Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Athletics Rumors

Athletics Sign Tyler Soderstrom To Seven-Year Extension

By | at

Dec. 29: The Athletics have formally announced the extension.

Dec. 25: The Athletics aren’t taking the holiday off. They’re in agreement with outfielder Tyler Soderstrom on a seven-year, $86MM extension, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Passan adds that there’s a club option for 2033 and escalators that could push the contract value by another $45MM if the option is exercised. The deal buys out at least three free agent years and potentially a fourth, keeping him under club control through his age-31 season. Soderstrom is represented by Paragon Sports International.

Soderstrom becomes the latest core offensive piece whom the A’s lock up on a long-term deal. They extended Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler on respective $60MM and $65.5MM guarantees last winter. Soderstrom tops those by a decent margin, becoming the largest contract in club history in the process. Their three-year, $67MM free agent deal with Luis Severino had previously been that high-water mark.

[Related: Largest Contract in Franchise History for Each MLB Team]

The lefty-hitting Soderstrom was a first-round pick in 2020. He’d been an excellent offensive player dating back to high school. The biggest question was where he’d fit on the other side of the ball. While Soderstrom was drafted as a catcher, most scouts felt he’d need to move off the position. That has essentially been borne out, as his only 15 MLB starts behind the dish came during his 2023 rookie season. The fallback for poor defensive catchers is generally first base, and that’s indeed where Soderstrom spent the early part of his big league tenure.

Soderstrom struggled over a 45-game sample as a rookie. His .233/.315/.429 slash across 213 plate appearances in 2024 was a significant step forward but hadn’t yet put him alongside Rooker, Butler and Shea Langeliers as clear members of the A’s core. Soderstrom entered this year with a little pressure in the form of 2024 fourth overall pick Nick Kurtz, a college first baseman who was expected to hit his way to the majors very quickly.

While Kurtz would do just that, Soderstrom’s breakout ’25 campaign ensured the A’s couldn’t afford to take him out of the lineup either. The 24-year-old was one of the league’s best hitters in the first few weeks of the season. He connected on nine home runs with a .284/.349/.560 slash before the end of April. Soderstrom was tied for fourth in MLB (behind only Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh and Eugenio Suárez) in homers through the season’s first month. By the time Kurtz forced his way to the majors on April 21, Soderstrom was locked into the middle of Mark Kotsay’s batting order.

That presented the A’s with a positional dilemma. Rooker is an everyday designated hitter. The 6’5″, 240-pound Kurtz wasn’t going to be able to play anywhere other than first base. Despite his catching/first base background, Soderstrom is a solid athlete and average runner. The A’s threw him into left field on the fly even though he’d had no professional experience there. They presumably expected to live with some defensive growing pains to keep his bat in the lineup.

Soderstrom dramatically exceeded those expectations. He graded 10 runs better than an average left fielder by measure of Defensive Runs Saved. Statcast graded his range five plays above average. Soderstrom ended the season as a Gold Glove finalist at a position he’d never played five months earlier. He joins Butler as core outfield pieces, ideally in a corner tandem flanking defensive specialist Denzel Clarke in center.

The increased defensive responsibility didn’t impact Soderstrom’s rhythm at the plate. He scuffled between May and June but rebounded with a .305/.359/.530 showing over the season’s final four months. Soderstrom finished with an overall .276/.346/.474 batting line while ranking fourth on the team with 25 homers. He improved his contact rate by six percentage points and held his own against same-handed pitching (.270/.315/.423) while teeing off on righties (.278/.356/.491). The  breakout also wasn’t a product of the A’s playing half their games at the hitter-friendly Sutter Heath Park. Soderstrom had an OPS north of .800 both at home and on the road.

As recently as this past summer, there was speculation about the A’s potentially swapping Soderstrom for a controllable starting pitcher. The extension firmly takes that off the table and ensures he’ll remain alongside Kurtz, Rooker, Butler and Jacob Wilson in an excellent offensive corps. The first three are signed through at least 2029. Kurtz and Wilson are under team control for five seasons. Langeliers has another two seasons of arbitration eligibility.

