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Marlins Outright Xzavion Curry

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The Marlins have sent right-hander Xzavion Curry through waivers unclaimed, per Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. He was designated for assignment earlier this week when the club claimed Ronny Henriquez off waivers. Curry has been outrighted to Triple-A Jacksonville but will be in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Curry, 26, was once a notable prospect in the Guardians’ system. A seventh-round pick of the Guards in 2019, he tossed 219 2/3 minor league innings over 2021 and 2022. He had a 3.28 earned run average, 28.7% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate. Baseball America ranked him as one of the club’s top 30 prospects going into 2022 and 2023.

He also made his MLB debut in 2022, though only made two appearances that year. He stuck in the majors in 2023 and was in a swing role for Cleveland, tossing 95 innings over nine starts and 32 relief appearances with a 4.07 ERA, 16.6% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate.

In 2024, he was frequently shuttled between the majors and minors. His big league work with Cleveland last year resulted in a 5.84 ERA, 13.9% strikeout rate and 4.6% walk rate. He also had a 6.58 ERA in 53 1/3 Triple-A innings, so the Guardians designated him for assignment in August.

The Marlins put in a claim at that time but have now passed him through waivers. Since this is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency. He will therefore give the club a bit of extra depth without taking up a roster spot. His numbers haven’t been great over the past two years but he also hasn’t had a consistent role in that time. If the Fish get him back on track and put him back on the roster, he has another option year and less than two years of service time.

Dodgers Sign Michael Chavis To Minor League Deal

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The Dodgers have signed infielder Michael Chavis to a minor league contract, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The CAA client is in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Chavis, 29, was a first-round pick by the Red Sox in 2014 and once ranked among the better prospects in Boston’s system. He belted 18 homers as a rookie in 2019, batting .254/.322/.444 in 382 plate appearances that season. However, he also fanned in 33.2% of his plate appearances and, like all hitters, benefited from the juiced ball MLB used during that season, when leaguewide home run records were broken all around the sport. Chavis has struggled considerably since that debut campaign, combining for 804 plate appearances with a .231/.265/.382 output.

Chavis spent the 2024 season in Triple-A between the White Sox and Mariners organizations, hitting much better with the latter (.290/.366/.485, 191 plate appearances) than with the former (.234/.308/.414, 266 plate appearances). He hasn’t appeared in the majors since a 2023 run with the Nationals, where he struggled in a part-time role.

Defensively, Chavis has played all four corner positions and second base, drawing decent or better marks from Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average at first base and second base. He’ll give the Dodgers some right-handed power who can back up multiple positions around the diamond and be stashed in Triple-A, assuming he doesn’t break camp with the club.

Cubs, Dixon Machado Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs are bringing infielder Dixon Machado back on a minor league contract, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. It’ll be the Octagon client’s third stint with the organization. He also played for the Cubs in both 2019 and 2022, spending the interim two seasons in the Korea Baseball Organization.

Machado, 32, spent the 2023-24 seasons in the Astros system but wasn’t called to the majors with Houston. He slashed .230/.369/.356 in 293 Triple-A plate appearances in 2023 and hit .228/.335/.305 in 202 minor league plate appearances last year.

Though Machado has twice been a part of the Cubs organization previously, he’s never played in a big league game for them. His most recent MLB work came with the 2022 Giants, and the rest of his MLB tenure has been spent in a Tigers uniform. The Venezuelan-born shortstop has played in 177 major league games and batted .226/.285/.292 in 522 turns at the plate. Though he’s never provided much value with the bat, he does have good contact skills, evidenced by an 18.4% strikeout rate in the majors and just a 14.4% rate in the minors last year.

Machado is a versatile defender who’s typically been capable of playing quality defense at any of shortstop, second base or third base. Since signing out of Venezuela as a teenager, he’s played more than 12,000 professional innings at shortstop (majors, minors and KBO combined). He’s also logged close to 1300 innings at second base and more than 300 at third.

