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The Opener: Padres, DFA Resolution, MLBTR Chat

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As spring training nears, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:

1. When will the Padres execute a trade?

Over the weekend, it was reported that the Padres might have more payroll capacity this winter than initially believed, allowing them to avoid shedding salary below currently projected levels. With multiple holes in the lineup and rotation, however, making a trade or two still seems all but necessary in order to make budget space available for additions to the roster. Right-hander Dylan Cease has long appeared to be available this winter, with infielder Luis Arraez and closer Robert Suarez among the other pieces that have been under consideration for a trade. The Friars are now also said to have fielded some interest in right-hander Michael King. Given the number of teams still interested in adding to their rotation, dealing Cease or King would bring the largest return of the group. There’s no indication San Diego is expressly shopping either right-hander, but it’s only natural that both would draw wide interest with the Padres willing to entertain the possibility of a trade.

2. DFA resolution incoming:

Last week, the Mariners designated left-hander Tyler Jay for assignment after acquiring right-hander Will Klein in a trade with the A’s. Jay, 31 in April, made his big league debut in 2024 and with 7 2/3 innings of work between the Mets and Brewers. The southpaw was cut from the club’s 40-man a week ago to the day, and as such the one-week window for a DFA’d player to either be moved or clear waivers is closing. There should be an announcement regarding Jay’s future at some point today, whether that’s a waiver claim or him clearing waivers. If Jay clears waivers, he’ll have the opportunity to reject an outright assignment and test free agency after being outrighted earlier in his career.

3. MLBTR Chat Today:

With spring training just a couple of weeks away, we’re nearing the point where the baseball offseason starts to give way to preseason excitement even as major free agents remain unsigned and team needs remain unfulfilled. Whether you have questions about what’s left for your team to do this winter or a trade proposal in the back of your mind, MLBTR’s Steve Adams will be here to answer your questions during a live chat scheduled for 1pm CT. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.

Poll: Will Jack Flaherty Or Pete Alonso Sign First?

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Just a couple of weeks remain before pitchers and catchers report for spring training, and 32 of MLBTR’s Top 50 MLB Free Agents have signed. That includes 17 of the top 20, with only third baseman Alex Bregman, first baseman Pete Alonso, and right-hander Jack Flaherty still remaining in that upper tier. Bregman’s market has appeared to pick up in recent days, even as he’s stuck to his guns on seeking a long-term contract, but things have remained fairly static for both Alonso and Flaherty.

That lack of movement has come in spite of both players beginning to consider shorter-term offers to at least some degree. In Flaherty’s case, it was reported earlier this month that his camp is “open” to short-term offers after spending much of the winter looking for a five-year deal. Alonso surely entered free agency seeking a long-term pact, but the interest he’s received has been focused on shorter-term arrangements similar to the ones signed by players like Cody Bellinger and Blake Snell last winter. Though he’s open to shorter-term pacts, he rejected a three-year offer from the Mets that guaranteed him around $70MM; his camp had reportedly offered the Mets a three-year deal at a higher annual salary that contained opt-out clauses.

Both Alonso and Flaherty saw their difficult trips through free agency spur candid public comments this weekend. In Flaherty’s case, he delivered those comments himself in an interview where he discussed his “weird” free agency before suggesting that many teams have become somewhat complacent in pursuing just the opportunity to make the postseason rather than trying to construct the best team possible. For Alonso, it was Mets owner Steve Cohen who described “exhausting” negotiations with the club’s longtime first baseman. Cohen noted that he made a “significant” offer to Alonso’s camp but hasn’t been interested in the contract structures being presented by them, calling the deals “highly asymmetric” against the team.

