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Rangers Decline Andrew Chafin’s Club Option

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The Rangers announced that they declined their $6.5MM club option on left-hander Andrew Chafin for the 2025 season. Chafin will receive a $500K buyout and enter free agency.

It’ll be the fourth straight offseason on the market for the 34-year-old Chafin, who has signed with the Tigers, D-backs and Tigers over the past three seasons. The first of those was a two-year pact with an opt-out, which he took the following winter. He’s earned salaries of $6.5MM, $6.25MM and $4.75MM along the way in those three respective seasons and will now likely land another short-term pact in free agency.

The 2024 season was a solid one for Chafin, who split the year between Detroit and Texas. He pitched a combined 56 1/3 innings with a 3.51 ERA, 28.5% strikeout rate, 12.6% walk rate and 36% grounder rate. Chafin has lost some life on his fastball in recent seasons and seen his once-strong command dip, but he remains a generally effective reliever against hitters from both sides of the dish. Lefties did post an uncharacteristically strong split against him in 2024 (.273/.363/.375), but that was due largely to an inflated .400 average on balls in play that should come back down to earth.

Over the past four seasons, Chafin has worked to a combined 3.12 ERA, though the manner in which he’s gotten to his generally solid results has changed. He’s adopted a more slider-heavy approach in recent seasons, doing so at the expense of his four-seamer and sinker. That’s led to more missed bats but also more walks and fewer grounders. Each of his pitches has graded out better than average at least once in those four seasons, but his slider has been a consistently plus pitch so it’s no surprise to see him gravitate toward it more strongly — particularly as his four-seam and two-seam fastballs lose a bit of life.

Although the Rangers passed on guaranteeing Chafin $6.5MM from the jump, they’re still likely to be heavily involved in the bullpen market this winter. Chafin is one of four relievers departing, joining David Robertson, Kirby Yates and Jose Leclerc. That quartet accounted for much of the leverage work among Texas relievers. Declining Chafin’s option isn’t so much a sign that they’re not interested in keeping him or adding other bullpen arms; rather, it’s likely that Texas wants to make sure it has as much powder dry for top offseason pursuits, likely headlined by fellow free agent Nathan Eovaldi, whom president of baseball ops Chris Young has already called a “priority” in free agency.

Nathan Eovaldi Opts Out Of Rangers Contract

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Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young told reporters (including Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News) this morning that right-hander Nathan Eovaldi has declined his $20MM player option for the 2025 season, making him a free agent. Young added that the club has “great interest” in reuniting with him this winter.

Eovaldi, 34, just wrapped up his second season in Texas. The veteran right-hander was solid but unspectacular for the Rangers this year as he pitched to a 3.80 ERA (104 ERA+) with a 3.83 FIP in 170 2/3 innings of work. Given that rather uninspiring platform season, Eovaldi’s decision to opt out may register as something of a surprise at first glance. A closer look to the right-hander’s season and overall body of work makes it clear why he would opt out ahead of his age-35 season in hopes of seeking what could be the last multi-year pact of his career, however.

An All-Star for the Rangers just last year, Eovaldi has pitched to a 3.72 ERA (110 ERA+) and a 3.86 FIP during his time with the Rangers. Those results are largely consistent with the numbers he posted during his final three years with the Red Sox, for whom he posted a 3.79 ERA (120 ERA+) with a 3.43 FIP from 2020 to 2022, including a dominant 2021 season where he was named an All-Star and finished fourth in AL Cy Young award voting. Those numbers cast Eovaldi as a solid mid-rotation arm, and his underlying numbers suggest he could continue to be a quality, playoff caliber arm even as he ages.

