Rays To Acquire Niko Goodrum, Select Him To 40-Man Roster
The Rays are acquiring utilityman Niko Goodrum from the Twins and will add him to their 40-man roster, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The Rays’ interest in Goodrum was first reported yesterday afternoon.
Goodrum had an upward mobility clause in his minor league deal with Minnesota. He triggered that clause, which requires the Twins to gauge interest around the league and see whether another club would be willing to add Goodrum to the 40-man roster. Tampa Bay, in need of infield depth due to injuries, felt it had space and will presumably send cash back to the Twins to acquire Goodrum’s rights and add him to the 40-man roster. Goodrum has a pair of minor league option years remaining, so it’s not a sure thing he’ll go directly onto the Rays’ major league roster.
Goodrum, a veteran switch-hitter who can play just about any position on the diamond, fits the Rays’ typical mold of versatility. His acquisition was surely spurred by injuries to Taylor Walls (recovering from hip surgery) and Jonathan Aranda (who fractured a finger fielding a grounder this week) — to say nothing of the ongoing legal situation surrounding shortstop Wander Franco, whose MLB future is in doubt.
The 32-year-old Goodrum has played in parts of six big league seasons between the Tigers, Astros and Twins — who originally made him a second-round pick back in 2010. Goodrum returned to Minnesota on a minor league pact this winter but didn’t make the Opening Day roster after stumbling to to a .129/.270/.161 slash in 37 spring plate appearances. That ugly performance didn’t deter the Rays, who are surely looking at Goodrum’s versatility, defensive chops and broader track record in making this acquisition.
From 2018-19, Goodrum was a regular with the Tigers. He posted a solid .247/.318/.427 slash in that time while playing solid defense at multiple positions, and for a time he was even Detroit’s primary shortstop. Over those two years, Goodrum tallied 964 plate appearances and swatted 28 homers while swiping 24 bases. His bat tailed off in the three subsequent seasons before a resurgent 2023 showing between the Red Sox’ Triple-A affiliate (.280/.448/.440) and the Korea Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants (.295/.373/.387).
Goodrum seems likely to claim a bench spot in Tampa Bay. The Rays had previously looked to be whittling down the competition for their final two spots, but Topkin reported earlier this week that they were mulling some outside acquisitions for a backup infielder and backup catcher. Goodrum, it seems, was part of those deliberations and will now add some optionable depth who can be controlled through the 2025 season via arbitration if he makes a good impression on his new club.
Marlins To Acquire Burch Smith, Select Him To 40-Man Roster
Right-hander Burch Smith has exercised an upward mobility clause in his minor league contract with the Rays and will sign a major league contract with the Marlins, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Upward mobility clauses allow players on minor league deals to gauge interest from other teams on a set date. If there’s interest from another club in adding said player to the 40-man roster, his current club must either add him to its own 40-man roster or allow him to join that new team. In this instance, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that Smith is being traded to the Marlins in exchange for what are surely nominal cash considerations.
It seems the Rays weren’t willing to add to Smith to their own 40-man at this time, so he’ll instead join the Miami organization. The Fish already have an open spot on their 40-man roster at the moment after placing righty Huascar Brazoban on the restricted list yesterday while he works through a visa issue. Smith does have a minor league option remaining, so while he’ll go on Miami’s 40-man, it’s not a given that he’ll begin the season in the majors. He’ll earn at a $1MM rate in the big leagues with the Marlins and can pick up another $250K of incentives, per Sherman.
Smith, 34 next month, has more than four years of MLB service time and has also spent time pitching in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and in the Korea Baseball Organization. He last appeared in the majors in 2021, when he tossed 43 1/3 innings for the A’s but scuffled to a 5.40 ERA. The right-hander has at times shown flashes of potential in the big leagues but has yet to establish himself as a consistent contributor despite stints with the Padres, Royals, Brewers, Giants and A’s. He carries a 6.03 ERA in 191 MLB frames.
Lack of MLB success notwithstanding, Smith has drawn interest from clubs throughout his career due to strong minor league numbers and encouraging traits on several of his pitches. Even though his career 21.3% strikeout rate is a bit shy of league-average, he’s previously posted above-average swinging-strike rates that could be viewed as a portent for more punchouts. Smith yielded five runs in 5 1/3 spring frames with Tampa Bay, but he notched a huge 17.6% swinging-strike rate in camp, which perhaps piqued Miami’s interest.
