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Orioles Remain In The Market For Pitching Upgrades

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Late last week, the Orioles added veteran right-hander Charlie Morton to their rotation mix on a one-year deal. On paper, the addition (alongside the club’s one-year deal with Tomoyuki Sugano earlier last month) would appear to fill their rotation. Things may not be that simple, however, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported this morning that Baltimore remains in the market for upgrades even after adding Morton to their rotation mix.

As noted by Rosenthal, the Orioles already have a fairly deep rotation mix as things stand. Morton and Sugano are joined by Zach Eflin and Grayson Rodriguez as locks for the club’s rotation next year, with Dean Kremer poised to round out the starting five. Rosenthal suggests that veteran journeyman Albert Suárez could pitch in as the club’s sixth starter if the Orioles opt for a six-man rotation this year, but even if they stick with just five starters Suárez figures to slot into the bullpen as a swing-man who can move back into the rotation as needed. Cade Povich, Trevor Rogers, and Chayce McDermott are all available as depth options behind that group, as well.

If Baltimore were to add another starter, it seems likely that Kremer would be the odd man out. The right-hander made 24 starts for the Orioles last year and pitched to decent results, with a 4.10 ERA (92 ERA+) and a 4.32 FIP in 129 2/3 innings of work. That’s perfectly solid production for a fifth starter, but those numbers also shouldn’t prevent the Orioles from upgrading their rotation mix and squeezing Kremer out of the picture. After all, the right-hander has been at least slightly below average by measure of ERA+ in every season of his career except 2022, when he pitched to an impressive 3.23 ERA in 125 1/3 innings of work in a career year.

Kremer, who is arbitration eligible for the first time in his career this winter, has a minor league option remaining that could offer the Orioles some flexibility if the club decides to add further to its rotation. Speculatively speaking, however, it’s also possible that the club could consider offering the right-hander as part of the return to land a starter on the trade market. Kremer has three seasons of team control remaining, so offering him up in order to land a rental pitcher like Dylan Cease would be a risky move given the fact that Morton, Sugano, and Eflin are all already ticketed for free agency next winter. That said, it seems feasible that Kremer could make sense as part of the return for a controllable arm such as Luis Castillo or Pablo López.

Rosenthal previously reported that the Mariners have some pause about dealing Castillo given their lackluster rotation depth behind the current starting five, which could make the Orioles a particularly good trade partner if they’re willing to make Kremer or even one of their younger arms like Povich available. Rosenthal reports that the Mariners are requiring major league talent in return for Castillo’s services this winter, while noting that Baltimore seems reluctant to deal from its cache of young position players. Perhaps a package focused on Kremer and first baseman Ryan Mountcastle could make some sense for both sides, then, offering Seattle a pair of arbitration-level players with multiple years of control while landing the Orioles the controllable, front-line starter they’ve been seeking.

Of course, the trade market isn’t the only way that Baltimore could upgrade their rotation. Former Oriole Jack Flaherty is still available on the free agent market, and the club was frequently connected to him prior to the club’s deal with Morton. If the Orioles remain in the market for rotation upgrades even after adding Morton to the fold, it stands to reason that Flaherty remains at least a potential fit for the club’s needs despite some recent reporting that has suggested the club could balk at the righty’s asking price. Flaherty seems certain to land a multi-year deal this winter, with reports indicating he’s angling for a five-year pact. Such an addition would offer Baltimore a bit more certainty in its rotation for 2026 and beyond by allowing them to project a starting five that includes Flaherty, Rodriguez, and Kremer for next season alongside Kyle Bradish, who could return from elbow surgery at some point in the second half this year.

Moving beyond the possibility of further rotation upgrades, Rosenthal adds that the Orioles hope to supplement its bullpen mix this winter. The biggest addition to Baltimore’s relief corps is sure to be the return for closer Félix Bautista from Tommy John surgery, but it stands to reason that the club could use at least one veteran arm to join Seranthony Domínguez, Yennier Cano, Keegan Akin, and Gregory Soto among the club’s potential late-inning options ahead of Bautista. While Baltimore has not been directly connected to any specific relievers in this year’s free agent market, they figure to benefit from the fact that there’s been minimal movement on the relief market to this point in the winter if the club decides to hold off on adding bullpen help until later in the winter.

Where Can The Mariners Turn For Third Base Help?

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The Mariners haven’t been shy about their desire to shore up their infield mix this winter, and while at points in the offseason the club has shown an interest in upgrading at second their focus appears to be primarily on upgrading the infield corners rather than the keystone, where options like Dylan Moore and Ryan Bliss are available to hold down the fort until top middle infield prospect Cole Young is ready for his MLB debut.

First base appears to be fairly simple hole for the club to fill. They’ve long been connected to a reunion with veteran Justin Turner, who helped to bolster their first base mix down the stretch and could pair well with Luke Raley’s left-handed bat at the position. Aside from that possibility, a number of viable veteran options like Mark Canha and Anthony Rizzo still remain available in free agency as well, not to mention trade candidates like Yandy Diaz, Luis Arraez, and LaMonte Wade Jr. who could provide a bit more impact at the cost of trade capital. Even after a run on first base talent just before the New Year, plenty of options remain available for the club to consider as they look for an upgrade over Raley and youngster Tyler Locklear.