Soderstrom was already under club control for four seasons. He was a year closer to free agency than Butler was at the time of his extension, which explains why the price was a little more than $20MM higher. Soderstrom tops the $57.5MM guarantee which Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia received in the same service class, but that deal only extended K.C.’s control window by two seasons.

The A’s backloaded the Rooker and Butler extensions, with the highest salaries corresponding to their planned move to Las Vegas in 2028. The salary breakdown on Soderstrom’s deal hasn’t yet been reported. The A’s had a projected payroll around $87MM before today, as calculated by RosterResource. That’s $12MM above where they opened the ’25 season. General manager David Forst told MLB.com’s Martín Gallegos last week that the team was looking to upgrade a rotation that ranked 27th in ERA and 25th in strikeout percentage.

Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images.

Athletics Open To Higher Payroll, Extension With GM

By | at

The Athletics were financially active last offseason, handing out considerable free-agent deals to  Luis Severino and José Leclerc, while also inking Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler to extensions. Reports of a potential grievance from the MLB Players Association if the club didn’t boost its CBT number likely spurred some of those moves. This offseason doesn’t have the same MLBPA considerations, but spending could still continue.

“I can tell you [payroll] is going to be higher,” owner John Fisher told Evan Drellich of The Athletic. “That’s something that we’re continuing to work on internally. At the end of the day, our goal is to put the greatest team on the field that we can, and payroll is an important part of that.”

Fisher took a step toward that promise on Christmas Day, when the club locked up Tyler Soderstrom on a seven-year, $86MM extension. The 24-year-old outfielder will now be under team control through his age-31 season. With Shea Langeliers just entering arbitration, and Jacob Wilson and Nick Kurtz still in the pre-arbitration phase, the Athletics have their hitting core in place for the foreseeable future.

The Athletics barely topped $50MM in payroll in 2022, per RosterResource. That number crept up to $59MM in 2023, and then $63MM in 2024. Last year’s $79MM mark pales in comparison to most other teams around the league, but it continued an upward trend for the franchise. The Athletics’ estimated mark is currently $99MM for 2026.

While not all of the spending worked out (Leclerc missed most of the season with injury, Severino struggled mightily at home), the Athletics did put together one of their better seasons this decade. The club finished 76-86, reaching 70 wins for the first time since 2021. They closed the season with a 35-29 stretch. Kurtz cruised to AL Rookie of the Year honors. Langeliers put together a massive offensive season. Denzel Clarke was a SportsCenter Top 10 regular with his work in center field. “It was everything that we could have hoped it would be and more,” Fisher said of the 2025 results.

The current architect of the roster is only under contract through 2026, but that could change soon. Fisher said the club is in extension talks with general manager David Forst. “I’m really proud of the work that he’s done, and how well we work together, and we’re continuing to have conversations about the future, and those conversations are ongoing.”

Forst’s previous contract ran out at the end of the 2025 campaign. Reports emerged shortly after the season ended that he’d be back for 2026, though the details of a new deal weren’t made available. Fisher’s comments suggest the sides are working on something that goes beyond next season.

Forst has been with the organization for 25 years. He first came on board as a scout in 2000. Forst took over as GM in 2022, with legendary executive Billy Beane serving in an advisory role. He’s had to navigate an extended rebuild, a city change, and home games in a minor league stadium. Despite the challenges, Forst has the team trending in the right direction. The recent extensions and the general willingness toward increased spending should give the club a shot to reach the postseason for the first time since the shortened 2020 season.

Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images

Players In DFA Limbo

By | at

When a team designates a player for assignment, he is removed from that club’s 40-man roster. The team then has a period of time with some ability to impact what is next for that player. This is colloquially referred to as “DFA limbo”.

The team can trade the player to another club, unless the trade deadline has passed and the new offseason has not yet begun. The team can also place the player on outright or release waivers. This limbo period can last as long as seven days. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the team has a maximum of five days to work out a trade.

