Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Ty Madden Diagnosed With Rotator Cuff Strain

By | at

The Tigers released medical updates on various players in camp, with Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press among those to pass them along. One of the more notable items on the list is that right-hander Ty Madden has a rotator cuff strain in his throwing shoulder. It’s unclear how long the Tigers expect him to be out but it seems fair to expect him to miss at least a few weeks.

Madden, now 25, made his major league debut last year. He tossed 23 innings over six appearances. Only one of those was technically a start, with manager A.J. Hinch deploying his “pitching chaos” strategy, but each was a bulky outing between 2 1/3 and 5 innings. Madden allowed 4.30 earned runs per nine in that time.

He also had a 6.98 ERA over 22 minor league starts, though that’s likely a misleading number. His 28.3% strikeout rate was solid and his 9.8% walk rate only a tad higher than average. He allowed 18 home runs but also had a .371 batting average on balls in play and 58.9% strand rate. His 4.79 FIP was more than two runs lower than his ERA.

Going into 2025, Madden wasn’t likely to break camp in the rotation. Even with Alex Cobb likely to start the season on the injured list due to hip inflammation, the Tigers project to have Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty and Reese Olson in three spots. Candidates for the final two spots include Casey Mize, Kenta Maeda, Jackson Jobe, Brant Hurter, Keider Montero, Matt Manning and Madden. The Tigers should be fine in terms of cobbling a rotation together while Madden is out, but they will have one fewer depth option for the time being.

Another item of note in the injury report is that catcher Brian Serven has been diagnosed with a left oblique strain. Again, no specific timetable was provided for his injury but it seems fair to expect him to miss some time. Serven is in camp on a minor league deal and isn’t the most essential part of the organization. However, the Tigers only have two catchers on their 40-man roster in Jake Rogers and Dillon Dingler. Assuming Serven could still be recovering in a few weeks, they could start the season with less non-roster depth. Tomás Nido is also in camp but perhaps the Tigers will bring in another veteran on a minor league deal, either now or when guys get squeezed out by camp cuts in the coming weeks.

The injury report also notes that Wenceel Pérez has been dealing with some low back tightness. That doesn’t seem to be an especially worrisome issue, but it’s something to keep an eye on, given the other hits to the outfield depth in Detroit. Matt Vierling has a rotator cuff strain and will start the season on IL while Parker Meadows has been battling a nerve issue in his right arm with an uncertain timeline.

Pérez is a logical guy to fill in while Vierling and perhaps Meadows miss some time, though that obviously wouldn’t happen if Pérez is himself injured. Per the injury report, both Meadows and Vierling have begun some light baseball activities, so perhaps the outfield concern won’t last too long into the season.

Erik Swanson To Undergo MRI For Elbow Discomfort

By | at

Blue Jays reliever Erik Swanson has been shut down with some elbow discomfort and is slated for an MRI, reports Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet. The further testing will shed some light on the next steps but Zwelling relays that Swanson is likely to begin the season on the injured list.

Time will tell how concerning this development is, but it’s always a bit scary when a pitcher’s elbow is a focus. It’s also the second straight spring with such a concern for Swanson. This time last year, Swanson first had to leave the club after his son was struck by a car. Once his son had recovered, the righty was slowed in camp by some forearm tightness. His MRI at that time didn’t reveal any structural damage but he did start the season on the injured list.

Swanson was able to be reinstated by mid-April but struggled badly. He had allowed 14 earned runs in 13 2/3 innings by the end of May and was optioned to Triple-A. He did finish strong, getting recalled at the end of June and posting a 2.81 earned run average over his final 25 2/3 innings.

Acquired from the Mariners as part of the Teoscar Hernández trade going into 2023, Swanson had a 2.97 ERA in his first season as a Blue Jay. He struck out 28.6% of batters faced while giving out walks at an 8% clip. He racked up 29 holds and four saves in that time. He was surely expected to play a key role in the bullpen last year until his forearm issue and early-season struggles. The strong finish left some optimism that he could get back on track in 2025, but now this latest elbow discomfort casts an ominous shadow.

