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Astros Notes: Hader, Diaz, Trade Market

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Astros closer Josh Hader is behind schedule in camp after imaging revealed biceps inflammation a couple weeks ago, manager Joe Espada told the team’s beat as camp opened this morning (link via Chandler Rome of The Athletic). Espada added that Hader has already been resting for the past 10 days or so and is scheduled to resume throwing from flat ground today. Hader himself told reporters that he felt “pretty good” after his brief shutdown (video via MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart). He acknowledged being a “probably a few weeks behind” due to the minor setback. Hader didn’t rule out Opening Day but also declined to put a firm timetable on his rehab.

The 31-year-old lefty (32 in April) is entering the third season of a five-year, $95MM contract in 2026. Hader enjoyed a decent first season in Houston and a dominant second campaign; overall, he’s pitched to a 3.06 earned run average while striking out a colossal 37.4% of opponents against a roughly average 8.5% walk rate. He’s picked up 62 saves along the way. Bryan Abreu would be the top candidate for saves early in the season if Hader were to miss time.

Elsewhere in the Houston bullpen, righty Enyel De Los Santos is current shut down from throwing for a couple days due to a strain in his right knee (via McTaggart). The 30-year-old De Los Santos was a nice bargain addition in August. Houston signed the well-traveled righty to a big league deal after he was cut loose in Atlanta. He went on to pitch 22 1/3 innings as an Astro, working to a 4.03 ERA with far more encouraging rate stats (26.4 K%, 6.6 BB%). He was dinged for five home runs in that time — an average of 2.01 per nine frames — which continued a worrying trend from the 2024 season. However, the long ball wasn’t an issue for him in Atlanta, and De Los Santos yielded just 0.53 HR/9 from 2022-23 in Cleveland. He’s playing out his final season of club control on a $1.6MM salary.

Espada also announced to reporters this morning that catcher Yainer Diaz suffered a foot sprain on a slide into second base during the Dominican Winter League season (video via McTaggart). The injury took place back in December, and Diaz immediately flew to Houston for a diagnosis and to begin treatment. He’s catching bullpens, swinging the bat and throwing as normal, though he’s on what Espada described as a “modified” running program while the foot is in its final stages of mending. There’s no indication that Diaz will miss time to begin the season or even be hobbled early during exhibition play, but it’s still something to keep an eye on; Houston has reportedly already been poking around the market for a backup catcher.

In broader terms, the Astros remain active in both the free agent and trade markets. They’ve reportedly been seeking a left-handed-hitting outfielder as part of the return in any trade talks surrounding infielder Isaac Paredes, who remains available for clubs looking to add some thump at the infield corners and/or at designated hitter. General manager Dana Brown suggested today that trade talks have slowed down in general since camp opened but stated that Houston remains open to roster changes throughout the course of spring training (via Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle).

In addition to seeking a backup catcher, looking for a lefty-hitting outfielder, and exploring trade scenarios for Paredes and pricey first baseman Christian Walker, the Astros have spent much of the offseason listening to interest in center fielder Jake Meyers.

Brewers To Sign Gary Sánchez

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The Brewers have agreed to terms on a deal with veteran catcher Gary Sánchez, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The MDR Sports client will be guaranteed $1.75MM on the deal.

Sánchez, 33, spent the 2025 season with the Orioles organization but was limited to just 30 games and 101 plate appearances due to wrist inflammation and, more seriously, a sprain of the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He was reasonably productive when healthy, popping five homers and turning in a .231/.297/.418 batting line (100 wRC+).

This will be Sánchez’s second stint with the Brewers in the past three seasons. He spent the 2024 campaign in Milwaukee as well, hitting .220/.307/.392 with 11 homers in 280 plate appearances. He served as a backup to William Contreras and a part-time (40 games) designated hitter that season and figures to reprise that role in 2026.

