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White Sox Claim Owen White

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The White Sox have claimed right-hander Owen White off waivers from the Yankees, according to announcements from both clubs. The latter club had designated him for assignment last week. The Sox moved left-hander Ky Bush to the 60-day injured list as the corresponding move. It was reported last week that Bush would require Tommy John surgery, so he’ll spend the entire 2025 season on the IL.

White, 25, is a logical pickup for the White Sox. He has had rough results for the past two years but was a top 100 prospect before that. The Sox aren’t expecting to be good anytime soon, with their 2024 season being historically bad. Of the 30 clubs in the league, they are the one best positioned to take a flier and hope for a bounceback. White also has one option year remaining, so he can be kept in Triple-A throughout 2025 as the club gets a close-up look at him.

Drafted by the Rangers with the 55th overall pick in 2018, White’s debut was delayed for a while. Tommy John surgery prevented him from pitching in 2019 and then the minor leagues were wiped out by the pandemic in 2020. But despite that lengthy layoff, he went on to put up some eye-popping numbers once on the hill. Over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he logged 115 2/3 innings on the farm with a 3.42 earned run average. He had a strong 7.5% walk rate and a massive 34.1% strikeout rate.

Going into 2023, he was a consensus top 100 prospect, with Baseball America giving him the #59 spot. The Rangers added him to their 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. But as alluded to earlier, his results have tapered off significantly since then.

He has made his major league debut, which surely wasn’t what he dreamed of. In seven big league frames to this point, he has allowed 13 earned runs, giving him an ugly 16.71 ERA at the moment. His minor league numbers haven’t been great either. He threw 151 1/3 innings for Triple-A Round Rock over 2023 and 2024 with a 5.41 ERA. The Express play in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but he also didn’t impress with his 17.4% strikeout rate nor his 11.7% walk rate.

The Rangers did get experimental with White midway through 2024, giving him a shot at a relief role. In his final 13 Triple-A appearances on the year, he logged 18 frames from the bullpen. His 5.50 ERA still wasn’t impressive but he did strike out 25.6% of batters faced in that time.

That wasn’t enough for him to hang onto his roster spot. He was designated for assignment in December and traded to the Reds for cash. He was designated for assignment again in late January and put on waivers, with the Sox passing at that time. Given their record last year, they have top waiver priority, but he was claimed by the Yankees. But since then, the 60-day IL has opened up, which gave Chicago a bit more flexibility to make an addition such as this.

The Sox can bring White into camp and see how things go. Perhaps he can get back on track as a starter or find new life with a move to a relief role. As mentioned, they don’t need to give him a spot on the active roster this year. He still has less than a year of service time, so they could cheaply control him for years to come if things click while he’s on the roster.

Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat With Steve Adams: Today, 3pm CT

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MLBTR's Steve Adams hosted a live chat today at 3pm CT, exclusively or Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.

 

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Devers: “My Position Is Third Base”

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The Red Sox finalized their three-year deal with Alex Bregman over the weekend. While it’s generally expected that Bregman will move to second base in his new home, skipper Alex Cora was noncommittal about their infield on Saturday.

Rafael Devers’ camp has made clear all offseason that the Sox’s longtime third baseman has no interest in a position change. Devers forcefully stated as much when speaking to the Boston beat this morning. “No. I play third,” he said through an interpreter when asked about his willingness to move off the position (link via Chris Cotillo of MassLive). “It’s my decision … My position is third base. Whatever it is they want to do is what they want to do. But my position is third base.”

Cora again reiterated that the Red Sox haven’t made any decisions. “He’s going to work out as the third baseman. And we’re going to make decisions accordingly. Here, it’s not about Bregman or Devers or Cora,” the manager said. “It’s for the Boston Red Sox. Whatever decision we make is going to be for the benefit of the team.”

Interestingly, Cora acknowledged that the Red Sox promised Devers that he’d be their long-term third baseman at the time the sides agreed on a 10-year extension in January 2023. That agreement came under a previous front office regime, as then-chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom was fired eight months later. Craig Breslow is now running baseball operations. Cora downplayed the significance of that promise as a result, saying it was under “different leadership. That was under Chaim” (relayed by Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic). Of course, Cora was the manager at the time of the extension, so there hasn’t been a leadership change in the clubhouse.

Devers was asked whether he’d seek a trade if the Red Sox forced him to move off third base. He didn’t rule that out but said it hasn’t been a focus. “That’s a tough answer to give. I haven’t given it much thought. I’ve been here my entire career,” he said (via McCaffrey). “I haven’t asked myself that question. I’m open to listening. I’m not close to those conversations.”

