Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Braves Select Drake Baldwin, Hector Neris, Enyel De Los Santos

By | at

The Braves announced Friday that they have selected the contracts of top catching prospect Drake Baldwin and veteran relievers Hector Neris and Enyel De Los Santos. All three have made the Opening Day club and are now on the 40-man roster. Atlanta doesn’t need to make any corresponding moves, as the recent returns of their two Rule 5 picks, this week’s trade of Angel Perdomo and yesterday’s outright of utilityman Luke Williams cleared several spots.

None of the three decisions registers as a surprise. Baldwin, 23, hit .313/.436/.375 in 39 spring plate appearances and was thrust to the top of the catching depth chart when Sean Murphy suffered fractured ribs early in camp. The 2022 third-rounder is widely regarded as one of the sport’s top catching prospects and one of the top 100 farmhands in the entire league. Baldwin will get his first opportunity and should see the lion’s share of playing time ahead of backup Chadwick Tromp while Murphy mends. Atlanta also recently signed James McCann to a minor league deal, but he’ll likely ramp up in Triple-A before he’s truly considered an option.

Neris was a late sign, agreeing to terms on March 3, and has only pitched two official innings so far. He’s gotten work on the back fields and in side sessions, however, and figures to get another inning or two between now and Opening Day. He hasn’t allowed a run in either of his two official appearances thus far.

The 35-year-old righty has a long track record in the majors, primarily with the division-rival Phillies and the Astros. He posted a 1.71 ERA and 31 holds as recently as 2023 in Houston, but he had an uneven showing as the Cubs’ closer in 2024 before being released. Neris saved 17 games with a 3.89 ERA for the Cubs but walked 13.3% of his opponents and also blew five save opportunities. He had something of the opposite play out in a late-season return to Houston; his 28.1% strikeout rate and 3.1% walk rate in 15 1/3 frames were brilliant … but his 4.70 ERA was lackluster. Overall, the veteran righty has a 3.27 ERA in 267 1/3 frames over the past four seasons.

De Los Santos, 25, has had a terrific camp, holding opponents to a pair of runs on just two hits and a walk with seven punchouts in 6 2/3 frames. He posted a 5.20 ERA in 64 innings spread across three teams last year, but he’s a six-year veteran who turned in a combined 3.18 earned run average in 119 innings for the Guardians from 2022-23. De Los Santos only has 4.015 years of major league service, so if he bounces back this year in Atlanta, he’ll be controllable through the 2026 season via arbitration.

Cubs’ Nicky Lopez Granted Release

By | at

Infielder Nicky Lopez, who’d been in camp with the Cubs as a non-roster invitee, triggered an opt-out in his minor league deal and has been granted his release, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports. He’s once again a free agent and can field interest from teams seeking infield depth.

Lopez, 30, is a light-hitting, premium defensive infielder who can provide strong glovework at any infield spot to the left of first base. He’s had a strong spring showing with the Cubs, too, hitting .450/.542/.550 in a tiny sample of 30 plate appearances. The Cubs’ late signing of Jon Berti and promotion of top prospect Matt Shaw — plus the presence of Rule 5 pick Gage Workman and out-of-options utilityman Vidal Brujan — narrowed any realistic pathways for Lopez to crack Chicago’s major league roster, however.

Lopez spent the 2024 season with Chicago’s other club and posted a .241/.312/.294 batting line in 445 plate appearances for the White Sox. That output is right in line with his career marks of .248/.312/.314, which come in a notable sample of 2346 plate appearances. Lack of punch notwithstanding, Lopez is generally good for a league-average walk rate and possesses plus contact skills, evidenced by a career 14.3% strikeout rate.

Metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average both feel Lopez is a superlative defender at second base and third base alike. There’s more of a gap with regard to his shortstop defense, though his middling DRS rating is due primarily to a brutal -9 grade in just 344 innings there last year. Outside of his 2024 performance, DRS has continually felt he’s been at least average at short. Statcast’s OAA has consistently touted his defensive acumen there, highlighted by a +25 mark back in 2021.

The Opener: Guerrero, Opt-Outs, Rule 5

By | at

With stateside Opening Day less than a week away, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today headed into the weekend:

1. Door not closed on Guerrero deal?

Blue Jays CEO Mark Shapiro made some interesting comments yesterday as he discussed the state of talks between superstar slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the club. Shapiro indicated that he feels “optimism” about the club’s chances of keeping Guerrero in the fold and went on to plainly state he expects to sign their superstar long-term, be it in an extension or free agency. Guerrero and the Jays did not come to terms on an extension before his original deadline. At the time, he noted that while he no longer planned to continue back-and-forth negotiations, he would “not close the door” on listening to a new offer if the Jays presented one.

