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John Mozeliak Discusses Arenado, Cardinals’ Offseason

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Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak met with reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat) at the team’s Winter Warm-Up event today, and discussed several topics related to quiet St. Louis offseason.  In general, Mozeliak didn’t have much new to offer on the Nolan Arenado trade front, other than to say that “I think priority one, two and three is still Nolan” in terms of how dealing the third baseman is the clear focal point for the rest of the team’s winter plans.

Mozeliak has been open abut the team’s intentions of cutting payroll and giving more playing time to younger players in 2025, even if the PBO and other Cardinals’ officials have stopped short of officially considering next season a rebuilding year.  During the Winter Meetings, Mozeliak candidly said that “It’s my intention to try” and trade Arenado to aid in this process, and Arenado was tacitly on board with these endeavors, though Arenado ultimately has control over his own fate via his no-trade clause.

The eight-time All-Star already used this influence to reject a proposed deal in December that would’ve seen him dealt to the Astros, with Houston taking on — according to conflicting reports — at least $45MM and as much as $59MM of the $60MM still owed on Arenado’s contract.  (The full total is $74MM, but the Rockies are covering $10MM of that figure and the other $4MM is reduced due to deferrals.)  In the wake of that scuttled deal, the Astros moved on entirely by signing Christian Walker to address their corner infield needs, leaving St. Louis still in need of a trade partner.

Later reports suggested Arenado hadn’t entirely closed the door on joining the Astros, but just wanted more time to evaluate the situation considering that Houston had just dealt Kyle Tucker to the Cubs earlier that same week.  Mozeliak admitted today that he “was a little bit surprised” Arenado turned down the trade, and suggested that the Cardinals were hampered by the timing of the Tucker deal.  “It was almost more like order of operation.  Had we been a few days ahead of that, I think there would’ve been [a trade]….So yeah, things happen.” Mozeliak said.

In regards to the lack of other interest in Arenado, Mozeliak said “I would imagine the free agent market would be what’s slowing that down,” referencing the fact that Alex Bregman remains unsigned.  Some movement on the Arenado front could happen once Bregman chooses his next team, and Mozeliak said he hadn’t yet spoken with Arenado or his camp about possibly expanding the third baseman’s list of preferred trade destinations.

In fact, Mozeliak said he hadn’t directly spoken with Arenado for close to a month, as the two last had contact before the holidays.  Given the calendar, their next conversation might also have to address the scenario where Arenado isn’t traded prior to Spring Training, so he’d have to go through his normal spring routine under the weight of a potential change of scenery.

“There’s the mental side of this too, right?” Mozeliak said.  “He’s probably thinking, like, OK, if I have to come to camp, I want to start preparing for that, and maybe he wants to be committed to [staying in St. Louis] at that point.  So I don’t want to speak for him at this point, because we have not discussed that.  But clearly, as we get closer to Jupiter, that is something we will have to touch on.”

In a piece for MLBTR Front Office subscribers earlier this week, Anthony Franco described the Cardinals’ winter as “a half-measure offseason,” given how the team hadn’t dealt any of its higher-salaried players, let alone Arenado.  Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray left the Cards’ hands tied by refusing to waive their own no-movement clauses, yet impending free agents Ryan Helsley, Erick Fedde, and Steven Matz all seem like obvious trade candidates, and all remain on the roster here in mid-January.

Mozeliak provided some explanation for not moving Fedde or Matz today, noting that the Cards “don’t really love [the] idea” of potentially leaving the team short-handed on the pitching front.  “We really feel like we have some depth in our rotation right now, so I really don’t want to start preparing tearing away from that, in terms of thinking about moving a position player to achieve some financial goals,” Mozeliak said.  “That would be something we could consider as well, but we really don’t want to.”

Fedde is owed $7.5MM in 2025, while Matz is owed $12MM and would likely be more of a salary-dump candidate given his injuries and struggles in recent years.  Helsley will receive $8.2MM in his final season of team control.  While all have substantial salaries, the $27.2MM total is only slightly less than the $27MM owed to Arenado in 2025, when Colorado’s $5MM contribution is subtracted from his $32MM price tag.  Between that math and the $27MM also owed to Arenado in 2026, it seems like the Cardinals simply want to exhaust all possibilities in moving Arenado before moving onto other payroll-cutting moves.

The more salary St. Louis is able to unload, the more the team can also add to the roster.  Mozeliak suggested that if the money becomes available, the club could look at “obviously [the] bullpen” or possibly “a right-handed bat with some thump, something like that.”  The Cardinals have a decent amount of lineup balance already, but with Arenado on the move, the team would presumably be looking to replace him with another righty bat at a much lower price tag.  In theory, this bat might come in the outfield — right fielder Jordan Walker is right-handed, but Lars Nootbaar, Victor Scott II, and Michael Siani all swing from the left side.

Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts Discusses Offseason, Payroll, Front Office

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The Cubs’ blockbuster trade for Kyle Tucker generated the biggest headlines in Wrigleyville this winter, with the team also adding such notables as Matthew Boyd, Colin Rea, Eli Morgan, Carson Kelly, and Caleb Thielbar to the roster.  President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer stated this week that the Cubs were still looking to add to the bench and bullpen, and recent reports suggest that the latter pursuit could even take the form of a big-ticket signing of Tanner Scott.

One of the over-arching questions about Chicago’s winter plans is exactly how much Hoyer had available to spend, and chairman Tom Ricketts addressed this point in an interview with The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney.  Ricketts said that the team expects to spend around the $241MM luxury tax threshold, which therefore gives the Cubs quite a bit of extra capacity, as RosterResource estimates its current tax number at roughly $198.3MM.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that the Cubs will be splashing around a lot of that cash in the coming weeks, however, as Ricketts said some money could be earmarked for upgrades at the trade deadline.  “We always have the ability to add payroll if we need to at the deadline.  And if there’s a piece we need to keep winning, there’s always that option,” Ricketts said.

