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Mariners Acquire Robinson Ortiz From Dodgers
The Mariners and Dodgers each announced that Seattle has acquired left-hander Robinson Ortiz in exchange for minor league right-hander Tyler Gough.
Neither player has any big league experience, but the trade is likely more about the Dodgers’ desire to clear a spot on their 40-man roster. Tuesday is the deadline for teams to set their rosters in advance of the Rule 5 Draft, and Friday is the non-tender deadline, making for a very busy upcoming week of roster churning.
Interestingly, it was only 10 days ago that Los Angeles selected Ortiz’s contract to the 40-man roster, but the Dodgers have now changed course and sent Ortiz to Seattle. L.A. now has 38 places filled on its 40-man, while the Mariners have at least 39 spots addressed and potentially a full 40 depending on when Josh Naylor’s new contract is made official.
Ortiz (who turns 26 in January) had spent his entire pro career in the Dodgers organization prior to today’s trade. Between the canceled 2020 minor league season and multiple injury problems, Ortiz pitched only 22 2/3 innings over a five-year span covering the 2020-24 seasons, but the 2025 campaign represented some return to relative normalcy. The southpaw posted a 2.73 ERA and 28.3% strikeout rate over 59 1/3 combined innings at three different minor league levels, with Ortiz making his debuts at both the Double-A and Triple-A levels last year.
A nasty slider/sinker combo has led to a lot of strikeouts for Ortiz, though control has continued to be an issue, as evidenced by his 13.2% walk rate in 2025. Seattle is notably thin in left-handed pitching, as Gabe Speier currently represents the only lefty slated to be part of the Mariners’ bullpen mix next year. Ortiz adds a bit more depth in that department, and there appears to be plenty of upside for Ortiz as a relief weapon if he can cut back on the free passes.
Gough was a ninth-round pick for the Mariners in the 2022 draft, and he posted a 4.66 ERA over 125 2/3 innings at A-level Modesto in 2023-24, starting 32 of his 33 career games. A Tommy John surgery in September 2024 has since kept Gough off the mound, though the usual TJ recovery timeline should put the right-hander in line to be ready for a healthy Spring Training come February.
Emilio Pagan Receiving Interest From “At Least 10 Teams”
Free agent reliever Emilio Pagan is a popular figure now that the market has opened, as Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that “at least 10 teams” have reached out to Pagan and his reps at the Ballengee Group. A return to the Reds is also a possibility since Wittenmyer says the two sides have had some talks, though Cincinnati president of baseball operations Nick Krall didn’t give any hints on the subject.
“I don’t want to say yes or no. I don’t know,” Krall said about a potential new contract with Pagan. “I loved Emilio. He was great for our club. I would absolutely be open to bringing him back. It just depends on how everything fits together.”
Krall made similar comments praising Pagan back in October, and the reliever also expressed his own desire to return to the Reds. Despite this mutual interest, Wittenmyer feels the amount of league-wide interest in Pagan could push his price tag beyond the Reds’ comfort zone. Krall has stated that Cincinnati’s 2026 payroll will roughly match its 2025 payroll, which sat in the $116MM-$119MM range by season’s end.
With a limited budget and multiple roster needs to address, Wittenmyer believes the Reds will again “be waiting out the market for value buys” in free agency. This could mean that Pagan might’ve signed elsewhere by the time the Reds are prepared to more fully dig into the market, or the club might seek out less-expensive bullpen reinforcements.
It was a little over two years ago that the Reds signed Pagan to a two-year, $16MM contract in his previous trip through free agency. The deal allowed Pagan to opt out last winter, but he chose to remain under contract and take his $8MM salary for 2025 — an expected move given how the right-hander posted a 4.50 ERA over 38 innings during an injury-shortened 2024 campaign.