The Cubs’ infield in 2025 figures to include Michael Busch at first base, Nico Hoerner at second, Dansby Swanson at short and top prospect Matt Shaw at third base. Veteran Jon Berti was signed to a big league deal to take a utility role. Rule 5 pick Gage Workman and out-of-options former top prospect Vidal Brujan are both on the 40-man roster, but neither is any kind of lock to make the team. Non-roster options for backup jobs in the infield include Nicky Lopez (who signed a minor league deal) and James Triantos, another top prospect in a loaded Cubs farm system.

Yankees Notes: Boone, Cousins, Loaisiga, Rice

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As the Yankees get camp underway, they’re likely to prioritize hammering out a new contract with Aaron Boone. Owner Hal Steinbrenner told the YES Network last month that the team planned to open extension talks with their eighth-year manager, whose deal expires at the end of the season. Those discussions have begun.

Boone revealed earlier this week that he and the Yankees have had some conversations about an extension (relayed by Brendan Kuty of The Athletic). General manager Brian Cashman confirmed that this afternoon, saying that negotiations are ongoing (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). It seems inevitable that they’ll work something out, with Cashman indicating a deal could get done before Opening Day (relayed by Chris Kirschner of The Athletic).

Teams typically prefer to avoid having managers or top front office personnel working on expiring contracts. The Yankees bucked that trend in 2021, when they allowed Boone to manage as a lame duck for nearly the entire season. With his deal set to expire at the conclusion of that year’s World Series, the sides hammered out a three-year extension in the middle of October. That included a ’25 club option on which Boone is currently set to manage. It doesn’t appear we’ll get a repeat of that scenario.

As is the case for many teams, the start of Spring Training also brought a few injury and position battle updates. Most notably, Boone revealed that righty reliever Jake Cousins suffered an offseason forearm strain (link via Greg Joyce of The New York Post). He is midway through a 3-4 week period where he’s completely shut down from throwing. Cousins could start a throwing program as soon as next week, but the delay raises the possibility of a season-opening injured list stay.

New York acquired Cousins in a trade with the White Sox just after last year’s Opening Day. The righty had signed a minor league deal with Chicago but didn’t break camp. The Yankees immediately called him up and were rewarded with a career-best season. Cousins pitched to a 2.37 ERA with a massive 34.2% strikeout rate across 38 innings. Initially consigned to mop-up work, he pitched his way into increasingly higher-leverage spots in the final couple months of the season.

Cousins has missed a lot of bats throughout his four-year big league career, which he has split between Milwaukee and New York. He’s been held back somewhat by scattershot command, but his injury history has been the biggest obstacle. Cousins missed time in 2023 with shoulder inflammation and lost a good chunk of the ’22 season to an elbow effusion. That required a platelet-rich plasma injection and an extended shutdown, though he didn’t need surgery.

If Cousins opens the season on the IL, he’ll be one of at least two Yankee relievers to start the year on the shelf. Jonathan Loáisiga is still rehabbing from the UCL procedure that he underwent last April. The Yankees knew he wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day but nevertheless brought him back on a $5MM free agent deal in December. Pitching coach Matt Blake said at the time that the team was targeting a return sometime in late April or early May.

It seems that timeline has been slightly pushed back. Loáisiga told reporters via an interpreter yesterday that he’s shooting for a return in late May or the beginning of June (via Joyce). That makes it likely he’ll land on the 60-day injured list once the Yankees need to create a 40-man roster spot. Injuries have kept Loáisiga to 20 appearances over the last two seasons. He’s a hard-throwing grounder specialist when he’s healthy and owns a 3.44 ERA across 219 2/3 career innings.

In one non-injury related camp note, Boone said this week that the Yankees will get Ben Rice catching reps during the spring (relayed by Hoch). A bat-first player, Rice played almost exclusively first base during his 50-game rookie season. He started 31 games behind the dish in the minors last season. Rice has nearly 1000 career minor league innings as a catcher, though most scouting reports question whether he can stick there.

Austin Wells will get the majority of the catching work. The Yanks have an open battle for the backup job after dealing Jose Trevino to Cincinnati. J.C. Escarra, who turns 30 in April and has yet to play in the majors, is the top depth option on the 40-man roster. The Yanks have Alex Jackson and former top prospect Ronaldo Hernández in camp as non-roster invitees.

