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Cubs Designate Rob Zastryzny For Assignment

By Anthony Franco | February 4, 2025 at 9:08pm CDT

The Cubs announced that they’ve designated lefty reliever Rob Zastryzny for assignment. Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times reported the move just before the official announcement. That’s the corresponding move for the Ryan Brasier trade, which is official.

Chicago claimed Zastryzny off waivers from the Brewers in the first week of the offseason. The Missouri product returned to his original organization. Chicago drafted Zastryzny in the second round in 2013. He tossed 16 innings for their 2016 World Series team as a rookie. Zastryzny remained with the Cubs through 2018, when they outrighted him off the 40-man roster.

Zastrynzny bounced around between a few organizations and spent time in the independent ranks. He returned to the big leagues with a brief stint for the Mets in 2022. The southpaw suited up for the Angels later that season and threw a career-high 20 2/3 frames with the Pirates in ’23. He spent last year with the Brewers, making nine MLB appearances and working 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball.

Between five teams, Zastryzny has thrown 67 innings with a 4.30 earned run average in his MLB career. He had a nice year with Milwaukee’s top affiliate in Nashville last year. Zastrynzny managed a 3.03 ERA with an excellent 32.5% strikeout rate across 29 2/3 frames. That intrigued the Cubs enough that they brought him back on waivers, though he had an uphill battle sticking on the roster.

That’s largely because he has exhausted his minor league options. Chicago couldn’t send him to Triple-A without putting him on waivers. The Cubs don’t have a ton of flexibility in a bullpen without many pitchers who can be optioned. The Cubs will probably place him on waivers within the next few days. Zastryzny’s previous career outrights mean he could elect free agency if he goes unclaimed.

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Chicago Cubs Transactions Rob Zastryzny

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Cubs Acquire Ryan Brasier

By Anthony Franco | February 4, 2025 at 9:07pm CDT

The Dodgers announced a trade sending reliever Ryan Brasier and cash considerations to the Cubs in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. Los Angeles had designated the veteran righty for assignment on Thursday when they finalized the Kirby Yates signing. Teams have five days following a DFA to trade a player, so the Dodgers needed to find a deal by tonight or put Brasier on waivers. Chicago designated Rob Zastryzny for assignment in a corresponding 40-man roster move.

Brasier is quite a bit better than most players who end up in DFA limbo. The veteran righty had a strong season and a half in Los Angeles. He signed a minor league deal midway through the 2023 season after being let go by the Red Sox. Brasier had a dominant finish, turning in a 0.70 earned run average across 38 2/3 innings with Los Angeles. The Dodgers retained him on a two-year, $9MM free agent contract.

The 37-year-old was never going to replicate his late-season ’23 numbers. He had another decent year when healthy, working to a 3.54 ERA with a league average 22.7% strikeout percentage. Brasier kept his walk rate to a tidy 4.5% clip, in large part because he got opponents to chase 40% of pitches off the plate.

Health was the biggest caveat. Brasier suffered a significant strain of his right calf in late April. He was shelved into the middle of August and limited to 28 innings on the season. He had an excellent second half but was nevertheless relegated to low-leverage appearances during L.A.’s World Series run. Brasier allowed five runs with seven strikeouts and three walks across nine playoff innings.

The DFA is less a reflection of Brasier of “losing” his job and much more about L.A.’s bullpen depth. They added Tanner Scott and Yates after re-signing Blake Treinen. They join Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips and Alex Vesia as bullpen locks. The Dodgers are going to run a six-man rotation, meaning they can only devote seven roster spots to relievers.

Brasier has well over five years of major league service. He cannot be sent to the minor leagues without his consent. The Dodgers could go back to an eight-man bullpen once Shohei Ohtani returns to the rotation, since Ohtani doesn’t count against their 13-pitcher limit as a two-way player. They’re not going to push Ohtani’s elbow rehab merely to get another bullpen spot, so there’s probably only one available if all their relievers are healthy coming out of camp. Anthony Banda is out of options and seems likely to grab the final relief job.

The Cubs don’t have a ton of roster flexibility with their bullpen either. Chicago acquired Ryan Pressly last week. He’ll close games. Brasier joins Porter Hodge and Tyson Miller as high-leverage righties in front of Pressly. The Cubs added Caleb Thielbar on a $2.75MM free agent deal earlier in the winter; he projects as their top left-hander. Colin Rea is probably ticketed for long relief work.

