Valdez Notes: Orioles, Twins, Yankees
Framber Valdez came off the board last night on a three-year, $115MM deal (with deferrals) to pair with Tarik Skubal at the top of Detroit’s rotation. Reporting in the wake of that agreement shed some light on the lefty’s market before he committed to the Tigers.
The Orioles had been frequently connected to Valdez throughout the offseason. They’d certainly benefit from adding a top-of-the-rotation arm alongside Trevor Rogers and Kyle Bradish. Baltimore president of baseball operations Mike Elias has ties to Valdez from his days in the Houston front office. Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner and Jon Heyman of The New York Post each suggest that the O’s are still in the rotation market and remain engaged on Zac Gallen, who is arguably the best unsigned free agent.
Like Valdez, Gallen rejected a qualifying offer and is tied to draft compensation. Baltimore would forfeit their third-round pick (#82 overall) if they signed him. Chris Bassitt, Lucas Giolito, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer are other possibilities if the O’s balk at Gallen’s asking price. None of those pitchers would require a draft penalty. The O’s have a projected luxury tax number of $189MM, as calculated by RosterResource. That’s about $10MM north of where they ended the ’25 season.
Although Baltimore was an obvious fit for Valdez, there were a couple more surprising entrants into the market as his free agency lingered. The Pirates reportedly made a push this week, while ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports that the Twins were also involved. Minnesota also reportedly jumped into the mix on Freddy Peralta before the Brewers traded him to the Mets.
It’s not known if they were ever serious threats to land each pitcher or simply doing their diligence on available impact arms. A Valdez signing would have been a shock. Ownership has reduced spending. The team and president of baseball operations Derek Falvey parted ways just last week in a curiously timed decision. Minnesota scuttled any plans for a rebuild after onboarding a few minority investors to alleviate some of the franchise’s debts. At the same time, they’ve only made modest additions (most notably Victor Caratini, Josh Bell and Taylor Rogers) to a team that lost the second-most games in the American League and decimated the bullpen with a massive deadline sale.
There’s no indication that the Yankees were involved on Valdez at the end, but they apparently also had some amount of interest earlier in the winter. Jon Heyman of The New York Post writes that the Yanks reviewed the pitcher’s medicals but dropped a potential pursuit after they re-signed Cody Bellinger to a five-year, $162MM deal. That vaulted their competitive balance tax figure around $330MM, and a second splash for Valdez seemed out of their financial zone. The Yankees acquired talented but oft-injured lefty Ryan Weathers in a trade with Miami. Beyond that, it seems they’ll rely mostly on their internal arms to hold down the rotation until Carlos Rodón and Gerrit Cole return.
Padres, Riley Pint Agree To Minor League Deal
The Padres reached agreement with former fourth overall pick Riley Pint on a minor league contract, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Pint’s training facility, Driveline Baseball, announced the signing last week.
It’s a return to the NL West for the 28-year-old righty. Pint was a top five pick by the Rockies out of high school in 2016. He spent the first eight seasons of his career in the Colorado organization. A lack of command pushed Pint to the bullpen, but he didn’t find much more success in short relief. Pint actually announced his retirement while in High-A in 2021. He made a comeback the following season and pitched his way onto the 40-man roster by the end of the season.
Pint got to the big leagues briefly, combining for five appearances between 2023-24. He sat around 95 MPH on the fastball and with an upper 80s slider. Pint fanned seven in 3 2/3 innings but the control still wasn’t viable. He issued eight walks, hit two batters, and threw four wild pitches. The free passes resulted in nine runs coming across the board. Colorado outrighted him in the second half of ’24. Pint had a 4.12 ERA with a massive 36% strikeout rate but an untenable 21% walk rate in Triple-A that year.
The Guardians signed Pint to a minor league contract last offseason. He was placed on the injured list not long after and missed the entire season with an undisclosed issue. Pint was healthy enough to throw a showcase for scouts last month and Driveline announced that he got the fastball as high as 97. Pint has always had good velocity, but it’s encouraging to see the arm speed return after his lost year. He’s a dart throw for the Padres who should begin the season at Triple-A El Paso.