The most straightforward solution is still to keep Devers at third base and move Bregman to second. That’d block the clearest path to playing time for top prospect Kristian Campbell, who combined for a .330/.439/.558 slash in an incredible first full minor league season. Campbell had a roughly even share of playing time at each of second base, shortstop and in center field. He also picked up a few starts at third base.

While Boston could have Campbell open the season in Triple-A Worcester, they should be able to find ways to get him into the lineup if they feel he’s ready for an MLB call. If the Sox preferred to keep him at one position as a rookie, second base was the obvious choice before the Bregman signing. Unless they force Devers’ hand by pushing him to DH, they’d need to use Campbell in more of a utility role (at least until someone gets injured).

Campbell is versatile enough to bounce around while still playing regularly. He could spell Trevor Story at shortstop while rotating through the outfield. He’s unlikely to be as good a defensive center fielder as Ceddanne Rafaela, but he’d bring a higher offensive ceiling. Campbell’s right-handed bat could complement the lefty-swinging corner outfield tandem of Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu, as well as lefty-hitting DH Masataka Yoshida. Duran will play almost every day regardless of the opposing pitchers’ handedness. The Sox could use Abreu and/or Yoshida in more of a platoon capacity.

There’d be a defensive tradeoff. Devers has graded as a below-average defender in essentially every season of his career. Defensive Runs Saved had him nine runs below par last year, while Statcast graded him at five runs below average. Bregman rated 5-6 runs above average by those metrics and is coming off his first Gold Glove win. Bregman shouldn’t have much issue moving to second base. He’s a good athlete who likely would have spent most of his career in the middle infield had he not broken into an Astros team that had Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve. Still, there’d be a stronger defensive alignment with Bregman at third and one of Campbell or David Hamilton at second base.

For the Sox, the question is whether that’s worth alienating a player they’ve viewed as one of the faces of the franchise. Devers is signed through age 36. His defensive grades aren’t likely to improve as he approaches his 30s. At some point, the Sox are likely to push him off the position. Story and Bregman are each signed for three more seasons. They can both opt out after this year, though that seems unlikely for Story and at least debatable for Bregman (who’d be leaving a $40MM average annual value on the table).

Even if they’re comfortable using Campbell in a utility role for a season, they’ll probably want an everyday infield position available for him and top shortstop prospect Marcelo Mayer by next year. This should be workable in the short term but could pose some interesting questions before long.

Blue Jays Sign Jacob Barnes To Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays announced that they have signed right-hander Jacob Barnes to a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training. The righty is represented by the VaynerSports agency.

Barnes, 35 in April, is a veteran journeyman. He has suited up for nine clubs in his career, including a previous stint with the Blue Jays in 2021. Between the Mets and Jays that year, he tossed 28 2/3 innings with a 6.28 earned run average. He struck out 25.8% of batters faced while giving out walks at an 8.6% clip. Those were pretty decent rate states but he allowed seven home run in that time, which pushed some extra runs across. That’s why SIERA, a metric that normalizes home run rate, gave him a 3.67 mark that year.

His strikeout rate has dipped in recent years but he’s coming off a decent campaign regardless. He tossed 66 innings for the Nats in 2024 with a 4.36 ERA. He only struck out 19.9% of batters faced but his 7.2% walk rate was good and his 6.4% barrel rate was below the 7% league average. That was his third straight season with a barrel rate better than par. However, his 89% average exit velocity and 41.6% hard hit rate were a bit worse than league averages.

When combined with some work for the Tigers, Yankees and Cardinals, Barnes tossed 102 big league innings over the past three campaigns with a 4.85 ERA, 17.2% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate.

The bullpen was a big factor in Toronto’s disappointing 2024 season, as their relievers had a collective 4.82 ERA that was better than just the Rockies. The club has made a number of changes to the group going into this year. They outrighted Génesis Cabrera and non-tendered Jordan Romano, with both of those guys having signed elsewhere. They acquired Nick Sandlin from the Guardians and signed free agents Jeff Hoffman and Yimi García.

They also added some veteran non-roster depth by signing Richard Lovelady and Amir Garrett. Those two might have a bit of an edge over Barnes since they are left-handed. The Jays have three lefty relievers on the 40-man in Brendon Little, Josh Walker and Easton Lucas but no one in that trio has even one year of big league service time. Regardless, Barnes will report to camp and try to earn a spot on the club.

Frankie Montas Shut Down Six To Eight Weeks With Lat Strain

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12:50pm: The Mets informed reporters, including Tim Healey of Newday, that Montas has a high grade right lat strain. He will get a platelet-rich plasma injection and be shut down for six to eight weeks. That will take him roughly to the start of April, at which point he will have to start ramping up again. Even if he is back to full health at that point, he’s likely going to miss at least a month of the season.

