American League Non-Tenders: 11/21/25
Every American League team has officially announced their non-tender decisions. It was a quiet evening in terms of subtractions, with only the Rangers parting with any marquee players. All players who were non-tendered are free agents without going on waivers. A few teams dropped pre-arbitration players from the back of the 40-man roster. It’s possible they preferred not to expose them to waivers and are hopeful of re-signing them to non-roster deals.
Here’s a full list of today’s activity in the AL, while the National League moves are available here. All projected salaries are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.
- The Angels announced they’ve non-tendered outfielder Gustavo Campero and catcher Sebastian Rivero. Campero is a depth outfielder who has hit .202/.272/.346 over the past two seasons. Rivero operated as the club’s third catcher for most of the season but spent the final few weeks on the active roster. Neither player had been eligible for arbitration. All their arb-eligible players were easy calls to retain.
- The Astros technically made one non-tender, dropping infielder Ramón Urías after he was designated for assignment earlier in the week. He’d been projected at $4.4MM.
- The Athletics officially non-tendered outfielder JJ Bleday, the club announced. He’d been designated for assignment on Tuesday, so this was inevitable unless they found a trade partner. Bleday had been projected at $2.2MM.
- The only non-tenders for the Red Sox were first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and reliever Josh Winckowski, each of whom had been designated for assignment on Tuesday. Lowe was projected at $13.5MM, while Winckowski was at $800K.
- The Guardians non-tendered outfielder Will Brennan and relievers Sam Hentges and Nic Enright. The latter had been designated for assignment on Tuesday. Hentges hasn’t pitched since undergoing shoulder surgery in September 2024. He underwent a right knee procedure a few months ago and will be delayed this offseason. Brennan only appeared in six MLB games this year and underwent Tommy John surgery while in the minors in June. He’d been projected at $900K.
- The Mariners non-tendered reliever Gregory Santos, reports Francys Romero. He’d only been projected at $800K, narrowly above the MLB minimum, so the move was about dropping him from the 40-man roster. Seattle acquired the 26-year-old righty from the White Sox over the 2023-24 offseason. He has only made 16 MLB appearances with a 5.02 earned run average over the past two years because of lat and knee injuries. Seattle also non-tendered relievers Trent Thornton and Tayler Saucedo (the latter of whom was designated for assignment on Tuesday). Thornton had been projected at $2.5MM and is coming off a 4.68 ERA through 33 appearances. He suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in August.
- The Orioles non-tendered swingman Albert Suárez, the team announced. Everyone else in their arbitration class was offered a contract, surprisingly including first baseman Ryan Mountcastle (as first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan). Suárez, 36, was a solid depth starter in 2024. He was limited to five MLB appearances this past season by a flexor strain but is not expected to require surgery.
- The Rangers non-tendered each of Adolis García, Jonah Heim, Josh Sborz and Jacob Webb. MLBTR covered those moves in greater detail.
- The Rays only non-tendered outfielders Christopher Morel and Jake Fraley, each of whom had been designated for assignment earlier in the week. Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times reported last night that the Rays were open to bringing back Fraley at a lower price than his $3.6MM arbitration projection.
- The Royals non-tendered outfielder MJ Melendez and reliever Taylor Clarke, per a club announcement. Melendez, who’d been projected at $2.65MM, was an obvious decision. The former top prospect never developed as hoped and is a career .215/.297/.388 hitter over parts of four seasons. Clarke isn’t as big a name but comes as the more surprising cut. He’d been projected at just $1.9MM and is coming off a 3.25 ERA with a 21.4% strikeout rate over 55 1/3 innings out of the bullpen.
- The Tigers are non-tendering utility player Andy Ibáñez, according to Romero. He’d been projected at $1.8MM. The righty-hitting Ibáñez had been a solid short-side platoon bat for Detroit between 2023-24. His production against southpaws dropped this year (.258/.311/.403), limiting his value. The Tigers optioned the 32-year-old to Triple-A in early June and kept him in the minors until shortly before the trade deadline. Detroit also dropped the six pitchers they’d designated for assignment earlier in the week: Tanner Rainey, Dugan Darnell, Tyler Mattison, Jason Foley, Jack Little and Sean Guenther.
- The only Twins non-tender was outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr., who’d been designated for assignment this morning to make room for the Alex Jackson trade. Everyone in the arbitration class was brought back.
- The White Sox non-tendered outfielder Mike Tauchman, as first reported by Bruce Levine of 670 The Score. The lefty hitter turned in a solid .263/.356/.400 line in 93 games this past season. Tauchman has gotten on base at plus rates in three straight years but was also non-tendered by the Cubs a year ago. The 34-year-old (35 next month) had been projected for a $3.4MM salary. The Sox also announced they’ve dropped lefty reliever Cam Booser and first baseman Tim Elko. Neither had been eligible for arbitration. The former posted a 5.52 ERA in 39 appearances after being acquired from the Red Sox last winter, while the latter hit .134 in his first 23 MLB games despite a 26-homer season in Triple-A.
