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Giants Sign Michael Fulmer To Minor League Deal

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The Giants announced a number of non-roster invitees to spring training today, with Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle among those to pass them along. Most of the players were already in the organization or their signings had been previously reported but right-hander Michael Fulmer and outfielder Jared Oliva were new names. Fulmer is represented by BBI Sports Group and Oliva the Beverly Hills Sports Council.

Fulmer, 33 in March, has had periods of major league success but also lengthy injury interruptions. He was a rotation staple for the Tigers from 2016 to 2018, winning American League Rookie of the Year in the first of those seasons, but then Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2019. When he returned, he struggled and got moved to the bullpen. He was a fairly effective reliever from 2021 to 2023 but then required a revision surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament, wiping out his 2024.

He was back on the mound in 2025 but was mostly stuck in the minors. He briefly got called up to the big leagues by the Red Sox and the Cubs but only made three appearances between those two teams. He pitched in Triple-A for those two clubs as well as the Mariners and Royals last year, throwing a total of 66 1/3 innings with a combined 3.39 earned run average. His 10.5% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 31% of batters faced.

The San Francisco bullpen looks notably weaker than it did just a few months ago. They traded away Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval at the trade deadline, then Randy Rodríguez required Tommy John surgery in September. They haven’t really made any moves to strengthen the group apart from making buy-low investments in injury reclamation projects like Sam Hentges and Jason Foley.

Fulmer joins Gregory Santos as experienced non-roster depth and will try to pitch his way into a return to a regular big league role. From 2021 to 2023, Fulmer made 177 appearances with a 3.55 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 40% ground ball rate.

Oliva, 30, has a major league track record consisting of 26 games for the Pirates over the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He stepped to the plate 59 times and produced a .179/.220/.214 line. He spent last year with the Brewers on a minor league deal and hit .252/.335/.413. He’s generally been good for double-digit steals throughout his minor league career and swiped 57 bags last year.

The Giants project to have a regular outfield consisting of Harrison Bader, Jung Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos, with Jerar Encarnación, Drew Gilbert, Luis Matos, Grant McCray and others in the mix for bench/depth roles. If some playing time opens up, perhaps Oliva’s base running skills can help him earn a bench job. If he eventually gets a roster spot, he still has options.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Latest On Padres’ Ownership

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The legal battle which has been hovering over the Padres for the past year-plus moved a bit closer to resolution this week. While it’s not over the finish line, it appears the club took one step toward closer and potentially being sold. Various details were provided by Dennis Lin of The Athletic, Eben Novy-Williams, Kurt Badenhausen and Scott Soshnick of Sportico, as well as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Interested readers are encouraged to read those pieces in full to get all of the pertinent details. The key takeaway is that Sheel Seider, widow of Peter Seider, has dropped many of the claims in her lawsuit against Peter’s brothers. The two sides of the lawsuit have reached agreement on many of the claims, with the exceptions of those related to trust distributions and demand for accounting.

After Peter died in November of 2023, his stake in the team was placed in a trust. Eric Kutsenda, a business associate of Peter’s, was made the club’s control person on an interim basis. Teams are often owned by many people but MLB designates one individual the control person to represent the team in league matters. Peter’s brother John Seidler was reportedly set to be named control person in December of 2024. Two of Peter’s other brothers, Matt and Bob, remained involved in his trust.

In January of 2025, Sheel filed suit against Matt and Bob, seeking to be named control person of the franchise. The suit claimed that Peter wanted control of the franchise to eventually pass to his young children, with her steering the franchise in the interim. The suit accused Peter’s brothers of various types of malfeasance to take control of the club, including selling themselves assets at below-market prices, and to eventually sell it. Matt then filed a response with a counter narrative, saying that Peter never listed Sheel as a trustee despite amending his trust multiple times and that many transactions had been made to her benefit.

MLB approved John as control person on February of 2025. In November of 2025, the Padres announced that they would be exploring a sale of the club, despite no signs of progress with the dispute. As mentioned, this week’s news seems to represent progress, but with some hurdles remaining.

Acee reports it’s likely that a sale will not take place until full resolution of the legal matters. That’s a situation with some recent precedent in Major League Baseball. After the death of Orioles’ owner Peter Angelos, his surviving family members engaged in a similar fight for control, also involving lawsuits. Those suits were dropped in February of 2023. Later that year, it was reported that David Rubenstein was in talks to buy the club, which he eventually did.

