Nationals Claim Tsung-Che Cheng, Designate Konnor Pilkington
The Nationals announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed infielder Tsung-Che Cheng off waivers from the Mets. Left-hander Konnor Pilkington has been designated for assignment to create space on the 40-man roster.
In 2025, Cheng made his big league debut with the Pirates, albeit in the smallest of samples (seven hitless plate appearances). The 24-year-old batted just .207/.305/.267 through 410 Triple-A plate appearances, connecting on just one homer with a dozen doubles and trio of triples.
Obviously, that’s poor production at the plate, but Cheng is a plus runner who swiped 20 bags and can play solid defense at three infield spots (shortstop, third base, second base). He’s walked in 12.5% of his minor league plate appearances as well and has a career .350 on-base percentage in the minors.
Cheng still has a minor league option year remaining. He’ll head to spring training with the Nats in hopes of securing a utility infield job, and he can provide some defensive-minded depth behind third baseman Brady House, shortstop CJ Abrams and second baseman Luis Garcia Jr. Abrams has seen his name pop up in trade chatter recently and could still be moved. Cheng certainly wouldn’t be thrust into the starter’s role in that scenario, but it’d create further opportunities for him in the majors, depending on how the Nats would go about replacing Abrams in that hypothetical scenario.
Pilkington, 28, pitched 28 1/3 innings for Washington last season. He worked to a 4.45 ERA, fanned 27.6% of his opponents and logged an ugly 13.8% walk rate. That marked the left-hander’s third season with at least some big league time. He’s totaled 88 1/3 frames in the majors and turned in a solid 3.97 ERA, albeit with a pedestrian 22% strikeout rate and a beefy 12.9% walk rate.
A former third-round pick (White Sox, 2018), Pilkington has spent parts of four seasons in Triple-A, where he’s pitched to a 6.10 earned run average with comparable strikeout rates to his major league level but an even more alarming 14.1% walk rate. Moving from a starting role to a pure relief role bumped Pilkington’s average fastball to a career-best 94.5 mph this past season but didn’t help him rein in his command at all.
Pilkington still has one minor league option year remaining, and while his overall track record in Triple-A isn’t good, he notched a 2.59 ERA in 42 1/3 innings with Washington’s top affiliate in Rochester this past season. Even amid that seemingly strong showing, however, Pilkington walked 15% of his opponents. It’s possible another club is intrigued by his uptick in velocity and the strikeout numbers following a move to the bullpen, but unless he can dramatically cut back on his walk rate, it’s hard to imagine Pilkington carving out a lasting role in the big leagues.
The Nationals can trade Pilkington or place him on waivers at any point within the next five days. Waivers are a 48-hour process. His DFA will be resolved within a week’s time.
Brewers, Reese McGuire Agree To Minor League Deal
The Brewers have signed catcher Reese McGuire to a minor league contract and invited him to major league spring training, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reported last week that the two sides had been talking. McGuire is represented by Apex Baseball.
McGuire, 31 in March, is a former first-round pick and top prospect who’s played in parts of eight major league seasons with four teams — most recently the 2025 Cubs. He hit .226/.245/.444 (86 wRC+) in 140 turns at the plate with Chicago last year and is a career .248/.293/.374 hitter in 400 games and 1178 plate appearances as a big leaguer.
Though he never developed into much of a threat in the batter’s box, McGuire has been a frequently used backup in recent years, due primarily to his defensive acumen. He receives above-average grades for his framing, ability to block balls in the dirt and his throwing. He nabbed eight of 31 thieves on the bases this past season (25.9%) and has a career caught-stealing rate just over 27%.
McGuire has more than five years of major league service time, so if he makes the roster in Milwaukee, the Brewers won’t be able to option him to the minor leagues. As things stand, there would appear to be a good chance that McGuire can indeed break camp with the club. William Contreras is, of course, in line to handle the bulk of the Brewers’ catching work.
Prior to their deal with McGuire, there was no clear backup option. Top prospect Jeferson Quero is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster, but the Brewers aren’t going to have a 23-year-old top-100 prospect sit on the bench as a backup at the major league level. Bringing McGuire into the mix allows Milwaukee to send Quero to Triple-A Nashville where he can play regularly and continue his development. Quero notched 250 plate appearances in Triple-A last season, but that was his first exposure to the top minor league level and he posted only league-average offensive marks in that time. He’s the heir apparent to Contreras behind the dish but isn’t yet ready for a full-time major league look.
