Dodgers Trade Anthony Banda To Twins
1:17pm: The Twins sent $500K of pool space to the Dodgers in the deal, per Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. (International pool space must be traded in $250K increments.) For clarity’s sake, no actual money exchanged hands; rather, the Twins shrunk their league-allotted spending limit by $500K, while the Dodgers’ limit correspondingly increases by $500K.
12:27pm: The Twins have acquired veteran left-hander Anthony Banda from the Dodgers, per announcements from both clubs. Minnesota is sending international bonus space back to L.A. in return. Banda had been designated for assignment by the Dodgers last week. Righty Jackson Kowar has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Banda.
The Dodgers originally acquired Banda, now 32, in a cash deal early in the 2024 season. He quickly emerged as a quality bullpen option for them and spent the next season-plus as a frequently used southpaw for manager Dave Roberts. From 2024-25 in L.A., Banda logged a tidy 3.14 ERA with a 23.3% strikeout rate, 10.9% walk rate and 41.6% ground-ball rate. He averaged 96 mph on both his four-seamer and sinker while recording a 13.2% swinging-strike rate that suggests he could have a few more punchouts in the tank. Banda tallied 19 holds and two saves in 114 2/3 innings as a Dodger.
Banda’s 2025 season, however, wasn’t as sharp as his 2024 campaign. He lost a percentage point off his strikeout rate while his walk rate climbed by four points, from 8.6% to 12.7%. He still notched a 3.18 ERA in a career-high 65 innings, but his rate stats understandably gave the Dodgers some cause for concern.
The discrepancy between the bullpens in Los Angeles and Minnesota is underscored by the fact that this trade came together. The Dodgers deemed Banda expendable and jettisoned him and his $1.625MM salary. The Twins, meanwhile, traded some actual value to acquire him and will now count him among the most reliable arms in a bullpen that was torn all the way down at last year’s trade deadline. Minnesota traded five relievers — Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Brock Stewart and Danny Coulombe — dismantling what had been one of the league’s top relief units in order to scale back payroll and bring in some more controllable and affordable young talent in the process.
Where Banda was near the bottom of the pecking order in the L.A. bullpen, he now figures to be an option in high-leverage spots. That’s all the more true given his familiarity with new Twins skipper Derek Shelton, who managed Banda as a member of the Pirates back in 2021-22.
If Banda pans out in Minnesota, he can provide value to the Twins for multiple seasons. He currently has 4.135 years of MLB service, meaning he’ll be controllable through the 2027 season. He’ll be eligible for a raise in arbitration next winter, but his modest $1.625MM salary for the 2026 season means he won’t break the bank regardless of how well he pitches in what’ll be his debut campaign for Minnesota.
Banda joins the re-signed Taylor Rogers, Justin Topa and Cole Sands as the only members of the Twins’ bullpen with even three years of major league experience. The Twins also picked up righty Eric Orze in a small trade with the Rays early in the winter, and they got good work out of southpaw Kody Funderburk following that July fire sale in the bullpen (0.75 ERA, 28-to-10 K/BB ratio in 24 innings).
Veterans Liam Hendriks and Julian Merryweather joined up on minor league deals just yesterday and could factor into the group, as could any young starters who don’t crack a relatively crowded rotation picture. Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and out-of-options Simeon Woods Richardson all seem like rotation locks, health permitting. Former top prospects Taj Bradley, David Festa, Zebby Matthews and Mick Abel are among the candidates who’ll vie for the fifth spot (and possibly the fourth, if Woods Richardson is outpitched and heads to the bullpen himself).
Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll has been on the lookout for bullpen help throughout camp, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him further add to a perilously thin group of relievers in the days or weeks to come.
Kowar, 29, was claimed off waivers from the Mariners just eight days ago. The former first-round pick and top prospect has been derailed by injuries in his career but sits in the upper 90s with his four-seamer and sinker. He’s shown the ability to miss bats at times but struggles with sub-par command and too much hard contact allowed.
In parts of four MLB seasons (91 innings) between the Royals (his original club) and Mariners, the former Florida Gators star has been rocked for an 8.21 ERA. He posted a more palatable 4.24 ERA in 17 innings with Seattle last year, however, and notched a sharp 2.81 ERA in an additional 16 innings of Triple-A ball.
