Cubs, Chas McCormick Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cubs are signing free agent outfielder Chas McCormick to a minor league contract and inviting him to major league camp this spring, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. The Covenant Sports client was outrighted by the Astros following the 2025 season and became a free agent.
McCormick, 31, had a few good years with the Astros but is coming off a couple of poor seasons. He got into 342 games for Houston from 2021 to 2023, stepping to the plate 1,184 times. His 27.6% strikeout rate in that time was high but his 9.4% walk rate was good and he popped 50 home runs. That led to a combined .259/.336/.449 slash line and 120 wRC+.
His 2023 season was particularly good. He hit 22 home runs and stole 19 bases. He slashed .273/.353/.489 for a 132 wRC+. He got strong grades at all three outfield spots, spending most of his time in center. FanGraphs credited him with 3.3 wins above replacement for the year.
He’s been in quite a trough since then, unfortunately. Dating back to the start of 2024, he has a dismal .211/.273/.301 line. He hit just six home runs in his 386 plate appearances and also only drew walks at a 6.8% clip. As mentioned, he was passed through waivers and elected free agency at the end of the 2025 season.
For the Cubs, there’s no harm in bringing him aboard in a non-roster capacity for some extra outfield depth. They have let Kyle Tucker depart in free agency, which has opened the door for Seiya Suzuki to move from the designated hitter spot to right field. He’ll be next to center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and left fielder Ian Happ.
They will need a fourth outfielder and have some candidates. Kevin Alcántara and Justin Dean are currently on the 40-man roster. Matt Shaw also might get some outfield playing time in a utility capacity, now that Alex Bregman has been signed to play third base.
McCormick gives the club another name to throw into the mix there. His righty bat could give him a leg up in the competition for a bench spot. He has a career .280/.353/.493 line and 137 wRC+ against lefties. Crow-Armstrong had a breakout season last year but put up a rough .188/.217/.376 line against southpaws.
Alcántara is also right-handed but the Cubs might prefer to have him getting regular playing time in the minors. He has used three options but may qualify for a fourth, so perhaps the Cubs will be able to send him down. Dean also swings from the right side but doesn’t have McCormick’s track record of major league success. He also has options and could be sent down alongside Alcantara.
McCormick would also have options if added to the roster, though with a catch. His service time count is at four years and 161 days. With 11 more days in the majors, he would get to five years and earn the right to not be optioned without his consent.
Ultimately, McCormick will still have to earn a job, but he’s a nice fit for Chicago’s current group. If things go well and he has a roster spot at season’s end, he can be retained for 2027 via arbitration.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images
Marlins Acquire Prospect Carlos Martinez From Giants
The Marlins have acquired minor league catcher Carlos Martinez from the Giants, according to announcements from both clubs. The Giants receive international bonus pool space in return. The amount of pool space changing hands wasn’t specified. No corresponding move is necessary since Martinez wasn’t on the 40-man roster.
Under the international bonus pool system, each team has a finite amount they can spend on international amateurs each year. Broadly speaking, the bigger-market teams get smaller pools and vice versa, in the name of competitive balance. Teams are allowed to trade pool space in increments of $250K but no team can increase its initial pool size by more than 60%.
Per Ben Badler of Baseball America, Miami started with a relatively larger pool of about $7.3571MM. The Giants began with the smallest pool of $5.44MM, tied with three other clubs. That was because they paid the competitive balance tax in 2024 and then signed Willy Adames, who had rejected a qualifying offer from the Brewers, ahead of the 2025 season.
The Giants gave out the biggest bonus for any individual player in this class when they signed Venezuelan shortstop Luis Hernandez for $5MM, using up the vast majority of their pool. This deal gives them a bit more wiggle room for other signings, though it’s unclear exactly how much. Conversely, the Marlins don’t appear to have given any one player more than $1MM, at least with the deals Badler has tracked at BA.
The amount traded isn’t likely to be huge, as Martinez isn’t a top prospect. The 18-year-old was just signed by the Giants as part of last year’s international class and was given a modest bonus of $47.5K. He slashed .143/.259/.242 in 27 games in the Dominican Summer League last year.