His fastball velocity (which averaged 95.6 in 2024) remains strong even as he enters his mid-30s, and he maintains that high-octane stuff despite boasting a 5.6% walk rate that stands as the fifth-best in baseball over the past half decade among pitchers with at least 600 innings of work. During his time with the Rangers, he’s tended to be a victim of high home run rates, thanks in part to Globe Life Field being among the most homer-friendly parks in the sport. That reality in conjunction with his solid 7.7% barrel rate with the Rangers helps to explain why advanced metrics like SIERA think so highly of Eovaldi, whose 3.88 figure over the past two seasons mirrors that of top free agent starter Corbin Burnes.

Of course, Eovaldi surely won’t come especially close to matching Burnes or the other top pitchers on the market this winter in terms of guarantee. That’s both because Eovaldi’s overall results (115 ERA+ from 2020-24) have fallen well short of that upper echelon of pitching talent in recent years, and also because he’ll already be 35 years old when pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in February. While it seems reasonable to expect Eovaldi to earn a healthy average annual value, it would be surprising to see him land more than two or three years in free agency. That makes him a particularly interesting free agent as a potentially impactful rotation piece who may be more attractive to teams that tend to hesitate on lengthy contracts, like the Angels, Cubs, and Orioles, in addition to the Rangers’ aforementioned interest in a reunion. Sean Manaea, Nick Pivetta, and Luis Severino are among the other players who figure to occupy the middle tier of the free agent rotation market this winter.

Rangers Promote Ross Fenstermaker To GM

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Nov 4: The Rangers officially announced that Fenstermaker has been promoted to general manager, and that they’ve hired Figueroa as assistant GM. Additionally, the Rangers officially announced the hiring of Justin Viele as hitting coach, a move that was first reported last week.

Nov 2: Rangers President of Baseball Operations Chris Young was recently promoted to that title after signing an extension with the club back in September. That position had been vacant since Young took over baseball operations midway through the 2022 season after the firing of then-president Jon Daniels. Now, it’s the GM role that stands vacant, and Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported this evening that the Rangers may be on the verge of a front office shakeup that could lead to that vacancy being filled.

According to Grant, the club is “zeroed in on” hiring Rays director of baseball operations Cole Figueroa for an assistant GM role. That deal is not yet completed, with Grant saying the hire remains dependent on typical background checks being completed, but if that deal comes together than Grant suggests that the addition could subsequently lead to the Rangers promoting internally to fill the vacant GM role.

Figueroa, 37, was an infielder who briefly played in the majors from 2014 to 2016, collecting 84 plate appearances with the Rays, Yankees, and Pirates during that time. Since his retirement following the 2016 season, Figueroa began working in the Rays organization in baseball operations. He was promoted to assistant director of hitting development in 2018 before taking on his current role with the Rays following the 2021 season. In some ways, Figueroa’s ascent up to front office work is similar to that of Young, who spent 13 years pitching in the majors before moving first to the commissioner’s office and then to the Rangers’ front office as GM.

With Figueroa likely coming on board as an assistant GM, that could make way for a current assistant GM to move up the ladder and become Young’s #2 in the front office. Specifically, Grant suggests that assistant GM and VP of player development and scouting Ross Fenstermaker could be the person tapped for the role. Fenstermaker joined the Rangers as a baseball operations intern in 2010 and made his way up the ladder through the scouting department, serving as a scout and crosschecker for nearly a decade before being promoted to director of pro scouting in 2018 and then promoted once again to senior director of pro and international scouting two years later.

Of course, whether that actually occurs or not remains to be seen, even if the Figueroa hire is completed. Grant notes that the Rangers have left the door open to finding a new GM to give Young a right-hand man but have never committed to doing so, even as front offices around baseball have increasingly began to utilize the GM role as a second-in-command behind the president of baseball operations. Texas isn’t the only club seemingly contemplating the addition of a GM to their front office this winter; the Red Sox could look to promote internally for the role as well, while the Giants recently did the same in hiring Zack Minasian to serve under new president of baseball operations Buster Posey.

12 Players Elect Free Agency

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As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com or MLB.com logs unless otherwise stated.

