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White Sox Sign Joey Gallo To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox announced the signing of Joey Gallo to a minor league contract. The Boras Corporation client will be in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Gallo is looking to rebound from the worst season of his career. The two-time All-Star inked a $5MM free agent deal with the Nationals last January. He appeared in 76 games and hit .161/.277/.336 with 10 homers across 260 plate appearances. Gallo struck out in 39.2% of his plate appearances, the second-highest rate among hitters with 200+ trips to the dish. While the whiffs are nothing new, that came with a personal-low 12.3% walk rate and slugging percentage.

It was the third straight season in which Gallo has had a tough time offensively. His bat has dropped sharply since the Yankees acquired him from the Rangers in a big deadline trade in 2021. Gallo had hit .211/.336/.497 over parts of seven seasons in Texas. Since leaving Arlington, he owns a .165/.289/.384 slash in more than 1200 trips to the plate between four teams.

Gallo won consecutive Gold Gloves in the outfield in 2020-21. His sprint speed and defensive grades have dropped since then, though he’s still capable of playing right field. Washington used him mostly at first base last season. He logged nearly 500 innings there while starting just seven games in the outfield.

Chicago is likely to give Andrew Vaughn another chance to take a step forward at first base. Right field is wide open. Mike Tauchman and Austin Slater are probably lined up for a platoon there. Gallo, Dominic Fletcher and former highly-regarded prospect Oscar Colás could compete for reps in camp.

Clayton Kershaw Expects To Go On 60-Day IL To Start Season

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The Dodgers officially re-signed Clayton Kershaw earlier today but it seems he won’t be helping them early in the season. He tells Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic that he expects to be on the 60-day injured list to start the year, likely returning about when those 60 days are up. That suggests he’s targeting a late May return.

Kershaw’s 2025 timeline has never been clear until now. He announced in early November that he would require some surgical work on his lower left leg. Part of that was due to a bone spur in the big toe on his left foot, which sent him to the IL last year. The surgeries would also address a ruptured plantar plate and a torn meniscus in his knee. It was never expressly laid out when Kershaw expected to return, though there’s now at least a vague target.

Players can be placed on the 60-day IL once pitchers and catchers report to spring training, so several players are already there, including Dodgers like Gavin Stone and River Ryan. Kershaw could follow them there but the 60-day count doesn’t begin until Opening Day. IL transactions can be backdated three days, so teams will only put guys on the 60-day if they don’t expect them to be healthy in the first 57 days of the season.

The Dodgers start the schedule a little bit earlier than most teams, as they and the Cubs are facing off in the Tokyo Series this year. Two regular season games between those teams will take place on March 18th and 19th, while the 28 other teams will play their first regular season game March 27.

The update from Kershaw makes the rotation picture a little less crowded in the short term. As of right now, the Dodgers project to have a six-man starting staff consisting of Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin. They will start the season with Shohei Ohtani acting as the designated hitter but not pitching. He didn’t pitch in 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery and also required surgery on his non-throwing shoulder in the fall. He is expected to be back on the mound in May and it seems Kershaw’s timeline is similar.

It’s theoretically possible the Dodgers will have too many rotation options at times this summer. Once Kershaw and Ohtani are back in the mix, they could have eight viable candidates for six spots. Sasaki and Gonsolin are the only two who can be optioned to the minors. It seems highly unlikely Sasaki will be sent down at any point, given that he’s already considered an ace-level talent. Gonsolin is also just 20 days away from five years of MLB service time, at which point he would have the right to refuse being optioned.

However, there are also health concerns all throughout the group, so it seems fair to wonder how often six or more of them will be healthy at any given time. May and Gonsolin missed all of 2024 recovering from surgery. Snell only pitched 104 innings last year and has only hit 130 twice in his career. Yamamoto’s first MLB season saw him spend a lot of time on the IL, only getting to 90 innings. Glasnow set a personal best last year by getting to 134. Sasaki never hit 130 innings in any of his seasons in Japan.

It’s an extreme quality-over-quantity group, so it will be interesting to see if it ever feels truly crowded. If significant injuries pile up, the club also has Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, Nick Frasso, Justin Wrobleski and Ben Casparius as optionable guys on the roster who should be in the Triple-A rotation.

For Kershaw personally, he will be looking take on a sizable workload for the first time in a while. It used to be his norm to log about 230 innings in a season but he hasn’t done that since 2015 and he hasn’t hit 132 since 2019. He did get to 131 2/3 in 2023 but was clearly working with diminished stuff and required shoulder surgery in the offseason. He returned from that procedure to make seven starts in July and August of last year but then went back on the IL due to the foot issues and finished the year with just 30 innings pitched.

