Brewers Sign Gary Sánchez
Feb. 14: Milwaukee has officially announced the Sánchez deal. The Brewers had room on the 40-man roster, so no corresponding move was needed.
Feb. 11: The Brewers have agreed to terms on a deal with veteran catcher Gary Sánchez, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The MDR Sports client will be guaranteed $1.75MM on the deal.
Sánchez, 33, spent the 2025 season with the Orioles organization but was limited to just 30 games and 101 plate appearances due to wrist inflammation and, more seriously, a sprain of the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He was reasonably productive when healthy, popping five homers and turning in a .231/.297/.418 batting line (100 wRC+).
This will be Sánchez’s second stint with the Brewers in the past three seasons. He spent the 2024 campaign in Milwaukee as well, hitting .220/.307/.392 with 11 homers in 280 plate appearances. He served as a backup to William Contreras and a part-time (40 games) designated hitter that season and figures to reprise that role in 2026.
A former top prospect and an All-Star earlier with the Yankees early in his career, Sánchez has settled into a backup/part-time role in recent seasons. He appeared in 128 games and totaled 471 plate appearances with the Twins in 2022 after being traded from the Bronx to Minnesota, but he’s taken only 648 plate appearances combined in the three subsequent seasons (albeit, in part due to last year’s injuries).
Sánchez developed a reputation as a defensive liability earlier in his career but progressed to the point that he turned in solid defensive marks behind the dish in both 2022 and 2023. He was closer to average in ’24 and slipped back below average in 2025, per both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast, though that was obviously a small sample (175 innings). He’ll return to a Milwaukee club where he’s familiar with some members of the staff (e.g. Brandon Woodruff, Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill, Aaron Ashby, Jared Koenig), but the Brewers’ staff has turned over a fair bit even in the roughly 18 months since Sánchez’s initial departure.
The Brewers recently signed veteran catcher Reese McGuire to a minor league deal and invited him to spring training. He’d been in line to serve as the backup to Contreras but now seems likely to be ticketed for Triple-A Nashville — if he doesn’t have an out clause in his contract that allows him to explore other opportunities late in camp.
The addition of those two veterans gives the Brewers the ability to be more patient with top prospect Jeferson Quero, who is widely regarded as the heir to Contreras behind the plate but still has just 59 games and 251 plate appearances of Triple-A ball under his belt. He could push his way into the mix with a big enough season in Nashville, and it’s feasible that he’ll be ready for a full-time look in 2027, when Contreras will be entering his final season of club control (and likely be an offseason trade candidate, as is often the case with top Brewers players who are a year from reaching free agency).
Dodgers, Max Muncy Agree To Extension
TODAY: Muncy’s extension includes escalators based on plate appearances, as outlined by FanSided’s Robert Murray. He can earn up to $2.25MM in bonus money in 2026, as once he makes his 401st trip to the plate this season, Muncy will earn $15K for every PA up to his 550th plate appearance. His $7MM salary for 2027 can be boosted by an additional $3.75MM, since Muncy will earn $20K for each of his 401st through 500th plate appearance of the 2026 season, and $35K for each PA from 501-550. This same $3.75MM bonus structure also applies to the 2028 club option, based on his plate appearances in 2027.
FEBRUARY 12: The Dodgers announced Thursday that they’ve agreed to a one-year contract extension with third baseman Max Muncy. He’s now guaranteed an additional $10MM in the form of a $7MM salary in 2027 and a $3MM buyout on a $10MM club option for the 2028 campaign. Muncy is repped by Hub Sports Management.
As can be seen in a quick look at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, this is the fourth extension of the past six years between the two parties. Muncy signed a three-year. $26MM contract covering his arbitration years back in 2020 and gave up control over his first free-agent season via a club option in that process. In Aug. 2022, he agreed to a new deal that saw his 2023 club option picked up in advance, with the Dodgers tacking on another year of control via a club option for the 2024 season. Following the 2023 campaign, the Dodgers renegotiated a two-year, $24MM deal with a $10MM club option for the 2026 season, which the club exercised back in November.
The new deal now covers Muncy’s age-36 season (2027) and gives the Dodgers a net $7MM decision on his age-37 campaign. With this contract, he’s effectively locked into spending an entire decade with L.A., as he made his Dodgers debut in 2018 after being cut loose by the A’s and signing a minor league deal.
Muncy will go down as one of the best minor league pickups in recent memory. He immediately broke out in Los Angeles, slashing .263/.391/.582 with 35 home runs in his debut Dodger campaign. He’s been a well above-average offensive performer in each of his eight seasons with L.A. so far, save for the 2020 campaign when his .192/.331/.398 slash checked in a bit shy of average overall (98 wRC+).
Injuries have hobbled Muncy in recent seasons, but he’s remained a threat in the batter’s box whenever healthy. He was limited to 100 games last season thanks to a bone bruise in his knee and an oblique strain, but Muncy still delivered a .243/.376/.470 slash with 19 home runs and a massive (career-high) 16.5% walk rate in the 388 plate appearances he was able to take. He’s averaged just 111 games per season over the past four years and regularly hits for a low average, but his impeccable patience and well above-average power continue to make him a productive player.
