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Rangers Notes: Rocker, Eovaldi, Langford

By Anthony Franco | February 25, 2025 at 10:48pm CDT

Rangers righty Kumar Rocker made his Spring Training debut today against the Royals. The results weren’t good — he allowed four runs in his inning of work — but that’s inconsequential this early in camp.

As Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News writes, manager Bruce Bochy and GM Chris Young have left open the possibility for Rocker to break camp. That might require an injury elsewhere in the rotation, however, as it seems Rocker enters Spring Training sixth on the depth chart. Texas has a veteran top four: Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Tyler Mahle and Jon Gray. The fifth spot could come down to a battle between Rocker and left-hander Cody Bradford — with the latter potentially having the leg up.

“We’re going to see where we come out of camp, where we are from a medical standpoint, who’s healthy, how guys have thrown the ball, but (Rocker is) certainly one that is in our plans,” Young said. “We just can’t tell you exactly how at this point.” The third overall pick in the 2022 draft, Rocker earned a brief debut last September. He started three games, allowing six runs (five earned) through 11 2/3 innings. The 6’5″ righty recorded 14 strikeouts with an excellent 13.3% swinging strike rate. It’s an exceedingly small sample, but he looks capable of missing bats at the highest level.

Rocker averaged 96 MPH on his heater, while opponents had few answers for his slider. The latter pitch may already be one of the game’s top breaking balls. Baseball America graded the slider as a plus-plus offering (70 on the 20-80 scale) while ranking Rocker among their top 20 prospects. The 25-year-old will certainly be a factor at some point this season, though it remains to be seen how the Rangers want to handle his workload. Rocker underwent Tommy John surgery in 2023 and has all of 19 professional appearances under his belt. He has tallied fewer than 30 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. Rocker carved up minor league hitters upon returning from the surgery, working to a 1.96 ERA with 55 strikeouts in 36 2/3 frames over 10 appearances.

The 27-year-old Bradford has almost the polar opposite approach. He’s a soft-tossing lefty who relies on a plus changeup and elite command. Despite lacking huge stuff, Bradford turned in a 3.54 ERA with a solid 22.7% strikeout rate over 76 1/3 innings last season. A back injury cost him three months, but he was a quietly productive starter when healthy. Both Rocker and Bradford have minor league options remaining. While Dane Dunning remains on hand as well, he’s likelier to pitch in long relief after a rough ’24 season.

There’s no doubt about Eovaldi’s role. He’ll be back in the top half of the rotation after re-signing on a three-year, $75MM free agent deal. The 13-year MLB veteran has been incredibly consistent, turning in a sub-4.00 ERA in five straight seasons. That hasn’t stopped him from using exhibition play to tinker with his arsenal.

Eovaldi told reporters last week that he has been working on a two-seam fastball throughout the offseason (link via Kennedi Landry of MLB.com). The righty confirmed that he used it a few times in his Spring Training debut on Friday against Kansas City. Brooks Baseball tracked five of his pitches as sinkers (which is the two-seam fastball) over two innings. Eovaldi has had a five-pitch mix for most of his career: four-seam, splitter, cutter, curveball and a slider that he only throws against right-handed hitters. He told Landry and other reporters that he’ll continue to work on the two-seam, which he wants to run up and in against righty batters to keep them off the splitter lower in the zone.

One player who has yet to get his exhibition season underway: second-year left fielder Wyatt Langford. Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports was among those to report last week that Langford was being held back from baseball activities for a few days after being diagnosed with a mild oblique strain. Bochy maintained that the Rangers consider this a minor setback and anticipate that Langford will be ready for Opening Day. He’ll look to build off a solid rookie season in which he hit .253/.325/.415 with 16 homers across 557 plate appearances.

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Texas Rangers Cody Bradford Kumar Rocker Nathan Eovaldi Wyatt Langford

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JB Bukauskas To Undergo Season-Ending Lat Surgery

By Anthony Franco | February 25, 2025 at 8:50pm CDT

Brewers reliever JB Bukauskas will undergo lat surgery, reports Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The procedure comes with a 9-10 month recovery timeline, so it’ll end his season.

Bukauskas was in camp as a non-roster invitee after Milwaukee outrighted him off the 40-man last month. The 28-year-old righty spent most of last season on the 60-day injured list. He tossed six innings of one-run ball. A lat injury sent him to the IL in the middle of April and wound up being a season ender. That unfortunately flared up yet again in camp and will cost him the entire ’25 campaign.

A 2017 first-round pick, Bukauskas has made 33 major league appearances between three teams. He has a 5.04 earned run average over 30 1/3 innings. He has gotten grounders on an impressive 53.2% of batted balls, but injuries have prevented him from carving out a consistent bullpen role. Within the past few years, Bukauskas has lost time to an elbow strain, a teres major (shoulder) injury, and multiple significant lat issues.