Missing the first few weeks of 2025 will prevent him from having a massive workload this year but he could certainly go well beyond those 30 frames if things go according to plan. As for what’s beyond that, it seems the future Hall-of-Famer isn’t making any decisions yet. He tells Bob Nightengale of USA Today that he plans to go year to year, as opposed to putting a firm timeline on how many more seasons he plans to play in.

Mozeliak: Nolan Arenado Likely To Be With Cardinals On Opening Day

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Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak spoke to members of the media today, including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat, saying that trade candidate Nolan Arenado is likely staying put. “I think the mindset right now is he’s likely going to be a part of our club at this point,” Mozeliak said. “I definitely feel like it’s a better chance than not” that he is the club’s Opening Day third baseman.

Given the events of recent weeks, that’s not terribly surprising. It was reported about a month ago that the club’s efforts to move Arenado had largely stalled, with the Red Sox being the best remaining landing spot, but even that fit had some problems.

The Sox are making a big investment in their infield, agreeing to a deal last night with Alex Bregman. He’s reportedly going to play second base, so he doesn’t on his own block Arenado from playing third at Fenway. However, the fit was already awkward with Rafael Devers at third. Moving Devers to first and then trading Triston Casas or Masataka Yoshida were scenarios that were bandied about this winter but they always seemed somewhat of a difficult tightrope to walk.

Those scenarios are technically still possible to imagine in a vacuum but the larger team context makes it harder to see. Bregman’s deal is reportedly for $120MM over three years, a $40MM average annual value. Deferreals reportedly drop the net present value closer to $31.9MM annually but it’s still a huge chunk of the payroll. Arenado’s deal still has roughly three years and $60MM to be paid out, when factoring in deferrals and some money being picked up by the Rockies.

Boston making a huge investment in their infield just to create roster problems was already a bit tough but is even tougher now with Bregman’s contract on the books. Chris Cotillo of MassLive today estimates the odds of Boston still being in on Arenado at “about 0.0%.”

In the larger context of the Cardinals’ offseason, it’s a very surprising place for them to be. By late September of last year, before the 2024 campaign had even fully ended, reports had emerged that the Cardinals were planning a shift in direction. 2025 was to be a sort of reset year, with the club focusing less on short-term contention and more on long-term player development. As part of this shift, Mozeliak would spent the 2025 still in his POBO title while Chaim Bloom focused on overhauling the club’s player development system, but with Bloom to replace Mozeliak at season’s end.

At that point, there was plenty of speculation that the Cards would make players available if they were expensive or nearing free agency. Arenado, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Steven Matz, Erick Fedde, Ryan Helsley and others seemed likely to be available.

Now, several months later, they are all still on the roster. Contreras and Gray quickly signalled that they were unwilling to waive their no-trade clauses while the club surprisingly didn’t seem to have much interest in moving Fedde or Helsley.

Arenado was reportedly more willing than Gray or Contreras to consider waiving his no-trade protection, but that didn’t mean he would approve any deal. There was some reporting that Arenado had a list of six teams that he would approve a trade to, though there was also some pushback that such a firm list existed and that Arenado’s preferences were more context-dependent.

He vetoed a deal to the Astros in December but reportedly wasn’t wholly opposed to going to Houston. Rather, he had some hesitation about the club’s direction after trading Kyle Tucker to the Cubs. Rather than wait around and see if he would change his mind, the Astros took the less-complicated route of signing Christian Walker to play first base. That effectively locked Isaac Paredes, acquired in the Tucker deal, into third base and made an Arenado deal far less likely.

While Arenado may not have had an ironclad team list, it seems his parameters will have to widen for anything to get done now. “I think it would have to open up a little bit more,” Mozeliak said of Arenado’s list of acceptable teams, per Jones. “Think we’ve exhausted the others.”

Goold reported yesterday that Mozeliak had contacted five clubs that appeared to fit Arenado’s preferences, including the Yankees, Red Sox, Padres and Dodgers. The Astros were presumably the fifth. Goold added that the Yankees wanted the Cards to eat more of Arenado’s contract than they were willing to do. The Dodgers have Max Muncy at third and never seemed particularly interested in making a change there. The Padres are working under significant financial constraints. The Sox are now out after adding Bregman.

