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Red Sox Sign Alex Bregman To Three-Year Deal

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TODAY: The Red Sox officially announced Bregman’s deal.  To create roster space, Patrick Sandoval was moved to the 60-day injured list.  Sandoval underwent an internal brace procedure on his left UCL last June, so he was already expected to be out of action until the second half of the 2025 season.  Speier also provided some added details on the contract’s structure, writing that $20MM will be deferred in each of the three seasons.  Bregman will begin receiving these deferred payments in 10 years’ time.

Feb. 13: The deferred money in the contract knocks the net present value of Bregman’s three-year deal into the $90MM range, ESPN’s Buster Olney reports. Per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe and Chris Cotillo of MassLive, the AAV will be calculated as $31.7MM for CBT purposes. Speier adds that there’s a $5MM signing bonus, followed by a $35MM salary in 2025, then $40MM salaries in the final two seasons.

Feb. 12: The Red Sox are reportedly in agreement with Alex Bregman on a three-year, $120MM deal. The Boras Corporation client receives massive $40MM salaries in each season, though an unreported amount of that money is deferred. Bregman can opt out after each of the first two seasons. The team has yet to officially announce the signing.

Boston gets the best remaining free agent by offering a massive annual sum. Bregman reportedly had a standing six-year offer valued at $156MM from the Astros for most of the offseason. The Tigers reportedly put forth a six-year, $171.5MM proposal, while the Cubs offered a $120MM guarantee over a four-year term. As of last month, Bregman remained committed to a long-term deal. The Sox’s willingness to offer one of the biggest AAVs in league history changed the calculus.

It marks the end of an illustrious tenure in Houston. The second overall pick in the 2015 draft, Bregman was in the majors within a year of coming out of LSU. He immediately locked down third base. He hit .284/.352/.475 over his first full big league campaign, helping the Astros to their first World Series title in 2017. He was one of the top handful of players in baseball over the next two seasons. Bregman secured consecutive top five finishes in AL MVP balloting while combining for a .291/.409/.561 slash with more walks than strikeouts between 2018-19.

Bregman, 31 in March, successively hit 31 and 41 home runs over that stretch. His power production has ticked down since the ’19 campaign, which was the most homer-heavy season in league history. Bregman has hit between 23 and 26 homers in each of the past three seasons. He’d continued to post excellent on-base numbers up through 2023, though his OBP dropped last year as his walks plummeted.

The two-time All-Star hit .260/.315/.453 across 634 trips to the plate in 2024. He had by far his lowest on-base percentage since his half-season as a rookie nearly a decade ago. That was almost entirely because of a drop in free passes. Bregman walked in 6.9% of his plate appearances, nearly halving his typical 12-13% rates. He remained incredibly difficult to punch out (13.6% strikeout rate) and narrowly established a new career high with a 40.1% hard contact percentage.

Bregman started the season very slowly. He hit .216/.283/.294 with only one home run through the end of April. While his power started to rebound in May, he reached base at a meager .276 clip that month. He entered June with a .219/.280/.372 slash line that was beginning to raise questions about his earning power. He put those to rest with a fantastic finish to the season. Bregman hit .284/.337/.500 with 20 doubles and 19 home runs across his final 398 plate appearances. While the walks remained down, he managed much better batted ball results in the second half.

Over eight-plus seasons with the Astros, Bregman hit .272/.366/.483 with 191 home runs. FanGraphs and Baseball Reference each valued his Houston tenure around 40 wins above replacement. He won a Silver Slugger and was MVP runner-up in 2019 and won his first career Gold Glove last season. He has been an instrumental piece of Houston’s sustained postseason success and World Series wins in 2017 and ’23. His swing is perfectly suited for the short left field at Houston’s home park. Bregman certainly hasn’t been a product of the Crawford Boxes, though. He has been essentially the same hitter on the road (.275/.362/.489) and at home (.270/.369/.476).

Bregman will have a similar home setup with the Green Monster at Fenway. He’ll reunite with Sox manager Alex Cora, who was Houston’s bench coach in 2017. While the Sox’s front office had trepidation about adding another long-term infield commitment alongside Rafael Devers and Trevor Story, they were willing to pay handsomely in the short term.

