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Mets, Connor Overton Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mets reached agreement on a deal with Connor Overton, as announced by the pitcher’s representatives at KHG Sports Management. It’s surely a minor league contract for the 31-year-old righty.

Overton pitched in the big leagues in each year between 2021-23. He split that time between the Blue Jays, Pirates and Reds. Overton started 10 of his 18 appearances and worked to a 4.85 ERA across 59 1/3 innings. He struck out a well below-average 15.7% of batters faced against a 9.5% walk rate. Cincinnati outrighted him off the 40-man roster at the end of the ’23 season. They brought him back on a minor league deal not long after he elected free agency.

An injury cost him most of last season. Overton began the year on the minor league IL and wasn’t reinstated to the Triple-A roster until early August. Opponents teed off for more than a run per inning over his 24 2/3 frames to close the year. That obviously wasn’t going to get him another MLB look from Cincinnati. Overton hit minor league free agency again at season’s end.

While last year was a disaster, Overton has a solid minor league track record. He owns a 3.87 ERA in parts of five Triple-A seasons. His 21.4% strikeout rate there is a little below average, while his 5.3% walk rate is excellent. Overton sits in the 90-91 MPH range on his fastball and isn’t going to overpower many hitters. He profiles as a strike-throwing depth arm with the versatility to make a few spot starts or pitch in long relief over the course of the season.

A’s, Lawrence Butler In Ongoing Extension Negotiations

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The A’s have opened extension discussions with outfielder Lawrence Butler, reports Evan Drellich of The Athletic. General manager David Forst confirmed to Drellich that the team is engaged in extension talks with multiple players, though he unsurprisingly didn’t specify which ones.

Butler is a logical target. The 24-year-old had a big season to emerge as a key piece of a developing offensive core. Butler hit .262/.317/.490 with 24 doubles, two triples, and a pair of home runs through 451 plate appearances. He went a perfect 18-18 on stolen base attempts. The positives were almost all concentrated in a monster second half. Butler raked at a .300/.345/.553 clip with 13 homers and 32 extra-base hits after the All-Star Break.

The lefty-swinging Butler had entered the break as a career .205/.260/.337 hitter. He had struck out at close to a 30% clip to that point. He sliced the strikeout rate by nearly 10 percentage points in the second half. By measure of wRC+, Butler was among the ten most productive qualified hitters in the majors during that stretch.

There’s still a relatively small sample of major league success. Butler’s productivity against MLB pitching is essentially limited to three months. An extension would be a bet on the A’s part that the second half represented a legitimate breakout. There’s an argument to wait and see if Butler can maintain that level of production over a full season. At the same time, that’d run the risk of him dramatically raising his earning power with another strong year.

Butler narrowly surpassed one year of major league service. He’s under club control for five seasons and two years from arbitration eligibility. The A’s control him through his age-28 season. There have been a few extensions for hitters in that service range in recent years. Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar inked a seven-year, $63.5MM deal as he entered his age-22 season last spring. Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz signed for eight years and $50MM as a 24-year-old two seasons ago. The Pirates inked third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes to an eight-year, $70MM extension coming out of the 2022 lockout.

Those players all play more impactful positions. Tovar and Hayes were plus defenders on the left side of the infield. Ruiz is a catcher. Butler played some center field as a rookie, but he’s stretched at the position. The A’s kept him in right field last season. He posted average defensive marks in just under 1000 innings in the corner. Butler has demonstrated offensive upside beyond what anyone from the Tovar, Hayes or Ruiz group had shown at the time of their deals, however. His camp could aim for something approaching the Tovar/Hayes guarantees, though it remains to be seen if the A’s would make that kind of investment without a larger body of work.

The A’s have historically shied away from early-career extensions. As shown on MLBTR’s contract tracker, they haven’t extended a pre-arbitration player since inking Sean Doolittle to a $10MM guarantee more than a decade ago. This offseason has been a huge exception to their typical operating procedure. They signed Luis Severino to a three-year, $67MM free agent deal that represents the largest investment in franchise history. They followed by signing Brent Rooker to a five-year, $60MM extension as his arbitration window was opening.

