Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

White Sox Rumors

White Sox Release Lucius Fox, Yoelqui Cespedes

By | at

The White Sox parted ways with two notable names, as shortstop Lucius Fox and outfielder Yoelqui Cespedes have each been released within the last few days.  Fox’s release was reported on his official MLB.com profile page, while James Fegan of the Sox Machine blog was first to note Cespedes’ release.

Fox inked a minor league deal with Chicago in February but didn’t receive any action during Spring Training, and so the 26-year-old will again hit the open market.  Fox was a highly-regarded international prospect who signed for a whopping $6MM bonus from the Giants in 2015, though San Francisco dealt Fox (and Matt Duffy) to the Rays just over a year later in order to acquire Matt Moore at the trade deadline.  The shortstop has since bounced around to four other organizations, counting his brief stint with the White Sox.

The Nationals claimed Fox off waivers from the Orioles in the 2021-22 offseason, and Fox’s only career Major League games to date came in the form of 10 games (and two hits in 28 plate appearances) with Washington in 2022.  This cup of coffee in the Show at least made Fox the ninth big leaguer in history to hail from the Bahamas.  Fox played in the Nats’ farm system in 2023 but didn’t hit much, continuing the theme of his pro career.  Over 2476 career PA in the minors, Fox has a .243/.335/.333 slash line and 156 steals out of 202 chances.

Cespedes has something of a similar story, as he signed a $2.05MM deal with the White Sox out of Cuba in January 2021 (the opening of the 2020-21 international signing window was delayed by the pandemic).  There was some extra hype attached given how older brother Yoenis was already a former All-Star, but the younger Cespedes hit .230/.319/.350 over 503 combined PA at the Double-A and Triple-A levels in 2023.  Though the 26-year-old Cespedes hit pretty well in his previous two pro seasons, it appears that newly-hired Sox farm director Paul Janish is ready to move on following Cespedes’ down year.

White Sox Select Bryan Shaw, Dominic Leone; Designate Sammy Peralta

By | at

The White Sox announced a series of Opening Day transactions, selecting the contracts of right-hander Jordan Leasure, Bryan Shaw and Dominic Leone. The news on Leasure was previously reported. In corresponding moves, they placed left-hander Shane Drohan and right-hander Jimmy Lambert on the 60-day injured list and also designated left-hander Sammy Peralta for assignment.

The White Sox have undergone a huge amount of roster churn since last year, as they kicked off a rebuild last summer and continued it this offseason. As pointed out by Jesse Rogers of ESPN, Michael Kopech is the only pitcher or catcher that remains from last year’s Opening Day roster. The additions of Shaw and Leone will give them some veteran arms to soak up some innings and serve as veteran mentors for some of the younger guys looking to get established.

Shaw, 36, has made 791 major league appearances with a 3.93 earned run average in a career that dates back to 2011. He was also with the Sox last year, tossing 45 2/3 innings with 4.14 ERA, 21.1% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate. He returned on a minor league deal and is now back on the roster.

Leone, 32, is barely halfway to Shaw in terms of major league appearances with 404, having posted an ERA of 3.82 in that time. He pitched for the Mets, Angels and Mariners last year with a 4.67 ERA, 23% strikeout rate and 11.9% walk rate. He had to settle for a minor league deal this offseason but is now back in the bigs.

Drohan underwent a nerve decompression procedure in his left shoulder about a month ago. It’s unclear when he’ll be able to return from a health perspective, but this transaction means he’s ineligible to be activated before late May. Lambert has been experiencing some shoulder soreness in recent weeks, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. His situation isn’t clear either but it seems the Sox expect him to miss at least a couple of months.

Peralta, 26 in May, made his major league debut last year and tossed 20 innings with a 4.05 ERA, 20% strikeout rate and 12.2% walk rate. He also tossed 69 innings at Triple-A with a 5.09 ERA, 23.1% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate. The Sox will have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He still has a couple of option years remaining.

White Sox Outright Touki Toussaint

By | at

The White Sox announced that right-hander Touki Toussaint cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Charlotte. The righty had been designated for assignment on the weekend when the club signed outfielder Kevin Pillar.

