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Angels Re-Sign J.D. Davis To Minor League Deal

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Infielder J.D. Davis is returning to the Angels, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post. It’s a minor league deal, per Sam Blum of The Athletic. He had been designated for assignment by the Halos earlier this week. According to his transactions tracker at MLB.com, he was outrighted to Triple-A but elected free agency. Now it seems he has circled back to the Angels on a fresh pact.

Davis, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Angels in the winter. He hit .297/.357/.486 in ten Triple-A games before getting called up to the big leagues when Yoán Moncada landed on the injured list. The team didn’t use Davis much, sending him to the plate just nine times in almost three weeks on the roster before he was designated for assignment.

The upside with Davis is that he’s capable of providing strong offense. From 2019 to 2023, he hit 63 home runs in 1,804 plate appearances. His 27.4% strikeout rate was high but he walked at a strong 10.2% pace. The overall result was a combined .268/.352/.443 batting line for those years, production which led to a 119 wRC+. He did so while moving between third base, first base and left field, though he was only really close to an average fielder at first.

The past year-plus has been a bit challenging, however. He and the Giants went to an arbitration hearing in the 2023-24 offseason. Davis filed at $6.9MM and the team at $6.5MM, with the arbiter eventually choosing the player’s side. Arbitration salaries determined by a hearing are not fully guaranteed, so the Giants put Davis on waivers and released him after signing Matt Chapman to take over at third base. Davis collected about $1.11MM in termination pay and went to the open market.

He landed a new deal with the Athletics, one that guaranteed him $2.5MM, making up some of the money he lost from the shenanigans with the Giants. However, his tenure in Oakland was interrupted by a right adductor strain. He was later flipped to the Yankees but hit the IL with that club as well, due to an illness. He was eventually cut loose by the Yanks and finished the year on a minor league deal with the Orioles.

He didn’t hit especially well last year around those IL stints, producing a combined .218/.293/.338 line and 86 wRC+. He’s not a strong defender at third and isn’t a threat on the bases, so he doesn’t have much value when he’s not hitting. That’s surely why he had to settle for a minor league deal with the Halos heading into this year. Dating back to the start of 2024, Davis has a .212/.283/.325 line, which isn’t great. However, that’s a fairly small sample of 166 plate appearances while bouncing around to different clubs and battling injuries.

The Angels don’t have much certainty at the infield corners. They have Nolan Schanuel and Luis Rengifo taking the regular playing time at first and third respectively, but neither is having a great season. Rengifo is also capable of playing other positions. Tim Anderson and Kevin Newman are on the roster as bench infielders but Newman is mostly a middle infield guy while Anderson has only ever played up the middle. Newman has also never been a great hitter while Anderson is a few years removed from being productive at the plate. First baseman Niko Kavadas has just 30 games of major league experience.

Davis will head to Salt Lake and try to get into a groove for the first time in a while. As he does that, he’ll provide the Halos with a bit of extra depth at the infield corners and try to earn his way back to the big leagues.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Angels Place Mike Trout On 10-Day Injured List

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May 2: The Angels formally announced that Trout has been placed on the 10-day IL, retroactive to May 1. First baseman Niko Kavadas has been recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake in a corresponding move.

May 1: The Angels are placing veteran star Mike Trout on the injured list, Ron Washington told reporters (including Sam Blum of The Athletic) after tonight’s game against the Tigers. Trout is dealing with a bone bruise on his left knee, though Washington emphasized that the injury is not considered “too serious” and that there’s been no structural damage to the 33-year-old’s knee. As noted by ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez, Trout suffered multiple meniscus tears in different parts of his left knee last year that required two separate surgical procedures. That’s the knee which he’s currently suffering from a bone bruise on.

