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Can The Astros Find Their Left-Handed Bat And Sill Stay Under The Luxury Tax?

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It’s been a whirlwind offseason for the Astros. While Houston isn’t rebuilding by any stretch, it’s fair to call this something of a transitional winter. They’ve traded an MVP-caliber outfielder (Kyle Tucker) to the Cubs and appear likely to part ways with a cornerstone of their World Series teams (Alex Bregman) in free agency. Justin Verlander is in San Francisco. Longtime closer Ryan Pressly followed Tucker to Wrigleyville in a separate trade. With those names out the door (or likely out the door, in Bregman’s case), the ’Stros have brought in Isaac Paredes, Christian Walker, Hayden Wesneski and their new top prospect, Cam Smith.

Owner Jim Crane has maintained that the club has the “wherewithal” to match last year’s spending (i.e. pay the luxury tax) in the right scenario and for the right player. Presumably, with Houston leaving its six-year, $156MM offer to Bregman on the table — even after acquiring Paredes and Walker and even as Bregman seeks lengthier/larger contracts elsewhere — Crane feels a Bregman reunion is such a scenario/player. However, general manager Dana Brown said yesterday that he hasn’t recently talked to agent Scott Boras and used the past tense when talking to the Astros beat about Bregman (video via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). A reunion doesn’t seem likely.

In that same media availability, Brown continued to voice his hope to acquire a left-handed bat — ideally in the outfield:

“We’re trying to get a left-handed bat for the outfield,” said Brown. “Most of the options are slim to none, but we’re still working through it and grinding to get some left-handed at-bats in our outfield.”

Cynics will point out that Houston had one of the best left-handed hitters in all of baseball (Tucker) and traded him to the Cubs — although doing so brought them multiple years of control over their new third baseman (Paredes), their potential fifth starter (Wesneski) and their new top prospect (Smith). Tucker wasn’t likely to sign an extension, and the ’Stros undoubtedly received more long-term value than they’d have garnered with a compensatory draft pick by simply letting Tucker reach free agency. That long-term value comes at the cost of a lesser 2025 roster but could well prove to be the best play in the long run.

Regardless of how one feels about the Tucker trade, he’s gone and won’t factor into this year’s roster. That leaves the Astros with a heavily right-handed lineup. Paredes, Walker, Jeremy Pena, Jose Altuve, Yainer Diaz, Jake Meyers and Chas McCormick all bat from the right side. Yordan Alvarez is the lone left-handed bat assured to be in the lineup.

On top of that general lack of lefties, the Astros also more broadly lack certainty in the outfield. Meyers plays great defense but is a .222/.290/.369 hitter over the past two seasons. McCormick is coming off a career-worst .211/.271/.306 batting line. The other outfield spot, as things stand, projects to be filled by a combination of utilityman Mauricio Dubon and DFA pickup/former top prospect Taylor Trammell. Houston can hope that a combination of Kenedy Corona, Pedro Leon, Jacob Melton, Quincy Hamilton and Cooper Hummel can factor into the outfield puzzle, but no one from that group is close to established in the majors. Leon’s stock is down considerably from when he was Houston’s top prospect. Melton is still well-regarded but didn’t hit all that well in last year’s Triple-A debut.

Even if someone from that group steps up, the Astros arguably need better outfield options. Alvarez played 53 games in left field last year, and manager Joe Espada said this week that the club hopes to reduce that number significantly in 2025, so more time on the grass for the team’s top slugger isn’t the answer. One injury or continued offensive decline for Meyers or McCormick could lead to a disastrous outfield setup.

It all leaves the Astros in a tough spot. They’re about $4.75MM shy of the $241MM luxury tax threshold, per RosterResource, with an owner who seemingly doesn’t want to cross that line for anything other than a Bregman reunion (at the Astros’ price rather than Bregman’s price). There are some free agents who could fit the bill, but would they sign for under $5MM? That’s far less clear.

Let’s run through some potential options.

Free Agents

Jason Heyward: The Astros got a decent run out of Heyward after the Dodgers cut him loose. He appeared in 24 games and hit .218/.283/.473 with four big flies in just 61 plate appearances. Heyward still plays a strong right field, but he’s coming off an overall .211/.288/.412 showing last year. He and McCormick could form a platoon, but Heyward only has 73 plate appearances versus lefties over the past three seasons combined. He shouldn’t face them. Given his age (35), marginal 2024 showing and platoon splits, it seems plausible that the Astros could sign him for something similar to Ramon Laureano’s $4MM in Baltimore and keep themselves under the tax line.

David Peralta: The 37-year-old Peralta hit .267/.335/.415 for the Padres in 2024, with about 90% of his plate appearances coming against right-handed pitching. As with Heyward, he’s a veteran in the twilight of his career who’d require strict platooning. That said, Peralta has consistently hit right-handed pitching, with the 2023 season standing as the lone exception of note in recent years. He bounced back nicely in 2024 after signing minor league deals with the Cubs and Padres. A big league deal with a small enough guarantee to comfortably remain under the luxury tax at least feels plausible.

