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Latest On Reds’ Payroll

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The Reds roster appears to be in a holding pattern due to off-field reasons. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic report that the club has interest in players like infielder Eugenio Suárez and outfielder Austin Hays but the club is waiting for more clarity on their broadcast situation before proceeding.

Cincinnati was one of nine teams who terminated a contract with Main Street Sports earlier this month. The company has been flailing for years and was in bankruptcy for most of 2023 and 2024, back when it was known as Diamond Sports Group. The company previously ran broadcasts under the Bally Sports moniker. After emerging from bankruptcy, they changed the company name and also signed a new naming rights deal, so the channel has had the FanDuel Sports Network label more recently.

Though the company did emerge from bankruptcy, they haven’t escaped trouble. They recently missed payments to a few clubs, which is what prompted the terminations. The regional sports network (RSN) model has been eroding for years due to cord cutting and streaming.

This puts some clubs in an awkward spot. The RSN model has been a good source of revenue in the past but it has been declining. Some teams have pivoted to having MLB running their broadcasts. This allows them to offer customers a direct-to-customer streaming option with no blackouts, increasing viewership. However, that model generally leads to revenues which are not only lesser but also not guaranteed, as they are contingent on how many people sign up.

Going back to Diamond/Main Street is another option but that usually involves the club taking in less money from rights fees than before. Going into 2025, the Reds looked around for different options but ended up working out a new deal with the company in mid-January.

At the start of the current offseason, president of baseball operations Nick Krall said that the Reds would likely have a similar payroll in 2026 to what they had in 2025, though that was before the Main Street situation cropped up.

Their winter has been fairly quiet, all things considered. They re-signed Emilio Pagán to a two-year, $20MM deal, a small raise over the two-year, $16MM deal which had just expired. They also gave one-year deals worth less than $7MM each to Pierce Johnson, Caleb Ferguson, JJ Bleday and Keegan Thompson, though Thompson was lost to the Rockies via waivers.

The Bleday signing perhaps made Gavin Lux expendable, as the Reds including him in a three-team trade a few weeks later to get lefty Brock Burke. That deal saved Cincinnati a few million, as Lux is going to make $5.525MM this year compared to Burke’s $2.325MM.

RosterResource currently projects the club for a payroll of $112MM. Cot’s Baseball Contracts put them at that same number at the start of 2025. It appears nudging this year’s number up a bit won’t happen without more clarity on the TV situation. Trading Brady Singer would free up some space, as he will make $12.75MM this year, but he has stayed on the roster despite trade rumors this winter.

Suárez would appear to be the less likely of the two potential pursuits. He is coming off a 49-homer campaign and MLBTR predicted him for a three-year, $63MM contract at the beginning of the offseason. Since he has lingered unsigned this long, perhaps it’s more like he ends up with a two-year deal, but it would still be with a decent average annual value.

The Reds have Ke’Bryan Hayes at third base but Suárez is not a great defender and is 34 years old, so he could be slotted into the first base and designated hitter mix, where the Reds have Sal Stewart and Spencer Steer. Stewart had a nice debut in 2025 but only has 58 big league plate appearances under his belt. Steer is coming off a couple of average seasons with the bat and could move into the outfield mix.

Hays should be more viable. The Reds signed him last year with a $5MM guarantee on a one-year deal. He had a solid season but his earning power shouldn’t be too much higher than it was then. He made for a nice complement to their outfield with his righty bat, pairing with lefties TJ Friedl and Lux. He could serve a similar role in 2026, but with Bleday swapped in for Lux.

That would be contingent on him staying unsigned while the Reds sort out their broadcast situation. Hays has also received reported interest from the Royals, Yankees, Mets and Cardinals this winter, though most of those clubs have made other outfield moves since those reports came out.

Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images

Yankees Claim Michael Siani, Designate Kaleb Ort For Assignment

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The Yankees announced that they have claimed outfielder Michael Siani off waivers from the Dodgers. Los Angeles designated him for assignment earlier this week to open a roster spot for Kyle Tucker. New York designated right-hander Kaleb Ort for assignment as the corresponding move for Siani.

