Mark Polishuk | MLB Trade Rumors

Braves Sign Curt Casali To Minors Deal

By Mark Polishuk | January 18, 2025 at 7:41am CDT

The Braves have signed catcher Curt Casali to a minor league contract, Just Baseball Media’s Aram Leighton reports. Atlanta is Casali’s 11th different organization over his 14 professional seasons.

The last eleven of those seasons have come in the big leagues, with Casali amassing 543 career games with the Rays, Mariners, and two separate stints apiece with the Reds and Giants. Most recently, Casali suited up 41 times for San Francisco last season, stepping in as the primary backup catcher after Tom Murphy was lost for the season due to a knee injury.

Casali has mostly worked in a backup or part-time capacity, appearing in as many as 84 games twice (2016 with the Rays and 2019 with the Reds) in his career. His most productive overall stretch came with Cincinnati from 2018-2020, when he hit .260/.345/.440 in 485 plate appearances while working in what was more or less a timeshare with Tucker Barnhart behind the plate. Casali’s offensive numbers have tailed off significantly since, and he had only a .194/.293/.250 slash line in 125 PA with the Giants last season.

His glovework also took a downturn in 2024, as Statcast rated his blocking, framing, and caught-stealing numbers all below average. This could be a sign of age catching up to Casali as he enters his age-36 season, but he has a solid reputation as a defensive catcher who works well with pitchers.

Atlanta declined its $8MM club option on Travis d’Arnaud, and the longtime Braves backstop then signed with the Angels in one of the offseason’s more significant early moves. Sean Murphy will look to rebound from a down year as the Braves’ starting catcher and Chadwick Tromp is penciled in as the backup, though Casali and Sandy Leon are two well-traveled veterans who will provide some competition in Spring Training. The other name to watch here is Drake Baldwin, as the top prospect hit well in 334 PA with Triple-A Gwinnett last season and is expected to make his MLB debut at some point in 2025.

Corbin Burnes Discusses Decision To Join Diamondbacks

By Mark Polishuk | January 15, 2025 at 11:14pm CDT

Corbin Burnes’ six-year, $210MM contract with the Diamondbacks stands out as perhaps the most surprising move of the 2024-25 offseason, as Arizona wasn’t viewed as a prime contender to either spend that much money, or even make a move for a frontline pitcher given the depth already present in the Snakes’ rotation.

As revealed today during Burnes’ introductory press conference, the concept of Burnes joining the D’Backs also seemed unlikely to all parties involved at the start of the offseason. Past reports suggested that it was Burnes and his agent Scott Boras who reached out to the D’Backs to ignite talks in late December and a deal was reached in fairly short order, and this version of events was largely supported in comments to media (including the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro, Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci, and MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert) today.

Burnes and his family live in Scottsdale, and there was obvious appeal in playing so close to home, especially after Burnes’ wife Brooke gave birth to twin girls this past June. While Burnes had interest in playing for the Diamondbacks, there wasn’t much or any contact between the two sides until Boras contacted owner Ken Kendrick in December about the possibility of a signing. Boras and Kendrick seemingly handled this initial set of negotiations directly, as D’Backs GM Mike Hazen and assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye were both out of country on family vacations.

The result was the priciest contract in Diamondbacks franchise history, and a payroll that now sits at roughly $193.6MM, as per RosterResource’s estimates. Kendrick admitted that the D’Backs were “stretching the budget” to make the Burnes deal work, but he pointed to such new revenue streams as a sponsored jersey patch, a ballpark sportsbook, and more concerts at Chase Field, plus the more traditional extra funds generated by increased attendance.

“All of those things drive the train, and then what do we do? Every dollar that comes in we’re going to reinvest it in ballplayers and not in the ownership, and we will always do that,” Kendrick said.

Burnes wasn’t entirely off the Diamondbacks’ radar at the start of the offseason, as Sawdaye said in an appearance on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast today that the front office had “heard through intermediaries, and other players” that Burnes had interest in playing close to home. Internally, Sawdaye said “we had some discussion and it seemed financially it wasn’t going to be able to work or make sense.”

However, with Kendrick and CEO Derrick Hall pushing things and Burnes remaining unsigned, Sawdaye said the front office essentially asked ” ’well, what’s the price going to be?’ We’d be doing ourselves a disservice to a player who wants to come here, and obviously we should find out what that’s going to cost.”

As hefty as Burnes’ contract is, Boras said there was “no question” the right-hander turned down larger offers from other teams. Past reports indicated that the Blue Jays and possibly the Orioles were willing to top Arizona’s offer, though Burnes said today that he’d only received concrete offers from the Jays and Giants, plus “some verbal stuff with Baltimore and Boston, but nothing I had seen in writing.”