Since he is not on the 40-man roster, Bukauskas will spend the year on the minor league IL. He’ll qualify for minor league free agency next winter, when he’ll hopefully get healthy and look to catch on somewhere with a non-roster Spring Training invite.

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Milwaukee Brewers J.B. Bukauskas

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The Long-Term Catching Trade Market

By Darragh McDonald | February 25, 2025 at 7:46pm CDT

For teams looking for help behind the plate, free agency hasn’t been much help lately. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, last winter’s biggest deal went to Mitch Garver. The Mariners gave him $24MM with the plan of making him a primary designated hitter. Apart from him, Victor Caratini topped the class with $12MM. This offseason, Kyle Higashioka led the pack with $13.5MM.

Next winter’s class could be better, but probably not significantly so. J.T. Realmuto has been one of the better backstops in the game in the past decade but will be 35 years old by the start of the 2026 season. He also might just re-sign with the Phillies. Danny Jansen could have a bounceback on his one-year deal with the Rays this season, but he will still have a checkered injury history and a dismal 2024 campaign tamping down interest. Jose Trevino will draw interest from his excellent defense but he doesn’t hit much.

The 2026-27 class has some potentially attractive options in Alejandro Kirk, Ryan Jeffers, Tyler Stephenson and Jonah Heim, but they’ve all had inconsistent careers, so it’s anyone’s guess how they’ll look two seasons from now.

The trade market seems to be far more interesting as the current prospect pipeline is loaded with catchers. Baseball America’s Top 100 list features 11 backstops. The FanGraphs list has 16, MLB Pipeline 14, ESPN 12 and Keith Law of The Athletic 15.

Not all prospects work out and some of these catchers will end up getting moved to a corner position. But with many of these clubs already having a controllable backstop in the big leagues, future logjams are distinctly possible. Teams these days are generally fine having two catchers in a timeshare, but guys can still get squeezed onto the trade block. Gabriel Moreno didn’t have a path to playing time in Toronto a few years ago and got flipped to the Diamondbacks. Atlanta made Sean Murphy their primary catcher and sent William Contreras to Milwaukee. The Red Sox recently included Kyle Teel in the Garrett Crochet trade, presumably because they feel good about Connor Wong holding down the position for the next four years. The Yankees have Austin Wells, which allowed them to send Agustín Ramírez to the Marlins in the Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade.

Let’s take a look at some other clubs who could theoretically make a catcher available in the coming years, depending on how things develop. This list is subjective, so feel free to cook me in the comments if I missed one that you like. Teams sorted alphabetically.

Braves

As mentioned, Atlanta felt good enough about Murphy that they were willing to let Contreras go. They also made a big bet on Murphy by signing him to a six-year, $73MM extension shortly after acquiring him. The first year of the deal was excellent but Murphy’s results tailed off significantly in 2024, which has been a source of frustration for Atlanta fans as Contreras has thrived in Milwaukee.

Murphy now has footsteps behind him, as Drake Baldwin is considered one of the top catching prospects in the league. He’s already knocking on the door of the majors, having played in 72 Triple-A games last year. He walked in 15.6% of his plate appearances at that level while striking out just 16.2% of the time and hitting 12 home runs. His .298/.407/484 slash translated to a 135 wRC+.

With four years and $60MM left on the Murphy deal, plus a $15MM club option for 2029, Atlanta could look to flip Murphy and open a path for Baldwin. Though Murphy will have to bounce back in order to make that a possibility. If they can’t find good value on a Murphy deal, then perhaps Baldwin could follow Contreras and be the next catching prospect traded out of Atlanta. In either case, Chadwick Tromp currently projects as the backup to whoever the long-term #1 is.

Brewers

As mentioned, William Contreras has been thriving since being traded to Milwaukee. He has slashed .285/.366/.462 for a 128 wRC+ over the past two years. His previously-maligned defense has improved significantly. He is controlled via arbitration through 2027. The backup job will likely go to Eric Haase this year, with Jorge Alfaro in camp as a non-roster invitee.

They also have Jeferson Quero, one of the top catching prospects in the league, knocking on the door. Though he’s only 22 years old now, he likely would have made his major league debut last year as a 21-year-old if it weren’t for a bite from the injury bug. In 2022, Quero appeared in 90 Double-A games as a 20-year-old. He started 2024 at Triple-A but suffered a subluxation in his right shoulder in the first game of the season. That led to surgery to address a torn labrum, wiping out the remainder of the campaign.

If he can stay healthy in 2025, Quero should be lurking in Triple-A. After missing essentially an entire season, the Brewers will probably want to keep him there for a while to get back into game shape. However, he’s already been on the 40-man for over a year now and is down to two option seasons. With Contreras under club control for three more seasons, things might get tight over time.

