MLBTR Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good morning! We’ll get going at 1pm CT today, but feel free to ask questions ahead of time, as always.
Sonny in Boston
- Was this a wise move by the Red Sox? Will it help make the playoffs or hurt in taking up too much money?
Steve Adams
- They’re paying Gray $21MM. That’s not much for Boston. I think they overpaid a bit in terms of the talent they gave up but don’t consider it like an egregious, “what are they thinking?!” style of move. In general, I think teams are too reluctant to trade prospects, so it’s kind of nice to see a trade where it actually feels like the buying club gave up a bit too much.
- In general, I think teams are too reluctant to trade prospects, so it’s kind of nice to see a trade where it actually feels like the buying club gave up a bit too much. Boston is better with Gray than without. Hard stop. It helps them in 2026… maybe hurts down the line if Clarke ever develops even below-average command.
Transaction Thinker
- The Sonny Gray article mentioned that it’s been years since a mutual option was exercised by both sides; I was wondering which player/team was involved.
Steve Adams
- Aramis Ramirez and the Brewers in the final season of Ramirez’s career
- The offseason prior, Matt Belisle and the Rockies both picked up their ends of a mutual option
- I’ve been with MLBTR full-time since 2013 (which is insane to think about, jeez) — and those are the only two times a mutual option has been exercised in my entire time here.
Blue Jays, Rodolfo Castro Agree To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays are signing infielder Rodolfo Castro to a minor league contract, reports Ari Alexander of 7News. He’ll be in major league camp next spring as a non-roster invitee.
Still just 26 years old (27 in May), Castro played in parts of three big league seasons from 2021-23, with most of that time coming in Pittsburgh. He hit .233/.299/.427 with 11 homers in 278 plate appearances back in ’22, but he’s an overall .219/.282/.380 hitter in 627 turns at the plate. Castro has walked in 8.1% of his major league plate appearances and gone down on strikes at a 27.9% clip. Prior to the 2025 season, Castro had been a switch-hitter who was considerably better as a right-handed hitter (.264/.331/.528) than as a left-handed hitter (.191/.268/.286).
In 2025, Castro dropped switch-hitting and focused on his right-handed swing, hitting .235/.324/.421 with 19 home runs and 18 steals in 133 games for the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate. He’s a career .236/.320/.434 hitter in parts of five seasons at the Triple-A level. Defensively, he has at least 1899 innings of professional experience at each of third base, shortstop and second base. Castro has posted sub-par grades in the middle infield but notched strong grades in his 315 big league innings at the hot corner. During his prospect days, Baseball America labeled him a serviceable defender at all three positions and profiled him as a future bench piece.
That’ll be the role for which Castro vies next spring. The Blue Jays technically have some infield openings right now, but they’ll attempt to bring Bo Bichette back in free agency and plug him into one of the two middle infield slots alongside Andres Gimenez. Addison Barger could play third base or right field, depending on how the rest of the offseason moves shake out. Ernie Clement is an option at any of second base, shortstop or third base. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., of course, is locked in at first base.
The bench is less certain, though the Jays could bring in some veteran help in that regard as well. For now, Davis Schneider and out-of-options Leo Jimenez are penciled into reserve roles. Bringing Bichette back or making a different infield acquisition could push Clement into a utility role, which would leave only one spot for Schneider, Jimenez and any non-roster invitees (assuming backup catcher Tyler Heineman and backup outfielder Myles Straw continue to hold the other spots).
KBO’s Samsung Lions Re-Sign Lewin Diaz, Ariel Jurado
The Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization announced that they’ve re-signed first baseman Lewin Diaz and right-hander Ariel Jurado to one-year contracts for the 2026 season (link via Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency). Diaz is guaranteed $1.5MM. Jurado is guaranteed $1.6MM. Both players can earn an additional $100K worth of incentives.
It’s a nice birthday present for Diaz, who turned 29 just a few days ago. Once a top prospect within the Twins and Marlins organizations, he wound up bouncing to the Pirates, Orioles, Braves and Nationals organizations before eventually heading overseas. Diaz has appeared in parts of three big league seasons but tallied only 343 plate appearances with a .181/.227/.340 batting line in that time.
Though he never hit in the majors, Diaz carries a solid .258/.340/.479 batting line in parts of three Triple-A seasons. He was very popular on the waiver wire in during the tail end of his run in North America, being claimed off waivers or traded following a DFA five times in the 2022-23 offseason. That’s due in part to his solid Triple-A production and former prospect status, but more so because even amid his MLB struggles at the plate, Diaz remained an elite defensive first baseman. Scouting reports have pegged him as a 70- or even 80-grade defender at the position.