The club also acquired Jeffrey Springs in a trade with Tampa Bay, assuming the remaining two years and $21.75MM on his deal. They dropped $10MM to bring in setup man José Leclerc via free agency. The A’s were reportedly targeting a competitive balance tax number of at least $105MM to ensure they didn’t forfeit their status as revenue sharing recipients. RosterResource estimates their CBT number around $107MM, so they’ve hit that mark, but it seems there’s still payroll space.

Rooker, Severino and Springs are the only players signed beyond this season. Rooker is the only player locked into the 2027 roster. The A’s hold a club option on Springs, while Severino has an opt-out during the 2026-27 offseason. There’s plenty of long-term flexibility, raising the possibility of extending multiple young players. Beyond Butler, catcher Shea Langeliers, shortstop Jacob Wilson, and center fielder JJ Bleday stand out as speculative extension candidates.

Jim Todd Passes Away

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Former major league pitcher Jim Todd passed away earlier this month at 77. A right-handed reliever, he pitched six seasons in the majors during the 1970s.

The Cubs selected Todd in the ’69 draft coming out of Millersville University in Pennsylvania. He was a starter throughout his minor league career but moved to the bullpen upon reaching the majors in 1974. Todd pitched to a 3.89 earned run average across 88 innings for the Cubs as a rookie. Chicago dealt him to the A’s that offseason.

Todd had his best season for Oakland in 1975. He recorded 12 saves while turning in a 2.29 ERA over 122 innings out of the bullpen. He received a down-ballot MVP vote in the process. Todd pitched in all three games of the ’75 AL Championship Series. Oakland was swept by the Red Sox in what would be his only career playoff action. Todd spent another four years in the majors, alternating good and bad seasons while splitting his time between the A’s, Cubs and Mariners.

Over parts of six seasons, Todd posted a 4.23 earned run average across 511 major league innings. He struck out 194 hitters, picked up 25 wins, and recorded 24 saves. He finished 119 of 270 career appearances. According to his obituary, Todd had a career in real estate after his playing days concluded. MLBTR sends our condolences to his family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.

Jordan Beck Enters Camp As Favorite For Rockies’ Right Field Job

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Jordan Beck has the inside track on the Rockies’ right field job, manager Bud Black said this week (link via Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post). The second-year outfielder is “the guy who probably gets the first crack at what you would call everyday at-bats,” Black told Saunders.

Beck is positioned to make an Opening Day roster for the first time in his big league career. Colorado called up the Tennessee product late last April. Beck played regularly in left field over the next few weeks, but he only hit .190 before breaking a bone in his left hand while making a diving catch. He underwent surgery and wound up missing over two months. Beck spent some time in the minors before returning to the MLB team in the middle of August. He continued to struggle after his second call-up, hitting .187/.282/.242 over the season’s final six weeks.

It clearly wasn’t a good rookie season. Beck appeared in 55 games and hit .188/.245/.276 across 184 trips to the plate. He struck out more than 35% of the time while drawing walks at only a 6.5% rate. Hand injuries can impact a hitter’s power, so that may have contributed to his modest output. Beck hit only three home runs with poor exit velocities and a subpar 32.1% hard contact rate.

Beck certainly has greater power upside. Prospect evaluators have credited him with plus raw power in his 6’3″, 225-pound frame. He’s a .284/.380/.509 hitter in nearly 900 minor league plate appearances. The offensive ceiling will largely be determined by how much he develops as a pure hitter. He’ll need to markedly improve upon his rookie-season strikeout and walk numbers. The righty hitter has taken plenty of walks in the minors, but scouts have questioned his elevated swing-and-miss rates since his college days.