Flaherty and Alonso are two of the more difficult players to evaluate in this winter’s crop of free agents. Flaherty had an undeniably excellent platform season in 2024, pitching to a 3.17 ERA (127 ERA+) in 28 starts between the Tigers and Dodgers while striking out 29.9% of opponents. That was his first time making it to 150 innings in five years, however, as he pitched just 299 innings total over the 2020-23 seasons. That four-year stretch saw Flaherty struggle on a rate basis, as well, with a pedestrian 4.42 ERA (94 ERA+) and 4.36 FIP. In conjunction with high-profile reports around the trade deadline that brought forth concerns regarding Flaherty’s medical records, clubs have been reluctant to commit to the right-hander long term even in spite of his demonstrated upside.

For Alonso, the divisiveness is to be expected for a player with his profile. The slugger’s titanic power allowed him to explode onto the scene back in 2019 when he won Rookie of the Year, crushed 53 homers, and became an instant star. From 2019 to 2022, Alonso slashed .261/.349/.535 (137 wRC+) with 146 homers in 530 games and established himself as a consistent four-win player. The past two seasons have been less productive. He’s hit .229/.324/.480 (121 wRC+) since 2023 with career-worst 34 home runs in 2024. That’s still well above average, but now that Alonso’s bat has seemingly taken a step back from “elite,” his poor defense and relatively pedestrian on-base ability have are more problematic. Alonso’s star power and slugging ability appear to suggest he should be in line for a healthy long-term deal, but the market has moved away from this type of skill set. Were Alonso still in his mid-20s, perhaps it’d be overlooked, but he turned 30 in December.

The start of spring training hasn’t always been enough to convince star players who linger on market to sign, but it’s a strong incentive for players to accelerate talks. Further, the struggles of late signees who miss significant portions of spring training (Jordan Montgomery being the most prominent recent example) could further incentivize players to get a deal in place soon.

Who will be off the board first? Will Alonso be able to reach an agreement that bridges the gap between his peak and more recent production? Or will Flaherty find a team willing to gamble on his excellent 2024 but shaky track record from 2020-23? Have your say in the poll below:

Who Will Sign First?
Jack Flaherty 55.22% (5,159 votes)
Pete Alonso 44.78% (4,184 votes)
Total Votes: 9,343

The Opener: Cubs, Bregman, DFA Resolution

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With just two weeks until pitchers and catchers begin to report for Spring Training, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Cubs 40-man roster moves incoming:

The Cubs and Astros have reached an agreement on a trade sending veteran reliever Ryan Pressly (and $5.5MM cash) to Chicago in exchange for minor leaguer Juan Bello. Last night, Pressly agreed to waive his no-trade clause, receiving both a new no-trade clause and an assignment bonus (to cover the difference in state taxes) as part of the deal. That trade has not yet been formally announced by the teams, but when it is the Cubs will need to clear space on the 40-man roster. Pressly isn’t the only player the club needs to make room for on the roster. Utilityman Jon Berti agreed to a one-year deal with the Cubs last week. Like the Pressly trade, that signing has also yet to be made official and will require the Cubs to open a 40-man roster spot.

2. Bregman headed home?

Longtime Astros third baseman Alex Bregman was the talk of baseball over the weekend. Late last week, reports began to percolate that the Astros and Bregman had reengaged despite Houston’s acquisitions of Christian Walker and Isaac Paredes to handle the infield corners seemingly signaling a split. The Astros held their annual FanFest over the weekend and, while comments from GM Dana Brown described a Bregman reunion as a “longshot,” franchise face Jose Altuve emphasized the importance of Bregman to the team and made clear he would be willing to move to the outfield if it meant bringing Bregman back into the fold. Will a deal reach the finish line soon, or could another suitor for Bregman like the Tigers or Blue Jays swoop in and get something done instead?

3. DFA resolution incoming:

Last week, the Pirates designated infielder Tristan Gray for assignment to make room for veteran DH Andrew McCutchen on the 40-man roster. Gray, 29 in March, has just 17 games of big league experience under his belt between the Rays, Marlins, and Athletics over the past two seasons but was claimed off waivers by the Pirates back in October as a first base depth option. He’s since been pushed further down the depth chart by the acquisition of Spencer Horwitz, leading the club to cut him from the 40-man roster. That move was a week ago to the day, and as such the one-week window for a DFA’d player to either be moved or clear waivers is closing. There should be an announcement regarding Gray’s future at some point today, whether that’s a waiver claim or him clearing waivers and being outrighted to the minor leagues.