- The Yankees announced five non-tenders. Relievers Mark Leiter Jr., Scott Effross, Jake Cousins and Ian Hamilton were all cut loose, as was pre-arbitration righty Michael Arias. Leiter, who’d been projected at $3MM, never clicked in the Bronx after being acquired at the 2024 deadline. He posted a 4.89 ERA in 70 innings as a Yankee. Hamilton, Effross and Cousins were all projected just above the MLB minimum but are cut to clear roster space. Hamilton was on and off the active roster and posted a 4.28 ERA in 40 big league frames this year. Effross was limited to 11 appearances and has been plagued by various injuries for the past three and a half years, while Cousins is working back from Tommy John surgery. Arias has never pitched in the big leagues and could be brought back on a minor league deal.
The Blue Jays tendered contracts to all unsigned players on the 40-man roster.
Angels Hoping To Add Center Fielder, Third Baseman
The Angels crossed one item off their winter to-do list last night, adding some potential rotation help by landing righty Grayson Rodriguez in a trade sending Taylor Ward to the Orioles. There’s still plenty of work to be done. The Halos were known to be seeking at least two starting pitchers this winter, and while Rodriguez technically counts toward that end, he’s coming off a season lost to injury and hasn’t pitched in a big league game since July 2024. He’s said to be healthy now, but even if that’s the case, the Angels can’t simply pencil him in for 30 starts next year.
Anaheim figures to add at least one more starting pitcher, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com, who adds that GM Perry Minasian is also on the hunt for upgrades in center field and at third base. A second base addition hasn’t been squarely ruled out, either. Minasian has already suggested that, all else equal, he’d prefer a new bat in the lineup to be left-handed. Following last night’s trade, he also suggested that moving Ward — and his projected $13.7MM salary — could allow the Angels to swim deeper free agent and/or trade waters.
“It’s not only acquiring somebody we feel like can impact the rotation, but freeing up money to maybe get into areas where we wouldn’t have been able to before,” Minasian said. Rodriguez, notably, is not yet arbitration-eligible and will thus make scarcely more than the league minimum in 2026.
At least one prominent name that fits with the Angels has already come off the board; Trent Grisham, the lefty-swinging center fielder, accepted his qualifying offer and will return to the Yankees next season. The free agent market still includes at least a pair of reasonably affordable names to consider in the infield and in center field: Jorge Polanco and Cedric Mullins. Both hit left-handed — Polanco is a switch-hitter — and both ought to be available for annual rates comparable to, if not lower than what Ward might’ve commanded in free agency.
If the Angels look to take a bigger swing, then Japanese star Munetaka Murakami stands as an option at third base, while Cody Bellinger looms as a viable center field candidate. Neither is a perfect fit. Murakami has significant swing-and-miss issues and is viewed as someone who’ll eventually need to move to first base. The Angels’ 27.1% team strikeout rate was already easily the highest in MLB last year. The Rockies (25.9%) were the only other team north of 25%. Bellinger doesn’t come with those same strikeout concerns (just a 13.7% rate in ’25), but he’s also been more of a part-time center fielder in recent years. He hasn’t played center regularly since 2022 with the Dodgers.
The trade market ought to present other opportunities. Boston’s Jarren Duran has plenty of experience in center field, though he’s primarily played left recently in deference to defensive wizard Ceddanne Rafaela. Cardinals infielder Brendan Donovan is no stranger to third base. If the Angels want to follow the Rodriguez mold and add a former top prospect whose stock is down at the moment, someone like D-backs center fielder Alek Thomas or Cardinals third baseman/second baseman Nolan Gorman could likely be had. (Gorman, again, comes with major strikeout concerns, though.)
Whichever path Minasian and his lieutenants opt to pursue, the payroll space should be there. With Ward no longer factoring into next year’s budget, RosterResource projects the Angels for a payroll around $166MM. That’s nearly $50MM shy of last year’s Opening Day mark. They’re also down to one more year of Anthony Rendon‘s ill-fated contract. After the 2026 season, the only players guaranteed anything are Mike Trout (signed through 2030) and Yusei Kikuchi (signed only through 2027).
While the Angels’ recent history of long-term deals is checkered at best, there’s room for the club to be aggressive both in terms of offers to free agents and taking on salary in trades. There’s no firm indication yet that they’ll pursue marquee names like Bellinger, Murakami, Alex Bregman, Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, Tatsuya Imai, etc. — but there’s also no real reason to think they can’t make competitive bids for at least one free agent from that bunch, based on the current state of the payroll.