A former top prospect and an All-Star earlier with the Yankees early in his career, Sánchez has settled into a backup/part-time role in recent seasons. He appeared in 128 games and totaled 471 plate appearances with the Twins in 2022 after being traded from the Bronx to Minnesota, but he’s taken only 648 plate appearances combined in the three subsequent seasons (albeit, in part due to last year’s injuries).

Sánchez developed a reputation as a defensive liability earlier in his career but progressed to the point that he turned in solid defensive marks behind the dish in both 2022 and 2023. He was closer to average in ’24 and slipped back below average in 2025, per both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast, though that was obviously a small sample (175 innings). He’ll return to a Milwaukee club where he’s familiar with some members of the staff (e.g. Brandon Woodruff, Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill, Aaron Ashby, Jared Koenig), but the Brewers’ staff has turned over a fair bit even in the roughly 18 months since Sánchez’s initial departure.

The Brewers recently signed veteran catcher Reese McGuire to a minor league deal and invited him to spring training. He’d been in line to serve as the backup to Contreras but now seems likely to be ticketed for Triple-A Nashville — if he doesn’t have an out clause in his contract that allows him to explore other opportunities late in camp.

The addition of those two veterans gives the Brewers the ability to be more patient with top prospect Jeferson Quero, who is widely regarded as the heir to Contreras behind the plate but still has just 59 games and 251 plate appearances of Triple-A ball under his belt. He could push his way into the mix with a big enough season in Nashville, and it’s feasible that he’ll be ready for a full-time look in 2027, when Contreras will be entering his final season of club control (and likely be an offseason trade candidate, as is often the case with top Brewers players who are a year from reaching free agency).

Blue Jays, Juan Yepez Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays are in agreement on a minor league contract with first baseman/outfielder Juan Yepez, per Aram Leighton and Eric Treuden of Just Baseball. He’ll presumably be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee later this month.

Yepez, 27, has appeared in parts of three big league seasons with the Cardinals and Nationals — most recently with Washington in 2024. He’s a .258/.307/.423 hitter (103 wRC+) in 588 plate appearances as a major leaguer. The righty-swinging Yepez has fairly neutral platoon splits in his MLB time and carries a 6.5% walk rate against a 20.9% strikeout rate.

The 2025 season was a struggle for Yepez. He didn’t appear in the majors and struggled badly in Triple-A while also spending nearly two months of the season on the minor league injured list. He appeared in 75 minor league games overall (62 in Triple-A, plus 13 rehab games in High-A) and posted a combined .220/.292/.358 batting line in 284 turns at the plate.

It was a year to forget, but Yepez has a track record as a well above-average hitter in Triple-A and a solid, roughly league-average producer in about one season’s worth of plate appearances. He has below-average speed (31st percentile in 2024, per Statcast) and doesn’t bring much defensive value to the table, with poor marks from Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average at first base and in both outfield corners.

Yepez joins the Blue Jays just one day after they revealed outfielder/designated hitter Anthony Santander will miss five-plus months due to shoulder surgery. With Santander sidelined, the Jays will likely go with Nathan Lukes, Daulton Varsho and Addison Barger in the outfield, with George Springer mixing in occasionally but spending most of his time at designated hitter.

Yepez joins the mix for a bench spot behind that group, though there’s not much space for a non-roster player to force his way in. Tyler Heineman will take one spot as the backup catcher, while speedster Myles Straw is in line for backup outfield work. Infielder Leo Jimenez is out of minor league options and is the primary backup to Andres Gimenez at shortstop (though second baseman Ernie Clement can certainly handle shortstop as well). Infielder/outfielder Davis Schneider has minor league options left, as do outfielders Joey Loperfido and Jonatan Clase. Yepez will try to leapfrog Schneider, Loperfido and Clase for the final bench spot, but there’s a good chance he simply heads to Triple-A Buffalo to serve as depth in the upper minors.