It’s the second year in a row that these two clubs have lined up on a swap of this nature. Last year’s deal featured a player much closer to the majors, as the Giants sent right-hander William Kempner to Miami for pool space. Kempner was going into his age-24 season and pitched well enough in the minors last year to get a spot on Miami’s 40-man roster in November.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Friedman: Dodgers Roster “Feels Pretty Set”
The Dodgers held a press conference yesterday to officially introduce recent signee Kyle Tucker. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman spoke to the media and downplayed the possibility of anything else really notable happening in the remainder of the offseason. As relayed by reporters such as Jack Harris of The California Post and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, he said the roster “feels pretty set” and that no further “seismic” moves are forthcoming. When asked if they are in the market for starting pitching, he said “We are not.”
It’s always possible that Friedman could be withholding information for the purposes of negotiating with other clubs or free agent players, as front office executives are known to play loose with the truth from time to time. For a Dodgers-specific example, about a year ago, general manager Brandon Gomes downplayed the possibility of a Gavin Lux trade after the club signed Hyeseong Kim. Lux was traded to the Reds three days later.
But it also wouldn’t be a shock if the Dodgers were indeed done with major moves at this point. The roster was already really good, as they just won the World Series. Most of that roster is still intact, as none of the core guys reached free agency at season’s end. They have already made two major upgrades by adding Edwin Díaz to the bullpen and Tucker to the outfield. They have few weak points, if they have any at all.
Looking at the rotation specifically, there’s plenty of talent on paper. They have Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki and Emmet Sheehan as the likely top six names on the chart at the moment.
The argument for adding would be related to the uncertainty in that group. Yamamoto was the only one of those six to eclipse 91 innings pitched in the regular season last year. Ohtani didn’t pitch in 2024 while recovering from UCL surgery, then he underwent surgery on his non-throwing shoulder at the end of that season. Sheehan underwent Tommy John surgery in 2024. Both returned to the mound in June of 2025. Snell, Glasnow and Sasaki have notable injury histories and missed time due to shoulder troubles last year.
Given the question marks in there, it could be compelling to add. The Dodgers were connected to Freddy Peralta earlier this month and were reportedly still engaged as of two days ago. He’s no longer an option for the Dodgers, however, as the Brewers traded him to the Mets last night. For the record, Friedman’s comments were made before that trade went down. Even with Peralta off the board, free agency still has Framber Valdez, Zac Gallen and others. MacKenzie Gore is one of a few theoretical trade candidates potentially still available.
Hoping for all their projected starters to stay healthy would be a risky move for the Dodgers but their depth should be better than last year. River Ryan and Kyle Hurt both underwent Tommy John surgery 2024, Ryan in August and Hurt in July. Gavin Stone missed 2025 due to shoulder surgery. Those three should be better positioned health wise going into 2026. They all have options and could be in the Triple-A rotation alongside guys like Justin Wrobleski and Landon Knack.
If Friedman is being genuine and plans to hold with the incumbent group of starters, that would be defensible since the group has the chance to be healthier than in 2025. So many of these guys were recovering from surgery for at least part of the 2025 season but those procedures are all now a bit further in the rear-view. On the other hand, new injuries are inevitable, so adding some depth via minor moves could be in order.
Photo courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images
MLBTR Podcast: What The Tucker And Bichette Contracts Mean For Baseball – Also, Nolan Arenado And Ranger Suarez
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The overlapping stories at the top of the market and what they might mean: The Dodgers agreed to a deal with Kyle Tucker. The Mets gave Tucker a similar offer but then pivoted to signing Bo Bichette. Tucker had a long-term offer from the Blue Jays and Bichette from the Phillies but both went for the short-term deals. Is this some kind of paradigm shift or just unique circumstances? (1:50)
- Could we ever predict this type of pivot in our Top 50 post in future years? (17:25)
- How these deals impact parity, the upcoming expected lockout, collective bargaining agreement, etc. (34:35)
- Bichette’s fit in the Mets’ position player mix (recorded prior to the Luis Robert Jr. trade) (1:04:25)
- The Cardinals trading Nolan Arenado to the Diamondbacks (1:15:25)
- The Red Sox signing Ranger Suárez (1:26:55)
Check out our past episodes!
- 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
- Three-Way Trade, Murakami’s Short-Term Deal, And Willson Contreras To Boston – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of David Banks, Imagn Images
Tigers To Sign Phil Bickford To Minor League Deal
The Tigers and right-hander Phil Bickford have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Evan Woodbery of MLive Media Group. The Klutch Sports client will presumably be in big league camp in spring training.
