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Seiya Suzuki To Be Cubs’ Primary DH In 2025

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At the yesterday’s Cubs Convention in Chicago, manager Craig Counsell spoke to the crowd (video link) about the club’s outfield mix and clarified the Cubs’ outfield plans for the year. As Counsell lays things out, Ian Happ and Pete Crow-Armstrong will remain entrenched as the club’s regulars in left field and center field respectively, while offseason acquisition Kyle Tucker will take over as the regular right fielder.

That’s generally agreed to be the Cubs’ best defensive alignment as things stand and has seemed to be the most likely outcome ever since the Cubs acquired Tucker last month. With that being said, one side effect of making Tucker the club’s regular right fielder is that incumbent right fielder Seiya Suzuki will be pushed to DH on a regular basis this year. That’s a reality Counsell acknowledged, noting that Suzuki will DH “a lot” this season.

“We talked to Seiya this week about that, and he understands that, and he’s on board with that,” Counsell said, and he went on to note that they view Suzuki as an “extra outfielder” who can fill in for Happ and Tucker in the event of an injury.

Even so, it’s notable that the Cubs appear committed to Suzuki as a primary DH in 2025. Suzuki’s agent, Joel Wolfe of Wasserman, spoke to reporters during the Winter Meetings last month about Suzuki and made clear that his client wanted to play the field. Wolfe even suggested that Suzuki likely “would not have signed with a team” who pitched being their everyday DH to him in free agency. Those comments helped to stoke trade rumors surrounding Suzuki throughout December, and while they started to die down after the club traded Cody Bellinger to the Yankees his name has continued to come up on occasion in the rumor mill.

Counsell’s comments yesterday seemingly put that conversation to bed, indicating that the club and Suzuki have resolved whatever discord may have existed between the sides over the issue. Given that Tucker is Gold Glove award winner who trails only Mookie Betts and Aaron Judge in Defensive Runs Saved as a right fielder since he made his MLB debut in 2018, perhaps Suzuki is more willing to move off of his natural position in deference to him than he was for Bellinger, who was an average defender in right field (+0 Fielding Run Value, +1 DRS) last year.

Even with Suzuki, Tucker, Crow-Armstrong, and Happ set to be regulars for the club in 2025, there appears to be a need for at least one more outfield-capable player on the roster. While Suzuki can seamlessly shift to a corner in the event that Happ or Tucker either needs a day off or heads to the injured list, there’s no clear backup to Crow-Armstrong on the club’s roster after the Cubs non-tendered Mike Tauchman back in November. Happ has the most center field experience of the club’s other regulars, but he hasn’t played a single inning there in the past two years and was last a regular fixture at the position back in 2020.

Alexander Canario and Kevin Alcántara are both on the club’s 40-man roster and capable of playing center field, although Canario has almost exclusively been used in the corners to this point in his big league career and the Cubs may prefer to avoid using a top prospect like Alcántara in a bench role. Should the club look for an external option capable of playing center field amid their reported search for additional bench depth, Michael A. Taylor and Kevin Pillar are among the bench center fielders still available in free agency.

Chris Young Discusses Rangers’ Bullpen Plans

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The Rangers have made retooling their bullpen a priority after losing Kirby Yates, David Robertson, and José Leclerc to free agency at the start of the offseason. It’s an endeavor they’ve been largely successful in: Chris Martin, Robert Garcia, Jacob Webb, Shawn Armstrong, and Hoby Milner are all new additions who should help to steady the club’s bullpen in 2025. With that being said, though, it’s worth noting that the Rangers’ relief corps posted a 4.41 ERA last year even with Yates, Robertson, and Leclerc in the fold. That was a bottom-five figure in baseball, so merely replacing that production on the back-end would not be enough to make the club’s bullpen even league average.

It’s under that backdrop that president of baseball operations Chris Young commented (as relayed by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News) on the state of the bullpen during the club’s FanFest event yesterday and left the door open for another addition. While Young acknowledged that the club’s signings to this point are an improvement over what they had at the start of the offseason, he adds that the club is “going to need more than we have” over the course of the season.

“Some of that’s going to need to come internally with our player development, and some of it may be externally, but it’s our job to continue to look for ways to upgrade,” Young said, as relayed by Grant.