The same wait-and-see mentality also impacts the remainder of the winter, as Ricketts noted that teams “don’t control the timing of when these guys sign.  And every offseason is different.  Nothing will happen for three weeks, and then one guy will sign.  And then three other guys want to sign in the next two days.  You just have to be flexible through the process, and keep an eye open at the end with some dry powder, in case there is someone that might be value-added that comes at a good price.”

A more expensive signing like Scott would take up a sizeable, yet not overwhelming, portion of Chicago’s budget space.  Rumors have persisted that the Cubs remain at least on the periphery of the Alex Bregman and Jack Flaherty markets, so despite Hoyer’s comments about the team’s focus on more lower-tier moves, Chicago can’t be entirely ruled out as a landing spot for either player until they sign elsewhere.  Bregman is reportedly not interested in a shorter-term deal with opt-outs while Flaherty is at least open to such an arrangement, so Flaherty could be a better fit as the type of “value-added” opportunity Ricketts describes (though any number of teams might also be interested in Flaherty in that same context).

The Cubs have taken a step back in their approach to payroll in recent years, as 2024 marked the first time since 2020 that Chicago’s Opening Day payroll landed within the league’s top ten spenders.  While the Cubs boosted payroll last year and into this offseason, some budget restraints are still clearly in place.  Most notably, the trade that sent Cody Bellinger to the Yankees was about unloading the majority of Bellinger’s remaining salary, in addition to clearing room for Tucker in Chicago’s outfield.

Fans have criticized Ricketts for this relative lack of spending from a big-market team, with some fingers pointed at the private investment firm Arctos for having an influence in this department.  Ricketts pushed back against this criticism in particular, noting that because Arctos has investments in multiple MLB teams, “they’re not allowed to participate in any baseball discussions, so they’re walled off from anything to do with payroll or player analysis….Ultimately, the private equity investors have very long-term horizons and are just looking to participate in the appreciation of sports assets in general.  They don’t need certain win totals or cash-flow numbers.  They’re just strong, silent partners.”

As always, the Competitive Balance Tax is calculated via average annual value plus additional player benefits, as opposed to just straight dollars — this is why the Cubs’ $227.7MM payroll in 2024 translated to a $239.9MM tax number, which put Chicago slightly over the $237MM tax threshold.  This means that the Cubs would have to give up two draft picks in order to sign a qualified free agent like Bregman, which is why non-qualified free agents like Scott or Flaherty could be preferable.

Not coincidentally, the Cubbies’ scaled-back spending through a semi-rebuild coincided with a dearth of postseason baseball.  After reaching the postseason in 2020, the Cubs had sub-.500 seasons in both 2021 and 2022 before posting identical 83-79 records in each of the last two seasons.  There has been plenty of frustration among Cubs fans over the last two years’ worth of near-misses, and it has led to speculation that Hoyer is facing extra pressure as he enters the last year of his contract as the team’s PBO.

Ricketts downplayed the idea of 2025 as a particularly important season, noting that “every year, the goal is the playoffs.”  While Ricketts didn’t give Hoyer an outright vote of confidence in terms of promised job security, the chairman did praise Hoyer’s big-picture approach to roster-building.

“You evaluate the front office on a couple levels.  Obviously, No. 1, is just the wins on the field,” Ricketts said.  “That’s the most obvious metric to check.  But it’s just overall organizational health.  One thing that’s been very encouraging over the past few years is that we have drafted better. And the guys that we have drafted have developed more quickly than some years past.  We put ourselves really behind the eight-ball a few years ago with a series of drafts that weren’t very productive.  And I think we’re on the other side of that now.  We’ve got a lot of players coming through, which will give Jed a lot of trade capital to go into the future.”

Evaluators and pundits have increasingly praised the state of the Cubs’ farm system, and this depth already manifested itself in the Tucker trade.  Isaac Paredes was included in the three-player trade package to the Astros because the Cubs have confidence that Matt Shaw is ready for regular third-base work, plus top prospect Cam Smith was also sent to Houston in the deal.

“Maybe in a few years, people will say we should have traded somebody else,” Ricketts said.  “But that’s what it is – there’s a balance to every trade.  In this case, I think Jed was right in assessing that we needed an impact bat this season.”

Ricketts also added that “hopefully, [Tucker will] enjoy his time here and he’ll be here a long time.”  Tucker is a free agent after the season, and while Ricketts naturally isn’t going to outright say that the Cubs view him as a just a one-year rental, his comment at least leaves open the possibility that the Cubs are willing to give Tucker the mega-deal that he’ll undoubtedly command if he keeps up his current form.  Jason Heyward’s $184MM contract remains the most expensive deal in Cubs history, and the club is very likely going to have to at least double that price to re-sign Tucker.

Royals Sign Harold Castro To Minor League Contract

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The Royals announced that utilityman Harold Castro was signed to a minor league contract.  The 31-year-old Castro will get an invitation to Kansas City’s big league spring camp.

Castro is no stranger to the AL Central, as he spent his entire pro career (and his first five MLB seasons) with the Tigers before joining the Rockies on a minor league deal prior to the 2023 season.  He appeared in 99 games with Colorado after his contract was selected to the active roster, but Castro spent the 2024 season outside of affiliated baseball, instead suiting up with the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League.

Castro hit .320/.366/.447 over 363 plate appearances and 84 games with Tijuana, and he followed up that strong performance with even bigger numbers in the Venezuelan Winter League.  This was enough to get the Royals’ attention for a camp invite, and the left-handed hitting Castro will now compete for a job on the K.C. bench.

