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Derek Falvey Discusses Twins’ Payroll, Future Moves, Trade Market

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A very quiet Twins offseason finally started to pick up some steam this week, when the club signed Harrison Bader and Danny Coulombe to one-year guarantees.  Coulombe will earn $3MM, while Bader will earn at least $6.25MM, with a chance to earn more in 2025 based on incentive clauses.  (Bader and the Twins also share a $10MM mutual option for the 2026 season.)

For now, it adds up as a $9.25MM boost to the Twins’ payroll.  President of baseball operations Derek Falvey told reporters (including Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press) that the spending space came about after Twins chairman Joe Pohlad “greenlighted….the ability to add a little bit here to this team.  I think that’s a credit to them and certainly a tick up for us that allows us to add a little bit more to this roster that we feel already had a good base, but now we’ve clicked off some of those needs.”

While $9.25MM is a fairly modest sum by modern baseball standards, it underlines the narrow budget that Falvey and GM Jeremy Zoll are believed to have been working under for much of the winter.  Past reports indicated that the Twins’ 2025 payroll was going to roughly match their approximate $129.6MM payroll (hat tip to RosterResource) from last season, and the club’s lack of activity for much of the offseason was due to the difficulty in trying to both add to the roster while also shedding some unwanted contracts.  Christian Vazquez ($10MM in 2025) and Chris Paddack ($7.5MM) were two of the impending free agents widely viewed as trade candidates as Minnesota tried to balance the books.

It’s safe to assume the front office is still open to offers for either Vazquez or Paddack, though the Twins’ need to deal at least one of the two players doesn’t quite seem as glaring as it did even a few weeks ago.  The trade market in general, Falvey said, has somewhat cooled, which is perhaps why Minnesota turned its attention to free agents like Bader and Couloumbe to address needs.

“I think teams are a little more focused internally now as they’re ready to ship off to Arizona and Florida and try to get things squared away [for Spring Training].  Some of those last remaining free agents, I think that’s been the vast majority of the noise,” Falvey said.

The Twins’ outfield needs could explain why they stretched the budget to bring in Bader, who now fills a key role as the fourth outfielder.  The right-handed hitting Bader can both back up Byron Buxton in center field if Buxton again runs into injury problems, plus Bader can spell the left-handed hitting Matt Wallner or Trevor Larnach (Minnesota’s other projected regular outfielders) when a southpaw is on the mound.  Falvey revealed that the Twins had been targeting Bader for several seasons before finally landing the former Gold Glover this winter.

RosterResource currently projects Minnesota’s 2025 payroll at around $146.4MM.  It seems possible the number could still increase a little further, as Falvey said the team is considering other upgrades, even if minor league deals could end up being the preferred course of action to bring in roster depth.  A veteran first baseman on a non-guaranteed deal is a potential target, as this hypothetical player would bring some experience to a first base mix that currently consists of Jose Miranda and Edouard Julien as the top options.

Pirates Outright Alika Williams

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The Pirates sent infielder Alika Williams outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, reports Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. Pittsburgh designated him for assignment earlier in the week as the corresponding move for the Tim Mayza signing.

Williams has appeared in 83 games over the past two seasons. Pittsburgh acquired the former supplemental first-round pick from the Rays in a swap for reliever Robert Stephenson in 2023. The Bucs called him up not too long after. They’ve given Williams 207 plate appearances within the past couple seasons. He hasn’t made an impact at the plate, hitting .202/.257/.271 with no home runs.

The offensive upside has been a longstanding question. Prospect evaluators have praised his defense at both middle infield positions. Williams has shown solid strike zone awareness in the minor leagues, but he has never shown much power. He has 27 homers in nearly 1300 minor league plate appearances. His batted ball metrics at both the MLB and Triple-A levels have been middling, though his contact skills have translated to a solid .299/.376/.447 line over 367 Triple-A plate appearances.

This is the first time that Williams has been outrighted. He does not have the right to decline the assignment in favor of free agency. He’ll stick with the Bucs without occupying a 40-man spot and will get a non-roster invitation to Spring Training later this month.