Infielders

Pitchers

* Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported that Dalbec, Westbrook, and Keller have elected free agency. Francys Romero reported that Barrero has elected free agency.

David Robertson Declines Mutual Option With Rangers

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Veteran right-hander David Robertson is declining his side of the mutual option he holds with the Rangers, as noted by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Robertson forgoes a $7MM salary in 2025 in favor of a $1.5MM buyout and the ability to test free agency.

Robertson, 39, returns to the open market on the heels of another solid season. He served as the top set-up man for closer Kirby Yates in Texas this season, pitching to a strong 3.00 ERA with 2.65 FIP in 72 innings of work. While the veteran will pitch next year at age 40, he’s shown no signs of slowing down with a 33.4% strikeout rate this year that was his best since 2017. While his 9.1% walk rate was somewhat elevated, it’s a couple of ticks below his 2023 mark and well below the mark he posted in 2022, the campaign that helped to revive his career after three mostly lost seasons due to injuries.

That dominance likely made the decision to head to the open market a fairly easy decision for the veteran as it’s hard to imagine him not beating the $5.5MM he left on the table this winter. While he’s likely to be limited to one-year guarantees due to his age, Robertson’s long track record of success in his nearly two decades as a big leaguer, his ample closing experience, and his ability to strike batters out at elite levels should all earn him a lucrative one-year deal in free agency this winter with a club in need of bullpen help. Virtually every team in the league tends to look for bullpen upgrades over the winter, and the short-term guarantee Robertson figures to command should make him of interest to contenders and rebuilding clubs alike, as even a deadline seller could shop Robertson next summer. That’s a situation Robertson is quite familiar with, as he found himself dealt at the trade deadline in both 2022 and ’23 when the Cubs and Mets shipped him off to the Phillies and Marlins, respectively.

For the Rangers, the departure of Robertson highlights the club’s own needs in the bullpen this winter as he joined Yates and Leclerc in heading to free agency. It’s not hard to imagine the club reuniting with one or more of those players at some point this winter, but with the club expected to try and duck under the luxury tax this winter it’s also possible Chris Young’s front office will instead look for cheaper ways to augment their relief mix such as their recent move to claim Roansy Contreras off waivers from the Angels. Robertson, Leclerc, and Yates combined to make more than $20MM in 2024, after all, and clearing that money off the books while adding relievers on lower-cost deals could go a long way towards helping the Rangers avoid the rising penalties associated with spending into tax territory multiple times in a row. They’ll sure need some established help in the bullpen, however, as the club’s bullpen finished bottom-five in the majors overall this year even in spite of standout performances from Robertson and Yates.

Rangers To Hire Justin Viele As Hitting Coach

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The Rangers plan to hire Giants co-hitting coach Justin Viele as their new hitting coach, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic first reported that Viele “appeared headed” to the Rangers even though he had a year remaining on his contract and had been invited back for the 2025 season.

Viele, 34 later this month, will step in for veteran hitting coach Tim Hyers, who was recently hired away by the Braves. He’s been on the Giants’ coaching staff since the 2020 season and spent several years as a college coach and a minor league coach with the Orioles and Dodgers organizations prior to his time in San Francisco. Viele and Rangers bench coach/offensive coordinator Donnie Eckers were both on the Giants’ coaching staff in 2020-21. A former infielder at Santa Clara University, Viele had a brief two-year minor league career after being drafted by the Orioles back in 2013.

There will be other changes coming to the coaching staffs both in Texas and San Francisco. The Rangers recently bid farewell to associate manager Will Venable, who was hired by the White Sox as their new skipper just yesterday. They’ll need to replace him.

Meanwhile, Baggarly added that Giants assistant hitting coach Pedro Guerrero has interviewed for a position with the Marlins, who recently gutted their entire staff. There’s no indication yet that he’ll be hired, but he’s not yet been eliminated from consideration, either. The Giants enlisted three hitting coaches this past season: Viele, Guerrero and former big league slugger Pat Burrell. With Viele departing and Guerrero potentially following, it stands to reason that San Francisco will look to bring in at least one new hitting coach to help shoulder the workload.

