Pete Alonso Declined Three-Year Offer From Mets
It appears the Pete Alonso era in Queens is coming to an end. Andy Martino of SNY reported this afternoon that the Mets expect Alonso to sign elsewhere and have begun to turn their attention to other pursuits.
After initially facing a gap on contract length, the sides recently turned their attention to a shorter-term arrangement. Will Sammon of The Athletic wrote this afternoon that Alonso and his representatives at the Boras Corporation pitched the Mets a three-year deal with a high annual salary and one or more opt-out chances. Sammon reports that the team countered with a three-year proposal at a lesser salary which Alonso declined.
Joel Sherman and Dan Martin of The New York Post provide some specifics, reporting that the team’s offer came with an overall guarantee in the $68-70MM range and included opt-outs. Sammon writes that the Mets were open to pushing that guarantee slightly higher, though it seems there was still a significant enough gap compared to Alonso’s asking price (which is not known) for the team to turn its attention elsewhere.
The Mets’ proposal was clearly not to Alonso’s liking, which isn’t all that surprising. It’s less than the frontloaded $80MM guarantee which Cody Bellinger landed when he returned to the Cubs on an opt-out laden deal last winter. It now seems as if Alonso will be moving on, though the Mets haven’t pushed all their chips in to an alternative target yet. New York agreed to bring back Jesse Winker on a $7.5MM deal. He’ll slot in at designated hitter and/or as a left-handed bench bat. If Alonso indeed walks, New York will probably move Mark Vientos to first base and allow Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña battle for reps at third base.
The Post’s Jon Heyman writes that the Mets are now “heavily focused” on adding to the bullpen. Sammon tied them to top free agent reliever Tanner Scott last week. Adding a high-leverage arm in front of star closer Edwin Díaz makes sense. A left-hander would be an obvious fit considering Danny Young is the only southpaw in the bullpen at the moment. Scott is far more than a situational matchup option, but he has certainly shown himself capable of attacking the best left-handed hitters in the sport.
The Athletic reported this morning that the Blue Jays were among the teams still engaged with Alonso’s camp. It’s not clear whether those discussions also involve a short-term deal. Jim Duquette of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM first reported last week that Alonso’s camp was offering the three-year term with opt-outs to the Mets alone in an effort to stay in Queens. He may still be seeking a longer-term contract from other teams, though it’s not clear whether that kind of proposal will be on the table anywhere.
Orioles Claim Jacob Amaya, Designate Roansy Contreras For Assignment
The Orioles announced they’ve claimed infielder Jacob Amaya off waivers from the White Sox. Chicago had designated him for assignment last week when they finalized their signing of Josh Rojas to a one-year free agent deal. Baltimore designated righty reliever Roansy Contreras for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Amaya is a defensive specialist who can play anywhere on the dirt. The majority of his experience has come up the middle. Amaya has nearly 4500 professional innings at shortstop and more than 1000 frames at second base. He has made 13 minor league appearances at third base as well, though his MLB experience has been exclusively in the middle infield.
The 26-year-old drew praise from scouts for his athleticism and plus arm strength. He ranked among the top 30 prospects in the Dodgers system at Baseball America in each season from 2019-22. Los Angeles traded him to the Marlins for veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas on the eve of the ’23 season. BA ranked Amaya as Miami’s #11 prospect (albeit in a weak farm system) as recently as last spring.
Amaya’s offensive upside is limited. He has shown a patient approach and worked plenty of walks in the minor leagues. Amaya has minimal power, though. MLB pitchers haven’t been afraid to attack him in the strike zone in his limited big league work. Amaya has hit .182 with just one extra-base hit (a double) in 81 plate appearances. He has walked only four times while striking out on 29 occasions.
The middling production at the dish has led Amaya to bounce around via waivers. He has gone from Miami to the Astros to Chicago and now to Baltimore since the start of last season. Amaya didn’t have a good season in Triple-A, combining for a .221/.308/.330 slash with five homers over 76 games between Miami’s and Houston’s affiliates.
Baltimore is one of the most active teams on the waiver wire. The Orioles frequently use waivers to churn through the back few spots on their 40-man roster. Amaya is out of minor league options and has an uphill path to cracking a Baltimore infield that could include Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Jackson Holliday, Ryan Mountcastle, Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Urías and Jorge Mateo. Third baseman Emmanuel Rivera is also out of options. There’s a decent chance the O’s try to sneak Amaya through waivers in the next couple months.
