Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Mariners Infield Notes: Donovan, Emerson, Bliss

By | at

Much of the focus in Mariners camp will be on the infield. Seattle’s biggest offseason moves — re-signing Josh Naylor and trading for Brendan Donovan — addressed two spots. They lost a couple infielders, Jorge Polanco and Eugenio Suárez, to free agency. It’s the biggest area of turnover on what might be the American League’s best roster.

Naylor and J.P. Crawford are locked into first base and shortstop, respectively. Donovan will be an everyday player. He’s a solid defender at second base and can handle the corner outfield as well, though his below-average speed means he fits better on the infield. Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times writes that Donovan’s early work with infield coach Perry Hill has come at third base.

That’s the simplest solution in the short term. Suárez and Ben Williamson, who was traded to Tampa Bay in the three-team Donovan deal, took the majority of the playing time last season. Of the five players who started games at third base in 2025, only Miles Mastrobuoni remains in the organization. Donovan didn’t get any work at the hot corner last year but logged 269 2/3 innings there between 2022-24. Although defensive grades aren’t especially meaningful in that small a sample, he has above-average marks from Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average.

Donovan’s primary role will largely be determined by the progress of younger players around him. Cole Young had a brutal finish to his rookie season, but he remains the favorite to start at second base. Young is a former first-round pick who hit .279/.388/.432 in the minors and is entering his age-22 season. He remains a very promising young player even though he’s not technically a prospect anymore.

20-year-old shortstop Colt Emerson is even more highly regarded. The 2023 first-round pick combined for a .285/.383/.458 batting line with 16 homers and 14 steals over 600 plate appearances across three minor league levels. Emerson walked at a near-12% clip while striking out less than 18% of the time. He spent the majority of the season in High-A but ripped through Double-A to earn a late-season cameo at Triple-A Tacoma. He played six games there in the final week of the regular season.

Emerson is a consensus top 10 overall prospect at Baseball America, The Athletic, ESPN and MLB Pipeline. The likeliest outcome is that he opens the season at Tacoma with an eye towards a midseason promotion. It’d be a surprise if Emerson breaks camp, but the Mariners aren’t completely closing the door on that as Spring Training opens. “It’s not out of the question that he earns a spot on the team,” president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto told reporters on Thursday (link via Daniel Kramer of MLB.com). Dipoto praised Emerson’s well-rounded skillset and maturity.

The probable Opening Day infield lines up as Naylor, Young, Crawford and Donovan from right to left. Emerson could get consistent reps against Triple-A pitching while building reps at third base, where he has 111 1/3 innings of professional experience. He’s the heir apparent at shortstop when Crawford hits free agency next winter but presumably wouldn’t push the veteran off the position this year. If Emerson has a monster Spring Training that forces the club’s hand, Donovan could kick back to second base and potentially move Young to Triple-A. That shouldn’t be an issue even if Donovan doesn’t play any second base during Spring Training given his ample work at the position.

Last year’s season-opening second baseman, Ryan Bliss, hasn’t gotten as much public attention. Bliss is older and not nearly as highly regarded as Young and Emerson, so that’s natural, but he’s a former second-round pick who hit .269/.377/.456 with 12 homers and 50 stolen bases in Triple-A in 2024. He unfortunately didn’t get much of an opportunity to solidify himself at the MLB level.

Bliss ruptured his left biceps on a swing two weeks into the regular season. He underwent surgery that came with a 4-5 month rehab timeline. Bliss returned to minor league game action in September and had an impressive week in Triple-A. He may well have reclaimed the second base job from Young to close the regular season had he not sustained a meniscus tear in his right knee that required season-ending surgery. Kramer writes that Bliss is back to full health this spring.

It’s a deep infield that’ll only become more crowded whenever Emerson earns the call. Bliss has a couple minor league options remaining. Leo Rivas also has an option but reached base at a .387 clip in 111 plate appearances last season and made the team’s playoff rosters. They flip-flopped Mastrobuoni and Luke Raley as the last hitter off the bench in October.

