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Cubs, Kyle Tucker Avoid Arbitration

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The Cubs and Kyle Tucker have avoided arbitration, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN. The outfielder will make $16.5MM next year and won’t need to go to a hearing. Tucker is represented by Excel Sports Management.

Last week was the arbitration filing deadline, meaning that any teams and players who did not come to agreements had to exchange filing figures. The Cubs and Tucker did not agree, with the club filing at $15MM and Tucker at $17.5MM. The $2.5MM gap between their numbers was the largest of the 17 filings. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected Tucker for a $15.8MM salary this year. If a hearing came to pass, the arbiter would have had to select either Tucker’s number or the club’s, with no ability to pick a midpoint.

That made the likelihood of a hearing very high. Teams and players are allowed to continue negotiating and free to reach deals after the filing deadline, though most teams take a “file-and-trial” approach these days. That means they have a policy against doing one-year deals after the deadline, thus giving them leverage in salary talks. When a file-and-trial team does a deal after the deadline, it usually involves an extra year, perhaps as an option. That prevents it from being used as a precedent in future arbitration calculations, so the overall trend of file-and-trial policies is to slow the inflation of salaries.

The Cubs have been a file-and-trial team, as most are these days, but have made an exception here. None of the reporting on Tucker’s deal suggests that there’s any kind of option. He is an impending free agent and excellent player, so he wasn’t going to give away a free agent year on a club option. The two sides could have agreed to some kind of mutual option that would never be picked up, but don’t appear to have done so.

It’s unclear why the Cubs broke from their usual policy here, paying Tucker beyond the midpoint of the filing numbers and his MLBTR projection. Speculatively speaking, it could be because he was just acquired from the Astros and the Cubs didn’t want to tarnish the beginning of their relationship with their new star player. An arbitration hearing can sometimes lead to friction between player and team, with Corbin Burnes with the Brewers and Ryan Helsley with the Cardinals some recent examples. Burnes spoke of his negative arbitration experience in February of 2023, while Helsley recounted his to Foul Territory in March of last year.

Tucker has previously gone to an arbitration hearing. He first qualified for arbitration going into 2023, with he and the Astros unable to reach an agreement for his salary that year. He filed at $7.5MM and the Astros at $5MM, with the club ultimately emerging victorious. The two sides avoided arbitration for 2024 by agreeing to a $12MM salary.

It’s also perhaps possible that the Cubs would like to keep Tucker for the long term and didn’t want to sour the relationship with a bad first impression. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer recently appeared on the Cubs Rekap Podcast with David Kaplan and Gordon Wittenmyer (hat tip to Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation) and discussed Tucker’s situation, downplaying his concern about the relationship with Tucker. He also said that there are no conversations about an extension. Though the Cubs would love to have Tucker long term, Hoyer suggested they would probably approach him about contract talks later, suggesting that playing in front of the home crowd at Wrigley would help their chances.

While it may be true that Tucker will enjoy the experience of being a Cub this year, there are still reasons to expect an extension isn’t likely. He’s been one of the best players in baseball recently. In the eyes of FanGraphs, he essentially averaged five wins above replacement per year from 2020 to 2023. He produced 1.8 fWAR in the shortened 2020 season, then finished the next three seasons with either 4.9 or 5.0 fWAR. In 2024, he took things to a new level with 4.2 fWAR in just 78 games, missing significant time due to a shin fracture.

He has hit .279/.358/.525 over those five seasons for a wRC+ of 143. He has stolen 88 bases and received strong grades for his outfield defense. His 20.9 fWAR over those years puts him in the top 15 among all position players in the league. He likely would have been in the top ten if not for fouling a ball off his shin and fracturing it last year.

Given that production and the fact that Tucker is set to be a free agent going into his age-29 season, he is well positioned for a significant payday. To lock up an MVP-caliber player a year before free agency isn’t cheap, as shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker. Mookie Betts got $365MM from the Dodgers while Francisco Lindor got $341MM from the Mets. The largest deal in Cubs’ history is their $184MM pact with Jason Heyward, so they would likely have to double that to keep Tucker from becoming a free agent next winter.