Sportico identifies Jose E. Feliciano and Dan Friedkin as two people interested in buying the club. Feliciano’s investment firm Clearlake Capital was part of the BlueCo consortium which bought  the English Premier League club Chelsea in 2022 for roughly $3 billion in USD. Forbes estimates Feliciano’s net worth to be $3.9 billion. Clearlake reportedly has about $90 billion under management. Mark Walter, Dodgers’ control person and chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, was also part of BlueCo.

Friedkin also owns a Premier League club, having purchased Everton in 2024 for an undisclosed price. He also owns the Serie A club Roma. Forbes estimates his net worth to be just under $9.9 billion. He was born in San Diego in 1965.

Joe Lacob is also identified as someone with interest by all three articles linked above. Lacob has been connected to various MLB clubs in the past, including the Athletics and the Angels. He owns the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries. Forbes estimate his net worth to be $2.3 billion.

Forbes calculates the value of the franchise at $1.95 billion. Sportico comes in a bit higher at $2.3 billion. This week’s reporting suggests the Padres are likely to seek far more than that, with Acee reporting the team likely values itself in the $2.5 to $3 billion range. If they can get anywhere close to that, it would be a record. The largest sale of an MLB club to date is the $2.4 billion Steve Cohen paid to buy the Mets.

It’s possible that a sale could provide some greater certainty about the future of the club in a few areas. The player payroll peaked in 2023, with Cot’s Baseball Contracts putting the Friars at $249MM that year, but has been at a lower tier since then.

That has seemingly played a role in some transactions. Juan Soto’s final year of club control was traded to the Yankees, with younger and cheaper players coming back in return. The Friars signed Nick Pivetta last year but backloaded it significantly, with Pivetta only getting $4MM in the first year of a four-year, $44MM deal. With the cheapest year now completed, he has been in trade rumors this winter.

The person making the decisions about those transactions is president of baseball operations A.J. Preller, who has been running the San Diego front office since 2014. There has been some reported tension between him and the new guys running the team. Despite the club being fairly successful on the field, Preller is going into the final year of his contract and rumors of extension talks haven’t led to a new deal, putting him in lame duck status for 2026.

Photo courtesy of Chadd Cady, Imagn Images

White Sox Designate Bryan Hudson For Assignment

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The White Sox announced that left-hander Bryan Hudson has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for the Sox to add outfielder Austin Hays, whose signing is now official.

Hudson, 29 in May, seemed to have a breakout with the Brewers in 2024. He gave Milwaukee 62 1/3 innings that year, allowing just 1.73 earned runs per nine. His 26.8% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate were both strong figures, while his 41.2% ground ball rate was around par. He averaged just over 91 miles per hour on his four-seamer while also throwing a cutter and a sweeper.

That ERA was at least slightly misleading as Hudson’s .148 batting average on balls in play allowed and 94.2% strand rate was both unsustainably lucky. But even advanced metrics felt he deserved decent results, as he had a 3.60 FIP and 3.22 SIERA on the year. He had enough trust in Milwaukee to rack up 14 holds.

He wasn’t able to maintain that in 2025. He struggled in the first few months and got sent to the minors a couple of times, before being designated for assignment at the trade deadline. A few days later, the White Sox grabbed him off waivers. Between the two clubs, he posted a 4.80 ERA in 15 innings. He still struck out 25.3% of batters faced but gave out walks at an awful 17.3% clip. He also logged 31 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 5.97 ERA, 22.5% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 51.6% ground ball rate.

Over the course of that rocky campaign, Hudson exhausted his final option season, meaning he’ll be out of options going forward. That’s going to make it harder for him to hold a roster spot and has presumably contributed to the Sox bumping him off today.

The Sox will now have one week of DFA limbo to work with. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so they could take as long as five days to field trade interest. If Hudson were to clear waivers, he would stick with the Sox as non-roster depth. He doesn’t have a previous career outright and his service clock is shy of three years, meaning he wouldn’t have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of electing free agency.

If that’s an outcome the Sox are hoping for, then they will probably put Hudson on waivers sooner rather than later. Most clubs have full 40-man rosters at the moment but the 60-day injured list comes back next week, which will open up some greater flexibility for fringe roster moves.

Photo courtesy of Eakin Howard, Imagn Images

Yankees Designate Dom Hamel For Assignment

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The Yankees announced that they have designated right-hander Dom Hamel for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for their claim of outfielder Yanquiel Fernández, a move that was previously reported.

Hamel, 27 in March, got to make a brief major league debut with the Mets last year. He tossed a scoreless inning on September 17th but has been riding the DFA carousel ever since then. He went to the Orioles and Rangers via waiver claims before September was even finished. Texas held him for a few months but gave him another DFA in January. The Yankees claimed him but have now sent him back into DFA limbo again just over a week later.