Verducci’s piece includes a longer breakdown of how Burnes’ free agent trip developed, with Toronto, Boston, and the Yankees all expressing interest right at the start of free agency. Various discussions took place with all parties over the next several weeks, with Corbin and Brooke Burnes prioritizing how signing with each prospective suitor would impact their young family’s day-to-day routine. The Yankees and Red Sox seemed to fall back in the chase after the teams had respectively landed Max Fried and Garrett Crochet to address their pitching needs, which helped clear the way for the D’Backs to emerge with a late bid.

Dodgers, Padres Looking Into Trading For International Bonus Pool Funds

By Mark Polishuk | January 15, 2025 at 10:10pm CDT

10:10PM: The Padres are also looking to trade for more int’l signing pool space, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand writes (multiple links). More teams than just the Sasaki suitors are also exploring such trades, as an executive tells Feinsand that “other teams are recognizing opportunities” to be aggressive in the international market.

9:07PM: The 23-year-old Roki Sasaki is considered an international free agent due to his age, as league rules dictate, and thus his impending arrival to the big leagues has brought extra attention to the int’l free agent acquisition process, which officially began today with the opening of the signing window. The race to sign Sasaki isn’t technically a bidding war since the money on offer is limited by the bonus pool structure, and Sasaki’s willingness to make the jump to the majors so early in his career indicates that salary isn’t his chief priority.

Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean the three teams reportedly remaining in the hunt for Sasaki won’t try to add a few extra dollars to their offers. Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times reports that the Dodgers have engaged multiple teams in “exploratory” discussions about trading for extra money from their bonus pools, though there doesn’t appear to be any indication that any deals are close.

Clubs are permitted to trade from their bonus pools in increments of $250K, and teams are allowed to add to their pre-existing pools by as much as 60 percent of their original number. The Dodgers’ 2025 pool was reduced by $1MM due to their signing of Shohei Ohtani last winter, as Ohtani rejected the Angels’ qualifying offer and the Dodgers were a luxury-tax paying team in 2023, which left Los Angeles with $5,146,200 to work with for this year’s international class.

This amount is tied with the Giants for the lowest pool of any team. The Blue Jays and Padres (the other Sasaki finalists) have a pool size of $6,261,600, giving them a bit extra to work with in terms of paying Sasaki, or spending on other int’l talents should Sasaki sign elsewhere. Should all three teams trade for the maximum amount of extra pool space, the Dodgers would have approximately $8,223,920 to offer Sasaki, while Toronto and San Diego could offer him $10,018,560.

As noted earlier, Sasaki likely isn’t going to base his decision on what will ultimately end up being pretty similar offers from his three suitors. This could be why the Dodgers are apparently not yet pushing too hard to add to their pool space, as Sasaki might end up signing elsewhere anyway. Harris also notes that for the Dodgers (and presumably the Padres and Blue Jays), there’s a lack of leverage in such trade talks, as rival teams know full well that int’l bonus money is of particular importance as the clock ticks down towards January 23 and the close of Sasaki’s posting window.

International pool space is usually not considered a hugely valuable trade asset in general, though naturally teams trying to amass extra money to complete a signing may think otherwise. Earlier today, we saw the Giants acquire extra pool money in a pair of trades, as Blake Sabol was sent to the Red Sox and Will Kempner was dealt to the Marlins. These additional funds helped San Francisco boost its $5,146,200 figure, and probably helped the team land its top signing — highly-touted Dominican shortstop prospect Josuar De Jesus Gonzalez, who got a bonus of $2,997,500.

The other wrinkle on the trade front is that teams with bonus space to spare might want to keep that money themselves for more signings, rather than deal it away. The team that lands Sasaki will have to walk away from its pre-existing handshake agreements with most or all members of its 2025 international signing class, so several other interesting prospects could soon be entering the market. Even the possibility that these unofficial agreements might not be honored has cost the Dodgers at least three prospects already, so the two teams who don’t sign Sasaki might both miss out on the pitcher and have to deal with a reduced group of int’l prospects if some of the players leave in advance.

Tommy Brown Passes Away

By Mark Polishuk | January 15, 2025 at 9:52pm CDT

Former big leaguer Tommy Brown passed away today at age 97, according to The Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh. “Buckshot” Brown played in 494 games with the Dodgers, Phillies, and Cubs from 1944-53, and he holds distinctions as the youngest player to ever hit a home run in a Major League game, and the youngest non-pitcher to ever appear in a Major League game.