They’re both out of options, and it’s difficult to see Seattle carrying both players into the season if all their hitters get through camp healthy. They’ll need bench spots for backup catcher Andrew Knizner and righty platoon bat Rob Refsnyder. Keeping Mastrobuoni and Raley would require them to option both Bliss and Rivas before even considering an Emerson promotion. Dipoto acknowledged the likelihood that someone gets squeezed out at the end of Spring Training, conceding the front office may “have to make some uncomfortable short-term decisions.”

Twins, Cody Laweryson Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Twins brought back reliever Cody Laweryson after he was released by the Angels last week. Matthew Leach of MLB.com first noted that the right-hander had a locker in Minnesota’s Spring Training complex. Bobby Nightengale of The Minnesota Star-Tribune confirms the sides have a minor league deal with an invite to big league camp.

Laweryson returns to the only organization he’d known until November. Minnesota selected him in the 14th round in 2019 out of the University of Maine. They called him up for the first time last September. The 6’4″ righty made five appearances, allowing two runs (one earned) across 7 2/3 innings. He struck out seven without issuing a walk. Laweryson also pitched well in Triple-A, turning in a 2.86 earned run average while striking out a quarter of opposing hitters.

The 27-year-old (28 in May) has a strong statistical track record. Laweryson owns a 3.39 ERA with a 27% strikeout percentage over 327 minor league innings. Teams evidently remain skeptical about how it’ll translate over a larger sample against big league hitters. Laweryson’s 93.2 mph average fastball isn’t especially imposing. He doesn’t have a power breaking ball either, sitting 85-86 mph with a cutter while mixing in a low-80s changeup.

Minnesota dropped him from the 40-man roster at the beginning of the offseason despite having one of the league’s weakest bullpens. The Halos claimed him but cut him loose to make room on the roster when they re-signed Yoán Moncada. The Twins also have former big leaguers Liam Hendriks, Julian Merryweather, Dan Altavilla, Matt Bowman and Grant Hartwig battling for spots in a wide open middle relief group.

White Sox, Austin Voth Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The White Sox have a minor league agreement with right-hander Austin Voth, reports James Fegan of Sox Machine. The Wasserman client will be in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Voth is back in affiliated ball after one season with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan. The 33-year-old tossed 125 innings of 3.96 ERA ball with a modest 17.4% strikeout rate. He attacked the strike zone but didn’t miss many bats or get a lot of ground-balls. That was Voth’s first season in Asia after a decade in the affiliated ranks. He has pitched parts of seven seasons in the big leagues, spending the majority of his career in the DMV area between the Nationals and Orioles.

A former fifth-round pick by Washington, Voth worked out of the rotation for his first couple seasons. He moved to the bullpen in 2021 but made a return to the rotation in Baltimore the following season. Voth was a full-time reliever between 2023-24. He spent the first of those seasons in Baltimore and the latter with his hometown Mariners. Voth managed 61 innings of 3.69 ERA ball for the M’s but had a rough September and was non-tendered at year’s end.

The White Sox have taken a handful of fliers on former big leaguers coming back from Asia under general manager Chris Getz. They hit on the Erick Fedde signing a couple years ago and added former Mets first-rounder Anthony Kay for two years and $12MM this winter. Unlike those pitchers, Voth isn’t guaranteed a major league roster spot. He’ll presumably battle for a long relief role but has the ability to build up as a starter if necessary.

Orioles Sign Chris Bassitt

By | at

Feb 13: Baltimore has officially announced the Bassitt signing. No corresponding move was needed, as the club had room on the 40-man for the veteran righty. The Orioles’ 40-man roster is now full.

Feb. 12: The Orioles are reportedly in agreement with starter Chris Bassitt on a one-year, $18.5MM contract, pending a physical. Bassitt, a client of Meister Sports Management, receives a $3MM signing bonus and would unlock another $500K if he reaches 27 starts. Baltimore has an opening on the 40-man roster after losing infielder Bryan Ramos on waivers to St. Louis.