Cristian Javier Targeting Second Half Return From Tommy John Surgery

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The Astros figure to enter the season plagued by a number of rotation injuries this winter. Both Cristian Javier and J.P. France underwent season-ending surgery last year and are locks to start 2025 on the injured list, while reporting yesterday revealed that both Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. are also slated to miss at least the start of the upcoming campaign. France indicated earlier this month that he was targeting a return from shoulder surgery in July of this year, while Ari Alexander of KPRC2 reports that Javier suggested during the club’s FanFest event yesterday that he’s eyeing a return at some point in the second half.

That’s a somewhat vague timetable, though it could still fall within the 12 to 14 month timeline that’s typically associated with UCL surgery. GM Dana Brown indicated back in October (as noted by MLB.com) that Javier could return as soon as late July. That would be shortly after the All-Star break and roughly 14 months after he went under the knife, though Javier’s more general second half timetable suggests at least some possibility of him returning later than previously anticipated. It’s surely not how the Astros were hoping things would go when they signed Javier to a five-year, $64MM extension prior to the 2023 campaign. The righty is due to make $10.4MM in 2025 as part of that contract before his salary jumps to $21.4MM for the final two years of the deal.

The Astros are surely hoping the right-hander will be able to return to the form he flashed in 2022, when he posted a 2.54 ERA (150 ERA+) and a 3.16 FIP in 148 2/3 innings of work before turning in a strong performance during the club’s championship run in October. He hasn’t been quite the same pitcher in the years since then, with a pedestrian 4.44 ERA (95 ERA+ and 4.61 FIP in 38 starts since the start of the 2023 season, but it’s not hard to imagine the soon to be 28-year-old hurler getting things back on track once he’s fully healthy. With Framber Valdez set to hit free agency following the 2025 season while both McCullers and Garcia are schedule to enter the open market the following winter, it would make sense if Houston decides to take things slowly with Javier as he works his way back from surgery given his importance to the long-term outlook of the club’s rotation.

Fortunately for Houston, they figure to be reasonably well-equipped to handle an extended absence for Javier should his time on the injured list bleed into August. The club’s projected Opening Day rotation figures to feature Valdez, Hunter Brown, Spencer Arrighetti, Ronel Blanco, and freshly acquired youngster Hayden Wesneski. Reinforcements should become available to the club throughout the season, as well. While Garcia and McCullers are no longer expected to be ready for Opening Day, Alexander notes that the latter has already resumed throwing off a mound and GM Dana Brown indicated yesterday that Garcia has resumed throwing as well. That would make a return early in the season feasible for both players, with France also seemingly likely to return over the summer and buy Javier extra time to rehab if necessary.

Cardinals Reluctant To Make Long-Term Commitments This Winter

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The Cardinals have been among the league’s quietest teams this winter as they’ve to this point failed in their attempts to trade third baseman Nolan Arenado despite both sides preferring he play elsewhere in 2025. That difficulty in trading Arenado won’t force other cost-cutting moves according to club brass, but it does seem to have forced them to take a passive approach to the offseason with limited budget space available until and unless Arenado or another significant salary is traded. Recent comments from president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, as reported by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, have further illuminated the club’s goals this winter.

During last weekend’s Winter Warmup fan event, Mozeliak told reporters that his goal for the winter has been to create a “clean slate” for incoming president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, who will replace him at the head of baseball operations when Mozeliak’s contract expires after the 2025 season. That desire to offer Bloom maximum flexibility as he takes over baseball operations has seemingly informed the club’s attempts to move Arenado. As Goold notes, Arenado is one of just three players who have a guaranteed contract in place beyond the 2025 season. The other two veterans, slugger Willson Contreras and right-hander Sonny Gray, both declined to waive their no-trade clauses earlier this winter and plan to stick in St. Louis going forward.