The Toronto bullpen should look very different this year compared to 2024. Former closer Jordan Romano had even more significant injury troubles than Swanson last year and was non-tendered at season’s end. Génesis Cabrera, last year’s team leader in relief innings, was outrighted and elected free agency. Trevor Richards and Nate Pearson were flipped at last year’s deadline.

Ahead of 2025, the club signed Jeff Hoffman, re-signed Yimi García and acquired Nick Sandlin in the Andrés Giménez deal. Those three and holdover Chad Green should take most of the high leverage work for the Jays. Swanson would have been in that group as well but he seemingly won’t be an option, at least for the start of the season and perhaps longer, depending on what the MRI machine finds.

Assuming Swanson misses some time, the Jays will have to figure out who gets his bullpen opportunities. Assuming Yariel Rodríguez winds up in a long relief role, the Jays should have three spots alongside Hoffman, Green, García and Sandlin. None of those guys are lefties, so the Jays might lean towards having a southpaw or two. They have Brendon Little, Josh Walker and Easton Lucas on the 40-man. Richard Lovelady is also in camp as a non-roster invitee. Other righties on the roster include Tommy Nance, Zach Pop, Ryan Burr and Nick Robertson. Zwelling lists some pitchers that are impressing in camp so far, with some of the aforementioned players as well as NRIs Kevin Gowdy and Braydon Fisher. If the Jays decide to make an external addition to this group, some notable unsigned relievers include David Robertson, Craig Kimbrel and Phil Maton.

Soto: Mets Didn’t Offer The Most Money

By | at

The Juan Soto free agency was one of the most anticipated in baseball history. It was expected to deliver historic results and did just that. He signed a massive 15-year, $765MM deal with the Mets. That’s the longest contract ever and the largest guarantee. The $51MM average annual value is also a record if one considers the deferrals in Shohei Ohtani’s deal with the Dodgers. Ohtani technically got $700MM over ten years for a $70MM AAV but the heavy deferrals bring the net present value down to the $45MM range annually.

Despite all those records, Soto claims he could have got more. Abriendo Sports released a teaser for a Spanish-language interview they did with Soto. The full conversation won’t be released until Sunday but reporter Mike Rodriguez provided an English translation of the teaser. Soto says that the field was narrowed to the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Blue Jays and Red Sox and that the Mets didn’t offer the most money, with multiple teams offering more.

No other details were provided but it’s potentially an interesting bit of information. The five finalists are not surprising, as they were the clubs most often connected to Soto throughout the winter and towards the end of his free agency. Soto’s claim that the offer from the Mets wasn’t actually the highest doesn’t align with previous reporting. At the time of the agreement with the Mets, it was reported by Jon Heyman of The New York Post that the Yankees topped out at $760MM over 16 years. Sean McAdam of MassLive reported that the Red Sox maxxed out at $700MM over 15.  Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reported that the Blue Jays stopped short of $700MM. Patrick Mooney, Will Sammon, Brendan Kuty and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported the Dodgers stopped at $600MM.

All those numbers are under what Soto got from the Mets, so it’s tough to figure which teams could have had a larger offer than $765MM. Andy Martino of SNY reports today that Boston was one of multiple clubs willing to go higher than the top offer if they thought Soto would accept, but he went to the Mets because of the “family-friendly vibe” established by Alex Cohen, wife of Mets owner Steve Cohen. Perhaps the Red Sox had topped out at $700MM in terms of an official offer but had made some sort of verbal indication to Soto and agent Scott Boras that they were willing to keep pushing.

Speculatively speaking, it’s also possible that there was some creative accounting going on. The Dodgers are famous/infamous for their heavy use of deferred money in the contracts they sign with players. Ohtani’s contract is the most extreme example. As mentioned, it came with an advertised sticker price of $700MM but actually had a net present value that the league calculated at just over $460MM while the MLBPA calculated it around $438MM. While the Dodgers reportedly stopped their offer at $600MM, perhaps that was a post-deferral number, while the offer might have had a shinier pre-deferral number.