Cardinals

As part of their 2025 reset, the Cardinals are moving on from Willson Contreras as their catcher. Despite signing him to a big five-year deal, they never seemed to like his work behind the plate and even moved him off the position for a time in 2023. It seems they hoped to trade him this winter but he wasn’t willing to waive his no-trade clause, so he’ll move to first base instead, likely seeing time at designated hitter as well.

That will allow Iván Herrera and Pedro Pagés to get the playing time this year. Herrera has been a top ten prospect in the Cards’ system for years. He’s hit .263/.389/.437 in the minors over the past four years for a 121 wRC+. He finally got some decent big league playing time last year and responded with a .301/.372/.428 line and 127 wRC+. Pagés doesn’t have the same prospect pedigree but is a solid defender and fine secondary catcher.

Herrera have five seasons of club control and Pagés six. The Cards also have a borderline top 100 catching prospect in Jimmy Crooks. A fourth-round pick from 2022, he played 90 games at Double-A last year, meaning he should be slated for Triple-A work in 2025. Of the aforementioned top 100 lists, only FanGraphs had him on there, but that outlet described him as “a glove-first catcher who does enough on offense to be the primary guy.”

Cubs

Going into 2025, the Cubs are are slated to have Miguel Amaya and Carson Kelly as their catching duo. Amaya was once a notable prospect himself. Held back by some injuries, he is now out of options but seems to have solidified himself as a capable big leaguer. He’ll turn 26 in March and still has five years of club control remaining. Kelly is a solid veteran who just signed a two-year deal with the Cubbies this offseason.

Hanging around below them will be Moisés Ballesteros. He has hit .279/.366/.452 for a 128 wRC+ in his minor league career thus far. That includes 68 games at the Triple-A level last year, when he was just 20 years old.

His defense isn’t as highly rate as his offense, however. He has played some first base on the farm and there are those who feel he is destined to end up there. But he’s also only 21 and has reportedly improved his conditioning. The Cubs have a controllable first baseman in Michael Busch, as well as Seiya Suzuki likely to be the regular designated hitter, so things might get crowded one way or another.

Diamondbacks

As mentioned up top, Gabriel Moreno was squeezed out of playing time with the Jays and got sent to Arizona, where he’s been the primary backstop for the past two years. He’s under club control for another four years. José Herrera is likely to be the backup this year.

The club also has Adrian Del Castillo firmly in the mix. He put up a huge line of .312/.399/.603 in Triple-A last year. Even in the hitter-friendly context of the Pacific Coast League, his 144 wRC+ points to him being well above average. He also got into 25 major league games and hit .313/.368/.525.

His defense isn’t regarded as highly as his bat, so a move to a first base/designated hitter role down the line is possible, though he hasn’t played any first base yet. The Snakes have more of a path to playing time there with Christian Walker and Joc Pederson departing in free agency. They acquired Josh Naylor to cover first but he will hit the open market after the upcoming season.

Dodgers

The Dodgers have had Will Smith as their primary catcher for a while and it doesn’t seem like that will change anytime soon. About this time last year, he and the club agreed to an extension that will keep him in Los Angeles through 2033. Moving out from behind the plate won’t be possible for a while with Shohei Ohtani locked into the designated hitter spot through 2033. First baseman Freddie Freeman is signed through 2027. The club also has Austin Barnes as the backup, though he’s in the final year of his deal. Hunter Feduccia is on the 40-man and could perhaps take over for Barnes next year.

Hovering around all this is Dalton Rushing, one of the top prospects in the game. He’s hit .273/.410/.520 for a 153 wRC+ in his minor league career, which includes 37 Triple-A games. The Dodgers have given him some playing time at first base and left field to give him a better path to the big leagues. But that is arguably a waste of his skills behind the plate and he might be better utilized headlining a blockbuster trade.

Guardians

Going into 2025, Bo Naylor should be the regular behind the plate in Cleveland. His bat regressed in 2024 but he was still a useful contributor thanks to his defense. He’s under club control for another five years. Glove-first veteran Austin Hedges will be back to serve as Naylor’s partner.

Waiting in the wings is Cooper Ingle. A fourth-round pick from 2023, he has slashed .303/.426/.466 for a 153 wRC+ in his minor league career thus far. That includes 25 Double-A games last year, so getting to Triple-A in 2025 is a distinct possibility.

Ingle was only a part-time catcher at Clemson and is still considered an unfinished project defensively, but he showed enough development in 2024 that prospect evaluators think he’s viable to stick back there. The Guards might be patient with him but he should be ready for the majors well before Naylor is approaching free agency.

Mariners

The Mariners have Cal Raleigh, one of the best catchers in the game today. He can be retained via arbitration through 2027. Mitch Garver and Blake Hunt are candidates to be in the backup spot.

