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Yankees, Andrew Velazquez Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees have brought back infielder Andrew Velazquez on a minor league contract with a non-roster Spring Training invite, reports Jack Curry of the YES Network. The CAA client is a Bronx native who appeared for his hometown team in 2021.

Velazquez, 30, has played for five teams over a big league career spanning parts of six seasons. Nearly half his playing time came as a member of the Angels in 2023. Velazquez appeared in a personal-high 125 contests that year. He hit .196 with a .236 on-base percentage but played great defense in more than 900 shortstop innings. His defensive grades slipped the following year and the Angels waived him that September.

Prior to his nearly two years in Orange County, he’d made brief appearances with the Rays, Cleveland, Orioles and Yankees. Velazquez hit .224 over 28 games in pinstripes four years ago. He played all of last season in Triple-A with the Braves after signing an offseason minor league contract. While he hit 16 homers and stole 33 bases, his overall offense was mediocre. Velazquez struck out nearly a third of the time while hitting .242/.298/.394 through 473 plate appearances with Atlanta’s highest affiliate.

The switch-hitting Velazquez is a career .189/.244/.293 hitter in 624 big league plate appearances. His glove is the selling point. He has logged nearly 1500 major league innings at shortstop. Velazquez played both middle infield positions and all three outfield spots in Triple-A last year. He’ll likely begin next season at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre as a versatile depth option.

Dodgers Designate Diego Cartaya For Assignment

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The Dodgers designated former top catching prospect Diego Cartaya for assignment. The move opens a 40-man roster spot for Hyeseong Kim, whose three-year deal is official.

Cartaya has yet to play in the major leagues, but he’s a bigger name than most players who find themselves in DFA limbo. The Venezuela native was one of the best talents in his amateur signing class and inked a $2.5MM bonus in 2018. He performed well in the low minors and shot to the top of the Dodger system. Baseball America ranked him as L.A.’s #1 prospect entering both the 2022 and ’23 campaigns. He was among BA’s 25 best minor league talents in both years.

The Dodgers added Cartaya to their 40-man roster after the 2022 season. There was no chance they’d leave him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. Cartaya’s long-term future on a team that already rostered Will Smith was debatable, but he at least seemed like a potential key trade chip. That he has been DFA just over two years later demonstrates how far his stock has fallen.

Cartaya’s bat has stalled in the upper minors. He hit .189 with a 29% strikeout rate over 93 Double-A games in 2023. While that knocked him off Top 100 lists, he still ranked eighth among Dodger prospects at Baseball America going into last season. Cartaya improved offensively in his second shot at Double-A, where he hit .236/.354/.379 over 45 contests. He couldn’t maintain that after being promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City in the middle of June.

The 23-year-old hit .208/.293/.350 while striking out at a 27.4% clip across 49 games in the Pacific Coast League. He had the second-lowest batting average and fifth-lowest OBP among PCL hitters with at least 200 plate appearances. Cartaya had been surpassed by Dalton Rushing as the top catching prospect in the system, while Smith signed a contract extension that’ll keep him in Los Angeles through 2033.

After Cartaya struggled through consecutive down seasons, the Dodgers are willing to move on. They’ll have five days to trade him or place him on waivers. Another team will almost certainly roll the dice, likely via trade that’d allow them to jump the waiver order.

Cartaya draws praise for his defensive acumen and has drawn plenty of walks even as his numbers have fallen in the high minors. While the swing-and-miss means he’s unlikely to become a franchise catcher, there are probably teams that feel he’ll be a capable backup or a potential low-end regular. Cartaya still has a minor league option remaining. An acquiring team would be able to send him to Triple-A for another season.

Dodgers Re-Sign Teoscar Hernandez

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The Dodgers have brought Teoscar Hernández back on a three-year deal. The Republik Sports client is reportedly guaranteed $66MM, including a $23MM signing bonus. There is $23.5MM in deferred money, while the deal includes a $15MM team option (or a $6.5MM buyout) for the 2028 season. He’ll receive a $10MM salary next season, $7.5MM of which is deferred. Another $8MM of his respective $12MM and $14.5MM salaries for 2026 and ’27 are also deferred. The deferrals reportedly reduce the contract’s net present value to roughly $58.1MM.

