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Mariners Acquire Cole Wilcox From Rays

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The Mariners have acquired right-hander Cole Wilcox from the Rays in exchange for cash considerations, per announcements from both clubs. The righty had been designated for assignment by the Rays earlier in the week. The M’s had 40-man space thanks to players recently becoming free agents.

Wilcox, now 26, came to the Rays in the December 2020 trade which sent Blake Snell to San Diego. The righty required Tommy John surgery in September of 2021, which wiped out most of his 2022. In the following two years, the Rays kept developing him as a starter in the minors, with fairly uninspiring results. In 250 1/3 innings over those two seasons, he had a 4.28 earned run average, 19.8% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate.

In 2025, he was used primarily as a reliever, which seemed to help him find a new gear. He tossed 58 1/3 innings over 39 appearances on the farm with a 3.70 ERA. His 10.8% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 25.1% of batters faced and got grounders on 50.3% of balls in play. The Rays added him to the 40-man in September and he tossed one big league inning, allowing three earned runs.

With the injured list going away this week, the Rays needed to open up some roster space and Wilcox was one of the casualties. Conversely, the Mariners had a few open roster spots and have used one to grab Wilcox. Seattle has a pretty good track record of coaxing good results from low-profile pickups like this, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Wilcox flourish with his new club. Even if that is setting expectations too high, he has a full slate of options and can serve as a depth arm in Triple-A.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Orioles Claim George Soriano, Designate Daniel Johnson For Assignment

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The Orioles announced that they have claimed right-hander George Soriano off waivers from the Marlins. Outfielder Daniel Johnson has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

There wasn’t any previous indication that Soriano had been designated for assignment or put on waivers, but roster maintenance is common at this time of year. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the end of the World Series, which can often lead to roster crunches. RosterResource projects the Marlins to have 46 players on their 40-man roster. Soriano clears up one spot but further moves will be necessary this week.

Soriano, 27 in March, joins a new organization for the first time in his career. The Marlins signed him as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic way back in 2015. He climbed his way up the minor league ladder, initially as a starter but with more time as a reliever as he got to the higher levels. He was added to the 40-man roster in November 2022 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

He has spent the past three years as an up-and-down arm, getting shuttled between Miami and Triple-A Jacksonville. He hasn’t had a ton of major league success so far. In 118 innings, he has allowed 5.95 earned runs per nine. His 22% strikeout rate is close to average but his 10.3% walk rate is high and his 38.7% ground ball rate is low. He did show some potential in Triple-A this year. He logged 42 2/3 innings for the Jumbo Shrimp with a 2.32 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 55.7% ground ball rate.

Soriano has exhausted his option years and is therefore out of options going forward. That presumably led the Marlins to nudge him off the roster. The Orioles have a lot of work to do on the bullpen. They traded away a number of relievers at last year’s deadline and then lost Félix Bautista to a shoulder surgery. Soriano could compete for a bullpen job in the spring, though it’s also possible they look to pass him through waivers at some point in the offseason.

Some things last a long time but not Johnson’s most recent stint on Baltimore’s roster. The 30-year-old was claimed off waivers from the Giants in August. He has 152 big league plate appearances over four separate seasons, with a dismal .196/.243/.322 slash line. In the minors, he has generally performed better at the plate, with some speed to boot. Dating back to the start of 2023, he has a .266/.331/.464 line and 105 wRC+ with 54 stolen bases.

He’s a solid speed-and-defense depth outfielder but he exhausted his final option season in 2025. He was going to have a hard time holding onto a roster spot next year, so the O’s have bumped him off today in order to grab Soriano. Johnson has a previous career outright, so he will have the right to elect free agency if he is passed through waivers unclaimed.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Rockies Claim Troy Johnston

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The Rockies announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed infielder/outfielder Troy Johnston off waivers from the Marlins. Colorado also reinstated Kris Bryant and righty Jeff Criswell from the 60-day injured list, adding both back to the 40-man roster.

Johnston, 28, was a 17th-round pick by Miami back in 2019 and has been a career-long Marlin to this point. He made his big league debut this season after a lengthy run of productive campaigns n the upper minors. The Gonzaga product hit .277/.331/.420 with four home runs in 121 plate appearances during his first run at the MLB level.