Muncy will reach 10 years of major league service on the 145th day of the 2026 season. At that point, he’ll gain 10-and-5 rights (10 years of service, the past five with the same team), granting him full veto rights over any potential trade scenario. Today’s extension all but locks him into third base at Dodger Stadium for the next two seasons. Muncy hasn’t been an option at second base in years now, and across the infield Freddie Freeman is signed through the 2027 season. Shohei Ohtani, of course, will continue to take the team’s at-bats at designated hitter.
Muncy’s glovework has always drawn mixed reviews, and that’s been no different in recent seasons. Defensive Runs Saved has pegged him as an above-average third baseman in each of the past two seasons, while Statcast felt he was average in 2024 and a fair bit below average in 2025. The Dodgers, clearly, are comfortable with any defensive concessions they’ll need to make to keep Muncy’s perpetually excellent on-base percentage and plus power in the lineup — at least against right-handed pitching.
While Muncy crushed fellow lefties early in his career, his numbers in left-on-left matchups have gone south recently. He still held his own against southpaws in 2024 but was well below average in 2023 and again in 2025, when he hit just .157/.250/.314 in 80 plate appearances. Platoon options at third base for the Dodgers include veteran Miguel Rojas and switch-hitting top infield prospect Alex Freeland.
Orioles Sign Chris Bassitt
Feb 13: Baltimore has officially announced the Bassitt signing. No corresponding move was needed, as the club had room on the 40-man for the veteran righty. The Orioles’ 40-man roster is now full.
Feb. 12: The Orioles are reportedly in agreement with starter Chris Bassitt on a one-year, $18.5MM contract, pending a physical. Bassitt, a client of Meister Sports Management, receives a $3MM signing bonus and would unlock another $500K if he reaches 27 starts. Baltimore has an opening on the 40-man roster after losing infielder Bryan Ramos on waivers to St. Louis.
President of baseball operations Mike Elias has made a habit of signing veteran starters to one-year deals over the past few years. They found some success with Kyle Gibson in 2023. Last winter’s reunion with Gibson and additions of Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano did not go as planned. Bassitt is in a similar stage of his career as he nears his 37th birthday, but he should have a higher floor than those previous additions.
Bassitt didn’t reach 100 MLB innings in a season until his age-30 campaign in 2019. He has been a consistent mid-rotation presence over the last seven years. Only once did his earned run average climb north of 4.00. His 2.29 mark during the shortened season was a small sample outlier, but he has otherwise been a safe bet to allow between three and four earned runs per nine while logging a heavy workload. Bassitt has surpassed 150 innings in each of the last five seasons, one of just six pitchers to do that. He’s eighth in total innings over that stretch.
The veteran righty has paired the bulk with mid-rotation quality. He’s coming off a 3.96 ERA with slightly better than average underlying marks. Bassitt fanned 22.6% of batters faced against a 7.1% walk rate across 170 1/3 innings a year ago. His per-pitch whiff rate is a little below average, but he has managed to strike out between 22-23% of opponents in each of the past four seasons.
Bassitt’s velocity has ticked down slightly as he has gotten into his mid-30s. His sinker averaged 91.6 mph last season, narrowly a career low. That’s still not far off the 92-93 mph range in which he had worked throughout his career. The sinker is Bassitt’s primary offering, but Statcast identified eight distinct pitches that he used at least occasionally during his final season in Toronto. He mostly works with a sinker, cutter and curveball and generally does well to limit hard contact.
The biggest concern may be Bassitt’s issues against left-handed hitters. While he held them in check earlier in his career, Bassitt has seen his platoon splits widen over the past few seasons. Since the start of 2023, lefties have gotten to him at a .284/.360/.483 clip in more than 1200 plate appearances. He has held same-handed opponents to a punchless .224/.286/.323 line in a similar number of at-bats over that stretch.
Bassitt is coming off a three-year, $63MM contract with the division rival Blue Jays. He provided Toronto with 541 1/3 innings of 3.89 ERA ball during the regular season. Bassitt only once missed a start, as a minor bout of back inflammation sent him to the injured list last September. He missed the Division Series win over the Yankees but returned for the AL Championship Series. Bassitt pitched out of relief and emerged as one of John Schneider’s most trusted leverage arms in October. He fired 8 2/3 innings of one-run ball with 10 strikeouts during Toronto’s pennant run.
One year after helping the Jays go worst to first in the AL East, Bassitt will hope to accomplish the same feat with Baltimore. The Orioles have had a big offseason after stumbling to a 75-87 showing. They signed Pete Alonso (a former teammate of Bassitt’s in New York) to a monster five-year, $155MM deal. The O’s swapped oft-injured starter Grayson Rodriguez for another righty power bat, Taylor Ward, while dealing four prospects and a draft choice to the Rays for Shane Baz. They signed Ryan Helsley to a two-year deal to replace injured closer Félix Bautista and reunited with Zach Eflin on a $10MM contract.
