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Shohei Ohtani Wins NL MVP

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Shohei Ohtani has his third MVP. The Baseball Writers Association of America announced that Ohtani won the National League MVP in his first season as a Dodger. Francisco Lindor landed in second place, while Ketel Marte rounds out the top three. Ohtani received all 30 first-place votes.

Ohtani becomes the first full-time designated hitter to win MVP, as he was unable to pitch for the entire season after undergoing elbow surgery late last year. He joins Frank Robinson as the only players to win an MVP in both leagues and he’s only the 12th player in big league history to win the award three times in his career. Barry Bonds is the only player with more than three MVPs — he won the award seven times — so Ohtani has a chance to move into second place on the leaderboard as he goes into his age-30 season.

While Ohtani’s first two MVPs reflected his two-way ability, this year’s honors are solely about his offensive dominance. He had arguably his best hitting season ever. Ohtani hit a career-high 54 homers and drove in 130 runs. He posted a .310/.390/.646 slash line, leading the National League in both on-base percentage and slugging. Ohtani also paced the Senior Circuit in homers and RBI while ranking second among qualified hitters in batting average. Luis Arraez hit .314 to narrowly prevent Ohtani from winning the Triple Crown.

Monstrous as his power numbers were, Ohtani was also perhaps the league’s best baserunner. He stole 59 bases, trailing only Elly De La Cruz in that category. While De La Cruz was caught stealing 16 times in addition to his 67 successful attempts, Ohtani was cut down on just four occasions. No player in history had ever posted a 50-homer, 50-steal season. Ohtani broke both marks easily, getting there with one of the best single-game performances in history. He went 6-6 with three homers, two steals and 10 RBI in a 20-4 drubbing of the Marlins to establish the 50-50 club.

Ohtani helped the Dodgers to yet another NL West title — their 11th division crown in 12 years. Los Angeles went 98-64 to secure the top seed in the National League. Playoff performance is irrelevant to awards voting, which occurs at the end of the regular season. Ohtani was relatively quiet in his first October action, hitting .230/.373/.393 in 16 games. That didn’t hold L.A. back from knocking out the Padres, Mets and Yankees en route to their second World Series in five years.

For a while, it seemed as if Lindor would pose a real threat to Ohtani winning the award. He hit 33 homers and stole 29 bases with a .273/.344/.500 showing over 689 trips to the plate. As a plus defensive shortstop, Lindor obviously provided significant defensive value. Ohtani’s historic offensive achievements proved decisive in the end, though this is Lindor’s first top three MVP finish. Marte raked at a .292/.372/.560 clip with 36 homers to earn the highest MVP placement of his career.

Lindor received 23 of 30 second-place votes. Marte finished second on five ballots. Braves DH Marcell Ozuna and Cy Young winner Chris Sale each got one second-place nod themselves. Ozuna and Milwaukee catcher William Contreras rounded out the top five in overall balloting. Giants third baseman Matt Chapman received one third place vote, though he placed 11th in balloting overall. Bryce Harper, De La Cruz, Jackson Merrill, Willy Adames, Zack Wheeler, Mookie Betts, Jurickson Profar, Kyle Schwarber, Manny Machado, Freddie Freeman, Arraez, Paul Skenes, Teoscar Hernández, Ezequiel Tovar, Jackson Chourio and Dylan Cease all received votes.

Image courtesy of Imagn. Full voter breakdown from BBWAA.

Roki Sasaki’s Agent Denies Rumors Of Handshake Deal With Dodgers

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Speculation about the likelihood of star Nippon Professional Baseball right-hander being likely to sign with the Dodgers — or even having a predetermined “handshake” deal to sign in L.A. once formally posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines — has drawn a sharp rebuke from his representatives. Agent Joel Wolfe of Wasserman emphatically denied that there’s any truth to those rumors, telling Evan Drellich of The Athletic:

“While a bunch of executives who should know me better and do a lot of business with me insult my integrity by insinuating that I would be a part of some type of nefarious agreement, in reality, this is just poor sportsmanship.”