With that tiny major league résumé, teams are surely focusing on his minor league work. He came up as a starter with the Mets but showed a lack of control and got nudged to the bullpen last year. He pitched 67 2/3 innings over 31 Triple-A outings in 2025, with 11 of those technically starts but with Hamel mostly working as an Opener. His four-seamer and sinker both sat in the low-90s on average while he also threw a cutter, slider and changeup.

He posted a 5.32 earned run average, which is obviously not a sexy number, but his 7.4% walk rate demonstrated much better control. He also punched out 25.2% of opponents faced. There’s clearly enough here for teams to have some interest, but it seems they are likely hoping to pass him through waivers in order to keep Hamel as non-roster depth, hence the cycle of claims and DFAs. Hamel doesn’t have a previous outright and is shy of three years of service, so he wouldn’t have the right to elect free agency if he were to clear waivers.

The Yanks will likely put him back out on waivers soon. They technically could wait as long as five days but start the process sooner. Most teams currently have full 40-man rosters but the 60-day injured list opens up next week, which will give some clubs extra flexibility for fringe roster moves.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Red Sox Claim Mickey Gasper

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The Red Sox announced that they have claimed utility player Mickey Gasper off waivers from the Nationals. Washington designated him for assignment last week when they claimed Richard Lovelady. Boston had a couple of 40-man openings after trading Jordan Hicks and David Sandlin to the White Sox a few days ago. This claim moves their count from 38 to 39.

It’s a bit of a homecoming for Gasper. He was originally drafted by the Yankees but Boston plucked him away in the minor league portion of the 2023 Rule 5 draft. Gasper spent 2024 with the Sox and got to make a brief major league debut but then was traded to the Twins going into the 2025 season. He got some more major league action with Minnesota in 2025 but was mostly a depth piece. He’s been riding the DFA carousel this winter, going to the Nats and now the Red Sox via waivers.

Gasper, 30, still hasn’t done much at the major league level. In his 133 plate appearances, he has a .133/.250/.195 line. He has shown far more potential in the minors, however. He has taken 412 Triple-A appearances over the past two years with 18 home runs, a 13.3% walk rate, 14.1% strikeout rate, a .325/.427/.560 line and 158 wRC+.

If Gasper could bring even a portion of that minor league offense up to the big leagues, that would be great. Even if that doesn’t happen, he provides loads of defensive versatility. He has experience behind the plate, at the three non-shortstop infield positions and in left field. He hits from both sides of the plate as well, adding an extra layer of flexibility.

Gasper still has options and could be kept in the minors as depth. It’s also possible to see him providing value in a bench role in the big leagues. The Sox have been on the hunt for more catching depth behind Carlos Narváez. They have a few question marks on the infield. Their outfield is very lefty heavy and Rob Refsnyder is no longer around as a righty-swinging complement.

Boston will probably still make another move or two, which could change the picture, and injuries will inevitably arise to shake things up. Gasper’s role will depend on how everything plays out in the coming weeks and months, if he sticks on the roster.

Photo courtesy of David Richard, Imagn Images

Yankees To Claim Yanquiel Fernández

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The Yankees are going to claim outfielder Yanquiel Fernández off waivers from the Rockies, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. Colorado designated him for assignment a week ago. The Yanks haven’t yet officially announced this claim. When they do, they will need to make a corresponding move to open a 40-man spot.

Fernández, 23, was one of the top prospects in the Rockies’ system as of a few years ago. An international signing out of Cuba, Fernández boosted his stock with a strong 2023 season. He hit 25 home runs across three different levels, topping out at Double-A. Going into 2024, the Rockies added him to their 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. Baseball America ranked him the #3 prospect in the organization and #92 in the whole league.

His stock has dipped since then. He has taken 147 big league plate appearances with a .225/.265/.348 line and 29.9% strikeout rate. In 409 Triple-A plate appearances, his .259/.320/.437 line looks decent at first glance but actually translates to a 77 wRC+ in the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League. The declining offense is significant for Fernández. He doesn’t steal a ton of bases and is a corner outfielder. He has a strong arm but isn’t considered an especially strong defender. His best path to providing value is crushing the ball.

The Rockies just overhauled their front office, moving on from general manager Bill Schmidt in the fall. It seems the new regime, led by president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta, wasn’t bullish on his chances of getting back on track. Fernández has a minor league option remaining and could have been kept in Triple-A as depth but the Rockies bumped him off the roster as they made buy-low pickups of slightly more experienced players like Jake McCarthy and Edouard Julien.

