would be extreme even by their standards. There'll almost certainly be a notable acquisition or two before Opening Day.

Cleveland has 12 players, including their arbitration class, signed for the upcoming season. Their salaries break down as follows:

They'll also pay the Blue Jays $2.75MM as a condition of the Myles Straw trade. It's a total of $66.5MM in commitments, and even that dramatically overstates how much they'll actually spend. Ramírez is being paid $15MM this year, dropping their short-term obligations to $56.5MM.

There's also a strong chance they don't wind up paying anything to Clase. His criminal trial for alleged game-fixing won't begin until May, but it's possible MLB imposes its own discipline before the start of the season. It'd be a shock if the star reliever played another MLB game and Cleveland brass will obviously hope for the league to level a suspension that gets them off the hook for next year's salary.

If that happens, they'll be down to $50.5MM in guaranteed commitments. Filling out the roster with players on near league minimum salaries would push them into the $63-65MM range. According to The Associated Press, the Marlins were the only team with a season-opening payroll below $74.9MM last year. Cleveland ranked 25th in MLB with a $102.5MM mark.

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Latest On Zac Gallen’s Market

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Zac Gallen is one of two unsigned players who declined a qualifying offer at the beginning of the offseason. The former All-Star righty is also arguably the second-best pitcher available behind Framber Valdez. It has nevertheless been a quiet winter in terms of rumors, and the odds of Gallen settling for a pillow contract are presumably rising as Spring Training approaches.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post appeared on MLB Network this week and provided an update on the starter’s market. Heyman listed the Cubs, Orioles and incumbent Diamondbacks as teams that remain in the mix. He added that the Angels and Padres have “checked in” this offseason as well but implied that the latter two teams are longer shots to get something done.

No one from that group is an ideal fit. The O’s have been most frequently connected to Valdez. Gallen feels more like a fallback target if Valdez’s asking price remains above Baltimore’s comfort zone. The Diamondbacks made a two-year, $40MM investment to bring back Merrill Kelly and signed Michael Soroka to a one-year deal. They’d still have room in the rotation for Gallen, but GM Mike Hazen suggested recently that the Kelly contract limited their financial flexibility to sign an established late-inning reliever.

That doesn’t bode especially well for their chances of fitting Gallen in the budget unless owner Ken Kendrick makes an exception to bring back a player with whom he’s familiar. Even if Gallen takes a two-year deal with an opt-out clause, he’d probably command something close to the $22.025MM qualifying offer salary which he declined at the beginning of the winter.

The Cubs went to the trade market for their biggest upgrade, sending a package led by outfield prospect Owen Caissie to the Marlins for Edward Cabrera. He’ll pair with Cade Horton at the top of a rotation that could get Justin Steele back from elbow surgery within the first couple months of the season. Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon, Colin Rea, Javier Assad and Jordan Wicks are on hand as a decent collection of depth starters.

Further bolstering the rotation isn’t necessarily a need, but Patrick Mooney of The Athletic writes that the Cubs are keeping their options open on that front. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer acknowledged the higher risk of pitching injuries in the modern game and pointed out that teams often need to lean on nine or ten starters to get through a season. While that doesn’t mean they’re certainly aggressively pursuing Gallen, they’ll probably keep in contact until the veteran righty makes his decision.

The Padres and Angels have more acute rotation needs. Payroll is the bigger question for both clubs. San Diego already surprised by re-signing Michael King on a three-year, $75MM deal with opt-outs. The Angels have limited themselves to a handful of cheap one-year deals. That leaves them with a decent amount of spending room before they hit last season’s level, but there’s also no indication that ownership is willing to spend much this offseason.

Other teams known to remain the starting pitching market include the Tigers, Braves, Athletics and White Sox. Detroit was loosely linked to Gallen around the Winter Meetings but has more recently been tied to the likes of Lucas Giolito, Chris Bassitt and Nick Martinez. None of the others have been publicly linked to Gallen this offseason, and it’d be a particular surprise to see a rebuilding White Sox team part with a draft pick to sign a qualified free agent.

Nationals Outright Riley Adams

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The Nationals sent catcher Riley Adams outright to Triple-A Rochester, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. Washington designated him for assignment last week when they claimed reliever Gus Varland from Arizona. The Nats announced that Adams has accepted the minor league assignment.

