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Pirates Sign Tommy Pham

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TODAY: The Pirates officially announced Pham’s deal, and moved right-hander Dauri Moreta to the 60-day injured list in the corresponding move.  Moreta underwent a UCL surgery in March 2024 and will miss at least the first two months of the season rehabbing.

FEBRUARY 6: The Pirates and outfielder Tommy Pham are in agreement on a one-year, $4MM contract, per Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of The Athletic. Alex Stumpf of MLB.com adds, slightly more specifically, that Pham is guaranteed $4.025MM. The Vayner client can earn an additional $250K via incentives. Pittsburgh has a full 40-man roster already and will need to make a corresponding transaction to accommodate their latest signing.

Pham, 37 next month, split the 2024 season between the White Sox, Royals and Cardinals (his second stint with the team that originally drafted him). He’s suited up for nine teams in his 11-year big league career, including seven teams in the past three years alone, as he’s settled into a journeyman role player signing a series of affordable one-year deals that frequently render him a trade chip. The Pirates make an even ten teams as Pham heads into his 12th big league season.

Pham hit well for the White Sox last season, slashing .266/.330/.380 in 297 plate appearances before heading to the Cards as part of the three-team Tommy Edman/Erick Fedde/Michael Kopech swap between the Sox, Cardinals and Dodgers. His return to St. Louis sparked an immediate feel-good moment, as Pham belted a pinch-hit grand slam in his first plate appearance wearing Cardinal red since 2018. He followed that up with three multi-hit performances in his next four games and went on to pop his second Cardinals homer just a few days later. Through eight games back with his original club, he posted a Herculean .379/.400/.759 slash and looked to be just the jolt the lineup had needed.

The good vibes didn’t last, however. Pham fell into a deep slump that saw him go 3-for-39 as the Cardinals faded from contention. He was placed on waivers in late August and claimed by the Royals, who plugged Pham in frequently as they pushed toward their eventual postseason berth. He didn’t hit well in Kansas City overall but had a few big hits, including a three-run homer against the division-leading Guardians that proved to be a game winner. Overall, he finished out the season at .248/.305/.368 in 478 plate appearances.

Over the past four seasons, Pham has produced offense almost exactly in line with the league average. He’s a .242/.322/.391 hitter (98 wRC+) with 57 home runs, 94 doubles, nine triples, 51 steals, a 10.1% walk rate and a 23.7% strikeout rate in that stretch. He’s been a bit better against lefties (.238/.328/.413) than righties (.243/.319/.383) but has generally held his own in the batter’s box regardless of opponents’ handedness. He did see a notable dip in batted-ball quality (albeit with still-strong marks in exit velocity and hard-hit rate) as well as a notable dip in walk rate (down to 7.3%).

Results-wise, Pham’s 2024 output doesn’t look all that different from former Pirate Connor Joe, whom the Bucs non-tendered earlier this winter. He’d been projected for a $3.2MM salary. Like Pham, Joe is a righty-hitting corner bat who’s provided almost exactly average offense in recent years. He’s slashed .238/.330/.396 in 888 plate appearances from 2023-24. Pham provides more speed and a more natural outfield glove (Joe split his time between first base and the outfield corners.) Pham does have far better quality of contact, so perhaps that made the Pirates a bit more bullish on his outlook than the comparably priced Joe, but it’s nonetheless quite arguable that this is a lateral move.

With the Bucs, Pham can be expected to play frequently in a corner, perhaps forming a de facto platoon with lefty-hitting Joshua Palacios or Jack Suwinski. Both struggled against lefties in 2024, with Suwinski also struggling so much versus righties that he was optioned to Triple-A at multiple points. Given that neither is established as a consistent big league presence, it’s possible that Pham simply emerges as a regular alongside Bryan Reynolds and center fielder Oneil Cruz.

The Pham signing isn’t especially exciting but is emblematic of the Pirates’ free agent approach under owner Bob Nutting, who is staunchly against taking virtually any risk on the open market. The Pirates have never given a free agent more than Francisco Liriano’s three-year, $39MM deal more than a decade ago. Russell Martin’s two-year, $17MM pact (also more than a decade ago) is the largest free agent position-player signing the team has issued.

