Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Ky Bush To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
White Sox prospect Ky Bush will undergo Tommy John surgery tomorrow and miss the 2025 season, general manager Chris Getz announced to the team’s beat writers this morning (via Scott Merkin of MLB.com). He’s on Chicago’s 40-man roster, so if the Sox need to free up a spot at any point, they can place Bush on the 60-day injured list.
Bush, 25, was a second-round pick by the Angels in 2021 who landed with the South Siders by way of the Lucas Giolito/Reynaldo Lopez trade in 2023. He made his major league debut for the Sox in 2024 but only started four games, totaling 17 2/3 innings with a 5.60 ERA. His minor league output was far more promising. Bush breezed through 80 2/3 innings in Double-A, logging a pristine 2.12 ERA with a 24.6% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate. He was hit hard in a small sample of four Triple-A starts, just as he was in the majors, but the bulk of his 2024 work was quite solid.
Given the patchwork nature of the White Sox’ pitching staff, Bush would’ve had a legitimate chance to break into the rotation — if not from Opening Day then certainly by midseason. The Sox currently have Martin Perez, Jonathan Cannon, Davis Martin and Bryse Wilson projected for rotation work. Prospects Sean Burke, Nick Nastrini, Jake Eder, Drew Thorpe and Jairo Iriarte are all in the running for a role in 2025.
Bush would have been in that race for a spot as well, had he been healthy. Instead, the White Sox’ No. 12 prospect (per Baseball America) will now spend the season rehabbing. The mid-February nature of his surgery gives him a chance to be ready not too long after Opening Day 2026. Assuming he spends the entire season on the 60-day injured list, he’ll gain a full year of MLB service while rehabbing. Bush would still be controllable for at least another five years — through 2030 — and would have multiple minor league options remaining as well.
Reds, Josh Staumont Agree To Minor League Deal
The Reds and free agent reliever Josh Staumont have agreed to a minor league deal, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’ll be invited to major league camp this spring. The right-hander is represented by Excel Sports Management.
Staumont has spent his entire career to date in the AL Central, pitching for the Royals from 2019-23 before spending the 2024 season with the Twins. The former Kansas City second-rounder showed some breakout potential early in his career when he pitched to a 2.93 ERA in his first 110 2/3 innings, punching out 27% of his opponents along the way. That ability to miss bats was keyed in large part by a fastball that sat north of 98 mph and often climbed into the triple digits.
Command troubles have long been an issue for Staumont, however, and his location issues were compounded by injury problems as his career progressed. He walked more than 15% of his opponents in 2022-23 while arm troubles limited him to 57 2/3 innings. His average heater “dipped” to a still-strong 96.2 mph. In 2023, Staumont was eventually diagnosed with symptoms concurrent with thoracic outlet syndrome. He underwent season-ending surgery that July.
The Twins signed Staumont to a one-year deal worth $950K last winter, hoping that he could recapture some of his early-career form. His bottom-line 3.70 ERA in 24 1/3 innings wasn’t bad by any means, but Staumont sat at a career-low 94.3 mph with his four-seamer and 95.1 mph with his sinker. His once-excellent strikeout rate fell to a well below-average 17.6%, and he walked a weighty 13.7% of his opponents. He was designated for assignment prior to the trade deadline and released in early August. Staumont signed a minor league deal with the Cubs but wasn’t called to the majors. He pitched in just two Triple-A games for the Cubs’ Iowa affiliate, facing nine batters and walking five of them.
At this point, Staumont is a project and depth piece for the Reds. He’ll need to regain velocity (or learn to succeed with diminished stuff) and scale back his increasingly worrisome walk rates if he’s to get back into his 2019-21 form. There’s no risk bringing him aboard on a minor league deal, however. He’ll compete for a spot in a bullpen that just added the former Royals closer for whom Staumont served as a setup man: Scott Barlow. Cincinnati’s bullpen will include Barlow, Alexis Diaz, Taylor Rogers, Sam Moll, Brent Suter and Tony Santillan, health permitting, but there should be at least a pair of relief jobs up for grabs this spring.
Astros To Sign Luis Guillorme To Minor League Deal
The Astros and infielder Luis Guillorme have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. The MVP Sports Group client also gets an invite to big league camp, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic.
Guillorme, 30, is a glove-first utility guy. He was able to produce offense around league average in the 2020 to 2022 seasons, which made him a useful player for the Mets. Unfortunately, his bat fell off in 2023, so the Mets non-tendered him.