Perhaps Arenado will change his mind and consider other options, given the circumstances. His priority appears to be winning and that seems unlikely in St. Louis this year with their reset plans. Reportedly, the Royals reached out to the Cardinals this winter but were turned away since the Cards didn’t think Arenado was willing to go there. Teams like the Tigers and Blue Jays reportedly pursued Bregman and might have some willingness to pivot to Arenado, though Arenado might not be willing to play for those clubs.

If Arenado does end up staying, it will leave the Cards with some playing time puzzles to figure out. Their thinking with an Arenado trade was to save some money but also to give more playing time to guys with uncertain futures. Nolan Gorman was going to get regular run at third base as he looks to bounce back from a tough season in 2024. With Arenado still around, he could get pushed back to second base. That could block Thomas Saggese and/or nudge Brendan Donovan into a utility role where he spends more time in the outfield, perhaps taking playing time from guys like Jordan Walker, Victor Scott II and others.

Perhaps there are some twists and turns up ahead but it’s been a very surprising winter for the Cardinals thus far, as an offseason that once likely to involve significant changes has resulted in very few. They haven’t yet signed a free agent to a major league deal and their only trade has been to acquire depth infielder Michael Helman from the Twins.

Angels Sign Shaun Anderson To Minor League Deal

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The Angels have signed right-hander Shaun Anderson to a minor league deal, according to his MLB.com transactions tracker. The Wasserman client has been assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake but will presumably be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee.

Anderson, 30, is a swingman who made six big league appearances last year between the Rangers and Marlins. He allowed 15 earned runs in 16 1/3 innings, leading to an unsightly 8.27 earned run average. That’s a tiny sample and seems to have been thrown out of shape by a .443 batting average on balls in play and 53.5% strand rate, which were both on the unlucky side. His 4.70 FIP and 4.59 SIERA were far more normal.

His work in Triple-A last year was greater in terms of quality and quantity. He tossed 63 innings over 19 appearances, including nine starts, with an even ERA of 3.00. His 23.4% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate were both strong numbers.

That’s been a pattern for Anderson for a while, as he has generally posted some intriguing numbers on the farm that haven’t translated to the big leagues. Including last year’s small sample of work, he has now thrown 152 big league innings for a 6.10 ERA, with a 16.5% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate. But over the past four years, he has logged 226 1/3 minor league innings with a 3.62 ERA, 20.9% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate.

The Angels have a lot of rotation options but not a lot of certainty. Yusei Kikuchi will be locked into one spot. Kyle Hendricks and Tyler Anderson seem likely to serve as veteran innings eaters. José Soriano had a good year in 2024 but has a long track record of injuries. Reid Detmers has shown flashes of potential but is coming off a rough year. Guys like Caden Dana, Sam Aldegheri, Chase Silseth and Jack Kochanowicz have some intrigue but limited experience.

The Halos signed Dakota Hudson earlier this offseason for some veteran non-roster depth and now Anderson joins him in that department. Given that Anderson has long relief experience as well, that’s another possible path for him. If he gets up to the big leagues at any point, he’ll face a challenge in hanging onto it since he is out of options.

Daz Cameron Accepts Outright Assignment With Orioles

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The Orioles announced that outfielder Daz Cameron, whom they designated for assignment last week, has passed through outright waivers unclaimed. He had the right to elect free agency but has accepted the outright assignment and will be in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Cameron, 28, has never played in a game for the Orioles. He was with the Athletics in 2024 but was flipped to Baltimore for cash considerations at the end of October. For a while, Cameron projected as a bench outfielder but the O’s bolstered the group this offseason by signing Tyler O’Neill, Ramón Laureano and Dylan Carlson. Those moves nudged Cameron off the roster and onto the waiver wire.

Players have the right to reject an outright assignment and head to free agency if they have a previous career outright or three years of service time. Cameron was outrighted by the Orioles in the 2022-23 offseason after Baltimore claimed him off waivers from the Tigers. He went on to spend the 2023 season in the minors with the Orioles, becoming a free agent afterwards and signing a minor league deal with the A’s. That gave him the right to elect free agency with this outright but it seems he’ll stick with the O’s and try to earn his way back onto the roster.

Between the Tigers and A’s, Cameron has taken 430 trips to the plate at the major league level with a tepid .201/.263/.330 line. However, he has strong sprint speed and has stolen 14 bases without being caught. Over the past four years, he has hit .265/.347/.449 for a 105 wRC+ in 1,236 minor league plate appearances, so he’s perhaps capable of more than he has shown in his big league career so far.