To that end, Young suggested the club is “staying open-minded” about the possibility of further bullpen upgrades. That he didn’t commit more strongly to another external addition could be a consequence of the club’s budget, as Grant notes the club is rapidly approaching the first luxury tax threshold of $241MM. The Rangers are known to be aiming to duck under that threshold this year to reset their penalties as a repeat offender, and RosterResource projects the club for a luxury tax payroll of nearly $235MM in 2025. That leaves just $6MM of breathing room below that first threshold, which isn’t likely to be enough to make another impact relief addition in a market where players like Leclerc and Andrew Kittredge are garnering $10MM salaries in free agency.

Grant suggests that the Rangers could look to explore the trade market as a way to move salary and make room for the addition of a closer while specifically name-checking righty Jon Gray and center fielder Leody Taveras as potential trade options. Gray is due $13MM in 2025, which is the final year of his four-year deal with the club, while Taveras avoided arbitration with the Rangers by agreeing to a $4.75MM salary for 2025. It seems unlikely that either player would be dealt as part of a pure salary dump given Taveras’s value to the club as a quality fourth outfielder and Gray’s fairly solid peripheral numbers last year, but both are coming off down seasons and might be difficult to trade for full value. Of course, it’s also possible that a trade could allow the club to add relief talent more directly, as swapping first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to the Nationals for Garcia did last month.

Should the Rangers make room in the budget to pursue another arm with late-inning experience, both Yates and Robertson remain available in free agency. Tanner Scott is the best reliever available on the market but seems unlikely to fall into the club’s price range. The same can likely be said for top right-handed reliever Carlos Estévez. Kenley Jansen offers one possible alternative to Yates and Robertson who could be available on a similarly short-term deal. The most affordable option available if the Rangers are hoping to add closing experience to the roster would likely be right-hander Kyle Finnegan, who was non-tendered by the Nationals back in November. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Finnegan for an $8.6MM salary in his final trip through arbitration and, while it isn’t completely unheard of for a non-tendered player to meet or even exceed their arbitration projection on the open market, it stands to reason that Finnegan is unlikely to land a contract significantly more lucrative than that figure.

MLB Conducted Investigation Prior To Roki Sasaki’s Posting

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Prior to the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball officially posting right-hander Roki Sasaki for major league clubs last month, Major League Baseball conducted an investigation before authorizing Sasaki’s posting. Jack Harris of The Los Angeles Times reported this afternoon that MLB’s investigation was in order to “ensure the protocol agreement had been followed” and involved interviews with multiple parties. A report from Fabian Ardaya, Dennis Lin, Patrick Mooney, Ken Rosenthal, and Will Sammon of The Athletic added more details this evening, noting that the primary focus of the league’s probe was not Sasaki himself but rather the Marines. Both reports emphasize that the league found nothing that substantiated rumors of an illegal arrangement taking place.

That the league’s investigation focused on the Marines may seem somewhat surprising, but The Athletic’s report notes that the current posting system limits the payout for the Marines to just 25% of Sasaki’s total bonus. That’s a weak financial incentive for a club parting ways with its star player and represents not only a step back from the large posting fees players like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Seiya Suzuki have garnered for their clubs in recent years but also the $20MM posting fee the Nippon Ham Fighters were able to charge in exchange for Shohei Ohtani’s services when he signed with the Angels as an international amateur under the previous posting system back in December 2017. That relative lack of financial compensation for Sasaki’s services raised concerns among league officials for the potential for an under-the-table payment.

While MLB’s investigation found no wrongdoing by any party, speculation around the game of the possibility of an handshake agreement between Sasaki and the Dodgers grew significant enough to draw a strong denial from agent Joel Wolfe of Wasserman, who represents the right-handed phenom. As described in The Athletic’s report, clubs around the game felt uncertain about Sasaki’s goals throughout his posting process as teams like the Mariners and Red Sox failed to land a meeting with the 23-year-old while large market teams like the Cubs, Yankees, and Mets did in spite of suggestions that he may prefer to avoid the spotlight.

