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Tigers Outright Akil Baddoo

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The Tigers announced that outfielder Akil Baddoo has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Toledo. Detroit designated him for assignment last week as the corresponding move for the Alex Cobb signing.

Baddoo was a Rule 5 success story in 2021, when he hit .259/.330/.436 with 13 homers across 461 plate appearances in his debut season. The lefty-swinging outfielder hasn’t maintained that form over the last three seasons. Baddoo struggled to a .212/.302/.331 slash in 178 games between 2022-23. The Tigers kept him on optional assignment for most of the ’24 season. Baddoo only played in 37 MLB games, hitting .137/.220/.301 while striking out in 27 of his 82 plate appearances (32.9% rate).

Strikeouts were also an issue in Triple-A. Baddoo fanned at an elevated 26.5% clip across 377 trips to the plate with Toledo this year. He walked at a strong 12.7% rate to post a respectable .340 on-base mark, but it was a roughly league average offensive showing in the International League. It was moderately surprising that the Tigers tendered him an arbitration contract with a $1.6MM projected salary.

Baddoo will stick in the organization and should receive a non-roster invitation to MLB Spring Training. He’ll likely begin the season in Toledo and try to hit his way back into the outfield mix alongside Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, Parker Meadows, and Matt Vierling.

Trey Cabbage To Sign With NPB’s Yomiuri Giants

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Dec. 17: Cabbage will sign with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, reports Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Dec. 16: The Pirates released first baseman/outfielder Trey Cabbage, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. Alex Stumpf of MLB.com reports that Cabbage will pursue an opportunity in a foreign league. That opens a spot on Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster, which drops to 37.

Pittsburgh claimed Cabbage off waivers from the Astros last month. Houston had attempted to outright him off their roster at the beginning of the offseason. Cabbage could’ve battled for a spot in Spring Training with the Bucs, but there was no guarantee he’d have stuck on the roster all winter. Even if he’d held the 40-man spot, Cabbage has an option remaining and might’ve spent most of next year in Triple-A.

It seems his camp is finalizing a deal with a team in another league that’d presumably come with a better payday. Cabbage has an intriguing power-speed combination. He had a 30-30 showing with a .306/.379/.596 slash in Triple-A with the Angels in 2023. His minor league production wasn’t quite as strong this year (.243/.351/.474) but he made a career-high 45 MLB appearances with the Astros. MLB pitching has exploited Cabbage’s propensity for huge strikeout totals in the upper minors, fanning him at a near-41% clip. He’s a career .209/.245/.331 hitter in 147 big league plate appearances.

Orioles Sign Tomoyuki Sugano

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The Orioles signed longtime NPB star Tomoyuki Sugano to a one-year contract on Monday evening. Sugano, a client of VC Sports Group, is reportedly guaranteed $13MM. Baltimore had an opening on the 40-man roster, so no additional move was necessary.

Sugano makes the jump to Major League Baseball for the first time in what’ll be his age-35 season. He’s one of Japan’s most accomplished pitchers. The 6’1″ right-hander spent 12 years with the Yomiuri Giants in his home country. He posted a 2.43 earned run average in more than 1800 innings at the NPB level.

Major league scouts have followed Sugano for some time. He first appeared on many fans’ radars when the Yomiuri Giants made him available via the posting system during the 2020-21 offseason. Sugano was coming off a 1.97 ERA showing in his age-30 season. While he certainly attracted attention from big league clubs, he didn’t find a deal that compelled him to leave Japan. Instead, Sugano returned to the Giants on a four-year deal that paid him $40MM.

That contract allowed Sugano to opt out after each season, potentially clearing a path for him to make the move to MLB. He was evidently happy with his longtime club and decided not to take any of the early outs. Once the four-year term concluded, his camp made clear he intended to sign with an MLB team this offseason. Sugano had surpassed the nine years of NPB service time necessary to qualify for international free agency. Yomiuri will not receive any compensation for his departure, nor will the deal cost the Orioles anything other than the player’s salary.

