Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Dodgers Have Discussed Teoscar Hernandez In Trade Talks

By | at

Though the Dodgers are in the market for an outfielder, they’ve also discussed the possibility of dealing from their current group. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Teoscar Hernandez’s name has popped up in some of the front office’s trade talks with other clubs, though the team doesn’t feel a deal is likely.

Hernandez, who turned 33 in October, is coming off a down season at the plate. His .247/.284/.454 batting line (102 wRC+) was his weakest since establishing himself as a major leaguer. He bounced back somewhat with a nice overall postseason showing, though, and Hernandez still ripped 25 home runs during 134 regular season games (546 plate appearances). This year’s 24.5% strikeout rate, while higher than league average, was the lowest of Hernandez’s career. Then again — that’s also true of his lowly 4.8% walk rate.

Hernandez’s batted-ball profile is still solid; his average exit velocity, hard-hit rate and barrel rate are all better than league average. However, he’s seen noticeable dips in each area over the past two seasons, which corresponds with a decline in his bat speed, as measured by Statcast. As someone who’s practically an all-bat player at this point in his career, the trend lines are fairly concerning.

That’s particularly true for a Dodgers club that can’t transition Hernandez to designated hitter, due to the presence of Shohei Ohtani. Hernandez drew roughly average marks for his right field glovework in the eyes of Defensive Runs Saved, but Statcast was far more bearish, dinging him for negative-9 Outs Above Average. Statcast pegged Hernandez’s range in just the third percentile of MLB outfielders. He’s never had a positive OAA mark dating back to his 2016 MLB debut, nor has he ever topped a +1 DRS mark in his ten big league seasons.

Hernandez is entering the second season of a three-year, $66MM contract signed in free agency last winter. He’s still owed $33MM over the next two seasons — $12MM in ’26, $14.5MM in ’27 and a $6.5MM buyout on a 2028 club option — though $16MM of that sum is deferred and will not begin to be paid out until 2031.

Home runs notwithstanding, Hernandez is a questionable corner-only defender whose OBP flatlined at a career-worst .284 in 2025. By measure of wRC+, he was only 2% better than the average big league hitter in 2025. It’s fair to wonder whether he could match that $33MM guarantee if he were a free agent at the moment. Hernandez is a prominent name, and the five dingers he smacked in the playoffs are fresh in everyone’s memory, but his stock isn’t exactly at a high point. In terms of WAR, both FanGraphs (0.6) and Baseball-Reference (1.5) felt this was his worst or second-worst performance in a full season.

Trading Hernandez would create a bevy of possibilities for Los Angeles as they look to improve their defense. With so many versatile players on the roster (e.g. Mookie Betts, Tommy Edman, Andy Pages, the recently re-signed Miguel Rojas), the Dodgers boast innumerable potential defensive alignment and could thus pursue a wide range of free agent and trade targets.

Notably, Rosenthal echoes previous reporting from colleague Fabian Ardaya, ESPN’s Jeff Passan and others in suggesting that Kyle Tucker will likely command more than the Dodgers prefer to spend; they’d reportedly be amenable to a shorter-than-expected deal, but Tucker still seems likely to command a significant long-term pact.

Even if a (still very hypothetical) Hernandez trade wouldn’t pave the way for an earnest pursuit of Tucker, shedding his salary and freeing up roster space would bring about ample room for creativity. Speculatively speaking, the Dodgers could rekindle their deadline interest in Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan, make a run at one of the Red Sox’ likely available outfielders (Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu) or once again jump into the fray for a versatile Cardinals utilityman (Brendan Donovan). If they’re open to shifting Betts back to the outfield, the possibilities expand even further.

Giants To Hire Ron Washington As Infield Coach

By | at

The Giants are hiring former Rangers/Angels manager and former Athletics/Braves coach Ron Washington as their infield coach for the upcoming season, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports.

Washington, 73, was a first base coach, third base coach and infield coach with the Athletics from 1996 to 2006. He left the A’s for an eight-year stint as the manager for the division-rival Rangers, guiding Texas to consecutive World Series appearances in 2010-11 — though the Rangers ultimately fell short in both instances. The Giants won a 4-1 World Series in 2010, and Washington’s Rangers fell to the Cardinals in a seven-game classic in 2011. One of the key factors in that 2010 World Series was then-rookie catcher Buster Posey, who’s now San Francisco’s president of baseball operations.