Poll: Should The Cardinals Trade A Starter?

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The Cardinals’ offseason has been defined by their attempts to trade third baseman Nolan Arenado. The club allowed key players like Paul Goldschmidt, Kyle Gibson, and Andrew Kittredge to head into free agency this winter and did nothing to replace them as they focused on cutting payroll and starting a youth movement at the major league level. The club seemingly wanted to pair that with trades of some of its most expensive veteran players, but Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras both quickly made it clear that they weren’t interested in waiving their no-trade clauses.

That left Arenado as the most prominent trade candidate on the roster, but the third baseman vetoed a trade to the Astros at the eleventh hour back in December and his market began to dry up rapidly after that. The final nail in the coffin appeared to be the Red Sox, Arenado’s last serious known suitor, signing Alex Bregman to round out their infield mix. Now, with president of baseball operations John Mozeliak admitting it’s likely Arenado remains in St. Louis to start the season, the Cardinals are poised to enter 2025 with the most notable change as compared to last year’s team being a lack of Goldschmidt at first base.

There’s one way the Cardinals could inject some more youth into the roster and create space in the payroll: trading from the rotation. Both Gray and veteran righty Miles Mikolas have no-trade clauses and appear unlikely to waive them, but veteran starters Erick Fedde and Steven Matz are both pending free agents who lack no-trade protection. Both players reportedly received interest from rival clubs earlier this offseason, and while the Cardinals at the time appeared focused on dealing Arenado rather than from the rotation, the unlikelihood of an Arenado trade could change that calculus.

As MLBTR’s Steve Adams explored for Front Office subscribers earlier this week, there are a number of teams around the league that could still use starting pitching help. Fedde in particular could likely bring back an enticing return as a relatively affordable rental starter who posted a 3.30 ERA and 3.86 FIP in 31 starts last year. The right-hander will make just $7.5MM in 2025, a sum that virtually any team could afford even during this late stage of the offseason. Matz is less likely to bring back significant talent in return given his up-and-down trajectory over the years, but shedding some of his $12MM salary for 2025 would allow the Cardinals to add a veteran reliever to set up for closer Ryan Helsley or even take on a bit more money to try and facilitate the Arenado deal with a cash-strapped club like the Yankees. (The Cardinals’ reluctance with regard to trading Helsley, also an impending free agent, is another curious decision, as highlighted by MLBTR’s Anthony Franco last month.)

In addition to the prospects and/or salary relief trading a veteran starter could net, the Cardinals would also more clearly make way for their young arms to get work at the big league level. Top prospect Tink Hence has yet to make his Triple-A debut but dominated Double-A last year and should be on the big league radar later this year. In the meantime, Michael McGreevy is already knocking on the door of the majors after posting a 1.96 ERA in 23 innings as a starter for the club last year. Sem Robberse, Quinn Mathews and Tekoah Roby are among the potential starting options the Cardinals have at their disposal that don’t currently have a path to major league starts.

On the other hand, none of those options has proven himself in the majors. With Arenado now seemingly unlikely to move, the Cardinals may feel they’re better off trying to contend this year, at least in the first half when they still have the opportunity to pivot back towards selling at the trade deadline. After all, the Cardinals won 83 games last year despite their flawed roster, and a healthy season from Contreras, better batted ball luck from Gray, and a resurgence from Arenado could allow them to contend in an NL Central division that still looks relatively soft even after teams like the Cubs and Reds have made notable moves.

It’s also worth noting that, even without trading Arenado or a starter, the club has made at least some room for a legitimate youth movement to take place. Kicking Willson Contreras over to first base has opened up the catcher position for youngsters Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages, while the departures of Gibson and Lance Lynn from the rotation have opened up a spot for Andre Pallante after he impressed in a rotation role last year. Other players like Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker figure to get more consistent playing time in 2025, and all it takes is an injury or two to get players like Nolan Gorman and Victor Scott II more regular playing time in the majors as well.