The Yankees have a fairly crowded outfield at the moment. They project to have Aaron Judge, Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger getting regular playing time on the grass with Giancarlo Stanton in the designated hitter spot. They also have Jasson Domínguez and Spencer Jones in the mix and have been sniffing around the market for righty platoon guys like Randal Grichuk and Austin Slater. Guys like Marco Luciano and Seth Brown are around as non-roster depth.

That picture could change over time. There are some injury concerns in there, particularly with Stanton. There has been some trade speculation surrounding Domínguez and Jones. For now, Fernández figures to be way down the depth chart. The Yankees might try to pass him through waivers at some point in the future. If he hangs onto his roster spot, he figures to get regular playing time in Triple-A.

Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images

MLBTR Podcast: Twins Front Office Shake-Up, The Brendan Donovan Trade, Eugenio Suarez, And More!

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

  • Examining MLB’s Parity Situation – Also, Bellinger, Peralta, Robert, And Gore – listen here
  • What The Tucker And Bichette Contracts Mean For Baseball – Also, Nolan Arenado And Ranger Suarez – listen here
  • The Cubs Land Cabrera And Bregman, Remaining Free Agents, And Skubal’s Arbitration Filing – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Joe Puetz, Imagn Images

Rockies, Kyle McCann Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies and catcher Kyle McCann have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com. The Ballengee Group client also receives an invite to big league camp in spring training.

McCann, 28, got to make his major league debut with the Athletics in 2024. He got into 54 games and stepped to the plate 157 times. He hit five home runs and drew walks at a solid 10.2% clip but also struck out in 37.6% of those plate appearances. His .236/.318/.371 batting line was just above league average, translating to a 102 wRC+, but was buoyed by a .368 batting average on balls in play.

His minor league offense has had a similar shape, with some power and walks but lots of punchouts. Outlets like FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus and Statcast all ranked him as a subpar defender during his time in the big leagues, particularly when it comes to pitch framing.

The A’s designated him for assignment in January of 2025. He cleared waivers and stuck with the club as non-roster depth but was released at the end of camp. In May, he signed with los Piratas de Campeche in the Mexican League. He got into 32 games for that club and stepped to the plate 140 times. He hit eight home runs with an 18.8% walk rate and 30.7% strikeout rate. The Mexican League is very hitter-friendly, with the league-wide slash line being .295/.378/.465 in 2025, but McCann’s .319/.450/.611 line was still strong even in that inflated environment.

The Rockies don’t have a ton of depth behind the plate. Hunter Goodman and Braxton Fulford are currently the only backstops on the 40-man roster. Goodman just had a breakout season in 2025 but Fulford has just 120 big league plate appearances with a .213/.267/.324 line in those. Brett Sullivan has been brought aboard via a minor league deal but he has just a .204/.250/.291 line in his 112 big league plate appearances.

McCann gives the Rockies a second non-roster catcher with at least some big league experience. If an injury pops up and the Rockies need another catcher at some point, McCann could perhaps have a leg up over Sullivan, who is out of options. McCann has a full slate of options, so he could be shuttled between Albuquerque and Denver if he gets a 40-man spot.

Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images

Yankees Outright Marco Luciano

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The Yankees announced that infielder/outfielder Marco Luciano has been sent outright to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment a week ago. He’ll stick in the organization as non-roster depth. He will likely be invited to big league camp in spring training.

No player wants to lose his roster spot but there’s probably at least some relief for Luciano, who has been riding the DFA carousel all winter. A longtime Giants prospect, that club put him on waivers in early December. He went to the Pirates, Orioles and Yankees via the waiver wire over the past few months. Now that he has finally cleared, he has been dropped to non-roster status but at least he now knows where to report when spring training begins next week.

Now 24, Luciano raked through the minor leagues as a prospect. He came up as a shortstop and was once considered the heir apparent to Brandon Crawford as the mainstay at that position in San Francisco.

However, he didn’t find as much success in the upper levels of the minors. He also struggled defensively and the Giants moved him to left field last year, with Willy Adames signed to take over shortstop, only putting more pressure on his bat.

Over the past two years, Luciano has taken 939 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level, with 33 home runs in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He drew a walk in 16% of his trips to the plate, an excellent clip, but was also punched out 29.1% of the time. His combined .229/.354/.400 line in that two-year span translated to a 101 wRC+. Luciano also exhausted his three option years over the past three seasons. He got brief looks in the majors, getting sent to the plate 126 times, but struck out in 35.7% of those trips while producing a .217/.286/.304 line.

Given the former prospect pedigree and his relative youth, teams are clearly still interested, hence all the waiver claims. But the strikeouts, lacks of options and defensive questions all pushed him to a fringe roster position.