Under general manager Ben Cherington’s watch, the Pirates have never signed a free agent to a multi-year deal. Aroldis Chapman’s $10.75MM pact last winter is both the largest signing for Cherington and the lone time Nutting has authorize an eight-figure free agent salary in the current front office’s tenure. The Bucs have spent more on extensions for Bryan Reynolds (seven years, $100MM in new money) and Mitch Keller (four years, $71.6MM in new money) but there has been no appetite for any meaningful risk when it comes to open-market spending.

On paper anyhow, the Pirates looked well positioned to dip into a solid crop of free agent first basemen and/or corner outfield bats as they looked to beef up a lineup that generally lacked punch in 2024. They’ve instead brought in a new first baseman via trade (Spencer Horwitz) and signed veteran role players Pham, Adam Frazier and Andrew McCutchen, with short-term deals to match on the pitching side (Tim Mayza, Caleb Ferguson). The Pirates’ hope seems to be that a young rotation anchored by Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Keller can make further strides in 2024, with rebounds and/or breakouts from Horwitz, Cruz, Suwinski, Nick Gonzales and other young bats (Henry Davis, Endy Rodriguez, Billy Cook) can spur a more productive offense.

That’s a big bet to make, when the first full season of Skenes/Jones dovetails with the Cardinals taking a step back and the Brewers seemingly unable to add to their payroll whatsoever this winter. The Pham signing pushes Pittsburgh’s payroll to $83MM, per RosterResource, a few million shy of last year’s $87MM mark. The Pirates haven’t run a $90MM payroll since 2017.

Angels Sign Kenley Jansen

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TODAY: Jansen’s deal with the Angels is now official, as is the club’s deal with Yoan Moncada. Anthony Rendon and Robert Stephenson were transferred to the 60-day injured list to make room on the 40-man roster.

FEBRUARY 11: The Angels are reportedly in agreement with Kenley Jansen on a one-year, $10MM contract. The Wasserman client will step into the closer’s role and give manager Ron Washington an established option in the ninth inning.

The 37-year-old Jansen is coming off yet another fine season of closing, having finished 38 games and tallied 27 saves for the 2024 Red Sox. He notched a 3.29 earned run average, fanned 28.4% of his opponents and posted a 9.2% walk rate in 54 2/3 frames during the second of his two years in Boston.

Those 27 saves pushed him up to 447 in his career, placing him fourth all-time behind Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman and Lee Smith. Jansen isn’t going to run down Rivera (652) and Hoffman (601), but he’s 31 saves behind Smith’s 478 — a number that seems plenty attainable, perhaps even this year. Craig Kimbrel and his 440 saves aren’t far behind, but after last season’s struggles, it’s an open question whether Kimbrel will find his way back to regular closing work this year. Jansen, meanwhile, seems like a lock to serve as the Angels’ primary closer. He reportedly drew interest from other clubs with set ninth-inning options, including the Mets, but preferred to sign in a spot that afforded him more save opportunities.

Jansen isn’t the near-automatic ninth-inning powerhouse he was earlier in his career with the Dodgers, but he’s still sporting a 3.42 ERA over the past three seasons and has never turned in a single-season ERA worse than the 3.71 he logged during 2019’s juiced-ball campaign.

The 92.2 mph Jansen averaged on his cutter last year is right in line with his average mark from 2018-23, when he posted a combined 3.45 ERA and fanned just over 30% of his opponents. He allowed a career-high level of contact within the strike zone, but his 82.6% rate in that regard was still nearly three percentage points better than average — and Jansen still induced whiffs on pitches off the plate at a strong rate.

Even though Jansen isn’t an elite reliever anymore, he’s a very good one who should help to deepen a Halos bullpen that lacked experience. Lefties Brock Burke, Jose Quijada and Jose Suarez all have four-plus years of MLB service. No other Angels reliever had even two years of service, prior to today’s agreement with Jansen.

