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Athletics Sign Tyler Soderstrom To Seven-Year Extension

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Dec. 29: The Athletics have formally announced the extension.

Dec. 25: The Athletics aren’t taking the holiday off. They’re in agreement with outfielder Tyler Soderstrom on a seven-year, $86MM extension, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Passan adds that there’s a club option for 2033 and escalators that could push the contract value by another $45MM if the option is exercised. The deal buys out at least three free agent years and potentially a fourth, keeping him under club control through his age-31 season. Soderstrom is represented by Paragon Sports International.

Soderstrom becomes the latest core offensive piece whom the A’s lock up on a long-term deal. They extended Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler on respective $60MM and $65.5MM guarantees last winter. Soderstrom tops those by a decent margin, becoming the largest contract in club history in the process. Their three-year, $67MM free agent deal with Luis Severino had previously been that high-water mark.

[Related: Largest Contract in Franchise History for Each MLB Team]

The lefty-hitting Soderstrom was a first-round pick in 2020. He’d been an excellent offensive player dating back to high school. The biggest question was where he’d fit on the other side of the ball. While Soderstrom was drafted as a catcher, most scouts felt he’d need to move off the position. That has essentially been borne out, as his only 15 MLB starts behind the dish came during his 2023 rookie season. The fallback for poor defensive catchers is generally first base, and that’s indeed where Soderstrom spent the early part of his big league tenure.

Soderstrom struggled over a 45-game sample as a rookie. His .233/.315/.429 slash across 213 plate appearances in 2024 was a significant step forward but hadn’t yet put him alongside Rooker, Butler and Shea Langeliers as clear members of the A’s core. Soderstrom entered this year with a little pressure in the form of 2024 fourth overall pick Nick Kurtz, a college first baseman who was expected to hit his way to the majors very quickly.

While Kurtz would do just that, Soderstrom’s breakout ’25 campaign ensured the A’s couldn’t afford to take him out of the lineup either. The 24-year-old was one of the league’s best hitters in the first few weeks of the season. He connected on nine home runs with a .284/.349/.560 slash before the end of April. Soderstrom was tied for fourth in MLB (behind only Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh and Eugenio Suárez) in homers through the season’s first month. By the time Kurtz forced his way to the majors on April 21, Soderstrom was locked into the middle of Mark Kotsay’s batting order.

That presented the A’s with a positional dilemma. Rooker is an everyday designated hitter. The 6’5″, 240-pound Kurtz wasn’t going to be able to play anywhere other than first base. Despite his catching/first base background, Soderstrom is a solid athlete and average runner. The A’s threw him into left field on the fly even though he’d had no professional experience there. They presumably expected to live with some defensive growing pains to keep his bat in the lineup.

Soderstrom dramatically exceeded those expectations. He graded 10 runs better than an average left fielder by measure of Defensive Runs Saved. Statcast graded his range five plays above average. Soderstrom ended the season as a Gold Glove finalist at a position he’d never played five months earlier. He joins Butler as core outfield pieces, ideally in a corner tandem flanking defensive specialist Denzel Clarke in center.

The increased defensive responsibility didn’t impact Soderstrom’s rhythm at the plate. He scuffled between May and June but rebounded with a .305/.359/.530 showing over the season’s final four months. Soderstrom finished with an overall .276/.346/.474 batting line while ranking fourth on the team with 25 homers. He improved his contact rate by six percentage points and held his own against same-handed pitching (.270/.315/.423) while teeing off on righties (.278/.356/.491). The  breakout also wasn’t a product of the A’s playing half their games at the hitter-friendly Sutter Heath Park. Soderstrom had an OPS north of .800 both at home and on the road.

As recently as this past summer, there was speculation about the A’s potentially swapping Soderstrom for a controllable starting pitcher. The extension firmly takes that off the table and ensures he’ll remain alongside Kurtz, Rooker, Butler and Jacob Wilson in an excellent offensive corps. The first three are signed through at least 2029. Kurtz and Wilson are under team control for five seasons. Langeliers has another two seasons of arbitration eligibility.

Soderstrom was already under club control for four seasons. He was a year closer to free agency than Butler was at the time of his extension, which explains why the price was a little more than $20MM higher. Soderstrom tops the $57.5MM guarantee which Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia received in the same service class, but that deal only extended K.C.’s control window by two seasons.

The A’s backloaded the Rooker and Butler extensions, with the highest salaries corresponding to their planned move to Las Vegas in 2028. The salary breakdown on Soderstrom’s deal hasn’t yet been reported. The A’s had a projected payroll around $87MM before today, as calculated by RosterResource. That’s $12MM above where they opened the ’25 season. General manager David Forst told MLB.com’s Martín Gallegos last week that the team was looking to upgrade a rotation that ranked 27th in ERA and 25th in strikeout percentage.

Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images.

The Giants Should Chase Upside On The Trade Market

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The Giants have been fairly quiet through the offseason's first two months. They've added back-end starter Adrian Houser on a two-year, $22MM deal with a club option. Their only other moves have been cheap fliers on rehabbing relievers Jason Foley and Sam Hentges.

While technically in line with their offseason plan to focus on pitching, their moves to date aren't the type that'll move the needle. Chairman Greg Johnson and general manager Zack Minasian have downplayed the chance of making a long-term investment on the pitching staff. There are still a handful of players on the open market who fit on paper. Any of Framber Valdez, Ranger Suárez or Zac Gallen would upgrade the rotation. Top free agent hitters Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger and Bo Bichette happen to fit at their respective biggest problem areas on the position player side (right field and second base, respectively).

It's possible ownership doesn't want to meet the asking prices necessary for anyone in that group. The Giants project for a $176MM payroll, as calculated by RosterResource. That's narrowly above their $173MM Opening Day mark from 2025. That doesn't include the $17MM payment they owe to Blake Snell on January 15, as they agreed to defer the signing bonus on his contract for the '24 season.

They're also on the hook for one of the most expensive managerial situations in MLB. They owe fired skipper Bob Melvin a $4MM salary. They paid a $3MM buyout to the University of Tennessee to get Tony Vitello out of his contract. Vitello is reportedly set for a $3.5MM salary, meaning they're committing $10.5MM to the position for the first season.

Even with an estimated $40MM until they hit the luxury tax threshold, the budget could be tight for a marquee free agent. However, that doesn't mean the offseason needs to be exclusively depth acquisitions. The Giants have a few ways to chase the extra wins needed to push them from their annual .500 finish to more firmly in the Wild Card picture.

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Brewers Notes: Backup Catcher, Quero, Henderson

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The Brewers got through the 2025 season relying on only three catchers. William Contreras was second in MLB with 128 starts behind the dish. Eric Haase backed him up for the first half of the season. Milwaukee acquired Danny Jansen at the deadline and outrighted Haase off the 40-man roster in the corresponding move.

Haase elected minor league free agency at the end of the season. Jansen returned to the open market when the Brewers declined their end of a $12MM mutual option. He officially signed a two-year, $14.5MM deal with Texas last week. That leaves Milwaukee with only two catchers on the 40-man roster: Contreras and 23-year-old prospect Jeferson Quero, whose contract was selected over the 2023-24 offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

The Venezuelan-born Quero suffered a labrum tear in his throwing shoulder one game into the ’24 Triple-A season. He underwent surgery and missed the rest of the year. Quero missed the first couple months of the ’25 campaign because of a hamstring strain. He didn’t return to Triple-A action until the beginning of June. The right-handed hitter turned in a league average .255/.336/.412 batting line in 250 plate appearances the rest of the way.

At the moment, Quero stands as the favorite for the #2 catcher job by default. Contreras is the only catcher in the organization who has played in an MLB game. Curt Hogg of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Brewers have evaluated the market for a veteran backup but aren’t closing the door to Quero potentially breaking camp in that role. Assistant director of baseball administration Brenton Del Chiaro told Hogg that the young catcher is “pretty close” to big league readiness.

Quero showed promising contact skills against Triple-A pitching, albeit with a tendency to expand the strike zone. His combination of bat control and average pop gives him a reasonably high offensive ceiling for a #2 catcher. Quero’s calling card as a prospect had been his defense, particularly an arm that had been a weapon before the labrum injury. Baseball America’s scouting report notes that Quero’s pop times suffered in his first year back from the surgery. That’s reflected in an 18.9% caught stealing percentage that is well below the fantastic 34.6% mark he posted in Double-A in 2023.

The Brewers can option Quero to Triple-A for at least one more season. He’d be a candidate for a fourth option year as well because of the missed time in 2024. If they feel he’d benefit from more minor league time to hone his approach (or they want to see how his arm strength looks another year removed from the injury), they’d need to add someone from outside the organization. It’s not a position to which they’ll devote many resources given Contreras’ durability, but a player like Reese McGuire, Christian Vázquez or old friend Luke Maile could sign for slightly more than the league minimum. They’ll at least bring in an experienced catcher on a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite.

Quero isn’t the only prospect who’ll be looking to establish himself in camp. Right-hander Logan Henderson impressed over his first five MLB starts but suffered a season-ending elbow injury in August. Henderson was able to resume throwing bullpen sessions by the postseason and did not require surgery. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com writes that he’s following a normal offseason plan and will return to working off a mound within the next couple weeks.