Hernández, 32, gets the three-year deal he’d been seeking. The slugger had called returning to the Dodgers a priority after a huge first season with the team. Hernández slashed .272/.339/.501 with 33 homers across 652 plate appearances. He carried that strong production into the postseason, hitting three longballs with a .250/.352/.417 slash over 16 games to help the Dodgers secure their second championship in five years.

This was the ideal outcome for a player on a pillow contract. Hernández had reached free agency last winter on the heels of a middling season in Seattle. He had turned in a .258/.305/.435 slash over 678 plate appearances as a Mariner. As a result, Hernández didn’t find the lucrative long-term offer he’d been seeking. While the Red Sox offered him a two-year deal that would’ve come with a $28MM guarantee, he signed for one season on a deferred $23.5MM salary with the goal of reestablishing his market value.

It couldn’t have worked out much better for either side. Hernández had one of the best seasons of his career. He earned his second All-Star nod and Silver Slugger award while picking up down ballot MVP votes for the third time. Hernández established a new career high in home runs with rate stats that were in line with his best years in Toronto. He was an instrumental part of a championship roster.

The down year in 2023 looks like an anomaly. He’s hardly the only veteran hitter to struggle in Seattle’s extremely pitcher-friendly home park. Hernández has been an impact hitter in each of the other four seasons since his breakout in 2020. Over the past five years, he owns a .274/.328/.493 batting line in nearly 2700 trips to the plate. There’ll be a decent number of strikeouts, but few players hit the ball as hard as he does. Hernández is an annual threat for 30+ doubles and at least 25-30 homers.

Hernández was the only key offensive player whom the Dodgers feared losing in free agency. He’ll return to join Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Max Muncy, Tommy Edman and Gavin Lux in a loaded offense. The Dodgers added Michael Conforto on a one-year, $17MM contract at the Winter Meetings. No other team rivals the potency of the L.A. lineup.

The Dodgers are taking on some risk from a defensive perspective. Despite plus arm strength and surprisingly strong athleticism, Hernández has never graded as a good defender. That continued this season. Defensive Runs Saved felt he was three runs below par in his 1308 combined innings between the corner outfield spots. Statcast rated him much more harshly, estimating he was 11 runs below average.

Hernández isn’t likely to improve on a contract that runs through age 34. An ideal landing spot would’ve allowed him to move to designated hitter in year two or three. That’s not an option on a team with Ohtani. The Dodgers are moving Betts to shortstop and will have Hernández and Conforto flanking Edman in the outfield. They’ll accept a mediocre defensive unit for the chance to stack with the lineup with good hitters.

Adding Conforto and re-signing Hernández blocks the path to everyday at-bats for youngsters Andy Pages and James Outman. The latter feels like a change of scenery candidate after a disappointing second MLB season. The Dodgers will probably be less inclined to move the 24-year-old Pages, who had a league average .248/.305/.407 showing as a rookie. He still has a minor league option remaining, so they could start him in Triple-A if they don’t want to limit him to fourth outfield work.

Pages doesn’t have anything else to prove in the minors, but the Dodgers have the resources to continue loading up. Other teams figure to at least try to pull him away via trade, though L.A. could prefer to hold him as a replacement for Conforto after next season. Signing Blake Snell and retaining Blake Treinen earlier in the winter leaves the Dodgers without any clear holes on the roster.

At the start of the offseason, MLBTR predicted Hernández would receive a three-year deal at $60MM. He’ll land slightly above that forecast in raw money, though the deferrals will reduce the net present value to a hair below it. A three-year, $66MM deal without deferrals would have come with a $22MM competitive balance tax hit. Hernández’s number ends up around $19.4MM.