Or at least that’s the case for most of the year. It’s different around the holidays, with several instances in recent years of players being in DFA limbo for longer than two weeks. For instance, catcher Sam Huff was designated for assignment by the Rangers on December 23rd of 2024. He stayed in DFA limbo until he was claimed off waivers by the Giants on January 8th of 2025, 16 days later.

There has never been an official announcement made about what the rules are but it’s clear there’s some sort of freeze on the DFA clock around the holidays in late December and early January.

In this morning’s edition of The Opener, MLBTR mentioned two players who had been designated for assignment on December 17th, expecting those situations to be resolved today. There have been no updates as of the publication of this post. It’s possible the situations have been resolved but just haven’t been reported publicly because of media/communications people taking time off for the holidays. It’s also possible that those players have had their DFA clocks frozen and will remain in limbo into January.

Below is a list of players who have been designated for assignment in the past week without resolution, listed chronologically.

December 17th

December 19th

December 20th

December 22nd

December 23rd

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

MLBTR Podcast: Three-Way Trade, Murakami’s Short-Term Deal, And Willson Contreras To Boston

By | at

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

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

Check out our past episodes!

  • The Mets Sign Jorge Polanco, And The Braves, Blue Jays And Royals Make Moves – listen here
  • Winter Meetings Recap – listen here
  • An Agent’s Perspective with B.B. Abbott – Also, Cease, Williams, Helsley, And Gray – listen here

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

Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images

A’s Likely To Rely On Internal Options At Third Base

By | at

The A’s added to their infield with this week’s acquisition of Jeff McNeil from the Mets. The A’s sent a lottery ticket pitching prospect (Yordan Rodriguez) while taking on $10MM of the $17.75MM remaining on the veteran’s contract.

Adding help at one of second or third base had been on the A’s checklist since the beginning of the offseason. It seems they’re content with one outside pickup. General manager David Forst told Martín Gallegos of MLB.com that the A’s view McNeil as their primary second baseman. They’re planning to leave the third base job open for a Spring Training competition among a few players already on the roster.

“We’ll probably look internally at third base,” Forst told Gallegos. “Max Muncy did a really nice job there in his limited time. Darell Hernaiz has shown he can play the position. Brett Harris has a lot of experience at third base. So I like our internal options.” Forst didn’t specifically mention Zack Gelof, who is questionable for the start of exhibition play as he works back from September shoulder surgery. Gelof was a college third baseman but hasn’t played anywhere other than second since he reached Triple-A at the end of the 2022 season.

None of Muncy, Harris or Hernaiz showed a lot in limited big league playing time. Harris was the best of the group offensively, hitting .274 with a .349 on-base percentage. That came in just 84 plate appearances, and he was a .146/.276/.262 hitter in a similar amount of playing time as a rookie the year before. Muncy struck out in 31% of his first 220 trips to the plate in the big leagues, leading to a .214/.259/.379 slash. Hernaiz made a ton of contact with below-average exit velocities. He only managed two homers and a .231/.292/.306 line over 197 trips to the plate. Gelof showed some promise when he hit 14 homers in 69 games as a rookie in 2023. He led the American League in strikeouts in his first full season and battled injuries for most of the ’25 campaign, dropping him down the depth chart.

It’s one of the weakest third base groups in MLB on paper. 19-year-old top prospect Leo De Vries is likely to open the season in Double-A. It’s not out of the question that he forces his way to the big leagues before the end of the year, especially if the A’s hang around the playoff bubble. That won’t be a consideration out of the gate, so the A’s will need someone from their group of upper level infielders to take a step forward.

If the A’s wanted to go outside the organization, they could probably get a veteran like Yoán Moncada or Ramón Urías on a cheap one-year deal closer to Spring Training. That doesn’t appear to be the current plan. The McNeil acquisition pushed their projected payroll to $87MM, as calculated by RosterResource. That’s $12MM above where they opened the ’25 season. They’ve yet to make any moves to upgrade a rotation which was 27th in ERA and 25th in strikeout percentage. Forst reiterated to Gallegos that acquiring a starter is the “first focus right now.”