It seems the Rockies feel the majors present the best place for that development. Beck only has 39 games of Triple-A experience. He has a full slate of options remaining, so Colorado could start him at Triple-A Albuquerque if they felt that’d be beneficial. Based on Black’s comments, it appears they believe he’s ready for an extended opportunity despite his tough rookie season. Beck tells Saunders that he fought through some mechanical issues with his swing after the injury but is coming into camp at full strength following a typical offseason.

Colorado projects to run a starting outfield of Nolan Jones, Brenton Doyle, and Beck from left to right. Jones is looking to rebound from a .227/.321/.320 showing, a disappointing follow-up to his .297/.389/.542 performance during his first season in Denver. Doyle is one of the biggest bright spots for the organization. He’s a Gold Glove center fielder who hit 23 homers while making major improvements to his plate discipline last season.

Sam Hilliard is lined up as the fourth outfielder, while Sean Bouchard and former top 10 pick Zac Veen could compete for right field work if Beck struggles early in the season. Kris Bryant could still see action there, but he’ll work primarily as a designated hitter after multiple injury-wrecked years.

Steve Cohen Discusses Mets’ Long-Term Spending Plans

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Mets owner Steve Cohen spoke with reporters on Tuesday morning, discussing the organization’s spending outlook after another huge offseason. Cohen acknowledged that a winter involving a record-setting Juan Soto contract and retaining Sean Manaea and Pete Alonso pushed spending beyond his initial expectations.

“It always seems like ballplayers are more expensive than you think,” the owner told reporters (including Newsday’s Tim Healey and Jorge Castillo of ESPN). “Listen, I have the ability to spend if I have to. I want to win. And I want to put the best team I can on the field. But free agency is expensive. … Even this year, I had a thought of where I wanted to be, and I’ve already blown through it. And I really wanted to be there. And just circumstances created, ’all right, I have to adapt my thinking.'”

Landing Soto required an eye-popping $51MM average annual value that handily shattered previous precedent. They successfully waited out Alonso’s market to avoid a long-term commitment, getting him on a two-year deal with an opt-out after the first season. That comes with a lofty $27MM AAV and a $30MM figure for the upcoming season, so it’s still a huge investment in 2025. Manaea landed three years and $75MM (albeit with deferrals), while Frankie Montas, Clay Holmes and A.J. Minter all secured multi-year contracts with eight-figure salaries.

RosterResource projects New York’s raw payroll around $331MM. Their competitive balance tax estimate is slightly lower at $325MM. Those seem to be within the ballpark, as Cohen told reporters that he expects to finish the season with a payroll in the $340MM range after accounting for in-season pickups (i.e. waiver claims and trade deadline acquisitions).

That could theoretically also include a Spring Training free agent move. There’s been some thought that the Mets could try to add to the rotation after the recent revelation that Montas will be out for an extended stretch because of a lat injury. Jose Quintana is arguably the best unsigned starting pitcher, but it seems the Mets aren’t circling back to the veteran southpaw. Mike Puma of The New York Post reported this morning that while Quintana has expressed interest in returning to Queens, the Mets haven’t been involved in his market.

The Mets will enter the year with the second-highest payroll in MLB behind the Dodgers. It’ll be the fourth straight season in which they not only pay the luxury tax but find themselves in the highest penalization tier. That’s $60MM above the base threshold. It was implemented in the 2022 collective bargaining agreement largely in response to other owners’ concerns that Cohen would blow the rest of the league away in spending. Teams that land in the top tax bracket and have paid the CBT in three or more consecutive seasons are charged a 110% tax on spending beyond that number, which lands at $301MM this year.

While the Mets are going to be firmly in that tier in ’25, Cohen said he’s hopeful of ducking below that line in future seasons. “I’d like to get below the Cohen Tax,” he said, alluding to the informal name for the highest tax bracket. “We sure it’s about me? There’s a lot of Cohens out there.” To that end, he somewhat downplayed the possibility of signing another extended megadeal next offseason. “You really can’t have too many long-term contracts, because then you lose your roster flexibility, so you need to be really careful,” he said. “But I’ll let my baseball people make that decision.”