Despite his short-lived nickname of “Hittin’ Harold” during his time in Detroit, Castro has a modest .278/.303/.366 slash line over 1485 career plate appearances at the MLB level.  His career minor league numbers aren’t much better, though it is worth noting that Castro hasn’t played in the affiliated minor leagues since the 2019 season.  What he does bring to the table is defensive versatility, as Castro has played at every position except catcher during his time in the big leagues, with quite a bit of experience in particular at all four infield spots.

Kansas City, if anything, might have more than infield depth already, given how one of Jonathan India or Michael Massey could find themselves in left field when they aren’t at second base or designated hitter.  The Royals also recently signed Cavan Biggio to a minors deal, so both Castro and Biggio figure to be competing for the same roster spot as a left-handed hitting utilityman.  Incumbent third baseman Maikel Garcia swings from the right side and hasn’t produced much at the plate, so third base stands as a logical platoon area for Castro (or Biggio) to carve out a niche for playing time.

Blue Jays Still Looking For Starting Pitching

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After missing out on Roki Sasaki, the Blue Jays “remain involved in” the starting pitching market, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith writes.  While Toronto has been more primarily linked to hitters this winter, the Jays have also been actively considering several starters, including such notable names as Sasaki, Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, Blake Snell, Luis Severino, Nick Pivetta, and Jack Flaherty.

Of that group, only Pivetta and Flaherty remained unsigned, as all of the other names signed with other teams.  The near-misses on Sasaki and Burnes in particular have only added to what has been a frustrating 14 months for the Blue Jays, who have continually come up on short on several high-profile free agent pursuits in the last two offseasons.

The Jays’ current starting five consists of Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, Bowden Francis, and Yariel Rodriguez.  This group (and Yusei Kikuchi, who traded to the Astros at the deadline) combined to post roughly middle-of-the-pack numbers in comparison to other rotations around the league, and the starting staff was in many ways Toronto’s most consistent strength given the club’s lackluster lineup and bullpen.  Alek Manoah also pitched reasonably well in five starts before undergoing Tommy John surgery, and he is aiming to be back in the rotation by August.  Adding another starter, of course, would only deepen and help solidify this group.  Bringing a new starter into the rotation would push Rodriguez into relief duty, thus addressing another need by bringing another quality arm into the bullpen mix.

The question remains, however, whether the Blue Jays are looking to supplement this group with more of a frontline type of pitcher like Flaherty, or if they’re looking at more of a back-end hurler for what is technically a fifth starter’s role on paper.  The former would require another significant investment in a starting pitcher, on the heels of Berrios’ hefty extension, big free agent deals for Gausman and Bassitt, plus the $32MM Toronto spent to sign Rodriguez a year ago.

Between their big offers to Burnes and Juan Soto, the Jays front office clearly has some money available to spend, even though Toronto already has around $218MM on the books for 2025 and a luxury-tax number of $245MM (estimates courtesy of RosterResource).  What remains unclear is whether or not GM Ross Atkins was given the green light to stretch the budget in general, or just for special cases like Soto or Burnes.  There’s also the fact that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is looking for a mega-contract of his own as he approaches free agency, and there is reportedly a sizable gap between the Jays and the star first baseman in extension talks.

Flaherty is reportedly open to a shorter-term contract with opt-outs, though such a deal would still require a sizable average annual value.  Pivetta is surely also looking for a significant salary, plus he would also cost the Blue Jays $500K in int’l pool money and the team’s second-highest pick in the 2025 draft since Pivetta rejected Boston’s qualifying offer.  Pivoting away from these bigger names in the pitching market or perhaps obtaining a starter in a trade might be more of a feasible path for the Jays if they instead opted to spend more heavily in offense, such as rumored targets Anthony Santander or Pete Alonso.

In terms of other expenditures this offseason, the Blue Jays also signed Jeff Hoffman to a three-year, $33MM deal, and took on the remaining $97.5MM on Andres Gimenez’s contract after acquiring the second baseman from the Guardians.  Another $11MM was also taken on in the form of Myles Straw’s contract in yesterday’s trade with Cleveland for $2MM in international bonus pool space, which already looks like a misstep since that $2MM was earmarked for the failed bid for Sasaki.  A rival executive described the Straw trade in pretty blunt terms to Nicholson-Smith, calling the deal as a “masterclass [for Cleveland] to dump off so much money,” as “the Guardians knew [the Jays] were desperate.”

It was another tough blow to a Jays franchise that is facing as much pressure to win as any in baseball, given 2024’s disappointing 74-88 record and the looming free agency of Guerrero and Bo Bichette next winter.  Several holes and unanswered questions remain on the roster, and while there is still plenty of time in the offseason to make moves, Atkins’ efforts won’t be helped by the increased public perception that the Jays “need” to do something big.  Such a perception gives other front offices leverages in trade talks with the Jays, and player agents leverage in contract negotiations.

Twins Sign Anthony Misiewicz To Minor League Deal

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The Twins have signed left-hander Anthony Misiewicz to a minor league contract, Darren Wolfson of SKOR North reports.  Misiewicz will receive an invitation to Minnesota’s Major League spring camp.

A veteran of each of the last five MLB seasons, Misiewicz just barely extended that streak this past year when he appeared in a single game (tossing one relief inning) for the Yankees on June 19.  He was soon sent back to Triple-A after that cup of coffee in the Show, and was ultimately designated for assignment and outrighted off New York’s 40-man roster in September.