That’s a cycle in which Contreras has found himself. The former top prospect has been a part of five organizations since the start of the ’24 season. He opened the year with the Pirates, who traded him to the Angels in May. The out-of-options hurler stuck in Ron Washington’s bullpen for the remainder of the season. The Halos waived him at the beginning of the offseason. Contreras has subsequently gone to the Rangers, Reds and Orioles via waivers but hasn’t held a spot for more than a few weeks. Baltimore just claimed him last Friday.
Since the start of the 2023 season, Contreras owns a 5.47 earned run average over 136 2/3 innings. His 18.5% strikeout percentage and 10.5% walk rate are worse than the respective MLB averages, as is his 1.4 home runs allowed per nine. The performance and the inability to send him to the minors without putting him on waivers could lead to him continuing to bounce around the league. Contreras has intrigued a few teams as a depth arm, as he sits around 95 MPH with his four-seam fastball and throws six different pitches.
The Cardinals Are Amidst A Half-Measure Offseason
The Cardinals have made zero trades this offseason. Two months ago, that would've been a huge surprise. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak declared at the end of the season that the team would cut MLB payroll and give consistent reps to younger players. Seven of MLBTR's Top 35 trade candidates entering the winter were Cardinals.
All of them remain Cardinals with less than a month until pitchers and catchers report. They're not all analogous situations. In at least three cases, the Cards themselves were probably taken aback. Willson Contreras told the team he had no interest in waiving his no-trade clause. Sonny Gray has also expressed an interest in staying rather than waiving his own no-trade rights. Nolan Arenado is reportedly more open to moving, though he used his no-trade clause to kill a potential trade to Houston.
Mozeliak has openly stated the organization is trying to deal Arenado. The baseball operations leader has called that the simplest way to get the team's payroll where they want it to be. That could still come together, but it has proven tougher to orchestrate than the front office seemingly envisioned. The Astros have already moved on. Other teams are reportedly balking at taking a big portion of the $64MM remaining on the third baseman's contract. Katie Woo of The Athletic wrote last week that talks on Arenado had stalled.
Those instances are beyond Mozeliak's control beyond the fact that he was willing to include no-trade clauses in Contreras' and Gray's free agent deals. (Arenado received his NTC from the Rockies when he signed his extension in 2019.) The front office probably expected those veterans would be eager to move rather than waiting out one or more transitional seasons. In that sense, the Cards are in an unenviable spot.
The most perplexing part of their offseason is that they haven't made any moves in response to those roadblocks. Their offseason has consisted of buying out Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn and Keynan Middleton while claiming depth reliever Bailey Horn off waivers. That needs to change between now and Opening Day.
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J.P. France Targeting July Return From Shoulder Surgery
Astros righty J.P. France underwent surgery to repair a capsule tear in his shoulder last July. There wasn’t much initial specificity about the timeline beyond the fact that it would end his 2024. France tells Brian McTaggart of MLB.com that the procedure came with a 12-14 month recovery window.
He’s now at roughly the halfway point. France tells McTaggart that he hasn’t encountered any setbacks thus far and hopes he’ll be on track for the earlier end of the rehab window. “I feel like the way it’s going right now, hopefully I’m looking more about the 12-month mark, so that will be me [back] in July. Hopefully that’s the case,” France said. “There’s a fine line because it’s a shoulder surgery and you’re not trying to rush it back, either.” He tells McTaggart that he began a throwing program last month and will progress to working from 90 feet this week.
Even the earlier end of France’s timeline means he’s likely to be shelved until around the All-Star Break. He figures to land on the 60-day injured list if the team needs to opens a 40-man roster spot in Spring Training. In an ideal scenario, France could bolster the team’s rotation depth as they’re weighing whether to buy at the trade deadline.
France was a capable back-end starter during his 2023 rookie season. He overcame a middling 17.4% strikeout rate to post a 3.83 earned run average through 136 1/3 innings. Opponents teed off during his five starts early in the ’24 campaign. France posted a 7.46 ERA over 25 1/3 innings before Houston optioned him to Triple-A. Between that and the injury, he has dropped down the rotation depth chart.