Siani, 26, is primarily a speed-and-defense outfielder. In his 160 big leagues games over the past four seasons, he has stolen 21 bases in 26 attempts. He has logged 1,014 innings on the grass, spread across all three outfield positions. He has been credited with seven Defensive Runs Saved and 17 Outs Above Average.

His offensive numbers are less appealing. In 383 big league plate appearances, he has drawn a walk just 6.3% of the time while striking out at a 27.9% clip. He has a .221/.277/.270 line, which translates to a 58 wRC+, indicating he’s been 42% worse than league average on the whole. In the minors, he has done a bit more with the bat, but not by a wide margin. Over the past three years, he has taken 938 minor league plate appearances with a 14% walk rate, 24% strikeout rate, .217/.329/.337 line and 77 wRC+.

He clearly has appeal to big league clubs, in spite of the relatively lifeless bat. He finished 2025 with the Cardinals. This offseason, he has gone to Atlanta, the Dodgers and now the Yankees via waiver claims. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he could be retained as non-roster depth, so perhaps all these clubs have been trying to be the beneficiary there.

That means the Yankees might put him back on the wire in the coming weeks. For now, he gives them a potential bench outfielder. He also has an option remaining and could be sent to Triple-A while holding onto his 40-man spot.

The Yankees lost Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger to free agency at the end of the 2025 season but have re-signed both. Those two and Aaron Judge should have three outfield spots spoken for, with Giancarlo Stanton in the designated hitter slot.

Jasson Domínguez and Spencer Jones are also in the mix but don’t have great paths to playing time right now. They both have options and could be sent to the minors. Both have also been in trade speculation since Bellinger re-signed, though the Yanks may want to hang onto them as coverage for injuries. Grisham is also slated to go back to free agency after 2026, so they may want to keep the depth until then.

Siani’s role with the club would depend on how all that shakes out and would be contingent on him hanging onto his roster spot. Marco Luciano is in a similar spot, having also been claimed off waivers this week, though he is out of options.

Ort, 34 in February, was just claimed off waivers from the Astros a couple of weeks ago. He has upper 90s velocity but hasn’t yet translated that into strong big league results. He has thrown 122 1/3 innings over the past five seasons, allowing exactly five earned runs per nine. His 23.7% strikeout rate is decent but he has also walked 10.5% of batters faced.

He is out of options, which gives him a tenuous hold on a roster spot. Houston bumped him off earlier this month and the Yanks grabbed him. It’s possible the Yankees planned to put Ort back on the wire later, as he would stick around as non-roster depth if he were to clear waivers. DFA limbo can last a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours. The Yanks could wait five days before putting him back on waivers but they could also start that process earlier if they so choose.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Samad Taylor Elects Free Agency

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The Mariners announced that infielder/outfielder Samad Taylor has cleared outright waivers and elected free agency. He was designated for assignment last week when Seattle acquired right-hander Yosver Zulueta. Taylor had a previous career outright, which gave him the right to head to the open market this time.

Taylor, 27, has a small and unimpressive big league track record. He has appeared in 83 games over the past three seasons, split between the Royals and Mariners. He has stepped to the plate 83 times and produced a .205/.272/.260 line. However, he stole eight bases in that time without getting caught and has lined up defensively at second base, third base and all three outfield slots.

His offense has been better in the minors. Over the past four years, he has stepped to the plate 1,950 times at the Triple-A level. His 21.8% strikeout rate in that sample is fairly average but his 12.1% walk rate is quite strong. He has a combined .281/.373/.432 line in that stretch for a 108 wRC+. His base-stealing abilities have also been demonstrated more there, with 160 swipes in 200 attempts.

There’s appeal in a utility guy with wheels and a good eye at the plate but it seems that clubs deem Taylor just shy of rosterability. The Mariners passed him through outright waivers almost exactly one year ago, on January 21st of 2025. He was added back to the roster in April but spent most of the year on optional assignment. He exhausted his final option in the process, making it even harder for him to hold a roster spot.