The Mets Haven’t Done Enough With Their Rotation

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In nearly every aspect, it's been a banner offseason for the Mets. They signed one of the most coveted free agents in MLB history to the largest contract in North American sports. They brought back a franchise cornerstone their preferred way: a short-term deal that doesn't run the risk of overcommitting long-term. They re-signed the lefty who carried their rotation in the season's second half in what looks like a potential late-blooming breakout. They grabbed one of the most underrated relievers not just in this year's class but throughout the sport in general. Juan Soto, Pete Alonso, Sean Manaea and A.J. Minter make for a terrific quartet of headline additions, with a broad-reaching swath of depth moves also on the books.

Keeping Manaea was an undeniable boon to Carlos Mendoza's rotation, even if it came at a generally steep cost. As shown in MLBTR's Contract Tracker, Manaea is one of just five starters in the past decade to secure a $25MM AAV over three or more years beginning in his age-33 season or later. Teams generally are loath to commit this type of money in a pitcher's mid-30s, but the left-hander's performance and the bull market for starting pitching early in the winter coalesced to land him (and 35-year-old Nathan Eovaldi) a rare contract for pitchers in this age bracket.

The rest of the Mets' moves in the rotation, however, have been lackluster. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns came to Queens with a reputation of eschewing long-term deals from his time heading up the Brewers' baseball operations department. There was some question as to how much of that stemmed from Milwaukee's perennially bottom-third payroll and how much was a philosophical directive from Stearns himself. The two offseasons with Stearns at the helm for the Mets don't represent a large enough sample to say he simply won't go long-term for a pitcher under any circumstances, but signs point to the likelihood that his avoidance of large-scale pitching contracts in his Brewers days wasn't solely a product of owner Mark Attanasio's frugality.

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Jhonathan Diaz Elects Free Agency

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The Mariners announced a pair of DFA resolutions this evening. Outfielder Cade Marlowe and left-hander Jhonathan Díaz each went unclaimed. Díaz elected free agency, while Marlowe will stick in the organization without occupying a 40-man roster spot.

Díaz lost his roster spot when Seattle acquired Casey Legumina from the Reds. The 28-year-old southpaw had been on the roster since Seattle selected his contract in late May. They kept him on optional assignment to Triple-A Tacoma for most of the year. Diaz made five big league appearances, including one start. He allowed six runs (five earned) over 9 2/3 innings, striking out eight while issuing three walks.

Before his Seattle tenure, Díaz spent parts of three seasons with the Angels. He has yet to reach 20 major league innings in a season. Over 45 career frames, Díaz has a 4.80 earned run average with a below-average 15% strikeout percentage and a lofty 12.6% walk rate. The Venezuelan-born southpaw is coming off a solid year in Tacoma. Díaz put up a 4.36 ERA with a near-23% strikeout rate and a strong 54.1% grounder percentage across 23 appearances. He only averaged 89-90 MPH on his fastball, but the Triple-A numbers will surely get him another minor league opportunity somewhere.

Díaz had the right to choose free agency because he’d been outrighted by the Angels in 2023. This is Marlowe’s first career outright, so he had no choice but to accept the minor league assignment. The 27-year-old has appeared in 42 MLB games over the past two seasons. Marlowe had a middling year with Tacoma, hitting .236/.342/.395 over 411 trips to the plate. He was designated for assignment as the corresponding move for the finalization of the Jorge Polanco deal. The Mariners figure to extend him a non-roster invitation to MLB camp later this month.

Looking At The Brewers’ Rotation Depth Options

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The Brewers have won the National League Central two years in a row and three of the last four. They will be looking to defend that title in 2025 but might face a steeper challenge than in years past. The Cubs have had an aggressive offseason, adding Kyle Tucker, Matthew Boyd, Ryan Pressly, Ryan Brasier and more. The Reds added Brady Singer, Gavin Lux, Austin Hays and will be getting several players back from injury. The Pirates have had a quiet winter but have a rotation loaded with young talent, fronted by Paul Skenes and Jared Jones. The Cardinals planned to do a teardown but ended up standing pat, so they’re going into the year with a very similar roster to the one that finished above .500 last year.

Milwaukee hasn’t done a lot to remake its roster relative to last year. They have added Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin but lost Willy Adames, Devin Williams and others. Whether the team is better or worse than last year is debatable.

