Braves Decline Option On David Fletcher, Outright Four Players
TODAY: Payamps, Cox, Robinson, and Rodriguez all elected minor league free agency, as per the MILB.com official transactions page.
NOV. 6: The Braves have declined their $8MM club option on infielder David Fletcher, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com. The team also announced today that they have outrighted LHP Austin Cox, RHP Joel Payamps, catcher Chuckie Robinson, and outfielder Carlos Rodríguez to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Fletcher, 31, was acquired from the Angels in December 2023 alongside catcher Max Stassi in exchange for minor-league first baseman Evan White and reliever Tyler Thomas. That was a financially-motivated move. Fletcher and the Angels had signed an ill-fated extension in 2021. White had also signed an extension that didn’t pan out, with the Mariners, though that deal was flipped to Atlanta. The Fletcher/Stassi/White/Thomas swap allowed the Angels to clear up some short-term cash while Atlanta saved money in the long run. Atlanta passed Fletcher through waivers shortly after acquiring him. He was selected back to the roster in 2024 but outrighted again shortly thereafter.
Broadly speaking, Fletcher has been a poor hitter but a good defender. He has a career .276/.323/.358 batting line, which translates to an 86 wRC+. He was more passable from 2018 to 2020 but his bat has tailed off in recent seasons. Atlanta presumably never viewed him as much more than an emergency depth option. His connection to an illegal gambling ring presumably didn’t improve his status in any way. Naturally, the club has gone with the $1.5MM buyout instead of the $8MM option.
The other moves clear out some roster space ahead of upcoming offseason business. Payamps is the most experienced of the four names here. Atlanta claimed him off waivers late in the season. Payamps didn’t have a good season in the majors, posting a 6.84 earned run average. He was eligible for arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a $3.4MM salary. Atlanta didn’t want to pay that. Since Payamps cleared waivers, it appears no other club wanted to pay it either. He has at least three years of service time and therefore has the right to elect free agency.
As a free agent, he should garner interest from clubs looking for a bounceback. Over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Payamps logged 129 2/3 innings in the big leagues with a 2.78 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate and 6.7% walk rate. His major league results backed up in 2025 but he still showed some potential in the minors. His 4.73 ERA in 26 2/3 Triple-A innings wasn’t impressive but his 27.3% strikeout rate and 5.5% walk rate were in line with his peak.
Cox, 29 in March, has thrown 57 big league innings between Kansas City and Atlanta. In that time, he has a 6.16 ERA, 21.9% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 40.2% ground ball rate. He doesn’t have three years of service time or a previous career outright but should qualify for seven-year minor league free agency.
Robinson, 31 in December, is a longtime depth catcher. Atlanta claimed him off waivers late in the year while Sean Murphy was on the injured list. His defense is well regarded but he has a .131/.169/.192 batting line in his big league career. He has been outrighted previously in his career and therefore has the right to elect free agency.
Rodríguez, 25 in December, was signed by the Brewers a year ago. He had no major league experience but was coming off a good season in the Brewers’ system. He couldn’t keep it going in 2025, as he hit just .247/.317/.323 in Triple-A for a 76 wRC+. He doesn’t have three years of service or a previous career outright but should qualify for minor-league free agency.,
Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images
Tigers Decline Mutual Option On Paul Sewald
The Tigers have declined their $10MM mutual option on reliever Paul Sewald, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. He will instead receive a $1MM buyout and become a free agent.
Sewald, 35, was acquired from the Guardians in July while he was rehabbing a right shoulder strain. The Tigers sent him on a rehab assignment in early September and activated him off the IL on September 18. He made his team debut the next day but only made four regular season appearances with Detroit, ultimately being left off the roster for the club’s playoff run. In 19 2/3 innings between the Guardians and Tigers in 2025, Sewald pitched to a 4.58 ERA while striking out 24.7% of hitters and issuing walks at a rate of 7.4%. While he has never been much of a ground-ball pitcher, he saw his ground-ball rate decline from 26.6% in 2024 to just 14.5% in 2025. His fastball, which he used 59% of the time this year, declined to 90.4 mph after sitting at 91.4 mph last year.