Though Smith has never thrown an MLB pitch for the Rays, this spring marked his second stint with the club. He went from the Padres to the Rays back 2014 as part of the three-team blockbuster that more famously sent Wil Myers to San Diego and Trea Turner to Washington. The Rays lost him in the Rule 5 Draft the following year, but current Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix was part of Tampa Bay’s front office at the time the Rays originally acquired Smith.
Smith will give the Marlins some optionable depth to step into Brazoban’s recently vacated spot on the 40-man roster. Miami also has righty JT Chargois and nearly an entire rotation’s worth of quality starting pitchers — Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera — on the injured list to begin the season.
The Opener: D-backs, Orioles, Opening Day Rosters
Happy Opening Day Eve! Here are three things for MLBTR readers to watch for throughout the game today…
1. D-backs to finalize Montgomery contract:
The Diamondbacks made a last-minute strike to further bolster their rotation last night when they agreed to a one-year, $25MM deal with Jordan Montgomery that contains a vesting player option for a second season. Montgomery will trigger the right to opt into a $20MM salary for the 2025 season if he starts just 10 games, and he can boost that total to $25MM if he makes it to 23 starts on the year. It’s a major grab for a D-backs club currently facing an extended shutdown for their other top offseason rotation addition, Eduardo Rodriguez, who’s dealing with a lat strain. Montgomery will need to pass a physical, and the Snakes will need to open a 40-man roster spot. Rodriguez or injured closer Paul Sewald (Grade 2 oblique strain) could be possible 60-day IL candidates, though the team hasn’t provided an expected recovery timetable on either. If the D-backs don’t want to commit to a two-month absence for either, they’ll need to DFA someone or swing a late-spring trade.
2. Owners vote to approve Orioles’ sale:
Major League Baseball’s other 29 owners will vote today to formally approve the Angelos family’s sale of the Orioles to a group led by Baltimore native and billionaire David Rubenstein. The new ownership group will also feature franchise icon Cal Ripken Jr., NBA Hall of Famer Grant Hill, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke, among others. Rubenstein’s group will pay a $1.725 billion price to acquire the controlling stake of the Orioles and their stake in the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN). Today’s vote is viewed as little more than a formality, as no pushback among the sport’s other 29 owners is expected.
3. Last-minute roster machinations:
As we’ve already seen this week, the end of spring training brings with it a flurry of releases, DFAs, waiver claims, free agent signings and, typically, some minor trades. Beyond Arizona’s reported deal with Montgomery, it’s been reported and/or announced that non-roster players Miguel Sano (Angels), Victor Scott II (Cardinals), Jose Ureña (Rangers), Alan Trejo (Rockies), Jared Jones (Pirates), Hunter Stratton (Pirates), Ryder Ryan (Pirates), Daniel Vogelbach (Blue Jays), Joely Rodriguez (Red Sox) and several others around the league have made their club’s Opening Day rosters. Each of those players will require a corresponding 40-man move, as will the yet-to-be-announced dozens of other 40-man additions that the end of spring training will surely bring. The late roster shuffling will set off a chain of player movement on the fringes of 40-man rosters, as will any last-minute signings of remaining free agents of note (e.g. Tommy Pham, Mike Clevinger, Brandon Belt). It’ll be a hectic 24 to 36 hours as teams set their Opening Day rosters, and the flurry of transactions will create a ripple effect that should fill the next week with subsequent, smaller-scale transactions.
Dylan Carlson To Be Placed On Injured List; Cardinals To Select Victor Scott II
Cardinals center fielder Dylan Carlson has been diagnosed with a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder following a collision with right fielder Jordan Walker during yesterday’s Grapefruit League game, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak announced to reporters Tuesday (X link via Bob Nightengale of USA Today). He’ll open the season on the injured list. In his place, the Cardinals will select the contract of outfield prospect Victor Scott. He’ll open the season in center field.
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Carlson’s absence will be measured in weeks, not months. As such, while the Cardinals will need to open a 40-man roster spot for Scott, placing Carlson on the 60-day IL seemingly won’t be a consideration when determining a corresponding move.
It’s an unfortunate blow for both Carlson and the Cardinals. The club came into camp with a planned outfield of Walker in right, Tommy Edman in center and Lars Nootbaar in left. Edman and Nootbaar are each going to start the season on the IL, Edman due to lingering soreness in his wrist after last year’s arthroscopic surgery, Nootbaar due to rib fractures suffered while attempting to make a catch.