Cristian Javier and France are locks to open the season on the IL. Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. are more borderline candidates to return by Opening Day. The Astros are set to begin the year with a front four of Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, Ronel Blanco and Spencer Arrighetti. Swingman Hayden Wesneski would probably be the fifth starter if Garcia and McCullers are unavailable. Colton Gordon and Ryan Gusto, neither of whom has pitched in the majors, are also on the 40-man roster.
Latest On Alex Bregman’s Market
Alex Bregman remains unsigned with less than a month until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. Bregman won’t be returning to the Astros after rejecting a reported six-year, $156MM offer that led Houston to pivot to an Isaac Paredes/Christian Walker corner infield tandem.
Early in the offseason, it seemed Bregman and his representation at the Boras Corporation were seeking to eclipse the $200MM mark. Whether that’s still the goal isn’t clear, though it stands to reason that some teams are hopeful he could move off a lofty ask as he lingers on the open market.
To that end, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score writes that the Cubs recently had “casual” conversations with Boras about Bregman. Levine suggests that the Cubs aren’t interested in offering a long-term deal. It seems they’re on the periphery of the market in case the two-time All-Star considers a shorter term with opt-out clauses. There’s nothing to suggest Bregman is currently willing to do so, however.
Chicago traded Paredes as the centerpiece of the Kyle Tucker blockbuster. Top prospect Matt Shaw is the favorite for the third base job. Shaw combined for a huge .284/.379/.488 slash with 21 homers and 31 stolen bases between Double-A and Triple-A last season. Giving him the starting job would be justifiable, but there’s no guarantee that even a prospect of Shaw’s caliber hits the ground running against big league pitching. The Cubs don’t really have a capable fallback in case Shaw falters. Vidal Bruján, Luis Vázquez and Rule 5 pick Gage Workman are the backup infielders on the 40-man roster.
Bregman would provide a much higher floor. He popped 26 homers with a .260/.315/.453 line in his final season in Houston. Bregman remained an All-Star caliber player despite taking dramatically fewer walks than he had in his previous six seasons. He’s entering his age-31 season, so while it’s understandable if teams are reluctant to commit six or seven years, Bregman shouldn’t be in danger of any kind of immediate drop-off.
The Cubs have sat out the top of the market for consecutive offseasons. They haven’t made a nine-figure investment since committing $177MM to Dansby Swanson over the 2022-23 winter. Chicago was never a factor on Juan Soto, nor did they seemingly have any interest in playing at the top of the starting pitching market. They’ve been loosely linked to Jack Flaherty, though it appears they’re similarly waiting on the fringe of the market in case a buy-low opportunity presents itself. The Cubs have roughly $198MM in luxury tax commitments, according to the RosterResource calculations, putting them more than $40MM shy of the base threshold.
Rangers Reach Streaming Deal With Victory+ For 2025
The Rangers are planning to announce a streaming agreement for the 2025 season, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The team is set to join Victory+, the provider which also carries the NHL’s Stars. While Stars games are available on the service for free, consumers will need to pay an annual subscription fee to access Rangers contests, Grant writes. Pricing has not been reported.
The organization has been without an in-market broadcasting plan since the end of last season. Its contract with Diamond Sports Group (now known as Main Street Sports), the corporation operating the Bally Sports regional networks, expired at the end of the year. With the company facing questions about its long-term viability even after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Rangers haven’t had interest in negotiating a new agreement. That’s in contrast to the majority of teams that had previously contracted with Main Street Sports. All others have either renegotiated a deal with the regional sports network — presumably for a lesser rights fee — or handed distribution over to Major League Baseball.
Grant suggests this is likely to be the first of multiple steps to expand distribution of Rangers games within the local market. The Dallas Morning-News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram have each previously written that the team hopes to essentially build its own RSN by directly negotiating individual deals with various streaming and/or cable providers.
The model could leave the Rangers with some uncertainty about their local broadcast revenues. The team’s contract with Diamond Sports Group reportedly paid around $111MM through 2023. Texas agreed to a lesser fee — reportedly around $90MM — on a restructured deal to stay on Bally Sports Southwest for the ’24 season. It’s not clear how much they anticipate making off their partnership with Victory+ or any additional agreements they may reach in the next two months.
Padres, J.B. Wendelken Agree To Minor League Deal
The Padres are in agreement with reliever J.B. Wendelken on a minor league contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The right-hander will be in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.