Aside from attempting to shed long-term commitments where possible, Goold adds that the Cardinals appear similarly reluctant to make new ones this winter. While the club is reportedly in the market for a late-inning reliever to replace Andrew Kittredge, it appears they club is hoping to avoid a longer-term agreement with a bullpen arm. That shouldn’t be too much of an obstacle given that the majority of the winter’s top relievers are already off the market and most veteran leverage relievers still available such as David Robertson, Kenley Jansen, and Tommy Kahnle are at an age where the vast majority of players are already limited to one-year offers on the open market. Filling the club’s reported desire for a right-handed bench bat who can complement a heavily left-handed lineup should be similarly easy to do on a one-year deal, as multi-year deals for projected bench players are few and far between.

Given the nature of the club’s external needs this winter, Mozeliak’s preference to avoid longer-term commitments this offseason appears likely to have more of an impact on the club’s approach to extensions. Closer Ryan Helsley, a free agent after the 2025 season, spoke candidly last weekend about the lack of extension talks between his camp and the Cardinals to this point. Meanwhile, reporting earlier this month suggested that the Cardinals were discussing a multi-year extension with utility man Brendan Donovan but no deal ultimately came together. Goold sheds some light on that situation, writing that the Cardinals have previously expressed interest in a multi-year deal with Donovan but did not “aggressively pursue” long-term deals with either him or any of the club’s other arbitration-eligible players this winter.

With one president of baseball operations finishing out the final year of his contract and his successor already both in the organization and announced as the future head of baseball ops, the Cardinals find themselves in an unusual position when it comes to committing to longer-term contracts even in the case of their own players. When asked about the possibility of extensions this offseason, Mozeliak indicated to Goold that the club remains open to conversation this spring but that Bloom would be involved in any negotiations given that he would be the person inheriting those longer-term commitments. Given that two top decision-makers would be involved in any negotiations this winter, it’s easy to imagine both sides preferring to table any extension talks until next year for players under team control beyond the 2025 season. At that point, Bloom will be fully in charge of baseball operations and have another year of direct evaluation under his belt with which he can make decisions.

Speculatively speaking, the Cardinals’ desire to provide Bloom with as much flexibility as possible when he takes over baseball operations after the 2025 season may also influence their decision to resist the idea of trading players who aren’t veterans on long-term, guaranteed deals. By keeping players with a handful of years of team control remaining like Donovan and Lars Nootbaar in the fold for 2025, Mozeliak offers Bloom the opportunity to decide whether or not the club should entertain an extension or trade for those players next winter.

Even rebuffing interest from rival clubs in players like Helsley and Erick Fedde could be a decision made in order to maximize flexibility when Bloom takes over, offering him the opportunity to extend the Qualifying Offer to either player if they turn in a sufficiently strong performance in 2025. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco discussed the Cardinals’ “half-measure” offseason in an exclusive article for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers earlier this month, and the club’s apparent goal of maximizing the options at Bloom’s disposal when he takes over next winter could be an explanation for their apparent lack of urgency.

Jack Flaherty Discusses Free Agency

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Free agent righty Jack Flaherty appeared on the Foul Territory podcast recently to discuss his ongoing trip through free agency and made some revealing comments about the state of his market. Notably, the right-hander indicated that while a handful of teams have continued to check in with him throughout the offseason, clubs have been reluctant to make him a formal offer to this point.

“It’s like, ’What are you up to?’ [and] ’When is the market gonna move?’… You have to make an offer and then it’ll go, but just calling and checking in… I don’t know. It’s weird,” Flaherty said. He then went on to suggest that clubs might have some level of complacency about improving beyond the level needed to have a chance at getting into the playoffs.

“It’s not that I don’t think teams want to win, I just think you have a lot of teams that look at their rosters and they’re happy with it… teams just want to get into the playoffs. Maybe it’s not World Series or bust, it’s just hope we can get into the playoffs and then kind of see what happens.”