Bickford, 30, is coming off a couple of years in the wilderness but had some decent major league results prior to that. From 2021 to 2023, he tossed 179 2/3 innings in the big leagues, allowing 4.26 earned runs per nine. His 9.5% walk rate was a bit on the high side but he struck out 26.6% of batters faced.
He finished the 2023 season on the Mets’ roster and qualified for arbitration as a Super Two player. He and the Mets couldn’t agree on a salary and went to a hearing with a tiny separation. Bickford filed at $900K and the team at $815K.
Bickford’s side won the hearing but it may have cost him his roster spot. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, arbitration salaries are not guaranteed if they are the result of a hearing. A little more than a month after Bickford’s win, he was designated for assignment and released. The Mets had to pay him about $217K in termination pay.
He then signed a minor league deal with the Yankees. He had some brief looks on that club’s roster, which is his only major league action of the past two years. He allowed eight earned runs in 8 1/3 innings. He spent 2025 with the Cubs and Phillies on minor league deals.
Even though he hasn’t seen a lot of major league action over the past couple of campaigns, his work on the farm has been strong. He has thrown 96 1/3 Triple-A innings since the start of 2024 with a 3.46 ERA, 29.3% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate.
For the Tigers, there’s no risk in bringing Bickford aboard via a non-roster pact. They can get a close-up look at him and see if there’s room for him on the roster at some point. Their current bullpen has a decent amount of fluidity. Kenley Jansen and Kyle Finnegan are the only two guys in the mix who can’t be optioned to the minors. If Bickford eventually gets a roster spot, he is out of options but can also be retained for future seasons via arbitration.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Sousa, Imagn Images
Mets Designate Tsung-Che Cheng For Assignment
The Mets announced today that infielder Tsung-Che Cheng has been designated for assignment. That is the corresponding move to open a 40-man spot for right-hander Luis García, whose signing is now official.
Cheng, 24, has never played for the Mets. He has only ever played in the Pirates’ system but he has been making the transactional rounds this offseason. Pittsburgh designated him for assignment in December. He went to the Rays and then the Mets via waivers.
His major league track record is quite limited so far. He made seven plate appearances with the Pirates last year. He struck out three times and was only able to reach base once, which was due to an error.
The minor league work offers more encouragement and an explanation as to why so many teams have shown interest this offseason. He has extensive experience at the two middle infield positions and has played a decent amount of third base as well, with strong reviews for his glovework on the whole.
His offense has been less consistent. In 2023, splitting his time between High-A and Double-A, he had a 9.7% walk rate, 18.7% strikeout rate, .278/.352/.456 line and 116 wRC+. But over the past two seasons, he has a combined .217/.319/.312 line and a wRC+ of 81.
Cheng is still fairly young and has an option remaining. His ability to cover shortstop makes him an intriguing depth piece, even if his offense stays a bit light. Any kind of step forward with the bat is a potential bonus.
It might seem odd for a team to claim a player and then quickly cut him but this kind of sequence is becoming more common. The team is usually hoping the player clears waivers the next time, so that he can be kept without using a roster spot. The Mets themselves already did this once this winter, claiming Ji Hwan Bae and later outrighting him to the minors. Cheng doesn’t have a previous career outright nor does he have three years of service time, so he wouldn’t have the right to elect free agency if he were outrighted.
With Cheng, they will have a week of DFA limbo to work with. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so they could hold him for five days and field trade interest. They could also put him on the wire sooner than that if they so choose.
Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images
Cardinals Hire Yadier Molina As Special Assistant
The Cardinals announced today that franchise legend Yadier Molina has been hired as special assistant to president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom. His duties will be focused on catching and game planning strategy.
“We are happy to welcome Yadi back to the Cardinals organization,” said Bloom in a statement, as relayed by John Denton of MLB.com. “He is an elite competitor, a consistent winner, and one of the greatest ever at his position, and we look forward to many contributions during his visits with us in this new role, both in and out of uniform. Yadi will provide input on our catching program, will advise our staff on catching and game planning strategy, and will give me and our front office valuable perspective from his unique vantage point. Perhaps most important, he will help us nurture in our players the high standards, attention to detail, and championship mindset that are so critical to winning.”