President of baseball operations Mike Elias has made a habit of signing veteran starters to one-year deals over the past few years. They found some success with Kyle Gibson in 2023. Last winter’s reunion with Gibson and additions of Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano did not go as planned. Bassitt is in a similar stage of his career as he nears his 37th birthday, but he should have a higher floor than those previous additions.

Bassitt didn’t reach 100 MLB innings in a season until his age-30 campaign in 2019. He has been a consistent mid-rotation presence over the last seven years. Only once did his earned run average climb north of 4.00. His 2.29 mark during the shortened season was a small sample outlier, but he has otherwise been a safe bet to allow between three and four earned runs per nine while logging a heavy workload. Bassitt has surpassed 150 innings in each of the last five seasons, one of just six pitchers to do that. He’s eighth in total innings over that stretch.

The veteran righty has paired the bulk with mid-rotation quality. He’s coming off a 3.96 ERA with slightly better than average underlying marks. Bassitt fanned 22.6% of batters faced against a 7.1% walk rate across 170 1/3 innings a year ago. His per-pitch whiff rate is a little below average, but he has managed to strike out between 22-23% of opponents in each of the past four seasons.

Bassitt’s velocity has ticked down slightly as he has gotten into his mid-30s. His sinker averaged 91.6 mph last season, narrowly a career low. That’s still not far off the 92-93 mph range in which he had worked throughout his career. The sinker is Bassitt’s primary offering, but Statcast identified eight distinct pitches that he used at least occasionally during his final season in Toronto. He mostly works with a sinker, cutter and curveball and generally does well to limit hard contact.

The biggest concern may be Bassitt’s issues against left-handed hitters. While he held them in check earlier in his career, Bassitt has seen his platoon splits widen over the past few seasons. Since the start of 2023, lefties have gotten to him at a .284/.360/.483 clip in more than 1200 plate appearances. He has held same-handed opponents to a punchless .224/.286/.323 line in a similar number of at-bats over that stretch.

Bassitt is coming off a three-year, $63MM contract with the division rival Blue Jays. He provided Toronto with 541 1/3 innings of 3.89 ERA ball during the regular season. Bassitt only once missed a start, as a minor bout of back inflammation sent him to the injured list last September. He missed the Division Series win over the Yankees but returned for the AL Championship Series. Bassitt pitched out of relief and emerged as one of John Schneider’s most trusted leverage arms in October. He fired 8 2/3 innings of one-run ball with 10 strikeouts during Toronto’s pennant run.

One year after helping the Jays go worst to first in the AL East, Bassitt will hope to accomplish the same feat with Baltimore. The Orioles have had a big offseason after stumbling to a 75-87 showing. They signed Pete Alonso (a former teammate of Bassitt’s in New York) to a monster five-year, $155MM deal. The O’s swapped oft-injured starter Grayson Rodriguez for another righty power bat, Taylor Ward, while dealing four prospects and a draft choice to the Rays for Shane Baz. They signed Ryan Helsley to a two-year deal to replace injured closer Félix Bautista and reunited with Zach Eflin on a $10MM contract.

The Orioles again shied away from the top of the free agent starting pitching market, preferring to make a splash in the middle of the lineup. They’ll hope to unlock another gear from Baz, a former top prospect who has shown flashes but been inconsistent over his first couple seasons. Trevor Rogers will look to build off last year’s fantastic final few months, while Kyle Bradish has a chance to be an upper mid-rotation starter now that he’s recovered from Tommy John surgery.

Bassitt slots behind Rogers, Bradish and Baz as locks to open the year in Craig Albernaz’s rotation. Eflin will be assured of the fifth starter role as long as he’s fully recovered from last August’s back surgery. He’s expected to be a full participant in Spring Training, so that should be the case. That could push Dean Kremer and/or Tyler Wells back to Triple-A Norfolk to open the season. Both pitchers still have an option remaining, though they’re each approaching the five-year service cutoff at which they’d earn the right to refuse any minor league assignments. Wells needs another 40 days on an MLB roster to get there, while Kremer is 60 days away.