Flamethrowing righty Ben Joyce, MLB’s hardest-throwing pitcher, had been slated for closing duties with the Angels. He’ll now drop down to a setup role that allows him to gain some more experience while giving Washington the flexibility to use his most dynamic arm in the highest-leverage situations a game presents (without feeling tempted to “save” him for the ninth inning). Joyce, a 2022 third-rounder, averaged a comical 102.1 mph on his four-seamer last year and has run the pitch up to 105 mph at times.

As a rookie in 2023, Joyce walked nearly 19% of his opponents in a small sample of 10 innings. He made significant gains in 2024, pitching 34 2/3 big league innings with a 2.08 ERA, 23.2% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate. Joyce piled up grounders at a massive 58.9% clip and tallied four saves and eight holds. His 13.7% swinging-strike rate and unmatched velocity suggest there are more strikeouts in the tank as he continues to develop.

Jansen, Joyce and that previously mentioned trio of lefties will now anchor the Angel bullpen. Ryan Zeferjahn put himself in good position to win a spot this spring with a terrific 17-inning debut in 2024, but he’ll need to solidify that job during camp.

There’s a good chance the Angels will continue shopping in the relief market. They’ve reportedly been on the hunt for multiple bullpen arms, so they still feel there’s at least one spot that could yet be filled. It’s unlikely that any subsequent additions will be on the same eight-figure scale as Jansen, unless the Angels opt to double down on high-end, late-30s relievers and make a push for David Robertson. Regardless, general manager Perry Minasian should have the budget available to pursue just about any bullpen help he likes.

As things stand, the Angels project for a payroll just north of $202MM with roughly $220MM of luxury obligations, per RosterResource. That leaves them more than $10MM shy of the franchise record for Opening Day cash payroll and about $21MM shy of the $241MM luxury tax threshold.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that the Angels were signing Jansen. The Post’s Joel Sherman had the one-year, $10MM guarantee.

Twins Sign Ty France

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TODAY: The Twins officially announced France’s deal.

FEBRUARY 11: The Twins are in agreement with infielder Ty France on a one-year contract, pending a physical. It’s a non-guaranteed major league deal that places the Equity Baseball client on the 40-man roster and reportedly pays him at a $1MM rate if he breaks camp with the team. France will fill the roster spot that was recently vacated when Minnesota placed lefty Brent Headrick on waivers and lost him to the Yankees.

France, 30, was an All-Star with the Mariners in 2022 but has seen his production dip over the past two seasons. From 2020-22, the former Padres farmhand mashed at a .285/.355/.443 clip despite playing his home games in perhaps the most pitcher-friendly setting in MLB: Seattle’s T-Mobile Park. Weighting for that disadvantage, wRC+ pegged him at 29% better than average with the bat.

The 2023 season brought about a downturn, but France was still slightly better than average in the box, batting .250/.337/.366. He declined further in 2024, however, hitting just .234/.305/.365. That came despite a midsummer DFA from the Mariners and subsequent landing with the Reds, who play in one of MLB’s top hitters’ parks. It was only 195 plate appearances, but the change in venue didn’t bring about a return to form for France, who’ll now look to bounce back with the Twins.

At his best, France has shown 20-homer pop with plenty of doubles and good bat-to-ball skills. Last year’s decline was in part due to a 21.6% strikeout rate, but from 2021-23, France kept that number down to 16.4%. He doesn’t walk much (career 6.5%), but his contact skills and line-drive approach have typically propped up his batting average and led to solid on-base marks.

Defensively, France has experience at first base, second base and third base, though he’s not a strong option at any of the three spots. From 2021-22, he looked to be improving considerably at first base, drawing positive marks from Defensive Runs Saved, Ultimate Zone Rating and Outs Above Average alike. Those grades slipped in 2023, and defensive metrics panned him as one of the worst defenders in the sport this past season.

Notably, France did miss time with a fractured heel; it stands to reason that could’ve hobbled him at the time of the injury in June and lingered throughout the season. At the time of the injury, France was hitting .251/.329/.403 (117 wRC+). His strikeout rate was up, but the results were still strong overall. Upon reinstatement from the IL just 11 days later, France fell into a deep swoon and batted .220/.285/.336 in a sample of 298 plate appearances.