Orioles Trade Grayson Rodriguez To Angels For Taylor Ward
The Orioles have traded right-hander Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels for outfielder Taylor Ward. The Angels have also announced the trade. Rodriguez missed the entire 2025 season due to multiple arm injuries. Ward will be a free agent after 2026.
On a day filled with minor deals and roster shuffling, Baltimore and Los Angeles saved the best for last. The Orioles are shipping out one of their most promising arms since the Dylan Bundy/Kevin Gausman era. Rodriguez was electric at times since his 2023 debut, but injuries have marred his career. The 26-year-old was sidelined with shoulder inflammation and a lat strain this past year. A shoulder injury cost him half of the 2024 campaign. Injuries in 2022 limited him to 75 2/3 minor league innings and potentially delayed his big-league debut.
Rodriguez is under team control through 2029. Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias told reporters back in September that the righty was expected to be ready for spring training. Last week, Elias told reporters, including Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner, that Rodriguez “provides a real wild card for us talent-wise.” Elias will now play that card, turning Rodriguez into a year of a dependable power bat.
Ward hit a career-high 36 home runs last season. Since becoming a regular in 2022, the 31-year-old has launched 98 homers with decent plate discipline and fine run production. Ward’s batting average slipped to .228 last season, but his slugging percentage jumped to a career-high .475. He drove in 100+ runs for the first time as a big leaguer, while scoring a career-best 86 times.
MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Ward to earn $13.7MM in his final year of arbitration. He was a first-round pick by the Angels back in 2015. Ward tore up minor-league pitching at each level, reaching Triple-A by 2018. He slashed a robust .352/.442/.537 with Salt Lake, earning a big-league callup at the end of that season. Ward scuffled in 40 games with the Angels and found himself back with the Bees. He bounced between both levels for a couple of seasons before finally cementing his spot with the big-league club in 2022. Ward broke out with 23 home runs over 135 games with the Halos, finishing his first full MLB season with a .281/.360/.473 slash (136 wRC+).
Ward began his career as a catcher but moved to the corner infield spots as he advanced in the Angels’ system. He played mostly third base in his early MLB years before permanently transitioning to the outfield in 2022. Ward spent some time in center and right field, but he’s played exclusively left field since 2023. He’ll enter an unsettled outfield mix that includes Colton Cowser, Tyler O’Neill, and Leody Taveras. Youngsters Dylan Beavers and Heston Kjerstad will also be involved, though the Ward addition will be another roadblock to consistent at-bats for them.
Ward’s departure leaves the Angels with Jo Adell, Jorge Soler, and some question marks in the outfield. With Mike Trout penciled in at DH, the outfield alternatives include Gustavo Campero, Bryce Teodosio, and Matthew Lugo. Top prospect Nelson Rada could also push for a roster spot. The Angels will be on the lookout for some center field help this winter.
The trade marks a surprising end to Rodriguez’s tenure with the club that selected him 11th overall in 2018. He quickly rose through the minors, with massive strikeout numbers propelling him to the top of prospect lists. MLB.com ranked Rodriguez behind only Adley Rutschman in Baltimore’s system back in 2022, while slotting him at sixth among all prospects. He was the top-ranked pitcher on the board.
Rodriguez did not hit the ground running in the big leagues during his debut in 2023, recording an ugly 7.35 ERA over his first 10 starts. He was sent back to Triple-A to regroup, and returned with a vengeance. The right-hander put up a 2.58 ERA across 13 starts after getting recalled. He cleaned up the control issues that had caused problems in his first stint and did so while striking out nearly a batter per inning. Rodriguez was shelled by the Rangers in the ALDS, but the final three months of the regular season suggested Baltimore had their ace of the future.
The 2024 campaign saw Rodriguez push his strikeout rate to 26.5% while trimming his walk rate to 7.3%. He notched his first double-digit strikeout game in May, striking out 10 against Boston. Rodriguez piled up 13 wins through 20 starts and logged a 3.86 ERA before a shoulder issue ended his season in August. A quality start and victory over Toronto on the final day of July would end up being his last start with the team.
Baltimore’s rotation will be headlined by Trevor Rogers and Kyle Bradish heading into 2026. Dean Kremer has been a reliable source of innings, but the options are less stable beyond him. Tyler Wells is expected to return to a starting role after returning late last season from UCL surgery. Cade Povich has made 36 starts over the past two seasons, but his career ERA is over 5.00. Brandon Young and Chayce McDermott have also struggled in their limited big-league opportunities. The Orioles have added veterans like Zach Eflin, Charlie Morton, and Kyle Gibson in the past two seasons to help eat innings. They could be dipping back into that pool of pitchers to fill out the rotation this offseason.