Mutual options are almost never picked up, so it was no surprise that the Tigers declined to bring back Sewald for $10MM given his injuries and underperformance this year. That said, he should garner plenty of attention on the market thanks to his track record. Between 2021-23, Sewald had a 2.95 ERA in 189 1/3 innings for the Mariners and Diamondbacks and posted a 25.3% K-BB rate that was tied with Jhoan Duran for 10th among qualified relievers. He also did well at limiting hard contact, with a better-than-average 85.9 mph average exit velocity allowed in 2023. He was not as lucky in 2024. Sewald missed time with a left oblique strain and neck discomfort that year while posting a middling 4.31 ERA for the Diamondbacks.
Still, his track record from 2021-23 will be intriguing for teams seeking bullpen help. Sewald earned $7MM on his deal for 2025 and will be limited to a one-year deal for 2026 given his age and recent injuries. Meanwhile, the Tigers will look to improve their bullpen after the unit finished 17th in the majors with a 4.05 ERA in 2025.
Ian Gibaut Elects Free Agency
October 31: As expected, Gibaut elected free agency on Friday, according to the MiLB.com transaction log.
October 28: Reds reliever Ian Gibaut has been activated from the 60-day injured list and sent outright to Triple-A Louisville, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. The right-hander had been on the IL with a right shoulder impingement. Gibaut has over three years of service time, so he can reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency.
The 31-year-old has pitched in parts of four seasons with the Reds from 2022-25. In 137 2/3 innings with Cincinnati, he has posted a 3.92 ERA with a roughly average 22.5% strikeout rate and a below-average 9.3% walk rate. The highlight of his tenure was Gibaut’s 2023 season, in which he had a 3.33 ERA in 75 2/3 innings out of the Reds’ bullpen and allowed hard hits at a rate of just 31.8%, well below the league average of 38.2% among qualified relievers that year. Unfortunately, Gibaut made only two appearances the following season as he underwent surgery for a nerve issue in his forearm. The Reds non-tendered him in November 2024, but re-signed him to a minor league contract in January 2025.
In 25 1/3 innings across 25 appearances this year, Gibaut had a 4.62 ERA but did not miss many bats, with a mere 13.2% strikeout rate. Some of that can be attributed to injury, as his season was interrupted by two separate trips to the IL, the first coming at the end of April. Gibaut also appeared to be working with diminished stuff, as his average fastball velocity declined from 95.2 mph in 2023 to 94.0 mph in 2025 (he only threw two innings in 2024). However, he still did well at limiting hard contact with a hard-hit rate of 33.7%. He also lowered his walk rate to 7.3%, which graded out better than league average.
Yoervis Medina Passes Away
Former major league pitcher Yoervis Medina has passed away. Reports out of his native Venezuela indicate that authorities believe Medina suffered a heart attack while he was driving, leading to a fatal car accident. He was 37 years old.
Medina pitched for the Mariners and Cubs from 2013-15, working 146 innings across an identical number of games. He posted a 3.08 career ERA with a 23.1% strikeout rate along with a 12.4% walk rate. Most of his success came in his first two seasons, as Medina pitched to a 2.81 ERA with a 24.3% strikeout rate and 12.6% walk rate in 125 innings for the Mariners from 2013-14. In that span, he ranked 34th out of 109 qualified relievers in ERA and ranked 21st with a 53.5% ground ball rate.
He was traded to the Cubs in May 2015 for Welington Castillo and pitched in five games for them with a 7.00 ERA, but he wound up spending most of the season in the minors. That was followed by brief stints in the Pirates and Phillies organizations in 2016, neither of which resulted in a big league call. Medina then pitched in the Venezuelan winter league from 2016-20 before moving to the Italian Baseball League in 2023 and the Czech Baseball Extraliga in 2024.
Medina was teammates in Seattle with Jesús Montero, who was tragically killed in a motorcycle crash earlier this month. We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Medina’s family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.
Jorge Alfaro Clears Waivers, Elects Free Agency
The Nationals announced today that catcher Jorge Alfaro has cleared outright waivers and elected free agency. Alfaro had the option to reject an outright assignment as a player with more than five years of service time. He has now done just that and is free to sign with any club.