Athletics Acquire Jeff McNeil

By | at

The Mets have traded infielder/outfielder Jeff McNeil to the Athletics along with cash considerations, according to announcements from both clubs. The Mets receive right-hander Yordan Rodriguez in return. The A’s designated left-hander Ken Waldichuk for assignment to open a 40-man spot, which you can read more about here. New York is reportedly sending $5.75MM to cover part of McNeil’s $15.75MM salary in 2026 and will cover the $2MM buyout on McNeil’s $15.75MM club option for 2027 if the A’s don’t pick it up.

Once again, the Mets are moving on from a long-tenured player as they overhaul their roster this offseason. They traded Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers last month. In recent weeks, Pete Alonso signed with the Orioles and Edwin Díaz with the Dodgers. Díaz was acquired by the Mets in a trade ahead of the 2019 season. Nimmo, Alonso and McNeil were all drafted by the Mets, Nimmo back in 2011, McNeil in 2013 and Alonso in 2016.

McNeil debuted in the big leagues in 2018 and played in eight different seasons as a Met. Through the 2022 campaign, McNeil had appeared in 516 games, stepping to the plate 2,039 times. He established himself as one of the hitters most likely to put the ball in play. His 6.8% walk rate was a bit lower than league average while his 11.9% strikeout rate was barely half of par. He showed a bit of pop with 46 home runs in that span, though 23 of those were in the 2019 juiced-ball season. Put it all together and McNeil slashed .307/.370/.458 for a 130 wRC+ over those five seasons, indicating he had been 30% better than league average on the whole.

In addition to his skills at the plate, he swiped a few bags and provided the Mets with a good amount of defensive versatility. He spent most of his time at second base but also appeared at third base and the outfield corners, generally getting good marks for his glovework. FanGraphs credited him with 15.3 wins above replacement in that span.

Going into 2023, the Mets signed him to a four-year, $50MM contract extension, just ahead of his age-31 season. That deal hasn’t been a disaster but McNeil’s production has declined since then. Up until he signed that pact, he had a .332 batting average on balls in play. That’s roughly 40 points better than typical league averages, a tremendous boost for a guy who puts the ball in play so often. But in the past three seasons, his BABIP has been just .269, which has led to a .253/.326/.389 line and 102 wRC+. Thanks to his glovework, he’s still been worth about two fWAR per year over the course of his extension so far.

The infield picture in Queens has become jumbled in recent years. Francisco Lindor has been a mainstay at shortstop since 2021. McNeil has been at second a lot but has also been moved around as the Mets have tried to find time for a crop of younger infielders consisting of Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña.

As those players have been earning more playing time, to varying degrees, trade rumors around McNeil have picked up. The Mets further loaded up the infield by acquiring second baseman Marcus Semien from the Rangers as the return in the Nimmo trade.

McNeil’s defensive versatility meant the Semien trade didn’t completely kick him out the door but it was perhaps telling that the Mets acquired one of the most reliable, everyday guys to cover the position McNeil has played most often. Since McNeil will turn 34 years old in April and has just one guaranteed year remaining on his contract, a deal did feel likely. The Jorge Polanco signing added even another layer. He is expected to primarily play first base and serve as the designated hitter but some time at second or third base is possible as well.

The trade possibility was complicated by the fact that McNeil’s health is at least somewhat in question. It was reported in November that McNeil underwent a thoracic outlet procedure at the end of the 2025 campaign. His agent characterized the procedure as minor and said the expectation would be for McNeil to be back to normal in time to be a full participant in spring training.

The procedure doesn’t seem to have dissuaded the A’s, who have been looking for upgrades at the second and/or third base positions. The A’s have been rebuilding for a while and have had a lot of success at developing their young position player prospects. They have almost a full lineup of controllable players but they came into this offseason with some room to add on the infield. Jacob Wilson is the club’s shortstop and Nick Kurtz the first baseman, but the other two spots were wide open.