Brown broke into the majors in August 1944 when he was just 16 years old. With several players serving in the military during World War II, big league teams were forced to fill out rosters with several players that wouldn’t have normally made the Show, opening the door to several young players like Brown. He played in 46 games for his hometown Brooklyn Dodgers in 1944, and then made 57 more appearances in 1945. It was on August 20, 1945 that Brown hit his first career homer and entered the record books at 17 years and 257 days old.

By 1946, Brown was old enough to enlist for military duty himself, and he missed the 1946 season while serving in the U.S. Army. He returned to baseball in 1947, and played in 169 more games for Brooklyn over parts of the next five seasons. Playing primarily as a shortstop, Brown also saw a lot of time at the other three infield positions and in left field over the course of his career. Dodgers manager Leo Durocher gave Brown his nickname of “Buckshot,” as Brown had a strong but erratic throwing arm that led to more than a few wayward throws in his early days.

While Brown didn’t see much action as a part-time player with Brooklyn, it was admittedly hard to crack the lineup of a star-studded Dodgers team. As Lindbergh noted, when Brown returned from the war to participate in the Dodgers’ Spring Training camp, he lost the competition for the first base job to none other than Jackie Robinson. Brown still played a valuable role as a utilityman during this memorable Dodgers era, and he had two pinch-hit at-bats during Brooklyn’s five-game loss to the Yankees in the 1949 World Series.

The Dodgers traded Brown to the Phillies in June 1951, and he played in 96 more games for Philadelphia over the next two seasons before landing with the Cubs for the final 126 games of his MLB career. Brown finished with a .241/.292/.355 slash line and 31 homers over 1387 career plate appearances, with his best numbers coming in bench duty with the Dodgers in 1950, and amidst a surge in playing time in 1952 after he went to Chicago.

Brown played in six more minor league seasons before retiring at age 31. This included a stint with Nashville’s minor league team from 1955-58 that ended up changing the course of Brown’s life, as he met his future wife in Nashville and spent 35 years working at the city’s Ford Glass plant after his baseball career was over.

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Brown’s family and friends.

Mets Interested In Tim Hill

By Mark Polishuk | January 15, 2025 at 7:42pm CDT

The Mets have “been interested lately” in left-hander Tim Hill, Newsday’s Tim Healey reports. Hill has now drawn some looks from two different New York boroughs, as the Yankees were also linked to Hill’s market last month.

Adam Ottavino, Jake Diekman, Phil Maton, Drew Smith, Brooks Raley, and Ryne Stanek are all free agents, and the Mets have largely looked to replace this relief depth with an influx of minor league signings and waiver claims. Griffin Canning was signed to a big league deal and looks to be part of the bullpen mix, as well. Amidst all of these moves, however, Danny Young is the only southpaw bullpen option on the 40-man roster, so the Mets certainly have a need for more left-handed pitching help.

Signing Tanner Scott would certainly address the bullpen balance in a major fashion, yet regardless of whether or not the Mets’ pursuit of Scott pans out, a veteran arm like Hill would also help. Hill got a taste of the New York spotlight last season, when he posted an outstanding 2.05 ERA over 44 regular-season innings with the Yankees and then a 1.08 ERA in 8 1/3 playoffs innings.

A .238 BABIP certainly contributed to that success in the pinstripes, and for an extreme groundball pitcher like Hill, batted-ball luck has largely contributed to his ebbs and flows over his seven MLB seasons. Hill has a 3.99 ERA across 322 1/3 career innings with the Royals, Padres, White Sox, and Yankees, with an excellent 61.8% grounder rate. He was an average strikeout pitcher at best in the early part of his career, but Hill’s strikeout rate has dropped to just 11.8% over the last three seasons. The decrease in strikeouts has also generally coincided with a dropoff in home runs, as keeping the ball in the park was also an issue for Hill earlier in his career.

Hill turns 35 in February, and given how two rough months with the White Sox preceded his strong showing in the Bronx, the left-hander will surely land just a one-year contract in free agency. That might fit well with David Stearns’ usual approach to investing in relief pitching, as the Mets president of baseball operations has rarely spent much on bullpen arms, instead preferring to develop relievers from within or to find hidden gems on minor league deals.

Nationals Sign Franchy Cordero To Minor League Contract

By Mark Polishuk | January 15, 2025 at 6:33pm CDT

The Nationals signed outfielder/first baseman Franchy Cordero to a minor league contract, according to Aram Leighton of Just Baseball Media. There are conflicting reports over whether or not the deal includes an invitation to the Nats’ big league spring camp, as Leighton writes that Cordero got an invite while the Washington Post’s Andrew Golden writes otherwise.