The O’s could use Wells in long relief and start the year with Kremer rounding out a six-man rotation if they want both pitchers in the majors. A rotation surplus usually works itself out before long. The Braves, Blue Jays and Tigers have all announced significant injury losses within the first two days of camp. Even if all of Baltimore’s starters are currently healthy, they’d be fortunate if that’s the case by Opening Day.

Bassitt may not be the top-of-the-rotation type that O’s fans had coveted, but he’s a sensible pickup for a team that’ll keep an eye on Bradish’s and Eflin’s innings after lost seasons. MLBTR had predicted a two-year, $38MM contract at the beginning of the offseason. Baltimore was able to avoid committing that second season in an offseason when Merrill Kelly commanded $20MM annually over two years from the Diamondbacks at the same age.

The O’s payroll projection climbs to $166MM, as calculated by RosterResource. Despite the handful of significant offseason pickups, they’re only about $6MM above where they opened last season. This will probably wrap their significant offseason dealings, but they shouldn’t have an issue taking on some money midseason if they’re positioned to buy. Bassitt’s removal from the market leaves Zac Gallen, Lucas Giolito and Max Scherzer as the best free agents available for teams still looking to add.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the agreement and terms. Image courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

By | at

Anthony Franco

  • Good afternoon, hope you've all had a good week!
  • Decent number of questions in here, let's get rolling

Half St

  • There really isn't much for Nats fans to look forward to unless the new regime proves to be much better at developing young players. Do you feel there might be one young player who could make a surprise jump and carry the team forward from the absolute depths? James Wood seems the obvious answer, but should I be hoping on anybody else?

Anthony Franco

  • Wood's the obvious one. Durability's the big caveat for Cavalli but I think he'd be a mid-rotation starter if he can stay healthy. Harry Ford's stock is down a little from its peak but still feels like a capable starting catcher to me
  • Abrams has a higher gear but he's probably getting traded before they're back to being competitive. Confidence in Crews is waning. Lile feels like a role player to be, not a believer in Brady House at this point

Barron Of th Bullpen

  • How does BlueJays & Astros trade effect Cam Smith's playing time? What is your opinion of Smith long term?

Joey Loperfid'oh!

  • Who won this trade - Jays or Astros?

Anthony Franco

  • I prefer Houston's end of it because I'd have just non-tendered Sánchez, who I don't think is a $7M player. Loperfido is a fine bench bat, won't have any impact on Cam Smith
  • Seems like Houston wants Smith to start the season in Triple-A after how he finished last year, which is understandable. Loperfido's not blocking him and I imagine there's another move coming to add a mid-tier outfielder to replace Sánchez

Tony

  • Thanks for the chats.  With early posturing by owners for a salary cap, or seems as if the only way the players would agree is if MLB agrees to a floor and some kind of revenue sharing.  Both sides will argue the league needs to improve competition. Since owners have resisted sharing their books  is there a way forward?  Or will MLB have to edit the game to save it.

Anthony Franco

  • All the cap systems come with a salary floor. The league would be on board with that -- albeit with some dissent from the smaller-market owners -- but MLBPA continues to maintain that's a non-starter. If they budge on that, it would require a dramatic increase in revenue sharing to ensure the small-market teams meet the floor, yeah
  • Doesn't necessarily mean they need to open the books to the public. They'd need to share it with the Players Association but they already do that, the MLBPA just can't leak it. The bigger stumbling block -- again, beyond the PA considering this at all -- is how to calculate revenue. The players would want all the adjacent "ballpark village" stuff to factor into those calculations, while the team would obviously want to construe it much more narrowly

Sultan of Sling

  • The Giants can't possibly be done assembling their bullpen. Can they?

Anthony Franco

  • Haha well they signed Rowan Wick three minutes ago, so I guess not?
  • In all seriousness, yeah they're pretty much out of options back there and it's my biggest gripe with the roster

The Beatles Show

  • Hey Anthony, how's the weather for you?  Second...probably happier question:  With the Sanchez trade does that mean the Astros are going to keep Parades and move him to left?

Anthony Franco

  • Alright the past few days! All of January sucked. Don't thing Sánchez has any real impact on Paredes, they could've played him in LF either way if they wanted to do that. Seems ill advised when he's coming off the hamstring injury

Arizona

  • Which is more likely? A lottery pick or a playoff run?