The Orioles project to have an outfield alignment of Cedric Mullins, Colton Cowser and O’Neill most of the time, with Heston Kjerstad, Ryan O’Hearn and Laureano also in the mix. Jorge Mateo will also factor in eventually though he seems likely to start the season on the injured list. Cameron will join players like Nick Gordon and Franklin Barreto in the non-roster depth group. If he gets back to the big leagues at any point, he is out of options but has less than two years of service time.

Phillies, Christian Arroyo Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Phillies have signed infielder Christian Arroyo to a minor league deal, reports MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes. The O’Connell Sports Management client will head to major league camp as a non-roster invitee.

Arroyo, 29, once ranked among the game’s top-100 prospects but never found his footing as a regular with the Giants, Rays or Red Sox. He’s a career .252/.299/.394 hitter in 992 plate appearances in the big leagues. Those numbers generally mirror the former first-round pick’s results in parts of seven seasons in Triple-A, where he carries a .255/.319/.403 line in 661 turns at the plate. The right-handed-hitting Arroyo has even platoon splits throughout his career.

Defensively, Arroyo has spent the bulk of his time in the majors at second base, but has has experience at all four infield spots and in right field. Defensive Runs Saves pegs him as a strong defender at second base, while Statcast has him around average. In the minors, Arroyo has played more shortstop than second base and also has nearly 1500 innings at third base.

Arroyo played in the majors in each season from 2017-23 but didn’t reach the big leagues in 2024. He spent last season with the Brewers’ Triple-A club, hitting .237/.305/.360 in a disappointing year at the plate. With the Phillies, he’ll compete for a bench spot and likely head to Triple-A Lehigh Valley if he doesn’t win a job. Backup catcher Garrett Stubbs, out-of-options infielder Edmundo Sosa and standout defensive outfielder Johan Rojas seem like they’ll occupy three of the four spots. Weston Wilson, Buddy Kennedy (also out of options) and Kody Clemens are all on the 40-man roster and in the running for the final spot.

Dodgers Re-Sign Clayton Kershaw

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Feb. 13: The Dodgers made it official today, announcing that they have signed Kershaw. Right-hander River Ryan, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, was transferred to the 60-day IL in a corresponding move.

Kershaw is guaranteed $7.5MM on a one-year deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. He’ll unlock a $1MM bonus for making his 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th starts of the season. The deal also contains active roster bonuses; he’ll add an additional $2.5MM for 30 days on the active roster, $1MM for 60 days and $1MM for 90 days.

In all, that $7.5MM base can more than double to $16MM so long as Kershaw starts at least 16 games and stays healthy for about half the season.

Feb. 11: The Dodgers and left-hander Clayton Kershaw have agreed to terms on a new deal, reports Alden González of ESPN. It was previously relayed by Dylan Hernández of the Los Angeles Times that the lefty is in camp with the club. The deal isn’t official yet because the Excel Sports Management client still has to undergo a physical. The details of the new agreement aren’t yet publicly known. The Dodgers will need to open a 40-man spot but have several candidates to be moved to the 60-day injured list.

The move doesn’t come as a surprise at all. The future Hall-of-Famer has spent his entire career with the Dodgers to this point. He has gone into free agency multiple times and always re-signed. There has occasionally been some thought that he would like to join the Rangers, since he’s from the Dallas area, but that’s never come to fruition. On the heels of the Dodgers winning the most recent World Series, he declared himself a “Dodger for life.”

Kershaw, 37 in March, did turn down a $10MM player option for the 2025 season. Still, that seemed to be more of a formality, based on the strong relationship between him and the franchise. Even though he walked away from that money, the industry expectation has been that the two sides would reunite on some kind of new deal. As recently has a few weeks ago, it was reported that the two sides were interested in a reunion.

His current health situation is unknown. In early November, when he made the “Dodger for life” comment, Kershaw also relayed some details of upcoming surgeries. He told reporters at that time that he was to have work done on both his left toe and his left knee. He had dealt with bone spurs in his big toe during the season and also revealed after the campaign that he had a torn meniscus and a ruptured plantar plate that needed to be addressed.

It’s possible that his new deal will come with various incentives based on his output, as was the case the last time he re-signed with the Dodgers. He had surgery going into last winter and wasn’t expected to come back until midway through the 2024 schedule. He signed a deal with a modest $10MM guarantee over 2024 and 2025, with the latter year being a player option. Based on his 2024 appearances, he could earn an extra $7.5MM in 2024, as well as potentially bumping the $5MM option as high as $20MM. There were also incentives based on his 2025 appearances that could have allowed him to earn as much as $25MM on the year.