That sent him into journeyman mode last year. He started the season with Atlanta and eventually bounced to the Angels and Diamondbacks. He produced a line of .205/.301/.273 between those three clubs, his second straight poor season at the plate. His combined line over 2023 and 2024 was .213/.296/.295 for a wRC+ of 68, indicating he was 32% below league average.
As mentioned, he was better before that. He slashed .278/.367/.344 over the three previous seasons, leading to a 107 wRC+. He didn’t provide much pop, with just three home runs in 559 plate appearances, but he walked at a 12% rate and only struck out 15.4% of the time. When combined with his glovework, FanGraphs credited him with 3.1 wins above replacement in 201 games over that three-year period.
Defensively, Guillorme has 1,339 1/3 innings at second base, 604 at third and 229 1/3 innings at shortstop. Both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average have given him a grade of +7 at the keystone in his career, while his work at the other two spots has been considered close to average.
The Astros have a question mark at second base for the first time in years. Jose Altuve has had that position locked down since he debuted in the summer of 2011. He’s never been a great defender and the metrics have soured on him further recently. Since he’ll turn 35 years old in May, the club is reportedly considering a move to left field for Altuve.
Those reports originally surfaced in connection with rumors that they were still considering re-signing Alex Bregman, which would push Isaac Paredes from third to second. However, it has since become clear that Altuve could be moving to left field with or without Bregman involved. If Bregman signs elsewhere and Altuve ends up on the grass, the club will need solutions at second base.
Mauricio Dubón is on the roster but would ideally be deployed in a super utility role, playing infield and outfield. Shay Whitcomb and Zach Dezenzo are on the 40-man but neither has more than 20 games of MLB experience, and Dezenzo is more of a corner infielder regardless. The Astros signed Zack Short to a minor league deal last month for some extra non-roster depth and now Guillorme gives them another candidate to look at in camp.
The fact that Guillorme hits from the left side probably helps as well, since that has been a focus of the club this offseason. Yordan Alvarez is the only lefty hitter that seems locked into an everyday role at this point. Ben Gamel was signed as a possible outfield addition, though his deal isn’t fully guaranteed and he could be squeezed out if Altuve ends up in left. Guys like Jon Singleton and Taylor Trammell are also lefty swingers who could be on the bench, with Guillorme possibly joining them.
The Opener: Dodgers, DFA Resolutions, MLBTR Chat
As Spring Training starts to get underway, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Dodger pitchers and catchers report:
Today is the report date for Dodgers pitchers and catchers, making them the second team to officially kick off spring training after the Cubs did so on Sunday. A number of notable new faces will be in Dodgers camp after a busy offseason, including Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, and Kirby Yates. Aside from the Dodgers’ preseason activities officially getting underway, the start of camp also means that the 60-day IL will open for the Dodgers today. That opens the door for the club to finalize Enrique Hernandez’s one-year deal and hammer something out with veteran southpaw Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers started to suffer from a major 40-man roster crunch late in the offseason, but they have a whopping five 60-day IL candidates with each of Gavin Stone, River Ryan, Emmet Sheehan, Kyle Hurt and Brusdar Graterol on the mend from elbow surgery (Ryan, Sheehan, Hurt) or shoulder surgery (Stone, Graterol).
2. DFA resolutions expected today:
Cubs southpaw Rob Zastryzny and Blue Jays right-hander Michael Petersen were both designated for assignment last week as their clubs made room on the 40-man roster for the additions of Ryan Brasier and Max Scherzer, respectively. Both players’ seven-day DFA windows expire this afternoon, so we should find out today what’s next for both players.
Zastryzny, 33 in March, has a 4.30 ERA in 67 MLB innings across parts of six seasons since he debuted with Chicago in 2016. Petersen, meanwhile, made his big league debut for the Dodgers back in June and pitched to a 5.95 ERA in 16 appearances between L.A. and Miami. If Zastryzny clears waivers, he’ll have the opportunity to elect free agency rather than be outrighted to the minors by Chicago. The same cannot be said for Petersen, who has never cleared outright waivers before in his career and would be available to Toronto as non-roster depth should he go unclaimed.
3. MLBTR Chat Today:
Spring training is now officially underway, though seven of MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agents remain unsigned and plenty of clubs still have more work to do before the start of the season. Whether you have a trade proposal in the back of your mind or questions about an upcoming camp battle this spring, MLBTR’s Steve Adams will be here to answer your questions during a live chat scheduled for 1pm CT. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.
Where Will Nick Pivetta Sign?
