Astros, Isaac Paredes Avoid Arbitration
1:37pm: There’s also a 2027 club option on the deal worth $13.35MM, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. If Paredes finishes top ten in MVP voting, the club option converts to a mutual option. Even if the club/mutual option is eventually not picked up, Paredes will still be under club control for 2027 via arbitration. Most teams have a “file and trial” approach to arbitration, meaning they won’t negotiate one-year deals after the filing deadline. Most post-deadline agreement have an option tacked on to nominally adhere to this policy.
12:13pm: The Astros have avoided an arbitration hearing with infielder Isaac Paredes, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. The two parties settled on a one-year deal worth $9.35MM, landing right at the midpoint of the team’s $8.75MM submission and the $9.95MM sum submitted by Paredes’ camp at CAA. Houston and catcher Yainer Diaz had their arbitration hearing yesterday, per the Associated Press. A result is expected today.
Paredes, 27 in a few weeks, came to Houston as part of last winter’s Kyle Tucker blockbuster and enjoyed a solid year in the Astros’ infield. He missed nearly two months due to a hamstring injury but still popped 20 homers while batting .254/.352/.458 over 438 plate appearances when healthy.
While Paredes was on the shelf, Houston reacquired Carlos Correa in a deadline salary dump deal with the Twins. The ‘Stros installed Correa at the hot corner in deference to standout shortstop Jeremy Pena. Since Paredes was sidelined into late September, the Astros didn’t have to deal much with the sudden glut of position players they had, but that won’t be the case heading into 2026.
Paredes appears to be a man without a position. Correa and Pena will again man the left side of the infield. The left field experiment for Jose Altuve didn’t prove all that fruitful, and Altuve is expected back at second base for the bulk of 2026. Christian Walker‘s first year as an Astro was a disappointment, but he’s signed for two more years and owed another $40MM, so he’ll be back at first base. Yordan Alvarez will see occasional time in left field but will still take the majority of the Astros’ DH at-bats. Prospect Brice Matthews, a natural middle infielder, will likely be pushed to the outfield by the infield logjam.
All of that has led to plenty of speculation about a potential trade, though general manager Dana Brown has said repeatedly that he doesn’t feel obligated to trade from the group. Were there any interest in the remainder of Walker’s deal, perhaps that’d change things, but other clubs have understandably been unwilling to take on that $40MM on the heels of a down season for the 35-year-old.
While there’s no immediate spot for regular at-bats for Paredes, that doesn’t necessarily matter. It takes all of one injury for him to have an everyday spot in the lineup, after all, and even if the entire group stays healthy, he can play fairly regularly by spelling Correa at third, Walker at first, Altuve at second and Alvarez at DH. Correa and Alvarez, in particular, have lengthy injury histories and are prone to missing chunks of time.
This was the third of four trips through the arbitration process for Paredes, a Super Two player. He’s controlled through the 2027 season and will be owed one more arbitration raise next winter. The 27-year-old Diaz is arb-eligible for the first time this winter. He and his reps at PRIME submitted a $4.5MM figure, while the team countered at $3MM.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good morning! We’ll get going at 1pm CT, but feel free to ask questions ahead of time, as always.
- Hello there! Let’s get going
Card fan from FL
- cardinals getting 3 prospects and two draft picks for Donavan . What’s your take on the trade
M
- How do you think the Mariners stack up against the rest of the AL now that they’ve added Donovan?
Bloomer
- Where will the Cardinals offense come from Steve? This is gonna be a painful long season …..
Steve Adams
- Not surprisingly, probably 50+ questions queued up on yesterday’s trade haha. I’ll spare you publishing them all and offer some thoughts (while also noting that Darragh and I broke this trade down for about 15 minutes on the episode of the podcast we recorded this morning, so keep an eye/ear out for that tomorrow morning!)
- Donovan is an ideal fit for a Mariners team that has holes at 2B/3B/one corner OF spot and young options at each. He furthers their goal of cutting back on strikeouts/improving contact, and he does so while maintaining the flexibility/agility needed should any of Colt Emerson, Cole Young, Dom Canzone, etc. really show they need everyday ABs early in the season.