While the fact that Trout’s ailment isn’t considered serious by Angels brass is at least somewhat encouraging, it’s hard to expect fans to take much solace in that given Trout’s lengthy injury history. Trout played just 29 games last year due to those aforementioned meniscus surgeries, and missed all but 36 games of the 2021 season due to a calf strain. He played in just 82 games in 2023 due to a hamate fracture, and the closest thing to a healthy season Trout has put together in this decade was his 2022 campaign where he played 119 games. Even that year, however, he was still sidelined for significant time due to back issues.

It’s a run of various injuries that now spans half a decade, and that lack of time on the field has knocked Trout off his pedestal as the game’s consensus top talent after holding that position virtually unchallenged for a decade. The 11-time All-Star and 3-time AL MVP’s numbers speak for themselves, as he’s a career .297/.408/.579 hitter with 387 homers, 214 stolen bases, 85.8 bWAR and 85.7 fWAR over the course of his 15-year major league career. This year, the Angels made the decision to move Trout off of his native center field and into right field in order to hopefully help him stay fresher and avoid injuries. Despite that change, Trout’s first trip to the injured list of the year comes with just 29 games under his belt, the exact same number he finished the 2024 season with.

In previous years, Trout has maintained superstar-level production even in seasons abbreviated by injury. While he was on the field for just 266 of Anaheim’s 648 games from 2021 to 2024, he did slash an incredible .276/.376/.575 (160 wRC+) and accumulate 12 fWAR across those 266 games. That’s not been the case this year, however. In 121 trips to the plate, Trout has actually been slightly below league average with a 96 wRC+. While he’s clobbered nine homers and walked at a healthy (if diminished) 9.9% clip, Trout’s elevated 29.8% strikeout rate and shockingly low .159 BABIP have left him hitting just .187 with a .264 on-base percentage. If he were to play a full season, Trout surely wouldn’t maintain that unbelievably low BABIP and would enjoy enough positive regression to be an above-average overall hitter, but the elevated strikeouts and decreased walks are a legitimate cause for concern about his ability to remain a superstar even if he were to stay on the field for a full campaign.

Of course, all of that will remain largely speculative until Trout gets back on the field for a significant period of time. While the club terming the issue a bone bruise seems to suggest that he’ll be able to come back relatively quickly, it’s a diagnosis that comes with a lot of variability in terms of timetable. On the more optimistic side of things, Cody Bellinger missed about a month when he suffered a bone bruise with the Cubs back in 2023. More concerning are the cases of Anthony Rendon in 2023 and Kyle Tucker last season.

Rendon fouled a ball off his left leg on July 4 two years ago and missed the remainder of the season with what the Angels termed a bone bruise despite the fact that Rendon himself told reporters he had actually been diagnosed with a fractured tibia. A similar situation played out elsewhere in the AL West between Tucker and the Astros last year, where Tucker missed just over three months due to what Houston initially termed a bone bruise but was later revealed to be a small shin fracture. It should be noted that smaller fractures like the ones Rendon and Tucker faced are no different from bone bruises in terms of the treatment prescribed, making the distinction immaterial in some ways.

Even so, that some players can come back from bone bruises after just a month while others could miss half a season or more due to a similar issue highlights the uncertainty that now faces Trout and the Angels. While it seems unrealistic to expect a firm timetable for Trout’s return given both that uncertainty and the veteran’s lengthy injury history, it’s fair to expect a significant absence at this point. Ryan Noda, Scott Kingery, and prospect Matthew Lugo are among the possible options who could be called upon to join Jo Adell and Taylor Ward in the Angels’ outfield mix while Trout is on the shelf, and switch-hitter Gustavo Campero could see more playing time after serving as the club’s fourth outfielder prior to Trout’s injury.

Carl Edwards Jr. Elects Free Agency

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Right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. has elected free agency, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been outrighted by the Angels to Triple-A Salt Lake a few days ago but exercised his right to reject that assignment and head to the open market instead.