The 32-year-old joined the Nationals in early September after opting out of a minor league contract with the Brewers. He had spent the entire year to that point at the Triple-A level, and his time with Washington represented his first big-league action since 2023. In 39 plate appearances across 14 games, Alfaro only batted .256/.256/.308 with a 54 wRC+. He struck out an alarming 35.9% of the time and did not draw a single walk. That came in a small sample size, of course, but they are consistent with Alfaro’s career metrics. Across nine seasons in the majors, he has struck out 34% of the time and posted a walk rate of 4.1% with an 86 wRC+. While catching is generally a weaker offensive position, Alfaro’s output still grades out as below average.
Alfaro’s defense also left a lot to be desired. Although he had an above-average pop time, Statcast rated his framing, throwing, and blocking negatively in 2025 (albeit in just 91 2/3 innings behind the plate). Alfaro has never been much of a blocker, but he did grade out positively for his framing and throwing as recently as 2021 with the Marlins. Defensive metrics are tricky, particularly in small samples, but it looks as though his current output both offensively and defensively limits Alfaro’s ceiling to that of a backup. His numbers at Triple-A this year, including an 88 wRC+ in 326 PA, are not much better.
Alfaro now joins a relatively thin group of free agent catchers, headlined by J.T. Realmuto, Victor Caratini, and Danny Jansen (whose mutual option will be declined). Realmuto will be 35 at the start of the 2026 season and is showing signs of decline, posting a 94 wRC+ and -2 Defensive Runs Saved for the Phillies this year. Caratini was an average hitter for the Astros in 2025 but was valued at -5 DRS despite only catching 49 games. Jansen, who also posted roughly average offense, was a 98th-percentile blocker this year, but well below-average as a framer (ninth percentile). It’s a thin group, and teams are always in need of catching help, so Alfaro figures to latch on somewhere as a depth option — likely on a minor league deal.
Photo by John Jones, Imagn Images
Blue Jays Notes: Springer, Bassitt, Yesavage
The World Series continues with Game 4 tonight after last night’s 18-inning marathon that ended with the Dodgers winning 6-5. However, veteran George Springer will not be in the starting lineup for the Blue Jays, though he will seemingly remain on the roster (link via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet). The 36-year-old left last night’s game with what was called “right side discomfort” and underwent an MRI today. “MRI showed that he’s hour-to-hour, day-to-day,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider, “so just see how he kind of navigates the next couple hours.” With Springer out of the lineup, Bo Bichette will serve as DH and bat third.
Toronto will certainly hope that Springer can continue to appear in the World Series, even if in a diminished role. He enjoyed a resurgent season in 2025, as he batted .309/.399/.560 with a 166 wRC+ in 140 games as Toronto’s DH. After posting a roughly league-average output over 2023-24, he increased his walk rate from 9.8% to 11.8% and, more importantly, struck the ball with much more authority on his way to a career-high 46.7% hard-hit rate. The result was a season worth 5.2 fWAR, which stands as Springer’s highest total since his 2019 season with the Astros and the best season of his Blue Jays tenure.
Moving to the pitching side of things, Schneider said that right-hander Chris Bassitt will be available out of the bullpen tonight (link via Mitch Bannon of the Athletic). If he pitches, it would be the first time in his career that he has pitched on consecutive days. Bassitt, 36, started all but one of his 32 appearances for Toronto this year. Though he posted a solid 3.96 ERA along with a respectable 22.6% strikeout rate and a 7.1% walk rate in 170 1/3 regular-season innings, the team has used him as a reliever in the postseason. Bassitt was the fourth pitcher out of Toronto’s bullpen in Game 3, throwing just eight pitches. Indeed, Schneider noted that every one of his relievers is available for tonight’s game except for Eric Lauer, who pitched 4 2/3 innings last night (link via Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet).
Looking ahead slightly, rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage is lined up to start Game 5 tomorrow night (link via Davidi). The 22-year-old began the season at the Single-A level but rode an outstanding strikeout rate to reach the big-league rotation by the end of the year, making three regular-season starts plus four more so far in the postseason. He most recently started Game 1 of the World Series, allowing two earned runs in four innings in an eventual Blue Jays victory, and would be on normal rest for a Game 5 start.