Over what was essentially a full season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Misiewicz posted a 3.90 ERA with eight homers allowed over 55 1/3 relief innings.  That trouble with the long ball obscured some pretty strong peripherals like a 29% strikeout rate and a 7.6% walk rate.  Misiewicz had a wide gap in his splits at Triple-A, as he dominated left-handed batters while struggling badly against righty swingers.

Misiewicz has a 4.67 ERA over 115 2/3 career innings in the majors, with most of that work coming with the Mariners from 2020-22.  He’ll provide the Twins with at least another experienced arm to evaluate in camp, and his chances of making the roster could be helped by Minnesota’s lack of left-handed depth.  Kody Funderburk and minor league starter Brent Headrick are currently the only left-handed pitchers on the Twins’ 40-man roster.

Braves Sign Curt Casali To Minors Deal

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The Braves have signed catcher Curt Casali to a minor league contract, Just Baseball Media’s Aram Leighton reports.  Atlanta is Casali’s 11th different organization over his 14 professional seasons.

The last eleven of those seasons have come in the big leagues, with Casali amassing 543 career games with the Rays, Mariners, and two separate stints apiece with the Reds and Giants.  Most recently, Casali suited up 41 times for San Francisco last season, stepping in as the primary backup catcher after Tom Murphy was lost for the season due to a knee injury.

Casali has mostly worked in a backup or part-time capacity, appearing in as many as 84 games twice (2016 with the Rays and 2019 with the Reds) in his career.  His most productive overall stretch came with Cincinnati from 2018-2020, when he hit .260/.345/.440 in 485 plate appearances while working in what was more or less a timeshare with Tucker Barnhart behind the plate.  Casali’s offensive numbers have tailed off significantly since, and he had only a .194/.293/.250 slash line in 125 PA with the Giants last season.

His glovework also took a downturn in 2024, as Statcast rated his blocking, framing, and caught-stealing numbers all below average.  This could be a sign of age catching up to Casali as he enters his age-36 season, but he has a solid reputation as a defensive catcher who works well with pitchers.

Atlanta declined its $8MM club option on Travis d’Arnaud, and the longtime Braves backstop then signed with the Angels in one of the offseason’s more significant early moves.  Sean Murphy will look to rebound from a down year as the Braves’ starting catcher and Chadwick Tromp is penciled in as the backup, though Casali and Sandy Leon are two well-traveled veterans who will provide some competition in Spring Training.  The other name to watch here is Drake Baldwin, as the top prospect hit well in 334 PA with Triple-A Gwinnett last season and is expected to make his MLB debut at some point in 2025.

Top 20 MLB Trade Candidates For The Remainder Of The Offseason

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We’re more than halfway through the offseason, and the context of the trade and free agent markets has changed wildly since the offseason began in early November. Just under half of MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agents have signed — with virtually every pitcher who came off the board topping (trouncing, in a few cases) expectations in what’s been a chaotic rush to add rotation help. We could theoretically re-rank the top remaining free agents based on how their earning power looks now, but such a list would generally consist of the same names up top and a bunch of one-year deal candidates at the bottom.

The trade market, on the other hand, is an entirely different story. Twenty percent of the players we listed at the beginning of the season have changed hands already — it’d be 23%, had Nolan Arenado not vetoed a trade to Houston — and at least a handful of the remaining names are still veritable locks to move. The offseason has already produced quite a few new trade candidates, as revelations about certain teams’ financial flexibility (or more specifically, their lack thereof) and certain players’ motivations have come to light.

For instance, the Cardinals would likely have welcomed the opportunity to trade Willson Contreras or Sonny Gray as they refocus on player development and look to scale back payroll … but both players somewhat surprisingly informed the club they’re not inclined to waive their no-trade rights despite that move away from a win-now mentality. Tampa Bay needed to scale back payroll but opted to deal from the rotation rather than move Yandy Diaz or Brandon Lowe, both of whom are now expected to stay put. The A’s might’ve thought harder about trading Brent Rooker had he rebuffed their extension overtures, but he put pen to paper on a five-year contract recently. Each was on the initial list, but clearly, they’re not going to be on the updated one.

Knowing what we know now, let’s revisit the trade market and run through some of the top names who could change hands between now and Opening Day:

1. Marcus Stroman

The Yankees might’ve been motivated to trade Stroman even before signing Max Fried, but their eight-year deal with the longtime Braves ace now gives New York a rotation of Fried, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt. Stroman, who’s owed $18MM in 2025, is their sixth-best starter. His contract also contains a conditional player option, which he’d unlock at 140 innings pitched. That’d guarantee him another $18MM if exercised. The Yankees are willing to pay down some of Stroman’s deal to facilitate a trade. The veteran righty is coming off a season in which he pitched 154 2/3 innings of 4.31 ERA ball with drops in velocity, strikeout rate and ground-ball rate. However, most of his troubles came at home (5.31 ERA). He pitched to a 3.09 ERA on the road and away from Yankee Stadium’s short right field porch.

2. Nolan Arenado

It’s hard to find a good fit for Arenado at this point. He already invoked his no-trade clause to veto a trade to the Astros. A lot of big-market clubs have set players at third base. Smaller-market teams aren’t thrilled about the three years and $74MM left on his contract ($10MM of which is being covered by the Rockies), and Arenado may be similarly wary of an up-and-coming club’s chances of contending long-term (e.g. Tigers, Royals). Katie Woo of The Athletic recently reported efforts to trade Arenado were at a standstill. The Red Sox are in the mix but have ample roadblocks on the current roster. St. Louis is clearly motivated to trade Arenado, but a deal is far from a given since he controls his own fate.