The Orioles again shied away from the top of the free agent starting pitching market, preferring to make a splash in the middle of the lineup. They’ll hope to unlock another gear from Baz, a former top prospect who has shown flashes but been inconsistent over his first couple seasons. Trevor Rogers will look to build off last year’s fantastic final few months, while Kyle Bradish has a chance to be an upper mid-rotation starter now that he’s recovered from Tommy John surgery.
Bassitt slots behind Rogers, Bradish and Baz as locks to open the year in Craig Albernaz’s rotation. Eflin will be assured of the fifth starter role as long as he’s fully recovered from last August’s back surgery. He’s expected to be a full participant in Spring Training, so that should be the case. That could push Dean Kremer and/or Tyler Wells back to Triple-A Norfolk to open the season. Both pitchers still have an option remaining, though they’re each approaching the five-year service cutoff at which they’d earn the right to refuse any minor league assignments. Wells needs another 40 days on an MLB roster to get there, while Kremer is 60 days away.
The O’s could use Wells in long relief and start the year with Kremer rounding out a six-man rotation if they want both pitchers in the majors. A rotation surplus usually works itself out before long. The Braves, Blue Jays and Tigers have all announced significant injury losses within the first two days of camp. Even if all of Baltimore’s starters are currently healthy, they’d be fortunate if that’s the case by Opening Day.
Bassitt may not be the top-of-the-rotation type that O’s fans had coveted, but he’s a sensible pickup for a team that’ll keep an eye on Bradish’s and Eflin’s innings after lost seasons. MLBTR had predicted a two-year, $38MM contract at the beginning of the offseason. Baltimore was able to avoid committing that second season in an offseason when Merrill Kelly commanded $20MM annually over two years from the Diamondbacks at the same age.
The O’s payroll projection climbs to $166MM, as calculated by RosterResource. Despite the handful of significant offseason pickups, they’re only about $6MM above where they opened last season. This will probably wrap their significant offseason dealings, but they shouldn’t have an issue taking on some money midseason if they’re positioned to buy. Bassitt’s removal from the market leaves Zac Gallen, Lucas Giolito and Max Scherzer as the best free agents available for teams still looking to add.
Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the agreement and terms. Image courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images.
Astros, Blue Jays Swap Jesús Sánchez For Joey Loperfido
The Blue Jays have acquired outfielder Jesús Sánchez from the Astros in exchange for fellow outfielder Joey Loperfido, per announcements from both clubs. Both players are on the 40-man roster, so no corresponding moves will need to be made.
Sánchez’s tenure in Houston will only wind up lasting half a season. Houston acquired the lefty-swinging slugger from Miami at last year’s deadline in a trade sending righty Ryan Gusto, minor league infielder Chase Jaworsky and minor league outfielder Esmil Valencia to the Marlins.
Sánchez came to the Astros with a track record of hitting right-handed pitching but struggled against right-handed and left-handed opponents alike in his new environs. He slashed just .199/.269/.342 (71 wRC+) in 160 plate appearances as an Astro — a far cry from the .253/.319/.428 line he’d posted in nearly 1300 plate appearances with the Fish dating back to Opening Day 2023.
The Astros could have non-tendered Sánchez on the heels of those struggles but chose to keep him around despite a projected arbitration salary of some note. The two parties agreed to a $6.8MM deal for the 2026 season. Toronto will take on the entirety of that sum in this swap and, as a second-time luxury payor in the top penalty tier, pay a 90% tax on top of what they will pay Sanchez.
It’s a heavy price to buy low on a player, but Sánchez touts a career .253/.324/.450 batting line against right-handed pitching and has plenty of encouraging underlying metrics. He’s averaged a hearty 91.1 mph off the bat in his career and logged a robust 45.7% hard-hit rate. Last year’s 75.9 mph bat speed ranked in the 93rd percentile of MLB hitters.
Sánchez is limited to the outfield corners on the defensive side of things but offers solid range and a plus arm. In 2777 career innings in right field, he’s been credited with 11 Defensive Runs Saved. Statcast rates him five Outs Above Average in that time. He hasn’t played as much left field but has above-average marks there from both DRS and OAA.
The Jays don’t have an immediate path to regular at-bats for Sánchez, who’s out of minor league options. He’ll presumably occupy a part-time role, mixing into the outfield corners alongside fellow lefty swingers Nathan Lukes and Addison Barger, who figure to patrol the corners alongside center fielder Daulton Varsho. Sánchez gives the Jays a viable option in either outfield corner and can obviously log some time at designated hitter if George Springer needs a breather. He’s a nice bat to have in a limited role, and if he hits well enough to merit a raise in arbitration, he can be controlled through the 2027 season.
The addition of Sánchez adds some power to a lineup that will again be without last winter’s major offseason signing, Anthony Santander, for an extended period of time. Santander missed significant time in 2025 and hit poorly when on the field due to ongoing shoulder troubles. He recently underwent surgery on that balky shoulder and will be sidelined for five-plus months.