Players have the right to reject an outright assignment if they have at least three years of major league service time or a previous career outright. Edwards qualifies on both counts, as a veteran with over seven years of service time, but also plenty of outrights during the ups and downs of his career.

It’s possible he will re-sign with the Angels on a new deal with renegotiated terms, such as opt-out dates, but he will also have the chance to speak to the 29 other clubs. Just under two months ago, he signed the Tigres de Quintana Roo in the Mexican League, though he landed a minor league deal with the Angels shortly thereafter.

He reported to Triple-A Salt Lake and tossed 11 2/3 innings over seven appearances with a 1.54 earned run average. His 25% strikeout rate, 5.8% walk rate and 58.8% ground ball rate were all strong numbers in that small sample. He got called up to the big leagues just over a week ago and threw three innings over two appearances. He allowed three earned runs on four hits and a walk, while striking out two.

Edwards has a lengthy track record, with a 3.59 ERA in 283 big league innings, though much of that was with the Cubs from 2015 to 2019. His ERA exploded to 8.47 in the last year of that stretch, then he struggled to get big league playing time in the next two seasons. He got another decent run with the Nationals in 2022 and 2023, with a 3.07 ERA over those two years, but a stress fracture in his shoulder ended the latter campaign in August. He only got into one major league game with the Padres last year.

Despite only having that one appearance in the big leagues last year, he had a passable 4.11 ERA in Triple-A. As mentioned, he got out to a decent start in Triple-A this year as well. With a number of pitchers around the league suffering injuries, Edwards should be able to get himself a minor league deal somewhere to add some veteran non-roster depth.

Photo courtesy of Matt Krohn, Imagn Images

Angels Designate J.D. Davis For Assignment

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The Angels announced that outfielder Gustavo Campero has been recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake. In a corresponding move, infielder J.D. Davis has been designated for assignment. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 38.

Davis, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Halos in the offseason. He cracked the big league roster earlier this month when Yoán Moncada landed on the injured list. Moncada is still on the IL but Davis has hardly played. Since being added to the roster April 10th, he has stepped to the plate nine times over five games. He recorded three strikeouts and one single, leading to a .111/.111/.111 line.

That’s a rough showing but also a tiny sample size. Regardless, the Angels seem to prefer other options for their infield mix. Luis Rengifo is covering third while Nolan Schanuel is the regular at first. Defensive specialist Kevin Newman is presumably the backup for those two at the moment, as no one else on the roster has much experience at those spots.

The Angels will likely put Davis on waivers in the coming days. He is coming off a down year, as he hit .218/.293/.338 for an 86 wRC+ in 2024, which is why he had to settle for a minor league deal coming into this year. But over the five prior seasons, he hit .268/.352/.443 for a 119 wRC+.

Campero is out to a strong start this year, hitting .333/.397/.472 in Triple-A. However, it’s unclear how he’ll get into the lineup as a corner outfield guy. The Angels have Taylor Ward and Mike Trout as their regulars in the corners and Jorge Soler acting as the designated hitter most days. Campero does have some catching experience but the Halos have Logan O’Hoppe and Travis d’Arnaud back there. Campero is a threat for double-digit steals, so perhaps he will be utilized as a pinch runner.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Angels Outright Carl Edwards Jr.

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Veteran righty Carl Edwards Jr. went unclaimed on waivers following his recent DFA and has been assigned outright to the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Edwards has enough service time to reject the assignment in favor of free agency.

The 33-year-old Edwards signed a minor league deal with the Angels and was summoned to the majors last week. He made two relief appearances and tallied three innings, during which he yielded three runs on four hits and a walk with two strikeouts. He’s pitched 11 2/3 innings in Triple-A Salt Lake already, allowing only two runs on 14 hits with a 25% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate.

Earlier in his career, Edwards was a top-ranked pitching prospect who eventually became a setup man with the Cubs. From 2016-18, Edwards was a fixture in Chicago’s late-inning mix, pitching 154 1/3 innings of 3.03 ERA ball with a gaudy 34.2% strikeout rate, 54 holds and a pair of saves.