Zack Gelof flashed some home run pop when he debuted in 2023 but his strikeout problems have worsened since then and he was injured for most of 2025. Various other young players have received sporadic auditions while veterans like Luis Urías and Aledmys Díaz have also floated through.

McNeil will likely be the club’s regular second baseman in the upcoming season but his flexibility also allows them to pivot as things develop. Wilson is not an especially strong defender at shortstop, so he could end up pushed to second or third. He will probably stick at short for the time being but prospect Leo De Vries, acquired in the Mason Miller trade, is looming. He’s only 19 years old but he is one of the best prospects in the league and has already played in 21 Double-A games.

Wilson’s arm strength was ranked by Statcast in the 80th percentile this year, so handling the hot corner is a possibility, though the A’s might prefer to have him stick up the middle. As they sort that out, guys like Max Muncy, Darell Hernaiz, Max Schuemann, Brett Harris and Gelof will be trying to earn playing time as well. Injuries and further acquisitions will inevitably change the situation but McNeil can move around as circumstances dictate. He even played a bit of center field this year, so he can give the A’s some coverage for Denzel Clarke, who is an elite fielder but questionable hitter.

The A’s could have turned to the free agent market and tried to do so. They reportedly offered Ha-Seong Kim $48MM on a four-year deal, which works out to $12MM per year. Instead, Kim decided to bet on himself with a one-year, $20MM deal with Atlanta, as he will hope to return to free agency with a better platform.

Once Kim was gone, the A’s weren’t left with amazing options. Bo Bichette is still out there but the A’s are not going to meet his asking price and he wouldn’t want to play in a minor league park even if they did. Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suárez shouldn’t be quite as expensive as Bichette but those situations would be somewhat comparable. Below that tier, the top free agents are utility types like Ramón Urías, Willi Castro and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

McNeil has a better track record than those guys and isn’t prohibitively expensive. Since the Mets are covering $5.75MM of his salary in 2026, the A’s will only have to pay him $10MM, a bit less than they were willing to pay Kim annually. If McNeil has a good year, they can pick up his $15.75MM club option for 2027 but they can also walk away for nothing since the Mets have agreed to cover his buyout.

RosterResource estimates that the A’s are slated to spend $87MM on next year’s club. It’s unclear where they want the budget to be but that’s already $8MM higher than last year. They could still use some pitching but it’s unclear how much more they are willing to spend.

The A’s are also parting with a lottery ticket prospect. Rodriguez is a Cuban righty who just signed with the A’s this year for a $400K bonus. He tossed 15 1/3 innings in the Dominican Summer League with 20 strikeouts but eight walks and two wild pitches. He’s still only 17 years old, turning 18 in January, and isn’t properly on the prospect radar yet. Baseball America says he was not going to be one of the Athletics’ top 30 prospects for the upcoming year. If he’s ultimately able to contribute anything for the Mets, it won’t be for quite some time.

The Mets will take the flier on Rodriguez and see if they can cash him in later. For now, it’s about moving some money off the payroll and likely opening themselves up for further transactions. It’s unclear what their next moves will be but an outfield acquisition feels inevitable after sending out both Nimmo and McNeil. Vientos, Polanco and Baty are projected to share the infield corners and the DH spot unless the Mets shake things up with an external addition. Further moves on the pitching side are surely forthcoming.

Time will tell how it all plays out but it’s the latest sign that there’s a changing of the guard taking place in Queens. Semien isn’t a young player but he’s only signed for three years as opposed to Nimmo’s five, so that move was at least somewhat about avoiding long-term commitments to aging guys. Letting Díaz and Alonso walk while trading McNeil could also be moves about preventing the club from getting too old. The Mets are looking for rotation help but reportedly don’t want to commit to top free agents on lengthy deals.