That’d account for six of eight ’pen slots if everyone’s healthy. Eli Morgan and Nate Pearson may be next on the depth chart, but they both have a minor league option remaining. That isn’t the case for Julian Merryweather or Keegan Thompson. They’d each need to be in the majors or be designated for assignment. Thompson’s swing-and-miss ability probably gives him a leg up.

Brasier will make $4.5MM for the upcoming season. He’ll be a free agent at year’s end. It’s unclear how much of that the Dodgers are paying down. The Dodgers will save 110% in taxes on whatever money they managed to offload. If the Cubs had taken on the entire salary, that would have pushed them to around $211MM in luxury tax obligations (courtesy of RosterResource). They’re more than $30MM shy of the base threshold.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Cubs were acquiring Brasier. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic first mentioned the Dodgers receiving cash considerations. Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times reported the return as a player to be named later or cash.

Image courtesy of Imagn.

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Chicago Cubs Los Angeles Dodgers Newsstand Transactions Ryan Brasier

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Cardinals, Red Sox Have Reportedly Had “Recent Communication” On Arenado

By Anthony Franco | February 4, 2025 at 7:19pm CDT

The Nolan Arenado trade speculation has quieted in recent weeks. After the eight-time All-Star used his no-trade clause to quash a deal that would have sent him to Houston, the Cardinals have been unable to find a suitable match. St. Louis president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said at last month’s Winter Warm-Up event that the Arenado saga remained the front office’s top priority. However, both Mozeliak and chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. stressed that dealing the third baseman was not an absolute necessity to get the team’s payroll to levels that ownership finds tolerable.

It’s now an open question whether the Cards will be able to line anything up. In an MLBTR poll last week, nearly two-thirds of respondents felt Arenado would begin the season in St. Louis. That won’t stop Mozeliak and the front office from continuing to explore possibilities. Jon Morosi of the MLB Network reports that the Cards have “had recent communication” with the Red Sox regarding Arenado.

That doesn’t necessarily mean talks have gained any kind of traction. Katie Woo of The Athletic wrote in early January that efforts to move Arenado had stalled. Woo suggested at the time that Boston might up end being the only plausible suitor for an offseason trade. Those discussions have perhaps been held up by Alex Bregman’s lengthy free agent stay. Boston is one of a few teams known to be involved on Bregman, though they’re reportedly reluctant to go beyond four guaranteed years. Bregman has seemingly weighed multiple six-year offers, so the Sox appear an unlikely landing spot.

Arenado would be a more challenging roster fit. The Sox’s pursuit of Bregman was likely conditioned on the possibility of moving him to second base. Arenado has expressed openness to a position change to facilitate the right trade, but his third base defense is his primary selling point. It’s unlikely the Red Sox would consider bumping him to the keystone. They’d presumably instead move Rafael Devers off third base. Boston’s longtime third baseman doesn’t appear enthused about a possible position change.

A move would also probably require the Red Sox to bench or trade Masataka Yoshida. The Sox have not moved first baseman Triston Casas for starting pitching, as many speculated they might. Devers would be a superior designated hitter to Yoshida, though Boston may not be keen on relegating him to the bench when he’s under contract for another three seasons. Yoshida is owed $18MM annually on a deal that is well above market value. They’d need to eat the bulk of the contract to deal him for what would be a modest return.

Discussions between the Sox and Cardinals could theoretically involve Yoshida. Chaim Bloom, who will take over as president of baseball operations in St. Louis at the end of the season, was the top executive when the Red Sox signed Yoshida. At one point, Bloom believed strongly that his bat would translate against MLB pitching. Yoshida has been a good, not great, major league hitter. Even if Bloom still feels there’s untapped upside, the Cardinals are unlikely to eat a big portion of the contract. Their efforts to trade Arenado have been largely motivated by finances, recent comments from Mozeliak and DeWitt notwithstanding.

St. Louis owes Arenado $64MM over the next three seasons: $27MM this year, $22MM in 2026, and $15MM in ’27. The Rockies are paying an additional $5MM annually for the next two years. $6MM of the Cards’ obligations in 2025 and ’26 are deferred. Reports indicated the Astros were going to take all but $5MM or $15MM off the Cardinals’ hands had he approved the trade to Houston.