- I think the Cards did well. They didn’t get a massive, marquee prospect but landed a top-100-ish guy (Cijntje), two recent top-100 draft picks (Peete, Ledbetter) and a pair of top-75 picks in the upcoming draft.Tai Peete (contact) and Colton Ledbetter (lack of any one true standout tool) both have some red flags but are solid additions to the middle tiers of the system. The picks are nice both for adding talent and giving them the flexibility to be creative if a first-round talent slides due to signability concerns.
- The Rays’ side of this is the strangest to me, but I’ve come around on it. Williamson is a high-floor defender with decent contact skills who can back up at multiple positions. He has multiple minor league options remaining.Rays gave up a Comp pick for three years of a solid middle reliever (Bryan Baker) last July and another for a glove-first utility guy with decent contact skills this offseason. If you could guarantee a team an immediately usable RP or utility guy at the No. 70 pick, that guy would absolutely be scooped up.
- It’s boring to say it works for everyone, but … I don’t have an immediately negative reaction to any angle of the deal.
Dana Brown
- Donovan got that much. What could Paredes get?
Steve Adams
- Probably less. He’s more expensive with no real defensive home and such an extreme pull-side, fly-ball approach that team with more spacious left field setups wouldn’t find him as valuable as the Astros and Rays did, for instance.Good player, don’t get me wrong, but I think Donovan had more trade value.
Logan and Robbie
- Having Framber behind us makes a ton of sense, right? Right???
Steve Adams
- Framber makes plenty of sense for the Giants. They’ve also signaled that they don’t want to sign a SP long-term this winter — their owner said as much publicly — and they also already signed a pair of (much lower upside) veterans in Houser and Mahle.I will say, the fit was better before the Giants signed Arraez to play 2B. That’s going to be a rough defensive left side of the infield for Logan Webb and any other ground-ball pitchers (like Valdez)
- Speaking of which!
Confused Giant
- Arraez and Devers on one side of the infield has to be one of the worst defensive pairings in baseball. How many grounders through the infield and missed double plays before Logan Webb asks for a trade? I have to believe he’s not getting to 200 innings with the Arraez-Devers defense extending innings. After working to improve the SF defense, is it surprising to see Buster Posey punt on one side of the infield?
Twins, Eduardo Salazar Agree To Minor League Deal
The Twins and right-handed reliever Eduardo Salazar are in agreement on a minor league contract, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’ll presumably be in camp as a non-roster invitee later this month.
Salazar has pitched in each of the past three major league seasons, spending time with the Reds, Dodgers and Nationals, in that order. The 27-year-old righty has pitched 70 2/3 big league innings but been tagged for a grisly 5.99 ERA in that time. Salazar sat 95.1 mph with his four-seamer and 94.4 mph with his sinker in 2025, complementing that pair of heaters with a slider that averaged 87.5 mph. He’s fanned only 16% of his opponents in the majors against a 10.2% walk rate, but the right-hander does sport an encouraging 52.8% ground-ball rate.
Salazar’s production in the upper minors hasn’t been demonstrably better. He has a 5.71 ERA in 117 Triple-A frames with comparable strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates. That said, he did post quality swinging-strike and strikeout rates during his Triple-A time with the Nationals in 2024-25, which is notable given that Washington altered his pitch selection. He’d previously been almost exclusively a sinker/slider reliever with very occasional four-seamers and changeups. The Nats significantly upped his four-seam usage, so perhaps Minnesota is intrigued by what he’d look like with further tweaks to his pitch usage and/or pitch shapes.
There’s plenty of room in the Twins’ bullpen, should Salazar enjoy a nice performance in spring training or early in the season with the Twins’ Triple-A club in St. Paul. Minnesota had one of baseball’s best bullpens heading into the 2025 trade deadline and gutted it by trading Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Danny Coulombe and Brock Stewart as part of an 11-player fire sale. They’ve done virtually nothing to revamp the relief corps this offseason. Taylor Rogers returned on a $2MM deal for what will be his age-35 season, and the Twins picked up righty Eric Orze in a small trade with the Rays.