Third base, however, is a bit more complicated. While a number of players could at least theoretically be available at the position this winter, Alex Bregman and Nolan Arenado both figure to be well outside of the Mariners’ price range. Another potential trade candidate, Eugenio Suarez, also seems unlikely to be a fit given that the Mariners themselves traded Suarez just one offseason ago. Beyond Bregman, few options available in free agency provide obvious upgrades over Josh Rojas, who the club utilized at third base last year before non-tendering him back in November.

Standing pat doesn’t appear to be an option at the position, either: Austin Shenton and Leo Rivas could at least theoretically pitch in at the position but have a combined 136 plate appearances at the big league level, necessitating at least one veteran addition to take the lion’s share of reps at the hot corner. With an apparently tight budget and minimal internal solutions available, who could be a realistic target for the club this winter?

Free Agents

  • Ha-Seong Kim: Kim, 29, is without a doubt the best free agent infielder who could potentially fit into the Mariners’ budget given his 106 wRC+ and plus defense all around the infield over the past three seasons. MLBTR predicted Kim to land a relatively affordable one-year, $12MM contract ahead of the 2025 season at the outset of the offseason, but as the market has developed some reports have indicated he could land a multi-year deal this winter and depending on how the bidding goes, it’s easy to imagine things going beyond Seattle’s comfort zone. Beyond the possibility of Kim landing a deal that goes beyond what Seattle is willing to offer, Kim has played both shortstop and second base far more commonly than third throughout his career. As Kim likely looks to rebuild his value coming off shoulder surgery, it would hardly be a shock if he preferred to sign somewhere where he’d be able to be a regular shortstop. He’d be a defensive upgrade for J.P. Crawford, but the Mariners have shown no desire to move him off the position to this point.
  • Paul DeJong: DeJong, 31, was a quality regular at shortstop with the Cardinals early in his career and even made an All-Star game back in 2019. His offense fell way off after that season, however, and he struggled to a 72 wRC+ from 2020 to 2023. Last season as something of a rebound for the veteran, however, as he split time between the White Sox and Royals and managed to hit a respectable .227/.276/.427 (95 wRC+) in 139 games with solid glovework at both shortstop and, more importantly in this context, third base. That respectable season should allow him to easily beat the $1.75MM guarantee he landed with Chicago last winter, though he should nonetheless still be a perfectly affordable option for the Mariners this winter. It’s easy to imagine DeJong jumping at the opportunity if offered regular starts in Seattle, but it’s fair to wonder if the Mariners would have much interest in him as a fit. After all, they just parted ways with Rojas back in November despite strong glovework thanks to his below average offense, and DeJong’s 32.4% strikeout rate last year goes against the more contact-oriented approach the club has attempted to cultivate in recent years.
  • Yoán Moncada: Moncada would be an interesting candidate for the third base job in Seattle. A former top prospect, Moncada has had an up-and-down career with the White Sox before things came off the rails due to injuries the past few years. He’s played just 104 games over the past two seasons, but has a fairly respectable 101 wRC+ in that time. It’s far from impossible to imagine him bouncing back to something closer to the 120 wRC+ he posted with Chicago back in 2021, though it’s possible that (like with DeJong) his elevated strikeout numbers throughout his career could give the Mariners some pause. That said, Moncada’s overall offensive profile when healthy is stronger than that of DeJong’s, and given his limited track record in recent years the infielder should still be very affordable.
  • Jose Iglesias: Iglesias is coming off a career year with the Mets that saw him slash .337/.381/.448 (137 wRC+) in 291 plate appearances across 85 games. That’s the sort of performance that should make him a very attractive candidate for virtually any club’s bench mix, but the Mariners could stand out among other potential suitors by offering him a regular role. With that being said, there’s plenty of potential cause for concern in Iglesias’s profile. The veteran infielder will play all of this coming season at age-35, and it’s impossible to imagine him replicating the incredible .382 BABIP that made him an above-average hitter last year. He’s also fairly inexperienced at third base, although he did play the position quite well (+2 Outs Above Average) when called upon by the Mets last year. Iglesias’s contact-oriented approach could hold particular appeal in Seattle, and he could be an attractive option for the club if they’re interested in giving larger roles to youngsters like Shenton and Rivas.

