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Mets, Ji-Man Choi Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mets are in agreement with first baseman Ji-Man Choi on a minor league contract, according to a Korean-language report from Naver Sports (h/t to Homin Lee). It’s a split deal that’d pay Choi at different rates for time spent in the majors versus Triple-A. While the deal’s base value is still unclear, Naver reports that the contract could max out at $3.5MM if Choi hits all his performance bonuses.

Choi, who turns 33 in May, is seeking to rebound after injuries ruined his 2023 season. The Pirates acquired the eight-year veteran from the Rays last winter to rotate between first base and designated hitter. Choi suffered an Achilles strain within the first two weeks and spent a couple months on the injured list. By the time he returned in early July, he found himself on the trade block.

Pittsburgh sent Choi to the Padres alongside Rich Hill at the deadline. Unfortunately, injuries again quickly intervened early in his stint with his new club. A ribcage strain sent him to the injured list by the middle of August. Choi suffered a Lisfranc injury when he fouled a ball off his right foot during his rehab stint. He was reinstated in mid-September but the Padres were out of contention by that point.

Choi finished his year with just 119 plate appearances over 37 games. He hit .163/.239/.385 in that minimal sample. Choi was quite a bit better for Tampa Bay over his four and a half seasons there. The left-handed hitter ran a .245/.352/.431 batting line in more than 1500 plate appearances with the Rays. That makes him a sensible depth acquisition on a non-roster deal.

The Mets have Pete Alonso locked in at first base. It seems likely they’ll take a look at Mark Vientos at designated hitter, although they’ve at least kept tabs on the market for J.D. Martinez. Choi could look to crack the roster as a lefty bench bat and complement to the righty-hitting Vientos at DH.

Manfred: Toronto, Chicago Could Host Upcoming All-Star Games

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Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed future All-Star host sites as part of his media scrum on Thursday. While the plans have not been finalized, Manfred implied that the Blue Jays and Cubs have good chances to host the festivities in 2027 and ’28 (link via Evan Drellich of the Athletic).

“With respect to those two years, I am strongly influenced by two things. One, when did you last have a game? Toronto stacks up pretty well on that variable. I think Chicago is older,” the commissioner said. “The city being willing to step up on those issues is the other big variable. Our All-Star (events), what’s become most of the week, we need certain facilities and certain kinds of support in terms of security.”

Toronto has not hosted the All-Star Game since 1991, the only such time in franchise history. The city of Chicago has hosted seven times, more than any other save New York. Chicago last hosted in 2003, although that was at the White Sox’s stadium (then known as U.S. Cellular Field). The All-Star Game was last played at Wrigley Field in 1990. The Friendly Confines has hosted on three occasions: 1947, ’62, and ’90.

The next three All-Star host cities are already finalized. It’ll be in Arlington this summer, the first time Texas hosts since opening Globe Life Field four years ago. The festivities go Atlanta in 2025. (The Braves were originally slated to host in 2021 but MLB moved that year’s game to Colorado in response to Georgia election laws.) Philadelphia was awarded the ’26 Midsummer Classic to coincide with celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The 2027-28 games will be the final of Manfred’s tenure as commissioner. He announced yesterday that he’ll retire at the end of his current term in January ’29.

Angels Sign Hunter Strickland To Minor League Contract

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The Angels announced the signing of reliever Hunter Strickland to a minor league deal this evening. He’ll be in MLB camp as a non-roster invitee.

A veteran of nine big league seasons, Strickland has appeared at the MLB level with eight clubs. The Angels are among that group. The right-hander made nine appearances with the Halos back in 2021. He allowed nine runs in 6 1/3 innings in an unexceptional stint before being designated for assignment and flipped to the Brewers in a cash transaction. Strickland went on to turn in a 1.73 ERA in 35 appearances with Milwaukee.

After a strong four-plus year run with the Giants to begin his MLB career, Strickland’s performance has been more volatile in recent seasons. Following his strong finish to the ’21 campaign, he struggled for the Reds in 2022. Strickland was tagged for nearly five earned runs per nine over 66 appearances. He settled for a minor league pact a year ago, returning to the Cincinnati organization.

That second stint proved brief. The 35-year-old pitched 12 times for Triple-A Louisville, allowing 14 runs over 11 frames. The Reds released him during the second week of May. Strickland sat out the remainder of the season but will give things another go this spring.