Since the league expanded the postseason to include 12 teams back in 2022, there’s been a trend away from the tear-down method of rebuilding used by teams like the Cubs, Nationals, and Orioles in recent years. Entering the 2025 season, only the White Sox and Marlins are rebuilding in that sort of aggressive fashion with the rest of the league’s clubs generally looking to maintain at least some level of baseline competitiveness. That’s a strategy incentivized by the new playoff format, which not only added another playoff team in both leagues but also allows Wild Card teams to participate in a three-game series rather than the one-game, win-or-go-home playoff the 10-team format utilized in the past.

That guarantee of a postseason series for any club that can make the playoffs at all, when combined with the inherit randomness of baseball’s playoffs, has arguably weakened the incentive for teams to maximize their odds of winning their division at the expense of the franchise’s longer-term outlook. Some evidence for this is relatively easy to see: 2024 was the first season in a decade where no club won 100 games, and the first three seasons of the 12-team playoff format have seen five teams that won 86 games or less make the postseason after just two such teams made the playoffs during the entire 10-team playoff era that spanned from 2012 to 2021.

That includes 84-win campaigns by the Diamondbacks and Marlins in 2023, which were tied for the lowest win total for any playoff team since 83-win Cardinals won the World Series back in 2006. Only one other team, the 2005 Padres, has made it to the playoffs with less than 84 wins in a 162-game season since the 1973 Mets won the AL East with 82 wins. To what extent that increased ability for teams with win totals in the mid-80’s to make the postseason can be traced back to the struggles some higher-end free agents such as Flaherty have faced in finding free agent deals that are commensurate with their perceived value is difficult to pin down, however.

Regardless of the cause of Flaherty’s depressed market, it was reported earlier this month that the right-hander is now open to short-term offers as he looks to find his new home with the start of Spring Training just two over two weeks away. The Tigers, Cubs, Orioles, and Blue Jays are among the teams that have been connected to Flaherty this winter. The right-hander expressed a desire to return to the Dodgers early in the offseason, but that door has long appeared closed in the aftermath of Los Angeles striking early to sign Blake Snell back in November. The Dodgers have also added Roki Sasaki since then, further crowding their rotation mix. Flaherty acknowledged the long odds of a reunion during the interview, noting that he “can do the math” and surmise that he’s “most likely” not returning to LA. He also has interest in returning to his other 2024 club this year, however, and spoke positively of the Tigers during the interview.

“You know, I wanted to stay in Detroit,” Flaherty said. “We had conversations, and I loved it there. And I thought the combo of me and Skub was incredible… we’ve been talking to them and talking to other teams… Hey, you know, it would be fun to go back there.”

The Tigers appear to be one of the more active teams at the top of the remaining free agent market at this point, as they’ve remained engaged not only with Flaherty but also with third baseman Alex Bregman. Bregman has appeared to be the club’s priority to this point, but those are reportedly at a “standstill.” If Bregman ultimately signs elsewhere, it’s easy to imagine Detroit redirecting those funds to Flaherty where the righty would reclaim his role at the top of the club’s rotation alongside Tarik Skubal. That signing would push the club’s potential fifth starter options like Kenta Maeda, Matt Manning, Casey Mize, and Keider Montero into depth roles entering the season.

Padres Expect To Carry A Top 10 Payroll In 2025

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The Padres have been among the quietest teams in baseball this winter, which is unusual given that president of baseball operations AJ Preller is one of the most aggressive front office executives in the sport. The club’s inaction this winter has largely been informed by reports of significant payroll constraints, but Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported last night that those constraints might not be quite as stringent as once believed. While the club was previously thought to be angling towards lowering its 2025 payroll to something closer to the $169MM level they ran with in 2024, Acee now reports that the club plans to carry a payroll in or around the league’s top 10 for this season.

San Diego’s payroll currently ranks ninth in the sport at $208MM according to RosterResource, although some clubs on the outside of the top 10 such as the Cubs, Red Sox, Giants, and Angels are rumored to be involved in the markets of significant free agents like Alex Bregman, Jack Flaherty, and Pete Alonso who would likely catapult any of them into the top ten if signed. Even so, it stands to reason that the Padres are at least somewhat unlikely to increase payroll beyond its current level, a thought that Acee more or less confirms by noting that the club does not appear to be able to add payroll without first making room in the budget elsewhere.