After his run as the Rangers’ skipper, Washington returned to Oakland for the 2015-16 seasons, stepping back into his old role of third base coach. The Braves interviewed Washington for their managerial vacancy in the 2016-17 offseason and were impressed enough to hire Washington to the coaching staff despite ultimately giving the skipper’s role to Brian Snitker. Washington spent seven seasons in Atlanta as third base and infield coach, winning a World Series ring in 2021, before being hired as the new Angels manager in the 2023-24 offseason.

Washington’s time in Anaheim would only last one-plus seasons. The 2024 Halos lost 99 games and finished in last place in the AL West. In 2025, Washington only managed 74 of the team’s 162 games. He stepped away from the club due to health reasons in mid-June and revealed a couple months later that he’d undergone a quadruple bypass procedure. Bench coach Ray Montgomery took over for him on an interim basis. Washington had said he hoped to return to his managerial post with the Angels in 2026, but the team opted to make a change and hire someone from the opposite end of the experience spectrum: former big league catcher Kurt Suzuki, who’ll be in his first year as a coach or manager next season.

This will be Washington’s 21st overall as a major league coach. Add in his decade of managerial experience, and Washington has spent more than 30 years as one of the game’s most respected coaching/managerial minds. He’ll inherit a pair of talented defenders on the left side of the infield in Matt Chapman and Willy Adames, but Washington will be a vital piece of the puzzle as the Giants continue familiarizing Rafael Devers and young slugger Bryce Eldridge with the intricacies of first base. He’ll also give new skipper Tony Vitello an experienced ear on which to rely as he makes the transition from college ball to managing at the professional level.

Rockies Name Josh Byrnes General Manager

By | at

3:04pm: The Rockies have formally announced the hiring of Byrnes.

“I’m incredibly excited to be able to bring Josh into our group,” DePodesta said within today’s press release. “Few executives in baseball share his combination of intellectual curiosity, breadth of experience, and on-field successes. We are extremely fortunate to add him, as he immediately strengthens our entire baseball operation.”

9:43am: The Rockies are set to hire Dodgers senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes away as their new general manager, per Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin of The Athletic. Though he’ll have the GM title, Byrnes will be second in command in the new-look Rox front office that’s headed up by recently hired president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta.

Byrnes, 55, is a seasoned front office veteran who has previously run baseball operations for both the Padres and D-backs, holding the title of general manager with each club. Byrnes is also a former assistant GM within the Rockies organization itself, having held that role in Denver from 1999 through 2002, so he’s something of a known commodity for owner Dick Monfort.

Byrnes was one of Andrew Friedman’s first hires after being named president of baseball operations in Los Angeles. He’s spent 11 years as one of Friedman’s top lieutenants, supervising both the scouting and player development departments for the Dodgers. Byrnes’ résumé is an impressive one. He’s spent more than a decade as a key figure in the front office for a Dodgers club that has won three World Series titles in that span. Prior to that, he headed up a pair of other front offices in the NL West and also served as an assistant GM with the 2003-04 Red Sox during their curse-breaking World Series victory.

That’s 26 straight seasons as either an assistant GM, a general manager or a senior vice president of baseball operations. Prior to that run, Byrnes cut his teeth as an advance scout and scouting director in Cleveland under legendary general manager John Hart. Byrnes also overlapped with another advance scout and rising star in player development during that time … his new boss, DePodesta.

All of those prominent roles give Byrnes ample insight into how to best reshape and build out a Rockies infrastructure that has lagged far behind the times. Colorado has the smallest analytics department and smallest front office, in general, of any team in baseball. Under the Monfort family’s ownership, they’ve been either loyal to a fault or downright insular, depending on how one prefers to frame it. Byrnes and DePodesta figure to make numerous hires to beef up the Rockies’ data practice, player development department and broader baseball operations setup.

Mariners Among Teams Interested In Brendan Donovan

By | at

As the Cardinals navigate the early stages of a rebuild under new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, infielder/outfielder Brendan Donovan stands as perhaps the most appealing trade commodity on the St. Louis roster. The Mariners spent much of last offseason trying to pry Donovan loose from the Cardinals (under then-president of baseball ops John Mozeliak), and they’ve once again approached the Cards to express interest in coming together on a trade involving Donovan, per Adam Jude of the Seattle Times.

Donovan, 29 in January, turned in a sharp .287/.353/.422 batting line in 2025 — about 19% better than league-average performance, by measure of wRC+. He popped 10 homers in 515 plate appearances, piled up 32 doubles, walked at an 8.2% clip and struck out in only 13% of his plate appearances. It’s the fourth straight year of comparable hit-over-power and OBP-fueled offense for Donovan, who’s a lifetime .282/.361/.411 hitter in the majors. He’s walked at a 9.1% clip and fanned in just 13.5% of his 2006 MLB plate appearances dating back to 2022.