The Yankees will try to unlock something with Luciano in Triple-A. He only played the outfield in 2025 but the Yanks announced him as an infielder/outfielder, so perhaps they will try him on the dirt a bit. He does hit from the right side and the Yanks have a fairly lefty-heavy lineup. They have been connected to righty bats like Paul Goldschmidt, Randal Grichuk and Austin Slater in free agency but perhaps Luciano can offer some help in that department as the season goes along. If he gets added back to the roster at some point, he is out of options but has less than a year of service time and can therefore be controlled for six seasons before reaching free agency.

Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks To Sign Carlos Santana

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The Diamondbacks and free agent first baseman Carlos Santana are in agreement on a deal, according to various sources. It is reportedly a one-year, $2MM pact. The Snakes have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move once Santana completes his physical and the deal becomes official.

Santana, 40 in April, made his major league debut back in 2010. While he’s never really been a star player, he has carved out a long career as a reliably strong contributor. He has always had strong strikeout and walk numbers while flashing a bit of pop with strong first base defense to boot. In over 9,000 career plate appearances, he has a 14.4% walk rate, 16.6% strikeout rate, .241/.352/.425 line and 114 wRC+. In almost 13,000 innings at first, he has racked up 48 Defensive Runs Saved and 45 Outs Above Average.

As one would expect, his production has declined as he has pushed closer to his 40th birthday. He still gets rave reviews for his glovework but his offense hasn’t been as robust in recent seasons. Dating back to the start of 2020, he has a combined line of .222/.321/.378 and a 96 wRC+. With the Guardians and Cubs in 2025, his 11% walk rate and 19.2% strikeout rate were still good numbers but down from his career levels. He slashed .219/.308/.325 on the year for a wRC+ of 82.

Despite the trend lines and the poor 2025 season, there are some reasons why Santana could be a good fit for the Arizona roster. A switch-hitter, he has always fared better against left-handed pitching. In 2025, he wasn’t great against pitchers of either handedness, with a .231/.318/.346 line and 89 wRC+ against southpaws. But as recently as 2024, he was able to put up a huge .286/.356/.578 line and 160 wRC+ in that split.

The Diamondbacks had Josh Naylor as their first baseman to begin 2025 but they traded him to the Mariners at the deadline. Coming into this offseason, they had Pavin Smith and Tyler Locklear atop the depth chart, but with question marks there.

Locklear, who came over from the Mariners in the Eugenio Suárez trade last summer, hasn’t yet found success against big league pitching. He also might not be ready for Opening Day this year. In a September game against the Red Sox, he was attempting to corral an errant throw from third baseman Jordan Lawlar when he made contact with batter-runner Connor Wong. He suffered a ligament tear in his elbow and a labrum injury in his shoulder and required surgery in October.

As for Smith, he has shown flashes of potential at times but with a heavy platoon split. A left-handed batter, he slashed .270/.348/.547 for a 140 wRC+ in 2024 but with most of that damage coming against righties. Last year, he had big splits again and also faded as the season went along, dealing with injuries in the second half. For the whole year, he hit .265/.361/.456 against righties but just .167/.375/.167 against lefties. He had a combined .261/.371/.446 line in the first half and .227/.261/.318 line in the second half. He spent time on the injured list due to an oblique strain and a quad strain and only played 87 games on the year.

Locklear hits from the right side, so a platoon with Smith is potentially a good arrangement at first. But Locklear is fairly unproven and also has the uncertain health status. Smith appears to be a good bat against righties but without an especially long track record of success. His first base defense also hasn’t received strong marks.

The Diamondbacks didn’t have a strict designated hitter in 2025, with various players rotating through that spot. It’s possible they could rotate Locklear, Smith and Santana based on various situations throughout the season. Santana provides stronger glovework than Smith and with better numbers against lefty pitchers. Locklear still has an option and could be sent to Triple-A but he could earn more playing time, with the DH spot allowing the club to spread some more at-bats around.

There’s also the financial component. Owner Ken Kendrick said in September that the payroll would likely be dialed back relative to 2025. General manager Mike Hazen has tried to downplay the payroll concerns but also recently implied that making a flashy bullpen signing would have closed the door to reuniting with Merrill Kelly.

With an uncertain first base situation and little money to spend, the Snakes were connected to right-handed-hitting first basemen who weren’t likely command high salaries. That included Santana but also Ty France and old friend Paul Goldschmidt. While a reunion with Goldy would have been fun, the Santana deal seems to make it far less likely, if not completely impossible.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that the sides were close to a deal. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic reported that an agreement was in place. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported that it would be a one-year deal. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM reported the $2MM figure. Photos courtesy of David Richard, Katie Stratman, Imagn Images

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