Owner Steve Cohen has an almost unmatched willingness to spend but that led to inconsistent results in the first few years of his regime. He presumably brought in president of baseball operations David Stearns to make the tough, analytical decisions about how to use the resources. So far, the results under Stearns have also been uneven but it’s only been two seasons.

Clearly, there’s a desire to avoid long-term pitfalls. Apart from the Juan Soto deal, which was an exceptional situation due to his youth, Stearns hasn’t signed a contract longer than three years with the Mets. He has let fan favorites walk away in free agency and has also sent them packing himself. The fan base doesn’t appear too happy at the moment, especially after the disappointing 2025 campaign, so it will have to work out in the long run for Stearns to win them back.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the details of the trade. Photos courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Jasen Vinlove, Imagn Images

Athletics Designate Ken Waldichuk For Assignment

By | at

The Athletics announced that they have designated left-hander Ken Waldichuk for assignment. That open a 40-man spot for infielder/outfielder Jeff McNeil, whom they acquired from the Mets today.

Waldichuk, 28 in January, was once a notable prospect with the Yankees. He was flipped to the A’s as part of the 2022 deadline deal sending Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the Bronx. Waldichuk had a somewhat encouraging debut with the A’s in 2022, making seven starts with a 4.93 earned run average, 22.6% strikeout rate and 6.8% walk rate.

His results backed up in 2023 with a 5.36 ERA in 141 innings. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since then, having undergone Tommy John surgery in May of 2024. In July of this year, he was activated from the injured list and optioned to the minors. He posted an 8.17 ERA in his minor league outings in 2025, walking 15.9% of batters faced. He qualified for arbitration at season’s end as a Super Two player. He and the A’s avoided arbitration by agreeing to a salary of $825K next year, a bit above the $780K league minimum.

DFA limbo normally lasts a week but that clock is paused between Christmas and New Year’s. The A’s will have some time to either trade Waldichuk or put him on waivers. This year’s results weren’t great but he could perhaps see improved numbers when he’s further removed from his surgery. He still has a couple of options, so he could appeal to clubs who are looking for pitching depth and have a roster spot for a reclamation project.

If he is passed through waivers unclaimed, he would not have the right to elect free agency since he does not have three years of service time nor does he have a previous career outright. If that comes to pass, the A’s can try to get him back on track without him taking up a roster spot.

Photo courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images

Details On Ketel Marte’s No-Trade Protection

By | at

The seven-year contract extension Ketel Marte signed with the Diamondbacks last April included a five-team no-trade clause, which adds an interesting wrinkle to the trade rumors that have swirled around the former NLCS MVP in recent weeks.  As reported by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, the Athletics, Cardinals, Giants, Pirates, and Yankees are the five teams included on Marte’s current list, which can be updated every offseason.

There are any number of reasons why a player may include a particular team on a no-trade list, and it is worth noting that Marte could still ultimately approve a deal to any of these clubs.  There is no obvious geographic link between the five teams, and while the Yankees were the only member of the group to reach the 2025 playoffs, the Giants, Pirates, and even the A’s are all looking to compete in 2026.  The Cardinals are in rebuild mode, so it is safe to say they weren’t in the running to acquire Marte anyway.

Interestingly, the Pirates and Giants have been linked to Marte’s trade market.  Now that Pittsburgh has landed Brandon Lowe from the Rays in yesterday’s big three-team swap, the Bucs may feel their second base needs have been addressed, though there is a world where Lowe could be a primary DH and Marte could still be brought aboard.  Still, there’s such a hefty amount of money remaining on Marte’s contract that a trade to the budget-conscious Pirates always seemed like an imperfect fit, and Marte’s no-trade list might well underline his own reservations about joining a team with just one winning season in the last decade.

San Francisco has also topped the .500 mark only once in the last nine seasons, but the Giants have been much more willing to spend in their bid to return to consistent contention.  While ownership is wary about making another long-term financial commitment, Marte’s deal could be viewed as a relative bargain, since he would land way more than $102.5MM on a six-year deal if he was a free agent this winter.