Toronto had obviously been hoping that an offseason of rest could get Santander back to the form he showed in Baltimore from 2022-24, when he slashed .244/.317/.478 with 105 home runs (including 44 in 2024). Instead, it’ll be another largely lost season for the switch-hitting slugger. Sánchez doesn’t have the same offensive ceiling due to his long-running platoon struggles, but he adds some power to help the Jays compensate for that loss.
Loperfido, 26, returns to the organization that originally drafted him with this trade. Houston sent him to Toronto alongside righty Jake Bloss and infielder Will Wagner in exchange for left-hander Yusei Kikuchi at the 2024 trade deadline. He wasn’t likely to break camp with the Jays and may not do so in Houston, either. He’s entering his final minor league option season and has five years of club control remaining.
While Loperfido slashed .333/.379/.500 in 104 plate appearances for Toronto last season, there was a fair bit of smoke and mirrors involved in that batting line. His offensive output was propped up by a huge .431 average on balls in play that won’t be sustainable over a larger sample, and Loperfido logged a somewhat concerning 26% strikeout rate against just a 3.8% walk rate. His batted-ball metrics (87.3 mph average exit velocity, 37.1% hard-hit rate) were well below average. Loperfido spent the bulk of the 2025 season in Triple-A and was roughly a league-average hitter there, slashing .264/.341/.401 with a 21.4% strikeout rate and a below-average 7.8% walk rate.
Loperfido will have a chance to break camp with the ‘Stros but will need to earn his spot with a big spring performance. Houston has Jake Meyers locked into center field but minimal certainty otherwise. Rookie Zach Cole hit well in a 15-game cup of coffee last year, but he also struck out in 38% of his plate appearances after fanning at a 35% clip in the minors. His hit tool is a major red flag. Cam Smith was the talk of spring training last year, and the former top prospect had a hot start to his big league career before fading as the season went on.
Houston has been on the lookout for left-handed bats throughout the offseason and has continued its search in camp. Loperfido gives them a lefty hitter but does so at the cost of the left-handed Sánchez, so there’s no net gain. However, the most important aspect of this morning’s trade for the Astros could simply be shedding Sánchez’s $6.8MM salary from the books. General manager Dana Brown said in announcing the trade that he’s “not done” making moves (via Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle).
Astros owner Jim Crane is reluctant to cross the luxury tax threshold for what’d be a second straight season, and prior to moving Sánchez, Houston was within $5MM or so of the $244MM tax line. Brown and his staff in the front office now have some extra breathing room as they look to make further additions to the roster. Houston’s infield logjam has been well-documented this winter, and corner infielder Isaac Paredes‘ name, in particular, has surfaced in frequent trade speculation. With some extra financial breathing room, the Astros have more leeway to make other additions without necessarily needing to move Paredes or find a taker for pricey first baseman Christian Walker (owed $40MM over the next two seasons) on the heels of a down year.
Phillies Release Nick Castellanos
The Phillies have released outfielder Nick Castellanos, per a club announcement. He’s now a free agent who can sign with any club for the league minimum.
Castellanos was slated to report to camp in the next few days. He’ll now stay at home and wait to learn where his next opportunity will come. He’s entering the final season of a five-year, $100MM contract that calls for a $20MM salary in 2026. The Phillies will remain on the hook for the entirety of that sum, minus the prorated portion of the league minimum paid to him by any other club who picks him up for even a portion of the season.
Today’s release should come as no surprise. Castellanos stood as an obvious trade or release candidate at season’s end, even before early-November reporting suggested that the Phils would cut ties with him. Earlier this week, it became clear that an inflection point was fast approaching. The Phillies weren’t able to find a taker for even a portion of Castellanos’ salary, it seems, so he’ll now head back to the open market and see if there’s interest from another team as a league-minimum player or minor league/non-roster player in camp.
Philadelphia’s signing of Castellanos always came as something of a surprise. They’d already signed Kyle Schwarber on a four-year, $79MM deal prior to signing Castellanos in the 2021-22 offseason. Both players profile as bat-first corner outfielders who are better suited for DH work, but the Phils opted to ink both to long-term deals, ensuring that one of the two would be in the outfield on a regular basis. That wound up being Castellanos more than Schwarber, and his annually poor glovework has only worsened over the course of his four seasons in Philly.
The hope for the Phils was that Castellanos’ bat would outweigh the negative contributions he’d made with his glove. He’d turned in a huge .309/.362/.576 slash with the Reds the season prior and was carrying an impressive .290/.345/.527 slash over the four years leading up to his Phillies deal.
Things didn’t pan out that way. Castellanos’ bat immediately went south in 2022. He hit just .263/.305/.389 in his first season of that five-year contract. He bounced back to an extent over the next two years (.263/.311/.454) but was barely above replacement level due to poor defense (-20 Defensive Runs Saved, -13 Outs Above Average). The 2025 season marked another step back. Castellanos hit .250/.294/.400 — about 10% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+ — and was dinged for -11 DRS and -12 OAA.
