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Dodgers Designate Jake Reed For Assignment

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The Dodgers have designated reliever Jake Reed for assignment. The move clears a spot on the 40-man roster for designated hitter J.D. Martinez, who has officially signed his one-year, $10MM contract.

It’s another trip to DFA limbo for Reed, something with which he’s become unfortunately familiar. The right-hander has bounced around the league quite a bit in recent months, continuing to attract interest from various clubs at the back of the 40-man roster. Since July, Reed has gone from the Mets to the Dodgers to the Orioles to the Red Sox and back to L.A. via waivers. It’s possible he now changes uniforms again, as he’ll be traded or waived within the next week.

A low-slot righty, Reed has pitched in the majors in each of the last two years. He’s split that time with the Dodgers, Mets and Orioles, working to a cumulative 5.74 ERA through 26 2/3 innings. He has a below-average 19.2% strikeout percentage and 39.8% grounder rate with a roughly average 8.3% walk percentage in that time.

The University of Oregon product has had a better go in the minor leagues. He’s logged time at the Triple-A level in six different years, putting up a 3.84 ERA through 215 2/3 frames with a solid 25.6% strikeout rate at the top minor league level. It was a similar story this past season, with Reed posting a 3.09 ERA and a 26:8 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 20 Triple-A appearances between three organizations.

That capable track record at the upper levels has continued to catch the attention of clubs with room at the back of the roster. The 30-year-old still has a minor league option year remaining, so any team that keeps him on the 40-man  could bounce him between the majors and Triple-A for another season.

Cubs Designate P.J. Higgins For Assignment

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The Cubs announced they’ve designated P.J. Higgins for assignment. The move opens a spot on the 40-man roster for fellow catcher Tucker Barnhart, who has officially signed a two-year free agent deal.

Higgins, 29, has appeared in the majors in each of the last two seasons. A 12th-round pick back in 2015, he reached the majors in 2021 after six seasons climbing Chicago’s minor league ranks. That first stint proved brief, as Higgins played in just nine games before tearing the UCL in his throwing arm. He required Tommy John surgery and missed the rest of the season. At the end of the year, Chicago ran him through outright waivers rather than reinstate him from the injured list.

The Old Dominion product quickly returned to the only organization he’s known, inking a minor league contract a few weeks later. He spent the first six weeks of the 2022 campaign with Triple-A Iowa before being re-selected onto the MLB roster. The season saw Higgins log his first extensive major league action, as he appeared in 74 games and picked up 229 plate appearances.

It was a fairly successful look, as Higgins posted a .229/.310/.383 line with six home runs and 11 doubles. That was a bit better than the .228/.295/.368 mark compiled by catchers around the league. The right-hander showed decent contact skills and plate discipline, albeit with very modest hard contact numbers. He’s shown a similar high-OBP profile throughout his time in the minors, compiling a .279/.365/.378 line through 2100 career MiLB plate appearances.

While he hit fairly well for the position, Higgins didn’t rate highly in the eyes of public defensive marks. Statcast rated him a couple runs below average as a pitch framer through 236 innings behind the dish. His arm strength similarly rated below par, with his average pop time (time to throw to second on a steal attempt) checking in 60th among 73 backstops with 10+ throws. He successfully threw out only three of 16 basestealers. Higgins was also behind the plate for three passed balls and 13 wild pitches in 24 starts as a catcher, with Defensive Runs Saved estimating him as six runs below average overall.

Despite those defensive numbers, Higgins could find some interest from another club on the waiver wire. Catching depth is always in demand, and Higgins has flashed better offensive capabilities than most reserve catchers. Adding to the appeal, Higgins has a full slate of minor league option years remaining. Any team willing to carry him on the 40-man roster could keep him in Triple-A for the foreseeable future. If Higgins were to go unclaimed on waivers, he’d have the right to elect minor league free agency as a player who has previously been outrighted in his career.

Hyun-Jin Ryu Targeting July Return From Tommy John Surgery

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Hyun Jin Ryu saw his 2022 season cut short in mid-June, when a second bout of forearm soreness necessitated Tommy John surgery. Now more than six months removed from that procedure, the former All-Star is on track in his recovery.

Speaking with reporters in his home country of South Korea, Ryu said his rehab process remains on schedule (via Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News). The veteran starter indicated he hopes he can return to the Jays in July, roughly 13 months after going under the knife. All-Star festivities are scheduled for July 9-13, but a return early in the season’s unofficial second half seems like a rough target date as things stand.