What Would It Cost The A’s To Continue Their Run Of Extensions?
The A's have made a point of locking up their core players as they target 2028 for their move to Las Vegas. Over the past 14 months, they've signed extensions with Brent Rooker, Lawrence Butler, Tyler Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson. They're looking to continue that run, as both Martín Gallegos of MLB.com and Mark Anderson of The Associated Press wrote this week that the team could still try to get deals done with Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers.
The extensions serve a couple purposes for the A's. They lock in what could be an elite lineup with less concern among the fanbase about them tearing the roster down the way they did after the 2021 season. They're largely backloaded deals, which raises the team's competitive balance payroll (based on annual value) to avoid a revenue sharing grievance without costing as much in salary while they're playing in Sacramento.
The A's have increased their short-term spending with Luis Severino signing and trades for Jeffrey Springs and Jeff McNeil, but their projected $139MM luxury tax number is dramatically higher than their actual $88MM estimated 2026 payroll (via RosterResource). The bills will come due down the line, at which point the organization is projecting a revenue spike from their new stadium.
All four of the recent extensions look like nice bits of business for the team -- Wilson's in particular. They could have a tougher time finding agreeable price points with Kurtz and Langeliers. Both have strong leverage, and they're represented by a pair of agencies that rarely sign extensions. That said, let's take a look at what kind of prices it might take to get talks rolling.
Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription
- Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
- Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
- Remove ads and support our writers.
- Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker
Pirates Sign Mike Clevinger To Minor League Deal
The Pirates announced that veteran right-hander Mike Clevinger will be in camp as a non-roster invitee. The ACES client signed a minor league deal this afternoon.
Clevinger spent most of the 2025 season in Triple-A with the White Sox. He had a decent year, allowing a 4.20 ERA with league average strikeout (21.9%) and walk (8.5%) marks. The 34-year-old had actually broken camp with Chicago in a bullpen role, but he was taken off the roster after giving up five runs with eight walks across his first 5 2/3 innings. He built back up as a starter in the minors but never got another look from the big league club.
That was the ninth season in which Clevinger logged some MLB action. He was an above-average starter for Cleveland early in his career. His stuff dropped off following a 2020 Tommy John surgery. Clevinger managed decent run prevention marks in 2022-23 but didn’t have anywhere near the same strikeout ability as he showed before the elbow injury. He was limited to four starts in 2024 by a neck injury that required surgery and hasn’t been much of a factor at the MLB level over the past two years.
Pittsburgh has plenty of upside in the rotation. They’ve subtracted from the depth behind Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller by trading away Mike Burrows and Johan Oviedo for offensive help. Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft are entering their first full MLB seasons. With Jared Jones still recovering from last year’s UCL surgery, the fifth starter job would be up for grabs among Hunter Barco, Thomas Harrington and Carmen Mlodzinski. Any Spring Training injuries would seriously test the depth.
It’s likely the Pirates still have at least one big league rotation pickup coming. They’ve even jumped into the mix on Framber Valdez, improbable as that kind of splash seems based on Pittsburgh’s usual spending habits. There are a number of mid-rotation or back-end arms still available if Valdez ends up elsewhere. A minor league deal for Clevinger shouldn’t have an impact on those pursuits. They’ll need a couple veteran arms at Triple-A Indianapolis to avoid pushing too many prospects as injuries necessitate during the season.
Blue Jays, Josh Fleming Agree To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays reached agreement with left-hander Josh Fleming on a minor league contract, reports Alden González of ESPN. The Republik Sports client receives a non-roster invite to Spring Training.
Fleming spent last season in Triple-A with the Mariners. The 29-year-old southpaw worked mostly out of the bullpen and struggled to a 4.91 ERA across 84 1/3 innings. He got ground-balls at a 57.8% clip but had an 11.5% strikeout rate, the second-lowest mark among Triple-A pitchers with at least 50 innings. He’s a sinkerballer who barely scrapes 90 MPH while mixing in a cutter, changeup and curveball.