Regardless of that confusion, it became clear earlier this week that Sasaki had narrowed things down to three finalists: the Dodgers, Padres, and Blue Jays, each of whom then visited with Sasaki in their respective cities and began to prepare their offers. According to The Athletic’s report, San Diego told Sasaki’s camp that they would be willing to trade to maximize their bonus pool and offer Sasaki the entirety of those funds while the Dodgers lined up a trade with the Phillies to add additional bonus pool money in the event that they landed Sasaki. The Blue Jays were especially aggressive in their pursuit of Sasaki, however.

While all three clubs were clearly willing to add significant bonus pool dollars in order to land Sasaki, Toronto acquired $2MM in international bonus pool space from the Guardians by taking on the majority of the money owed to center fielder Myles Straw over the next two years despite not actually having a deal in place with the right-hander. The impetus behind that trade utlimately did not work out for Toronto as Sasaki wound up choosing Los Angeles. Despit that, The Athletic’s report indicates that the Blue Jays believe Straw could be a worthwhile addition in his own right and that the money they took on to land him won’t be prohibitive as they continue to look for ways to upgrade their roster. Notably, center fielder Daulton Varsho is not expected to be ready for Opening Day and the addition of Straw could give the club some depth at the position while Varsho recovers.

Padres Sign Niko Goodrum To Minor League Deal

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The Padres have signed utility player Niko Goodrum to a minor league deal, according to the transactions log on his MLB.com profile page. The deal presumably includes an invite to big league Spring Training. MadFriars first reported the transaction earlier this week.

Goodrum, 33 next month, has participated in parts of seven MLB seasons to this point. A second-round pick by the Twins in 2010 who made his big league debut in Minnesota back in 2017, Goodrum was cut from the club’s 40-man roster and wound up signing a minor league deal with the division rival Tigers during the 2017-18 offseason. The deal proved to be quite a coup for Detroit, as Goodrum went on to become a solid utility man for the club over the next four seasons. From 2018 to 2021, Goodrum hit a decent .232/.306/.401 (90 wRC+) in 376 games. He collected 6.3 fWAR during that time while mixing in at all three outfield spots in addition to first base, second base, third base, and even shortstop.

Unfortunately, Goodrum’s performance began to tail off in his later years with Detroit, and he hit just .203/.282/.350 in his final 504 trips to the plate with the club. That led the Tigers to outright him off their 40-man roster during the 2021-22 offseason, allowing him to return to free agency. Goodrum hasn’t found consistent work in the majors since departing Detroit, though he’s remained involved in stateside ball throughout the past three years. He spent the 2022 campaign in the Astros organization but was limited to just 35 games between the major and minor leagues due to injuries. The 2023 season saw Goodrum join the Red Sox organization and hit quite well over 65 games with Triple-A Worcester. That earned him an opportunity in South Korea’s KBO league during the second half and he hit .295/.373/.387 in 50 games with the Lotte Giants.

Goodrum returned to stateside ball in 2024 and bounced between five different organizations throughout the year. Goodrum initially signed back with the Twins on a minor league deal during the 2023-24 offseason, but after not making the club’s 40-man roster he was traded to the Rays and provided with a roster spot in Tampa. Throughout the year, Goodrum bounced between the Rays, Angels, and Pirates on the waiver wire before ultimately clearing waivers and electing free agency, where he signed a minor league deal with the Orioles. Goodrum failed to hit at the big league level in 2024 with a slash line of just .103/.188/.103 in the majors, albeit in a sample size of just 33 plate appearances. Goodrum’s Triple-A numbers were far stronger, as he slashed .284/.375/.460 in 243 trips to the plate across 60 games for the Rays’, Angels’, and Orioles’ affiliates.

Now, Goodrum is moving on to his sixth organization of the past calendar year in San Diego. The Padres are facing a significant budget crunch this winter and are severely lacking in positional depth after losing Jurickson Profar, Ha-Seong Kim, Donovan Solano, and David Peralta to free agency. While Goodrum is hardly an impactful bat even in his best years, the veteran utility man’s versatility could be a major asset to the Padres off the bench this year if they enter the season without more reliable solutions to their lackluster outfield mix.