Kowar is out of minor league options. The Twins will hope to pass him through waivers and retain him as bullpen depth who’d be invited to big league camp and potentially stashed in the upper minors. If another club claims him, Kowar would need to stick on that team’s 40-man roster or else once again be exposed to waivers. The Twins can trade Kowar or place him on waivers at any point in the next five days. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so within a week’s time, we’ll know the outcome of Kowar’s DFA.
Dan Hayes of The Athletic first reported the trade and the Kowar DFA.
A’s Trade Mitch Spence To Royals
The Athletics have traded right-hander Mitch Spence to the Royals in exchange for minor league righty AJ Causey, per announcements from both clubs. Spence was designated for assignment by the A’s earlier this week. Kansas City placed righty Alec Marsh on the 60-day IL to open a roster spot for Spence.
The 27-year-old Spence didn’t have to wait long to find a new home after getting DFAed on Tuesday. He’ll head to Kansas City as a depth option behind a fairly set rotation. Marsh had labrum surgery in November and is set to miss the 2026 season. His placement on the 60-day was a formality.
The Athletics added Spence as a Rule 5 pick from the Yankees ahead of the 2024 season. He emerged as a mainstay in the rotation that year, piling up 151 1/3 innings across 35 appearances (24 starts). Spence posted an ERA in the mid-4.00s with subpar strikeout numbers. He did well to limit walks and got ground balls at an above-average clip.
The offseason additions of Jeffrey Springs and Luis Severino squeezed Spence out of the rotation. He made 32 appearances with the club, mostly out of the bullpen. Spence briefly returned to the rotation in June. His performance as a starter (5.05 ERA, 11 home runs allowed) led to a demotion to the minors. Spence returned to the A’s in September. He was hammered for nine earned runs in 10 innings to close the season.
Spence will be built up as a starter with Kansas City, but the club likes that he has experience in both roles, notes Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The Royals currently have Bailey Falter penciled into the swingman spot.
Kansas City took Causey in the fifth round of the 2024 draft out of Tennessee. The 23-year-old right-hander began his pro career at High-A this past season. After 40 1/3 innings of a 1.56 ERA with Quad City, he made the jump to Double-A. Causey maintained a sub-2.00 ERA in 21 games with Northwest Arkansas. He compiled a 1.72 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning in 48 appearances across the two levels. Scouting grades laud Causey’s slider and changeup. His sidearm delivery helps his 90 mph fastball play up.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Brewers, William Contreras Avoid Arbitration
The Brewers and star catcher William Contreras avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal with a club option for the 2027 season, per a team announcement. The Octagon client will earn $9.4MM in 2026, and the 2027 option is valued at $14.5MM, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Contreras’ camp had filed for a $9.9MM salary. The team filed at $8.5MM.
Contreras wasn’t eligible for free agency until the 2027-28 offseason, so the option doesn’t give the Brewers any additional club control. It does provide some potential cost certainty, however, while ensuring that this deal to avoid arbitration can’t be used as a data point in future arbitration cases; one-year arrangements with option years are considered multi-year deals for arbitration purposes and thus aren’t eligible to be cited as comps (by the Brewers or other clubs).
If Milwaukee ends up declining that option, Contreras would still be under club control. He’d simply be arbitration-eligible again. The Brewers declined a $12MM club option on Contreras for the upcoming season back in November. The two parties went back to negotiations, exchanged figures, and narrowly avoided a hearing.
Contreras’ $9.4MM salary lands just above the $9.2MM midpoint between the figures exchanged by team and player. If he has a big season and projects for a salary in the $14-15MM range, that 2027 option may end up being exercised, but if not, he’ll likely find himself in a similar boat next winter.
The 2025 season was a solid one but still a down year by Contreras’ lofty standards. After slashing .283/.363/.472 in three seasons from 2022-24, he hit “just” .260/.355/.399 in 659 trips to the plate this past season. Health was a factor, to be sure; Contreras played through a fracture in his left middle finger for the majority of the season — an injury originally revealed in May but not addressed in full until he underwent surgery following the season. In that sense, suiting up for 150 games, including 128 behind the plate, and delivering above-average offense is an impressive feat in and of itself.