Eddie Rosario: After four productive years as a regular in Minnesota, Rosario has alternated between league-average offense and bottom-of-the-scale production, in every-other-year fashion, from 2021-24. He posted exact 100 wRC+ marks in ’21 and ’23 but hit .212/.259/.328 (63 wRC+) in 2022 and .175/.215/.316 (45 wRC+) in 2024. A minor league deal with a low base salary seems to be the likely outcome here. The Astros could swing that, but there’s zero guarantee that the 33-year-old Rosario can bounce back from that woeful ’24 showing. Over his past 1517 MLB plate appearances, he’s hitting .231/.278/.396 (82 wRC+).

Alex Verdugo: Still just 28 years old, Verdugo picked a poor time to have a career-worst season. He hit just .233/.291/.356 as the Yankees’ regular left fielder last year, and that came despite a blistering start to the season. From mid-May onward, Verdugo fell into an interminable slump and ranked as one of the game’s least effective hitters. In Verdugo’s final 480 plate appearances, he posted a .221/.270/.330 slash. That’s 31% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+. Verdugo is very likely looking at a one-year deal, but he made $8.7MM last season, so a cut to less than $5MM is probably a hard sell. Plus, most teams with interest in Verdugo are likely willing to include incentives to boost whatever base salary he accepts. For the Astros, such an arrangement might push them north of the tax line again.

Plausible Trade Options

To be clear, this isn’t an exhaustive list of every left-handed bat the Astros could pursue — nor is it necessarily a collection of high-impact, cost-effective prospects. Sure, the Astros would probably love to pry Heston Kjerstad away from the Orioles, but short of offering up a compelling top-of-the-rotation arm like Framber Valdez — which doesn’t at all seem like something Houston is considering/has considered — a prospect of that caliber isn’t likely to be available. Some of these names have, and surely will again, already come up in trade talks, but broadly speaking this is a speculative list of potential fits who’d check some boxes for Houston.

James Outman, Dodgers: Outman was one of the Dodgers’ top-ranked prospects a few years back but hasn’t been able to overcome his penchant for strikeouts. The outfield in L.A. no longer has room for him. Teoscar Hernandez, Tommy Edman and Michael Conforto look likely to start there, and even if Edman shifts to the infield, Andy Pages has leapfrogged Outman on the depth chart.

Outman posted a miserable .147/.256/.265 slash in 156 plate appearances with the Dodgers last season but slashed .248/.353/.437 in 567 turns at the plate the year prior. He hit .279/.390/.543 in Triple-A last year. Outman has a minor league option remaining, so the Dodgers don’t need to be in any rush to trade him. He’s nice depth to have on hand. But he’s also 27 going on 28 (in May), not in the team’s immediate plans, and has fast-rising prospects Josue De Paula and Zyhir Hope climbing the minor league ranks behind him.

Jesus Sanchez, Marlins: After a brief run of trying to compete, the Marlins are back to teardown mode — perhaps even more so than at any point in recent history. They traded 10 big leaguers last year between Opening Day and the deadline, and they’ve shipped out Jesus Luzardo this offseason as well.

Sanchez, earning $4.5MM this year, is one of two players on Miami’s active roster earning more than $2MM. (Ace and likely summer trade chip Sandy Alcantara, at $17MM, is the other.) Since he’d effectively be replacing a league-minimum player, he’d be a net $3.75MM add to the team’s luxury bill, allowing Houston to stay under the tax line. Sanchez has subpar plate discipline and can’t hit lefties. He also has enormous raw power and elite batted-ball metrics. He’s only an average runner but nonetheless swiped 16 bags in 18 tries this past season. Since 2023, the 27-year-old is hitting .252/.319/.431 with 32 homers in 931 plate appearances. He’s a solid, if unremarkable right field defender and is under club control through 2027. With the Marlins in a rebuild, Sanchez could be had for prospects.

LaMonte Wade Jr., Giants: Wade is probably a stretch as a regular outfielder. He ranks among the game’s slowest runners, sitting with seventh percentile sprint speed, per Statcast, and the Giants haven’t played him on the grass even semi-regularly since 2021-22. The Astros have a grounder-heavy rotation, though, and the short left field porch at the newly renamed Daikin Park inherently reduces the amount of ground Houston left fielders need to cover (especially relative to Oracle Park in San Francisco).

Wade excels in two key areas, however. He hits right-handed pitching and, more broadly, he gets on base. Wade has walked in nearly 13% of his career plate appearances. That includes a 14% clip across the past three seasons and a massive 15.5% mark in 2024. He’s a lifetime .251/.359/.431 hitter against righties. Wade is earning $5MM in 2025, his last year before free agency. The Astros can probably shoehorn him into the payroll and narrowly duck under the tax line. He’s lined up to be the Giants’ primary first baseman in 2025, but the Giants have listened on Wade this winter and there are first base alternatives still on the market that San Francisco could pursue if they receive an offer to their liking for Wade.

Jack Suwinski, Pirates: Similar to Outman, Suwinski is a strikeout-prone lefty who had an encouraging 2023 showing (26 homers, .224/.339/.454, 112 wRC+) before tanking in 2024. The Bucs opened 2024 with Suwinski locked into their outfield but optioned him multiple times amid a disastrous .182/.264/.324 performance at the plate. Part of Suwinski’s struggles were BABIP related, as he hit just .225 on balls in play, but poor luck doesn’t tell the whole story. He saw notable drops in his excellent batted-ball metrics from ’23 and saw his ground-ball rate skyrocket from 27.9% to 46.4%. Even with above-average speed, that’s a bad trend for a pull-heavy lefty.