3. Dylan Cease

It may seem counterintuitive for the Padres to trade Cease just one year after acquiring him, but the Friars’ payroll situation has changed. San Diego is looking to trim spending as ownership has turned over from the late Peter Seidler to his siblings. San Diego uncharacteristically hasn’t made a single signing or trade this winter despite need in left field, in the rotation, on the bench and at designated hitter. Trading Cease could bring back a controllable option for one of those positions while also shedding his $13.75MM salary — funds that could be reallocated to another of those needs. (MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently took a look at what Cease could command in a trade.) Cease is a free agent next winter. The Padres could make him a qualifying offer and receive draft compensation in 2026, but there are pressing needs to address right now and scant resources to find solutions.

4. Luis Arraez

The same factors that make Cease a trade candidate are largely applicable with Arraez. He’s a free agent next season. The three-time batting champ will earn $14MM in 2025. He’s not a strong defender, nor does he hit for power or run well, but Arraez makes contact at an elite rate and is probably the game’s best pure hitter. Moving him would create flexibility to spend on other areas and perhaps bring back some MLB help at another position.

5. Luis Castillo

The Mariners don’t want to trade from their excellent rotation, but they’re working on a tight budget with around $10-12MM of funds remaining after signing Donovan Solano. They’ve wanted multiple infielders all winter and have thus far only added Solano — a part-time bat who’ll platoon with Luke Raley at first while seeing occasional reps at third base and second base as well. Dealing Castillo and the remaining three years and $68.75MM on his contract would give the M’s plenty of resources with which to work, but it may be too little, too late when it comes to reallocating those savings to an impactful hitter. Alex Bregman and Nolan Arenado remain available, but a number of the options have dwindled. Moving Castillo for major league talent might be difficult — a contender interested in Castillo would be less interested in weakening itself by dealing from elsewhere on the MLB roster — but if the Mariners can find a partner they’d be looking at $30MM+ in available funds to spend on an infielder and a rotation replacement.

6. Jordan Montgomery

Montgomery isn’t a bad rebound candidate after a season in which he missed all of spring training due to signing late and subsequently dealt with a knee injury. He ultimately posted a 6.23 ERA in 18 starts. Prior to that, Montgomery pitched 524 1/3 innings of 3.48 ERA ball with solid strikeout/walk/ground-ball rates from 2021-23. He’s being paid $22.5MM this season after exercising a player option. The Snakes would’ve tried to move him anyway, but after their shock signing of Corbin Burnes on a six-year deal, Arizona’s staff is deep enough that Montgomery is probably the No. 7 starter behind Burnes, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson. The D-backs still want a closer and already have a club-record payroll projection ($194MM). Shedding some of the Montgomery deal could help them add a finishing piece to the bullpen.

7. Christian Vazquez

The Twins signed Vazquez to a three-year, $30MM contract two offseasons ago, which generally fell in line with market expectation. However, what was originally an even timeshare with Ryan Jeffers quickly saw Jeffers overtake Vazquez for the lion’s share of playing time. Vazquez remains an elite defender but has just a .222/.265/.322 slash (63 wRC+) in his two seasons with Minnesota. The Twins aren’t going to be able to shed his entire $10MM, but they’re tight on payroll space and have added two catchers to the 40-man roster this winter in trades for Diego Cartaya and Mickey Gasper. Glove-only catchers can still command $4-5MM (see: Austin Hedges); the Twins could shed close to half the deal or perhaps take back an overpriced reliever in return.

8. Chris Paddack

On the other end of the Twins’ trade spectrum, Paddack’s $7.5MM salary seems reasonable, given the soaring price of open-market starting pitching. He’s a free agent at season’s end and posted a lackluster 4.99 ERA in 88 1/3 innings this past season, but that was his first full year back from a second Tommy John surgery. Paddack fanned 20.6% of opponents with a 10.7% swinging-strike rate and terrific 5.5% walk rate. He was too homer-prone but was also plagued by a .327 average on balls in play. There might not be a ton of surplus value, but there’s arguably a few million dollars worth — enough for the Twins to move the entire contract and command a modest return. They have a host of in-house options to slot in behind the top four of Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Simeon Woods Richardson in the event of a Paddack swap.

9. Spencer Torkelson

The former No. 1 overall pick was never supposed to be on a list like this, but the 25-year-old increasingly looks like a player without a concrete role on the Tigers. Detroit signed Gleyber Torres to play second base and, in doing so, announced that second baseman Colt Keith would move to first base, usurping Torkelson in the process. President of baseball ops Scott Harris has said he still sees a role for Torkelson’s right-handed bat on a Tigers squad that needs production against left-handed pitching, but “Tork” won’t have everyday at-bats at first base or at designated hitter available to him. (Corner outfielders Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene and Matt Vierling could all see time at DH — Carpenter in particular.) Harris also shot down the idea of Torkelson getting work at another position. Torkelson has effectively been relegated to a bench piece, so if another club is willing to buy low, a deal could make sense. However, he’s controllable for another four years, has an option remaining and isn’t arb-eligible yet; the Tigers won’t just give him away.

10. LaMonte Wade Jr.

The Giants have been looking for ways to add some punch to their lineup. Wade is a solid and affordable bat, earning $5MM in his final year of club control. He’s hit .248/.352/.415 in four seasons with San Francisco. But Wade doesn’t hit lefties well, lacks power against righties and is a plodding runner with seventh-percentile sprint speed, per Statcast. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle recently listed Wade as a possible trade piece, as the Giants continue to look for a bigger bat in the lineup. Clubs like the Astros, Yankees and Nats have already filled their first base needs, but others like the Reds or even Wade’s former Twins club could plausibly jump into the mix.