Boston had roughly $210MM in luxury tax commitments going into this evening, as calculated by RosterResource. A $40MM average annual value for Bregman would push that close to $250MM. The actual AAV won’t be quite so high, as the deferrals will drop the net present value to an extent. It’s likely that the Sox will still end up beyond the $241MM luxury tax threshold. They didn’t pay the CBT last season, so they’d only owe a 20% tax on spending between $241MM and $261MM. Even a true $40MM AAV for Bregman would only come with a $1.8MM tax hit for the Sox.

It’s the culmination of an exciting offseason for chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and his staff. The Sox opened the winter looking to add upside in their rotation. They eschewed long-term pitching investments, instead acquiring Garrett Crochet for four prospects while bringing in Walker Buehler on a one-year, $21.05MM deal. Boston signed Patrick Sandoval to a two-year contract midway through his rehab from Tommy John surgery and made a pair of one-year pickups in the bullpen (Aroldis Chapman, Justin Wilson).

Adding a right-handed bat was the one offseason goal that the Sox had not accomplished. While an outfielder may have been a cleaner roster fit, Bregman’s willingness to move off his longtime position makes this workable. The Sox intend to play him at second base, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. That made him a better fit than Nolan Arenado, who has been connected to the Sox in trade rumors for much of the winter.

Devers has been vocal about preferring to stick at third base. Bregman is a superior defender at the hot corner, but he should be athletic enough to move to the keystone for at least one season. He’d likely have spent most of his career in the middle infield had he not broken in with a team that had a Jose Altuve/Carlos Correa pairing.

That blocks the path to playing time for top prospect Kristian Campbell in the short term. The 22-year-old had a monster minor league season (.330/.439/.558 between three levels) to put himself in consideration for the second base job. Campbell seems likelier to begin the year in Triple-A Worcester now. He has played both middle infield positions and all three outfield spots in the minors, though, so the Sox should be able to find playing time for him somewhere as injuries arise throughout the year.

Campbell’s presence is probably a big reason the Red Sox kept this to a short-term commitment. Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe reports that Boston wasn’t interested in going past three guaranteed years. The tradeoff involves one of the largest per-year commitments in MLB history. The pre-deferral $40MM AAV is tied for the sixth-largest ever. It’s the second-biggest of this winter behind Juan Soto’s $51MM AAV and ties the Aaron Judge deal for third in history among position players (trailing Shohei Ohtani and Soto).

Bregman was the final unsigned free agent who had declined a qualifying offer. Boston surrenders their second-round pick (54th overall) in the upcoming draft, as well as $500K from their international signing bonus pool in 2026. They’re getting a compensatory pick about 20 spots later with Nick Pivetta signing with San Diego, so the draft capital comes out relatively close to a wash. As luxury tax payors, the Astros get the lowest compensation pick for Bregman’s departure — a selection after the fourth round, which lands around 137th overall.

Chandler Rome of The Athletic first reported that Bregman was signing with the Red Sox on a three-year, $120MM deal. Jon Heyman of The New York Post had the presence of deferrals. Ari Alexander of Houston’s KPRC-2 had the even salary structure. Image courtesy of Imagn.

Astros Notes: Altuve, Framber, Roster Moves

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tigers Made Six-Year Offer To Bregman

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Alex Bregman is headed to Boston on a three-year deal that comes with a massive $40MM average annual value (albeit with deferrals). The two-time All-Star was also known to have multiple six-year offers on the table, one of which was from the Astros.

The Tigers also proposed a six-year offer, as first reported by Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press. Petzold initially reported that Detroit’s offer was for narrowly above $170MM and included an opt-out clause after the second season. It had some amount of deferred money. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale specified it as a $171.5MM offer.

Detroit’s offer came with an approximate $28.58MM average annual value, before accounting for deferrals. Bregman obviously fared much better on an annual basis on the agreement with Boston. It seems as if Detroit offered the highest overall guarantee. The Astros had a six-year, $156MM offer on the table for most of the winter. While they reportedly bumped that towards the end of the process, they didn’t seem optimistic about getting a deal done.