On top of Donovan’s generally strong output and impeccable bat-to-ball skills, he’s a gifted defender who can handle just about any position on the diamond. He’s played primarily second base and left field but has some decent experience at shortstop (106 innings), third base (270 innings), first base (151 innings) and in right field (205 innings).

For the Mariners, Donovan is an ideal fit. He can handle second base, third base or an outfield corner — all currently unsettled in Seattle at the moment. Prospects Cole Young and Colt Emerson are highly touted young players who could step up and solidify second base and/or third base, but Young struggled in his first 77 MLB games last year and Emerson is a 20-year-old who’s played all of six games at the Triple-A level thus far. Victor Robles is penciled into right field alongside Randy Arozarena and Julio Rodriguez, but Robles and Dominic Canzone could fill more part-time roles if Donovan is brought in and gets occasional work on the outfield grass.

Donovan also embodies the type of high-contact bat the Mariners have hoped to add in recent offseasons. The M’s had the second-highest strikeout rate of any MLB team in both 2023 and 2024. They dropped to seventh last year. Over the past five seasons, only the Angels (24.9%) have a higher team strikeout rate than the Mariners (24.7%). A full season of Josh Naylor helps to combat that, but 500-plus plate appearances from Donovan would give them a pair of premium contact bats at or near the top of the lineup.

Of course, Donovan’s versatility, production and affordability make him an ideal fit for the majority of contending teams seeking to upgrade their lineup this offseason. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a $5.4MM salary for Donovan next year. He’ll be owed a raise on that heading into 2027 — his final season of club control (barring an extension between now and then). Any team acquiring Donovan would do so knowing that they can have him for something in the rough vicinity of $15MM total through 2027. It’s an unmitigated bargain, but that also means he’ll come with a lofty asking price. The Mariners, with one of MLB’s top farm systems, are well-equipped to make a compelling offer.

Katie Woo of The Athletic wrote this week that the Cardinals are only inclined to trade Donovan if they’re blown away by an offer they don’t think they can refuse. Interest in Donovan is so high, however, that Woo suggests such an offer is likely to materialize. Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN offered similar sentiments yesterday, writing that while the Cards “are not eager” to make the move, Donovan’s market is “percolating” and an eventual trade seems likelier than not.

In addition to the Mariners, Donovan is known to have drawn interest from the Pirates, Astros, Guardians and Royals. That’s surely just a fraction of the clubs to have reached out to the Cardinals regarding Donovan. The Dodgers, Yankees and Blue Jays were all tied to Donovan last offseason and/or at this past summer’s trade deadline.

Blue Jays Open To Trading Jose Berrios

By | at

The Blue Jays’ early signings of Dylan Cease and KBO returnee Cody Ponce have deepened a rotation that already included Trey Yesavage, Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber and Jose Berrios. Lefty Eric Lauer and righty Yariel Rodriguez give Toronto a pair of quality swing options, too, and the Jays still have Bowden Francis and former top prospect Ricky Tiedemann (who should be recovered from 2024 Tommy John surgery) in the upper minors as well.

The magnitude of Ponce’s three-year, $30MM contract presumably puts him squarely into the rotation. Barring a move to a six-man rotation or a spring injury, Toronto will have more starters than rotation places available. Injuries can turn a “surplus” into a deficiency pretty quickly, particularly when it comes to pitchers, but the Jays are willing to trade Berrios, Mitch Bannon of The Athletic reports.

It’s easy to frame this as the Jays adding enough depth that they’re now willing to deal Berrios. That’d be the charitable (to Berrios) way of shaping things. The other and perhaps more likely angle is simply that Toronto wasn’t enamored with Berrios continuing as its fourth starter and has acted decisively with a pair of additions pushing the veteran righty down the depth chart.

Berrios, 32 next May, has been an iron man for the Jays and Twins throughout his big league tenure. He’s started at least 30 games every year since 2018, with the exception of the shortened 2020 season, when he started a full slate of 12 games. No pitcher has started more games (234) or totaled more innings (1367 1/3) than Berrios in that span of eight years.

Along the way, Berrios has generally been an above-average starter. He’s logged a 3.94 ERA, set down 22.6% of his opponents on strikes and only walked 6.8% of the batters he’s faced. Few starters have been this reliable for this long.

Be that as it may, Berrios’ more recent seasons have seen him trend in the wrong direction. After punching out 23.7% of his opponents from 2018-23, he’s dropped to 19.6% over the past two seasons. Add in a 19.8% strikeout rate in 2022, and Berrios has now been under 20% in that regard in three of the past four years. League average in that time has been about 22.5%. Berrios has spent much of his career working with plus command, but this past season’s 8% walk rate — while still slightly better than the 8.4% league average — was up considerably from the 6.3% mark he posted across four prior seasons.