He took that plus glove with him to Daegu, South Korea midway through the 2024 season, and in 2025 Diaz finally unlocked the plus raw power that’s been missing in game settings throughout his pro career in North America. The 6’2″ lefty-swinging slugger absolutely erupted in the KBO, pummeling opposing pitchers with a .314/.381/.644 batting line (165 wRC+) and 50 round-trippers this past season. Diaz walked in 9.6% of his plate appearances and fanned at only a 15.9% rate. His 158 (!!) runs batted in broke the single-season KBO record, and Diaz took home the KBO equivalent of a Gold Glove for his defense at first base.
Diaz will play all of next season at age 29. If he can replicate that mammoth production and continue playing his typical brand of plus-plus defense, a return to the majors in 2027 is possible. Obviously, the KBO is a hitter-friendly setting, but Diaz went above and beyond level of offensive output that most successful MLB-to-KBO transitions enjoy.
As for Jurado, he’ll return for what’s now a fourth season with the KBO and his second with the Lions. The former Rangers top prospect has started 30 games in each of the past three seasons — two with the Kiwoom Heroes and one with the Lions — and pitched to a sterling 2.87 ERA in 571 1/3 innings. He’s fanned a below-average 19.7% of his opponents but also logged a tiny 4.7% walk rate in his three KBO campaigns. Last year’s 197 1/3 innings and 2.60 earned run average were personal bests, and those 197 1/3 frames led all KBO pitchers.
Like Diaz, it’s plausible that Jurado could eventually set his sights on a return to Major League Baseball. He pitched 177 innings with Texas in 2018-19 and four innings with the Mets in 2020, but his short time in the majors was a struggle. In 181 frames, he was tagged for a 5.97 ERA.
Even with those struggles a fourth straight year of this type of production would presumably garner some interest. Jurado isn’t an especially hard thrower and doesn’t miss many bats, so perhaps offers from MLB clubs would be too light to persuade him to uproot himself and move across the globe once again. If he prefers to keep pitching in South Korea, he won’t exactly be hurting for cash. He’s cleared $5MM in earnings overseas with this new contract and won’t even turn 30 until January. He’ll have plenty of opportunity to continue taking home seven-figure salaries in the KBO as long as he continues pitching effectively.
The Best Fits For Kyle Tucker
Each offseason at MLBTR, we take a look at the potential markets for some of the top names in free agency. In 2025-26, there's no better place to start than with the man who held the top spot on our Free Agent Power Rankings all season and again took home the top spot on our annual Top 50 Free Agent rankings: outfielder Kyle Tucker.
Selected by the Astros with the No. 5 overall pick back in 2015, Tucker has been an impact hitter dating back to the 2019 season. He's slashed a combined .276/.361/.514 in that time (141 wRC+) and hasn't had any individual season that's seen him check in "worse" than 21% better than the average hitter. That came in 2019, his first partial season. Since 2021, Tucker has consistently shown enough pop to hit 30-plus homers. He's reached 25 steals three times along the way and continually upped his walk rate while also cutting his strikeout rate -- so much so that Tucker has walked more often than he's fanned over the past two seasons (15.3% to 15.2%).
Some weird, if not downright fluky injuries have hampered his reputation a bit. Tucker was playing at a full-fledged MVP level in 2024 before fouling a ball into his shin in mid-June. The Astros initially called it a contusion and then a bone bruise. Tucker's stay on the IL lingered for months, much to the chagrin of Houston fans who were perplexed by how the stated injury could take so long to mend. Finally, in September, the Astros revealed that Tucker had actually been diagnosed with a fracture somewhere along the way. It was the sort of vague, puzzling and frustrating injury absence that has become a recurring theme within the Astros organization.
A similar sequence played out in 2025, following Tucker's trade to the Cubs. He was a behemoth in the season's first three months, hitting .291/.396/.537 (157 wRC+) with 17 homers in his first 366 trips to the plate. Tucker fell into a deep slump, and after a couple months it was reported that he'd actually suffered a small fracture in his hand back in June. He played through it. Whether that injury was directly responsible or not, Tucker still "struggled" (by his standards) through July and August, batting a combined .232/.363/.345 (109 wRC+). He suffered a calf strain in early September and only made it back for the season's final three games. Tucker homered in the playoffs and generally hit well through 32 plate appearances.