The club also has Harry Ford, one of the top catching prospects in the league. The 12th overall pick from 2021, he’s hit .261/.404/.418 for a 129 wRC+ in his minor league career thus far. He spent all of last year at Double-A, getting into 116 games, and should be in Triple-A this year. He’s also stolen at least 23 bases in each of the past three seasons.

However, his stock is down a bit after a mixed 2024. There are some questions about whether he has the defensive chops to stick behind the plate. He got some time in left field last year and the early reviews weren’t favorable. While his offense has been good overall, he had diminished power in 2024, leaving him as more of an on-base guy. That’s a harder profile to pull off if he moves to an outfield corner or first base.

Marlins

In the short term, the catching situation behind the plate in Miami is rough. Nick Fortes currently projects as the starter despite a career batting line of .222/.275/.344. Liam Hicks, a Rule 5 pick who hasn’t played higher than Double-A, could be the backup.

But in the long term, things look much better. Both Agustín Ramírez and Joe Mack have shown up on top 100 prospect lists. Ramírez got into 68 Triple-A games last year and is already on the 40-man, meaning he may arrive first. He has hit .270/.361/.476 for a 127 wRC+ over the past four years, coming over to the Marlins in the aforementioned Chisholm trade.

Mack was selected 31st overall in 2021 and hit .252/.338/.468 for a 137 wRC+ last year, mostly in Double-A. He’s considered the stronger defender, so perhaps both can exist on the same roster down the road, with Ramírez spending some time at first base and/or designated hitter.

Orioles

It was a bit of a slog for Adley Rutschman in 2024, as his numbers tailed off badly in the second half. But that won’t change the fact that he’s the #1 catcher in Baltimore. The former first overall pick is strong at the plate and behind it, with three years of club control remaining. Gary Sánchez will be supporting him in 2025 after signing a one-year deal.

The question is how Samuel Basallo fits into the picture. He is one of the top prospects in baseball, with each of the aforementioned top 100 lists having him in the top 20. FanGraphs has him fifth overall and Keith Law third. He’s hit .286/.364/.477 for a 134 wRC+ in his minor league career. He just turned 20 years old in August. He spent most of last year at Double-A and also got into 21 Triple-A games.

There are some concerns around Basallo’s defense, which could push him to first base. He did play a bit of first last year, though that was partially due to a stress fracture in his right elbow. Despite being incomplete as a defender, many believe he still has lots of potential behind the plate due to his talent and youth.

Padres

Many in the industry view Ethan Salas as the catcher of the future in San Diego. He doesn’t turn 19 until June but will likely be the club’s regular at Double-A this year. His defense is already considered elite. His offensive numbers have been less impressive but that may be because the Friars have been incredibly aggressive in sending him to levels where he’s far younger than his competition.

Salas coming up and taking the job in the future would only be a problem if Luis Campusano gets back on track. Himself a former hyped-up catching prospect, Campusano seemed to finally break out in 2023 by hitting .319/.356/.491. That gave him plenty of run in 2024 but he responded with a dismal .227/.281/.361 performance. His defense was also poor, making him a sub-replacement level player for the year. The Padres went with Kyle Higashioka and Elias Díaz by the end of the year, leaving Campusano off their playoff roster.

Due to budgetary constraints in San Diego, Campusano should get a chance at redemption in 2025. He projects to share the catching duties with veteran Díaz, who was brought back via a modest deal this offseason. Campusano has less than three years of service time, meaning he can be controlled through 2028 if he gets things going again this year.

Pirates

Going into 2023, the Pirates had both Henry Davis and Endy Rodríguez on Baseball America’s Top 100 list. It seemed possible that two of them would be battling for the future catching job in Pittsburgh, but a lot has changed since then.

Rodríguez made his major league debut in 2023, with good defense but subpar offense. UCL surgery then wiped out his entire 2024 season. Davis didn’t seize the job while Rodríguez was out. He has a massive .290/.409/.535 line in the minors but has hit just .191/.283/.307 against major league pitching. His defense is also considered a tick behind that of Rodríguez.

The Bucs acquired Joey Bart early last season after he had been designated for assignment by the Giants, which turned into a great pickup. Around a couple of IL stints, Bart hit .265/.337/.462 in 80 games for the Pirates last year.

Bart is out of options and should have an Opening Day job locked in. Davis and Rodríguez can still be optioned but neither has much left to prove on the farm. They can also play other positions but Rodríguez seems likely to get a lot of value from his defense behind the plate. Davis hasn’t yet hit enough in the big leagues to justify a corner outfield spot. Jason Delay is also on the 40-man roster, though he’s also optionable. There are still many ways this could all play out but all of these guys are under club control for three more years or longer, so there could be a squeeze down the road.

Royals

The Royals have had Salvador Perez handling most of their catching duties for over a decade now. He’s entering the final guaranteed year of his contract but there’s a $13.5MM club option for 2026 with a $2MM buyout, making it a net $11.5MM decision. As Perez has started spending more time at first base or as the designated hitter, Freddy Fermin has taken a decent chunk of the playing time. He’s under club control through 2029.

