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Mariners, Randy Dobnak Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners and right-hander Randy Dobnak have agreed to a minor league deal with an invite to big league camp, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The righty is represented by Gaeta Sports Management.

Dobnak, 31 in January, just got to the end of an early-career extension that didn’t really pan out. Once an undrafted free agent who was playing indy ball and driving an Uber, he landed with the Twins and climbed all the way up to the majors. Over the 2019 and 2020 seasons, he tossed 75 innings for Minnesota, allowing 3.12 earned runs per nine. His 15.7% strikeout rate was pretty low but he posted a 5.7% walk rate and also got grounders at a high rate of 58.8%.

At the start of the 2021 season, the Twins and Dobnak agreed to a five-year, $9.25MM extension. From the team perspective, that was a tiny amount of money, even for a lower-spending club like the Twins. But for Dobnak, considering his humble origins, that was massive.

Unfortunately, it didn’t really work out for the club. Dobnak’s ERA shot up to 7.64 in 2021. He has largely been kept in the minors since then. He didn’t pitch in the big leagues at all in 2022 or 2023, followed by just five appearances last year and one in 2025. The Twins shipped him to the Tigers at the deadline as part of the Chris Paddack trade, seemingly just to get the remainder of the money owed to Dobnak off their books. The Tigers kept him in the minors and then declined a club option for 2026, giving Dobnak a $1MM buyout instead.

For the Mariners, there’s no harm in bringing him aboard via a minor league deal, giving them some non-roster pitching depth. Dobnak’s recent minor league work hasn’t been great but he has continued to get grounders on roughly half the balls in play he’s allowed. If he’s added to the 40-man roster at any point, he’s still optionable. That’s because the Twins usually outrighted him completely off the 40-man roster, as opposed to just optioning him to the minors.

Photo courtesy of Tim Vizer, Imagn Images

Royals Acquire Mason Black

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The Royals announced that they have acquired right-hander Mason Black from the Giants. Minor league righty Logan Martin heads in the other direction. The Giants designated Black for assignment last week. The Royals’ 40-man roster count climbs from 36 to 37.

Black, 26 next month, joins a new organization for the first time in his career. The Giants took him with a third-round pick in 2021. As he climbed the minor league ladder, he was generally regarded as one of the club’s top ten prospects.

He hasn’t yet delivered much at the big league level. Between 2024 and 2025, he tossed 40 1/3 innings for the Giants, allowing 6.47 earned runs per nine. His 8% walk rate in that time was around average but his 19.1% strikeout rate subpar.

His work in the minors has been better but he’s coming off a poor season. From 2022 to 2024, he logged 320 minor league frames with a 3.77 ERA, 28.2% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate. In 2025, he pitched 119 1/3 Triple-A innings but with a 5.81 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He struck out 21.5% of opponents and walked them at an 11.7% pace. That got him bumped off San Francisco’s roster but Kansas City will take a shot on him.

Black still has one option season remaining, so the Royals don’t need keep him on the big league roster. He could be kept in Triple-A Omaha as rotation depth. It’s also possible they experiment with him in a relief role. Black has mostly been a starter in his career but his final five appearances in 2025 were out of the bullpen for Triple-A Sacramento. In those, he faced 25 batters, striking out six while giving out two walks.

To get Black aboard, the Royals are parting with Martin. He was their 12th-round pick in 2023. Last year, he tossed 102 innings at the Single-A level with a 3.62 ERA, 22.9% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate. This year, he moved up to High-A and logged 91 1/3 innings with a 3.45 ERA, 20.6% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate. He has been pitching in the Arizona Fall League of late, though with 12 earned runs allowed in 11 innings. Back in May, Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs gave Martin an honorable mention on their list of the top prospects in the Royals system.

Martin is a bit of a lottery ticket since he hasn’t yet reached Double-A but the Giants are surely happy to get any kind of chance at a return for a player they designated for assignment. Martin will be Rule 5 eligible a year from now, so the Giants can use that time to decide if he’s worth a roster spot. The Royals, meanwhile, weren’t going to get anything from Martin in the near term whereas Black has a chance to contribute to the big league club in 2026. The Royals presumably also hope that Black has the greater upside as a former third-round pick and notable prospect.