Indeed, it doesn’t seem that Houston was even in the running by the end. Nightengale reports that the Cubs, Tigers and Red Sox were the finalists. As with Boston, Chicago only seemed interested on a short-term deal. However, they weren’t willing to match the Sox’s offer on an annual basis. Nightengale reports that the Cubs proposed a four-year, $120MM deal. According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, that would have included opt-outs after the second and third seasons.

The Tigers and Cubs would each have kept Bregman at his traditional third base position. They’re likely to turn the hot corner to young players with top prospect pedigree but little to no MLB experience (Jace Jung and Matt Shaw, respectively). Bregman is ticketed for second base work in Boston, where Rafael Devers will stick at the hot corner.

Astros To Sign Luis Guillorme To Minor League Deal

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The Astros and infielder Luis Guillorme have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. The MVP Sports Group client also gets an invite to big league camp, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic.

Guillorme, 30, is a glove-first utility guy. He was able to produce offense around league average in the 2020 to 2022 seasons, which made him a useful player for the Mets. Unfortunately, his bat fell off in 2023, so the Mets non-tendered him.

That sent him into journeyman mode last year. He started the season with Atlanta and eventually bounced to the Angels and Diamondbacks. He produced a line of .205/.301/.273 between those three clubs, his second straight poor season at the plate. His combined line over 2023 and 2024 was .213/.296/.295 for a wRC+ of 68, indicating he was 32% below league average.

As mentioned, he was better before that. He slashed .278/.367/.344 over the three previous seasons, leading to a 107 wRC+. He didn’t provide much pop, with just three home runs in 559 plate appearances, but he walked at a 12% rate and only struck out 15.4% of the time. When combined with his glovework, FanGraphs credited him with 3.1 wins above replacement in 201 games over that three-year period.

Defensively, Guillorme has 1,339 1/3 innings at second base, 604 at third and 229 1/3 innings at shortstop. Both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average have given him a grade of +7 at the keystone in his career, while his work at the other two spots has been considered close to average.

The Astros have a question mark at second base for the first time in years. Jose Altuve has had that position locked down since he debuted in the summer of 2011. He’s never been a great defender and the metrics have soured on him further recently. Since he’ll turn 35 years old in May, the club is reportedly considering a move to left field for Altuve.

Those reports originally surfaced in connection with rumors that they were still considering re-signing Alex Bregman, which would push Isaac Paredes from third to second. However, it has since become clear that Altuve could be moving to left field with or without Bregman involved. If Bregman signs elsewhere and Altuve ends up on the grass, the club will need solutions at second base.

Mauricio Dubón is on the roster but would ideally be deployed in a super utility role, playing infield and outfield. Shay Whitcomb and Zach Dezenzo are on the 40-man but neither has more than 20 games of MLB experience, and Dezenzo is more of a corner infielder regardless. The Astros signed Zack Short to a minor league deal last month for some extra non-roster depth and now Guillorme gives them another candidate to look at in camp.

The fact that Guillorme hits from the left side probably helps as well, since that has been a focus of the club this offseason. Yordan Alvarez is the only lefty hitter that seems locked into an everyday role at this point. Ben Gamel was signed as a possible outfield addition, though his deal isn’t fully guaranteed and he could be squeezed out if Altuve ends up in left. Guys like Jon Singleton and Taylor Trammell are also lefty swingers who could be on the bench, with Guillorme possibly joining them.

Tyler Beede Holds Showcase For Interested Teams

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Right-hander Tyler Beede threw for teams held a pro day for interested teams on Friday, per a report from Ari Alexander of KPRC2. Alexander adds that Beede’s fastball was in the range of 93-95mph and that the Astros and Royals both were represented at the righty’s showcase.

Beede, 32 in May, was selected in the first round of the MLB draft twice: first out of High School by the Blue Jays in 2011, then by the Giants out of Vanderbilt. He made his big league debut with San Francisco back in 2018 with a two-game cup of coffee before getting his first significant look with the club in 2019. Things did not go especially well for Beede that year, as he struggled to a 5.08 ERA (82 ERA+) with a nearly identical 5.03 FIP in 117 innings of work split between 22 starts and a pair of bullpen outings.