The club also has a pair of notable catching prospects on the way, with both Carter Jensen and Blake Mitchell have appeared on some of the aforementioned top 100 lists. Jensen, 21, was a third-round pick in 2021. He’s hit .235/.361/.401 for a 117 wRC+ in his minor league career. There have been questions about his defense but he’s made positive strides there. He appeared in 41 Double-A games last year, so getting to Triple-A in 2025 should be doable with a major league debut not out of the question.

Mitchell, 20, was the eighth overall pick in 2023. He has slashed .226/.374/.405 for a 131 wRC+ in the minors thus far. He only got to High-A for five games late in 2024. His 2025 is also going to be delayed by hamate surgery, so he’s clearly behind Jensen when it comes to near-term MLB readiness.

Perez is about to turn 35 but the Royals seem well positioned to pivot to the next era. Fermin has been a decent complement and can be kept around for another five seasons. With two top prospects on the way, perhaps the Royals might find themselves with a logjam, even without Perez.

Tigers

The Tigers have Jake Rogers as their primary catcher. He’s considered to be above average on defense. His offense is a bit shakier as he strikes out a bunch and doesn’t walk much, but he does have some power, with 31 homers over the past two seasons. He’s under club control through 2026.

There’s a chance Dillon Dingler could push him for some big league playing time. A former notable prospect, Dingler hit just .167/.195/.310 in his first 87 plate appearances at the major league level. However, he’s put up big numbers in the minors before, including a .308/.379/.559 line in Triple-A last year. He has less than a year of service time and still has two minor league options.

Detroit also has two notable catching prospects, as both Thayron Liranzo and Josue Briceño are on some of the aforementioned top 100 lists. Liranzo, 21, was acquired from the Dodgers in the Jack Flaherty deal. There are some questions about his work behind the plate but he has hit .254/.381/.475 for a 137 wRC+ in his minor league career. He spent all of last year at High-A and should be at Double-A in 2025.

Briceño, 20, has hit .283/.367/.439 for a 119 wRC+ in his minor league career. He didn’t catch a ton in 2024 but that was seemingly due to a knee injury as opposed to any concerns about his abilities back there. He got healthy by the end of the year and then went to the Arizona Fall League, putting up a massive .433/.509/.867 slash and winning MVP honors. He hasn’t yet reached the High-A level, so he’s a step or two behind Liranzo.

Rogers is only under club control for another two seasons, but by the time that clock runs out, it’s possible that Dingler, Liranzo and Briceño are all jockeying for position on the depth chart. If a few things go right, it’s possible the Tigers will have more catchers than they need.

White Sox

The White Sox have been aggressively rebuilding for a while now, trading away just about every viable major leaguer on the roster for prospects. Those many trades have returned three notable catching prospects. At the 2023 deadline, they added Korey Lee via the Kendall Graveman trade and Edgar Quero in the Lucas Giolito/Reynaldo López deal. More recently, Kyle Teel was one of the highlight pieces in the Garrett Crochet trade.

Lee, 26, has hit just .188/.227/.313 in his major league career thus far with rough defensive grades to boot. However, he was considered a top 100 guy not too long ago and could get back on track. The Sox should be able to give him lots of runway to try, since near-term competition won’t be possible after their historically bad 2024.

Even if Lee’s prospect shine is gone, the others still have it. Quero, 22 in April, has slashed .280/.397/.452 for a 132 wRC+ in his minor league career. Teel, 23, has hit .301/.404/.444 for a 141 wRC+. Both players have reached Triple-A, with Quero having played 26 games there and Teel 28. Either or both could plausibly be in the majors this year.

Teel is considered a stronger defender than Quero, so perhaps the latter will end up getting pushed out from behind the plate. Or perhaps the Sox will decide that using the trade block to bolster another part of the roster is the best path forward.

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D-Backs, Brandon Bielak Agree To Minor League Deal

By Anthony Franco | February 25, 2025 at 6:45pm CDT

The Diamondbacks are in agreement with Brandon Bielak on a minor league contract, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. Bielak elected minor league free agency after being waived by the A’s late last fall.

Bielak has pitched in parts of five MLB seasons as a swingman. He spent the first four-plus years with the Astros, a tenure highlighted by his 3.83 ERA across a career-high 80 innings in 2023. Houston carried the out-of-options righty in their bullpen early last year. He struggled to a 5.71 ERA in 10 appearances, leading the Astros to designate him for assignment. They dealt him to the A’s in a cash trade a few days later.

The A’s only kept Bielak on their roster for nine days. They designated him for assignment themselves and ran him through outright waivers. He stuck with the club in Triple-A, where he allowed over six earned runs per nine in 66 2/3 innings. The A’s brought him back up for a couple weeks in September. He concluded the year with a 5.16 ERA with a well below-average 16.4% strikeout percentage over 29 2/3 MLB frames.