The Brewers could always bring in some more veteran catchers to create some competition in camp, but for now, McGuire jumps to the front of the pack as the likeliest in-house option to serve as Contreras’ backup in 2026.
Angels Claim Kaleb Ort, Designate Wade Meckler
The Angels claimed righty Kaleb Ort off waivers from the Yankees, who had previously designated him for assignment, per announcements from both clubs. Outfielder Wade Meckler was designated for assignment in a corresponding move, the Angels announced.
Ort, 34 next week, made his big league debut with the ’21 Red Sox and has pitched in each of the past five major league seasons, the past two as a member of the division-rival Astros. He was excellent with Houston in 2024 but posted shakier numbers with the ‘Stros in 2025. Overall, his past two seasons have resulted in a combined 4.08 ERA with a 26.1% strikeout rate, 10.8% walk rate and 38.2% ground-ball rate.
The hard-throwing Ort has averaged 96.8 mph on his four-seamer in that time and notched a strong 12.6% swinging-strike rate, generating plenty of whiffs with his slider, in particular. In addition to a walk rate that’s a bit heavy, Ort has been plagued by a major susceptibility to the long ball. He’s served up 25 round-trippers in 122 1/3 career innings in the majors, including 15 dingers in 70 2/3 frames across the past two seasons in Houston.
Ort is out of minor league options, so the Angels will have to either carry him in their Opening Day bullpen or else remove him from their 40-man roster between now and that point. The Halos are his third organization in as many weeks; Houston designated Ort for assignment in early January, after which he was claimed by the Yankees. He could have some more staying power in Anaheim, where there’s a clear need for bullpen help, but the Angels still need to clear a 40-man spot to make their re-signing of Yoan Moncada official, which could put Ort at risk again. Even if they go another route to open a spot for Moncada, Ort figures to be on the bubble for any subsequent additions to the Angels’ 40-man roster.
As for the 25-year-old Meckler (26 in April), he came to the Angels via waivers just three weeks ago, after the Giants had designated him for assignment. The 2022 eighth-rounder got his feet wet with 20 games and 64 plate appearances just over a year after being drafted. Predictably, he struggled in that initial — and, to this point, only — MLB exposure, hitting .232/.328/.250 in that tiny sample.
Meckler has spent the bulk of the past two seasons in Triple-A and hit well there, combining for 699 plate appearances with a .296/.392/.429 batting line. He doesn’t offer a ton of power (just 11 homers) and has only 21 steals in Triple-A despite plus speed, but Meckler is a high-contact hitter with a knack for drawing free passes. He’s gone down on strikes in just 16.7% of his Triple-A plate appearances against a stout 13.5% walk rate.
Meckler has plenty of experience across all three outfield positions and has seen brief action in the infield, primarily at second base (68 innings this past season). He has one minor league option remaining. A club seeking some speed, OBP and flexible left-handed-hitting outfield depth could take a look, whether via waivers or a small trade. The Angels will have five days to trade him before he has to be placed on waivers, though that waiver placement can also happen anytime in the interim. One way or another, his DFA will be resolved in a week’s time.
Braves Interested In Lucas Giolito, Chris Bassitt
The Braves have made offseason additions in the bullpen, the infield and the outfield thus far, bringing in veterans Raisel Iglesias, Robert Suarez, Ha-Seong Kim, Mauricio Dubon, Jorge Mateo and Mike Yastrzemski via free agency or trade. (Kim suffered a hand injury after signing and will miss several months of the season.) The rotation, however, remains untouched as January nears its conclusion.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports on MLB Network (video link) that Atlanta is in the market for some form of rotation upgrade, however, specifically listing right-handers Lucas Giolito and Chris Bassitt as free agents of interest. Neither pitcher received a qualifying offer, so neither would require any draft forfeitures. The Braves are over the luxury tax threshold, per RosterResource’s estimates, but they weren’t tax payors in 2025 so the penalty for signing either veteran would be minimal.
Giolito, 31, started 26 games for the Red Sox in 2025 after missing the 2024 season due to a UCL procedure. He pitched well enough to convert his 2026 club option into a mutual option, which he declined in order to return to the open market. Giolito started the season in rocky fashion (6.42 ERA through seven starts) before rebounding to the tune of a 2.51 ERA in his final 19 starts and 111 1/3 innings. His 20.3% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate over that dominant run of 19 starts don’t support such a strong earned run average, and metrics like SIERA (4.67) and FIP (3.97) were much more bearish. Still, Giolito performed like a capable midrotation arm at the very least.