It’s unlikely he’d be able to land a spot in the Opening Day bullpen. The Halos have Carlos Estévez, Robert Stephenson, Matt Moore, Luis García, Adam Cimber and José Cisnero as virtual locks for the MLB roster. None of that group can be optioned to the minors, nor can swingman José Suarez. Strickland will presumably head to Triple-A Salt Lake to serve as injury insurance.

Latest On A’s Plans For 2025-27

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9:44pm: By contrast, Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes that the A’s remain focused on Oakland for the 2025-27 campaigns. However, Akers echoes Drellich’s report that the three remaining possibilities are Oakland, Sacramento and Salt Lake City.

8:07pm: The A’s are running low on time to figure out where they’ll play home games between 2025-27. That has been a priority for team officials over the past few weeks. In addition to touring a handful of stadium sites, the A’s met with Oakland officials yesterday about a potential three-year lease extension at the Coliseum.

While that is still on the table, Evan Drellich of the Athletic reports that Sacramento has emerged as the front-runner for temporary hosting duty. According to Drellich, the two additional possibilities still under consideration are a lease extension at the Coliseum and playing in Salt Lake City. Previously, the A’s had considered a few other options: Reno; Summerlin, Nevada; and sharing Oracle Park with the Giants.

A’s and Oakland officials were fairly quiet coming out of their meeting on Thursday. The organization released a brief statement yesterday, calling it “a constructive and positive meeting with the City of Oakland and Alameda County” and noting they were “focused on continuing conversations around a lease extension at the Coliseum.” However, Drellich writes that the fraught relationship between the city and the A’s remains a significant obstacle.

The A’s lease at the Coliseum expires at the end of the upcoming season. The team’s new park on the Vegas Strip isn’t expected to be ready until 2028. If the A’s leave the Bay Area, that jeopardizes their local broadcasting contract with NBC Sports California. The network can drop their TV deal — which will reportedly pay the organization around $70MM in 2024 — once the team leaves Oakland or San Francisco. Sacramento is not included in the Bay Area under the terms of that contract. A short-term lease extension with Oakland would allow the A’s to collect those revenues for another three seasons.

That’s not of concern to Oakland and Alameda County, of course. Oakland mayor Sheng Thao has suggested the city could have significant demands to approve a lease extension. She has floated requiring that the franchise leave the A’s moniker behind — a non-starter for the organization — or that MLB guarantee the city a future expansion team.

To that end, Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Thao’s office has had “preliminary talks” with MLB about conditioning an A’s lease extension on the guarantee of a future expansion franchise. Thao’s chief of staff, Leigh Hanson, implied that’s a necessary trade-off from the city’s perspective.

“If a three-year extension was to be offered, and granted, then our expectation is that the city of Oakland would retain an MLB team,” Hanson told Ostler. “I recognize that (team president) Dave Kaval and (owner) John Fisher are not in a position to negotiate that point, so I think our further conversation will have to include the commissioner.”

Whether that’ll ever be a legitimate consideration for MLB remains to be seen. For now, it seems the league’s hope is that the A’s can make something work in Sacramento. Drellich suggests they could try to renegotiate the TV deal with NBC Sports California if they head to the California capital. That’d very likely come with reduced rights fees but could allow the organization to maintain some portion of the money that they’d otherwise lose if they left Oakland next season.

Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park is the home stadium of the River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the Giants. Its fan capacity is a little above 14,000.

Atkins: Jays Would Need To Subtract To Accommodate Significant Acquisition

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As the Blue Jays opened Spring Training, general manager Ross Atkins met with reporters yesterday. The GM implied the bulk of the club’s offseason activity was complete, minimizing the chance of making an impactful free agent strike without offloading someone from the roster.

“At this point, additions that would be of significance would mean some level of subtraction,” Atkins said (link via Kaitlyn McGrath of the Athletic). “We feel good about the team that we have. Feel good about the work that’s been done over the last five offseasons, the last four trade deadlines and now coming into another trade deadline, we’ll have another opportunity, I hope, that we’re in a strong position to add to that team (and) I know that we will.”

It wasn’t quite as firm a declaration that the team was finished with notable acquisitions as executives with other clubs (i.e. Nationals, Rangers) have made. Atkins noted the Jays remain in contact with player representatives as a large number of free agents are still unsigned. It nevertheless downplays the chance of Toronto jumping in on anything more than depth additions.