Fans in the St. Louis area are well familiar with Molina and his many accolades. He played for the Cardinals for nearly 20 years, beginning in 2004 and sticking around through 2022. His offense was up-and-down over his career but great at his peak. Even when his bat was on the lighter side, he provided value with his defense and intangible abilities as a team leader. Along the way, he made ten All-Star teams, won nine Gold Gloves and helped the Cards win titles in 2006 and 2011.
Due to those leadership qualities, he has long been seen as a future coach or manager, and he has expressed a desire to pursue those jobs. He has gained some managerial experience in a few Latin American leagues. He also managed the Puerto Rican team in the 2023 World Baseball Classic and is slated to do the same for this year’s version.
He and the Cards have previously broached the subject of him returning to the organization for a dugout role with them. Per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, family commitments have been an obstacle to him taking on a full-time gig so far. Perhaps that will come to fruition in the future. For now, Molina will help the club in this role.
The Cards are in a rebuilding phase where they will be focusing on developing young players. That includes a cluster of catchers including Iván Herrera, Pedro Pagés, Yohel Pozo, Leonardo Bernal, Jimmy Crooks, Rainiel Rodriguez and others. Molina will presumably be working closely with those guys as they try to absorb some of what made him such a great backstop during his career. If he does eventually commit to a coaching job in the future, the building of relationships with those catchers will have a head-start.
Photo courtesy of Jake Roth, Imagn Images
Red Sox Sign Ranger Suárez
The Red Sox officially announced the signing of left-hander Ranger Suárez to a five-year deal Wednesday. He’ll reportedly be guaranteed $130MM in total, and the contract contains a mutual option for the 2031 campaign. It’s a fairly straightforward deal that contains no deferrals, opt-outs or no-trade protection. Boston opened a 40-man spot for the veteran lefty this morning when trading infielder Tristan Gray to the Twins. Suárez is represented by the Boras Corporation.
Suárez’s contract is reportedly backloaded in significant fashion, paying him just a $3MM signing bonus and $7MM salary in 2026. He’ll earn $15MM in 2027 before his salary doubles to $30MM in each of the next two years (2028-29). Suárez will be paid $35MM in 2030 and is also guaranteed a $10MM buyout on that mutual option, which is valued at $35MM. Mutual options are never exercised by both parties, so the inclusion of one in this deal is little more than a mechanism to further backload the contract.
The Sox came into the offseason with a rotation headlined by Garrett Crochet, followed by a notable gap to their other starters. They had a lot of options for back-end types and depth but were looking to bolster the front end.
“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,” was how chief baseball officer Craig Breslow framed the situation in November. “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.”
Since then, Breslow has made a couple of moves to alter that rotation group. He acquired Sonny Gray from the Cardinals and Johan Oviedo from the Pirates. They subtracted a bit from the depth by including Richard Fitts in the Gray deal and Hunter Dobbins in a separate Cardinals trade that netted first baseman Willson Contreras.
Gray is arguably the kind of No. 2 starter the club was looking for. His 4.28 earned run average in 2025 has some Boston fans disputing that assessment but he has a 3.63 ERA, 27% strikeout rate, 6.1% walk rate and 44.6% ground ball rate in 531 innings dating back to the start of 2023. FanGraphs ranks him fifth in wins above replacement among pitchers in that time, behind only Tarik Skubal, Zack Wheeler, Logan Webb and Cristopher Sánchez.
Since the Gray deal, Boston has seemingly been more focused on upgrading its lineup and position player mix, targeting infielders like Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette, Ketel Marte, Brendan Donovan and Isaac Paredes. Clearly, Boston hit a wall in those efforts. Bregman signed with the Cubs, and Bichette landed with the Mets. The D-backs have reportedly taken Marte off the market. Paredes and Donovan could still be available, though Houston has shown minimal interest in dealing the former. Having come up empty (so far) in that pursuit of a marquee infielder, the Red Sox pivoted to further augment an already strong rotation.
Suárez’s contract is notable on a few fronts. For one, Breslow has generally avoided long-term free agent deals since becoming Boston’s chief baseball officer. Coming into today, his longest deal for a free agent was to give Bregman three years, which turned into a one-year relationship when Bregman opted out. The Sox came into today as the only one of the 30 major league clubs to not have signed a free agent this winter. This deal will be a new benchmark for Breslow in terms of years and guarantee given to a free agent, as well as erasing Boston’s status as the only team not to spend money on free agency this offseason.