Toussaint, 28 in June, was claimed off waivers from the Guardians in June of last year. The Sox traded away many of their best pitchers last summer, with the trades of Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito creating two holes in the rotation. Toussaint helped fill in those gaps, tossing 83 1/3 innings for the Sox last year with a 4.97 earned run average.

Even though that was a fairly competent performance, Toussaint’s lack of control was a red flag, as it has been throughout his career. He was once a first-round draft pick, getting selected 16th overall by the Diamondbacks in 2014, and also a top 100 prospect as a minor leaguer. But his consistently high walk rates have prevented him from truly securing a big league job for any meaningful stretch of time.

With the Sox last year, his 22.7% strikeout rate and 49.5% ground ball rate were both pretty close to league average, but he gave free passes to 14.2% of batters that came to the plate. The average walk rate for major league starters was 7.9% last year, so Toussaint was almost double that. He’s walked 14% of batters faced in his career overall, which has played a large part in him not establishing himself in the bigs. He had never previously logged more than 50 innings in a season until he got to 87 last year.

He came into camp with a White Sox club that had a lot of question marks on its pitching staff, but he didn’t do much to take a step forward and answer those questions. He tossed 7 2/3 innings over six appearances, issuing an eye-popping 11 walks while striking out just two batters and getting charged with 11 earned runs.

Since he’s out of options, the Sox had to either keep him on the active roster or remove him from the 40-man entirely. They decided for the latter and no other club was willing to give him a roster spot either.

Toussaint can technically reject this outright assignment but it’s unlikely he will. A player with at least three years of major league service time can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency but requires five years of service to both elect free agency and retain their salary. Toussaint is at three years and 71 days, meaning he would have to walk away from his salary in order to hit the open market.

He and the club avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $1.3MM salary for this year, so he’ll likely want to hang onto that. Assuming he accepts his assignment, he’ll report to the Knights and look to work his way back to the majors.

Max Stassi To Open Season On IL Due To Hip Inflammation

By | at

The White Sox placed catcher Max Stassi on the 10-day injured list this afternoon due to hip inflammation, per a club announcement. The club also recalled catcher Korey Lee from Triple-A Charlotte. Lee had previously been optioned to the minor leagues last week as Chicago settled on Stassi and Martin Maldonado as their catching tandem to open the season, but Stassi’s injury will instead create an opportunity for Lee to break camp with the club.

That Stassi is dealing with a hip issue is particularly concerning given the fact that he missed considerable time last season due to a hip strain that prevented him from taking the field with the Angels to open the year. While Stassi missed the entire 2023 campaign, only the first half of that absence was due to his hip injury; Stassi recovered from that issue midseason, but he and his wife revealed back in November that the three-months premature birth of their son necessitated Stassi to step away from the game and attend to his family for the remainder of the 2023 campaign. While it’s concerning to see him once again hit the IL due to hip problems, White Sox manager Pedro Grifol told reporters (as relayed by ESPN) today that Stassi is just “a little sore” after the long layoff from major league play and is still “getting his work done” despite the fact that he’ll open the season on the shelf.

Stassi, 33, was a fourth-round pick by the A’s in the 2009 draft. Upon making his big league debut with the Astros back in 2013, he spent several years as a reserve catcher shuttling between Triple-A and the majors; he appeared in just 44 games in the big leagues across his first five major league seasons. He took on a larger role with Houston in 2018, however, and made the most of the opportunity by hitting a respectable .226/.316/.394 (100 wRC+) in 88 games with the club that year while posting elite defensive numbers behind the plate.

Despite that solid performance, Stassi’s playing time with the Astros was once again limited by the arrival of Robinson Chirinos, and the club ended up dealing Stassi to their division rival in Anaheim. He took his game to another level with the Angels during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, maintaining that strong defense while slashing .250/.333/.452 with a 113 wRC+. Unfortunately, Stassi took a major step back in 2022, posting just a .180/.267/.303 (63 wRC+) slash line while his defensive metrics slipped from excellent to merely average behind the plate.