Now that he has been outrighted a second time, he has the right to elect free agency. He has exercised that right and heads to the open market for the first time. Since he just cleared waivers, it can be assumed no club is willing to give him a 40-man spot. He will therefore be looking at minor league offers, with pitchers and catchers reporting in just over two weeks.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images

Mets Notes: Peralta, Senga, Benge

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The Mets acquired right-hander Freddy Peralta from the Brewers earlier this week, which led to immediate speculation about his new club potentially pursuing an extension. That probably won’t happen right away, however. Tim Britton and Will Sammon of The Athletic reported earlier this week that the club plans to give Peralta some time to get comfortable with his new club. President of baseball operations David Stearns later addressed the media via videoconference and his comments matched that reporting.

“I’m not going to speculate on that Day 1 here,” Stearns said of the extension possibility, per Jorge Castillo of ESPN. “We’ll let Freddy get acclimated to the organization. And, you know, any conversations that we may have or have in the future I think we’re going to do our best to keep private and not talk about publicly.”

The reason Peralta was traded away from Milwaukee is that the Brewers generally don’t spend at a level to keep their best players. Guys like Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes and Devin Williams have all been traded in recent years as they reached free agency. Peralta ended up going down the same road but his new club has far deeper pockets than his previous team.

Stearns is very familiar with Peralta and is clearly fond of him. He already signed him to an extension once, when both were with the Brewers back in 2020. This week, Stearns surrendered a couple of notable prospects by sending Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat to Milwaukee in order to reunite with Peralta and acquire Tobias Myers.

Now that Stearns has access to more financial resources, he would presumably love to get Peralta to sign on the dotted line again. Based on this week’s scuttlebutt, it seems there won’t be a rush to get that done. Spring training is a common time for extension talks to take place, so maybe more news will trickle out in the next couple of months. In-season extensions are rare but not totally unprecedented. If Peralta gets to the end of 2026 healthy and without a deal in place, he would be a lock to receive and reject a qualifying offer on his way to free agency.

Stearns also addressed a couple of other players on the roster in a sit-down with team reporter Andy Martino. In that interview, Stearns says that outfield prospect Carson Benge still has a chance to break camp with the team even after the Luis Robert Jr. acquisition and that Kodai Senga is expected to be in the rotation.

Back in November, Stearns said that Benge would have a chance to make the team. Not long after making those statements, the Mets opened up a big hole in their outfield by trading away Brandon Nimmo for second baseman Marcus Semien. They then made a spirited effort to sign Kyle Tucker, offering him a four-year deal with a heavy average annual value, but he accepted a similar offer from the Dodgers. The Mets then pivoted and acquired Robert from the White Sox via trade.

After the shuffle, there’s still a path for Benge. The Mets currently project to have Juan Soto in right and Robert in center. At the moment, Benge would seemingly be battling with Tyrone Taylor for the job in left. Taylor is a light hitter but a strong defender, so he would ideally be pushed into a fourth outfielder role by Benge taking the left field job. And given Robert’s history, there’s a decent chance of Taylor ending up getting regular playing time in center as well.

Benge has no major league experience yet and isn’t on the 40-man roster. His Triple-A work is also short and unimpressive, though he was perhaps unlucky there. He began last year at High-A and tore through that level as well as Double-A, slashing a combined .308/.413/.513 for a 174 wRC+ at those two stops while playing all three outfield positions. He finished his 2025 with a .178/.272/.311 slash at Triple-A, though that was in a tiny sample of 103 plate appearances, during which he had a .188 batting average on balls in play.

The Mets are showing a good amount of faith in Benge by leaving a door open for him, even after he put up those rough numbers in Triple-A. If he doesn’t perform in the spring, they have a few fallback options in addition to Taylor. Brett Baty no longer has a position after the Bo Bichette signing and could end up out in left field. Vidal Bruján and Jared Young are infielder/outfielders on the roster. Cristian Pache and Ji Hwan Bae are non-roster options. The Mets may add to that group but it may be more depth additions if they want Benge to still have a path.

As for Senga, he looked dominant in 2023 when he posted a 2.98 earned run average but hasn’t been as much of a sure thing since then. He missed most of 2024 due to injury. Last year, he struggled enough to get optioned to the minors in September. He then popped up in some trade rumors this offseason but is still on the roster. Assuming Stearns is being forthright in his recent comments, Senga will have a rotation job when the season begins.