Edwards has slipped into journeyman status since that brief peak. Following his departure from the Cubs, the lanky right-hander has pitched for seven different big league teams — never spending more than two consecutive seasons with any individual club. He’s accumulated only 124 innings since 2019 and posted a 4.28 ERA, 20.9% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk rate in that time.

If he chooses, Edwards can return to the open market and chat with other clubs about a potential deal. However, the Angels’ bullpen has been a mess this year, with a collective 4.75 ERA that ranks 26th in baseball. The Halos are currently without righty Ben Joyce due to shoulder troubles, and right-hander Robert Stephenson is still on the mend from last year’s Tommy John surgery. Kenley Jansen is the only truly established reliever in the Angels’ bullpen at the moment, though 2024 trade deadline pickup Ryan Zeferjahn, former starter Reid Detmers and 2024 draftee Ryan Johnson have all impressed in small samples thus far. Given the uncertainty in Ron Washington’s relief corps, Edwards may feel there’s a quick path back to the majors if he simply stays put with the Angels.

Braves Claim Ian Anderson

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The Braves and Angels announced this afternoon that Atlanta has claimed right-hander Ian Anderson off waivers from Los Angeles after he was designated for assignment by the latter club earlier in the week. This morning’s DFA of Jesse Chavez cleared a 40-man roster spot, so no corresponding move was necessary to complete the transaction.

Anderson, 27 next week, returns to Atlanta after spending just a month away from the organization. Drafted by the Braves third overall in the 2016 draft, Anderson made his MLB debut during the shortened 2020 season and made a huge impression over his first two seasons. in 30 starts between those two years, Anderson tallied 160 2/3 innings of work, pitched to a 3.25 ERA with a 3.80 FIP, and struck out 24.5% of opponents. He was also a key factor in both the club’s trip to the NLCS in 2020 and their World Series championship run the following year, giving him a tidy 1.26 ERA and 27.6% strikeout rate for his career in the postseason.

While the righty entered his age-24 season as a front-end starter for Atlanta and a beloved postseason hero, Anderson’s 2022 campaign did not go as planned. He struggled badly through 22 starts, posting a lackluster 5.00 ERA despite a decent 4.25 FIP in 111 2/3 frames. The righty was sidelined in August of that year and then went under the knife for Tommy John surgery in early 2023 before making an appearance. He missed all of that year while rehabbing, and made 15 starts at the minor league level last year, though he didn’t come back up to the majors despite his solid 3.44 ERA in 68 innings of work.

With Anderson out of options entering 2025, Max Fried and Charlie Morton having departed the club via free agency, and Spencer Strider ticketed to begin the season on the injured list, many penciled Anderson in for a starting job with Atlanta entering this season. Unfortunately for the righty, he looked wild in camp with a 24% walk rate and was designated for assignment ahead of Opening Day. He was then swapped to the Angels in exchange for Jose Suarez and headed to Anaheim for his first big league appearance in two and a half years. His brief stay in California did not go well, as Anderson struggled to a 11.57 ERA across seven appearances before being DFA’d again. Now back in Atlanta, he appears ticketed for a bullpen role once he rejoins the club in Colorado tomorrow. Righty Davis Daniel replaced Jesse Chavez in the bullpen as the primary long relief option earlier this morning, though it seems as though his stay with the Braves may be short now that Anderson is back in the fold.

Angels Designate Carl Edwards Jr., Select Jose Fermin

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The Angels announced four roster moves Saturday, including the news that right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. has been designated for assignment.  Right-hander Jose Fermin had his contract selected from Triple-A Salt Lake and southpaw Jake Eder was called up from Triple-A, while righty Victor Mederos was optioned to Salt Lake.