Trade Candidates

  • Alec Bohm: Bohm stands out on this list in part because the club has already reportedly expressed interest in his services this winter. Those talks understandably seemed to fizzle out when the Phillies asked for Logan Gilbert or George Kirby in return for Bohm’s services, but if Philadelphia decides to drop their asking price as the offseason drags on he remains one of the better fits available to the Mariners this winter. While Bohm’s defense at the hot corner has generally left much to be desired, he slashed a strong .280/.332/.448 (115 wRC+) last year and struck out just 14.2% of the time, making him a strong fit for a club that has typically shied away from high-strikeout hitters when possible. If the asking price for Bohm stays anywhere near where it was earlier this offseason, however, it’s hard to imagine a trade coming together.
  • Willi Castro: Castro, 28 in April, has started just 48 games at third base throughout his career to this point but is a super utility player with a great deal of experience at both shortstop and second base, which suggests he should be able to handle the hot corner relatively easily. Since joining the Twins prior to the 2023 season, Castro has put up back-to-back 108 wRC+ seasons while accumulating 5.6 fWAR. Minnesota seems disinclined to pay the $6.2MM that MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Castro will earn in his final trip through arbitration, but that’s a price tag the Mariners should have little trouble stomaching for a likely regular at a position of need.
  • Brett Baty: Baty, 25, stands out from the other potential trade candidates mentioned thanks to the fact that he’s got just 169 MLB games under his belt. A former consensus top-30 prospect in the sport, Baty has struggled to this point in his big league career and hit just .229/.306/.327 (83 wRC+) in 50 games with the Mets this past season. The emergence of Mark Vientos has seemingly boxed Baty out of a path to playing time with the club in 2025, particularly if Pete Alonso eventually returns to Queens. That could make Baty expendable for the club, and if the Mariners aren’t able to find a more reliable veteran option in free agency or on the trade market it would be very understandable for the club to pivot towards rolling the dice on a player with Baty’s offensive potential and prospect pedigree.

Red Sox Considering Six-Man Rotation

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With Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler added to the rotation and last year’s free agent signing Lucas Giolito expected to be ready for Opening Day after missing the 2024 season, the Red Sox are considering deploying a six-man rotation in 2025 according to a report from Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic.

That such a plan would be under consideration by the club’s front office makes sense, given the way their starting corps is constructed. On paper, it’s an exceptionally deep group with homegrown youngsters Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, and Kutter Crawford joining the aforementioned trio while depth pieces like Richard Fitts, Quinn Priester, and Cooper Criswell all remain in the wings as plug-and-play depth options. Beyond that group, the Red Sox have weighed veteran Michael Fulmer as a starting option and have additional potential options like Garrett Whitlock and Patrick Sandoval expected to return from the injured list at some point during the 2025 season.

While a list of credible, MLB-caliber starters twelve names deep is something the majority of clubs around the league figure to be envious of, that depth could easily prove necessary for the Red Sox given the concerning injury histories at play in their rotation mix. Giolito, Fulmer, Whitlock, and Sandoval will all be pitching off a big league mound for the first time since undergoing elbow surgery and will surely need to have their workloads managed carefully as they get back into the grind of work as a starter.

Additionally, Buehler will be just one year removed from the same situation and last pitched a wire-to-wire big league season in 2021 while Crochet made 32 starts in 2024 but nearly tripled his maximum single-season innings workload as a professional after struggling with injuries earlier in his career. Both hurlers may need to have their innings carefully managed in 2025, particularly given Boston’s postseason aspirations and the fact that the club surely wants to have both healthy and ready to go in the event that the club makes its first playoff run since 2021. Houck, Bello, and Crawford all also put together career-high innings totals in 2024, leaving reason to consider whether the club’s entire rotation mix may benefit from the additional rest that a six man rotation provides.

The biggest reason for a team to have pause regarding the possibility of a six-man rotation (at least, for clubs that do not employ Shohei Ohtani) is the 13-pitcher limit for MLB rosters, which cause any club using a six-man rotation to be forced to deploy a seven-man bullpen. The additional rest between starts could allow starters to pitch deeper into games and make playing a man down in the bullpen more feasible, at least in theory, but the occasional short start due to injury or ineffectiveness is inevitable over the course of a 162-game season and a bullpen with just seven pitchers that’s forced to cover six or seven innings during a shortened start could be hampered for the next several games by the surprise uptick in workload.

With that said, Boston’s extreme depth of potential starting options could set the club up to utilize a six-man rotation more effectively than the average club. With twelve pitchers at least potentially in the mix for starts this season, utilizing a handful of those arms as bullpen pieces capable of going multiple innings would be a way to allow the club’s relief corps to better handle its workload despite having just seven arms available at a time. All indications point to the Red Sox already planning to move Whitlock back into the bullpen once he’s ready to return to action, and players like Fulmer, Priester, Criswell, and even Josh Winckowski could all also seamlessly move into the club’s bullpen and throw multiple innings if needed.

Of course, the club’s ability to stack relievers capable of going multiple innings in the bullpen will surely depend on the moves they make to bolster their relief corps going forward this winter. Justin Slaten, Aroldis Chapman, and Liam Hendriks are all more or less guaranteed spots in the club’s Opening Day bullpen so long as health allows, and the same is likely true for lefty Justin Wilson. That would leave just three bullpen spots available if the club moves to a six-man rotation, and if the club decides to pursue another relief addition like Tanner Scott or Chris Martin then there would be just two spots available for traditional bullpen arms like Greg Weissert or Brennan Bernardino as well as any multi-inning options the club wants to utilize.