Kevin Plawecki Announces Retirement, Joins Padres MiLB Coaching Staff

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Eight-year MLB veteran Kevin Plawecki announced his retirement on social media today. Plawecki’s announcement comes shortly after the Padres revealed their minor league coaching staff for 2025, where Plawecki is listed as an instructor for the club’s Arizona Complex League team.

“As I close the chapter on a playing career I’m excited for what the future holds. I still know I have a lot to give this game which has blessed me with so much,” Plawecki said in his announcement. “I look forward to joining the Padres as a coach in minor league player development this upcoming season. Thank you for all the love and support over the years! The best is yet to come! See y’all at a stadium near you!”

The 33-year-old was selected 35th overall by the Mets back in 2012 and made his big league debut with the club during the 2015 season. Plawecki was a consensus top-100 prospect at the time of his debut but struggled to hit at the major league level, with a .211/.287/.285 slash line in 121 games between the 2015 and ’16 campaigns. His offense took a step forward over the next two campaigns, though he remained a part-time player as he slashed .225/.330/.379 with a roughly league average 96 wRC+. Those four partial seasons concluded Plawecki’s time with the Mets, as he was traded to Cleveland prior to the 2019 season in a swap that saw New York acquire Walker Lockett and Sam Haggerty. Unfortunately for Plawecki, he struggled to hit with his new club and was non-tendered during the 2019-20 offseason.

That led to Plawecki signing with the Red Sox prior to the 2020 season, which quickly proved to be the most successful year of his career. While the catcher was shelved by a hamstring strain and a COVID-19 diagnosis that limited him to just 24 games during the shortened 60-game campaign, Plawecki hit quite well when he was healthy enough to take the field. The then-29-year-old posted a strong .341/.393/.463 slash line in 89 trips to the plate for the club that year as they made it all the way to the ALCS. Plawecki remained with the Red Sox for two additional seasons afterwards as a back-up to Christian Vázquez. He posted solid results in 2021 but took a step back in 2022, hitting just .217/.287/.287 in 60 games before being designated for assignment late in the year.

Plawecki was picked up by the Rangers late in the 2022 season and appeared in three games for the club, which ultimately proved to be the final three games of his big league career. The veteran bounced between the Rangers, Nationals, and Padres organizations on minor league deals in 2023 before spending the entire 2024 season in the Padres’ minor league system but never made it back to the majors after 2022. He walks away from his playing days a career .235/.313/.342 hitter across 449 MLB games, with 298 hits (including 22 homers) on his big league resume.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Plawecki on a fine career and wish him all the best as he begins the next chapter of his life as a coach in the Padres organization.

Nico Hoerner Discusses Surgery Rehab

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The Cubs have attempted to retool their roster this winter in an effort to get back to the playoffs for the first time in a 162-game season since 2018. As they’ve done so, one of the biggest question marks facing the team this winter has been the status of second baseman Nico Hoerner. The Cubs revealed in late October that Hoerner had undergone flexor tendon surgery without providing a timeline for his return. The injury ultimately didn’t stop teams such as the Mariners from pursuing Hoerner on the trade market this winter as the Cubs tried to open up a spot on the infield for top prospect Matt Shaw, but rumors of a deal died down after Chicago shipped third baseman Isaac Paredes to Houston as part of the Kyle Tucker trade.

With those trade rumors seemingly a thing of the past, Hoerner figures to be in the Cubs organization on Opening Day 2025. Whether or not he’ll be in the lineup is another matter, however. As noted by Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune, Hoerner discussed his injury and rehab in detail at the Cubs Convention in Chicago earlier today. Per Montemurro, Hoerner noted that he played through the issue throughout the 2024 campaign and that it had the largest impact on his throwing in the field.

That reality is borne out in his defensive metrics last year. According to Statcast, the fielding that earned Hoerner a Gold Glove award in 2023 faltered somewhat last year. While his +10 Outs Above Average remained in this 95th percentile of all MLB fielders last year, Hoerner’s Fielding Run Value dipped from +11 in 2023 to +8 in 2024. Looking specifically at his arm strength, Hoerner saw his throws lose more than three ticks of velocity year-over-year as he averaged 79.1 mph on his throws in 2023 but just 75.7 mph in 2024.