Adding some right-handed depth to the lineup has been a priority for the Twins this winter. They recently brought in Harrison Bader to both back up Byron Buxton in center field and to serve as a platoon option with lefty-swinging corner outfielders Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner. France adds a second right-handed bat, one who’ll either supplant Jose Miranda as the favorite for reps at first base or perhaps just slot into a multi-player rotation between the infield corners and designated hitter.

Carlos Correa will be the Twins’ primary shortstop, but the rest of the infield is fluid. Royce Lewis is in line for regular time at third base, but the Twins have at least worked him out at second base as well. That’s in part because top prospect Brooks Lee — a natural shortstop — is seen as a better defender than Lewis at the hot corner. The presence of Lewis and Lee has pushed Miranda from third base to first base. The Twins also have second baseman/first baseman Edouard Julien in the mix, though the former top-100 prospect is looking to rebound from a down year at the plate in 2024. Utilityman Willi Castro can play virtually any spot on the diamond. The additions of France and Bader will likely push former top prospect Austin Martin from a bench role to a regular job in Triple-A.

Adding France into the mix only gives the Twins more options and safeguards against potential injury. Speculatively, that depth could also come into play in preparation for a late-offseason trade, though president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said recently that after focusing heavily on the trade market throughout the winter, the Twins saw more paths to upgrade in free agency. That didn’t appear to be in the cards for much of the winter, as the Twins have been up against a serious payroll crunch with the team up for sale, but it seems ownership recently gave the green light to upping the 2025 budget on a series of short-term deals. The Twins have added France, Bader ($6.25MM) and Danny Coulombe ($3MM) in the past week alone.

Phil Miller of the Star Tribune was first on the signing.

Giants To Get LaMonte Wade, Marco Luciano More Time In Outfield

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LaMonte Wade Jr. has been the Giants’ primary first baseman in each of the past two seasons, leading the team in innings at the position. Wade’s 1631 innings at first base since 2023 more than double the 801 innings from Wilmer Flores, who’s been at first most days when Wade is out of the lineup or on the injured list. Together, Wade and Flores have accounted for nearly 85% of the team’s innings at first base.

The Giants could change that arrangement a bit this year. While Wade will still surely see plenty of time at first base, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Wade focused heavily on running and conditioning this offseason, because the Giants could use him in the outfield more frequently than in recent years. Wade isn’t the only Giant potentially moving from the infield dirt to the outfield grass. Justice de los Santos of the San Jose Mercury News writes that former top shortstop prospect Marco Luciano is headed to camp strictly as a corner outfielder.

When the Giants originally acquired Wade from the Twins, Brandon Belt was entrenched at first base in San Francisco. That led to considerable outfield time for Wade, who played 824 innings on the grass in 2021-22. Since Belt’s departure, he’s played just 154 innings in the outfield.

Moving Wade to the outfield more frequently could create some extra rest for Jung Hoo Lee as he returns from shoulder surgery or perhaps give young Heliot Ramos a day off against tough right-handed pitchers; Ramos hit .370/.439/.750 against lefties last year but just .240/.286/.387 versus fellow right-handers. Wade batted .253/.374/.377 against righties and is a career .251/.359/.431 hitter in those situations.

However, the larger motivation for getting Wade some renewed comfort in the outfield is surely the looming presence of top prospect Bryce Eldridge. The 2023 No. 16 overall draft pick is on a fast track through the Giants’ minor league system and may not be far from MLB readiness — despite only having turned 20 back in October. The towering 6’7″ Eldridge blitzed through four minor league levels in 2024, spending the bulk of his time in High-A, where he posted a comical .335/.442/.618 batting line in 215 plate appearances. Overall, he tallied 519 turns at the plate across his four minor league stops and batted .289/.372/.513 with 23 home runs, an 11.4% walk rate and a 25.3% strikeout rate.

Despite being limited to first base, Eldridge ranks 12th among all prospects on Baseball America’s top-100 ranking for the upcoming season. With just 17 games above A-ball under his belt, Eldridge doesn’t seem likely to make the jump right to the majors, though he’s a non-roster invitee in major league camp, so it’s at least possible he could mash his way into consideration.