Mets Sign Richard Lovelady To Major League Contract
October 24: It’s a split deal that would pay Lovelady at a $1MM rate while he’s on the MLB roster, reports The Associated Press. He’d make a $350K salary in the minors. Lovelady is out of options, but the Mets could try to run him through waivers at some point this offseason. He’d have the right to decline an outright assignment but is less likely to do so when that’d mean walking away from at least a $350K minor league salary.
October 23: The Mets announced this afternoon that they have signed left-handed pitcher Richard Lovelady to a one-year major league contract. The Mets have multiple vacancies on their 40-man roster, so no corresponding moves will be necessary.
Lovelady, 30, made two appearances for the Blue Jays at the beginning of the season but was designated for assignment on March 30 and eventually became a free agent. He signed a minor league deal with the Twins and pitched for their Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul from early April to mid-June, when he opted out of that deal. He then signed with the Mets on June 18. From June 23 through the end of the season, Lovelady saw his contract selected and then designated for assignment three times. That the Mets signed him to a major league deal this time around is notable for him, as it might give him a shot at a role in the big league bullpen in 2026 after spending most of this year at the Triple-A level.
The lefty did not find success during his limited time in the majors in 2025, posting an 8.49 ERA across 11 2/3 innings with the Mets and Blue Jays. In 111 career innings from 2019-25, he has a 5.35 ERA along with a 21.1% strikeout rate and an 8.7% walk rate. His 4.08 career xERA and 4.54 FIP are are more favorable but still not great. In addition, Lovelady’s four-seam fastball velocity declined from 92.4 mph in 2024 to 91.7 mph this year. His sinker, which he now uses 34.4% of the time, similarly declined from 92.2 to 91.4 mph. With below average velocity, it is perhaps unsurprising that Lovelady has allowed more hard contact than average, with a career hard-hit rate of 42.2%. For context, the league average in 2025 was 40.9%.
However, it should be noted that Lovelady has had success in the big leagues before. In 2021 with the Royals, he pitched 20 1/3 innings with a 3.48 ERA while getting ground balls at a well above average 56.6% rate. That came in a small sample, of course, but Lovelady has actually gotten grounders at a rate of 50.9% in his career, including 51.4% during his big league time in 2025. He also performed very well in Triple-A this year, with a 1.66 ERA, a 26.3% strikeout rate, and a 52.6% groundball rate in 38 innings. It’s possible the Mets could look to harness his ground ball potential while cutting down on the hard contact in 2026.
At present, Lovelady and Brooks Raley are the only lefties in the Mets’ bullpen. Raley is 37 and missed significant time while recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery, although he performed well upon his return in July. The team holds a club option on Raley for 2026 and could either pick that up or re-sign him at a cheaper rate given his age. Gregory Soto made 25 appearances for the Mets after being acquired from the Orioles in July, though he is now a free agent.
Brewers Promote Matt Arnold To President Of Baseball Operations
The Brewers have promoted general manager Matt Arnold to president of baseball operations, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. “Since joining our organization in 2015, Matt Arnold has been instrumental in developing a culture and process that has led to seven postseason appearances over the past eight seasons,” said Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, adding, “We are proud of what Matt has accomplished and even more excited for what the future holds under his leadership.” McCalvy notes that Arnold’s responsibilities atop the front office will not change, though he will now hold both the president of baseball operations and GM titles.
Arnold was hired in October 2015 by then-president of baseball operations David Stearns and was promoted to GM in November 2020. Stearns would step down from his role after the 2022 season, leading to Arnold being put in charge of the front office, but still with the GM title. Clearly, the club is impressed with his results in the years since for him to receive this promotion. Since the start of 2023, the Brewers have posted a record of 282-204 (.580) and finished in first place in the NL Central in every year. This year’s 97-65 (.599) record was the best in the majors. The club lost in the Wild Card Series in 2023 and 2024 but made it to the NLCS in 2025, though they were swept by the Dodgers in four games.
