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Padres To Sign Triston McKenzie To Minor League Deal

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The Padres and right-hander Triston McKenzie have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. The Octagon client will receive an invite to big league camp in spring training.

McKenzie, 28, joins a new organization for the first time. He had spent his entire career with the Guardians until he became a free agent at the end of the most recent season. With Cleveland, he once looked like a budding ace. In 2022, he tossed 191 1/3 innings with a 2.96 earned run average. He struck out 25.6% of batters faced and only gave out walks at a 5.9% clip.

But he’s unfortunately been on a downward trajectory since then. In March of 2023, he was shut down due to a teres major strain. He returned a few months later but then was diagnosed with a sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow. He avoided surgery but hasn’t been able to get back to that 2022 form.

After missing most of 2023, he was back on the hill in 2024, but he averaged just 91.1 miles per hour on his fastball. That was a notable drop from the 92.5 he averaged two years prior. He posted a 5.11 ERA over 16 starts and spent the final few months of the season on optional assignment, posting a 5.23 ERA at the Triple-A level.

He came into 2025 out of options but the Guards didn’t want to give up on him. He and the club avoided arbitration in November of 2024 with a $1.95MM deal for 2025, a very slight bump over the $1.6MM he made in 2024. He held a bullpen spot to open this year but allowed seven earned runs in 5 2/3 innings before being designated for assignment. The other 29 clubs passed on the chance to grab him off waivers.

After he was off the roster, the Guards sent him to the Complex League, presumably to try to unlock something that would get him back on track. He was sent to Triple-A Columbus in August. He tossed seven innings over eight relief appearances there, allowing six earned runs. He did strike out 11 opponents but also walked 17, hit one batter and threw five wild pitches.

For the Padres, there’s little harm in a minor league deal. They can’t bank on him providing anything of value but there’s nothing but upside on this kind of arrangement. He will presumably be making a very modest salary if he even makes the roster at some point. If things go especially well and he’s holding a roster spot at season’s end, he could be retained via arbitration for 2027 as well.

It’s unclear what role the Padres have in mind for McKenzie. He was mostly a starter until 2025. He was in relief this year but that may have been more due to circumstances, since he was out of options at the beginning of the year and then spent the summer just trying to find some kind of path out of his spiral.

The Padres have an excellent bullpen, even after losing Robert Suarez. They have bigger needs on the rotation side. Over a long season, injuries will pop up and fresh arms will be needed in both groups. Given how things have gone for McKenzie lately, he and the Padres would surely be happy with any kind of success, regardless of whether it’s out of the rotation or the bullpen.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Phillies Notes: Outfield, Castellanos, Rotation

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Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski spoke with the media this week and said that the club was mostly set with their outfield after the Adolis García signing. Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports that the club is looking for a right-handed platoon bat to add into the mix.

That’s a sensible target, given the current setup. García should have right field spoken for with Brandon Marsh in left. The Phils want to give Justin Crawford a chance to take over the center field job. Both Marsh and Crawford are lefties. Marsh has notable career splits, with a .213/.278/.303 line and 61 wRC+ against southpaws in his career. Crawford actually fared slightly better against lefties in the minors this year but in a tiny sample of just 91 plate appearances against southpaws.

Having another righty bat who hits lefties well would make sense, particularly to platoon with Marsh. Crawford is more of a speed-and-defense guy anyway. He has hit well in the minors but with a high-contact, low-power approach that might be harder to pull off when facing better pitching and better defense in the majors. Time will tell how it plays but the Phils might be willing to live with whatever offense he can provide against lefties if he’s stealing bases and running the ball down on the grass.

Gelb mentions Rob Refsnyder as the kind of profile the Phillies are looking for, a righty bat who has mashed lefties in his career. He is one of many free agents to fit this profile, alongside guys like Miguel Andujar, Randal Grichuk, Austin Hays, Tommy Pham, Austin Slater and others. Old friend Harrison Bader would be a nice fit but he can probably get an everyday center field job elsewhere.