It's not the sort of massive platform year a top free agent would want, but Tucker has been 43% better than average, by measure of wRC+, dating back to 2021. He's historically been an above-average right fielder. Tucker has made four All-Star teams, won two Silver Slugger Awards and also has a Gold Glove to his credit. When he's healthy, there's nothing he doesn't do well. He'll also hit the market ahead of his age-29 season.
A deal easily topping $400MM might've been the expectation had Tucker stayed healthy and maintained the production he posted through late June. The question now is more about whether he can reach the $400MM mark or whether he'll .... "only" ... come in with a deal in the mid-300s.
We know some of the teams that are going to be pursuing Tucker, but let's run through his likeliest landing spots, based on roster composition and payroll outlook, and see if there are any viable dark horse candidates to bring him aboard.
Known/Likely Suitors (listed alphabetically)
Blue Jays: The Blue Jays will probably prioritize retaining Bo Bichette first and foremost, not wanting to let a popular homegrown star escape when they have ample long-term payroll space. Executives, agents and pundits alike all expect an active winter from Toronto after the Jays came just two outs from winning their first World Series in more than three decades, however.
It sounds crazy, but the Jays probably have the payroll space to add both players long-term. Obviously, that's not a likely scenario, but it wouldn't be all that dissimilar from the Rangers' half-billion dollar spending spree four years ago, when Texas signed Corey Seager ($325MM), Marcus Semien ($175MM) and Jon Gray ($56MM) all in the same offseason.
Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription
- Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
- Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
- Remove ads and support our writers.
- Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker
Cardinals Re-Sign Yohel Pozo To Major League Deal
6:57pm: St. Louis officially announced that Pozo has been re-signed on a major league contract. It’s a split deal that pays different rates depending on whether the backstop is on the MLB roster or in Triple-A, according to Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat. This pushes their 40-man roster count to 38.
1:48pm: The Cardinals and catcher Yohel Pozo are in the final stages of agreeing to a new deal for the 2026 season, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Pozo was non-tendered by St. Louis on Friday.
Pozo, 28, logged 67 games with the Cardinals in 2025 and tallied 188 plate appearances — both career-high marks at the MLB level. He hit just .231/.262/.375 in that time, however — well shy of league-average (even relative to other catchers, where offense is lighter than that of the average position). Pozo delivered a handful of clutch pinch-hits, endearing himself to many in the Cardinals fanbase. He’s now a .248/.278/.376 hitter with six home runs in 245 MLB plate appearances.
Pozo hit well with the Cardinals’ top minor league affiliate in Memphis, albeit in a sample of just five games. He’s a career .321/.343/.525 hitter in Triple-A, with a significant portion of his time spent in an extraordinarily hitter-friendly Las Vegas setting (with the Athletics’ Triple-A club). Pozo draws decent grades for his framing and has regularly posted strong caught-stealing rates in the minor leagues.
While Pozo isn’t going to jump to the top of the depth chart anytime soon, he’ll give the Cards some additional depth along with Jimmy Crooks, Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages. Pozo has a full slate of minor league options, so he can be shuttled freely between St. Louis and Memphis without first needing to be exposed to waivers.
Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good afternoon, everyone! Offseason is officially underway and some weird/wildly unexpected things are already happening! (I don't think anyone had "Mets trade Nimmo" on their bingo card, but if you did, kudos to you)
- We'll get going at 2pm CT, but feel free to send in your questions ahead of time!
- Good afternoon! Let's get underway!
Texas two step
- People are posting Texas is in a rebuild, I say no.
Steve Adams
- No, they're not. Brandon Nimmo said publicly today (this'll be on the site soon) that he wouldn't have waived his no-trade clause to go to a rebuilding team. The Rangers expressly told him this isn't a rebuild and that they're aiming for a swift return to postseason play.
Th Big Hurt
- If the White Sox do make one of their catchers available who's a team in need of catching and what would return be?
Steve Adams
- Rays, Nationals, Guardians, Padres, Rangers all come to mind. If they're trading Edgar Quero or (especially) Kyle Teel, the return has to include controllable, MLB-ready starting pitching.I don't think a team is going to give up a ready-made midrotation arm for Quero, given his defensive struggles and the pedestrian output at the plate, though. And it would take a pretty impactful young pitcher for me to really consider parting with Teel.
I'm not surprised we've seen reports on both young catchers drawing trade interest, but I lean toward it being likelier that the ChiSox just hang onto both.