Nick Pivetta is the top unsigned starting pitcher. He’s one of two remaining free agents, alongside Alex Bregman, who received a qualifying offer in early November. (Pete Alonso has also yet to officially sign his two-year agreement to return to the Mets.) Pivetta was a slightly surprising QO recipient, but the move paid off for the Red Sox when the righty declined the offer.
That ensures that the Sox will get a compensatory draft choice between the end of Competitive Balance Round B and the third round — likely 77th overall. Pivetta initially looked like he’d be a beneficiary of the robust starting pitching market that was present early in the offseason. ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote around the time of the QO decisions that Pivetta would receive interest on at least a three-year deal.
It wasn’t an unreasonable expectation. Nathan Eovaldi, Yusei Kikuchi, Sean Manaea and Luis Severino each got three years and upwards of $60MM. The Royals signed Michael Wacha to a three-year, $51MM extension on the eve of free agency. Manaea and Severino had declined qualifying offers, while Wacha would have gotten one as well had they not agreed to the multi-year deal. Pivetta could have pursued something similar to the three-year, $67MM guarantee that Severino pulled from the A’s.
The 31-year-old Pivetta (32 later this week) was an innings eater in the middle of the Boston rotation for the past few seasons. He struggled early in the 2023 campaign and was briefly demoted to the bullpen, but he excelled late in the year to earn his way back to the starting five. He took the ball 27 times last season, working to a 4.14 ERA across 145 2/3 innings. Pivetta missed some time early in the year with a flexor strain. That was the first non-virus injured list stint of his MLB career, though, and he returned without issue by the middle of May.
Pivetta has never posted a sub-4.00 ERA season. His run prevention has landed in the low 4.00s in consecutive years, and he carries a 4.09 mark in 288 1/3 frames since the start of 2023. Pivetta’s strikeout and walk rates have always been more intriguing than the ERA might suggest. He has punched out 30% of opponents with a solid 7.3% walk percentage over the past two seasons. The swing-and-miss ability has been somewhat undercut by Pivetta’s longstanding issue keeping the ball in the park. He has allowed a higher than average home run rate in all seven seasons of his MLB career.
There’s value in the durability and solid run prevention marks that Pivetta has provided the Red Sox. His camp presumably marketed him as an upside play based on the swing-and-miss stuff. A move out of the AL East and/or to a pitcher-friendly home park could position him for a step forward as a strong #3 starter.
It’s unclear whether the market has ever materialized to the extent that he envisioned when he declined the QO. There haven’t been a ton of publicly reported ties. The Canada native was linked to the Blue Jays before they signed Max Scherzer; Toronto GM Ross Atkins said last week that any additional rotation acquisitions were likely to be pure depth adds.
Pivetta was one of a number of rotation candidates tied to the Mets at the Winter Meetings. They’ve since re-signed Manaea and had already brought in Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes to slot into the rotation. They arguably still need a finishing piece, but they should probably aim for a legitimate #1 starter on the trade market. The Reds were the only other team firmly tied to Pivetta this offseason. Cincinnati has since seemingly pushed their payroll near ownership’s ceiling. President of baseball operations Nick Krall downplayed the likelihood of any more moves of note a couple weeks back.
It’s hard to envision Pivetta securing a Severino-type deal at this stage. Many teams have pushed their budgets as far as they’re willing to go. Players who sign early tend to fare better than those who linger into late January and potentially into Spring Training. This offseason has been no exception. Alonso and Jack Flaherty have each turned to short-term deals after starting out with much loftier asks. The QO also remains an impediment. Teams would still need to relinquish draft capital and potentially 2026 international pool money (depending on their luxury tax status) to add Pivetta. That’s not the case for the other unsigned starters (e.g. Jose Quintana, Kyle Gibson, Andrew Heaney).
Which club is most likely to swoop in late to add Pivetta? Weigh in below.
Yankees Sign Ronaldo Hernandez To Minor League Deal
The Yankees signed catcher Ronaldo Hernández to a minor league contract, per a team announcement. He’ll be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee.
Hernández, 27, was once a highly-regarded prospect. The Colombian-born backstop ranked among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects entering the 2019 season. He slotted among the top 10 farmhands in the Tampa Bay system through 2020. The Rays dealt him to the Red Sox during the 2020-21 offseason in what turned out to be a lopsided trade that landed Jeffrey Springs. While Springs broke out as a productive starter with the Rays, Hernández stalled out in the upper levels of the Sox’s system.
The Sox called Hernández up for a pair of brief stays on the MLB roster in 2022. He didn’t make it into a game and was outrighted off the 40-man during the ensuing winter. Hernández remained in the Boston system until last offseason, when he joined the Diamondbacks on a minor league deal. He hit 11 homers with a strong .311/.357/.507 showing over 63 games for their Triple-A club in Reno but didn’t get a major league call.