That’s an apparent reflection of a franchise-high payroll. Roster Resource projects their 2024 spending in the $236MM range. Their competitive balance tax figure sits around $249MM, into the first tier of luxury tax penalization. Toronto paid the tax a year ago, so they’re subject to heightened penalties. They’re taxed at a 30% rate on spending up to $257MM and a 42% rate on the next $20MM, with higher penalties in the unlikely event they push past the $277MM mark.

On the one hand, the Jays have pushed their Opening Day spending past last year’s approximate $210MM figure. Team president Mark Shapiro suggested at the beginning of the offseason they anticipated keeping payroll steady. They have instead increased spending. Yet the Jays have also come up empty on their most significant free agent swings. They’d been linked to high-profile targets from Shohei Ohtani to Jorge Soler.

Their largest guarantee was a five-year, $32MM pact for Cuban swingman Yariel Rodríguez. They signed Isiah Kiner-Falefa to a two-year, $15MM deal and inked one-year pacts with Justin Turner ($13MM) and Kevin Kiermaier ($10.5MM).

While Atkins didn’t address any specific free agents — team personnel are prohibited from declaring themselves out of the market on individual players — his comments seem most notable with regards to Matt Chapman. The Jays appeared an on-paper fit to bring Chapman back. Their closest direct replacement at third base is Kiner-Falefa. Coming off a .242/.306/.340 platform showing that is broadly in line with his career numbers, Kiner-Falefa is better suited as a utility player for a team with playoff aspirations.

Toronto also allowed Whit Merrifield to hit free agency. He’s expected to make his signing decision within the coming days. While a return to Toronto isn’t out of the question, the Jays look content to allow a handful of multi-positional types to battle for playing time at second and third base.

Beyond Kiner-Falefa, the Jays have Cavan Biggio, Santiago Espinal, Davis Schneider, Ernie Clement and prospects Orelvis Martinez, Addison Barger and Leo Jimenez on the 40-man roster. None of Martinez, Jimenez or Barger has played in the majors. All three have reached Triple-A, although Jimenez struggled in a brief look there last year. They’re longer shots to make the Opening Day roster. Veteran Eduardo Escobar will also be in camp after agreeing to a minor league contract last night.

Biggio, Espinal and Schneider are virtual locks to make the team. They’ve all shown flashes in their careers but none is a clear everyday player. Biggio had a league average .235/.340/.370 line over 339 plate appearances a season ago. After posting solid offensive numbers in his first two seasons, he has been an average or slightly worse hitter three years running.

Espinal was a surprising All-Star selection amidst an impressive 2022 campaign. His production dropped precipitously last year, as he hit .248/.310/.335 over 254 plate appearances. Schneider had a scorching start to his MLB career after being called up last August. He raked at a .426/.526/.894 clip over his first few weeks before slumping to a .174/.321/.406 line while striking out a third of the time in September. It was still an extremely impressive debut showing in aggregate, yet he’ll have to make his own adjustments as he faces MLB pitching over a full season for the first time. Clement, meanwhile, has been a utility player throughout his career. He’s out of options, so he’d have to secure a spot on the Opening Day bench or be placed on waivers.

Manager John Schneider told reporters yesterday that Biggio is a bit delayed after battling tendinitis in his left shoulder this offseason (relayed by Keegan Matheson of MLB.com). He is not yet facing live pitching. Assuming he’s ready by Opening Day, he’s likely to compete with Kiner-Falefa and Espinal at third base. Davis Schneider has split his time in the minors fairly evenly between second and third. John Schneider said that Davis Schneider is focused on second base and left field as his main positions for the upcoming season (via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet).

Blue Jays To Sign Eduardo Escobar

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TODAY: Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reports that Escobar’s deal is a minor league arrangement.

Feb 15, 10:44pm: Escobar and the Jays are in agreement on a contract pending a physical, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (on X). Terms of the deal remain unreported. Escobar is represented by DJ Rengifo y Associates.

9:55pm: Infielder Eduardo Escobar is nearing agreement on a free agent deal with the Blue Jays, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). It’s not known if the former All-Star is closing in on a big league contract or a minor league pact with a non-roster invite to Spring Training.