Cardinals “In The Market” For Late-Inning Relief Help

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The Cardinals are “in the market” for a setup reliever who can help replace right-hander Andrew Kittredge near the back of their bullpen after he hit free agency back in November, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

It’s not necessarily surprising that the Cardinals would have interest in adding to their bullpen. Aside from the void left by Kittredge in the late innings, closer Ryan Helsley has found his name in the rumor mill frequently this winter. While all signs point to the club keeping him in the fold for at least the start of the 2025 season, the addition of a veteran reliever with experience in the late innings could provide cover for St. Louis that would allow them to more seriously weigh dealing Helsley in the event that they receive the sort of overwhelming offer that would compel them to reconsider their stance. While the loss of Helsley would be a tough blow for the club’s bullpen regardless of what pitcher (or pitchers) they add to their relief corps this winter, it would certainly be easier for the Cards to attempt to stay competitive in 2025 without Helsley in the fold if they have an experienced veteran who could step into the closer’s role in Helsley’s stead.

The more likely scenario, of course, is that the club will stick with its apparent plan to retain Helsley headed into the season. Even in that case, however, it’s easy to see why the club would want to bolster its bullpen as a way to keep Helsley firmly in his current role as the club’s closer. 2024 was the first year of Helsley’s career where he was utilized exclusively in the ninth inning or later, and he responded with a 206 ERA+ and an MLB-best 49 saves. Goold suggests that the steady presence of Kittredge, who posted a 2.80 ERA and collected 37 holds with the Cardinals last year, was a key part of the reason the Cardinals were able to be more judicious in their deployment of Helsley in comparison to years’ past.

As much sense as it could make for the Cardinals to add at least one veteran reliever to their bullpen this winter, it’s a path that isn’t without obstacles. It’s been made abundantly clear through a number of reports and even president of baseball operations John Mozeliak’s comments this winter that lowering payroll is a priority for St. Louis this winter. The most obvious way to do that, and the Cardinals’ clear preference, is to find a trade partner for Nolan Arenado. Recent reporting has suggested a quiet market for Arenado ever since a potential deal with the Astros last month fell through, however, and for his part Goold indicates that the Cardinals may be best served waiting out fellow third baseman Alex Bregman’s market given the potential for overlapping suitors between the two infielders.

With no public indications that Bregman is especially close to signing, that could mean the Cardinals will need to wait for quite some time before they can seriously consider adding more payroll of real significance. Fortunately for St. Louis, the relief market has been very slow moving this winter with Aroldis Chapman, Blake Treinen, and Yimi García standing out as the only players to sign for more than $10MM to this point in that corner of the market. Whether the Cardinals would be interested in playing in that mid-tier of the relief market will surely depend on how much (if any) of Arenado’s contract they manage to move, as well as whether or not they part ways with hurlers like Steven Matz and Erick Fedde this winter after both starters garnered interest earlier this winter. Even if Matz or Fedde is moved, Goold suggests that the club could consider circling back to veteran right-hander Kyle Gibson rather than signing a pricier relief arm like David Robertson.

Given the slow pace of the relief market this winter, the Cardinals should still have a good amount of flexibility to make an addition to their bullpen whenever their payroll situation is properly resolved. Goold speculatively suggests former Rangers righty José Leclerc as a potential fit for the Cards, and players like Kyle Finnegan, Chris Martin, and Paul Sewald are among a handful of other options for late-inning veterans who could feasibly be had on one-year deals—as is a reunion with Kittredge himself. Each of those options will surely secure a reasonably healthy big league guarantee, however, and if the Cardinals find themselves unable to move any of their pricey veterans on the trade market it’s possible they won’t have interest in adding that sort of salary. In that case, Héctor Neris, Scott Barlow, and Joe Kelly are a handful of the veteran relievers with late-inning experience coming off difficult seasons in 2024 who could be available for a club on a tight budget like St. Louis.

This Date In Transaction History: Yankees Sign Nestor Cortes

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Every winter, every organization in baseball signs dozens of free agents to minor league deals, mostly in hopes of finding a useful bullpen or bench piece on the cheap or giving a veteran the opportunity to battle for a roster spot during Spring Training. Finding a true diamond in the rough through this process is exceedingly rare, but it happened for the Yankees four years ago to the day when they officially signed left-hander Nestor Cortes to a minor league deal. At the time, the southpaw was just one month removed from his 26th birthday and had a career 6.72 ERA across 79 innings of work at the big league level. Despite that brutal start to Cortes’s MLB career, the Yankees’ decision to bring him in as pitching depth for the 2021 season quickly proved to be one of the most fruitful minor league signings in recent memory.

The club was plenty familiar with Cortes when they signed him to the deal, as it was actually the lefty’s third stint in the Bronx. First drafted by the club in the 36th-round of the 2013 draft, Cortes was plucked from the club in the 2017 Rule 5 draft by the Orioles, but was returned just a few months later. He then threw 66 2/3 innings of work for the Yankees during his rookie season in 2019, though he struggled to a 5.67 ERA and found himself traded to the Mariners that November. Cortes made just five appearances in Seattle before electing minor league free agency and returning to the Yankees prior to the 2021 season.

The lefty’s return to the Bronx wouldn’t get underway in earnest until deep into May, when he was added to the club’s roster as a multi-inning relief option out of the bullpen. Cortes’s first appearance of the year came on May 30 against the Tigers, and he pitched somewhat unevenly with two runs (one earned) allowed in 3 2/3 innings of work that saw him strikeout three, give up three hits and walk four. Throughout the month of June, however, Cortes looked utterly dominant. He pitched to a microscopic 0.64 ERA across six appearances (14 innings) that month and struck out a whopping 42.3% of opponents.