With regard to Luciano’s move, the impetus is even more straightforward. The Giants signed Willy Adames to a club-record contract this offseason, guaranteeing him $182MM over seven years. With Matt Chapman also signed long term at third base and Tyler Fitzgerald lined up to handle second base after his 2024 breakout, there’s no real room in the infield for Luciano.

Of course, he’ll need to prove with his performance that he’s deserving of a big league spot at any position. The 23-year-old has batted just .217/.286/.304 in 126 major league plate appearances to this point in his career. He hit .250/.380/.380 in his second run at Triple-A last year but did so with an ugly 26.8% strikeout rate. That’s an improvement from the prior season’s 31.3% mark, but it’s still concerning to see so many punchouts in the upper minors.

Luciano candidly told de los Santos and other reporters that he felt “totally lost” at the plate in 2024. He’s spent the offseason working to identify and correct bad habits in his swing. Luciano conceded that he’s “a little bit uncomfortable” with the move to the outfield but took a team-first approach in embracing the position switch. He’s entering his final option year, so while this isn’t necessarily a make-or-break spring for him, he’ll need to show both strides at the plate and prove himself capable of handling the outfield in some capacity if he’s to carve out a long-term spot with the club.

Dodgers Sign Michael Chavis To Minor League Deal

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The Dodgers have signed infielder Michael Chavis to a minor league contract, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The CAA client is in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Chavis, 29, was a first-round pick by the Red Sox in 2014 and once ranked among the better prospects in Boston’s system. He belted 18 homers as a rookie in 2019, batting .254/.322/.444 in 382 plate appearances that season. However, he also fanned in 33.2% of his plate appearances and, like all hitters, benefited from the juiced ball MLB used during that season, when leaguewide home run records were broken all around the sport. Chavis has struggled considerably since that debut campaign, combining for 804 plate appearances with a .231/.265/.382 output.

Chavis spent the 2024 season in Triple-A between the White Sox and Mariners organizations, hitting much better with the latter (.290/.366/.485, 191 plate appearances) than with the former (.234/.308/.414, 266 plate appearances). He hasn’t appeared in the majors since a 2023 run with the Nationals, where he struggled in a part-time role.

Defensively, Chavis has played all four corner positions and second base, drawing decent or better marks from Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average at first base and second base. He’ll give the Dodgers some right-handed power who can back up multiple positions around the diamond and be stashed in Triple-A, assuming he doesn’t break camp with the club.

Cubs, Dixon Machado Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs are bringing infielder Dixon Machado back on a minor league contract, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. It’ll be the Octagon client’s third stint with the organization. He also played for the Cubs in both 2019 and 2022, spending the interim two seasons in the Korea Baseball Organization.

Machado, 32, spent the 2023-24 seasons in the Astros system but wasn’t called to the majors with Houston. He slashed .230/.369/.356 in 293 Triple-A plate appearances in 2023 and hit .228/.335/.305 in 202 minor league plate appearances last year.

Though Machado has twice been a part of the Cubs organization previously, he’s never played in a big league game for them. His most recent MLB work came with the 2022 Giants, and the rest of his MLB tenure has been spent in a Tigers uniform. The Venezuelan-born shortstop has played in 177 major league games and batted .226/.285/.292 in 522 turns at the plate. Though he’s never provided much value with the bat, he does have good contact skills, evidenced by an 18.4% strikeout rate in the majors and just a 14.4% rate in the minors last year.

Machado is a versatile defender who’s typically been capable of playing quality defense at any of shortstop, second base or third base. Since signing out of Venezuela as a teenager, he’s played more than 12,000 professional innings at shortstop (majors, minors and KBO combined). He’s also logged close to 1300 innings at second base and more than 300 at third.

The Cubs’ infield in 2025 figures to include Michael Busch at first base, Nico Hoerner at second, Dansby Swanson at short and top prospect Matt Shaw at third base. Veteran Jon Berti was signed to a big league deal to take a utility role. Rule 5 pick Gage Workman and out-of-options former top prospect Vidal Brujan are both on the 40-man roster, but neither is any kind of lock to make the team. Non-roster options for backup jobs in the infield include Nicky Lopez (who signed a minor league deal) and James Triantos, another top prospect in a loaded Cubs farm system.