The worrying trends don’t stop there. Berrios’ 93 mph average four-seamer in 2025 was the lowest of his career, while the 92.2 mph average on his sinker was his second-lowest (leading only the 92.1 mph he averaged back in 2019). He also surrendered the highest average exit velocity (90.3 mph) and barrel rate (11.3%) of his career. His opponents’ 42.5% hard-hit rate was the second-highest mark in his MLB run. Berrios has only yielded a hard-hit rate north of 40% in three of his 10 major league seasons. All three have come within the past four years. Unsurprisingly, given the dips in velocity, command and whiffs, Berrios has become more homer-prone; after surrendering an average of 1.17 homers per nine frames from 2017-23, he’s up to 1.43 since Opening Day 2024.

None of this necessarily makes Berrios a bad pitcher. He’s an ultra-durable source of reliable, if unspectacular innings. However, coming off a down season that ended with what was incredibly the first IL stint of his big league career (elbow inflammation), would Berrios match the remaining three years and $66MM on his contract? He’d be hard-pressed to do so — certainly once factoring in the opt-out provision he has following the 2026 campaign and the escalators that could push his remaining guarantee from $66MM to $70MM.

Currently, Berrios is guaranteed $24MM in both 2027 and 2028. Both figures would rise by $1MM if the right-hander pitches a combined 300 innings in 2025-26 and another $1MM if he gets to a combined 350 innings. With 166 frames under his belt in 2025, he’d only need 134 innings in 2026 to secure an additional $2MM and a tougher but plausible 184 innings to tack on yet another $1MM per season. Given his durability, it’s likely that Berrios will at least be promised at least $50MM over two seasons when weighing his opt-out opportunity next winter — and possibly two years and $52MM.

All of that coalesces to make Berrios a difficult player to trade. He’ll pitch next year at 32, so it’s hardly out of the question that he rediscovers some of his waning ability to miss bats and/or limit walks and boosts his profile a bit. In that instance, however, Berrios might very well opt out of the two years left on his contract beyond the 2026 season. On the other hand, if the veteran righty continues to see his strikeouts dip and/or see his walks creep further north, he could be more of an innings-eating fifth starter who’s trending down and owed $24-26MM in both his age-33 and age-34 campaigns.

Essentially, any team trading for Berrios would probably do so with the hope that he’d rebound closer to his 2021-23 form — at which point he’d likely opt out. But to acquire him, they’d also have to take on the downside of Berrios maintaining his recent status quo or even slipping further, thus making that $48-52MM owed to him in 2027-28 wholly unappealing.

It’d be a surprise if the Jays were to find an interested team that was willing to both take on the entirety of Berrios’ remaining contract (to say nothing of doing so and surrendering young talent). In all likelihood, the Jays would need to include at least some cash or take back another contract of some note at a different position. That said, starting pitching is always in demand, and there are always teams looking for creative ways to swap weighty contracts that might better fit their current roster or payroll objectives.

One other fascinating wrinkle to consider: Berrios ended the 2025 season with 9.044 years of major league service time. That places him 128 days shy of 10 years. With MLB Opening Day set for March 25 and the trade deadline set to fall on Friday, July 31, Berrios would reach 10 years of service the day before next summer’s deadline. At that point, he’d acquire 10-and-5 rights — 10 years of MLB service, including the past five with the same team — thereby granting him full veto power over any trade scenarios. Currently, Berrios can block trades to a slate of eight teams.

Toronto can still carry Berrios into the 2026 season and enjoy the depth he provides. In all likelihood, injuries are going to thin out the top end of the current rotation options. That’s just reality for any big league club in today’s game. But the Jays have viable rotation alternatives, and the looming realization of Berrios’ 10-and-5 rights mean that trading him next winter will be even more complicated if he chooses to forgo his opt-out. There’d also be quite a bit of pressure to try to push a deal across the finish line in late July in the event that the Jays are intent on dealing him this summer.

It’s a complicated scenario, to say the least. Berrios’ contract is underwater but not an albatross. He’s a durable source of steady innings but no longer a borderline All-Star. The Jays can try to trade him this winter or during the season, but they’ll have not only the “clock” of the trade deadline but also the artificial clock of Berrios’ forthcoming full no-trade rights. Moving Berrios now would free up some more space for a run at re-signing Bo Bichette or trying to lure Kyle Tucker to Toronto, though the Jays would probably need to take on some other costs in order to get a deal done. It all makes for a fascinating thread to follow ahead of next week’s Winter Meetings, where convoluted trade packages and high-profile changes of scenery are the norm.