Much of the speculation regarding the Dodgers and Sasaki stems from the Dodgers having the largest amount of money remaining in their 2024 international bonus pool — roughly $2.5MM. There’s also the fact that the Dodgers employ a pair of high-profile Japanese stars, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto — the latter of whom is also represented by Wolfe and Wasserman. Of course, Wolfe/Wasserman are no strangers to representing high-profile international talent. They’ve also represented NPB stars like Kodai Senga and Seiya Suzuki, among others, in recent years.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred suggested this week that Sasaki’s posting will likely stretch into the 2025 signing period, which throws a wrench into the thinking behind the Dodgers having an edge due to their remaining amount of international pool space. When the 2025 signing period kicks off on Jan. 15, the Dodgers will be tied with the Giants for the smallest pool in the game at $5,146,200, per Baseball America. (The Dodgers forfeited two draft picks and $1MM in international pool space when signing Ohtani last offseason.)

All clubs are able to acquire additional bonus pool space, which is tradeable in $250K increments. However, a club can only acquire up to 60% of its initial pool allotment. For the Dodgers, that means they’ll be capped at offering a bonus in the vicinity of $8.25MM to Sasaki, and even that would require trading plenty of assets in order to acquire the maximum $3.09MM in extra space they can add. Each of the Reds, Tigers, Marlins, Twins, Brewers, A’s, Mariners and Rays, meanwhile will start the 2025 period with pools of $7.555MM. The Padres, another commonly speculated landing spot for Sasaki, will begin the 2025 period with a $6.26MM pool.

In theory, any of those teams with a $7.555MM pool could offer a maximum bonus of just over $12MM if they succeed in acquiring the full 60% of possible additional space. The Padres and others in their bracket could top out at just over $10MM.

In practice, however, it’s unlikely another club would be able to acquire such a weighty slate of international funds. Teams throughout the league continue to thumb their nose at the supposed rules barring them from negotiating advance deals with teenage talent on the international free agent market. Most clubs have already committed the majority of their 2025 pools on handshake deals with teenage prospects in Latin America. Whichever club signs Sasaki will likely do so at the cost of reneging on existing agreements with amateurs in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and other Latin American countries. Similarly, teams that don’t feel they have a real chance to sign Sasaki will be reluctant to trade significant chunks of their bonus pool, given that so many of those dollars are effectively committed elsewhere.

Baseball America’s Ben Badler took a comprehensive look at the ripple effects of Sasaki’s signing potentially pushing into next year’s period last week, before Manfred had publicly suggested that was likely. As Badler reports, the Dodgers and Padres have committed less of their 2025 pool to Latin American agreements than most clubs around the league, likely due to their hope that Sasaki would be posted and they’d be positioned to make the best offer.

However, it’s also likely that there will be clubs that are willing to scrap their existing verbal agreements in order to make a full-fledged pursuit of Sasaki. Some of those teams will inherently have more to offer the right-hander. The trickle-down effect could see players who thought they’d be signing with a Sasaki bidder instead explore last-minute deals with other clubs, creating a domino effect throughout the Latin American market.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic recently tackled this issue as well, exploring the many pitfalls of a flawed international free agent system the league and MLBPA have yet to sufficiently address. As he notes, it feels patently ridiculous that a player like Sasaki, who has dominated in NPB for the past four seasons and just turned 23, is categorized alongside a 16-year-old prospect from Latin America. Rosenthal suggested the league separate Sasaki from international bonus pools but not make him an unrestricted free agent; rather, cap his bonus at the $7.555MM sum the top teams will have in next year’s signing period. That’s an imperfect solution in and of itself, of course. It could also very well push Sasaki toward one of the widely expected landing spots (L.A. or San Diego) anyhow; all teams would effectively be on an even playing field, and a West Coast, win-now club would quite possibly hold more appeal than a Midwest team with less certain playoff aspirations.

There’s no perfect solution that can be put forth in the coming weeks. Sasaki’s decision to leave literally hundreds of millions of dollars on the table — Yamamoto waited until he was 25 years old to shed his “amateur” status and commanded a $325MM deal in L.A. — creates an impossible predicament for Major League Baseball and its current international amateur setup.

This situation will assuredly be a talking point, if not the focal point, during ensuing discussions regarding a potential international draft in the next wave of collective bargaining talks between MLB and the Players Association. For now, it’s a messy situation that’ll result in plenty of accusations, finger-pointing, and likely some jilted Latin American prospects who are left scrambling for new arrangements.

Red Sox, Dodgers Have Met With Blake Snell

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Juan Soto’s meetings with owners around the leagues have dominated headlines recently, but he’s not the only high-profile free agent or Scott Boras client setting up meetings with team contingents. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that left-hander Blake Snell has held recent meetings with both the Red Sox and Dodgers. The Blue Jays are also pursuing Snell, per Rosenthal’s report, and could soon set up a meeting of their own. The Orioles are another potential club who could do so.