The 2026 season will be Contreras’ penultimate year of club control. He’ll head into the year with a cleaner bill of health and look to get back to that 2022-24 form as the Brewers defend their NL Central crown. The general expectation is that Milwaukee will be in the thick of the division race — or at least the Wild Card chase — once again this season, even after trading ace Freddy Peralta and 2025 breakout rookies Isaac Collins and Caleb Durbin.
If that doesn’t come to pass, Contreras could well see his name surface in trade rumors this summer. Milwaukee tends to listen to offers on its best players as those players approach free agency. Josh Hader was traded at the deadline in his own penultimate season with the Brew Crew. This offseason, Peralta joined Corbin Burnes, Devin Williams and others as the latest Brewers star to be traded as his control window waned. It’s likelier than not that Contreras will stick in Milwaukee through the current season, but his name will assuredly pop up on the rumor mill next offseason, regardless of what happens with that club option.
Guardians, Ben Lively Finalizing Minor League Deal
The Guardians are finalizing a two-year minor league contract with right-hander Ben Lively, per Zack Meisel of The Athletic. Lively, who underwent Tommy John surgery last June, is already at the team’s spring complex in Arizona, suggesting the deal should be wrapped up soon. He’s represented by Meister Sports Management.
A fourth-round pick by the Reds back in 2013, Lively struggled in a handful of major league opportunities with the Phillies and Royals in 2017-19 before heading over to the Korea Baseball Organization, where he enjoyed a nice two-and-a-half year run with the Samsung Lions. The Reds brought him back to North American ball ahead of the 2023 season, but he struggled in 88 2/3 frames (5.38 ERA) before being cut loose. Cleveland saw enough in his raw stuff and underlying metrics to bring him aboard on a major league deal in the 2023-24 offseason, and it proved to be a major bargain.
In 2024, Lively tossed 151 innings with a 3.81 earned run average, an 18.7% strikeout rate and a 7.8% walk rate over the life of 29 starts. He entered the 2025 season locked into a rotation spot for manager Stephen Vogt and posted a sharp-looking 3.22 ERA in nine starts, but the under-the-hood numbers were less encouraging. Lively’s strikeout rate dipped to 16.3% while his walk rate rose to 8.4%. His chase rate, swinging-strike rate and opponents’ contact rate all went in the wrong direction. Metrics like SIERA (5.30) and FIP (4.59) were far more bearish than his baseline earned run average.
Lively hit the injured list after just nine starts in 2025. He was originally diagnosed with a strained flexor tendon, but further imaging revealed significant damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow as well. The Guardians announced in late May that Lively was headed for Tommy John surgery and would also have that flexor tendon repaired in the process. The procedure came with a recovery period of 12 to 16 months, per the club.
Given that timetable, the two-year nature of this new arrangement makes sense. There’s at least a chance Lively could be back in the fold midseason, but his rehab could extend into September, effectively eating up the entire 2026 campaign. In that case, Cleveland would still retain the right-hander as a non-roster player over the course of the 2026-27 offseason, and he could compete for a spot in the rotation ahead of the ’27 campaign.
Lively obviously won’t be in Cleveland’s rotation mix heading into the season. The Guardians will rely on Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee, Parker Messick, Slade Cecconi and Logan Allen, perhaps with left-hander Joey Cantillo also factoring into the equation.
Braves Notes: Jimenez, Holmes, Alvarez
It’s been more than a year since right-hander Joe Jimenez pitched in a big league game. The now-31-year-old righty was terrific for the Braves in 2023-24, pitching to a combined 2.81 ERA and compiling 40 holds and three saves while fanning 30.1% of opponents against a 7.2% walk rate. Jimenez missed the entire 2025 season after undergoing surgery to repair cartilage in his left knee and underwent a second “cleanup” procedure this past November.
Atlanta transferred Jimenez to the 60-day injured list as soon as camp opened — thereby clearing a roster spot for the reacquisition of infielder Brett Wisely — but it sounds like the team is bracing for a potential absence much longer than two months. Manager Walt Weiss told the team’s beat yesterday that Jimenez is dealing with a “very complex injury” while explaining that he’s not sure whether Jimenez will be available at all during the upcoming season (link via Mark Bowman of MLB.com).