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Boston Red Sox St. Louis Cardinals Nolan Arenado

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Blue Jays Designate Michael Petersen For Assignment

By Anthony Franco | February 4, 2025 at 6:43pm CDT

The Blue Jays announced that they’ve designated reliever Michael Petersen for assignment. That’s the corresponding 40-man roster move for Max Scherzer, who has finalized his $15.5MM free agent deal.

Toronto claimed Petersen, a native of the United Kingdom, off waivers from the Marlins within the opening days of the offseason. That was his second waiver move in a few months. Miami had grabbed him off waivers from the Dodgers in September. He allowed four runs across 5 2/3 innings to finish the year. Petersen had also made 11 appearances with Los Angeles. He closed his debut campaign with a 5.95 earned run average through 19 2/3 innings. He recorded 14 strikeouts while issuing 11 walks.

The 30-year-old Petersen had much better numbers in 33 innings at the Triple-A level with Los Angeles. He posted a 1.64 ERA while striking out a massive 35.2% of opponents. Petersen had also pitched well for the Rockies’ affiliate in 2023. He owns a 2.45 earned run average at the top minor league level. He has fanned 28.6% of batters faced against an elevated 11% walk rate.

Petersen works mostly with a fastball and cutter. His heater checked in at 97 MPH on average in his MLB work and sat just under 98 MPH in the minors. Between that and the strong Triple-A production, it’s possible he’ll draw renewed interest on the waiver wire. The 6’7″ righty still has two minor league options remaining and could be sent to Triple-A if a team is willing to carry him on the 40-man roster. Petersen has never cleared outright waivers, so if he goes unclaimed, he’d stick with the Jays and likely be invited to camp as a non-roster player.

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Toronto Blue Jays Transactions Michael Petersen

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Angels Pursued Anthony Santander On Shorter-Term Deal

By Anthony Franco | February 4, 2025 at 10:59am CDT

The Angels showed interest in Anthony Santander on a potential three- or four-year deal, writes Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. It’s not clear precisely what they proposed, but it seems their reported interest in the outfielder was genuine enough to consider multi-year offers.

Santander ended up with the Blue Jays on a five-year pact. That was initially reported as a $92.5MM contract, though extreme deferrals dramatically cut the net present value. The MLB Players Association valued Santander’s deal with Toronto just below $68.6MM. He can opt out of that contract after three seasons, though the Jays could override that by preemptively exercising a 2030 club option.

It’s not known if Toronto was the only team willing to stretch to five years. Rosenthal reported last week that the Royals made a three-year offer that included an opt-out after the second season. That came with a $66MM guarantee on the surface, though it reportedly also included deferrals that would have dropped the NPV to some extent.

Assuming the Halos use Jorge Soler more or less as a full-time designated hitter, they’ve yet to do anything of note in the outfield. Late last season, they floated the idea of moving Mike Trout into a corner in an effort to keep him healthier. A free agent class led by Harrison Bader didn’t provide many options to step into center field. It has been similarly quiet on the trade front at the position. It looks like the Halos will stick with Trout in center for another season.

Taylor Ward was the subject of some trade speculation, but it seems he’ll return in left field. Santander would have been a major upgrade in right, where the Angels project to run it back with a Mickey Moniak/Jo Adell platoon. Neither one-time top prospect has been a consistent offensive threat in their major league careers. Angels right fielders hit .210/.287/.368 last season. Only the Royals got a lower on-base mark at the position, while their slugging percentage was fourth from the bottom.

At this stage of the offseason, the Angels are unlikely to find a significant outfield upgrade in free agency. There’d been some speculation that the Halos could make a push for Pete Alonso to play first base, allowing them to move Nolan Schanuel to the corner outfield. That’s theoretically still on the table as long as Alonso is unsigned, but it’d probably make for a very poor outfield defense. That’d also be true if the Angels signed Alonso as a designated hitter and put Soler back in right field.

If an outfield splash probably isn’t happening, the Santander pursuit suggests there could be money for a late-offseason move in another area. The Angels were the most active team within the opening weeks of the offseason. They acquired Soler, Kyle Hendricks, Travis d’Arnaud, Kevin Newman and Yusei Kikuchi before Thanksgiving. They haven’t made a single MLB free agent signing or trade of note since the Kikuchi pickup.

The Angels could still upgrade on the pitching staff. Rosenthal reported last week that the Halos were in contact with free agent relievers and could make multiple bullpen acquisitions. They could certainly accommodate someone like Nick Pivetta, Jose Quintana or Andrew Heaney in the rotation. RosterResource calculates their competitive balance tax number around $206MM, putting them about $35MM below next year’s luxury tax threshold.