This isn’t the first time that Cohen has spoken broadly about wanting to cut back spending over the long term. That hasn’t really happened. They ended last year with a tax number around $348MM, so this season is likely to represent a slight spending cut. RosterResource estimates their CBT number for 2026 around $206MM. Starling Marte’s four-year deal wraps up after the season, as do the one-year signings of Jesse Winker, Griffin Canning and Ryne Stanek. Alonso, Montas, Minter and Edwin Díaz all have opt-out chances.

Of that group, Alonso is most likely to retest the market. The star slugger didn’t find the long-term interest he’d expected, leading to the pillow deal. Alonso acknowledged that it represented “a bridge thing just to get to the next contract” (link via Tim Healey of Newsday). He conceded that his past two seasons have been below his peak standards, which contributed to a shorter deal. Alonso declined a three-year proposal from the Mets in order to take a more frontloaded two-year guarantee. Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote over the weekend that the Mets and Blue Jays had each made proposals earlier in the offseason in the $85MM range which included some amount of deferred money.

Alonso also said that the qualifying offer had a greater impact on his market than he’d anticipated. Any team other than the Mets would have forfeited a draft choice and/or international bonus pool space to sign him. The Mets merely relinquished the right to a fourth-round compensation pick to retain their own free agent. Players can only receive the QO once in their careers, so Alonso is positioned to hit the market unencumbered next offseason. He indicated he has no hard feelings with the Mets about how this winter played out and said it’d be “fantastic” if the sides eventually work out a longer-term contract.

Marlins Giving Jesus Sanchez Center Field Reps In Camp

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The Marlins will get Jesús Sánchez reps in center field this spring, manager Clayton McCullough said this morning (relayed by Isaac Azout of Fish on First). The 27-year-old still projects as Miami’s right fielder on most days but could see some action in center if he shows well in camp.

“We think he’s more than athletic enough, he’s done it in the past and he’s graded out well as an outfielder. To us, there’s no downside to do this in Spring Training,” McCullough said. The first-year skipper noted that he expects Dane Myers and Derek Hill to combine for the majority of playing time up the middle, though Sánchez could seemingly also factor in there.

Sánchez started nearly half of Miami’s games in center field back in 2022. He has moved almost exclusively to the corner outfield since then. He logged 58 innings in center two seasons ago and didn’t play there at all last year. Sánchez has primarily played right field while picking up a handful of starts in left.

The defensive grades have been solid, if unexceptional. Sánchez has graded as a league average defender by Statcast’s metrics in every season of his career. Defensive Runs Saved has been slightly more bullish on his corner outfield work, typically rating him a little better than average. DRS has graded him nine runs above average in over 3100 career innings. Both metrics felt his 2022 center field work was close to neutral.

Sánchez has average speed with good arm strength. He’s better suited for right field but probably athletic enough to play center on a part-time basis. Myers and Hill are each faster and better all-around athletes. They should provide better defense up the middle, but neither has much of an MLB track record. Myers, 29 next month, has a decent .265/.315/.407 slash over 66 career games. He has struck out in more than 30% of his plate appearances with a middling 5.6% walk rate. The 29-year-old Hill has hit .233/.276/.353 over parts of five MLB seasons.

Somewhat remarkably, the 27-year-old Sánchez is the most experienced hitter on Miami’s roster. He’s the only Marlins position player with over three years of service time. The former top prospect has settled in as a capable regular in right field. He has hit between 13 and 18 home runs in each of the last four seasons. He’s coming off a .252/.313/.417 showing that more or less aligns with his league average .240/.308/.428 career batting line.

The Marlins will have Sánchez in the everyday lineup somewhere in the outfield, most frequently in right. He could find himself on the move at the deadline. His $4.5MM arbitration salary makes him the second-highest paid player on the team behind Sandy Alcantara (not including the $17MM still owed to released outfielder Avisaíl García). He’s under club control for three seasons but could wind up as a non-tender candidate in a year or two as his projected salaries continue to climb. It stands to reason that the Marlins would be comfortable moving him if they find decent interest over the summer. Sánchez would be a slightly more valuable trade piece if he shows he’s an adequate center fielder, as that’d position him for a potential fourth outfield role on a contender.

