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Angels Re-Sign Bryce Teodosio To Minor League Deal

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The Angels have re-signed outfielder Bryce Teodosio to a minor league deal, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake for now but will presumably receive an invite to big league spring training.

Teodosio, 26 in June, got a brief stint on the club’s roster as the 2024 campaign was winding down. He was selected a week into September and got into five big league games for the club, striking out five times and getting one single in his 12 plate appearances. He then suffered a right middle finger fracture and landed on the injured list for the final weeks of the season. The Halos non-tendered him last month, sending him to free agency without being exposed to waivers, allowing them to quickly bring him back via this deal.

An undrafted free agent in 2021, Teodosio was signed by the Halos at that time and climbed their minor league ladder. He hasn’t done much to impress with his bat, slashing .229/.312/.358 in the minors over the past three years for a wRC+ of 76. However, he has shown an ability to steal bases, swiping 28 in 2022, 16 last year and 40 this year. He has also lined up at all three outfield spots. During his brief stint in the majors, Statcast put his sprint speed in the 98th percentile.

The Angels currently have Mike Trout and Taylor Ward as their two most established outfielders, both of whom are fairly injury prone. Trout has played more than 82 games in a season just once since 2019 and hasn’t topped 140 games since 2016. Ward just played 156 games in 2024 but that was his first time getting beyond 135 and just his second time in triple digits. Beyond that, players like Jo Adell and Mickey Moniak have spotty track records in terms of performance.

If the Halos need to call upon their outfield depth this year, Teodosio can perhaps carve out a bench role. The lack of offense doesn’t make him a great fit for regular playing time but his wheels could allow him to contribute as a pinch runner or defensive replacement.

Angels Notes: Detmers, Further Additions, Anderson

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With the Angels’ recent signing of left-hander Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year deal now officially announced, GM Perry Minasian spoke yesterday to reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register) about the club’s 2025 rotation and their plans for the rest of the winter.

Of note, Minasian suggested that with the addition of Kikuchi and fellow offseason addition Kyle Hendricks to the club’s rotation mix, the Angels currently have those two veterans, Tyler Anderson, and Jose Soriano penciled into the first four spots in their rotation for 2025. Notably, that leaves left-hander Reid Detmers fighting for a spot in the rotation alongside less established arms like Chase Silseth and Jack Kochanowicz. 2024 was a brutal season for Detmers, as the lefty surrendered a disastrous 6.70 ERA across 17 big league starts.

Weak as that production was, however, Detmers’s underlying metrics suggest his performance may have been slightly better than it looks on paper. His 27.9% strikeout rate was actually the best of his career, while his 9.7% walk rate was certainly elevated, but more or less in line with his 2023 performance. Detmers’s 4.72 FIP was “just” 13% worse than league average by measure of FIP-, and some metrics were even more bullish on his underlying numbers. His 3.86 xFIP was actually 6% better than league average, and a 3.77 SIERA actually places Detmers 43rd among 138 starting pitchers who threw at least 80 innings out of the rotation this past season.

While underlying metrics that compared Detmers to Corbin Burnes (3.75 SIERA) and Gerrit Cole (3.79 SIERA) in 2024 certainly don’t tell the whole story by themselves, they do provide enough optimism about Detmer’s future that it’s a surprise to hear he isn’t guaranteed a rotation spot next year. After all, the lefty posted a solid 4.15 ERA and 3.97 FIP across 53 starts in 2022 and ’23, and is just a few years removed from being the Halos’ first-round draft pick when they selected tenth overall in 2020. With that being said, it’s easy to imagine Detmers’s performance after coming back to the majors back in September raising red flags in the front office’s mind. While he struck out an eye-popping 34.2% of opponents in five starts down the stretch, he also struggled badly with the long ball, surrendering 8 homers and an untenable 15.6% barrel rate.

Minasian also didn’t rule out making further additions to the club’s rotation. “We’ll continue to look, from a free agent standpoint, from a trade standpoint,” he said, as relayed by Fletcher. “If there’s an upgrade, from a rotation standpoint, we’ll look to do it.”

