Angels To Create TV Network
There’s a bit more clarity on the broadcast situation for the Angels. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports that the club has an agreement in place to purchase a portion of Main Street Sports and launch their own TV network. Some final details are still being worked out, so it won’t be officially announced until next week.
The new network will also involve the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and has not yet been named, but it will replace FanDuel Sports Network on cable and satellite providers in Southern California. Fans can also purchase a streaming package directly from the league. It would be $99.99 for just the Angels or $199.99 for the full league experience.
The Angels were one of nine MLB teams who had a deal with Main Street Sports as of a few months ago. That company, who owned the FanDuel Sports Network channels, has been having financial troubles for years as people move away from cable subscriptions and towards digital streaming. Main Street missed some payments to some clubs earlier this year, prompting all nine of them to terminate their deals. Within less than a month, six of them pivoted to having MLB handle their broadcasts.
Atlanta, the Tigers and the Angels were the three left up in the air. Atlanta launched BravesVision last month, a team-owned entity which will sell streaming rights to fans and work out TV deals in the future. The Tigers announced Detroit SportsNet earlier this week. It seems like MLB will be heavily involved in that one, as the network will be “powered by MLB” and subscribers can stream the Tigers through the MLB app. The network will broadcast the Tigers and the NHL’s Red Wings on television.
The Angels’ network will seemingly share some traits with Detroit SportsNet. Both will involve one MLB club and an NHL team. Both will also seemingly involve the MLB handling the streaming side of things.
This seems to be a positive development for fans. For those watching on television, nothing will really change. Even the on-air talent is expected to remain in place. For those who wants to stream the club locally with no blackouts, that is now possible. The impact for the club’s bottom line is less clear. As of a few years ago, the Angels were getting $125MM annually from their deal with Main Street, then known as Diamond Sports Group. Opening up local streaming will make up for some of that but surely not all.
RosterResource projects the Angels for a payroll of about $180MM this year, roughly $25MM shy of last year. That doesn’t account for the fact that Anthony Rendon agreed to defer most of his $38MM salary, saving the Halos about $30MM in the short term. Owner Arte Moreno recently spoke on the club’s financial situation and acknowledged that uncertainty with in the TV department was impacting spending. “Will it get back to $200 million? Probably,” Moreno said of the payroll. “We’ve got to get our TV thing worked out and we just have to improve our brand.”
Presumably, the new broadcast deal won’t immediately impact the roster. The Angels still have to work out things in terms of cable and satellite. They also presumably want to feel out the new streaming setup for a bit before making any rash decisions. There are still some notable free agents unsigned, including starting pitchers Lucas Giolito and Zack Littell. The Halos could use some extra depth in the rotation but it’s unclear if they plan to make a push for either of those two, or any other free agents.
Internally, the Angels will have a new leader on the business side. President John Carpino is going to retire on April 6th and will be replaced by senior vice president Molly Jolly. General manager Perry Minasian remains the front office leader on the baseball side.
Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images
Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good afternoon! Hope you're all enjoying some spring and/or WBC games today. (I've got Panama/Cuba on at the moment!)We'll get started around 2pm CT, but feel free to start asking questions ahead of time, as always.
- Let's get underway!
Giolito
- Why isn't Giolito signed? Surely there's a place in the Athletics, Braves, Phillies, Padres or Astros rotations.
Stevie M
- Does Minnesota have a plan at all? The team doesn't strike fear in me. With Pablo out, should they sign Giolito? He's familiar with the Central. I don't know how effective he is anymore, but it's a thought.
Steve Adams
- I imagine Giolito went into the offseason looking for the kind of multi-year deal he might've been in line for were it not for that season-ending elbow scare, and it just wasn't there. Most clubs are probably looking at him as a one-year guy now, since the majority of offseason budgets have been spent.Especially with Profar's money being freed up, I'm surprised Atlanta hasn't signed him. He's a clear upgrade over the guys duking it out for the fifth spot (Joey Wentz, Bryce Elder, Jose Suarez), and the rest of the Braves' rotation is wrought with injury risk.
- All of that applies to Zack Littell, too.