The Bucs still have one unsettled outfield spot, and Suwinski will be in the mix barring a late acquisition. Strikeouts are an issue, but Suwinski walks a lot (career 12.1%), runs well and is a passable, albeit slightly below-average left fielder. He hasn’t reached arbitration yet, so salary isn’t an issue.

Jake Fraley, Reds: There’s no urgency for the Reds to move Fraley, but he’s a moderately priced ($3.125MM) lefty who’s controlled through 2026 and could feasibly net Cincinnati a bullpen option in a trade. Fraley is a career .264/.346/.440 hitter against righties. He runs and throws well but still draws only average (or slightly below) grades for his glovework in right field. The Reds recently added Austin Hays on a one-year deal. They now have Hays, TJ Friedl, Gavin Lux, Spencer Steer and Stuart Fairchild as big league outfield options, with Rece Hinds, Blake Dunn and Will Benson on the 40-man roster and likely Triple-A bound. They could afford to move Fraley for some relief help.

Andrew Benintendi, White Sox: Maybe we’ve reached the point of silliness here. Benintendi is owed $47.5MM over the next three seasons and hasn’t panned out at all since signing a five-year deal with the South Siders. That said, he quietly batted .251/.326/.470 (124 wRC+) with 16 homers over his final 322 plate appearances. Would the White Sox eat a (significant) portion of the contract to move on? Would they take back an underwater contract like Rafael Montero (still with the organization after being outrighted, still owed $11.5MM) or erstwhile top starter Lance McCullers Jr. ($34MM through 2026)? Calling Benintendi any sort of a solution is an extreme stretch, but he finished nicely in 2024, is still only 30 and was a quality all-around performer as recently as 2022.

Longer Shots

There are ample names to consider around the league, but many would require the Astros to part with talent from their current big league roster. The D-backs have received interest in Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas this winter — likely some from the Astros — but both will play big league roles, with McCarthy in particular looking like a starter for a win-now Arizona club. The Cardinals don’t have a great spot for Alec Burleson other than DH but also have no reason to consider moving him unless they’re getting meaningful prospects in return. Atlanta’s signing of Jurickson Profar leaves Jarred Kelenic without an everyday role once Ronald Acuña Jr. returns, but the Braves are probably reluctant to move on after engineering a convoluted series of salary-driven trades to acquire/purchase Kelenic last offseason.

There are countless scenarios to draw up, but the bottom line is that Houston faces an uphill battle in adding a credible left-handed bat to its outfield group if Crane remains intent on staying under the tax threshold for anyone other than Bregman.

Yankees Claim Owen White, Designate Allan Winans

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The Yankees have claimed righty Owen White off waivers from the Reds, per a team announcement. It’s their second waiver claim in the past 20 minutes, as New York also claimed infielder Braden Shewmake from the Royals. The Shewmake claim brought their 40-man roster to capacity, so the Yankees have designated righty Allan Winans (another waiver pickup) for assignment in order to open a roster spot for White.

Like Shewmake, White is a former top pick — No. 55 overall to the Rangers in 2018 — whose original club has moved on. He ranked among the game’s top-100 prospects head into the 2023 season but has seen his stock tumble in the years since. White posted a 4.22 ERA with a middling 17.2% strikeout rate and 11.9% walk rate in 108 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A in 2023. He spent most of the 2024 campaign back in Triple-A and was tagged for a 5.64 ERA in 99 frames with slightly improved strikeout and walk rates.

The 25-year-old White has pitched in the majors, but with exceeding brevity. He’s tossed a total of seven MLB frames and been clobbered for 13 runs in that time. His velocity ticked up a bit when the Rangers moved him to the bullpen last year, but Baseball America noted in this year’s scouting report on him that his stuff had dropped in general relative to the point at which he was drafted. For a pitcher whose pro debut was delayed for about three years due to Tommy John surgery and the canceled 2020 minor league season, a loss in stuff and step backward in development is unfortunate but not necessarily shocking.

Baseball America also notes that after a midseason grip change, White’s slider sharpened; the Yankees could well be betting on some in-season changes that are obscured by his broader struggles. White still has a minor league option remaining, so they can afford to take a gamble on the former top prospect and see if they can unlock some of those gains over a larger sample and convert White into a viable relief option.

Winans, 29, pitched in the majors with the Braves in both 2023 and 2024 but was hit hard. Opponents tagged him for a 7.20 ERA in 40 innings. The Yankees claimed him off waivers about two weeks ago.

Winans sits 90-91 with his four-seamer and 89-90 mph with his sinker, so he’s not the prototypical power arm that today’s front offices covet, but he does have a strong Triple-A track record and a minor league option remaining. In 256 innings of Triple-A work, he carries a 3.26 ERA, 21.8% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate. Between that performance and the remaining option, another club could look at him as a worthwhile depth addition. The Yankees will have five days to trade Winans, after which he’d have to be placed on outright waivers, which last for 48 hours.

Yankees Claim Braden Shewmake

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The Yankees announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed infielder Braden Shewmake off waivers from the Royals. He’ll bring their 40-man roster to capacity, meaning New York will now need to make a roster move once lefty Tim Hill’s deal is finalized. Kansas City designated Shewmake for assignment last week. They’d claimed him off waivers from the White Sox earlier in the season.