Mets Reportedly Expect Pete Alonso To Sign Elsewhere

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The Mets and Pete Alonso have been in a staredown for a while but it seems the club is blinking. Andy Martino of SNY reports that they now expect him to sign elsewhere, with today’s agreement with Jesse Winker part of a plan to spread money around to various alternatives. Earlier today, Will Sammon and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that Alonso’s market was heating up, with the Blue Jays and Mets involved, as well as a third unidentified team.

Alonso and the Mets have clearly had mutual interest in reaching a new deal for a long time, but without the ability to agree on a price point. The club reportedly offered him a seven-year, $158MM extension in the summer of 2023, but a deal didn’t get done. Since then, there have been changes on both sides of the negotiations. The Mets hired David Stearns to replace Billy Eppler atop their baseball operations department in September of 2023, with Alonso then hiring Scott Boras the following month.

During the 2024 season, the sides generally expressed admiration for each other but never seemed to make much effort to get an extension done. Alonso turned down a qualifying offer and became a free agent. Though he was connected to various teams in recent months, he never seemed to get a deal to his liking. Alonso’s camp reportedly pivoted to a short-term deal, pitching the Mets a three-year pact with opt-outs. The Mets seemed to be somewhat amenable to this framework but a gap on the money still prevented a deal from coming together.

In recent weeks, the Mets have also been connected to players like Winker, Anthony Santander, Alex Verdugo, Tanner Scott, Luis Arráez and Tim Hill. They also reportedly offered Teoscar Hernández a two-year deal before he returned to the Dodgers on a three-year pact.

Martino’s report compares the Mets’ current plans to those of the Yankees after missing out on Juan Soto, spreading money around to various players as opposed to one big splash. After Soto went to the Mets, the Yankees gave out deals to Max Fried and Paul Goldschmidt, as well as trading for Devin Williams and Cody Bellinger. They could have done some of those moves in conjunction with Soto but perhaps were more aggressive in those areas since they hadn’t tied up their resources with the one mega deal.

The Winker signing alone doesn’t stop the Mets from bringing back Alonso, as the two coexisted on the roster in 2024, with Alonso the regular at first as Winker spent time in the outfield corners and designated hitter slot. But there has been some reporting that the club wants to use some internal options at the corners. Mark Vientos was the regular third baseman last year and had a breakout year at the plate, but with subpar defensive metrics. He could perhaps move over to first, while the Mets use Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña to cover third base.

Perhaps things will change in the coming days but it now seems possible that the Mets are indeed prepared to walk away from Alonso. The earlier reporting from The Athletic indicated the Mets were in talks with various players and didn’t want the stalled Alonso negotiations to get in their way. While Winker doesn’t strictly block the path for Alonso to come back to Queens, it does seem to signal that the Mets are prepared to move on.

If it does indeed come to pass, it will be a surprisingly lackluster end to the Mets-Alonso relationship. He was a homegrown star with some New York roots and come up through the club’s system after being selected in the second round of the 2016 draft. He debuted with a big splash in 2019, hitting 53 home runs and also winning the home run derby. That campaign is now widely viewed as the juiced ball season, but Alonso continued to be a big homer threat in subsequent years.

Alonso now has 226 home runs over the past six seasons, second only to Aaron Judge in that time. He won another derby title in 2021 and was a staple of the club over their recent history, not having played less than 152 games in any full season.

During that time, the Mets went from a punchline to a powerhouse. While they were previously known for having middling budgets and results, Steve Cohen purchased the club ahead of the 2021 season and made them one of the top spenders in the league. They have made the playoffs in two of the past three years, with Alonso playing the hero last year. He hit four home runs in 13 playoff games just a few months ago, including the series-flipping homer off Williams to get the Mets past the Brewers and out of the Wild Card round.