- (Well, not the part about the elbow scare)
- Twins, too, make an easy and obvious fit for either Giolito or Littell. They've lost Lopez. Festa's shoulder is flaring up. Ryan already had a minor back thing. And the Pohlad du jour there, Tom, has spoken openly about wanting to be aggressive since stepping into the executive chair position
- With the other teams listed for Gio... he probably doesn't want a short-term deal to pitch in a hitter-friendly minor league park (A's), and he'd cost the Phillies more than double because of the luxury tax. Padres don't seem to have any money left (hence the cheap nature of all their late signings).Astros, I just disagree that they need him. Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, Tatsuya Imai, Mike Burrows ... that's a pretty decent top four, and they have Ryan Weiss, Lance McCullers, Spencer Arrighetti, AJ Blubaugh, Colton Gordon and Miguel Ullola as options at the back of the rotation. Their owner, Jim Crane, also doesn't want to pay the luxury tax -- and they're about $10MM shy of it right now.
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A’s Have Shown Interest In Extension With Shea Langeliers
The A’s have been the most active team in baseball when it comes to extending young players over the past year and are still trying to ink a few members of their young core of hitters to long-term deals. In addition to their recent extension offer to reigning AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz, the A’s have made some efforts to sign catcher Shea Langeliers, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
Athletics general manager David Forst and his staff have reached long-term deals with outfielder Lawrence Butler (seven years, $65.5MM), shortstop Jacob Wilson (seven years, $70MM), outfielder Tyler Soderstrom (seven years, $86MM) and designated hitter Brent Rooker (five years, $60MM).
Langeliers, 28, is a fairly natural extension candidate but also could be tougher to sign than many of his teammates. Unlike Butler, Wilson and Soderstrom, he’s already reached arbitration and commanded a notable year-one salary, agreeing to terms on a $5.25MM for the upcoming season. With another pair of arbitration raises looming before he reaches free agency in the 2028-29 offseason, Langeliers could realistically take home between $25-30MM over his three arbitration season.
Langeliers is also represented by the Boras Corporation, and while the narrative that Boras clients don’t sign extensions is a bit overstated, there’s no denying that such occurrences are rare. As can be seen in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, there have only been seven extensions of three or more years for Boras clients over the past decade. There haven’t been any extensions for Boras-repped players in Langeliers’ service class (between three and four years) that have bought out free agent seasons in that time (Contract Tracker link).
[Related: What would it cost for the A’s to continue their run of extensions?]
Acquired from the Braves in the trade that sent Matt Olson to Atlanta, Langeliers has steadily improved his offensive profile each year in the majors. He’s fresh off a breakout .277/.325/.536 batting line (132 wRC+) with a career-high 31 homers and a career-low 19.7% strikeout rate. Langeliers doesn’t walk a ton but tied with Colorado’s Hunter Goodman for second-most home runs among all big league catchers in 2025 (trailing only AL MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh). He also ripped 29 home runs in 2024, and his combined 60 round-trippers over the past two years give him sole possession of second place among all catchers in that regard (again, trailing Raleigh).
Defensively, Langeliers is somewhat lacking. He posted quality caught-stealing rates in the first few seasons of his career but dropped to a career-worst 15.6% in 2025. He improved upon what were previously poor grades for blocking balls in the dirt and framing pitches, but Statcast still ranked him average or slightly below in both categories. The 2025 version of Langeliers wasn’t a liability with the glove, but he’s pretty firmly established himself a bat-first option at the position.
Sorting our Contract Tracker for extensions among catchers who have already reached arbitration reveals a few recent comps of note. Langeliers probably wouldn’t be enticed by Alejandro Kirk‘s five-year, $58MM deal at this juncture, and the A’s would presumably balk at locking him in for the $105MM guarantee ($99.4MM in new money) that the Mariners gave to Raleigh. The man he replaced behind the plate for the A’s, Sean Murphy, signed a six-year, $73MM deal that might be more in the ballpark of market value for Langeliers.
It’s not entirely clear whether Langeliers is amenable to an extension, but it’s somewhat notable that they’re still working to get their most prominent unsigned regulars locked up on long-term deals.
Beyond Langeliers and Kurtz, the A’s don’t have any clear extension candidates. If they want to be especially aggressive, they could take a run at top pitching prospects Gage Jump and Jamie Arnold before either makes his MLB debut, although the latter has yet to even pitch in a professional game after being drafted with the No. 11 overall pick last summer, so that’d probably be a discussion for next spring rather than this one. Jump, 23 next month, was the No. 73 overall pick in 2024 and now ranks as a consensus top-100 prospect. He was excellent between High-A and Double-A last year and should be in line to make his major league debut in 2026.