Both Boston and Los Angeles have reason to be in on high-end rotation help this summer, and the 32-year-old Snell, a two-time Cy Young winner, clearly fits the billing. Similarly, Snell has good motivation to push for a swifter free agency than last offseason, after lingering on the market into spring training and signing a two-year deal with an opt-out in San Francisco less than two weeks before Opening Day.

For the Red Sox, Snell would add a No. 1 starter to the top of a rotation that could lose Nick Pivetta to free agency after he rejected a qualifying offer. Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford and Brayan Bello are all rotation locks right now. Lucas Giolito will join them at some point in the season’s first half, but his timeline remains murky after he missed the entire 2024 season — his first in Boston — thanks to UCL surgery performed in spring training. Righty Garrett Whitlock is also on the mend from his own UCL procedure.

Candidates for the final two rotation spots at Fenway Park currently include Richard Fitts, Cooper Criswell, Quinn Priester and Zach Penrod. Criswell looked to have a leg up after a decent season, due to a lack of minor league options, but he’s reportedly eligible for a fourth option year, which gives the Sox even more flexibility with their staff.

Many Red Sox fans are understandably skeptical of the team’s willingness to follow through on pursuits of high-profile free agents. Boston faithful are still stinging from chairman Tom Werner’s widely mocked “full throttle” comments last offseason, which did not result in an acquisition larger than Giolito’s two-year, $38.5MM contract. But Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has taken a more aggressive stance himself this time around, declaring that it’s time for the Red Sox to “deliver the team that’s capable of winning the AL East” even if that means the Sox need to be “aggressive in bringing players in who aren’t currently in the organization.”

From a payroll perspective, the Red Sox have more than enough space to accommodate multiple big-ticket additions this winter. RosterResource currently projects Boston for a $138MM payroll and $171MM worth of luxury obligations. That projection is nearly $100MM shy of their franchise-record payroll, while their luxury ledger right now leaves them $70MM shy of the first tier threshold. Of course, the Red Sox haven’t been shy about paying the luxury tax in the past, either. They did so as recently as 2022 and have now reset their penalty level by dipping back under the tax line. The Red Sox have an extremely small arbitration class — just Houck, Crawford and Jarren Duran — and will only add Triston Casas, Connor Wong and perhaps Zack Kelly to that group in 2026.

Turning to the Dodgers, there’s an obvious case for Snell as a fit. Connections like this can often be more anecdotal than substantive, but it at least bears mentioning that Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was running baseball operations in Tampa Bay when the Rays drafted and developed Snell. Outside their deals for Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto — two players with unique free agent circumstances — the Dodgers have preferred shorter-term, high-AAV deals in free agency. That could make Snell, whose maximum contract length is perhaps shorter than other top-tier starters because he’s about to turn 32 years old, a more typical “Dodgers” fit.

One deterrent for the Dodgers could be an already bloated luxury-tax bill. RosterResource pegs them at $270MM in obligations, meaning they’re already well into the second tier of penalty. Snell alone could push them into the fourth tier, particularly on a high-AAV short-term deal. Even using last year’s $31MM AAV as a hypothetical guideline — and Snell has a case for a higher one on another relatively short deal — Snell would cost the Dodgers nearly $57MM in year one of the contract. That’d also set the Dodgers up to pay a 110% tax on any dollars spent thereafter. Trades and non-tenders could lessen the sting, but likely not by much. Any free agent dollars spent by the Dodgers are going to hurt.

Still, the Dodgers likely feel they need to bite that bullet. The rotation in Los Angeles has nearly unmatched star power but similarly has nearly unrivaled question marks. Yamamoto, Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow make up a potentially dominant top three, but health concerns abound. Yamamoto missed more than two months with a shoulder injury in 2024. Glasnow was limited to only 22 starts last year, and his modest 134 innings represented a career-high. Ohtani didn’t pitch while recovering from the second UCL repair of his career.

Beyond that talented but risky top three are Tony Gonsolin (who missed all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery), Dustin May (who missed all of 2024 recovering from forearm surgery and an esophageal procedure) and Bobby Miller (a breakout 2023 rookie who struggled immensely in 2024). Highly touted young arms like Gavin Stone (shoulder surgery), River Ryan (Tommy John surgery), Emmet Sheehan (Tommy John surgery) and Kyle Hurt (Tommy John surgery) will miss some or all of the 2025 season. Dodgers icon Clayton Kershaw will be back on some form of incentive-laden deal — he’s already declared as much — though the two parties have yet to come to specific terms. Kershaw started just seven games last year.

