Red Sox Have Had Trade Talks Involving Jordan Hicks
The Red Sox seemingly have enough pitching depth to consider trading some. Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports that Patrick Sandoval, Brayan Bello and Jordan Hicks have been discussed in trade talks. Reporting back in December indicated that both Bello and Sandoval were garnering interest from other clubs.
It isn’t specified which party brought up Hicks in these trade talks but presumably the Sox have been trying to shop him, as opposed to other teams trying especially hard to acquire him. He has some good major league results on his track record but hasn’t been effective lately and his contract is not favorable.
Two years ago, the Giants signed him to a four-year, $44MM deal, hoping to convert him from the bullpen to the rotation. That experiment went well initially before Hicks seemingly ran out of gas. He posted a 1.59 earned run average through the end of April, but then had a 3.99 ERA in May, 5.24 in June and 8.40 in July.
He was moved back to the bullpen later in the year and also spent some time on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation. He didn’t get things on track in 2025. He was eventually included in the Rafael Devers trade as financial ballast and finished the season with a 6.95 ERA between the two clubs.
Prior to signing that deal, Hicks had some decent results out of the St. Louis bullpen, riding his triple-digit velocity to a groundball-heavy approach. At the end of the 2023 season, he had a career ERA of 3.85. His 12.8% walk rate was high but he struck out 24.5% of batters faced and induced grounders on 60.4% of balls in play. Some teams probably have interest in him as a bounceback candidate but he is still owed $24MM over the next two years, so Boston would have to pay down most of that in order to line up a deal.
The commonality with Sandoval, Bello and Hicks as that they’re all making decent money, with Bello still owed $50.5MM through 2029, including the $1MM buyout on a 2030 club option. Sandoval will make $12.75MM in 2026.
RosterResource currently projects the Sox for a payroll of $197MM and a competitive balance tax figure of $266MM. They finished 2025 with a pure payroll of $209MM and a $247MM CBT calculation. If they are willing to spend to last year’s levels, the pure payroll has some wiggle room but perhaps the upcoming higher tax budget eats up some of that difference.
Trading one of these contracts could create some extra payroll room. The Sox could use a second base upgrade, though free agency doesn’t really have any amazing solutions remaining. Guys like Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ramón Urías are out there but arguably don’t provide a huge upgrade over Boston’s current group of Romy González, Nick Sogard and David Hamilton. The Sox are also looking for catching upgrades and presumably want to add another reliever or two while leaving some wiggle room for in-season maneuvering.
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Nationals Claim George Soriano, Designate Tsung-Che Cheng For Assignment
The Nationals announced that they have claimed right-hander George Soriano off waivers from the Braves. Atlanta designated him for assignment earlier this week when they claimed José Suarez off waivers from the Orioles. To open a spot for Soriano today, Washington has designated infielder Tsung-Che Cheng for assignment.
Both players involved here have been riding the DFA carousel this winter. Soriano finished the 2025 season with the Marlins but has since gone to Baltimore, Atlanta and now Washington via waivers. Cheng was on the Pirates as of a few months ago but has gone to the Rays, Mets and Nationals via the waiver wire. For each of these two and many others this winter, it seems that several teams are hoping to pass the player through waivers, therefore keeping him as non-roster depth.
Soriano, 27 in March, hasn’t found major league success yet. He logged 118 innings for the Marlins over the past three years, allowing 5.95 earned runs per nine with a 22% strikeout rate, 10.3% walk rate and 38.7% ground ball rate. He exhausted his three option years in that time.
But he did just wrap up a strong season in the minors. He tossed 42 2/3 Triple-A innings last year with a 2.32 ERA. He struck out 28.8% of batters faced, gave out walks at an 8.8% clip and induced grounders on 55.7% of balls in play. He averages about 96 miles per hour with both his four-seamer and sinker while also featuring a slider and a changeup.