Or perhaps there was some mystery team willing to throw out wild numbers that Soto never took especially seriously. 11 clubs reportedly reached out to him at the start of free agency. Soto was connected to clubs like the Giants, Phillies, Rays, Royals and even his original Nationals club at various points through the offseason. None of them seemed to get especially close. The Rays reportedly offered Soto some kind of high-AAV deal on a short-term, so it’s also possible that’s what Soto is referring to. Maybe the Rays offered a higher AAV than the Mets but with far fewer years.

Ultimately, it’s all a moot point. Soto has signed with the Mets and that can’t be changed now. Still, it does make for fun hypothetical speculation. Teams generally went nuts for Soto because of his incredible track record at such a young age. Many top prospects don’t debut until their mid-20s but Soto already had 936 big league games under his belt by the end of his age-25 season. And he had hit .285/.421/.532 for a 158 wRC+ in those. To get that player with so many prime years remaining was a very rare alignment that led to an unprecedented bidding war and perhaps we don’t know how high it actually could have gone.

Prelander Berroa, Juan Carela To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By | at

The White Sox announced that right-handers Prelander Berroa and Juan Carela will require Tommy John surgery in the coming days. Both pitchers will therefore miss the entire 2025 season and likely part of 2026 as well. James Fegan of Sox Machine was among those to relay the news.

Berroa, 25 in April, came to the White Sox from the Mariners last February as part of the Gregory Santos trade. He spent the 2024 season getting shuttled between the majors and Triple-A. He tossed 19 innings in the big leagues with a 3.32 earned run average. His 31.3% strikeout rate was huge but he also gave out walks at a concerning 15.7% clip. In his 46 1/3 Triple-A innings, he had a 6.41 ERA, 22.5% strikeout rate and 16.1% walk rate.

The control is an obvious flag but the ingredients are interesting. Berroa averaged over 97 miles per hour on both his four-seamer and his sinker last year, while also throwing a slider that averaged 87.7 mph. He was wild with the White Sox but also able to rack up strikeouts. His Triple-A numbers weren’t as good but that seems to be an outlier. From 2021 to 2023, he threw 264 2/3 minor league innings with a 3.13 ERA, 34.9% strikeout rate and 14% walk rate.

Ideally, Berroa would have used the 2025 season to continue harnessing his powerful arsenal. Instead, he’ll have to miss the entire campaign and perhaps part of next season as well. He currently has 45 days of service time. Assuming the White Sox put him on the 60-day injured list at some point, he’ll get a full year of service time and will be 26 next April, around the time when he should be getting healthy.

Carela, 23, has yet to make his major league debut and hasn’t pitched at the Triple-A level either. He was just added to the 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He came to the Sox from the Yankees via the 2023 Keynan Middleton trade. From 2021 to 2024, he tossed 371 2/3 innings in the minors with a 4.12 ERA, 26.8% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate.

The numbers have been good but he only just reached Double-A in August of last year, getting seven starts there. It would have been great for him to spend 2025 continuing to work towards the majors and working his way into the rotation depth mix, but that will have to be put on pause until some time next year.

The White Sox optioned him to Double-A earlier today, an understandable move. As mentioned, he only just reached that level late last year. They will likely keep him on the minor league injured list for now. If they wanted to open up a 40-man roster spot at some point in the season, they could recall Carela and place him on the big league 60-day IL, though doing so would require giving Carela major league pay and service time.

Justin Turner, Jerry Dipoto Discuss State Of Mariners

By | at

There seems to be a great deal of frustration surrounding the Mariners, which isn’t limited to the fanbase. Former Mariner Justin Turner sounded off on the situation to Bob Nightengale of USA Today yesterday, blasting the organization for its lack of aggression. That column led to Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times seeking the response of various players, who kept themselves anonymous. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto also spoke about the state of the franchise to Sam Blum of The Athletic in a piece published today, though the piece didn’t reference Turner’s comments or the USA Today piece and said the Dipoto interview actually took place “earlier” this spring.