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Los Angeles Angels Anthony Santander

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Angels, Victor Gonzalez Agree To Minor League Deal

By Anthony Franco | February 4, 2025 at 10:00am CDT

The Angels agreed to a minor league contract with lefty reliever Victor González last month (h/t to Baseball America’s Matt Eddy). The southpaw had been a free agent since the Yankees released him in September.

González is looking to rebound after a tough year in the Bronx. The Yankees acquired him from the Dodgers over the 2023-24 offseason. González got into 27 games and tossed 23 1/3 innings. While his 3.86 earned run average wasn’t bad, that belied an unimpressive strikeout and walk profile. The southpaw walked a career-high 13.4% of batters faced while carrying a meager 11.4% strikeout rate. González had fanned at least 22% of opponents in all three seasons with the Dodgers.

Among pitchers with 20+ innings, González was one of three — alongside Nick Nastrini and Dakota Hudson — who had more walks than strikeouts. New York ran him through outright waivers in June. While his Triple-A strikeout (20.6%) and walk (8.8%) profile was improved in the minors, the Yanks never brought him back up. That could be in part due to a velocity dip. González averaged 93.3 MPH on his sinker last season; that pitch sat in the 94-95 MPH range during his time with the Dodgers.

Before last season, González had been a solid middle innings arm for L.A. skipper Dave Roberts. The Mexican-born southpaw turned in 89 1/3 innings of 3.22 ERA ball over parts of three seasons. He posted roughly average strikeout and walk numbers while getting a ton of ground-balls. The grounders carried over to the Bronx, but the precipitous drop in strikeouts and career-worst command pushed him off the roster.

The Halos have a few left-handers ticketed for Opening Day bullpen spots. Brock Burke, José Quijada and José Suárez are each out of options. They’ve all been inconsistent in recent years, but the Angels tendered all three (relatively small) arbitration contracts. The Angels also took left-hander Garrett McDaniels out of the Dodgers system in the Rule 5 draft. If they plan to secure his long-term contractual rights, they’d need to keep him in the majors all season. González is also out of options, so if the Angels call him up at any point, they’d need to keep him in the MLB bullpen or send him back into DFA limbo.

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Los Angeles Angels Transactions Victor Gonzalez

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Braves, Dany Jimenez Agree To Minor League Deal

By Anthony Franco | February 3, 2025 at 11:55pm CDT

The Braves agreed to minor league deals with reliever Dany Jiménez and catcher Chandler Seagle last month (h/t to Baseball America’s Matt Eddy). Mike Rodriguez first reported the Jiménez deal.

Jiménez, 31, has pitched in parts of four big league seasons. The past three have come with the A’s, with whom he made at least 25 appearances in each year. Jiménez managed decent results between 2022-23 despite scattershot command. He combined for a 3.43 ERA over 57 2/3 frames during that two-year stretch. He punched out a league average 23% of opponents but walked more than 13% of batters faced.

The walks caught up to him last season. Jiménez struggled to a 4.91 ERA in 25 2/3 innings. His strikeout rate ticked down (21.4%) while the walks climbed to a massive 16.2% rate. His fastball speed has trended in the wrong direction. Jiménez averaged around 94 MPH on the heater in 2022. That dropped slightly to 93.3 MPH the next year and sat at a career-low 92.5 MPH last season. He leans more heavily on his low-80s slider, a pitch that generated big swinging strike numbers in 2022 but hasn’t been as effective over the last two years.

At the end of the season, the A’s opted not to tender Jiménez an arbitration contract projected at $1MM. He’ll need to earn his way back onto the 40-man roster with a strong showing in camp and/or at Triple-A Gwinnett. Jiménez still has a couple option seasons, so if he does crack the 40-man, the Braves can move him between Atlanta and Gwinnett without putting him on waivers.

Seagle, 29, is an organizational depth catcher. He spent seven seasons in the Padres’ system. Seagle is a career .201/.272/.286 hitter in the minors. The Padres called him up for the final game of the 2023 season and got him an at-bat. While they outrighted him off their 40-man roster early in the offseason, they re-signed him to a minor league contract last year. He appeared in 38 games with their Triple-A team, hitting .180/.219/.280 in 107 plate appearances.