With that being said, it seems as though upgrades to the rotation may take a backseat to upgrading other areas of the roster as the Angels look ahead to the remainder of the winter. Specifically, Minasian noted that they’d like to add depth to their bench and bullpen while focusing on lengthening the lineup with another bat. The club has already added Jorge Soler as an everyday DH and Travis d’Arnaud poised to act as a backup to Logan O’Hoppe behind the plate, but holes remain in a lineup that posted just a 90 wRC+ that was 25th in baseball last year.

Nolan Schanuel, Luis Rengifo, and Zach Neto figure to have regular roles on the infield, with Schanuel in particular seemingly locking up first base. Neto is sure to be the everyday shortstop when healthy, but he could miss the start of the season after going under the knife earlier this month. Kevin Newman and Scott Kingery have already been brought in to shore up the club’s infield depth on the bench, but another infield bat could help lessen the club’s reliance on oft-injured Anthony Rendon while also backing up Neto early in the season.

There’s also room in the outfield for another bat. Taylor Ward figures to be the club’s everyday left fielder, and Mike Trout will of course be an everyday player in the outfield when healthy enough to take the field. Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell currently figure to platoon in right field when everyone’s healthy, but upgrading that spot in the lineup could improve the roster, particularly if the addition was capable of playing center at least occasionally to lessen the defensive workload on Trout.

One other possibility Fletcher floats is the Angels considering a trade of Anderson. Anderson came up in the rumor mill ahead of the trade deadline over the summer, but no deal ultimately came together as the Angels reportedly preferred to hold onto players controlled beyond the 2024 season. Given that hesitance just a few months ago, it’s unclear if trading Anderson is something the Halos would seriously consider this winter, and it would hardly be a surprise to see him stay put.

The veteran southpaw is entering the final year of his contract with the Angels in 2025 following a decent season in 2024 where he posted a solid 3.81 ERA despite lackluster peripherals. Even if clubs project him to post numbers closer to his 4.66 FIP and and 4.37 xERA next year, his ability to eat innings (179 1/3 frames across 31 starts in 2024) could make him an attractive back-of-the-rotation candidate to teams in need of pitching and a deal would clear the final year and $13MM of his contract off on the Angels’ books to address other areas of the roster.

Of course, moving Anderson would be a step backwards in terms of depth for an Angels club that has already parted ways with Griffin Canning and Patrick Sandoval this winter. Removing Anderson from the club’s rotation would leave them with Kikuchi, Hendricks, Soriano, and Detmers as their front four starters with Kochanowicz, Silseth, and depth options like Sam Aldegheri in the mix for the fifth spot. With that being said, it’s at least plausible the club could listen to offers on him if they were to land a third external starter to join Kikuchi and Hendricks in the Anaheim rotation next year, whether that be in trade or free agency.

Angels Sign Yusei Kikuchi

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The Angeles officially announced the signing of Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year deal on Wednesday afternoon. Kikuchi, a client of the Boras Corporation, is guaranteed $63MM. He’ll make even $21MM salaries over the contract.

Kikuchi, 33, spent nine seasons pitching for NPB’s Seibu Lions before he was posted for major league clubs prior to his age-28 campaign during the 2018-19 offseason. The lefty landed with the Mariners on a complex contract that guaranteed the southpaw $56MM over four years, with the fourth year being a $13MM player option that the Mariners could preempt by picking up a four-year club option worth $66MM.

Complicated as that contract was, however, Kikuchi’s time in Seattle was both disappointing and straightforward. The lefty struggled over his first two seasons in the majors, posting a lackluster 5.39 ERA and 5.17 FIP between the 2019 and ’20 seasons.

He managed to turn things around a bit in 2021, however, with a 4.41 ERA (96 ERA+) and a 4.61 FIP. While those numbers hardly jump off the page, Kikuchi was an All-Star in 2021 and looked dominant at times, with a 2.33 ERA and a 27.5% strikeout rate in an 11-start stretch from late April to early July. Kikuchi took a gamble and entered free agency despite his uneven season. That decision wound up paying off, as he would eventually sign with the Blue Jays on a three-year, $36MM contract. His time in Toronto started off much like his stay in Seattle, as he struggled badly in 2022 to the tune of a 5.19 ERA and 5.62 FIP in 100 2/3 innings of work split between the bullpen and rotation.