Given how noticeably the injury was impacting Hoerner’s elite work on the infield, it’s not necessarily surprising that he and the Cubs are taking his rehab process slowly. As relayed by Montemurro, Hoerner has not yet begun a throwing program or hitting since he went under the knife back in October. With the Cubs’ first game of the 2025 season against the Dodgers in Tokyo just two months away, that casts some doubt on the second baseman’s ability to be ready for the start of Chicago’s season. To that end, Montemurro reports that Hoerner not only could not answer whether or not he’d be ready for the Tokyo Series in March, but also couldn’t comment on whether or not he’d be back on the field in time for the Cubs’ home opener on April 4.

That leaves Hoerner missing at least the season’s first couple of weeks on the table, and without a clear timeline for return the possibility of a somewhat longer absence cannot be fully ruled out. With Shaw seemingly set to take over for Paredes at third base, the club’s internal options to fill in for Hoerner currently appear to be Rule 5 draft pick Gage Workman and utility infielder Vidal Brujan. Those options don’t exactly inspire confidence as fill-ins for Hoerner in the event he’s not ready for the start of the season, so it’s not necessarily a surprise that the Cubs appear to be focused on bolstering their bench mix ahead of Spring Training. Chicago was connected to Yoán Moncada earlier this month, and other players such as Paul DeJong and Jose Iglesias could also make sense as depth options who could fill in for Hoerner to start the season and provide insurance in case Shaw struggles in his first taste of big league action.

No Extension Talks Between Cardinals, Ryan Helsley

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Right-hander Ryan Helsley spoke to reporters about his future with the Cardinals during the club’s Winter Warmup fan event this weekend. As relayed by Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat, Helsley indicated that he was actually under the impression he’d be getting traded this winter when the offseason began. The righty added that when his camp heard from president of baseball operations John Mozeliak about six weeks after the season ended and was told the Cardinals plan to hold onto him this winter, he initially believed the call was to inform him of a trade.

Part of Helsley’s belief that he was ticketed for a trade this winter is based on the fact that there’s “never been any talk about extensions” between his camp and the Cardinals, he indicated. As noted by Jones, Helsley made clear that he would love to stay in St. Louis beyond the end of his time under team control but called negotiations a “two-way street” before adding that “if only one side wants [an extension], it’s not going to work out.”

It’s not a response that projects much confidence from Helsley about his prospects of remaining in town beyond the end of his contract. While the Cardinals have been seen as unlikely to part with Helsley on the trade market all winter even in spite of interest from rival clubs, keeping Helsley for the start of the regular season doesn’t necessarily mean that the club has interest in keeping the right-hander in the fold long-term or even that they’re opposed to considering a trade for Helsley over the summer if the club isn’t in playoff contention.

The biggest reason for the club to hold onto Helsley to open the season is that the club hopes to maintain some level of competitiveness in a relatively weak NL Central division this year. Helsley was among the best closers in baseball last season as he posted a 2.04 ERA and 2.41 FIP in 66 1/3 innings of work while collecting an MLB-best 49 saves. He struck out 29.7% of his opponents and continued to flash triple-digit velocity on his fastball. That’s the sort of dominant performance that can substantially boost a team’s odds of staying competitive, and the Cardinals don’t have a bevy of young relief arms ready to step into Helsley’s shoes the way they do with veteran hitters from the 2024 club like Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado.

Of course, another consideration is money. Helsley and the Cardinals settled at an $8.2MM salary to avoid arbitration this year. That $8.2MM, while not insignificant, would not do as much to assist the club’s goal of lowering payroll in 2025 as letting Goldschmidt (who signed for $12.5MM with the Yankees last month) depart in free agency did, to say nothing of how much more impactful trading most or all of the $60MM the Cardinals still owe Arenado over the next three seasons would be. In fact, Helsley’s impact relative to the Cardinals’ financial obligation to him arguably makes him one of the most valuable players on the team. Viewed through that lens, it’s understandable that St. Louis is planning to keep him in the fold through at least the first half of the season as they attempt to compete for a playoff spot.