Teams are clearly intrigued by Soriano but seemingly prefer to have him aboard in a non-roster capacity. If he is passed through waivers at some point, he would not have the right to elect free agency since he has less than three years of service time and does not have a previous career outright.
Perhaps the Nats will put him back on waivers later but they could certainly use the arms. The Washington bullpen had a 5.59 ERA last year, worst in the majors. They subtracted from the group when they traded Jose A. Ferrer to the Mariners for catcher Harry Ford. If Soriano can hang onto his roster spot, he can be controlled for five full seasons.
Cheng, 24, still has an option remaining but his appeal is nonetheless borderline enough for him to be barely clinging to a 40-man spot. He appears to have a decent floor as a speed-and-defense infielder. Throughout his minor league career, he has played a bunch of the three infield spots to the left of first base, generally getting good reviews for his glovework. He’s been good for 20-ish steals per year in the minors as well.
The bat is more of a question. He hit well through Single-A but has struggled at the upper levels. Over the past two years, he has a combined .217/.319/.312 batting line on the farm, which translates to an 81 wRC+. He was also sent to the plate seven times in the majors and struck out three times without getting a hit.
It appears he has some appeal as a glove-first depth infielder but not enough for any club to put him firmly in their plans. The Nats will likely put him back on waivers soon. DFA limbo can last as long as a week but the waiver process takes 48 hours, so he should be back on the wire at some point in the next five days.
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Braves, Martín Pérez Agree To Minor League Deal
The Braves and left-hander Martín Pérez have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. The Octagon client will presumably be in major league camp in spring training.
Pérez, 35 in April, is coming off a mostly lost season due to injury. He signed a one-year, $5MM pact with the White Sox to serve as a veteran innings eater on the rebuilding club. That didn’t work out as the southpaw was on the injured list by mid-April for inflammation in his throwing elbow. Shortly thereafter, he was diagnosed with a flexor strain and it was questionable whether he would make it back from the IL.
The veteran did eventually come back in August but landed back on the IL in September due to a shoulder strain. Around the IL stints, he gave the White Sox 56 innings with a 3.54 earned run average, 19.3% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 39% ground ball rate.
For most of his career, Pérez has been a finesse lefty. His fastball has never averaged more than 94.2 miles per hour and has usually been a tick or two below that. He was in the 91-92 mph range in 2023 and 2024. He dropped down below 90 in 2025 but the injuries may have played a part in that. He has a six-pitch mix with a four-seamer, sinker, cutter, slider, curveball and changeup.
He has mostly been able to provide passable results. In his 1,631 2/3 career innings, he has a 4.41 ERA despite striking out just 16.3% of batters faced. His 8.3% walk rate is around average and his 48.4% ground ball rate is a few ticks better than par. He managed to get his ERA down to 2.89 with the Rangers in 2022, and parlayed that into a $19.65MM qualifying offer for 2023, which he accepted. But that campaign looks like a clear outlier, as he was back in the 4.50 ERA range for the next two seasons.
Atlanta has a good rotation on paper but with question marks all throughout the group. Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo López, Hurston Waldrep and Grant Holmes are likely the top six options right now. Sale won a Cy Young in 2024 but has generally been pretty injury prone in the seasons around that and will turn 37 soon. Schwellenbach missed the final three months of 2025 due to an elbow fracture. Strider missed most of 2024 due to ulnar collateral ligament surgery and posted a 4.45 ERA in his return last year. Shoulder surgery limited López to one start last year. Waldrep had a strong 2025 but still has fewer than 65 big league innings under his belt. Holmes has a partially torn UCL and is trying non-surgical rehab but will be a question mark until he ramps up in camp.
Given all that uncertainty, depth will be important. Bryce Elder is on the roster but posted an ERA north of 5.00 in each of the past two seasons. Prospect Didier Fuentes was rushed to the majors in 2025 and looked overmatched, allowing 20 earned runs in 13 innings.