Jeremy Peña Diagnosed With Finger Fracture
March 6: General manager Dana Brown said this morning that it’s “too early” to tell if Peña will be ready for Opening Day (via Kawahara). Peña himself added that Opening Day is the goal, but he’s not yet sure how the injury will heal. That Peña and the team are even leaving the door cracked for the shortstop to be on the roster is a welcome development for Astros fans, however.
Kawahara writes that moving Correa over to shortstop would be the top option if Peña misses time, though slick-fielding utilityman Nick Allen could also get a few extra innings there. With regard to potential trades involving the Astros’ collection of infielders, Brown suggested that he’ll remain open if other clubs come calling but didn’t sound motivated to actively pursue trade scenarios while Peña is banged up.
“Right now, we like where we are,” said Brown. “We have a good club. We have pretty good depth.”
March 5: The Astros announced that shortstop Jeremy Peña has a fracture in the tip of his right ring finger. He will be reevaluated in two weeks. Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle was among those to relay the update.
Peña was playing for the Dominican Republic team yesterday in an exhibition contest against the Tigers in advance of the World Baseball Classic. In the third inning, he fielded a grounder from Wenceel Pérez behind the second base bag. Peña was able to make the play and throw out Pérez but was seen looking at his finger. He was later removed from the contest.
Yesterday, Dionisio Soldevila of Grandes en los Deportes reported that Peña had suffered a fracture. The Astros initially pushed back on that report, saying that Peña had cracked his fingernail and was still undergoing testing, but a fracture is the diagnosis after all. The WBC final is on March 17th, so it appears that the D.R. team will have to proceed without Peña at shortstop for the whole tournament.
As for the Astros, time will tell if Peña can get healthy in time for their season opener or not. They will start their campaign on March 26th, three weeks from today. Perhaps Peña will have enough time to heal up. If not, injured list stints can be backdated by three days, so there’s a potential scenario where he makes a quick trip to the IL and is back in a week.
At least temporarily, this alleviates the logjam the Astros have been facing on the position player side. For most of the offseason, trade rumors have swirled due to the club seemingly having one more infielder than necessary. Isaac Paredes has been the guy most often at the center of that trade speculation. He was Houston’s third baseman for most of last year but he suffered a significant hamstring strain which prompted the Astros to acquire Carlos Correa to replace him.
With Paredes now healthy going into 2026, the infield is a bit cluttered. On paper, the Astros have Peña at short, Correa at third, Jose Altuve at second and Christian Walker at first. Yordan Alvarez can play left field but will be the designated hitter most days. Paredes could bounce around the infield with some time in the DH spot when Alvarez in left.
It’s a bit inelegant, which has led to all the rumors, but this Peña injury also demonstrates how quickly the surplus could evaporate. If he has to miss some time, the Astros could slide Correa over to short, which would allow Paredes to have a regular playing time at third.
This Peña injury doesn’t appear to be major, so things could get tight again fairly quickly, but another injury at some point is likely. Correa and Alvarez have both had some notable injury troubles over the years. Altuve and Walker have been more reliable but Altuve will be turning 36 soon and Walker is approaching his 35th birthday. The logjam is only really a problem is everyone is healthy at the same time.
Perhaps the odds of a Paredes deal have decreased somewhat with this development. On the other hand, the Astros still want to add another lefty bat into their outfield group and appear to be against their budget limit, so there could still be a case for a Paredes trade if the right offer comes along. More information on Peña’s status and the club’s plans should be forthcoming as Opening Day gets closer.
Photo courtesy of Cary Edmondson, Imagn Images
Rangers Sign Andrew McCutchen To Minor League Deal
March 6: McCutchen passed his physical, and the Rangers have formally announced his signing.
March 5: The Rangers are bringing veteran outfielder Andrew McCutchen aboard on a minor league contract with an invitation to big league camp, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The Aegis Sports client’s base salary would be $1.25MM if he makes the team, per Grant. It can max out around $2.5MM if he makes the roster and hits his full slate of incentives, per Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports.
McCutchen, 39, is years removed from peak form but still turned in a .239/.333/.367 slash (95 wRC+) last year in what now looks like his final season with the Pirates. His .267/.353/.389 output against left-handed pitching was a bit above average, and he knocked lefties around at a heftier .261/.383/.410 clip as recently as 2023.
For the past three years, McCutchen has suited back up for his original club in Pittsburgh, where he was a first-round pick who broke out as a star and eventually won National League MVP honors. The hope for both McCutchen and the Pirates was that he’d return to play out his final seasons where it all began, leading a more competitive Bucs club back to the playoffs in the twilight of his career.