11. Steven Matz

The Cardinals entered the offseason hoping to trim payroll and create opportunity for younger players. No-trade clauses for Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray and the aforementioned Arenado have thrown a wrench into those plans. Contreras and Gray are staying put. Arenado isn’t making it easy on the Cardinals. If they need to pivot to other cost-saving measures, dumping a portion of Matz’s salary could make sense. The Cards have received some interest in him, despite a grisly 5.08 ERA in 44 1/3 innings last season. Matz is owed $12MM in 2025, the final season of his four-year deal with the Cards. He pitched 105 frames of 3.86 ERA ball with a 21.8% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate as recently as 2023. The 33-year-old’s contract probably isn’t that far north of what he’d earn in free agency. The Cardinals could spare themselves most of the tab if they’re willing to move him for a minimal return and reallocate those innings elsewhere.

12. Rhys Hoskins

When signing Hoskins to a two-year, $34MM deal with an opt-out last offseason, the Brewers probably hoped to get one season of vintage Hoskins, thank the slugger for his services, and make him a qualifying offer. For two months, the plan looked great. Hoskins, in his first year back from an ACL tear, hit .243/.345/.468 through the season’s first two months. He tanked thereafter, hitting .200/.282/.387 in his final 350 plate appearances. Milwaukee now owes Hoskins an $18MM salary and a $4MM buyout on a 2026 mutual option. It seems likely that commitment has handcuffed the baseball operations department’s efforts to add to the payroll this winter. If they can pay Hoskins down to the $6-8MM range, they might find a taker late in the offseason or in spring training after injuries pile up elsewhere in the league.

13. Alec Bohm

The Phillies have maintained that they’re not shopping Bohm and have held a high asking price on him in trade talks, but they’ve spoken to enough clubs about him that it seems fair to presume they’re more open to it than they’ve publicly let on. The efforts to deal Bohm were largely tied to reshaping an offense that has at times become redundant and stagnant. Rumblings on Bohm have cooled, and in the meantime the Phils have signed Max Kepler and traded for Jesus Luzardo. That probably represents the bulk of their offseason dealings, but president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski rarely idles. As other teams begin to incur injuries this spring, it remains possible that Bohm could yet find himself playing elsewhere — at least, if the Phils are willing to stop seeking controllable young starters with more control than Bohm has left in return for the third baseman. He’ll be paid $7.7MM this coming season and is under club control through 2026.

14. Triston Casas

Casas, 25 tomorrow, has hit .256/.357/.480 over the past two seasons, popping 37 homers in just 745 plate appearances. That would seem to make him a key piece of the future, but his name has at least surfaced in trade chatter as Boston tried to pry some young pitching away from the Mariners. Rafael Devers’ shoddy glovework across the diamond has led to speculative scenarios wherein the Sox would move Devers to first base, sign/acquire a third base upgrade and trade Casas for pitching. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow would probably at least listen to proposals along those lines — Boston has been heavily linked to both Arenado and Bregman — but at a certain point it’s worth asking how much they’re actually improving. Casas has game-changing power and handles lefties well enough that he doesn’t need to be in a strict platoon. He’s a valuable and controllable player in his own right, as he’ll be arb-eligible through 2028.

15. Erick Fedde

Fedde should be higher on this list. Heck, he should’ve already been traded. The Cardinals announced to begin the offseason that they were going to step back and focus on player development. They’ve been trying to trade Arenado for months, to no avail. Their payroll isn’t down as low as ownership would like, it would seem. Beyond that, the step toward a youth movement seems to strongly eliminate the chances of the Cards contending. Fedde is being paid a bargain $7.5MM and is a free agent at season’s end. If the Cardinals are trying to contend, they should add around players like this. If they’re trying to step back and focus on development, Fedde should be shopped for prospect help since he’ll be gone next winter and isn’t a guarantee to remain healthy/productive until the deadline. As Anthony Franco recently wrote, the St. Louis offseason has been a half measure, and not a very productive one at that.

16. Ryan Helsley

All of the Fedde points made above apply here — and then some. Helsley is a dominant closer earning an affordable $8.2MM salary — the type of player every single contender would love to get its hands on. The Cardinals, a team that won 83 games last year and has not meaningfully added to the roster, could fetch a sizable return for him. Trading him prior to the season gives his new club the chance to make a qualifying offer at season’s end, thus increasing his trade value. (Ditto Fedde, for that matter.) Yet all reports out of St. Louis have suggested the Cards plan to hold onto Helsley and Fedde. If the Cardinals want to back their way into Wild Card contention, they should be trying to add to the roster. If they want to retool, they should be shopping short-term assets. Holding Helsley until the deadline lowers his trade value and creates the risk of an injury or downturn in performance. Relievers are baseball’s most fickle asset. The Cardinals seem caught in the middle. It’s perplexing.

17. Camilo Doval

Doval lost his closer job late in the 2024 season. His walk rate spiked from 9.3% in 2023 to 14.4% in 2024. His ERA accordingly erupted from 2.93 to 4.88. Doval still averages better than 99 mph on his cutter, however, and misses bats in droves. He fanned 28.8% of his opponents even in a down ’24 showing and recorded a massive 14.5% swinging-strike rate that largely mirrored his 2023 levels (14.8%). Doval is earning $4.525MM this season and is controllable for three years. Teams are often loath to sell low on this type of power arm, but Slusser reported in that same previously mentioned piece that Doval has drawn interest from clubs looking for a closer. The Giants could move him and justifiably ask for MLB talent in return.