That pair will join holdovers Justin Topa, Cole Sands and Kody Funderburk in what looks like one of the weakest bullpens in the sport. The Twins have more young starting pitchers in the upper minors than they have rotation spots available, so perhaps some of David Festa, Zebby Matthews, Taj Bradley, Connor Prielipp and Marco Raya will end up in the bullpen rather than on the starting staff.
Regardless, the Twins represent a good opportunity for someone like Salazar as he tries to find his footing in the majors. Salazar is out of minor league options. If he’s added to the 40-man at any point, he’ll need to stick or else be exposed to waivers. If things click, he can be controlled for five seasons, but there’s a lot that needs to go right before that’s a real consideration.
Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good morning! We'll get going at 2pm CT today, but feel free to ask questions ahead of time, as always!
Philly A's
- Leo de Vries is slipping in the baseball america rankings, where all other outlets still have him as a top 5. Does BA have a different matrix that they rank than others?
Steve Adams
- Hello! Let's get going
- I wouldn't say "falling" to No. 12 is a slip. The gap between the No. 5 and No. 12 prospect is more or less negligible. Maybe a half scouting grade. In this instance, you can look at the FV grades and see that's not even really the case.
Arthur Dent
- With Logan Evans out for the season, can the Mariners afford to move any established pitching, like Bryce Miller for example, to upgrade the offense?
Steve Adams
- The Mariners weren't ever keen on dealing one of their big league starters, and I would imagine that losing Evans only furthers reduces those chances.
John B
- What do you think of the Giant's moves and do they push the team into contender status?
Steve Adams
- I find them underwhelming as a whole. If they were going to spend $60-70MM in free agency, I'd have preferred they pursue some impact rather than just make a volume play to address a bunch of holes.The rotation still feels quite wobbly behind Webb. Arraez is a good value at 1/12 in a vacuum, but he's a poor fit for this roster if they're really going to play him at 2B every day.
I'd love the Bader deal if they'd acquired a more impactful bat somewhere else, but adding him and Arraez to a lineup that already looked a bit light isn't all that encouraging.
wiseoldfool
- Outlook on Drake Baldwin. Will Braves trade S. Murphy?
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Angels Designate Cody Laweryson For Assignment
The Angels announced Monday that they’ve designated right-hander Cody Laweryson for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to infielder Yoan Moncada, whose previously reported one-year deal to return to the Halos is now official.
Laweryson was a November waiver claim out of the Twins organization. The 27-year-old (28 in May) made his big league debut this past season when he tossed 7 2/3 innings and held opponents to just one run. The 2019 14th-round pick set down seven of the 26 opponents he faced on strikes (26.9%) and didn’t issue a walk. Laweryson’s fastball sits at an average of 93.2 mph, and he rounds out his repertoire with a cutter and changeup.
That ascension to the majors capped off a strong overall year for the 6’4″ righty. Laweryson split the bulk of the season between Double-A and Triple-A, where he combined for 44 innings of 2.86 ERA ball. He posted better-than-average marks in strikeout rate (24.6%), walk rate (7.7%) and grounder rate (46.3%) in the minors.
Since Laweryson was only selected to the 40-man roster for the first time this past season, he has a full slate of three minor league option years remaining. He can be controlled for at least six full seasons. All of that could make him appealing to clubs looking for some flexible bullpen depth, though it bears mentioning that 2025 was a rebound campaign. Laweryson was tagged for a 4.80 ERA in 50 2/3 innings of Triple-A ball in 2023 and hit even harder (6.52 ERA) in 33 innings of Double-A relief in 2024.
The Angels can trade Laweryson or place him on waivers at any point in the next five days. If they go the waiver route, that’ll be another 48-hour process. His DFA will be resolved in a maximum of one week.