D-Backs, Geraldo Perdomo Agree To Four-Year Extension

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February 18: The Diamondbacks have officially announced Perdomo’s extension. The shortstop will address the media today, along with general manager Mike Hazen.

February 17: The Diamondbacks have reportedly reached agreement with shortstop Geraldo Perdomo on a four-year extension that’ll cover the 2026-29 seasons. There’s also a fifth-year club option. Perdomo, a client of Republik Sports, is guaranteed $45MM. The deal buys out his final two arbitration seasons and at least two would-be free agent years, with the option covering a third free agent season.

Perdomo has a little over three years of major league service. He’d already agreed to a $2.55MM salary to cover his first season of arbitration. That is unchanged. He’ll collect a $5MM signing bonus and will earn $5MM in 2026, $8MM in ’27, $11MM in ’28, and $13MM in ’29. The option is valued at $15MM and comes with a $3MM buyout. His 2028-30 salaries could escalate if he finishes in the top 10 in MVP balloting. Perdomo had been on track to hit free agency in advance of his age-28 season. If the D-Backs exercise their option, he’d get to the market at age 31.

The switch-hitting Perdomo has established himself as Arizona’s shortstop behind a solid glove and strong plate approach. He debuted in 2021 but didn’t get a real opportunity until the following season. He provided very little offensively as a rookie, but he has been a league average hitter over the last two years.

Perdomo had an excellent first half in 2023. He earned an All-Star nod behind a .271/.378/.408 showing. The offense cratered coming out of the All-Star Break, as he managed only a .214/.322/.297 line in the second half. Nevertheless, manager Torey Lovullo declared early in last year’s Spring Training that he remained committed to Perdomo as the everyday shortstop.

Last season got off to a rough start. The middle infielder suffered a meniscus tear in his right knee within the first two weeks of the season. He underwent surgery that shelved him until early June. Perdomo played well upon returning, hitting .274/.345/.380 with 20 doubles and a pair of homers across 361 plate appearances. He carries a .258/.349/.366 slash in nearly 900 trips to the plate over the last two seasons.

Perdomo has a throwback offensive approach. He has drawn walks at a strong 11.3% clip while keeping his strikeout rate to a modest 16.3% since the start of 2023. He has 41 doubles and six triples with only nine home runs over that stretch. He ranks near the bottom of the league in hard contact rate and average exit velocity, but he rarely chases stuff off the plate or gets beat within the strike zone. Only Luis Arraez and Steven Kwan have a lower swinging strike rate among hitters with at least 500 plate appearances over the last two seasons.

The small-ball game even extends to bunting. Perdomo led the majors in sacrifices in both 2022 and ’23. He finished tied for sixth in that category last year despite the injury absence. While he doesn’t have great top-line speed, Perdomo has been an efficient basestealer and rates as a solid overall baserunner.

Public metrics have painted a varying picture of the defense. Statcast has graded him as a league average shortstop in each of his three full seasons. Reviews from Defensive Runs Saved have bounced around. DRS had Perdomo a few runs below average in both 2022 and ’23 but credited him at +10 runs last year, which tied for fifth-best at the position.

Arizona likes Perdomo’s game enough to commit to him at shortstop despite the presence of top infield prospect Jordan Lawlar. The 22-year-old ranks as Arizona’s best prospect and in the top 15 overall on Baseball America’s Top 100 list. Lawlar had a cup of coffee late in the ’23 season and would likely have gotten his first significant MLB opportunity last year had he not gotten injured. He’s likely to open this year in Triple-A but should be a factor at some point midseason. His long-term future is probably at third base with Eugenio Suárez hitting free agency next offseason. The Diamondbacks have Perdomo and Ketel Marte signed for multiple years beyond this one.