This past season, however, saw Pagan stay healthy and deliver a fine platform year. Pagan posted a 2.88 ERA and a 30% strikeout rate over 68 2/3 frames, and he saved 32 of his 38 chances as the Reds’ closer. His 8.1% walk rate was a little below average and Pagan received a lot of batted-ball luck, as his .200 BABIP in 2025 perhaps balanced out his unlucky .351 BABIP from 2024. That said, his xwOBA dropped from .307 in 2024 to .267 this year, and Pagan’s signature four-seamer was still humming along at a 95.7mph velocity, nicely setting up his devastating splitter.
MLB Trade Rumors ranked Pagan 46th on our list of the winter’s top 50 free agents, and projected the righty to land another two-year, $16MM deal. The contract reflects Pagan’s age (he turns 35 in May), his up-and-down tenure in Cincinnati, and how some teams may not want to pursue a reliever who has been so notoriously homer-prone throughout his career.
While Wittenmyer’s report indicates there’s obviously still plenty of teams that do have Pagan on their list of targets, it is fair to say that Pagan may not necessarily be the top choice for clubs in need of bullpen help. Some teams may not view him as a closer at all, while others could see him as a backup option if they can’t land one of the more high-profile closers available. Depending on how things play out or depending on how long it takes the likes of Edwin Diaz or Robert Suarez to find their next contract, there might be an opening for the Reds and Pagan if the reliever gets tired of waiting and decides to pivot back to a familiar and comfortable location.
Astros Notes: Hader, Alvarez, Arrighetti
Astros general manager Dana Brown shared some injury updates earlier this week at the GM Meetings, including the rather troubling news that Isaac Paredes is no guarantee to be ready for Opening Day. Brown provided some more positive news with Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle (multiple links) on some of the many other Astros players who missed significant time during the club’s injury-plagued 2025 campaign, as all of Josh Hader, Yordan Alvarez, and Spencer Arrighetti are expected to be ready for Spring Training.
Hader’s season was ended in early August by a right capsule sprain in his right shoulder. There was some initial hope that Hader could potentially return during the playoffs, but he still hadn’t started throwing by season’s end, so it seemed unlikely that the closer would’ve been available even if Houston had reached the postseason.
Brown didn’t yet have a timetable on Hader’s recovery at his end-of-season press conference, but said this week that Hader has now thrown off a mound three times. The plan is for Hader to have his regular winter throwing program and “hopefully, we’ll get him ramped up sometime early to mid-February…he’s on course to come back and be there for Opening Day,” Brown said.
As Rome noted, losing Hader ended up devastating Houston’s relief corps. Hader had been the anchor of the bullpen, posting a 2.05 ERA, 36.9% strikeout rate, and 7.8% walk rate across 52 2/3 innings while closing down 28 of 29 save opportunities. While Bryan Abreu performed respectably well in Hader’s place, losing a star closer further thinned out a bullpen that was already missing other arms due to injury, and it added to Houston’s mountain of health woes.
Having Alvarez for only 48 games was perhaps the most impactful of all the Astros’ injuries. The three-time All-Star was sidelined mostly by a hand sprain that was eventually revealed as a finger fracture, and persistent hand discomfort kept Alvarez out of action from early May to late August. While he posted great numbers upon his returning, Alvarez was shut down again by a left ankle sprain in mid-September that left him unable to even resume basic running or hitting drills by the end of the season.
The good news is that Brown said Alvarez should have “a normal offseason,” and is back to running at around “65-70 percent” of his usual capability. Speed is not exactly a huge aspect of Alvarez’s game and he should continue to be Houston’s primary DH in 2026, but keeping an elite bat healthy is naturally a huge factor in the Astros’ hopes of future success.
Arrighetti was limited to seven starts and 35 1/3 innings in 2025, as he missed four months of action after his right thumb was fractured by a batted ball during batting practice. That fluky injury was followed up by a bout of elbow inflammation that shut Arrighetti down for good in early September. There was some concern raised when Arrighetti was set to go for a second opinion on his elbow, but it would appear as though he has gotten a clean bill of health for regular offseason prep.