With Opening Day just six weeks away, how do MLBTR readers think the Cardinals should proceed? Should they double down on their youth movement and deal a starter like Fedde or Matz to salvage their offseason of inaction, or should they hold onto their veteran rotation pieces through the early days of the season in hopes that internal improvements could make them a legitimate contender? Have your say in the poll below:

How should the Cardinals proceed?
Trade a starting pitcher to jump start the youth movement. 60.12% (2,367 votes)
Keep the roster intact for the start of the season and reassess at the trade deadline. 39.88% (1,570 votes)
Total Votes: 3,937

Padres Looking To Add Another Hitter

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The Padres were dormant for much of the offseason but sprang to life recently. In the past week, they’ve bolstered the pitching staff with Nick Pivetta and Kyle Hart, as well as bringing Jason Heyward and Connor Joe into the position player mix. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that they would still like to add one more bat, either via trade or free agency.

The Friars lost several hitters to free agency at the end of the 2024 season, with each of Kyle Higashioka, Ha-Seong Kim, Jurickson Profar, Donovan Solano and David Peralta hitting the open market. Kim was the primary shortstop last year and Profar the left fielder. Higashioka took over the catching job during the season. Solano and Peralta each became key part-time players, with the former getting into 96 games and the latter 91.

With seemingly almost no payroll space to work with this winter, the club has had to look for low-cost solutions to fill those holes. Heyward and Joe each got very modest $1MM guarantees and are likely to form a platoon in left, replacing Profar. Elias Díaz was signed a couple of weeks ago to help the catching group, with a $3.5MM guarantee that’s broken up into a $1.5MM salary and $2MM buyout on a mutual option, with that buyout not to be paid until after the season.

At shortstop, the solution was already on the roster. Xander Bogaerts had moved from short to second early in 2024 in deference to Kim, but he moved back to short late in the year when Kim hurt his shoulder. He’ll now stick at short in 2025. That will allow Jake Cronenworth to move from first to second and Luis Arráez, who got a lot of starts as the designated hitter in the second half of 2024, to be the regular first baseman. Manny Machado will be back as the regular third baseman.

Arráez isn’t an amazing defender at first, which raises the possibility of him being a regular designated hitter this year, but it seems the club isn’t viewing it that way. “Our infielder guys — with Louie, Croney, Bogey, Manny — they’re everyday guys,” manager Mike Shildt said, per Acee. “All those guys will have an opportunity to take a DH. But I don’t view Louie and Croney being like some rotation of DH. I think they’re everyday guys that’ll be on the field. Will they get opportunities to get off their feet and DH and create other opportunities to get guys on the field? Yes. But I don’t see that being anything other than those guys are everyday guys, and we expect them to go out and play really good defense and help us win games.”

With that arrangement, and Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill in the other two outfield spots, there’s no obvious designated hitter. Guys like Tirso Ornelas, Eguy Rosario and Brandon Lockridge are on the roster but fairly lacking in experience. Oscar González, Gavin Sheets, Trenton Brooks and others are in camp as non-roster invitees but they each have their flaws, which is why they had to settle for minor league deals.

In terms of the roster, it’s easy to see the Padres fitting another bat in there, pushing those depth options to the bench of Triple-A. Presumably, any addition will be made on a tight budget, like all of their other moves this winter. As mentioned, Heyward, Joe and Díaz were cheap, with the Díaz deal even being semi-backloaded via that option buyout. The same was true of their pitching additions. Hart gets a $1MM salary this year and a $500K buyout. Though Pivetta got $55MM over four years, he’ll only get a $3MM signing bonus and $1MM salary in 2025. Even Michael King’s $7.75MM guarantee to avoid arbitration was broken into a $3MM signing bonus, $1MM salary and $3.75MM buyout on a mutual option.

The free agent market does still feature some bats, with Justin Turner and J.D. Martinez the most notable. Turner got a $13MM deal last offseason but is now 40 years old. Since he’s unsigned in mid-February, perhaps he’s not getting offers at that level again for 2025, despite a solid performance last year. Martinez got $12MM from the Mets last winter but with heavy deferrals and a salary of just $4.5MM. Peralta, who joined the Padres via a minor league deal in May last year, is still out there and won’t cost much. Mark Canha, Yuli Gurriel, Miguel Sanó, Anthony Rizzo, Rowdy Tellez and others are also on the market with limited earning power.