Guerrero doubled down on that thinking yesterday, repeating that he’s “not going to shut the door” on the Blue Jays, even as he turns his attention to the season. Little time remains to hammer out a deal before the season, but extensions signed after Opening Day are hardly unheard of. Cubs left fielder Ian Happ stands out as a notable recent example of a player who signed an extension after his final season of team control was already underway. The first long-term deals for both Xander Bogaerts (2019) and Stephen Strasburg (2016) with the Red Sox and Nationals, respectively, were also reached after Opening Day with free agency just months away. Could Guerrero become the latest and most prominent example?

2. Veterans to opt out of minor league deals:

A slew of veteran talent will have the opportunity to opt out of their minor league deals and return to free agency this weekend. Article XX(B) free agents have a uniform opt-out opportunity that comes five days before stateside Opening Day, which falls on March 27. That means a number of veterans will be able to opt out tomorrow, and still others who don’t fall under Article XX(B) may have opt out opportunities or upward mobility clauses negotiated into their contracts that trigger at a similar point in the calendar. MLBTR’s Steve Adams took a look yesterday at 36 such veterans, including notable names like Mark Canha, Jose Iglesias, Eloy Jimenez and Carlos Carrasco, who will have the opportunity to opt out of their deals this weekend if not added to their club’s 40-man roster.

3. Rule 5 decisions looming:

Teams that made Rule 5 draft selections are now facing the decision of whether to carry those players on their Opening Day roster or send them back to their previous club. Some of those decisions have already been made, with the White Sox expected to carry right-hander Shane Smith on their roster to open the season while Atlanta sent both picks they made back to the Guardians and Marlins, respectively. The Nationals and Reds have also returned their Rule 5 picks to their previous clubs already, while decisions still loom for the Marlins, Angels, Athletics, Blue Jays, Rays, Twins, Cubs, Padres, and Brewers.

Blue Jays’ Shapiro On Guerrero Jr.: “I Think We’re Going To Extend Him”

By | at

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s self-imposed deadline for an extension — the first full day of spring training — came and went more than a month ago, with no deal coming to fruition. Guerrero has left the door slightly cracked, indicating that while he doesn’t plan to negotiate any further, he’d be amenable to hearing the Jays out if they presented a new offer. That mindset is all the more notable now, given that Jays CEO Mark Shapiro flatly stated this morning that he expects to eventually agree to an extension with the team’s star first baseman (via Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi). Said Shapiro:

“…I guess my overarching feeling is one of optimism. I think we’re going to sign him. I think we’re going to extend him. The reason I feel that way is because we have such a clear alignment on the desired outcome. Vlad wants to play his whole career as a Toronto Blue Jay. We want him to end his career in a Blue Jays uniform to be a true legacy player for the Toronto Blue Jays. … Could be before free agency, could be during free agency, but I’m optimistic we will sign him.”

Guerrero himself reacted to Shapiro’s comments, per Hazel Mae and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet: “I’ve always felt good about the whole thing. I’m good with that. Just going to keep working very hard and be optimistic, too. Not going to shut the door on them… I’ll be open. But I’m going to leave that to my agents to work with that. If there’s something there, they’re going to continue to work with that. I’m just going to be on the field, focusing on my teammates, on my team, on my game.”

Details surrounding both Guerrero’s asking price and the Blue Jays’ most recent offer have trickled out in the weeks since his deadline passed. Guerrero himself made clear he wasn’t seeking anything close to Juan Soto’s $765MM guarantee with the Mets; he sought under $600MM in guaranteed money over a 14- or 15-year deal. Subsequent reporting from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post, and Davidi shed further light on negotiations. Guerrero reportedly sought a net-present value of $500MM, and while the Jays are said to have offered a figure close to $500MM, deferred money pushed the present-day value down closer to $450MM.

Though that paints a broad picture of where things stand, Shapiro cautioned today (without citing specifically reported numbers) that the gap isn’t quite as straightforward as the ostensible $50MM separating the reported offer and asking price. “That’s an oversimplification based upon only part of the information,” Shapiro said (via MLB.com’s Keegan Mattheson).