The Phils also have a potential solution already on the roster in Nick Castellanos. His offense has tailed off in recent years but he has largely stayed effective with the platoon advantage. He didn’t hit well against pitchers of either handedness in 2025 but still hit lefties as recently as 2024, when he had a .269/.324/.506 line and 124 wRC+ in the split.

Gelb reported back in October that the Phils would likely trade or release Castellanos. He re-asserted that position in this week’s column, linked above. It’s an interesting dynamic for the Phils as Castellanos is potentially the profile they are looking for but it seems they will look elsewhere. Perhaps that’s due to his defensive shortcomings or the fact that he hit just .243/.293/.387 against lefties in 2025 for an 87 WRC+.

It’s also theoretically possible that it’s due to off-the-field dynamics. Castellanos and manager Rob Thomson don’t seem to have the best relationship. Castellanos was benched in June for some kind of inappropriate comment made to the skipper, per ESPN. Castellanos also publicly criticized Thomson for his communication skills. With the apparent friction, perhaps things would get even worse if Castellanos were bumped into a part-time, short-side platoon role.

Whatever the reasoning, it seems the Phils are in a strange position. Castellanos is still owed $20MM next year. If they can’t find a trade partner, they could end up releasing him. It appears they will also look for a replacement, probably spending another $5MM or so on some new guy. The Phillies are a repeat tax payor and are over the top line, meaning that they pay a 110% tax on any additional spending. In the end, it’s possible they give Castellanos $20MM to go away, then spend a few million more on his replacement, plus taxes.

On the pitching side, Gelb reports that the Phils are looking for rotation depth but don’t appear to be looking for any guys on multi-year contracts. That makes some sense with what they have in place already, as they have a few questions but might have enough arms.

Zack Wheeler is recovering from surgery to address venous thoracic outlet syndrome. He is expected to begin the season on the injured list but could rejoin the rotation fairly early in the campaign. While he’s out, the Phils should start the season with a rotation consisting of Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, Aaron Nola, Taijuan Walker and Andrew Painter.

There’s an argument for the club to sign another starter but things could theoretically get tight once Wheeler is back. If they did sign a big free agent, then there’s a scenario fairly early in the season where this free agent, Wheeler, Sánchez, Luzardo and Nola have the five rotation spots. That would bump Walker to long relief and Painter to Triple-A.

The Phils might actually want to have a path open for Painter in case 2026 is his breakout year. His 5.40 earned run average in Triple-A this year wasn’t pretty but that was mostly due to a home run spike, unusual for him. 17.6% of his fly balls allowed went over the fence, whereas he was at just 5.6% in 2022 before getting hurt. This year’s 23.7% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate were pretty close to average.

While Wheeler is out, the Phils can give Painter a chance to hold a rotation spot. By the time Wheeler gets back, the Phils can decide whether Painter needs more Triple-A time or if he’s ready to take off.

This all assumes everyone is healthy at the same time. Given the likelihood of injuries to the pitching staff, perhaps the Phils should bolster the group anyway. With Walker and Luzardo impending free agents, signing a multi-year deal now would also help the club in 2027.

However, the club’s 2026 payroll is already pretty close to where they were in 2025. According to RosterResource, they are within $14MM of where they finished the most recent season. If they re-sign J.T. Realmuto as hoped, they would end up making up most or all of that difference. In terms of CBT, as mentioned, they are already over the top line and facing a 110% on further spending. Rather than go after a big splash for the rotation, they will add some depth but will mostly be hoping that the guys they already have can step up.

Photo courtesy of Kyle Ross, Imagn Images

Marlins Sign Christopher Morel

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December 18th: The Marlins have officially announced the Morel signing.

December 13th: Morel’s deal pays him $2MM, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports.

December 12th: The Marlins and infielder/outfielder Christopher Morel have agreed to a major league deal, according to reporter Mike Rodriguez. It’s a one-year deal, per Christina De Nicola of MLB.com, though Morel can be controlled beyond 2026 via arbitration. The salary for the ISE Baseball client hasn’t yet been publicly reported. Morel is expected to mostly play first base for the Fish, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Marlins have an open roster spot but this will fill the 40-man once it’s official.