As of now, the rotation candidates include Peralta, Nolan McLean, David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Sean Manaea and Senga. McLean still has options but it would be quite surprising if the Mets sent him down, given how he dominated in his first eight big league starts. If everyone stays healthy, then the Mets may need to run a six-man rotation or bump someone to the bullpen.

Holmes was a reliever prior to last year and could return to that role but he had a pretty good season as a starter, posting a 3.53 ERA. Manaea and Peterson have occasionally been bumped to long relief roles and could perhaps do so again. A six-man rotation would keep all the starters a bit more fresh but would leave the Mets with a seven-man bullpen, given the 13-pitcher roster limit.

This would only really be an issue for as long as everyone is healthy, which doesn’t happen very often in today’s game. If multiple injuries arise, Myers, Jonah Tong, Christian Scott and others are on the roster and should be ready to step up.

Photo courtesy of Michael McLoone, Imagn Images

Rangers Acquire MacKenzie Gore

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The Nationals have sent left-hander MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers for a package of five prospects, per announcements from both clubs. The five players are shortstop Gavin Fien, right-hander Alejandro Rosario, first baseman/outfielder Abimelec Ortiz, infielder Devin Fitz-Gerald and outfielder Yeremy Cabrera. Gore and Ortiz were the only players with 40-man spots, so the deal is 40-man neutral and no corresponding moves were required.

Gore, 27, has been one of the more obvious trade candidates of this offseason. Back at the start of November, MLBTR’s list of the top trade candidates of the winter had him in the #1 spot. That was partly due to Gore’s appeal as a potential budding ace and also the team’s situation.

The Nationals have been stuck in a rebuild for quite a while now. They won the World Series in 2019 but haven’t finished above .500 since then. They traded players like Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Juan Soto in 2021 and 2022. It was hoped that Washington could be back to relevance by now but the rebuild stalled out. Things dragged to such a degree that heads rolled. President of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez were both fired during last season.

Paul Toboni, previously an assistant general manager with Boston, was hired to replace Rizzo as the front office leader. The general expectation in the industry is that he will get some time to turn the ship around and get the Nats into contention again, as opposed to having the pressure of trying to win immediately. Gore is only two years away from free agency, making him a trade candidate in those circumstances. As a Boras Corporation client, a contract extension was probably going to be hard to put together.

On top of all that, there’s Gore’s track record and affordability. He was once a top prospect, getting selected third overall by the Pades in 2017. He was flipped to the Nats as part of the aforementioned Soto trade. Gore hasn’t quite lived up to his potential yet, with a 4.19 earned run average in 532 1/3 innings. However, he looked on the verge of a huge breakout for most of 2025.

Last year, Gore made 19 starts for the Nats through the All-Star break. He logged 110 1/3 innings in those with a 3.02 ERA. His 7.7% walk rate was a bit better than average and his 30.5% strikeout rate was quite strong. That strikeout rate was behind just four other qualified pitchers in baseball at that time. Tarik Skubal led the pack at 33.4%, followed by Zack Wheeler, Garrett Crochet and Hunter Brown.

Unfortunately, Gore wasn’t able to stick the landing. He went on the injured list at the end of August due to shoulder inflammation. He was reinstated about two weeks later but then returned to the IL late in September due to a right ankle impingement. Around those IL stints, he tossed 49 1/3 innings with a 6.75 ERA. That bumped his season-long ERA to 4.17.

Despite the poor finish, Gore remained an enticing player. The strong run to the All-Star break showed his ceiling and it’s an appealing arsenal. He averaged over 95 miles per hour with his four-seamer last year while mixing in a curveball, slider, cutter and changeup. He’s also quite affordable. He’s going into his second of three arbitration seasons and will be making $5.6MM this year. He’ll be due another raise in 2027 before he’s slated to reach free agency.

The trade market for starting pitching has been robust this winter. The Orioles sent four prospects and a draft pick to the Rays for three years of Shane Baz. The Cubs sent three players, including their top prospect, to the Marlins for three years of Edward Cabrera. Last night, the Mets sent two of their top prospects to the Brewers for one year of Freddy Peralta.

Gore’s track record of success isn’t quite as long as Peralta’s but Gore offers an extra year of control. Baz and Cabrera offered one extra year compared to Gore but haven’t shown the same kind of ace upside and both have checkered injury histories. Given the difficulty in evaluating the future outcomes of prospects, it’s impossible to say which package will provide the most long-term value.