A former fifth-round pick by the Rays, Fleming has spent the majority of his career in the AL East. He pitched for Tampa Bay between 2020-23 and logged the ’24 campaign with the Pirates. He carries a 4.77 ERA across 254 2/3 major league innings. As was the case in Triple-A, he has thrown strikes and gotten a ton of grounders while barely missing any bats at the big league level. He’ll likely begin the season at Triple-A Buffalo as long relief depth.
David Peralta Announces Retirement
Longtime Diamondbacks outfielder David Peralta is formally retiring from baseball. He provided a statement to MLBTR announcing the news:
“I want to formally announce my retirement from baseball. I want to thank God for all of the blessings he has given me, for giving me the best parents and sisters who always supported me. For my wonderful wife and beautiful kids who were always with me and supported me unconditionally. Thank you to the Arizona Diamondbacks organization for making my dreams come true, believing in me and giving me the opportunity to play the best baseball in the world — MLB. I also want to thank all of the other organizations that were a part of my career; Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. Thank you to Dave McKay for making me a Gold Glover, and thank you to Jose Amado for making me a Silver Slugger. And of course, thank you to all of the fans were always so special with me.
It was a lot of years of hard work, dedication and discipline, and I can now say with my head up that ‘I did it.’ The Freight Train has reached his final destination — HOME. Thank you baseball!”
Peralta took a winding road to what would prove to be a very productive career. He signed with the Cardinals as a left-handed pitcher out of his native Venezuela in 2004. Control issues and a pair of shoulder surgeries prevented him from getting out of rookie ball. By the time St. Louis released him, he was 21 years old and hadn’t made it to Low-A.
Peralta went into the independent ranks and reinvented himself as a hitter. It was a career-changing transition. He raked against indie ball pitching for two seasons, intriguing the Diamondbacks enough that they purchased his contract midway through the 2013 campaign. He remained on a tear in High-A and made the jump to Double-A the following season. By the middle of June, the Snakes had pushed him all the way to the big leagues. He hit .286/.320/.450 over 88 games and went into the next year as an everyday player.
Peralta’s first full MLB season was arguably the best of a strong career. He slashed .312/.371/.522 while connecting on 26 doubles, 10 triples, and 17 home runs. Peralta worked alongside AJ Pollock and Ender Inciarte in what was quietly one of the best outfields in the league. The D-Backs traded Inciarte the following offseason in the ill-fated Shelby Miller deal, while Peralta battled injuries and was limited to 48 games in 2016.
Peralta rebounded to hit .293 in consecutive seasons after that, helping the D-Backs to a playoff berth in the first of those years. He connected on 30 home runs in 2018, setting career marks in both homers and RBI (87). Peralta was one of four National League outfielders with 30+ homers and ranked sixth among the group with an .868 OPS. He was named a Silver Slugger alongside Christian Yelich and Nick Markakis.
The 2019 season saw Peralta earn the award on the other side of the ball. He led NL left fielders with +9 Defensive Runs Saved en route to a Gold Glove. He turned in a second straight season with an OPS above .800 as well, batting .275/.343/.461 with 29 doubles before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery. His production began to trend down after that, although he hit .300 during the shortened 2020 season for the second time of his career.
Arizona signed Peralta to a three-year, $22MM extension in advance of what would have been his walk year in 2020. That kept him in the desert for an extra season and a half, but the team’s underperformance led to him being on the trade block by the ’22 deadline. The Snakes traded him to the Rays in advance of his hitting free agency for the first time.
Peralta finished his career back in the NL West. He signed a one-year contract with the Dodgers in 2023 and spent the final four months of the ’24 season on the Padres roster after signing a minor league deal. Although he was more of a complementary player by that point, he finished his career with a respectable .267/.335/.415 showing over 91 games for San Diego. Getting back to the majors that year also got him to the 10-year service milestone.
His teams made the postseason each year from 2022-24. Peralta went 4-for-13 with a homer off Jack Flaherty in a five-game NLDS loss to the Dodgers in what would be his final major league action. He didn’t sign for the 2025 season, although he made a brief comeback in the Venezuelan Winter League this year.
