Blue Jays Designate Justin Bruihl For Assignment
The Blue Jays announced that they have designated left-hander Justin Bruihl for assignment. That’s the corresponding move to open a 40-man spot for righty Tyler Rogers, whose signing is now official.
Bruihl, 29 in June, signed a minor league deal with the Jays last offseason. He was added to the big league roster in June and spent the rest of the season getting repeatedly shuttled between Toronto and Triple-A Buffalo.
He made 15 appearances for the Jays, logging 13 2/3 innings. His 5.27 earned run average doesn’t look pretty but he likely deserved better, as his .459 batting average on balls in play was way above the .291 league average. His 27.7% strikeout rate and 46.2% ground ball rate were actually quite strong. His 10.8% walk rate was high but not egregiously so.
He also tossed 42 Triple-A innings on the year, with a much better 3.43 ERA despite somewhat comparable rate stats. He certainly got more grounders in the minors, a 58.4% clip, but his 27.8% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate were both very close to what he did in the majors. His .274 BABIP was much closer to par, which helped the ERA even out to a more acceptable level.
Despite the high ERA in the majors, the Jays trusted Bruihl enough to have him pitch in some important games. He was even on the roster for the ALDS matchup against the Yankees, though he allowed two earned runs in his lone appearance against that club and was left off the ALCS roster.
Though there were some things to like about Bruihl’s 2025 campaign, he exhausted his final option season. That means he will be out of options going forward and will find it tougher to hold a roster spot. That’s especially true for a team like the Blue Jays, who have been aggressively adding to the roster as they look to compete again in 2026. Toronto also has three other lefty relievers on the roster in Brendon Little, Mason Fluharty and long reliever Eric Lauer. Prospect Ricky Tiedemann might also factor into the bullpen plans after missing 2025 while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
It might be a bit easier for Bruihl to stick with a rebuilding club with a roster that isn’t quite so packed. He’ll be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Jays could take five days to field trade interest. If Bruihl lands somewhere else, he has between one and two years of service time. That means he hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration and can potentially be controlled for five full seasons.
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Blue Jays Sign Michael Plassmeyer To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays have signed left-hander Michael Plassmeyer to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Buffalo for now but will presumably be invited to big league camp in spring training.
Plassmeyer, 29, has a very small major league résumé. He made two appearances for the Phillies in 2022 and one more the following year. In total, he has 11 innings in the show. Unfortunately, he allowed 12 earned runs in that time, so he currently sports an unsightly 9.82 ERA.
That’s obviously a tiny sample of work and the Jays are presumably looking past that to the larger sample size of his minor league history. Over the past five years, he has appeared in 125 minor league games, including 89 starts. In 489 1/3 innings, he struck out 24.7% of batters faced while only giving out walks 7% of the time, both of those figures being slightly better than average. However, a tendency to give up home runs push his ERA to 4.97 in that span.
The Jays have been loading up on pitching so far this offseason. They have added Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce to a rotation that already featured Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage, José Berríos, Eric Lauer and others. They have also bolstered the bullpen by agreeing to a deal with Tyler Rogers, acquiring Chase Lee from the Tigers and selecting Spencer Miles from the Giants in the Rule 5 draft.
It’s a crowded picture right now but a big league team needs dozens of arms over the course of a long season. If Plassmeyer is added to the 40-man at any point, he still has an option, meaning he could be sent between Buffalo and Toronto as needed. He also has just five days of big league service time, meaning he’s affordable and still years away from qualifying from free agency.
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Rangers To Sign José Herrera To Minor League Deal
The Rangers have signed catcher José Herrera to a minor league deal, reports Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. The Octagon client will also receive an invite to big league camp in spring training.
Herrera, 29 in February, will change organizations for the first time in his career. The Diamondbacks signed him as an international amateur out of Venezuela back in 2013. He was with the Snakes for more than a decade, having just become a free agent in October.
For most of the past four years, he’s been on the 40-man as an up-and-down depth catcher. Arizona has given most of the time behind the plate to Gabriel Moreno recently, with Herrera one of several names who have backed him up. Over those four seasons, he took 562 plate appearances with a .200/.280/.259 line. He’s a switch-hitter but hasn’t been great against pitchers of either handedness. Defensively, outlets like Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have credited him as being solid in terms of blocking and controlling the running game, but his framing has been subpar.