Wendelken returns to affiliated ball after two seasons in Japan. The 31-year-old turned in excellent results over a pair of years with the Yokohama DeNa BayStars. Wendelken put up a 1.67 earned run average across 86 innings in Nippon Professional Baseball. He struck out 22.2% of batters faced against an 8.8% walk rate.
Before heading to Japan, Wendelken pitched in parts of six big league seasons. He spent the majority of that time with the Athletics. Wendelken worked to a 3.62 ERA over five years in Oakland. He had a tougher time after landing with the Diamondbacks via August ’21 waiver claim. Wendelken allowed nearly five earned runs per nine through 47 2/3 frames in Arizona. The D-Backs outrighted him off their 40-man roster midway through the 2022 campaign.
The Padres have a handful of relievers locked into the Opening Day bullpen. Robert Suarez, Jason Adam and Jeremiah Estrada are all ticketed for late-inning roles. Yuki Matsui and Wandy Peralta should be in the middle innings, as the Padres would likely be unable to offload their multi-year deals in trade. Bryan Hoeing and Adrian Morejon will be on the big league roster in some capacity, though it’s not out of the question that they could win rotation jobs in Spring Training. That may only leave one or two middle relief spots up for grabs among the likes of Sean Reynolds, Tom Cosgrove, Stephen Kolek and Wendelken.
Twins Promote Three Executives To Assistant GM
The Twins announced a trio of front office promotions this morning. Minnesota bumped each of Alex Hassan, Sean Johnson and Josh Kalk to assistant general manager. They join Daniel Adler as AGMs in the Twins’ front office.
Minnesota’s front office is led by president of baseball operations Derek Falvey, who is heading into his ninth season at the helm. The Twins promoted AGM Jeremy Zoll to general manager at the start of this offseason. Zoll replaced Thad Levine, who stepped down after spending eight years as Falvey’s top lieutenant.
Hassan, 36, had a very brief major league playing career. He appeared in three games for the 2014 Red Sox. He retired in 2017 after playing parts of six seasons at the Triple-A level. The Duke product joined Minnesota’s player development department the following year. Hassan spent some time as the organization’s director of player development and has worked as the club’s vice president of hitting development and acquisitions for the past two years.
Johnson has spent nearly a quarter of a century with the organization. He has worked his way up the scouting ranks since the team first hired him in 2002. Johnson has been the team’s vice president of amateur scouting since the start of 2022. He has been in charge of the Twins’ amateur drafts over that stretch. Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star-Tribune notes that Johnson will continue in that role.
Kalk is entering his eighth season with the organization. He’d previously spent nine years as a member of the Rays’ analytics staff. Kalk has held the title of vice president of baseball operations strategy and innovation for three years. The team noted in their press release that he has worked to integrate data from their analytics department into both player development and MLB advance scouting (essentially building game plans for upcoming opponents).
Phillies Sign Joel Kuhnel To Minor League Deal
The Phillies announced a list of 23 non-roster invitees to major league Spring Training. Reliever Joel Kuhnel is among that group. According to the MLB.com transaction log, the right-hander signed a minor league contract with Philadelphia on December 21. The Phils also brought back infielder Rodolfo Castro shortly after he elected free agency in November and added former Minnesota and Detroit minor leaguer Austin Schulfer.
Kuhnel, 30 next month, was outrighted off the Rays’ 40-man roster at the beginning of the offseason. He made five big league appearances with Tampa Bay after being claimed off waivers in July. Kuhnel tossed eight innings of one-run ball in his limited MLB work. He allowed eight runs (seven earned) over 14 2/3 frames for their Triple-A team in Durham.
A former Reds draftee, Kuhnel has bounced around the league over the past two years. The Phils are his sixth organization since 2022. Kuhnel has pitched in the majors for Cincinnati, Houston and Tampa Bay. He has had Triple-A stints with the Brewers and Blue Jays. He carries a 5.93 earned run average across parts of five big league seasons. He has kept the ball on the ground at a lofty 52% clip but has a well below-average 18.7% strikeout rate. It was a similar story at the Triple-A level last season. Kuhnel’s 17.7% strikeout percentage was unimpressive, but he induced grounders at a huge 57.6% rate.