Of course, that’s contingent on future steps in his rehab. Any kind of setback or delay once Ryu returns to throwing could push back that timetable. If all goes well, however, it’s possible he’ll play a role on the Toronto pitching staff for what the team hopes to be another postseason run.

Ryu made just six starts in 2022, allowing a 5.67 ERA across 27 innings. Forearm inflammation cost him a month between April and May and he suffered the setback that required surgery just four starts after his return from that IL stint. Through his first two seasons north of the border, the former ERA leader had a decent amount of success. He posted a 2.69 ERA across 12 starts during the truncated 2020 campaign, securing a third-place finish in AL Cy Young balloting as a result. His 4.37 ERA in 2021 marked a notable step back, but he stayed healthy enough to soak up 169 innings through 31 starts that year.

Toronto has an excellent top of the rotation, with Alek Manoah and Kevin Gausman backed up by offseason signee Chris Bassitt. The Jays are hoping for a bounceback year from José Berríos, who had a disappointing first full season in Toronto but was an above-average pitcher between 2017-21. The fifth spot is up in the air, with neither Yusei Kikuchi nor Mitch White seizing the job. Former top prospect Nate Pearson remains on hand but pitched just 15 1/3 minor league innings in 2022 due to mononucleosis and a lat strain.

Ryu is headed into the final season of the four-year free agent deal he inked during the 2019-20 offseason. He’ll make $20MM before hitting the open market again at the end of the year. Getting back onto the mound and demonstrating his health with a handful of late-season starts would be a nice boost to his stock heading into the 2023-24 offseason.

Marlins Sign Jean Segura

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December 29: Segura’s deal has a third year team option, per Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. It’s not clear what kind of option that is, but Mish provides the specific financial breakdown. Segura will make $6.5MM in 2023 and $8.5MM in 2024, then there’s a $10MM option for 2025 with a $2MM buyout.

December 28: The Marlins are in agreement on a deal with Jean Segura, as first reported by Héctor Gómez of Z101 (Twitter link). Once finalized, it’ll be a two-year, $17MM contract for the CAA client.

Segura has spent the last four years in the NL East. The Phillies acquired the right-handed hitting infielder over the 2018-19 offseason in a deal that sent J.P. Crawford and offloaded the final season of Carlos Santana’s contract to the Mariners. He spent four seasons as an everyday middle infielder in Philadelphia. He hit free agency at the start of this offseason when the team bought him out for $1MM in lieu of a $17MM option.

As he has for much of his career, Segura provided consistently effective work on both sides of the ball. He hit between 10 and 14 home runs in all three full seasons while stealing between nine and 13 bases in each year. In each of the past three seasons, he’s put up slightly above-average numbers at the plate. Since the start of the 2019 campaign, the two-time All-Star owns a .281/.337/.418 line through just under 1800 trips to the dish.

Segura has typically been a durable and reliable presence in the lineup, topping 125 games in all eight full seasons from 2013-21 and playing in 57 of 60 games during the abbreviated 2020 campaign. That wasn’t the case in 2022, as he fractured his right index finger on a bunt attempt at the end of May. That required surgery and sidelined him through early August, but Segura’s rate production this year was in line with that of prior seasons.

The 32-year-old (33 in March) hit .277/.336/.387 over 387 plate appearances. He’s not one to draw many walks or hit for huge power, but he makes plenty of contact. Segura only struck out in 15% of his trips to the plate and has posted a lower than average strikeout percentage in every season of his career. He put the bat on the ball on 83.2% of his swings this past season, a rate that’s nearly six percentage points higher than the league average. Those contact skills are certainly appealing to a Marlins club that entered the offseason seeking hitters with low strikeout rates.

It’s the first notable roster move of the winter for Miami general manager Kim Ng and her staff. They’ve sought to upgrade a lineup that ranked 28th in MLB in run scoring but hadn’t made any moves to bolster the offense thus far. Segura adds a potential top-of-the-lineup threat for first-year manager Skip Schumaker.