Between Stassi’s struggles in 2022 and his lost season last year, it’s hard to say what can be expected from the veteran in 2024. That uncertainty may have played a role in Stassi being dealt twice this offseason; once to the Braves alongside longtime Angels utilityman David Fletcher, an again to the White Sox the very next day. That said, Stassi has clearly shown himself to have the potential to be an average-or-better catcher both at the plate and behind it throughout his time in the majors, and it’s easy to imagine him contributing significantly to the club’s catching corps alongside Maldonado and Lee if he can get healthy.

As for Lee, the 25-year-old once received top-100 prospect buzz as a member of the Astros farm system, but has struggled badly in his first 36 games of big league action with a slash line of just .100/.156/.167 in 96 trips to the plate across the past two seasons. He was acquired by the White Sox at the trade deadline last year in exchange for veteran right-hander Kendall Graveman. Upon the club’s acquisitions of Stassi and Maldonado this winter it appeared that Lee was ticked for additional reps at the Triple-A level, where he’s a career .255/.313/.435 hitter in 841 plate appearances. He’ll instead return to the majors for at least the beginning of the 2024 season, where he’ll likely serve as the backup to Maldonado.

White Sox Re-Sign Kevin Pillar To Major League Deal

By | at

The White Sox are have reunited with outfielder Kevin Pillar just days after the veteran was released by the club, as first reported by Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun Times. The club has since announced the deal, which is a major league contract. Right-hander Touki Toussaint was designated for assignment in order to make room for Pillar on the 40-man roster. Van Schouwen also reports that right-hander Jordan Leasure is set to make the club’s Opening Day roster as a member of the bullpen. Leasure is not yet on the 40-man roster, meaning the club will need to select his contract prior to Opening Day.

Pillar, 35, is a veteran of 11 MLB seasons who spent the 2023 campaign as a member of the Braves. He appeared in 81 games as a reserve outfielder and pinch hitter for the club, though he struggled at the plate en route to a .228/.248/.416 slash line across 206 trips to the plate. Once one of the game’s best defenders in center field, the shine has worn off of Pillar’s glovework in recent years, relegating him to corner outfield work in more recent seasons. That being said, the veteran is a career .278/.308/.461 hitter against left-handed pitching and makes plenty of sense as a righty complement to the lefty-hitting corner outfield duo of Andrew Benintendi and Dominic Fletcher in Chicago.

Pillar’s return to the organization comes at the expense of Toussaint, who the club acquired off waivers from the Guardians back in June. He made 19 appearances down the stretch with Chicago, 15 of them starts, and posted a 4.97 ERA with a 4.95 FIP in 83 1/3 innings of work. Toussaint struck out a decent 22.7% of batters faced during his time with the club, but walked opponents at a concerning 14.2% clip. The mediocre results and concerning peripherals didn’t stop the White Sox from retaining the righty this winter, but the club now appears ready to move on from Toussaint after a disastrous Spring Training that saw him post a 17.47 ERA in 5 2/3 innings of work that saw him walk a whopping 11 batters while striking out just two. The White Sox will have one week to either trade, release, or pass Toussaint through waivers.

Set to make the club’s Opening Day roster alongside Pillar is Leasure, a 25-year-old right-hander who came to the White Sox as part of the return in the deal that sent Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly to the Dodgers back in July. A 14th-round pick by the Dodgers in the 2021 draft, Leasure enjoyed a strong 2022 season with L.A. as he pitched to a 3.38 ERA in 58 2/3 innings of work between the High-A and Double-A levels, striking out an impressive 34.9% of batters faced during that time. Leasure returned to Double-A to begin the 2023 season and continued to dominate with a 3.09 ERA and a 39.7% strikeout rate in 35 innings, but began to struggle upon being traded to Chicago, with whom he was promoted to Triple-A.

Leasure struggled to a 6.08 ERA in his 15 appearances at Triple-A Charlotte last year, though his strikeout rate remained above 35% even as he struggled. Despite those difficulties, Leasure went on to dominate in the Arizona Fall League back in October as he punched out 44.8% of batters faced and posted a sparkling 1.08 ERA. The right-hander’s bounceback continued this spring as he’s posted 8 1/3 scoreless innings across nine appearances with the White Sox during camp. Those strong results since the end of last season appear to have earned Leasure his first taste of big league action, where he’ll factor into the club’s bullpen mix as another right-handed option alongside Steven Wilson, John Brebbia, Deivi Garcia, and Michael Kopech.