The lefty finally figured things out at the age of 32 last season, however, and showed off the consistent, mid-rotation production both the Mariners and Jays had dreamed on when signing him. In 32 starts for Toronto in 2023, Kikuchi pitched to a solid 3.86 ERA with a 25.9% strikeout rate against a 6.9% walk rate. That solid campaign seemed to tee the lefty up for another steady season in 2024, though he once again faced a number of ups and downs. Kikuchi’s time in Toronto this year saw him drastically underperform his underlying metrics, as he pitched to a lackluster 4.75 ERA despite his 26.2% strikeout rate and 6% walk rate both being improvements over the previous season. Despite that ugly ERA, the lefty had a 3.66 FIP, 3.51 SIERA, and 3.43 xFIP during his 22 starts with the Blue Jays this year.

Those exciting peripherals surely helped convince the Astros to package youngsters Jake Bloss, Joey Loperfido, and Will Wagner in a trade with the Jays that brought Kikuchi to Houston for the stretch run. That was a hefty price to pay for a rental, but the lefty made good on his price tag with ten dazzling starts for the Astros following the trade deadline. He racked up 60 innings of 2.70 ERA ball, struck out a whopping 31.8% of opponents while walking just 5.9%, and improved his overall season numbers to a league average 4.05 ERA with a 3.46 FIP that was good for the 16th-best mark among all qualified big leaguers this year, sandwiched comfortably between top free agent starters Max Fried (3.33) and Jack Flaherty (3.48).

Now, the Angels are betting on those excellent peripherals just as their division rivals in Houston did over the summer. Amidst a busy November where they’ve already struck early to land Jorge Soler, Travis d’Arnaud, Kevin Newman, and Kyle Hendricks via trade and free agency, the club has now gone out of its typical comfort zone to sign Kikuchi to the largest guarantee the Angels have given a free agent starter since right-hander C.J. Wilson’s five-year, $77.5MM deal in 2011. Kikuchi is just the second starter the club has signed to a multi-year pact since then, joining future rotation-mate Tyler Anderson. Kikuchi, Anderson, and Hendricks figure to create a veteran nucleus for Anaheim’s starting staff next year that could help to take pressure of younger arms such as Reid Detmers, Chase Silseth, and Jack Kochanowicz.

While Kikuchi’s up-and-down performance may cause his new deal to raise some eyebrows, the pact is right in line with the $60MM over three years that MLBTR predicted for the lefty on our annual Top 50 MLB free agents list. Kikuchi ranked 12th overall and 6th among starters on that list, placing him firmly behind top-of-the-class arms like Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell, and Fried but in a similar conversation as fellow southpaw Sean Manaea among the better mid-tier options on the market. Notably, Kikuchi was unencumbered by a Qualifying Offer after being rendered ineligible by the midseason trade that shipped him to Houston. That surely made him more attractive to an Angels club that has relied heavily on the draft in recent years while fast-tracking players such as Nolan Schanuel, Zach Neto, and Ben Joyce to the majors.

Prior to signing with Anaheim this morning, Kikuchi had been connected to the Cubs in free agency as the club seemingly plans to focus on the mid-tier of the starting pitching market this winter with a preference towards hurlers not encumbered by a QO. The Braves and Rangers are among the other teams rumored to be shopping in a similar tier of the market, and any team that missed out on Kikuchi should still have a few options at their disposal this winter. Flaherty, Nathan Eovaldi, Matthew Boyd, and Andrew Heaney are among the pitchers remaining unencumbered by the QO expected to land multi-year deals, and interesting one-year options such as Walker Buehler and Max Scherzer also remain on the table.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported the terms.

MLBTR Podcast: Yusei Kikuchi, The Aggressive Angels, And The Singer/India Trade

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

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

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • For the Juan Soto sweepstakes, will agent Scott Boras just ask each club for its best offer? Or tell each club what others are offering to try to spur a bidding war? (20:45)
  • The Athletics are reportedly trying to have a $100MM payroll in 2025. Please come up with a plan to help them spend that money. (25:05)
  • It seems that third base is going to shape the destiny of the 2025 Mariners. How soon will they get over themselves and sign Alex Bregman or another top free agent? (29:40)
  • What do you think of the Nationals’ decision to non-tender Kyle Finnegan? (34:15)
  • What do you make of the recent reports that the Tigers and Tarik Skubal discussed an extension but didn’t get close? (38:20)

Check out our past episodes!