Morel, 26, has occasionally thrust himself into the spotlight with his ability to put the ball over the fence. However, he also strikes out a lot and hasn’t been able to find a true defensive home. The end result has been a clearly talented player struggling to fully establish himself as a viable big league regular.

Coming up as a prospect, Morel played a lot of shortstop and third base, with some time in the outfield and at second base also mixed in. He debuted with the Cubs in 2022 and showed off his power by hitting 16 home runs in 425 plate appearances. However, he also struck out in 32.2% of those trips to the plate. In 2023, he added another 26 homers in just 429 plate appearances, an even better rate than the previous year. His strikeout rate dropped a bit but stayed quite high at 31%.

Defensively, the Cubs bounced him around the diamond but without him fully taking hold of any one spot. His glovework was graded as subpar at shortstop, third base and in the outfield. He was more passable at second but the Cubs didn’t have regular playing time there due to the presence of Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson up the middle.

At last year’s deadline, the Cubs acquired Isaac Paredes from the Rays, with Morel being one of three players going back to Tampa. The Cubs later flipped Paredes to the Astros as part of the Kyle Tucker deal. The Rays still have Ty Johnson and Hunter Bigge from that swap but the Morel pick-up did not work out for them.

From the time of the trade through the end of 2025, Morel took 495 plate appearances as a Ray. He was punched out in 165 of those, exactly one third, also known as 33.3%. He hit just 14 home runs and produced a .208/.277/.355 batting line. That translated to a 78 wRC+, indicating he was 22% worse than the league average hitter in that time. The Rays mostly kept him in left field, where he received poor grades for his defense.

Morel crossed three years of service time in 2025, qualifying him for arbitration for the first time. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a $2.6MM salary next year. The Rays decided to move on and non-tendered him, sending him to free agency.

It was reported back in October that the Marlins would be looking for a lineup upgrade this winter. The team had some positive developments in their position player group in 2025 but no one took hold of the first base position. Seven different players lined up at the position during the season but Eric Wagaman was the only one to get more than 100 plate appearances at a first baseman. He finished the year with a .250/.296/.378 line and 85 wRC+.

Upgrading at first base was a sensible goal for the offseason. No one expected them to make a run at Pete Alonso but there had been some rumblings that the club could be more aggressive in free agency than in years past. Going after someone like Ryan O’Hearn or Rhys Hoskins seemed within the realm of possibility.

Instead, they are taking a shot on Morel, who has no professional experience at the position. First base is generally considered the least-demanding position on the diamond, so perhaps Morel can be more viable there than at the other spots he has tried, but there’s still risk in going with an unproven option.

There’s also risk within the bat, as mentioned. Though Morel has power, he has yet to prove he can strike out at rate less than 30% for a meaningful stretch of time. It is possible to strike out that much and still be good. Guys like James Wood and Riley Greene did so in 2025. Morel himself had a combined 115 wRC+ with the Cubs in the 2022-23 seasons, but his production tailed off more recently.

It’s a fairly low-risk move for the Marlins. Salary figures haven’t been reported but he’s surely not being paid much above the league minimum. It was reported yesterday by Edwin Hernández Jr. that Morel was getting interest from clubs in Japan. It’s unclear if he gave serious consideration to going overseas but the calls coming from Asia are perhaps a sign that his MLB interest was muted.

Though the Fish aren’t going to break the bank with this move, it’s perhaps disappointing for any fans who may have dreamt bigger after a somewhat encouraging 2025 campaign. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes that no significant payroll increase is likely forthcoming. He adds that the Marlins will be looking to add another bat this winter but most likely via the trade market.