But his star power in the media and general public seemed to outpace his popularity in today’s analytically-inclined front offices. While the home run power has been real, Alonso’s other contributions have been muted. His walk rates have been decent but not outstanding, he’s not a burner on the basepaths and his defense hasn’t been well regarded. His overall offense has also declined. While he hit .261/.349/.535 for a 137 wRC+ through 2022, he slashed just .229/.324/.480 for a 121 wRC+. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 2.1 wins above replacement last year, a solid but not elite number. There were 119 position players who were at 2.2 fWAR or higher last year.

It therefore seemed possible from the start of the offseason that Alonso would find his offers lacking in free agency. As part of MLBTR’s annual Top 50 list, we considered predicting Alonso for a deal along the lines of the three years and $80MM that Bellinger got from the Cubs last year after he lingered in free agency into February. We backed down from that prediction, putting 5/$125MM on Alonso, but it now appears he may well end up getting something like that deal. It just might be somewhere other than Queens.

It’s a bit of a surprising pivot, as the Mets have not been shy about spending since Cohen bought the team. While Stearns was in Milwaukee, he never spent a lot of money on first basemen, but he never had the resources he now has. Despite the deeper bank account, it still seems as though Stearns would prefer to invest in ways he considers wise. The club also didn’t play at the top of the starting pitching market, not signing guys like Fried or Corbin Burnes, instead taking risks on guys like Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes. Montas is coming off a down year while Holmes will be trying to pivot from the bullpen to the rotation.

All this will seemingly leave Alonso looking elsewhere for his next gig, with Toronto one possibility. The Jays already have a first baseman in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. but it doesn’t appear as though the plan would be to trade him. Per the reporting from The Athletic, the plan would be for Guerrero and Alonso to share first base and DH, with Guerrero occasionally crossing the diamond to play third base. Though the article from The Athletic says the Jays would “prefer” to hang onto Guerrero, Rosenthal made an appearance on Foul Territory and more emphatically shot down the possibility of Guerrero being traded.

Though the fit would be a bit awkward, the Jays could use the power. Toronto’s offense was close to league average last year, but a lot of that was thanks to having a walk rate that was bested by only six other teams. In the home run department, they were actually one the worst clubs, ahead of just the Marlins, Rays, Nationals and White Sox.

They don’t really have a strict designated hitter, which perhaps provides a path for Alonso and Guerrero to share a lineup. Justin Turner was their primary DH for the first half of last year but he was traded to the Mariners at the deadline. It would make it a bit harder for the club to rest someone like George Springer, but it seems the Jays have some openness to it regardless. Guerrero taking the hot corner could allow greater flexibility, though he only has 104 innings there over the past five seasons. Most of that came late last year as the Jays were playing out the string on a lost season. It’s unclear how much willingness they have to put Guerrero there in meaningful games.

Financially, it seems the club still has powder dry. They reportedly had a strong offer on the table for Burnes as of a few weeks ago, before he signed with the Diamondbacks. Since then, they signed Jeff Hoffman to a three-year, $33MM deal, but that is surely well shy of what they were willing to pay Burnes.

It’s theoretically possible that signing Alonso could give the Jays some cover for the event they can’t sign Guerrero, an impending free agent, to an extension. But it seems highly likely that Alonso will be securing a deal with the ability to opt out after 2025, meaning he would only stick around for 2026 if he has a down year. They would likely prefer to have Guerrero locked up long term, since he’s significantly younger than Alonso, while seeing Pete walk away earlier.

There are surely other clubs in the mix as well. Alonso has been connected to the Giants, Red Sox and Angels in recent weeks. Teams like the Tigers, Athletics and Mariners make sense as speculative fits. Since Alonso rejected a QO, the Mets will receive a draft pick after the fourth round if he signs elsewhere. The penalty for the signing club will depend on their revenue-sharing status and whether they paid the competitive balance tax last year. Perhaps we will have clarity soon as the staring contest with the Mets appears to be ending.