On the trade market, Spencer Torkelson doesn’t have an amazing path to playing time in Detroit and is still in his pre-arbitration years. LaMonte Wade Jr. is only making $5MM this year and could perhaps be pried away from the Giants, though the intra-divisional trade is always tougher to pull off. Starling Marte is going to make $19.5MM this year but the Mets are reportedly willing to pay down his salary in order to facilitate a deal.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held live chat today, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers!

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Astros Notes: Altuve, Framber, Roster Moves

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The door for an Alex Bregman reunion in Houston closed this week when the former No. 2 overall pick agreed to an opt-out laden three-year deal in Boston. However, the notion of Jose Altuve playing some left field — a concept first floated when the Astros reengaged with Bregman late in the offseason — remains in play even with Bregman headed to the Red Sox. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that even without Bregman, there are plans for Altuve to get some work in left field in at least a part-time capacity.

At this point, it’s not exactly a surprising development. Even as the Astros signaled that a reunion with Bregman was a longshot last week, both general manager Dana Brown and manager Joe Espada spoke on record with the team’s beat about the possibility of Altuve getting some work in left field this year. Espada said on Feb. 4 that Altuve had been working out in the outfield for several weeks, and that while he’s still taking his usual reps at second base, the left field experiment is something the team is indeed considering. Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle and Chandler Rome of The Athletic both touched on the possibility during spring previews for the team earlier this week.

The reasoning behind the concept is fairly straightforward. After years of rating as a high quality defender at second base, including a Gold Glove win in 2015, Altuve has seen his defensive grades plummet in recent seasons. Defensive Runs Saved has pegged him at -13 or worse in each of the past three seasons. Statcast’s Outs Above Average isn’t nearly so bearish on that three-year period but does agree that Altuve has been a negative since 2023, including a grisly -8 mark in 2024.

Altuve’s decline with the glove is particularly problematic when the Astros send Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown to the mound. Valdez’s 60.6% ground-ball rate was the highest in MLB among all qualified starters. Brown isn’t quite so pronounced, but once he incorporated a sinker into his repertoire in mid-May, he posted a 50% grounder rate the rest of the way. Speculatively speaking, if the Astros want to get Altuve some occasional work in the outfield, doing so on days when Brown and especially Valdez take the bump would be prudent. That’s made all the more true by the presence of Mauricio Dubon on the bench. The Astros’ utilityman is a quality defender at multiple spots, but none more so than second base; in 1154 innings there, he’s been credited with 12 DRS and 8 OAA.

Espada said last week that the Astros are aiming to significantly reduce Yordan Alvarez’s time in the outfield after he played 53 games in left last season. Moving Altuve there on a part-time basis could be one way to achieve that goal. If Altuve looks comfortable enough there, it’ll presumably remain an option beyond the current season. He’s entering the first season of a five-year, $125MM extension inked just over one year ago. He’ll earn $30MM each year from 2025-27 before taking home $10MM in both 2028 and 2029. (The contract also contained a $15MM signing bonus.)

That’s one of just two extensions the Astros have worked out since Dana Brown was named the team’s general manager two years ago. Brown has spoken frequently about his desire to get long-term deals with core players hammered out, but Altuve and Cristian Javier are the only two thus far to put pen to paper.

Time will tell whether this spring might bring some additional long-term arrangements, but for the second straight season the ’Stros find themselves with a key player on the cusp of reaching the market. Valdez, set to earn $18MM in 2025, will be a free agent at season’s end. To this point, the left-hander says the team has not yet approached him about signing a long-term deal (link via Kawahara). The 31-year-old southpaw said he’s open to discussing a long-term deal to keep him in Houston but is also ready to take on free agency if the Astros don’t make an overture or if the two sides can’t come to a deal.