The Phillies might still have tried to coax something out of Castellanos in 2026 had tensions between the player and club not boiled over during the season. Castellanos was removed from a close game in Miami for defensive purposes and benched the next day after what manager Rob Thomson called an “inappropriate” comment. Matt Gelb of The Athletic reported after the season ended that Castellanos’ teammates and coaches were “disgusted” by what he’d said. The outfielder later took a shot at Thomson’s communication skills down the stretch in the final weeks of the season.
Castellanos himself addressed the “Miami incident,” as he termed it, in a post on Instagram today. He made no mention of the comment that apparently rankled so many of his teammates but admitted to bringing a beer into the dugout out of frustration after being lifted from the game by Thomson.
“After being taken out of a close ball game in front of my friends and family, I brought a Presidente into the dugout,” the Miami-area native wrote. “I then sat right next to Rob and let him know that too much slack in some areas and too tight of restrictions in others was not conducive to us winning.”
In his note today, Castellanos thanked his teammates for taking the drink from his hand before he actually took a sip, apologized to them and reiterated that he apologized to both Thomson and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski for letting his emotions get the better of him. He added that he was prepared to share the details of the incident with the media at the time it happened but was instructed not to by Phillies management.
The question now becomes one of which — if any — team will be willing to give Castellanos a fresh start in hopes that he can get back to his prior levels of offense. While he still hit for a decent average and knocked in 70-plus runs in each of the past three seasons in Philadelphia, much of that had to do with lineup placement and a strong cast ahead of him (e.g. Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, Schwarber).
Castellanos has never walked much and has turned in three of his four career-low walk rates since donning a Phillies uniform. The plus power he showed with the Tigers, Cubs and Reds prior to signing in Philadelphia has dwindled, too; he posted an ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average) north of .200 for six straight seasons prior to his Phillies tenure (.229 overall). He topped .200 just once with the Phillies, in 2023, when he logged a .204 mark. He’s lost two miles per hour on his bat speed over the past three seasons and posted below-average numbers against fastballs for the first time in his career in 2025, hitting .236 with a meek .368 slugging percentage versus four-seamers.
A club with DH at-bats to spare could well look into Castellanos, but it’s unlikely anyone would sign him to log significant time in the outfield. Teams will surely be wary of the manner in which his relationship with the Phillies deteriorated as well. For instance, Isaac Azout of Fish On First reports that the Marlins, despite lacking an obvious solution at designated hitter, aren’t interested in bringing Castellanos into the fold.
Yankees Re-Sign Paul Goldschmidt
The Yankees officially announced they’ve re-signed Paul Goldschmidt on a one-year deal. It’s reportedly a $4MM guarantee for the Excel Sports Management client, who’d earn another $500K apiece at 400, 450, 500 and 550 plate appearances. Clarke Schmidt has been placed on the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. He’ll miss most or all of the season recovering from Tommy John surgery.
It’ll be Goldschmidt’s second season in the Bronx. The former MVP signed a $12.5MM deal last offseason to serve as New York’s everyday first baseman. The role will be different this year, as Goldschmidt seems ticketed for more of a short side platoon job after Ben Rice outplayed him last season. The left-handed hitting Rice connected on 26 homers with a .255/.337/.499 batting line across 530 trips to the plate.
Goldschmidt managed only 10 home runs in a similar amount of playing time. His .274/.328/.403 slash was a little better than league average. It came with dramatic splits, both in terms of handedness and timeliness. Goldschmidt started his Yankee tenure on a tear, hitting .338/.394/.495 with six longballs through the end of May. That plummeted to a .226/.277/.333 performance over the final four months of the season. It was essentially an inverse of his 2024 campaign in St. Louis. Goldschmidt started that year very slowly before picking it up in the second half.
Between his late-season struggles and Rice’s breakout year, the seven-time All-Star lost playing time as the season progressed. His plate appearance tally dropped in each month. Goldschmidt will remain in the lineup against left-handed pitching, as he continued to tee off on southpaws even as his numbers against righties dropped. He’s coming off a .336/.411/.570 slash against left-handers compared to a .247/.289/.329 mark when he didn’t hold the platoon advantage. Seven of his 10 home runs came off lefties even though he saw twice as many plate appearances versus right-handers.
Rice had seven homers in 119 plate appearances against lefties, but it came with a .208 average and .271 on-base mark. Even if the Yankees don’t want to make him a strict platoon bat, they’ll time some of his rest days against tough southpaws. Goldschmidt can pick up those at-bats and offers a fallback at designated hitter in case Giancarlo Stanton misses time. Lefty-hitting catcher Austin Wells had reverse splits last season but is a career .218/.282/.360 hitter against southpaws. If the Yankees want to continue giving Rice scattered reps behind the plate, they could shield Wells from a lefty and start Goldschmidt at first.
At 38, Goldschmidt is clearly on the downswing of what should be a Hall of Fame career, but he can still be productive if deployed in a more limited role. He’s also highly respected off the field and was just named to the U.S. World Baseball Classic roster for the third time in his career. He clearly made a strong impression in the clubhouse and with the coaching staff.