Latest On Mets, Pete Alonso

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7:28PM: Alonso and the Mets “are said to be making progress on at least the structure of a proposed deal that’s expected to be for three years and include at least one opt out,” according to Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman.  “While the sides appear amenable to that short-term structure,” Sherman and Heyman write, there’s still “a gap between offer and counteroffer,” with specific figures not mentioned.

5:15PM: The Mets and Pete Alonso have seemingly been in a staredown for quite a while and it’s still unclear who will blink first. Reporting from last week indicated that Alonso’s camp had pitched a short-term deal with opt-outs to the Mets but Alonso remains unsigned. Reports from both Andy Martino of SNY and Joel Sherman of The New York Post suggest a pivot point is coming where the Mets may move on to plans that don’t involve Alonso having a place on the 2025 team.

It has long seemed possible that Alonso’s free agency could go this way. Last winter, the “Boras Four” lingered in free agency well into the new year and eventually settled for contracts below expectations. Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery all signed deals that only were guaranteed for two or three years, though with each player having the chance to opt-out after each season. There were reasons to expect Alonso might follow them down this road.

Alonso reportedly turned down an extension offer of seven years and $158MM back in the summer of 2023. He still had one arbitration season to go at that point, ultimately making $20.5MM in 2024, so he effectively turned down $137.5MM for six free agent years. There had been reports that Alonso was looking at the contracts of Freddie Freeman and Matt Olson at targets. Freeman signed for $162MM over six years, though with deferrals. Olson signed an eight-year, $168MM extension when he was still two years away from free agency.

But Alonso isn’t as well-rounded of a player as those two. While his power is elite, his plate discipline and defense are both below Freeman and Olson. He’s also coming off a couple of relative down years. He had a career batting line of .261/.349/.535 and a 137 wRC+ through the 2022 season but then hit .229/.324/.480 for a 122 wRC+ over the two most recent campaigns. That’s still strong production but it will naturally concern a club thinking about making a long-term investment.

Alonso is still unsigned with pitchers and catchers set to report to spring training in less than a month. There is apparent willingness to pivot to a short-term deal but a deal still hasn’t come together. There is still more time, as Bellinger’s agreement came together in late February last year, Chapman’s in early March. However, today’s reports both point to the Mets starting to consider other options.

The Mets have had a front office shakeup since offering that extension to Alonso. Billy Eppler was the general manager at that time but David Stearns is now running the club’s baseball operations department. Stearns never really dedicated a lot of resources to first base, as shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker. A three-year, $16MM deal for Eric Thames was his biggest investment in the position for the Brewers. Milwaukee non-tendered Chris Carter after he hit 41 home runs in 2016, rather than pay him a projected $8.1MM salary.

Stearns is working with more resources now that he’s with the Mets but has continued to be measured in how he uses those resources, apart from the Juan Soto deal. Instead of signing top free agent starting pitchers, he has taken bounceback fliers on guys like Frankie Montas and Griffin Canning. He also signed Clay Holmes, hoping to get starting pitcher value for reliever prices.

The Mets do have some internal options for corner infield work. Mark Vientos had a great season in 2024, mostly playing third base, but his defense didn’t receive strong grades. It’s been suggested that he could be moved over to first base, with the hot corner then being open for a competition between guys like Brett Baty, Luisangel Acuña and Ronny Mauricio. There’s some uncertainty in going down that road and there would be some sense in adding Alonso back into the mix, but it seems the Mets and Alonso’s camp can’t agree on a fair price.

Teams will naturally be attracted to a short-term deal as it lowers the chances of them being saddled with a player’s decline years, but the player usually looks to get a higher average annual value as a compromise. Bellinger’s deal guaranteed him $80MM but in frontloaded fashion, allowing him to opt out after one year with $30MM in his pocket or after two years with $60MM in the bank. Alonso is perhaps looking for something similar, which the Mets may not be keen on.