Bielak hasn’t missed many bats in the majors. He has an average 22.5% strikeout rate with a 4.42 ERA in parts of five Triple-A campaigns. He’s versatile enough to work as rotation or long relief depth. Arizona’s rotation is deep, so Bielak’s better path to a roster spot is in the bullpen. Barring a late-offseason trade, Jordan Montgomery is likely to begin the year as the long man for skipper Torey Lovullo.

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Arizona Diamondbacks Transactions Brandon Bielak

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Tigers, Thomas Szapucki Agree To Minor League Deal

By Steve Adams | February 25, 2025 at 4:45pm CDT

The Tigers and left-hander Thomas Szapucki have agreed to a minor league contract, per Evan Woodbery of MLive.com. He’ll head straight to minor league camp and look to build back up after a pair of injury-ruined seasons.

Once a well-regarded pitching prospect within the Mets’ system, Szapucki made his big league debut with New York in 2021, tossing 3 2/3 innings. He was tagged for six runs in that rough first effort, but he’d pitched well when healthy in the minors and put himself on the map for a larger MLB look in 2022. He indeed got that larger look, albeit only to an extent. Szapucki was clobbered for nine runs in just 1 1/3 innings, and the Mets traded him to the Giants alongside J.D. Davis in the deal bringing Darin Ruf back to Queens.

Szapucki took off in San Francisco, albeit in a relatively small sample. He tossed 13 2/3 innings for the Giants, recording a pristine 1.98 ERA with a big 29.6% strikeout rate and tidy 7.4% walk rate. Add in the 3.11 ERA in 25 minor league outings (16 of them starts), and a then-26-year-old Szapucki looked like he might have a real path to meaningful innings in San Francisco.

As is so often the case with pitching prospects, injuries intervened. Szapucki began experiencing arm discomfort in spring of 2023. He opened the year on the injured list, and by mid-May he’d undergone surgery to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome. He didn’t pitch a single inning in 2023. His 2024 season was limited to just one inning, as shoulder troubles derailed a comeback bid with the Giants, who’d non-tendered him but quickly re-signed him to a minor league contract.

Over the past two seasons, Szapucki has pitched just one professional inning. His big league track record is skewed heavily by that pair of brutal starts with the Mets, but his most recent MLB work was that excellent stretch of 10 relief outings with the 2022 Giants. The 2015 fifth-rounder brings a career 2.87 minor league ERA to the Tigers — including a 3.47 mark with a 28.8% strikeout rate in 114 Triple-A innings.

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Poll: Giants Backup Catcher

By Nick Deeds | February 25, 2025 at 2:37pm CDT

Entering Spring Training, there was some belief that veteran catcher Tom Murphy’s job backing up Patrick Bailey in San Francisco wasn’t entirely assured even in of the $4.25MM guaranteed remaining on his contract with the Giants. The door has opened for other alternatives even more since then, as the club announced yesterday that Murphy will miss multiple weeks with a herniated disc in his mid-back.

While Murphy is still tentatively expected to be available at some point in the first half, his availability for the start of the season is in serious doubt. With the club’s incumbent likely to miss at least the start of the season due to injury, the Giants have little choice but to seriously consider the number of alternative options currently in camp with them. The club has four catchers in camp aside from Bailey and Murphy as things stand: Sam Huff, Max Stassi, Logan Porter, and Adrian Sugastey. Sugastey is just 22 years old and slashed a meager .210/.241/.304 at Double-A last season, leaving him extremely unlikely to be called up to the majors until he’s had more time to develop. Huff, Stassi, and Porter all appear to be legitimate contenders for the job, however.

To the extent that there’s a favorite for the job, it seems that status would fall to Huff now that Murphy is out of commission. Unlike the other options in camp with the club, Huff is already on the 40-man roster after being plucked off waivers from the Rangers shortly after the new year. A former consensus top-100 prospect, Huff was a seventh-round pick by the Rangers in 2016 who blossomed into an intriguing bat-first catcher during his time in the minor leagues. Above-average offense isn’t necessarily a must from a club’s backup catcher, but given Bailey’s light-hitting, defense-first profile it’s easy to see why the Giants might be attracted to Huff as a potential complement.

A career .263/.334/.480 hitter across all levels of the minors, Huff has 78 games in the big leagues under his belt across four seasons with Texas. Unfortunately, that big league playing time has been something of a mixed bag. While he’s posted a solid 112 wRC+ in 214 career MLB plate appearances, he’s struck out at a massive 33.6% clip and largely been buoyed by a .353 BABIP that seems unlikely to be sustainable. Huff has generally been regarded as a below-average defender behind the plate as well despite a strong throwing arm and decent framing ability. That lack of defensive excellence puts more pressure on Huff’s bat, and it can be difficult for a high-strikeout profile like Huff’s to offer consistent production in a bench role.