The left-handed hitter finishes his career with a .278/.335/.448 batting line. He hit 125 home runs and topped 500 runs scored and RBI apiece. Peralta tallied 1166 hits and twice led the National League in triples. FanGraphs and Baseball Reference each credited him with roughly 17 wins above replacement, while B-Ref calculates his career earnings north of $40MM.
Peralta is one of the most successful indie ball signees ever, and he’s among the better players in Arizona’s 28-year team history. He trails only Luis Gonzalez, Paul Goldschmidt and Ketel Marte in games and hits in a D-Backs uniform, while he ranks among the top 10 in homers, RBI, and WAR among position players. Congratulations to Peralta on a fine career and all the best in his post-playing days.
Image courtesy of Imagn Images.
Astros GM Dana Brown Discusses Infield Outlook
Astros general manager Dana Brown met with reporters this afternoon at the team’s media luncheon. As he has throughout the offseason, the GM downplayed the possibility of trading from his infield while noting that they’re still looking for ways to add a left-handed bat.
“If we can trade a guy to potentially get a left-handed bat or something like that, we’ll consider it,” Brown told reporters (including Matt Kawahara of The Houston Chronicle). “But I think right now we have a really good infield. We do have the depth. We have a long season, 162. We have some veterans that we’d like to give some breaks during the course of a season, and to have this depth is good.”
That’s the tone Brown has struck all winter. He said as early as the GM Meetings that they weren’t motivated to trade Christian Walker and had no interest in moving Isaac Paredes. He again spoke about those corner infielders today. “Right now, both of them are still part of our roster. We have plans for both of them to play. So right now, the plan is for both of them to be there,” Brown said.
Walker and Paredes are in very different spots in terms of trade value. Walker is signed for $20MM annually for his age 35-36 seasons. He’s coming off a .238/.297/.421 showing with a drop in his defensive grades in his first year in Houston. The Astros would likely need to pay down more than half the contract to move Walker. He’s unlikely to fetch a significant left-handed bat no matter how much of the money they cover. Walker did connect on 27 homers and had an alright second half, so the Astros probably don’t want to move him solely to save a fraction of the contract.
Paredes would have much bigger appeal. He’s making $9.35MM after reaching an arbitration settlement this afternoon. The Astros don’t have an obvious spot for him in the starting infield after reacquiring Carlos Correa to play third base while Paredes was injured last summer. Correa obviously has ample shortstop experience but isn’t going to play there often on a team with Jeremy Peña. Houston plans to keep Jose Altuve primarily at second base. Manager Joe Espada has said all winter that they want to keep Yordan Alvarez at designated hitter as much as possible.
That leaves Paredes as a multi-positional infielder for now, though all it takes is one injury to change that. They’d find ways to get his bat into the lineup on a regular basis even if everyone’s healthy. Walker, Altuve and Correa are all in their 30s and could benefit from more rest than the team was able to provide last season. Paredes is coming off a significant hamstring strain that cost him most of the second half, so early-season off days wouldn’t be the worst thing for him either.
The Red Sox are the team that has been most frequently tied to Paredes in trade rumors. They haven’t replaced Alex Bregman in the infield and have a pair of controllable lefty-hitting outfielders, Wilyer Abreu and Jarren Duran, who would fit Houston’s biggest lineup need. It’d be a surprise to see the Sox part with either Duran or Abreu for Paredes — at least not a one-for-one deal. Paredes has the shortest window of contractual control among that trio. Boston also reportedly prefers Marcelo Mayer at the hot corner and is ideally looking to add a plus defensive second baseman, which isn’t Paredes’ specialty. Even if there’s a workable framework, it’d probably require Houston sending more talent to the Sox to even the package.
Former first-round pick Brice Matthews is likely headed back to Triple-A to begin the year. He hit 17 homers and stole 41 bases while batting .260/.371/.458 at the level a year ago. Matthews struck out at an alarming 28% rate, however, and he fanned in 20 of his first 47 MLB plate appearances. Baseball America grades him as the #3 prospect in a weak Houston farm system. He still has a pair of minor league options but could theoretically be a trade chip if the Astros don’t deal any of their veteran infielders.