Anthony Franco

  • Hmm, I think they'll end up in between but lottery pick feels a little more likely. The bullpen's really rough, rotation could go south quickly with an injury or two, and now there's a question about what they'll get from Carroll early in the season

Alex Anthopoulus

  • What am I doing? Our projected #2 starter goes down and I haven't done a thing to address the starting rotation issue (that got worse with the Schwellenbach injury). This is a very odd offseason, it started "adequately" but I still haven't solved the main problem from the beginning.

  • Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription

    BENEFITS
    • 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

Ballparking A Nico Hoerner Extension

By | at

In the aftermath of the Alex Bregman signing, one of the immediate questions was whether it changed how the Cubs would proceed with Nico Hoerner. Bregman pushed second-year infielder Matt Shaw into a utility role, but he'd be capable of stepping in at second base. The Giants, Red Sox and Mariners were among the teams seeking a trade match for a player of Hoerner's profile. Would the Cubs flip him before his walk year?

That's almost certainly not happening now. There was no reason for the Cubs to entertain the possibility unless they were blown away by the kind of prospect that other teams would not entertain for a rental (e.g. Connelly Early, Bryce Eldridge). Hoerner is a much better player than Shaw in the short term, and the Cubs have as strong a chance as anyone to take the NL Central. Boston traded for Caleb Durbin, while the Giants signed Luis Arraez to play second. Seattle acquired Brendan Donovan from the Cardinals.

As Spring Training gets underway, the focus might now swing to an extension. March is the most common time of year for those conversations. If the Cubs are able to get a long-term deal done with Hoerner this spring, that could make them more comfortable dangling Shaw in deadline talks if any top-of-the-rotation starters come available. Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic wrote this week that Hoerner has emerged as a pillar in the clubhouse. The relationship between team and player is strong enough that it'd be a surprise if they didn't have some conversations before Opening Day about what it'd take to keep him off the market.

Let's try to narrow down what that might cost:

Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription

BENEFITS
  • 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

Angels Re-Sign Chris Taylor To Minor League Deal

By | at

Feb. 13: Taylor signed a minor league deal with a spring training invite, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. He reported to camp this morning.

Feb. 12: The Angels are in agreement to bring back veteran utility player Chris Taylor, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. It’s not clear whether it’s an MLB deal or a minor league contract with a Spring Training invite, though the latter seems more likely. Taylor is represented by Meister Sports Management.

Taylor finished the 2025 season in Orange County. He signed a big league deal after being released by the Dodgers in May. Taylor made 30 appearances for the Halos. He started games at all three outfield positions and at second and third base. He didn’t make a huge impact beyond that defensive flexibility, as he struck out 29 times and hit .179 across 90 plate appearances. Taylor almost immediately went on the injured list with a broken left hand. A brief return in July proved unsuccessful and he was essentially shelved until September.

The former All-Star combined for a .186/.256/.301 batting line over 125 plate appearances between the two Los Angeles teams. Taylor’s offense has cratered over the past two seasons. His bat speed and power production have dropped, putting more of a focus on his already high strikeout tallies. He has fanned at a 32% clip while hitting .196/.284/.301 with six home runs over 371 plate appearances in the last two seasons.

Taylor will compete for a bench role. He’s still an above-average runner who can fill in anywhere other than catcher and shortstop. The Angels have a wide open second base competition between Christian Moore, Vaughn Grissom, Oswald Peraza and non-roster invitee Nick Madrigal. Third base belongs to Yoán Moncada for now, but he’s hardly a picture of durability. They’re patching together an outfield that’ll include Jo Adell, Josh Lowe and at least one of Mike Trout and Jorge Soler with the other working as a designated hitter.

As a player with six years of service time who finished last season on the major league roster, Taylor hit the market as an Article XX(b) free agent. If he’s signing a minor league contract, it would come with a trio of automatic opt-out dates under the collective bargaining agreement: five days before Opening Day, May 1, and June 1.