Were it not for a late elbow injury, Giolito’s market might have been more aggressive. (Although, had he been fully healthy, Boston may also have given more consideration to extending a qualifying offer.) Giolito’s surgically repaired ulnar collateral ligament received a clean bill of health at the time, but September testing on the right-hander revealed some irritation in his flexor tendon and a bone issue in his elbow that required some downtime. He missed the Red Sox’ postseason run as a result, but by November he was viewed as “fully healthy” and ready for a normal offseason.
A former first-round pick and top prospect, Giolito has had a roller-coaster tenure in the big leagues. He struggled greatly in his first 45 MLB appearances from 2016-18 (5.48 ERA) before settling in as a durable No. 2 starter with huge strikeout numbers for the White Sox. From 2019-21, he pitched 427 2/3 innings with a 3.47 ERA, 30.7% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate. Giolito stayed healthy and kept missing bats from 2022-23, but home run troubles inflated his ERA to 4.88 over 63 starts between those two seasons. He signed a two-year deal with the Red Sox covering the 2024-25 seasons and affording him the opportunity to opt out after ’24. A spring UCL injury that year wiped out his 2024 campaign and naturally led him to pick up his ’25 player option rather than test the market last winter.
Despite the up-and-down nature of his results, Giolito carries a respectable 4.30 ERA in his career — and that number dips to a flat 4.00 if you set aside the struggles he experienced from ages 21 to 23 back in ’16-’18. Last year’s career-low strikeout rate is a concern, but Giolito’s 93.3 mph average four-seamer is an exact match for his career levels, so it’s not as though he came back from surgery working with dramatically reduced stuff. Clubs aren’t going to view him as the clear playoff-caliber starter he was during his three-year peak with the ChiSox, but it’s not out of the question that he can get back to pitching at that level. Even last year’s level of output would make him a third or fourth starter in a good rotation.
As for Bassitt, he’s considerably older but has been more durable and more consistent. The 36-year-old righty (37 next month) ranks seventh in the majors in games started and eighth in innings pitched over the past six seasons. During that time, he’s pitched to a combined 3.57 earned run average with a 22.7% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and a 44% ground-ball rate. All of those are right at the league average, if not slightly better.
Bassitt has made at least 30 starts and pitched at least 170 innings in four straight seasons. His 2025 campaign featured 170 1/3 frames with a 3.96 ERA and rate stats right in line with his overall marks from the past six seasons. Bassitt also shined with the Blue Jays in the postseason, shifting to a relief role without missing a beat. He fired 8 2/3 innings of one-run ball and allowed only three hits and two walks while punching out 10 in that time.
If there are any red flags with Bassitt, they’re not as much with his recent performance as they are simply with the aging process of any pitcher. He’ll pitch all of the upcoming season at 37. Last year’s results were strong, but it’s worth noting that his 91.5 mph average fastball was the lowest of his career by a decent margin. His prior career-low was 2023’s 92.4 mph. He bounced back slightly with a 92.6 mph average in 2024 but lost about a mile per hour off that heater in ’25. That said, it didn’t have an impact on his ability to miss bats; Bassitt’s strikeout rate and swinging-strike rate were both better in 2025 than in 2024.
Though the Braves currently have a talented rotation, there are plenty of question marks regarding both health and workload among the bunch. Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach, Reynaldo Lopez and Hurston Waldrep rank among the best quintets in the sport from a pure talent level. However, Sale was limited to 20 starts due to fractures in his ribcage. Strider made 23 starts but posted a 4.45 ERA with diminished rate stats in his first season back from UCL surgery. Schwellenbach started only 17 games due to a fracture in his elbow. Lopez made only one start due to shoulder surgery. Waldrep, a former first-rounder and top prospect, looked very good in nine major league starts but had shakier numbers in Triple-A and has just 63 1/3 big league innings under his belt.
Atlanta has some depth options in the form of Bryce Elder, Joey Wentz, Grant Holmes and Didier Fuentes, the latter of whom has garnered some top-100 prospect love this offseason. Still, given the plethora of injury troubles Atlanta faced, Sale’s age/injury track record and Strider’s downturn in results, augmenting the current group would be wise. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently argued as much at greater length in a recent piece for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.