The rotation wasn’t a strength in 2024. Their starters put up a collective 4.09 earned run average, putting them 17th out of the 30 teams in the league. Their bullpen was one of the best, however. Their relievers had a collective ERA of 3.11, second only to the Guardians, which helped the team cruise to that division title. That was despite Williams being injured for much of the year.

Going into 2025, the rotation looks like it could be in a similar situation overall, though with some personnel changes. Of the seven players that made at least nine starts for the club last year, four of them are gone. Frankie Montas and Joe Ross hit free agency at season’s end, the former by declining a mutual option. Bryse Wilson was outrighted and Colin Rea had a club option turned down, so they also hit the open market as well.

Freddy Peralta, Tobias Myers and Aaron Civale are the three holdovers. Cortes was brought in from the Yankees as part of the Williams trade. In an interview this week with Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, manager Pat Murphy confirmed that those four make up his rotation core to start the season. Brandon Woodruff, who missed 2024 recovering from shoulder surgery, will be in there at some point but probably won’t be ready by Opening Day.

“I would think those four guys are [penciled in],” Murphy said, “and you can put Woody in there, too. But you can’t have him ready to start the season; he probably won’t be. But I think it’s pretty safe to say that those five guys are starters that, when healthy, are going to get opportunities.”

Taking things easy with Woodruff makes sense after his lost season, but that means the club will likely have to reach into its depth. Perhaps that will only be for a short time, but injuries are inevitable over the course of a season. For the long term, the need will be even greater. Civale and Cortes are both slated to be free agents after the upcoming season. Woodruff will certainly join them, as his deal has a $20MM mutual option for 2026 with a $10MM buyout. That was basically designed so that he would re-sign but with the club able to kick most of the payment down the line until the end of 2025. Peralta can be retained for 2026 via an affordable $8MM club option but is slated for free agency after that.

That means Myers is the only guy slated to still be on the roster when November of 2026 rolls around. Even he is not a lock to keep a spot going forward, as his strong 2024 season came after several years of poor minor league numbers. In short, the long-term rotation is wide open. Can the Brewers fill some of that in with guys already in the system? Let’s take a look at some of the options.

Aaron Ashby

Ashby, 27 in May, seemed like a potential rotation building block a few years ago. He tossed 139 innings in a swing role over the 2021 and 2022 seasons. His 4.47 ERA wasn’t especially impressive but his 27.1% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate and 57.8% ground ball rate seemed like a solid recipe for success.

The Brewers were intrigued enough to make a bet on the lefty, signing him to a five-year deal during the 2022 campaign which guaranteed him $20.5MM and also came with club options for 2028 and 2029.

Unfortunately, shoulder problems got in the way. Arthroscopic surgery wiped out his 2023 season. He returned last year and was kept mostly in a relief role, but with some good results. Down the stretch, he tossed 19 2/3 innings over 12 appearances with a 1.37 ERA, 36.8% strikeout rate, 3.9% walk rate and 51.1% ground ball rate.

With those numbers, it might be tempting to keep him in a bullpen role, but the club seems interested in stretching him out. Back in November, Murphy said the club still hopes to see what Ashby can do as a starter. He still has one option year and can be sent to the minors if the club would like.

DL Hall

Hall, 26, was a first-round pick of the Orioles in 2017 and went on to be a top 100 prospect. He came to the Brewers as part of the Corbin Burnes trade last offseason. He hasn’t lived up to that prospect hype just yet.

He has pitched in the past three seasons but logged only 76 innings. His 4.74 ERA doesn’t impress but his 25.1% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 46.5% ground ball rate make for a decent mixture. A left knee sprain hobbled him last year, limiting him to just 84 frames between the majors and minors. In 2022 and 2023, the Orioles shuttled him between the majors and the minors, as well as moving him between starting to relieving. He tossed 98 innings in 2022 between the majors and minors, then 71 1/3 in 2023. His minor league work has generally featured big strikeout numbers but also plenty of walks.

Hall is still a work in progress but the Brewers probably don’t want to give up on him, given the upside here. Like Ashby, he has one option year remaining, so pitching out of the Triple-A rotation isn’t off the table. He has one year and 74 days of service time, meaning he is currently slated for five years of club control, though a lengthy optional assignment could push that to six. Either way, he’s cheap and controllable for a long time to come.