The late-season drop in playing time evidently didn’t sour him on giving it another go in pinstripes. Joel Sherman of The New York Post reports that he passed on more money from other teams to remain in the Bronx. The Padres were reportedly among the finalists as they look for one more bat after agreeing to a deal with Miguel Andujar. The Diamondbacks spent most of the offseason looking for a right-handed hitting first baseman. A reunion in the desert seemed to make sense, but it was clear that wouldn’t come to pass when the Snakes agreed to terms with Carlos Santana earlier this week.
New York has a lineup that skews to the left side generally. GM Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone had spoken multiple times about wanting to add a righty bat for balance. Goldschmidt joins utility infielder Amed Rosario as righty options off the bench. José Caballero would also be in that mix if Anthony Volpe reclaims the shortstop job once he returns from shoulder surgery.
They’re going to carry lefty-hitting J.C. Escarra as a backup catcher. That would only leave one bench spot for Oswaldo Cabrera and Jasson Domínguez if everyone gets through camp healthy. The Post’s Jon Heyman wrote on Thursday that it seems likely Domínguez will be optioned to Triple-A to begin the season. That’s even more probable with Goldschmidt back, though Spring Training injuries could certainly change the picture.
The Yankees will pay a 110% tax on the $4MM salary ($4.4MM) as third-time CBT payors in the top bracket. It’s an $8.4MM investment overall. RosterResource calculates their competitive balance tax number around $333MM. They had a $320MM tax payroll last year, leaving them with a nearly $62MM bill at season’s end.
Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Yankees and Goldschmidt were finalizing an agreement. Ronald Blum of The Associated Press reported that Goldschmidt was likely to make no more than $5MM. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported the $4MM salary and incentives. Image courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images.
Rockies Sign Jose Quintana
Feb. 12: Colorado has officially announced the Quintana deal. The veteran will take the 40-man roster spot of right-hander Jeff Criswell, who was placed on the 60-day IL. Criswell had Tommy John surgery in March.
Feb 10: The Rockies have followed up their Michael Lorenzen and Tomoyuki Sugano signings with another free agent deal for a veteran starter. Colorado is reportedly in agreement with left-hander Jose Quintana on a one-year deal, pending a physical. The ACES client is guaranteed $6MM. The Rox will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster once the signing is finalized. Jeff Criswell, who underwent Tommy John surgery last March, is a 60-day injured list candidate.
Quintana signs on the eve of Spring Training after waiting until early March to put pen to paper last winter. He settled for a deferred $4.25MM guarantee with the Brewers that was probably below his expectations coming off a 3.75 ERA in 31 starts for the Mets. Quintana managed decent results in Milwaukee as well, allowing 3.96 earned runs per nine over 131 2/3 innings.
There weren’t a whole lot of encouraging underlying numbers. Quintana’s results have outstripped his peripherals for essentially four consecutive seasons. He has never been a power pitcher, but his already pedestrian velocity and swing-and-miss rates have dropped into his mid-30s. Last year’s 16% strikeout rate was his lowest since the 14% mark he posted in his 2012 rookie season. His sinker and four-seam fastball each land in the 90-91 mph range on average. None of the southpaw’s pitches miss many bats, and last season’s 6.9% swinging strike rate was the second lowest mark for a pitcher who reached 100 innings.
Although the 37-year-old doesn’t have a huge ceiling at this stage of his career, he should raise the floor at the back of Warren Schaeffer’s rotation. The pitch-to-contact approach keeps his walks in check. Quintana doesn’t have notable platoon splits and mixes five pitches (sinker, changeup, curveball, four-seam fastball, and slurve). The deeper arsenal seems to be of particular interest to the Rox’s front office and coaching staff. Lorenzen throws seven distinct pitches, while Sugano has a six-pitch mix.
“We’ve spoken about this internally a lot,” first-year pitching coach Alon Leichman told Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post last week. “We want big arsenals. We think big arsenals will be harder to game plan against. You know, if a guy has six, seven pitches, that’s harder to game plan for than if a guy has two or three, right? So we think that’s an advantage. The more weapons you have, the more random you can be.”
The Rockies have committed just over $19MM to add the trio of veteran starters. They’ll join Kyle Freeland as rotation locks. Ryan Feltner and Chase Dollander would probably compete for the fifth starter role as things stand. There’s a decent chance an injury during Spring Training clarifies things. Feltner missed the majority of last season with back issues. Quintana himself had a pair of IL stints for a shoulder impingement and calf strain, respectively.
While it remains arguably the worst rotation in the majors, the Rockies don’t want a repeat of last year’s historically awful performance. Colorado’s 2025 starting staff had a 6.65 ERA that was the highest in any full MLB season in history. This season’s group should at least be markedly better than that.
None of Lorenzen, Sugano or Quintana are likely to fetch much at the trade deadline even if they’re managing decent results away from Coors Field. They’re all sixth starters/swing types on contenders. There’s nevertheless value in having experienced arms around to take a few innings and work with Dollander and prospects Gabriel Hughes and Sean Sullivan, each of whom could be up at some point in 2026. They’re less likely to need to rely on McCade Brown and Tanner Gordon for early-season starts.