Including Hernández, RosterResource calculates the Dodgers’ luxury tax number around $353MM. They’re well beyond the $301MM mark that represents the final tier of penalization. They’re taxed at a 110% rate on the final AAV. Re-signing Hernández will likely cost them upwards of $40MM next year after taxes. The Dodgers have been undeterred by the CBT as they push for a repeat.

Hernández had declined a qualifying offer. Other teams would have needed to forfeit a draft choice to sign him. The Dodgers only relinquish the right to receive a 2025 compensation pick, which would have come after the fourth round. The Blue Jays and Red Sox had also been linked to Hernández this winter. Those clubs (especially Toronto) could turn to Anthony Santander, who stands as the clear top unsigned outfielder. Jurickson Profar is a tier or two below that as the next-best outfield bat.

Yancen Pujols first reported that Hernández and the Dodgers were finalizing a three-year, $66MM deal. Chris Cotillo of MassLive confirmed there was an agreement in place. ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the $15MM option for 2028, as well as the signing bonus and the approximate $23MM in deferrals. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported the salary and deferral breakdown. Jon Heyman of the New York Post had the final NPV.

Image courtesy of Imagn.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat today, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers! Anthony took questions on whether the Cubs could extend Kyle Tucker, the Angels/Pete Alonso rumors, Robbie Ray's trade candidacy, whether the Marlins would move Sandy Alcantara, the Yankees' third base options, next moves for the Brewers, and much more.

 

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Which Teams Can Still Use Nolan Arenado?

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The Cardinals expected to have traded Nolan Arenado by now. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak suggested at the Winter Meetings that a deal could come together within a week or two. That probably would've been the case had the eight-time All-Star not used his no-trade clause to kill talks about a move to the Astros.

That leaves St. Louis in an awkward position. They've publicly shopped Arenado. He's seemingly amenable to waiving his no-trade clause in certain circumstances. For whatever reason, he wasn't interested in going to Houston last month. Subsequent reporting indicated he could consider the Astros in the future, but the team moved on to Christian Walker almost immediately and no longer needs a corner infielder. The Cardinals need to look elsewhere.

Will Sammon and Katie Woo of the Athletic reported this week that there's been minimal traction on an Arenado trade since the Houston talks collapsed. The Yankees, long a speculative fit, are apparently not as interested as it first seemed. The YES Network's Jack Curry pushed back against that notion last week. Jon Heyman also suggested in a Bleacher Report live stream yesterday that the Yankees were more likely to stick with DJ LeMahieu than to go after Arenado.

Where does that leave Mozeliak and company?

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Trevor Williams To Open Season In Nationals’ Rotation

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The Nationals brought Trevor Williams back on a two-year, $14MM free agent deal this week. The veteran righty spoke with the Washington beat (including Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post and Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com) this afternoon and indicated he’ll be part of Dave Martinez’s rotation.

While that’s not surprising in isolation, it potentially sets up a camp battle if Washington sticks with a five-man staff. They signed righty Michael Soroka to a $9MM deal to work as a starter. The Nats are also bringing back four pitchers who started at least 19 games last season: Jake Irvin, MacKenzie Gore, Mitchell Parker and DJ Herz.

All four of those returning arms had productive campaigns. Gore is a former top prospect who posted a 3.90 earned run average while striking out nearly a quarter of opponents across 32 starts. He’ll certainly be in the rotation. Irvin led the team with 187 2/3 innings and turned in a 4.41 ERA with decent underlying metrics. The 27-year-old righty did seem to wear down in the second half, as he allowed a near-6.00 ERA after taking a 3.49 mark into the All-Star Break. He still seems likely to be a starting pitcher himself.

If Washington wanted to begin the year with a five-man staff, that could leave Parker and Herz battling for a job if everyone comes through Spring Training healthy. Herz showed more swing-and-miss ability, fanning nearly 28% of opponents with a 12.9% swinging strike rate in 19 starts as a rookie. The southpaw’s 9.4% walk rate was the highest of any of Washington’s starters, though. Herz has had far more worrisome walk numbers in the minors, including a massive 19% clip over 10 Triple-A starts last year.