For the Halos, Rodriguez adds an upside arm to a rotation that’s headlined by Yusei Kikuchi and Jose Soriano but otherwise lacks certainty. Former top prospect Reid Detmers will likely get another look in the rotation, where he’s struggled in the past, after an excellent 2025 season in the bullpen. Caden Dana, Mitch Farris and Sam Aldegheri are options in the fifth spot for now, with prospect George Klassen also looming. As with the O’s, it seems likely that the Angels will add another arm from outside the organization between now and spring training.
From a payroll perspective, the swap gives Anaheim $13-14MM of spending power. Their projected $166MM payroll (via RosterResource) sits nearly $40MM shy of last year’s Opening Day mark. Baltimore’s projected $105MM payroll sits nearly $60MM shy of last year’s Opening Day mark, but the O’s now have an even more acute need for rotation help and fewer resources available to address that need.
Angels Select Walbert Ureña
The Angels announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Walbert Ureña. He’s now on the 40-man roster and ineligible to be selected by another club in next month’s Rule 5 Draft. His addition bumps the Angels’ 40-man roster count up to 35 players.
Ureña, 21, signed as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic back in 2021 and just split the 2025 season between Anaheim’s Double-A (135 1/3 innings) and Triple-A (5 2/3 innings) affiliates. He pitched to a combined 4.34 ERA in his 141 innings, fanning 20.7% of his opponents against a 12.1% walk rate. He sits mid-90s with a hard sinker that can climb as high as 100 mph. That power offering helped him post a superlative 57.6% ground-ball rate in the minors this year.
As things stand, this is the Angels’ lone 40-man addition of the day. Nothing is stopping them from making further moves to protect additional players, but the bulk of the top-ranked prospects in their thin farm system are either already on the 40-man roster or aren’t eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft until 2026 or 2027. Righties Joel Hurtado and Samy Natera Jr. are notable exceptions, though both are coming off so-so seasons in the minors; Hurtado posted a bleak 15.5% strikeout rate as a 24-year-old in Double-A, while Natera walked 17% of his opponents out of the bullpen between Double-A and Triple-A.
Angels Seeking Multiple Starters, Left-Handed Bat
The Angels have quite a bit to achieve this offseason. Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com writes that the club would like to add multiple starting pitchers and bullpen help. General manager Perry Minasian said from the GM Meetings that they’re also looking for offense, with preference for a left-handed bat.
“Is (a lefty hitter) the No. 1 pressing need? Is that ‘A’ on the checklist of things to do? No,” Minasian told reporters (link via Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register). “But it is something we’ve talked about a ton. We want to be a more balanced offense. … There are some really attractive right-handed hitters that I’d love to have, that are just good hitters, that I don’t necessarily think anyone cares if they’re right-handed or left-handed. So does it have to be left-handed? No. Apples to apples? Of course, you choose left hand over right-handed.”
The Halos have three pitchers penciled into the Opening Day rotation: Yusei Kikuchi, José Soriano and Reid Detmers. They don’t have much beyond that with none of Caden Dana, Sam Aldegheri, Jack Kochanowicz or Mitch Farris securing a rotation spot. They’re likely to push 2025 second overall pick Tyler Bremner quickly, but it’d be surprising if the Angels were willing to carry him in the Opening Day rotation before he pitches in the minors at all. They skipped 2024 second-rounder Ryan Johnson right to the big leagues as a reliever this past season, but he struggled and was optioned in early May. Johnson built back as a starter and pitched well in High-A but still has no starting experience in the upper levels.
The bullpen could lose its two most reliable arms. Detmers, last season’s top setup man, is moving back to the rotation. Closer Kenley Jansen is a free agent. The Angels presumably would like to bring Jansen back after an excellent season. The four-time All-Star went 29-30 in save chances. He turned in a 2.59 ERA across 59 innings. Even that was inflated by one nightmare appearance against the Tigers in which he gave up six of the 17 earned runs he allowed all season. Jansen is probably limited to one-year deals at this stage of his career, though he could match last winter’s $10MM guarantee.
Left-hander Brock Burke enters the offseason as the Angels’ only reliable reliever. Minasian provided a positive update on talented but oft-injured righty Robert Stephenson, who finished the season on the shelf with elbow inflammation. Stephenson will not require surgery and is expected to be ready for Spring Training, Bollinger relays. Stephenson has the talent to pitch late in games, but his durability issues make him a wild card. The Angels clearly need to add multiple leverage arms.
While pitching figures to be the priority, the Halos have a few questions in the lineup. They don’t have an everyday center fielder or third baseman. Christian Moore projects as the starting second baseman, but he struggled as a rookie after being quickly pushed through the minors. There’s arguably a corner outfield glut with Taylor Ward, Mike Trout, Jorge Soler and Jo Adell — who is miscast in center field and should stay in right, where he spent the final month of the ’25 season. Ward and Adell have already come up in trade rumors. One of them could be swapped for a player at a position of greater need, but that’d be nowhere close to all the work for the front office to accomplish.