Astros Notes: Altuve, Framber, Roster Moves

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The door for an Alex Bregman reunion in Houston closed this week when the former No. 2 overall pick agreed to an opt-out laden three-year deal in Boston. However, the notion of Jose Altuve playing some left field — a concept first floated when the Astros reengaged with Bregman late in the offseason — remains in play even with Bregman headed to the Red Sox. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that even without Bregman, there are plans for Altuve to get some work in left field in at least a part-time capacity.

At this point, it’s not exactly a surprising development. Even as the Astros signaled that a reunion with Bregman was a longshot last week, both general manager Dana Brown and manager Joe Espada spoke on record with the team’s beat about the possibility of Altuve getting some work in left field this year. Espada said on Feb. 4 that Altuve had been working out in the outfield for several weeks, and that while he’s still taking his usual reps at second base, the left field experiment is something the team is indeed considering. Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle and Chandler Rome of The Athletic both touched on the possibility during spring previews for the team earlier this week.

The reasoning behind the concept is fairly straightforward. After years of rating as a high quality defender at second base, including a Gold Glove win in 2015, Altuve has seen his defensive grades plummet in recent seasons. Defensive Runs Saved has pegged him at -13 or worse in each of the past three seasons. Statcast’s Outs Above Average isn’t nearly so bearish on that three-year period but does agree that Altuve has been a negative since 2023, including a grisly -8 mark in 2024.

Altuve’s decline with the glove is particularly problematic when the Astros send Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown to the mound. Valdez’s 60.6% ground-ball rate was the highest in MLB among all qualified starters. Brown isn’t quite so pronounced, but once he incorporated a sinker into his repertoire in mid-May, he posted a 50% grounder rate the rest of the way. Speculatively speaking, if the Astros want to get Altuve some occasional work in the outfield, doing so on days when Brown and especially Valdez take the bump would be prudent. That’s made all the more true by the presence of Mauricio Dubon on the bench. The Astros’ utilityman is a quality defender at multiple spots, but none more so than second base; in 1154 innings there, he’s been credited with 12 DRS and 8 OAA.

Espada said last week that the Astros are aiming to significantly reduce Yordan Alvarez’s time in the outfield after he played 53 games in left last season. Moving Altuve there on a part-time basis could be one way to achieve that goal. If Altuve looks comfortable enough there, it’ll presumably remain an option beyond the current season. He’s entering the first season of a five-year, $125MM extension inked just over one year ago. He’ll earn $30MM each year from 2025-27 before taking home $10MM in both 2028 and 2029. (The contract also contained a $15MM signing bonus.)

That’s one of just two extensions the Astros have worked out since Dana Brown was named the team’s general manager two years ago. Brown has spoken frequently about his desire to get long-term deals with core players hammered out, but Altuve and Cristian Javier are the only two thus far to put pen to paper.

Time will tell whether this spring might bring some additional long-term arrangements, but for the second straight season the ’Stros find themselves with a key player on the cusp of reaching the market. Valdez, set to earn $18MM in 2025, will be a free agent at season’s end. To this point, the left-hander says the team has not yet approached him about signing a long-term deal (link via Kawahara). The 31-year-old southpaw said he’s open to discussing a long-term deal to keep him in Houston but is also ready to take on free agency if the Astros don’t make an overture or if the two sides can’t come to a deal.

Valdez will hit free agency ahead of his age-32 season, which is a year or two later than most top starters. That might cap his earning power to an extent. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Zack Greinke is the only free agent pitcher in the past decade to land a deal of six or more years beginning in his age-32 season. Blake Snell and Jacob deGrom are the only others to secure guarantees of at least five years. A big enough season could put Valdez in line for five years, but even if he’s capped at four, he’d still have a real chance at a $100MM+ contract; there have been ten pitchers in that same time/age bracket who’ve commanded annual salaries of $25MM or more.