Shapiro’s candor and optimistic tone on eventually hammering out a long-term deal come not long after Hector Gomez of the Dominican Republic’s Z101 Sports reported that the Jays are preparing a new offer for Guerrero. While it’s still not clear whether a new offer will be made prior to Opening Day, Shapiro’s comments do lend some credence to the idea that a new proposal could be forthcoming before long.

Despite the fact that he just turned 26 this past Sunday, Guerrero is entering his final season of club control. He’ll earn $28.5MM in 2025 after avoiding arbitration this winter. He’ll be a year older than Soto was when Soto hit the market, but Guerrero is nevertheless poised to reach free agency with a rare blend of youth and premium offensive track record.

Although the first two seasons of Guerrero’s career — his age-20 and age-21 efforts — were “only” a bit above average, he broke out with an MVP-caliber performance in 2021. His 2022-23 production was very strong but not quite up to that 2021 standard. He bounced back to elite levels in 2024. Overall, since that 2021 breakout, Guerrero has turned in a monstrous .293/.370/.517 batting line with 136 home runs in 2783 plate appearances — about 45% better than league average, by measure of wRC+.

Guerrero delivered nearly unrivaled batted-ball and bat speed grades last year while turning in a career-low 13.8% strikeout rate against a 10.3% walk rate that sits as the second-highest mark of his big league tenure. Per Statcast, he ranked in at least the 91st percentile of MLB hitters in barrel rate (91st percentile), bat speed (95th), hard-hit rate (97th), average exit velocity (98th), expected slugging percentage (98th) and expected wOBA (98th). No hitter in MLB had a higher maximum exit velocity or expected batting average.

Guerrero has also been extremely durable, trailing only Marcus Semien in total plate appearances since 2021. In that same span, he’s tied with Yordan Alvarez for the sixth-most homers in MLB and also sits sixth with 405 runs driven in. Guerrero ranks 10th in batting average, 11th in on-base percentage and 13th in slugging percentage over the past four years. Defense and baserunning are obvious strikes against him, but Guerrero has been one of MLB’s ten best hitters in the aggregate since Opening Day 2021 — including two seasons where he’s been flat-out elite.

Based on Guerrero’s premium bat-to-ball skills, bat speed and batted-ball metrics, there’s little reason to expect him to markedly decline in the near future. As with any mega-deal, the latter half of the contract is likely to be painful, but that’s generally accepted as the cost of doing business when signing star-caliber players of this nature in the heart of their prime.

Braves Sign Alex Verdugo

By | at

The Braves announced Thursday that they’ve signed veteran outfielder Alex Verdugo to a one-year, $1.5MM contract. With Opening Day just a week away, he consented to be optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett to ramp up. (Players gain the right to refuse an optional assignment once they accrue five years of MLB service.) Verdugo is represented by MVP Sports Group.

Just days ago, The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty reported that Verdugo had yet to receive a formal big league offer in free agency. That turned quickly. He’ll head straight to minor league camp and spend a bit of time in Gwinnett while he makes up for missing most of spring training, but he’ll be an option for Atlanta at some point in April.

The 28-year-old Verdugo (29 in May) is coming off the worst season of his big league career but was a steady regular with the Dodgers and Red Sox from 2019-23. Over that five-year period, he slashed a combined .283/.338/.432 with quality corner outfield defense. He may not have developed into the star some had hoped when the former second-round pick was widely regarded as a top-100 prospect, but Verdugo was a clear contributor on generally competitive clubs.

The 2024 season started out with more of the same. Traded to the Yankees last offseason, Verdugo came out of the gate hot, batting .275/.362/.450 in his first 141 plate appearances. He fell into a deep slump from that point forth and never recovered, however. From mid-May through season’s end, Verdugo’s .221/.270/.330 line was one of the least-productive in all of baseball among qualified hitters.

Last year’s prolonged struggles surely hindered Verdugo’s market. He was connected to teams like the Pirates, Angels and Astros throughout the winter, but all of those clubs either went another direction in the outfield or didn’t end up making an outfield addition at all. The Pirates instead decided it better to spread out their limited remaining resources across multiple players; they signed Tommy Pham ($4.05MM) and Andrew Heaney ($5.25MM) to one-year deals not long after being linked to Verdugo.