Photo courtesy of Dennis Lee, Imagn Images

Nick Kurtz Wins American League Rookie Of The Year, Earns Full Year Of Service Time

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Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz has been named the 2025 American League Rookie of the Year, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. His teammate Jacob Wilson finished second and Roman Anthony of the Red Sox finished third in the voting. Kurtz, who was the unanimous choice for the award, will be retroactively awarded a full year of service time by finishing in the top two of the voting. The full voting results can be found here.

Kurtz was the fourth overall pick of the 2024 draft and came into 2025 as one of the top prospects in the league. He didn’t break camp with the club but was called up on April 23rd. Almost immediately, he started showing his talent for crushing the ball. Due to his late call-up and a brief injured list stint for a strained left hip flexor, he only got into 117 games, but that was still enough time for him to put the ball over the fence 36 times.

It wasn’t a perfect season, as Kurtz struck out at a high 30.9% rate. However, his 12.9% walk rate was quite strong. When combined with his aforementioned power, it was a very productive season. His .290/.383/.619 slash line translated to a wRC+ of 170. Among hitters with at least 20 plate appearances this year, only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani topped that wRC+ number.

It’s impressive that Kurtz did so much despite not even playing a full season. His late call-up also has notable implications for him and the club. The most recent collective bargaining agreement included measures to discourage service time manipulation. If a team promotes a top prospect early enough in a season for him to earn a full service year, the team can earn an extra draft pick if the player meets certain awards voting criteria, via the Prospect Promotion Incentive. On the flip side, if a player is not promoted early enough for a full service year and then goes on to finish in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting in his league, then he is retroactively credited with a full service year.

Kurtz came into the year as a consensus top 100 prospect in baseball, meaning he would have been PPI-eligible this year if the A’s had called him up earlier. He only got 159 days of service, 13 shy of the 172 needed for a full season. If he were PPI-eligible, this award win would have netted them an extra draft pick in 2026. Since they did not call him up early enough and Kurtz finished in the top two of the voting, he will get a full year of service anyway. That reduces the club’s window of control over Kurtz from six years to five, meaning he’s now on pace to reach free agency after 2030 instead of 2031.

Wilson is Kurtz’s teammate but the two are polar opposites when it comes to their offensive profiles. While Kurtz strikes out a lot but also draws walks and has huge power, Wilson has modest power and rarely walks but almost never strikes out. His 7.5% strikeout rate this year was the second-lowest among qualified hitters, trailing only Luis Arráez. Wilson only hit 13 home runs and drew a walk in just 5.2% of his plate appearances, but he still managed to hit .311/.355/.444 for a 121 wRC+ while playing the premium position of shortstop, even if his defense wasn’t highly rated.

The shortstop actually got promoted in July of 2024 but he landed on the injured list and missed enough time to still have rookie status coming into 2025. Despite having rookie status, he would not have earned the A’s a PPI pick even if he had finished first in the voting. Players are ineligible for the PPI bonus if they have at least 60 days of service time. Wilson earned 73 days of service in 2024, much of it on the injured list, meaning he was in a weird twilight zone of being rookie eligible but not PPI eligible.

Anthony came into the year not only as a top 100 prospect but most rankings had him first or second in the league. However, the Red Sox had a crowded outfield mix that was difficult for him to break into. Eventually, injuries opened a path and he finally got the call in June. By August, he had impressed the Sox enough that they signed him to an eight-year, $130MM extension.

Though he only got into 71 games, Anthony slashed .292/.396/.463 for a 140 wRC+ and stole four bases. He was credited with seven Defensive Runs Saved and six Outs Above Average. FanGraphs credited him with 2.7 wins above replacement in less than half a season. He would have pushed those numbers even further if not for an oblique injury sending him to the IL in early September.

Anthony only got 112 service days this year. He would have earned a full year if he had cracked second place in the voting, though that is largely a moot point with his extension. However, the result does impact him financially when looking at the details of his pact. The deal contains a number of escalators which Anthony can unlock via awards voting. Some extra money could have been tacked on with a top two finish but this third-place finish isn’t enough for him to add anything to the $130MM total. He can still push that up in the future by getting MVP votes.