White Sox, Anthony Kay Agree To Two-Year Deal

By | at

The White Sox and left-hander Anthony Kay are reportedly in agreement on a two-year, $12MM contract. The former first-round pick and top prospect, who’s represented by CAA, will be paid $5MM in each of the next two seasons and has a $2MM buyout on a $10MM mutual option for the 2028 season. He can earn another $1.5MM via incentives. Kay has spent the past two seasons pitching well for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.

It’s a familiar page in general manager Chris Getz’s playbook: sign a former first-rounder to a two-year deal on the heels of a strong run pitching in one of the top leagues in Asia.

That strategy worked out reasonably well when Chicago signed Erick Fedde for two years and $15MM in the 2023-24 offseason following a terrific season in the Korea Baseball Organization; Fedde was traded to the Cardinals in a three-team swap in July 2024, netting the White Sox Miguel Vargas and minor league infielders Alexander Albertus and Jeral Perez. Vargas was a league-average bat for the South Siders in 2025 and is controlled another four seasons. Albertus and Perez rank within the top 25 prospects in the Sox’ system.

The Sox will hope for similar results in their similarly priced investment into Kay. The 30-year-old southpaw (31 in March) has pitched 291 2/3 innings since heading to Japan. In that time, he’s logged a 2.53 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 54.5% ground-ball rate in 48 starts out of the BayStars’ rotation.

Kay has changed his pitch repertoire since moving to NPB. He sat 94.1 mph with a four-seamer, 87.9 mph with a cutter and 86.2 mph with a slider during his limited big league work from 2019-23. He’s added about three miles per hour to that cutter and also begun throwing a sinker that he didn’t have during his last run in North America, which he credits with generating more soft contact. He’s still throwing a sweeper and occasional changeup, and the lefty has also dabbled with a curveball. (He spoke about those changes and more in an October chat with Fansided’s Robert Murray.)

From 2019-23, Kay pitched 85 1/3 innings between the Blue Jays, Cubs and Mets. It was the Mets who originally selected him 31st overall back in 2016, though they were actually the third team for whom he pitched in the majors. New York traded Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson to the Blue Jays in exchange for Marcus Stroman back in 2019, and Kay made his MLB debut not long after the swap.

Things never clicked for Kay in the majors. He’s been tagged for a 5.59 ERA with a solid 22.4% strikeout rate but an ugly 12% walk rate. Opponents averaged 1.27 homers per nine innings against him. He didn’t fare much better in terms of run prevention in parts of four Triple-A seasons, logging a 5.40 earned run average in 148 1/3 innings pitched.

As we saw with Fedde and with yesterday’s three-year, $30MM deal between the Blue Jays and Cody Ponce, what Kay did in his prior MLB work holds virtually no bearing on his newfound payday. He’s a different pitcher now than he was at any point in 2019-23, and the White Sox are paying him based on the their belief that the changes he’s implemented while pitching in Yokohama will beget better results back in Major League Baseball.

There’s inherent risk, but at this price point, it’s also hard to fault a White Sox club that’s still in the midst of a rebuilding effort. Kay will either pitch well, at which point he’d emerge as a nice trade chip, or he’ll continue to struggle and the Sox will be out a relatively modest $5MM per season. The overall scope of this commitment is less than the $15MM paydays we saw for aging veterans in their late 30s/early 40s last year (e.g. Charlie Morton, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Alex Cobb). It’s a life-changing deal for Kay but a small-scale gamble for the team.

Kay steps into a rotation mix that has plenty of options but is lacking when it comes to established contributors. Right-handers Shane Smith, Sean Burke and Davis Martin all pitched between 134 and 146 innings with ERAs between 3.81 (Smith) and 4.22 (Burke). None of the three has more than one full season of big league success. Smith was a Rule 5 pick at last year’s Winter Meetings and a rookie in 2025.

Those four are now favored to open the year in manager Will Venable’s rotation. Jonathan Cannon is tentatively penciled into the fifth spot for the time being, but he struggled greatly in 2025 and has minor league options remaining. Prospects Ky Bush and Drew Thorpe could be midseason options as they work their way back from Tommy John surgery performed last spring. Lefties Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith rank among the game’s top pitching prospects and could be ready at some point next summer as well.