Atlanta was connected to free agents Lucas Giolito and Chris Bassitt earlier this week, so perhaps a significant move will be forthcoming soon. For now, Pérez gives them a bit of extra depth without taking up a roster spot. He’ll look to pitch his way onto the roster. His chances of succeeding will naturally depend on his own performance but also on the team-wide health situation as things develop in the coming months.
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Orioles Interested In Lucas Giolito
The Orioles are known to be looking for more starting pitching. They’ve been connected to Framber Valdez, Justin Verlander and Zac Gallen in recent weeks. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that Lucas Giolito is also someone they are seriously considering. Giolito has also received reported interest from Detroit and Atlanta in the past month.
The O’s have made a few moves to address their rotation already this offseason. They acquired Shane Baz from the Rays and re-signed veteran Zach Eflin. They also subtracted Grayson Rodriguez, trading him to the Angels for Taylor Ward.
As of now, they should have Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Baz and Eflin in four spots. The fifth spot would most likely go to Dean Kremer, who has pretty consistently posted an earned run average in the low 4.00s for a few years now.
All teams need more than five starters to get through a season in the modern game, so depth is important. Tyler Wells missed most of the past two seasons due to ulnar collateral ligament surgery but was a viable back-end starter before that. Chayce McDermott, Cade Povich and Brandon Young have roster spots but haven’t clicked in the majors yet. They all have options and can be kept in Triple-A as optionable depth. Albert Suárez is in the mix on a minor league deal for some veteran non-roster depth. Trey Gibson doesn’t have a roster spot yet but he is one of the top pitching prospects in the league and has already reached the Triple-A level, so he should be pushing for a debut in 2026.
It’s a decent group on the whole. Arguably, they need upside more than they need additional depth. They don’t really have anyone you would call an ace. Rogers ended up having a great 2025, finishing with a 1.81 ERA. However, he started the season on the injured list, recovering from a right knee subluxation. Even once he was healthy, he was kept in the minors for a while. He didn’t get recalled for good until June. Bradish missed most of the past two seasons while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Baz has intriguing upside but just posted a 4.87 ERA last year.
Last winter, Baltimore went with older veterans with theoretically stable floors but less upside, signing Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano and Kyle Gibson. Those moves mostly did not work out well and the rotation was a major flaw in 2025.
Whether Giolito can provide upside over the guys currently on the roster is debatable. He did once seem like a borderline ace but it’s been a few years since he showed that form. He made 72 starts for the White Sox over the 2019 to 2021 seasons with a 3.47 ERA, 30.7% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate, getting at least one Cy Young vote in each of those campaigns. But his numbers dipped over the next two years, as his ERAs were closer to 5.00 with strikeout rates in the 25% range. He then missed 2024 due to UCL surgery.
In 2025, he bounced back, to a degree. He made 26 starts for the Red Sox with a 3.41 ERA. He was even better after a cold start, with a 2.51 ERA over his final 19 appearances. But he only struck out 19.7% of batters faced on the year. Even in that strong push over his final 19 starts, he only punched out 20.3% of batters faced. He wasn’t able to pitch in the playoffs due to flexor irritation and a bone issue in his throwing arm. He has said that the issue subsided shortly after the season ended.
Given Baltimore’s current rotation picture, they could surely use the 2019-2021 version of Giolito. His more recent output wouldn’t be as exciting as someone like Valdez but he would surely be cheaper. At the beginning of the offseason, MLBTR predicted Valdez to get $150MM over five years and Giolito $32MM over two years. With February just over the horizon, it becomes more likely that Valdez pivots to some kind of short-term deal with opt-outs, but he should still be more expensive that Giolito on an annual basis.
They should have a bit of powder dry. RosterResource projects the Orioles for a $148MM payroll next year. They started 2025 at $165MM, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. If they want to run a similar number this year, they should have $15-20MM to spend. If they could line up a Ryan Mountcastle trade, since he’s more or less blocked by Pete Alonso, that would free up almost $7MM more.