Despite his age, Sugano is coming off one of his strongest seasons. He turned in a 1.67 ERA across 156 2/3 innings spanning 24 starts. It’s the second-lowest ERA of his career and earned him the NPB’s Central League MVP award for the third time. That’s not to say he’s still at his absolute peak form, however. Sugano only threw 77 2/3 innings during the 2023 season, reportedly on account of an elbow injury. His swing-and-miss rates have also dropped significantly compared to earlier years. Sugano struck out 18.3% of batters faced this year — well off the 24-26% range he’d posted in his late 20s.

Sugano’s NPB strikeout rate was about four percentage points lower than the 22% MLB average for starting pitchers. Many NPB hitters adopt a more contact-oriented approach than is common in the big leagues, so perhaps he’ll miss a few more bats in the majors. Sugano doesn’t have the same upside he would’ve brought a few seasons ago, though. Baseball America’s scouting report notes that his fastball velocity has dipped into the 92-93 MPH range after sitting somewhere between 94-96 MPH earlier in his career.

While the pure stuff has dropped as he’s aged and battled injury, Sugano has thrived thanks to his feel for pitching. That’s most evident in his excellent command. Sugano only walked 16 hitters all season, a microscopic 2.6% rate that’s lower than what any MLB starter managed this year (minimum 100 innings). That should rise slightly as he faces more patient hitters, but it’s fair to project Sugano for plus or better command.

Baseball America writes that Sugano indeed profiles as a control-oriented fourth or fifth starter. The outlet credits him with a five-pitch mix headlined by an above-average slider and splitter. Fans are encouraged to read BA’s full column, which also includes updated scouting reports on other prominent NPB and KBO players who are available to MLB teams (i.e. Roki Sasaki, Shinnosuke Ogasawara, Hyeseong Kim and Koyo Aoyagi).

The contract aligns with MLBTR’s prediction of one year and $12MM. It values Sugano as a capable back-end starter. Alex Cobb signed for $15MM with the Tigers last week. Late-career innings eaters Lance Lynn ($11MM) and Kyle Gibson ($13MM) got similar one-year deals with the Cardinals last offseason.

Sugano is a needed rotation upgrade for GM Mike Elias and his front office. The O’s should continue searching for higher-upside arms in the coming weeks. Sugano slots behind Zach Eflin and Grayson Rodriguez in the projected rotation. Dean Kremer, Trevor Rogers, Albert Suarez and youngsters Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott are options for the final two spots. The rotation remains Baltimore’s biggest question mark.

Sugano is the third highest-paid player on the roster, narrowly trailing Eflin ($18MM) and newly signed outfielder Tyler O’Neill ($16.5MM). Their player payroll is up to $134MM, as calculated by RosterResource. It’s not clear how far they’re willing to push spending in the first offseason under the David Rubenstein ownership group.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the salary. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Blue Jays Finalize Coaching Staff

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The Blue Jays announced their 2025 coaching staff on Monday afternoon. The only previously unreported addition is assistant pitching coach Sam Greene.

The 27-year-old Greene is one of the younger coaches on an MLB staff. This is his first big league coaching work. The Jays noted that he spent the ’24 season working as a senior pitching research specialist. Greene, a Pennsylvania native, pitched collegiately in Canada at Montreal’s McGill University. He has worked for the Jays for four seasons.

Greene joins newly-hired bullpen coach Graham Johnson as assistants to pitching coach Pete Walker. The Jays also shook up the hitting side, bringing in David Popkins to work as lead hitting instructor and tabbing Lou Iannotti as an assistant. The rest of John Schneider’s staff — all of whom are returnees from last season — is as follows: associate manager DeMarlo Hale, bench coach Don Mattingly, first base coach Mark Budzinski, third base coach Carlos Febles, assistant hitting coach Hunter Mense, and mental performance coach John Lannan.

Blue Jays, Ali Sanchez Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays are in agreement with catcher Ali Sánchez on a minor league contract, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. He’ll be in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Sánchez, 28 in January, got into 31 games for the Marlins this year. The Venezuelan-born backstop hit .167/.211/.190. That was Sánchez’s most significant stretch of big league play. His previous MLB experience consisted of seven games split between the Mets and Cardinals in 2020-21. His struggles led Miami to outright him off the 40-man roster in September.