That’s not necessarily exciting news for Padres fans, given the club’s clear needs at catcher, in the rotation, in left field, and at DH. It’s a lot of holes for Preller to try and plug without increasing payroll, and that’s led the Padres to listen to offers on key pieces such as Luis Arraez, Dylan Cease, and Robert Suarez this winter. While trading any of those players would create another hole on the roster, the return package combined with the payroll flexibility created by moving salary could allow San Diego to come out ahead on those moves as they did when they shipped Juan Soto to the Yankees last winter.

That makes the club’s plan to carry a payroll in or around the top ten potentially game changing for the front office. When the club was believed to be operating under a mandate to cut payroll, it seemed as though the Padres may have to execute multiple trades in order to make even modest additions via free agency. Now, however, it appears any dollars freed up by any trades they make can be reinvested directly back into the roster. That should make trading a high-end player like Cease much easier to turn into a net positive for the roster overall than it would have been if the club was forced to rely entirely on the return package for upgrades. It could also make the possibility of dumping a contract like that of Jake Cronenworth more attractive for the front office even in the event they’re unable to secure a significant return, as the roughly $11.3M is slated to earn in 2025 could then be spent on addressing more critical needs.

What remains unclear is whether or not the Padres are willing to exceed the first luxury tax threshold this year after avoiding the tax last season. San Diego is currently just over the first $241MM threshold with a projected payroll of roughly $243MM for CBT purposes. Preller has shown a willingness to get creative with his additions in order to lower a player’s AAV for luxury tax purposes in the past, and it’s certainly feasible to imagine the Padres finding a way to sneak under that first threshold while maintaining a similar or even identical payroll in terms of actual dollars spent. Moving a pricey arbitration level player like Cease or Arraez would be particularly valuable if ducking under the luxury tax is a goal, as their one-year salaries count fully against the luxury tax while even a similarly-priced free agent could be signed to a more complicated contract structure that offers San Diego additional wiggle room.

Drew Thorpe Suffers Setback In Recovery From Elbow Surgery

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White Sox fans recently received some bad news regarding one of their most promising young players, as right-hander Drew Thorpe told reporters (including Scott Merkin of MLB.com) that he received a cortisone shot yesterday amid a setback in his recovery from the surgery he underwent to bone spur from his right elbow back in September.

Thorpe was previously expected to be ready for Spring Training, but will be behind to start camp. With that being said, however, the right-hander hopes to start playing catch next week and both Thorpe as well as GM Chris Getz expressed optimism about the situation. Thorpe noted that he underwent an MRI earlier this month and that “everything came back clean,” while Getz indicated that the club is “confident” that Thorpe’s setback will prove to be a minor one and that he’ll be ready for big league action in April.

While Thorpe’s outlook appears to be as good as can reasonably be expected for a pitcher dealing with a setback while rehabbing elbow surgery, the news is nonetheless a worrying sign for a White Sox club still reeling from its record-setting 121-loss campaign in 2024. As one of the only actively rebuilding clubs in baseball at the moment, Chicago has little reason for optimism headed into the 2025 season. The club has added veteran pieces such as Josh Rojas, Mike Tauchman, and Martin Perez to the mix ahead of the coming campaign but the focus remains entirely on a core of young, up-and-coming players who the Sox are hoping will be able to turn things around for them in the future.

As the centerpiece of last year’s Dylan Cease trade, Thorpe is a huge part of that core. The right-hander was generally regarded as a top-50 prospect in the sport last winter when he was part of back-to-back blockbuster trades when the Yankees shipped him to San Diego as part of the Juan Soto deal before the Padres promptly flipped him to Chicago in order to acquire Cease. Drafted by New York in the second round of the 2022 draft and having only reached the Double-A level in 2023, Thorpe was a fast riser who made his way to the majors in June of last year. The right-hander pitched fairly well in his first seven starts as a big leaguer, posting a 3.03 ERA and 4.67 FIP in 38 2/3 innings of work, but was shelled for 14 runs in just 5 2/3 frames over his next two starts before going on the injured list with a flexor strain and ultimately undergoing surgery.