Cordero returns to North American baseball after a year spent with the Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball. More specifically, most of Cordero’s time was spent with the Lions’ top minor league affiliate, as he played only 23 games with the Lions and struggled to a .129/.151/.200 over 73 NPB plate appearances.

It was hardly the performance Cordero was hoping for in his trip to Japan, which could be why (as per Golden’s report) Washington only issued him an invite to its minor league Spring Training site. Regardless of the exact nature of Cordero’s contract, the minor league deal is a no-risk move for the Nationals to look at Cordero first-hand and see what he can still bring to the table as he enters his age-30 season.

Cordero hit .217/.283/.395 with 27 home runs over 797 PA and 251 games with the Padres, Royals, Red Sox, and Yankees from 2017-23. Despite the lack of production, it was easy to see why so multiple teams kept taking chances on Cordero, as his power potential, exit velocity numbers, and plus speed gave the impression that a breakout was just around the corner. However, Cordero’s 34.9% career strikeout rate minimized his impact, as pitchers were often able to turn Cordero’s aggressive approach at the plate into a minus rather than a plus.

Defensively, Cordero has experience at first base and at all three outfield positions, though he isn’t considered to be much of a fielder. Washington’s minor league depth chart doesn’t have many players with MLB experience at first base or in the outfield, so the Nationals could be viewing Cordero solely as a Triple-A backup plan.

AL East Notes: Morton, Rays, Neander, Yankees

By Mark Polishuk | January 12, 2025 at 2:57pm CDT

As has been the custom over his last few seasons, veteran right-hander Charlie Morton talked things over with his wife after the 2024 campaign to figure out whether or not he would again try to ramp up for another run. This time, however, Morton might’ve on some level made his decision even before his 2024 season was over. Morton told MLB.com’s Jake Rill and other reporters that in his final start of the regular season with the Braves, “I remember walking off the field and just this like sinking feeling in my stomach — it just didn’t feel right. I’m sure a lot of guys toward the end of their careers, they think about retiring, shutting it down, and you really want to walk off the field the last time and feel good about it. And a lot of guys don’t get that opportunity. I just didn’t feel good about it. I felt like I could have done better. I felt like I still had the tools to be a good pitcher in the big leagues.”

Now set to begin his 18th big league season, the 41-year-old Morton signed a one-year, $15MM deal with the Orioles. It was an ideal fit for Morton both because the O’s are a contender, and for important off-the-field reasons. Morton and his wife Cindy each have family relatively near the Baltimore area, and the Orioles’ Spring Training camp in Sarasota is near the Mortons’ home in Bradenton, Florida.

Orioles “Haven’t Closed The Door On” Re-Signing John Means

By Mark Polishuk | January 12, 2025 at 1:23pm CDT

John Means is a free agent for the first time in his career, though the southpaw entered the open market under a cloud of uncertainty following Tommy John surgery last June. It was the second TJ procedure in a little over two years’ time for Means, which has limited him to 52 1/3 Major League innings over the 2022-24 seasons.

Despite this checkered health situation, a reunion with the Orioles still seems like a possibility. MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko writes that the O’s “haven’t closed the door on” Means, and “it would be a mistake to downplay their interest. Re-signing him is a possibility.” This interest might not translate into a contract in the immediate future, as Means is expected to only reach a deal later in the offseason given that he’ll be sidelined for most or all of the 2025 campaign.

In all likelihood, Means and his reps at the Wasserman Agency are looking for the type of backloaded, two-year contract that has become the norm for pitchers recovering from a long-term injury. Such deals commonly see the pitcher receive a small guaranteed salary in the first year with the understanding that most or all of the season will be spent rehabbing, and more guaranteed money is backloaded into the second year when the pitcher is hopefully healthy and ready to go.

An 11th-round pick for Baltimore in the 2014 draft, Means has spent his entire pro career in an Orioles uniform, posting a 3.68 ERA over 401 innings in the orange-and-black. Means’ tenure has been highlighted by a second-place finish in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2019, an All-Star selection in that same season, and a no-hitter in 2021. This early success came while the Orioles were in their deep rebuild, and Means was one of the few bright spots on an otherwise dismal roster.

Unfortunately for Means, his injury problems have kept him from playing much of a role in the Orioles’ emergence from that rebuild. He underwent his first Tommy John surgery in May 2022 and returned in time to make four starts in September 2023, but elbow soreness kept him off Baltimore’s playoff roster. He didn’t make his 2024 season debut until May 4, and Means made another four starts before UCL damage again led to another long layoff.