Adams has between three and four years of MLB service time. That gave him the right to elect free agency in lieu of an outright assignment but meant he’d have forfeited his salary to do so. Adams and the Nats agreed to a split contract in November to avoid arbitration. That pays him at a $1MM rate for time in the big leagues and $500K for his minor league work. It was unlikely that Adams would pass on that guaranteed half-million dollars when he’d be limited to minor league offers as a free agent.

Now that he’s staying in the organization, Adams will provide non-roster depth behind the plate. The 29-year-old is a .211/.287/.354 hitter in 263 MLB games spanning five seasons. Almost all of it has come in Washington, as the Nats acquired him from the Blue Jays 12 games into his rookie season. Adams has above-average power but strikes out far too often to be a productive hitter. Defensive metrics haven’t been keen on his receiving work, though he does have a strong arm and cut down 28.8% of attempted base stealers last year.

Washington acquired rookie catcher Harry Ford in the trade sending hard-throwing reliever Jose A. Ferrer to Seattle. Ford should get run as Blake Butera’s primary catcher. Former top prospect Keibert Ruiz hasn’t lived up to expectations and now looks ticketed for a backup job. Drew Millas and catcher/utility player Mickey Gasper are on the 40-man roster. The Nationals also reunited with Tres Barrera on a minor league deal that includes a non-roster invite to Spring Training last week.

Reds Sign Darren McCaughan To Minor League Deal

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The Reds announced this afternoon that they’ve signed Darren McCaughan to a minor league contract. The righty will be in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.

McCaughan is a 29-year-old swingman who has pitched parts of four seasons in the majors. He has a combined 20 appearances across four teams. The former 12th-round pick debuted with the Mariners in 2021 and has subsequently pitched for the Guardians, Marlins and Twins. He has a 6.02 earned run average with a 16.2% strikeout rate across 61 1/3 MLB innings.

The Long Beach State product spent the majority of the 2025 season with Minnesota’s Triple-A club. He started 12 of 26 appearances, tallying 97 frames of 5.10 ERA ball. McCaughan posted solid strikeout and walk numbers but was plagued by the longball, giving up 20 homers (nearly two per nine innings). Home runs have been an issue throughout his career, which isn’t surprising because he sits in the 89-90 MPH range with his sinker and four-seam fastball.

McCaughan has plus control and the versatility to pitch in different roles. He’s unlikely to break camp on a talented Cincinnati pitching staff but should be available as a non-roster depth option at Triple-A Louisville.

Cody Bellinger Contract Comes With Higher Luxury Tax Hit For Yankees In First Two Seasons

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The Yankees finalized their five-year, $162.5MM contract with Cody Bellinger last week. That would ordinarily come with a $32.5MM average annual value that counts against the team’s luxury tax ledger. In most cases, a contract’s luxury tax number is taken by dividing the number of guaranteed years from the overall amount of guaranteed money — regardless of the salary distribution. Unlocked performance bonuses or option decisions can subsequently change the calculation, but the AAV is the starting point.

However, as Joel Sherman of The New York Post reports, Bellinger’s deal falls into a rare exception built into the collective bargaining agreement: the “Valley Charge,” as it’s called in the CBA. That only comes into play with a contract that is front-loaded before a player option year or opt-out clause. That applies to the Bellinger contract, which allows him to opt out after the second or third seasons. The next few paragraphs will hopefully explain why that’s the case — though it requires diving into some math and technical terminology within the CBA. Interested readers will also want to check out this X thread courtesy of Ethan Hullihen.

Bellinger’s deal comes with a $20MM signing bonus, which is counted as guaranteed money and is paid in full regardless of whether he opts out.* The outfielder will collect $32.5MM salaries for the first two seasons. The deal comes with respective $25.8MM, $25.8MM and $25.9MM salaries for the final three years if Bellinger does not opt out. He’ll make $85MM over the first two seasons and will have his first opt-out decision with three years and $77.5MM remaining. For CBA purposes, all three years after the opt-out are treated as player option years because Bellinger decides whether to stick with the contract.