Those potential question marks surrounding Huff could open the door for Stassi to take the job. The most experienced catcher in the backup mix for the Giants (even including Murphy), the soon to be 34-year-old has participated in parts of 10 MLB seasons, including a three-year run of regular at-bats with the Angels from 2020 to 2022. While the 2020 and ’21 seasons saw Stassi briefly break out offensively with a solid 113 wRC+, Stassi is mostly a glove-first catcher; he hit just .180/.267/.303 across 102 games in 2022 and has a career wRC+ of just 83. With +20 framing runs since the start of the 2018 season according to Statcast, however, Stassi makes up for his lack of offense with excellent defense that could pair with Bailey to give the Giants the best defensive tandem behind the plate in the sport.

Stassi comes with his own flaws, however. Most notably, he hasn’t played in the big leagues since 2022 due to a combination of family considerations and injuries. At nearly 34 years old, Stassi has reached the age where many catchers start to struggle to stay effective due to the toll the position takes on the body, and that concern is exacerbated for Stassi in particular due to both his checkered recent history and the fact that he regressed both offensively and defensively during the 2022 campaign.

Of course, that regression may have also had something to do with his career-high workload that year, an issue that would not come up in 2025 should he serve as Bailey’s backup. On the other hand, Stassi offers little upside, with even a solid rebound from his 2022 season likely ending with him being a below-average hitter. Huff offers significantly more upside, both due to the potential of his bat and because he has less than two years of MLB service time under his belt at this point, allowing him to be controlled through the end of the 2029 season.

Porter, meanwhile, stands as less likely to earn the job than either Huff or Stassi but also represents something of a middle ground between the two. The 29-year-old is the least experienced of the trio at the big league level, having appeared in just 11 games with the Royals back in 2023. With that being said, he has a reputation as a strong defender and pairs that with a bat that showed some life at Triple-A last year, where he slashed a combined .267/.370/.453 (114 wRC+) in 73 across the Royals, Mets, and Giants organizations. Given his lack of big league experience, Porter could be controlled long-term and even optioned to the minor leagues if added to the 40-man roster, while Huff is out of options and Stassi has enough service time to decline an optional assignment.

Assuming Murphy begins the season on the injured list, which catcher should the Giants pair with Bailey? Is Huff’s former top prospect status and offensive upside worth the lackluster defense and potential contact issues? Should the club gamble on Stassi’s track record of MLB success despite his long layoff from big league games and worrying signals in his 2022 campaign? Or should the club take a chance on Porter despite his minimal big league experience? Have your say in the poll below:

Who should back up Patrick Bailey on Opening Day?
Sam Huff 47.77% (1,701 votes)
Max Stassi 42.83% (1,525 votes)
Logan Porter 9.41% (335 votes)
Total Votes: 3,561
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MLBTR Originals MLBTR Polls San Francisco Giants Logan Porter Max Stassi Sam Huff Tom Murphy

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MLBTR Chat Transcript

By Steve Adams | February 25, 2025 at 12:59pm CDT

Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.

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MLBTR Chats

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Astros Notes: Dubin, Leon, Ort, Trammell

By Anthony Franco | February 25, 2025 at 10:59am CDT

The Astros are dealing with a handful of injuries to depth players in camp. Manager Joe Espada told reporters this morning that reliever Shawn Dubin is battling shoulder inflammation. Meanwhile, young outfielder Pedro León sustained a strained MCL in his left knee (relayed by Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle).

While there’s no suggestion of surgery for either player, it seems they’ll each be in for notable absences. Both injuries figure to force them to begin the season on the injured list. Houston also took hits to their bullpen and outfield depth late last week. Chandler Rome of The Athletic wrote on Friday that righty reliever Kaleb Ort was battling a left oblique issue. Meanwhile, outfielder Taylor Trammell suffered what appears to be a significant right calf strain (per the MLB.com injury tracker).

In isolation, none of those injuries represents a huge blow. León has appeared in seven major league games. He’s likely to start the season with Triple-A Sugar Land once he’s healthy. The former highly-regarded prospect hit 24 homers and stole 29 bases in the minors last season. That came with an elevated 27% strikeout rate. As he enters his age-27 season, he’s unlikely to take a big step forward with his plate discipline. Baseball America ranked him the #18 prospect in a weak Houston farm system. BA writes that León projects as a depth outfielder whose power and speed are undercut by the swing-and-miss issues and fringe outfield defense.

This is a big camp for each of Dubin, Ort and Trammell. All three have exhausted their minor league options. They need to stick on the major league roster (or injured list) or be exposed to waivers. Dubin tossed 45 1/3 frames in a multi-inning relief role last year. He pitched to a 4.17 ERA with solid strikeout (23.7%) and ground-ball (46.5%) rates, but he walked almost 13% of batters faced. The Astros used him mostly in low-leverage relief.