Dodgers Re-Sign Evan Phillips, Designate Ben Rortvedt

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The Dodgers announced Wednesday that they’ve re-signed reliever Evan Phillips to a one-year deal worth $6.5MM. Catcher Ben Rortvedt was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Phillips, a client of Apex Baseball, was non-tendered by the Dodgers in November after undergoing Tommy John surgery late last May but will return on a new one-year deal.

Phillips, 31, came to the Dodgers via a 2021 waiver claim out of the Rays organization. He pitched well enough down the stretch in ’21 to stick on the roster throughout that offseason, but Phillips didn’t immediately look like a waiver heist in the initial months following his claim.

That changed in 2022. A then-27-year-old Phillips erupted for 63 innings with a microscopic 1.14 ERA. He set down 33% of opponents on strikes and walked only 6.4% of the batters he faced, averaging better than 96 mph on his four-seamer and sinker alike. Phillips picked up 19 holds that year, but by 2023 he’d stepped into the closer’s role in L.A. — a job he handled with aplomb. Phillips turned in another dominant season, recording a 2.05 ERA with 24 saves, six holds, a 28.2% strikeout rate and a 5.6% walk rate.

For three full seasons from 2022-24, Phillips was a wipeout late-inning reliever. He combined for a 2.21 ERA with 44 saves, 34 holds and only nine blown saves, whiffing 29.6% of opponents with a 6.5% walk rate. His 2025 campaign got out to a strong start as well, with 5 2/3 shutout frames and six strikeouts. Phillips hit the injured list early in the year, however, and by late May the team announced that he’d require Tommy John procedure, sidelining him for what’ll likely be 13 to 14 months.

Phillips figures to aim for a return around the All-Star break, give or take a couple weeks. If he’s able to do so, he’ll be a prominent midseason boon to the bullpen — effectively the same as picking up a prominent reliever ahead of the trade deadline. There’s risk in any pitcher coming back from major surgery, but if it works out, he’ll be healthy for October, which has been the Dodgers’ primary concern (relative to the regular season) with all their higher-end pitchers in recent seasons.

The Dodgers are an annual luxury tax payor and are well into the top bracket of penalization. Phillips will come with the maximum 110% tax on his salary, meaning he’ll cost the Dodgers $13.65MM overall. It’s a steep price to pay, particularly relative to the risk, but the Dodgers’ spending knows virtually no bounds.

As for Rortvedt, he’ll likely head back to the waiver wire on the heels of his latest DFA. He ended the season on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster and quickly inked a $1.25MM deal to avoid arbitration. The Dodgers then placed him on waivers, hoping he’d clear and could then be stashed in Triple-A Oklahoma City as upper-level depth. Ideally, the $1.25MM salary would’ve dissuaded other clubs from claiming him while also giving Rortvedt a reason to accept the minor league assignment; he has enough service time to reject an outright in favor of free agency but not enough to do so while retaining his guaranteed salary.

The Reds scooped Rortvedt up anyhow and carried him on the 40-man roster for much of the offseason. When he was designated for assignment earlier this month, the Dodgers placed a claim to bring Rortvedt back to the organization. They’ll now hope to pass him through waivers, as they initially planned.

It’s easy to see why clubs would be happy to have the out-of-options Rortvedt in the upper minors but might be wary of carrying him on the big league roster. He’s a plus defender behind the plate whose keen eye typically lends itself to strong walk rates. Rortvedt is strikeout-prone and consistently hits for a low average, however, and he has little in the way of in-game power. He’s a career .190/.279/.270 hitter in 633 MLB plate appearances and a .239/.328/.412 hitter in 574 Triple-A plate appearances.

The Dodgers can trade Rortvedt or place him on waivers at any point within the next five days. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so his DFA will be resolved within a maximum of one week.

Corbin Carroll To Undergo Surgery For Hamate Fracture

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Diamondbacks star Corbin Carroll suffered a broken hamate bone in his right hand yesterday during batting practice, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports. He’s slated to undergo surgery today, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. That’ll sideline Carroll for the majority of camp and seems likely to land him on the injured list to begin the 2026 season.