That opened the door for Carlson, who was himself been frequently beset by injuries. After a breakout season in 2021, he missed time in 2022 due to a left hamstring strain and left ankle sprain, getting capped at 128 games. Last year, the ankle issues resurfaced and he only got into 76 games, eventually requiring surgery on that ankle.
He seemed to be in good form this spring, having hit .271/.340/.521. Just as he was about to open the season with a starting center field job, a brutally timed collision will send him to the injured list once again. He will hopefully be able to get healthy and rejoin the club in just a few weeks, but it’s also possible that Edman and/or Nootbaar will be back in the mix by that point.
Carlson’s misfortune will be an opportunity for Scott. He was a fifth-round draft pick of the Cards in 2022 and came into professional baseball with strong grades for his speed and defense but concerns about his bat.
Last year, he did a lot to quiet those concerns. He played 132 games between High-A and Double-A, hitting just nine home runs and walking at just a 7.4% rate, but he also limited his strikeouts to a 15.7% clip. His combined batting line of .303/.369/.425 translated to a wRC+ of 118. He also stole a tremendous 94 bases in 108 attempts on the year.
That vaulted Scott onto prospect lists coming into 2024. Both Baseball America and FanGraphs gave him the #83 slot on their respective top 100 lists coming into this year. Keith Law of The Athletic had him up at #55, though Scott didn’t crack the lists at either MLB Pipeline or ESPN.
He has been performing well this spring, hitting .316/.409/.368 and swiping four bags. The Cards probably didn’t plan on Scott jumping to the big leagues, since he was drafted less than two years ago and has no Triple-A experience thus far, but the string of injuries suffered by their other outfielders has forced their hand. Whether Scott sticks around or is merely a placeholder until the other guys get healthy will likely depend on his performance.
Despite some decent prospect hype, Scott won’t qualify for the prospect promotion incentive of the current collective bargaining agreement. It only applies to players that are on two of three top 100 lists at BA, ESPN and MLB Pipeline. Since Scott only made the BA lists of those three, he doesn’t make the cut and won’t be able to provide the Cards with an extra draft pick via his placement in awards voting.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Jose Ureña Makes Rangers’ Opening Day Roster
Veteran right-hander Jose Ureña has made the Rangers’ Opening Day roster, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’s in camp as a non-roster invitee to spring training, so he’ll need to be selected to the 40-man roster. Texas currently has a full 40-man roster and will need to open spots for both Ureña and top prospect Wyatt Langford. That can be accomplished by shifting righties Tyler Mahle and Max Scherzer to the 60-day IL — fellow injured righty Jacob deGrom has already been moved to the 60-day IL — but they’ll need to create further space if they’re to bring any more non-roster players (e.g. Jared Walsh) north for Opening Day.
Ureña, 32, has had a strong spring with the Rangers, tossing 16 innings with a 2.25 ERA, 20.9% strikeout rate, 4.5% walk rate and 40% ground-ball rate. He has ample starting experience in the majors and can give Texas a back-of-the-rotation option or some bullpen length early in the season.
Earlier in his career, Ureña was a solid starter in Miami, pitching 343 2/3 innings of 3.90 ERA ball over the life of 59 starts from 2017-18. He’s posted an ERA north of 5.00 in each of the five subsequent seasons, however.
Ureña has had his share of ups and downs in recent years. He caught on with the Rockies midway through the 2022 season and ate innings at a decent enough rate that Colorado re-signed him to a one-year, $3.5MM deal in the 2022-23 offseason. That pact blew up quickly in 2023, however, when Ureña was shelled for 20 runs in just 18 1/3 innings to begin the season. The Rockies released him after just five starts. He’d go on to sign with the White Sox on a minor league deal, resurfacing in the majors late in the season and showing well down the stretch: five starts, 26 1/3 innings, 4.10 ERA, 18.2% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate, 50% grounder rate.
The Rangers are slated to open the season with a rotation of Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Dane Dunning, Andrew Heaney and Cody Bradford. Right-hander Michael Lorenzen, who signed a one-year deal last week, will join the rotation at some point but will first need to stretch out in a game setting. Ureña adds some depth and some length to the staff, whether the plan will be for him to start or perhaps piggyback with Lorenzen while he gets stretched out.