Several other players received some recognition from the voters. Noah Cameron of the Royals finished fourth in the voting, followed by Colson Montgomery of the White Sox, Carlos Narváez of the Red Sox, Jack Leiter of the Rangers, Will Warren of the Yankees, Luke Keaschall of the Twins, Braydon Fisher of the Blue Jays, Shane Smith of the White Sox, Cam Smith of the Astros, Chandler Simpson of the Rays, Luis Morales of the A’s and Jasson Domínguez of the Yankees.

Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Daniel Kucin Jr., David Richard, Imagn Images

Drake Baldwin Wins National League Rookie Of The Year, Earns Braves PPI Pick

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Braves catcher Drake Baldwin is the 2025 National League Rookie of the Year, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. Cade Horton of the Cubs and Caleb Durbin of the Brewers finished second and third in the voting, respectively. Baldwin’s win will net Atlanta a bonus draft pick after the first round in 2026, via the Prospect Promotion Incentive. Horton earns a full year of service time from his top two finish. The full voting results can be found here.

Baldwin came into the year as one of the top prospects in baseball. Since he finished the 2024 season at Triple-A, he had a shot at a big league job to start 2025. However, Atlanta was set to open the season with Sean Murphy as the primary backstop. Rather than be a backup at the major league level, there was an argument for Baldwin to stick at Triple-A and get regular reps.

In early March, Murphy suffered a rib fracture, an injury with a timeline of four to six weeks. That opened the door for Baldwin to get an Opening Day job. He hit well in the spring and Atlanta added him to the roster prior to Opening Day. Though Murphy got healthy by early April, Baldwin had already started producing and he never really stopped. The two shared the catching duties fairly evenly for a few months, though Murphy returned to the injured list in September due to a right hip labral tear.

Baldwin finished the year with 446 plate appearances over 124 games. He hit 19 home runs and slashed .274/.341/.469 for a wRC+ of 125. That means he was 25% better than the league average hitter, though that’s even further above par for a catcher. Most outlets considered his defense to be a bit below average, but not by much. FanGraphs credited him with 3.1 wins above replacement on the year.

While Baldwin’s win is surely gratifying for him personally, it also benefits the team. The current collective bargaining agreement introduced measures to combat service time manipulation. If a team promotes a top prospect early enough for him to earn a full service year, then that player meets certain awards criteria, the team is awarded with an extra pick just after the first round in the next draft. Since Baldwin was a consensus top prospect who was up all year, his Rookie of the Year win gives Atlanta a PPI bonus pick in 2026.

Horton also came into the season as one of the top prospects. He had finished 2024 at Triple-A but with just five appearances at that level. He was sent back to Triple-A to start 2025 but the Cubs needed rotation help fairly early on, as Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga were both on the injured list by early May.

Horton was called up on May 10th. He stayed up with the club the rest of the way, though a rib fracture put him on the injured list late in September. He finished the season with 118 innings pitched, having allowed 2.67 earned runs per nine.

There was probably some luck in there. Horton’s 20.4% strikeout rate was subpar, though his 6.9% walk rate was good and his 42.3% ground ball rate right around average. His .258 batting average on balls in play and 78.3% strand rate were both to the fortunate side. ERA estimators like his 3.58 FIP and 4.26 SIERA feel his ERA should have been around a run higher, though the performance was still good enough for a second-place finish in the voting.

That is significant for Horton, as there’s a flipside to the aforementioned PPI bonuses for teams. If a top prospect is not promoted early enough in the season to get a full service year, he can earn one retroactively with a top-two finish in the Rookie of the Year voting. Horton only earned 142 service days this year, 30 shy of the 172 needed for a full season, but this vote result will get him bumped up to the one-year mark. That means he will be on pace to become a free agent after 2030 instead of 2031.

Durbin was not a top prospect to open the year, meaning PPI wasn’t a factor for him, but he had a good season regardless. Acquired from the Yankees last offseason, he was called up in April and took over the third base job in Milwaukee. He appeared in 136 games and stepped to the plate 506 times. He hit just 11 home runs and didn’t walk much but rarely struck out, leading to a .256/.334/.387 line and 105 wRC+. He also stole 18 bases and was credited with five Defensive Runs Saved and two Outs Above Average at the hot corner.