It’s also a notable deal for Suárez in a few different ways. For one thing, he was a fairly low-profile international signing of the Phillies at the start of his professional career, securing a bonus of just $25K. As he has become a major leaguer, he has pushed his salary up in arbitration with his strong results but his lack of volume has limited him. He just made $8.8MM in his final year of arbitration, relatively modest by modern standards, but will now be securing a much bigger payday than ever before.
Speaking of his strong results but limited overall workload, that impacted the view of his market coming into this winter. Broadly speaking, Suárez has been really good on a rate basis, but he doesn’t throw especially hard and has dealt with some nagging injuries, impacting the overall quantity of his contributions.
He first became a full-time starter for the Phillies in 2022 and held a rotation job for four years. Over that span, he logged 588 1/3 innings with a 3.59 ERA. His 21.9% strikeout rate was around league average. His 7.5% walk rate was solid and his 50.8% ground ball rate quite good. He also earned a reputation as a cold-blooded playoff contributor, giving the Phils 42 2/3 postseason innings with a 1.48 ERA.
However, Suárez’s velocity has never been huge and has been trending down. His four-seam fastball averaged a bit over 93 miles per hour in 2022 and 2023. That dropped to 91.8 mph in 2024 and 91.3 mph last year. His primary pitch, his sinker, averaged just 90.1 mph in 2025.
Suárez also still hasn’t really pitched a full big league season. He hasn’t had any major injury concerns but has had scattered issues over the years, with lower back problems being a recurring thorn. Thanks to those sporadic health problems, he’s never hit the 30-start mark or the 160-inning plateau in any season as a big leaguer.
Given his clear skills but also his question marks, MLBTR predicted Suárez for a five-year, $115MM deal at the beginning of the offseason, $23MM in terms of average annual value. The top of the free agent starting pitching market has been slow to move this winter. Dylan Cease and the Blue Jays quickly found each other but it’s been a bit tepid otherwise.
Prior to this, no other starter apart from Cease signed a deal longer than than three years or for more than $75MM. Tatsuya Imai settled for three years and $54MM, significantly below the expectations from the outset of the offseason. As Suárez and Framber Valdez lingered unsigned into the new year, it was fair to wonder if they would meet the initial expectations. Suárez has not only met MLBTR’s prediction but surpassed it by a margin of $3MM per season.
Despite some concerns with Suárez, the move gives Boston one of the best rotations in baseball, if not the very best. Crochet is the clear ace. Suárez and Gray will have two spots behind him, followed by Brayan Bello. Oviedo seems to be in a decent position to land the No. 5 spot, but he would also have competition from injury returnees like Patrick Sandoval and Kutter Crawford. It’s possible Tanner Houck jumps into the mix late in the year, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in August.
Prospects Connelly Early and Payton Tolle made big league debuts late in 2025 and could push for jobs as well. Kyle Harrison, David Sandlin, Shane Drohan and Tyler Uberstine are also on the 40-man roster. Those latter six names all have minor league options and either have limited big league experience or none at all, so they could all be sent to the minors as depth. Crawford has a decent amount of big league experience but is still optionable, so it’s possible for him to be squeezed to Worcester as well.
It’s also fair to wonder if this Suárez deal sets the Red Sox up to trade some starting pitching for the infield upgrade they didn’t get when Bregman slipped through their fingers and Bichette signed with the Mets. They have been connected to Donovan many times and have already lined up a few trades with Chaim Bloom, Boston’s former chief baseball officer who is now president of baseball operations with the Cardinals.
Donovan isn’t the only option out there. The Sox were also connected to Marte as strongly as any club in baseball. While the Diamondbacks have reportedly taken him off the market, Breslow could always try to force the issue with an offer headlined by Tolle or Early (in addition to other young pieces). Nico Hoerner‘s name has also come up in some trade rumors after the Cubs signing Bregman. Jake Cronenworth of the Padres has been in a few rumors.
All those players would have varying level of trade value due to their different salaries and years of control, but the same is also true of Boston’s pitchers. Early and Tolle are big prospects and would only be given up for a big return. Sandoval has one year left on his contract and has been injured for most of the past two years, so his trade value is marginal, at best. Bello has even been in some rumors and he would be somewhere in between, as he is owed $50.5MM over the next four years and has been more good than great.
Since it feels likely that at least one more significant move is coming, the club’s financial picture is probably still in flux. For now, RosterResource pegs the club’s payroll at $197.5MM with a competitive balance tax calculation just under $266MM.