That overpowering run of success earned Cortes a spot in the starting rotation when the calendar flipped to July, and he managed to keep a hold on that spot in the Yankees’ rotation throughout the remainder of the season. In 14 starts throughout the second half of the season, Cortes pitched to an excellent 3.07 ERA in 73 1/3 innings of work and struck out a respectable 25.4% of his opponents. His emergence helped the Yankees to weather injuries to Corey Kluber, Luis Gil, and Domingo Germán that tested their starting depth throughout the season. While Cortes didn’t pitch in the postseason that year as the Yankees fell to the Red Sox in the AL Wild Card game, he entered 2022 with a firm grip on a role in the starting rotation.

It turned out to be a career year for the left-hander. Cortes was among the very best pitchers in the sport in 2022, earning his first (and to this point, only) All-Star appearance and finishing within the top 10 of AL Cy Young award voting that year. While his 158 1/3 innings of work weren’t enough to qualify for the ERA title, he made a respectable 28 starts and his 2.44 ERA was the seventh-lowest in the majors among hurlers with at least 150 innings of work and left him sandwiched between Shohei Ohtani and Max Fried on that year’s leaderboard. His 26.5% strikeout rate, 3.13 FIP, and 3.7 fWAR all ranked in the top 20 among that group as well. The season to remember saw Cortes go on to make three key postseason starts for the Yankees that October. He cruised through two starts against the Guardians with a 2.70 ERA in ten innings but was ultimately on the mound for the Yankees’ final game of the season, when the Astros completed their sweep of the Bombers in Game 4 of the ALCS.

Following Cortes’s career year in 2022, the lefty saw his production take a bit of a downturn. 2023 was something of a lost season for Cortes, as he made just 12 starts due to a pair of rotator cuff strains and struggled to a below-average 4.97 ERA when he was healthy enough to take the mound. 2024 was a step in the right direction for the lefty as he was healthy for the majority of the year, but his results paled in comparison to what they had been in the first two years of his return to Yankee Stadium. In 174 1/3 innings of work for the Yankees last year, he pitched to a 3.77 ERA (109 ERA+) with a 3.84 FIP but struggled in the second half with a 4.41 ERA over his final 12 appearances.

Still, that’s solid mid-to-back of the rotation production overall and it was a worrying hit to the club’s depth when a late-season flexor strain seemingly endangered Cortes’s postseason in late September. The lefty made it back to the mound in time for the club’s World Series appearance against the Yankees, although some fans might wish he hadn’t done so after he surrendered a walk-off grand slam to Freddie Freeman in the tenth inning of Game 1. Cortes went on to throw 1 2/3 scoreless relief innings in Game 3, but had little impact during the rest of the series as the Yankees dropped the series to the Dodgers in five games.

New York traded Cortes for a second time last month when they packaged him with infield prospect Caleb Durbin and cash considerations to acquire star Brewers closer Devin Williams. At least for the time being, that trade has brought Cortes’s lengthy Yankees story to a close. With Cortes entering his age-30 season and just one year away from free agency, it’s anyone’s guess if he’ll find himself back in the Bronx at some point before his career comes to a close, but he leaves New York as one of the club’s most valuable signings in recent years.

Over the last four seasons, the lefty has pitched to a 3.33 ERA in 489 innings of work across 93 appearances (84 starts) while punching out 25.2% of his opponents. It’s a performance that was worth 9.4 fWAR and 10.3 bWAR, and even in 2025 the decision to bring Cortes back into the fold figures to be a gift that keeps on giving now that Williams and his career 1.83 ERA will spend his final year before free agency closing out games in the Bronx. Garnering that level of production out of a mid-20s minor league signing who has a career ERA north of 6.00 is something any club would be elated about, and the outcome stands as a clear win for Brian Cashman’s front office.

Angels Reportedly “Weighing” Pursuit Of Pete Alonso

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The Angels are reportedly “weighing” a pursuit of free agent first baseman Pete Alonso as they search for another bat to add to their lineup, according to a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Alonso, 30, is the top free agent available at first base this winter but hasn’t found the market he was surely hoping for to this point in the winter. While plenty of clubs entered the winter with needs at first base, a number of feasible landing spots for Alonso have subsequently addressed the position in other ways: the Yankees added Paul Goldschmidt, the Astros signed Christian Walker, the Nationals traded for Nathaniel Lowe, and the Tigers shifted Colt Keith to first base after signing Gleyber Torres. Meanwhile, many of the teams that could potentially be in the market for first base/DH such as the Mariners, Padres, and Twins are facing payroll constraints that make a pursuit of Alonso quite unlikely.