For now, Arrighetti is penciled into a spot in Houston’s Opening Day rotation, though Brown has been open about the Astros’ desire to add to their pitching staff. With Framber Valdez potentially leaving in free agency and several other Astros pitchers besides Arrighetti also on the mend, acquiring another starter would help clear up some of the uncertainty surrounding the pitching staff.
Pirates Hire Kristopher Negron, Tony Beasley To Coaching Staff
The Pirates will be hiring Kristopher Negron as their new bench coach and Tony Beasley as the third base coach, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Negron has been on the Mariners’ coaching staff for the last four seasons, while Beasley returns to the Pirates organization after spending over a decade with the Rangers.
After concluding his six-year MLB playing career, Negron took on an assistant role in Seattle’s player development department in 2020 and then was the manager at Triple-A Tacoma in 2021. He was then promoted to the big league staff as the first base coach before acting as the Mariners’ third base coach in 2025.
Negron (who turns 40 in February) now takes on his highest-profile coaching job yet, as Don Kelly’s chief lieutenant. Kelly was Pittsburgh’s bench coach himself when he was promoted to the manager’s job in May when Derek Shelton was fired, and though Gene Lamont essentially filled the bench coach role in a capacity as an advisor to Kelly, the position wasn’t officially filled until now.
Beasley is a familiar face in Pittsburgh, having spent six seasons with the Bucs as a minor league player and then several seasons as a manager, coach, and instructor at both the minor and Major League levels. Beasley’s previous stint on Pittsburgh’s MLB staff came in 2008-10, when was the club’s third base coach.
Once that stint ended, Beasley moved on to four years in the Nationals’ farm system as a manager and instructor before he joined the Rangers as their third base coach prior to the 2015 season. Beasley’s time in Texas included a World Series ring with the 2023 team and a 48-game stint as interim manager in 2022 after Chris Woodward was fired.
Negron and Beasley are the latest new faces on a revamped Pittsburgh coaching staff, as Bill Murphy was also hired as the new pitching coach a few weeks ago. The Pirates liked enough of what they saw from Kelly to give him a contract extension at season’s end, and the skipper is now apparently getting some input in reshaping his staff. In a sense there’s nowhere to go but up for a team that has endured seven straight losing seasons, and still hasn’t gotten out of rebuild mode despite the presence of Paul Skenes and an overall enviable amount of pitching depth.
Mariners Looking To Retain 2025 Roster, Add Bullpen Help
After winning the AL West and reaching Game 7 of the ALCS, it isn’t surprising that the Mariners are looking to stick with a successful formula. That means “ideally keeping as much of the group that we had last year, that we really believed in, together,” general manager Justin Hollander told the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish and other reporters at the GM Meetings this week.
“Our offseason is largely going to start with the guys who were on the team last year and try to bring as many back as possible,” Hollander said, with the M’s “then filling in the rest of the roster as required.” To this end, Hollander said the team has been in contact with the agents for their six free agents — Josh Naylor, Jorge Polanco, Eugenio Suarez, Caleb Ferguson, Luke Jackson, and Mitch Garver.
“I think they know how we feel, and don’t really believe in progress or no progress,” Hollander said. “When you get to a deal, you get to a deal, but I think everybody’s aware of where we’re at right now and that we do have interest, and we’ll just keep playing it day by day until we can get deals or have to pivot elsewhere.”
Hollander naturally didn’t give any hints about the details of these negotiations, though logic would dictate that the Mariners won’t be re-signing all six players. The M’s have been open about their desire to retain Naylor, so the common belief is that Naylor and Polanco are the most likely internal free agents to re-up for new contracts, while the other four will probably be playing elsewhere in 2026.
The potential departures of Ferguson and Jackson coincide with Seattle’s desire to add to its bullpen, which Hollander said was another “area of focus for us this offseason.” Led by star closer Andres Munoz, the Mariners’ relief corps was more solid than a surefire plus in 2025, as the club’s collective 3.72 ERA (ninth of 30 teams) was undermined by control problems and middling strikeout numbers. Beyond these numbers, Hollander also acknowledged “the realities that our high-leverage group just worked really hard for an extra month of the season. We would be silly not to expect that to take a toll over time….Making the bullpen deeper and longer is important.”