Obviously, there’s no timetable for Jimenez’s return at present. His absence is both a notable loss in the bullpen — where he’d join Robert Suarez as a key setup arm for closer Raisel Iglesias — and a weight on the club’s payroll. Jimenez signed a three-year, $26MM contract immediately following the 2023 season. He gave Atlanta one excellent year in 2024 but could now miss the entirety of years two and three on that contract. He’s being paid $9MM this year for a Braves club that’s about $20MM over the luxury threshold, per RosterResource. Jimenez will become a free agent at season’s end.
There’s better news on the health front when it comes to righty Grant Holmes. The 29-year-old was diagnosed with a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow last July and opted to rehab the injury rather than the more commonly taken route of UCL surgery (be it Tommy John surgery or an internal brace procedure).
Chad Bishop of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that Holmes is full-go in spring training and hasn’t had any setbacks in his recovery. He expects to build up as a starting pitcher but said he’ll be open to whatever role the organization has in store for him. President of baseball ops Alex Anthopoulos tells Bishop that Holmes had a “normal” offseason and called his progression a “significant change” relative to where things stood back in July.
Holmes’ health will be all the more pivotal in the wake of continued elbow troubles for fellow righty Spencer Schwellenbach, who’s already been placed on the 60-day IL due to bone spurs in his elbow and implied this week that he will likely require an arthroscopic procedure.
A former first-round pick, Holmes joined the Braves as a minor league free agent back in 2022. He’s since re-signed on a pair of minor league deals and eventually pitched his way onto the big league roster. He hasn’t looked back. Holmes broke out with a 3.56 ERA and terrific rate stats through 68 1/3 innings with the ’24 Braves and followed up with 115 frames of 3.99 ERA ball out of the rotation last season. His results and his command eroded over his final few starts, however, prompting the team to take a look at his elbow and discover the damage. If he’s back to full strength, he’ll give the Braves a rotation option alongside Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo Lopez, Hurston Waldrep and others; Atlanta is also actively exploring the market for veteran starters.
Elsewhere in camp, infielder Nacho Alvarez Jr. is adding a new and unexpected skill to his repertoire. In a separate piece, Bishop writes that the 22-year-old third baseman (23 in April) quietly began working out as a catcher during the Arizona Fall League. He’s still only acclimating to the position and isn’t going to be a catching option come Opening Day, but Alvarez said he views the experiment as a means of putting “an extra tool in the toolbox” as he looks to carve out a big league role.
“It’s a nice piece to have, for us, and for (Alvarez) — for his career, really,” Weiss tells Bishop. “We look at him as an infielder, first, but we’re just introducing it to him and he’s handling it well so far.”
Alvarez is clearly blocked at the hot corner by Austin Riley, who’s entering the fourth season of a ten-year, $212MM contract. He’s played plenty of shortstop in the minor leagues, but the Braves used him exclusively at third base and second base last season despite lacking an obvious big league answer at short, likely indicating they don’t feel he can be a real option there.
In 240 big league plate appearances, Alvarez carries a tepid .216/.277/.298 batting line. The 2022 fifth-rounder shot quickly through the minor leagues, however, and is still younger than most big leaguers when they make their debut despite already having 66 games under his belt. In the 82 games he’s played at the Triple-A level, Alvarez touts a stout .288/.399/.440 slash with 11 homers, 12 doubles, a triple, 10 steals and nearly as many walks (48) as strikeouts (60), so it’s easy to see why Atlanta is eager to expand his versatility and find additional ways to mix him in at the big league level. There’s no telling when or even whether he’ll be even an emergency catching option in the majors, but it’s nonetheless notable that the team is embarking on the experiment.
Pirates Sign José Urquidy
February 11: Pittsburgh officially announced Urquidy’s one-year deal on Wednesday evening. Jones was placed on the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move. He’ll miss at least the first two months of the regular season but could be back before the All-Star Break as he rehabs from the elbow procedure. Pittsburgh will need to make another 40-man roster move — likely designating someone for assignment — once they finalize their agreement with DH Marcell Ozuna.
February 5: The Pirates and right-hander José Urquidy are reportedly in agreement on a one-year, $1.5MM contract. Urquidy, an Octagon client, can boost that salary further via incentives.
Pittsburgh generated headlines yesterday when they jumped in as a late entrant in the Framber Valdez bidding before he ultimately went to the Tigers last night. They’ll still add a former Astros hurler to reunite with new pitching coach Bill Murphy, though on a much smaller scale. Murphy coached Urquidy with Houston from 2021-24.