AZ
- I’ve noticed in MLBTR articles that when player acquisition is discussed, the front office executive referenced is sometimes the POBO and sometimes the GM. Does that reflect differing duties within each front office or is it more of a name recognition type reason?
Steve Adams
- We just reference whatever title the team has given him. In most cases, the top decision-maker in a front office now is the president of baseball operations. But some teams still just have "GM" as the top spot (Yankees/Cashman, White Sox/Getz, Pirates/Cherington to name a few)
- Also have the Red Sox, who are the only org where "chief baseball officer" is the top title. The Twins originally gave that title to Derek Falvey as well way back in 2016, but they retitled him the more conventional POBO title in conjunction with one of his recent extensions.
Redlegs
- Andrew Abbott and Chase Petty enuf for Soderstrom?
Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription
- Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
- Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
- Remove ads and support our writers.
- Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker
Yankees, Yerry Rodriguez Agree To Minor League Deal
The Yankees have agreed to a minor league contract with right-handed reliever Yerry Rodriguez, as first indicated on the transaction log at MLB.com. It’s a two-year minor league pact, agent Kelvin Nova tells MLBTR. Rodriguez underwent Tommy John surgery back in spring training, when he was a non-roster invitee with the Pirates. He’s targeting a midseason return to the mound in 2026.
Rodriguez, a hard-throwing 28-year-old, has appeared in parts of three big league seasons between the Rangers and Blue Jays. He’s pitched only 36 1/3 innings in the majors and been tagged for 33 runs in that time (8.17 ERA). He’s been plagued by a bloated .345 average on balls in play, but a penchant for walks and home runs have been larger detriments to his big league work.
Though he hasn’t had much success in limited MLB work, Rodriguez touts a 3.56 ERA in parts of eight minor league seasons. He’s punched out 27.8% of his minor league opponents, including a 28.3% strikeout rate in parts of four Triple-A seasons. Rodriguez has walked nearly 11% of his big league opponents but just 8.8% of opponents in the minors (albeit 12% in Triple-A).
Rodriguez has averaged 96.7 mph on his heater in the big leagues, pairing the pitch with a slider that sits 84 mph and a lesser-used changeup that sits 86.3 mph. Just one-third of the batted balls against Rodriguez in the majors have been grounders, but in a much larger sample of minor league work he’s routinely posted above-average ground-ball rates (47.5% in Triple-A) and strong swinging-strike rates.
Because he’ll still be rehabbing next spring, Rodriguez won’t be in the mix to vie for an Opening Day roster spot. He could be a midseason addition to the bullpen if he avoids any setbacks and pitches well on a rehab stint. If not, he’ll be in big league camp during spring training 2027. Rodriguez is out of minor league options, so if the Yankees add him to the roster at any point, they won’t be able to send him back down without first exposing him to waivers.
Marlins Interested In Michael King
The Marlins are among the teams that have shown interest in free-agent righty Michael King, per Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic. Miami has frequently been linked to prominent bullpen arms in the offseason’s early stages as well, and the Fish are apparently planning to spend more heavily in free agency than in recent years (although that’s a pretty low bar to clear).
Skeptics will presume that the Marlins, like the A’s last offseason, are wary of running into a grievance pertaining to their allocation of revenue-sharing funds. Optimists will look at Miami’s hot finish to the 2025 season and the steps forward from young core pieces like Kyle Stowers, Jakob Marsee and Edward Cabrera as the driving factor behind the ostensible spending push. In reality, some of both are likely to be true.
Rosenthal and Drellich write that the Marlins are believed to be pulling in around $70MM annually in revenue-sharing. Teams that allocate under 150% of the revenue-sharing funds they receive to the roster (in terms of CBT obligations) can draw the union’s ire and fall subject to a grievance. That’s not true in every instance. Miami’s CBT ledger in 2025 came in around $85MM, per RosterResource. The Fish are projected for about $70MM of CBT considerations right now, however.
It seems that falling shy of that 150% threshold in consecutive seasons is what truly triggers the risk of a grievance. The A’s were the only perennial payroll cellar-dweller who seemed to be subject to a potential grievance last offseason. (They responded by signing Luis Severino and Jose Leclerc and extending Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler.) None of the Pirates, Marlins or Rays seemed to face the same pressure.
However, each of Pittsburgh, Miami and Tampa Bay had been well over $100MM in CBT considerations in each of the preceding seasons. The A’s trotted out CBT numbers between $68MM and $84MM from 2022-24 before finally opening the wallet a bit to avoid that potential grievance. Rosenthal and Drellich also suggest that the Marlins may want to avoid any in-fighting with other clubs during the upcoming CBA talks, where luxury tax payors could argue that the Marlins aren’t using their funds properly. Readers are encouraged to check out the piece for full, more granular details on the matter and thoughts from other club officials and agents who weight in when chatting with The Athletic duo.