Arizona sent Herrera to Triple-A and back throughout the 2022 to 2024 seasons, exhausting his three option years. He came into 2025 out of options and held a roster spot for a while. While Moreno was injured, the Snakes signed James McCann. Once Moreno was ready to come off the injured list in August, they decided to go with a Moreno/McCann combo behind the plate. Herrera was designated for assignment and outrighted to Triple-A, then qualified for free agency at season’s end.
The Rangers have already made a few notable moves in the catching department this offseason. They non-tendered Jonah Heim and then agreed to a two-year deal with Danny Jansen last week. Jansen and Kyle Higashioka will share the big league duties. Willie MacIver is currently on the 40-man as optionable depth but he has only appeared behind the plate in 31 big league games. If either Jansen or Higashioka suffer an injury, Herrera is an experienced backstop who currently gives the club depth without taking up a roster spot.
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Rockies Sign Chad Stevens To Minor League Deal
The Rockies have signed infielder Chad Stevens to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Albuquerque for now but could receive an invite to big league camp in spring training.
Stevens, 27 in February, got to make a very brief major league debut this year. The Angels added him to their 40-man roster in the summer. He got into five games and stepped to the plate 14 times. He notched two singles, the first of which came against future Hall-of-Famer Max Scherzer, but also struck out seven times. He was outrighted off the 40-man in September and became a free agent at season’s end.
The Rockies are surely looking at his minor league track record, which is greater in both quality and quantity than that major league action. He made 981 plate appearances in the minors over the past two years with a .281/.354/.459 batting line. That translated to a 110 wRC+, indicating he was 10% better than league average. He also stole 28 bases in 37 attempts and bounced around the field. He spent just nine innings at first base but had loads of time at the other three infield positions, as well as a handful of games in both outfield corners.
Colorado has plenty of uncertainty on its roster, as one would expect for a team which just lost 119 games. There are a few guys who seem like lineup locks right now but even those guys might end up traded, depending on what the club plans to do this offseason. Since Stevens can play so many different positions, he’ll have various paths back to the big leagues. Statcast also ranked his sprint speed in the 81st percentile during his brief time in the big leagues, so he could also be attractive as a utility guy who can pinch run.
If he makes it back to the show, he still has options, meaning the Rockies can send him to Triple-A and back relatively freely. He also has just five days of big league service time, meaning he’s years away from qualifying for arbitration and is therefore very affordable.
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Rockies Hire Ian Levin As Assistant GM
The Rockies announced today that they have hired Ian Levin as assistant general manager. Thomas Harding of MLB.com reported the hire prior to the official announcement. “Ian brings a proven record of strategic leadership, key roster decision-making, and innovative player performance initiatives,” president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta said in the club’s press release. “With extensive experience across major league operations, research and development, player development and amateur scouting, Ian will strengthen every part of our operation. We couldn’t be more excited to bring him to the Rockies.”
Levin has spent the past two decades with the Mets. He was hired as an intern in 2005 on the public relations side, then moved over to baseball operations in 2006. He worked in scouting and player development roles over the years, getting promoted to assistant general manager with that club in 2021, a title he held through 2024. He departed the Mets a year ago to start his own company.
The Rockies have been trying to give their franchise an overhaul. The general perception around baseball is that they have been trailing the other clubs when it comes to data and analytics. That has contributed to a miserable on-field product. Colorado has lost at least 101 games in three straight seasons, with the most recent campaign seeing them drop all the way to 119 losses.
The past few months, the club has been focused on blazing a new trail. They parted ways with general manager Bill Schmidt at the end of the regular season. Assistant general manager Zack Rosenthal resigned a week later. The Rockies eventually hired DePodesta to run the front office. DePodesta later added Josh Byrnes as general manager and Tommy Tanous as assistant general manager.