It’s an awful note on which to start camp for the D-backs and their fans. Carroll, the 2023 NL Rookie of the Year, is already a two-time All-Star and finished sixth in National League MVP voting last season after hitting .259/.343/.541 with 31 home runs, 32 doubles, 17 triples, 32 stolen bases (in 38 tries), a 10.4% walk rate and a 23.8% strikeout rate in 642 trips to the plate. No player in baseball provided more baserunning value than Carroll in 2025, per FanGraphs’ BsR metric, and he was 39% better than average at the plate by measure of wRC+.

The Diamondbacks haven’t provided a formal timetable for Carroll’s recovery and presumably won’t do so until after his surgery. It’s a relatively common injury though — as both Jackson Holliday and Francisco Lindor can attest — and typically shelves hitters for anywhere from four to eight weeks. Hamate injuries (and hand injuries in general) have a tendency to linger and impact a hitter’s power output, but every injury situation is different. Arizona should provide more details in the days ahead.

With Carroll likely IL-bound, an already uncertain D-backs outfield mix now looks even murkier. Arizona traded Jake McCarthy to the Rockies on the heels of a couple disappointing seasons earlier in the winter. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. will open the season on the injured list as he continues rehabbing last season’s torn ACL. Top prospect Jordan Lawlar was already moving from the infield to the outfield this season but now seems certain to begin the season there. Center fielder Alek Thomas is a fine defender, but he’s four seasons into his MLB career now and his bat has yet to catch up to his former top prospect status. Infielder/outfielder Blaze Alexander was traded to the Orioles just last week.

Suffice it to say, outfield options on Arizona’s roster are thin, at best. Lawlar and Thomas are likely locked into starting roles by default. First baseman/designated hitter Pavin Smith has some experience in the outfield corners but has graded as a poor defender. The recent signing of Carlos Santana was originally intended to give the lefty-swinging Smith a strong platoon partner at first base, but Santana could play first base with Smith temporarily patrolling an outfield corner.

Outfielder Jorge Barrosa is on the 40-man roster and out of minor league options, but he’s a .148/.170/.239 hitter in 95 big league plate appearances with a league-average track record at the Triple-A level. Infielder/outfielder Tim Tawa belted 31 Triple-A homers in 2024 but hit just .201/.274/.347 in 205 MLB plate appearances this past season; he’s spent a lot more time in the infield during his pro career but does have 1519 innings of outfield experience.

If the D-backs feel particularly aggressive, they could fast-track Ryan Waldschmidt, the No. 31 overall pick in 2024, to the big leagues. The 23-year-old has yet to even suit up in Triple-A but torched opposing pitcher in both High-A and Double-A last season. In a combined 601 plate appearances (split evenly between the two levels), the University of Kentucky product slashed .289/.419/.473 with 18 homers, 27 doubles, four triples, 29 steals (39 attempts), a 16% walk rate and a 17.6% strikeout rate. Baseball America currently ranks Waldschmidt as the game’s No. 48 overall prospect.

It’s also possible, of course, that the D-backs look to bring in some outfield help from outside the organization. As stated, it was already a relatively thin mix — at least in terms of established options — so even scooping up a veteran on a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to spring training might’ve been prudent. Mike Tauchman, Mark Canha and old friend Randal Grichuk are among the more notable unsigned names still lingering on the market. Spring training naturally brings up opportunities to scoop up other veterans as they opt out of minor league deals and/or less-experienced players who find themselves designated for assignment when other clubs make final additions. The D-backs could monitor both markets as they look to bring in some depth in light of Carroll’s injury.