Second base is a need position for the Giants, though perhaps not as pressing as the club’s need for more rotation help.  Making a big splash in acquiring Marte might not be as big a priority, in that case, plus there are the added obstacles of Marte’s no-trade protection and the Diamondbacks’ probable reluctance to move the All-Star to a division rival.  San Francisco is considered to be one of the favorites to pry Brendan Donovan away from the Cardinals, so that might end up being the Giants’ big move to address the keystone.

The Giants and Pirates each play in pitcher-friendly ballparks, which might factor into Marte’s reasoning for including the teams on his list.  Sutter Health Park is extremely hitter-friendly, yet it is fair to wonder if Marte just doesn’t want to play in a minor league stadium for at least the next two seasons while the A’s await the construction of their new ballpark in Las Vegas.

The A’s have a big hole at second base, and acquiring Marte would add another top-tier bat to a lineup that already includes Nick Kurtz, Brent Rooker, Tyler Soderstrom, Jacob Wilson, and Shea Langeliers.  While the A’s have been a bit more willing to spend over the last year, Marte’s remaining salary would represent a new spending frontier for the traditionally low-payroll team.  Hypothetically, Luis Severino could be included in a Marte trade as salary offset, but that assumes Arizona (who needs rotation help) has any interest in Severino in the wake of his uninspiring 2025 season.

The Yankees are the most interesting inclusion on Marte’s list, as one would think he would welcome a chance to join a perennial contender.  Jazz Chisholm Jr. is already playing second base in the Bronx, but Chisholm is a free agent next winter, so Marte would represent a longer-term answer at the position.  Purely speculatively, any kind of Diamondbacks/Yankees trade involving Marte could see Chisholm going the other way, to give Arizona a one-year stopgap at second or third base.

Re-signing Cody Bellinger is thought be the Yankees’ top offseason priority, though New York might pivot to other backup plans should Bellinger sign elsewhere.  Landing Marte would certainly qualify as a substantial Plan B, yet his no-trade clause might make any potential trade a moot point.

Amidst all of the reports and speculation, it remains unclear if the Diamondbacks actually will trade away a star player who received such a lengthy contract extension less than a year ago.  With Lowe now in Pittsburgh, however, one big second-base trade chip has been removed from the board, leaving other teams in need of keystone help perhaps more open to meeting Arizona’s demands for Marte.  Beyond the Pirates and Giants, such teams as the Mariners, Rays, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Phillies, and Tigers have all reportedly shown some degree of interest in a Marte trade this winter.

A’s, Joel Kuhnel Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Athletics have agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Joel Kuhnel, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. The Octagon client will compete for a bullpen spot during spring training.

Kuhnel has appeared in parts of four major league seasons. He’ll turn 31 in February. In 93 2/3 big league frames, he’s pitched to a 5.86 earned run average. That’s not an appealing mark, of course, but Kuhnel has averaged 95.6 mph on his four-seamer and 95.7 mph on his sinker in his career while regularly posting quality walk and ground-ball rates. His 18.7% strikeout rate is below-average, but he’s also walked only 5.9% of his career opponents and kept 52% of batted balls against him on the ground.

In 2025, Kuhnel split the season between the Triple-A affiliates for the Yankees and Phillies, pitching quite well in both spots. He combined for a 3.53 ERA in 63 2/3 innings of work with a 21.6% strikeout rate, 4.2% walk rate and massive 65.4% ground-ball rate.

Kuhnel has typically used his four-seamer and sinker at nearly even rates in the past but far more heavily favored his sinker in ’25, tossing it at a 37% clip to just an 18% usage rate on the four-seamer. That’s far and away the highest rate at which he’s ever used his sinker, and the corresponding ground-ball rate is a career-high as well. Keeping the ball on the ground should be paramount for any A’s pitcher, given the manner in which Sutter Health Park played like a launching pad this past season.