Regardless of the motivation, the fact that King is on Miami’s radar is notable. He’s a former Marlins draft pick, though that came under prior ownership and a different front office regime, so those ties are minimal at this point. King would step into a rotation that also includes the previously mentioned Cabrera, Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, Braxton Garrett and Ryan Weathers — with prospects Thomas White, Robby Snelling, Dax Fulton and Max Meyer (on the mend from surgery) all factoring in as possible options as well.
King, 30, has been excellent since moving from a swingman role with the Yankees — who acquired him in 2017’s Garrett Cooper swap — into the rotation late in the 2023 season. His 2025 campaign was shortened by a nerve injury in his shoulder and a knee injury late in the season, but King boasts a terrific 2.93 ERA (3.50 FIP, 3.66 SIERA) with a 27.4% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate in 53 starts since moving to a rotation role full-time.
Adding King would give Miami a playoff-caliber starter to pair with arms like Alcantara, Cabrera and Perez. He’d also make it easier for the Fish to entertain offers on young pitching, whether that be Cabrera, Weathers or some of those vaunted prospects (headlined by White). The Marlins could also give stronger consideration to dealing Alcantara if they add a veteran starter, but they’d still be selling somewhat low on him (and trading Alcantara would offset much of the payroll gains they’d obtain by signing King).
The Marlins are on the lookout for meaningful offensive upgrades, but the free agent market is generally thin on impact hitters this offseason. If the Fish instead choose to further deepen an organizational strength, they could use their stock of quality young arms to explore the trade market in search of more meaningful upgrades at the infield corners, designated hitter and/or in right field.
King rejected a $22.025MM qualifying offer from the Padres. The Marlins would pay the lightest of three penalty tiers for signing him, due to their status as a revenue-sharing recipient. Signing King would require Miami to its third-highest pick in the 2026 draft.
Angels Notes: Ward, Rodriguez, Bellinger
The Angels’ trade of outfielder Taylor Ward for right-hander Grayson Rodriguez stands as one of the most notable and most surprising deals of the young offseason. The swap caught Ward himself off guard, as he told Sam Blum of The Athletic, but the outfielder expressed gratitude to the Halos and had nothing but good things to say about his experience with the organization. Ward is a free agent after the season, and he noted to Blum that he’d be open to re-signing in Anaheim if the team shows interest next winter — though obviously a lot can happen between now and then. Said Ward:
“I had a wonderful time being in Anaheim, playing in Anaheim, getting to know the guys and getting to play next to Hall of Fame players too. I’m just very thankful for that time period, and it’s something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”
General manager Perry Minasian said after the trade that he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to add four years of a viable rotation arm in exchange for one year of Ward, even if there’s severe injury risk with Rodriguez, who hasn’t pitched since July 2024. Via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, Minasian called Rodriguez “a gamble worth taking” and noted that when healthy, the former first-round pick and top prospect “can beat anybody on any given night.”
For the 2026 season, Rodriguez will surely be on some form of innings limit. Between that and the general uncertainty behind Yusei Kikuchi and Jose Soriano in the rotation, the Angels remain in the market for further starting pitching upgrades. They’re also known to be on the hunt for help at third base and in center field. Whatever additions are (or aren’t) made in the outfield will impact any chances of the return referenced by Ward. Jorge Soler is a free agent next offseason. Jo Adell is under club control through 2027.
The free agent market is thin on center fielders, but Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the Angels have at least checked in on the top name available: Cody Bellinger. Given the Halos’ need in center, it’s only natural that they’d perform some due diligence. (It’d almost be more noteworthy to hear that they weren’t planning to at least gauge the price on Bellinger.) Heyman notes that a match between the two parties is viewed as a long shot, which shouldn’t come as a great surprise. Bellinger figures to finally command a nine-figure deal in free agency, likely for five or even six years.
While the Angels have the payroll capacity to make that type of addition — Mike Trout is the only player guaranteed anything beyond the 2027 season — it’s an open question as to whether Bellinger can truly be considered an everyday center fielder anymore. He hasn’t played the position on a full-time basis since 2022 and logged only 306 innings there with the Yankees in 2025.