The Sox avoided the tax in 2023 and 2024. They went narrowly over the line in 2025, paying a tax bill of just $1.5MM. That will make them second-time payors in 2026, giving them a base tax rate of 30% for going over the first threshold of $244MM. The second threshold is $264MM and the Sox would pay a 42% on further spending above that line. If they go beyond $284MM, the tax rate would jump to 75% for spending above that line and their top pick in the 2027 draft would be dropped by ten spots.
Speaking of the draft, the Sox are going to be impacted by this Suárez signing in 2026. Suárez rejected a qualifying offer from the Phillies, meaning the Sox are subject to the associated penalties for signing him. Since the Sox paid the tax last year, they have to forfeit their second- and fifth-highest draft picks this summer, in addition to losing $1MM in international bonus pool space. The Phillies will receive a compensation pick after the fourth round of the upcoming draft.
Prior to this deal with the Red Sox, Suárez was connected to the Orioles, Astros and Mets, though other clubs presumably had interest even if they weren’t connected to him in public reports. For the teams who missed out on Suárez, there are still some options they can turn to, despite the relatively late stage of the offseason.
Valdez and Zac Gallen are the top two free agents, with Chris Bassitt, Justin Verlander, Lucas Giolito and others still unsigned. The trade market still has some potential options, including MacKenzie Gore and Freddy Peralta. Valdez has to be pleased with Suárez getting a deal beyond expectations even at this part of the calendar. They are fairly similar pitchers as groundballers. Valdez is a bit older but throws harder and has the more impressive track record overall.
Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that the Sox would be signing Suárez. Bob Nightengale of USA Today first reported the length and guarantee, as well as the lack of deferrals and opt-outs. Chris Cotillo of MassLive first reported the lack of a no-trade clause, the inclusion of a mutual option, and the annual breakdown of the contract. Photos courtesy of Bill Streicher, Brad Penner, Imagn Images
Rangers Re-Sign Josh Sborz To Minor League Deal
The Rangers announced today that they have signed right-hander Josh Sborz to a minor league deal. The McNamara Baseball Group client also receives an invite to big league camp in spring training.
Sborz, 32, returns to the team he has spent the past five years with. The highlight of that tenure was 2023. Sborz had an unimpressive 5.50 earned run average that season but the underlying marks were better. His 7.9% walk rate was a bit better than average and his 30.7% strikeout rate was very strong. A small 56% strand rate seemed to push some extra runs across, which is why his 3.75 FIP and 3.05 SIERA were much more optimistic.
Things corrected in a big way in the postseason. Sborz gave the Rangers 12 innings over 10 appearances, only allowing one earned run while striking out 13, making him one of most impactful players in the club’s championship.
Things have been a bit more rocky since then, however. Rotator cuff/shoulder issues hampered him throughout 2024 and he only pitched 16 1/3 innings that season. He underwent a debridement surgery in November of that year, a procedure that was expected to sideline him for the first two or three months of the 2025 campaign. His rehab from that surgery didn’t progress as quickly as hoped and he ended up missing the entire season.
The Rangers could have retained Sborz for 2026 via arbitration. Players usually see their salary hold steady when they miss an entire season. As such, MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Sborz for the same $1.1MM figure he made in 2025. Texas decided not to tender him a contract, sending him to free agency instead.
For the club, there’s no harm in bringing Sborz back via a non-roster pact. They can bring him into camp and see if he can get some of his velocity back. That was an issue for him last year but he’s now further removed from the surgery.
This is the second straight offseason wherein the Rangers have tried to build a competitive bullpen while working around budgetary issues. Last year, they gave one-year deals worth $5.5MM or less to Chris Martin, Hoby Milner, Luke Jackson, Jacob Webb and Shawn Armstrong. Most of those pitchers performed fairly well but they also became free agents, putting the Rangers back in a similar spot this winter.
So far, they have reunited with Martin and also signed Jakob Junis, Alexis Díaz and Tyler Alexander. All of those deals have been worth $4MM or less. Those guys will be in the bullpen alongside incumbents like Robert Garcia and Cole Winn, with Rule 5 pick Carter Baumler in the mix. Sborz will try to force his way into the picture and back onto the Texas roster.
Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images
Rich Hill Not Planning To Play In 2026
Left-hander Rich Hill doesn’t want to use the word but it seems to be leaning towards retirement. Appearing on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast, Hill was asked by host Rob Bradford if he was retiring and said “I don’t have any plans on playing next year.” The situation is somewhat analogous to that of Joe Kelly, who announced on the same podcast last month that he didn’t want to use the word “retire” but wasn’t planning on playing anymore.
“I’m looking for open possibilities to stay in the game of baseball and be a contributory factor,” Hill continued. “I enjoy the work aspect of whatever it might be that’s next. I think that’s one thing that… why athletes get hired in other positions and other… outside of sports is because they are highly-driven people that want to succeed. And that’s something that I’m looking forward to.”
It’s not shocking that Hill is slowly wafting into the next stage of his career. Though he did pitch in the 2025 season, he was easily the oldest player in the league. He was 45 years old when he suited up for the Royals and will turn 46 in March. Though he has continued pitching to an age when most other players have called it quits long ago, he did so with some unconventional approaches. He waited until midseason to sign in 2024 in a deliberate attempt to be more fresh for a stretch run.
If this is indeed the end, it will wrap up one of the more unique arcs of a player in recent history. Hill was drafted by the Cubs way back in 2002 and made his major league debut in 2005. He didn’t find immediate success but had a really good season in 2007, posting a 3.92 earned run average over 32 starts.
But from there, he went into a really challenging period of his career. He struggled with results and health for many years, leading him to be bounced between the majors and minors and between various different organizations. From 2008 to 2014, he tossed a total of 153 innings split between the Cubs, Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, the Angels and Yankees. He posted a 5.41 ERA over that stretch.
2015 would turn out to be an incredible comeback season. He started the year on a minor league deal with the Nationals. He opted out of that contract in June and signed with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. He made just two starts for that club but struck out 21 opponents in 11 innings. That was enough to get him back into affiliated baseball via a minor league deal with the Red Sox.
Boston called him up in September and he made four starts as the season was winding down. In those, he logged 29 innings with a 1.55 ERA. He had a mammoth 34% strikeout rate, a tiny 4.7% walk rate and a strong 48.4% ground ball rate. That was a tiny sample size but the Athletics made a bet on it, signing Hill to a one-year, $6MM deal for 2016. That wager paid off handsomely, with Hill giving the A’s 14 starts with a 2.25 ERA.
At that year’s deadline, he was traded to the Dodgers alongside Josh Reddick, with the A’s getting Frankie Montas, Grant Holmes, and Jharel Cotton in return. Hill gave the Dodgers six starts with an ERA of 1.83 and then three postseason starts with a 3.46 ERA.
The Dodgers were happy enough with that showing to bring Hill back via a three-year, $48MM contract. That was a pretty staggering deal for a 37-year-old who was not too far removed from being in indy ball but it worked out well. He logged 327 innings over those three seasons with a 3.30 ERA, plus 37 postseason innings with a 2.43 ERA.
After that deal ran its course, Hill went into his 40s and mercenary mode. He signed a series of one-year deal with the Twins, Rays, Red Sox and Pirates. In 2023, he seemed to wear down as the season went along, not surprising for a 43-year-old. His 4.76 ERA with Pittsburgh was still respectable but he collapsed after a deadline deal to the Padres, posting an 8.23 ERA after the swap.
As mentioned, he then tried to think outside the box to continue as an effective big league pitcher. He planned to intentionally sign at midseason in 2024 in order to spend more time with his family and also save his bullets for the second half and postseason. He stayed unsigned until inking a minor league deal with the Red Sox in August. He did get called up but only for four relief appearances before being released. In 2025, he signed a minor league deal with the Royals in May. He got called up in July but was designated for assignment after just two starts.
Given the unusual shape of his career and his willingness to buck conventions, it’s possible he’ll change his mind and find his way back to the mound. But if Hill doesn’t make it back to the majors, he will finish with 1,418 innings tossed over 388 games for 14 different clubs. In that time, he posted a 4.02 ERA but will likely be best remembered for the 2015-2021 run which saw him post a 3.15 ERA in his late 30s and early 40s. Baseball Reference pegs his career earnings over $75MM, most of that coming to Hill in his late-career surge. We at MLB Trade Rumors salute him on a fine career, which may or may not be done, and wish him the best on whatever is next.
Photo courtesy of Peter Aiken, Imagn Images