Verdugo heads to Atlanta on a lighter deal than most would’ve predicted back at the onset of free agency, providing some outfield depth at a time when Ronald Acuña Jr. is still rehabbing last year’s ACL tear while Jarred Kelenic continues to struggle. Offseason signee Jurickson Profar has also been banged up in camp, as it’s now been nearly two weeks since he was in an official game. Profar injured his wrist on a diving attempt in left field; he was diagnosed with a bone bruise, not a fracture, and is expected to be ready for Opening Day. Bone bruises are tricky injuries, the effects of which can sometimes linger longer than expected.

If the Braves can get everyone healthy, they’ll have some decisions to make. At full strength, the outfield would clearly be Profar in left, Michael Harris II in center and Acuña in right. Kelenic would fill a fourth outfield role in that setup, while Bryan De La Cruz — also on the 40-man roster — would likely reside in Triple-A as a depth piece.

Verdugo’s addition to the mix most directly threatens Kelenic’s role. Both are left-handed hitters who can handle center field but are probably better suited for corner work. (Verdugo certainly is.) Kelenic is a former top-10 pick and once ranked as one of the game’s 10 best prospects, but he’s never hit his stride in the majors after decimating minor league pitching.

The Braves acquired Kelenic from the Mariners in the 2023-24 offseason via a series of convoluted salary-dump trades that wound up seeing Atlanta take on around $25MM in dead money (plus nearly $7MM in luxury taxes) to purchase the former top prospect. They said from the jump that he’d receive regular playing time and would not be platooned, but by the end of camp he’d struggled enough against lefties that the Braves re-signed Adam Duvall to platoon with him. Kelenic’s first season with Atlanta resulted in a disappointing .231/.286/.393 slash. He’s followed that  up with a .200/.282/.457 slash in 39 spring plate appearances.

Kelenic has a minor league option remaining. If he struggles, it’s feasible that Atlanta will try to get him on track in Gwinnett and switch him out for Verdugo, using the veteran Verdugo in that aforementioned fourth outfield role. It’s a low-cost depth gamble made possible by Verdugo’s lack of market to this point. There’s little harm in opportunistically adding to the depth at this price point; the Braves are now up to about $231MM of luxury obligations, per RosterResource, leaving them $10MM shy of the tax threshold.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported that Verdugo and the Braves had agreed to a deal worth $1.5MM. Brendan Kuty of The Athletic reported that it was a one-year, major league contract.

Reds Sign Jose Trevino To Extension

By | at

The Reds and catcher Jose Trevino have agreed to an extension. The Paragon Sports International client was already under contract for $3.425MM for 2025 and set to hit free agency after that. This new deal now runs through 2027 with a club option for 2028. Trevino will reportedly get $5.25MM in each of the two guaranteed years. The option is valued at $6.5MM with a $1MM buyout. That means it’s $11.5MM in new money over two years, though the club option means the Reds extend their potential window of control by three years.

Trevino, 32, still hasn’t played a regular season game for the Reds. He was just acquired from the Yankees in December, with reliever Fernando Cruz  and Alex Jackson going the other way. During his time with the Rangers and Yankees over the previous seven seasons, he was never much of a hitter but has emerged as a strong defender behind the plate.

The Yanks acquired Trevino from the Rangers in April of 2022, sending Albert Abreu and Robby Ahlstrom the other way. Through the end of the 2021 season, Trevino had a batting line of .245/.270/.364. That translated to a wRC+ of 65, indicating he was about 35% below league average at the plate. His defense was graded around par during his first few seasons but he seemed to take a leap forward in his final year with Texas. Publicly available metrics graded him as one of the best pitch framers in the league that year.

His first year in the Bronx went quite well and stands out as his best season yet. He hit 11 home runs, more than doubling his previous career high of five. His .248/.283/.388 batting line was still subpar overall, leading to a wRC+ of 90, but that’s about par for a catcher. When combined with his excellent framing and good work behind the plate overall, he was worth 3.8 wins above replacement, per the calculations of FanGraphs.

Injuries got in the way in the subsequent two seasons. A right wrist tear required surgery in 2023 and then a left quad strain sent him to the injured list last year. Over those two campaigns, he got into just 129 games total. His offense fell to a combined .213/.275/.336, wRC+ of 72, but he still produced 2.4 fWAR on the strength of his defense.