In 2025, Thorpe appeared ticketed for an Opening Day rotation job but now will have to focus on rehabbing for at least the start of the season before he can attempt to build on his up-and-down debut season. Last year, the righty flashed his considerable talent but also frequently struggled with his command, walking 11.1% of batters faced and surrendering eight homers in just 44 1/3 innings of work. Fortunately for Thorpe, there should be plenty of room in the club’s rotation once he’s healthy enough to return to the mound. Perez, Bryse Wilson and Jonathan Cannon appear locked into rotation jobs to start the year, while the last two spots figure to go to some combination of Sean Burke, Davis Martin, Nick Nastrini, and Ky Bush.

Twins Notes: Correa, Buxton, Ryan, Lewis

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The TwinsFest fan event in Minnesota was today and, as noted by Matthew Leach of MLB.com, manager Rocco Baldelli and president of baseball operations Derek Falvey provided updates on the health of a number of major players on the roster. Chief among those was shortstop Carlos Correa, who turned in phenomenal numbers for the Twins on a rate basis last year but was limited to just 86 games due to plantar fasciitis. Falvey noted today that Correa has had “no issues” with his plantar fasciitis this offseason, and Correa himself backed that up.

“I’m ready to go, full go for spring training,” Correa told reporters, as relayed by Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune. “I’ve been sprinting. I’ve been running around. I’ve been doing about everything. I’ve been focused on not only just treatment but also strengthening. A lot of walking barefoot around the house. All that’s helping work on my toes and all that, so I’m in a really good spot.”

Nightengale adds that Correa is ahead of schedule relative to last offseason and has already begun hitting and taking groundballs in addition to running. That Correa appears to be fully healthy headed into 2025 is surely a huge relief for the Twins, as the shortstop is arguably the club’s most impactful player when healthy. If he can deliver anything like last season’s .310/.388/.517 slash line over a full season this year, that should be a huge boost for the Twins as they angle towards making a return to the postseason following a frustrating late-season collapse last September.

Correa isn’t the only impact player who received a positive health update today, however. Falvey and Baldelli both indicated that having a normal offseason without any rehabbing or physical therapy has done wonders for center fielder Byron Buxton, who has often been injured frequently throughout his career but managed to appear in 102 games this year with a .279/.335/.524 slash line in 388 trips to the plate. If he can build on his healthy offseason and stay on the field in 2025, that would give the Twins a second player with five-win potential in their lineup alongside Correa.

Turning to the rotation, right-hander Joe Ryan ended the 2024 campaign on the shelf due to Grade 2 teres major strain that sidelined him back in August. Fortunately, the issue has not bled into the offseason and Leach indicates that he’s at the same point in his throwing program that he would be at this point in the winter during any other year. That’s surely a huge relief for the Twins given that Ryan was their best starter last year when healthy. The 28-year-old righty posted a strong 3.60 ERA (115 ERA+) with a 3.44 FIP and a strong 27.3% strikeout rate in 23 starts for the club last season. Building on that performance in 2025 would be particularly key for the Twins if staff ace Pablo Lopez were to be traded this winter, though rumors have quieted down on that front since reports indicated the club was listening to offers on him last month.

One other update to come from today’s festivities involved infielder Royce Lewis and the club’s plans for him in 2025. Earlier this winter, reporting indicated that the Twins were considering a shift from third base to second for Lewis. Since then, it’s been confirmed that the club plans to have Lewis take reps at both positions during Spring Training, but LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune relayed this evening that Falvey made clear the club’s plan as things stand is for Lewis to continue playing third base during the season this year. That would seemingly leave second base open for 2022 first rounder Brooks Lee, though Edouard Julien is also capable of playing the position.