Parker, 25, profiles as a steadier back-end arm. He made 29 starts during his debut campaign and turned in a 4.29 ERA through 151 innings. He struck out 20.6% of opponents against a tidy 6.7% walk percentage. Parker doesn’t throw quite as hard as Herz does and doesn’t miss bats at the same rate, but he looks the part of a league average starter.

Washington used a six-man rotation when Williams returned from injury late last season. Patrick Corbin, who is now a free agent, was on hand in the role that Soroka would play this year. That’d be the simplest solution if all six starters are available on Opening Day. Each of Gore, Irvin, Parker and Herz have minor league options, though, so the Nats could send anyone from that group to Triple-A if they wanted to move to a five-man staff.

Prospect Cade Cavalli will be in the mix after missing nearly two full seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. Nusbaum writes that Cavalli, who made his big league debut with one start in 2022, is likely to open the year in the minors. That’s designed to allow the team to monitor his workload since he has only thrown 8 1/3 minor league innings over the last two years. Cavalli is expected to factor into the MLB staff at some point in the season.

Details On Corbin Burnes Contract

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The Diamondbacks finalized their shocking six-year free agent deal with Corbin Burnes on Monday. The former Cy Young winner signed a $210MM contract, though deferrals in the $60MM range were known to have knocked down the net present value to an extent.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports the deal’s specific breakdown. The contract officially contains $64MM in deferred money. Burnes will collect a $10MM signing bonus up front, which was first reported by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. $10MM of his $30MM salaries over the next two seasons will be deferred. If he does not trigger an opt-out clause after the ’26 season, he’d be due $35MM annually between 2027-30. $11MM of those salaries will be deferred. According to Heyman, the contract comes with a net present value of roughly $193.76MM.

Burnes will be able to opt out with four years and $140MM remaining. Whether he does so will determine when he receives the deferred money. According to the Associated Press, Burnes would be owed either $10MM or $11MM installments between 2031-36 if he does not trigger the out clause. If he does opt out, he’d receive a pair of $10MM payments after the 2027 and ’28 seasons. (There’d only be $20MM in deferrals if he opts out after two years.) Burnes has full no-trade rights for the first two years. That would drop to a 14-team no-trade list for the final four seasons if he doesn’t opt out, per the AP.

Arizona now has a projected rotation featuring Burnes, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez. Righty Ryne Nelson has pitched well enough to hold a rotation job as well, so the Snakes could consider a six-man starting staff to open the year. Even that wouldn’t leave room for Jordan Montgomery, whose $22.5MM salary the D-Backs would be happy to offload. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported shortly after the Burnes agreement that the Snakes were not on the verge of any rotation trades. That’ll remain a major storyline for the club over the next couple months.

Rockies Hire Scott Oberg As Pitching Coordinator

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The Rockies are hiring former reliever Scott Oberg as a minor league pitching coordinator, reports Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. It’s the first full-time instructional position for the 34-year-old since his retirement as a player in 2023.

Oberg has been something of an unofficial coaching presence in Colorado for a couple seasons. He has worked as a part-time consultant for the team’s minor league affiliates and their MLB staff. That served as a trial run for what was always envisioned as a larger coaching or player development role in the long term.

The relationship between the Rockies and Oberg stretches well beyond a decade. Colorado drafted him out of UCONN in the 15th round in 2012. It was an excellent pick, as the righty reached the majors three years later and spent a half-decade in the Colorado ’pen. He posted consecutive sub-3.00 ERA seasons in 2018 and ’19 and was a key high-leverage piece for skipper Bud Black.

Colorado signed Oberg to a $13MM extension over the 2019-20 offseason. Unfortunately, his playing career would come to a close before he could throw another MLB pitch. Recurring blood clots and thoracic outlet syndrome in his throwing arm made it impossible for Oberg to play again. He worked in Colorado’s scouting department to provide some off-field value over the life of that contract. He announced his retirement when it expired.

Saunders notes that Oberg has earned a master’s degree in sports management from Georgetown since retiring as a player. Given his strong relationship with the Colorado front office and coaching staff, there’s a good chance he’ll move quickly up the team’s pitching development ranks in the next few seasons.