The 27-year-old Shewmake spent the 2024 season with the White Sox after being acquired in the trade that sent left-hander Aaron Bummer from Chicago to Atlanta. The former first-round pick has appeared in parts of two big league seasons but has posted a bleak .118/.127/.191 batting line in 71 plate appearances between the Braves and Sox. He hasn’t offered much more offense in the upper minors, where he’s a .240/.299/.395 hitter in 866 Triple-A plate appearances.

Shewmake clearly doesn’t hit much, but he’s regarded as a surehanded infielder with strong defensive tools at multiple positions. He’s spent the bulk of his career at shortstop but has experience at second base and third base as well. Statcast credits him with better-than-average sprint speed and arm strength, though he’s not plus in either regard.

The addition of Shewmake is a depth play for the Yankees and surely not intended to address the hole in their lineup at either second base or third base (depending on where Jazz Chisholm Jr. plays). Shewmake has a minor league option remaining and could provide depth at multiple spots around the diamond if he sticks on the 40-man roster into the season. However, with a move needed to open space for the aforementioned Hill, Shewmake could find himself designated for assignment once again, with the Yankees hoping to pass him through waivers and keep his glove in Triple-A as a non-roster depth piece.

Orioles, Terrin Vavra Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Orioles are bringing infielder/outfielder Terrin Vavra back to the organization on a minor league contract, MLBTR has learned. The NPG Sports client be invited to major league spring training.

Vavra, 27, was a third-round pick out of the University of Minnesota by the Rockies back in 2018 but has spent the bulk of his career in the Orioles organization. The Rox traded the former Golden Gopher to Baltimore alongside Tyler Nevin in 2020’s Mychal Givens trade.

Vavra has played in parts of two big league seasons with the O’s, logging a combined 159 plate appearances with a .254/.331/.304 batting line (87 wRC+) in that time. Vavra was briefly in the Mariners organization last summer after the O’s designated him for assignment and lost him to Seattle on waivers. It was a short stay, as he was cut loose by the M’s after just three games in Tacoma and wound up re-signing to finish out the minor league season back with the Orioles organization. He’ll now land back with the O’s for another stint on another minor league deal.

While he was drafted as a shortstop, Vavra has spent more time at second base in his professional career. He’s logged nearly 500 innings in the outfield in recent seasons as well, spending time at all three positions. Vavra has played in parts of three Triple-A seasons and carries a career .283/.382/.413 batting line at the top minor league level. He doesn’t have one standout tool but has walked in a strong 11.7% of his Triple-A plate appearances against a slightly lower-than-average 21.6% strikeout rate. Statcast credited Vavra with above-average sprint speed as recently as 2023, placing him in the 64th percentile of big leaguers.

Baltimore obviously has a crowded infield that’s headlined with former top prospects. Gunnar Henderson is locked in at shortstop and has developed into an MVP-caliber talent. Jordan Westburg will be back at third base after a breakout 2024 showing. Jackson Holliday has yet to solidify himself in the majors, but the former No. 1 pick and No. 1 overall prospect only turned 21 in December. He’ll get the opportunity to claim the second base job. Ryan Mountcastle is a relative veteran at first base now, and top prospect Coby Mayo would likely get a look in the event of a notable injury at either infield corner. The outfield is arguably even more crowded after offseason signings of Tyler O’Neill, Ramon Laureano and Dylan Carlson added to incumbents Cedric Mullins and Colton Cowser.

Suffice it to say, there’s no real path to an everyday role for Vavra, but his ability to back up at multiple spots and his OBP-driven skill set at the plate could put him into the bench mix. If nothing else, he’s a nice versatile hand to have waiting in the wings down in Triple-A Norfolk.

Marlins Considering Veteran Rotation Additions

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The Marlins have yet to sign a major league free agent to a fully guaranteed deal this offseason. (They signed former Angels farmhand Eric Wagaman to a major league pact, but that’s a non-guaranteed/split contract.) That could change in the near future, however, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that the Fish are considering a late-offseason addition of “a veteran starter or two.”

Miami lost lefty Braxton Garrett to UCL surgery and traded Jesus Luzardo to the Phillies this offseason. They’re not going to rush star prospect Eury Perez back from last April’s Tommy John surgery. Their once-vaunted rotation depth has been gutted by injuries and trades of several young arms.

As things stand, Miami projects to open the year with a rotation headlined by returning former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara (who missed the 2024 season due to Tommy John surgery) and also including lefty Ryan Weathers, righty Edward Cabrera, and former No. 3 overall pick Max Meyer. Among the candidates for the final rotation spot are righties Valente Bellozo and Adam Mazur and southpaw Robby Snelling. Lefty Dax Fulton is also on the 40-man roster and once ranked as one of the system’s best arms, but he missed all of 2024 with the second Tommy John procedure of his young career.

Despite the trade of Luzardo and myriad question marks up and down the pitching staff, the Marlins have yet to make any big league additions and haven’t even been active in adding depth options on non-roster deals. It’s generally been a silent offseason for a Miami club that RosterResource currently projects for a paltry $67MM Opening Day payroll (with just $84MM of CBT obligations).

With a basement-level payroll (even by their standards) and plenty of fringe big leaguers on the current 40-man roster (plus the ability to put Garrett and/or Perez on the 60-day IL when camp opens), Miami has no real roadblocks to signing a starter or taking on a veteran via trade — other than whatever self-imposed spending limitations are in place. There are plenty of options to consider both via trade and free agency.