Tigers Release Donny Sands
The Tigers have released catcher Donny Sands, tweets Evan Woodbery of MLive.com. He was outrighted off the 40-man roster earlier this winter and will now depart the organization entirely.
The 27-year-old Sands was one of three players Detroit acquired in the trade sending Gregory Soto and Kody Clemens to the Phillies. Utilityman Nick Maton and third baseman/outfielder Matt Vierling both came to the Tigers in that swap as well.
Sands hasn’t panned out as hoped since that swap. He spent the bulk of the 2023 season in Triple-A Toledo, where he slashed .225/.318/.353 in 371 plate appearances. Those struggles were pronounced enough that Detroit opted to go outside the organization rather than call up Sands when they cut backup catcher Eric Haase last summer; the Tigers instead signed Carson Kelly to a big league deal that included a club option which has since been exercised.
Kelly will be the backup to Jake Rogers, who’s hit .225/.291/.457 (102 wRC+) with plus defense over the past two seasons — a strong enough showing to cement his status as the starting backstop in Detroit. Kelly’s contract was always going to ensure him of a roster spot, but he hit .289/.372/.553 in 43 spring plate appearances, which only reinforced his positioning ahead of Sands on the depth chart.
Sands only logged 10 spring plate appearances and went 1-for-8 with a walk in that tiny sample. His release should get former second-round pick Dillon Dingler even more playing time in Toledo this year. Dingler struggled through 106 plate appearances in his first look at Triple-A last year, but he’s hit well in Double-A and had a decent spring at the plate.
From a defensive standpoint, Sands has drawn decent framing numbers in the upper minors and turned in a 24% caught-stealing rate this past season. His 2023 struggles notwithstanding, Sands is a lifetime .261/.352/.403 hitter in parts of three Triple-A campaigns. He has also has a minor league option year remaining. He could latch on as a depth piece with another club that’s thinner behind the plate than the Tigers at the moment.
Rockies To Select Alan Trejo
Utility infielder Alan Trejo has made the Rockies’ Opening Day roster, manager Bud Black announced this morning (X link via Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post). He’s a non-roster invitee in camp and will thus need to be selected to the 40-man roster. Colorado has a full 40-man at the moment. Left-hander Lucas Gilbreath is recovering from Tommy John surgery performed in March of 2023 and could be a 60-day IL candidate. Otherwise, the Rox will likely need to free up a spot by way of a DFA.
Black also announced that first baseman/outfielder Michael Toglia has made Colorado’s roster. Outfielder Sean Bouchard has been optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque to begin the season. Toglia figures to step in as the team’s primary right fielder, as first base will be occupied by Kris Bryant in 2024.
Trejo, 27, has appeared in the majors with the Rockies in each of the past three seasons. He’s logged 402 plate appearances and put together a .243/.292/.367 slash (65 wRC+) with nine homers, 19 doubles, six steals (in nine tries), a 6% walk rate and a 24.1% strikeout rate. He’s been far better in Triple-A, evidenced by a .292/.338/.261 slash in 710 plate appearances there, and he’s had a decent performance this spring: .244/.327/.488, three homers in 49 trips to the plate.
Defensively, Trejo has played each of second base, shortstop and third base. Both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average grade him as a sharp defender at second base and third base but a sub-par option at shortstop. Trejo should serve as a backup for second baseman Brendan Rodgers, shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and third baseman Ryan McMahon. He’s a right-handed hitter who’s been far better against fellow righties than against lefties to this point in his still fairly young career.
Trejo is out of minor league options, so if the Rockies wish to make a change at any point, they’ll need to designate him for assignment. He can’t be sent down to the minors without first clearing waivers. That’s true of Colorado’s entire bench, in fact. Backup catcher Jacob Stallings has enough service time that he can’t be optioned without his consent, and none of Trejo, corner infielder/DH Elehuris Montero, or newly acquired outfielder/first baseman Jake Cave have minor league options remaining.
As for Toglia, he turned in a hefty .259/.333/.593 slash and clubbed five homers in 60 spring plate appearances. That performance came with at least one notable red flag, as he also went down on strikes in 31.7% of his plate appearances, but it was enough to beat out the 27-year-old Bouchard, who hit just .205/.308/.341 in a similar amount of playing time this spring. Toglia will join center fielder Brenton Doyle and left fielder Nolan Jones in the Rockies outfield most days.