In Johnston, the Rockies are adding an older but controllable player with a strong minor league track record. Johnston is a career .281/.367/.458 hitter in seven minor league seasons. His .267/.345/.438 slash in parts of four Triple-A campaigns is weighed down a bit by an awful debut there back in 2022 (116 plate appearances), but he’s been an above-average hitter with the Marlins’ top affiliate in Jacksonville each season since.

Though Johnston has primarily been a first baseman in the minors, with more than 4300 innings logged at the position, he’s also suited up for 826 innings in left field and 492 innings in right field. Since his contract was selected to the 40-man roster for the first time this season and he wasn’t optioned back down thereafter, he’ll join the Rox with a full slate of three minor league option years remaining.

It’s not entirely clear who’s making roster calls in the Colorado front office at the moment. The Rockies fired GM Bill Schmidt shortly after the season, and longtime assistant GM Zack Rosenthal left the club shortly thereafter. Owner Dick Monfort and his son, executive vice president Walker Monfort, have been conducting a search for a new baseball operations leader over the past month but have yet to announce a hire. It’s possible they’re making calls with input from some of the still-remaining midlevel baseball operations executives while continuing through a hiring process that as of last week was down to two finalists but once again appears more wide open.

Braves Hire Jeremy Hefner, Antoan Richardson

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The Braves announced that they have hired Jeremy Hefner as pitching coach and Antoan Richardson as first base coach. Henfer replaces Rick Kranitz while Richardson replaces Tom Goodwin. Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports that third base coach Fredi Gonzalez won’t be returning to Atlanta next year either.

Atlanta is plucking a couple of coaches from a division rival. Over a month ago, it was reported that the Mets would be making major coaching changes. That included moving on from Hefner, their longtime pitching coach. More recently, it was reported that Richardson would be moving on from the Mets as well. Both of them now retake their previous jobs but in Atlanta instead of Queens.

Hefner, now 39, had a brief major league career. He pitched for the Mets in 2012 and 2013, making 50 appearances, before multiple Tommy John surgeries intervened. Once his playing days were over, he was hired by the Twins as an advance scout. He worked his way up to an assistant pitching coach role. The Mets hired him as their pitching coach prior to the 2020 season.

It’s always tough to separate the contributions of one coach from several individual players, but the team performed decently under Hefner’s watch. From 2020 to 2025, the Mets had a collective 4.03 earned run average, good enough for 11th in the majors. He’ll now head to Atlanta to join a club looking for a bounceback after an extremely disappointing 2025 campaign.

Bringing one pitching coach aboard means another is on his way out. Kranitz, 67, has spent most of the past two decades as a pitching coach in the big leagues. He first got that job with the Marlins in 2006 and has since gone to the Orioles, Brewers and Phillies.

Atlanta hired him ahead of the 2019 season. They had just finished a 90-72 campaign in 2018 but parted ways with pitching coach Chuck Hernandez afterwards. The club has had a lot of success under Kranitz but has been struggling more recently. Atlanta won the National League East in Kranitz’s first five seasons, a run which included a World Series win in 2021. However, they slid to a Wild Card spot in 2024 and then this past season was a nightmare. Atlanta finished 2025 in fourth place in the East with a 76-86 record. Evidently, it was time for a change.

Richardson, 42, has had various coaching roles with the Giants and Mets over the years. He has settled in more recently as a first base coach, having had that job with the Giants from 2020 to 2023 and with the Mets for the past two years.

Goodwin, 57, has coached for various clubs over the years. He spent the past two seasons as first base coach in Atlanta but will be looking for a new gig for 2026. Gonzalez, 61, has also bounced around to various teams. A lot of those bounces have been in Atlanta. He was on the coaching staff from 2003 to 2006 and was the manager from 2011 to 2016. He returned to the club in June of this year, a rare midseason replacement, taking the job from Matt Tuiasosopo.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images

Jorge Polanco Declines Player Option

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Infielder Jorge Polanco is now a free agent, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Heyman says Polanco is turning down an $8MM mutual option but Polanco actually converted that to a $6MM player option during the season. Regardless of the details, the larger point is that Polanco is heading back to the open market, collecting a $750K buyout on his way out the door.