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Mets Sign Austin Barnes To Minor League Deal
The Mets announced that they have signed catcher Austin Barnes and right-hander Craig Kimbrel to minor league deals with invitations to major league springing training. Barnes, an ACES client, would lock in a $1.5MM base salary with another $500K in incentives if he makes the team, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The Kimbrel deal was reported last week.
Barnes, 36, has spent his entire big league career with the Dodgers thus far. Over parts of 11 seasons, he consistently graded out as a strong defender behind the plate. His offense was never his carrying tool but was generally passable for a long time. From 2015 to 2022, in 1,357 plate appearances, he hit 32 home runs and drew walks at a strong 12.1% clip. His .225/.333/.358 slash in that span led to a 93 wRC+. That indicates he was 7% below league average but that’s pretty decent for a catcher, especially a backup.
But things declined more recently, with Barnes producing a .217/.283/.272 line and 57 wRC+ from the start of the 2023 season to the present. That drop in offense came as he was getting squeezed by other players. Will Smith took over the full-time catching job in 2020. Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani were later signed to cover first base and designated hitter, respectively, leaving no ability to move Smith elsewhere. The Dodgers wanted to promote catching prospect Dalton Rushing last year and nudged Barnes off the roster. He landed a minor league deal with the Giants last June but was released in August.
The Mets have Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens set to be their catching duo at the big league level. Hayden Senger is on the 40-man but still has options, so he’s likely ticketed for a depth role at Triple-A. Barnes will likely head to Syracuse with Senger and give the Mets an experienced veteran to potentially call upon if the big league catching group is thinned out by an injury or two.
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Nationals Claim Richard Lovelady, Designate Mickey Gasper For Assignment
The Nationals announced that they have claimed left-hander Richard Lovelady off waivers from the Mets. New York designated him for assignment a week ago when they acquired Vidal Bruján. To open a spot for Lovelady today, the Nats have designated utility player Mickey Gasper for assignment.
Lovelady, 30, hasn’t found much major league success yet but has received a number of chances due to better numbers in the minors. He has 111 big league innings spread over multiple seasons and in various different jerseys. In that time, he posted a 5.35 earned run average, 21.1% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 50.9% ground ball rate.
Since he’s out of options, he bounced around the league via numerous transactions last year. He went from the Blue Jays to the Twins and then the Mets, the latter club bouncing him on and off the roster multiple times. He only made ten big league appearances around the transactions with an 8.49 ERA. But in Triple-A, he logged 38 innings with a 1.66 ERA, 26.3% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 52.6% ground ball rate.
He didn’t have a roster spot at the end of the season but the Mets quickly re-signed him in October to a split deal which would pay him $1MM in the majors and $350K in the minors. It might seem odd to sign a player and then put him on waivers a few months later but that was likely by design.
As mentioned, Lovelady is out of options, meaning he can’t be sent to the minors without first clearing waivers. If he were to clear, he would have the right to elect free agency, since he has at least three years of big league service time. But with his service time below five years, that means Lovelady would have to walk away from the money on his deal in exercising that right. The Mets likely signed him to that deal hoping that it would both disincentivize other clubs from claiming him and also motivate Lovelady to accept an assignment to Triple-A.
The Nationals have foiled that plan by swooping in with a claim. That’s understandable since their bullpen is one of the worst in the majors, if not the very worst. Washington relievers had a collective 5.59 ERA in 2025, highest in the big leagues. The Rockies were second-worst at 5.18.
Washington traded Jose A. Ferrer to the Mariners this winter, which thinned out the relief corps generally and also left them fairly light in terms of lefties. Before this claim, PJ Poulin was the only southpaw reliever on the roster, unless the Nats plan to move some of their starters to the pen. Poulin has only 28 big league games under his belt.
It’s possible the Nats try to pass Lovelady through waivers in the future and other moves could change the roster picture, but for now he has landed in a spot where he has a pretty good chance to earn an Opening Day job. If he still has a roster spot at season’s end, he can be controlled for another two seasons via arbitration.