“The fact that they missed the playoffs by one game, and didn’t go out and add an impact bat or two when you have the best pitching staff in baseball,” Turner said to Nightengale, “just seems absurd to me.”

The Mariners went 85-77 last year, a solid season and their fourth straight above .500. But as Turner mentioned, they narrowly missed the playoffs, just as they did in 2021 and 2023. Their postseason appearance in 2022 is their only one since 2001. Their decent-but-underwhelming results last year were the result of an imbalanced team. Their 3.49 earned run average was tied with Atlanta for best in the league. The starting staff’s 3.38 ERA was best in the majors. But the offense was more middling, with a .224/.311/.376 batting line as a club.

The club surely would have loved to add more offense but didn’t have significant resources to do so. Reporting throughout the winter indicated that the Mariners were going to increase payroll by around $15MM relative to last year. Cot’s Baseball Contracts estimated their Opening Day payroll at $140MM. RosterResource projects them to go into 2025 at $152MM, a $12MM increase. Their free agent signings this winter have been a $3.5MM deal for Donovan Solano, a 37-year-old infielder, and bringing back Jorge Polanco. The M’s turned down a $12MM club option on Polanco, opting for the $750K buyout, but re-signed him via a one-year, $7.75MM deal with a player/vesting option.

Generally speaking, the club hasn’t been a big player in free agency. Cot’s hasn’t had the club’s payroll higher than 11th in the league in any of the past 15 seasons. They’ve been in the bottom half of the league in each of the past five years. In the past decade, they have only twice given a free agent a guarantee larger than $24MM. Yusei Kikuchi got a four-year, $56MM deal back in 2019, though he opted out after three years. Robbie Ray got a five-year, $115MM deal but was traded to the Giants after two years.

Turner was acquired from the Blue Jays at last year’s deadline and finished the year with the Mariners. According to Divish, the club offered him a deal to return, with the guarantee larger than the $6MM pact he eventually accepted from the Cubs. At the time of the offer from the M’s, Turner seemingly felt he could do better and didn’t accept, which prompted the M’s to pivot to Solano and Polanco.

Turner made clear that his criticism wasn’t mere sour grapes about not being re-signed. “Honestly, as much as I wanted to be back there,” Turner said to Nightengale, “if I was the only piece they brought back in, I would be saying the same thing: What the hell are we doing? Are you trying? There’s not going to a better time to go for it. So, I don’t know what they’re doing. I’m very confused. It’s a head-scratcher for me.”

Ultimately, the criticism is mostly geared towards ownership and the lack of resources it has provided to the front office. “I thought [Pete] Alonso was a slam-dunk,” Turner said. “How can you not go after him? You kidding me?” But Alonso re-signed with the Mets on a two-year, $54MM deal. He will get $30MM of that in the first year, which is double what the Mariners had to work with this winter. Turner emphasized that he didn’t hold Dipoto responsible for the parameters he was given.

“I think Jerry catches a bad rap for a lot of these trades and how crazy some of these trades have been,” Turner said. “But now being a part of it, I kind of understand. He doesn’t have any money to spend, so he’s got to create money. Like, OK, is it really Jerry’s fault?” Turner then referenced the 2021 trade wherein the M’s sent Kendall Graveman to the Astros for Abraham Toro, saying he “probably needed to trade guys just to be able to spend money in the offseason, which is nuts.”

Turner also expressed sympathy for the club’s frustrated supporters who are caught up in the situation. “I feel for them. They’ve got great fans. Their fans are amazing. They want to win so bad. The team is very profitable. And they don’t spend.”