Padres Notes: Rotation, Vásquez, Campusano, Preller

By | at

The Padres have made no secret of their desire to add another starter and one more complementary bat before Opening Day. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller reiterated those goals from Spring Training (link via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com).

There are still a handful of free agent starters who could make an impact (e.g. Zac Gallen, Lucas Giolito, Zack Littell, Griffin Canning). San Diego seems to be working with tight payroll restrictions, however. That could point to a reclamation candidate like Walker Buehler or Germán Márquez if they address that via free agency.

Dennis Lin of The Athletic suggests the Padres could be more inclined to add a starter via trade. That’s easier said than done at this stage of the calendar. All but a handful of teams are entering the season with some hope of contending. Pitching injuries will pile up as exhibition games get underway and there’ll be fewer opportunities for those clubs to backfill the rotation if they trade a starter.

Speculatively, there could be a match with the rebuilding Nationals for a cheap sixth starter like Mitchell Parker or Jake Irvin — each of whom has been durable but pitched better in 2024 than they did a year ago. Andre Pallante falls into a similar category with the Cardinals. They’re not especially exciting but have minor league options and a track record of taking a lot of innings.

The Royals have gotten hits on some of their depth starters as they looked for outfield help. The Padres would be hard pressed to replace Ramón Laureano and obviously aren’t trading Fernando Tatis Jr. or Jackson Merrill. Unless the Royals want to take a flier on Tirso Ornelas, that’s a difficult match. The Mets entertained moving David Peterson and Kodai Senga at times this winter, but their salaries could be an issue for the Padres.

Teams are loath to trade affordable pitchers who have the upside to be more than fifth or sixth starters. The Padres have a lot of star talent but don’t have an especially deep major league roster, which makes it difficult to trade for an average starter without dealing too big a hit to a different area. The exception could be in the bullpen, where any of Jeremiah Estrada, David Morgan or Bradgley Rodriguez would be compelling trade chips if the Padres felt they could weather a subtraction.

As it stands, San Diego will open the season with a top three of Nick Pivetta, Michael King and Joe Musgrove. Right-hander Randy Vásquez had a decent 3.84 ERA last year despite posting one of the league’s lowest strikeout rates (13.7%). Vásquez had a more impressive September, striking out 21% of opponents against a 3.4% walk rate in his last five appearances. First-year skipper Craig Stammen pointed to the strong finish in noting that the 27-year-old righty had “the inside track” to a season-opening rotation spot this week (separate MLB.com link via Cassavell).

If the Padres add another starter, that’d position Vásquez as the favorite to round out the group ahead of JP Sears, Kyle Hart and non-roster invitees Marco Gonzales and Triston McKenzie. Vásquez is out of options, so he’ll be on the MLB roster in some capacity. Sears and Hart can freely be sent back to Triple-A for another year. Knuckleballer Matt Waldron is out of options but coming off a 6.48 ERA over 21 starts in Triple-A. He’ll have an uphill battle to holding a roster spot even with a strong performance this spring.

Though the Padres are also looking to round out their bench with another bat, it appears they’re unlikely to make a move at catcher. Preller said that while the front office explored the catching market over the offseason, they didn’t find any opportunities they considered to be an upgrade over the in-house pairing of Freddy Fermin and Luis Campusano. “Ultimately, I think we looked at the value of the players we have as behind the plate and catching, making that as good a group as we can have,” Preller told reporters. “Go find some other value throughout other position player additions.”

Fermin doesn’t have much offensive upside but is a highly-regarded defender. He’ll be the primary catcher. Campusano has defensive questions but raked last year in Triple-A. The Padres didn’t seem to trust him defensively, keeping him in the minors while running out Elias Díaz and Martín Maldonado until they acquired Fermin at the deadline. They opted not to trade Campusano this offseason, though, and they’re evidently content to carry him as a bat-first backup now that he can no longer be optioned. They don’t have any other catchers on the 40-man roster, nor has any minor league catcher in the organization played a single MLB game.