This will push Colorado’s projected payroll to $120MM, as calculated by RosterResource. They opened last season at $122MM and seem set for a nearly identical spending pattern in Paul DePodesta’s first season as president of baseball operations.
Jesse Rogers of ESPN first reported the Rockies and Quintana had an agreement. Robert Murray of FanSided reported the $6MM guarantee. Image courtesy of Mark Hoffman, Imagn Images.
Jackson Holliday To Begin Season On Injured List Following Hamate Surgery
Feb. 12: Holliday had successful surgery today to address his fractured hamate bone, according to multiple reports, including from Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun. The second baseman is expected to be sidelined several weeks beyond Opening Day.
Feb. 11: Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday will open the 2026 season on the injured list after suffering a fractured hamate bone in his right hand during live batting practice on Feb. 6, president of baseball operations Mike Elias announced to the team’s beat this morning (link via Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner). He’ll likely miss the first several weeks of the season.
Elias also added that infielder Jordan Westburg suffered an oblique injury three weeks ago while training but is only expected to miss the first few games of Grapefruit League play (via MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko). The team isn’t concerned about his Opening Day status at this juncture. Righty Colin Selby, meanwhile, is dealing with inflammation in his right shoulder and is expected to open the season on the injured list (per Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun).
The Holliday injury is the most notable of the bunch. The former No. 1 pick and top prospect had been in line to open the season at second base after hitting .242/.314/.375 with 17 homers and 17 steals in his age-21 season with the O’s last year. Second base will now presumably fall to some combination of trade acquisition Blaze Alexander and utilityman Jeremiah Jackson. Alternatively, Baltimore could play Westburg at second base and give Coby Mayo some run at third base to begin the season.
Many fans on social media were quick to jump to the conclusion that the Holliday injury was a driving factor behind Baltimore’s acquisition of Alexander in last week’s trade with the Diamondbacks. However, the timing was a matter of happenstance; Holliday actually suffered the fracture in his hand/wrist the day after the Alexander trade was completed. Perhaps there was some modest concern about Westburg’s oblique at the time, but Holliday’s injury didn’t have any impact on that swap.
Hamate fractures are relatively common. Stars Francisco Lindor and Corbin Carroll are currently in similar boats at the moment. The resulting surgery typically sidelines players for anywhere from four to eight weeks. Hand injuries of this nature can often have a lingering impact on a player’s power output even after he’s cleared to return to the field, though every case is unique unto itself, of course. Assuming Holliday indeed hits the injured list, this will the first major league IL placement of his young career.
As for Selby, there’s less certainty on his outlook at the moment. The Orioles acquired him from the Royals in a July 2024 swap sending cash back to Kansas City. He spent the rest of that year and the majority of the 2025 season in Triple-A, but the 28-year-old righty was effective in 14 big league frames in 2025. Those 14 innings came over the life of 11 appearances and saw Selby hold opponents to five runs (3.21 ERA) on 16 hits and just two walks with 14 strikeouts. Selby also tossed 25 2/3 innings of 2.45 ERA ball at the Triple-A level, fanning 31.5% of his opponents there.
Selby’s IL placement opens up some space in the team’s Opening Day bullpen competition, which could create an easier path for lefty Grant Wolfram, righty Yaramil Hiraldo or out-of-options right-hander Rico Garcia. Right-hander Chayce McDermott, too, could find himself in that mix. He’s been a starter in the past, but Elias said today that the 27-year-old righty will be used as a reliever in the upcoming season (via Kostka). Righty Tyler Wells, meanwhile, will build up as a starter. There’s currently no clear rotation opening for him, but stretching out in camp will create some insurance for rotation injuries. Wells could open the season in a long relief role in the ‘pen or in the rotation with Triple-A Norfolk; he still has two minor league option years remaining.
Francisco Lindor To Undergo Surgery For Hamate Fracture
Feb. 11: Lindor will indeed undergo surgery to address the injury, manager Carlos Mendoza announced to reporters this morning (via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). The Mets haven’t officially ruled him out for Opening Day, but there’s obviously a decent chance he won’t be ready to begin the season.
Feb. 10: Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor is being evaluated for a hamate bone injury, per president of baseball operations David Stearns. The five-time All-Star would face a six-week absence if the injury requires surgery. Steans told reporters, including Jorge Castillo of ESPN, that he’s confident Lindor would be back for the beginning of the season even if he has surgery.
Lindor underwent a debridement procedure on his right elbow early in the offseason. Insurance coverage issues related to the injury kept the Team Puerto Rico captain out of the 2026 World Baseball Classic. The announcement from Stearns is the first mention of the hamate injury. Lindor is set to be examined to determine the next steps. The Mets open the season against the Pirates on March 26.
The 32-year-old Lindor missed a month with an oblique strain in the middle of his first season with the Mets in 2021. Since then, he’s been the picture of health. Lindor has played in at least 152 games in four straight seasons. He’s piled up 680+ plate appearances each year in that stretch, including a league-leading 732 this past year. Lindor hasn’t been on the IL since the 2021 oblique issue.