Escobar, 35, is coming off a disappointing 2023 campaign. He opened the season as the Mets’ third baseman but began the year in a dreadful slump. Escobar carried a .125/.173/.229 line into the middle of April and lost the starting job to Brett Baty. The 13-year MLB veteran turned things around in a depth role but seemed a bit superfluous on the New York roster once Baty was recalled.

The Angels, reeling with infield injuries in late June, acquired Escobar for a pair of minor league pitchers. He didn’t produce much offensively, slumping to a .219/.259/.303 slash over 59 contests. The Halos made the obvious call to buy him out for $500K at year’s end as opposed to retaining him via $9MM team option.

Escobar finished the season with a combined .226/.269/.344 batting line in 309 trips to the plate. He struck out in a little more than a quarter of his plate appearances against a 5.8% walk percentage. While he has never had great strikeout and walk numbers, Escobar’s power production dropped off sharply. He hit six home runs after topping the 20-homer mark in each of the prior five full schedules. That was the result of a significant uptick in ground-balls and a drop in his hard contact rate.

The Jays will hope for something more closely approximating his 2021-22 form. Escobar was a slightly above-average hitter in each of those seasons and combined for a .247/.305/.452 showing with 48 longballs over that stretch.

Escobar’s defensive grades have dropped off as he’s gotten into his mid-30s. He can play any of first, second or third base but received below-average marks at all three spots (although his first base experience is limited enough that it’s difficult to draw conclusions about his glovework there).

Toronto has a number of upper level infield options but doesn’t have much certainty at either second or third base. Last year’s primary starters, Whit Merrifield and Matt Chapman, are free agents. The Jays brought in Isiah Kiner-Falefa on a two-year pact. Davis Schneider, Cavan Biggio, Santiago Espinal, Ernie Clement and prospect Addison Barger are all on the 40-man roster and could vie for reps at one or both positions.

Where Does The Market Stand For Jordan Montgomery?

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Jordan Montgomery’s market took a hit yesterday when Rangers general manager Chris Young threw cold water on the possibility of more acquisitions before Opening Day. “I don’t think there are any additions coming at this point,” Young told reporters, citing the organization’s diminished local broadcasting revenues on their contract with Diamond Sports Group.

While Young noted the team will “keep an open mind,” it’s clear the organization isn’t anticipating a significant splash. That’s something Young implied as far back as late November and has been supported by reporting from Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, who has suggested throughout the offseason that the team was unlikely to bring Montgomery back.

Nevertheless, there’d been chatter throughout the winter that the left-hander preferred to stay in Arlington and was hopeful of working out a deal once the Rangers finalized their TV contract to remain on Bally Sports for the upcoming season. While their 2024 TV deal was approved last week, Young’s comments from yesterday indicate it doesn’t meaningfully change the organization’s spending outlook.

That shouldn’t be surprising. Throughout the offseason, the Rangers have likely had an idea of the reduced rights fees they’d need to accept if they wanted to keep their deal with Diamond for another year. More meaningfully, there’s still legitimate concern throughout MLB about the local broadcasting arrangement’s viability for 2025 and beyond.

If the Rangers are out of the market, where do things stand for Montgomery six weeks before Opening Day?

Teams With Reported Interest

Angels

The Angels have been loosely tied to both Montgomery and Blake Snell. They explored trade possibilities for a top-of-the-rotation arm during the Winter Meetings and came away empty-handed. After flirting with the competitive balance tax in 2023, their CBT payroll sits almost $50MM below the threshold for the upcoming season. The Halos seem like one of the top suitors for Snell or Montgomery on paper. That’s clouded by an ownership group that frequently pursues puzzling half-measures.

Owner Arte Moreno told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register yesterday that he was “(setting) the budget lower” for the upcoming season. “I’m not going to spend money just to show that we’re going to spend money unless it’s going to substantially change the team,” he added. Perhaps Montgomery qualifies, and the Halos could sign him while remaining well below last year’s spending level, but those comments don’t portend a late-offseason spree.

Giants

At points this offseason, the Giants have been tied to all four of the remaining top free agents. Cody Bellinger is a tough fit after the Jung Hoo Lee signing. The other three (Snell, Montgomery and Matt Chapman) could all still be targets. Roster Resource projects the Giants around $213MM in luxury tax obligations. This year’s base threshold sits at $237MM. Adding Montgomery for somewhere in the $20-25MM range on an annual basis would push them right against that line. The Giants have paid the CBT three times in franchise history but haven’t gone over that line since 2017.