Rangers Claim Roansy Contreras

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The Rangers have claimed right-hander Roansy Contreras off outright waivers from the Angels, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The Halos added Contreras, once one of the game’s top pitching prospects, in a cash deal with the Pirates back in May. He’s controllable for another four seasons but is out of minor league options.

Now 24 years old (25 next week), Contreras was the headline prospect the Pirates received in the trade sending Jameson Taillon to the Yankees. At the time of the swap, Contreras was widely regarded among the sport’s 100 best prospects. He showed why with a very solid 2022 season, logging 95 innings of 3.79 ERA ball for the Pirates. His 21.1% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate were both worse than average, but not by a wide measure, and Contreras averaged nearly 96 mph on his heater and was only in his age-22 season at the time. It looked like he was well on his way to locking down a long-term spot in the Pittsburgh rotation.

The 2023 season told a very different story. Contreras was rocked for a 5.91 ERA across his first 11 starts. He lost 1.5 mph off his average fastball and saw his strikeout, walk, home run and ground-ball rates all trend dramatically in the wrong direction. A move to the bullpen didn’t pay dividends. Contreras was shelled for five runs in one-third of an inning in his first relief appearance following his final start of the season. He ultimately yielded 13 runs in 12 big league innings after losing his rotation spot.

Contreras’ 2024 season landed somewhere between his two prior campaigns. He posted a serviceable if unspectacular 4.35 ERA between the Pirates and Angels. His strikeout and walk rates remained worse than average, but he added a two-seamer to his repertoire and bolstered his grounder rate to 44.4% as a result. He still surrendered too much hard contact but did see his average exit velocity and hard-hit rate tick downward a bit from their 2023 levels (particularly following the trade to the Angels).

While Contreras is no lock to make it through the offseason on the Rangers’ 40-man roster — this type of former prospect is often bandied about the league via waivers as clubs spend the offseason months attempting to sneak him through in order to bolster their non-roster depth — he’ll give Texas a back-end rotation option or bullpen option if he indeed stays on the roster until next spring. Pitching injuries and shaky depth proved to be hurdles for the 2024 Rangers as they missed the postseason on the heels of their 2023 World Series win. Adding Contreras (and presumably others in this same mold as the winter wears on) is a first step toward cultivating some additional depth for the 2025 club.

White Sox Hire Will Venable As Manager

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Oct 31: The White Sox officially announced Venable’s hiring this morning, noting that he has agreed to a multiyear contract with the club. As noted by Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, Getz praised his new skipper in a statement alongside the announcement:

“Will is widely recognized as one of the premium managerial candidates within the game, and we are very excited to bring him into our organization as our new manager. He is so well thought of across baseball. Will has built a well-earned and well-deserved reputation as a successful player, front office executive, coach and associate manager. A great communicator, Will is going to build strong relationships, set expectations, build a clubhouse where we hold one another accountable, and ultimately, create a winning mindset among our players and a winning environment in our clubhouse.”

Venable also made a statement as part of the team’s press release:

“This is a great opportunity with a White Sox organization that is putting a lot of good things into place and laying a solid foundation for the future. It’s exciting to be part of that process to help get back to the type of baseball White Sox fans are used to seeing. We want players who show up to work hard every day, but also smart baseball players who understand the nuances of the game. There is a rich tradition here and a fan base that deserves winning baseball, and I am excited to do whatever I can to help.”

Oct 29: The White Sox have reached an agreement to hire Will Venable as manager, reports Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Venable has spent the last two seasons on Bruce Bochy’s staff as the associate manager of the Rangers. Major League Baseball discourages teams from revealing news on days with a playoff game, so the Sox are unlikely to make the hiring official until Thursday.