18. Ryan Pressly

The Astros already shook up the roster with a trade of Kyle Tucker to the Cubs, netting third baseman Isaac Paredes, righty Hayden Wesneski and top infield prospect Cam Smith. Trading Tucker, who’s in line for the type of mega-deal owner Jim Crane has eschewed throughout his tenure, paved the way for Houston to sign Christian Walker on a three-year deal. They’re now sitting just over the luxury tax line — a threshold Crane would quite likely to duck beneath. Houston has shopped Pressly and his $14MM salary this winter, but his no-trade clause is a notable roadblock. Few relievers have a lengthier or better track record, though. Houston could instead try to move outfielder Chas McCormick, backup catcher Victor Caratini or utilityman Mauricio Dubon if Crane mandates a drop below the CBT line, but Pressly presents the largest savings and could even give the Astros enough breathing room to make a subsequent free agent addition at a lower rate … if he’ll waive his no-trade provision, that is.

19. Starling Marte

The Mets reportedly told Marte they’d try to find a trade partner for him and have been willing to pay down a portion of his remaining year and $19.5MM for some time now. No deal has come to fruition. Once a fleet-footed threat to steal 40 bases per season, the now-36-year-old Marte’s average sprint speed fell below league-average in 2024, per Statcast. His range in the outfield ranked in the fifth percentile, though his arm strength checked into the 90th percentile. Marte hit .269/.327/.388 — about 4% better than average, per wRC+ — in 370 plate appearances. No one is taking on the full freight of his salary, but he could be swapped out for another underwater contract and/or the Mets could eat a large chunk of the deal to save at least some money and free up a roster spot. They’re in the top tier of luxury penalization, so every dollar they save is essentially doubled when accounting for tax purposes.

20. Robert Suarez

As noted with regard to Cease and Arraez, the Padres are aiming to scale back payroll. They’ve “entertained” offers on the 33-year-old Suarez (34 in March). A trade probably won’t be easy to put together. Suarez is earning $10MM this season and has a two-year, $16MM player option next winter. He has to exercise his 2026 and 2027 options simultaneously or else decline them and become a free agent. In essence, a trade partner knows that if Suarez pitches as hoped, he’s probably going to decline those options and reenter the market. If he performs poorly or suffers an injury, he’ll likely pick those options up, sticking his new team with two years of a mid-30s reliever it doesn’t really want. That’s not an ideal set of circumstances. Suarez is quite good, however. He pitched 65 innings of 2.77 ERA ball with a 22.9% strikeout rate, a terrific 6.2% walk rate and a 41.8% grounder rate. His 99.1 mph average heater and sharp 12.5% swinging-strike rate suggest there could be a few more punchouts in the tank (as we saw when he whiffed 32% of opponents as a rookie in 2022).

Others Considered: Willi Castro (Twins), Jon Gray (Rangers), Mike Yastrzemski (Giants), Brett Baty (Mets), Taylor Ward (Angels), Luis Robert Jr. (White Sox), Jake McCarthy/Alek Thomas (D-backs), Mitch Haniger/Mitch Garver (Mariners)

Athletics Sign José Leclerc

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The Athletics announced that they have signed right-hander José Leclerc to a one-year deal. It’s reportedly a $10MM guarantee for the former Ranger. Fellow righty Will Klein has been designated for assignment to open a roster spot.

Leclerc, 31, jumps across the American League West. He had spent his entire career with the Rangers up until now. During his time in Texas, he has shown flashes of excellence as a reliever. In general, his career has been defined by a strong ability to get strikeouts but also some poor control.

Overall, he has 360 1/3 innings under his belt to this point, having allowed 3.27 earned runs per nine. His 31.2% strikeout rate is a very strong number but his 13.2% walk rate is much higher than average.

That lack of control has made his performance somewhat inconsistent. He was once the primary closer for the Rangers, having earned 12 saves in 2018 and 14 more the year after. But he missed essentially all of the next two seasons. A right teres muscle tear limited him to just two appearances during the shortened 2020 season. He then required Tommy John surgery in March of 2021, which wiped out that whole year.

Since coming back, he hasn’t been able to retake the closer’s role, with just 12 saves over the past three years combined. However, his control has actually been better lately, at least relative to his own previous performance. He had a 14.9% walk rate as of his Tommy John surgery. Since coming back, he has only walked 11.3% of batters faced. That’s still a high number, as league average is usually in the 8-9% range, but it was a noticeable improvement.

From the start of the 2022 season to the present, he has a 3.36 ERA, 29.2% strikeout rate and, as mentioned, an 11.3% walk rate. His 3.60 FIP and 3.58 SIERA are marginally higher than his ERA, likely because his .271 batting average on balls in play and 76.5% strand rate are a bit on the fortunate side. He also formed a notable portion of the Texas relief corps during their World Series run, tossing 13 2/3 innings with a 3.29 ERA during the 2023 postseason.

His ERA did jump to 4.32 in 2024, but that doesn’t seem to have been his fault. His .314 BABIP was actually on the high side last year. His 30.9% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate were pretty close to what he has done before. His 3.48 FIP and 3.26 SIERA both suggest he was pretty similar to the guy he was going into the year.

In addition to the strikeouts, Leclerc has often been good at avoiding damage. Statcast had his hard hit rate at 30.7% last year, which placed him in the 96th percentile of qualified pitchers. That was actually above his career rate of 29.3%. His 87.4 mile per hour average exit velocity was in the 84th percentile last year. Again, his career average of 86.4 mph is even better. The pitch velocity on his four-seam fastball and sinker both averaged around 95 miles per hour, while he also mixed in a slider, cutter and changeup.

It’s an interesting buy-low move for the A’s, since they are grabbing Leclerc after a rough year in the ERA department, but with encouraging numbers under the hood. They already have one of the best closers in the league in Mason Miller, so they can use Leclerc in a setup capacity.