Robert Gasser

Gasser, 26 in May, won’t be an option in the short term but is definitely part of the long-term plans. A former top 100 prospect, he debuted with a splash last year by posting a 2.57 ERA in his first five big league starts. Unfortunately, he required Tommy John surgery in June, wiping out the second half of his 2024. He’s now slated to miss most or perhaps all of 2025. He has less than a year of service time at the moment and the Brewers therefore have six years of club control over him.

Jacob Misiorowski

Misiorowski, 23 in April, is not yet on the 40-man roster but is one of the top pitching prospects in the league. He reached as high as Triple-A last year, though the club eased off his workload by having him pitch shorter stints out of the bullpen to finish the year. Between Double-A and Triple-A, he tossed 97 1/3 innings on the year with a 3.33 ERA. He struck out 30.5% of hitters and got grounders at a 45.8% clip but also gave out walks 14.4% of the time. Though the club eased off the gas, that innings total is still his personal high thus far.

The righty is clearly going to factor into the mix at some point, but there’s clearly still some development going on. 2025 will likely be about reining in the control and getting the workload beyond the 100-inning mark, but it’s entirely possible that he throws some big league innings this year.

Elvin Rodríguez

Rodríguez, 27 in March, is a wild card at the moment. He spent 2024 in a multi-inning role for the Yakult Swallows in Japan. He logged 45 innings over 32 appearances with a 1.80 ERA, 24% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate. Whether the Brewers view him more as a starter or a reliever is unknown.

Carlos Rodríguez

Rodríguez, 23, made a limited MLB debut last year. He tossed 12 1/3 innings over three starts with a 7.30 ERA. Over the past three years, he has logged 365 2/3 innings on the farm with a 3.49 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate. Most prospect evaluators consider him a capable back-end starter but he’s still young and has a couple of options remaining, so he’ll likely be in the Triple-A rotation until circumstances change.

Chad Patrick/Logan Henderson

These two were each just added to the 40-man roster in November, to keep them out of the Rule 5 draft. Henderson, 23, is considered more of a legit prospect but he is still a question mark. Elbow surgery limited him to just 13 2/3 innings in 2022. He got that up to 78 2/3 in 2023 and then 81 1/3 last year. His minor league numbers are strong overall, with a 3.11 ERA, 34.1% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate. However, he mostly gets by with a fastball/changeup mix that leads some to predict he’ll end up in the bullpen. Patrick is considered more of a depth/spot starter.

Bruce Zimmermann/Thomas Pannone/Easton McGee

These three signed minor league deals with the club this offseason. They all have a bit of major league experience and give the club some non-roster depth. Zimmermann has a 5.57 ERA in 158 1/3 innings and Pannone a 5.46 ERA in 118 2/3 innings, while McGee hasn’t allowed a run in his 9 2/3 innings.

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Though the Woodruff timeline creates some uncertainty, there are plenty of intriguing options here for the short term. But as mentioned, the Brewers will likely see three starters departing at the end of the year and a fourth after 2026. Ideally, guys like Ashby, Hall, Misiorowski and Gasser would step up take those spots, because the club usually doesn’t have a lot of spending power for bringing in free agents. That makes 2025 a key season in Milwaukee, since their future rotation plans are completely in flux.

Yariel Rodriguez Entering Camp As Starting Pitcher

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The Blue Jays are keeping Yariel Rodríguez stretched out as a starter going into Spring Training, general manager Ross Atkins told reporters (link via Keegan Matheson of MLB.com). “(He’ll) come in stretched out and compete for that fifth spot. He’ll remain depth for us, and we’ll make a decision about halfway or three-quarters of the way through Spring Training to try to put our pieces in the best positions to be successful,” Atkins said.

Toronto had looked to add a free agent starting pitcher throughout the offseason. After missing on long-term swings for Max Fried and Corbin Burnes, the Jays went short term to add Max Scherzer on a one-year, $15.5MM deal. The future Hall of Famer joins Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt as Toronto’s top four. The fifth spot is theoretically up for grabs between Rodríguez and Bowden Francis. Whomever doesn’t get the rotation spot could strengthen a bullpen that was a major weakness last season.