While he’s a solid addition to the batting order, it’s not as ideal a fit positionally. Segura played shortstop for the early part of his career but posted below-average defensive marks there in 2019. After that season, Philadelphia signed Didi Gregorius and kicked Segura to the other side of the bag. He’s played almost exclusively second base for three years, with just 21 starts at third base and two starts at shortstop (all in 2020) over that stretch. Segura has manned shortstop for only two innings in the past two seasons.

Since moving to the keystone, the Dominican Republic native has rated highly with the glove. Defensive Runs Saved has credited him a cumulative six runs above average for the past three years, while Statcast has pegged him 13 runs above par. Second base is his best position at this stage of his career, meaning it appears young star Jazz Chisholm Jr. will kick over to shortstop. While Chisholm came up as a shortstop prospect, he’s played mostly second base in MLB. Like Segura, he didn’t log a single inning outside of second base in 2022. In a fairly small sample of 329 2/3 innings at shortstop from 2020-21, Chisholm rated as a below-average defender by both DRS and Statcast.

Moving Chisholm to shortstop could signal a reduction in playing time for Miguel Rojas. Regarded as Miami’s unofficial team captain, Rojas has been the primary shortstop in South Florida for five straight seasons. He’s a quality defender but hit only .236/.283/.323 across 507 plate appearances in 2022. That lackluster offensive showing could be partially explained by injury, as the 33-year-old underwent surgery to repair cartilage damage in his right wrist at season’s end. Rojas is under contract for $5MM next season and reportedly drew some trade interest from the Red Sox earlier this winter. Miami could certainly keep Rojas around as infield depth — particularly if they deal third baseman Joey Wendle instead — but the Segura signing could make them more willing to entertain trade offers on their incumbent shortstop.

Segura was one of four players and two position players (the other being Jurickson Profar) from MLBTR’s pre-offseason top 50 free agents who hadn’t yet agreed to terms. The reported contract is a near-match for the two years and $18MM which MLBTR had projected. The deal’s specific financial breakdown remains unreported, but evenly distributing $8.5MM salaries would bring Miami’s estimated 2023 payroll to $103MM, as calculated by Roster Resource. That’d be a fair bit north of this past season’s $79MM Opening Day mark.

How much money Ng and her staff still have to play with isn’t clear, though the club could continue to look for ways to address the offense. Center field is an obvious area of need, while Miami may add behind the plate or at the corner infield. The Marlins’ stable of quality young pitching gives them the chance to turn to the trade market for offensive help, which now figures to be the course of action after tonight’s dip into free agency.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Braves Acquire Eli White From Rangers

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The Braves announced they’ve acquired outfielder Eli White from the Rangers in exchange for cash. Infielder Hoy Park was designated for assignment to clear a 40-man roster spot. Texas had DFA White last week.

White, 28, has appeared at the MLB level in each of the last three seasons. A former Oakland draftee who landed with the Rangers in the Jurickson Profar swap before the 2019 campaign, he debuted with Texas the next year. White played a sporadic role for the next few seasons, suiting up in 130 games. He owns a .185/.260/.295 line over that stretch, hitting nine home runs but striking out at a massive 31.6% clip.

While While hasn’t hit much at the MLB level, he’s shown flashes in other areas. He’s stolen 17 bags in 22 career attempts, including a 12-for-13 success rate this year. The Clemson product has demonstrated that athleticism on defense, with Defensive Runs Saved pegging him 11 runs above average through 890 career innings of outfield work. He’s rated as nine runs better than par by Statcast’s Outs Above Average, with most of his time in left and center field.

White’s 2022 season was cut short in June when he fractured his right wrist in an outfield collision. The injury required surgery, but there’s no indication it’ll have any lingering effects on his 2023 preparation. Assuming he holds his 40-man roster spot all winter, he’ll compete for a bench job in Spring Training. Atlanta has Marcell Ozuna, Eddie Rosario, Jordan Luplow and Sam Hilliard all jockeying for left field playing time alongside Michael Harris II and Ronald Acuña Jr. No one in the left field mix — White included — can be optioned to the minor leagues, so Atlanta may wind up dropping one or two of those players from the 40-man roster before the regular season kicks off.

Park landed in Atlanta less than two weeks ago. The Braves acquired the left-handed hitting infielder from the Red Sox for cash or a player to be named later. He’d just been claimed off waivers by Boston from the Pirates, and he’ll head into DFA limbo for a third time this winter.