The club has been surprisingly aggressive this winter in bolstering the roster. They gave a big deal to sign free agent right-hander Luis Severino, acquired lefty Jeffrey Springs from the Rays and signed outfielder/designated hitter Brent Rooker to a five-year extension.

Cynically, this likely has a lot to do with the club having to spend its revenue-sharing money in order to avoid a grievance from the MLBPA, but they are making some notable improvements nonetheless. The team went 32-32 in the second half of 2024 after graduating a lot of young talent to the majors, so it’s not impossible for them to be a surprise contender in 2025, especially with their new additions. Though if that doesn’t come to pass and they are still shy of contention, Leclerc could then be traded prior to the summer deadline as long as he’s having a strong year, since he’s only on a one-year deal.

Leclerc’s pact takes the club’s payroll to $74MM and their competitive balance tax number to $106MM, per the calculations of RosterResource. Reporting has indicated the club needs a CBT number of $105MM to avoid that grievance, but a final CBT calculation doesn’t come until the end of the year. The A’s might want to push it a bit further, just in case they end up trading players like Leclerc at the deadline and knocking that number down. Otherwise, their deadline dealings would have to be fairly revenue neutral.

Klein, 25, was one of three players that the A’s just acquired from the Royals in the Lucas Erceg trade at last year’s deadline. He didn’t have much big league experience prior to the deal and the A’s mostly kept him on optional assignment. He currently has 7 2/3 innings of MLB experience with nine earned runs allowed.

That’s obviously not a huge sample size and the A’s surely acquired Klein based on his larger sample of work in the minors. His numbers on the farm are vaguely Leclerc-esque, since he has been able to get strikeouts but has also given out plenty of walks. He has 221 1/3 minor league frames under his belt with a 5.16 ERA, 30.4% strikeout rate and 16.2% walk rate.

The punchouts are attractive but even those faded in 2024. He tossed 43 Triple-A innings on the year between the two organizations, with a 22.4% strikeout rate and the walk rate still up at 16.7%. The 3.77 ERA wasn’t bad but a .234 BABIP and 75.4% strand rate surely helped him there, which is why he had a 5.42 FIP.

The Erceg deal was considered light by many observers at the time. It can often be difficult to grade a trade so soon after it’s consummated but it doesn’t bode well for the A’s that they are now potentially moving on from one of the three players they got in return.

They will now have a week to figure out Klein’s fate, whether that’s a trade or something on the waiver wire. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so that leaves five days for trade talks. He still has a couple of option years left, meaning any acquiring club could potentially keep him in the minors until he shows improved control.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported the $10MM guarantee.

Marlins Hire Blake Lalli As Third Base Coach

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The Marlins announced their 2025 coaching staff on Friday afternoon. The most notable development was the hiring of Blake Lalli as third base coach. Miami also hired Alon Leichman as assistant pitching coach and assistant pitching director, which Christina De Nicola of MLB.com first reported in December.

Lalli had a brief major league playing career. He suited up with the Cubs, Brewers and Braves between 2012-16. Lalli played parts of 12 years in the minors, including six seasons in Triple-A. He ended his playing days over the 2017-18 offseason and moved into managing. Lalli spent five years as a manager in the Arizona system, including the past two for their Triple-A club in Reno. This will be the 41-year-old’s first MLB coaching position.

Leichman, 35, has pitched and coached for the Israeli national team. He worked as a pitching instructor in the Dodgers and Seattle farm systems before getting his first MLB job with the Reds. Leichman spent two seasons as an assistant pitching coach under Derek Johnson in Cincinnati before making the move to Miami.

Clayton McCullough has an entirely new staff for his first year as a major league manager. The rest of the staff (most of which has been covered previously at MLBTR) is as follows: bench coach Carson Vitale, hitting coach Pedro Guerrero, pitching coach Daniel Moskos, first base coach Tyler Smarslok, assistant hitting coach Derek Shomon, bullpen coach Brandon Mann, catching coach Joe Singley, field coordinator Aaron Leanhardt, and performance/data integration strategist Bryson Nakamura.

Tanner Scott Weighing Multiple Offers, Could Sign This Weekend

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The market may be heating up for free agency’s top reliever. Jon Morosi of the MLB Network reports that Tanner Scott is weighing multiple multi-year offers and may choose his team by this weekend.

Morosi suggests that the Cubs are among Scott’s top suitors. Chicago president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said this week that the bullpen is “probably the area we’ve been focused on most in free agency.” There’d be no bigger upgrade than Scott, though that’d be an out-of-character move for Hoyer’s front office. The Cubs have not signed a free agent reliever to a multi-year deal or a guarantee above $9MM in more than five years.

Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic writes that while the Cubs do indeed like Scott, they may be reluctant to meet the asking price. Previous reporting has suggested that Scott’s annual salary could approach $20MM on what’d presumably be a three- or four-year contract. Even if the money doesn’t quite get to that level, this would be a major investment. Scott should easily land the top reliever deal of the winter.

The Dodgers have been tied to Scott for months. After landing Roki Sasaki, a back-end reliever is the last box on L.A.’s offseason checklist. The Braves have also shown interest, while the Mets were more recently reported as a suitor. That no longer seems to be the case. New York agreed to terms with A.J. Minter on a two-year, $22MM guarantee this afternoon. Mike Puma of The New York Post reports that the Minter deal means the Mets are expected to drop their run at Scott.

Scott has been one of the best relievers in baseball for two seasons. He fired 78 innings of 2.31 ERA ball for the Marlins in 2023. The 30-year-old southpaw was even better last year. Scott earned his first All-Star nod and combined for a sterling 1.75 earned run average through 72 frames between Miami and the Padres. He averages nearly 97 MPH on his fastball and has punched out at least 28% of opposing hitters in three straight seasons.

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