The Braves’ current cash payroll of $262MM would already be a franchise record, while their $258MM of luxury tax obligations are the second-highest in franchise history. Bringing in either Bassitt or Giolito would surely bump Atlanta into the second tier of luxury penalization but would leave them shy of the third tier — the point at which a team’s top draft pick is dropped by ten spots. The Braves will owe a 20% tax on the next $6MM or so spent ($1.2MM) and a 32% tax on the next $20MM. If we presume Bassitt is targeting something similar to the two-year, $40MM deal signed by fellow 37-year-old starter Merrill Kelly, he’d come with about $5.7MM of taxes for the Braves, on top of his actual salary.
Rockies To Designate Yanquiel Fernandez For Assignment
The Rockies are designating former top outfield prospect Yanquiel Fernandez for assignment, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. Between the Fernandez DFA and this morning’s trade of right-handed reliever Angel Chivilli to the Yankees (in exchange for non-roster first baseman T.J. Rumfield), Colorado has cleared two spots on its previously full 40-man roster.
Fernandez just turned 23 on New Year’s Day but has exhausted two of his three minor league option years. He made his major league debut with the Rox this past season but hit just .225/.265/.348 with a 30% strikeout rate in 147 trips to the batter’s box. Fernandez has struggled in parts of two Triple-A seasons as well, hitting a combined .259/.320/.437 through 409 plate appearances despite very hitter-friendly environments.
In the 2023-24 offseason, Fernandez landed on the back end of top-100 lists at Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus. At the time, he was coming off a .265/.313/.486 showing with 25 home runs in 521 plate appearances across three levels, topping out as a 20-year-old in Double-A. Given that power output and his youth relative to the competition he was facing at the time, Fernandez was seen as a potential power-over-hit corner outfielder with a plus-plus throwing arm. A future as an everyday right fielder seemed attainable, but his aggressive approach and lack of plate discipline have hindered the final stages of his offensive development.
Between Jordan Beck, Brenton Doyle, Mickey Moniak and trade acquisition Jake McCarthy, the Rockies didn’t necessarily have immediate playing time for Fernandez. However, he still has a minor league option remaining and all four of those outfield alternatives have some questions about their health and/or recent performance, making it at least a mild surprise to see Fernandez jettisoned from the 40-man roster.
The Rockies will have five days to trade Fernandez before he has to be placed on outright waivers. Given his remaining minor league option, his former pedigree, and his plus power and arm strength, there’s a good chance another club will take a speculative look via either a small trade or waiver claim.
Yankees Designate Michael Siani For Assignment
The Yankees announced Wednesday that they’ve designated outfielder Michael Siani for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to newly acquired reliever Angel Chivilli, who just came over in a trade with the Rockies.
Siani, 26, was only claimed off waivers five days ago. The Yankees will now presumably hope to pass him through outright waivers and retain him as a defensive-minded depth piece in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, though no team has been able to get Siani through waivers yet this winter despite multiple attempts.
Siani has bounced around the DFA circuit frequently this offseason, going from the Cardinals, to the Braves, to the Dodgers, to the Yankees since the season ended. He’ll now be traded or placed on waivers within the next five days.
An over-slot fourth-rounder with the Reds back in 2018, Siani has spent his entire playing career in the National League Central. He very briefly debuted with Cincinnati back in 2022 but made only 25 major league plate appearances with his original organization before being claimed off waivers by St. Louis in September of 2023. He was a frequently used, defensive-minded fourth outfielder with the 2024 Cardinals when he logged a career-high 334 plate appearances.
In parts of four major league seasons, Siani owns an anemic .221/.277/.270 batting line (58 wRC+) but good grades for his defense and baserunning. He’s played 1014 major league innings in the outfield — primarily in center but with fleeting corner appearances mixed in — and been credited with overwhelmingly positive marks from Statcast’s Outs Above Average (16) and from Defensive Runs Saved (7). He’s also gone 21-for-26 in stolen base attempts, giving him a success rate of nearly 81%.
The left-handed-hitting Siani still has a minor league option remaining. He could be a pickup for any club looking to bring in a speed-and-defense option off the bench — particularly one who can freely be shuttled between Triple-A and the majors.
Rockies Trade Angel Chivilli To Yankees
11:06am: The two teams have formally announced the swap. It’s a straight one-for-one deal. The Yankees designated outfielder Michael Siani for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot.