Francis should have the leg up in the camp battle. The 28-year-old righty was quietly dominant down the stretch. Toronto plugged Francis into the rotation around the time they dealt Yusei Kikuchi at last summer’s trade deadline. Francis fired 65 innings with a 1.80 earned run average across 11 appearances (10 starts) through season’s end. He held opponents to a .140/.188/.294 slash over 235 plate appearances. While some of that is due to an unsustainably low BABIP (.142), Francis also struck out a quarter of batters faced while keeping his walks to a minuscule 3.4% clip.

That was his first extended run as a major league starting pitcher. Francis posted a 1.73 ERA across 36 relief innings in 2023. He worked out of John Schneider’s bullpen for the first half of last season. Opponents blitzed him for a near-6.00 ERA behind a robust .276/.341/.481 line through the All-Star Break. Francis missed six weeks with forearm tendinitis and was briefly optioned to Triple-A before his fantastic second half.

Rodríguez, a Cuba native who previously pitched in NPB, signed a five-year contract with a $32MM guarantee last offseason. The 27-year-old started all 21 appearances during his first big league season. He posted a 4.47 ERA over 86 2/3 frames. Rodríguez punched out 23.1% of batters faced but walked nearly 11% of opponents. He missed six weeks with back inflammation and was optioned on and off the active roster a few times. Rodríguez made eight appearances with Triple-A Buffalo, where he turned in a 1.33 ERA with a strikeout rate pushing 38%.

The Jays reportedly cannot option Rodríguez to the minors without his approval anymore. Assuming the top four starters are healthy and Francis wins the fifth starter role, they’d presumably try to get Rodríguez multi-inning relief stints. That’d keep him reasonably stretched out in case they need to move him into the rotation in response to an in-season injury. Jake Bloss, acquired from the Astros in the Kikuchi trade, is next on the depth chart. Toronto has added Eric Lauer and Adam Kloffenstein on minor league deals. Alek Manoah is rehabbing Tommy John surgery and hopes to be back on the mound in August.

Adding Scherzer pushed the Jays’ luxury tax payroll to roughly $273MM (as calculated by RosterResource). That’s a franchise record that puts them within $8MM of the third tax tier — at which point their top pick in the 2026 draft would be dropped 10 slots. Atkins left open the possibility for a late-offseason acquisition, though he implied that they’re winding down on free agent activity.

“It’d be hard to add to the rotation at this point unless it’s just depth,” Atkins told reporters (including Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling). “On the position player group, if there’s a way to increase our depth, we’ll look to do that. I think at this point it would require a trade for us to add to the team. It doesn’t have to, but it most likely would be the case.”

The Jays have been on the periphery of the Alex Bregman market, though it seems the Astros, Tigers and Red Sox have been more heavily involved. Toronto was tied to Nick Pivetta before they signed Scherzer. There aren’t many other key players who remain unsigned, but the Jays could potentially bring in a veteran infielder on a minor league deal to factor into their third base competition.

Jeurys Familia Training For MLB Comeback

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Veteran right-hander Jeurys Familia didn’t pitch in affiliated ball last season and didn’t pitch in 2023 beyond the 12 2/3 innings he tossed for the A’s before being released that May. However, the 35-year-old righty has been working out and training ahead of a hopeful MLB comeback, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com.

While Familia’s action has been limited in recent years, he did toss nine innings for Mexico City’s Diablos Rojos in the Mexican League last year, and he’s pitched for los Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Winter League in each of the past two offseasons. He tossed 8 1/3 frames in this year’s DWL and allowed four runs on eight hits and just one walk with five punchouts.

It’s been nearly four year since Familia last enjoyed a healthy, productive season in the majors. He posted ERAs north of 6.00 in 2022-23, but in 2021 the right-hander logged 59 1/3 innings with a 3.94 ERA, 27.5% strikeout rate, 10.3% walk rate, 51% grounder rate, 11 holds and a save for the Mets.

From 2014-21, Familia was a generally reliable late-inning power arm who missed bats and piled up grounders at a lofty rate. He combined for a 3.20 earned run average, 25.2% strikeout rate, 10.5% walk rate, 55.5% ground-ball rate, 124 saves and 63 holds over that eight-year period — all while averaging better than 96 mph on his heavy sinker.