Gasper, 30, hasn’t done much in the majors yet but has strong minor league numbers and defensive flexibility. He made his big league debut with the Red Sox in 2024 and appeared with the Twins last year, slashing .133/.250/.195 in his first 133 big league plate appearances.
He hit .285/.385/.531 in 208 Triple-A appearances last year. He was 29 years old at the time and that was his third season with at least some Triple-A action but the 137 wRC+ was nonetheless impressive. Even if that’s setting the offensive expectations too high, the defensive versatility is real. Gasper has experience behind the plate, at the three non-shortstop infield positions and left field.
The entire package makes him fairly attractive as a multi-positional bench piece, especially since he’s a switch-hitter. He also has options and doesn’t need to be guaranteed a big league roster spot. The Twins put him on waivers last week and he was claimed by the Nats, one of the clubs nearest the front of the waiver wire priority queue. Washington will now likely put him back on waivers at some point in the next five days.
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Padres To Sign Marco Gonzales To Minor League Deal
The Padres and left-hander Marco Gonzales have agreed to a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The CAA Sports client will make a salary of $1.5MM if he makes the team with an extra $1MM available via incentives.
Gonzales, 34 in February, spent many years as a solid mid-rotation starter in the majors but is coming off a few injury-marred seasons. From 2018 to 2022, he gave the Mariners 765 2/3 innings, allowing 3.94 earned runs per nine. His 17.7% strikeout rate was subpar but he also only gave out walks at a 5.8% clip.
In 2023, nerve issues in his forearm limited him to just ten starts. He required surgery in August of that year. Going into 2024, he was included in the Jarred Kelenic trade with Atlanta, seemingly as financial ballast. He was traded to Pittsburgh a few days later. Due to further forearm strains, he went on and off the injured list and only made seven starts for the Bucs that year. He underwent flexor tendon surgery that August.
The Pirates made the easy decision to turn down his $15MM club option for 2025 since he was looking at a lengthy surgery recovery. He didn’t sign anywhere else and didn’t pitch in any official capacity last year.
It’s anyone’s guess what he can provide after three straight issues more or less tanked by forearm problems. For the Padres, he’s a sensible flier to take as they certainly need pitching. Right now, their on-paper rotation is fronted by Michael King, Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove. There’s not a ton of certainty in there. King was injured for a lot of 2025. Pivetta has been in trade rumors. Musgrove missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Behind those top three, there are guys like Randy Vásquez, JP Sears, Kyle Hurt and Matt Waldron. Vásquez had a 3.84 ERA last year but that seems unsustainable since he only struck out 13.7% of batters faced. The other three all posted ERAs above 5.00 in 2025.
It’s unclear how much spending capacity the Padres have at this stage of the winter. RosterResource currently projects them for a $220MM payroll and $262MM competitive balance tax figure. At the end of 2025, those numbers were $214MM and $266MM.
If the budget is tight, that could explain why the Friars are open to moving Pivetta and his backloaded contract. He made a $3MM signing bonus and $1MM salary last year but his salary jumps to $19MM, $14MM and $18MM in the next three seasons, with an opt-out after 2026. Flipping him would save some money but further thin out the rotation.
Gonzales is hard to bank on after his injury odyssey but he would be nice value for money if he can return to something resembling his prior form. He will join Triston McKenzie as non-roster arms pushing for big league jobs with the Padres this year.
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White Sox Designate Bryan Ramos For Assignment
The White Sox announced that infielder Bryan Ramos has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move to open a roster spot for right-hander Seranthony Domínguez, whose signing is now official.
Ramos, 24 in March, was an international signing out of Cuba back in 2018. He charged up prospect lists a bit in 2022. He stepped to the plate 519 times that year between High-A and Double-A, hitting 22 home runs. He produced a combined line of .266/.338/.455 and a 114 wRC+. The Sox added him to their 40-man roster that November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. Baseball America ranked him the #3 prospect in the system going into 2023.