Castro landed in Philly at the 2023 deadline in a trade with Pittsburgh. The switch-hitting utilityman hit .100 in 14 games down the stretch. He spent the ’24 season in the minors, much of it on the injured list. Castro only appeared in 19 Triple-A games and suffered a season-ending thumb injury in August. The Phillies made the fairly easy call to outright him off the 40-man at season’s end, though they circled back to keep the 25-year-old in the organization.
Schulfer, 29, has yet to reach the majors. The 6’2″ righty reliever has spent parts of three seasons in Triple-A. He owns a 4.62 ERA across 142 1/3 frames at the top minor league level. Schulfer divided last season between the Twins’ and Tigers’ systems. He combined for a 4.94 ERA while striking out a quarter of opponents over 54 2/3 innings, nearly all of which came in Triple-A.
Reds, FanDuel Sports Network Reach New Broadcast Deal
The Reds announced this morning that they’ve reached agreement with Main Street Sports to handle their in-market local broadcasts for 2025 (link via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com). Main Street Sports is the new name for the broadcast company formerly known as Diamond Sports Group. The corporation rebranded after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November.
Cincinnati games will continue on the FanDuel Sports Network, which had previously operated as Bally Sports Ohio. Despite the name changes, it’s essentially the same setup as in previous seasons. The main change for consumers is that fans can now stream games on the FanDuel Sports Network app in addition to viewing them on television.
This represents a change of plans for the Reds. Major League Baseball had announced in November that it would step in to handle Reds broadcasts in the Cincinnati area. That came after the broadcast corporation — then operating as Diamond — abandoned its previous contract with the team.
At the time, it didn’t seem the Reds were keen on negotiating a new deal that came with a revenue cut. They’ve reversed course. “Representatives of the former Diamond Sports and myself and Phil [Castellini, the team’s president] stayed in touch periodically since we made the decision to go to [MLB],” the team’s chief operating officer Doug Healy said in a statement. “Recently, as in the last few weeks, they approached us about re-engaging and discussing our 2025 broadcast rights.”
The Reds are the second team to revert to the FanDuel Sports Networks after previously planning to turn broadcasts to MLB. The Brewers did the same a couple weeks ago. In both cases, the team only agreed to a one-year deal. MLB has expressed skepticism about the broadcast corporation’s long-term viability despite its emergence from bankruptcy.
Unsurprisingly, the Reds did not reveal how much they’ll be paid on this contract. It’s almost certainly less than what they’d received under their previous TV deal, which reportedly paid around $60MM annually. However, Healy indicated that the new contract could have a slight impact on the organization’s player payroll.
“The deal with FanDuel does enhance our economics slightly. … It’s our goal to continue to give (GM Nick Krall) and his staff every available resource that the franchise has in 2025. Then it’s up to Nick how best to spend that,” the COO said. As recently as last week, Krall told reporters (including Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer) that the front office had “a little bit (of payroll flexibility), not a ton.” That came after the Reds acquired Gavin Lux, who’ll make $3.325MM for his penultimate arbitration season. That pushed Cincinnati’s projected payroll to roughly $106MM, per RosterResource. That’s narrowly above the $100MM range at which they ended the ’24 season.
While Krall did not mention the TV situation at the time, he was presumably aware that negotiations were ongoing. It’s possible that Krall was already accounting for the “enhanced” economics that Healy referenced when saying that the team had limited flexibility. Still, Healy’s comments provide some hope for Cincinnati fans about the team potentially making a late-offseason addition. A splash for Jack Flaherty or Anthony Santander remains tough to envision, but the Reds were recently linked to free agent reliever Carlos Estévez. Perhaps that kind of acquisition is more realistic now than it would’ve been had the team stuck with its initial plans to give the broadcasts to MLB.
Main Street Sports is back up to nine teams for which it’ll carry in-market broadcasts: the Angels, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Marlins, Rays, Reds, Royals and Tigers. The Guardians and Twins are still set to allow MLB to handle distribution. They’re following in the footsteps of the Diamondbacks, Padres and Rockies — each of whom was broadcast by MLB this past season. Main Street Sports has also dropped its deal with the Rangers. The Texas organization is not expected to return to Main Street Sports or to sign on with MLB. Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote last month that the Rangers were exploring ways to negotiate individual deals with various cable providers rather than contracting with an RSN.