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

Angels Non-Tender Patrick Sandoval, Three Others

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The Angels announced that they declined to tender a contract to left-hander Patrick Sandoval, as well as infielder Eric Wagaman and outfielders Jordyn Adams and Bryce Teodosio.

Sandoval, 28, was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $5.9MM. However, he’s not a lock to pitch in 2025 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in late June. In the event that he doesn’t pitch at all, he’d likely have been ticketed for a repeat of that $5.9MM salary in 2026. By tendering him a contract with that type of expected payday, the Halos would’ve effectively been running the risk of committing $11.8MM over two seasons just to get Sandoval’s 2026 season, when he’d be on an innings limit after that UCL reconstruction. He’d been slated to reach free agency in the 2026-27 offseason.

While the health outlook is uncertain, Sandoval is clearly a quality arm when healthy. He ought to be able to find a modest two-year deal that’ll pay him to rehab in year one and hopefully pitch in year two of the contract. Just days before his injury, MLBTR’s Steve Adams took a look at the similarities between Sandoval and oft-cited trade candidate Jesus Luzardo, noting that the two are quite comparable from a statistical standpoint.

Dating back to 2021, Sandoval sports a 3.80 ERA, 22.6% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate in 460 innings of work. His command has never been great, but that walk rate is inflated by an anomalous 11.3% mark in 2023. Sandoval’s walk rate in the other three seasons has sat at 9.3% — not good, but not egregiously poor. The lefty sits 93-94 mph with his heater, misses bats at a roughly average level and piles up grounders at a strong 47.5% clip. He’s not a star, but Sandoval is a fine third or fourth starter for a competitive club.

Teodosio made his major league debut this year and played in five games. Adams and Wagaman were designated for assignment earlier this week. Any of that trio could potentially return on minor league deals. Sandoval is a near lock for a big league contract, potentially a backloaded two-year deal to cover the second season of his rehab.

American League Non-Tenders: 11/22/24

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The deadline to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7pm CT. Here’s a rundown of the players on American League teams that have been non-tendered today. This post will be updated as more decisions are revealed. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for all players eligible for arbitration last month. All players who are non-tendered before this evening’s deadline go directly into free agency, where they’re eligible to sign with any of MLB’s 30 clubs.