12:40pm: It’s a lat injury, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post, though the timetable is still unknown.

11:41am: Mets camp has only just begun, but Mike Puma of the New York Post reports that free agent pickup Frankie Montas has not been throwing and will be shut down for a “significant stretch.” Details surrounding the apparent injury have not yet come to light. The Mets signed Montas to a two-year, $34MM contract back in early December. He has an opt-out opportunity at the end of the season, though a prolonged injury absence will obviously reduce the likelihood of that coming to pass.

Without details about the injury or expected absence, it’s hard to say how worried Mets fans should be. Regardless, it’s not ideal to be starting camp with one of their key offseason investments already behind.

The Mets were facing a significant rotation overhaul this winter, with Sean Manaea, Luis Severino and Jose Quintana all hitting free agency. They had also lost Christian Scott to Tommy John surgery last year and Paul Blackburn had undergone a spinal procedure. They still had Kodai Senga, though he missed most of 2024.

Given the club’s big spending in recent years, some expected them to go after the top free agents, but they took a different route this winter. They never seemed particularly interested in guys like Corbin Burnes or Max Fried, instead opting for short-term pacts. They re-signed Manaea with a three-year deal, and also gave three years to reliever Clay Holmes with the idea of converting him to a rotation job. Montas got two years with an opt-out while Griffin Canning got a one-year deal.

Injuries have been an issue for Montas recently, most notable a shoulder issue that required surgery and wiped out most of his 2023 campaign. He was back on the mound last year with uneven results, posting a 4.48 earned run average and tepid 22.6% strikeout rate. That latter number did tick up to 28.7% after a deadline deal to the Brewers, which is perhaps what gave the Mets some optimism that he was back on a good track, but health may now be an issue again.

That shoulder surgery is one reason why Montas hasn’t been able to log many big league innings. He also received an 80-game PED suspension in July of 2019, putting his breakout on hold. The pandemic-shortened 2020 season then capped him at 11 starts that year. He tossed 187 innings in 2021 but then the shoulder issues slowed him down late in 2022 before the aforementioned surgery. Amid all those stops and starts, Montas has only once hit 151 innings pitched in a season.

If Montas is behind, then a season-opening start on the injured list seems likely. Until more details are reported, it can only be guessed whether the concern will extend deeper into the season. Assuming Montas does start the season on the IL, the Mets project to start the campaign with a rotation of Senga, Manaea, Holmes and David Peterson, with Canning, Blackburn and Tylor Megill options for the back end, though Blackburn also might start the season on the IL.  Prospects Brandon Sproat and Blade Tidwell should be in Triple-A, though both struggled at that level last year.

If the Mets want to add some more depth in the wake of this Montas news, they will have options. The free agent market still features guys like Quintana, Andrew Heaney, Spencer Turnbull and others. Marcus Stroman, Jordan Montgomery and others are likely available in trades.

Per RosterResource, the payroll is at $331MM and the competitive balance tax at $325MM. The pure payroll was in a similar spot last year, though they got their CBT number all the way up to $358MM. Whether they want to add more payroll to continue adding to the rotation remains to be seen.

Royals Extend GM J.J. Picollo, Exercise 2026 Option On Manager Matt Quatraro

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The Royals have signed general manager J.J. Picollo to an extension that runs through the 2030 season and contains a 2031 club option, per a team announcement. They’ve also exercised their 2026 club option on manager Matt Quatraro, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com.

Picollo, 54, has been with the Royals for nearly two decades, originally joining the club as an assistant general manager and director of player development. He’d spent the prior seven years in the Braves’ scouting and player development departments.

Kansas City promoted Picollo to general manager in 2021, but he was still the team’s No. 2 baseball operations executive under then-president of baseball operations Dayton Moore. When the Royals moved on from Moore following the 2022 campaign, Picollo was elevated to the top of the department. The Royals have quickly returned to contention in the American League Central under his watch.

The Royals have been more active in free agency under Picollo than they’d been in prior seasons, and while the overall results have been mixed, most of the less-successful moves under Picollo have been small-scale pickups. Signings like Garrett Hampson, Adam Frazier, Chris Stratton and Ryan Yarbrough didn’t pay dividends. The two-year, $13MM investment in Hunter Renfroe is the most regrettable of those smaller-scale additions. He’s still under contract in 2025 and looking for a rebound after a dismal 2024 campaign. However, the club’s largest investments have been successful. Signings of Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo have been roaring successes.