The D-Backs have pushed payroll to franchise-record heights this offseason. They’re going into the season with a player payroll north of $195MM, according to RosterResource. That’s well ahead of last year’s $163MM Opening Day mark, which was itself an organizational high. They have nearly $90MM coming off the books next winter. Suárez, Jordan Montgomery, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and Josh Naylor are all hitting free agency. They’ll have a lot of work to do, especially on the pitching staff, but there’s enough future flexibility to make an extended commitment to Perdomo.

Mike Rodriguez first reported that the D-Backs were signing Perdomo to an extension. ESPN’s Jeff Passan had the four-year, $45MM guarantee beginning in 2026 with the fifth-year option. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com was first to report that the option could push the contract to $57MM, while escalators could add another $15MM. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic had the full salary breakdown, while Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported the MVP bonuses.

Image courtesy of Imagn.

Rhett Lowder, Andrew Abbott Slightly Behind In Camp

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A pair of Reds starters are slightly behind in the early portion of camp. The Reds revealed last week that rookie right-hander Rhett Lowder was delayed in January by minor elbow soreness that arose during his offseason work (relayed by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer). Meanwhile, lefty Andrew Abbott tells Mark Sheldon of MLB.com that he has taken things slowly after his ’24 season was cut short by a shoulder strain.

While any kind of elbow/shoulder soreness for a pitcher raises some alarm, the Reds don’t seem especially concerned by either injury. Lowder began a throwing program this morning (as noted by Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer). Abbott has thrown a couple bullpen sessions in the lead-up to Spring Training. He tells Sheldon that he’s likely to throw another bullpen session or two before facing hitters in a simulated game or batting practice.

The southpaw indicated that he still believes he’s on track for Opening Day. Terry Francona was less committal, largely out of an abundance of caution. “I don’t even think about that just because I think that’s where you make mistakes, when you put an artificial deadline,” Cincinnati’s manager told Sheldon. “We’re going to do what’s right for every player. If somebody isn’t ready, whether it’s him or somebody else, we’ll figure out a way to make it work until they’re ready.”

If healthy, Lowder and Abbott will vie for roles at the back of Francona’s starting staff. Hunter Greene will be at the top of the rotation. Trade pickup Brady Singer is locked into a spot. Nick Martinez has the flexibility to move between starting and long relief, though he seems likely to begin the year in the rotation after accepting a $21.05MM qualifying offer. That’d leave two jobs for the group comprising Lowder, Abbott, Nick Lodolo and perhaps Carson Spiers or Graham Ashcraft. The latter two could find themselves in the bullpen.

Lowder, the seventh overall pick in 2023, made a case for a rotation spot late last season. Cincinnati called him up in August. He took the ball six times and turned in a 1.17 earned run average across 30 2/3 innings. His strikeout and walk profile was nowhere near as impressive as the ERA, but that’s not especially surprising for a 22-year-old attacking MLB hitters for the first time. Lowder had excellent peripherals across 22 starts for Triple-A Louisville, where he turned in 3.64 ERA through 108 2/3 frames. He fanned more than a quarter of opponents against a 5.4% walk rate while getting ground-balls at a strong 51.7% clip.

Abbott has posted a 3.78 ERA in 46 starts over the last two seasons. While he put up a sub-4.00 ERA in each year, his underlying marks went in the wrong direction last season. Abbott’s strikeout rate fell by nearly seven points from his strong 26.1% mark as a rookie. He missed fewer bats on a per-pitch basis and became more susceptible to the home run ball. The Virginia product landed on the IL with the shoulder injury in the middle of August.

Cubs, Chris Flexen Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs are in agreement with veteran righty Chris Flexen on a minor league contract, report Sahadev Sharma and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The signing is pending a physical. Once finalized, it’ll presumably include a non-roster invite to big league camp for the O’Connell Sports Management client.