Valdez will hit free agency ahead of his age-32 season, which is a year or two later than most top starters. That might cap his earning power to an extent. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Zack Greinke is the only free agent pitcher in the past decade to land a deal of six or more years beginning in his age-32 season. Blake Snell and Jacob deGrom are the only others to secure guarantees of at least five years. A big enough season could put Valdez in line for five years, but even if he’s capped at four, he’d still have a real chance at a $100MM+ contract; there have been ten pitchers in that same time/age bracket who’ve commanded annual salaries of $25MM or more.

Over the past four seasons, Valdez has emerged as a bona fide top-end starter. He’s pitched 710 1/3 innings in that time, logging a combined 3.08 ERA with a 23.6% strikeout rate, 8.1% walk rate and enormous 62.4% ground-ball rate. Since 2022, Valdez ranks fifth in the majors in innings pitched despite having fewer starts made than any other pitcher in the top 10. That’s a testament to his ability to work deep into games. He’s averaged better than 6 1/3 innings per appearance in those three years — a rare feat in today’s era of avoiding three trips through the order and prioritizing impactful bullpen arms.

At this point, an extension (or multiple extensions) might be all that’s left in terms of major additions. Asked this week about the potential for further additions to the roster, Brown noted that he’s always looking for more pitching but downplayed the possibility of anything coming together (link via Kawahara). “…Right now, our roster’s pretty good,” Brown added. “I think we’re pretty much in shape to be in position to win this division.”

Fantasy Baseball: The Seventh Annual Sleepys (Pitchers)!

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Helllo friends.

Happy Valentine's Day! Or, as I like to call it, Happy My Birthday Eve! That's right, y'all -- much like a bearded Cupid, this cherubic lothario was born just a whisper from our Hallmark-created day of lo-oove. Fitting but a little on the nose, if I say so myself.

Any-who. I know you're not here for love-talk, you're ready to mainline some of that hot sleepiness right into your fantasy veins. Well, don't let me hold us back anymore. It's time to get back to America's #1 (probably) fantasy baseball fake award show...

It's the Sleepys!

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Phillies Sign Oscar Mercado To Minor League Deal

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The Phillies announced Friday that they’ve signed outfielder Oscar Mercado to a minor league contract and invited him to big league camp this spring. He’s represented by Excel Sports Management. Philadelphia also confirmed its signing of infielder Christian Arroyo to a minor league deal and invitation to camp, as MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes reported yesterday.

The 30-year-old Mercado will give the Phillies a right-handed bat to join their outfield competition. He’s a veteran of five big league seasons who most recently appeared with the Cardinals in 2023, when he hit .290/.313/.387 in 20 games.

A 2013 second-round pick by the Cards, Mercado had a big rookie showing with Cleveland (who picked him up via trade) back in 2019, slashing .269/.318/.443 with 15 homers and 15 steals in 482 plate appearances. He’s yet to replicate that production in the majors but brings some speed and good bat-to-ball skills (career 19% strikeout rate) to the Phillies’ non-roster group this spring. In 973 major league plate appearances, Mercado is a .237/.289/.388 hitter. He can play all three outfield spots and has plus grades in center (10 Defensive Runs Saved, 7 Outs Above Average) in 951 big league innings there.

Mercado split the 2024 season between the Triple-A clubs for the Padres and Tigers, batting a combined .222/.308/.415 with a dozen homers and a 16-for-20 showing in stolen base attempts. He’s played in parts of six Triple-A seasons and tallied 1787 plate appearances there, with a .266/.347/.434 slash to show for his efforts.

The Phillies’ outfield right now includes Max Kepler, Brandon Marsh, Nick Castellanos, Johan Rojas and, to a lesser extent, utilityman Weston Wilson. The general expectation has been that Kepler and Castellanos would handle the corners, with Marsh and Rojas forming a platoon in center. Mercado creates some competition for Rojas in that regard. He’s a career .254/.309/.406 hitter against lefties, whereas Rojas carries a .258/.285/.340 output versus southpaws. Kepler has rough-looking career marks against lefties as well, though his production in recent years suggests he’s made considerable strides against southpaws; since 2022, he’s posted a roughly average .254/.319/.396 line against lefties (102 wRC+).

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