Brewers Acquire Grant Anderson

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The Rangers announced they’ve traded reliever Grant Anderson to the Brewers for minor league pitcher Mason Molina. Milwaukee designated left-hander Tyler Jay for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot, according to Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Texas had designated the 27-year-old Anderson for assignment earlier in the week when they finalized the Joc Pederson deal. The low-slot righty has made 49 MLB appearances for the Rangers as an up-and-down reliever. His major league work hasn’t been great, as he has allowed 6.35 earned runs per nine over 62 1/3 innings. Anderson’s respective strikeout (21.5%) and walk (8.8%) rates aren’t far off league average. He has had massive home run issues, though, giving up 16 longballs (2.31 per nine innings) in his major league career.

That hasn’t been as big a problem in the minors. Anderson didn’t allow a single homer over 27 2/3 Triple-A innings this year. He fanned 28.3% of minor league opponents and turned in a sub-3.00 ERA in the Pacific Coast League. Anderson has a 3.87 mark over parts of three seasons for the organization’s top affiliate in Round Rock.

Anderson still has a minor league option remaining, so Milwaukee can keep him at Triple-A Nashville for another season. The Brewers have Trevor Megill, Joel Payamps, Nick Mears and Jared Koenig locked into the Opening Day bullpen. Milwaukee could carry Rule 5 pick Connor Thomas in long relief. That’d only leave a couple ’pen spots up for grabs if everyone is healthy, so the flexibility afforded by the option is valuable.

Milwaukee acquired Jay from the Mets in July. The 30-year-old southpaw was limited to two MLB appearances after the deal. He tossed three scoreless innings with three walks and strikeouts apiece. Jay had pitched five times for New York earlier in the year, his first taste of big league action.

A former top 10 pick of the Twins, Jay has spent seven seasons in the minor leagues. He had a productive year in Triple-A between the New York and Milwaukee systems, combining for a 3.02 earned run average through 56 2/3 innings. He struck out a slightly below-average 20.5% of opponents while showing excellent control (5.1% walk rate). Milwaukee will trade Jay or put him on waivers within the next five days.

Molina, 21, was Milwaukee’s seventh-round pick last summer. The Arkansas product threw five scoreless innings in Low-A during his initial professional action. The 6’2″ lefty had turned in a 4.47 ERA over 15 appearances (13 starts) for the Razorbacks in his junior season. Baseball America wrote at the time of the draft that Molina’s 89-90 MPH fastball plays above its velocity because of its life at the top of the zone. Molina’s command is a work in progress. He’s a low minors developmental flier for the Rangers.

Padres, Moises Gomez Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Padres agreed to a minor league contract with Moisés Gómez last month, according to the MLB.com transaction log. The 26-year-old corner outfielder had been outrighted and released by the Cardinals last season.

Gómez is working to get to the big leagues for the first time. He seemed on track after hitting 39 homers in the minor leagues in 2022. That earned him a 40-man roster spot with St. Louis. Gómez spent the entire ’23 campaign on optional assignment to their Triple-A affiliate. He popped another 30 homers but hit .232 with a .293 on-base percentage. That wasn’t enough to crack the MLB roster. St. Louis sent him through outright waivers last February.

The righty-hitting outfielder again opened the season at the Triple-A level. He hit .208 and saw his power production evaporate, as he only managed three longballs in 45 games before being released. Gómez closed the season in the independent American Association. He has mashed in winter ball in his native Venezuela this offseason. Gómez is hitting .273/.396/.613 with 15 longballs in 48 winter ball games.

San Diego will give him an opportunity to rebound from his difficult past two seasons. Gómez has big power, hitting 127 homers in parts of nine minor league seasons between the Tampa Bay and St. Louis systems. That includes 49 longballs in fewer than 1000 Triple-A plate appearances, though he’s a .236/.303/.452 hitter at that level. He has punched out in nearly a third of his trips to the plate in Triple-A.

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