It’s perhaps illustrative of a level of discontent that exists in the Seattle clubhouse but doesn’t always come out. Catcher Cal Raleigh expressed some frustration after the club’s disappointing 2023 season finished, though he later apologized. “We’ve got to commit to winning,” Raleigh said at that time, “to going and getting those players. You see other teams going out, going for it, getting big-time pitchers, getting big-time hitters. We have to do that to keep up.”

Turner is no longer in the organization and is also 40 years old, meaning he doesn’t have to fear any negative repercussions for speaking out. The incumbent Mariners who spoke to Divish refrained from going on the record but seemed to largely agree with Turner’s points.

Though the player frustration seemed to be largely pointed at ownership, many Seattle fans have their frustrations with Dipoto. His now-infamous “54%” comments from October of 2023 are sort of legendary among his haters. For those unfamiliar, after the club just missed the playoffs in October of 2023, Dipoto said that “teams that win 54 percent of the time always wind up in the postseason and they more often than not wind up in a World Series. … Nobody wants to hear ‘the goal this year is we’re going to win 54 percent of the time.’ But over time that type of mindset gets you there.”

Blum asked him about those comments and his general ability to speak in a manner that seems to rub people the wrong way. “People obviously didn’t understand it the way I expressed it,” Dipoto said. “My guess is that 98 percent of people didn’t actually listen to it. They just read it off a tweet. It’s what it is. Maybe they wouldn’t have understood it any better had they heard the whole thing. And that’s on me for poorly communicating what I think is a simple idea.”

Dipoto says he has scaled back his media appearances since he’s aware that he’s become something of a lightning rod. “Truly, I could say ‘hello,’” Dipoto said, “and it would turn into a thing right now.” He also expressed to Blum that the very interviewing he was giving would probably not be well received. “I’m gonna get roasted,” he said to Blum.

He did somewhat attempt to frame the lack of spending as a strategy, saying that most great teams have been “built on a foundation of draft, sign, develop or trade. That’s what we’ve communicated to our fans for a decade.” Though at the same time, he also said he’s aware there’s a desire for “The big move. The grand slam. The big free agent.” and that “maybe that’ll happen at some point” but they “didn’t think this was the right time, or the right group of players that fit for us.”

Regardless of how one feels about it, the club is largely banking on the Seattle lineup continuing a strong finish to the 2024 season. The club acquired both Turner and Randy Arozarena at the deadline last year. A few weeks later, they fired manager Scott Servais and hitting coach Jarret DeHart. Servais was replaced by Dan Wilson while Edgar Martínez took over as hitting coach. Martínez is still with the club but with the title of senior director, hitting strategy. He’s not expected to go on road trips, with Kevin Seitzer now to be the club’s primary hitting coach, though he will apparently report to Martínez.

For what it’s worth, the M’s hit .264/.347/.433 in the month of September. That translated to a 128 wRC+ for that month, a mark that trailed only the Dodgers. That was a huge upgrade over the .216/.304/.364 they hit from March to August. We’re talking about just one month, and some of Seattle’s opponents were out of contention and playing out the string. But if there was any meaningful improvement in there that the M’s could carry over, they could be in a better position than last year. If not, it could lead to another offseason of frustration in Seattle.

Mets Outright Sean Reid-Foley

By | at

March 6: The Mets announced that Reid-Foley has been outrighted to Triple-A, indicating he cleared waivers. He is no longer on the 40-man roster.

March 4: The Mets have placed right-hander Sean Reid-Foley on outright waivers, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. At this point, there’s nothing to suggest that the righty has been designated for assignment, so he seems to still be on the 40-man roster. If he goes unclaimed, the Mets could choose to outright him off the roster and open a spot. However, the waivers are not revocable, so he’ll join another club if he is claimed.

Clubs are allowed to place players on waivers without immediately removing them from the 40-man roster. It’s fairly rare that this actually happens, though the Rockies did it with Justin Lawrence just a few days ago. In that instance, the Rockies lost Lawrence when the Pirates put in a claim.