Adding relief help of any kind is the priority, yet Divish feels the Mariners might make a point of adding a southpaw. Gabe Speier is currently the only left-hander projected to be part of Seattle’s bullpen, and minor leaguers Jhonathan Diaz and Tayler Saucedo are the only other southpaws on the Mariners’ 40-man roster.
Tatsuya Imai To Be Posted For MLB Teams This Offseason
The Saitama Seibu Lions announced (Japanese language link) on their official team website that they have accepted Tatsuya Imai’s request to be posted to Major League teams. Once Imai is officially posted, he’ll have 45 days to work out a contract with a big league team, or else he’ll return to the Lions for the 2026 Nippon Professional Baseball season.
It has been over two months since reports first surfaced about the likelihood of Imai’s availability this winter, and today’s news officially confirms the three-time NPB All-Star as one of the most intriguing arms of the 2025-26 free agent class. Imai has a 3.15 ERA over 963 2/3 career innings with the Lions, with a 22.31% strikeout rate and a 11.52% walk rate. While that career walk rate is on the high side, Imai has reduced that number in each of his last four seasons, and he had a very solid 7.02% walk rate over 163 2/3 innings in 2025.
Imai is only 27, and doesn’t turn 28 until May. Between his age and an intriguing four-pitch arsenal (headlined by a fastball in the 95-99mph range and a plus slider), there’s a lot to like in terms of how Imai’s success in NPB might translate against Major League hitters. This upside led MLBTR to place Imai seventh on our list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents, and we’re predicting a six-year, $150MM deal even though some evaluators feel Imai projects as a back-end starter or even as a reliever in the majors.
Imai qualifies for full free agency next offseason, so the Lions may feel that they can at least earn some money back via a posting fee by letting Imai go now rather than 12 months from now. As per the terms of the MLB-NPB posting system, any Major League team that reaches an agreement with Imai will owe the Lions a staggered fee depending on the size of the deal, and on any future earnings (i.e. options, bonuses, etc.) attached to that initial contract.
The Lions will get 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, 17.5% of the contract’s next $25MM, and 15% of any money above the $50MM mark. So if Imai were to sign a deal matching MLBTR’s $150MM projection, his new team would owe the Lions a $24.375MM posting fee on top of Imai’s $150MM salary.
Lucas Giolito Wants To Return To Red Sox, Says He’s “Fully Healthy” After Late-Season “Freak Injury”
After UCL surgery cost him the entire 2024 season, Lucas Giolito returned in 2025 to post solid results (3.41 ERA in 145 innings) in the Red Sox rotation before the injury bug arose just prior to the start of Boston’s Wild Card Series with the Yankees. Right flexor irritation and a bone issue kept Giolito off the playoff roster and unable to do anything besides watch as the Sox were eliminated in three games.
Adding to Giolito’s frustration was the fact that after getting the diagnosis and beginning some rehab work, “within three days, my elbow felt 100 percent fine again,” the right-hander told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford on the latest edition of the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast (partial transcript here). With no UCL damage discovered and the inflammation subsided, Giolito planned to quickly start a throwing program with the intention of returning later in the playoffs, except Boston’s run was cut short early.
As the offseason and Giolito’s free agency now begins, he said that is now “fully healthy,” even though he understands the complications that bought on by his late flexor issue. He said he is “happy to prove that I’m fully healthy in any way possible” to any skeptical front offices, and that the injury is completely behind him.
“There’s no injury, or whatever injury there was is gone. It was a weird, freak thing that popped up at the worst possible time, not only for the Red Sox but for myself and in general,” Giolito said. “Just the worst possible time. It makes my free agency harder. It prevented me from pitching in the playoffs where I had been a part of the rotation pretty much the entire year. It was just a very, very tough one to swallow. I still don’t like thinking about it.”