Tommy John surgery wiped out Beede’s 2020 season and the majority of his 2021 campaign as well, leaving him to record just one inning of work in the majors that year. Once he properly returned to the big leagues in 2022, Beede made just six appearances with the Giants before he was designated for assignment by the club. The right-hander eventually landed in Pittsburgh as a long reliever and swingman, though he struggled to a 5.23 ERA and 4.89 FIP in 51 2/3 innings of work for the club. That performance wasn’t enough to earn him a spot on the 2023 Pirates, but he did receive some overseas interest and wound up signing with the Yomiuri Giants in Nippon Professional Baseball for the 2023 season.

Beede looked solid in Japan with a 3.99 ERA in 49 2/3 innings of work, albeit while striking out just 16.4% of opponents. That solid performance overseas was enough to earn him another shot stateside, and he signed on with the Guardians on a minor league deal in January of last year. Beede was impressive enough to make the club’s Opening Day roster last year, but he struggled out of the gate and posted an ugly 8.36 ERA in 14 innings of work. While his 26.5% strikeout rate in that time was a strong one, lackluster control held him back as he walked 13.2% of his opponents.

It seems unlikely that a club would offer Beede more than a minor league deal given his previous struggles at the big league level, but the former first-round pick’s previous success in Japan and solid strikeout rate with the Guardians last year are both potentially interesting data points for clubs to consider. Given the constant need for pitching depth in the modern game, it would hardly be a surprise if a club took a chance on a player like Beede who’s comfortable pitching both in the rotation and in multi-inning relief as needed. Given that the Astros figure to start the season with four starting pitchers on the injured list, a depth addition like Beede who could help hold down the fort while the club’s other arms get healthy could make some sense in Houston, while Beede would likely join a number of potential starting and long relief options fighting for a roster spot in Kansas City this spring.

Astros Have Reportedly Increased Offer To Bregman, Deal Still Seen As Unlikely

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Of MLBTR’s top 20 free agents, Alex Bregman is the only one who remains unsigned. The star third baseman is reportedly sitting on multiple six-year offers but hasn’t found a price to his liking.

One of those is from the incumbent Astros. Houston has reportedly had a standing six-year, $156MM offer for much of the winter. Jon Heyman of the New York Post writes that the Astros have bumped that number higher, though specifics on the new proposal aren’t clear. In any case, it doesn’t seem that it was a dramatic jump. Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 reports that Houston’s increased offer is still unlikely to result in a deal.

The Tigers are still pursuing Bregman after agreeing to a two-year deal with Jack Flaherty over the weekend. The Blue Jays have an opening at third base. The Red Sox have shown interest, though Alex Speier of the Boston Globe has suggested they were reluctant to go beyond four years. The Sox have stayed in contact with the Cardinals regarding Nolan Arenado as well. MLB.com’s John Denton writes that Boston would “prefer” to sign Bregman over an Arenado trade, though that’s difficult to envision unless they push the length beyond their comfort zone.

While players like Flaherty and Pete Alonso have moved to short-term deals to conclude extended free agent stays, Bregman still seems committed to a longer contract. Agent Scott Boras said as much last month. Heyman writes that Bregman expects to sign for at least six years, though he has received offers on shorter terms.

The Astros dipped below the luxury tax threshold when they traded Ryan Pressly to the Cubs, offloading $8.5MM of his $14MM salary. RosterResource estimates their tax number around $237MM, about $4MM below the base threshold. They’d need to go well beyond the tax line to sign Bregman but otherwise prefer to stay under the $241MM marker. If they don’t re-sign Bregman, they’ll have Isaac Paredes at third base. That’d likely leave Jose Altuve as the primary second baseman with a left field mix that could occasionally feature Altuve alongside Mauricio Dubón, Ben Gamel and Zach Dezenzo.

Poll: Who’s Winning The Offseason In The AL West?

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The calendar has flipped to February and the start of spring is just a matter of days away. While some notable free agents (including seven of MLBTR’s Top 50) remain unsigned, most clubs have already done the heavy lifting in terms of preparing their roster for the 2025 season. In the coming days, we’ll be taking a look around the league at which clubs have had the strongest offseason to this point. After the Mets, Cubs, and Dodgers have decisively won the polls covering the National League’s three divisions, the focus now shifts to the American League starting with the AL West.