Red Sox

Aside from Texas, the Red Sox have probably been linked to Montgomery most often throughout the winter. Boston ownership has said they don’t anticipate matching last year’s spending. The Sox opened last season with a luxury tax number approaching $226MM. Roster Resource projects their CBT figure for the upcoming season around $198MM. Adding Montgomery would push them towards last year’s line but not all the way. It certainly wouldn’t require they surpass the $237MM mark. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe wrote this week that the Sox were keeping an eye on Montgomery’s market but suggested they’re unlikely to make a serious push unless the left-hander considers a short-term deal.

Big-Market Opportunists?

Mets

The Mets were loosely linked to Montgomery in the early days of the offseason. It doesn’t seem they showed serious interest. After their pursuit of top target Yoshinobu Yamamoto fell short, they pivoted to lower-cost fliers on Luis Severino and Sean Manaea and brought in Adrian Houser via trade. There’s still a case for the Mets to add Montgomery to the upper half of the rotation, but it’d come at a significant cost. The Mets are paying a 110% tax on all spending since they’re in the highest luxury tax bracket and surpassed the threshold in three consecutive seasons.

Phillies

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote on February 4 that some executives throughout the industry believed Philadelphia could be a dark horse candidate for one of the top remaining free agents. MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki wrote last week that the Phils didn’t anticipate landing a marquee free agent unless their market collapsed. Zolecki indicated the Phillies would have interest in Montgomery if he took a deal in the three-year range or shorter. If the southpaw pivoted to that kind of proposal, it’d very likely bring in a number of suitors. Philadelphia already has a long-term commitment to Aaron Nola and is trying to keep Zack Wheeler beyond this year.

Yankees

The Yankees checked in with Montgomery early in the offseason. That shows they’re not categorically opposed to bringing him back after trading him at the 2022 deadline because they felt he wasn’t in line to start for them in the postseason. Montgomery threw a jab at the organization before helping Texas to a World Series, telling The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal in early October that “(The Yankees) might have given up on me, but I think it was the best thing for me to get to the Cardinals and get set up with Mad Dog (pitching coach Mike Maddux, who went to the Rangers in 2023). Our pitching philosophies are much closer.”

That didn’t prevent the Yankees from checking back in with Montgomery early this offseason, although they clearly didn’t find his asking price palatable. New York subsequently signed Marcus Stroman but they traded Michael King and a host of depth starters in the Juan Soto deal. The Yankees are into the fourth tier of luxury penalization, so any signing would come with a 110% tax on top of whatever they owe the player.

Dark Horses

Orioles

Baltimore made their long-awaited consolidation trade for an ace last month. Even with Corbin Burnes in the fold, there was an argument for adding another high-end starter to put the finishing touch on an excellent roster. That was true before this morning, but the revelation that ostensible #2 starter Kyle Bradish has a UCL sprain and will begin the season on the injured list could add urgency. The O’s have a projected player payroll in the $96MM range. That’s nearly $40MM above where they started last season but is still a bottom five figure in MLB. With new ownership arriving in the coming weeks and a young core set up to compete throughout the decade, could Baltimore finally make a notable free agent strike under GM Mike Elias?

Cubs

Chicago signed Shota Imanaga to a four-year deal to join the rotation with Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks and Jameson Taillon. Chicago has in-house options for the fifth spot —  it looks like a battle between Jordan Wicks, Javier Assad and perhaps Hayden Wesneski — but Montgomery would be a clear upgrade. The Cubs are already above last year’s spending but remain almost $30MM shy of the tax line. It seems likelier that Chicago would pursue Bellinger or Chapman if they’re still exploring the top of the market, but it’s not entirely out of the question they make a run at another starter.

Twins

Minnesota is an extreme long shot, largely on account of their own TV revenue concern. The Twins have kept their payroll right around the $125MM mark all offseason. The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reported at the beginning of the winter that they were targeting the $125-140MM spending range, down from last year’s $154MM mark. Minnesota lost Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda and has explored rotation additions, but they’re much likelier to add a low-cost arm in the Michael Lorenzen range.

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There aren’t many teams that clearly remain positioned to offer Montgomery a five- or six-year term at $25MM annually. MLBTR predicted a six-year, $150MM pact at the beginning of the offseason. Early reports suggested Montgomery wanted to beat the seven years and $172MM which Nola secured to remain in Philadelphia.