Snell, of course, has his own lengthy injury history — including a pair of groin and adductor injuries that limited him to six awful starts in the season’s first two months with the archrival Giants. However, upon returning in early July, the lefty looked back to Cy Young form. He fired 12 shutout frames between his first two starts, kicking off a three-month run for the ages. Snell tossed a no-hitter at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park against the Reds, fanned 15 Rockies in a start at Coors Field and at one point went on a streak of four double-digit strikeout performances in five starts.

Over the final three months of the season, Snell was comically dominant. He pitched 80 1/3 innings with a jaw-dropping 1.23 ERA, complemented by an elite 38.1% strikeout rate and a 10% walk rate that’s higher than average but passable for someone who can miss bats at Snell’s level. It was only 14 starts, but Snell was the best pitcher in baseball from July 2 onward.

Snell has a history of slow starts and blistering second-half surges, but as I examined late in the season for MLBTR Front Office subscribers, many of his first-half struggles have come in conjunction with unusual spring circumstances (i.e. the shortened 2020 season, the accelerated ramp-up from the 2021-22 lockout, and signing in late March last year). True, there are pitchers who’ve succeeded in spite of similar circumstances, but we’ve also repeatedly seen late-signing pitchers struggle early in the year (e.g. Jordan Montgomery, Jake Odorizzi, Lance Lynn, to name a few). It’s eminently possible that Snell is the type of pitcher who simply needs a full runway to realize his best form. He’d hardly be alone in that regard, and that characteristic gives him all the more motivation to have a deal in place well before spring training begins.

Snell faces some notable competition on the free agent market. Some clubs may not want to spend aggressively on another free agent before they know the outcome of the Juan Soto auction, and even those willing to spend sooner than that will also have to weigh the merits of signing a 32-year-old Snell versus a 31-year-old Max Fried, 30-year-old Corbin Burnes or 29-year-old Jack Flaherty. Fried and Burnes have qualifying offers attached to them, whereas Snell and Flaherty do not; in other words, teams will have to forfeit draft picks and international bonus pool space to sign Fried or Burnes — but not Snell or Flaherty. Snell is three years older than Flaherty but also more accomplished. He certainly has his warts and carries plenty of risk, but it’s easy enough to see how a club could view Snell as the most appealing of this offseason’s top-tier starters when factoring in likely length of contract, draft compensation, track record, health and other factors.

Dodgers Select Jack Dreyer

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The Dodgers added left-hander Jack Dreyer to their 40-man roster, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (X link). He’s their only addition to the 40-man roster on Rule 5 protection day.

Dreyer, 26 in February, was an undrafted signee out of Iowa in 2021. The 6’2″ reliever has overcome that lack of draft pedigree to grab a roster spot with the defending World Series winners. Dreyer posted fantastic numbers in the upper minors this year. Between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City, he turned in a 2.20 earned run average across 57 1/3 innings. He struck out nearly 32% of batters faced while limiting his walks to a 5.3% clip.

The Dodgers have Alex Vesia and Anthony Banda as their top lefty relief options. Justin Wrobleski and swingman Zach Logue were the only other southpaws on the 40-man roster. Dreyer has a shot to pitch his way into the middle innings next season.

12 Players Decline Qualifying Offers

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Twelve of the 13 qualified free agents have declined the QO, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The exception was Nick Martinez, who accepted the $21.05MM offer from the Reds over the weekend.

The players who rejected the offer:

There wasn’t much intrigue by the time this afternoon’s deadline officially rolled around. Martinez, Pivetta and perhaps Severino were the only players who seemed like they’d consider the QO. All three made their decisions fairly early in the 15-day window that they had to weigh the offer.

All 12 players who declined the QO have a case for at least a three-year contract. Soto is looking at the biggest deal (in terms of net present value) in MLB history. Burnes, Fried, Adames, Bregman, Alonso and potentially Santander could land nine figures. Severino, Manaea, Hernández and Pivetta look like they’ll land three- or four-year deals. Walker could get to three years as well, though it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if his age limits him to a two-year pact at a high average annual value.