That’s led to a feeling in recent weeks that a return to Queens may be inevitable for the slugger. The Mets have not yet filled their hole at first base, and while they’ve replaced Alonso’s bat in the lineup with Juan Soto it’s hard to deny that the club could benefit from adding another slugger to the mix, particularly a right-handed hitter like Alonso who can help balance out Soto and Brandon Nimmo’s left-handed bats alongside switch-hitter Francisco Lindor. In recent weeks, however, it appears that Alonso’s market has begun to expand a bit. The Giants were connected to the slugger last week, and now the Angels have seemingly entered the fray as well. While both clubs would face a bit of a tight roster fit given the presence of incumbent first basemen on the roster, either club would surely benefit from adding Alonso’s bat to the middle of their lineup.

In Anaheim’s case, youngster Nolan Schanuel appears to hold the keys to first base for the time being. The club’s first-round pick in 2023, Schanuel rocketed through the minors to reach the majors shortly after being drafted and since then has slashed a respectable .255/.354/.357 in 176 games at the big league level. While the 22-year-old hasn’t developed the necessary power to be more than an average bat in the majors to this point, his phenomenal plate discipline suggests a bright future is ahead for the youngster. That makes it hard to believe that the Angels would kick Schanuel from the lineup to sign Alonso, but Heyman reports that both could coexist in the Anaheim lineup even with Jorge Soler entrenched as the club’s regular DH by moving Schanuel to left field.

It’s a novel solution to the problem given that Schanuel has not played the outfield before as a professional, but it’s not completely impossible to imagine him being able to handle the position defensively. After all, Schanuel got occasional reps in the outfield as an amateur and those days aren’t nearly as far behind him as they are for more established big leaguers or even fellow youngsters who spent more time in the minor leagues. That defensive risk could be worth taking if it means adding a hitter of Alonso’s caliber to the lineup, replacing the likely platoon of Jo Adell and Mickey Moniak the club currently seems poised to utilize in the outfield alongside Taylor Ward.

With that being said, it’s hard to imagine the Angels preferring an arrangement with Alonso that pushed Schanuel into the outfield to simply signing a big bat for their outfield mix and keeping their young hitter at his natural position. The Halos have also been connected to Anthony Santander on the free agent market recently, and Heyman concedes that the Angels landing Santander is “more likely” than the club ultimately ending up with Alonso due in part to the cleaner positional fit. With that being said, Santander’s market isn’t limited to the Angels. If he winds up signing somewhere else such as Detroit or Toronto, it suddenly becomes easier to imagine Angels brass being more willing to move things around to accommodate the addition of Alonso at first base given that the only other impact free agent available in the outfield would be Jurickson Profar, who lacks the lengthy track record of success that Alonso offers.

Free Agent Profile: Charlie Morton

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The 2024-25 offseason has seen starting pitchers enjoy a hot market practically from the start of the winter, and virtually every starter has signed a deal that surpassed expectations this winter. That’s led to a run on starters all throughout the winter, and as the 2025 calendar year begins just four starting pitchers who MLBTR predicted to land multi-year deals this winter remain on the market: Jack Flaherty, Nick Pivetta, Jose Quintana, and Andrew Heaney. With a number of clubs still hoping to add starting pitching help this winter, that means several teams are going to have to turn towards one-year deals in order to add to their rotation.

The list of players who figure to be available in that corner of the market is wide-ranging, with solid but unspectacular veterans like Kyle Gibson and Martín Pérez as well as players hoping to rebound from down or injured seasons like Michael Lorenzen and Spencer Turnbull. One particularly unique group of pitchers available on one-year deals is a handful of aging veterans who have long been among the better starters in baseball but either can’t garner or aren’t interested in making multi-year commitments at this point in their careers. Former Cy Young award winners Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, and Justin Verlander all fall into this category, but the best of the group in 2024 was actually 41-year-old right-hander Charlie Morton.

Unlike the aforementioned trio, Morton isn’t a future Hall of Famer. He didn’t make his big league debut until he was 24 years old and didn’t fully break out as a front-end starter until his age-33 season, which came with the Astros back in 2017. Since then, however, Morton has been among the better pitchers in the sport. He’s grown into one of the more durable starters in the sport with more than 1200 innings of work over the past eight seasons, good for eighth in the majors. Among starters with at least 1000 innings of work during that time, Morton’s 3.64 ERA and near-matching 3.63 FIP rank ninth, while his fantastic 27.4% strikeout rate ranks sixth behind only Scherzer, Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Yu Darvish, and Blake Snell.

That steady, reliable production would have made Morton an attractive free agent for a number of clubs in recent years, but his last foray into free agency was back in the 2020-21 offseason, when he limited his market to just Atlanta and Tampa Bay in an effort to remain close to his family. Since then, he’s signed successive short-term extensions with the Braves in order to remain in Atlanta. In four years as a member of the Braves, Morton pitched to a 3.87 ERA (110 ERA+) with a 3.92 FIP in 686 1/3 innings of work, positioning himself as a durable mid-rotation arm.

There’s been some variance in Morton’s work with Atlanta, as he posted top-of-the-rotation caliber results in 2021 and ’23 but was closer to league average in 2022 and ’24. Even in those down years, though, Morton’s durability made him a quality rotation option not unlike Gibson. With the floor of a sturdy, back-of-the-rotation veteran and the ceiling of a playoff-caliber starter, Morton stands out among the remaining starters available as something like the best of both worlds; he’s been as durable over the years as a veteran like Gibson or Patrick Corbin, but with recent success that easily clears those more reliable arms.