Picollo’s signing of Aroldis Chapman on a one-year, $3.75MM deal proved most impactful of all, as Chapman was flipped to the Royals in the summer of 2023 — a deal that helped propel Texas to the World Series but also netted the Royals current ace Cole Ragans. That move might be the most impactful rental swap for any team in recent memory. Last summer’s acquisition of Lucas Erceg looks like a major win for the organization’s long-term outlook as well.

Under Picollo’s watch, the Royals have also extended shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. on an 11-year, $288.7MM contract — though the structure of that deal makes it quite likely that Witt will either opt out well before its endpoint or re-sign on another extension at some point closer to that opt-out opportunity.

An extension through the 2030 season gives Picollo the runway to even more firmly place his stamp on the organization. Obviously, while he didn’t have final say over many of the moves in the late 2010s and earlier 2020s, his fingerprints are still on many of those decisions. As the remainder of the current decade plays out, he’ll more firmly claim ownership of the state of the Royals’ roster. He’s already out to a good start, coming off an 86-76 showing that sent Kansas City to an ALDS showdown with the Yankees. They came up short in that effort, but that still marked the team’s first postseason appearance since the 2015 campaign in which K.C. won the World Series under Moore and former skipper Ned Yost.

Quatraro, 51, is entering his third season as the Royals’ skipper. The former Rays bench coach signed a three-year deal in Kansas City in the 2022-23 offseason. The 2023 Royals lost 106 games but improved by a staggering 30 wins in 2024, thanks to breakout performances from Ragans and Witt as well as big years from free agent adds like Wacha and Lugo.

The Royals didn’t have to make a decision on Quatraro’s future just yet, but today’s pair of announcements speaks volumes about Sherman’s satisfaction with the top baseball decision-makers he’s put in place. Picollo tells Rogers that he and Quatraro have forged a “great relationship” and that while he’s excited his skipper will be around for at least one additional year, he also anticipates Quatraro’s stay in Kansas City “being longer than that.”

Yankees Sign Rob Zastryzny To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees announced Monday morning that they’ve signed left-handed reliever Rob Zastryzny to a minor league deal and invited him to join their major league camp. Zastryzny was designated for assignment by the Cubs last week and outrighted after he went unclaimed on waivers. However, the veteran southpaw had the right to reject that assignment in favor of free agency. The Cubs never formally announced that he did so, but this morning’s announcement from the Yankees makes it clear that’s how things played out.

Zastryzny, 32, has pitched in parts of six big league seasons and tallied nearly two full years of MLB service. He tossed 7 2/3 innings with the 2024 Brewers and allowed only one run four hits and a walk with five strikeouts. He’s also seen big league time with the Cubs, Mets, Angels and Pirates, combining for a 4.30 earned run average in 67 innings.

Zastryzny has fanned 18.2% of his opponents against a 10.5% walk rate. His 44.8% ground-ball rate is only a couple ticks better than average, but he’s excelled when it comes to keeping the ball in the yard, limiting opponents to an average of just 0.40 homers per nine frames. Lefties have been particularly inept against him, batting just .189/.319/.232 in 113 plate appearances. Conversely, righties have torched the 6’3″ southpaw at a .311/.372/.447 clip. Zastryzny posted a 3.03 ERA in Triple-A last season and carries a career 4.69 mark in parts of eight seasons at that level (409 innings).

The Yankees’ only left-hander in the bullpen at the moment is Tim Hill, who re-signed in the Bronx on a one-year deal earlier this month. Zastryzny joins fellow veteran Tyler Matzek as a seasoned non-roster invitee in camp. He’ll compete for a spot alongside Hill in the ’pen, though there are enough notable unsigned veterans that it’s possible the Yankees could still bring someone in on a guaranteed deal.

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast

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On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.

Spring training is ramping up but there’s still offseason business to discuss. If you have a question about a past transaction, a look ahead to the rest of the winter or anything else baseball-related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.

Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Diamondbacks Designate Seth Martinez For Assignment

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The Diamondbacks announced that right-hander Seth Martinez has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for their signing of fellow righty Kendall Graveman, which is now official.

Martinez, 30, has never suited up for the Snakes. He was just claimed off waivers from the Astros in November, shortly after the World Series. He lasted on the roster through most of the winter but has been nudged off today.

All of his major league experience has been with Houston thus far. He was added to that club’s roster late in 2021 and spent several years as a fringe member of the bullpen, getting optioned to the minors 12 times since getting that roster spot.