A team that signs these players will take a hit to its draft stock and potentially its bonus pool slot for international amateurs. The penalties vary depending on the team’s revenue sharing status and whether they exceeded the luxury tax threshold in 2024. MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk covered the forfeitures for every team last month. A team would not forfeit a pick to re-sign its own qualified free agent, though it would lose the right to collect any kind of compensation.

If these players walk, their former teams will receive an extra draft pick. The Brewers, Orioles and Diamondbacks are in line for the highest compensation as revenue sharing recipients. If their players sign elsewhere for at least $50MM (a virtual lock in the cases of Burnes, Santander and Adames), the compensation pick would fall after the first round of next year’s draft. If the player signs for less than $50MM — which could be the case if Walker is limited to two years — the compensation pick would land before the start of the third round (roughly 70th overall).

The Red Sox neither received revenue sharing nor paid the competitive balance tax. They’ll get a pick before the third round if Pivetta walks regardless of the value of his contract. The Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Braves and Astros all paid the tax in 2024. They’ll get a pick after the fourth round if any of their players depart — potentially three picks, in the Mets’ case. The prospects selected by that point — usually around 130th overall — tend not to be highly touted, but each extra selection could carry a slot value north of $500K to devote to next year’s draft bonus pool.

Dodgers To Meet With Juan Soto, Scott Boras On Tuesday

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The Dodgers are poised to become the latest club to meet with superstar free agent Juan Soto, per a report from MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand earlier this evening. The meeting between the sides is scheduled for tomorrow. The Dodgers will join the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, and Blue Jays in having met with Soto already, although Feinsand also reports that an undisclosed team in addition to that group has already met with Soto as well. The Giants, Phillies, and Rays are among the teams known to have interest in Soto that have not yet had a publicly reported meeting with the star outfielder.

That Soto and the Dodgers have a meeting set up is an interesting development given the somewhat mixed reports regarding the club’s plans regarding the superstar. Previous reports have indicated while L.A. intends to be somewhat involved in Soto’s free agency, those reports have also cautioned the club may not be as aggressive as other suitors. That relatively cautious approach to Soto on the Dodgers’ part could be at least partially due to questions regarding whether or not Soto, who hails from the Dominican Republic and Fort Lauderdale in Florida, prefers to play on the east coast. Notably, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports this evening that sources close to Soto have “downplayed” that rumored geographic presence, suggesting that Soto previously enjoyed living on the west coast while he played for the Padres.

It’s impossible to know where Soto’s geographic preferences lie, but Soto has emphasized in comments to reporters that winning is a priority for him, to the point of reportedly asking the Red Sox during his meeting with club officials about the organization’s commitment to winning. If winning is a priority for Soto, it’s hard to argue against the Dodgers. The reigning World Series champions have made the postseason in twelve consecutive seasons, and since 2017 have averaged more than 102 wins per year (excluding the 60-game 2020 season where they went 43-17 and won the World Series) while collecting two additional NL pennants in addition to their World Series championships. Last winter, the club added likely Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler Glasnow to an impressive core of talent that already included Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Los Angeles figures to remain a juggernaut in the NL for years to come, and the addition of Soto to their already vaunted lineup would only reinforce that.

Given his elite talent, any club would be able to find a place for Soto in their lineup. With that being said, it’s particularly easy to see how Soto would fit into the Dodgers’ plans. With Mookie Betts expected to move back into the infield for the 2025 season, the club could look to make multiple additions to an outfield mix that presently includes only utility man Tommy Edman and youngster Andy Pages as potential everyday options. Even if the club wanted to reunite with free agent slugger Teoscar Hernandez as has been previously rumored, it’s easy to imagine the pair manning the corner outfield spots for the Dodgers with Edman as the primary center fielder while Pages backs up the starting trio and fills in for Edman on days he moves to the infield.

Financially, as mind-boggling as it may be to imagine the Dodgers inking Soto to a contract worth more than half a billion dollars just one year after committing more than a billion to Ohtani and Yamamoto amid last winter’s spending spree, the deferred structure of Ohtani’s contract could make such an expenditure more reasonable. The club’s payroll for 2025 is currently projected at $276MM, according to RosterResource. That clocks in $50MM below the club’s 2024 payroll, opening a clear pathway to adding Soto even at a record-setting average annual value. That wouldn’t leave much room for much-needed rotation upgrades or further offensive additions such as a reunion with Hernandez, but ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez notes that the value of Ohtani’s first season in L.A. “blew away” the club’s financial projections. Given that reality, it’s certainly not impossible to imagine the club having even more payroll space at their disposal than returning to the level that left them with the second-highest payroll in baseball last year.