Onto the transactions…

  • The Angels announced that they have non-tendered left-hander Patrick Sandoval, infielder Eric Wagaman, as well as outfielders Jordyn Adams and Bryce Teodosio. You can read more about those moves here.
  • The Astros tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
  • The Athletics announced that they did not tender a contract to right-hander Dany Jiménez, who was projected for a $1MM salary. He posted a 4.91 in 25 appearances for the A’s in 2024. He struck out 21.4% of opponents but gave out walks at a 16.2% clip.
  • The Blue Jays are planning to non-tender righty Dillon Tate, per Ben Nicholson Smith and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet (X link). Tate was just claimed off waivers at the start of September and had a projected salary of $1.9MM. He’s a former fourth overall pick with some good numbers in his career but he missed most of 2023 due to injury and then posted a 4.66 ERA in 2024. The Jays are also non-tendering righty Jordan Romano, which you can read more about here.
  • The Guardians have non-tendered outfielder George Valera and right-hander Connor Gillispie, per Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com (X link). Both players were designated for assignment earlier this week.
  • The Mariners are going to non-tender outfielder Sam Haggerty, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (X link). He was limited to just eight games in 2024 due to a torn achilles. He was only projected for a salary of $900K but the M’s have decided to move on. They also non-tendered infielder Josh Rojas and righties Austin Voth and JT Chargois, moves that are covered with more depth here.
  • The Orioles plan to non-tender right-hander Jacob Webb, per Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner (X link). Webb was projected for a salary of $1.7MM next year. The righty tossed 56 2/3 innings for the O’s in 2024 with a 3.02 ERA and 24.5% strikeout rate, but an 11.4% walk rate.
  • The Rays announced they have non-tendered outfielder Dylan Carlson as well as left-handers Tyler Alexander, Colin Poche and Richard Lovelady. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relayed the news (X link) prior to the official announcement. Carlson once seemed like a building block in St. Louis but his offense has declined for three straight years now and he was projected for a $2.7MM salary. Alexander was projected for $2.8MM and had a 5.10 ERA this year. Poche had a solid 3.86 ERA but was projected for $3.4MM. Lovelady was designated for assignment a few days ago.
  • The Rangers tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
  • The Red Sox announced that right-handers Bryan Mata and Isaiah Campbell were both non-tendered. Those two had been designated for assignment earlier this week.
  • The Royals tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
  • The Tigers announced that they have non-tendered infielder Eddys Leonard as well as right-handers Ricky Vanasco, Brendan White and Wilmer Flores. Three of those four were designated for assignment earlier this week. Flores, the lone exception, is the younger brother of the same-named Wilmer Flores of the Giants. The younger Flores was once a notable pitching prospect but was injured for most of 2024.
  • The Twins tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
  • The Yankees have non-tendered infielder Jon Berti, per Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). He was projected for a salary of $3.8MM. He was injured for much of the year and only got into 25 games. The Yankees also announced that they have non-tendered left-hander Tim Mayza, who was projected for a $4MM salary but had a 6.33 ERA in 2024.
  • The White Sox will non-tender first baseman/outfielder Gavin Sheets, which MLBTR covered earlier today. The Sox later announced Sheets and also that they non-tendered right-hander Enyel De Los Santos as well. De Los Santos was projected for a salary of $1.7MM but posted a 5.20 ERA this year.

Cubs Acquire Matt Thaiss

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The Angels announced that they have traded catcher Matt Thaiss to the Cubs for cash considerations. The Halos had designated him for assignment last week. The Cubs have designated right-hander Trey Wingenter for assignment to open a roster spot, per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune on X.

Thaiss, 30 in May, leaves the Angels for the first time in his professional career. He was a first-round pick of that club in 2016, getting taken 16th overall. He was a catcher in college but the Angels announced him as a corner infielder when they drafted him, clearly more interested in his bat.

As he worked his way up the minor leagues, he did indeed show that his offense could be an asset. He hit .279/.363/.445 for a 117 wRC+ across multiple minor league levels from 2016 to 2019. However, his major league work hasn’t been nearly as impressive. At this point, he has 771 big league plate appearances with a .208/.313/.342 line and 83 wRC+.

That production would be unacceptable for a corner infielder but not bad by backup catcher standards. The Halos often had a crowded mix of guys vying for playing time as the designated hitter or the corner spots over the years, such as Shohei Ohtani, Albert Pujols, Anthony Rendon, Jared Walsh and others. That prompted them to move Thaiss back behind the plate in 2021. Most metrics view Thaiss as a subpar defender back there, perhaps not surprising for a guy who spent several years away from that spot.

Though he’s been a passable backup to Logan O’Hoppe in recent years, the Angels decided to move on. After Travis d’Arnaud was let go by Atlanta, the Halos quickly swooped in and signed him to a two-year deal. That nudged Thaiss down to #3 on the catching chart. Since he’s out of options, they designated him for assignment, which led to today’s deal.

For the Cubs, he’s a sensible landing spot for now, as they have question marks behind the plate. They released Yan Gomes in June, Tomás Nido in August and then outrighted Christian Bethancourt in November. Prior to acquiring Thaiss, Miguel Amaya was the only catcher on their 40-man roster. It was reported back in August that they would be looking for catching help this winter.

Amaya performed well down the stretch for the Cubs but was subpar for the season overall. He’s out of options and not far removed from being a top prospect, so he probably has a decent grip on a roster spot, but he’s far from established as a big leaguer. He has 170 major league games under his belt with a .227/.300/.357 batting line and 87 wRC+.