The Yankees, for instance, are eager to move sixth starter Marcus Stroman and willing to pay down some of his $18MM salary, though Miami might balk at the $18MM vesting player option that’d kick in if Stroman reached 140 innings. The D-backs would welcome trading a portion of Jordan Montgomery’s remaining year and $22.5MM. Ditto the Phillies and the remaining two years and $36MM on Taijuan Walker’s contract or the Cardinals and the $12MM they still owe to Steven Matz.

While the Fish could opportunistically use a Stroman, Montgomery, Matz or Walker trade as a means of effectively purchasing a prospect or two, the likelier and more straightforward path would be to finally venture into free agency. Miami isn’t going to surrender a draft pick to sign Nick Pivetta, but virtually any of the other remaining rotation arms could make sense. Among the yet unsigned names are Andrew Heaney, Kyle Gibson, Patrick Corbin, Cal Quantrill, Jose Quintana, Spencer Turnbull, Ross Stripling, Lance Lynn, Jakob Junis and Alex Wood. There also some post-injury rehab candidates to consider (e.g. Anthony DeSclafani, John Means, Jose Urquidy).

The Marlins are only in their second offseason under president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, but free agency essentially hasn’t been utilized during his tenure. Tim Anderson is the only guaranteed deal given out by Bendix in nearly two full offseasons at the wheel.

Looking For A Match In A Dylan Cease Trade

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For a second straight offseason, Dylan Cease enters spring training as his team’s staff ace … and also as perhaps the most prominent trade candidate in the sport. The Padres, strapped for cash all winter, have made next to no additions to a roster that needs help in left field, at designated hitter and in the final few spots of the rotation. Trading Cease would only exacerbate their rotation need, but he’s the type of arm who could return an immediate fill-in (albeit one with a lower and less established ceiling) in addition to young prospects.

The Padres have entertained offers on the majority of their impending free agents under similar lines of thinking. Cease, Michael King, Luis Arraez and Robert Suarez (opt-out) have all seen their names pop up on the rumor circuit this winter. Cease probably has the most trade value of them all, given his track record, durability, reasonable $13.75MM salary, high-octane arsenal and the potential for an acquiring club to not only add a Game 1 or Game 2 playoff starter to its roster but also to potentially recoup a draft pick in 2026 if/when Cease rejects a qualifying offer in November.

A Cease trade at this juncture would in many ways run parallel to last offseason’s trade of Juan Soto, whom the Padres shipped out for immediate MLB help (King, Kyle Higashioka) and slate of MLB-ready (or close to it) arms: Randy Vasquez, Jhony Brito and top prospect Drew Thorpe. The Padres moved Thorpe before the season even began, using him as the headline prospect to acquire Cease in the first place. Now, they could conceivably trade Cease for a lower-ceiling/less-established rotation arm and some additional pitching depth and/or a young outfielder.

Exact parallels for a Cease swap are hard to come by, though Anthony Franco recently took a look at some general frameworks that the Padres could seek in a piece for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Corbin Burnes, who went from the Brewers to the Orioles in exchange for MLB-ready help in the infield (Joey Ortiz) and on the pitching staff (DL Hall) — plus a competitive balance draft pick — is the clearest comparable in recent memory. Burnes was more consistent but also a bit more expensive ($15.637MM to Cease’s $13.75MM).

It’s feasible to think the Padres could command a big league-ready arm and outfielder to fill two holes on their roster while simultaneously freeing up some cash to backfill some of the innings lost in a Cease trade. Any deal shipping him out will bring back a lesser arm(s), and whatever savings the Padres secure could be used to further address the back of the rotation. San Diego probably isn’t going to give up the picks necessary to sign Nick Pivetta, but the free-agent market still has Andrew Heaney, Kyle Gibson, Cal Quantrill, Spencer Turnbull, Ross Stripling and Alex Wood, among others.

Alternatively, any money saved via trading Cease could be put toward taking on a chunk of a pricey starter’s contract. Marcus Stroman, Jordan Montgomery and Steven Matz are all buy-low candidates but all could probably be had with the current team picking up some of the bill.

Let’s take a look at some of the best fits for Cease based on a variety of factors including team need, payroll availability, luxury tax status and what type of young/inexpensive pitching and outfield help said theoretical trade partners could offer…

Orioles: The Orioles have made several additions to the rotation this winter, but they’re generally lacking ceiling. Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano would’ve been a higher-end pair to sign back in 2019 than in 2025. They could both still provide some average or even slightly better-than-average innings in bulk, but it’d be a surprise if either looked like a clear playoff-caliber starter at season’s end. Baltimore’s current rotation includes that pair, Zach Eflin, Grayson Rodriguez and Dean Kremer. It’s a solid enough quintet on paper, and they could get late-season help from Kyle Bradish and/or Tyler Wells as that pair mends from a UCL surgeries performed last June.