Angels Outright Wade Meckler
The Angels announced Monday that outfielder Wade Meckler, who’d been designated for assignment last week, went unclaimed on outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake. He has neither the three years of MLB service time nor the prior outright needed to elect free agency, so Meckler remain with the club as non-roster depth and presumably be invited to major league camp later this month.
Meckler, 26 in April, was a January waiver claim out of the Giants organization. He has just 20 big league games under his belt, all coming in 2023, when he hit .232/.328/.250 in 64 plate appearances. That cup of coffee came barely a year after he’d been taken in the eighth round of the 2022 draft, so some struggles at the plate weren’t exactly a surprise.
Since that brief 2023 audition, Meckler has spent the bulk of his time in Triple-A, where he’s a .296/.392/.429 hitter in 699 turns at the plate. He’s hit only 11 home runs but is a plus runner with high contact rates and a good eye at the plate. He’s fanned in only 16.7% of his plate appearances in Triple-A — a mark that’s well below the league average and not much higher than his gaudy 13.5% walk rate.
Meckler has played all three outfield spots, and the Giants gave him eight minor league games at second base this past season. He’ll stick with the Halos as a versatile bit of outfield depth. The Angels still don’t have a true center fielder. Jo Adell played there extensively last year but graded very poorly. Jorge Soler is sub-par even in a corner and isn’t an option in center. Trade acquisition Josh Lowe could get some run in center but has been below-average there in the past. The Angels might even try Mike Trout back in center at times this year, but his injury history and defensive decline are well known. Meckler could eventually resurface as an option to bring some speed and a truer center field presence to the roster.
Dipoto: Mariners Working On Another Addition
Mariners fans holding out hope for a reunion with Eugenio Suárez finally got resolution on that front yesterday when the slugger agreed to a return to a different one of his former homes: Cincinnati. Suárez’s one-year, $15MM deal with the Reds takes another infield option off the board for a Seattle club that has reportedly spent the bulk of the offseason exploring options at both third base and second base. An addition could yet be on the horizon, however. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto hinted strongly on Seattle Sports’ Mariners Hot Stove Show this weekend that another move could yet be in the offing, telling host Shannon Drayer:
“There’s one more move that’s in us, that we want to make, and we’ve been grinding hard for the last handful of days to see if we can bring it through, and hopefully we do. … Our lineup took a huge step forward last year. Obviously we’ll be short a couple of bats that were there with us in Toronto to finish the season, but we get a full year of Josh Naylor. We get the upswing of our players as they get more exposure, especially Cole Young, who I think is going to break out for us this year. And I do hope there’s one more player coming along for the ride that might not be in a Mariners uniform just yet.”
General manager Justin Hollander similarly suggested that it’s “certainly” possible his club makes a move to add a hitter this week, per Adam Jude of the Seattle Times. Jude writes that Cardinals infielder Brendan Donovan still feels to be the likeliest target for the M’s, but Hollander stressed that the Mariners are being “open-minded” about ways to improve their lineup.
The fit between Donovan and the Mariners has been explored at length both here and elsewhere, for more than a year. Seattle’s interest into the versatile infielder/outfielder dates back to last offseason. The lefty-swinging Donovan is 29 years old, controllable for two seasons (earning $5.8MM in 2026), can play multiple positions capably (second base, third base, left field) and is a .282/.361/.411 hitter in four big league seasons. Donovan is one of MLB’s toughest strikeouts and is a quality defender who can bounce around depending on which of the Mariners’ young hitters breaks through.
That said, it also bears emphasizing that the Mariners have various spots at which they could pursue an upgrade if they’re indeed “open-minded” to other possibilities, as Hollander indicated. Young is the favorite for at-bats at second base but hit only .211/.302/.305 in 257 plate appearances as a rookie. He’s a former first-round pick and top prospect who’s still only 22, so there’s plenty of reason to be bullish. At the hot corner, Ben Williamson played good defense but hit only .253/.294/.310 in 295 plate appearances. Colt Emerson, one of the top 10 to 20 prospects in the entire sport, looms in the upper minors but only turned 20 last summer. He topped out with six games in Triple-A late last year and could be a third base option later this season.