The Mets are set to be a third-time payor of the competitive balance tax and RosterResource projects their CBT number at $276MM next year. Signing Alonso to something in the range of $25-30MM annually would push that close to the fourth and final tier of the tax, which is $301MM this year. The Mets would pay a 95% tax on spending from tier three to tier four, then a 110% tax for spending over the top line. As such, even employing Alonso for one year and then having him opt out would cost them something like $60MM. If he has a disappointing season and doesn’t opt out, as happened with Bellinger, they would be stuck with the deal for another year or two.

The Mets also stand to receive draft pick compensation if Alonso signs elsewhere. As a tax payor, their bonus pick wouldn’t be until after the fourth round. That’s not massively important in baseball terms but it’s not nothing and it would go away if they re-sign Alonso.

It’s a tricky calculation for the Mets to make with a franchise favorite, but it seems they are willing to play hard ball and move on to other options soon. Martino does mention that the Mets checked in with the Blue Jays about Vladimir Guerrero Jr. but also downplays the talks significantly, characterizing the fit as “fantasy baseball.” That aligns with public comments from Toronto’s general manager Ross Atkins, who has often downplayed the likelihood of the Jays trading Guerrero or Bo Bichette.

Martino mentions a reunion with Jesse Winker or signing Anthony Santander as other possible pivots, though he adds that the latter is less likely to come to fruition. For Alonso, if he’s not destined to go back to Queens, he will have to do his own pivot. MLBTR recently looked at some of the clubs that could potentially sign him to a short-term deal, with the Giants, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Angels, Athletics and Tigers some of the options.

Yankees Acquire Michael Arias

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The Yankees announced that they have acquired right-hander Michael Arias from the Cubs in exchange for cash considerations. The latter club had designated Arias for assignment earlier this week. The Yankees have multiple 40-man vacancies and don’t need to make a corresponding move.

Arias, 23, was originally an international signing of the Blue Jays. Signed as a shortstop, he was released and then signed by the Cubs, who moved him to the mound. Arias has shown some potential as a pitcher but lack of control has been the biggest drawback, which isn’t especially surprising for a guy who has only been in this role for a few years.

Overall, Arias has thrown 182 innings across multiple levels over the past four years, allowing 4.25 earned runs per nine. His 27.7% strikeout rate in that time is a solid number, but his 16.5% walk rate is quite high.

Despite the issues, the Cubs added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2023 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. His control didn’t improve in 2024, as he tossed 60 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 4.77 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate and 16.8% walk rate. When the Cubs signed Colin Rea, they bumped Arias off the roster.

For the Yankees, they have a few roster spots open, so there’s little harm in taking a flier. Arias still has a couple of options and can be kept in the minors as they try to help him harness his stuff better. Per Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice of FanGraphs, his arsenal includes “a mid-90s sinker, a potentially plus-plus changeup, and a righty-dowsing slider.”

Rockies To Sign Keston Hiura, Nick Martini To Minor League Deals

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The Rockies have agreed to minor league deals with infielder Keston Hiura and outfielder Nick Martini, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Both players will receive an invite to Colorado’s major league spring camp. Hiura is represented by CAA Sports, while Martini is represented by Meister Sports Management.

Hiura, 28, has shown huge power potential in the majors. Unfortunately, that has been undercut by a massive strikeout problem. At this point, he has 1,084 major league plate appearances. 50 of those resulted in homers but 390 ended with a strikeout, a 36% punchout rate.

In 2024, he was only in the majors briefly, as the Angeles had him on the roster for a few weeks in July. He got 27 plate appearances in 10 games, hitting .148 with ten strikeouts. He also stepped to the plate 364 times at the Triple-A level, between the Tigers’ and Angels’ systems, hitting 26 home runs but striking out 29.4% of the time. Defensively, Hiura came up as a second baseman but his glovework hasn’t been well regarded at that spot. That’s led him to spend more time at first base, with a few stops in left field along the way.