Baltimore hasn’t replaced Burnes, who signed a six-year deal in Arizona, with an arm of comparable quality. Cease would be just that. Between Kremer, Cade Povich, Trevor Rogers and Chayce McDermott, the O’s have a collection of inexpensive arms who could step into the back half of San Diego’s rotation. The prize for the Padres in a trade with Baltimore would probably be the bat acquired. The Orioles aren’t giving up Coby Mayo or Jackson Holliday for one year of a starter, but Heston Kjerstad once again looks like he’s a man without a clear path to playing time. The O’s could’ve penciled him in to replace Anthony Santander, but they instead signed Tyler O’Neill. Kjerstad turns 26 this month, has nearly a year of MLB service and hasn’t been given a full-time look. The O’s have touted outfielders like Enrique Bradfield Jr. and Dylan Beavers on the rise behind him, plus Colton Cowser already in the majors.

Red Sox: Boston hasn’t made the big free-agent splash that many expected, but it’s hard to say that any team that acquired Garrett Crochet hasn’t invested in bolstering the rotation. Crochet joins Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, free agent signee Walker Buehler and (eventually) a returning Lucas Giolito in a deep and talented Red Sox rotation mix. You could argue the Sox don’t need to further augment the group, but Buehler is a rebound candidate and Giolito could be on some kind of set workload. Even if that’s not the case, a September (and hopefully for Craig Breslow & Co., October) rotation scene including Crochet, Cease, Giolito, Houck and Buehler could be overpowering.

Crawford wilted considerably down the stretch, but he has four years of control remaining and is earning just $2.75MM this season. Depth arms like Quinn Priester, Richard Fitts and Cooper Criswell could all hold appeal to the Padres as well. None of that group has reached arbitration. Criswell is controlled for five more years. Priester and Fitts can be controlled for six. The Sox aren’t giving up Jarren Duran or Ceddanne Rafaela for a year of Cease, but would they consider selling high on Wilyer Abreu? They could turn to an outfield stopgap like Randal Grichuk or Mark Canha to give them a right-handed bat while leaving the door open for uber prospect Roman Anthony to seize a regular job sooner than later.

Twins: The Twins’ interest in Cease is a head-scratcher at first glance, if only because Minnesota is in a similar payroll crunch to the Padres. However, as the offseason has gone on, it’s been reported that Minnesota might not actually need to cut payroll and might even have a couple million to spend. The Twins could shed some money in other trades, perhaps shipping out Chris Paddack ($7.5MM), some of Christian Vazquez’s contract (one year, $10MM remaining) and/or utilityman Willi Castro ($6.4MM). A trade with the Padres could also send a bit of money to San Diego, depending on which pitcher(s) and/or outfielders are included.

The Twins have Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Simeon Woods Richardson and Paddack in the rotation at present, with top prospects David Festa and Zebby Matthews already having made their major league debuts. Other arms like Andrew Morris and Travis Adams aren’t terribly far from getting a look. The Athletic’s Dan Hayes recently suggested that the Padres would probably want Ryan or Ober to headline a deal. Ryan seems like a bridge too far for the Twins. Ober is earning $3.35MM this season and has three years of club control remaining. Any of Woods Richardson, Festa and/or Matthews is pre-arbitration. The Twins have young outfielders like Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner to pitch. Larnach is making $2.1MM. Trading one of Larnach or Wallner could open a clearer path for top prospects Emmanuel Rodriguez or Luke Keaschall to step into the big leagues. Keaschall has played more infield, but the Twins’ infield is already quite crowded, so his eventual home could be in the outfield or in a multi-position role.

Braves: With Spencer Strider on the mend from UCL surgery and expected back sometime in May, the Braves don’t necessarily have a glaring rotation need. Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach will create a formidable top four — health permitting. Righties Ian Anderson, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder, AJ Smith-Shawver and Hurston Waldrep are in the mix for starts while Strider is out and give Atlanta ample depth for the fifth spot in the rotation should each of the top four be healthy early in the summer. Drue Hackenberg, a 2023 second-rounder, climbed three minor league levels and posted sharp results across the board in 2024, providing even more depth.

That glut of arms for what ostensibly appears to be one final rotation spot gives Atlanta plenty of options on the trade market. If the Padres want to acquire multiple lower-end but MLB-ready arms in exchange for Cease, the Braves are a potentially prime trade partner. President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos has implied that any rotation addition would need to be a clear upgrade over Anderson and Holmes, who are out of minor league options and thus virtual locks to make the roster. Cease checks that box emphatically. And with Jurickson Profar now in the outfield, Atlanta could at least consider the possibility of including Jarred Kelenic in a deal as well. Kelenic’s value is way down after a middling 2024 season, but he has four seasons of club control remaining and — once Ronald Acuña Jr. is healthy — minimal path to everyday at-bats on a roster with Profar, Acuña and Michael Harris II.

Cubs: As with the Braves, the Cubs have a deep collection of arms competing for what looks to be one rotation spot. Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon and Matthew Boyd are all rotation locks. Candidates for the fifth spot include Javier Assad, Jordan Wicks and Ben Brown — with top prospect Cade Horton on the rise as well. Assad is probably the favorite thanks to a 3.40 ERA through his first 294 big league frames, but below-average command and a subpar strikeout rate lead to less-appealing marks from alternative metrics like FIP (4.49) and SIERA (4.66). The Cubs also signed veteran Colin Rea on a one-year deal, giving them a seasoned No. 5 option or swingman in the bullpen.