Braves, Cubs Among Teams Interested In Ryne Stanek

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The Braves and Cubs are among teams interested in right-handed reliever Ryne Stanek, according to a report from Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Stanek was listed among a number of relievers the Cubs have looked into earlier this week, though this is the first time a connection between the veteran and Atlanta has been reported.

Stanek, 33, split the 2024 campaign between the Mariners and Mets. Things did not go well for the veteran last year, as he pitched to a 4.88 ERA (78 ERA+) with a 4.14 FIP in 55 1/3 innings of work, though he did manage to punch out 27.8% of his opponents despite those struggles. That down season came after a strong run with the Astros in Houston from 2021 to 2023, where he pitched to a 2.90 ERA in 173 2/3 innings with a 3.91 FIP. His numbers started to taper off a bit towards the end of his time in Houston, however, and a closer look at his numbers over the past four seasons reveals an interesting dichotomy.

During Stanek’s first two years with Houston, he posted a 2.41 ERA and 3.62 FIP. Since then, however, those figures have ballooned up to 4.50 and 4.36 respectively. That’s in spite of the fact that his strikeout rate during those peak years (28.2%) isn’t that far off from the 26% figure he’s posted the past two seasons. That mild drop in strikeouts has been more than made up for with a reduced walk rate, as well. From 2021 to ’22 Stanek walked a hefty 13.2% of opponents faced, but the past two years have seen that number drop to just 10.1%.

The culprit for that discrepancy lies within Stanek’s batted ball data. In that first pair of seasons, Stanek did quite well in limiting the worst types of contact. His barrel rate was a solid 7.1%, and while 43.5% of his batted balls allowed were fly balls just 7.8% of them left the yard to become home runs. The past two seasons, however, have seen Stanek start getting hit much harder. His barrel rate has jumped to 8.4% since the start of the 2023 season, and that’s caused him to become much more homer-happy in recent years. With fly balls now making up 51.6% of his batted balls allowed and 10.9% of those fly balls leaving the yard, his total amount of home runs allowed has nearly doubled over the past two years from where it was over his first two seasons in Houston.

Betting on a major rebound from a player who will turn 34 in July who has had troubling peripherals in back-to-back seasons and was a below-average pitcher last year always comes with a great deal of risk. With that being said, if an acquiring club can help Stanek get his home run problem under control in 2025 it’s easy to see the upside he could offer. The hard-throwing righty hasn’t lost anything off his fastball, which averaged 97.9 mph last year. His strikeout rate also rebounded in a big way last year after a noticeable drop in 2023, and in conjunction with his improved walk rates Stanek’s 17.4 K-BB% was the best he’s posted since 2018. The right-hander’s 3.56 SIERA was also the best figure he’s posted since that same season.

That upside could be enough to earn the veteran a major league deal this winter even in spite of his lackluster platform season. The Cubs are a sensible enough fit for the right-hander given their well-known pursuit of bullpen help this winter. While he’s hardly as impactful as other players Chicago has expressed interest in this winter like Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, Ryan Pressly, and David Robertson, the club’s preference in recent years has been to focus their attention on reclamation projects for the bullpen like Julian Merryweather, Mark Leiter Jr. and Jorge Lopez. They’ve had some success in that area, and if they opt to dip into that pool of free agents again rather than sign a more reliable late-inning option Stanek’s velocity and previous track record of success should make him an attractive option.

As for Atlanta, the club has never been shy about paying for high-end relief talent. The Braves’ bullpen mix for 2025 already features Raisel Iglesias, Pierce Johnson, and Aaron Bummer in the late innings but the loss of Joe Jimenez for most if not all of the 2025 campaign due to offseason surgery has left room for another veteran arm. Atlanta previously was involved in Scott’s market before he signed with the Dodgers, but they’ve since signed Jurickson Profar for their outfield mix and any remaining money in the budget may be better served patching up a rotation that’s lost Max Fried and Charlie Morton in free agency this winter. That could make Stanek an attractive and affordable option for the club to roll the dice on.

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