The Reds already had Tyler Stephenson as their primary catcher going into this year but clearly liked the idea of Trevino as a complement. They effectively have opposite profiles, since Stephenson is more of a bat-first guy with lesser work while donning the tools of ignorance. The Reds subtracted a big strikeout pitcher from their bullpen in order to get Trevino, sending Cruz to the Yankees. After a few weeks in camp, they are clearly comfortable enough to keep Trevino around into the future as well.

Trevino’s presence has become more important in the short term, as Stephenson is set to begin the season on the IL due to an oblique strain. Trevino himself got a bit of a scare, as he was recently hit on the hand by a foul tip, but his tests came back clean and he appears to be on track to start the season healthy.

Turning to the long term, the Reds are surely hoping this will solidify their catching corps, which was previously fairly uncertain. As mentioned, Trevino was set to hit free agency after 2025. Stephenson is only under club control through 2026.

The top catching prospect in the system is Alfredo Duno, but he’s not close to the majors. He’s only 19 years old, for one thing. His professional résumé consists of 45 games in the Dominican Summer League in 2023 and 32 Single-A games last year. All signs point to a bright future but he won’t be in Cincinnati for a while.

With this new deal, it’s possible for the club to roll with the Trevino/Stephenson pairing for the next two years. By then, perhaps Duno will have worked his way to the upper levels of the minors and put himself in position to replace Stephenson. Even if not, the Reds will have Trevino in place for 2027 and will just need to find a complementary player. If all is going well, they can bring Trevino back for 2028 as well.

The $5-8MM range is a fairly standard AAV for a veteran catcher in his mid-30s, as shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker. In recent years, Mitch Garver and Yadier Molina were the only two backstops age-33 or older to surpass that range. Garver was signed to be more of a bat-first catcher/designated hitter while Molina was a legend in St. Louis. Players like Travis d’Arnaud, Kyle Higashioka, Yan Gomes, Martín Maldonado and Roberto Pérez have been in that $5-8MM window.

Looking ahead to next winter, this takes one of the more notable catchers off the board. For the 2025-26 offseason, the top free agent catchers are going to be J.T. Realmuto and Danny Jansen. Realmuto will be going into his age-35 season and might sign an extension with the Phillies before then. Jansen has had good numbers at times but has had a hard time staying healthy. Trevino would have been an interesting glove-first option for clubs but that won’t be the case now that he’s sticking in Cincinnati.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that the Reds and Trevino agreed to a deal running through 2027 with the 2028 club option. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reported the full financial details. Photos courtesy of Sam Greene, Imagn Images.

Padres, Andrew Bellatti Agree To Minor League Contract

By | at

The Padres are in agreement with righty reliever Andrew Bellatti, as first reported by Mad Friars and reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. He’ll likely begin the season at Triple-A El Paso.

Bellatti has spent the past few years with the Phillies. He turned in a strong season in middle relief three years ago. Bellatti rattled off 54 1/3 innings of 3.31 ERA ball while striking out more than a third of opposing hitters. His numbers dropped off dramatically the following season. Bellatti’s strikeout rate fell to 22.1% while his ERA climbed by nearly two runs. That cost him his roster spot during the 2023-24 offseason.

Philadelphia ran Bellatti through outright waivers last February. He spent the entire season in Triple-A, where he allowed 5.48 earned runs per nine over 42 2/3 innings. He recorded a mediocre 20.8% strikeout rate and walked over 16% of batters faced. His fastball averaged 92.4 MPH, down two ticks from its 2022 level.

San Diego can assign Bellatti to Triple-A to begin the season. He’s out of options, so if he does pitch his way to the majors at any point, they wouldn’t be able to send him back down without running him through waivers.

Mets Sign Diego Castillo To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Mets signed infielder Diego Castillo to a minor league contract, as reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. Venezuelan journalist Georgeny Pérez first reported the move last week.

Castillo, not to be confused with the reliever of the same name, is a 27-year-old utilityman. He played in four games for the Twins last season, collecting two hits in six at-bats. Minnesota outrighted him off the 40-man roster in July. He spent the rest of the season in Triple-A before electing minor league free agency. The righty-hitting infielder turned in a solid .261/.364/.397 slash with nearly as many walks as strikeouts in 113 games.

It was the second straight season in which Castillo spent a few days in the majors. His only significant big league experience came with the Pirates in 2022. He hit .206/.251/.382 while striking out at a 26.5% clip over 283 plate appearances. Castillo has shown much better strike zone discipline in Triple-A, where he’s a .283/.393/.403 hitter over four seasons. He has minimal power but a good upper minors track record and the ability to bounce around the infield.