That storybook ending never came to be. Pittsburgh struggled in each of the past three seasons, finishing under .500 each year along the way. The Bucs fired manager Derek Shelton last May and took a more urgent and aggressive approach to building up their offense this winter. Pittsburgh acquired Brandon Lowe via trade and signed free agents Ryan O’Hearn and Marcell Ozuna. They had even bigger targets throughout the winter (e.g. Kyle Schwarber, Josh Naylor, Kazuma Okamoto, Eugenio Suárez). All those pursuits cast doubt on whether there was room for one more go-around with McCutchen on what’d have been a more nostalgic/sentimental reunion. Last month’s signing of Ozuna all but confirmed that the book on the three-year reunion with McCutchen had been closed.
McCutchen now heads to the Rangers in hopes of grabbing a bench spot. His right-handed bat makes for a natural platoon complement alongside designated hitter Joc Pederson. Cutch could also see some time in the outfield corners when Texas faces off against left-handed starters, with Wyatt Langford shifting over to center field in place of lefty-swinging Evan Carter, who has just five hits in 68 career plate appearances against southpaws.
There’s little sense citing McCutchen’s career .289/.387/.514 slash against lefties, since so much of that is influenced by otherworldly production during his MVP peak. However, even over the three seasons in his late-career return to PNC Park, McCutchen hit .244/.353/.392 in 435 plate appearances. That sort of production is more solid than eye-catching, but it’d still mark an upgrade over the awful .225/.290/.363 batting line the Rangers turned in versus left-handed pitching in 2025.
The Opener: WBC, Blanco, Song
Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world heading into the weekend:
1. World Baseball Classic continues:
Coming off the heels of right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Samurai Japan’s dominant 13-0 victory over Chinese Taipei overnight (featuring Shohei Ohtani going 3-for-4 with a grand slam), we’re headed into a busy day in WBC pool play. Seven more games are on the schedule today, with highlights including Team USA’s first game (featuring a start from righty Logan Webb) against Team Brazil and a strong pitching matchup between Puerto Rico (Seth Lugo) and Colombia (Jose Quintana). Ranger Suarez (Venezuela), Javier Assad (Mexico), and Cristopher Sanchez (Dominican Republic) are all set to take the mound as well. Pool games will continue throughout the weekend, and fans awaiting ace southpaw Tarik Skubal‘s start for Team USA should tune in at 8pm ET tomorrow when he takes on Great Britain.
2. Blanco DFA resolution incoming:
Royals outfielder Dairon Blanco was designated for assignment this week week when the club added Starling Marte into their outfield mix. Blanco, a right-handed hitter capable of handling all three outfield spots, made his big league debut in 2022 and put up decent numbers for the Royals in a part-time role during the 2023 and ’24 seasons. He slashed .258/.316/.422 across 157 games in that time, and while he only appeared in nine MLB games last year, he’s stolen 59 bases in 73 attempts during his career (80.8%). Blanco would be an intriguing fourth outfielder for a number of teams, and he has options remaining that could boost his value in that sort of bench role. If Blanco is claimed off waivers when his DFA window expires, he’ll join his new team in the coming days. The Royals will have the opportunity to outright him to Triple-A as non-roster depth in the event that he goes unclaimed.
3. Song facing oblique injury:
New Padres utilityman Sung Mun Song exited yesterday’s Spring Training game due to what was described as “tightness” in his right oblique. Manager Craig Stammen told reporters after the game that Song’s removal was precautionary, but as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune notes, Song was sidelined by a similar oblique issue in January while working out back home in South Korea. Given that, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the Padres exercise caution in the coming days. Oblique injuries are notoriously easy to aggravate if a player returns to baseball activities too soon, and San Diego is surely hoping to have Song healthy and ready to go in time for Opening Day, which is now less than three weeks away.
Tigers’ Josue Briceño Undergoes Wrist Surgery
March 6: Briceño told reporters (including Petzold) this morning that he expects to miss “a few months” following yesterday’s surgery.
March 5: Tigers catching prospect Josue Briceño underwent surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right wrist yesterday and will miss a yet-unspecified (but presumably significant) period of time, Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports.
Briceño is considered one of the Tigers’ five best prospects and one of the 100 top prospects in the entire sport. He sits 40th on MLB.com’s top-100 list, 44th on the list of ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, 59th on Keith Law’s rankings at The Athletic and 76th on Baseball America’s 2026 top 100 list.