Morel is probably not guaranteed anything in terms of playing time. If he doesn’t thrive with his chance in Miami, they could go back to Wagaman and also have guys like Connor Norby, Agustín Ramírez, Liam Hicks, Griffin Conine, Graham Pauley, Deyvison De Los Santos and others in the mix. If Morel doesn’t pan out, he is out of options. If it does work, he could theoretically be retained through 2028 via arbitration.

It’s a defensible enough signing in a vacuum but seems to be an omen of another frugal offseason for the Marlins, which has become a habit under president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. Two years ago, their biggest deal was $5MM for Tim Anderson. Last winter, it was $3.5MM for Cal Quantrill. This is their first free agent deal of the 2025-26 offseason. Time will tell if they have anything bigger in the works.

Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Katie Stratman, Imagn Images

Guardians To Sign Shawn Armstrong

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The Guardians and right-hander Shawn Armstrong have agreed to a deal, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The ISE Baseball client will be guaranteed $5.5MM on a one-year pact with a mutual option. The Guards have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to make this deal official.

Armstrong returns to his original organization. He was drafted by Cleveland back in 2011 and pitched for them in the majors from 2015 to 2017. In the almost decade since then, he has spent time with the Mariners, Orioles, Rays, Marlins, Cardinals, Cubs and Rangers.

Despite that nomadic journey, his performance has been fairly steady in some respects. His earned run average has wobbled from year to year, but that’s not unusual for relief pitchers, who pitch a small number of innings annually and can have ERA swings from a few bad games. From 2019 to 2025, Armstrong tossed at least 36 innings in each full season with at least 52 frames in five out of six. His strikeout rate finished between 22% and 27% in each of those. His walk rate has finished below 9.2% in six straight seasons.

Put it all together and Armstrong has thrown 363 1/3 innings since the start of 2019 with a 3.96 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate. Despite that fairly solid trajectory, he settled for a modest $1.25MM deal with the Rangers for the 2025 season.

Texas was surely pleased with that investment. Armstrong averaged about 94 miles per hour on both his four-seamer and sinker while also mixing in a cutter, slider and curveball. He tossed 74 innings on the year with a 2.31 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate. His .196 batting average on balls in play and 76.3% strand rate were unsustainably fortunate but his 3.07 FIP and 3.36 SIERA suggest he would have fared well even with neutral luck. He saved nine games and registered 12 holds for the Rangers.

Armstrong has parlayed that into a new deal worth more than four times his last one, the biggest payday of the 35-year-old’s career. The Guardians had a strong bullpen in 2025, as their collective 3.44 ERA was third in the majors behind only the Padres and Red Sox. They are down one key member, as Emmanuel Clase is under investigation for a gambling scandal and may never pitch in the majors again.

The Guards don’t usually have tons of money to throw around but have been busy augmenting their bullpen with minor moves. They have signed Colin Holderman and Connor Brogdon to big league deals. They acquired Justin Bruihl from the Blue Jays and selected Peyton Pallette from the White Sox in the Rule 5 draft. Those new arms will add to a group which includes incumbents Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis and others.

Photo courtesy of William Purnell, Imagn Images

Cubs Sign Tyler Austin To Major League Deal

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The Cubs announced the signing of first baseman Tyler Austin to a one-year contract. It’s reportedly a $1.25MM guarantee for the Ballengee Group client, who has spent the past six seasons playing in Japan. The Cubs had seven vacancies on the 40-man roster, so no corresponding move was necessary.

Austin, now 34, played in the big leagues from 2016 to 2019. He suited up for the Yankees, Twins, Giants and Brewers without being able to cement himself as a big league regular. He hit 33 home runs in 583 plate appearances over four seasons but also struck out at a 36.9% clip.

Milwaukee passed him through waivers in November of 2019. He elected free agency and signed with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Since then, he has been mashing pretty consistently for that club, when healthy. He only played 65 games in 2020 but hit 20 home runs in his 269 plate appearances. In 2021, he got that up to 28 home runs over 107 games and 439 plate appearances.