At the moment, the DH spot will primarily be occupied by a combination of Dominic Canzone, Luke Raley and (on days when he’s not catching) MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh. Canzone was excellent with the M’s in 82 games last year (.300/.358/.481) but needed a .354 average on balls in play to get there and has no prior big league track record. Raley struggled through injuries and a downturn in performance but was a quality platoon slugger for Tampa Bay and Seattle in 2023-24.
There’s also some uncertainty in right field. Victor Robles was terrific down the stretch for the Mariners in 2024 but missed most of last year due to a shoulder injury and hit just .245/.281/.330 in 114 plate appearances when healthy. Canzone and Raley can also factor in out there, as can free agent pickup Rob Refsnyder, but there’s room for an addition there as well, be it via trade or a largely-picked over free agent class.
The flexibility to bring in someone at multiple infield positions or as part of the DH/right field mix creates a wide range of possibilities. Notable names who’ve yet to sign for the upcoming season include Miguel Andujar, Rhys Hoskins, Nathaniel Lowe and Marcell Ozuna (to name a few). Donovan is the most prominent name on the trade market, but the Nationals (CJ Abrams), Red Sox (Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu) and Mets (Mark Vientos, Brett Baty) are among the clubs who have had some prominent players’ names surface on the rumor circuit throughout the winter.
Currently, RosterResource projects a roughly $157MM for the Mariners’ Opening Day payroll. That’s north of last year’s mark by about $10MM but shy of where Seattle ended the season, following deadline pickups of Suárez, Naylor and Caleb Ferguson. Seattle’s franchise-record Opening Day mark was about $158MM back in 2018. Given this past season’s deep playoff run and the clear win-now mode in which they find themselves, ownership will presumably be comfortable with a new record mark for Opening Day, though there’s no firm indication yet as to how far past the current $158MM record they’re willing to push.
Twins Announce “Mutual” Parting Of Ways With President Of Baseball Ops Derek Falvey
In a stunning and out-of-the-blue announcement, the Twins on Friday parted ways with longtime president of baseball operations Derek Falvey. General manager Jeremy Zoll will ascend from the team’s No. 2 spot on the baseball operations hierarchy to the top position (though his title is not changing). Executive chair Tom Pohlad offered the following statement within today’s press release:
“Over the past several weeks, Derek and I had thoughtful and candid conversations about leadership, structure, and the future of the club. We reached a shared understanding that the needs of the organization are evolving and that a leadership transition is the best way to move forward. I want to thank Derek for everything he has contributed to this organization. When he joined the Twins nine years ago, it was, in many ways, a watershed moment for this franchise. His leadership was transformational. He helped modernize every aspect of our baseball operations and led with strong values, intention, and purpose. Derek created a culture grounded in learning and in the belief that organizations grow when people grow. Under his leadership, the Twins captured three division titles and made four postseason appearances. We are grateful for his dedication, his integrity, and the impact he made here.”
Falvey offered his own statement:
“Following a series of thoughtful conversations with Tom that began after the ownership transition and progressed over the past few weeks, we both agreed this was the right time for us to part ways. Ownership transitions naturally create moments for reflection and honest dialogue about leadership, vision, and how an organization wants to move forward. Over the past several weeks we had those conversations openly and constructively and ultimately reached a shared understanding that this was the right step both for the organization and for me personally. … On a personal level, I’m looking forward to taking some time to be with my family, reflect and consider what comes next. I don’t have specific plans yet, but I’m grateful for the experiences I’ve had here and excited about the next chapter when the time is right.”
Falvey was hired to lead Minnesota’s baseball operations following the 2016 season. Originally given the title of “chief baseball officer,” he hired Thad Levine — who stepped down and left the Twins last offseason — as general manager underneath him. That pairing led the Twins for the next eight years, with Falvey twice being extended and eventually being given the “president of baseball operations” moniker.