The club’s preference would be to add a lefty hitter at one or two of those positions. No team gave fewer plate appearances to left-handed batters this year. Only the Astros leaned more heavily on pure righty bats. The Angels had an MLB-worst .224 batting average against righty pitching. They were 28th in on-base percentage (.299) and 24th in slugging (.394). Switch-hitters Luis Rengifo and Yoán Moncada hit free agency, leaving first baseman Nolan Schanuel as their only lefty hitter set for a significant role.
If they go into free agency for that need, it’d make most sense to focus on center field. Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger are available at the higher ends of the market. Cedric Mullins is a rebound candidate who’ll probably sign for one year.
There are far fewer lefty bats who could play second or third base. If neither Rengifo nor Moncada are retained, the best free agent options are Jorge Polanco, Luis Arraez and Willi Castro. Polanco can play either position but saw a lot of DH work with the Mariners this year because of knee issues. Arraez hasn’t played second base regularly in two years because of limited range. Castro is a bat-first utility player who started the season well but went downhill after a deadline trade to the Cubs.
Players like CJ Abrams, Brendan Donovan or Brandon Lowe could be available in trade. That’d require the Angels to deal from an already bad farm system for short-term help on the heels of a 72-90 season. As Minasian noted, that could leave them to pursue a superior righty-hitting infielder even if it’s not ideal for lineup balance. Bo Bichette, Alex Bregman, Eugenio Suárez, Kazuma Okamoto, Ha-Seong Kim and Gleyber Torres are all right-handed hitting free agents who can play second and/or third.
Torres, who is weighing a qualifying offer from the Tigers, was apparently a target of the Angels last winter. Ken Rosenthal, Will Sammon and Katie Woo of The Athletic report that Torres rejected a multi-year offer from the Halos during the 2024-25 offseason because he doubted the team could contend. He signed a one-year, $15MM contract with Detroit. The Tigers made the playoffs for a second consecutive season and the Angels still have one of the worst rosters in the American League on paper.
Angels Hire Max Stassi As Catching Coach
The Angels are hiring Max Stassi to serve as their catching coach, general manager Perry Minasian confirmed Wednesday. They’re also adding Keith Johnson and Andy Schatzley to the staff as third base coach and infield coach, respectively. Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register first reported the hires.
Stassi, 34, had not officially announced his retirement as a player. He’s apparently moving into the next phase of his career after playing parts of ten seasons in the big leagues. Stassi had played in Triple-A in the Giants organization this past season, though he spent most of the year on the minor league injured list. His final MLB appearance came in 2022 with the Halos.
Originally a fourth-round pick of the A’s, Stassi was traded to the Astros before he reached Double-A. He debuted with Houston in 2013 and spent the next few seasons as a third catcher on the organizational depth chart. Stassi technically logged parts of seven big league seasons with the Astros, but he combined for just 163 games over that stretch. Only once did he play more than 31 games in a season.
The Angels acquired Stassi in what seemed like a minor deal at the 2019 deadline. He struggled down the stretch but exceeded expectations over the next couple seasons. Stassi hit .278 with seven homers in 31 games during the shortened 2020 schedule. He popped a career-high 13 longballs with a .241/.326/.426 batting line over 319 trips to the plate a year later.
Stassi signed a three-year, $17.5MM extension going into the 2022 season. The Halos gave him the lion’s share of work behind the dish, while Kurt Suzuki served as the backup catcher. Stassi took a career-high 375 plate appearances but slumped to a .180/.267/.303 batting line. That unfortunately will go down as his final MLB action. He missed the entire ’23 season — first because of a hip injury, then attending to a family situation after his son was born three months premature and required several months in NICU.
The Angels traded Stassi to the Braves as part of a shuffling of dead money over the 2023-24 offseason. Atlanta immediately released him, leading to a free agent deal with the White Sox. Stassi’s bothersome hip led him to begin the season back on the injured list, and he underwent season-ending surgery in July. He wasn’t able to stay healthy in the minors last season either, so he’s now moving into coaching. He finishes his playing days with a .212/.295/.361 slash with 41 home runs in a little more than 400 games. He drove in 128 runs and collected 241 hits.
Stassi’s jump into coaching comes with his old team and on his former catching mate’s staff. Suzuki is headed into his first season as an MLB manager. They tabbed an experienced bench coach in John Gibbons and a highly-respected veteran pitching coach in Mike Maddux. Adam Eaton gets his first MLB coaching opportunity as first base/outfield coach.
Johnson and Schatzley had each been managers in the Halos’ farm system — Johnson at Triple-A Salt Lake, Schatzley with Double-A Rocket City. The 54-year-old Johnson has managed in the organization for 14 years. He’d previously worked on the MLB staff as an infield coach and spent a couple seasons as first base coach of the Marlins. He appeared in six games for the Angels in 2000, his only big league playing experience. Schatzley, 41, has managed in the system for the past five seasons after spending nearly a decade in the college ranks. This is his first role on an MLB staff.