Over the past four seasons, Valdez has emerged as a bona fide top-end starter. He’s pitched 710 1/3 innings in that time, logging a combined 3.08 ERA with a 23.6% strikeout rate, 8.1% walk rate and enormous 62.4% ground-ball rate. Since 2022, Valdez ranks fifth in the majors in innings pitched despite having fewer starts made than any other pitcher in the top 10. That’s a testament to his ability to work deep into games. He’s averaged better than 6 1/3 innings per appearance in those three years — a rare feat in today’s era of avoiding three trips through the order and prioritizing impactful bullpen arms.

At this point, an extension (or multiple extensions) might be all that’s left in terms of major additions. Asked this week about the potential for further additions to the roster, Brown noted that he’s always looking for more pitching but downplayed the possibility of anything coming together (link via Kawahara). “…Right now, our roster’s pretty good,” Brown added. “I think we’re pretty much in shape to be in position to win this division.”

Phillies Sign Oscar Mercado To Minor League Deal

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The Phillies announced Friday that they’ve signed outfielder Oscar Mercado to a minor league contract and invited him to big league camp this spring. He’s represented by Excel Sports Management. Philadelphia also confirmed its signing of infielder Christian Arroyo to a minor league deal and invitation to camp, as MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes reported yesterday.

The 30-year-old Mercado will give the Phillies a right-handed bat to join their outfield competition. He’s a veteran of five big league seasons who most recently appeared with the Cardinals in 2023, when he hit .290/.313/.387 in 20 games.

A 2013 second-round pick by the Cards, Mercado had a big rookie showing with Cleveland (who picked him up via trade) back in 2019, slashing .269/.318/.443 with 15 homers and 15 steals in 482 plate appearances. He’s yet to replicate that production in the majors but brings some speed and good bat-to-ball skills (career 19% strikeout rate) to the Phillies’ non-roster group this spring. In 973 major league plate appearances, Mercado is a .237/.289/.388 hitter. He can play all three outfield spots and has plus grades in center (10 Defensive Runs Saved, 7 Outs Above Average) in 951 big league innings there.

Mercado split the 2024 season between the Triple-A clubs for the Padres and Tigers, batting a combined .222/.308/.415 with a dozen homers and a 16-for-20 showing in stolen base attempts. He’s played in parts of six Triple-A seasons and tallied 1787 plate appearances there, with a .266/.347/.434 slash to show for his efforts.

The Phillies’ outfield right now includes Max Kepler, Brandon Marsh, Nick Castellanos, Johan Rojas and, to a lesser extent, utilityman Weston Wilson. The general expectation has been that Kepler and Castellanos would handle the corners, with Marsh and Rojas forming a platoon in center. Mercado creates some competition for Rojas in that regard. He’s a career .254/.309/.406 hitter against lefties, whereas Rojas carries a .258/.285/.340 output versus southpaws. Kepler has rough-looking career marks against lefties as well, though his production in recent years suggests he’s made considerable strides against southpaws; since 2022, he’s posted a roughly average .254/.319/.396 line against lefties (102 wRC+).

Latest On Yankees, Marcus Stroman

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Feb. 14: Stroman reported to camp this morning. Both he and Boone have spoken with reporters about the right-hander’s arrival (all subsequent video links via SNY). Stroman, notably, when asked about the potential of pitching in the bullpen, decisively stated, “I’m a starter.” Asked whether that was a message to general manager Brian Cashman, Stroman said that was not the case but rather just a statement based on his track record and his offseason work to prepare himself to be available every fifth day.

Both Stroman and Boone pointed out the folly of assuming anything regarding the health of an entire rotation so early in camp, with Boone joking: “First of all, happy Valentine’s Day. It’s February 14. You’re getting way ahead of this. We’re building him up to be a starting pitcher. That’s so far out there. Obviously, we’ll address anything we have to when we get into certain situations, but right now the focus is on getting him ready.”

Boone added that he doesn’t envision the Yankees going to a six-man rotation but wouldn’t rule it out entirely. He noted that the Yankees have 10 to 11 pitchers who are preparing as starting pitchers this spring, adding: “Who knows how many of them you’re going to have to use right away?”

Feb. 13: The Yankees’ signing of Max Fried pushed Marcus Stroman out of the team’s rotation, effectively bumping him down to seventh starter. Even after sending Nestor Cortes to Milwaukee in the trade that netted closer Devin Williams, Stroman was sixth on the team’s depth chart. The Yankees have spent much of the offseason looking for a trade partner, but to no avail. Stroman is not only owed $18.5MM this coming season but would unlock an $18.5MM player option for the 2026 season if he pitches 140 innings in 2025.