If he pivots to a shorter-term pact, that’d bring most of the teams mentioned above more firmly into play. Perhaps clubs like the Cardinals or the Rangers could also circle back. For a few reasons, however, Montgomery probably prefers to max out the guarantee this winter.

It’s hard to envision him elevating his free agent stock beyond where it currently sits. He’s coming off a career-best 3.20 ERA and was a key part of a World Series run. He’ll turn 32 next December, raising questions about how many prime years he’s still marketing. Teams’ concern about TV revenues could be just as strong next winter as they are now. Montgomery would also run the risk of being burdened by draft compensation if he returns to free agency in a year or two. The midseason trade sending him from St. Louis to Texas rendered him ineligible for the qualifying offer this time around. He may not be so lucky if he tries to give free agency another shot.

Angels Showing Interest In Amed Rosario

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The Angels are showing interest in free agents Amed Rosario and Enrique Hernández as they continue their search for infield depth, writes Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal tied the Halos to Hernández last month. They hadn’t been directly linked to Rosario before this point.

Rosario is coming off a pedestrian season split between the Guardians and Dodgers. The right-handed middle infielder hit .263/.305/.378 with six homers and 15 steals through 545 combined plate appearances. His power production ticked up a bit after the trade as the Dodgers more frequently leveraged him against lefty pitching. His .256/.301/.408 slash in 48 games was still a bit below average, though. Los Angeles left him off their playoff roster.

The former top prospect had posted roughly average numbers for Cleveland over the preceding two seasons. A durable fixture in the lineup at shortstop, he combined for a .282/.316/.406 slash between 2021-22. Rosario has always been an aggressive hitter who doesn’t hit for much power. His plus contact skills have contributed to three seasons batting above .280, giving him a decent offensive floor.

Where Rosario fits defensively is a bigger question. Public metrics have never looked kindly on his glove. His grades were especially poor in the first half of last season. Statcast and Defensive Runs Saved rated him between 11 and 16 runs worse than an average shortstop in fewer than 800 innings with the Guardians. The Dodgers used him more frequently at second base, his first MLB action on the right side of the infield, down the stretch.

Despite the mediocre platform year, Rosario is one of the better middle infielders available in a thin free agent class. He drew some interest from the Blue Jays and Red Sox early in the winter before those teams added other righty-hitting infielders (Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Vaughn Grissom, respectively).

More recently, Rosario was among a handful of shortstop possibilities tied to the Marlins. Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald wrote this morning that Miami has shown more significant interest in Rosario and Gio Urshela than they have in other reported candidates like Tim Anderson, Nick Ahmed and Adalberto Mondesi.

While Miami has a path to everyday reps at shortstop, the Halos would likely view Rosario as multi-positional insurance. The Halos have second-year player Zach Neto penciled in at shortstop. Anthony Rendon, Brandon Drury and Luis Rengifo could split time between second and third base. Rendon hasn’t reached 60 starts at the hot corner in a season since 2019. Rengifo is a fringe defender who underwent season-ending biceps surgery last September. The Halos haven’t replaced Urshela, who served as a righty-hitting versatile infielder before a pelvis fracture last season.

Owner Arte Moreno said this week that he didn’t anticipate matching last year’s spending level. A run at Rosario should nevertheless be well within range financially. The 28-year-old is looking at a one- or two-year contract. Roster Resource calculates the club’s projected payroll around $173MM. They opened last season with approximately $212MM in player commitments.

Rays Win Arbitration Hearing Over Harold Ramirez

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The Rays were victorious in their arbitration hearing against Harold Ramírez, as first reported by The Associated Press. The DH/corner outfielder will be paid $3.8MM for the upcoming season. His camp had filed at $4.3MM.

Ramírez has been an effective rotational bat for Tampa Bay over the last two seasons. Acquired from the Cubs just before Opening Day in 2022, he hit .300/.343/.404 in his first year with the Rays. The righty hitter turned in an even better .313/.353/.460 slash with a career-best 12 home runs across 434 trips to the plate last season. He owns a .306/.348/.432 in a little under 900 plate appearances with Tampa Bay.