With the big strikeouts and lack of defensive contributions, Hiura hasn’t managed to contribute much in his career yet. However, he’s a fine enough depth add for the Rockies. They’ve lost over 100 games in two straight seasons now, so competing in 2025 will be a challenge. There could be a path to playing time in the club’s first base/designated hitter mix. Kris Bryant will be one option there but he’s coming off three straight injury-marred seasons. Michael Toglia is also in the mix but he’s fairly Hiura-esque himself, having hit 25 home runs last year with a 32.1% strikeout rate.

Perhaps an injury to someone in that group, or someone in the corner outfield mix, could open up some playing time for Hiura. If he gets a roster spot, watching him hit at Coors Field could make for a good show. He is out of options but has less than four years of service time.

Martini, 35 in June, has a far less extreme profile. He has 575 career plate appearances over five separate seasons. His 9.6% walk rate and 21.7% strikeout rate are both slightly better than average. His .252/.336/.400 batting line leads to a 101 wRC+, indicating he’s been very slightly above average as a hitter in his career. Defensively, he’s played all three outfield slots, though mostly in left. His glovework there has been graded just a shade below par.

The outfield mix in Colorado projects to include Brenton Doyle, Nolan Jones, Sam Hilliard, Jordan Beck, Greg Jones, Sean Bouchard, Zac Veen and others. If Martini gets a roster spot at any point, he is out of options but has less than three years of service time.

Mariners Acquire Blake Hunt, Designate Samad Taylor For Assignment

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The Orioles have traded catcher Blake Hunt to the Mariners in exchange for cash considerations, according to announcements from both clubs. The O’s had designated Hunt for assignment earlier this week. The M’s designated infielder/outfielder Samad Taylor for assignment as a corresponding move.

Hunt, 26, was with the Mariners at this time last year. Seattle acquired him from the Rays in November of 2023 but was flipped to the Orioles in May of 2024. It seems their positive feelings towards Hunt didn’t fade, as they have taken the chance to bring him back.

It’s a bet on a bounceback, as Hunt’s prospect pedigree has faded. He performed well in the lower levels of the minors, then in the Padres’ system, which gave him enough helium to be one of four players acquired by the Rays in the December 2020 Blake Snell deal. Shortly after that swap, FanGraphs ranked Hunt just outside the top 100 as part of their 2021 prospect rankings.

Since then, Hunt’s minor league performance has been up and down. He slashed .225/.301/.369 over 2021 and 2022 for a wRC+ of 80, then came back a bit in 2023 with a .256/.331/.484 line and 106 wRC+. But between the M’s and the O’s last year, he had a combined .218/.273/.364 line and 60 wRC+.

Despite the inconsistent performance, the M’s seem to still like the idea of Hunt as a depth catcher. He still has a couple of options and can be kept in Triple-A until needed. The club currently projects to have Cal Raleigh as its primary catcher, with Mitch Garver second on the depth chart. Nick Raposo was on the roster until he got the DFA treatment yesterday. Prospect Harry Ford could be in the mix this year but still hasn’t made his Triple-A debut.

To add that catching depth, the M’s are sacrificing a bit of depth elsewhere. Taylor, 26, has bounced around the diamond in his professional career. He’s played all three outfield spots and the three infield positions to the left of first base.

His big league experience is limited, as he’s only appeared in 34 games. 31 of those were with the 2023 Royals and then three with the M’s last year. He has a tepid line of .215/.288/.277 in his 74 major league plate appearances.

As one would expect, his minor league numbers are better, though he’s coming off a down year in that regard. From 2021 to 2023, he slashed .287/.385/.468 for a wRC+ of 125 and also stole 96 bases in 119 tries. Last year, he hit .262/.352/.380 in 599 Triple-A plate appearances for an 88 wRC+, though he did steal another 50 bags.