Several other players also received some recognition from the voters. Isaac Collins of the Brewers finished fourth, followed by Daylen Lile of the Nationals, Agustín Ramírez of the Marlins, Chad Patrick of the Brewers, Jakob Marsee of the Marlins, Jack Dreyer of the Dodgers, Matt Shaw of the Cubs, Jacob Misiorowski of the Brewers, Nolan McLean of the Mets and Heriberto Hernández of the Marlins.

Photo courtesy of Geoff Burke, Jordan Godfree, Isaiah J. Downing, Jeff Hanisch, Imagn Images

Breslow: Red Sox Looking For Front-Of-The-Rotation Starter, Middle-Of-The-Order Bat

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Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has already admitted that the Sox will be looking for starting pitching this offseason. He met with reporters at the General Managers Meetings in Las Vegas today, including Tim Healey of The Boston Globe, and provided a more specific target area.

“Because of the depth that we’ve built up over the last couple of years, we feel pretty good about just overall starting pitching, maybe No. 3-ish through No. 10-ish,” Breslow said. “And that’s not to take away from guys who are certainly capable of doing more, and more just to say I don’t think we’re going to spend a ton of time trying to add a No. 4, No. 5 starter.”

That’s a logical framing, considering the guys currently on the roster. Garrett Crochet gives the club a clear ace but then there’s a notable gap to the rest of the group. Brayan Bello is probably the #2 guy on paper right now, but he’s not really the kind of dominant force that one thinks of for that kind of role. He has a low-strikeout, high-grounder profile that should make him more of a solid back-end guy than a front-of-rotation killer.

Behind him, there are guys like Kutter Crawford, Cooper Criswell, Tanner Houck, Patrick Sandoval, Kyle Harrison, Payton Tolle, Connelly Early and others. Crawford has some intriguing numbers but his ERA has landed north of 4.00 in each of the past two seasons. Criswell is a low-strikeout swingman. Houck had Tommy John surgery in August and is going to miss most or all of 2026, meaning he might get non-tendered. Sandoval missed the entire 2025 season due to his own elbow surgery. Harrison, Tolle and Early are all intriguing young arms but they’re not established at the big league level.

Given the question marks in that group, it’s understandable that the club would be looking for a surefire upgrade. It also perhaps explains why the club didn’t make a qualifying offer to righty Lucas Giolito, who is now a free agent. Giolito posted a 3.41 ERA with the Sox this year but his 19.7% strikeout rate was subpar. He benefited from a .273 batting average on balls in play and 76.7% strand rate, which were both to the fortunate side. His 4.17 FIP and 4.65 SIERA suggested he deserved worse. He also finished the season on the injured list with an elbow issue. Bringing him back would have arguably been adding another No. 4 or No. 5 starter, as Breslow put it.

The Sox surely feel they can and need to do better than that. They were connected to Joe Ryan of the Twins before the deadline and perhaps they will revisit that pursuit. Ryan has a career 3.79 ERA with a 27.6% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate. The Twins appear to be doing some kind of reset and only control Ryan for through 2027, so he could be attainable this winter. Other impact starters potentially available on the trade block include MacKenzie Gore, Freddy Peralta, Sandy Alcantara and others.

Acquiring any of those players would involve giving up talented prospects or big leaguers. The Sox had one of the top farm systems in baseball not so long ago but they traded some notable talent to the White Sox in the Crochet deal and have also graduated a bunch of their top prospects to the majors.

A simpler path would be to just sign a free agent. This winter’s market has notable names such as Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, Tatsuya Imai, Ranger Suárez, Michael King, Brandon Woodruff and others. Those players would cost more than the trade targets financially but wouldn’t require the Sox to give up prospects, though everyone in that group aside from Imai rejected a qualifying offer, meaning the Sox would be hurting their prospect pipeline in a different way.

Breslow also pointed to a plan on the offensive side of things. “There is just something about a bat in the middle of the lineup that forces another team to game plan against it that has a compounding effect on the rest of the roster,” Breslow said. “So we didn’t slug nearly as much as I think we can, or we will, and we’ll pursue opportunities to improve that.”