Edwards’ minors contract was only selected to the Halos’ roster on Wednesday, and he allowed three earned runs over three innings and two appearances during what might be a brief stint in the organization.  If Edwards clears waivers, he has enough MLB service time to reject any outright assignment in favor of free agency, though it wouldn’t be surprising to see Edwards quickly re-sign with the Angels on a fresh minors deal, or he might accept an outright assignment to Triple-A if he is comfortable in his current situation.

Now a veteran of 11 Major League seasons, Edwards has made seven or fewer appearances in five of those seasons, including a single-game cameo with the Padres in 2024.  Best known for his time in the Cubs bullpen during their last run of success and their World Series run in 2016, Edwards’ production fell off sharply from 2019-21 before he rediscovered some of his old form while pitching out of the Nationals’ bullpen in 2022-23.  A stress fracture in his shoulder prematurely ended Edwards’ 2023 campaign, and he has just the three MLB appearances in the last two years, though obviously there’s a ton of time left in the 2025 season for the veteran righty to find some more playing time.

Not to be confused with the Cardinals infielder of the same name, the Angels’ Jose Fermin is a 23-year-old righty who will be making his Major League debut whenever he appears in a game.  An international signing in 2023, Fermin isn’t considered one of Los Angeles’ top 30 prospects, but his relatively quick path to the majors does continue the Angels’ trend of rapidly promoting prospects.  Fermin is making the jump from Double-A to the Show without even any Triple-A experience, and Fermin’s Double-A tenure consists of just 10 innings over the last two seasons.

It could be that Fermin is just being called up for a cup of coffee and to give the Angels another fresh arm in the pen, yet the reliever will surely want to make a good impression even in what might be a brief stint in the big leagues.  Over 73 2/3 innings in the minors, Fermin has a 2.93 ERA, 10.33% walk rate, and a very impressive 35.33% strikeout rate, working exclusively as a relief pitcher.  As Baseball America’s Taylor Ward wrote in January, Fermin quickly put himself on the team’s radar with his strong work in 2024, and the righty’s arsenal includes an upper-90s fastball that can touch 99mph, and an outstanding slider with “double-plus potential.”

Angels Designate Ian Anderson For Assignment

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The Angels announced today that they have selected the contract of right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. and recalled righty Víctor Mederos. In corresponding moves. they optioned righty Michael Darrell-Hicks and designated righty Ian Anderson for assignment.

Anderson was just acquired from Atlanta prior to Opening Day. It was a one-for-one swap with lefty José Suarez going the other way. It seems neither club was particularly committed to the player it acquired. Suarez was designated for assignment by Atlanta on Monday and now the Angels have followed suit with Anderson just two days later.

The results from Anderson have not been good so far this year. A starter for most of his career, the Halos kept him in relief. He tossed 9 1/3 innings over seven appearances but he has allowed 12 earned runs in that time, with eight strikeouts and seven walks.

That performance has bumped him off the roster. Since he’s out of options, the Angels had to remove him from the 40-man roster entirely. They will now have a week to determine what’s next for him. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Angels could take up to five days to explore trade interest.

If any club wants Anderson, it would be based on his results from a few years ago. Over 2020 and 2021, he tossed 160 2/3 innings with the club, posting a 3.25 earned run average in that time. His 10% walk rate was a tad high but he also punched out 24.5% of batters faced and got grounders on 49.9% of balls in play. He also made four postseason starts in each of those seasons, helping Atlanta win the World Series in the latter season.

But it’s been rough sledding since then. His ERA jumped to 5.00 in 2022 and then he required Tommy John surgery in April of 2023, shortly after he had been optioned to the minors. He spent the rest of 2023 recovering. He returned to the mound last year and logged 68 innings over 15 minor league starts. He had a 3.44 ERA in those with a 23.8% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 51.9% ground ball rate.