AL Central Notes: Royals, Cease, Tigers

By | at

The Royals’ Opening Day roster has begun to come into focus, as the Royals recently optioned first baseman Nick Pratto, outfielder Drew Waters, and catcher Austin Nola to the minor leagues. Those positional cuts from camp helped to clarify the club’s bench mix, as manager Matt Quatraro told reporters (including MLB.com’s Anne Rogers) yesterday that infielder Nick Loftin and outfielder Dairon Blanco have both made the club’s Opening Day roster. Blanco will slot into a reserve outfielder role behind MJ Melendez, Kyle Isbel, Hunter Renfroe, and Nelson Velazquez. Meanwhile, Loftin will step into a bench role previously ticketed for veteran Adam Frazier, who is set to become the club’s Opening Day second baseman with Michael Massey expected to begin the season on the injured list due to lower back tightness.

It’s an unfortunate development for Massey, who celebrated his 26th birthday earlier this week. The infielder was the club’s everyday option at the keystone last year and performed well on defense but struggled with the bat throughout the season. The youngster showed signs of life in the second half, however, slashing a respectable .250/.285/.458 with 11 home runs in 229 trips to the plate over his final 60 games in 2023. That display left him in line to receive the lion’s share of playing time at second once again this year even after the Royals added Frazier and Garrett Hampson in free agency. Now that Massey is set to begin the season on the shelf, however, Frazier will have the opportunity to play his way into a larger role early in the season. The 32-year-old veteran has been a roughly league average bat consistently throughout his career, with a .269/.331/.393 slash across eight seasons in the big leagues, including a .240/.300/.396 showing with the Orioles last year.

As for the trio of recent cuts, none of them are especially surprising. Pratto appeared unlikely to have a role with the big league club to open the season thanks to first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino’s return from labrum surgery and Nelson Velazquez’s emergence as a credible slugger at DH. Waters, similarly, is the odd man out in the club’s crowded outfield mix. Both former top prospects will open the season at Triple-A, providing them an opportunity to receive regular reps they couldn’t get with the big league Royals. Nola starting the season in the minors is hardly a surprise, either, as he joined the club on a split contract that was seemingly designed to allow him to be a backup to Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin at the Triple-A level.

More from around the AL Central…

  • The White Sox recently dealt right-hander Dylan Cease after months of rumors and speculation, shipping him to the Padres in exchange for a prospect package headlined by Drew Thorpe. Club GM Chris Getz recently spoke to Scott Merkin of MLB.com about the trade and noted that San Diego was one of two clubs who made “significant offers,” with Merkin reporting that the Rangers were the second place finisher for Cease’s services. Getz also made clear that the sides did not engage in extension negotiations amid the winter’s trade rumors, adding that while the club would have “loved” to keep Cease in the fold long term, he felt such an arrangement “wasn’t realistic.” That’s somewhat understandable, as Chicago suffered a 101-loss season last year and appears to have a long way to go before contending again, even in a relatively weak AL Central division. Given that reality, it would’ve been surprising to see the club commit to the sort of significant outlay that would have been required to retain the runner-up for the 2022 AL Cy Young award.
  • Tigers youngster Sawyer Gipson-Long once appeared likely to compete with other youngsters such as Casey Mize, Reese Olson, and Matt Manning for a role in the club’s starting rotation alongside Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, and Kenta Maeda. Unfortunately for Gipson-Long, he’s been nursing a left groin strain throughout camp that, as noted by Evan Woodbery of the Detroit Free Press, will lead to him opening the season on the injured list. Gipson-Long, who the club acquired at the 2022 trade deadline in exchange for right-hander Michael Fulmer, made his big league debut late in the season last year and impressed during four starts in the majors. In 20 innings of work, the right-hander posted a 2.70 ERA with a 3.16 FIP while striking out an excellent 31.7% of batters faced. With Mize and Olson now set to start the season in the rotation, Gipson-Long figures to head to Triple-A Toledo once healthy, where he’ll provide Detroit with quality rotation depth alongside Matt Manning and wait for an opportunity in the big leagues.