The ongoing trade saga has created plenty of chatter about Stroman already this winter, but the opening of spring camps creates a bit more intrigue. Stroman hasn’t been with the team for the past two days of workouts. SNY’s Andy Martino reports that the 33-year-old did take his physical for the club already. Stroman isn’t holding out, per Martino, but rather is taking a few extra days, which is permissible under the collective bargaining agreement.

Manager Aaron Boone downplayed the issue, stating that he and Stroman had a “very good” conversation and that the right-hander is in a good spot (video links via SNY). Stroman isn’t missing any mandatory dates; even though pitchers and catchers technically began reporting this week, the CBA stipulates that Feb. 22 is the mandatory report date. Workouts and practices thus far have technically been optional/voluntary. Boone was asked today if Stroman’s absence from camp was in any way disappointing.

“Obviously I want all of our players here, clearly,” said Boone. “That said, I’m comfortable with where he’s at physically and mentally. He’s a prideful player. This is a guy that’s had a great career. It’s a little bit of an awkward situation, obviously. So, of course I want him here. I’m trying to keep nudging him to get him here, but again, you also have to respect the fact that this is something that players are allowed to do. There’s a mandatory [report] date.”

It’s possible Yankees general manager Brian Cashman could find a trade partner in the coming days, but it’s likelier that Stroman will simply report to camp and begin progressing through his standard spring schedule. As camp progresses, injuries with the Yankees or with a potential trade partner could change the veteran Stroman’s current situation. Were it not for the ongoing trade efforts and a free agent signing that bumped him from the team’s rotation plans, the optics of him missing an extra couple days early in camp wouldn’t be as notable.

Stroman signed a two-year, $37MM deal in the Bronx last winter. He got out to an excellent start in pinstripes, pitching to a 2.60 ERA through his first dozen starts. He hit a cold spell in June, and while Stroman had a couple more pockets of strong outings, his overall ERA from June 1 onward checked in at 5.70. He finished the season with a 4.31 ERA in 154 2/3 frames. A disproportionate amount of the damage versus Stroman came at home and against left-handed batters. Stroman held righties to a .260/.327/.391 slash and logged a 3.09 earned run average on the road. Lefties torched him for a .296/.372/.474 slash, however, and he was rocked for a 5.31 ERA at Yankee Stadium, where he allowed 15 of his 19 home runs on the season.

Phillies, Christian Arroyo Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Phillies have signed infielder Christian Arroyo to a minor league deal, reports MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes. The O’Connell Sports Management client will head to major league camp as a non-roster invitee.

Arroyo, 29, once ranked among the game’s top-100 prospects but never found his footing as a regular with the Giants, Rays or Red Sox. He’s a career .252/.299/.394 hitter in 992 plate appearances in the big leagues. Those numbers generally mirror the former first-round pick’s results in parts of seven seasons in Triple-A, where he carries a .255/.319/.403 line in 661 turns at the plate. The right-handed-hitting Arroyo has even platoon splits throughout his career.

Defensively, Arroyo has spent the bulk of his time in the majors at second base, but has has experience at all four infield spots and in right field. Defensive Runs Saves pegs him as a strong defender at second base, while Statcast has him around average. In the minors, Arroyo has played more shortstop than second base and also has nearly 1500 innings at third base.

Arroyo played in the majors in each season from 2017-23 but didn’t reach the big leagues in 2024. He spent last season with the Brewers’ Triple-A club, hitting .237/.305/.360 in a disappointing year at the plate. With the Phillies, he’ll compete for a bench spot and likely head to Triple-A Lehigh Valley if he doesn’t win a job. Backup catcher Garrett Stubbs, out-of-options infielder Edmundo Sosa and standout defensive outfielder Johan Rojas seem like they’ll occupy three of the four spots. Weston Wilson, Buddy Kennedy (also out of options) and Kody Clemens are all on the 40-man roster and in the running for the final spot.

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