On top of the plethora of young arms, the Cubs have two top-100 outfield prospects in Owen Caissie (an original Padres draftee who went to the Cubs in the Yu Darvish trade) and Kevin Alcantara. Both are essentially MLB-ready. Alcantara has already debuted. Chicago has Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker in the outfield with Seiya Suzuki at designated hitter. There’s no path to 2025 playing time for Caissie or Alcantara if the current outfield is healthy. Plus, Happ and Suzuki are signed through 2026 while Crow-Armstrong is controlled all the way through 2030. Dealing from their stock of outfield talent to further cement themselves as the NL Central favorite and add a clear playoff starter makes good sense. The Cubs already made a big one-year bet on Tucker. That ought to embolden them to further push all-in on 2025. At the very least, they could expect 2026 draft compensation for Tucker and Cease, lessening the sting of some of the prospects they surrender.

Mets: President of baseball operations David Stearns doesn’t seem to want to commit long-term to starting pitchers, making Cease a natural target. He’d immediately ascend to the top of the rotation in Queens, giving the Mets the clear Game 1 type of starter they presently lack. Cease, Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea would make a nice top three, with Frankie Montas, Clay Holmes, David Peterson and Paul Blackburn as options to round out the staff … unless, of course, Peterson is one of the names headed back to the Padres in a theoretical trade package. Like Cease and Michael King last year, he has two seasons of club control remaining. He’d give the Friars an experienced arm to take up some of Cease’s innings, and the Mets have plenty of additional names to offer on top of that.

Tylor Megill doesn’t look to have a clear spot on the roster, barring injuries. He looks like more of a depth piece but could add some innings to the San Diego rotation. Top pitching prospect Brandon Sproat is the type of near-MLB arm who could serve as a headliner. The Mets also have appealing young hitters like Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña. All three are infielders, but they’ve all at least tinkered in the outfield as well. All three have the athleticism to handle left field. Mauricio is recovering from an ACL tear and might not be ready for Opening Day, while Acuña struggled in the minors last year and could need more seasoning. Regardless, they could be early-season options, while someone like Baty might be an option to step right into left field if the Padres feel a spring training of work there could ready him for a full-time look in the majors.

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There are, of course, other clubs that have rotation needs and would surely inquire. The Angels seem like an obvious fit but don’t necessarily have the collection of young arms and/or outfielders that the above teams possess. Jo Adell already has three years of MLB service and has yet to establish himself. Taylor Ward is only controlled through 2026 and is making nearly $8MM. The Angels need controllable young arms just as badly as the Padres.

The Blue Jays make some sense, as a team aggressively pursuing 2025 upgrades, but they’ve made those upgrades without sacrificing much in the way of prospects — perhaps in a nod to a potential Plan B if this year’s run at contention doesn’t pan out.

The Rangers, Brewers and Guardians could all make varying degrees of sense, but all three are running up against payroll issues at this point. Texas could try to send Jon Gray and/or Leody Taveras back to San Diego, but they’d need to include significant prospects to offset that pair’s lack of long-term value. The Brewers haven’t signed a free agent to a fully guaranteed deal and seemingly have no money to spend. The Guards haven’t rented a veteran starter like this at any point in recent memory and may be tapped out after re-signing Shane Bieber, Austin Hedges and Carlos Santana and signing Paul Sewald. Perhaps the Tigers could try to package some younger arms (e.g. Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Keider Montero, Ty Madden) and a young hitter like Justyn-Henry Malloy, but their recent addition of Jack Flaherty seems like their final move in the rotation.

Broadly, it’s pretty easy to make a case for Cease on quite a few teams. He’s a Cy Young-caliber arm at his best and is being paid less than the collection of aging veteran arms who signed one-year deals worth $15-16MM this winter (Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Charlie Morton, Alex Cobb). The best fits, at least from our vantage point, appear to reside in Baltimore, Boston, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Chicago (Cubs) and New York (Mets), however.

Orioles Designate Luis Vazquez For Assignment

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The Orioles announced Tuesday that they’ve designated infielder Luis Vazquez for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to newly signed outfielder Ramon Laureano, whose previously reported one-year deal is now official.

Vazquez’s stay on Baltimore’s 40-man roster will last less than a week. Baltimore picked him up from the Cubs, who’d also designated him for assignment, in a cash swap just last week. Emmanuel Rivera, who was designated to clear roster space for Vazquez, hasn’t even seen his own DFA resolved before Vazquez’s spot has been similarly vacated.

A 25-year-old shortstop who made his big league debut with the Cubs this past season, Vazquez has only 14 big league plate appearances and one hit under his belt. However, he slashed .263/.347/.432 in Triple-A last season, marking his second straight year with better-than-average production at the top minor league level. While he’d struggled in a smaller sample over parts of two prior Triple-A campaigns, Vazquez has popped 17 homers, walked at an 11.6% clip and fanned in a roughly average 22.5% of his plate appearances through 543 appearances there in the past two seasons.

Vazquez has long been regarded as a smooth defender at shortstop, one who’s capable of playing second base or third base as well. The recent bump in production in Triple-A has elevated his stock a bit, but not to the extent that either the Cubs or the Orioles are committed to carrying him on the 40-man roster to begin the season. Baseball America labeled him Chicago’s No. 16 prospect just last year. He profiles as a solid defensive utilityman at the very least, and his recent strides at the plate in Triple-A — coupled with a pair of remaining minor league option years — could garner a look from another club via a small trade or a waiver claim.