There’s still room for the Sox to add some veteran innings. Getz has previously voiced a reluctance to commit to free agents beyond the 2026 season — though he did so with Kay, albeit in moderate fashion. There ought to be plenty of veteran arms looking at one-year deals, whether that’s a back-of-the-rotation innings eater (e.g. Michael Lorenzen, Patrick Corbin) or an upside play coming off an injury or poor performance (e.g. Nestor Cortes, Walker Buehler, Dustin May). The White Sox’ payroll currently projects at just $68MM, per RosterResource, so there’s room for Getz & Co. to bring in several additions to fill out the rotation, bullpen, outfield and infield.

Murray first reported that the two parties had agreed to a two-year, $12MM deal. The Athletic’s Will Sammon added details about the specific breakdown and incentives.

Marlins Notes: Cabrera, Alcantara, Weathers, Outfield, Bullpen

By | at

While much of the focus regarding the Marlins this offseason has been on their intent to spend more aggressively (relatively speaking) and bolster the lineup, the Fish still have a pair of prominent trade candidates in the rotation. Right-handers Edward Cabrera and Sandy Alcantara are on wishlists for pitching-hungry clubs around the league, though neither is a lock to be moved.

Kevin Barral and Isaac Azout of Fish On First reported last week that the organization “expects” Alcantara to be with the club come Opening Day. MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola offers a similar sentiment today, suggesting that Cabrera is the likelier of the two to be moved this offseason — if either is traded at all. Miami isn’t actively shopping either pitcher at the moment, she writes, though it’s all but a given that there’ll be an uptick in inquiries at next week’s Winter Meetings. De Nicola also lists lefty Ryan Weathers as a potential trade candidate while rightly noting that the Fish would be selling low on a talented southpaw after consecutive injury-plagued seasons.

Acquired in the 2023 trade sending Garrett Cooper to the Padres, Weathers has been a steal for Miami when healthy. That’s been a major caveat, unfortunately. A lat strain, flexor strain and finger strain have combined to limit the former No. 7 overall draft pick to just 24 starts dating back to Opening Day 2024. Weathers has totaled 125 innings in that time and notched a 3.74 ERA with a 22% strikeout rate and 6.8% walk rate. That league-average strikeout rate is backed by a roughly average 11.7% swinging-strike rate. Weathers has sat 96.2 mph on his heater since ’24 and kept a strong 45.6% of batted balls against him on the ground. As with Cabrera, he’s a clear injury risk but has had some recent success and comes with another three seasons of club control.

Cabrera stands as the prize of the Marlins’ potential trade candidates in the rotation, but because of his age (27), affordable salary ($3.7MM projection, via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz), former top prospect status and 2025 results (3.53 ERA, 25.8 K%, 8.3 BB%, 46.6 GB% in 137 2/3 innings), he also surely comes with the highest asking price.

Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN wrote just this morning that Miami has asked for “premium prospects” in for any club that has poked around on Cabrera, and the right-hander’s lengthy injury history has left interested parties wary of making such a commitment. The 2025 season was Cabrera’s first reaching 100 innings in the majors, and he’s spent time on the injured list with an elbow sprain, blisters, shoulder impingement (three times) and tendinitis in his elbow — all since 2021.

Certainly, the Marlins could use their deep supply of starting pitching to bring in some bats to help the lineup, but free agency remains a viable path as well. They’ve primarily focused on first base to this point, but Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that president of baseball ops Peter Bendix and his staff have begun to broaden their search. Miami is also looking into potential outfield and third base acquisitions, believing that the versatility of players like Connor Norby and Griffin Conine could allow them to target bats at other positions.

It’s already known that the Marlins have been considering Norby at first base. Jackson adds that the Fish are planning to get Conine some work at first next spring and also believe that outfielder Heriberto Hernandez could be an option there.

The bullpen has been another point of focus for Bendix & Co., with reports tying Miami to prominent names like Devin Williams (who has since signed with the Mets), Raisel Iglesias (who re-signed in Atlanta) and Pete Fairbanks (who Bendix knows well from his days as Rays general manager). Jackson adds veteran relievers Kyle Finnegan, Tyler Rogers and twin brother Taylor Rogers as three more bullpen arms who intrigue the Marlins.

Finnegan, 34, has closed games for the division-rival Nationals for years but elevated his production to new heights following a summer trade to the Tigers. Detroit pushed Finnegan to use his splitter more and tweaked his release point, and the right-hander was flat-out dominant in the Motor City, emerging as one of manager A.J. Hinch’s go-to relievers. He tossed 18 innings of 1.50 ERA ball following the trade and saw his strikeout rate jump from 19.6% in D.C. to an eye-popping 34.8% in Detroit.