Kuhnel is out of minor league options, so if he’s selected to the big league roster at any point, he’ll need to stick or else be exposed to waivers before he can be sent back down. He’d have the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency even if he went unclaimed on waivers, too. The A’s should have plenty of innings up for grabs in the 2026 bullpen. Recent free agent acquisition Mark Leiter Jr. is the only reliever on the roster with even two years of major league service time.

Athletics Sign Mark Leiter Jr.

By | at

December 17th: The A’s have officially announced their signing of Leiter.

December 11th: The Athletics have reportedly reached an agreement with right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. on a one-year, $2.85MM contract. The signing is still pending a physical. Leiter is a client of VC Sports Group.

Leiter, 35 in March, made his big league debut back in 2017 but didn’t fully establish himself at the big league level until joining the Cubs in 2022. He served as a swing man and long reliever for Chicago that year, with a 3.99 in 67 2/3 innings of work in that role, but moved to a short relief role full-time in 2023. In 100 2/3 innings of work for the Cubs over the next two seasons, Leiter pitched to a 3.75 ERA with a 3.12 FIP while striking out 30.9% of his opponents and walking 8.8%.

Those exciting peripherals were enough to convince the Yankees to swing a trade for the right-hander at the 2024 trade deadline, but he struggled in New York even as his peripheral numbers remained strong. In 70 innings of work for the Yankees over parts of two seasons with the club, Leiter posted a 4.89 ERA despite a 4.07 FIP. In 2025, Leiter struck out 24.7% against a 7.8% walk rate while generating grounders on 45.5% of his batted balls allowed. Unfortunately for the righty, the results weren’t there enough for the Yankees to tender him a contract last month, and he wound up reaching free agency a year earlier than anticipated.

Headed into 2026, the A’s can expect Leiter to be a solid middle relief arm at least. His 4.15 ERA over the past four seasons is exactly league average (100) by ERA+, and the right-hander’s impressive splitter actually makes him particularly effective against left-handed batters. In 104 2/3 innings of work against lefties the last three years, Leiter has posted a 2.49 ERA and 2.57 FIP with a 32.1% strikeout rate. With league average results overall and elite numbers against lefties, Leiter has a much higher floor than a typical non-tendered middle relief arm, which is surely why he was able to command a solid guarantee even coming off a tough year in New York.

Leiter hasn’t managed to play up to his peripherals throughout his career, but if he can do so he could wind up a valuable setup man for the A’s this year. The righty’s 3.13 SIERA over the past three seasons ranks 13th among relievers with at least 150 innings of work since the start of the 2023 season, and that puts him on a similar level to well-regarded late-inning arms like Luke Weaver. Leiter’s .359 BABIP and 66.5% strand rate over the past two years indicate extremely poor fortune when it comes to batted balls and sequencing; if those numbers experience enough positive regression to get within spitting distance of league average, Leiter’s a good bet to be impactful at the back of the A’s bullpen next year.

It’s been a quiet offseason for the A’s so far, though there’s certain reasons for optimism regarding the club’s future. Nick Kurtz emerged as a potential superstar this year, and he’s backed by a core of exciting positional talent like Brent Rooker, Shea Langeliers, Jacob Wilson, and Lawrence Butler. The club’s pitching staff needs plenty of work if the team is going to contend in 2026, but adding Leiter to a bullpen that already houses respectable arms like Hogan Harris and Michael Kelly should be a small step towards accomplishing that goal. Jeffrey Springs and Luis Severino remain in the fold as solid back-of-the-rotation veterans, though it remains to be seen how much A’s ownership is willing to spend in order to augment that group. Whether the A’s are facing significant budget constraints or not, however, bringing Leiter into the fold as a reliever with possible late-inning upside on a relative bargain can only be a good thing for the club.

Robbie Hyde of Foul Territory first reported the agreement. Janie McCauley of The Associated Press reported the $2.85MM guarantee, after ESPN’s Jesse Rogers first noted it would close to $3MM.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top