Things haven’t been going as well for the past few years, however. He still had decent numbers in the minors in 2023 but missed time due to injury, only getting into 81 games. Over the past two seasons, he has a minor league slash line of .228/.314/.392 and an 82 wRC+. He has also stepped to the plate 120 times in the majors with a dismal .198/.244/.333 showing.
Ramos used up his three options over the past three campaigns. Now that he’s out of options, it was going to be tougher for him to hold a roster spot going forward. He has dabbled at first base, second base and left field but has primarily been a third baseman in his career. The White Sox signed Munetaka Murakami to cover first base, which will likely leave Miguel Vargas as the regular at third. The Sox also have guys like Chase Meidroth, Luisangel Acuña, Brooks Baldwin, Curtis Mead and Lenyn Sosa as other options for the infield corners.
All of those factors have squeezed Ramos off the roster and into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Sox could take five days to explore trade interest. His out-of-options status won’t help him land with another club but perhaps some team out there is intrigued by his former prospect pedigree. If he does land somewhere, he has less than a year of service time and can therefore be controlled for six full seasons.
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White Sox Sign Seranthony Domínguez
January 29th: The Sox officially announced their two-year, $20MM deal with Domínguez today, adding that it includes a $1MM signing bonus and a mutual option for 2028. According to The Associated Press, he’ll make a $7MM salary this year and $10MM in 2027. There’s a $2MM buyout on the option, which is valued at $12MM. Infielder Bryan Ramos was designated for assignment as the corresponding move.
January 23rd: The White Sox and right-hander Seranthony Domínguez are in agreement on a two-year, $20MM deal, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Passan adds that the Epitome Sports Management is expected to be the closer for the Sox. Chicago has a full 40-man roster and will need a corresponding move to make this official.
Domínguez, 31, has mostly been an effective setup guy in his career. He debuted with the Phillies in 2018 and tossed 58 innings with a 2.95 earned run average. His 9.5% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 32% of batters faced while inducing grounders on 55.7% of balls in play.
He missed most of the next three seasons due to injury, including a Tommy John surgery in 2020. Over the past four years, he has been back on track and his production has had a somewhat similar shape to his 2018 season. He has thrown at least 50 innings in each of those four campaigns. Put together, he tossed 222 1/3 innings for the Phillies, Orioles and Blue Jays with a combined ERA of 3.60, a 27% strikeout rate, 10.7% walk rate and 41.9% ground ball rate. He racked up 24 saves and 55 holds.
In 2025, he changed up his arsenal. He still featured a four-seamer and sinker in the upper 90s with a sweeper as one of his breaking balls, but he switched out his changeup and slider for a splitter and a curveball. That led to a career-high walk rate of 13.8% but his 30.3% strikeout rate was his best in a full season since his rookie debut. He became one of the top setup guys in Toronto’s bullpen, making 12 postseason appearances as part of that club’s run to the World Series. He had a 3.18 ERA in those, though with more walks than strikeouts.
It’s a bit of a volatile profile but the stuff is tantalizing and his results have mostly been good. Coming into the winter, there was a clear top tier of free agent closers which included Edwin Díaz, Devin Williams and Robert Suarez. Domínguez was in the next tier of solid setup guys, including Tyler Rogers, Luke Weaver, Brad Keller and others. MLBTR predicted Domínguez for a two-year deal worth $18MM and he has come in just a hair above that.
Domínguez was connected to clubs like the Red Sox and Twins in reported rumors but presumably had interest from other clubs as well. The White Sox are an interesting landing spot for him. The club is clearly in rebuild mode, having just finished their third straight 100-loss season. However, a few of their prospects had nice breakout seasons in 2025, including Colson Montgomery and Kyle Teel.