Last winter, after Levine left the club, the Twins announced that Zoll would be elevated to the GM position. Falvey stayed on as the president of baseball operations and actually took on an even larger role, picking up president of business operations Dave St. Peter’s responsibilities when St. Peter stepped down and moved into an advisory role. The dual president titles for Falvey seemed to make him entrenched with the Twins for the long haul; to see him not only cede baseball operations oversight but leave the club entirely just 15 months later is genuinely shocking.
Of course, quite a bit has changed with the Twins since Falvey’s ascension to president of baseball and business operations. St. Peter’s decision to step down came not long after the Pohlad family announced its intent to explore a sale of the team. The Twins thought they had a buyer lined up in Justin Ishbia, co-owner of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and a minority owner of the division-rival White Sox. Momentum toward that sale fell through, however, when the White Sox offered Ishbia a path to increase his stake in the club and eventually purchase the majority stake from current owner Jerry Reinsdorf (several years down the road).
The Twins never found a buyer for the majority share of the club, due largely to reported debt in excess of $400MM (on top of what was said to be a $1.7 billion asking price). Instead, they welcomed in a trio of minority stakeholders who purchased their shares at that $1.7 billion valuation, thereby cleaning up a significant portion (if not the entirety) of the debt. Craig Leipold, owner of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, was the most recognizable name among the new stakeholders.
The Pohlad family retained majority ownership of the team, continuing its four-decade run, but there were still changes made. Joe Pohlad, the nephew of predecessor Jim Pohlad and grandson of the late Carl Pohlad (who originally purchased the team in 1984), was removed from his position as executive chair after just three years. Tom, his older brother, assumed the executive chair role and was approved by the league as the team’s new control person. He’s now temporarily assuming Falvey’s duties as president of business operations, though this morning’s press release indicates that the Twins will immediately commence a search to bring in a new president for the business side of their operations.
The Twins have had an up-and-down run in the American League Central during Falvey’s time as their baseball operations leader. On the surface, parting with the president of baseball operations after a 92-loss season and in the midst of an ownership shakeup doesn’t sound all that surprising. And, had this move taken place immediately following the season, it presumably would not have been all that eye-opening.
However, the timing of the move makes it borderline unprecedented. Teams don’t make baseball operations shifts of this magnitude two weeks before spring training commences and when the heavy lifting of an offseason has (presumably) already taken place. As The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman notes, the Twins just held their annual media luncheon one week ago; Falvey was the keynote speaker.
Further details and comments from Twins brass will surely continue to filter out in the days, weeks and months to come. It’s not yet clear whether the change in baseball operations leadership will prompt a change of trajectory with regard to the roster. Falvey has previously been vocal about his desire to keep stars Byron Buxton, Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan, even after last July’s deadline sell-off. One would assume he and Zoll were aligned on that front, but it’s at least possible now that a different lead voice will give way to a different strategy. If nothing else, other clubs are going to circle back to check in with Zoll about the potential availability of those veterans (and, presumably, catcher Ryan Jeffers, who is entering his final season of club control).
On the other side of the coin, Minnesota’s payroll currently projects for just $108MM, per RosterResource. That’s about $30MM shy of last year’s levels and miles below the club-record payroll from 2023, when the Twins approached $160MM. Ownership isn’t going to push spending back to that level, but it’s possible that Zoll is more amenable to bringing in further veteran pieces than his former boss was.
In the immediate aftermath of the leadership shuffle, there’s no clear way to glean just what the change will mean for the Twins’ roster, but today’s announcement stands as the latest development in what has been the most tumultuous two-year stretch for the Twins organization since they were nearly contracted in the early 2000s.
Athletics Extend Jacob Wilson
The A’s have extended another member of their young core, announcing a seven-year contract, plus a club option for an eighth year, for shortstop Jacob Wilson. The PSI Sports Management client will reportedly be guaranteed $70MM, which includes a $3MM signing bonus.