The usual 13-15 month recovery period for Tommy John procedures would put July 2025 as the best-case scenario for Means’ return date. Of course, the fact that this is his second TJ surgery (and in such a short span of time) could very well push Means to the longer end of that projected timeline, and even one setback could keep him off a Major League mound entirely in 2025.

This is purely speculative given the lack of details on Means’ recovery process, but a quicker return to the majors might be possible if he aimed to return as a reliever for the 2025 season. Rather than rebuild the arm strength needed for a starters’ workload, Means could focus on just working one or two innings at most, in order to perhaps make him ready for July or August. Means has started 73 of his 78 career games, and would well return to starting down the road, once he has knocked off some rust with a few relief outings in 2025. Or, since Means is turning 32 in April and has such a lengthy injury history, he could even consider a full-time move to the bullpen as a way of keeping him healthy and extending his career.

Re-signing with the O’s might also make relief pitching more of a direct short-term option for Means, since cracking Baltimore’s bullpen could be easier than working his way into what is a pretty crowded rotation depth chart. Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano have been signed this season to join Zach Eflin, Grayson Rodriguez, and Dean Kremer as the top starting options, with Albert Suarez likely operating as a swingman, and several depth arms (Trevor Rogers, Cade Povich, Chayce McDermott, Brandon young) at Triple-A. Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells also aiming to return from UCL surgeries of their own — Bradish a TJ procedure and Wells an internal brace procedure — at some point in 2025.

The Orioles obviously know Means’ medicals better than any other team, and their continued interest in the left-hander indicates some confidence that Means will be able to recover in some form. Bringing Means back on a two-year deal also lines up a starting option for 2026, which is noteworthy since Morton, Sugano, and Eflin are all slated to become free agents next winter.

MLBTR Chat Transcript

By Mark Polishuk | January 12, 2025 at 12:30pm CDT

Click here to read the transcript of today’s live baseball chat

Braves Sign Garrett Cooper To Minor League Deal

By Mark Polishuk | January 12, 2025 at 8:56am CDT

The Braves have signed first baseman Garrett Cooper to a minor league contract, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray. The deal includes an invitation for Cooper to attend Atlanta’s big league Spring Training camp.

After spending the majority of his eight MLB seasons with the Marlins, Cooper now heads back to the NL East in the hopes of achieving some stability in what has become a journeyman-esque couple of years. Miami dealt Cooper to the Padres at the 2023 trade deadline, and upon entering free agency last winter, Cooper landed with the Cubs on a minor league contract. He was then designated for assignment and subsequently traded to the Red Sox at the end of April, but was then DFA’ed again by Boston in June and then released.

Cooper signed another minors deal with the Orioles but didn’t make any appearances with Baltimore at the MLB level, as injuries hampered his time at Triple-A Norfolk. Cooper had a .914 OPS over 84 plate appearances with Norfolk, which might hint that he has something left in the tank as he enters his age-34 season, even if his MLB numbers with Chicago and Boston left a lot to be desired.

Cooper hit well in 41 PA with the Cubs before struggling badly over 75 PA with the Red Sox. It added up to an overall .206/.267/.299 slash line over 116 plate appearances, and the second straight season of declining numbers for Cooper after his Marlins heyday. Cooper hit .274/.350/.444 over 1273 PA for Miami from 2019-22, and was the team’s All-Star representative in 2022 even though injuries and the Marlins’ overall lower profile made him something of an underrated hitter.

While there has always been a good deal of swing-and-miss in Cooper’s game even in his prime years, his strikeout rates have increased over the last two seasons and his hard-contact numbers have dropped. Defensively, Cooper played a good deal of right field earlier in his career but has been almost exclusively a first baseman since the start of the 2021 season, apart from two appearances in left field for the Cubs this year.

Since Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna have the first base and DH positions locked down in Atlanta, the outfield is likely Cooper’s best path to winning a job on the Braves’ Opening Day roster. Jarred Kelenic is penciled in for the bulk of work in left field, but since he’ll need a platoon partner, a right-handed bat like Cooper might be an ideal fit.

A return to right field also might not be out of the question, as Ronald Acuna Jr. is expected to miss some time at the start of the season as he returns from a torn ACL. The Braves have added Bryan De La Cruz (a former teammate of Cooper’s in Miami) and Conner Capel to an outfield depth chart that also includes Luke Williams and Eli White, as the team will try to make do in the corner outfield slots until Acuna is back in action.

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