Then came an injury spell, as he only played 60 games total over the 2022 and 2023 seasons due to various ailments. He underwent shoulder surgery in September of 2023, according to Sanspo Sports, but was back in form in 2024. He hit another 25 home runs last year in 445 plate appearances. He struck out 19.8% of the time while drawing walks at a 10.1% clip. His .316/.382/.601 line translated to a 197 wRC+, indicating he was 97% better than the average NPB hitter.

This year, he only got into 65 games. According to Yahoo Japan, he dealt with pain in his right knee. The BayStars decided not to bring him back for 2026. However, he did still hit well when on the field. He launched 11 home runs in just 246 plate appearances, with an 18.3% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate. His .269/.350/.484 line may look only decent at first blush but the NPB has had some issues with dead balls lately, so that line actually translated to a big 147 wRC+.

The Cubs are clearly intrigued by the big offensive numbers. It’s a bit of a risky pick-up, in the sense that Austin hasn’t played in the majors since 2019 and has had some health issues. But $1.25MM is barely above the league minimum, which will be $780K next year. The Cubs are also giving up a roster spot but they came into today with a 40-man count of 33, so it’s not as though they have a squeeze at the moment.

Chicago already has a first baseman in Michael Busch but he is a lefty swinger who needs a platoon partner. He’s coming off a huge 34-homer season with a .261/.343/.523 line and 140 wRC+. However, he slashed just .207/.274/.368 against southpaws for an 81 wRC+.

The Cubs also have some lefty bats in their designated hitter mix. Seiya Suzuki was the primary DH in 2025 but he might take over right field with the departure of Kyle Tucker. The Cubs would then have guys like Moisés Ballesteros and Owen Caissie, both lefties, battling for DH time.

Last year, the Cubs gave 40-year-old Justin Turner $6MM to be their righty-swinging first base/DH type. He did his job with the platoon advantage, hitting .276/.330/.429, but hit just .141/.232/.155 otherwise. That led to a combined .219/.288/.314 line and 71 wRC+ for the year.

Presumably, the Cubs are hoping that Austin can be a younger, cheaper and more successful version of their Turner signing. It may not work out but they are barely paying him over the league minimum, as mentioned, so it’s not much of a risk financially. If he can produce anything like his NPB stats, he’ll be a bargain.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Cubs were signing Austin to a big league deal. Jon Heyman of The New York Post had the $1.25MM salary. Photo courtesy of Michael McLoone, Imagn Images

Pirates To Sign Davis Wendzel To Minor League Deal

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The Pirates and infielder Davis Wendzel have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The Boras Corporation client gets an invite to big league spring training and would make $850K if in the majors.

Wendzel, 29 in May, has a limited minor league track record to this point. He appeared in 27 games with the Rangers in 2024. He didn’t do much to impress in that time, putting up a .128/.163/.234 line in 49 plate appearances.

He’s been much better in a greater sample of playing time in the minors. Over the past three years, he has taken 1,240 trips to the plate on the farm, mostly at the Triple-A level. His 12.1% walk rate and 20% strikeout rate were both good figures and he hit 51 home runs. His combined .248/.355/.444 line in that time translated to a 105 wRC+. He also provides defensive versatility, having spent time at all four infield spots as well as left field.

The Rangers designated him for assignment in July of 2024. He was then sent to the Reds for cash. Cincinnati outrighted him a few weeks later. He spent 2025 at Triple-A Louisville as non-roster depth. He had a decent season but never got called up. He became a minor league free agent at season’s end, which allowed the Pirates to scoop him up.

The Pirates have very little settled in their infield, apart from Spencer Horwitz having first base spoken for. Prospect Konnor Griffin could take over the shortstop job in 2026 but still hasn’t played at the Triple-A level yet. Putting Griffin aside, the Pirates have a cluster of infielders including Jared Triolo, Nick Yorke, Nick Gonzales, Tsung-Che Cheng and Enmanuel Valdéz. Yorke and Cheng are still lacking in big league experience. The other three have a few seasons in the majors but have been light-hitting utility types thus far.