The decision is not a surprise. Polanco is coming off a tremendous bounceback season. He stepped to the plate 524 times and hit 26 home runs. His .265/.326/.495 batting line translated to a 132 wRC+, his best offensive performance over a full season in his career.

It wasn’t a perfect season. Ongoing knee problems kept him mostly in the designated hitter spot, though he appeared to get healthier as the year wore on. He made just 34 starts at second base but most of those were after the All-Star break, including 15 in September.

He undoubtedly has more earning power now than he did a year ago, despite being a year older. The aforementioned knee problems limited him to just 118 games with a rough .213/.296/.355 slash line and 93 wRC+. He underwent knee surgery in October. Despite that poor showing and uncertain health status, the Mariners still re-signed him to a one-year deal with a $7.75MM guarantee. That came in the form of a $7MM salary plus a $750K buyout on an $8MM mutual option. Polanco could convert that to a $6MM player option with 450 plate appearances, which he easily topped.

His better platform season and improved health outlook should line him up for a better deal, likely with multiple years, so turning down one year and $6MM is an easy call. The Mariners have interest in bringing him back but he will have other suitors as well and Seattle may be prioritizing a Josh Naylor reunion.

Photo courtesy of Jordan Godfree, Imagn Images

Cubs Not Expected To Pursue Top Free Agent Relievers

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The Cubs are going to need to overhaul their bullpen this winter after trading Andrew Kittredge to the Orioles yesterday while Brad Keller, Drew Pomeranz, and Caleb Thielbar are all ticketed for free agency. Despite those four departures draining their entire high-leverage relief mix outside of Daniel Palenica, however, Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic reports that Chicago’s front office is not expected to be involved in the market’s of this winter’s top free agent relief arms.

That’s not especially surprising, as the Cubs have generally eschewed high-dollar multi-year deals for relievers over the years. There have been some rare exceptions to that rule, such as the three-year deal the Cubs signed Craig Kimbrel to in 2019 while Theo Epstein was in charge and the team’s pursuit of southpaw Tanner Scott in free agency under Jed Hoyer last offseason, but the Cubs have long preferred to build their bullpen on a budget. That includes last year’s group. Keller was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training, Pomeranz was acquired from the Mariners in a minor trade back in April, and Thielbar’s big league deal guaranteed him just $2.75MM total. Those three pitchers posted ERAs of 2.07, 2.17, and 2.64 respectively while combining for 177 1/3 innings across 192 appearances.

Sharma suggests that trying to find value on the margins of the market with minor league deals and reclamation projects figures to be the club’s goal once again this winter, though he does leave the door open for the possibility that the Cubs could jump into the market on a bigger name relief arm if their expected market doesn’t materialize and they linger into January and February. Otherwise, it seems as though the Cubs won’t be adding a top tier closer this winter. Sharma specifically names Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez, and Devin Williams as players who aren’t likely to be in the cards for Chicago at this point.

That doesn’t mean they won’t add any veterans who can offer some more certainty towards the back of the bullpen, of course. Sharma notes that the club brought in Ryan Pressly via trade this past offseason in an effort to provide that sort of certainty. Pressly was on the last year of is deal, and it seems likely that if the Cubs do add a bullpen veteran on a notable deal, it would be a similar one-to-two year arrangement. That could come via either free agency or trade; perhaps the Rays would make Pete Fairbanks available on the trade market ahead of his final year under club control, or the team could try and pursue a one-year deal with a veteran closer like Kenley Jansen.

Its possible the club could be banking on some internal improvements to their relief corps, as well. Any number of young arms might be able to take a step forward similar to the one Palencia made this past season, and with the Cubs seemingly like to pursue starting pitching additions this winter, that could make converting a young rotation arm like Ben Brown into relief full-time a viable option. Brown is held back as a starter by a lack of a quality third pitch, but he did strike out 28.6% of his opponents with a 2.97 FIP after moving into a bullpen role to open the month of August. Porter Hodge and Luke Little are among the other arms in the club’s relief corps who have shown flashes of dominance at the big league level but have yet to put it all together consistently.

MLBTR Podcast: Offseason Preview Megapod: Top Trade Candidates

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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 Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

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

Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images

Rawlings Gold Glove Winners Announced! (Sponsored)

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On Sunday November 2nd, Rawlings announced the winners of their Gold Glove Award.