The right-handed hitting Sánchez made 48 appearances at the Triple-A level. He split the season between the Cubs and Miami systems, hitting .226/.310/.361 across 174 plate appearances. Sánchez now carries a .267/.339/.395 batting line over parts of five Triple-A seasons. He has a solid defensive reputation and threw out a quarter of attempted basestealers in his limited MLB look.

Toronto only has two catchers on the 40-man roster: Alejandro Kirk and Tyler Heineman. It seems unlikely Sánchez will beat Heineman for the backup job out of camp, but he could begin next season at Triple-A Buffalo as Toronto’s top non-roster depth catcher.

Mets, Brandon Waddell Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mets are in agreement with left-hander Brandon Waddell on a minor league contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. While it was initially reported as an MLB deal, Murray subsequently issued a correction. The deal is pending a physical.

Waddell is the second former member of the Korea Baseball Organization’s Doosan Bears to agree to terms with the Mets today. New York added multi-positional bat Jared Young on an MLB split deal after he clubbed 10 homers in 38 games for the Bears late in the season. Waddell, a 30-year-old southpaw, spent parts of three years with the club between 2022-24.

That was a generally successful run. Waddell turned in 244 2/3 innings of 2.98 ERA ball in the KBO. That included a 3.12 mark in 75 frames this year. The UVA product fanned 23.8% of opposing hitters against a 3.5% walk rate. His season was unfortunately cut short by a rotator cuff injury in late June.

The Mets were evidently intrigued enough by Waddell’s form to give him a look as non-roster rotation or long relief depth. This will be his first stint in affiliated ball since 2022, which he spent in Triple-A in the St. Louis system. Waddell last pitched in the big leagues in 2021. He divided that season between four teams — the Twins, Pirates, Orioles and Cardinals — and allowed eight runs across 9 1/3 innings. He has 11 career MLB appearances and owns a 5.37 ERA over parts of four years at the Triple-A level.

Tigers, Brian Serven Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Tigers are in agreement with catcher Brian Serven on a minor league deal, reports Aram Leighton of Just Baseball (X link). Serven, a PRIME client, will be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee.

Serven, 29, joins the fourth organization of his career. A fifth-round pick of the Rockies in 2016, he got to the big leagues six years later. The Arizona State product appeared in 62 games as a rookie, hitting .203/.261/.332 in a backup role. He only made 11 appearances the following season, spending the bulk of the year in Triple-A on optional assignment. Colorado placed him on waivers last winter.

The Cubs claimed Serven and briefly carried him on their 40-man roster. Chicago designated him for assignment around one week later. He landed with the Blue Jays on another claim. Toronto ran him through waivers at the end of January but reselected his contract after Danny Jansen broke a bone in his wrist in Spring Training.

Serven spent the majority of the season on Toronto’s 40-man. He only made 28 big league appearances, hitting .159/.243/.222 across 71 trips to the plate. Serven showed much better on-base skills in the minors. The right-handed hitter put up a .265/.390/.379 slash over 40 Triple-A contests. His overall offensive track record is middling, though, and the Jays designated him for assignment when they claimed Tyler Heineman off waivers in September. Serven elected minor league free agency at season’s end.

Jake Rogers will open the season as A.J. Hinch’s primary catcher. Dillon Dingler is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. He debuted this past season and struggled to a .167/.195/.310 batting line in his first 27 MLB contests. Dingler still has a couple minor league options remaining, so the Tigers could turn to a more experienced backup if they want the former second-round pick to continue playing regularly in Triple-A. Detroit could continue looking for upper minors depth, but there’s a decent opportunity right now for Serven to play his way into the backup role.

Where Will Corbin Burnes End Up?

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With Blake Snell and Max Fried off the board, Corbin Burnes stands alone at the top of the pitching market. There was some thought that the former Cy Young winner might sign within a day or two of Fried agreeing to an eight-year term at the Winter Meetings. That hasn’t happened, though it wouldn’t be a surprise if Burnes signs before league activity goes quiet with the holidays next week.