Preller also addressed his own contract status on Thursday. He’s entering the final year of his deal and hasn’t come to terms on an extension. That’ll continue to be a question until an agreement is reached, though the longtime executive downplayed any concern.

“Either way, I’m under contract,” he told Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune and other members of the beat. “So it’s all about putting a team on the field that’s going to win. We still (have) a lot of work to do in terms of continuing to round out the roster. That continues to be the focus.” Acee writes that it’s still generally expected that a deal will get done — perhaps as early as Monday’s report date for the team’s position players.

Yankees, Rafael Montero Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Yankees are adding veteran reliever Rafael Montero on a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training, as first reported by Héctor Gómez. The deal comes with a $1.8MM base salary and $500K roster bonus if the ISE Baseball client makes the MLB club.

Montero divided the 2025 season between a trio of clubs. He began the year on the Astros, playing out the final season of a three-year contract that Houston had quickly come to regret. They managed to offload a portion of his salary in an April trade with the Braves, who would flip him to the Tigers at the deadline. Montero managed a decent ERA in Detroit but had concerning underlying marks throughout the season.

The 35-year-old righty combined for a 4.48 earned run average through 60 1/3 innings. He got a lot of swinging strikes and managed a slightly above-average 23% strikeout rate. That came with a lot of free passes, as he walked almost 15% of opponents. Montero has never had pristine command but had gotten the walks enough in check to be a key setup arm for the Astros in 2022. He carries a 4.77 ERA over 166 innings over the past three seasons.

Montero sits around 95 mph with his fastball and picked up a splitter last year that became his primary pitch, especially against left-handed batters. The latter offering is a big reason the Braves and Tigers took a flier. Detroit carried Montero on their playoff rosters. His only appearance came early in a bullpen game in which he failed to retire any of the three batters he faced.

The Yankees could have a couple bullpen spots available depending on whether they carry Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest into the season. David Bednar, Camilo Doval, Fernando Cruz, Tim Hill, Ryan Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn should have spots secure. They can’t option Winquest or recent waiver pickup Osvaldo Bido, though the latter has kicked around the waiver wire all winter and certainly isn’t a lock to stick. Jake Bird, Yerry De Los Santos, Kervin Castro, Angel Chivilli and Brent Headrick all have a minor league option remaining.

As a player with six years of service time who finished last season on Detroit’s major league roster, Montero hit the market as an Article XX(b) free agent. That means this deal comes with a trio of automatic opt-out dates under the collective bargaining agreement. He can trigger an out clause five days before Opening Day, on May 1, or on June 1. If he does, the Yankees would have two days to either promote him or grant him his release.

Marlins Designate Josh Simpson For Assignment

By | at

The Marlins announced they’ve designated left-hander Josh Simpson for assignment. That opens a 40-man roster spot for fellow southpaw John King, who has officially signed his one-year deal.

Simpson made his MLB debut last June. He pitched in 31 games but was rocked for a 7.34 ERA across 30 2/3 innings. The 6’2″ southpaw got ground-balls at a 54% clip with a solid 23.8% strikeout rate but struggled with control. Simpson walked almost 15% of batters faced and gave up nearly 1.5 home runs per nine innings. Poor batted ball luck didn’t help matters, but the command has been an issue for most of Simpson’s career. He has walked 11.6% of opponents in the minor leagues.

A Columbia product who signed for $25K as a 32nd-round pick in 2019, Simpson was never a marquee prospect. He pitched well enough through Double-A that Miami added him to the 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft in 2022. He was called up the following September but didn’t get into a game during his five days on the active roster. Simpson was optioned back to Triple-A, then missed the majority of ’24 because of a nerve injury in his forearm that required surgery. The Fish dropped him from the 40-man roster at the end of that season.

To Simpson’s credit, he pitched well enough in Triple-A last year to earn his way back up and avoid a “phantom ballplayer” career arc. He worked to a 3.41 ERA across 34 1/3 innings at Triple-A Jacksonville, albeit with lesser strikeout and ground-ball marks than he had in the majors. The Marlins will likely place him back on waivers within the next five days. Simpson would be able to decline an outright assignment and elect free agency if he goes unclaimed.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top