The Rogers brothers have lengthy track records themselves. Taylor, a lefty, was a high-end setup man and All-Star closer with the Twins during his peak years from 2017-22. He’s settled into more of a middle relief role since signing with the Giants — where he teamed with his brother — and subsequently being traded to the Reds and Cubs.

While Taylor was the prominent name early in the brothers’ careers, it’s Tyler who is now the higher-profile reliever. He’s pitched 378 1/3 innings of 2.71 ERA ball dating back to 2021, including a pristine 1.98 earned run average in 77 1/3 frames between the Giants and Mets in 2025. Tyler doesn’t miss many bats, as one would expect from a soft-tossing right-handed submariner whose sinker averages 83.5 mph, but he has impeccable command (2.2% walk rate since 2024) and is all but impossible to square up due to the deception in his delivery. Tyler has the slowest “fastball” and lowest whiff percentage in the majors but also sits in the 95th percentile (or better) of big league pitchers in terms of opponents’ exit velocity, barrel rate and hard-hit rate.

At the moment, Miami has a projected 2026 payroll of just $59MM, per RosterResource. They’re sitting just under $70MM in luxury tax obligations. The general thinking has been that, like the A’s last offseason, the Marlins will want to push that CBT number closer to $105MM in order to avoid any type of MLBPA grievance that might jeopardize their revenue-sharing status. That could be achieved by bringing in free agents, trading for veterans on guaranteed salaries, or extending players already on the roster. The Marlins have reportedly spoken to both Kyle Stowers and Eury Perez about long-term deals; talks with either player could pick back up later in the offseason.

Giants’ Casey Schmitt Undergoes Wrist Surgery

By | at

Giants infielder Casey Schmitt underwent surgery to remove a carpal boss from his left wrist this morning, the team announced. He’ll require anywhere from eight to ten weeks to recover. That could cut into Schmitt’s availability early in spring training, but so long as there are no lingering complications, he should have time to ramp up for Opening Day.

Word of Schmitt’s surgery comes just a day after reports emerged that the Giants were among the teams looking into second base upgrades. That’s hardly a surprise, given that San Francisco second basemen combined for a dismal .217/.273/.343 batting line in 2025. The resulting 73 wRC+ (indicating they were 27% worse than league-average) ranked 27th in MLB.

Schmitt, Tyler Fitzgerald, Christian Koss and Brett Wisely took all of the reps at second base for San Francisco last season. None of them hit well while manning the keystone — though Schmitt’s overall .234/.305/.401 was only a bit worse than average at the plate (98 wRC+). Coupled with 113 solid plate appearances in 2024, Schmitt has been an average bat over the past two seasons, hitting .241/.300/.420 with 18 homers in 461 plate appearances.

As things stand, Schmitt sits atop the Giants’ depth chart at second base. Fitzgerald and Koss both remain with the organization. Wisely was claimed off waivers by Atlanta in September and remains on the Braves’ 40-man roster.

There’s no top prospect breathing down Schmitt’s neck. Gavin Kilen, Josuar Gonzalez and Jhonny Level all play the middle infield, but none will be ready for a look come 2026. The Giants have long stood as a fit to add help at second base, though their stated reluctance to go long-term on starting pitchers this offseason makes it worth wondering whether they’d make a real run at top free agent Bo Bichette. Alternatives in free agency include Jorge Polanco and Ha-Seong Kim, while the trade market presents possibilities like Brandon Lowe, Brendan Donovan, CJ Abrams and buy-low names such as Nolan Gorman and Luisangel Acuña.

For now, Schmitt still profiles as the top option, but news of his injury only further shines a light on the Giants’ need at second base. If the Giants do succeed in bringing in someone from outside the organization, that doesn’t necessarily squeeze Schmitt out of a role entirely. He has ample experience at all three infield spots to the left of first base to go along with decent speed and a strong throwing arm. He’d make a decent utility player and also has a minor league option remaining, giving the Giants the flexibility to send him to Triple-A Sacramento and call him up in the event of an injury elsewhere on the roster. The Giants can control Schmitt for at least another four seasons — possibly five, depending on how much (if any) time he spends in the minors  during his final option year.

Tigers Among Teams Interested In Pete Fairbanks

By | at

The relief market has been the most active element of free agency so far, with Devin Williams, Ryan Helsley, Raisel Iglesias and Phil Maton among the most prominent names off the board thus far. Former Rays closer Pete Fairbanks has seen his name pop up frequently early on as well, drawing connections to the Marlins, Blue Jays and Dodgers. MLB Network’s Jon Morosi adds the Tigers to the list of clubs with interest in Fairbanks.