Brown noted that the Astros are still evaluating free agent possibilities to add a lefty bat as well. They’re within a few million dollars of the $244MM luxury tax threshold which owner Jim Crane is reportedly reluctant to surpass. Even a role player like Mike Tauchman or Adam Frazier could put them too close to that mark to leave the front office with enough space for in-season additions. Maybe there’s a workable deal for a pre-arbitration lefty hitter who could be squeezed out by another club. Daniel Schneemann, Robert Hassell III or Yanquiel Fernández (the latter of whom should currently be on waivers after being designated for assignment by the Rockies) are a few speculative options who’d likely be available at a minimal cost.
Brewers Agree To Deal With Jordyn Adams
Outfielder Jordyn Adams has an agreement with the Brewers, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. That’ll almost certainly be a minor league contract with a non-roster invite to MLB camp once the signing is finalized. Adams is a CAA client.
The 26-year-old Adams was the 17th overall pick by the Angels out of high school in 2018. He’s an elite athlete who covers a lot of ground in center field but has never been a consistently productive hitter. Adams’ strikeout rates hit alarming levels by the time he reached Double-A. That swing-and-miss remains the biggest impediment for the speedster, though he has gotten brief looks at the MLB level over the past three seasons.
Adams combined for 28 games with the Halos between 2023-24. The Angels non-tendered him last winter. Adams signed a minor league deal with Baltimore and cracked the big league club at the end of May. He got into 10 games but only picked up five plate appearances, as he was mostly a late-game defensive substitute. Baltimore outrighted him off the 40-man roster in August. He finished the season at Triple-A Norfolk, where he batted .213/.291/.379 with a 30.3% strikeout rate over 310 plate appearances.
Milwaukee places a lot of emphasis on athleticism and defense in the outfield. Adams fits that role as a non-roster depth piece. The Brewers have Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and Blake Perkins lined up to split the majority of the outfield reps. Christian Yelich will get some work as a left fielder while serving mostly as a designated hitter, and Jake Bauers will rotate between the corners and first base. Brandon Lockridge, Steward Berroa and Akil Baddoo are potential center fielders with minor league options who all occupy 40-man roster spots. Adams joins Greg Jones, another elite runner and former first-round pick, as offseason depth adds.
Blue Jays Have Continued Interest In Framber Valdez
The Blue Jays remain interested in top free agent starter Framber Valdez, report Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of The New York Post. Toronto reportedly met with Valdez at the GM Meetings back in early November. That predated their seven-year, $210MM contract with Dylan Cease, so it was hardly a given that the Jays were still involved.
Valdez is arguably the last impact player available on the open market. He’s certainly the highest-upside player remaining. There’s a decent supply of unsigned starting pitching, but most other players fit in the middle or back of the rotation. That includes Zac Gallen, the only other free agent who rejected a qualifying offer. Valdez is at least a high-end #2 starter and has ace potential.
The southpaw finished top 10 in Cy Young voting each season from 2022-24. He looked on that pace through the All-Star Break last year, turning in a 2.75 earned run average over 19 starts. Things went off the rails in the second half, as Valdez surrendered a 5.20 ERA over his final 12 starts. He also had the much publicized cross-up incident with third catcher César Salazar, as he came under fire for not showing much immediate concern after hitting Salazar in the chest with a fastball. Astros officials maintained they did not believe Valdez intentionally crossed the catcher up, and Salazar did his best to downplay the situation publicly.
In any case, Valdez hit the market coming off arguably his worst two-month stretch in years. He’s entering his age-32 season, an age at which five-plus year deals for free agent starting pitchers are rare. Blake Snell and Jacob deGrom are the only pitchers at 32 or older to sign for five years within the past decade. It’s not clear what Valdez sought at the beginning of the offseason, but it’s generally not a great omen for players’ markets if they’re unsigned into February. A short-term deal with opt-outs probably isn’t as appealing for Valdez as it would be for a younger free agent.