Braves Place Spencer Schwellenbach On 60-Day Injured List

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Feb. 11: Schwellenbach details (video link via Chad Bishop of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) that he felt strong throughout the offseason and had thrown off a mound four or five times without issue before experiencing discomfort right at the end of a 20-pitch bullpen session about ten days ago. He’s since undergone imaging that led to his diagnosis and 60-day IL placement. Schwellenbach says he might require arthroscopic surgery — nothing is scheduled yet — and isn’t sure what the recovery period would be from that procedure.

Feb. 10: The Braves opened camp this morning with an unwelcome update on talented young righty Spencer Schwellenbach. He’s been placed on the 60-day injured list due to inflammation in his right elbow, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com.

The team’s hope is that the 25-year-old is dealing with bone spurs and not something more nefarious. Regardless, since the “60-day” term begins on Opening Day (and can only be backdated a maximum of three days), Schwellenbach will miss at least two months of action to begin the season. His IL placement should open space on the roster for catcher Jonah Heim, who agreed to a one-year deal with Atlanta earlier today.

Injuries to the pitching staff were the hallmark of Atlanta’s 2025 season, and their 2026 campaign isn’t starting out much differently. The Braves have already been on the lookout for rotation help — perhaps already knowing that Schwellenbach would be sidelined — with reported interest in Chris Bassitt and Lucas Giolito, among others. Atlanta has already had to make one late-offseason pivot, signing Jorge Mateo and Kyle Farmer (the latter on a minor league deal) after Ha-Seong Kim suffered a torn tendon in his hand when he slipped on some ice and fell in a fluke off-field injury. He’ll need four to five months to recover from the subsequent surgery. Schwellenbach’s injury seems to set the stage for another late addition.

The Braves had already been facing workload and health concerns in the rotation. Chris Sale missed significant time with a ribcage fracture last season and has a lengthy injury history. Spencer Strider’s return from UCL surgery produced results that were nowhere close to his star-caliber performance prior to injury. Schwellenbach missed months due to an elbow fracture. Reynaldo Lopez only made one start last year due to shoulder surgery. Promising young righty AJ Smith-Shawver was shelved after a handful of starts due to his own Tommy John procedure.

Entering the year, the Atlanta rotation figured to include Sale, Strider, Schwellenbach, Lopez and one of Hurston Waldrep, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder, Didier Fuentes or an external addition such as Giolito or Bassitt. The Braves are down to three established veterans (Sale, Strider, Lopez), none of whom is coming off a peak season in terms of both health and performance. There ought to be a fair bit of urgency to add another starter to help keep pace in a perennially competitive National League East.

How much space the Braves do or don’t have to make that rotation addition happen isn’t fully clear. RosterResource projects an actual cash payroll around $268MM and a CBT payroll about $10MM less than that. That puts the Braves around $6MM shy of the second tier of luxury tax penalization. They’d owe a 20% tax on any dollars up to the $264MM luxury mark and a 32% tax on anything from $264MM to $284MM. That’s presumably the point at which Atlanta would prefer to halt its spending, given that crossing the $284MM third-tier threshold is the point at which a team’s top draft pick is dropped by 10 places.

Tigers Sign Justin Verlander

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It’s homecoming season in Detroit. After years of Tigers fans hoping for a reunion with future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, the team announced Tuesday that Verlander has been signed to a one-year contract for the 2026 season. The ISE client is guaranteed $13MM, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, though $11MM of that sum will be deferred and paid out beginning in 2030.

Though he’ll turn 43 later this month, Verlander has voiced no desire to call it quits. Rather, he’s previously said he hopes to pitch well into his mid 40s. He’s coming off a solid season at age 42 — one that started slowly but by the end saw Verlander again pitching like a high-quality big league starter. The right-hander pitched 152 innings for the Giants last season, logging a 3.85 ERA, a 20.7% strikeout rate, a 7.9% walk rate and a 34.5% ground-ball rate.