Ort, 33, was a waiver claim from Baltimore last May. He pitched well in 22 big league appearances, working to a 2.55 ERA behind a 28% strikeout rate across 24 2/3 frames. Ort had entered the season with a career earned run average north of 6.00, but he probably showed enough in his relatively small sample with Houston to stick in middle relief. He’s a power arm who can miss bats but had inconsistent control in the minors.

Houston acquired Trammell in a minor league trade with the Yankees at the start of the offseason. The Astros added him to their 40-man roster to keep him from qualifying for minor league free agency. A former top prospect, Trammell has only hit .167/.270/.363 over 126 major league games. He had an impressive .256/.381/.488 line in Triple-A with the Yankees last year. As with León, that came with an alarming number of strikeouts (a 26.8% rate). Houston spent most of the offseason looking for lefty-hitting outfield help after the Kyle Tucker trade. Their only move was to bring back Ben Gamel on a non-guaranteed contract. Trammell and Gamel might battle for one roster spot, espeically with Jose Altuve seeing time in left field.

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Houston Astros Kaleb Ort Pedro Leon Shawn Dubin Taylor Trammell

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Padres Sign Wes Benjamin To Minor League Deal

By Anthony Franco | February 25, 2025 at 10:02am CDT

The Padres signed left-hander Wes Benjamin to a minor league contract with a non-roster invite to MLB Spring Training, reports AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. The southpaw has already reported to camp with San Diego.

Benjamin returns stateside after a three-year run in South Korea with the KT Wiz. The 31-year-old had a generally solid run in the KBO, turning in a 3.74 earned run average in a little more than 400 innings. His ERA successively climbed in each season, finishing at a less impressive 4.63 mark over 28 starts last year. Benjamin topped 150 strikeouts in each of the past two seasons, including a solid 24.4% strikeout rate last year.

Before his move to Korea, Benjamin spent eight years in the Rangers organization. Texas drafted him in the fifth round in 2014 out of the University of Kansas. He made 21 big league appearances (mostly in low-leverage relief) between 2020-21. Benjamin allowed nearly seven earned runs per nine across 45 innings. He posted a near-6.00 ERA over parts of three Triple-A seasons, as well, though he managed a 3.82 mark across seven starts for the White Sox’s top affiliate in 2022 before catching on with the KBO team on a midseason deal.

The Padres seem likely to keep Benjamin stretched out as rotation depth. They filled the final two spots with late free agent pickups of Nick Pivetta and another KBO returnee, Kyle Hart. That nudges Randy Vásquez, Matt Waldron and reliever conversion Stephen Kolek into depth roles. San Diego hasn’t added any much experienced rotation depth to camp on minor league deals, so it’s a decent landing spot for Benjamin as he tries to get back to the majors for the first time in four years.

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San Diego Padres Transactions Wes Benjamin

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The Opener: Team Debuts, Relief Market, MLBTR Chat

By Nick Deeds | February 25, 2025 at 8:49am CDT

As Spring Training continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Pitchers making their team debut today:

It’s still the early days of spring, which means a number of players have not yet gotten into a game so far. As more players start making their first appearances, fans will continue to get their first looks at offseason acquisitions in their new settings. At 1:05pm ET this afternoon, Orioles fans will get to see veteran right-hander Charlie Morton make his debut for Baltimore against the Tigers. Just two minutes later, at 1:07pm ET, Blue Jays fans will be able to see future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer suit up for Toronto for the first time. Later in the afternoon, lefty Blake Snell will make his Dodgers debut against the Mariners, which is scheduled for 1:05pm MT for fans in Arizona, or 12:05pm PT for fans in Los Angeles and Seattle.

2. Players lingering on the relief market:

Yesterday saw the top remaining left-handed reliever on the free agent market settle for a minor league deal when southpaw Andrew Chafin signed on for a return to the Tigers. The pickings on the left-handed relief market are becoming increasingly slim, with rehabbing veteran Brooks Raley and swingman Drew Smyly among the best options remaining. The market for right-handed relievers still has a number of intriguing options, however, led by veteran David Robertson. Robertson’s 3.00 ERA and 2.65 FIP in 72 innings of work for the Rangers last year seem likely to earn him a major league deal somewhere even with March rapidly approaching. Kyle Finnegan, Phil Maton, Keynan Middleton, and swingman Jose Urena are among the yet-unsigned righties on the market.

3. MLBTR Chat today:

Spring training is now officially underway, though a handful of of MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agents remain unsigned and some clubs still have more work to do before the start of the season. Whether you have a trade proposal in the back of your mind or questions about an upcoming camp battle this spring, MLBTR’s Steve Adams will be here to answer your questions during a live chat scheduled for 1pm CT. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.

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The Opener

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