Reid-Foley, 29, has appeared in each of the past seven major league seasons. However, health has prevented him from taking on any kind of meaningful workload of late. He has never been able to throw 34 innings in a big league season. He twice got over 30 frames but hasn’t done so since 2019.

From 2018 to 2020, he served as an up-and-down depth arm for the Blue Jays. He got over 30 innings in the first two of those seasons but spent most of the shortened campaign on optional assignment. In total, he logged 71 2/3 innings with a 4.40 earned run average.

He was flipped to the Mets as part of the January 2021 trade that sent Steven Matz to Toronto. Reid-Foley logged 20 2/3 innings for the Mets that year with a 5.23 ERA but his 28.3% strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate made for an intriguing combo. Unfortunately, some elbow inflammation sent him to the injured list that year. He avoided the surgeon’s table for a while but eventually required Tommy John in May of 2022.

He was non-tendered after that season but re-signed with the Mets via a minor league deal going into 2023. He was selected back to the roster late that year and kept his roster spot into 2024. Last year, he was placed on the injured list multiple times due to right shoulder impingements. Around those IL stints, he tossed 21 2/3 innings with a 1.66 ERA and 27.8% strikeout rate but a very high walk rate of 15.6%. He got a bit of help from a .255 batting average on balls in play and 63% strand rate. His 2.80 FIP and 3.98 SIERA were still good numbers but point to that ERA being unsustainable.

Control issues aren’t new for Reid-Foley, who now has a 14.2% walk rate in his career. Perhaps that’s due to the stop-and-start nature of his career, working around those injuries, but it’s been an ongoing theme nevertheless.

The Mets tendered Reid-Foley an arbitration contract this winter, agreeing to a salary of $800K. The righty has at least three years of service time, meaning he would have the right to elect free agency if he clears waivers and is outrighted. However, since he has less than five years of service, he would have to forfeit that salary in doing so.

Perhaps the Mets are hoping Reid-Foley will clear waivers and accept his assignment in order to keep that salary in place, which would allow them to open a roster spot and keep some depth in a non-roster capacity. But by putting him on waivers, they are risking losing him to another club. The health and the walks are a concern but some teams might be interested in his 28.8% strikeout rate since joining the Mets. Reid-Foley is out of options, but he can theoretically be controlled via arbitration through 2027.

Tyler Naquin Converting To Pitching, Signs Minor League Deal With Guardians

By | at

The Guardians announced that they have signed Tyler Naquin to a minor league contract, but that the longtime big league outfielder is attempting to move to the mound and is reporting as a right-handed pitcher.

Naquin, 34 in April, appeared in each big league season from 2016 to 2023. Most of that was with Cleveland, though he later went to the Reds, Mets and White Sox. Over those eight seasons, he got into 562 games, hitting 61 home runs and slashing .263/.316/.445 for a 101 wRC+. He spent most of 2023 in the minors, getting into just five big league games for the White Sox as the season was winding down. He didn’t sign anywhere for the 2024 campaign.

With his career as an outfielder seemingly stalled out, Naquin will try a late-career move to the mound. It’s a tough trick to pull off, but the Guardians have had one other such convert in the system in recent years. Anthony Gose is also an outfielder-turned-pitcher. He saw some action for the Guardians over the 2021-24 stretch, missing 2023 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He was outrighted off the roster in September and is now with the Mets on a minor league deal.

Naquin’s arm strength was an asset during his career. In 2020, when Statcast first started ranking arm strength, Naquin ranked in the 99th percentile. He dropped to the 98th and 94th percentile respectively over the next two seasons, but still quite a respectable position. He had 32 outfield assists in his career.

Whether he can harness that into effective results on the mound is anyone’s guess. For the Guardians, there’s no harm in bringing him aboard via a minor league deal to see how it goes. For the fans, it’s a fun and unique story involving a familiar face.