Perhaps the Cubs envision a platoon arrangement, since Amaya hits from the right side and Thaiss from the left, though Amaya has reverse splits in his short career so far. It’s also possible that the Cubs will sign a more established catcher and try to pass Thaiss through waivers later in the offseason. Danny Jansen, Kyle Higashioka and Carson Kelly are just some of the many backstops available in free agency.

Perhaps Moisés Ballesteros will be a factor as well, as he is considered one of the top 100 prospects in the game and has reached Triple-A. However, he has only 68 games at that level and is still just 21 years old, so keeping him on the farm a little longer is also possible.

Time will tell if the Cubs continue addressing their catching mix throughout the winter, but for now, they’ve taken a flier on a sensible stopgap. For what was surely a small amount of money in baseball terms, they’ve added an experienced catcher with an intriguing past pedigree, without doing anything to block the possibility of other moves down the road.

Wingenter, 31, was just claimed off waivers in August and made five appearances for the Cubs late in the 2024 season. They could have retained him for next season via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a $1.4MM salary next year. It seems they didn’t plan on doing that, so they have sent him into DFA limbo today. They will have a few days to see if there’s any trade interest, but he could end up back on waivers or non-tendered later this week. In his 95 1/3 major league innings, he has a 5.66 earned run average, 30.5% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate.

Angels Designate Jordyn Adams, Eric Wagaman For Assignment

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The Angels made a couple changes to their 40-man roster on Tuesday. Los Angeles designated outfielder Jordyn Adams and infielder Eric Wagaman for assignment. That opens a pair of 40-man roster spots for infielder Matthew Lugo and left-hander Jack Dashwood, both of whom are now ineligible for next month’s Rule 5 Draft.

Adams, 25, is perhaps the most well-known of the group. He was the 17th overall pick in the 2018 draft. The Halos bet on his speed and power potential, but the bat hasn’t progressed as hoped. Adams has a middling .252/.333/.377 batting line over six minor league seasons. That includes a .261/.333/.386 showing across 549 Triple-A plate appearances this year. That’s well below-average production in the Pacific Coast League. Adams has appeared in 28 big league games over the last two seasons, hitting .176 with a near-36% strikeout rate in sporadic playing time.

Wagaman had a nice season in the upper minors. Selected out of the Yankees organization in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft, he hit .274/.339/.469 between Double-A and Triple-A. That earned Wagaman, an Orange County native, a cup of coffee with the Halos. He hit a pair of homers with a .250/.270/.403 slash in 18 games. As a 27-year-old rookie who has never had much prospect fanfare, he had an uphill battle to holding his 40-man roster spot all winter.

Lugo, 23, is a former second-round pick of the Red Sox. He went unselected in last year’s Rule 5 before a breakout showing in the minors. The Puerto Rico native hit .287/.376/.578 with 17 homers in 79 games between the top two minor league levels. He’s one of four players the Angels acquired in the deadline deal sending veteran reliever Luis García to the Sox. Two others, Niko Kavadas and Ryan Zeferjahn, already made their MLB debuts late last season. Lugo could join them in Anaheim next year.

Dashwood, who turned 27 this week, was a 12th-round pick out of UC Santa Barbara in 2019. The 6’6″ southpaw spent most of this season on the minor league injured list. He ran a 15:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 10 innings at the Double-A level and punched out 17 batters in 10 frames during the Arizona Fall League. The Halos were concerned that another team would skip him past Triple-A and jump him to the majors, so they’ll give him a roster spot. He’ll probably open next year in the Triple-A bullpen.

Royals Have Shown Interest In Alec Bohm, Taylor Ward

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The Royals have reportedly spoken to the Reds about a trade involving Kansas City right-hander Brady Singer and Cincinnati infielder Jonathan India, but that’s just one of multiple pursuits for Royals general manager J.J. Picollo, it seems. Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports that while no deals are necessarily close as of this moment, the Royals have also spoken to the Phillies about third baseman Alec Bohm and to the Angels about outfielder Taylor Ward. Like India, both Bohm and Ward are right-handed bats with multiple seasons of club control remaining.