The Mariners will now have a week to figure out what’s next for Taylor, whether that’s a trade or some fate on waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so a trade would need to come together in the next five days. Taylor still has a minor league option and less than a year of service time, so he should appeal to clubs as a depth option due to his speed, defensive versatility and flashes of offensive potential.

MLBTR Podcast: The Jeff Hoffman Situation, Justin Verlander, And The Marlins’ Rotation

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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…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

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!

White Sox Sign Jonathan Heasley To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox announced that they have signed right-hander Jonathan Heasley to a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training. The righty is represented by Icon Sports Management.

Heasley, 28 this month, has some limited big league experience stretched over multiple seasons. He has appeared in each of the past four major league campaigns, throwing a combined 139 innings, allowing 5.89 earned runs per nine. His 14.4% strikeout rate is well south of league average, though his 8.9% walk rate is near par.

Most of that came with the Royals from 2021 to 2023. Last winter, he was acquired by the Orioles and started the 2024 season with that club. The O’s mostly kept him on optional assignment, only giving him four big league appearances on the year. He was designated for assignment and then released in July.

That’s not a terribly impressive body of work, but it’s a fairly small sample and the White Sox are likely focused more on his minor league numbers. In 2021, he tossed 105 1/3 innings over 22 Double-A appearances, 21 of those being starts. He had a 3.33 ERA, 27.7% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate. Over the past three years, he has thrown 164 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level, with his ERA at 5.47 in that time. His 22.4% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate in that stretch were still respectable, but he allowed 30 home runs, pushing more runs across the plate.

Heasley has worked both as a starter and a reliever in his career, so he should be able to provide the Sox with depth in both areas. Their bullpen had a collective ERA of 4.73 last year, which was 28th in the league. The rotation was a bit better, with a 4.62 ERA that ranked 25th, though they traded Erick Fedde at last year’s deadline and Garrett Crochet last month.

The Sox do have a number of intriguing young arms, as one would expect from a rebuilding team, but adding in other arms is a sensible offseason goal. They have signed guys like Martín Pérez and Bryse Wilson, as well as having acquired Cam Booser and Wikelman Gonzalez via trade and Penn Murfee via waivers. Heasley now comes aboard as non-roster depth. If he eventually gets a roster spot, he is out of options but has barely a year of service time.

Red Sox, Robert Stock Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Red Sox and right-hander Robert Stock have agreed to a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Naranjeros de Hermosillo, the Mexican winter ball team Stock had been playing for, had previously announced that Stock was leaving to conduct physical exams with the Sox.

Stock, 35, has a bit of major league experience. From 2018 to 2021, he tossed 72 2/3 innings over four seasons, suiting up for the Padres, Red Sox, Cubs and Mets. He allowed 4.71 earned runs per nine. His 23.1% strikeout rate was around average and his 49.8% ground ball rate was strong, but he also gave out walks at a high rate of 12.2%. His fastball averaged 96-98 miles per hour in that time.

He hasn’t been in the majors for a few years now but has performed well in other places. He spent 2022 in Korea, posting a 3.60 ERA over 29 starts for the Doosan Bears of the KBO League. That was enough to get him another shot in affiliated ball, as he signed a minor league deal with the Brewers for 2023. But he had an 8.22 ERA in 23 innings and was in Indy Ball by June.

For 2024, he signed with the Tecos de los Dos Laredos of the Mexican League. He made 19 starts and tossed 98 2/3 innings with a 3.38 ERA. As mentioned, he has been playing winter ball with the Naranjeros, posting great numbers there. He tossed 84 1/3 innings over 14 starts for them with a 1.60 ERA.

For the Sox, there’s no harm in bringing him aboard via a minor league deal to see how he looks in camp. He was a reliever for most of his career but has been starting in more recent years, so he should be able to provide the club with non-roster depth in both areas.