From 2021-22, Urquidy was an unheralded but quality member of the Houston rotation, starting 48 games and pitching to a solid 3.81 ERA with a 20.3% strikeout rate and a tiny 5.2% walk rate. Injuries began to slow him down in 2023. He missed three months with a shoulder injury that season, and his entire 2024 campaign was wiped out by an elbow injury that ultimately required Tommy John surgery over the summer. The 2025 season had been scheduled to be Urquidy’s final year of club control, so the Astros unsurprisingly cut him loose following the season.
Urquidy latched on with the Tigers on a one-year, $1MM contract that included a 2026 club option valued at $4MM. He returned from the injured list in September but pitched only 2 1/3 innings in the majors before consenting to be optioned. He pitched well in the minors last year (2.91 ERA, 22.2 K%, 6.2 BB% in 21 2/3 frames) but was hit hard in his small big league sample. The Tigers opted to decline their 2026 option and send Urquidy back to the open market.
With the injury troubles ostensibly behind him, Urquidy heads to the Pirates as an interesting buy-low candidate with some upside. Because he favors a changeup as his go-to offspeed pitch, he has substantial reverse splits in his career. Lefties have posted an awful .203/.257/.362 slash against him, whereas righties — with some help from the short left-field porch in Houston — have tagged him for a .267/.314/.468 batting line. Moving from one of the best environments for right-handed home runs to perhaps the worst in MLB will surely benefit his skill set.
Exactly what role the Pirates have in store for Urquidy, who turns 31 in May, remains to be seen. The Bucs are as deep as nearly any team in the sport when it comes to starting pitching but seem to add a low-cost veteran around this time of the offseason every year. In the past, that’s meant short-term pickups of Tyler Anderson, Jose Quintana, Martín Pérez and Andrew Heaney. Urquidy isn’t a lefty like that quartet but still seems to meet general manager Ben Cherington’s annual bargain starter quota.
Reigning NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes will, of course, be the Pirates’ Opening Day starter. He’ll be followed in some order by veteran Mitch Keller and young flamethrowers Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft, both of whom impressed as rookies in 2025. Urquidy will join a competition for the fifth spot that includes Carmen Mlodzinski, Hunter Barco, Thomas Harrington and Jared Jones, who’ll be returning from 2024 Tommy John surgery. Mlodzinski fared better as a reliever than a starter last season, so this move could push him to the ‘pen. If Urquidy is outshined by Jones, Barco or Harrington in camp, he could open the season in a swingman capacity.
Will Sammon of The Athletic first reported that the sides had an agreement. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported that it was a $1.5MM base with incentives.
Jacob Stallings Joins Pirates’ Baseball Operations Department
Longtime major league catcher Jacob Stallings has taken on a new role in the Pirates’ baseball operations department, Stallings tells Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Specifics surrounding his job are still being ironed out, but for now the plan will be for Stallings to be in Pittsburgh around once a month to consult with the front office and spend time visiting minor league affiliates throughout the year to work on the development of the organization’s young catchers.
Stallings tells Mackey that he played through notable back pain last season and knew as the year wore on that he was likely to retire following the 2025 campaign. The veteran backstop adds that playing for Skip Schumaker with the 2023 Marlins helped him to realize the type of impact a coach/manager whose playing career has just ended could have on players throughout the organization. Time will tell whether Stallings sticks in baseball operations or takes on more of a player development or even coaching role moving forward, but he’s jumping right back into the game following what appears to be the final season of his playing career.
Stallings, 36, opened the 2025 season on the Rockies’ roster. He’d re-signed on a one-year deal after hitting .263/.357/.453 as Colorado’s primary backstop the season prior. Things didn’t go nearly as well in ’25. Stallings hit just .143/.217/.179 in 93 plate appearances before being cut loose in Denver. He briefly latched on with the Orioles when they were hit with a litany of catcher injuries but appeared in only 14 games before being passed through waivers and electing free agency.