There’s still time to add and the Pirates have been connected to many free agents this winter but without getting anything done. Time will tell how that plays out but there’s no harm in adding some non-roster depth. If Wendzel can earn a roster spot, he has a couple of options and less than a season of service time, so he can provide roster flexibility and cheap control for multiple years.

Photo courtesy of Reggie Hildred, Imagn Images

Cardinals Still Interested In Rotation Addition

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The Cardinals added a fresh arm to their rotation this week by signing Dustin May. Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Cards are still interested in adding another starter, but it would likely be more of an innings-eating veteran type to provide stability.

May doesn’t fit the bill of a veteran innings eater. He’s had notable injury problems in his career. From 2019 to 2024, he never topped 56 innings in any individual season and also missed the entirety of the 2024 campaign. He was healthy-ish in 2025, getting to 132 1/3 innings, but finished the season on the injured list due to right elbow neuritis.

The St. Louis rotation is lacking in certainty overall at the moment. Erick Fedde was traded to Atlanta in July. Miles Mikolas became a free agent at season’s end. Sonny Gray was recently traded to the Red Sox. That means they’ve lost three of the five guys who gave them 100 innings or more in 2025.

The other two were Matthew Liberatore and Andre Pallante. Liberatore had a decent 4.21 earned run average in his first full season in the majors. Pallante had a decent first half but then faded and ended the season with a 5.31 ERA.

Michael McGreevy will probably get a rotation spot after he posted a 4.42 ERA in 95 2/3 innings this year but his 14.5% strikeout rate was quite low. Richard Fitts, acquired in the Gray deal, has some okay numbers so far but in just 65 2/3 big league innings. Kyle Leahy may get a rotation audition but he has been a reliever to this point in his big league career. Tink Hence and Brycen Mautz are on the 40-man but haven’t made major league debuts yet. Prospect Quinn Mathews has reached Triple-A but walked 17.5% of batters he faced at that level this year.

Mathews isn’t on the 40-man yet. Of everyone else mentioned, May and Leahy are the only two who can’t be optioned to the minors. As of right now, three spots would probably go to May, Liberatore and Pallante. If they make an external addition, that would leave one spot available for McGreevy, Leahy, Fitts, Hence, Mautz or Mathews. If Leahy doesn’t win a job out of camp, he can be in the bullpen. Anyone else who doesn’t get a job can go to the Triple-A rotation.

This is all theoretical and assuming everyone is healthy. These days, no team makes it through a season with just five starters. Injuries are inevitable and will open up further opportunities for anyone who doesn’t have a rotation spot initially. May is on a one-year deal and will likely be traded this summer if he’s pitching well. The same could be true of whichever veteran is added in the coming months. That would leave more starts for the unproven guys in the final months of the 2026 season.

As for who the Cards add, there are many possibilities. Guys like Jose Quintana, Patrick Corbin, Tyler Anderson, Tomoyuki Sugano, Nick Martinez, Martín Pérez, Andrew Heaney, Michael Lorenzen and many others are free agents.

The trade market has fewer of these types. The Cubs may look to move a back-end guy if they sign a front-end type but intra-divisional trades are always tricky to pull off. The Red Sox may be looking to flip Patrick Sandoval but he’s not exactly stable as he missed all of 2025 recovering from surgery. The Jays may be looking to get out from under the José Berríos deal but the Cards don’t make sense as a landing spot for that contract unless the Jays are willing to give up meaningful prospect talent just to make the deal go away. The Rockies may be willing to trade Kyle Freeland but they need innings themselves.

Time will tell how it pans out but it’s a sensible goal for the Cards. Their offseason to-do list is mostly about subtracting, having already traded Gray and with potential deals for Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras, Lars Nootbaar, JoJo Romero and others still possible. But they do need to get through the 2026 and have a lot of question marks in their rotation mix. They will want to have chances available for their in-house guys but having a sturdy veteran presence to keep things steady is logical.