He exhausted his options during that time, which has led to his current roster bubble situation. Perhaps he can find some club that’s willing to give him a roster spot and some time to get back on track. He hasn’t been good for a few years but health was at least part of that. He’s a former third overall pick, top prospect and even has some past major league success. If he lands somewhere, he has less than three years of major league service, meaning he could be retained for three years beyond this one.

As for Edwards, he’s a veteran journeyman. He actually signed with a Mexican League club in early March but the Angels signed him a couple of weeks later. He has tossed 11 2/3 innings over seven appearances for Triple-A Salt Lake with a 1.54 ERA. His major league career goes back a decade, with a 3.54 ERA in 280 innings, but it’s been almost two years since he was a regular. His 2023 season was ended by a stress fracture in his shoulder and he only made one appearance in the majors last year.

Last night, starter José Soriano only lasted 3 1/3 innings, forcing the Angels to lean heavily on the bullpen. That included Anderson and Darrell-Hicks, who have been swapped out for two fresh arms.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro,Imagn Images

Nicky Lopez Elects Free Agency

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April 20: Lopez has elected free agency, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

April 18: The Angels announced that shortstop Zach Neto has been reinstated from the injured list. It was reported yesterday that Neto was likely to be reinstated for this weekend. In a corresponding move, infielder Nicky Lopez has been designated for assignment.

Lopez, 30, signed with the Halos just before Opening Day. He had signed a minor league deal with the Cubs in the winter but opted out of that pact when he wasn’t going to break camp with the Cubbies.

For the Angels, they were looking to cover up for a number of infield injuries. Neto underwent shoulder surgery in November and was going to miss the early portions of the 2025 season. Third baseman Anthony Rendon required hip surgery in February and is going to be out of action for a while. To help fill in the infield depth, the club brought in Lopez, Yoán Moncada, Tim Anderson, Kevin Newman and J.D. Davis. Moncada has also been hurt and is currently on the IL due to a thumb sprain.

Despite all of the injuries, Lopez hasn’t really received any playing time. He has six plate appearances across five games, not reaching base in any of them. Anderson had taken over the shortstop position. He didn’t hit much but his glovework received decent grades in his small sample of work. With Neto’s return, he’ll be downgraded into a bench role anyhow. Luis Rengifo is holding down third while Kyren Paris is having a breakout, taking over the second base position while hitting .326/.426/.717.

Lopez already seemed somewhat superfluous on the roster, with Neto’s return squeezing him out even further. The Angels will now technically have a week of DFA limbo time to figure out what’s next, but Lopez has enough service time to reject an outright assignment, so he seems likely to be a free agent within a week’s time.

Generally speaking, he’s been a light-hitting glove-first infielder in his career. He has a .247/.311/.313 batting line in 2,352 big league plate appearances, with that line translating to a 73 wRC+. Reviews on his shortstop glovework are mixed as he has -11 Defensive Runs Saved but 33 Outs Above Average. He also has lots of experience at the other infield positions with good marks there, and some brief left field work as well.

Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images

Looking Ahead To Club Options: AL West

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Over the coming days, MLBTR will look at next offseason’s option class. Steve Adams highlighted the players who can opt out of their current deals, while we’ll take a division-by-division look at those whose contracts contain either team or mutual options. Virtually all of the mutual options will be bought out by one side. Generally, if the team is willing to retain the player at the option price, the player will decline his end in search of a better free agent deal.

We started with a look at the NL West yesterday. While every team in that division had at least one player whose deal contained a club or mutual option, its American League counterpart only has two teams that are slated to have any option decisions.

Athletics

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Houston Astros

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Los Angeles Angels

The Angels brought in Newman on a $2.75MM contract early last offseason. The contact-hitting infielder was coming off a solid .278/.311/.375 slash over 111 games in a utility role in Arizona. He added necessary shortstop depth with Zach Neto opening the season on the injured list after last fall’s shoulder surgery. Newman had a rough Spring Training, though, and the Angels went with minor league signee Tim Anderson as their primary shortstop until Neto’s return tonight.