All told, Stallings appeared in parts of 10 major league seasons. The former seventh-round pick suited up for 577 games between the Pirates, Marlins, Rockies and Orioles, tallying 1922 plate appearances and batting .232/.311/.340 (77 wRC+). While Stallings was rarely a big threat with the bat, he for several years ranked as one of the game’s premier defenders behind the plate. He won a Gold Glove with the Pirates in 2021 and nabbed 21% of runners who attempted to steal against him in his career. That mark was weighed down by some low percentages later in his career, but from 2019-20 Stallings thwarted 36.2% of the runners who took off during his watch.
Stallings accrued more than seven years of major league service time and took home about $12MM in his playing career. He’ll now have a say in helping to guide the next generation of Pirates catchers and could use that opportunity as a launching point into any number of other career paths within the sport.
Readers — Pirates fans in particular — will want to check out Stallings’ interview with Mackey in full for quotes on his experiences mentoring younger catchers as a player, his relationship with Schumaker, some of the strengths he sees in new Pittsburgh skipper Don Kelly, and more.
Kris Bubic Wins Arbitration Hearing
Left-hander Kris Bubic won his arbitration hearing against the Royals, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He’ll be paid the $6.15MM salary figure he and his reps at Apex Baseball submitted rather than the $5.15MM figure submitted by the team.
Bubic, 28, looked well on his way to a breakout in 2025 before a strained rotator cuff ended his season in late July. He’s shown flashes off a new gear upon returning from Tommy John surgery in 2024, when he posted a 2.67 ERA with eye-popping strikeout and walk rates (32.2%, 4.1%) in a small sample of 30 1/3 frames of relief work. He wasn’t quite that dominant in 2025 but still gave reason to buy into the prior season’s results; in 116 1/3 innings back in the Kansas City rotation, Bubic logged a terrific 2.55 ERA with a 24.4% strikeout rate, an 8.2% walk rate and a strong 47.2% ground-ball rate.
Put those two seasons together, and Bubic carries a stout 2.58 ERA, 26% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 48.8% ground-ball rate in his past 146 2/3 innings. He’s locked into a spot in manager Matt Quatraro’s rotation, and with a full, healthy season will position himself as one of the more desirable arms on next year’s free agent market. This is his final season of club control, given his 5.135 years of big league service time.
Bubic will join Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Noah Cameron in what should be a formidable Royals rotation. His proximity to free agency prompted the Royals to at least consider the idea of trading him to acquire help on other areas of the big league roster this winter, but obviously no deal came together. The Mets and Red Sox were both linked to Bubic at various points this winter as they scoured the trade market for rotation upgrades.
If the Royals fall out of contention in the season’s first half, Bubic’s name could once again surface on the trade market. However, provided he’s healthy and anywhere close to his 2024-25 form, he’ll be a qualifying offer candidate, so Kansas City would likely seek a fairly notable return to pry him loose. That’s a down-the-road consideration anyhow; the Royals enter the 2026 season with a very similar club to the one they trotted out in 2026, though they’ll hope that better health and newcomers Isaac Collins, Lane Thomas, Matt Strahm and Nick Mears can help them contend in a perennially thin American League Central.
Marlins Sign John King
The Marlins announced the signing of left-handed reliever John King to a one-year contract. It’s reportedly a $1.5MM guarantee. King was non-tendered by the Cardinals back in November.
King, 31, spent three and a half seasons with the Rangers from 2020-23 before being traded to St. Louis at the ’23 deadline. He spent the next two and a half seasons in the Cardinals’ bullpen. The 6’2″ ground-ball specialist has a 3.70 ERA over his past 243 big league innings but is coming off a rough season in which he worked to a 4.66 earned run average with a career-low 12.6% strikeout rate in 48 1/3 innings.
While King has never been one to miss many bats, that 12.6% mark was still three percentage points south of his career mark entering the 2025 season. Last year’s 6.3% walk rate was a strong mark but still up from the prior season’s 5.6%. King’s 93 mph average sinker velocity was also its lowest since the 2022 season.
What King lacks in strikeouts, he at least partially makes up for in ground-balls. Opposing batters have an extremely difficult time elevating against the lefty’s arsenal. He sports a massive 61.5% ground-ball rate in his career and has run that number up as high as 66.9% (in 2023). As one might expect for an extreme ground-ball pitcher, King has done a nice job keeping the ball in the yard, with just 0.89 homers per nine frames in his major league career.