For the entire 2025 season, the Sox finished ninth in the majors in slugging percentage and tenth in isolated power. They’ve also lost some key bats in the past few months. They traded Rafael Devers to the Giants midseason. Alex Bregman opted out of his deal last week and became a free agent.

There are many potential options in free agency, though the Sox have a crowded outfield. The most logical spots to add would be the infield corners. Bregman’s departure leaves third base open. First base is a question mark with Triston Casas still injured. Nathaniel Lowe was holding that spot by the end of the 2025 season but he could be non-tendered this month.

Bringing back Bregman would be one straightforward solution, though it’s unclear if the Sox want to commit to him long-term. He is presumably hoping to land a longer deal this time around, after settling for a three-year, opt-out-laden pact last time. Besides Bregman, other corner infield free agents with big bats are Munetaka Murakami, Pete Alonso, Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor, Ryan O’Hearn and others. Willson Contreras and Christian Walker might be available on the trade market.

The free agent market also has Kyle Schwarber, who previously had a brief stint with the Sox that included some memorable time at first base. However, it may be hard to outbid the Phillies. There’s also the fact that Schwarber hits left-handed and the Boston lineup is already loaded with lefties.

“In a perfect world, I suppose we want to balance out the lineup a bit,” Breslow said on the subject. “That said, when you can hit the ball out of the park, it doesn’t really matter.” Murakami, Naylor and O’Hearn are also left-handed, whereas Alonso, Suárez, Contreras and Walker are righties.

It’s unclear what the Red Sox plan to spend on the 2026 squad. According to RosterResource, the club had a $207MM payroll in 2025 but a competitive balance tax number of $245MM. RR projects those numbers for $180MM and $216MM in 2026. Non-tendering Lowe and Houck would add more than $17MM of extra wiggle room.

One area of the roster where Breslow doesn’t plan to make big changes is the shortstop position. Per Christopher Smith of MassLive, Breslow said that Trevor Story will be the shortstop next year. Story recently decided not to opt-out of his contract. He is signed through 2027 with a club option for 2028.

After being injured for most of his first three seasons in Boston, Story had a nice return to form in 2025, despite a slow start. He hit .289/.334/.492 for a 124 wRC+ after the month of May. However, his season-long defensive numbers weren’t great. He was credited with minus-7 Defensive Runs Saved and minus-9 Outs Above Average. Despite that, Breslow and the Sox plan to keep Story out there next year.

There aren’t many great options for external upgrades. Bo Bichette is the top free agent but he’ll be expensive and his defense was worse than Story’s this year. Ha-Seong Kim is a solid defender but his offense wasn’t great in his first season after shoulder surgery. CJ Abrams is arguably the top trade candidate but is also not a great defender.

Internally, there’s an argument for trying Marcelo Mayer at short with Story bumped to second, though Mayer is still fairly unproven. He hit just .228/.272/.402 in his first 136 big league plate appearances. He missed more than a month due to a right wrist sprain.

Breslow also spoke about Mayer and said he needs to add strength. “[Getting stronger] will just help him manage the workload of a full season and just be able to withstand the demands of a full season, which is, frankly, something that he hasn’t been able to do,” Breslow said, per Healey. “And some of those have been just kind of these freak injuries, but others seem to maybe just be the accumulation of workload.” With Story returning to shortstop, Mayer could find playing time at second or third, depending on what moves the Sox make this winter.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Orioles To Hire Jason Bourgeois As First Base Coach

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The Orioles are going to hire Jason Bourgeois as their new first base coach. Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner was first to report the news. He will replace Anthony Sanders, who was plucked away by the Tigers last week.

Bourgeois, 43, played in the majors from 2008 to 2015. He continued playing in the minors leagues and in Mexico through 2018. He then pivoted to coaching, starting in the Dodgers’ minor league system in 2019.

He has spent the past two years as the first base coach for the White Sox. When Bourgeois was hired going into 2024, Pedro Grifol was the skipper. Grifol was fired before that season was over. Grady Sizemore took over on an interim basis before Will Venable got the job in 2025. The Sox retained most of the coaching staff in Venable’s first year but the club announced multiple changes in September, with Bourgeois among the many coaches not being brought back.