Once Helsley is no longer under team control, that value calculation figures to change radically. Edwin Diaz and Josh Hader have set a new standard for elite relievers in free agency by landing deals that garnered both more than $90MM over a five-year period by measure of net present value. Helsley’s track record isn’t quite on the same level as Hader’s but even this year’s top free agent reliever, Tanner Scott, is rumored to be in line for an annual salary that could approach $20MM. If Scott, who had a dominant platform season but has a shorter track record of late-inning excellence than Helsley does, can land that sort of deal in free agency this winter it’s hard to imagine the righty not garnering a deal that at least comes close to doubling his annual salary next offseason.

That’s not the type of contract extension that would make sense for a Cardinals club that’s facing payroll constraints to offer, even before considering the uncertainty the team faces as it turns its focus towards developing younger players at the big league level. That makes it somewhat understandable for the Cardinals to not pursue an extension with Helsley at this point. After all, playing out the final year of his contract allows them to leave the door open for a midseason trade if the club is out of contention while also not stopping them from re-upping with him after the season should they believe that he’s a fit for their needs in 2026 and beyond. If the Cardinals exceed expectations and remain in the mix for a playoff spot all year, it will be much easier for them to project the level of competitiveness in 2026 necessary to make splurging on a closer of Helsley’s caliber more justifiable.

Poll: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s Future With The Blue Jays

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While the Blue Jays have been involved in pursuits of a number of major players this winter ranging from Juan Soto to Corbin Burnes to Roki Sasaki, the number one question hanging over the club’s head this offseason is the same one that’s been at the forefront of fans’ minds for years now: will the Blue Jays be able to extend Vladimir Guerrero Jr. before he reaches free agency? And, if not, what will the club do about it? The question is now more urgent than ever, with just over nine months left until Guerrero is set to file for free agency.

Even Guerrero’s relatively short remaining window of team control doesn’t fully illustrate how quickly the Blue Jays are reaching a crossroads, however. Guerrero has made clear that he set a deadline for negotiations of the first full day of Spring Training with the club’s front office. For the Blue Jays, the first full-squad workout is February 18, almost exactly a month away. If club brass and Guerrero’s camp are going to get a deal done ahead of that deadline, they’ll need to make a great deal of progress over the next month: reporting yesterday indicated that the sides last had extension discussions before Christmas, and it seems as though there was a significant gap in negotiations when the sides withdrew from the negotiating table for the holidays.

According to Guerrero, the Jays have offered him a deal in the vicinity of $340MM, and that this offer came prior to Soto signing with the Mets on a record-shattering $765MM deal last month. Meanwhile, reports have suggested that Guerrero’s asking price is believed to be above $400MM and potentially close to half a billion dollars. That’s no insignificant difference. That gap in negotiations hasn’t led the club to shop Guerrero on the open market to this point, and the club has signaled that they have every intention of keeping their star in the fold for the 2025 season.

That hasn’t stopped teams from inquiring, however. Recent reporting suggested that the Mets have checked in with the Blue Jays on the possibility of a Guerrero trade. That conversation doesn’t seem to have garnered significant traction to this point, and reports have indicated that the Jays would need to be bowled over by an offer that brings in a bigger haul than Soto did last winter to even consider moving Guerrero. That’s an incredibly steep asking price for any rental player, though of course it should be noted that last winter’s Soto deal and this offseason’s Kyle Tucker deal have suggested that some clubs are willing to pay exorbitant prices for star players even when they have just one season of control remaining.

It goes without saying that if the Jays see a path towards an extension with Guerrero before his deadline next month, they seem all but certain to pursue that rather than consider dealing him. Should negotiations fall through, however, it will be worth wondering whether or not the club will be able to build a contender around him in his final year before free agency. Landing Sasaki would surely help with that goal, and the Jays clearly have money to spend in free agency. They’ve been attached to top remaining free agents like Jack Flaherty, Anthony Santander, and Pete Alonso in recent weeks. All of those names would significantly improve the club, but it’s unlikely any of them individually would do enough to push the Jays from fifth place in the AL East into a playoff spot without significant rebound seasons from established players like Bo Bichette, Kevin Gausman, and Alejandro Kirk who struggled to produce last year.