Time will tell whether Familia can regain that form. His velocity dropped substantially during his 2022-23 struggles; that sinker sat 95.2 mph in 2022 and 93.8 mph in 2023. In 2023, all of his pitches (sinker, four-seamer, splitter, slider) were down about three miles per hour relative to their 2021 levels. Familia’s command, or rather lack thereof, was his biggest issue in 2023, however. He faced 64 batters and issued 13 walks (20.3%) while plunking another. His inability to locate the ball was also apparent in his career-worst 19.6% opponents’ chase rate on pitches off the plate. When Familia missed, he was missing by wide margins.

Even with those red flags, however, Familia is surely looking at a minor league contract and non-roster invitation, leaving no real risk for a team to take a look if he’s sufficiently built up. (Presumably, after he pitched in the DWL, that is indeed the case.) Familia might well need to use Triple-A as a proving ground before climbing back to the big leagues, but his track record alone should lead to some interest if he’s indeed intent on pursuing a return to the majors.

Eury Pérez Targeting Return Around All-Star Break

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Marlins FanFest is taking place this weekend at loanDepot Park, giving members of the media access to players and staff. Right-hander Eury Pérez spoke today, giving an update on his situation, with Christina De Nicola of MLB.com among those to relay the particulars.

The young righty underwent Tommy John surgery in April of last year. Today, he said he has already thrown seven bullpens and described himself as 75%. As for a timeline, he says he’s targeting a return around the All-Star break in July. That roughly aligns with the normal timeline following such a surgery, as pitchers usually take 14-plus months to come back.

The Marlins don’t seem to have their sights set on competing in 2025. They went 62-100 last year and their offseason has been more focused on subtractions, at least when it comes to the major league roster. Their biggest signing has been adding utility player Eric Wagaman on a split deal. They traded Jesús Luzardo to the Phillies and Jake Burger to the Rangers, getting prospects back in both instances.

As such, Pérez and the club will have no real reason to rush the timeline. He is still quite young, not turning 22 until April, and is under club control through the 2029 season. Going at a measured pace and making sure he’s healthy for the long term is the sensible play. He was one of the top pitching prospects in baseball prior to his 2023 debut, when he tossed 91 1/3 innings with a 3.15 earned run average, 28.9% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate.

As of now, the Marlins project to have a rotation nucleus of Sandy Alcántara, Ryan Weathers, Edward Cabrera and Max Meyer. Options for the back end include Valente Bellozo, Xzavion Curry, Adam Mazur and Connor Gillispie. If all goes according to plan, Pérez will jump into that mix in July, just before the trade deadline. If the Marlins are out of contention as expected, then it’s possible that Alcántara, Weathers and Cabrera could be in trade rumors at that time.

Elsewhere on the Miami roster, manager Clayton McCullough provided an update on left-hander Andrew Nardi, per De Nicola and Isaac Azout of Fish on First. Nardi had “some stuff flare up in the offseason” and will be a bit behind schedule in spring training, though the team is still awaiting clarity on the severity of the situation.

It’s unclear exactly what “stuff” was impacted by this flare-up. Nardi was placed on the injured list in August of last year due to a left elbow muscle injury and finished the season there. It’s unclear if his current status is related to that IL stint.

If Nardi is healthy, he would likely be viewed as a trade chip this summer, again assuming the Marlins aren’t in contention. He can be controlled through 2028, but the Fish haven’t been shy about trading controllable players in recent years. That includes the aforementioned Luzardo and Burger, as well as guys like Luis Arráez, Jazz Chisholm Jr., A.J. Puk, Huascar Brazobán, Bryan De La Cruz, Trevor Rogers and Bryan Hoeing last year.

In 2023, Nardi posted a 2.67 ERA across 57 1/3 innings, pairing a 30.3% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate. In 49 2/3 innings in 2024, he actually increased his strikeout rate to 33.3% and lowered his walk rate to 8.6%. His ERA jumped to 5.07, but a lot of that was likely luck. His batting average on balls in play jumped from .288 to .325 from 2023 to 2024, while his strand rate dropped from 86.4% to 63.9%. Though his ERA almost doubled compared to the year prior, his 3.33 FIP last year was actually lower than his 3.60 FIP in 2023. His SIERA also dropped from 3.18 to 2.77.