White Sox Release Jesse Chavez

By | at

The White Sox announced that veteran reliever Jesse Chavez has been released.  Chavez inked a minor league deal last month, but as per his status as an XX(B) free agent, the White Sox had until yesterday to add Chavez to the Opening Day roster or else the right-hander could opt out.

Kevin Pillar and Mike Moustakas were in similar situations prior to being released yesterday, and as with Chavez, it isn’t clear if any of these players actually triggered their opt-outs or if the White Sox simply released them since none were slated for the 26-man roster.  The result is effectively the same, as Chavez now re-enters the free agent market as he looks to extend his career into a 17th Major League season.

Chavez is still pitching well beyond his 40th birthday, as he posted a 1.56 ERA over 34 2/3 innings with the Braves in 2023.  The righty’s 51.7% grounder rate combined with some good batted-ball luck (.273 BABIP) to help deliver that outstanding ERA, yet Chavez’s 27.1% strikeout rate and 33.3% hard-hit ball rate were also above average.  It wasn’t all positive for Chavez, however, as he spent over three months on the injured list after he was hit in the leg with a comebacker.

Chavez said in an interview last month that 2024 is “probably” going to be his last season as a player, as he will then look to stay in the game in a coaching capacity.  Given how well Chavez has pitched in each of the last three seasons, it seems almost a lock that another team will sign him to another minor league deal, and another return to the Braves would certainly seem like a possibility.  Chavez has already had four separate stints with Atlanta, including three in the last three years alone and a World Series ring as part of the Braves’ 2021 championship team.

White Sox Release Kevin Pillar, Mike Moustakas

By | at

The White Sox have released infielder Mike Moustakas and outfielder Kevin Pillar, the team announced. Both players had been in camp on minor league contracts.

Moustakas and Pillar were among 31 players who had automatic opt-out rights today, under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. That typically applies to players with more than six years of major league service who finished last season on an MLB roster but settled for a minor league pact over the winter. It’s not clear whether Pillar and Moustakas officially triggered their opt-outs or if Chicago preemptively released them with the expectation they’d do so.

The end result is that both players will head back to the open market. Moustakas had a tough spring, struggling to a .195/.283/.317 batting line in 46 plate appearances. The three-time All-Star split last season between the Rockies and Angels. While he’d started the year reasonably well in Colorado, his bat wilted down the stretch. He concluded the year with a .247/.293/.392 slash through 386 plate appearances.

Pillar also had a middling performance this spring, although he seemed to have a better path to the roster. The veteran outfielder turned in a .250/.306/.386 mark in 49 trips to the dish. Pillar had been trying to snag a job as a righty-hitting complement to the lefty-swinging corner outfield tandem of Andrew Benintendi and Dominic Fletcher.

White Sox Sign Robbie Grossman To Minor League Deal

By | at

The White Sox announced Friday that they’ve signed free agent outfielder Robbie Grossman to a minor league deal. He’ll be invited to the remainder of big league camp.

Grossman, 34, spent the 2023 season with the World Series champion Rangers but will head into the 2024 season with a rebuilding ChiSox club. He hit .238/.340/.394 with Texas last season and has been an average or better hitter in six of the past eight seasons. Grossman has tallied 3552 plate appearances in that span and delivered a composite .245/.350/.387 batting line during that time. The switch-hitter is a career .282/.381/.426 slash against left-handed pitching (126 wRC+). He’s been below-average, albeit not egregiously so, against right-handed pitching.

Grossman has played a bit of center field in his career, but the vast majority of that experience came back in 2013. He’s primarily a corner outfielder and designated hitter, with the bulk of his outfield work coming in left field. He played 553 innings on the grass for Texas last season but turned in well below-average defensive marks.

The White Sox figure to enter the season with left-handed-hitting Dominic Fletcher as their primary right fielder and lefty-swinging Andrew Benintendi in left. Grossman’s excellence from the right side of the plate would make him a viable platoon partner for either player. They currently have Kevin Pillar in camp as a fellow non-roster veteran who could offer a righty complement to those lefty-hitting corner outfielders, but Pillar has an out clause in his minor league contract today, which could come into play.