The junior circuit’s west coast teams have been busy for the most part, perhaps reflecting the division’s tightly contested nature. A three-way race for the AL West came down to the final day of the 2023 season, and despite the Astros’ division title, the Rangers were the ones to be crowned World Series champions. In 2024, Houston’s long reign over the division started showing signs of cracks as they struggled out of the gate, won “just” 88 games (down by their standards) and were bounced from the playoffs in the AL Wild Card Series.

Which team has done the best job setting themselves up for 2024? Teams are listed in order of their 2024 record:

Houston Astros

The winds of change are blowing through Houston, and they’ll enter 2025 with a significantly reshaped roster. The most notable move this winter was to ship star outfielder Kyle Tucker to Chicago ahead of his final season under team control. Losing a player of Tucker’s caliber is always a brutal blow, but Houston did fairly well in the trade. They not only added a new top prospect in third baseman Cam Smith, but they also managed to bring in All-Star third baseman Isaac Paredes and bolster their rotation depth with right-hander Hayden Wesneski.

The additions of Paredes and Wesneski have patched holes left by the departures of Alex Bregman and Justin Verlander in free agency, though the club has apparently not completely closed the door on a reunion with Bregman. Meanwhile, the need at first base caused by Jose Abreu’s dramatic decline was filled by the addition of three-time Gold Glove winner Christian Walker. Solid as those moves have been, though, the Astros have subtracted more than they’ve added. Ryan Pressly, Yusei Kikuchi, and Jose Urquidy are no longer with the club, and the Astros’ replacement for Tucker as a left-handed outfield bat to this point appears to be a reunion with journeyman Ben Gamel.

Seattle Mariners

Seattle has had the quietest offseason in the division despite typically being one of the most active teams on the trade market. Rumors of a Luis Castillo deal have not come to fruition, and trade targets to bolster the club’s lackluster infield such as Nico Hoerner, Alec Bohm, and Triston Casas have all remained with their current teams. The Mariners’ lack of activity on the trade market has led them to make mostly ancillary moves. As ownership has scaled back the budget substantially, the Mariners have re-signed Jorge Polanco and added Donovan Solano for a combined $11.25MM. Their only other additions have been minor trades for players with minimal big league experience like Austin Shenton and Miles Mastrobuoni.

Texas Rangers

The Rangers’ front office has had a tall order placed in front of them this winter: navigate under the luxury tax while supplementing an offense that struggled last year and completely rebuilding a pitching staff that saw seven major pieces reach free agency. They’ve most succeeded in those goals. Robert Garcia, Chris Martin, Jacob Webb, Shawn Armstrong, and Hoby Milner were all brought in to help patch up one of the league’s weaker bullpens. The club parted with first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to bring Garcia into the fold, but his bat has been effectively swapped out for free agent pickup Joc Pederson and trade acquisition Jake Burger in trade.

Meanwhile, the club added some pop behind the plate by pairing Kyle Higashioka with Jonah Heim after Heim struggled through a down season offensively last year. The Rangers managed to keep Nathan Eovaldi on a three-year deal despite the soaring cost of starting pitching. Whether these additions will be enough to make up for the losses of Lowe, Kirby Yates, David Robertson, Jose Leclerc, Andrew Heaney and Max Scherzer remains to be seen.

Athletics

After shuttering the Coliseum and departing Oakland for a temporary stay in West Sacramento, the A’s have begun to spend more aggressively than they have in years. The club locked up breakout slugger Brent Rooker for the next five seasons on a $60MM extension and has been active both the trade and free agent markets. The A’s signed Luis Severino to a club-record three-year, $67MM deal while also agreeing to deals with third baseman Gio Urshela, former Rangers closer Jose Leclerc and lefty T.J. McFarland. On the trade market, they added southpaws Jeffrey Springs and Jacob Lopez in a deal with the Rays that saw them surrender Joe Boyle, their Competitive Balance Round A pick, and two prospects.

Los Angeles Angels

After narrowly avoiding the first 100-loss season in franchise history, the Angels were heavily active in the early stages of the offseason. They acquired slugger Jorge Soler in a trade with the Braves on day one of the offseason, surrendering only non-tender candidate Griffin Canning. They added Scott Kingery in a cash swap with the Phillies shortly thereafter. The early days of free agency brought deals for Yusei Kikuchi, Travis d’Arnaud, Kyle Hendricks, and Kevin Newman.