The 25-year-old Toglia was the No. 23 overall pick by the Rockies back in 2019. He’s never drawn the sort of top-100 fanfare many other first-round picks garner but has long ranked as one of the better prospects in a thin Rockies system — climbing as high as No. 2 on Baseball America’s rankings two offseasons ago. Toglia hasn’t hit well in the majors in either 2022 or 2023, with just a .187/.246/.325 slash and 34.6% strikeout rate through 272 plate appearances. He’s been a fine hitter in the upper minors, but scouts have questioned his hit tool throughout his pro career, even as his plus raw power has been on display (e.g. a 32-homer season in 2022).
Mets Release Luke Voit
The Mets have released first baseman Luke Voit, as indicated on his player page at MLB.com. He’s once again a free agent.
Voit inked a minor league pact with the Mets back in February. While he doesn’t have the requisite service time to qualify as an Article XX(B) free agent and thus secure a standard opt-out date five days prior to the start of the season, his minor league contract included an opt-out this past weekend.
The 33-year-old Voit had a tough go of it in Mets camp, tallying 41 plate appearances but batting just .118/.220/.235 with a homer, a double and 14 strikeouts (34.1%). That performance, coming off a down season in which he hit just .221/.284/.265 in a small sample of 74 plate appearances with the Brewers made it difficult to envision the former Yankee slugger winning a spot on the roster in Queens.
Voit led all of Major League Baseball with 22 homers in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season — part of a brief peak with the Yanks where he performed like one of the game’s top offensive first basemen. From 2018-20, Voit turned in a combined .278/.371/.541 slash with 58 big flies in 905 plate appearances. He was strikeout-prone (26.7%) but drew plenty of walks (11.6%) and had more than enough thump in his bat to offset the penchant for punchouts.
Injuries have since derailed that promising trajectory. Voit tore the meniscus in his left knee during spring training 2021 and underwent surgery. Two weeks after being activated in May, he suffered a Grade 2 oblique strain. Voit seemed to rush back from that injury, returning in under a month, and just weeks later was back on the shelf with pain in his surgically repaired knee. He returned again in August but headed back to the injured list with continued knee troubles the following month. Voit had a healthy but middling season at the plate in 2022 between the Padres and Nationals. His 2023 campaign was slowed by a neck injury.
It feels like longer than three years ago that Voit was a prime-aged slugger coming off a league-leading home run total, but that’s to be expected for a hitter who’s gone through the extensive set of injuries he’s experienced. His spring showing didn’t lend much credence to the idea of a rebound, but Voit demolished Triple-A pitching in limited action last year, hitting .263/.420/.615 (153 wRC+) with 15 homers in just 200 plate appearances between the Brewers and Mets organizations. That at least showed that there’s still some life in his bat, and between that performance and his track record with the Yankees, he should be able to latch on with a new minor league deal elsewhere.
Marlins Release Curt Casali
The Marlins have released veteran catcher Curt Casali, reports Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base. He was informed over the weekend that he wouldn’t make Miami’s roster but was said to be weighing an opt-out in his contract — presumably versus heading to Triple-A with the Marlins organization. It seems he opted for the former and will now head back to the open market in search of a new opportunity. The Fish will start the season with Christian Bethancourt and Nick Fortes as their catching tandem.
The 35-year-old Casali has batted .201/.311/.315 over the past three big league seasons — a 78 wRC+ in 503 plate appearances. He also had a rough showing in camp with the Marlins, going just 1-for-17 with a double. He drew a pair of walks and only fanned twice in 19 trips to the plate, but it’s easy to see why the Marlins went another direction.
From 2017-20, Casali was a solid hitter, turning in a combined .262/.348/.444 line in 498 plate appearances between the Rays and Reds. That marked the most productive stretch of his career. Now in his mid-30s and coming off three straight sub-par seasons at the plate, Casali can’t necessarily be expected to replicate that level of production.
Defensively, Casali remains sound. He posted a 32% caught-stealing rate (6-for-19) that was well above the league average in a 2023 season that saw stolen bases spike due to new rules limiting attempted pickoffs and slightly increasing the size of the bases. Statcast pegged Casali as above-average in terms of blocking pitches in the dirt last year, and Defensive Runs Saved credited him as a positive defender as well (+3). He drew only slightly below-average marks for his framing skills as well.