10:45am: The Yankees and Rockies have agreed to a deal that will send reliever Angel Chivilli from Denver to the Bronx in exchange for minor league first baseman T.J. Rumfield, reports Jack Curry of the YES Network.
Chivilli is a hard-throwing 23-year-old righty who has shown an aptitude for missing bats and generating grounders but has yet to find consistent success in the majors. He averaged 97.1 mph on his four-seamer this past season and boasts an outstanding 14.4% swinging-strike rate in his young career, and he’s limited walks at a solid 8.1% clip. However, a penchant for serving up the long ball have undercut those swing-and-miss capabilities and otherwise solid command so far; Chivilli has served up an average of 1.99 homers per nine frames in each of his two partial MLB seasons.
Despite that big swinging-strike rate and a healthy 32.3% opponents’ chase rate on pitches off the plate, Chivilli comes to the Yankees with a below-average 17.4% strikeout rate in his career. His opponents have posted an awful 78.4% contact rate against Chivilli’s pitches that fall within the strike zone — league average in 2025 was 85.4% — but he’s put himself at a disadvantage by falling behind in counts far too often. Chivilli’s career 56.9% first-pitch strike rate (55.6% in 2025) is considerably lower than the 62% league average.
It bears mentioning that Chivilli has struggled more at Coors Field than on the road, though his ERA in both settings (7.06 at home, 5.03 on the road) is sub-par. He’s generated enormous swinging-strike rates on both his changeup (26.3%) and slider (23.4%) but struggled to miss bats with his four-seamer he threw in 2025 or the sinker he threw in 2024.
Though the bottom-line results haven’t been there yet, pitchers with Chivilli’s blend of velocity, command, ground-balls and raw bat-missing ability (even if it hasn’t manifested in big strikeout totals yet) are hard to come by. If the Yankees can coax some more swing-and-miss from one of his heaters and/or get him to throw first-pitch strikes with more frequency, there’s potential for Chivilli to develop into a high-quality late-inning option. He also has a minor league option remaining, so he’s someone the Yanks can send to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for further refinement if he doesn’t win a bullpen job in spring training.
Chivilli is controllable for at least five more seasons, which adds to his appeal. If he spends any notable time in the minors this year, the Yankees could push that to six full seasons. Chivilli currently has 1.036 years of big league service time, meaning he’ll need to spend 136 days on New York’s major league roster or injured list to remain on track for free agency following the 2030 season. If he spends about one-third of the season in the minors, that free agency timeline would be pushed back to the 2031-32 offseason, though he’d then project as a Super Two player who’d be arbitration-eligible four times rather than the standard three.
In exchange for that development project, the Rockies will pick up an interesting 25-year-old first baseman. Rumfield was blocked in the Bronx by Ben Rice but has a clear path to regular first base work in Colorado if he hits his way into the job. Based on his recent minor league track record, Rumfield has a good chance to do just that.
A 12th-round pick by the Phillies in 2021, Rumfield landed with the Yankees by way of the trade that sent righty Nick Nelson and catcher Donny Sands to Philadelphia. He spent the entire 2025 season with the Yankees’ top affiliate in Scranton, slashing .285/.378/.447 with 16 home runs, 31 doubles, a triple, five stolen bases (seven attempts), a huge 11.9% walk rate and an 18.4% strikeout rate that’s comfortably lower than average. The year prior, Rumfield hit .292/.365/.461 with 15 homers and similar rate stats in 114 Triple-A games.
The left-handed-hitting Rumfield is not yet on the 40-man roster. He went unselected in last month’s Rule 5 Draft despite being eligible. Baseball America ranked him 30th among Yankees prospects this offseason, noting that he makes plenty of contact, is adept at pulling the in the air and plays a fine defensive first base. There was no path to regular playing time for him in the majors with the Yankees, and he lacks the defensive versatility to profile as a true bench option for them. With the Rockies, however, Rumfield will head to camp with a legitimate chance to win the first base job this spring.
At the moment, 28-year-old waiver pickup Troy Johnston and perpetually injured veteran Kris Bryant are among the team’s options at first base. Newly hired president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta recently declined to even fully commit to Bryant being in spring training when asked by Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post, however, stating only: “That will be up to our medical people.”
Johnston has plenty of experience in the outfield corners as well, so even if the Rockies want to give him a real chance on the big league roster — he does have a solid Triple-A track record with the Marlins organization — he could fit into a bench/designated hitter role if Rumfield seizes the first base job.