While Arnold’s responsibilities with the Brewers are unchanged, he will presumably get a raise to go with his new title. More importantly, his promotion also prevents other clubs from offering the president title to hire him away from Milwaukee. Teams generally allow their executives to interview with other teams if they are offered a promotion. By promoting Arnold themselves, the Brewers are signaling their confidence in his leadership and securing their front office as they look to continue their recent dominance in the NL Central.
This year, the Brewers finished ninth in the majors with a 107 team wRC+ while scoring 806 runs, which ranked third. As a group, the team succeeded by avoiding strikeouts and getting on base, with a 20.3% strikeout rate that was tied for fourth-lowest in the majors and a 9.1% walk rate that was tied for fifth-best. The team saw five qualified hitters – Brice Turang, Christian Yelich, Sal Frelick, William Contreras, and Jackson Chourio – finish with a wRC+ of at least 110. The last of them, Chourio, was signed to an eight-year, $82MM extension before he debuted in the big leagues, which was the largest pre-debut extension at that time. Chourio has rewarded the team’s faith with a 115 wRC+ and a combined 6.9 fWAR from 2024-25, and the contract looks like it will be a highlight of Arnold’s tenure atop the baseball ops department.
Of course, the Brewers are also known as a strong pitching team, and that strength was on full display in 2025. The team pitched to a collective 3.59 ERA, a mark only bested by the Rangers (3.49), while striking out opposing hitters at a rate of 23.7%, which was tied for sixth in the majors. In addition to missing bats, Brewers pitchers also excelled by limiting hard contact. The team allowed hard hits at a rate of just 38.6%, which was second-best behind the Reds, while opponents hit for an average exit velocity of just 88.9 mph, which tied for fourth-best. The rotation was led by ace Freddy Peralta, who posted a 2.70 ERA and struck out an above average 28.2% of hitters in 176 2/3 innings. Quinn Priester, Jose Quintana, and Chad Patrick all posted ERAs under 4.00, while Jacob Misiorowski showed promise in 15 appearances (14 starts). The bullpen also excelled in 2025. Headlined by Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill, and Aaron Ashby, Brewers relievers tied for sixth in the majors with an ERA of 3.63 and posted the ninth-best strikeout rate at 23.3%. Peralta, Uribe, and others had been in the organization before Arnold took over as head of baseball ops, but Priester, Quintana, and Megill (acquired in 2023) stand out as solid additions under his tenure.
Ultimately, the club’s sustained performance over 2023-25 was enough for the club to give Arnold his promotion. The team will surely be looking for more of the same in 2026. Yelich and Contreras are under club control through at least 2027, while Chourio, Turang, and Frelick are under control through at least 2029. The club should fare well offensively next year with those five in the lineup. The pitching is a little less certain. The team holds mutual options on Quintana and Brandon Woodruff, who did well upon his return from injury but is expected to depart this winter. Mutual options are almost never picked up anyway, though the club may look to retain Quintana for the back of the rotation on another one-year deal.
The Brewers have historically run a low payroll compared to other teams. RosterResource has them at $123MM in payroll in 2025, which ranks 22nd in the league. The club holds an $8MM club option on Peralta. That’s practically a bargain for a player of his caliber, but he has been floated as a trade candidate recently. For his part, Arnold downplayed the possibility of a Peralta trade in the club’s end-of-season presser. “To be honest, it’s not at the front of my mind,” he said during the conference. The club will also see the departures of Woodruff, Rhys Hoskins (assuming his own mutual option is not picked up), and Shelby Miller, who combined for $24MM in payroll in 2025. If Arnold retains Peralta and reinforces the rotation through trades or low-cost signings, the Brewers will look to win the NL Central and make another deep postseason run in 2026.
Anthony Kay Likely To Pursue MLB Opportunity This Offseason
Former MLB pitcher Anthony Kay is expected to come back stateside in 2026, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The left-hander spent the past two seasons pitching for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the Nippon Professional Baseball league in Japan.