The Jays already run six deep in the rotation with Cease, Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber, Cody Ponce and José Berríos. They’re broadly involved on every top free agent, so it’s possible they’re circling back to see if Valdez’s market has dropped to a level at which they feel the value is too good to ignore. Bieber has battled some elbow fatigue. Yesavage had some injury questions in college and just completed his first full professional season. Ponce is something of an unknown coming back from Korea, though the Jays wouldn’t have guaranteed him $30MM if they didn’t think he could be an effective starter.
Toronto could certainly justify taking this group into the season, but they’re evidently still kicking around rotation possibilities. Heyman said on an MLB Network appearance this afternoon that the Jays have some amount of interest in bringing Max Scherzer back. That’d obviously be a much cheaper move than even a short-term deal for Valdez, but Scherzer isn’t as clear of an upgrade over Toronto’s back-end arms.
RosterResource calculates the Jays’ luxury tax payroll around $310MM. That’s already a franchise record and lands them in the top tier of penalization. The Jays are near the Yankees and Phillies to round out a clear top five in projected spending behind the Dodgers and Mets. Signing Valdez would probably push them close to $340MM in CBT commitments, which would take them ahead of the Yankees and Philadelphia. They’d pay a 90% tax on the average annual value of any further free agent contracts. A hypothetical $30MM salary for Valdez would add another $27MM to their tax bill and amount to a $57MM investment overall.
Valdez comes attached to draft compensation, though that penalty isn’t as severe for the Jays because they already signed Cease. Toronto punted their second-round pick and their compensatory pick for Bo Bichette (after the fourth round) to add Cease. They’d give up their third and fifth rounders for Valdez, but those are each outside the top 100 overall.
Houston paid the luxury tax last year, so they’ll only receive a compensation pick after round four once Valdez signs elsewhere. That’s all but inevitable, as they’ve never seemed interested in meeting the southpaw’s asking price on a free agent deal. The collective bargaining agreement prohibits team personnel from explicitly saying they’re not pursuing specific players, but Houston GM Dana Brown reiterated this afternoon that the Astros “haven’t had any conversations lately” with the pitcher’s camp (video via Jason Bristol of KHOU 11 News).
Yainer Diaz Wins Arbitration Hearing Over Astros
Yainer Diaz won his arbitration hearing against the Astros, reports Francys Romero. The catcher, a PRIME client, will be paid a $4.5MM salary instead of the team’s $3MM filing figure.
Diaz earns a strong payday in his first trip through the arbitration process. The benefit of the win goes beyond the extra $1.5MM he’ll make than if he’d lost the hearing. It also sets a higher baseline for his final two years. The process is designed for players’ salaries to climb as they get closer to free agency, so there’ll be compounding benefits to today’s result.
The 27-year-old Diaz is one of the better catchers in the sport. He’s a career .279/.305/.454 hitter in nearly 1600 plate appearances. Baseball Reference has valued him around three wins above replacement in each of his first three seasons. He has topped 20 doubles in each and is coming off his second 20-homer campaign. Diaz hit .256/.284/.417 with 20 longballs and 70 runs driven in across 143 games a year ago.
That included a career-high 111 starts behind the plate, plus 24 as a designated hitter. Diaz caught the seventh-most innings in MLB. They’ll need him to take a similarly heavy workload now that high-end backup Victor Caratini departed to sign a two-year deal with Minnesota. César Salazar is expected to step into the backup role.
A $1.5MM isn’t a huge difference for a team in isolation, though it takes on a little more importance for the Astros than it would for most clubs. RosterResource estimated their luxury tax payroll within the $238-240MM range depending on the hearing result. Ownership reportedly wants to remain below the $244MM base tax threshold, so this could have a modest impact on the front office’s midseason flexibility on the trade front.
Today was a strong start for the players in arbitration. Orioles righty Kyle Bradish also won his case, pushing players to 2-0 thus far. The Diaz and Bradish hearings took place yesterday. Dylan Lee and Edwin Uceta had hearings last week, though their results are being held until other comparable cases are decided. According to The Associated Press, the Blue Jays had their hearing with left-hander Eric Lauer this afternoon, though that ruling is also expected to be held for a later date. Tomorrow is the biggest date of the arbitration class, as the Tigers and Tarik Skubal are set to present their cases with a record $13MM gap between their respective filing figures.