Flexen spent last season on the other side of Chicago. He inked a one-year, $1.75MM free agent deal with the White Sox. Flexen provided the Sox with a reliable source of innings. He led the team with 160 frames across 33 appearances. He turned in a 4.95 earned run average with a below-average 17.4% strikeout percentage and an 8.9% walk rate. While it wasn’t the most exciting rate production, there was value in taking the ball every fifth day on an otherwise inexperienced pitching staff. That was particularly true in the second half, as Chicago had traded Erick Fedde and was limiting Garrett Crochet to short starts to avoid overworking him.

The 30-year-old Flexen has topped 100 innings in all four seasons since returning to affiliated ball after a stint in Korea. He posted a sub-4.00 ERA in consecutive years for the Mariners in 2021-22. The numbers took a turn for the worse in ’23, as opponents tagged him for nearly seven earned runs per nine across 102 1/3 frames between Seattle and the Rockies.

Flexen has an uphill battle to securing a spot in the Cubs rotation. Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon and Matthew Boyd have the top four spots secured. Javier Assad seems the frontrunner for the final rotation job, though he’ll face competition from Ben Brown, Jordan Wicks and potentially swingman Colin Rea. If Rea ends up in long relief, there’s limited flexibility amidst a bullpen that features a number of pitchers who cannot be optioned (e.g. Ryan Pressly, Ryan Brasier, Tyson Miller, Julian Merryweather, Caleb Thielbar, Keegan Thompson).

The Cubs could view Flexen as rotation depth for Triple-A Iowa. However, he’ll have the right to retest free agency if he doesn’t break camp. Under the collective bargaining agreement, MLB free agents who sign minor league deals more than 10 days before Opening Day have three guaranteed opt-out opportunities: five days before Opening Day, May 1, and June 1. Flexen qualifies after finishing last season on the Sox’s MLB roster.

Padres, Yuli Gurriel Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Padres are in agreement with veteran first baseman Yuli Gurriel on a minor league deal. Francys Romero first reported that the sides were making progress on a contract. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that the Mato Sports Management client gets a non-roster invite to MLB camp and would secure a $1.25MM base salary if he cracks the big league roster. There’s an additional $1MM in performance bonuses.

It’s a solid landing spot for the former batting champ, who is going into his age-41 season. The Friars have an opening at designated hitter. Skipper Mike Shildt said last week that he intended to use Luis Arraez as his primary first baseman while keeping Jake Cronenworth at second base. That more or less leaves DH up for grabs. 24-year-old outfielder Tirso Ornelas would probably be the choice if San Diego opts for a player who is already on the 40-man roster.

They’ll probably go with a non-roster invitee, though, considering Ornelas has yet to reach the majors. Gurriel joins former White Sox first baseman Gavin Sheets in camp. Outfielder Oscar Gonzalez and utility infielder Mike Brosseau also landed camp invites from San Diego. Gurriel is the most accomplished of the group, though his production has dropped sharply over the past three seasons. He’s a two-time World Series champion from his seven-year run in Houston. Gurriel won a Gold Glove and the aforementioned batting title in 2021, which stands as his most recent productive season.

Gurriel stumbled to a .242/.288/.360 slash during his final year with the Astros. He posted similar production over 329 plate appearances for the Marlins in 2023. Gurriel barely played in the majors last year. He spent the bulk of the season in Triple-A with Atlanta before catching on with the Royals as a September call-up. The righty hitter turned in a .241/.338/.296 showing across 18 games with Kansas City. He appeared six more times in the playoffs, hitting .190 in 21 at-bats.

While Gurriel hasn’t produced against major league pitching in a decent amount of time, he had a strong year in Triple-A. He slashed .292/.378/.485 with nearly as many walks as strikeouts across 75 games for Atlanta’s top affiliate. He still has excellent pure contact skills.

Under the collective bargaining agreement, MLB free agents who sign minor league deals more than 10 days before Opening Day have three guaranteed opt-out opportunities: five days before Opening Day, May 1, and June 1. Gurriel qualifies, since he has six-plus years of MLB service time and finished last season on K.C.’s big league roster. He can head back to the open market at the end of camp if the Padres decide not to carry him on the Opening Day roster.

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