Thus far, the starting pitching class has outperformed expectations. That’s most true of Fried, whom few would’ve foreseen getting eight years or handily beating $200MM at the start of the offseason. With Fried securing $218MM, how much should one project upwards on Burnes? Every free agent projection would’ve had Burnes above Fried when the offseason got underway. Fried money feels like a floor for Burnes, whom MLBTR predicted for seven years and $200MM just six weeks ago.

That said, the Yankees and Mets were two of the most obvious on-paper fits at the start of the offseason. The Yankees can safely be ruled out after the Fried deal. The Mets are still in the market for starting pitching and have the payroll room to lurk as a threat on Burnes even after landing Juan Soto. Yet it seems the Mets’ focus for starting pitching has been on the middle tiers. They added Frankie Montas and converted Clay Holmes to the rotation, preferring more affordable upside plays than a quick strike for any of free agency’s top three arms. They’re reportedly still interested in re-signing Sean Manaea, which would very likely close the door on a Burnes acquisition.

Recent rumors have most prominently connected Burnes to a few teams: the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Giants and (to a lesser extent) the Orioles. Boston is still engaged in the rotation market after landing Garrett Crochet last week. Trading for Crochet leaves them with ample payroll space — the former White Sox staff ace is projected for a meager $2.9MM arbitration salary — but could indicate that the Sox weren’t keen on the climbing cost for free agent starting pitching.

The Giants would benefit greatly from an ace they could plug alongside Logan Webb in the rotation to replace Snell’s production. Yet San Francisco has already made a pair of big investments ($151MM on the Matt Chapman extension, $182MM for Willy Adames) within the past few months. Does ownership have interest in a deal that should easily exceed those already significant contracts?

Depending on how one feels about the Andrés Giménez trade, it’s debatable whether the Blue Jays have made a splash acquisition this offseason. They were heavily involved on Soto and Fried but watched both players head elsewhere. Their front office could be most motivated to land a marquee free agent, but they’re also faced with some payroll questions. Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith wrote last week that the Jays landing Burnes “doesn’t seem especially likely,” suggesting the organization could prefer to focus on a bat as its biggest addition while looking for a cheaper rebound target on the rotation front.

Maybe that opens the opportunity for the incumbent Orioles to make a push. GM Mike Elias has said that the ownership change has allowed the O’s front office to explore the top of the rotation market. (They reportedly were involved on Snell, in particular.) Still, it’s fair to take a “believe it when I see it” approach for Baltimore. The O’s have brought up spending since David Rubenstein purchased the franchise in April. They took on Zach Eflin’s $18MM salary in a deadline trade with the Rays and signed Tyler O’Neill for three years and $49.5MM last week. Yet neither investment is close to what it’d take to retain Burnes.

How will the Burnes situation play out? Will there be a late push by a mystery team to land him, and how much will it take? Is he soon to be the latest beneficiary of a bullish rotation market, or is the number of teams willing to make a $200MM+ investment drying up?

 

 

Bobby Witt Jr. Tops Pre-Arbitration Bonus Pool

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Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. received roughly $3.08MM from the pre-arbitration bonus pool, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Pirates righty Paul Skenes ($2.15MM) and Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson ($2MM) round out the top three.

The most recent collective bargaining agreement introduced a $50MM pool that is divided among players who have yet to accrue enough service time to reach arbitration. (Each team commits around $1.67MM to that fund every season.) The goal was to help highly-performing young players get paid earlier in their careers. Players are eligible even if they’ve signed a contract extension, as Witt did before the season. Despite inking a deal approaching $289MM, he’ll pick up a little more than $3MM as a result of his fantastic ’24 campaign.

A player receives $2.5MM for winning MVP or Cy Young. They’re awarded $1.75MM for a runner-up finish, $1.5MM for third place, and $1MM for fourth or fifth place. The Rookie of the Year winner in each league gets $750K, while the runners-up pick up $500K. Players named first-team All-MLB receive $1MM; a second-team All-MLB placement is worth $500K.