To understand the Valley Charge exception, we’ll need to bring over some language from the CBA. The provision applies when the base salary of a player option year “is less than 80% of the base salary … plus attributed signing bonus” of the cheapest year before the opt-out. It’s therefore not a direct comparison. The salaries of the option years range from $25.8MM – 25.9MM. The years before the opt-out include both their $32.5MM salaries and $10MM each year for the prorated signing bonus: a $42.5MM value in total. The value of all three option years are less than 80% of that $42.5MM ($34MM), so they all fall within the Valley Charge.

Once the Valley Charge is triggered, the contract’s luxury tax distribution changes. Turning back to the CBA: “For each such player option year, the difference between the player option year value and the (80% value) shall be allocated pro rata across the years preceding the (opt-out).”

So, we subtract the salaries of each of the option years from the $34MM 80% value of the second season. That comes out to $24.5MM ($8.2MM + $8.2MM + $8.1MM). That’s divided over the two seasons preceding the opt-out at $12.25MM annually and added to the $32.5MM initial value, bringing the new CBT number to $44.75MM. If Bellinger does not opt out, the Yankees will receive “credit” in 2028-30 for the overcharge in the first two seasons, meaning he’d only count against their CBT ledger for roughly $24.33MM annually over the final three years.

RosterResource now projects the Yankees for a tax number above $330MM in 2026. That’s above their $320MM season-ending mark from last year, so it’s not clear how much room ownership will allot for in-season maneuvers.

* The Post’s Jon Heyman reports that the bonus will be paid in $10MM installments on April 1 and August 1 of this year. A player receives his full signing bonus regardless of his opt-out decision. Bellinger’s bonus is up-front, so that’s largely immaterial here, but the date of the bonus payment doesn’t have any impact on the Valley Charge calculation.

Mets, Grae Kessinger Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mets are in agreement with infielder Grae Kessinger on a minor league contract, reports Mike Puma of The New York Post. A client of O’Connell Sports Management, he’ll be in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Kessinger is a former second-round pick who played in 48 games with the Astros between 2023-24. The right-handed hitting utilityman batted .131 with one home run over 70 trips to the plate. Kessinger has had a light bat throughout his minor league career as well, batting .234/.335/.361 over 403 games. His Triple-A production is more respectable but came in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

Houston designated Kessinger for assignment last offseason. They traded him to the Diamondbacks, who optioned him to Triple-A to begin the season. He played in 11 minor league games before being designated for assignment in the middle of April. Kessinger was on the injured list at the time, so the D-Backs released him. The team never announced what injury he had suffered, but he remained unsigned for the rest of the season.

In any case, it seems the 28-year-old is healthy again and will take aim at a bench spot in Queens. He’s unlikely to provide much offensively but can play anywhere on the infield. Kessinger joins Christian Arroyo and Jackson Cluff as non-roster infielders behind Ronny Mauricio and the out-of-options Vidal Bruján. Tsung-Che Cheng would also be in the mix if he gets through DFA limbo. The Mets designated him for assignment last Wednesday, meaning he’s currently on waivers. They should announce tomorrow whether he has been claimed or cleared, in which case he’d also get a non-roster invite to Spring Training.

MLB Sets August 3 Trade Deadline For 2026 Season

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Major League Baseball has informed teams that this year’s trade deadline will be Monday, August 3 at 6:00 pm Eastern, reports Robert Murray of FanSided.  It’s pushed back a few days relative to last season’s deadline, which was on the final Thursday in July.

MLB prefers to have the deadline on weekdays. They set the cutoff in the evening so there are no ongoing games. That reduces the chances of a player being traded mid-game and “hug watch” scenarios. MLB has at least one day game scheduled for each of July 29-31 of the preceding week. There are getaway games on Wednesday and Thursday, while the Cubs are hosting the Yankees for a standard Wrigley Field day game on Friday, July 31. It seems MLB preferred to push back a few days, as all eight games on August 3 begin at 6:40 Eastern or later.

The flexible deadline is a feature of the 2022 collective bargaining agreement. Under previous CBAs, there was a fixed July 31 deadline. MLB now has the freedom to set the deadline on any date between July 28 and August 3. This is the first time that MLB has chosen the latest available date.

Mariners Designate Jackson Kowar For Assignment

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The Mariners announced they’ve designated reliever Jackson Kowar for assignment. That opens a 40-man roster spot for catcher Jhonny Pereda, whom they acquired from the Twins in exchange for cash considerations. Minnesota had designated Pereda for assignment last week when they signed free agent catcher Victor Caratini to a two-year contract.