For the Rangers, it’s understandable that they would prefer the trade route to free agency this winter, as there have been signs that money is tight. The team and manager Bruce Bochy parted ways at the end of last year with the club’s financial uncertainty cited as playing a role in that break-up. Pitching coach Mike Maddux departed for the Angels, with some suggestion that may have been financially motivated as well.

In terms of the roster, the Rangers traded three years of Marcus Semien to get five years of Brandon Nimmo, with Nimmo making less annually. Various reports from December suggested that the club couldn’t even afford mid-market free agents like J.T. Realmuto or Luis Arráez.

But upgrading the rotation was still on the to-do list. The club saw Merrill Kelly, Jon Gray, Patrick Corbin and Tyler Mahle all depart via free agency at season’s end. They went into the winter with a strong one-two of Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, but a drop-off after that. Jack Leiter seemed to earn himself a rotation job with a 3.86 ERA last year but his strikeout and walk rates were only average-ish. Jacob Latz had a good season in a swing role but hasn’t been a full-time big league starter yet. Kumar Rocker is a former top prospect but hasn’t put it together in the majors yet.

Gore immediately upgrades the group, especially if he can get back to his first-half performance from 2025. He slots into the front three with deGrom and Eovaldi, bumps Leiter to a back-end role for now and perhaps creates a competition for a fifth spot between Latz, Rocker and others. There is a cliff over the horizon as Eovaldi and Gore are both slated for free agency after 2027. deGrom’s deal has a club option for 2028, with the value conditional on Cy Young voting and inning tallies, though he’ll be 40 by then. But for the next two years, the rotation has a strong core three.

To get that rotation upgrade while avoiding the free agent market, the Rangers have had to part with a notable pile of prospects. Fien appears to be the headliner here. The Rangers just took him 12th overall in the 2025 draft. They gave him a $4.8MM bonus to get him to forgo a commitment to the University of Texas. Still just 18, turning 19 in March, he’s a long-term play.

Baseball America lists him as the #3 prospect in the Texas system. He gets high praise for his offense but with bigger questions about his defense. Most evaluators expect him to be moved off shortstop in the long run, with third base or the outfield corners potential outcomes.

Kiley McDaniel of ESPN writes that the Red Sox really wanted Fien in last year’s draft but they didn’t pick until 15th, three spots behind Texas. Toboni was running Boston’s draft as assistant general manager at the time. Now that he is running his own front office, he apparently made Fien a priority and has used Gore as a means of getting his guy.

Fitz-Gerald, Rosario and Cabrera are a few spots behind Fien on BA’s list, coming in at #8, #13 and #14 respectively. Fitz-Gerald is a 20-year-old infielder who was drafted in the fifth round in 2024. He got into 41 games between the Complex League and Single-A last year, slashing .302/.428/.482. A left shoulder strain prevented him from taking on a bigger workload. He seems to do a decent amount of stuff well without a standout tool. BA suggests a future as a multi-positional player with a bit of pop and speed.

Rosario, 24, was a fifth-round pick in 2023. He had a strong season in 2024, posting a 2.24 ERA between Single-A and High-A, but has been on the shelf since then. He missed 2025 due to an elbow injury and is soon set to undergo Tommy John surgery, so he’ll miss the entire 2026 season as well. His strong 2024 campaign made him a top 100 prospect, with BA having him at #49 going into 2025, but he’ll be a long-term question mark after two entirely missed seasons. He’ll be Rule 5 eligible this coming December.

Cabrera, 20, was an international signing out of the Dominican Republic. He spent last year in Single-A with a strong walk and strikeout profile but only eight home runs. He’s considered a strong defender in the outfield and he stole 43 bases last year.

Ortiz, 24 next month, has the least prospect hype of this group but is the one closest to impacting the major league club. He split last year between Double-A and Triple-A, hitting 25 home runs and walking in 11.7% of his plate appearances. He had a combined line of .257/.356/.479 and a 124 wRC+. He was added to the Texas 40-man roster a couple of months ago to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

Though his numbers in the minors look good on the surface, he has a propensity to chase breaking balls. Evaluators fear that will limit him to being a platoon bat in the majors. He’s also not a strong defender or baserunner, so he needs to hit to carry the profile. Washington has a pretty wide open first base/designated hitter mix, so he can force his way in there if he hits. He also has three option years and can be kept in the minors if he doesn’t.