Athletics Announce Marc Badain As New President

By | at

The Athletics announced that Marc Badain will be the club’s new president, per Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Badain is most notable for having previously been president of the NFL’s Raiders, who moved to Las Vegas in his time in that job. He will replace Dave Kaval, who announced his resignation from the position in December. Sandy Dean was named interim president when Kaval stepped down but will now serve as vice chairman.

“We are excited to welcome Marc to the Athletics,” A’s owner John Fisher said in a statement. “His vast experience, particularly his work on the opening of Allegiant Stadium and overseeing the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas, makes him a great addition to our team at this pivotal moment. His leadership, commitment to the community, and ability to oversee transformative projects will be key as we look to build a strong and successful future in Southern Nevada.”

Badain served as president of the Raiders from 2013 to 2021. At the start of that time frame, the Raiders played their home games in Oakland Coliseum, sharing the facility with the Athletics. Looking for a new stadium, the Raiders started to explore the possibility of moving to Las Vegas in 2015. Those plans gradually became reality and the move was approved in 2017, though the Raiders stayed in Oakland through the end of the 2019 NFL season, moving into their new stadium in Vegas in 2020.

Badain then resigned in 2021. Per a report from Daniel Kaplan and Tashan Reed of The Athletic in October of 2021, Raiders owner Mark Davis said that “accounting irregularities” prompted the resignation. He said the team “overpaid our taxes…we paid more than we owe,” a matter that “may have started in Oakland.” Badain has since been working with the Oak View Group, trying to build a hotel and casino complex with a venue capable of hosting an NBA team.

Controversial finish aside, there are some clear parallels between his Raiders tenure and the current state of the Athletics. The A’s are in a similar position to where the Raiders were a few years ago. The baseball club is planning to play out of a new stadium in Vegas starting with the 2028 season. They failed to work out a deal to stay in Oakland beyond the end of their 2024 lease of the Coliseum, so they are going to play out of Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento for the 2025-27 seasons. That is normally the home of the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the Giants. The A’s and River Cats plan to share the park for the next three years.

The detour to West Sacramento is a notable difference, but the journey of the two franchises is otherwise quite similar. Since Badain has already steered one franchise from the Oakland Coliseum to a new facility in Las Vegas, the A’s seem to be banking on his experience to guide them through the process in the coming years.

“I’m honored to join the Athletics and help guide the team into a new era of success,” Badain said in the news release. “Las Vegas is a city that celebrates innovation and excellence, and I’m excited to work alongside the team, the fans, and the community to create something extraordinary.”

MLBTR Podcast: Jose Quintana, Luis Gil’s Injury, The Nats’ TV Situation, Salary Floor Talk, And More!

By | at

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 Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • With MASN now solved and stadium naming rights and jersey patches on the way do you see the Nationals making the leap into big spenders sooner than later? (12:30)
  • Do you see the MLBPA pushing for a salary floor? (22:05)
  • Will the White Sox trade Luis Robert Jr. before the start of the regular season? (25:20)
  • While neither is particularly likely, is it more probable that the Pirates extend Paul Skenes or the Reds extend Elly De La Cruz? (27:40)
  • What is your opinion of the White Sox upper management and will they lose 100 games this year? (30:45)
  • The Mets are loaded with infield prospects. Do they trade Jeff McNeil to make room? (37:30)
  • With the Tigers’ outfield injuries, do they go get a right-handed bat? And who is available? (42:00)
  • With the Mariners bringing back most of their position players, what are the chances they get better production from them in 2025? (44:30)
  • Does David Bote have a legitimate shot to make the Dodgers’ roster? (50:35)
  • Why doesn’t MLB expand to 36 teams instead of just 32? (51:35)

Check out our past episodes!

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

Bryce Harper Willing To Return To Outfield To Accommodate Future First Base Addition

By | at

Bryce Harper hasn’t played the outfield in a long time but is willing to head back out there if the Phillies find a big first base addition. “I talked to (the Phillies) this offseason about that, just in case a guy was available (at first) that we needed to have, needed to get,” Harper said to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. “I’d be more than open to it if we had a guy like that, who was going to change our lineup or change the demeanor of our team. They like me at first base. But I’d go out there to have a guy who was going to play first base and hit 35 or 40 homers.