The 26-year-old has a .201/.291/.346 line in 210 MLB plate appearances with the Yankees and Bucs in the past two seasons. He’s shown solid plate discipline but hit for below-average power and struck out at a slightly elevated rate. The South Korea native is a .255/.384/.417 hitter in parts of two Triple-A campaigns. He’s played each of second, third base, shortstop and all three outfield spots in his limited MLB time. Park has two minor league option years remaining, so another team willing to devote him a 40-man roster spot could keep him in Triple-A for the next couple seasons. He’ll be traded or waived yet again in the next seven days.

Braves Acquire Lucas Luetge From Yankees

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The Braves announced they’ve acquired reliever Lucas Luetge from the Yankees. Minor leaguers Caleb Durbin and Indigo Diaz are headed back in return. To clear a spot on their 40-man roster, Atlanta designated first baseman Lewin Díaz for assignment.

New York surprisingly designated Luetge for assignment last Wednesday. That opened a one-week window for them to trade him or place him on waivers, but the former outcome always seemed likelier. The veteran southpaw has been a productive piece of the New York bullpen over the past two years, so it’s no surprise to see a team part with some minor league talent to keep him off waivers.

Luetge, 35, pitched two seasons in the Bronx after signing a minor league deal during the 2020-21 offseason. Over his time in pinstripes, he put together a 2.71 ERA through 129 2/3 frames. That included a sub-3.00 mark in both years, with Luetge topping 55 innings in each season. His 2022 campaign saw him put together a 2.67 mark across 57 1/3 frames, striking out a solid 23.9% of opponents against a better than average 6.8% walk rate.

The veteran has held left-handed opponents to a .229/.281/.324 line in 185 plate appearances since joining the Yankees. Righties have a .268/.320/.395 slash that’s better but not overwhelming, meaning Luetge doesn’t have to be leveraged solely against same-handed hitters. He doesn’t throw hard but he’s been excellent at staying off barrels. Only 23.5% of batted balls against him this past season were hit hard, per Statcast; that’s the lowest rate of any qualified pitcher in the game.

Luetge has between four and five years of major league service. He’s arbitration-eligible for the next two seasons, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting a $1.7MM salary in 2023. He’ll add a third southpaw to what should be a very strong Atlanta relief corps, with A.J. Minter and Dylan Lee on hand for higher-leverage work.

The acquisition bumps Lewin Díaz off the 40-man roster and back into DFA limbo. That’s familiar territory for the 26-year-old first baseman, who has changed organizations four times this winter. He’s gone from the Marlins to the Pirates to the Orioles via waivers, and Atlanta just purchased his contract from Baltimore last week.

The Braves will now have a week to deal Díaz or try to pass him through waivers, so it’s possible he changes teams again in the coming days. A left-handed hitter, he’s a .181/.227/.340 hitter through 112 MLB games. Díaz has a more impressive .250/.325/.504 mark in just under 700 Triple-A plate appearances, though. He’s also regarded as a plus defender at first base, with public defensive metrics very bullish on his early-career work at the position. That’s led to a decent amount of interest around the league, though Díaz hasn’t yet stuck on a 40-man roster very long this winter.

As for the Yankees, they’ll bring in some minor league talent. Indigo Diaz was a 27th-round pick in the 2019 draft. He entered the 2022 campaign as the #21 prospect in the Atlanta system, according to Baseball America. The 24-year-old spent the whole season at Double-A Mississippi, posting a 3.08 ERA through 49 2/3 innings of relief. The 6’5″ righty struck out nearly 30% of opposing hitters but walked batters at a huge 14.6% clip. Diaz went unselected in this offseason’s Rule 5 draft and adds some non-roster bullpen depth to the upper minors in New York.

Durbin went in the 14th round in the 2021 draft. He split this past season between two A-ball levels, hitting .241/.352/.372 across 450 plate appearances with matching 10.9% strikeout and walk rates. A right-handed hitter, Durbin split his time between second, third base and shortstop. He turns 23 in February and won’t be eligible for the Rule 5 draft until after the 2024 campaign.

Pirates Designate Bryse Wilson For Assignment

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The Pirates announced they’ve designated Bryse Wilson for assignment. The move clears a spot on the 40-man roster for Jarlín García, who has officially signed his one-year deal with a 2024 club option.