Henderson will enter camp battling for a spot at the back of the rotation. Freddy Peralta and Brandon Woodruff are lined up for the top two spots, barring a trade of the former. Quinn Priester is locked into the #3 role. Jacob Misiorowski, Chad Patrick, Robert Gasser, Tobias Myers and potentially Angel Zerpa could be in the mix for back-end jobs. Zerpa would be in the bullpen if he doesn’t win a rotation role. Everyone from that group aside from Woodruff and Peralta have minor league options remaining, so the Brewers have a lot of flexibility in moving pitchers up and down from Triple-A Nashville.

A’s Likely To Rely On Internal Options At Third Base

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The A’s added to their infield with this week’s acquisition of Jeff McNeil from the Mets. The A’s sent a lottery ticket pitching prospect (Yordan Rodriguez) while taking on $10MM of the $17.75MM remaining on the veteran’s contract.

Adding help at one of second or third base had been on the A’s checklist since the beginning of the offseason. It seems they’re content with one outside pickup. General manager David Forst told Martín Gallegos of MLB.com that the A’s view McNeil as their primary second baseman. They’re planning to leave the third base job open for a Spring Training competition among a few players already on the roster.

“We’ll probably look internally at third base,” Forst told Gallegos. “Max Muncy did a really nice job there in his limited time. Darell Hernaiz has shown he can play the position. Brett Harris has a lot of experience at third base. So I like our internal options.” Forst didn’t specifically mention Zack Gelof, who is questionable for the start of exhibition play as he works back from September shoulder surgery. Gelof was a college third baseman but hasn’t played anywhere other than second since he reached Triple-A at the end of the 2022 season.

None of Muncy, Harris or Hernaiz showed a lot in limited big league playing time. Harris was the best of the group offensively, hitting .274 with a .349 on-base percentage. That came in just 84 plate appearances, and he was a .146/.276/.262 hitter in a similar amount of playing time as a rookie the year before. Muncy struck out in 31% of his first 220 trips to the plate in the big leagues, leading to a .214/.259/.379 slash. Hernaiz made a ton of contact with below-average exit velocities. He only managed two homers and a .231/.292/.306 line over 197 trips to the plate. Gelof showed some promise when he hit 14 homers in 69 games as a rookie in 2023. He led the American League in strikeouts in his first full season and battled injuries for most of the ’25 campaign, dropping him down the depth chart.

It’s one of the weakest third base groups in MLB on paper. 19-year-old top prospect Leo De Vries is likely to open the season in Double-A. It’s not out of the question that he forces his way to the big leagues before the end of the year, especially if the A’s hang around the playoff bubble. That won’t be a consideration out of the gate, so the A’s will need someone from their group of upper level infielders to take a step forward.

If the A’s wanted to go outside the organization, they could probably get a veteran like Yoán Moncada or Ramón Urías on a cheap one-year deal closer to Spring Training. That doesn’t appear to be the current plan. The McNeil acquisition pushed their projected payroll to $87MM, as calculated by RosterResource. That’s $12MM above where they opened the ’25 season. They’ve yet to make any moves to upgrade a rotation which was 27th in ERA and 25th in strikeout percentage. Forst reiterated to Gallegos that acquiring a starter is the “first focus right now.”

Cardinals Looking To Add Right-Handed Hitting Outfielder

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The Cardinals’ offseason is focused mostly on the players they’re trading away. Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras have already been shipped out, and it’s possible that each of Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arenado and JoJo Romero will also find themselves on the move. That doesn’t mean they won’t make some short-term pickups. They’ve added Dustin May on a $12.5MM deal in the rotation, and president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom identified a profile they’re pursuing on the position player side.

Bloom told reporters that the Cardinals would like to add an outfielder, ideally one who brings right-handed power (links via John Denton of MLB.com and Daniel Guerrero of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch). That’s an indirect consequence of the Contreras trade. Alec Burleson only made 38 starts at first base this past season. That’s likely to rise in 2026, as Bloom implied that Burleson could replace Contreras as the primary first baseman. Burleson made 72 starts in the corner outfield and 18 at designated hitter.

St. Louis has Lars Nootbaar and Jordan Walker as their projected corner outfield tandem. Nootbaar is down to two years of arbitration control and could be traded this offseason. Walker was a well below replacement level performer in 2025 and still has a minor league option remaining. A righty corner bat could also spell the lefty Burleson.