This is technically Castillo’s second stint with the Mets. He spent exactly a week on their 40-man roster in January 2024. New York grabbed him off waivers from Arizona and designated him for assignment seven days later. He subsequently bounced around the league via waivers before landing with the Twins in a minor trade in April. Castillo has an option remaining, so the Mets could shuttle him between Queens and Triple-A Syracuse if he secures a 40-man roster spot during the regular season.

Brown: Astros “Having Conversations” About Cam Smith Potentially Breaking Camp

By | at

Few players have turned more heads in Spring Training than Astros top prospect Cam Smith. Acquired from the Cubs alongside Isaac Paredes and Hayden Wesneski in the Kyle Tucker trade, Smith was supposed to be the one member of that trio who would not impact the MLB team right away. The 14th overall pick last summer, he has only played 32 minor league games (just five of which have come above High-A).

Smith couldn’t have done much more this spring to force the Astros to consider whether he should break camp. He’s hitting .419 with four homers and a triple in 13 contests. He has worked five walks while striking out eight times in 36 plate appearances. That performance has kept him in big league camp into the final few days of Spring Training. There’s now a realistic chance he’ll make the team.

“We’re making some tough decisions. We want to put our best team forward. We’re having these conversations about Cam Smith,” general manager Dana Brown told Sports Talk 790. “We think he’s really good and we think he has really good upside. We have to make a decision: are we going to start him in the major leagues, or is he going to the minor leagues? … Make no mistake, I’m not afraid to put this guy in the big leagues. We’re having these discussions right now. This guy is really good.”

The Astros have hinted at that possibility with Smith’s recent defensive deployments. He was a collegiate third baseman and played there exclusively in the minors last summer. The Astros used him at the hot corner early this spring. His three most recent appearances have come in right field. That’s a position of greater need in the short term.

They’ll give most of the third base playing time to Paredes. They entered camp with Chas McCormick slated for everyday right field work. He’s coming off a personal-worst .211/.271/.306 showing over 94 games. McCormick entered last season as a career .259/.336/.449 hitter, making him a reasonable rebound candidate. He has had a bizarre spring. McCormick has walked 11 times with four strikeouts in 41 trips to the plate, but he only has four hits without a home run.

Houston presumably wouldn’t start getting Smith right field reps if they weren’t serious about him as a short-term MLB option. That doesn’t guarantee he’ll break camp. Chandler Rome of The Athletic wrote on March 6 (before Smith had any right field reps this spring) that the Astros intended to get him playing time at the position in the minor leagues. Sending him to Double-A or Triple-A for at least a few weeks may still be on the table, but the Astros have already accelerated plans to get Smith in-game outfield work.

If he does force his way onto the MLB roster, McCormick would profile as a fourth outfielder. He could take at-bats in Jake Meyers’ stead in center field. McCormick could also work into left field at times, allowing Houston to occasionally bring Jose Altuve back into second base.

Padres Hire Jake Peavy As Special Assistant

By | at

The Padres announced this afternoon that Jake Peavy has returned to the organization as a special assistant to CEO Erik Greupner. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported the news just before the club finalized the hiring.

“I’m incredibly appreciative of this opportunity to reunite with my Padres family,” the longtime MLB starter said in a press release. “San Diego has always held a special place in my heart. I’m a Padre through and through – from the moment I was drafted by the team until this very day, and I can’t wait to work alongside this talented group and contribute in any way I can to the success of this great organization.”

Peavy, 43, played more than half of 15-year big league career in San Diego. The Padres selected him out of high school in the 1999 draft. Peavy reached the majors three years later and broke through as an ace by 2004. The righty won the ERA title with a 2.27 mark over 27 starts that season. That kicked off a run of four sub-3.00 showings across five years. Peavy led the National League with 216 strikeouts in ’05. His 240 punchouts and 2.54 earned run average in ’07 were both best in the majors. He won the Cy Young and finished seventh in MVP balloting.

The Friars traded Peavy to the White Sox at the ’09 deadline. Over parts of eight seasons in a Padre uniform, he worked to a 3.29 ERA with just over a strikeout per inning. Peavy’s big career stretched for another seven years. He played for the White Sox, Red Sox and Giants through the 2016 campaign. The Padres inducted him into their organizational Hall of Fame in 2023.

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

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top