Rumfield may not be a star in the making, but if he can turn in even average offense and glovework at first base, he’d be a seismic upgrade for a Colorado club that had far and away the worst first base output of any team in MLB — on either side of the ball. Colorado first basemen posted an atrocious .211/.268/.372 batting line in 2025. The resulting 62 wRC+ (indicating that was 38% worse than average at the position after weighting for ballpark) was 15 points south of the 29th-ranked Giants. Former first-rounder Michael Toglia paced the Rockies in first base appearances last year but hit just .190/.258/.353 with a mammoth 39.2% strikeout rate, -3 Defensive Runs Saved and -10 Outs Above Average in 88 games.
Rays, Cam Booser Agree To Minor League Deal
The Rays have agreed to a minor league contract with left-handed reliever Cam Booser, per the team transaction log at MLB.com. He’s a client of Northwest Sports Management. The log doesn’t specify as much, but MLBTR has confirmed that Booser will be in major league camp with the Rays as a non-roster invitee.
Booser, 33, spent the 2025 campaign with the White Sox organization, tossing 31 innings in the majors and another 14 2/3 frames in Triple-A. That was his second season with big league work, adding onto the 42 2/3 frames he logged with Boston in 2024. In 73 2/3 innings between the BoSox and ChiSox, Booser carries a 4.28 earned run average, a 23.9% strikeout rate and a 10.7% walk rate. He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher, inducing grounders at just a 31% clip.
Booser sits 95.5 mph with his four-seamer and complements the pitch with a cutter averaging 88 mph and a slider that sits 81.7 mph. His solid strikeout rate is supported by a 13% swinging-strike rate in the majors, and his 89.5 mph average exit velocity, 10.4% barrel rate and 38.9% hard-hit rate are all at or close to the league average among relievers. Booser has never struggled to miss bats much in the minors, but command troubles have been present throughout his professional career.
After trading Mason Montgomery in the three-team swap that sent Brandon Lowe to Pittsburgh and brought Jacob Melton from Houston to Tampa Bay, the Rays’ only lefty in the bullpen is Garrett Cleavinger. They don’t have any left-handed relievers on the 40-man roster in the minors, though any of Joe Rock, Ian Seymour or DFA pickup Ken Waldichuk could conceivably work out in relief if the team prefers to explore a role change. All three are on the 40-man roster.
The Rays haven’t been especially active in bringing players aboard on non-roster deals with invitations to spring training, so at the moment Booser is one of the more experienced NRIs who’ll be in camp with Tampa Bay. That can always change in the weeks ahead, of course, but barring the addition of another lefty or two, the hard-throwing Booser probably has a chance to force his way into the Opening Day picture with a big spring showing.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good morning! We’ll get going at 1pm CT today, but feel free to submit questions ahead of time.
- Good afternoon and happy Tuesday — let’s get going
Not my job to win a World Series
- Peralta return higher than the Burnes return? Any moves left for the Brewers this offseason?
Steve Adams
- They’re pretty comparable returns — two top prospects on the back-end of most top-100 lists. I think the prospects themselves here are a bit more interesting than the Hall/Ortiz combo they got from Burnes, but they also got a Competitive Balance draft pick for Burnes, which has plenty of value itself.I imagine the Brewers will still look into some low-cost bullpen/bench additions as guys who are lingering on the market bring their demands down and accept lesser deals just to get into camp somewhere.
Pedro4eva
- Do you see the Red Sox making a move for Suarez at 3rd? If not do they just give it to Meyer?
Steve Adams
- No, I think if there’s an addition at this point it feels much likelier to be a second baseman. Mayer at third base feels like it could be the plan at this point.
Guest
- David Peterson for Jeremiah Estrada. Who says no?
Steve Adams
- I like David Peterson, but I’m not giving up four years of Estrada for one of Peterson if I’m the Padres.
Brewer Fan
- Jett Williams and Josh Knoth for CJ Abrams. Who says no?
Steve Adams
- Washington, pretty easily.
Guest
- Who do you think will play first base for the Padres ?