The 29-year-old isn’t a great defensive outfielder and saw the majority of his time at designated hitter a year ago. His lack of defensive value and slightly increasing salaries led Tampa Bay to float his name on the trade market earlier in the offseason. Nothing has come together to this point. Locking in his salary could make a trade moderately more appealing if the Rays continue to field offers during Spring Training, yet it’s also possible he sticks in Tampa Bay for a third season.

Ramírez has between four and five years of MLB service. He’ll be eligible for arbitration again next winter and is on track for free agency after the 2025 campaign, at which point he’ll be 31 years old. This is the second straight year in which Ramírez and the Rays went to a hearing. His camp won a $2.2MM salary (against a $1.9MM team figure) last offseason. They’re on the other end this time around. As the AP notes, the three players who went to a hearing this year after winning in arbitration last offseason — Ramírez, Jason Adam and Luis Arraez — all lost this winter.

Of the 13 hearings thus far, arbitrators have sided with the players on seven. Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm and Marlins closer Tanner Scott have the two cases yet to be resolved.

Manfred: MLB Favors Free Agent Signing Deadline

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Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed a few topics in his chat with reporters this afternoon. His announcement that he wouldn’t seek another term beyond 2029 was the most significant development. Among the other topics: the league’s desire for a free agency window during the offseason.

“We would prefer to have a free agency signing period, ideally in December, with a deadline,” Manfred said, regarding the league office and the owners (relayed by Alex Speier of the Boston Globe). Manfred confirmed the league has floated that possibility in conversations with the MLB Players Association, which opposes the idea.

“We actually made proposals to that effect to the MLBPA. They were not warmly received,” he continued (link via ESPN’s David Schoenfield). “With the system we have right now, one of the tactics that’s available to player representatives is to stretch out the negotiation in the belief they’re going to get a better deal. That’s part of the system right now. There’s not a lot we can do about it. Certainly, from an aspirational perspective, we’d rather have two weeks of flurried activity in December, preferably around the winter meetings where (media is) all there to write about it.”

Some agencies, most notably the Boras Corporation, are more comfortable than others in encouraging players to wait deep into the winter to sign. That’s hardly unanimous — high-profile Boras Corp. clients like Corey Seager, Brandon Nimmo, Carlos Rodón and Xander Bogaerts have inked huge contracts relatively early in prior offseasons — but it has again been a topic of conversation with Cody Bellinger, Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery and Matt Chapman all unsigned into the second week of February.

[Related: Boras Clients Who Signed After January In Previous Offseasons]

One can debate how much responsibility for slowly-developing markets falls on agents, as Manfred implied, versus clubs themselves. Teams can have a similar motivation for waiting to either put an official proposal on the table or move towards a player’s asking price. Clubs could hope that players will feel increased pressure to have a deal in place by the early part of Spring Training and lower their demands. While there’s surely some level of brinkmanship on either side of negotiations that linger for three or four months, there’s no doubt that MLB’s free agent period plays out more slowly than those of other main sports.

The NFL, NBA and NHL all have salary caps and floors, a key distinguishing feature from MLB. That plays a part in spurring early-offseason activity in those other leagues as teams have fixed budgetary ranges. There’s more variability in team payrolls in MLB, which has the luxury tax to disincentivize spending at the top end. There’s no official salary floor beyond the cost of filling a roster with players on league minimum salaries (although obviously no team pares spending to that extent).

While the sport’s salary structure is a significant factor, there’s no question that some kind of signing deadline — whether an end date for multi-year contracts or any major league signing — would translate to a flurry of activity. The impending lockout and transaction freeze on December 1, 2021, led to a run on free agent signings.

As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, there were 30 multi-year free agent deals agreed upon by December 1 that winter. There were eight such contracts last offseason and only six this past fall. Edwin Díaz and Aaron Nola are the only players to sign nine-figure guarantees before the end of November over the last two offseasons, with both remaining with their previous organizations. There were six deals that exceeded $100MM before the lockout in 2021; all six players changed teams.

It’s easy to make the case that’s a more compelling offseason for fans, even if it’d result in minimal activity in January and February. At this point, it’s mostly academic though.

The MLBPA is broadly opposed to what it perceives as restricting players’ options during free agency. The union certainly harbors concern that a deadline would allow teams to hold firm as that date approaches with higher urgency for players to find jobs before a temporary transaction freeze. It stands to reason the league will try to reengage on this issue once talks get under way about the next collective bargaining agreement in 2026, although it’s hard to envision the MLBPA being more receptive to the idea at that point.

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