Bohm, 28, was the No. 3 overall pick back in 2018 and has settled in as a regular at third base in Philadelphia over the past four-plus seasons. He’s coming off an uneven 2024 season in which he was one of the game’s most productive hitters in April but followed it with five months of effectively league-average production. On the whole, he turned in a .280/.332/.448 batting line (115 wRC+). Over the past three seasons, Bohm has combined for a .278/.325/.427 slash, demolishing left-handed pitching along the way but producing at a roughly average clip against fellow righties.

Given his excellent bat-to-ball skills — 14.2% strikeout rate in 2024; 15.7% dating back to 2022 — Bohm is a sensible target for a Royals club that places a heavy emphasis on putting the ball in play. Kansas City had baseball’s third-lowest strikeout rate in 2024, and since 2021 only five teams have posted a lower collective strikeout rate than the Royals. Plugging Bohm in as a regular at third base would provide an offensive upgrade over slick-fielding Maikel Garcia, who’s arguably better suited as a utilityman, given his defensive chops.

Speaking of glovework, however, Bohm is something of a mixed bag on that front. The Royals have typically prioritized plus defenders in addition to their affinity for contact-oriented bats. Bohm has typically graded out as a poor defender at the hot corner, but he posted career-best marks in Defensive Runs Saved (0) and Outs Above Average (4) in 2024. If the Royals believe those gains can be sustained, he’d make all the more sense as a trade target.

Bohm is controlled for another two seasons. He’s projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $8.1MM in his penultimate year of arbitration eligibility in 2025. It’s a generally reasonable rate that shouldn’t be cumbersome, even for a mid-level payroll club like Kansas City. While the Royals have in-house options at third base (Garcia) and at second base (Michael Massey), their interest in India and Bohm suggests a desire to add at least one bat to that infield mix. First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino and, of course, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. aren’t going to be displaced, leaving second base or third base as the likely positions to be upgraded.

For the Phillies, trading Bohm wouldn’t be so much about shedding salary or moving on from an unproductive player as it would reimagining an offense that hasn’t gotten them over the hump in recent postseason trips. Bohm has hit well with men on base in recent seasons (hence consecutive 97 RBI campaigns) but offers average power and stark platoon splits. The Phillies, meanwhile, don’t have ample pathways to pursuing upgrades in the lineup. First base (Bryce Harper), shortstop (Trea Turner), designated hitter (Kyle Schwarber), catcher (J.T. Realmuto) and right field (Nick Castellanos) are all manned by expensive veterans. Third base (Bohm), second base (Bryson Stott) and the other two outfield spots (combination of Brandon Marsh, Johan Rojas and Austin Hays) are the primary areas where president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski can look to bring about some form of change.

As for Ward, he’s an on-paper trade candidate for an Angels club that just finished dead last in the American League West. However, owner Arte Moreno and GM Perry Minasian have both expressed a desire to put forth a competitive club next winter. Ward, coming off a .246/.323/.426 (111 wRC+) showing in 2024 and a .259/.338/.440 line (118 wRC+) since 2021, is seemingly a part of that vision. Few outsiders see a path to contention for the ’25 Angels, but the team’s actions thus far — trading for Jorge Soler and signing Travis d’Arnaud, Kyle Hendricks and Kevin Newman — suggest that they’re more focused on adding than on subtracting.

As MLBTR’s Anthony Franco explored last month, there’s a scenario where the Angels move Ward and still make an effort to compete. Ward could be flipped for rotation help — a potential match with the Royals — or traded for younger talent, with the Angels reallocating his would-be salary to other areas of need. Swartz projects Ward for a $9.2MM salary in 2025, which isn’t unreasonable for a player of his ability but also isn’t a raucous bargain. The Royals could plug Ward into left field, providing a stark upgrade over MJ Melendez, and pair him with defensive standout Kyle Isbel in center and rebound hopeful Hunter Renfroe in right field.

There’s no telling just yet how it’ll all shake out, but it seems Kansas City is quite active on the trade front at the moment. In addition to the bats they’ve targeted, the Royals have received interest from other clubs in each of the aforementioned Garcia, Singer, right-hander Alec Marsh and left-hander Kris Bubic. Picollo and his staff seemingly have plenty of potential concepts to explore, with the end goal of bolstering a currently top-heavy lineup a fairly obvious priority.