The six-week timeframe would leave little breathing room for Lindor to recover in time for Opening Day, if he were to undergo surgery. The shortstop has been dealing with the stress reaction in his hamate bone over the past few days, Stearns said (relayed by Anthony Dicomo of MLB.com). Hamate bone issues have a history of sapping power from hitters. Lindor has been a 30-homer hitter for three straight years.
The Mets have a handful of in-house options available to replace Lindor if he misses any time. Free agent acquisition Bo Bichette was ticketed for third base, but could move back to his natural position of shortstop. Bichette’s declining skills at the position narrowed his list of suitors and led to him landing with a team that didn’t need him up the middle, but he could survive at short until Lindor ramped back up.
Ronny Mauricio spent the majority of his minor league career at shortstop. He’s been mostly a third baseman in the big leagues, though that’s mostly due to Lindor’s stranglehold on shortstop. Vidal Bruján is the only other player with recent shortstop experience on the 40-man roster.
Losing Lindor’s bat for any amount of time would be significant for an offense that will look quite different in 2026. Mainstays Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso have departed, along with midseason acquisition Cedric Mullins. Marcus Semien, Jorge Polanco, and Luis Robert Jr. are now in the mix, along with Bichette.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Dodgers Re-Sign Evan Phillips, Designate Ben Rortvedt
The Dodgers announced Wednesday that they’ve re-signed reliever Evan Phillips to a one-year deal worth $6.5MM. Catcher Ben Rortvedt was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Phillips, a client of Apex Baseball, was non-tendered by the Dodgers in November after undergoing Tommy John surgery late last May but will return on a new one-year deal.
Phillips, 31, came to the Dodgers via a 2021 waiver claim out of the Rays organization. He pitched well enough down the stretch in ’21 to stick on the roster throughout that offseason, but Phillips didn’t immediately look like a waiver heist in the initial months following his claim.
That changed in 2022. A then-27-year-old Phillips erupted for 63 innings with a microscopic 1.14 ERA. He set down 33% of opponents on strikes and walked only 6.4% of the batters he faced, averaging better than 96 mph on his four-seamer and sinker alike. Phillips picked up 19 holds that year, but by 2023 he’d stepped into the closer’s role in L.A. — a job he handled with aplomb. Phillips turned in another dominant season, recording a 2.05 ERA with 24 saves, six holds, a 28.2% strikeout rate and a 5.6% walk rate.
For three full seasons from 2022-24, Phillips was a wipeout late-inning reliever. He combined for a 2.21 ERA with 44 saves, 34 holds and only nine blown saves, whiffing 29.6% of opponents with a 6.5% walk rate. His 2025 campaign got out to a strong start as well, with 5 2/3 shutout frames and six strikeouts. Phillips hit the injured list early in the year, however, and by late May the team announced that he’d require a Tommy John procedure, sidelining him for what’ll likely be 13 to 14 months.
Phillips figures to aim for a return around the All-Star break, give or take a couple weeks. If he’s able to do so, he’ll be a prominent midseason boon to the bullpen — effectively the same as picking up a prominent reliever ahead of the trade deadline. There’s risk in any pitcher coming back from major surgery, but if it works out, he’ll be healthy for October, which has been the Dodgers’ primary concern (relative to the regular season) with all their higher-end pitchers in recent seasons.
The Dodgers are an annual luxury tax payor and are well into the top bracket of penalization. Phillips will come with the maximum 110% tax on his salary, meaning he’ll cost the Dodgers $13.65MM overall. It’s a steep price to pay, particularly relative to the risk, but the Dodgers’ spending knows virtually no bounds.
As for Rortvedt, he’ll likely head back to the waiver wire on the heels of his latest DFA. He ended the season on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster and quickly inked a $1.25MM deal to avoid arbitration. The Dodgers then placed him on waivers, hoping he’d clear and could then be stashed in Triple-A Oklahoma City as upper-level depth. Ideally, the $1.25MM salary would’ve dissuaded other clubs from claiming him while also giving Rortvedt a reason to accept the minor league assignment; he has enough service time to reject an outright in favor of free agency but not enough to do so while retaining his guaranteed salary.
The Reds scooped Rortvedt up anyhow and carried him on the 40-man roster for much of the offseason. When he was designated for assignment earlier this month, the Dodgers placed a claim to bring Rortvedt back to the organization. They’ll now hope to pass him through waivers, as they initially planned.
It’s easy to see why clubs would be happy to have the out-of-options Rortvedt in the upper minors but might be wary of carrying him on the big league roster. He’s a plus defender behind the plate whose keen eye typically lends itself to strong walk rates. Rortvedt is strikeout-prone and consistently hits for a low average, however, and he has little in the way of in-game power. He’s a career .190/.279/.270 hitter in 633 MLB plate appearances and a .239/.328/.412 hitter in 574 Triple-A plate appearances.
The Dodgers can trade Rortvedt or place him on waivers at any point within the next five days. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so his DFA will be resolved within a maximum of one week.