A fourth-round draftee of the Braves out of a North Carolina high school in 2016, Wilson developed into one of the sport’s better pitching prospects a few seasons later. The right-hander ranked among Baseball America’s top 100 minor league talents in advance of the 2019 season after debuting with three MLB appearances late in the prior year.

Despite that lofty prospect pedigree, Wilson never got much run in the Atlanta starting staff. He’d start just six of 12 outings the next two years before picking up eight starts in the first half of the 2021 campaign. Wilson pitched fairly well at the Triple-A level but managed only a 5.90 ERA through 23 appearances in an Atlanta uniform. In advance of the ’21 trade deadline, the Braves dealt him and minor league pitcher Ricky DeVito to Pittsburgh for reliever Richard Rodríguez.

That trade didn’t pan out as either team had envisioned. Rodríguez struggled down the stretch and was non-tendered at the end of the season. Wilson has spent a season and a half in Pittsburgh but didn’t seize a permanent rotation spot. Since landing with the Bucs, he’s posted a 5.37 ERA across 156 innings in 33 appearances (28 starts). Wilson struck out a below-average 15% of opposing hitters while allowing a .279/.330/.484 line in just under 700 plate appearances.

Wilson did demonstrate the quality control for which he was credited as a prospect. He walked only 6.2% of opponents as a Pirate, including a 6.3% clip through 115 2/3 frames this past season. He induced grounders this year at a roughly average 43.3% rate, the highest of his career.

The Pirates squeezed Wilson out of the rotation in recent weeks with free agent additions of Vince Velasquez and Rich Hill. That duo figures to join Roansy Contreras, JT Brubaker and Mitch Keller in the season-opening starting five. They’ll now have a week to trade Wilson or attempt to run him through waivers.

While Wilson hasn’t yet found much MLB success, he could attract the interest of a pitching-needy club. He just turned 25 this month and had a strong prospect pedigree in the not too distant past. Wilson’s velocity has backed up in recent years, dropping from the 94-95 MPH range to roughly 91-92 MPH this year. He’s shown above-average control and mixes six pitches, however, so another team with some uncertainty at the back of their starting staff could look into a claim. Wilson is out of minor league option years, so an acquiring team would have to keep him on their active roster or again make him available to other clubs.

Which Free Agents Remain For Teams Seeking Rotation Help?

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With the holiday slowing down what had become a very rapid offseason, it works as a natural point to take stock of what players clubs could target in the coming weeks. On Monday, MLBTR looked through the remaining free agent relievers coming off the best 2022 campaigns (one of whom has since signed a major league deal). Now we’ll take stock of the rotation options who are still out on the open market.

There aren’t as many starting pitchers for clubs to sort through as there were bullpen targets, with 19 remaining hurlers who tallied at least 20 rotation innings this past season. We’ll look at the top half of that group by various metrics to determine who teams figure to prioritize as they seek starting pitching depth.

Note: all figures cited, including league averages, are looking solely at pitchers’ outings as starters.

ERA (league average — 4.05)

  1. Johnny Cueto (RHP), 3.29
  2. Michael Wacha (RHP), 3.32
  3. Wade Miley (LHP), 3.34
  4. Bryan Garcia (RHP), 3.54
  5. Zack Greinke (RHP), 3.68
  6. Devin Smeltzer (LHP), 4.02
  7. Zach Davies (RHP), 4.06
  8. Aníbal Sánchez (RHP), 4.28
  9. Drew Hutchison (RHP), 4.52

Strikeout rate (league average — 21.6%)

  1. Chase Anderson (RHP), 24.6%
  2. Matt Swarmer (RHP), 22.4%
  3. Bryan Garcia, 20.2%
  4. Michael Wacha, 20.2%
  5. Chris Archer (RHP), 19.2%
  6. Wade Miley, 18.4%
  7. Zach Davies, 17.9%
  8. Chad Kuhl (RHP), 17.8%
  9. Mike Minor (LHP), 16.7%

Strikeout/walk rate differential (league average — 14.1 percentage points)

  1. Michael Wacha, 14.2 points
  2. Matt Swarmer, 13.1 points
  3. Dylan Bundy (RHP), 11.1 points
  4. Chase Anderson, 10.6 points
  5. Johnny Cueto, 10.5 points
  6. Wade Miley, 9.2 points
  7. Michael Pineda (RHP), 9 points
  8. Aaron Sanchez (RHP), 9 points
  9. Zach Davies, 8.8 points