Players cannot double-up on those accolades. They’re paid in line with the highest award honors they received. Witt was the MVP runner-up in the American League. Skenes finished third in Cy Young voting. Henderson placed fourth in MVP voting.

After the award money is paid out, the remaining funds are divided between the top 100 eligible players based on a predetermined Wins Above Replacement formula which was mutually approved by MLB and the Players Association. William Contreras, Cole Ragans, Jarren Duran, Jackson Merrill and Luis Gil were the other players to top $1MM this year. The Associated Press lists every player who received some money based on their WAR totals — going down to Sal Frelick at a little over $232K.

Astros’ GM Discusses Valdez, Bregman

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Astros general manager Dana Brown met with reporters shortly after the team finalized its biggest trade in years. In the wake of sending Kyle Tucker to the Cubs for Isaac Paredes, Hayden Wesneski and prospect Cam Smith, Brown spoke about what’s next.

Most notably, he downplayed the chance of moving ace Framber Valdez. He indicated the front office continues to be open to offers on anyone but suggested he didn’t find it likely they’ll move the star lefty. “We’re not aggressively trying to move him, but we’ll listen,” Brown told reporters (link via Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle). “If you ask me if (I) think we’re going to trade Valdez, I don’t think we’re trading Valdez. I think he’s (a) pillar, and it’s really tough to keep a rotation intact, and we really feel like he’s going to be an important one in our rotation.”

Valdez and Tucker were each thrust into trade rumors on Monday, when Brown replied to a question on their availability by saying the team would “listen on all the players.” Today’s comments don’t refute that, though the Astros seem less motivated to pursue trade talks on Valdez now that they’ve moved Tucker. One of the primary motivations for trading either player was offloading their expensive projected salaries for their final season of arbitration. The Tucker trade should save the Astros around $9MM — the difference between the projections for Tucker’s and Paredes’ salaries — and drops their projected luxury tax number to roughly $225MM (courtesy of RosterResource). That puts them around $16MM shy of the base threshold.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Valdez for a $17.8MM salary. The Astros shouldn’t have as much of a desire to offload that money. Perhaps they will reconsider if they receive an offer that takes the general shape of the Tucker trade and allows them to acquire MLB help and at least one prospect of note. Brown acknowledged today that the club hasn’t had any extension talks with Valdez since last year, so they’re probably not optimistic about the chance of keeping him beyond next season. They’re still aiming to win the AL West in 2025, though, so they’re not going to move Valdez strictly for minor league talent.

Brown was also naturally asked how the Tucker trade impacts their pursuit of Alex Bregman. While there could be a few million dollars more to offer Bregman in the short term, landing Paredes gives the Astros a fallback at third base which they’d previously lacked. Brown indicated the Tucker trade doesn’t have much impact on the Bregman bidding. “Pretty much, Alex Bregman’s status [remains] the way it is,” he stated (link via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). “Nothing has changed since the last time I’ve talked to you guys. … It’s still pretty much the same where we were Tuesday.”

There’s still room for Bregman on the roster. Paredes has played nearly 400 career innings at first base. He’s a serviceable defender at third base, but his profile is built around his bat. He wouldn’t lose a ton of value if he moves to the other side of the diamond. Houston needs first base help. They’d probably run a Jon Singleton and Zach Dezenzo platoon if the season opened today.

Brown acknowledged that the team was looking for a bat. They’re not going to find anyone of Tucker’s caliber, of course, but there’s still a decent amount of talent available in both the first base and corner outfield markets. Chandler Rome of the Athletic writes that Houston is looking for a left-handed hitting outfielder, in particular, as a direct replacement for the role Tucker filled.

The GM told Rome and other reporters that the Astros expect for Chas McCormick to open the season in right field while Jake Meyers plays center. He left the door open for a left field acquisition. Switch-hitter Jurickson Profar and lefty-swinging Max Kepler and Alex Verdugo are speculative possibilities who remain unsigned.

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