Things have been mostly quiet in Anaheim since that flurry of moves back in November, and it will surely take a strong, healthy season from Mike Trout in addition to steps forward for multiple youngsters if the Angels are going to contend for the postseason in 2025.

__________________________________________________________

The AL West appears to have moved towards parity somewhat this winter. The Astros have sacrificed maximizing their immediate odds at continued dominance in the name of longer-term stability. The Mariners opted to keep their elite rotation together rather than risk breaking up the group to strengthen a mediocre lineup. The Rangers have been very active in reshaping their roster in hopes of recapturing the glory of 2023, while the fourth- and fifth-place A’s and Angels have been surprisingly aggressive in their efforts to separate themselves from the AL’s cellar dwellers.

Of the five AL West clubs, which one has had the strongest offseason so far? Have your say in the poll below:

Astros Re-Sign Ben Gamel

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The Astros have re-signed Ben Gamel to a one-year major league contract. The Wasserman client is reportedly guaranteed a $200K signing bonus and would secure a $1MM base salary if he breaks camp. The Astros have a 40-man roster opening thanks to the Ryan Pressly trade, so no corresponding move was necessary.

GM Dana Brown has spoken all offseason about the team’s desire for a lefty-hitting outfielder. Gamel fits the bill and has some familiarity in the Houston clubhouse. The Astros snagged him off waivers from the Mets last August. Gamel provided a bit of a boost offensively, hitting .259/.377/.362 in 20 games. His season ended in mid-September when he broke his left fibula, sustained when he crashed into the outfield wall while tracking down a Mickey Moniak fly ball. Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports that the veteran outfielder is expected to be a full participant in Spring Training.

Gamel, 32, has appeared in the majors in nine straight seasons. He played somewhat regularly with the Mariners, Brewers and Pirates between 2017-22. He has spent the last two years as a depth option. He made six appearances for the 2023 Padres and combined for 38 games between the Mets and Astros last year.

In a little over 2300 career plate appearances, Gamel owns a .252/.334/.382 slash line that is roughly league average. He has middling power with a very patient plate approach. Gamel’s willingness to work deep counts has translated to a strong 10.5% walk percentage, though he has also fanned in around a quarter of his trips to the dish. He has been an excellent Triple-A performer throughout his career, hitting .303/.381/.468 across 420 games at the top minor league level.

While Gamel addresses Houston’s desire for a lefty-swinging outfielder, he doesn’t have huge platoon splits. He’s a career .252/.337/.387 hitter against righties and carries a .252/.324/.364 slash versus left-handed pitching. Gamel is a fringy runner who is limited to the corner outfield, where defensive metrics have graded him as a below-average defender.

Gamel should have a real opportunity to play his way into a decent amount of playing time in Houston. The Astros have a thin outfield following the Kyle Tucker trade. Defensive stalwart Jake Meyers is ticketed for regular run in center field. Chas McCormick will get the bulk of the playing time in right field. He’s looking to rebound from a career-worst .211/.271/.306 showing. Gamel may end up as the Opening Day left fielder. Manager Joe Espada said that he’d prefer to limit Yordan Alvarez’s outfield work to keep him healthy. Taylor Trammell, a career .167/.270/.363 hitter who took eight MLB plate appearances last year, projected as Houston’s left fielder before this signing.

Utilityman Mauricio Dubón will be in the mix at various infield and outfield positions. The Astros have kicked around the idea of giving Jose Altuve some left field work. If Houston re-signed Alex Bregman, that’d push Isaac Paredes to second base and move Altuve into left field every day. While that door remains cracked as long as Bregman remains unsigned, the Astros don’t seem to be confident in their chances of re-signing him. Their pursuit of Jorge Polanco as an infield fallback came up short. Houston could theoretically make Dubón a full-time second baseman and commit to pushing Altuve to the outfield, but that’d limit their versatility off the bench.