Twins Notes: Bullpen, Rogers, Keaschall
Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey implied last week after reuniting with lefty Taylor Rogers that subsequent bullpen additions could be on the horizon. Executive chair Tom Pohlad was more direct over the weekend, telling fans at the team’s annual TwinsFest event (link via Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune):
“Yeah, we’re going to continue. The clock doesn’t stop until Opening Day, right? For better or worse, [Falvey] and [GM Jeremy Zoll] have a history of adding pieces late. I’m sure you are going to continue to see that. We know that we have to continue to improve the bullpen.”
Minnesota’s current payroll of about $108MM sits nearly $30MM shy of last year’s mark. The team has made no secret of its plans to scale back payroll after sitting between $130-160MM each season from 2022-25, but there’s room for another reliever or two while still keeping the 2026 tally well below the levels we’ve seen in the four preceding seasons. Even with some additions seemingly on the horizon, Falvey indicated last week that the Twins would be counting on some younger, less-experienced pitchers to step up and solidify themselves as viable bullpen options this coming season.
Entering the season, the Twins have Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober locked into rotation spots. Simeon Woods Richardson is out of minor league options and pitched well in 2025 after a brief demotion to the minors; he finished the year with a 4.04 ERA in 111 1/3 frames but was particularly sharp upon returning from Triple-A. In his final 14 starts of the season, Woods Richardson logged 69 innings with a 3.00 ERA (4.16 FIP, 4.37 SIERA), a 24.4% strikeout rate and a 10.4% walk rate. That finish and his lack of minor league options make him a clear favorite for the fourth spot on the staff.
The fifth spot will presumably be a battle of several promising young arms. Right-handers Taj Bradley, Mick Abel, David Festa and Zebby Matthews are all in the mix for that opening. All four ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects prior to their respective MLB debuts. All four have shown some flashes of success but also lacked consistency. Bradley has one minor league option remaining. The other three all have a pair of options left. Any of that quartet could emerge as a bullpen option, too, as could prospects like Connor Prielipp and Marco Raya.
At the moment, Rogers is the most experienced arm and the de facto favorite for saves, but subsequent additions could push him further down the pecking order. The 35-year-old southpaw was an All-Star closer for Minnesota back in 2021 but has been pitching more in middle relief across the past two seasons amid declines in his fastball and slider velocity.
A reunion with the Twins was something that Rogers himself pushed for, it seems. The left-hander told the Twins beat that he instructed his reps at Frontline Athlete Management to make clear to Minnesota’s front office at the Winter Meetings that he’d be open to a reunion (link via Matthew Leach of MLB.com). That didn’t result in an immediate deal, but the Twins touched base with Rogers’ camp again in January and a deal came together in a matter of days. Pitching for new manager Derek Shelton, who was predecessor Rocco Baldelli‘s bench coach for a couple of years during Rogers’ initial Twins stint, was a big factor.
“I told Shelty on the phone, if he was managing a team in Fargo, North Dakota, I would want to want to go there,” said Rogers. “Same with an opportunity to work with [new bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins].”
On the position player side of the roster, the Twins could move standout second baseman Luke Keaschall around the diamond a bit more this season. The former second-round pick and top prospect had Tommy John surgery in 2024, and Minnesota kept him at second base and DH this past season. Dan Hayes of The Athletic writes that with Keaschall now more than 16 months removed from surgery on his throwing arm, he’s more confident in his throwing and his strength has improved. Keaschall has played some center field in the minors and left field in college and summer ball before being drafted.
The 23-year-old Keaschall was a bright spot in a bleak Twins season. He made his big league debut in mid-April and slashed .302/.385/.445 with four home runs, 14 doubles, 14 stolen bases (in 17 attempts), a 9.2% walk rate and just a 14% strikeout rate in 207 trips to the plate. Had he not suffered a broken forearm in late May and been on the shelf through early August, it’s not unreasonable to think that Keaschall might’ve been in the Rookie of the Year running in the American League.
Minnesota’s outfield currently has Byron Buxton locked into center. He’ll be flanked by a combination of Matt Wallner, Alan Roden, Trevor Larnach and Austin Martin. Roden, Wallner and particularly Larnach would benefit from right-handed platoon partners. Martin is one option to fill that role, and if Keaschall looks comfortable on the grass during spring training, he could factor into that group as well. Top prospects Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez and Gabriel Gonzalez could all debut at some point this season as well; the former two are lefty swingers, while the latter hits from the right side. Wherever Keaschall lines up defensively, his bat will be in the lineup regularly based on last year’s strong rookie showing and his minor league track record (.294/.411/.458 in parts of three seasons).