Kowar, 29, is a former supplemental first-round pick of the Royals. He allowed 79 runs in 74 innings over parts of three seasons with Kansas City. They swapped him to the Braves for injured starter Kyle Wright over the 2023-24 offseason. Kowar’s time with the organization lasted less than a month, as the Braves flipped him to Seattle as part of the multi-player deal that sent Jarred Kelenic to Atlanta.

It was a change-of-scenery sequence involving a number of former high draft picks, but none of the players involved performed as hoped. Kowar blew out during his first Spring Training as a member of the Mariners. He underwent Tommy John surgery and was out of action until May ’25. He was on and off the active roster for the next few months until suffering a season-ending shoulder impingement in August.

Kowar has ultimately made just 15 appearances in a Seattle uniform. He allowed eight runs over 17 innings, walking seven while recording 15 strikeouts. The Florida product gave up nine runs (five earned) across 16 Triple-A innings. He has an 8.21 earned run average with a 20.3% strikeout rate and elevated 13.1% walk percentage across 91 MLB innings.

Primarily a fastball-changeup pitcher earlier in his career, Kowar cut back on the change while ramping up his slider usage last season. It resulted in a few more whiffs in his Triple-A time, though his control remains an issue. He sits around 97 MPH with the fastball and could intrigue teams based on the arm speed and his draft pedigree despite the grisly MLB numbers. He’s out of options, so he’d need to break camp or again be designated for assignment if another team is willing to give him an offseason 40-man spot.

Pereda is a well-traveled depth catcher who has divided his 48 major league games between three teams. He debuted with 20 appearances for the Marlins two seasons ago and combined for 28 games between the A’s and Minnesota last year. The 29-year-old (30 in April) has hit .241 without a home run in 118 major league plate appearances. He has a strong upper minors track record, batting .296/.392/.419 in just shy of 1000 career Triple-A plate appearances.

The Venezuelan-born Pereda has a good arm and a generally solid defensive reputation. He also has a minor league option, so the M’s can send him back to Triple-A for the 2026 season. They signed Andrew Knizner to a $1MM free agent deal to work behind Cal Raleigh. Trading Harry Ford had left them without any other catchers on the 40-man roster. Pereda has a leg up on non-roster invitee Nick Raposo as the top depth option in case either of their MLB catchers suffer an injury. Knizner is a career .211/.281/.316 hitter, so it’s not out of the question that Pereda outplays him for the backup job during the season.

Make Or Break Year: Nolan Gorman

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The Cardinals have more firmly committed to a retool than they did last offseason. They treated last season primarily as an evaluation year but weren’t as aggressive in selling off veteran pieces as they’ve been this winter. Unfortunately, they didn’t see any development from former first-round picks and top prospects Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman. They’re in a similar position now as they were 12 months ago, though the pressure is probably ramping up on both players.

MLBTR examined Walker’s situation as the ’25 season was nearing its end. He’ll enter camp as the everyday right fielder but needs to take a major step forward if he’s to project as a regular on the 2027 team. There might be even more urgency for Gorman, who is two years older than Walker and has more than 1500 major league plate appearances under his belt. He’ll turn 26 in May. If there’s a breakout season in the cards, it probably needs to be now.

The opportunity should be there. After more than a year of trade rumors, the Cards lined up the Nolan Arenado deal a couple weeks ago. Third base is open, at least in the short term. Top prospect JJ Wetherholt is on the doorstep of the majors and may even play his way onto the Opening Day roster. There’s a good chance the Cardinals trade Brendan Donovan within the next two months, though, which would open second base for Wetherholt. That’d leave Gorman competing with Thomas Saggese for playing time at the hot corner.

Saggese has a strong minor league track record, but his very aggressive approach probably leaves him in a utility role. Gorman has flashed a higher ceiling, yet it’s a couple seasons in the rearview. He hit 14 home runs in 89 games as a rookie, then slugged 27 longballs with a .236/.328/.478 slash line in year two. Gorman entered the 2024 season as a .232/.317/.454 hitter with 41 homers in his first season and a half as a big leaguer.