Photo courtesy of Paul Rutherford, Imagn Images

Giants Have Shown Interest In Nico Hoerner

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The Giants are known to be looking for upgrades at second base. Earlier this week, they were reported as one of the frontrunners for Brendan Donovan of the Cardinals and were also connected to Ketel Marte of the Diamondbacks. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that they have checked in on Nico Hoerner of the Cubs. She also lists Brandon Lowe of the Rays as one of their targets.

It’s an understandable target for the Giants. Most of their playing time at the keystone went to Tyler Fitzgerald, Casey Schmitt and Christian Koss in 2025. All three of those guys had underwhelming seasons at the plate. Schmitt was the closest the league average offensively but with the weakest defensive grades.

Free agency doesn’t offer huge upgrades over that group. Bo Bichette is out there and reportedly willing to play second, but the Giants have downplayed their desire to sign another long-term deal this winter. Ha-Seong Kim, Jorge Polanco and Gleyber Torres are all off the board. Utility types like Ramón Urías, Willi Castro and Isiah Kiner-Falefa don’t move the needle much over the in-house options.

On the trade market, Marte has been in plenty of rumors but it’s still unclear if the Diamondbacks will move him. Even if they decide to pull the trigger, it would be a surprise to see him sent to their division rivals in San Francisco. Donovan is widely expected to move since he is on a rebuilding club and two years from free agency, but the asking price should be huge. Since he can play all over the diamond, he can fit on many clubs and the demand is widespread. Though the Giants are apparently one of the finalists, half the teams in the league have shown in interest.

Hoerner and Lowe have very similar contractual situations. Both players are only signed through 2026 and would therefore be rentals. Lowe will make a $11.5MM salary next year and Hoerner $12MM.

But they have opposite profiles and their team situations are very different. Lowe is injury prone, doesn’t run well and isn’t a great defender. His strikeout and walk profile has been poor in each of the past two years. However, he’s a clear source of power. He has hit 21 home runs four separate times, including a 31-homer season in 2025. It’s common for the Rays to trade away players as they get more expensive and closer to free agency. Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Tommy Pham are some of the many examples.

Hoerner, however, does not have huge power. He has never hit more than ten home runs in a season. However, he’s better than Lowe in basically every other aspect. He hasn’t been on the injured list in years. He’s one of the faster guys in the game and is generally good for 30ish steals a year. He’s one of the toughest guys in the game to strike out. He’s a good enough defender to play shortstop. The only reason he’s at second is because the Cubs have Dansby Swanson.

The Cubs shouldn’t be especially motivated to move him. He is affordable and has been good for about four to five wins above replacement per year, according to FanGraphs. He has reportedly drawn trade interest but the Cubs should be able to set a high asking price since he’s valuable to them as well. His salary isn’t onerous and the Cubs don’t appear to have any kind of payroll crunch.

It’s at least possible to imagine a scenario where the Cubs think about it. As mentioned, Hoerner is an impending free agent. The Cubs could extend him again but he also could get more interest elsewhere. Looking at next year’s free agent class, Hoerner could potentially market himself as the best available shortstop. His competition would be J.P. Crawford and Kim. Crawford is a decent player but his glovework has been poor in recent years and he’ll be going into his age-32 season in 2027. Kim could bounce back from an injury-marred 2025 but he has a similar profile to Hoerner and is a year older. Kim will be 31 in 2027. Hoerner will turn 30 in May of that year.

Perhaps Hoerner expects to get paid big shortstop bucks next winter and the Cubs don’t see a path to keeping him with Swanson signed through 2029. They have been connected to free agent third basemen Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suárez. In that scenario, perhaps Matt Shaw becomes available on the trade market or he could move to second with Hoerner traded. Shaw mostly played third in the majors this year but has second base experience. He got six big league innings at the keystone in 2025 and has close to 300 minor league innings there in his career.