The Orioles will have five days to trade Vazquez. At that point, they’d need to place him on outright waivers, as waivers are a 48-hour process and there’s a one-week limit within which they have to resolve his DFA. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, Vazquez will head to Triple-A as non-roster depth and presumably be invited to big league camp when spring training opens later this month.

White Sox Claim Jacob Amaya, Designate Zach DeLoach

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The White Sox announced Monday that they’ve (re)claimed infielder Jacob Amaya off waivers from the Orioles. Chicago designated outfielder Zach DeLoach for assignment in a corresponding move.

The ChiSox designated Amaya for assignment less than a month ago and lost him on waivers to Baltimore. The O’s subsequently designated Amaya for assignment themselves not long after and unsuccessfully tried to pass him through waivers. The Sox now effectively get a mulligan on the DFA that cost them Amaya in the first place, and they’ll instead jettison the 26-year-old DeLoach from the 40-man roster.

Amaya, 26, originally landed with the South Siders by way of an August waiver claim. In the past year, he’s gone from the Marlins, to the Astros, to the White Sox, to the Orioles, back to the White Sox via waivers. He played 23 games with the Sox last season but hit just .179/.255/.194 in a small sample. In a total of 81 MLB plate appearances between Miami, Houston and Chicago, Amaya is a .182/.222/.195 hitter. However, he’s touted as a high-end defender at shortstop and also has the ability to handle either second base or third base.

The Dodgers originally selected Amaya in the 11th round of the 2017 draft. He was traded to the Marlins in the Jan. 2023 deal shipping Miguel Rojas from Miami to Los Angeles. Amaya has played in parts of three Triple-A seasons and is a .246/.342/.380 hitter in 1219 plate appearances there. He’s shown a strong eye to go along with his defensive skills, drawing a walk in 12.4% of his plate appearances at the top minor league level.

Amaya is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to break camp with the White Sox or else go through the DFA process yet again. There’s no clear starter at shortstop for Chicago, so Amaya will join a competition including Brooks Baldwin, non-roster invitee Nick Maton and prospects Colson Montgomery and Chase Meidroth. Montgomery is widely regarded as one of the top infield prospects in the game, though he’s coming off a down season at the Triple-A level.

Amaya’s return to the organization comes at the expense of DeLoach, whom the Sox acquired from the Mariners last winter in the trade sending reliever Gregory Santos to Seattle. Righty Prelander Berroa and a competitive balance draft pick also went to the Sox in that swap.

DeLoach’s first and now possibly only season in the White Sox organization didn’t go especially well. On the one hand, he did make his big league debut. On the other, he only posted a .209/.293/.328 batting line in 75 turns at the dish. His Triple-A output (.287/.375/.410) was solid but didn’t include any real gains from a 2023 campaign wherein he batted .286/.378/.481 in Triple-A Tacoma. If anything, the 2024 season was a step backward, as DeLoach fell from a career-high 23 homers in 2023 to a career-low six homers this past season.

As a prospect in the Mariners and White Sox systems, DeLoach was well-regarded not because of any standout individual tool but because he possessed average — or close to it — tools across the board. He’s an above-average runner who swiped 20 bags in 2024 and popped 23 homers in 2023. He walks in well over 10% of his plate appearances but has also fanned in more than a quarter of his plate appearances the past two seasons. DeLoach has experience at all three outfield spots. He can handle center in a pinch but is best suited in left field.

The White Sox have five days to trade DeLoach, and after that they’ll have to put him on waivers (a 48-hour process). He has a pair of minor league option years remaining, so a team looking for some lefty-hitting outfield depth could have interest either on a waiver claim or a small trade.

Rays Designate Osleivis Basabe For Assignment

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The Rays announced Monday that they’ve designated infielder Osleivis Basabe for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to newly acquired righty Alex Faedo, whose previously reported trade from Detroit to Tampa Bay has now been formally announced by the clubs.

Basabe, 24, made his big league debut with Tampa Bay in 2023, which now stands as his lone season with MLB work. He appeared in 31 games and tallied 94 plate appearances, hitting .218/.277/.310 during that span. It certainly wasn’t a great debut effort, but the .296/.351/.426 slash (95 wRC+) Basabe had posted in Triple-A Durham was a good bit more encouraging — particularly for someone whom scouting reports praise as a solid defender at either position on the left side of the infield.

The 2024 campaign, however, saw Basabe take a step back in virtually every meaningful category. Those offensive rate stats plummeted to .248/.293/.336 in Triple-A — a drop that left him about 36% worse than league-average at the plate, by measure of wRC+. His walk rate fell from 7.3% to 4.9% as his strikeout rate climbed from 15.5% to 18%. Basabe averaged 89 mph with a 39.7% hard-hit rate with Durham in 2023 but was only at 86.3 mph and 31.3%, respectively, in 2024.

Though Basabe’s 2024 season was nightmarish, he’s only a year removed from ranking as a top-10 prospect in a strong Rays system. He also has a minor league option remaining, so any team that acquires him would be able to send him to the minors without first needing to pass him through waivers. He’s capable of playing any of shortstop, third base or second base, which should add to his appeal. Basabe hits from the right side but has traditionally had more consistent offensive production in right-on-right matchups than he has versus lefties.

The Rays will have five days to trade Basabe. At that point, he’d need to be placed on waivers, as outright waivers are 48-hour process themselves and the maximum window for a DFA to be resolved is one week.

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