Ground-ball rate (league average — 42.5%)

  1. Wade Miley, 54.2%
  2. Aaron Sanchez, 51.3%
  3. Chase Anderson, 50.9%
  4. Dallas Keuchel (LHP), 50.2%
  5. Jared Koenig (LHP), 47.2%
  6. Chris Archer, 43.7%
  7. Zach Davies, 42.9%
  8. Johnny Cueto, 42.5%
  9. Zack Greinke, 41.3%

FIP (league average — 4.04)

  1. Johnny Cueto, 3.76
  2. Wade Miley, 4.00
  3. Zack Greinke, 4.03
  4. Michael Wacha, 4.14
  5. Chase Anderson, 4.37
  6. Chris Archer, 4.49
  7. Aaron Sanchez, 4.61
  8. Dylan Bundy, 4.66
  9. Zach Davies, 4.83

Innings pitched

  1. Johnny Cueto, 153 1/3
  2. Dylan Bundy, 140
  3. Zack Greinke, 137
  4. Chad Kuhl, 137
  5. Zach Davies, 134 1/3
  6. Michael Wacha, 127 1/3
  7. Chris Archer, 102 2/3
  8. Mike Minor, 98
  9. Drew Hutchison, 89 2/3

Rangers Sign Nathan Eovaldi

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The Rangers announced another rotation addition, signing Nathan Eovaldi to a two-year deal with a vesting/player option for the 2025 campaign. The ACES client will be paid a $2MM signing bonus followed by $16MM salaries in each of the next two seasons. The option — which is valued at $20MM — would kick in as a player option if Eovaldi throws 300 combined innings from 2023-24. It’d also be triggered if the righty finishes in the top five in Cy Young voting in 2024 or finishes in the top seven that year and qualifies for the All-Star team. Eovaldi also has limited no-trade protection and innings-based incentives that could allow him to make as much as $63MM over the next three seasons.

Eovaldi has spent the past four-plus seasons with the Red Sox. Boston first acquired the righty from the Rays at the 2018 trade deadline, adding the impending free agent for their playoff push. Eovaldi was excellent in 12 regular season appearances, then added 22 1/3 innings of 1.61 ERA ball in the postseason. At year’s end, Boston rewarded him for his finish with a four-year, $68MM free agent deal.

That contract looked shaky in year one, as Eovaldi posted an ERA just south of 6.00 in 2019 — a season in which he missed a notable chunk of action due to loose bodies in his throwing elbow. He righted the ship in the second season, though, posting a 3.72 ERA through nine outings during the shortened 2020 campaign.

Eovaldi followed up with maybe the best full season of his career in 2021. He made all 32 starts and posted a 3.75 ERA through 182 1/3 innings, striking out 25.5% of opponents against a 4.6% walk rate. That showing earned him his first career All-Star selection, as well as a fourth place finish in AL Cy Young balloting.

Unfortunately, injury issues cropped back up in 2022. Eovaldi missed chunks of what proved to be his final season in Boston due to a pair of injured list stints. He lost time between June and July with lower back inflammation and missed most of August and September thanks to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. The pair of injuries kept him to 20 starts and 109 1/3 frames, although his production on a rate basis was around his career norms.

Eovaldi managed a 3.87 ERA, striking out a slightly above-average 22.4% of batters faced. He walked a minuscule 4.3% of opponents while inducing grounders on 47% of batted balls he surrendered. Eovaldi isn’t the ace his 2021 fourth-place Cy Young finish might suggest, but he’s an above-average mid-rotation arm when healthy.

That production doesn’t come the way one might expect given Eovaldi’s power arsenal. He’s one of the game’s hardest throwers, averaging north of 97 MPH for much of his career. However, he’s never posted the elite strikeout rates typically associated with that velocity. Eovaldi’s best trait is instead his ability to pound the strike zone. He’s walked fewer than 5% of opponents in each of the past three years; his cumulative 4.4% walk percentage since the start of 2020 is second-lowest among the 120 pitchers with 200+ frames over that stretch (trailing only the 4.3% mark of Clayton Kershaw).

Eovaldi’s willingness to attack the zone has led to home run issues at times. He’s allowed homers at a higher than average clip in three of the last four years, including an elevated 1.73 homers per nine innings this past season. That’s the only red flag in Eovaldi’s recent performance track record but his health and age presumably gave some teams pause. He’ll be 33 in February, making him one of the older options in a deep class of mid-rotation starters available in free agency.