Byrnes came from the Dodgers and Tanous and Levin both from the Mets, though Levin was away from the Mets for a year. What all three have in common is that they all crossed paths with DePodesta years ago. DePodesta has been working in the NFL for the past decade but was in baseball for many years before that. DePodesta and Byrnes were both working for Cleveland in the late ’90s. DePodesta later worked from the Mets from 2011 to 2015 before joining the Cleveland Browns.
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Teams Have Shown Interest In Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Teams have shown interest in infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. and the Yankees have listened, according to reporting from Bryan Hoch of MLB.com and Jeff Passan of ESPN. Neither report suggests the Yanks are shopping him or are even likely to move him, but it’s notable that other clubs are exploring the possibility.
It’s unsurprising that clubs would call, as Chisholm is very good and coming off the best season of his career so far. He hit 31 home runs and stole 31 bases this year. His 27.9% strikeout rate was a bit high but nothing new for him, while his 10.9% walk rate was a personal best. His .242/.332/.481 batting line led to a 126 wRC+, indicating he was 26% better than league average at the plate.
Defensively, he played a decent amount of second and third base in the first half. The Yanks eventually acquired Ryan McMahon and put him at the hot corner, which allowed Chisholm to settle in as the regular at second. Chisholm was credited with two Defensive Runs Saved and eight Outs Above Average at the keystone on the year. Put it all together and FanGraphs considered him to be worth 4.4 wins above replacement.
That performance makes him very attractive and his contractual situation does as well. Chisholm is under club control for one more season with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a salary of $10.2MM next year. That’s less than half of this year’s $22.025MM qualifying offer.
All of those factors make Chisholm valuable for the Yankees in 2026 but he may not be in their long-term plans. He has seemingly been more interested in an extension than the club has. That’s probably not an indictment of Chisholm himself as the Yanks don’t do many extensions, with just three in the past decade and none in the past six years. General manager Brian Cashman tells Hoch this week that the club is “open-minded” about trade overtures coming from other clubs as they look for pitching upgrades.
In addition to bringing back pitching, a Chisholm trade would balance out the lineup, as Cashman tells Hoch it is too left-handed. They have two big righty bats in Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton but Chisholm is one of several lefties, alongside McMahon, Trent Grisham, Ben Rice and Austin Wells. Bench guys J.C. Escarra and Jorbit Vivas are also lefties, while Jasson Domínguez and Oswaldo Cabrera are switch-hitters, with Domínguez hitting much better from the left side. Prospect Spencer Jones, who could work his way into the picture this year, is also a lefty.
Trading Chisholm would leave a hole in the middle infield in the short term. Shortstop Anthony Volpe recently underwent shoulder surgery and is expected to start 2026 on the injured list. That will leave José Caballero at short to begin the season. Amed Rosario was recently signed but essentially to be a short-side platoon guy, as he’s a righty who hits lefties well. Prospect George Lombard Jr. could be the shortstop of the future but he’s currently only 20 years old and hasn’t reached Triple-A yet. Vivas and Cabrera are in the mix as bench/utility guys alongside Rosario.
Between Lombard, Volpe and Caballero, perhaps the Yankees feel they have enough to cover the middle infield in the long run. But in 2026, Volpe’s uncertain health status and Lombard’s lack of experience make Chisholm a good bridge.
It’s possible the payroll pushes the club to consider a trade now, which is an odd thing to say about the Yankees. Owner Hal Steinbrenner has previously expressed a desire to run a payroll under $300MM. Cashman was recently noncommittal about whether the club would eclipse that number in 2026. RosterResource currently has them pegged for a pure payroll of $261MM with a competitive balance tax calculation of $285MM.
Trading Chisholm wouldn’t save a ton but it would allow them to potentially bolster their roster without going to free agency. They are known to be looking for pitching upgrades and could look to bolster their outfield as well. It’s also theoretically possible to imagine the Yankees trading Chisholm for pitching, followed by a pivot to free agency to replace him, blowing past their payroll concerns. Bo Bichette and Ha-Seong Kim are still out there on the open market.