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Atlanta Braves Transactions Chandler Seagle Dany Jimenez

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Cubs Outright Matt Festa

By Anthony Franco | February 3, 2025 at 11:32pm CDT

The Cubs outrighted reliever Matt Festa off the 40-man roster, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. Chicago designated him for assignment last week as the corresponding move when they finalized the Ryan Pressly trade. Festa has been outrighted before in his career, so he can choose to decline the minor league assignment in favor of free agency.

If he does elect free agency, Festa’s time with the Cubs will have lasted less than a month. They acquired him from the Rangers for cash in the second week of January. Texas had also squeezed him off the roster as the corresponding move when they added a veteran reliever — in their case, Chris Martin on a one-year free agent deal.

Festa, 32 next month, has spent the bulk of his career with the Mariners. He posted a 4.32 earned run average across 89 appearances over four seasons with Seattle. Festa has bounced around the league in recent months. He made a lone MLB appearance with the Mets early last season and pitched 18 times for Texas after catching on there via minor league deal. He allowed a 4.37 ERA through 22 2/3 innings in Arlington. He punched out a quarter of opponents against a solid 7.6% walk rate.

While Festa has shown decent swing-and-miss stuff during his MLB career, his command has been inconsistent. He has issued free passes to 10.3% of batters faced overall. Festa is out of options, limiting the roster flexibility for teams. If he elects free agency, he’ll likely be limited to minor league offers with Spring Training invites.

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Chicago Cubs Transactions Matt Festa

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Jerry Dipoto Discusses Castillo, Lineup, Polanco

By Anthony Franco | February 3, 2025 at 10:52pm CDT

Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto met with reporters this afternoon after the team finalized the one-year deal to retain Jorge Polanco. Seattle’s longtime front office leader addressed the team’s atypically quiet offseason while providing a couple injury updates.

Dipoto said the front office entered the winter believing they could be in for a slow offseason. “One of our points going into this offseason, and I know I made it sitting in the dugout in the final series, was that we didn’t anticipate a great deal of movement around the team,” he told the beat (including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). “As we are now about a week away from heading to Spring Training, I’d say that probably played out to be spot on, much to, I think, the dismay of a few. But we have a good team.”

Seattle has made two major league free agent signings. They brought Polanco back on a $7.75MM guarantee and added Donovan Solano as a part-time righty bat for $3.5MM. Reporting from both The Seattle Times and MLB.com throughout the offseason has suggested that ownership was only allowing the front office to allocate between $15MM-20MM to the MLB payroll. While the lack of free agent activity has certainly been a source of frustration for much of the fanbase, it’s not especially surprising.

The more interesting development has been the M’s willingness to sit out the trade market. They’ve made four trades this offseason, all of which have been depth acquisitions for players who were in DFA limbo: Austin Shenton, Miles Mastrobuoni, Blake Hunt and Will Klein. Those are akin to waiver claims. The Mariners essentially haven’t made a single notable move on the trade market, a stark contrast to Dipoto’s reputation as one of the game’s most prolific traders. The “Trader Jerry” nickname has been well earned in prior offseasons.

Most trade speculation concerned the possibility of the Mariners moving a starting pitcher to add a hitter. As Dipoto noted today, he did indeed downplay that notion before last season even ended. He famously called dealing from the rotation the M’s “Plan Z” for the offseason in the referenced media scrum. That didn’t stop other teams from inquiring on Seattle’s young rotation nucleus of George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo, but there’s nothing to suggest the Mariners gave strong consideration to moving any of them.

The one starter who was available was Luis Castillo. The veteran righty is under contract for another three seasons and $68.25MM (plus a 2028 vesting option). Trading Castillo could have created spending room while netting the M’s immediate lineup help. It wasn’t going to be a straight salary dump, though, and Seattle hasn’t found an offer it finds compelling. The Seattle Times’ Adam Jude reported last week that Castillo was unlikely to move at this point.

Dipoto implied as much in today’s comments. He told Jude and other reporters that the front office received some proposals that warranted real consideration, but those obviously did not result in a deal. “Not shockingly, we had inquiries on all five of our starting pitchers and dozens of prospects along the way,” he added. “But obviously we opted not to go that route.” While he left open the possibility of making another move, he noted that the front office would be happy with the roster “if this is our team going into Spring Training or Opening Day” (via Divish and Jude).