Recognized as the best defensive players at their respective positions, this year’s class of honorees includes 12 previous winners of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award and 8 first-time winners. Max Fried, Steven Kwan and Ian Happ have each earned their fourth Gold Glove, the most amongst this year’s winners. Several teams had multiple winners: the Kansas City Royals and Boston Red Sox in the American League; and the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs in the National League.

How the Award is Selected:

To determine the winners of the 18 defensive position awards, each team’s manager and up to six coaches on his staff voted from a pool of qualified players in their league and could not vote for players from their own team. Additionally, Rawlings includes the SABR Defensive Index™ (SDI) as part of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award selection process, which influences approximately 25 percent of the overall selection total, with the managers’ and coaches’ votes continuing to carry the majority.

To identify the utility award winners, Rawlings collaborated with SABR to create a specialized defensive formula separate from the traditional selection process for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award position winners. Utilizing the SABR formula and additional defensive statistics, Rawlings selected one utility winner from each league.

Below is the complete listing of the 2025 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners from each league and the number of Rawlings Gold Glove Awards each player has won in his career:

AMERICAN LEAGUE:

  • P: Max Fried, New York Yankees (2025, 2022, 2021, 2020)
  • C: Dillon Dingler, Detroit Tigers (2025)
  • 1B: Ty France, Minnesota Twins/Toronto Blue Jays (2025)
  • 2B: Marcus Semien, Texas Rangers (2025, 2021)
  • 3B: Maikel Garcia, Kansas City Royals (2025)
  • SS: Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals (2025, 2024)
  • LF: Steven Kwan, Cleveland Guardians (2025, 2024, 2023, 2022)
  • CF: Cedanne Rafaela, Boston Red Sox (2025)
  • RF: Wilyer Abreu, Boston Red Sox (2025, 2024)
  • UT: Mauricio Dubon, Houston Astros (2025, 2023)

NATIONAL LEAGUE:

  • P: Logan Webb, San Francisco Giants (2025)
  • C: Patrick Bailey, San Francisco Giants (2025, 2024)
  • 1B: Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves (2025, 2019, 2018)
  • 2B: Nico Hoerner, Chicago Cubs (2025, 2023)
  • 3B: Ke’Bryan Hayes, Pittsburgh Pirates/Cincinnati Reds (2025, 2023)
  • SS: Masyn Winn, St. Louis Cardinals (2025)
  • LF: Ian Happ, Chicago Cubs (2025, 2024, 2023, 2022)
  • CF: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs (2025)
  • RF: Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres (2025, 2023)
  • UT: Javier Sanoja, Miami Marlins (2025)

About the Rawlings Gold Glove Award®:

The Rawlings Gold Glove Award® is a registered trademark owned by Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc. The award is correctly identified as the Rawlings Gold Glove Award. The name should not be shortened, abbreviated, or otherwise misused. Proper identification of this service mark using the registration symbol and the Rawlings name is important to protect the integrity of the program and perpetuate this worthy tradition. For more information including how players qualify for the Award, please visit www.Rawlings.com.

About Rawlings®

Established in 1887, Rawlings is an innovative leading global brand and manufacturer of premium baseball and softball equipment, including gloves, balls, and protective headwear. Rawlings’ unparalleled quality, innovative engineering and expert craftsmanship are the fundamental reasons why more professional athletes, national governing bodies and sports leagues choose Rawlings.

Rawlings is the official glove, baseball, helmet and faceguard, and base of Major League Baseball, the official baseball of Minor League Baseball and the official baseball and softball of the NCAA and NAIA, and the official softball of the NJCAA. For more information, please visit www.Rawlings.com.

This is a sponsored post from Rawlings.

Braves To Exercise Club Option On Chris Sale

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The Braves are exercising their club option on left-hander Chris Sale, according to a report from Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Sale will make $18MM in 2026.