David Fletcher To Retire
Veteran infielder David Fletcher is retiring, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The 31-year-old spent the majority of his seven-year MLB career with the Angels.
Los Angeles took Fletcher in the sixth round of the 2015 draft. The 5’9″ infielder posted strong batted-ball skills at each level of the minors, reaching Triple-A in 2017. Fletcher put up a healthy 143 wRC+ over 58 games with Triple-A Salt Lake in 2018, earning a callup to the big-league club. Los Angeles had Andrelton Simmons penciled in at shortstop, but an Ian Kinsler trade opened up regular playing time at second base. Fletcher hit .275 over 307 plate appearances in his first taste of MLB action.
Fletcher delivered his best results in the shortened 2020 season. He slashed .319/.376/.425 across 49 games. Fletcher bounced around the infield, making starts at second base, shortstop, and third base. He also appeared once in right field. The strong campaign helped Fletcher land a five-year, $26MM extension just before the 2021 season.
Following the extension, Fletcher took over as the Angels’ full-time second baseman. He played a career-high 157 games in 2021. Fletcher earned strong defensive marks (9 DRS, 8 Outs Above Average) in 1,212 innings at second base. He also swiped 15 bags, after coming into the season with just 13 career steals. Fletcher’s production at the plate, however, trailed off considerably. He scuffled to a 69 wRC+ over 665 plate appearances. Fletcher was dropped from the leadoff spot to ninth in the order by May. He regained the leadoff spot midseason, but closed the year back in the nine hole.
Hip and hand injuries derailed Fletcher’s 2022 campaign. He was available for just 61 games. Fletcher once again performed well in the field, while he struggled as a hitter. He opened the 2023 season healthy, but went 2-for-16 in April and was demoted to Triple-A Sacramento. Fletcher appeared in just 33 games with the Angels that year. Los Angeles flipped him to Atlanta in December 2023, allowing the team some short-term financial flexibility.
Fletcher’s career would take some twists and turns after his tenure with the Angels. Atlanta passed him through waivers shortly after the trade. Unsurprisingly, no team wanted to pick up the rest of Fletcher’s deal, and he went unclaimed. He spent the majority of the season in the minors with Atlanta, but not as an infielder. Fletcher transitioned to pitching that season, utilizing a knuckleball to try to make an MLB comeback. He made 22 appearances across two levels, posting a 6.39 ERA. During the middle of the 2024 season, a report emerged linking Fletcher to the bookmaker used by Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. According to the report, Fletcher placed bets with the illegal Southern California gambling ring, though those wagers were not on baseball.
Fletcher ditched the pitching experiment and went back to the infield in 2025. He played in 83 games across Double-A and Triple-A this past season, slashing .185/.233/.258. Atlanta declined his $8MM club option last week. He elected minor league free agency, but will now head into retirement.
We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Fletcher on a solid career and wish him the best in his future endeavours.
Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images
Angels Add John Gibbons, Adam Eaton To Coaching Staff
The Angels are hiring former Blue Jays manager John Gibbons as their bench coach under new manager Kurt Suzuki, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. They’re also hiring former big league outfielder Adam Eaton as their first base coach, per the report.
Gibbons, 63, has managed 11 seasons in the majors — all with the Blue Jays. That lengthy history of running a dugout and clubhouse will prove valuable for a Suzuki, who’s not only a rookie manager but has never even coached prior to his hiring as the Angels’ new skipper. In two separate stints as Toronto’s manager, Gibbons holds a 793-789 record. His Blue Jays reached the American League Championship Series in back-to-back seasons in 2015-16 but failed to advance to the World Series either year, falling to Kansas City and Cleveland in those respective seasons.
Over the past two seasons, Gibbons has served as the bench coach for the Mets under another rookie skipper: Carlos Mendoza. He’s also coached in the majors with the Blue Jays and Royals in addition to minor league managerial stints with the Mets and Padres organizations.
Eaton, 37 next month, was playing in the majors as recently as 2021. He spent a decade in the majors between the White Sox, Nationals, Diamondbacks and — briefly at the end of his career — the same Angels club for which he’ll now be coaching. That stint with the Halos in 2021 surely familiarized him with the organization and with general manager Perry Minasian. He and Suzuki were teammates for two years with the Nationals as well, including during the team’s 2019 World Series victory.
Fletcher notes that Eaton has spent the past two seasons as the director of player development at Michigan State University, but this will be his first coaching assignment in pro ball. In addition to his work as first base coach, Eaton will be an outfield instructor. He finished his career with strong defensive grades, due in no small part to some stellar early seasons in the field — particularly a 2016 campaign in which he likely should have won a Gold Glove after posting a stunning 28 Defensive Runs Saved and 18 Outs Above Average in right field for the White Sox.