While even Morton’s best years pale in comparison to what the aforementioned trio of aging aces looked like at their peak, Morton’s numbers after the past two years are actually very similar to Scherzer’s on a rate basis: Scherzer has posted a 3.81 ERA (109 ERA+) with a 4.29 FIP since the start of the 2023 season, while Morton has posted a 3.92 ERA (108 ERA+) with a 4.17 FIP over the same time frame. Scherzer’s 26.8% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate are better than Morton’s 24.7% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate, but Morton benefits from a much higher groundball rate and of course has nearly double Scherzer’s volume over the past two years.

While betting on a pitcher who’s already celebrated his 41st birthday will always come with risk, Morton’s impressive durability and consistent track record of success make him one of the most intriguing mixes of upside and stability still available in free agency at this point. With that said, it doesn’t appear that the veteran has fully decided whether or not he’ll return to the mound at all for 2025. Morton has frequently considered hanging up the glove to join his family at their home in Florida, and while initial reports indicated his intention to pitch in 2025, Morton’s plans seemingly remain up in the air as he would likely wind up somewhere other than Atlanta for the coming season.

Reportedly, Morton’s preference is to pitch for a team that hosts their Spring Training in Florida so he can stay close to home for more of the season. Aside from the Braves and Rays, the Orioles, Red Sox, Tigers, Astros, Blue Jays, Marlins, Twins, Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Pirates, Cardinals, and Nationals all play in the Grapefruit League during the spring. The majority of those teams are either facing significant payroll constraints or unlikely to add rotation help this winter, but the Orioles, Astros, Tigers, and Mets could all be speculative potential destinations for the right-hander should he wind up departing Atlanta.

Twins Sign Mike Ford To Minor League Deal

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The Twins have signed first baseman Mike Ford to a minor league deal, according to a report from Jon Morosi of MLBNetwork. The deal includes an invitation to big league Spring Training next month.

Ford, 32, made his big league debut back in 2019 with the Yankees. Ford hit the ground running in 50 games for the club, slashing an impressive .259/.350/.559 with 12 home runs in just 163 plate appearance. That dynamic performance was enough to earn Ford additional chances with the Yankees over the next two seasons, but he wasn’t able to capitalize on them as he hit just .134/.250/.276 in 156 trips to the plate split between the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The Yankees eventually opted to trade Ford to the Rays in a cash deal midway through the 2021 season.

Though Ford wouldn’t make it back to the majors in 2021, that trade nonetheless set off a lengthy series of transactions that saw the slugger bounce around the league with a number of different stops. Two months after being acquired by the Rays, he was claimed off waivers by the Nationals. After being non-tendered by Washington following the 2021 season, he was signed by the Mariners and added to their 40-man roster ahead of the 2022 season. Before appearing in a big league game with the club, however, he was traded to the Giants in a cash deal. His stay in San Francisco then lasted just one game before he was traded back to the Mariners, where he then appeared in 16 games before being designated for assignment and claimed off waivers by the Braves. After five games in Atlanta, he was then shipped to Anaheim and finished the 2022 season with the club, playing 28 games for the Angels down the stretch.

Given that whirlwind of transactions Ford found himself a part of over the course of 14 months, it’s perhaps no surprise that his 2022 season left much to be desired. While he garnered 149 plate appearances across 50 games with the four teams that played him in the majors that year, he hit just .206/.302/.313 during that time. Ford ultimately returned to free agency and signed a second consecutive minor league deal with Seattle. After lingering at Triple-A for the first two months of the year, he was added to the Mariners’ roster at the start of June and proceeded to have the best season of his career. He slashed a solid .228/.323/.475 (128 wRC+) in a career-high 84 games while clobbering 16 home runs in just 251 trips to the plate. Ford still struck out at a hefty 32.3% clip, but his power allowed him to carve out a semi-regular role with the Mariners serving mostly as the club’s DH.

Unfortunately for Ford, he was non-tendered by the Mariners following the 2023 campaign as the club looked to overhaul its lineup to focus more on contact rather than power. Ford signed with the Reds on a minor league deal prior to the 2024 campaign but managed to get into just 17 games with the club this year and hit a paltry .150/.177/.233 in 62 plate appearances. After being cut loose by Cincinnati at the end of May, Ford tried his luck overseas with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars. His time in Japan did not go especially well, and he made it into just six games with the club’s Central League team before returning to the open market this winter.

Now, Ford is poised to join the Twins as a budget first base option for the club. Minnesota has struggled with a significant payroll crunch throughout the offseason and been limited in its ability to add to a roster that entered September in clear playoff position but collapsed down the stretch. After watching Carlos Santana depart for their division rivals in Cleveland last month, Minnesota appeared thin at first base with some combination of José Miranda and Edouard Julien likely to be the club’s internal solution at the position. With Ford now in the mix, those two youngsters will have additional competition this spring for the first base job, though signing a non-roster veteran like Ford is unlikely to stop the Twins from adding a more proven player in free agency should they manage to create enough payroll space to do so.