Tampa Bay’s decision to decline an $11MM option on Fairbanks was a moderate surprise. He’d just wrapped up his healthiest season and has been a quality ’pen arm for Rays skipper Kevin Cash dating back to 2020. Since that shortened season, the 31-year-old Fairbanks (32 in two weeks) sports a collective 2.87 ERA, 88 saves, 30 holds, 30.2% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate. That includes a 2.83 ERA and career-high 27 saves this past season (in a career-high 60 1/3 innings).

That said, Fairbanks comes with his share of red flags. Beyond turning 32 this month, he’s seen his velocity, strikeout rate and swinging-strike rate all dip in recent seasons. He’s averaged 97.3 mph on his heater in each of the past two seasons, which is still well above average but noticeably down from the pitch’s peak average of 99 mph. Fairbanks set down nearly 35% of his opponents on strikes from 2020-23 but is at 24% over the past two years. He sat 15.1% with his swinging-strike rate from 2020-22 but is down to 11.3% in 2024-25 — roughly in line with the league average.

None of these trendlines suggest that Fairbanks is suddenly a bad reliever, but he’s not quite as dominant as he once was. He’s also missed considerable time with injury over the years. Since 2021, Fairbanks has been placed on the injured list six different times. That’s been due to a pair of lat strains, shoulder inflammation, forearm inflammation, a nerve issue and hip inflammation. This past season’s 60 1/3 innings weren’t just a career-high — they marked the first time Fairbanks has completed even 46 innings in a major league season.

For a budget-crunched club like the Rays, the $11MM price point was understandably steep. Still, many expected the team to trade Fairbanks before the option decision was due. The Rays clearly weren’t able to find a club willing to give up minor league talent and commit to an $11MM payday for Fairbanks on day one of the offseason. Tampa Bay could’ve picked up the option and tried to trade him down the line, but their early shopping of the right-hander already spelled out that they weren’t keen on paying him $11MM. Trying to trade him after picking up the option ran the risk of needing to pay down even more than the $1MM buyout Fairbanks received in order to acquire a middling return — not exactly appealing for the Rays.

Just because Fairbanks wasn’t traded doesn’t mean his eventual price point will come in under $11MM. A two-year contract remains plenty plausible, particularly if it’s at a slightly lower annual rate. Even on a two-year pact, it’s possible some clubs might now value him differently after seeing other targets come off the board and/or after freeing up payroll space with some of their own early dealings.

The Tigers are an obvious fit for Fairbanks — or for any late-inning reliever in general. Detroit saw Kyle Finnegan, Rafael Montero, Paul Sewald and Tommy Kahnle all reach free agency at season’s end. Will Vest, Tyler Holton, Brenan Hanifee and Brant Hurter all posted quality ERA marks, but Vest is the only one of that quartet who did so with a plus strikeout rate and while pitching consistently in high-leverage settings.

Detroit general manager Jeff Greenberg has already said the team will “certainly” be in the market for a bullpen arm or two. President of baseball operations Scott Harris has also publicly called out the relief corps as an area of focus. The Tigers are hoping to re-sign Finnegan, who dominated for them after coming over from the Nats at the July trade deadline, and they were reported to have interest in Williams before he agreed to a three-year, $51MM deal with the Mets last night. The Tigers are surely casting a wide net in their search for ’pen help, but there’s been enough early interest in Fairbanks that some have speculated he could sign in the relatively near future.

MLBTR Chat Transcript

By | at

Steve Adams

  • Good morning! Chatting a bit early today, as I have some afternoon commitments. Feel free to send in questions ahead of time, as always. We’ll get going at 11am CT!
  • Hello! I’ll get going in a minute. Feel free to start adding questions to the pile!

Question

  • How many questions do you guys usually get on these chats?

Steve Adams

  • Several hundred. More as we get closer to the Winter Meetings, trade deadline, busier times of year in general. I think last week topped out around 800 participants, and I imagine we’ll hit similar or greater levels this time around

Leave it to Beavers

  • Is Bubic available? Would Heston Kjerstad be enough for a 1 for 1 or has his stock fallen too far?

Steve Adams

  • The Royals are open to moving a starting pitcher for an outfielder. President of baseball ops JJ Picollo has publicly said as much. Bubic only has one year left before free agency, so he’s certainly someone they’ll listen on.That doesn’t mean they’re outright shopping him, however. And while Kjerstad was a high-profile prospect for several years, I think his stock has cratered so much that I wouldn’t give much consideration to trading Bubic for him. I’m not convinced Kjerstad even makes it through the offseason on Baltimore’s 40-man roster.

DC Fan

  • Odds CJ Abrams gets traded?  Nunez is pretty good.

Read more

 

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top