Bellinger’s sprint speed hasn’t really dipped since that time, but Bellinger still has drawn negative grades from Defensive Runs Saved (-4) and Statcast (-1 OAA) in just over 700 innings of center field work across the past two seasons. He’d certainly be better there than Adell was when forced into the position in ’25 (-13 DRS, -8 OAA), but Bellinger will draw significant interest from contenders who are a cleaner fit — the Yankees certainly among them. After playing on teams with clear postseason aspirations throughout his entire career, he may also be skeptical of joining an Angels club that’s a long shot to contend.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
Rangers Non-Tender Adolis Garcia, Jonah Heim
The Rangers announced Friday that they have chosen not to tender 2026 contracts to outfielder Adolis Garcia, catcher Jonah Heim, and relievers Josh Sborz and Jacob Webb. All four were arbitration-eligible for the final time and were set to enter their final year of club control. They will instead immediately become a free agent without needing to pass through waivers. Both Garcia and Heim were being shopped by the Rangers throughout the early stages of the offseason. Clearly, no takers manifested at their arbitration prices. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $12.1MM salary for Garcia and a $6MM salary for Heim. Webb was projected at $2MM and Sborz at $1.1MM.
Garcia’s hold on his roster spot has appeared tenuous for months. While he was a focal point of the offense that helped the Rangers capture their first World Series title in 2023, the slugging right fielder’s bat has cratered over the past two seasons. He’s also become emblematic of the type of undisciplined, boom-or-bust offensive approach that the Rangers have openly voiced a desire to change since the season ended.
Back in 2023, Garcia bashed 39 homers while hitting .245/.328/.508 with plus defense in right field. That alone made him one of the shrewdest DFA pickups in recent memory, but it didn’t set the stage for him to emerge as a core piece like many expected at the time. His 2024 numbers took a major step back (.224/.284/.400), and in 2025 he slashed just .227/.271/.394.
Garcia, 33 in March, still makes thunderous contact when he connects with the ball, averaging 92.1 mph off the bat and logging a stout 46.7% hard-hit rate. However, his chase rate on pitches off the plate has spiked from 29.5% in 2023 to 35.1% in 2025. His overall contact rate in ’25 sat about five percentage points shy of league-average, and his 79.5% contact rate on pitches within the zone is six percentage points shy of average. Swinging through a bit more than one of every five offerings within the strike zone is nothing new for Garcia, but that flaw has been compounded by the manner in which he has increasingly expanded the percentage of pitches at which he’s willing to swing since that peak season.
Heim, who’ll turn 31 next June, broke out with a .258/.317/.438 line (107 wRC+) and career-best 18 home runs back in ’23. For a catcher who already boasted some of the strongest defensive grades in the game, that offensive performance was enough to earn him a spot on the 2023 All-Star team. In 924 plate appearances since, Heim’s bat has evaporated. He’s hitting .217/.269/.334 since Opening Day 2024.
Heim has also gone from an elite pitch framer and thrower behind the dish to more of an average framer and poor thrower. He nabbed 29.3% of thieves in ’23 but has just a 13.7% caught-stealing rate since. His average pop time has crept north of two seconds, and the average velocity on his throws to second base has fallen from 81.1 mph in 2023 (21st among 67 catchers) to 79.5 mph in 2025 (33rd among 63 catchers).
Webb, 32, is a somewhat surprising non-tender. He pitched 66 innings of 3.00 ERA ball and fanned 21.7% of his opponents against a 7.1% walk rate. In 176 1/3 innings between the Rangers and Orioles, dating back to 2023, he’s pitched to a combined 3.22 earned run average with 33 holds and four saves.
Sborz, 31, didn’t pitch this season due to shoulder troubles. The right-hander had a bizarre campaign in 2023, pitching well for much of the season (3.83 ERA through mid-August) before being torched for 13 runs in 7 2/3 frames down the stretch, thereby ballooning his ERA to 5.50. Sborz then bounced all the way back — and then some — in the playoffs, serving as one of then-manager Bruce Bochy’s most trusted relievers. He pitched a dozen innings and allowed only one run (0.75 ERA) on four hits and four walks. He fanned 13.
The following season, Sborz got out to a nice start, logging a 3.86 ERA through 16 1/3 innings before landing on the injured list. He never returned. Sborz wound up undergoing shoulder surgery in the offseason. Originally, the Rangers suggested he’d miss the first two to three months of the 2025 season. Instead, Sborz pitched only 12 minor league innings in 2025, including a 5.79 ERA in 9 1/3 frames of Triple-A work.
Jesse Rogers of ESPN first reported that Garcia was being non-tendered.