Offloading $8.5MM of Pressly’s $14MM salary dropped the Astros below the luxury tax line. RosterResource calculates their CBT around $237MM, making the assumption that Gamel will stick on the roster into the regular season and count for a $1.2MM tax hit. That puts the Astros around $4MM shy of this year’s base threshold. Owner Jim Crane has shown a willingness to exceed the threshold if it meant getting Bregman back at a favorable price — they’ve reportedly had a six-year, $156MM offer on the table for most of the winter — but it doesn’t seem the Astros want to go beyond the line for marginal upgrades.

Chandler Rome of The Athletic first reported that the Astros were re-signing Gamel. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that it was an MLB deal that included a $200K signing bonus and a non-guaranteed $1MM salary. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported the condition that the salary became guaranteed if Gamel were on the Opening Day roster.

Image courtesy of Imagn.

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.

Players Who Could Move To The 60-Day IL Once Spring Training Begins

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Most of the clubs in the league currently have a full 40-man roster, which means that just about every transaction requires a corresponding move these days. Some extra roster flexibility is on the way, however. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series but comes back when pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

Per R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports, most clubs have a report date of February 12th or 13th. The Cubs and Dodgers are a bit earlier than most, on the 9th and 11th, respectively. That’s due to the fact that those clubs are heading to Tokyo, with exhibition games in mid-March, followed by regular season games against each other on March 18th and 19th. All the other teams have Opening Day scheduled for March 27th.

It’s worth pointing out that the 60 days don’t start being counted until Opening Day. Although a team can transfer a player to the 60-day IL quite soon, they will likely only do so if they aren’t expecting the player back until end of May or later. A team also must have a full 40-man roster in order to move a player to the 60-day IL.

There are still plenty of free agents still out there, including big names like Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso, as well as Nick Pivetta, Andrew Heaney, David Robertson, Randal Grichuk, Kenley Jansen, Harrison Bader, Lance Lynn, Jose Quintana and many more. Perhaps the extra roster flexibility will spur some deals to come together in the next week or so. It could also increase the ability of some clubs to make waiver claims or small trades for players who have been designated for assignment.

Here are some players who are expected to miss some significant time and could find themselves transferred soon.

Angels: Robert Stephenson

Stephenson underwent a hybrid Tommy John surgery with internal brace in late April. Given the 14-plus months required to recovery from such a procedure, he’s not likely to be ready in the early parts of the 2025 season.

Astros: Cristian Javier, J.P. France, Bennett Sousa

Javier underwent Tommy John surgery in June and is targeting a return in the second half of 2025. France is recovering from shoulder surgery and hoping to return in July. Sousa’s timeline is less clear but he underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in April. Other possibilities include Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr., who are expected to start the season on the IL but returning in April or May still seems possible.

Athletics: Luis Medina, Ken Waldichuk

Medina underwent Tommy John surgery in August and Waldichuk in May. Medina might miss the entire season while Waldichuk is likely to miss a few months at least.

Blue Jays: Angel Bastardo, Alek Manoah

The Jays grabbed Bastardo from the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft in December, even though he had Tommy John surgery in June. Manoah also had Tommy John around that time and is hoping to be back by August.

Braves: Joe Jiménez

Jimenez had knee surgery in November with a timeline of eight to twelve months, so he might miss the entire season. Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. are also possibilities, though those will be more borderline. Strider had internal brace surgery in April, so returning in May is somewhat possible. Acuña is recovering from a torn ACL last year and it’s possible he’ll miss the first month or so of the season. Given how important both of those players are, Atlanta probably won’t put them on the 60-day IL unless it’s 100% certain that they can’t come back in the first 60 days of the season.

Brewers: Robert Gasser

Gasser had Tommy John surgery in June and will be looking at a late 2025 return even in a best-case scenario.

Diamondbacks: Kyle Nelson

Nelson’s timeline is unclear, but he underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in May and missed the remainder of the 2024 season.

Dodgers: Gavin Stone, Brusdar Graterol, River Ryan, Kyle Hurt, Emmet Sheehan

Stone underwent shoulder surgery in October that will cause him to miss the entire year. Graterol also underwent shoulder surgery and isn’t expected back until the second half of 2025. Each of Ryan, Hurt and Sheehan required Tommy John surgery in 2024: Ryan in August, Hurt in July and Sheehan in May.