King has been more effective against fellow lefties than righties, holding same-handed opponents to a .251/.291/.337 slash in his career. Right-handers have hit him well, slashing .302/.353/.430 in 682 plate appearances.
The Marlins have been on the lookout for a lefty to join manager Clayton McCullough’s bullpen. Miami already had Andrew Nardi, Cade Gibson and Josh Simpson, but each comes with some degree of red flag. Nardi missed the 2025 season due to injury. Gibson logged a 2.63 ERA in 51 2/3 innings as a rookie last year but did so with sub-par strikeout and walk rates; metrics like SIERA (4.08) and FIP (3.76) weren’t nearly as bullish. Simpson posted decent minor league numbers but was rocked for a 7.34 ERA in 30 2/3 big league frames.
King, like each of the other three lefty relievers on Miami’s 40-man roster, has some question marks of his own. He has more of a big league track record than any of his new southpaw teammates, however — enough to give the Marlins some veteran experience but not so much that he’s a pure one-year rental. King enters the 2026 season with 4.148 years of major league service time, meaning he’s still controllable through the 2027 season via arbitration. He’ll need to pitch well enough this year that his team feels he’s worth giving a raise and keeping for an additional year, but if he can bounce back to 2021-24 form, he’ll likely do just that.
Jeff Passan of ESPN reported the agreement and salary.
Astros Notes: Hader, Diaz, Trade Market
Astros closer Josh Hader is behind schedule in camp after imaging revealed biceps inflammation a couple weeks ago, manager Joe Espada told the team’s beat as camp opened this morning (link via Chandler Rome of The Athletic). Espada added that Hader has already been resting for the past 10 days or so and is scheduled to resume throwing from flat ground today. Hader himself told reporters that he felt “pretty good” after his brief shutdown (video via MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart). He acknowledged being a “probably a few weeks behind” due to the minor setback. Hader didn’t rule out Opening Day but also declined to put a firm timetable on his rehab.
The 31-year-old lefty (32 in April) is entering the third season of a five-year, $95MM contract in 2026. Hader enjoyed a decent first season in Houston and a dominant second campaign; overall, he’s pitched to a 3.06 earned run average while striking out a colossal 37.4% of opponents against a roughly average 8.5% walk rate. He’s picked up 62 saves along the way. Bryan Abreu would be the top candidate for saves early in the season if Hader were to miss time.
Elsewhere in the Houston bullpen, righty Enyel De Los Santos is current shut down from throwing for a couple days due to a strain in his right knee (via McTaggart). The 30-year-old De Los Santos was a nice bargain addition in August. Houston signed the well-traveled righty to a big league deal after he was cut loose in Atlanta. He went on to pitch 22 1/3 innings as an Astro, working to a 4.03 ERA with far more encouraging rate stats (26.4 K%, 6.6 BB%). He was dinged for five home runs in that time — an average of 2.01 per nine frames — which continued a worrying trend from the 2024 season. However, the long ball wasn’t an issue for him in Atlanta, and De Los Santos yielded just 0.53 HR/9 from 2022-23 in Cleveland. He’s playing out his final season of club control on a $1.6MM salary.
Espada also announced to reporters this morning that catcher Yainer Diaz suffered a foot sprain on a slide into second base during the Dominican Winter League season (video via McTaggart). The injury took place back in December, and Diaz immediately flew to Houston for a diagnosis and to begin treatment. He’s catching bullpens, swinging the bat and throwing as normal, though he’s on what Espada described as a “modified” running program while the foot is in its final stages of mending. There’s no indication that Diaz will miss time to begin the season or even be hobbled early during exhibition play, but it’s still something to keep an eye on; Houston has reportedly already been poking around the market for a backup catcher.
In broader terms, the Astros remain active in both the free agent and trade markets. They’ve reportedly been seeking a left-handed-hitting outfielder as part of the return in any trade talks surrounding infielder Isaac Paredes, who remains available for clubs looking to add some thump at the infield corners and/or at designated hitter. General manager Dana Brown suggested today that trade talks have slowed down in general since camp opened but stated that Houston remains open to roster changes throughout the course of spring training (via Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle).
In addition to seeking a backup catcher, looking for a lefty-hitting outfielder, and exploring trade scenarios for Paredes and pricey first baseman Christian Walker, the Astros have spent much of the offseason listening to interest in center fielder Jake Meyers.