There aren’t a ton of options remaining in free agency. The Cards could kick the tires on a one-year deal for Miguel Andujar or Austin Hays, each of whom is coming off a big season with the platoon advantage. Old friend Tommy Pham is coming off a middling season against lefties but carries a .261/.368/.434 line in those situations over his career. Chas McCormick hasn’t hit in either of the past two years. He has a 20-homer season with a .273/.353/.489 showing in 2023 on his résumé.

The Cardinals could also look into a switch-hitting utility option like Willi Castro or Luis Rengifo. They’d have the added benefit of being able to fill in at second or third base if the Cardinals line up Donovan and/or Arenado trades. Nolan Gorman would be in line for the bulk of the third base playing time if Arenado is moved. Top prospect JJ Wetherholt should be up as the everyday second baseman at some point, assuming they trade Donovan, but the 23-year-old seems likely to open the season in Triple-A.

Nationals Hire Shawn O’Malley As Assistant Hitting Coach

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The Nationals announced their full 2026 coaching staff this afternoon. The only new development is the hiring of Shawn O’Malley as one of two assistant hitting coaches. Andrew Aydt’s hiring in that role was reported in November, while the Nats hired lead hitting coach Matt Borgschulte shortly before the Winter Meetings.

O’Malley joins a major league staff for the first time. The 37-year-old had a three-year playing career in the big leagues, appearing in 124 games from 2014-16. A switch-hitting utility player, O’Malley spent parts of 13 seasons in the minors. He was playing professionally through 2019 before moving into the coaching ranks. A Washington native and former Mariner player, O’Malley joined the Seattle organization as a minor league hitting instructor. He worked his way up from High-A to the Triple-A level by 2024.

Blake Butera is entering his first season as Washington’s manager. The rest of his staff is as follows: bench coach Michael Johns, pitching coach Simon Mathews, assistant pitching coach Sean Doolittle, bullpen coach Dustin Glant, base coaches Corey Ray and Victor Estevez, field coordinator Tyler Smarslok, catching coach Bobby Wilson, and development coach Grant Anders.

White Sox, Dustin Harris Agree To Minor League Contract

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The White Sox are signing outfielder Dustin Harris to a minor league deal, reports James Fegan of Sox Machine. The lefty hitter will be in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Harris, 26, is a former A’s draftee who was traded to Texas early in his career. He showed a decent power-speed combination in the minors and ranked among Baseball America’s top 10 prospects in the Rangers system each year from 2022-24. The Rangers carried him on their 40-man roster for a couple years. Harris received a brief look as a September call-up at the end of the ’24 season. His prospect stock had already begun to dim by that point, as his .272/.358/.391 showing in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League was a little worse than average given the hitter-friendly setting.

The Rangers bounced Harris on and off the active roster for the first few months of this past season. They designated him for assignment at the trade deadline and successfully ran him through waivers. He came back up in September while Adolis García was on the injured list but was outrighted again at the beginning of the offseason. Harris elected free agency the second time around.

His big league résumé consists of 21 games, in which he has hit .217 with a .280 on-base percentage. Harris has posted solid but not exceptional numbers over two and a half seasons in Triple-A. He’s a .276/.367/.420 hitter in nearly 1300 plate appearances. Harris has posted strong strikeout and walk rates, but his exit velocities at the Triple-A level are near the bottom of the scale. He can play all three outfield positions and probably fits best in left field.

The White Sox have Andrew Benintendi in left field and Luis Robert Jr. (barring a trade) to play center. Out-of-options Everson Pereira is probably lined up for right field work. Pereira has a .146/.227/.215 line in 50 major league games. Fourth outfielder Derek Hill and depth types Brooks Baldwin and Tristan Peters are on the 40-man roster. They’ll enter Spring Training ahead of Harris on the depth chart, but it’s a good spot for a non-roster invitee to carve out a role with an impressive camp.

Guardians, Codi Heuer Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Guardians are in agreement with reliever Codi Heuer on a minor league contract, according to the MLB.com transaction log. The righty will be in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Heuer resurfaced in the majors this year for the first time since 2021. The righty was on a minor league deal with Texas that got selected onto the MLB roster in June. He pitched once before being optioned back to Triple-A. That was his only appearance with the Rangers, but they managed to find a taker for him at the trade deadline. They flipped him to the Tigers for cash. Heuer made two appearances with Detroit before being released in September.

The 29-year-old pitched 4 2/3 innings of three-run ball overall. He struck out five while walking two batters. The former sixth-round pick pitched quite well in Triple-A. Heuer combined for a 3.14 earned run average while striking out more than 30% of batters faced across 48 2/3 frames. He kept the ball on the ground at a 48.3% clip with a league average 8.4% walk rate.