Those are solid overall numbers but mask the strength of Verlander’s finish. Over his final 13 trips to the mound, he totaled 72 2/3 innings with a terrific 2.60 ERA, a 22.8% strikeout rate and a 7.8% walk rate. Verlander limited hard contact better than the average pitcher, checked in with a 93.9 mph average on his four-seamer and turned in an 11% swinging-strike rate that was an exact match for the league average. He only picked up four wins during his time as a Giant, hindering his quest to chase down the 300-victory milestone, but that was due more to poor run support and shaky bullpen work behind him than anything Verlander specifically did.

Verlander returns to what now looks like a stacked Detroit rotation. He’ll reunite with former Astros teammate Framber Valdez, who agreed to a three-year, $115MM contract with Detroit just last week. That pair will join ace Tarik Skubal as he looks to join Verlander as a three-time Cy Young winner. The rotation will be rounded out by right-handers Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize, A healthy Reese Olson would have been among Detroit’s top five starters, even with Verlander in tow, but the team revealed this afternoon that he suffered a setback from last season’s shoulder injury and underwent season-ending surgery.

In all likelihood, there’ll be plenty of starts to go around for other rotation candidates, including promising righty Troy Melton. Injuries are inevitable, so there probably won’t be too many stretches of the season where all six of Skubal, Valdez, Verlander, Mize, Flaherty and Drew Anderson are all at full strength. Top prospect Jackson Jobe could factor into the mix late in the season as well, but he’ll miss the majority of the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery last summer. Even still, simply having someone of Verlander’s stature around to watch and learn from during spring training is an opportunity that Jobe (and other young arms in Tigers camp) will undoubtedly relish.

Whether coincidence or otherwise, Verlander’s $13MM guarantee matches the $13MM gap the Tigers faced in last week’s arbitration hearing with Skubal. The reigning AL Cy Young winner won that hearing. Perhaps the Tigers wouldn’t have gone quite so deferral-heavy on the contract had the arbitration panel ruled in favor of the team, but that’s a moot point. Either way, Verlander is back with the team that originally drafted him with No. 2 overall pick out of Old Dominion back in 2004, and he’ll continue his longshot quest to become MLB’s 25th 300-game winner.

Verlander currently sits at 266 wins in his illustrious career, tied with Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Eppa Rixey for 37th-most in the game’s history. He’ll probably need three more seasons to have a chance at reaching the 300 mark, but he’s previously said he hopes to pitch until he is at least 45. Based on last year’s strong finish and his overall rate stats, he still has something left in the tank as he works toward that lofty goal.

The late additions of Valdez and Verlander will thrust the Tigers into luxury tax territory for the first time. RosterResource’s estimates currently have Detroit about $12MM over the $244MM threshold. That means they’ll pay a 20% tax on the net-present value of Verlander’s deal. It’s more than the Tigers have ever spent. Those late moves have positioned the Tigers as a clear front-runner in an AL Central that’s been characterized primarily by inertia this offseason. They took their time, but the Tigers have made it emphatically clear that their sights are set on winning the Central and pushing for a World Series win in Skubal’s final season before free agency.

White Sox Sign Erick Fedde

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Feb. 10: The White Sox have officially announced the Fedde signing. It’s a one-year, $1.5MM deal. Left-hander Ky Bush was placed on the 60-day IL to open up a 40-man spot for Fedde. Bush had Tommy John surgery in February 2025.

Feb. 9: The White Sox are bringing Erick Fedde back to the organization on a one-year deal, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The deal is pending a physical. Fedde is represented by the Boras Corporation.

Fedde returns to the organization with which he made his MLB comeback in 2024. The former first-round pick and top prospect struggled through parts of six seasons with the Nationals before signing with the Korea Baseball Organization’s NC Dinos and reinventing himself. He won the KBO’s Cy Young Award equivalent (the Choi Dong-won Award) and was named KBO MVP in 2023. Fedde parlayed that into two years and $15MM with the White Sox, who plugged him right into the rotation.