Trading Hoerner and moving to Shaw to second would be a defensive downgrade. That’s not really a knock on Shaw, who graded out well at third this year, just a reflection of Hoerner being arguably the best defensive second baseman in the game today. But adding a big bat like Bregman or Suárez could make up for the Cubs losing Kyle Tucker to free agency. Whether that upgrades the club in 2026 would be debatable but it would certainly help in the long run if the Cubs don’t expect to retain Hoerner beyond 2026.

It’s unknown whether the Cubs have any interest in such a scenario. It also doesn’t seem like the Giants are primarily focused on second base. Slusser writes that pitching and the outfield are the club’s current priorities. Since Donovan can also play the outfield, the Giants probably have him above Hoerner on their target list. With the number of moving pieces in the second base trade market, perhaps someone needs to blink and knock over the first domino. If the Cardinals pull the trigger on Donovan, for instance, teams could then pivot to the other options.

Photo courtesy of Sergio Estrada, Imagn Images

Nationals To Hire Anirudh Kilambi As General Manager

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The Nationals are going to hire Anirudh Kilambi as general manager, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Kilambi, who had been with the Phillies as an assistant general manager, will be the second-in-command in the Washington front office under president of baseball operations Paul Toboni.

Kilambi, 31, began working for the Rays back in 2015 when he was in his early 20s. He worked his way up that organization to the position of assistant director of baseball research and development. In November of 2021, the Phillies hired him as assistant general manager when he was just 27 years old.

The Nationals have been busy overhauling their franchise. Their recent rebuild wasn’t showing enough progress, so president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez were fired midseason. Toboni and Blake Butera have since been hired to take on those roles and Butera has also made a number of coaching changes. Since Toboni was hired, it has been reported that he would eventually hire a GM to be his top lieutenant, with Kilambi now tapped for the gig.

A key feature of the new regime has been youth. Toboni is 35 years old and Butera 33. New pitching coach Simon Mathews is 30. New first base coach Corey Ray is 31, as is Kilambi. “That wasn’t on purpose,” Butera recently said of the youth of his staff, per Andrew Golden of The Washington Post. “We weren’t trying to get young staff. Someone made a joke like, ’Did you tell Paul when you got hired that the staff has to be under 40 years old?’ You might not believe me, but no.”

While the Nats are surely looking at attributes other than age, it does make for an interesting symbol of the changing of the guard. Many in the industry viewed the Nats as behind the curve when it came to data and analytics as the front office was run by Rizzo, who is now 65 years old. Kilambi has a strong research and development background and is the latest injection of fresh blood as the Nats try to charge forward into what they hope is a bright future.

Photo courtesy of Brad Mills, Imagn Images

Orioles Sign Albert Suárez To Minor League Deal

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The Orioles announced that they have signed right-hander Albert Suárez to a minor league deal. The righty will presumably receive an invite to big league camp in spring training, though the O’s didn’t explicitly say so.

Suárez, now 36, signed a minor league deal with the Orioles ahead of the 2024 season. At that time, he had spent a number of years pitching in Japan and South Korea. The deal worked out well for Suárez and the O’s last year. He was added to the roster in April and gave Baltimore 133 2/3 innings as a swingman with a 3.70 earned run average.

Unfortunately, 2025 wasn’t as pleasant. A subscapularis strain in his throwing shoulder put him on the shelf after just one appearance. He came off the injured list in September and made four appearances before going back on the IL, this time due to right elbow discomfort. The team announced in October that Suárez had a mild flexor strain and would avoid surgery.

Suárez crossed three years of service time in 2025, qualifying him for arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for just $900K, barely above next year’s $780K league minimum. The O’s decided not to tender him a contract after his injury-marred season. That sent him to free agency without being exposed to waivers, allowing them to re-sign him in a non-roster capacity.

Assuming he’s healthy in the spring, he can try to earn his way back onto the roster. Baltimore’s current rotation mix includes Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, Cade Povich, Tyler Wells, Chayce McDermott and Brandon Young. The O’s are expected to add to that group before the offseason is out. As the season goes along, injuries will surely pop up and Suárez may be needed for a spot start or a long relief role.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images

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