Regardless of what club Soto ultimately ends up with, Feinsand goes on to report a belief around the league that a decision could be made in the near future. Specifically, Feinsand suggests that while Soto isn’t expected to sign prior to Thanksgiving, the “feeling around the league” is that the 26-year-old could land somewhere prior to the Winter Meetings with one executive suggesting to him that it would be a surprise if he hasn’t signed before the end of the Meetings on December 12. With the Winter Meetings just a month away and no team reported to have so much as made a formal offer to Soto yet, it’s possible that the winter’s top free agent could see his market begin to move quickly after the coming holiday.

Connor Brogdon Elects Free Agency

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Dodgers right-hander Connor Brogdon went unclaimed on waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City, per the transaction log at MLB.com. He elected minor league free agency. The move clears a spot on L.A.’s 40-man roster before next week’s Rule 5 protection deadline.

Brogdon, 29, only appeared in one game with the Dodgers this season, allowing a pair of runs in one inning. Los Angeles acquired him from the Phillies in an April swap after he’d been designated for assignment in Philadelphia. (The Dodgers sent minor league left-hander Benony Robles the other way.)

Brogdon hit the 15-day injured list due to plantar fasciitis just days after that Dodgers debut, and the issue proved severe enough that he didn’t make it back to the active roster. Brogdon originally went on a rehab assignment a few weeks after his initial IL placement, but the Dodgers scrapped that effort and transferred him to the 60-day IL. He started another rehab assignment in August but didn’t make it back before season’s end.

Prior to his time with the Dodgers organization, Brogdon looked like a promising up-and-coming reliever in Philadelphia. The former tenth-round pick signed for only a $5K bonus out of the draft but pitched his way to the big leagues in three years’ time, looking sharp to begin his MLB tenure. From 2020-22, Brogdon turned in a combined 3.42 ERA in 113 innings, fanning one-quarter of his opponents against a 7.3% walk rate in that time. Brogdon averaged 95.8 mph on his heater, and while he was hobbled at times by groin and elbow issues, he generally delivered solid results.

He’s only managed 32 innings in the majors since that time. In addition to the foot injury that wiped out his 2024 season, Brogdon saw his command, strikeout rate, velocity and other key stats all trend the wrong direction in 2023. The Phillies sent him to Triple-A to get sorted out, but he was rocked for an ERA north of 5.00 there with an uncharacteristic 13% walk rate.

Brogdon’s rehab work in Triple-A this season was strong, albeit in a small sample of 13 innings. He held opponents to five runs (3.46 ERA) with a huge 33.9% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate. His fastball, however, was down quite a ways from its 96 mph peak, instead sitting at 93.8 mph in those brief looks in Oklahoma City. He’ll carry a career 3.97 ERA in 145 big league innings with him to the market, so Brogdon should generate plenty of interest so long as his foot is healthy.

Dodgers, Joe Jacques Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Dodgers reached agreement with reliever Joe Jacques on a minor league contract, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (X link). The Gaeta Sports Management client receives an invite to big league Spring Training.

Jacques elected minor league free agency a few weeks ago. He’d been squeezed off the Diamondbacks’ roster midseason. Arizona designated him for assignment when they acquired A.J. Puk a week before the trade deadline. Jacques cleared waivers and spent the rest of the season on an outright assignment to Triple-A Reno.

A 6’4″ lefty, Jacques has pitched in the majors in each of the past two seasons. He made 23 appearances for the Red Sox in 2023, turning in 26 2/3 innings of 5.06 ERA ball. Jacques only pitched twice in the majors this year — once apiece for the Sox and D-Backs. He gave up three runs in as many innings. The Manhattan College product pitched in 40 games in the minors, all but one of which came at the Triple-A level. He allowed 5.48 earned runs per nine across 42 2/3 innings. Jacques struck out 20.7% of batters faced while issuing walks at a slightly elevated 10.6% clip.

Like a lot of lefty relievers, Jacques relies on a sinker-slider/sweeper combination. He doesn’t throw hard, sitting in the 90-91 MPH range with his fastball. That limits the swing-and-miss upside, but he has done an excellent job keeping the ball on the ground. Jacques induced grounders at a 60.4% clip en route to a 2.54 ERA in Triple-A in 2023. He has a similarly impressive 61.9% ground-ball percentage in his MLB career. He’ll vie for a situational role in Spring Training. Anthony Banda, Alex Vesia, Zach Logue and youngster Justin Wrobleski are the only left-handers on L.A.’s 40-man roster.