The call to pick up Sale’s option for the 2026 campaign is surely one of the easiest option decisions any team will make this offseason. Sale, 36, is one of the best pitchers of his generation and won the NL Cy Young award in 2024. He was on track to compete for the away again this year, with a 2.52 ERA and 2.71 FIP through 15 starts, but he found himself sidelined for ten weeks over the summer due to a ribcage fracture. He looked just as dominant as ever when he returned, however, with a 2.72 ERA and 2.58 FIP across six starts in August and September. His stuff looked just as good as ever down the stretch, and he struck out an eye-popping 36.4% of his opponents in his 36 1/3 innings of work.

That Sale is pitching well is hardly a surprise, as he’s put together a Hall of Fame-caliber resume over the years. A nine-time All-Star who placed in the top five for AL Cy Young award voting six times before winning the NL award last year, Sale’s career 3.01 ERA, 2.88 FIP, and 30.8% strikeout rate know few equals throughout the game. He’s seventh all-time in strikeout rate among starting pitchers, and his run prevention and peripheral numbers match up well with titans of the sport like Clayton Kershaw and Pedro Martinez despite some of his counting numbers being held back by a relative lack of volume.

Fortunately, that relative lack of volume also means a relative lack of mileage on his arm, as compared to other players in his age range. Even with his 37th birthday on the horizon in March, Sale figures to serve as the club’s ace once again in 2026. He’ll be at the front of an Atlanta rotation with a lot of exciting upside but precious little certainty. Spencer Strider has shown the capacity to be a Cy Young caliber arm in the past, but had a disappointing 4.45 ERA in 2025. Spencer Schwellenbach has a career 3.23 ERA but was sidelined after just 17 starts this past season. Reynaldo Lopez had a 1.99 ERA in 2024 but didn’t appear in a game after March 28th this year.

Adding at least one proven, reliable rotation arm to this group figures to be a priority for the Braves this offseason, though it’s possible they could look to do more than that given the group’s collective injury history and questions about Lopez’s ability to handle the workload of a starter long-term. Even with additions likely on the horizon, though, there’s little doubt that Sale will be making his seventh career Opening Day start (and second for the Braves) in 2026 as long as he completes Spring Training with a clean bill of health.

Yankees To Exercise Club Option On Tim Hill, Decline Club Option On Jonathan Loaisiga

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The Yankees are exercising their club option on Tim Hill, according to a report from ESPN’s Jorge Castillo. Hill will return to New York on a $3MM salary in 2026. Castillo also reports that the Yankees are not picking up their club option on right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga. Loaisiga will head into free agency rather than collecting what would have been a $5MM salary next year.

Neither of these decisions are especially surprising. Hill, 36 in February, has turned in excellent production for the Yankees over the past two seasons with a 2.68 ERA in 111 innings since being acquired from the White Sox midway through the 2024 season. His peripheral numbers took a big step back in 2025 thanks to eight home runs surrendered that coincided with the highest barrel rate of his career (7.9%). That jump wasn’t helped by the fact that Hill has never been a strikeout artist, and his 13.9% punch out rate this year was actually his best since 2021.

Even so, Hill continues to generate ground balls at some of the highest rates in the league. That makes keeping him in the bullpen at a $3MM price tag something of a no-brainer, and he’ll enter the year as the club’s top left-handed relief option barring an external addition that supplants him on the depth chart. That could leave him in the mix for some high leverage opportunities next year, while David Bednar and Camilo Doval shut things down from the right side.

As for Loaisiga, the right-hander’s eighth year with the Yankees looks likely to be his final one. At one point in his career, the hard-throwing righty looked like a future closer as he posted a 2.50 ERA with a 3.03 FIP between the 2020 and ’21 seasons. Things have unraveled for Loaisiga since, however. He was only pedestrian in 2022 and then missed nearly two full seasons due to injuries. He did manage to make 30 appearances for the Yankees this year, but his 97 ERA+ was just below average and a 5.83 FIP suggested even that figure was aided by some good fortune. His season was cut short by a flexor strain, and he appears likely to enter the market this winter on the hunt for a minor league deal.

With Bendar, Doval, Fernando Cruz, Jake Bird, Ian Hamilton, and Mark Leiter Jr. all in the mix for next year, the Yankees look to be reasonably well set up in the bullpen on the right side. An addition beyond that group can’t necessarily be ruled out, however, as the departures of both Devin Williams and Luke Weaver in conjunction with shaky performances down the stretch from both Bednar and Doval could create a desire to bring in a more surefire closing option.

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