Giolito signed a two-year, $38.5MM deal with the Red Sox during the 2023-24 offseason that broke down as an $18MM salary for 2024 and then a player option for a $19MM salary in 2025. Giolito’s internal brace procedure made it an easy call for him to exercise that $19MM option and remain in his Sox contract, and remaining in the deal also added a club option for 2026 worth at least $14MM. Since Giolito then tossed at least 140 innings in 2025, the club option was converted to a $19MM mutual option with a $1.5MM buyout, giving Giolito the right to test free agency again if he declined his end of the mutual option.
That is exactly what happened earlier this week, and Giolito finds himself on the open market again. He doesn’t have the qualifying offer attached to his services since the Sox didn’t issue him the one-year, $22.025MM offer. Giolito told Bradford that he didn’t expect the QO due to his injury: “You end of the year hurt, it puts a bad taste in the team’s mouth. It is what it is. Now, the fortunate side is that it was like the most benign, weird, freak injury that went away after a few days. So, now I’m like, great. I’m having a fully healthy, amazing offseason.”
Sour ending notwithstanding, Giolito still viewed his 2025 campaign as “really, really positive” given his own success and Boston’s success in returning to the playoffs. He is also hoping for an encore performance at Fenway Park in 2026 and beyond.
“I made it clear to everybody. I would love to come back here and continue to play for the Red Sox. It’s the most fun I have ever had having a season with a team in the big leagues,” Giolito said. “I felt like the way it ended left such a bad taste in my mouth, and the rest of the team, particularly me not being able to pitch in that playoff series. It really sucked. I was like I really hope I can come back, and it goes better for us next time.”
MLBTR ranked Giolito 27th on our list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents, and projected the right-hander to land a two-year, $32MM contract. There was a bit of flexibility within that projection since some teams may feel comfortable enough in Giolito’s health to add a club/vesting option for a third year, or perhaps even just a fully guaranteed third year.
This mid-range price tag should put Giolito on the radar for a lot of clubs, and a return to Boston certainly seems plausible since the Sox are still in need of pitching. The expectation is that the Red Sox will pursue a frontline arm to team with Garrett Crochet atop the rotation, but adding this hypothetical ace and Giolito would only deepen the rotation and make the Sox better equipped for a longer postseason run.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Mark P
- It’s the first official Weekend Chat of the 2025-26 offseason! Let’s take a minute for some questions to roll in, and then get….uh, rolling
John
- Has the window to trade Coby Mayo closed?
Mark P
- It’ll take a lot more than 340 plate appearances before the Orioles (or other teams) decide that the Mayo has gone bad. Mayo started to hit a lot better in September, indicating perhaps that he was starting to figure it out against MLB pitching.
- If the O’s did want to move Mayo for a more proven talent, there would be plenty of takers
Guest
- Do the Jays sign any of their FAs?
Mark P
- They already kinda have, if you count Bieber as a free agent. And I think we all did, since nobody had Bieber passing on the opt-out on our bingo cards.
Bringing back one of Scherzer or Bassitt is a possibility. IKF/France/Dominguez are all likely gone, with Dominguez maybe the only one who’d draw some interest for a reunion since the Jays still need relief help. Of course Bichette is the big question, and his choice will determine the rest of Toronto’s offseason
Armand
- what happens first a big free agent signing or a big trade?
Mark P
- Trade. I guess it’s a matter of what you’d consider a “big” signing or trade, but most of the top free agents will wait a while to gauge their offers. A larger trade could technically happen at any time.
Oz
- What is your opinion of the Braves decision to not pick up the options on Pierce Johnson and Tyler Kinley?
Mark P
- Pretty surprised, since when I wrote the Atlanta offseason outlook, I saw it as basically a foregone conclusion that both would be retained.
- The Braves could pursue a reunion at a lower price tag with either pitcher, but seemingly just in the name of saving some money, declining both options left the Braves with even more to address in their pen
Guest
- Chris Sale extension for ATL?