If an extension can’t be reached and the Jays don’t have confidence in their ability to build a winning club for 2025, it’s easy to make the argument that the club should at least see what Guerrero could bring back on the trade market. If they find an offer that eclipses the package the Padres received for Soto last winter, it’s easy to imagine that greatly accelerating the club’s return to competitiveness in a post-Guerrero era. That would certainly be preferable to missing the playoffs again in 2025 with Guerrero on the roster and losing him for nothing more than a compensatory draft pick in free agency next winter, though trading Guerrero before the season begins would make a playoff run this year all the more difficult to imagine.

The club could also give itself more time to make a decision by supplementing the roster further throughout the winter in an effort to compete this year and then re-evaluating at the trade deadline. With that said, Guerrero would surely be far less attractive as a trade candidate with just two months of team control remaining. His impact for an acquiring club in 2025 would be reduced if they only had him for the stretch run, and perhaps more importantly it’s all but impossible to imagine him entertaining an extension with a new club that close to free agency. The star slugger is sure to garner a significantly larger return if traded before the season begins, but that would all but close the door on playoff baseball in Toronto this year.

How do MLBTR readers think the situation will play out? Will Guerrero and the Blue Jays come to an agreement on an extension before his deadline next month? And if not, will the Jays trade their star slugger before Opening Day or enter the season with him on the roster? Have your say in the poll below!

What's Next for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays?
The sides won't agree to an extension, but Guerrero will still be a Blue Jay on Opening Day. 63.91% (5,669 votes)
The sides will agree to an extension this winter. 19.47% (1,727 votes)
Guerrero will be traded before Opening Day. 16.62% (1,474 votes)
Total Votes: 8,870

The Opener: Cubs, Choo, DFA Resolutions

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As the start of Spring Training creeps closer, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Cubs Convention begins today:

The Cubs are holding their 38th annual fan convention at the Sheraton Grand in Chicago this weekend. The convention begins at 6pm CT this evening, though the majority of festivities take place on Saturday. Manager Craig Counsell, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, and chairman Tom Ricketts are expected to be in attendance, and it’s possible there will be some interesting quotes that come from their public appearances. The guest set to get the most attention from Cubs fans is surely Sammy Sosa. Sosa had not been welcomed back into the Cubs organization following the conclusion of his 13-year stint in Chicago back in 2004, and though tensions between the two sides lasted 20 years and multiple ownership groups, a thaw in relations finally occurred last month when Sosa issued a statement apologizing for “past mistakes” in a tacit acknowledgement of his participation in the steroid era.

A number of current and former players in addition to Sosa are expected to be in attendance this weekend as well, including newly-acquired outfielder Kyle Tucker. Tucker settled on a $16.5MM salary for 2025 in order to avoid arbitration yesterday after the Cubs acquired him in a blockbuster trade with the Astros last month. This weekend’s convention also takes place one day after the Cubs unveiled their new alternate home uniforms for the 2025 season, which will be featured during Friday day games at Wrigley throughout the summer. For more details on the Cubs Convention (including ticket pricing), you can visit the event website here.

2. Choo to be honored ahead of Rangers FanFest:

The Rangers are hosting their 2025 FanFest on Saturday at Globe Life Field. More details on the event can be found here, but one former player expected to be in attendance is 16-year MLB veteran Shin-Soo Choo, who spent the final seven years of his big league career in Texas. In advance of tomorrow’s FanFest, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News notes that Choo will be honored with the Mark Holtz Alumni Award at the team’s awards banquet this evening. A career .275/.377/.447 hitter, Choo was an All-Star with the Rangers at the age of 35 back in 2018 before wrapping his MLB career up in 2020. Since then, he’s headed back home to South Korea and played four more seasons with the SSG Landers. Choo retired at the end of the 2024 campaign at the age of 42 after 24 seasons in professional baseball.