“When Pete (Alonso) was on the block still, I kind of sat there and was like, ‘Hey, why not?’ When we talked about it, I kind of just reiterated to (the Phillies) and Scott (Boras) that I’m willing to move out there if it’s going to help us. I love playing first base. It’s been great. But if it’s going to help us win, I’d go back out there.”

Harper spent many years as an outfielder but hasn’t been out there in a while. He was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow in May of 2022. He wasn’t able to throw but served as the club’s designated hitter until he underwent Tommy John surgery in November of that year. He again served as the designated hitter once he initially got healthy in 2023. After that, the Phillies put him at first base and have kept him there.

That means it’s now been almost three years since his last outfield appearance. Regardless, Harper tells Rosenthal that his main goal is to win a World Series and he wants to do whatever it takes to help the club achieve that goal.

It’s an intriguing tidbit, given the potential impact on future markets. As Harper mentioned, he first broached the subject when Alonso was lingering on the market unsigned this winter. Nothing came of that, with Alonso eventually returning to the Mets, and there are no notable first basemen left unsigned at this point. But this coming winter, Alonso could be back out there since he has an opt-out in his two-year deal with the Mets. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. also didn’t reach an extension with the Blue Jays and is slated for free agency this coming winter as well.

Whether the club wants to go down that road remains to be seen. Even before the surgery, Harper’s outfield defense was questionable. Outs Above Average gave him a grade of -29 from its inception in 2016 through 2022. Defensive Runs Saved has Harper at +8 as an outfielder in his career, but since he tallied +14 in his rookie season in 2012, he’s been below average overall since then. Given that he’s now 32 years old and has been away from the grass for a few years, he would face a challenge in being better than that going forward. At first base, however, he has +8 OAA in his career and +6 DRS.

There’s also the larger roster construction to consider. The Phils have seemingly been committed to keeping Harper at first, so much so that they told Rhys Hoskins they wouldn’t be able to bring him back as he hit free agency after 2023. Since then, they have had Harper at first and Kyle Schwarber at designated hitter. Schwarber is slated for free agency after 2025, though there seems to be some mutual interest in getting an extension done. Even if Schwarber isn’t back in 2026, Nick Castellanos would be a logical candidate to move into that role, since his contract runs through ’26 and his defense isn’t well regarded.

Hypothetically, signing Guerrero to a deal of a decade or longer could lead to long-term awkwardness on the roster. Harper is already 32 and will be 33 next year, with his contract running through 2031. In this hypothetical, he and Guerrero would be on the same roster for six years, from 2026 through 2031. By 2027, both Schwarber and Castellanos could be gone, perhaps allowing Harper and Guerrero to share first base and the DH slot at that point, though that would give the club very little flexibility for a five-year stretch. Most clubs these days prefer to have some wiggle room to cycle other players into the DH spot in order to manage season-long workloads and nagging injuries.

With Alonso, perhaps the hypothetical fit is a bit easier to see, depending on his 2025 season. He is obviously hoping to bounce back and find a stronger market next winter, but his age will still cap the length of his deal even if that happens. While Guerrero is just about to turn 26 this month, Alonso is already 30 and will be turning 31 next offseason. He didn’t seem to find any clubs willing to make a long-term investment in him this winter, so perhaps that will be true again going into 2026.

Regardless, all of his is contingent on the Phillies taking Harper up on his willingness to head back out to the grass. Perhaps this will end up being a moot point but it’s possible this could lead to some interesting rumors next winter. It’s also theoretically possible that Guerrero and/or Alonso are available at this summer’s deadline. Theoretically, the Phillies could acquire one of them and move Harper to the outfield, though a midseason trade is perhaps is even harder to see since Harper wouldn’t have an offseason and spring training to prepare for the outfield move.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top