Heuer looked like a potential high-leverage bullpen piece early in his career with the White Sox. He posted a 1.52 ERA with a 27% strikeout rate while sitting around 98 MPH during his 2020 rookie season. His stuff backed up the following year, especially after he was dealt to the Cubs at the ’21 deadline. That was a precursor to a series of significant elbow injuries. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2022, then broke his elbow while rehabbing in June ’23. He made all of 15 minor league appearances between 2022-24.

A healthy ’25 season itself counts as a major achievement given that history. Heuer’s stuff unsurprisingly wasn’t as electric as it’d been before the injuries. His fastball was in the 94-95 MPH range and he averaged around 84 MPH on his slider, four ticks below where it had once sat. Heuer nevertheless showed he’s capable of succeeding against Triple-A competition, so he’s a sensible addition for a Cleveland team attacking the bullpen with depth signings.

Reds Among Teams Showing Interest In Luis Robert Jr.

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Last offseason, the Reds were among the teams linked to Luis Robert Jr. in trade conversations. The White Sox surprisingly held onto their center fielder both last winter and beyond the trade deadline. They’ve been content to keep him into 2026 but aren’t closed off to talks.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today and Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer each report that the Reds have resumed discussions with the Sox. Nightengale also lists the Mets as a possibility. Robert has been more loosely tied to Pittsburgh, San Diego and Philadelphia at points throughout the offseason.

The Reds have yet to upgrade a lineup that ranked 14th in scoring despite playing half its games at Great American Ball Park. Their park-adjusted offense was eight percentage points below league average. That tied them with the Angels and Rangers for fifth-worst in MLB. Cincinnati made a run at Kyle Schwarber but reportedly viewed the Ohio native as a unique free agent. There’s no indication they’re going to reallocate the $25MM annual salary that they offered Schwarber elsewhere on the free agent market.

Robert will make $20MM next season. Wittenmyer writes that the White Sox may be willing to eat roughly half that salary to facilitate a trade. There’s a matching club option for the 2027 campaign. Chicago’s seeming willingness to pay down part of the contract would be conditional on getting a package of controllable talent that they like. Robert isn’t a pure salary dump. If the Sox had viewed him as a negative value asset, they would have bought him out for $2MM at the beginning of the winter.

Cincinnati has a quality center fielder in TJ Friedl. They don’t have an everyday option in left, where Friedl’s below-average arm strength would be less of a concern. Robert would certainly upgrade the outfield defense, though it’s less clear whether he’s a consistent enough hitter to be Cincinnati’s marquee offseason pickup. He has been a well below-average hitter since his 38-homer campaign two years ago. Robert owns a .223/.288/.372 batting line with a near-30% strikeout rate in 856 plate appearances since the start of 2024. He looked like he was turning a corner in the second half of ’25 but suffered a season-ending hamstring strain in August.

The Mets have a clearer need in center field. Tyrone Taylor projects as the starter despite hitting .223/.279/.319 across 341 plate appearances this past season. Top prospect Carson Benge is looming but struggled in his first 24 Triple-A contests after raking up through Double-A. He’s likely to begin the year in the minors. Left field is wide open following the Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil trades.

New York is virtually certain to add an outfielder. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic write that they’re looking to add a right-handed bat somewhere in the lineup. Robert qualifies and is coming off a strong season against left-handed pitching. He was terrible against southpaws in 2024 but raked against them in every other season and has a lifetime .293/.367/.505 slash with the platoon advantage.

Rays Hire Corey Dickerson As First Base Coach

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The Rays announced the hiring of former All-Star Corey Dickerson as first base coach. It’s the first big league coaching job for the 36-year-old, who last played in the majors two years ago. Former first base coach Michael Johns took the bench coach job with the Nationals in November.

Dickerson played two seasons under skipper Kevin Cash in Tampa Bay, who acquired him in a 2016 deal that sent then-prospect Germán Márquez to the Rockies. He combined for a .265/.310/.480 batting line in 298 games with the Rays, earning the aforementioned All-Star selection in the ’17 season. Tampa Bay traded the left-handed hitter to the Pirates during the 2017-18 offseason. Dickerson hit .300 and won a Gold Glove during his first year in Pittsburgh.

Traded to the Phillies at the 2019 deadline, Dickerson then bounced around as a bench bat and wound up playing for four more teams. He finished his career as a .280/.323/.476 hitter with 136 home runs in nearly 4000 plate appearances. Dickerson topped 20 homers on three occasions and drove in almost 500 runs.

Dickerson’s playing career came to an end when he was released by the Nationals in 2023. He does have a bit of coaching experience, albeit not in the professional ranks. He coached high school ball in his native Mississippi this year.

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