31 Veterans With Opt-Out Opportunities Looming This Week

By | at

One of the provisions in that 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement is uniform opt-out opportunities for Article XX(B) free agents on minor league deals. An Article XX(B) free agent is one with at least six years of service time who finished the previous season on a major league roster or injured list. Any such player who signs a minor league deal more than ten days prior to Opening Day can opt out of that deal at three points if they haven’t been added to the 40-man roster: five days before Opening Day, May 1 and June 1.

The first uniform opt-out date on this year’s calendar falls Friday at 1pm CT. Any player can trigger his out clause at that point, and the team will subsequently be given a 48-hour window to either add him to the roster or release him. With many clubs around the league dealing with spring injuries, some of these players should be able to find opportunities elsewhere if they can’t find it with their current organization. Their current clubs can prevent them from opting out by giving them a roster spot, but that may involve cutting someone else.

Angels: OF Jake Marisnick, LHP Drew Pomeranz

Marisnick, 33 this month, is a right-handed-hitting fourth outfielder with a plus glove and questionable bat. He can hold his own against right-handed pitching (career .237/.293/.417, 93 wRC+) but is typically overmatched by righties (.223/.274/.365, 74 wRC+). He’s having a huge spring, but the Angels already have Taylor Ward, Mike Trout, Mickey Moniak, Aaron Hicks and Jo Adell on the 40-man roster.

The 35-year-old Pomeranz was a good starter from 2016-17 and a dominant reliever from 2019-21, but he didn’t pitch in 2022-23 due to arm injuries. He’s pitched 6 2/3 innings with the Angels this spring with middling results.

Blue Jays: 3B/2B Eduardo Escobar, 1B Joey Votto

A poor season between the Mets and Angels last year set the stage for the 35-year-old Escobar to take a minor league deal. He’s long been a productive MLB hitter and even topped 30 homers back in 2019, but Escobar’s now in his mid-30s and struggling through an ugly spring while trying to win a spot in a crowded infield mix also featuring Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Santiago Espinal, Cavan Biggio, Ernie Clement and Davis Schneider.

Votto, 40, has been connected the Blue Jays seemingly forever due to his Canadian roots. He finally suited up for the Jays after agreeing to a minor league deal and homered in his first at-bat of camp. He’s had a lackluster showing at the plate in each of the past two MLB seasons, however.

Cubs: 1B/OF Garrett Cooper, RHP Carl Edwards Jr., OF David Peralta

An underrated hitter for years in Miami, Cooper slashed .274/.350/.444 in nearly 1300 plate appearances from 2019-22 before a poorly timed down showing in 2023’s walk year. He’s hitting quite well in spring training, and the Cubs don’t have a proven option at first base — though they’re understandably high on 26-year-old trade acquisition Michael Busch.

Edwards had a nice 2022 season with the Nats and posted a solid ERA in 2023 but did so with dismal K-BB numbers. He’s competing for a spot in an uncharacteristically crowded Cubs bullpen and could be squeezed out. The 32-year-old pitched for the Cubs from 2015-19, so Chicago brass knows him well. From 2022-23 in D.C., he posted a 3.07 ERA but a middling 20% strikeout rate against a 10.5% walk rate.

Peralta, 36, has a trio of hits and a walk in ten plate appearances this spring. He was an above-average hitter with the D-backs every season from 2017-20 but has been less consistent of late. He’s a left-handed hitter who’s long had glaring platoon splits and is limited to the outfield corners.

Diamondbacks: SS Elvis Andrus

Andrus is 35 but can still pick it at shortstop or second base. His once above-average speed has faded to the 30th percentile of MLB players, per Statcast, but his range at short remains excellent. Andrus hit .251/.304/.358 (81 wRC+) for the White Sox in 2023 and only has one year of above-average offense (2022) in the past six seasons.

Guardians: RHP Carlos Carrasco

Old friend Cookie Carrasco is fighting for the fifth spot in the Guardians’ rotation, and news of Gavin Williams’ season-opening stint on the injured list could further open the door for the 36-year-old (37 on Thursday) to make the team. Carrasco was torched for a 6.80 ERA with the 2023 Mets. He allowed 1.80 homers per nine frames through 90 innings, with alarming batted-ball metrics (91.5 mph average exit velocity, 48.2% hard-hit rate, 10.7% barrel rate). He was a solid mid-rotation arm as recently as 2022, when he tossed 152 innings of 3.97 ERA ball with sharp strikeout and walk rates.