The 6’4″ Briceño has the makings of an offensive force behind the plate or at first base. He’s hit at basically every stop in the minors since signing as a teenager out of Venezuela back in 2022, including a stout .266/.383/.500 slash with 20 homers and a gaudy 14.9% walk rate in 442 plate appearances between High-A and Double-A this past season. Every single one of those plate appearances came before Briceño even celebrated his 21st birthday in late September.
There are substantial questions about Briceño’s ability to stay behind the plate. He has a strong throwing arm but draws generally poor reviews for his framing, receiving and ability to block pitches in the dirt. He’s on the tall side to be crouching behind the plate on a regular basis — though there have been a handful of 6’4″ and even 6’5″ catchers over the years — but that height would also serve him well at first base in the event that he switches positions on a more permanent basis down the road. For now, he’s been splitting time between catcher and first base in roughly 60-40 fashion, with more reps behind the dish than at first base.
Catcher is a clear position of depth for the Tigers, so Briceño wasn’t likely to make his big league debut this season anyhow. Former second-round pick Dillon Dingler hit .278/.327/.425 with 13 home runs and plus defense in 469 plate appearances last year, seizing the team’s starting gig in the process. Veteran Jake Rogers is on hand as a backup with plus defensive skills but declining production in the batter’s box. Twenty-two-year-old Thayron Liranzo, like Briceño, is another well-regarded catching prospect who played at the Double-A level last year. He had a rough showing there in his age-21 season but drew some top-100 fanfare of his own this time last year.
Dingler is controllable for another five seasons, so barring any major steps backward, he’ll likely hold down the position for the foreseeable future. Briceño (or Liranzo) could emerge as a backup candidate and part-time first baseman/designated hitter as soon as next season, depending on when he recovers from yesterday’s surgery. Rogers is a free agent at season’s end, and Briceño will need to be added to Detroit’s 40-man roster by mid-November to shield him from the Rule 5 Draft (if there is one; the 2021 Rule 5 Draft was scrapped due to the offseason lockout, and another lockout is expected this December). Liranzo was added to the 40-man in November of 2025 to keep him out of last year’s Rule 5.
Red Sox’s Vinny Nittoli Facing Elbow Surgery
Red Sox reliever Vinny Nittoli is weighing Tommy John or internal brace surgery, reports Tim Healey of The Boston Globe. The righty has been diagnosed with ligament damage in his elbow and is seemingly headed for a season-ending operation.
Nittoli is in camp as a non-roster invitee after signing a minor league contract last month. He made three appearances this spring, allowing four runs over 2 2/3 innings. Manager Alex Cora told Mac Cerullo of The Boston Herald on Wednesday that the team was awaiting imaging results after Nittoli reported elbow discomfort during his most recent appearance. The news obviously wasn’t what he had been hoping.
The 35-year-old Nittoli is on the 12th organization of a decade-long professional career. He has pitched at the highest level for five teams. His career high in MLB appearances with one team is seven, as he threw eight innings for the Athletics in 2024. Nittoli has had cups of coffee with the Mariners, Phillies, Mets and Orioles as well. He has logged 18 2/3 major league innings, striking out 13 against five walks while allowing five runs.
A former 25th round pick, Nittoli has spent six seasons at the Triple-A level. He owns a 4.76 earned run average in 223 innings despite a strong 28.3% strikeout rate. Nittoli combined for a 4.58 ERA with a 26% strikeout percentage and 8% walk rate between Baltimore’s and Milwaukee’s top affiliates last year.
Orioles Believed To Have Made Nine-Figure Offer To Ranger Suárez
The Orioles were among the teams most frequently tied to Ranger Suárez before the southpaw signed a five-year deal with the Red Sox. He commanded a $130MM guarantee to slot behind Garrett Crochet in the Boston rotation.
Baltimore was seemingly in a similar range. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that the Orioles are believed to have made an offer around $125MM. It seems likely that would also have been a five-year proposal at approximately $25MM annually.
It’s an offseason footnote at this point. Suárez got a slightly better deal to join an AL East competitor. The Orioles wound up turning to Chris Bassitt on a one-year, $18.5MM deal to build out the rotation. Bassitt should be a solid mid-rotation presence, while the O’s took a higher variance swing on the trade market. They sent four prospects and a draft pick to the Rays for Shane Baz in December.