The option year has a base value of $26MM and has escalators depending on Wilson’s MVP finishes in 2030-31. The salaries break down as follows:
- $1MM in 2026
- $2.5MM in ’27
- $4.5MM in ’28
- $9MM in ’29
- $12MM in ’30
- $17MM in ’31
- $19MM in ’32
- $26MM club option ($2MM buyout) in ’33
Wilson, 23, was the sixth overall pick in the draft in 2023. He made his big league debut with a late cup of coffee the following season but broke out as an All-Star in 2025. The second-generation star — his father is longtime Pirates infielder Jack Wilson — finished second in American League Rookie of the Year voting behind his own teammate, Nick Kurtz. Wilson slashed .311/.355/.444 with 13 home runs, 26 doubles, five steals and a tiny 7.2% strikeout rate.
Wilson’s pure hit tool is nearly unrivaled. Among the 560 big leaguers who took even 40 plate appearances this past season, his 7.5% strikeout rate was the second-lowest, behind multi-time batting champion Luis Arraez. Like Arraez, the quality of contact when Wilson puts the ball in play is generally not great. He averaged just 84.6 mph off the bat with a paltry 2.2% barrel rate and 24.1% hard-hit rate. That penchant for weak contact hasn’t stopped him from racking up singles. His hitter-friendly home park in West Sacramento probably overstates his modest power, but Wilson did connect on six round-trippers away from Sutter Health Park and could be reasonably projected to hit around 10 homers per season.
Though he doesn’t post off-the-charts chase rates, Wilson does swing more often than the average hitter (both off the plate and within the zone). He’s an aggressive hitter whose preternatural bat-to-ball skills and frequent swings lead to plenty of early contact. That limited Wilson to just a 5.2% walk rate in his first full season, which is pretty well in line with the 5.9% walk rate he’s posted in his limited minor league time thus far. Even if he never posts a high walk rate, though, Wilson figures to continue posting strong on-base percentages simply due to his knack for collecting hits.
Defensive metrics don’t paint him in an especially favorable light at shortstop. He was dinged for minus-10 Defensive Runs Saved and minus-2 Outs Above Average in his first full season of shortstop work at the major league level. Statcast credits him with well above-average arm strength but below-average range.
An eventual move to second or third base might yield better defensive results, but that likely won’t happen until lauded prospect Leo De Vries pushes for a look at shortstop. He’s still only 19 years old with just 21 Double-A games under his belt, so at least for the time being, Wilson will be expected to reprise his role as the Athletics’ shortstop. Questions about his range have persisted since his prospect days, but scouting reports praise his solid hands and he showed a clear knack for flashy, acrobatic plays during his debut campaign.
The A’s already controlled Wilson for another five seasons. Today’s agreement locks in two free-agent years and gives the team an option over what would have been a third. Wilson wouldn’t have been arbitration-eligible until the 2027-28 offseason.
The seven-year, $70MM term aligns closely with but also surpasses recent extensions for Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar (seven years, $63.5MM) and Wilson’s own teammate, Lawrence Butler (seven years, $66.5MM) when both were in the same service bucket in which Wilson currently resides (between one and two years). His $70MM guarantee falls a bit shy of Michael Harris II‘s $72MM deal over in Atlanta, but that was an eight-year pact compared to Wilson’s seven.
As can be seen in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker (available to Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers), Wilson’s extension stands as the eighth-largest guarantee ever made to a player with under two years of big league service. It’s the second-largest deal in Athletics franchise history, trailing only the recent seven-year $86MM extension for teammate Tyler Soderstrom, who scored a larger deal due to the fact that he has an extra year of service time over Wilson.
Wilson’s extension is the latest step in the Athletics’ ongoing effort to lock up their exciting core of position players. Wilson, Soderstrom, Butler and slugger Brent Rooker (five years, $60MM) have all put pen to paper on long-term deals over the past 15 months. The A’s picked up control of multiple free agent years for each of those players.