Guardians Sign Luis Frias To Minor League Deal

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The Guardians have signed right-hander Luis Frias to a minor league deal with an invite to big league Spring Training, per a club announcement.

Frias, 27 in May, signed with the Diamondbacks out of the Dominican Republic as an amateur and made his pro debut back in 2016. After slowly making his way through the lower levels of the minors in his early years with the club, Frias quickly rose from High-A all the way to Triple-A during the 2021 season. While he struggled to a 4.93 ERA in 23 starts across three levels of the minors that year, that didn’t stop Arizona from giving Frias his first big league opportunity down the stretch. He pitched fairly well in that brief cup of coffee, with a 2.70 ERA and three strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings of work, though his five walks represented a clear red flag regarding how his command would play at the big league level.

Those control issues manifested in the form of a brutal 2022 season. Frias’s sophomore campaign in the desert scarcely could have gone worse, as he posted a 10.59 ERA in 17 big league innings of work while once again walking (17) more batters than he struck out (14). His 3.99 ERA at Triple-A offered some level of optimism, though even that was held back by a 12.3% walk rate at the level. Despite his struggles, Frias’s tantalizing stuff was enough to convince Arizona to keep him in the fold for 2023, and he delivered the best season of his career in return. Though he walked 12.2% of opponents in the majors that year, Frias posted a 4.07 ERA that was 9% better than average by measure of ERA+ in 31 innings of work. His 18.7% strikeout rate was lackluster, but in terms of pure run prevention his results were those of a perfectly adequate middle reliever.

Unfortunately, Frias’s performance went back off the rails in 2024. In 13 MLB appearances split between the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays, the right-hander struggled to a 13.97 ERA and 5.55 FIP while recording just 9 2/3 total innings of work. Things even looked dire at the Triple-A level during his time in Arizona, as he posted a lackluster 4.88 ERA for the club’s affiliate in Reno. Fortunately for Frias, however, he dominated at Triple-A late in the year after being plucked off waivers from the Snakes. He posted a 0.96 ERA and a 27.9% strikeout rate for his new club’s Buffalo affiliate, and while that wasn’t enough to convince the Jays to keep him on their 40-man roster this winter it was evidently enough to earn Frias a look from the Guardians this winter.

While Frias isn’t likely to break camp as part of a crowded Cleveland bullpen, he’ll now have the opportunity to work with one of the league’s best pitching development organizations in hopes of further harnessing his potential and sorting out his command going forward. In the meantime, he’ll serve as a non-roster depth option for the Guardians out of the bullpen who could be called upon in the event of an injury.

The Opener: Kim, Arbitration, Scherzer

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As the MLB offseason continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Kim’s posting window draws closed:

KBO infielder Hyeseong Kim has just under 32 hours remaining in his posting window, which is set to close at 4pm CT tomorrow. MLBTR ranked Kim as the #26 free agent available in our annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list, where we predicted a three-year, $28MM deal for Kim at the outset of the offseason. With that being said, it’s worth noting that the earning power of international free agents can be difficult to predict as Kim’s fellow countryman Jung Hoo Lee demonstrated last winter when he signed a nine-figure deal with the Giants that blew past all expectations at the time of his posting.

There’s been few concrete rumors regarding Kim’s free agency to this point in the offseason, and with so little known about Kim’s free agency it’s difficult to predict which teams may be interested in the infielder or if he could consider returning to the Kiwoom Heroes in 2025 if he’s unable to find a contract to his liking. Kim is primarily a second baseman but has plenty of experience at shortstop as well and is generally regarded as a strong defender who should have little trouble handling third base if needed. The Mariners, Yankees, Angels, Cubs, Padres, and Brewers are among a number of teams who could make sense as potential suitors for a versatile infielder like Kim.

2. Arbitration filing deadline approaches:

Arbitration-eligible players around the league have to either reach an agreement with their club or face an arbitration hearing each winter, and decision day is rapidly approaching for those players this winter. The deadline to file for arbitration is one week from today on January 9. While teams and players are free to negotiate even after filing, clubs have increasingly used next week’s deadline as a cutoff for negotiations, taking what’s been termed a “file-and-trial” approach to arbitration. The majority of arb-level players typically sign before the deadline in order to avoid arbitration, as Royals right-hander Kyle Wright did last month. Many more players figure to follow in Wright’s footsteps over the next week, including what’s sure to be a rush of deals on the day of the deadline.

3. Scherzer’s market heating up?

Reporting yesterday indicated that four teams are involved in the market for future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, though no specific clubs have been connected to the veteran hurler. At age 40, Scherzer is coming off an injury-marred season and is no longer the perennial contender for Cy Young awards that he was during his peak. Even so, the right-hander has remained valuable when healthy, with a 3.81 ERA (109 ERA+) and a 26.8% strikeout rate over the past two seasons. The eight-time All-Star is among the highest upside players still on the market and offers a relatively low-cost alternative to the top hurlers remaining on the market, Jack Flaherty and Nick Pivetta, while standing out in a crowd of veterans searching for one-year deals as the most impactful option at that level of the market now that Walker Buehler is off the board.

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