He lands a new role with a familiar face. As pointed out by Kostka, new Orioles manager Craig Albernaz and Bourgeois played together at Triple-A Durham in 2013, when both were players in the Rays’ system.

Albernaz still has some other vacancies to fill on his staff. Robinson Chirinos is not coming back as bench coach. Assistant hitting coaches Sherman Johnson and Tommy Joseph have also departed for opportunities elsewhere. It’s unclear if Buck Britton will continue as third base coach. He took over that spot on an interim basis when Tony Mansolino became interim manager after Brandon Hyde was fired. Mansolino is heading to Atlanta to be third base coach with that club.

Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images

Yankees To Promote Dan Fiorito To Major League Coaching Staff

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The Yankees have a new first base coach, reports Greg Joyce of The New York Post. Dan Fiorito, the club’s minor league outfield/infield coordinator, will be promoted to the big league staff. The club hasn’t yet announced the hiring.

It was reported last month that the Yankees would be moving on from a few coaches, including first base and infield coach Travis Chapman. Per Joyce, Fiorito has been hired to replace Chapman at first and is expected to take over the infield coaching duties as well.

Fiorito, 35, played in the Yankees’ minor league system from 2013 to 2016. After his playing days were done, he make the move into coaching. He managed the Gulf Coast League Yankees in 2019, then moved up to manage High-A Hudson Valley in 2021 and Double-A Somerset in 2022.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Oehler, Imagn Images

Pirates Outright Michael Darrell-Hicks

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The Pirates have sent right-hander Michael Darrell-Hicks outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. The Pirates will get to keep him as non-roster depth.

Darrell-Hicks, 28 on Thursday, was acquired from the Angels via the waiver wire in June. Between the Bucs and the Halos, he has 9 2/3 innings pitched in the big leagues. In that time, he has allowed eight earned runs via ten hits, four walks, one hit batter and two wild pitches, while striking out eight opponents.

His minor league track record is more interesting. From 2022 to 2024, he tossed 180 2/3 innings on the farm with a 3.79 earned run average. He struck out 26.3% of batters faced and only gave out walks at a 7.2% clip.

2025 saw him post a nightmarish 8.45 ERA in 38 1/3 Triple-A innings, though it’s possible that he was extremely unfortunate. His 22.1% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate were close to average but his .415 batting average on balls in play and 61.9% strand rate were both far to the unlucky side. His 21.1% home run to fly ball ratio was also far higher than his previous work.

The Pirates liked him enough to grab him this summer, though he got squeezed off the roster this week. They are probably glad to keep him around in a non-roster capacity. He doesn’t have the right to elect free agency since he doesn’t have three years of service or a previous career outright. He will look to earn his way back onto the roster next year.

Photo courtesy of Raymond Carlin III, Imagn Images

Kyle Hendricks To Retire

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Veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks is calling it a career. The longtime Cubs hurler, who spent the 2025 season with the Angels, is retiring, per Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Hendricks, now 35, will be forever associated with the curse-breaking Cubs but was originally drafted by the Rangers. Texas grabbed him with an eighth-round pick back in 2011. A year later, while in High-A, he was flipped to the Cubs as part of the July 2012 trade which sent Ryan Dempster to Texas.

He continued to climb the minor league ladder and debuted with the Cubs in 2014. He made 13 starts that year, logging 80 1/3 innings, allowing 2.46 earned runs per nine. His velocity was barely above 90 miles per hour but he showed strong command of a five-pitch mix, relying more on disrupting hitters’ timing than missing bats. He would eventually earn the nickname “The Professor” on account of both his cerebral approach to pitching and the fact that he went to Dartmouth College, an Ivy League school.

At that time of his debut, the Cubs were still looking for their first World Series since 1908 and were also rebuilding. Despite a strong debut from Hendricks in 2014, the Cubs finished fifth in the National League Central for a fifth straight year.

But the light at the end of the tunnel was getting brighter. Guys like Hendricks, Anthony Rizzo, Jake Arrieta and Javier Báez were already on the roster. Kris Bryant hadn’t yet debuted but was the top prospect in baseball going into 2015. The Cubs made a big splash to signal a new era by signing Jon Lester to a six-year, $155MM deal.