3. Upcoming DFA resolutions:

Two players who were previously designated for assignment should see their situations resolved today: infielder Livan Soto and right-hander Amos Willingham. Soto was DFA’d by the Orioles last week after Roansy Contreras was claimed off waivers by the club, while Willingham was DFA’d by the Nationals to make room for Jorge Lopez on the 40-man roster. Both played figure to either be claimed off waivers by a rival club today or, should they clear waivers, be outrighted to the minor leagues to serve as non-roster depth for their respective club. Willingham has just 19 games of MLB experience under his belt with a 7.11 ERA, while Soto has batted .351/.407/.494 in 87 trips to the plate at the big league level across three MLB seasons. Willingham has a much stronger Triple-A track record than his brief big league run might indicate (3.47 ERA, 23.3 K%), while Soto is the opposite, having posted a .266/.362/.385 slash that’s much lighter than his production in limited MLB work.

Poll: Will Pete Alonso Return To The Mets?

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The first base market started to move rapidly late in 2024, as players like Josh Naylor, Paul Goldschmidt, Nathaniel Lowe, and Carlos Santana came off the trade and free agent markets. That movement did not work its way up to the top of the market at the time, but since the New Year started, buzz surrounding Pete Alonso’s free agency has grown louder. Alonso’s camp reportedly approached the Mets to pitch a three-year deal with opt-outs last week. The two parties have since discussed that structure but still face a gap in numbers. Notably, the Mets are said to be pressing for a definitive conclusion sooner than later.

That Alonso’s market has seemingly dropped into the short-term, high annual salary range is notable but not necessarily a shock, given how frequently that approach has been taken by stars who linger on the market in recent years. Shortstop Carlos Correa’s first deal with the Twins is perhaps the most notable example, but it’s become more widespread in the years since that deal with Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger, Jordan Montgomery, and Matt Chapman signing deals of that nature last offseason alone. This winter, free agents like Jack Flaherty and Anthony Santander have reportedly joined Alonso in beginning to consider short-term offers.

For a Mets club that has tended to avoid making long-term commitments to players already in their 30s (particularly since hiring David Stearns as president of baseball operations), the idea of getting Alonso back in the fold on a short-term deal has to be appealing. It would hardly be a surprise if Alonso was hoping to land a deal that guarantees him $30MM or more annually, or at least is front-loaded in such a way that he could opt out of the deal next winter and walk away with $30MM or more — similar to Bellinger’s three-year deal with the Cubs. The Mets are surely hoping to minimize risk on their end to avoid a situation where Alonso opts in and becomes an anchor on the roster.

While the Mets have long been considered the favorite and most logical landing spot, they aren’t the only club with interest in Alonso. The Red Sox, Blue Jays, Angels, and Giants have all been connected to Alonso since the new year began. Most of that quartet already has a set first baseman, but none sported a top-ten offense in MLB last year and each of the Giants, Angels, and Blue Jays were below-average in terms of home run power. That makes it easy to envision a slugger of Alonso’s caliber making a difference for any of those clubs, even in the event that he doesn’t return to the more well-rounded form he flashed in 2022 as a four-WAR player with a .352 on-base percentage.

The Mets, meanwhile, could theoretically consider a number of alternatives. In particular, Santander has been connected to the Mets as a potential backup. A few budget options seem to be under consideration as well, including a reunion with Jesse Winker. Should the Mets pivot towards adding in the outfield, they could end up using a mix of internal options at the infield corners. Mark Vientos can move to first base, while Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, and Luisangel Acuna could vie for time at the hot corner. Alex Bregman is still out there in free agency, and Nolan Arenado is on the trade market. But if the Mets can’t find three-year terms with Alonso that are to their liking, it’d be a surprise if they signed another 30-year-old infielder who’s seeking a long-term deal (Bregman) or traded for a 34-year-old infielder who’s still owed $74MM (Arenado).

Given the imperfect fit for Alonso with many of his other suitors and the Mets’ lack of obvious proven alternatives, the most straightforward way for both sides to get what they want is to close the gap in negotiations and work out a deal. That’s easier said than done, of course, and until a deal is in place, another club like the Giants or Blue Jays could swoop in with a compelling short-term offer of its own. If Alonso remains unsigned into spring training, an injury to a contending club’s first baseman could open further possibilities.

How do MLBTR readers think things will play out between the two sides going forward?

Will Pete Alonso Be A Met In 2025?
Yes, he'll re-sign with the Mets. 55.91% (6,485 votes)
No, he'll end up elsewhere. 44.09% (5,114 votes)
Total Votes: 11,599

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