In any case, it’s a nice birthday present. Venable, who turned 42 on Tuesday, gets his first big league managerial opportunity. That has seemed like an inevitability. Venable has been regarded as a future manager for years. He’s a Princeton graduate who played in parts of nine major league seasons. The majority of his playing experience came in San Diego, where he was a well-rounded outfielder.

Venable finished his playing days in 2017. It didn’t take long for him to move into the next phase of his career. He joined the Cubs’ front office late in the ’17 campaign. Venable moved into coaching the following year, joining Joe Maddon’s staff as first base coach. Teams were considering him for managerial vacancies within a couple seasons. Venable interviewed for the Cubs job after Maddon departed the organization, while he also sat down with the Giants and Astros.

Chicago ultimately tabbed David Ross. Venable stayed on Ross’ staff for the 2020 season and again found himself in managerial searches. He interviewed with the Tigers and Red Sox, and while neither team hired as manager, Boston added him as bench coach not long after rehiring Alex Cora.

Venable spent two seasons in Boston. While the Red Sox hoped to bring him back for 2023, he departed to take on the associate manager role in Arlington. It proved to be a wise choice, as Venable collected a World Series ring during his first year. He pulled himself out of consideration for managerial openings last offseason, formally declining an interview with the Mets and bypassing a chance to pursue the Guardians opening.

Between his standing as the #2 coach in Texas and his decision not to proceed through the interview process last winter, Venable seemed like the manager-in-waiting in Arlington. Bochy will be back for at least a third season and hasn’t publicly tipped his hand on retirement plans. It’s not clear whether the circumstances in Texas have changed. Venable may simply have felt that he needed another year of experience and is now ready to lead a dugout.

Whatever the reason, he viewed this winter as the right time to look for a managerial opportunity. There have only been three vacancies thus far. The Reds quickly brought Terry Francona out of retirement. That left the White Sox and Marlins. Venable not only interviewed for both positions but emerged as a finalist in each search. The Miami Herald reported on Tuesday that he and Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz were finalists for the Marlins position. There hasn’t been any word out of Miami since Venable took the Sox job, but one can infer that Albernaz is likely to land in South Florida.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported on Tuesday that Venable, Albernaz and Phil Nevin were the finalists in Chicago. The Sox are also known to have interviewed Texas bench coach Donnie Ecker. Grady Sizemore, who took over as interim manager when the White Sox fired Pedro Grifol in August, also received consideration. Skip Schumaker, A.J. Ellis, Daniel Descalso, Clayton McCullough and George Lombard were among the other reported candidates.

In August, GM Chris Getz indicated the White Sox were looking outside the organization. While Sizemore was in the mix, they’ll indeed go with an external hire. Venable will have his work cut out for him with the White Sox coming off the worst season in modern baseball history. He joins the franchise at a time when owner Jerry Reinsdorf has floated the possibility of a sale. It’s an organization in flux.

It’s a much different situation than Venable would’ve assumed had he pursued and landed a job with the Mets or Cleveland a year ago. Those clubs certainly would’ve provided a clearer path to contention than he’ll find with the White Sox. Venable is familiar with the city after spending three seasons across town, though, and the rebuild should give him time to learn on the job as he works with a roster that won’t be expected to contend in the near future.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

MLBTR Podcast: The Mets’ Spending Power, Juan Soto Suitors, And The Rangers’ Payroll Limits

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns recently addressed the club’s financial situation (2:00)
  • Does the spending capacity of the Mets make them favorites for Juan Soto? (16:00)
  • The Rangers are reportedly hoping to duck beneath the competitive balance tax in 2025 (23:00)

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Which impending free agent has earned the biggest pay raise by his performance in the current postseason? (30:30)
  • Could the Cardinals get Ryan Mountcastle from the Orioles in a deal for Ryan Helsley to fill the void at first? (36:40)
  • Could Rowdy Tellez be a fit for the Tigers? (38:50)
  • Should Justin Verlander switch into a closer’s role? (41:10)
  • Details on what’s coming up soon at MLBTR, including the Top 50 Free Agents, top trade candidates and a megapod (43:25)

Check out our past episodes!