Mark P
- Possible, but the Braves might’ve already been learned their lesson about committing extra money to a pitcher with Sale’s injury history.
Bart G.
- You said “Mayo has gone bad” on purpose! I saw you!
Mark P
- I swear I’m not trying to steal Jacob Wysocki’s thunder as Mr. Mayo
HARRIS
- Without a doubt my staff is thin. how much grace and goodwill would I recover after last summers debacle would I achieve if I sign J.V. for the back end of the rotation. we can certainly afford the 10-11 mill I believe. I mean I gave Cobb 15 and got nothing. Smart move for the club and the fan base?
Mark P
- (The name refers to Tigers PBO Scott Harris, btw)
A Verlander reunion would make a lot of sense for both the Tigers and presumably JV himself if he wants to pitch for a clear-cut contender. It’d be such a fun storyline to see Verlander try and complete some unfinished business in winning Detroit a ring
Giants “Briefly Considered” Patrick Bailey Trade At Deadline
The Giants were 2-12 in the 14 games leading up to the trade deadline, a cold stretch that convinced the team to deal away some impending free agents (i.e. Tyler Rogers, Mike Yastrzemski) and a controllable asset in Camilo Doval. According to Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Giants also “briefly considered” the possibility of trading another notable player under longer-term control — catcher Patrick Bailey.
The way Rubin phrases the club’s thought process could mean that the Giants front office was simply doing due diligence in assessing its trade chips heading into the deadline, or perhaps another team made an interesting enough offer to at least get Buster Posey and company mulling the idea. “There isn’t a strong motivation to trade” Bailey, Rubin writes, which makes sense given Bailey’s defensive excellence and pre-arbitration status.
Bailey was the 13th overall pick of the 2020 draft, and his emergence and Joey Bart’s struggles led the Giants to opt for Bailey as the team’s proverbial “catcher of the future.” Through three Major League seasons, Bailey has hit only .230/.287/.340 over 1253 plate appearances, but he has won the last two Gold Gloves and Fielding Bible Awards for his superb glovework. In addition to his latest Fielding Bible Award, Sports Info Solutions also named Bailey the defensive player of the year in all of baseball for the 2025 season.
Bailey fell just a couple of days short of Super Two status and an extra year of arbitration eligibility. As a result, his first trip through the arb process won’t come until next winter, and he isn’t eligible for free agency until the 2029-30 offseason. There’s no rush for San Francisco to move the 26-year-old, and trading Bailey would then leave the Giants trying to find a new backstop within a thin catching market.
Creating a new roster need probably doesn’t appeal too much to the Giants, whose offseason to-do lists includes a focus on both starting and relief pitching, plus right field or second base as areas of concern around the diamond. That said, Rubin suggests the incoming Automated Ball-Strike challenge system might give the team some reason to move Bailey before the ABS system is implemented next season. While Bailey is a strong all-around defensive catcher, his elite framing skills are his bread-and-butter, and Bailey’s ability to frame pitches (and steal strikes) could be hampered now that opponents are allowed to challenge umpire calls.
It remains to be seen exactly how the ABS system will impact day-to-day play in the majors, though we’ve already seen the system in use at the Triple-A level over the last four seasons, and big leaguers got a taste at last year’s Spring Training and in the All-Star Game. It may be that the effect on Bailey or other excellent framers will be relatively minimal, though it could be argued that anything that diminishes his glovework has an outsized impact on his overall value, since Bailey isn’t providing anything at the plate.
San Francisco’s catching position should get some attention anyway this winter since the team might non-tender Andrew Knizner, creating the need for a new backup. The Giants are likely to bring in a veteran or two to compete for the job in Spring Training, plus Jesus Rodriguez is an internal candidate for the role. Rodriguez was one of the four prospects acquired from the Yankees for Doval, and Rubin notes that Rodriguez would’ve made his MLB debut with the Giants last year if Rodriguez hasn’t been set back by a shoulder injury.