The A’s have yet to come to terms on a deal with the aforementioned Kurtz, whose price tag will surely be higher. Kurtz played in just 117 games and took 489 plate appearances but still bashed 36 home runs while logging a sensational .290/.383/.619 slash line (170 wRC+). Even if the A’s can’t come to terms on a long-term deal with the 2024 No. 4 overall pick, he’s under control for another five seasons. Plus, this slate of affordable long-term deals for his young teammates will make it easier to stomach what will surely be enormous arbitration paydays if Kurtz continues on his current trajectory.
With several young players now under contract for the long haul, the Athletics shouldn’t have to worry about any potential grievances regarding their use of revenue-sharing funds. The A’s reportedly needed to push their CBT payroll up to $105MM or more last winter or else face potential ramifications, but they’re now at $139MM in that regard, per RosterResource.
Impressive as the Athletics’ collection of young bats is, the team’s pitching still leaves plenty to be desired. They’ll hope to change that this coming season when top prospects like Gage Jump and Jamie Arnold make their climbs through the system. Both rank within the game’s top 50 or so prospects. Jump, a 2024 second-rounder, already reached Double-A this past season. Arnold has yet to throw a professional pitch, but the Florida State standout was one of the top arms in last year’s draft class, coming off the board with the No. 11 pick.
The Athletics still have another two seasons to play in West Sacramento before their targeted 2028 move to their new home on the Las Vegas strip. So long as the group of Wilson, Soderstrom and Butler remain healthy, the A’s should have an exciting young core to market as they look to attract new fans in their new home.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the agreement and the terms of the contract. Jon Heyman of The New York Post had the specific salary breakdown and escalators.
Is Anyone Even Trying To Win The AL Central?
Yet another offseason of hyperaggressive spending and mind-boggling CBT payrolls from the Dodgers and Mets (and, this winter, the Blue Jays) has led to increased talk of competitive balance ahead of the impending conclusion of the 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement. Owners are again expected to push for a salary cap -- though that's a perpetual goal and would absolutely have been the case regardless of how the usual suspects spent in free agency this winter -- and they'll have plenty of fan support in that regard.
Fans, particularly those of small market teams, feel a clear sense of defeatism, knowing their clubs will rarely (or in some cases never) be players for the top names in free agency. The Dodgers were close enough to losing in the World Series that it's not fair to say they can freely buy themselves a championship -- the Mets spent more in 2025 and missed the postseason entirely -- but it's fair to say they're spending enough to give themselves something like a 95% chance of making the postseason and entering as the favorite.
The other side of the cap argument, of course, is that it would assuredly usher in the implementation of a salary floor -- a level at which teams must spend on payroll or else be subject to some degree of penalization. There's already a weak "floor" in place for revenue-sharing clubs, but it seems to lack any semblance of teeth. The A's felt compelled to spend enough to push their CBT payroll up to $105MM last year -- roughly 1.5 times the amount they receive annually from revenue-sharing -- but that was seemingly because they're the only club to have been actually stripped of revenue-sharing status in the past. The Marlins were supposedly in the same boat this winter, and they've thumbed their nose at the idea of spending, as evidenced by a CBT payroll in the $80MM range.
I can see the arguments for a cap/floor system. I'm skeptical that it would actually force the game's lowest-payroll clubs to spend in meaningful ways, but that's another topic -- and one that we'll surely debate ad nauseum in the year to come as CBA talks intensify.
But whether it's a salary floor, firm penalties for not spending revenue-sharing funds in tangible ways, or greater access to draft/international resources for non-playoff clubs who remain competitive, something has to give. Right now, there's at least one entire division content to sit on its hands as the five respective front offices seemingly embody that same level of defeatism felt by their small- and mid-market fan bases.
If the Dodgers are a budding dynasty, it's unequivocally fair to say that's in part because of their limitless spending capacity. But it's also because there are teams seemingly content to throw their hands up and ask, "why even bother?" At a certain point, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy -- and I'd argue that at least with regard to the AL Central, we've reached that point. Let's look at each AL Central club's offseason to date.
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