In 2015, Hendricks got to pitch his first full big league season. He logged 180 innings over 32 starts with a 3.95 ERA, 22.6% strikeout rate, 5.8% walk rate and 51.3% ground ball rate. The Cubs emerged from their rebuild, winning 97 games and nabbing a playoff spot. At that time, the Wild Card round was just a one-game playoff between two clubs. The Cubs got by the Pirates and then beat the Cardinals in the NLDS, felling two division rivals, but were swept out of the NLCS by the Mets.

The Cubs and Hendricks found another gear the following year. Hendricks led the majors in ERA with a 2.13 figure over 190 innings. He finished third in Cy Young voting behind Max Scherzer and Lester. The Cubs won 103 games and finished atop the Central. They beat the Giants in the NLDS and the Dodgers in the NLCS. The latter series was clinched by Hendricks throwing 7 1/3 shutout innings in Game Six. That set up a matchup against Cleveland in the World Series, which would eventually go to seven games. Hendricks got the ball in the final game and went 4 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run. The Cubs would eventually win the game 8-7 in ten innings. Hendricks had a 1.42 ERA over five starts in that postseason.

That ultimately proved to be a peak for the franchise and for Hendricks himself, though the team had a few more winning seasons and Hendricks continued to be a solid piece of the rotation. In March of 2019, he and the Cubs agreed to a four-year, $55.5MM extension. That deal was set to keep him at Wrigley through 2023, though the Cubs would eventually pick up a club option for 2024 as well.

By that time, Hendricks had seen his results slip. As mentioned, he was never a huge velocity or strikeout guy but those attributes had fallen further from par as he aged. That led to him posting a 5.92 ERA in 2024. After that season, he and the Cubs finally parted ways. Early in the 2024-25 offseason, he signed a one-year, $2.5MM deal with the Angels. He grew up in Southern California, so this allowed him to pitch for a team close to his roots for the first time. He made 31 starts for the Halos with a 4.76 ERA.

Overall, Hendricks pitched in 307 games and logged 1,745 innings with a 3.79 ERA, 105 wins and 91 losses. He made 146 quality starts, including six complete games and four shutouts. He struck out 1,373 opponents. Baseball Reference estimates he earned just over $86MM in his career. We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate The Professor on a fine career and wish him the best on whatever comes next.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Katie Stratman, Imagn Images

Rays Trade Kameron Misner To Royals

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The Rays announced Monday that they’ve traded outfielder Kameron Misner to the Royals in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. Tampa Bay had designated Misner for assignment last week. The Royals’ 40-man roster count climbs to 36.

Misner, 28 in January, has received limited big league action with the Rays over the past two seasons. Overall, he has 232 big league plate appearances. 34.1% of those ended in a strikeout and 6.9% resulted in a walk, both subpar figures. That has led to a .203/.260/.325 batting line. He got squeezed off Tampa’s roster last week.

Despite that tepid offensive showing thus far, there are reasons why the Royals would be interested. His sprint speed was ranked in the 75th percentile this year and he stole eight bases in nine tries. His work in the outfield this year resulted in five Defensive Runs Saved and three Outs Above Average.

It’s also possible that there’s more in the bat than he has shown so far. From 2023 to 2025, he took 1,203 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level. In those, he slashed .233/.358/.449 for a wRC+ of 106, with a really strong 15.7% walk rate. His 31.7% strikeout rate in that time wasn’t great but he at least showed signs of improvement. When he first arrived at Triple-A in 2023, he was punched out at a massive 35.8% clip, but he got that down to 29.3% and then 26.1% in the two most recent seasons.

The Royals have been struggling to put together a good outfield group for years. In the 2025 season, the club’s outfielders posted a collective .225/.285/.348 line. The resultant wRC+ of 73 was dead last in the majors.

Misner still has an option remaining, so he doesn’t need to be guaranteed a job on the big league roster. Currently, the Royals project to have Jac Caglianone, Kyle Isbel, John Rave, Dairon Blanco, MJ Melendez and Drew Waters. They front office will likely be on the lookout for more meaningful upgrades throughout the offseason. For now, Misner gives them another option to at least bolster the floor with his speed and defense. If his bat takes a step forward, he could separate himself from the pack. If not, he can at least be in Triple-A as depth.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

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