Guardians: Sam Hentges, David Fry, Shane Bieber, Trevor Stephan

Hentges required shoulder surgery in September, with an expected recovery timeline of 12 to 14 months. Fry underwent UCL surgery in November with a more fluid timeline. He won’t be able to throw at all in 2025 but could be cleared for designated hitter action six to eight months from that surgery. Bieber is perhaps a borderline case, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in April. Given his importance, the Guards may not transfer him to the 60-day IL until it’s assured that he won’t be back in the first 60 days of the season. Stephan underwent Tommy John surgery in March and perhaps has a chance to avoid the 60-day IL, depending on his progression.

Mariners: Matt Brash, Jackson Kowar

Brash underwent Tommy John surgery in May. Given the typical 14-month recovery timeline from that procedure, he would be looking at a midsummer return. However, it was reported in November that he’s ahead of schedule and could be back by the end of April. That’s an optimistic timeline but the Mariners will probably hold off moving him to the 60-day IL until the door is closed to an early return. Kowar underwent Tommy John in March, so an early return in 2025 is possible for him, depending on how his recovery is going.

Marlins: Braxton Garrett, Eury Pérez

Garrett just underwent UCL surgery last month and is going to miss the entire 2025 season. Pérez underwent Tommy John surgery in April of last year and will miss at least part of the beginning of the 2025 campaign.

Mets: Christian Scott

Scott required a Tommy John surgery and internal brace hybrid procedure in September and will likely miss the entire 2025 season.

Nationals: Josiah Gray, Mason Thompson

Gray required a Tommy John surgery and internal brace hybrid procedure in July, meaning he’ll miss most or perhaps all of the 2025 season. Thompson required Tommy John surgery in March, so he has a better chance to make an early-season return if his recovery is going well.

Orioles: Kyle Bradish, Tyler Wells

Bradish and Wells each required UCL surgery in June, so they’re both slated to miss the first half of the upcoming campaign.

Padres: Joe Musgrove

Musgrove had Tommy John surgery in October and will therefore miss the entire 2025 season. However, the Padres only have 36 guys on their 40-man roster at the moment, so they’ll need to fill those spots before moving Musgrove to the 60-day IL.

Pirates: Dauri Moreta

Moreta required UCL surgery in March, so an early-season return is possible if his rehab is going well, though he could end up on the 60-day if the club goes easy with his ramp-up or he suffers any kind of setback.

Rangers: Josh Sborz

Sborz underwent shoulder surgery in November and is expected to miss the first two to three months of the upcoming season.

Rays: Nate Lavender, Ha-Seong Kim

The Rays took Lavender from the Mets in the Rule 5 draft, even though he had Tommy John in May and will miss the start of the season. Kim’s status is more up in the air after he had shoulder surgery in October. Various reports have suggested he could return anywhere from April to July. The Rays made a sizable investment in Kim, their largest ever for a position player, so they probably won’t shelve him until they get more clarity on his status.

Red Sox: Patrick Sandoval, Garrett Whitlock, Chris Murphy

Sandoval had internal brace surgery in June of last year and should miss the first half of the season. Whitlock had the same surgery in May, so he could have a bit of a better chance to return in the first 60 days of the season. Murphy underwent a fully Tommy John surgery in April and will certainly miss the beginning of the upcoming season. Another possibility is Lucas Giolito, who had internal brace surgery in March, though he expects to be ready by Opening Day.

Reds: Julian Aguiar, Brandon Williamson

Aguiar underwent Tommy John surgery in October and Williamson in September, so both are likely slated to miss the entire 2025 season.

Tigers: Sawyer Gipson-Long

Gipson-Long underwent internal brace surgery in April. On top of that, he underwent left hip labral repair surgery in July, with the club hoping to address both issues at the same time. It seems likely that he’ll miss some of the early 2025 schedule, but his IL placement will depend on how he’s been progressing.

White Sox: Jesse Scholtens

Scholtens underwent Tommy John surgery in early March. Whether he goes on the 60-day IL or not will depend on how he’s progressed since then and when the White Sox expect him back.

Yankees: Jonathan Loáisiga

Loáisiga underwent internal brace surgery in April, so he could potentially be back on the mound early in the 2025 season. It was reported in December that the Yankees are expecting him to be in the bullpen by late April or early May, so he’ll only end up on the 60-day IL if he suffers a bit of a setback.

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