Kay, 30, was the Mets’ first-round draft pick in 2016. He was traded to the Blue Jays in 2019 as part of the deal that sent Marcus Stroman to New York. The Long Island native would debut later that year and spend four seasons in Toronto, maxing out at 33 2/3 innings in 2021. He then had brief stints with the Cubs and Mets in 2023, and he spent about two weeks with the Athletics following the 2023 campaign; the A’s claimed him off waivers in late October, but he elected free agency after they removed him from their 40-man roster in early November. Altogether, Kay pitched to a 5.59 ERA in 85 1/3 big-league innings from 2019-23, posting a 22.4% strikeout rate and a 12.0% walk rate.
He has seen better results in Japan in each of the past two years. In 2024, Kay posted a 3.42 ERA in 136 2/3 innings for the Bay Stars while striking out 20.2% of hitters and walking 9.0%. His 0.40 home runs allowed per nine innings (HR/9) was especially impressive. Only six Central League pitchers (min. 100 IP) gave up home runs at a lower rate. At the end of the year, Kay helped the BayStars to their first Japan Series victory since 1998, pitching seven scoreless innings and collecting the win in Game 4.
His first season in NPB was no doubt a success. With that said, it’s worth keeping in mind the lower run-scoring environment in Japan; the league average ERA in the Central League in 2024 was 2.88, well below Kay’s 3.42 mark. However, in 2025, his numbers spoke for themselves. He deployed a deep and diverse arsenal to post a 1.74 ERA in 155 innings, cutting his walk rate to 6.8%. The southpaw led all NPB starting pitchers with a 21.9% strikeout rate, while his ERA ranked second, and his 0.46 HR/9 was tied for fourth. He wasn’t just solid; he was dominant.
Following such a strong season, it makes sense that Kay would look to return to Major League Baseball. He may not have garnered much attention on the open market two years ago, but he’s bound to have more suitors now after proving he could thrive as a starting pitcher against high-level competition.
Francisco Lindor Underwent Minor Elbow Surgery
Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor recently underwent minor surgery on his right elbow, according to Andy Martino of SNY. The club confirmed the debridement procedure this afternoon. Lindor is expected to be ready for spring training.
The 31-year-old star is coming off a year in which he hit .267/.346/.466 in 160 games with a 129 wRC+ that ranked fifth among qualified shortstops. Lindor hit 31 home runs and scored 117 runs in 2025, which more or less matched his totals from 2024, while slightly cutting his strikeout rate to 17.9% and bumping his walk rate to 8.9%. He also remained a threat on the basepaths, matching his career high with 31 stolen bases. His defense was more mixed, as Lindor was valued at -1 Defensive Run Saved (12th among qualified shortstops) but 5 Outs Above Average (tied for 8th), while Statcast put him the 90th percentile for range. Defensive metrics are finnicky, of course, though it appears Lindor remains an average to slightly above average defender to pair with his premium offense. All told, Lindor’s contributions were valued at 6.3 fWAR, which ranks fourth in the majors for his position.
Having Lindor ready to go for spring training will be good news for the Mets as they look to rebound from a disappointing season. At one point, the club held the best record in the majors. That momentum did not last, however, as the Mets posted a 38-52 record in their final 90 games and finished 83-79 overall, missing the playoffs thanks to the Reds holding a tiebreaker advantage. Offensively, the team posted a 112 wRC+ that tied for fourth in the majors with the Blue Jays, led by stellar performances from Lindor as well as Juan Soto and Pete Alonso. Pitching-wise, the Mets were not as fortunate, as their team ERA of 4.04 ranked 18th in the league and their rotation suffered a myriad of injuries. While David Peterson and Clay Holmes each pitched over 160 innings, Kodai Senga missed a month with a right hamstring strain and was ineffective upon his return, leading to him being optioned in September. Apart from those three, no other Mets starter even reached 100 innings.
Heading into 2026, the club will look to rebound behind Lindor, Soto, and hopefully improved health from the rotation. Alonso, Starling Marte, and deadline acquisition Cedric Mullins are free agents, though the Mets will surely attempt to re-sign Alonso. Disappointing finish aside, the club did finish second in the NL East behind the Phillies, who are also seeing a number of notable players become free agents, particularly Kyle Schwarber. If the Mets can reinforce the pitching staff with a few acquisitions while posting a similar offensive output as this year, they might pose a more serious threat to Philadelphia at the top of the division in 2026.