  • The World Series, The White Sox Reportedly For Sale, And Tropicana Field – listen here
  • Changes In Minnesota, Cubs’ Prospect Depth, And Possibilities For The O’s – listen here
  • Previewing FA Starting Pitchers, TV Deals, And Potential Spending Teams – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

White Sox Managerial Search Reportedly Down To Three Finalists

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The White Sox are on the hunt for a new manager and might be getting closer to a decision. Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today on X, the three finalists for the job are Rangers associate manager Will Venable, Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz and former Angels manager Phil Nevin.

As noted by Nightengale, this could make for an interesting standoff. The Sox are one of two clubs on the hunt for a new manager, with the other being the Marlins. It was reported yesterday by Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald that Venable and Albernaz are the two finalists for the Marlins gig, so there’s plenty of overlap in the two searches.

Nevin, 53, appears to be the one name on the radar of the Sox but not the Marlins. Jon Heyman of The New York Post listed him as a candidate a few weeks ago and it seems Nevin is still in the running. He’s also the only one in the group with previous managerial experience. He was working as the Angels third base coach in 2022 when manager Joe Maddon was fired. The club gave Nevin the gig on an interim basis and eventually re-signed him for the 2023 campaign but didn’t extend his contract after that.

The club went 119-149 during his time there, but that might not say much about his abilities as a skipper. The club also posted poor results before he had the job and after he left, meaning the poor record is likely more a reflection of roster construction as opposed to a lack of dugout leadership.

After parting ways with the Angels, Nevin interviewed for the managerial vacancy in San Diego but that job went to Mike Shildt and Nevin didn’t land a gig elsewhere for the 2024 season. Prior to joining the Angels, he spent about a decade in the majors as a player before pivoting into coaching. He worked in indy ball and then in the minors with the Tigers and Diamondbacks. He then had major league coaching jobs with the Giants and Yankees before landing with the Angels.

Venable is also a former player with plenty of coaching experience. He was a base coach with the Cubs for the 2018-2020 seasons before becoming the bench coach with the Red Sox. He’s spent the past two years as associate manager for the Rangers under skipper Bruce Bochy.

He was listed as a candidate for managerial gigs last winter with the Guardians and Mets but reportedly declined to be interviewed as he was happy with the Rangers. Now it appears that he’s giving more consideration to a change. Heyman reported yesterday that Venable was in Miami to interview for that gig and a move to the South Side of Chicago seems to be feasible as well.

Albernaz never cracked the majors as a player, spending almost a decade in the minors from 2006 through 2014. After that, he started his coaching career in the minor league system of the Rays. Prior to the 2020 season, he was added to the major league staff of the Giants as bullpen and catching coach. A year ago, the Guardians hired him to be their bench coach, working under new manager Stephen Vogt.

It’s been speculated by some that Albernaz is the favorite for the Miami job, given his history with Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. When Albernaz was coaching for the Rays in the minors, Bendix was working for that club, eventually becoming general manager in December of 2021.

Pedro Grifol was fired as White Sox manager during the most recent season and replaced by Grady Sizemore on an interim basis. Sizemore had been identified as a candidate to take the job more permanently but Nightengale’s report suggests he’s behind this trio of Venable, Albernaz and Nevin.

Plenty of other names have been connected to the job but many have reportedly been eliminated from the running, including former Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, Cardinals bench coach Daniel Descalso, Tigers bench coach George Lombard, Rangers bench coach and offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker, Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough and Padres special assistant A.J. Ellis.

Teams are generally discouraged from announcing big news on days when a playoff game is taking place. Even if the White Sox make a final decision soon, it may not be publicly reported until the World Series is done or gets to Thursday’s off-day.

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