Marlins: C Curt Casali

The veteran Casali has batted .201/.311/.315 over the past three big league seasons — a 78 wRC+ in 503 plate appearances. The 35-year-old is off to a rough start in camp and is a long shot to unseat defensive-minded Nick Fortes or Christian Bethancourt, both of whom are already on the 40-man roster.

Mets: 1B/DH Ji Man Choi

From 2017-22, Choi hit .254/.363/.465 (130 wRC+) against right-handed pitching. He walked at a 14.4% clip when holding the platoon advantage and fanned at a higher-than-average but still-manageable 24.1% rate. Lefties have always had Choi’s number, however, and his overall production cratered in 2023 while he dealt with Achilles and ribcage injuries. He’s fighting for a bench spot in New York alongside DJ Stewart and others.

Nationals: RHP Matt Barnes, OF Eddie Rosario, OF Jesse Winker

Barnes was an All-Star closer with the Red Sox in 2021 and briefly one of the game’s most dominant relievers, fanning more than 40% of his opponents for the bulk of that season. He wore down beginning in August and hasn’t been the same since a hip injury. Barnes’ velocity and strikeouts were way down in 2023 before he underwent season-ending surgery. He should have a good chance to win a spot in a Nationals bullpen that has little established talent.

Rosario and Winker are both left-handed-hitting outfielders who are best deployed in left field — with Winker having a particularly shaky defensive reputation. Winker is the younger of the two at 30 years old (to Rosario’s 32). Winker was quietly one of the most productive hitters in baseball against right-handed pitching for much of his time in Cincinnati, but knee and neck surgery in October 2022 look to have taken their toll on him. Rosario was the far more productive hitter in 2023. There may not be room for both veterans on the Washington roster. Winker has been in camp longer and been more productive in their small samples.

Orioles: 2B Kolten Wong

The Orioles seem to bring in a veteran infielder coming off a down season almost every year. It’s Wong’s turn in 2023. The 33-year-old was one of the game’s worst hitters in ’23, slashing just .183/.256/.263 in 250 plate appearances between the Mariners and Dodgers. That was beyond out of character for Wong, who’d been an average or better hitter in five of the past six seasons. If the O’s don’t want to rush Jackson Holliday or Coby Mayo, Wong could win a spot on the roster — but he hasn’t hit that well in camp so far.

Pirates: RHP Chase Anderson

It’s been five years since Anderson’s last solid season in a big league rotation, but the well-liked veteran continues to get work each season. From 2020-23, he’s pitched to a 6.19 ERA in 192 MLB frames — including a 5.42 mark in 86 1/3 innings last year (mostly with the Rockies). Anderson doesn’t miss many bats, but he has good command and is having a nice spring with the Pirates. He’s competing with Luis Ortiz, Jared Jones, Roansy Contreras, Domingo German and others for one of two generally open rotation spots in Pittsburgh.

Rangers: INF Matt Duffy, RHP Shane Greene, RHP Jose Urena

A contact-oriented hitter who can play all over the infield, the 33-year-old Duffy faces an uphill battle with Josh Smith, Ezequiel Duran and Justin Foscue all on the 40-man roster ahead of him. Nathaniel Lowe will open the season on the injured list, but that’ll likely work to Jared Walsh’s benefit more than Duffy.

Greene, 35, is a former All-Star closer/setup man who peaked with the Tigers and Braves from 2017-20. He’s thrown just three innings in each of the past two MLB seasons but also turned in strong numbers with the Cubs in Triple-A last year.

The 32-year-old Urena made five dismal starts for the Rockies early in the 2023 season and five solid ones for the White Sox late in the season. He also pitched well for Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate. A solid arm for the Marlins in 2017-18, Urena has a 5.50 ERA in 350 1/3 MLB frames dating back to 2019. He’s had a nice spring and could be a depth piece for an injury-plagued Rangers rotation.