Putting the last two years together, Nardi threw 107 innings with a 3.79 ERA, 32% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate. He won’t qualify for arbitration until after 2025 and would have three years of club control beyond that.

Rays Agree To Minor League Deals With Connor Seabold, Tres Barrera

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The Rays agreed to minor league deals with right-hander Connor Seabold and catcher Tres Barrera, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Both players will be invited to spring training.

Seabold, 29, has pitched parts of three seasons in the big leagues. The Beverly Hills Sports Council client spent the 2024 season with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Samsung Lions and pitched quite well, tossing 160 innings with a 3.43 ERA, 23.8% strikeout rate and 6% walk rate. That marked his first and to date only season overseas, and it’s not a surprise that a strong showing of that nature earned him a look back in North American ball — albeit on a non-guaranteed deal.

A third-round pick of the Phillies back in 2017, Seabold was flipped to the Red Sox alongside Nick Pivetta in the lopsided deal sending Heath Hembree and Brandon Workman back to Philly. Seabold briefly ranked as one of the more promising arms in Boston’s system but has yet to find his big league footing. Elbow and forearm injuries impacted his 2021-22 seasons, and Seabold was hit hard in a larger sample with the 2023 Rockies. In 108 2/3 innings, Seabold has been tagged for 98 runs — a grisly 8.12 ERA. He has a 4.13 mark in 172 Triple-A innings, however, and his KBO work was impressive. The Rays have a knack for getting the most out of reclamation arms of this ilk, too.

The Rays have a full rotation, with Shane McClanahan, Taj Bradley, Drew Rasmussen, Zack Littell, Shane Baz and Ryan Pepiot all in the mix for starts. The bullpen is more fluid, perhaps creating space for Seabold to work as a swingman or multi-inning reliever. Given his success in the KBO, it’d make sense for the Rays to keep him stretched out — if not in the big league ’pen then as a depth option in Triple-A Durham.

The 30-year-old Barrera has appeared in four big league seasons — three with the Nationals and one very brief look with the 2023 Cardinals. The ACES client is a .228/.313/.310 hitter in 164 MLB plate appearances. He spent the 2024 season with los Toros de Tijuana in the Mexican League, hitting .258/.333/.421 in 50 games. Barrera is a .222/.315/.351 hitter in Triple-A. He’s known more for his solid receiving, framing and blocking skills than for his bat.

Tampa Bay signed Danny Jansen to serve as its top catcher in 2025. He’ll pair with defensive standout Ben Rortvedt as the team’s primary pairing behind the dish. The only other catcher on the 40-man roster at the moment is Logan Driscoll. Barrera will add some experienced depth who can step up in the event of an injury or head to Durham to serve as in-season depth.

Giants Sign Enny Romero To Minor League Deal

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The Giants announced their list of non-roster invitees to major league camp this afternoon. Lefty Enny Romero was among that group. According to the MLB.com transaction tracker, he signed a minor league deal with San Francisco last month.

Romero, who recently turned 34, returns to affiliated ball after sitting out two seasons. The southpaw last pitched a full season in 2022, when he turned in a 3.36 earned run average across 115 2/3 innings for the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan. Romero’s only professional experience since then has been winter ball in his native Dominican Republic. While he struggled to a 5.17 ERA during the 2023-24 offseason, he had an excellent showing this winter. Romero pitched to a 1.24 mark over 10 starts.

San Francisco’s evaluators were intrigued enough by Romero’s form to give him a look in camp. The southpaw has pitched in five MLB seasons, though he hasn’t reached the majors since 2018. He was a pure reliever during his early-career work, most of which came with the Rays and Nationals. The 6’3″ hurler has a 5.12 ERA across 146 big league innings. He fanned a league average 23.4% of opponents against a lofty 11.1% walk rate.

Romero has worked as a starter in Japan and in the Dominican Republic, so it’s possible the Giants will keep him stretched out at Triple-A Sacramento. If he gets a major league look, it’d be likelier in low-leverage relief. The Giants only have one lefty reliever on their 40-man roster: Erik Miller. They’re bringing a handful of left-handers to camp on non-roster contracts. Joey Lucchesi, Raymond Burgos, Miguel Del Pozo, Ethan Small and Helcris Olivarez are also among those who’ll be in Spring Training.

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