Austin Wells will get the bulk of the playing time behind the dish in the Bronx. New York traded Jose Trevino to Cincinnati for reliever Fernando Cruz and dealt depth catcher Carlos Narváez to the Red Sox in a minor trade in December. Aside from Wells, J.C. Escarra and Jesus Rodriguez are the only catchers on the 40-man roster.
The 22-year-old Rodriguez hasn’t played above Double-A and won’t be in consideration for the Opening Day roster. Escarra, who turns 30 in April, had a solid season in the upper minors last year. He probably has the leg up on the backup catcher job going into camp, but he has yet to play in the majors. Alex Jackson, acquired from Cincinnati in the Trevino trade, joins Hernández as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training.
Cubs Notes: Assad, Birdsell, Rotation
Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to camp for all 30 clubs this week, but the Cubs started a little earlier than everyone else. That’s due to the fact that the Cubs and Dodgers are starting the regular season early, flying to Tokyo to play a couple of games there in mid-March.
Inevitably, the opening of camp leads to revelations of injuries that weren’t previously known to the public. Cubs manager Craig Counsell relayed a couple of those to reporters, including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times. Right-hander Javier Assad is dealing with some oblique soreness while fellow righty Brandon Birdsell is dealing with an issue in the back of his shoulder. Per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, Assad is getting some imaging today.
At this point, it’s unclear if either issue is serious, though the club’s rotation depth could suffer if one or both of these hurlers have to miss some time. On paper, Assad would be in the club’s Opening Day rotation. Last year, he made 29 starts and logged 147 innings, allowing 3.73 earned runs per nine. He was probably a bit lucky to allow so few runs, as his 80.3% strand rate was well above the 72.1% league average, while his 19.4% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate were both subpar. Still, his 4.64 FIP and 4.72 SIERA still point to him being a passable back-end guy.
As of right now, the rotation to start the season would include Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and Matthew Boyd in four spots. Assad and Colin Rea would be candidates for the back end. If Assad is healthy, Rea could wind up in a long reliever role, or he could hold down the number five spot if Assad needs some time on the shelf.
Birdsell is further down the depth chart. A fifth-round pick from 2022, he is not yet on the 40-man roster. But he finished his 2024 season with 12 Triple-A starts with a 4.26 ERA, 26.2% strikeout rate and 6.8% walk rate. He’ll likely be back in the Iowa rotation to start 2025 as a top depth option, alongside guys like Jordan Wicks, Cody Poteet and Cade Horton.
Adding to the club’s starting mix is seemingly still a possibility. The Cubs were recently connected to the rumors surrounding Dylan Cease of the Padres. They also still have a bit of wiggle room in terms of the competitive balance tax, assuming they would rather not pay it this year. RosterResource puts their current CBT number at $209MM, more than $30MM away from the $241MM base threshold.
Cease is going to make $13.75MM this year, so he could easily fit into that remaining space. There are also a few mid-rotation pitchers still available in free agency, such as Andrew Heaney, Nick Pivetta, Jose Quintana and more. The club isn’t likely to rush out and make a panic move just because of a few spring injuries, but it’s an area they had their sights set on already. It’s possible that further developments that impact the overall group could increase the club’s desire to pivot to backup plans.
Marlins Sign Janson Junk To Minor League Deal
The Marlins announced that right-hander Janson Junk has been signed to a minor league deal. The Beverly Hills Sports Council client will be in major league spring training as a non-roster invitee.
Junk, 29, spent 2024 bouncing around the league. He started the year with the Brewers as a depth arm, getting frequently recalled and optioned back down to the minors. The club designated him for assignment in late July when Devin Williams came off the 60-day injured list. Junk was put on waivers and claimed by the Astros, then went to the Athletics via another waiver claim about a month later. The A’s outrighted him off their roster shortly thereafter and he was able to elect free agency at season’s end.
Around those transactions, he was only able to toss eight innings in the majors. He also got limited big league work in the previous three campaigns, so he now has a 6.75 earned run average in 40 innings in his career overall. His 18% strikeout rate in that time is subpar but his 5.8% walk rate has been good and his 44.3% ground ball rate around average.
His minor league track record has naturally been larger and more impressive. Over the past four years, he has tossed 367 innings on the farm with a 3.83 ERA, 20.5% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate. That includes 60 1/3 Triple-A innings in 2024, working both out of the rotation and bullpen, with a 3.58 ERA, 21.3% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate and 46.3% ground ball rate.