There was a significant amount of swing-and-miss, but Gorman’s power was enough to fit in the middle third of a lineup. That hasn’t been the case over the past two seasons. Gorman has taken roughly 800 trips to the plate in that time. His batting average and on-base percentage have dropped by 30 points each, while his slugging mark has fallen by more than 50 points. Gorman carries a .204/.284/.385 slash going back to the beginning of 2024.

His general profile is much the same as it was early in his career. The lefty hitter has a reasonably patient approach and works a decent number of walks, but his pure bat-to-ball ability is subpar. That’s probably not going to change as he gets into his late 20s. He needs to do damage when he does make contact. A combined 33 homers over his past 218 games isn’t enough.

 

Gorman battled a couple injuries last year. He missed time early in the season with a hamstring strain and was sidelined by lower back pain around the All-Star Break. The actual injured list stint was minimal, but it’s possible he was playing at less than full strength for the final two months. He finished the season with a .187/.278/.323 line while striking out at a near-40% rate in 45 games after returning from the IL stint. Gorman has battled intermittent back discomfort for a few seasons.

Whatever the cause, Gorman’s bat speed has gone slightly in the wrong direction. He’s still pulling a lot of balls to right field, which is where he’s most likely to hit for power, but it’s not with the same authority as he did in 2023. He also dramatically scaled back how often he swings at the first pitch and hunts pitches in the heart of the plate. That earned him a few more walks than he took the year before, but it’s not ideal for putting him in positions to drive the ball.

Gorman has between three and four years of service time. He’s playing on a $2.655MM arbitration salary. He still has a couple minor league option years remaining, so he’s not on the roster bubble right now. A third straight replacement level performance would make him a likely non-tender next offseason, however.

Image courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images.

Which Team Will Sign Framber Valdez?

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Framber Valdez stands atop the pitching class and is arguably the offseason’s last marquee free agent. He and Zac Gallen are the two remaining players who declined qualifying offers. Those two pitchers and Eugenio Suárez are the three unsigned players who ranked among MLBTR’s Top 20 free agents entering the winter.

Suárez was always going to be capped to two or three years by his age. Gallen is coming off a down season and is a candidate for a pillow contract with an opt-out. On the other hand, Valdez came into the winter as arguably the best available pitcher. His age and middling second half performance — plus the bizarre cross up incident with catcher César Salazar that could lead to some questions from teams — meant he hit the market on a bit of a down note himself. Valdez is nevertheless coming off a 3.66 ERA showing with an above-average 23.3% strikeout rate and massive 58.6% grounder percentage across 192 innings. It’s his fourth straight full season and sixth year in a row with a sub-4.00 earned run average.

Valdez’s age (32) made a six-year deal a stretch. A five-year contract seemed more plausible, with a strong four-year pact appearing to be the floor. There hasn’t been much about Valdez’s market or whether his camp would target a shorter deal with opt-outs as Spring Training approaches. Valdez clearly hasn’t found a deal to his liking, yet he’s probably the last top-of-the-rotation starter who’ll change teams this offseason.

A Tarik Skubal trade has always felt like a long shot. Freddy Peralta, MacKenzie Gore, Edward Cabrera and Shane Baz are off the trade market. Dylan Cease landed with the Blue Jays on a seven-year deal within the first couple weeks of the offseason. The market didn’t value NPB righty Tatsuya Imai as a top-of-the-rotation arm. Valdez has higher upside than any of the other remaining starters in free agency (e.g. Gallen, Lucas Giolito, Chris Bassitt, Justin Verlander).

Valdez has most frequently been linked to the Orioles. They entered the offseason needing a top-end starter, and president of baseball operations Mike Elias has ties to the southpaw from his days in the Houston front office. The O’s acquired Baz in a trade to address the rotation and signed Pete Alonso to a five-year, $155MM free agent deal. There’s reportedly still room in the budget, but another $30MM+ annual salary for Valdez would cap a much bigger offseason than usual for the Orioles.

The Mets, Blue Jays and Red Sox are all known to have met with Valdez around the Winter Meetings. They’ve each added a different marquee pitcher (Peralta, Cease and Ranger Suárez, respectively). The Astros have never seemed inclined to bring Valdez back. The Giants also met with the two-time All-Star, but they’ve consistently downplayed their desire to sign anyone long term.

Where does that leave Valdez? Will Baltimore or San Francisco get aggressive, or does the long wait open up the opportunity for a mystery team?

 

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