Rays: RHP Jake Odorizzi

Odorizzi signed last week and will look to get back on track after a shoulder injury cost him the 2023 season. With the exception of an injury-wrecked 2020 season, he’s been a dependable five-inning starter dating back to 2014 (3.98 ERA in 1216 innings). The Rays’ pitching staff is dealing with plenty of injuries, and Odorizzi should be an option for the Rays early in the season.

Red Sox: 1B C.J. Cron, RHP Michael Fulmer, C Roberto Perez, LHP Joely Rodriguez

Cron has four seasons of 25-plus homers under his belt and was consistently an above-average hitter from 2014-22. Injuries tanked his 2023 season, but he has a strong track record of hitting for power — with largely even platoon splits. He’d make a nice right-handed complement to Triston Casas and/or Masataka Yoshida at first base and designated hitter, providing some insurance against an injury to either.

Perez is an all-glove backup who’s never hit much outside the juiced ball season in 2019, when he popped 24 of his 55 career homers. The Sox figure to go with Reese McGuire and Connor Wong behind the plate, making him a long shot to land a roster spot.

Rodriguez signed a big league deal with the Red Sox prior to the 2023 season but only pitched 11 innings due to injury. He’s having a decent spring training — two runs on nine hits and three walks with nine strikeouts in seven innings — and has a good chance to win a spot in a patchwork Red Sox bullpen. If not, his ability to miss bats and pile up grounders would likely draw interest elsewhere.

Fulmer won’t pitch in 2024 after undergoing surgery last summer. His minor league deal is a two-year contract that stretches into 2025. The two sides knew this going into the arrangement and there’s no reason to expect he’ll opt out.

Royals: RHP Tyler Duffey

Duffey was a mainstay in the division-rival Twins’ bullpen and was a high-end setup option at his peak in 2019-21, posting a 2.89 ERA across 144 frames while fanning 29.8% of his opponents. His results slipped in 2022 as he lost some life on his fastball, and he pitched just two MLB frames with the Cubs in 2023. Duffey recently had a procedure to remove a cancerous mole from his shoulder that understandably halted his baseball activity for a bit. He’s hopeful he’ll pitch again this spring, and while the larger takeaway is relief that the melanoma was discovered and quickly treated, his track record could also give him a shot to crack the Royals’ bullpen early in the season.

White Sox: RHP Jesse Chavez, RHP Brad Keller, RHP Dominic Leone, 3B/1B Mike Moustakas, OF Kevin Pillar, RHP Bryan Shaw

Chavez, 40, has been excellent with the Braves in each of the past three seasons but struggled in stints with the Cubs and Angels. He’s having a tough spring with the White Sox but carries a 2.81 ERA in his past 137 2/3 MLB frames, spanning the 2021-23 seasons.

Keller has spent his entire big league career with the Royals but saw his time in Kansas City come to a rough ending. After a three-year run as a solid starter, Keller struggled in three subsequent seasons, culminating in an IL stint for symptoms indicative of thoracic outlet syndrome. He hasn’t pitched in an official spring game for the White Sox.

Leone struggled late in the 2023 season but has a cumulative 3.38 ERA in 157 innings over the past three seasons. He’s having a solid spring training, has late-inning experience, and seems like a decent bet to win a spot in a White Sox bullpen that’s been completely torn down since last summer.

Moustakas has turned in three straight below-average seasons at the plate and is struggling again with the White Sox in camp (.167/.268/.278 in 41 plate appearances). The Sox have Yoan Moncada and Andrew Vaughn at the corners, plus Gavin Sheets as a lefty-swinging first base option (and corner outfielder) off the bench. Moose seems like a long shot to make the club.

Pillar would give the Sox a right-handed complement to lefty-hitting corner outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Dominic Fletcher. He’s 35 and no longer the plus-plus defensive center fielder he once was but could give them some insurance for Luis Robert Jr. in center as well. He hit .228/.248/.416 with nine homers in 206 plate appearances for the Braves last year.

Shaw pitched 45 2/3 innings for the Sox last year and delivered a respectable 4.14 ERA in that time. His production has tailed off substantially since his days as a consistent setup presence in the Cleveland bullpen — evidenced by a 5.07 ERA over his past six seasons. He’s been tagged for a dozen earned runs in 7 1/3 spring frames but does have 10 strikeouts.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top