The Marlins have a fair amount of uncertainty on their pitching staff. In the rotation, they recently traded Jesús Luzardo and lost Braxton Garrett to season-ending surgery. Eury Pérez will return from his surgery this year, but probably not until the All-Star break. As of now, Sandy Alcántara, Ryan Weathers, Edward Cabrera and Max Meyer project as the front four, with guys like Valente Bellozo, Adam Mazur and others in the mix for back-end jobs.
In the bullpen, the Marlins traded away Tanner Scott, A.J. Puk, Bryan Hoeing, Huascar Brazobán and JT Chargois at the deadline. They current have no relievers with more than four years of service time, with Anthony Bender the only one over the three-year mark and Andrew Nardi the only other one beyond the two-year line. In short, it’s wide open.
Since Junk has pitched both as a starter and reliever, he’ll give the Fish a bit of extra depth in both departments. If he makes it to the majors, he is out of options, which will limit his roster flexibility. If he does get a roster spot, he has less than a year of service time, so he can be cheaply retained for the foreseeable future.
Cubs Among Teams With Interest In Justin Turner
The Cubs are considering Justin Turner as an alternative to Alex Bregman, write Patrick Mooney and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Turner will be limited to one year as he enters his age-40 season. Bregman has reportedly continued to seek a deal of six-plus years, while the Cubs seem to prefer a much shorter term.
Turner remains a quality offensive player. He combined for a .259/.354/.383 slash across 539 plate appearances between the Blue Jays and Mariners last season. His production improved after a deadline trade to Seattle, no small feat for a hitter adapting to the game’s most pitcher-friendly home park. It was the 11th consecutive season in which Turner has been an above-average hitter. While he doesn’t have the same power that he did during his peak years with the Dodgers, he’s still a strong on-base presence with very good strike zone discipline.
Chicago isn’t the lone team with interest in both Bregman and Turner. Mooney and Rosenthal write that the Tigers and Red Sox have also shown some level of interest in Turner. That comprises three of what appears to be the top four suitors — alongside the incumbent Astros — on Bregman. Houston has not been linked to Turner and wouldn’t make sense as a landing spot with Yordan Alvarez ticketed for DH work.
The Cubs could be a tough roster fit in their own right. Seiya Suzuki will get the majority of at-bats at designated hitter. He’s capable of playing right field but squeezed out of a starting outfield of Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker. Turner would be a target as a role-playing corner infield bat. The Cubs have lefty-swinging Michael Busch lined up for the bulk of the first base work. They don’t have any kind of established third baseman after including Isaac Paredes in the Tucker trade. Unless they make a late-offseason strike for Bregman, they’d very likely turn the hot corner to top prospect Matt Shaw.
Turner is not an everyday third baseman at this point of his career. He started four games there last season after logging seven starts in 2023. He hasn’t played more than half a season at the position since 2021. Turner has played more frequently at first base, where he started 40 games last year. He could take some at-bats from Busch against lefty pitching, though Busch had a respectable showing (.258/.330/.382 in 100 plate appearances) in unfavorable platoon situations as a rookie.
The Tigers and Red Sox have each been seeking a right-handed bat. Boston has limited flexibility to accommodate another player at the bottom of the defensive spectrum. The Sox have Rafael Devers and Triston Casas as their corner infield tandem. Masataka Yoshida is lined up for the bulk of the DH work going into the third season of his five-year deal. Boston would probably use Bregman at second base if they landed him. The Sox gave Turner himself four starts at the keystone when he played in Boston in 2023. He wouldn’t play second regularly but could rotate through the position alongside Vaughn Grissom and David Hamilton if top prospect Kristian Campbell opens the season in Triple-A.
Detroit signed Gleyber Torres to play second base. That kicked Colt Keith over to first base, squeezing righty-hitting Spencer Torkelson out of the starting lineup. Turner’s right-handed bat could play well in a lefty-heavy corner infield/DH mix. Keith and Jace Jung, the projected starter at third base if they don’t sign Bregman, each hit from the left side. Kerry Carpenter, who’ll split his time between right field and DH, is a lefty hitter who mashes when he holds the platoon advantage.
Seattle showed interest in a Turner reunion early in the offseason. That’s less likely now that they’ve added righty-hitting Donovan Solano on a $3.5MM free agent deal to platoon with Luke Raley at first base. Mooney and Rosenthal report that the Reds have also spoken with Turner this offseason, though it’s not clear if that interest is ongoing. Cincinnati acquired Gavin Lux to deepen the infield and could give righty hitters Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Spencer Steer a decent amount of run at first base.