Al Ferrara Passes Away

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The Dodgers announced the passing of former big league outfielder Al Ferrara at age 84. Nicknamed “The Bull,” Ferrara played five of his eight MLB seasons in Los Angeles.

“We are saddened to hear the news of Al Ferrara’s passing today,” Dodgers team president/CEO Stan Kasten said in a press release. “Not only was Al a memorable player for the Dodgers in the 1960s, but he tirelessly supported the Dodgers community efforts and was one of our most committed alumni supporters. We extend our sympathies to his family.”

Ferrara grew up in Brooklyn and signed with the Dodgers in 1958. He played five minor league seasons and earned a brief call-up in ’63. He did not appear in that year’s World Series but collected a ring as the Dodgers swept the Yankees. The righty-hitting outfielder spent the next season in Triple-A and logged limited MLB action between 1965-66, winning another championship in ’65. The Dodgers returned to the Fall Classic in ’66. Ferrara came off the bench for one plate appearance and hit a single in his only career playoff at-bat.

The Dodgers gave Ferrara more run in 1967, using him as a starting corner outfielder in just over half their games. He made the most of that opportunity, hitting .277 with 16 homers in 384 trips to the plate. Ferrara missed most of the ’68 season, his last year with the Dodgers. The newfound Padres selected him in the expansion draft. He hit well over two-plus seasons with San Diego, running a .265/.360/.436 slash with 27 homers through 873 plate appearances. He briefly appeared with the Reds before ending his playing career in 1971. Ferrara returned to the Dodger organization as an Alumni ambassador in 2009, a role he held through this year.

MLBTR sends our condolences to Ferrara’s family, friends, loved ones and the Dodger fans with whom he interacted as part of his Alumni work.

Brusdar Graterol To Miss First Half Of 2025 Due To Shoulder Surgery

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Dodgers right-hander Brusdar Graterol announced today (Spanish-language X post) that he underwent shoulder surgery yesterday, though without a return timeline. The club later announced that Graterol underwent right shoulder labrum surgery and isn’t expected back on the mound until the second half of the 2025 season.

The news doesn’t come as a shock, as Graterol trudged through an injury-marred 2024 season, primarily due to that shoulder. He went on the injured list at the beginning of the season with a combination of hip tightness and right shoulder inflammation. The shoulder issue was significant enough that he wasn’t able to return until August. In his very first game of the season, he suffered a right hamstring strain that sent him back to the IL. He was activated in September but then went back on the IL yet again with more shoulder inflammation. He missed most of the postseason but was activated for the World Series.

The righty finished the year with less than 10 innings pitched. He tossed 7 1/3 frames in the regular season and then added another 2 1/3 in the World Series. Though he fought through the issue enough to get on the mound a few times, he was never able to stay healthy for long and it’s now clear the issue required surgical attention.

Prior to 2024, Graterol had established himself as a key piece of the Dodger bullpen. He posted a 2.69 earned run average over 171 appearances from 2020 to 2023. His 18.9% strikeout rate in that time was below average but his 5.5% walk rate was quite low and he got grounders at an elite rate of 62.5%. Among pitchers with at least 170 innings pitched in that time, only Clay Holmes, Andre Pallante and Framber Valdez has better grounder rates.

Though he was able to contribute to the World Series victory and get himself a ring, 2024 was mostly a lost season for Graterol and he will now miss at least half of 2025 as well. He still has two arbitration seasons left but the injuries will prevent him from significantly raising his salary. He made $2.7MM this year and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for the same figure in 2025. His ability to push that farther north in 2026 will depend on how much time he ultimately misses in the coming season and how he performs when healthy.

For the Dodgers, it’s possible that this surgery increases their desire to add to their pitching staff. They are already expected to start 2025 with Kyle Hurt, River Ryan, Emmet Sheehan and Gavin Stone on the injured list due to surgeries performed earlier in 2024 and now Graterol’s name can be added to that list. They just lost Jack Flaherty, Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, Joe Kelly, Blake Treinen and Daniel Hudson to free agency. Kershaw will almost certainly re-sign but also just underwent surgery, while Hudson certainly won’t re-sign since he’s now retired.

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