Newman’s cold spring has carried into his early regular season work. He has managed three hits, all singles, without taking a walk in 23 trips to the plate. Newman has never walked much or hit for any kind of power, but he generally puts the ball in play and can move around the infield. Neto’s return means he won’t get much playing time at shortstop, while Kyren Paris and Luis Rengifo are respectively getting the majority of work at second and third base.

Note: José Quijada and Evan White each have club options on their respective contracts. They’ve both been outrighted off the 40-man roster and are very likely to be bought out. If they’re added back to the 40-man, the Angels would control both players via arbitration even if they decline the options.

Seattle Mariners

Garver’s two-year, $24MM contract remains the only multi-year deal that the Mariners have awarded to a free agent hitter under Jerry Dipoto’s leadership. It hasn’t gone well. While Garver’s injury history made that a somewhat risky investment, he looked like a good bet to hit whenever he was on the field. Garver was coming off a .270/.370/.500 showing for the Rangers during their World Series season, and he brought a career .252/.342/.483 batting line to T-Mobile Park.

The 34-year-old’s production tanked almost immediately. He managed a career-high 430 plate appearances last season, but it came with easily his worst rate stats in a full season. Garver hit .172/.286/.341 while striking out at a 31% rate. It wasn’t simply a product of Seattle’s pitcher-friendly park. His .186/.290/.324 line on the road wasn’t any better than his .153/.281/.363 showing at home. He doesn’t look to be on the verge of a rebound. Garver has begun this season with four singles, six walks, and zero extra-base hits across 34 trips to the plate.

The Mariners worked out an extension with the hard-throwing Muñoz during the 2021-22 offseason. He’d made all of one appearance in a Seattle uniform at the time. Muñoz had undergone Tommy John surgery while a member of the Padres in 2020. Seattle acquired him early in the rehab process. They believed he’d blossom into a late-game weapon. They were right.

Muñoz has rattled off three straight sub-3.00 ERA seasons since signing his extension. He has begun this year with 10 scoreless innings, recording 13 strikeouts with an AL-leading seven saves. He carries a 2.35 earned run average with a huge 34.7% strikeout rate over 184 frames in a Seattle uniform. This has quickly become one of the most team-friendly contracts in the game.

The option is essentially a lock unless he suffers a significant injury that’d cost him all of next season. The team has respective $8MM and $10MM options for 2027 and ’28, so they could keep him at below-market rates for three years. Next season’s option has a $6MM base value. It’d climb by $250K apiece if Muñoz finishes 20, 30, 40 and 45 games this year. He’s already at eight games finished and should get to 45 by season’s end. The option price will probably end up at $7MM, but it’s an easy call for the front office.

Polanco’s option begins as an $8MM mutual provision, but he can convert it to a player option if he hits a vesting threshold. If he reaches 450 plate appearances this season and avoids a lower half injury that’d require him to begin next season on the injured list — which is protection for the team given his recent knee concerns — it’d become a $6MM player option. Getting to 550 plate appearances this year would push the player option price to $8MM.

If Polanco does not hit the vesting threshold, it’d remain an $8MM mutual option with a $750K buyout. He has been dinged up by knee and side discomfort that has limited him but not prevented him from playing. The switch-hitting Polanco is currently unable to play the infield or hit right-handed in games. He’s a lefty-swinging designated hitter for now. Yet he’s been on such a tear that the Mariners will happily live with the limitations.

Polanco has connected on three homers and a pair of doubles through 13 games. He’s hitting .378. That not only leads the team but ranks sixth in the majors among hitters with at least 40 plate appearances. He’s obviously not going to keep up this pace, but Polanco was fairly consistently an above-average hitter during his run as Minnesota’s second baseman. The Mariners felt that last year’s career-worst production was attributable to the knee injury through which he played a good chunk of the season. Polanco has done his best to prove that right so far.

Texas Rangers

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