Royals Evaluating Outfield Trade Market
The General Managers Meetings are taking place in Las Vegas this week, a setting where teams often start conversations on possible transactions to be made later in the offseason. Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports that the Royals are evaluating the outfield trade market.
It’s a logical target for the club. The outfield in Kansas City has been a weak spot for years. 2025 was no exception. The team’s outfielders had a collective .225/.285/.348 batting line this year. That resulted in a 73 wRC+, indicating the club’s outfield group was 27% worse than league average. That was easily the worst mark in the majors, with the Guardians’ jardineros second-last with a wRC+ of 77.
The current group in Kansas City includes Jac Caglianone, Kyle Isbel, John Rave, Dairon Blanco, MJ Melendez, Kameron Misner, Drew Waters and others. Caglianone came into 2025 as a top prospect but struggled badly in his first major league call-up. No one else in the group has any real track record of big league success either.
Upgrading there is an obvious way to improve the club overall. The trade market also makes sense as a way to go about doing it, considering the club’s finances. About a month ago, owner John Sherman said that he expects the 2026 club to have a fairly similar payroll to 2025. RosterResource currently estimates the Royals for a payroll of about $140MM next year. That’s slightly higher than the $138MM RR pegged their spending at the end of 2025.
That doesn’t suggest the front office will have a huge amount of spending capacity. They could lower their commitments by non-tendering some of their arb-eligible players. Jonathan India has the highest projected salary in the Royals’ class at $7.4MM and he’s coming off a poor season. The club could also perhaps trade Kris Bubic and his projected $6MM salary since the rotation could still be in decent shape without him.
Even if the club does pinch a few pennies, they’re not going to suddenly become favorites for a big free agent like Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger. Re-signing Mike Yastrzemski is feasible but it’s understandable that president of baseball operations J.J. Picollo would check to see what’s available on the trade market.
Morosi mentions the Red Sox and Angels as possible trading partners. Those seem like speculative picks but they make sense. The Angels have a question in center field but have a crowded mix in the corners. Mike Trout, Taylor Ward, Jo Adell and Jorge Soler give them four options for three spots, between the two outfield corners and the designated hitter slot. Trout isn’t going anywhere and Soler has negative trade value at the moment, since he is owed $13MM next year and is coming off a down season.
Trading one of Adell or Ward seems like the move for the Angels, as that could clear up the logjam while potentially adding some much-needed pitching help. MLBTR put both of them on our recent list of the Top 40 Trade Candidates for this offseason. Last week, Morosi reported that the Halos would indeed listen on Ward and Adell.
Ward has the better track record. He has essentially been a 20-plus homer guy for four years now. He only got to 14 long balls in 2023 but was limited by injuries to just 97 games. He just hit 36 homers in 2025 with a strong 11.3% walk rate to boot. Reviews on his defense are mixed. He’s been credited with seven Outs Above Average in his career but minus-14 Defensive Runs Saved.
Adell got many chances with the Angels and didn’t take advantage of most of them but he has shown some promise lately. He did 20 homers in 2024 and 37 this year. His walk and strikeout rates are poor, limiting the overall value of his offense, but he was still a decent contributor in 2025. His .236/.293/.485 line translated to a 112 wRC+. His defensive grades were poor in center but more passable in right.
Though Ward has the longer résumé, the trade value might be comparable. Ward is just one year from free agency and is projected for a salary of $13.7MM next year. Adell, meanwhile, is projected for just $5.5MM and can be controlled through 2027.
The Red Sox have a well-known glut of outfield options which currently includes Ceddanne Rafaela, Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Masataka Yoshida and Jhostynxon García. Anthony signed a big extension with the club and isn’t going anywhere. That’s likely also the case for Rafaela, who also signed an extension and is an elite glove in center. García isn’t yet proven at the major league level but is optionable and swings from the right side, a potential asset in a lefty-heavy lineup.
Duran and Abreu are fairly redundant as lefty-swinging corner guys. Both cracked the aforementioned MLBTR list of Top 40 Trade Candidates for this winter. Duran has more big league experience and has shown a higher ceiling but he’s down to three years of club control and will make $7.7MM in 2026. Abreu, on the other hand, hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration and still has four seasons of club control remaining.
Both the Angels and Red Sox plan to compete in 2026. If either club were to trade an outfielder, they would likely be looking for a return that would help the big league club, as opposed to prospects. Both clubs could use pitching, which is something the Royals have. MLBTR’s Nick Deeds recently took a look at the club’s rotation depth and the possibility that the club could leverage that into an offensive upgrade.
The offseason is still young, so there are still many possible paths for the Royals to take. In addition to the Angels and Red Sox, clubs like the Cardinals, Twins, Diamondbacks and others could have outfielders available, while signing Yastrzemski or someone similar is possible as well.
Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images
Twins Rumors: Payroll, Ryan, Coaching Staff
The Twins are expected to listen to trade offers on several of their remaining veterans after gutting the roster — particularly the bullpen — ahead of this year’s trade deadline. Right-handers Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez ranked prominently on MLBTR’s list of the offseason’s top 40 trade candidates, as did catcher Ryan Jeffers. The extent to which the Twins further subtract from the roster will at least in part stem from ownership’s budget for next year’s payroll. To this point, the Pohlad family has not given the baseball operations department “a clear direction” on next year’s payroll, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports.
RosterResource currently projects a $95MM payroll for the Twins, which is down more than $40MM from their Opening Day mark in 2025. That doesn’t include potential subtractions from the arbitration class. Trevor Larnach, projected for a $4.7MM salary (via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz), stands as a non-tender or trade candidate. Obviously, trades of Ryan, Lopez and/or Jeffers would further scale back spending. Lopez is earning $21.75MM in each of the next two seasons. Ryan is projected for a $5.8MM salary. Jeffers is projected to earn $6.6MM. (Center fielder Byron Buxton is guaranteed $15MM but has a full no-trade clause and has said even after the team’s summer fire sale that he won’t consider approving a trade.)
The idea of Minnesota taking that newfound payroll flexibility and reinvesting it in a series of win-now moves to complement a roster still featuring Ryan, Lopez, Buxton, Jeffers and several promising young position players (Luke Keaschall perhaps chief among them) makes at least some sense on paper, but there’s little in the Pohlads’ history of owning the club to support the notion that they’d go that route. Further subtraction still seems likely, though until the Twins tip their hand with whatever the first moves of the offseason are, perhaps fans can hold out some faint hope for a quicker-than-expected turnaround.
Assuming they indeed operate more on the sell side of things, Ryan in particular will be one of the most sought-after names on the trade market. The Twins discussed the 29-year-old righty, who has two years of affordable arbitration control remaining, with several clubs ahead of the summer trade deadline. No deal came to pass, but the Red Sox are known to have had substantial discussions regarding the right-hander, while the Yankees and Mets were among the others to at least check in.
Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register adds the Angels to the list of clubs that showed interest in Joe Ryan prior to the trade deadline. With the Halos set to seek pitching upgrades again this winter, it stands to reason that they could circle back and talk with the Twins this winter. The Angels’ farm system is not well regarded, though they have a fair number of young big leaguers or nearly MLB-ready arms who could pique the Twins’ interest (e.g. George Klassen, Ryan Johnson, Nelson Rada, 2025 first-rounder Tyler Bremner).
The Angels would surely face competition in any bid for Ryan. The 2025 All-Star tossed 171 innings of 3.42 ERA ball this past season, fanning 28.2% of opponents against a tidy 5.7% walk rate. He sports a career 3.79 earned run average that’s skewed a bit by an outlier 4.51 mark in 2023. Ryan has virtually no platoon split in his career, with the main blemish against him being some susceptibility to home runs (particularly in that rocky ’23 campaign). Angel Stadium, notably, has been more conducive to home runs than Minneapolis’ Target Field — both over the past three seasons and in 2025, in particular.
Much of the focus in the early stages of the offseason will be in determining exactly which direction the Twins will go and — if they indeed sell more veterans — the depth of that potential teardown. Minnesota already had a relatively well-regarded farm system prior to the deadline, and the Twins now boast one of the best minor league systems in the sport. They’re not a system that’s devoid of minor league talent, so the extent to which ownership is willing to invest in the club will be especially instructive when it comes to their 2026 outlook.
Looking beyond the roster, however, there are still some short-term decisions that need to be made in the dugout. Longtime manager Rocco Baldelli was fired at season’s end and replaced by his former bench coach from 2019, Derek Shelton. Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune writes that the Twins initially began their search for a manager with a speculative list running around 80 names deep. They whittled that to 15, conducted Zoom interviews with seven and held in-person interviews with Shelton, Yankees hitting coach James Rowson (another former Twins staffer) and former Mariners skipper Scott Servais.
The decision, per Nightengale, ultimately came down to Shelton or Rowson. While Shelton won the job in the end, the Twins are hopeful of hiring Rowson back to the organization as Shelton’s new bench coach, Nightengale reports. The rest of the staff is largely up in the air. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports that the Twins will retain pitching coach Pete Maki, pairing him with newly hired bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins to oversee the staff in Minnesota.
Third base coach Tommy Watkins has already departed for Atlanta, and Hayes writes that assistant bench coach/catching coach Hank Conger and quality control coach Nate Dammann have both been dismissed. Decisions have yet to be made on hitting coaches Matt Borgschulte, Trevor Amicone and Rayden Sierra.