The Sox have responded with a somewhat active offseason. They bolstered their rotation by giving Anthony Kay $12MM over two years and Sean Newcomb $4.5MM on a one-year deal. Munetaka Murakami seemingly fell into their laps when no one else wanted to give him a long-term deal, so they signed him for $34MM over two years.
They did subtract Luis Robert Jr. this week, trading him to the Mets for Luisangel Acuña and pitching prospect Truman Pauley, but general manager Chris Getz said that the money saved from that deal would be reinvested in the team. Robert was set to make a $20MM salary this year, with a $2MM buyout on his $20MM option for 2027. Assuming the Domínguez deal is equally spread out across the two seasons, then he’ll be taking half of the money that was slated for Robert’s salary in 2026.
No one is likely to pick the White Sox to win the Central this year but the club is at least trying to make the roster more respectable, which is commendable. Perhaps there’s a scenario where things go especially well and they hover in the race for a few months. If not, all of their pickups have been for one or two years, keeping the long-term payroll wide open for whenever they do return to contention. Of the signees, anyone who plays well could be on the trade block this summer if the Sox are behind the pack.
For Domínguez, it’s possible he may have preferred a more surefire contender but landing in Chicago gives him a chance to close. As mentioned earlier, he has picked up a few saves in his career but has mostly been a setup guy. If he fares well in the ninth-inning job, perhaps that will help him land with a contender via trade and it could help his earning power when he returns to the open market two years from now.
He immediately becomes easily the most experienced arm in the bullpen. Newcomb, who will have a chance to earn a rotation job, is the only other pitcher on the roster with even three years of big league service time.
Last year, eight different pitchers recorded a save for the Sox. Jordan Leasure led the pack with seven, followed by Grant Taylor with six. Those two both have live arms but are still pretty inexperienced. They can work setup roles with Domínguez in the ninth. If the younger guys take a step forward or Domínguez ends up traded, then the roles could change over the course of a long season. It’s also possible the Sox make another move if Getz still has some powder dry.
With Domínguez now off the board, the relief market gets a bit more barren. Díaz, Suarez, Williams, Rogers, Weaver, Keller, Ryan Helsley, Emilio Pagán, Kyle Finnegan, Raisel Iglesias, Phil Maton, Pete Fairbanks, Kenley Jansen, Gregory Soto and others have all come off the board. The group of guys still available includes Danny Coulombe, Justin Wilson, Andrew Chafin, Evan Phillips, Scott Barlow and more.
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MLBTR Podcast: Examining MLB’s Parity Situation – Also, Bellinger, Peralta, Robert, And Gore
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- Tim’s recent post looking at MLB’s economics and issues of parity (1:20)
- The possibility of a salary cap coming into existence at some point in the future (5:25)
- Comparing the salary cap path to alterations to the current revenue sharing system (8:40)
- The public relations battle with fans knowing all about players and their salaries but not necessarily knowing so much about the owners and their finances (17:35)
- Is there any hope of the owners working out some new revenue sharing arrangement? (20:45)
- Are deferrals a massive problem or is the Shohei Ohtani deal just an extreme outlier that had led to increased angst? (26:50)
- What kind of compromise are we likely to get in the next collective bargaining agreement? (32:45)
- The Yankees re-signing Cody Bellinger (37:35)
- The Mets acquiring Freddy Peralta from the Brewers and Luis Robert Jr. from the White Sox (47:20)
- The Brewers‘ end of the Peralta trade (53:20)
- The White Sox‘ end of the Robert deal (56:15)
- The Rangers sending five prospects to the Nationals to acquire MacKenzie Gore (1:02:00)
Check out our past episodes!
- What The Tucker And Bichette Contracts Mean For Baseball – Also, Nolan Arenado And Ranger Suarez – listen here
- The Cubs Land Cabrera And Bregman, Remaining Free Agents, And Skubal’s Arbitration Filing – listen here
- Contracts For Imai And Okamoto, And Thoughts On The Pirates And Giants – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
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