Front offices generally consider all sorts of trade scenarios that don’t come to fruition. The second base market currently features many theoretical possibilities which may or may not lead anywhere. There have been plenty of rumors surrounding guys like Ketel Marte of the Diamondbacks, Brendan Donovan of the Cardinals, Jeff McNeil of the Mets, Brandon Lowe of the Rays and Jake Cronenworth of the Padres. With those other options, that could dilute what teams offer to the Yankees. On the other hand, none of those guys are a lock to move, so perhaps teams are evaluating all potential paths. Clubs like the Giants, Mariners, Pirates, Guardians, Astros and others have been connected to the second base trade candidates.
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Rangers Sign Anthony Veneziano To Minor League Deal
The Rangers have signed left-hander Anthony Veneziano to a minor league deal, MLBTR has learned. The KHG Sports Management client also receives an invite to big league camp in spring training.
Veneziano, 28, has pitched for the Royals, Marlins and Cardinals over the past three big league seasons. He briefly crossed paths with Rangers manager Skip Schumaker, as Veneziano came to the Marlins via a waiver claim in September of 2024, when Schumaker was still the skipper in Miami. Veneziano has thrown 40 2/3 innings in the majors, allowing 3.98 earned runs per nine. He has averaged 93 to 95 miles per hour with his four-seamer but has thrown his slider more often while also mixing in a changeup. In 2025, he added a sinker to his arsenal in the big leagues.
That sinker seems to have helped him keep the ball on the ground. He tossed 25 innings this year, split between the Fish and the Cards, with a 4.68 ERA. He had just a 30.6% ground ball rate coming into 2025 but got grounders on 49.4% of balls in play this year, notably above the 41.8% league average. His 21.4% strikeout rate and 9.4% wak rate were both worse than league average but by less than 1% in both cases.
The Cardinals claimed Veneziano off waivers from the Marlins in August but then outrighted him off the 40-man in November. He was able to elect free agency, which allowed the Rangers to add him on this pact.
The southpaw came up as a starter but has primarily been working out of the bullpen in recent years. The 2025 Rangers built out their bullpen by signing a number of veterans to one-year deals. That worked fairly well but it meant that almost the entire relief group hit free agency last month. Phil Maton, Shawn Armstrong, Hoby Milner, Danny Coulombe and Chris Martin all hit the open market at season’s end. Texas also non-tendered Jacob Webb and Josh Sborz shortly thereafter.
Jacob Latz might get a chance at a rotation job next year, which means Robert Garcia is the top lefty in the bullpen. The Rangers added Tyler Alexander last week. If Veneziano can earn a 40-man spot, he still has an option, meaning he could be sent to Triple-A and back throughout the year. He also has less than a year of service time, meaning he could be cheaply retained for the foreseeable future if he can hold a roster spot through the upcoming season.
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Diamondbacks Sign Isaiah Campbell To Minor League Deal
The Diamondbacks have signed right-hander Isaiah Campbell to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The ACES client has been assigned to the Triple-A Reno Aces but will presumably receive an invite to big league camp in spring training.
Campbell, 28, has appeared in each of the past three big league seasons. Suiting up for the Mariners and Red Sox, the righty has thrown 43 innings in the majors, allowing 5.65 earned runs per nine. His 21.9% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate are close to average while his 47.7% grounder rate is a few ticks better than par. His .341 batting average on balls in play and 66.6% strand rate are both to the unfortunate side, so metrics like his 4.34 FIP and 3.89 SIERA are a bit more optimistic than his ERA.
Only 7 2/3 of those innings came in 2025, as he spent most of the season with Triple-A Worcester. He logged 57 2/3 at that level this year with a 3.90 ERA. His 18.1% strikeout was a bit on the low side but he got grounders on 50.5% of balls in play. He averages in the mid-90s with his four-seamer and sinker but throws his slider more than half the time. He added a curveball in 2025 and mixed that in sporadically.
Campbell exhausted his final option season this year and will be out of options going forward, which will make it harder for him to hold a roster spot. The Sox outrighted him off their 40-man in October and he was able to elect free agency.
The bullpen was a big problem for the Snakes in 2025. They had planned for A.J. Puk and Justin Martínez but both were felled by UCL surgeries and other guys dealt with injury problems as well. Their relief corps had a collective 4.82 ERA this past season, which was better than just the Angels, Rockies and Nationals.