With four of the five players being long-term plays, it would appear that Washington is just trying to grab whichever players it considers the most talented, as opposed to trying to rush a move towards contending in the near term. Perhaps that was isolated to this deal of their biggest trade chip but it could perhaps indicate that the club is generally operating with a long lens. For the Rangers, losing most of these players won’t hurt them in the short term but it does cut into the system more broadly. As of August, BA ranked them 26th in the league in terms of overall system talent.

CJ Abrams has also been floated as a trade candidate for Washington but with less certainty than Gore as he has three years of club control remaining. The Nats could now pivot to marketing him but his stock is also down a bit due to a poor finish to his most recent season, and in 2024 as well. Perhaps they will hold him for another season to see if he can raise his trade value.

It is clearly an offseason about loading up on future talent for the Nats. They also traded reliever Jose A. Ferrer to the Mariners for catcher Harry Ford and right-hander Isaac Lyon. This deal adds five more intriguing young players to the pipeline.

It also opens up more rotation chances for their other pitchers. As of now, they project to have Cade Cavalli, Foster Griffin, Josiah Gray, Brad Lord, Jake Irvin and Mitchell Parker in the mix for starts. Arms like Jake Eder, Luis Perales, Riley Cornelio and Andrew Alvarez will be looking to push in there as well. Perhaps the Gore deal with be followed by the Nats signing a veteran to eat some innings but they could also leave space for the guys in that group.

Due to Gore’s appeal, he reportedly drew interest from half the teams in the league. Some of those clubs moved on to other trade candidates or signed free agents. For those still on the hunt for starting pitching, the market is drying up but they may still have options. As mentioned, a lot of the trade candidates have already changed hands. The Red Sox may have enough depth after their Ranger Suárez signing to flip someone else. The Royals may be willing to part with someone. Free agency still has Framber Valdez, Zac Gallen, Chris Bassitt and a few others.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported Gore was headed to Texas. Jeff Passan of ESPN first laid out the five-for-one framework. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News first reported Fien’s inclusion. Spencer Nusbaum of The Washington Post first mentioned Rosario. Grant then reported Ortiz and Fitz-Gerald, followed by Andrew Golden of The Washington Post adding Cabrera.

Photos courtesy of Brett Davis, Eric Hartline, Kevin Jairaj, Joe Camporeale, Imagn Images

Nationals Designate Riley Adams For Assignment

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The Nationals announced that catcher Riley Adams has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for their claim of right-hander Gus Varland, which was previously reported.

Adams, 30 in June, has been with the Nats for the past four-plus years. Originally drafted by the Blue Jays, he came to Washington in the 2021 deadline deal which sent lefty Brad Hand to Toronto.

He was mostly an up-and-down guy through the end of 2024, never appearing in more than 48 games in any individual campaign. He exhausted his final option in 2024 but stuck on the roster through the 2025 season. Overall, he has appeared in 263 big league games with 849 plate appearances. He has shown a bit of pop by hitting 21 home runs but also struck out at a 32.5% clip. He has a .211/.287/.354 line and 78 wRC+. Outlets such as FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have all graded him as a poor defender.

The Nats acquired catcher Harry Ford from the Mariners in the Jose A. Ferrer deal last month. Ford should share the bulk of the big league playing time behind the plate with Keibert Ruiz. Even if Ford needs more time in the minors, the Nats also have Drew Millas and Mickey Gasper on the 40-man roster. Millas and Gasper have options, so perhaps that led to Adams getting squeezed out.

Back in November, Adams and the Nationals avoided arbitration by agreeing to a split deal which would pay him $1MM in the majors and $500K in the minors. Since his service time is at least three years but below five, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment but would have to walk away from that money in exercising that right. It seems there’s a decent chance he’ll end up sticking with the Nats as non-roster depth after clearing waivers.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Cubs, Chas McCormick Agree To Minor League Deal

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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

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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”

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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

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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

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