In addition to this year’s shoulder and back concerns, he has a history of elbow problems. Eovaldi underwent Tommy John surgery in high school, then missed the 2017 campaign after undergoing the procedure a second time in August 2016. He hasn’t required any IL stints due to elbow concerns since the aforementioned 2019 loose bodies. The back and shoulder injuries of this past season might be more acute problems, as Eovaldi’s average fastball velocity dipped from its customary 96-97 MPH range early in the season to roughly 94 MPH after his first IL stint.

Those injuries seemed to depress Eovaldi’s market. Chris Bassitt landed a three-year, $63MM deal headed into his age-34 campaign, while players like Jameson Taillon and Taijuan Walker secured strong four-year pacts despite less consistent performance track records than Eovaldi’s. Many of the free agent starters this offseason landed stronger than expected deals, but Eovaldi’s guarantee exactly matches MLBTR’s prediction from the outset of the offseason.

Eovaldi’s camp was also working against the qualifying offer. He turned down a QO from Boston at the start of the winter, tying any signing team to draft compensation. That was also the case for Bassitt but didn’t come into play for Walker and Taillon.

Texas hasn’t shown much concern about losing draft choices to add quality talent via free agency. They surrendered two picks to sign Corey Seager and Marcus Semien last winter, and they’ll do so again this offseason. The Rangers already forfeited a draft choice to sign Jacob deGrom to a five-year deal. That lessens the price they’ll have to pay in Eovaldi’s case. Texas surrendered their second-highest draft choice in 2023 and $500K in international signing bonus space to add deGrom. They’ll be docked another $500K in signing bonus room and their third-highest pick for Eovaldi.

After the Seager and Semien splashes to bolster the lineup last offseason, the Rangers have thoroughly overhauled their starting staff this winter. Texas acquired Jake Odorizzi from the Braves within the first few days. Left-hander Martín Pérez soon after accepted a qualifying offer, but that didn’t slow down Texas GM Chris Young or his front office. Since free agency opened, they’ve nabbed deGrom on the largest pitching contract of the offseason and brought in Andrew Heaney and Eovaldi on two-year guarantees.

Eovaldi adds another mid-rotation caliber starter to what now looks like a potentially fearsome Rangers rotation. deGrom headlines the staff, backed up by Jon Gray, Eovaldi, Pérez and Heaney. Odorizzi and Dane Dunning seem as if they’ll be pushed into depth roles, though there’s enough injury uncertainty with most of the top five it’s understandable Texas wouldn’t take its foot off the gas in pursuing outside help.

Owner Ray Davis and the front office haven’t shown many qualms about spending. Tacking on Eovaldi’s $16MM salary to next year’s books brings their projected payroll around $196MM, per Roster Resource. That’ll be a franchise record, easily topping the organization’s previous Opening Day high-water mark of $165MM. The deal’s $17MM average annual value brings their competitive balance tax number around $220MM, per Roster Resource, leaving them $13MM shy of next year’s $233MM base tax threshold.

The rotation hefty lifting looks to be complete, but Texas is known to be seeking ways to upgrade in the corner outfield. There’s room for a mid-tier free agent pickup there if the team prefers to stay under the CBT marker, though it’s also possible Davis is comfortable pushing past that threshold. The franchise’s boldness this winter has backed up their claims they plan to compete for a playoff spot in 2023, as both the Rangers and Angels have worked to try to close the gap with the Astros and Mariners in the AL West.

It’s another free agent departure for the Red Sox, who have seen a few notable players head elsewhere. Eovaldi and Xander Bogaerts each left after declining a qualifying offer. Boston receives draft compensation for both, though that’s a rather minimal benefit in their case. The Red Sox narrowly exceeded the CBT threshold in 2022, a decision that didn’t pay off when the club stumbled to a last-place finish down the stretch. They only receive bonus selections after the fourth round in next year’s draft as a result.

Robert Murray of FanSided first reported the Rangers and Eovaldi were in agreement. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News was first to report it was a two-year deal with an option, as well as the specific financial breakdown. Jeff Passan of ESPN was first with the $34MM guarantee and the third-year option being a vesting/player provision, as well as the option specifics. Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported the no-trade protection and potential to vest the option based on Cy Young voting.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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