The Mariners will go into Spring Training with arguably MLB’s best 1-5 in the rotation. Their depth behind that is lacking, though perhaps quick-moving prospect Logan Evans can soon be a factor. Seattle benefited from excellent rotation health last year. Woo was the only member of their front five who made fewer than 30 starts. That’ll be difficult to replicate, but when the rotation is at full strength, they’re giving the ball to an above-average starter every night.

As has long been the case, the question is whether they’ll score enough runs. Dipoto expressed confidence in the lineup, pointing to their success later in the season after the managerial and hitting coach changes. Seattle hitters had a .216/.301/.365 batting line through August 21. After dismissing Scott Servais and Jarret DeHart in favor of Dan Wilson and Edgar Martinez, respectively, they hit .255/.347/.417 in their final 34 games.

Attributing that entirely to the coaching changes is overly simplistic. They improved the lineup at the deadline with the Justin Turner and Randy Arozarena pickups and league-wide offense tends to peak later in the summer with warmer weather. Still, the change in voice probably played some part in the much improved finish. The Mariners play in the sport’s toughest home park for hitters. Only the White Sox had a lower team OPS in home games. Seattle ranked 13th in OPS on the road. Mike Petriello of MLB.com examined some reasons behind T-Mobile Park’s extreme pitcher-friendly environment last week in a column that’s well worth a full read.

Dipoto also addressed a few injury situations. He expressed confidence in Polanco’s health after the veteran infielder played through a left knee injury that eventually required a meniscus repair. The Mariners believe the move from his longtime second base position to third base will take less of a toll on him physically. Meanwhile, reliever Troy Taylor suffered a lat strain during his offseason workouts and will not be ready for the start of camp. It’s not clear if he’ll need to begin the regular season on the injured list. The righty turned in a 3.72 ERA while striking out nearly 31% of opposing hitters across 21 appearances as a rookie.

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Seattle Mariners Jorge Polanco Luis Castillo Troy Taylor

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Rich Dauer Passes Away

By Anthony Franco | February 3, 2025 at 8:59pm CDT

The Orioles announced this afternoon that longtime infielder and coach Rich Dauer has passed away. He was 72.

A native of San Bernardino, Dauer attended the University of Southern California. He starred on the Trojans’ back-to-back College World Series teams in 1973 and ’74. The Orioles drafted him with the 24th overall pick in 1974. The righty-swinging infielder hit .336 in Triple-A during the ’76 season to earn a cup of coffee in the big leagues. He opened the following season as Baltimore’s second baseman, hitting .243 over 96 games as a rookie.

That was the first of nine straight seasons in which Dauer was in Baltimore’s Opening Day lineup (eight of them at second base). While he was never a huge power threat, he carved out a lengthy career behind his sure-handed defense and elite contact skills. After his rookie year, Dauer never struck out in more than 7% of his plate appearances in a season. He ranked among the American League’s top four second basemen in fielding percentage each year between 1980-83.

Dauer set his career high with nine home runs in 1979. Baltimore won the pennant that season. Dauer hit .294 over six games in that year’s Fall Classic, but the O’s dropped the series to the Pirates. They made it back to the World Series four years later. Baltimore knocked off the Phillies in five games. Dauer appeared in all five contests to earn his first ring.

Over a playing career that spanned parts of 10 seasons, Dauer hit .257/.310/.343. He hit 43 homers and connected on 193 doubles, including a career-high 32 doubles in a 1980 campaign in which he hit .284. He spent his entire playing career with the Orioles, who honored him with induction into the franchise’s Hall of Fame in 2012.

Dauer’s involvement in the sport extended well beyond his playing days. He spent more than three decades in the coaching ranks. He was on major league staffs for the Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Colorado and Houston organizations and spent some time as a manager in the San Diego farm system. He earned a second World Series ring with the 2017 Astros, for whom he coached first base.

Dauer slipped and injured his head the night before Houston’s championship parade that year. While the severity of the injury initially wasn’t clear, his condition worsened during the parade. Dauer was taken to the emergency room, where doctors identified a significant brain bleed. He required emergency surgery that came with a grim prognosis but overcame what doctors eventually revealed was around a 3% survival chance. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic covered the story at the time. Dauer had already decided to retire from coaching before the head injury, but he returned to Minute Maid Park the following April for an emotional first pitch. MLBTR joins others throughout the game in sending our condolences to Dauer’s family, loved ones, friends and former teammates/players.

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