Angels Among Teams With Interest In Tomoyuki Sugano

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After 12 excellent seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano is expected to sign with a major league team. Sugano is a true free agent and thus does not need to be posted. He’s eligible to sign a major league deal with any club for any amount, with no release fee heading to his former club — the Yomiuri Giants. The Angels are among the big league teams with interest in the 35-year-old righty, Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports on the MLB Network (video link; Sugano talk beginning around the 2:55 mark).

A two-time winner of the Sawamura Award (Japan’s Cy Young equivalent), Sugano has flirted with the idea of a major league run before. He was posted by the Giants and gauged interest from MLB teams in the 2020-21 offseason but wound up staying put on a four-year, $40MM contract with opt-out clauses after each season (a massive commitment by NPB standards). Beyond the magnitude of that contract, Morosi points out that Sugano had other reasons for feeling committed to his NPB club; Sugano’s uncle, Tatsunori Hara, was in the midst of a 17-year run as the Giants’ manager. He stepped down after the 2023 season, however.

Sugano could perhaps have looked to test free agency last winter, but his 2023 season was cut short by an elbow injury. He began the season on the shelf and wound up pitching only 86 innings with a 3.14 ERA that’s still strong but a ways from his typical standard. There were no such issues in 2024. To the contrary, Sugano enjoyed one of the finest seasons of his career in 2024. The 6’1″ righty fired 156 2/3 frames with an immaculate 1.67 earned run average. His 18.2% strikeout rate doesn’t stand out, but Sugano’s 2.6% walk rate was sensational. He’s always had pinpoint command — Sugano has walked just 3.8% of opponents over the past three seasons and just 4.7% in his career — but a 2.6% mark is on another level even by his own lofty standards.

In many ways, Sugano makes sense as an Angels target in particular. The Halos clearly have a dire need for rotation help, but owner Arte Moreno has typically eschewed long-term deals — or even multi-year deals of any kind — for starting pitchers. The three-year, $39MM contract signed by Tyler Anderson two offseasons ago was the first multi-year deal the Angels had given to a free agent starting pitcher since Joe Blanton in 2012. The Halos haven’t gone beyond three years for a starting pitcher since signing lefty C.J. Wilson for five years and $77.5MM back in December 2011 (MLBTR Contract Tracker link).

Sugano, already 35 years old, isn’t likely to command a long-term arrangement. It’s possible a team could still put forth a multi-year offer, but given his age and lack of experience against big league pitching, a weighty long-term deal would be surprising. That generally meshes with Moreno’s free agent tendencies, and the Angels have sufficient payroll space to put together a compelling offer for Sugano on a one- or two-year arrangement. RosterResource projects a payroll of about $175MM right now. That’s roughly in line with where they ended the 2024 season, but Moreno has already stated this winter that his team’s payroll will increase in 2025.

As things stand, the Angels’ rotation is threadbare. They already signed veteran Kyle Hendricks on a one-year, $2.5MM deal in hopes that the soft-tossing righty could rebound after a disappointing end to his lengthy Cubs tenure. Joining him in the rotation will be the aforementioned Anderson and righty Jose Soriano, at the very least. The other spots are less concrete. Former first-rounder and top prospect Reid Detmers should get another look but spent much of the 2024 season in Triple-A after struggling in the majors. Righty Jack Kochanowicz posted a 3.99 ERA in 11 starts during last year’s MLB debut but did so with a 9.4% strikeout rate that stood as the lowest of the 541 pitchers who tossed at least 20 innings. Top prospect Caden Dana is largely ready for a look but will need to earn a spot in spring training.

The Angels have been among the most active teams in the still nascent stages of the offseason. In addition to signing Hendricks, they’ve acquired Jorge Soler in a trade with the Braves and given out big league contracts to free agents Travis d’Arnaud (two years, $12MM) and Kevin Newman (one year, $2.75MM). None of those register as major acquisitions, necessarily, but they’re indicative that Moreno and GM Perry Minasian are indeed aiming to add to the roster in hopes of beating expectations and emerging as a playoff contender next season, as they indicated last month.

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