The early portion of Fedde’s 2024 season could scarcely have gone better. He was Chicago’s best starter and looked every bit like a quality big league arm. In 121 2/3 frames with the South Siders, he turned in a 3.11 earned run average, a 21.5% strikeout rate, a 6.8% walk rate and a 44.7% ground-ball rate. The contract looked like a clear bargain, and the rebuilding White Sox naturally drew plenty of interest in the right-hander ahead of the 2024 trade deadline. Fedde ultimately went to the Cardinals as part of a three-team deal that netted the White Sox current third baseman Miguel Vargas and a pair of prospects while sending utilityman Tommy Edman from St. Louis to the Dodgers.

Fedde pitched decently with the Cardinals down the stretch in ’24. His rate stats slipped a bit, and he gave up a fair bit more hard contact, but his overall 3.72 ERA (4.05 FIP, 4.22 SIERA) in 55 2/3 frames was plenty respectable.

The 2025 season was a nightmare, however. Fedde’s strikeout rate cratered to 14% as his walk rate jumped north of 10%. He was tagged for a 5.22 ERA in 101 2/3 innings (20 starts) before being cut loose by the Cardinals. Subsequent deals with the Braves and Brewers didn’t bring about much more success. By the time the season was over, Fedde had a 5.49 ERA in 141 frames. He hadn’t lost any velocity off his heater, but Fedde’s command was clearly nowhere near as sharp as it was in 2024 — particularly in his early run with the White Sox.

Now back with Chicago, Fedde seems like he’ll have a chance to step into the rotation once again. The fifth spot behind Shane Smith, Sean Burke, Davis Martin and Anthony Kay seems up for grabs, with Fedde and fellow free agent pickup Sean Newcomb standing as the presumptive front-runners after signing major league deals this winter. Whichever of the two doesn’t grab the spot could open a swingman role, although there’s enough inexperience in the rotation — to say nothing for the inherent potential for injury faced by all teams — that it’s possible both Fedde and Newcomb will be starting games early in the season.

Braves Sign Jonah Heim

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3:59 pm: The Braves have officially announced the deal. As expected, Heim will take the vacated roster spot opened up after Spencer Schwellenbach hit the 60-day IL. Heim’s deal is for $1.5MM, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

9:11 am: Veteran catcher Jonah Heim is at Braves camp this morning, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. The team hasn’t formally announced a deal, but MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports that the two parties are in agreement on a one-year, major league contract. Heim is represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council.

Heim, 31 in June, was a key factor in the Rangers’ World Series victory during the 2023 season, breaking out with a .258/.317/.438 batting line (107 wRC+) and swatting 18 home runs. He coupled that better-than-average offense — particularly relative to his position — with top-of-the-scale defensive grades; Heim nabbed 29.3% of the runners who attempted to swipe a base against him (well above that season’s average 20.6%), was solid in terms of blocking balls in the dirt, and was the fourth-best catcher in the sport in terms of pitch framing, per Statcast.

Given that the league-average catcher tends to be about 10-12% worse than the league-average hitter at the plate, having a plus defender behind the dish with 15- to 20-homer pop and better-than-average rate stats is immensely valuable. Heim rated as a plus defender in both 2021 and 2022, and his offensive improvements in ’23 looked to have thrust himself into the conversation for one of the most valuable all-around catchers in the game.

Instead, all aspects of his skill set have taken a step back in the two seasons since. He’s drawn league-average framing grades since 2023 and seen his throwing drop off considerably, with just a 13.7% caught-stealing rate in 2024-25. His pop time behind the plate has crept north of two seconds, and his average velocity on throws to second base dipped from 81.1 mph in ’23 to 79.5 mph in ’25.

Heim’s offensive decline has been even more glaring. He’s taken 924 plate appearances since that standout 2023 campaign but turned in an awful .217/.269/.334 batting line that checks in about 29% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+. His strikeout rate hasn’t changed much at all, but he’s lost a couple percentage points off his walk rate and seen declines in terms of average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard-hit rate. He’s also seen his line-drive rate fall a couple percentage points while his grounder rate and infield fly rate have crept north.