The Post report doesn’t specify when the Orioles made their offer to Suárez. He didn’t sign with Boston until a month after the Baz trade. The O’s pursuit of high-end starting pitching extended beyond the Baz trade, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if their offer came at a similar time as the Red Sox’s one that got the deal done. Baltimore signed Bassitt three weeks later.
Until last offseason, the Orioles had not signed any players to a nine-figure deal under president of baseball operations Mike Elias. They weren’t entirely averse to such commitments. They reportedly offered Corbin Burnes four years and $180MM before he signed with the Diamondbacks in 2025.
They hadn’t actually signed any free agents for even $50MM+ until their Winter Meetings splash to add Pete Alonso for five years and $155MM. They were evidently willing to add another significant deal to the books. Suárez would also have been the O’s first free agent signee under Elias who had rejected a qualifying offer (thereby costing the signing team a draft choice).
Baltimore will open the season with a front five of Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Baz, Bassitt and Zach Eflin. They’ll probably go with a six-man rotation to also keep Dean Kremer in the mix as long as everyone gets through camp healthy.
Where Can The Orioles Find A Ryan Mountcastle Trade?
The Orioles' decision to tender Ryan Mountcastle an arbitration contract was surprising in November. The already odd fit became all the more so when the O's signed Pete Alonso to a five-year deal at the Winter Meetings. Mountcastle hasn't had a real path to playing time since that signing, yet he remains on Baltimore's roster.
An initial out would have been for the O's to proceed to an arbitration hearing, then release Mountcastle during Spring Training. Arbitration salaries that are determined at a hearing aren't fully guaranteed until Opening Day (whether the player wins or loses). Teams can release those players during Spring Training for 30 or 45 days termination pay, depending on when they make that move.
It wouldn't have been an ideal sequence to drop Mountcastle for a little over $1MM, but that situation isn't without precedent. The Giants' decision to release J.D. Davis in Spring Training two years ago was motivated by the Matt Chapman signing, which didn't take place until after they'd tendered Davis an arbitration contract.
It appears that Mountcastle's camp learned from the Davis situation. Arbitration hearing salaries aren't fully guaranteed during the spring, but settlements are locked in at the time of signing. Mountcastle and the Orioles reached a settlement in the middle of January on a $6.787MM deal for 2026, with a $7.5MM club option for the '27 season. Mountcastle's '26 salary is an exact match for what he earned last year.
That's a savvy move by his representatives, who were clearly aware of the termination pay possibility. Arbitration salaries essentially never decrease year over year, so the $6.787MM number would have been the floor had he gone to a hearing, but it wouldn't have been locked in until Opening Day. By settling, he ensured that money is fully guaranteed. In exchange, the Orioles picked up the club option that gives them control over a potential free agent year. They did something similar with Ryan O'Hearn a couple seasons ago and were rewarded when O'Hearn played well enough to make an $8MM club option an absolute bargain.
None of that addresses the roster glut, though. It's frankly difficult to see a path in which Mountcastle is a near-$7MM value to the Orioles in either of the next two years. Alonso basically never takes a day off, so Mountcastle is not going to get first base reps unless the Polar Bear gets injured. They're likely to divide most of the DH playing time between their two catchers and/or Tyler O'Neill.
Holding Mountcastle as a bench bat isn't ideal for anyone. It's a roster spot they'd probably rather use on a utility infielder. They'd be better off clearing the salary and leveraging it into more payroll flexibility at the deadline. The player is entering a potential walk year and should welcome an opportunity to get more at-bats than will be on the table in Baltimore.
That all makes it unsurprising that Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported in mid-February that the O's were still open to trades involving Mountcastle and Coby Mayo. There's less urgency to trade the latter, who can fill in at third base with Jordan Westburg facing an uncertain timeline due to an elbow ligament injury. Mayo also has a minor league option remaining and could be sent to Triple-A if the infield gets too cluttered. The O's don't have that luxury with Mountcastle.
Most of the trade activity is behind us, but we may yet see one or two deals involving notable players before Opening Day. Mountcastle is among the more accomplished players known to be available. He's coming off a poor season in which he hit .250/.286/.367 while missing two months with a hamstring strain. He was a slightly above-average hitter in each of his first four and a half seasons in the big leagues. Mountcastle has never been a star, but he's usually reliable for 1-2 wins above replacement. He's a career .263/.312/.438 hitter in nearly 2700 trips to the plate.
Which teams might still be in touch with O's president of baseball operations Mike Elias?
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