They will surely make some more moves to upgrade their bullpen before Opening Day but Campbell gives them some extra non-roster depth for now. He has just over a year of MLB service time. If he can earn a roster spot and hold it, he can be cheaply retained beyond the 2026 season.
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Twins Release Carson McCusker To Pursue Opportunity In Asia
Dec 13: McCusker has signed a one-year contract with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, per Francys Romero of Beisbol FR.
Dec 10: The Twins have placed outfielder Carson McCusker on unconditional release waivers, per Dan Hayes of The Athletic. McCusker is expected to play in Asia next year, though no details have been provided about the specific country or team he is headed to. For the Twins, their 40-man roster count drops to 39, just hours before the Rule 5 draft. That means they could now be in position to make a selection in that draft.
McCusker, 28 in May, was a bit of a feel-good story for the Twins in 2025. He went undrafted out of college and wound up in indy ball in 2021 and 2022. The Twins then signed him and he worked his way up the ladder to the majors. He was sent up to the plate 30 times over 16 appearances. His .172/.200/.172 line was not impressive in that small sample but he was surely delighted just to make it to the show after not even being in affiliated ball a few years prior.
His minor league track record is greater in quantity and quality. From 2023 to 2025, he stepped to the plate 1,146 times across various levels of the farm. His 32.1% strikeout was quite high but he hit 55 home runs and slashed .265/.335/.494 for a wRC+ of 119.
If McCusker had stayed in with the Twins, he likely would have spent the majority of 2026 in the minors. Minnesota’s outfield mix currently consists of Byron Buxton, Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner, James Outman, Alan Roden, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Gabriel Gonzalez, Hendry Mendez as well as infield/outfield types like Austin Martin, Kody Clemens and Ryan Kreidler. Prospect Walker Jenkins isn’t on the 40-man yet but has reached Triple-A and should be in the mix soon.
By heading overseas, he will presumably lock in a bigger guarantee and a more regular opportunity to showcase his abilities. If he succeeds in this new venture, he could parlay that into a return to North America or further opportunities in other leagues.
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Phillies To Sign Bryse Wilson
The Phillies have a deal in place with right-hander Bryse Wilson, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. It’s unclear if it’s a major league or minor league pact for the Pro Edge Sports Management client. The Phils have multiple 40-man vacancies, so they won’t need to make a corresponding move even if this is a big league deal.
Wilson, 28 in December, has worked both as a starter and a reliever in his career. He has appeared in 163 games over the past eight big league seasons, 57 of those being starts, having suited up for Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and the White Sox. He has logged 461 innings over those eight seasons, allowing 4.82 earned runs per nine. His 16.6% strikeout rate is quite low but he has limited walks to a 7.5% clip.
He’s coming off a rough season. He signed a one-year, $1.05MM deal with the White Sox. He had just been cut loose by the Brewers and presumably hoped that signing with a rebuilding club would give him a path to carving out a nice role and showcasing his abilities. Instead, he posted a 6.65 ERA over 47 1/3 innings. He was passed through waivers unclaimed twice during the year. While in the minors, he posted better numbers. He tossed 48 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.25 ERA, 20.5% strikeout rate, 5.5% walk rate and 53.8% ground ball rate.
It’s possible the Phils want Wilson to serve in a swing role, logging multiple innings out of the bullpen with the occasional spot start. They signed Spencer Turnbull for a role like this in 2024 and Joe Ross in 2025.
As of this moment, the Phillies have a rotation that consists of Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, Aaron Nola and Taijuan Walker. It’s possible that Wheeler begins 2026 on the injured list while he recovers from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. While he’s out, prospect Andrew Painter could take a rotation job but Painter had a 5.40 ERA in Triple-A last year and still hasn’t made his major league debut.
It’s possible that the Phils get to the end of spring training and decide Painter needs more time in Triple-A. If Wheeler or anyone else needs some time on the injured list, then they would need someone else to step up. Wilson could potentially take a rotation spot and then bump into long relief when Painter forces his way in or Wheeler or whoever else gets healthy.
Wilson is out of options, meaning he can’t be sent to the minors easily. However, he has less than five years of big league service time. That means that, if he has a 40-man roster spot at the end of the year, the Phils could decide to retain him beyond 2026 via arbitration.
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