Around those trips on the shuttle, he tossed 137 1/3 major league innings for the Astros, allowing 3.93 earned runs per nine. His 20.7% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 39.6% ground ball rate to this point are all close to average but a bit worse than the mean. He also tossed 105 minor league innings over the past four years with more intriguing numbers. He had a 2.66 ERA in that work, along with a 31.5% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate.

He exhausted his final option year in 2024, which means he’ll be less valuable from a roster flexibility standpoint going forward. That likely played a role in the Astros bumping him off their roster. The Diamondbacks were presumably intrigued enough by his minor league strikeouts to claim him and hang onto him for a while but he’s been squeezed off a roster yet again.

Martinez will now be in DFA limbo for a maximum of seven days. He will likely be put back on waivers, which is a 48-hour process, so the Diamondbacks could explore trade interest for the next five days. If any club acquired Martinez, he has a bit more than two years of service time, meaning he still hasn’t qualified for arbitration and can be theoretically controlled for four seasons. However, his aforementioned out-of-options status will give him a bit of a challenge in sticking somewhere.

Diamondbacks Sign Kendall Graveman

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February 17: The Graveman signing is now official, with righty Seth Martinez designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

February 14: The Diamondbacks are reportedly in agreement with veteran reliever Kendall Graveman on a one-year, $1.35MM deal. The signing is still pending a physical. Graveman, a client of Sports One Athlete Management, will earn $1.25MM this season and has a $100K buyout on a $5MM mutual option for the 2026 season. The deal includes another $1.95MM in performance bonuses. Arizona will need to create a 40-man roster spot when the deal is finalized.

Graveman, 34, missed the 2024 season while recovering from shoulder surgery but had a strong run between the Mariners, Astros and White Sox across the three prior seasons. The former starter moved to a relief role late in the 2020 season after returning from Tommy John surgery and found fast success in a high-leverage role. From 2021-23, Graveman pitched 187 1/3 innings with a 2.74 ERA, 51 holds, 24 saves, a 24.5% strikeout rate and a 10.4% walk rate.

Though last season was lost to shoulder troubles, Graveman was cleared to begin throwing late last summer. He progressed through a normal offseason throwing and conditioning program and is ready for spring training.

When he’s been healthy, Graveman has relied upon a power sinker sitting north of 96 mph, pairing that offering with an upper-80s slider and a lesser-used changeup that sits 89-90 mph. That heavy sinker has allowed him to consistently post ground-ball rates comfortably north of 50%. The right-hander lost a bit of life on all those pitches in 2023 and saw his command erode considerably in the season’s second half, following a trade from the White Sox back to the Astros.

It’s possible shoulder issues contributed to both those red flags, of course. It’ll be telling how he looks early in camp and early in the season. If Graveman is back to 96-98 mph with his sinker and can get his walk rate back down to the 9% range — it was at 12.4% in 2023 — he’ll be a formidable piece in what should be a strong Diamondbacks bullpen.

D-backs general manager Mike Hazen has been open about his desire to add a closer this offseason. While Graveman may not be handed the role out of the gate, he adds a talented and experienced option for manager Torey Lovullo to consider. If he can get back to 2021-23 form, it’s easy to see Graveman factoring into the ninth inning. Prior to this agreement, the Snakes appeared likely to lean on some combination of A.J. Puk, Justin Martinez and Kevin Ginkel in save opportunities.

The addition of Graveman pushes the Diamondbacks’ payroll a bit north of $195MM, per RosterResource. That’s a franchise-record mark by a wide margin, shattering the previous highwater mark of $163MM, set just last year. Prior to the 2024 season, the D-backs had never opened the season higher than $132MM. They’ve been heavily involved in both the trade and free agent markets in each of the past two offseasons, however, with no bigger strike coming than the club-record $210MM investment in newly signed ace Corbin Burnes.

Since Graveman only bumps the payroll by $600K over a league-minimum player, it’s at least feasible that the D-backs could remain engaged in the market for additional bullpen help. David Robertson and Kyle Finnegan both remain unsigned and have ample closing experience. Craig Kimbrel and Hector Neris are both still out there as well and looking to rebound from shaky 2024 campaigns, while Daniel Bard is an even more extreme rebound candidate as he looks to rebound from flexor tendon surgery that cost him all of the 2024 campaign with his 40th birthday looming in June. The trade market presents additional possibilities, of course, but Hazen said just yesterday that any forthcoming bullpen acquisitions would likely be made via free agency.

ESPN’s Jesse Rogers first reported the D-Backs and Graveman had a one-year deal. MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert was first with the $1.35MM guarantee. Rogers reported the maximum $3.3MM value after incentives, while Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported the mutual option/buyout.

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