None of the changes in those key offensive rate stats are particularly large on their own, but a couple ticks in the wrong direction for that many rate stats has a significant cumulative effect. That’s especially true for a player who was only a bit above average with the bat in the first place. The Rangers, looking to scale back payroll, non-tendered Heim in November after failing to find a trade partner willing to take him on at his expected arbitration price. (MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $6MM salary for the 2026 season.)

Heim now joins a Braves club looking for a short-term backup to reigning NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin. Baldwin and veteran Sean Murphy looked locked in as Atlanta’s catching tandem last summer — until Murphy required surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip. A timetable for his return remains a bit murky. Bowman suggests that Murphy is hoping to be ready at some point in May, though it’s not clear whether that’s early in the month or closer to Memorial Day weekend. The team figures to provide one in the near future with pitchers and catchers reporting to camp this week (today, in the Braves’ case).

Baldwin and Murphy are the only catchers on Atlanta’s 40-man roster at the moment. With Murphy expected to be sidelined to begin the season, backup options for Baldwin have included non-roster invitees Chadwick Tromp, Sandy Leon and Jair Camargo. Heim adds a higher-upside option and, after signing a big league deal, is the immediate front-runner for the backup job to Baldwin.

Heim has more than five years of major league service time, so once Murphy is ready for activation, Heim cannot be optioned without his consent. Those five years of MLB service also are enough that he can reject an outright assignment to Triple-A Gwinnett and retain any remaining guaranteed money on his contract.

Mariners Sign Connor Joe, Jhonathan Díaz To Minor League Deals

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The Mariners announced Tuesday that they’ve signed first baseman/outfielder Connor Joe and left-hander Jhonathan Díaz to minor league deals. Both players receive invitations to major league spring training. Díaz was outrighted by Seattle last week and briefly elected free agency but will return on a new minor league pact.

Joe, 33, briefly appeared with both the Padres and Reds last season but only totaled 42 plate appearances in the majors. He didn’t hit well in that time but from 2021-24 logged a respectable .244/.339/.395 batting line (99 wRC+) with 35 homers, 82 doubles, nine triples, an 11.2% walk rate and a 21.6% strikeout rate in 1566 plate appearances between Colorado and Pittsburgh. He spent most of last year in Triple-A, where he posted a disappointing .225/.346/.306 slash in 205 trips to the plate.

In 645 career plate appearances against lefties, the right-handed-hitting Joe is a .247/.344/.401 hitter, just a bit north of league-average by measure of wRC+. He’s logged 874 innings in right field, 944 innings in left field and 1089 innings at first base, with solid grades at first and in left field. Seattle already signed Rob Refsnyder to pair with lefty-swinging DH/corner outfielder Dominic Canzone, but Joe provides some depth in the event of an injury to Refsnyder.

The 29-year-old Díaz has pitched briefly in parts of five major league seasons but only has 46 1/3 MLB frames under his belt. He’s worked to a 4.66 ERA in that small sample, fanning 33 of 219 opponents (15.1%) against 27 walks (12.3%). He’s been a solid member of the Mariners’ Triple-A rotation in each of the past two seasons, starting at least 22 games in both seasons and keeping his ERA in the low 4.00s.

Díaz isn’t likely to crack Seattle’s Opening Day roster, but he’s a serviceable depth arm to have down in Tacoma and could be in line for additional opportunities in 2026 after right-hander Logan Evans underwent UCL surgery recently. Evans was likely Triple-A-bound himself but was sixth on Seattle’s rotation depth chart behind the quintet of Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo, George Kirby, Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller. Right-hander Emerson Hancock is probably the first man up in the event of an injury now, but Díaz joins him, Casey Lawrence and fellow non-roster invitee Dane Dunning in that conversation.

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