Boston projects to have a rotation of Garrett Crochet, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford and Walker Buehler, with Lucas Giolito returning from his elbow surgery at some point this year as well. There’s lots of talent in there but also plenty of question marks. In the bullpen, they lost Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin to free agency, though they have signed free agents Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson. They are also set to get Liam Hendriks and Garrett Whitlock back from extended absences due to elbow surgeries.

Dodgers To Have Another Meeting With Roki Sasaki

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Right-hander Roki Sasaki will need to pick his next team in the next few days and has reportedly narrowed his choice to the Blue Jays, Padres and Dodgers. He was recently in Toronto and San Diego to meet with those clubs and will now be meeting with the Dodgers today, per a report from Fabian Ardaya and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

This tracks with the plan previously laid out by Sasaki’s agent Joel Wolfe at the Winter Meetings back in December. Wasserman, Wolfe’s agency, initially hosted several clubs for meetings at the company’s Los Angeles headquarters. After that, the plan was for Sasaki to head home to Japan for the holidays, then visit some of his top choices in their home cities. One of the notable differences with the second round of meetings is that clubs have been permitted to bring players.

Sasaki’s decision is arguably the most impactful one of the offseason. He is considered to be capable of stepping right into a big league rotation, possibly delivering ace-level performance. He has a 2.10 earned run average in his Nippon Professional Baseball career, striking out 32.7% of batters faced. Such a player would normally require a massive financial investment but Sasaki will sign for a just a few million bucks.

Since he is coming to North America at the age of 23, Sasaki is considered an amateur by MLB’s rules, which require a player to be 25 years old with six professional seasons of experience to be considered a professional. That means he is subject to the international bonus pool system, under which each team gets about $5-8MM annually to spend on such players. A team can trade for more pool space but can’t increase it’s initial allotment by more than 60%. The signing team will also owe a posting fee to the Chiba Lotte Marines, though the size of that fee is calculated based on the size of the contract, so it will also be small.

It’s a decision that therefore will have massive ramifications for years to come. It’s unknown what criteria Sasaki will be using to pick his next team, since money seemingly won’t be a big factor, so the baseball world has been left to mostly guess about his priorities.

The Dodgers have been seen as a frontrunner for a long time, due to various reasons. Japanese players often prefer to be on the West Coast, in part due to its relative proximity compared to East Coast clubs. The Dodgers are also a very successful franchise, having a postseason run going back more than a decade now and a World Series victory just a few months ago. They also have other Japanese players on the roster in Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, which could be a draw for Sasaki.

On the flipside, there are arguments against the Dodgers being his next team. It’s possible that Sasaki might prefer to be away from the big spotlight of Los Angeles. Wolfe has mentioned that Sasaki wasn’t always fairly treated by the Japanese media and might benefit from being in a smaller market. It’s also theoretically possible that Sasaki could find more endorsement deals on a team other than the Dodgers, where he wouldn’t be in the shadow of Ohtani and Yamamoto. The Dodgers also have a long list of pitchers who have succumbed to significant injuries in recent years, which could perhaps give Sasaki pause.

Those are mostly speculative reasons for or against Sasaki signing with the Dodgers. As mentioned, it’s unknown how or why he will make his decision and the Dodgers are still considered the favorites by many in the baseball world. That includes MLBTR readers, as today’s poll about his landing spot has the Dodgers well ahead of the Padres and Blue Jays.

Subjectively, the Dodgers need Sasaki less than the other two finalists. The Padres have a significant budget crunch and haven’t made any moves of significance this winter, perhaps waiting to see if they can land Sasaki before deciding next steps. The Jays are coming off a disappointing season, have several key players nearing free agency and have seemingly been the runner-up on every notable free agent in recent years. The Dodgers, as mentioned, have a lot of good things going for them as a franchise.

The big decision will be known relatively soon, one way or another. Sasaki has to sign by the end of his posting window, which closes on January 23. He could officially sign as soon as January 15, when the new international signing period opens. It’s also possible that news of his decision will be reported before he actually puts pen to paper, so the bomb could potentially drop at any time.

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