Kershaw only ended up throwing 30 innings over seven starts last year, allowing 4.50 earned runs per nine. He started the season on the IL while still recovering from that shoulder surgery, getting reinstated in late July. But he was back on the IL by the end of August due to his toe issues and finished the season there. That wasn’t a huge showing but it was enough to get the base of his player option up to $10MM. Though he went back under the knife for his lower body injuries, he still felt comfortable enough turning that down, though he and the club will surely figure out some new arrangement that works for both.

Though it’s not a surprise to see Kershaw back with the club, there’s still some mystery about what’s next. As mentioned, it’s unclear if he’s fully healthy now or if he’s still working his way back from his most recent procedure.

On paper, the Dodgers have a robust collection of rotation options. They currently have Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow taking up four spots. Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May should be in the mix as well. Shohei Ohtani isn’t expected to be ready by Opening Day but could be back on the hill in May.

The club seems likely to run a six-man rotation. That’s partially due to Sasaki making the move from Japan, where starting pitchers only throw once a week. On top of that, basically everyone else in their pile of starters has workload concerns. Snell only got to 104 innings last year and has only twice gone beyond 130. Yamamoto spent a decent chunk of 2024 on the IL and only got to 90 frames. Glasnow got to 134, which was a career high for him. May, Gonsolin and Ohtani were recovering from respective surgeries, with no one of that trio pitching last year.

Throw Kershaw into the mix and its eight starters for six spots, before even mentioning pitchers like Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, Nick Frasso, Justin Wrobleski and Ben Casparius, who all have options and are likely to be in the minors as depth.

Given all the health question marks throughout the group, it’s unlikely to expect everyone to be healthy for the entire season, but there may be times where players get squeezed. Moving to the bullpen isn’t easy either, as the club is a bit squeezed there as well. With a six-man rotation, the club can only have seven relievers, given the 13-pitcher roster limit. Ohtani counts as a two-way player and will eventually allow them to have 14 pitchers, but he won’t be pitching to start the year.

The bullpen chart currently includes Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, Evan Phillips, Blake Treinen, Michael Kopech, Anthony Banda and Alex Vesia. No one in that group can be optioned except for Vesia, who had a 1.76 ERA last year. The bullpen is tight enough that Ryan Brasier recently got designated for assignment and flipped to the Cubs.

Time will tell how the Dodgers balance the juggling act, though the pressure on the 40-man roster is about to ease. Now that they have opened camp, they are allowed to transfer players to the 60-day injured list. Each of Emmet Sheehan, Brusdar Graterol, Kyle Hurt and River Ryan are likely bound for the IL soon, with each recovering from a significant surgery. The Dodgers will need a roster spot for Kershaw once this becomes official, but that will still leave them with three roster spots to play with.

Financially, RosterResource has the Dodgers at a $383MM payroll and $386MM competitive balance tax figure. Those are both franchise records and tops in the league by wide margins, but the club seems to have few limits right now. They have international star power from Ohtani and various other players on the roster, with a decade-plus run of postseason appearances, in addition to being reigning world champions. The cash flow situation seems to be incredibly healthy, with the ownership group willing to pump a lot of that money back into the roster.

Trevor Rogers, Jorge Mateo Unlikely To Be Ready For Opening Day

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With camps opening for spring training, it’s common for clubs to provide updates on player health or the lack thereof. Orioles general manager Mike Elias today informed members of the media, including Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun and Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com, that both left-hander Trevor Rogers and infielder/outfielder Jorge Mateo are unlikely to be healthy by Opening Day.

The news on Mateo isn’t particularly surprising, as he underwent significant left elbow surgery in August. That was to repair his ulnar collateral ligament and add an internal brace, as well as repairing the flexor tendon. That procedure was on his non-throwing arm but the expected recovery timeline was still going to take a few months. The O’s have said at times that Mateo could perhaps be ready for a full season in 2025 but it now seems that his recovery will extend at least partway into the season.

The news on Rogers comes out of nowhere, as he didn’t spend any time on the injured list last year. Per Elias, he suffered a right kneecap subluxation in January. It’s unclear exactly how it happened but Rogers himself told Kubatko that it dislocated for about a second. Though the lefty downplayed the severity and said he’s already playing catch, he is apparently weeks behind schedule.

It appears it won’t be a devastating blow but it’s another frustrating development in what has already been a difficult Baltimore tenure for the southpaw. Acquired from the Marlins at the deadline last year, Rogers was torched for 15 earned runs in 19 innings over his first four starts as an Oriole and got optioned to Triple-A. He then made five starts for Norfolk with a 5.65 ERA to finish the year.

Going into 2025, he was likely blocked from securing a rotation gig to start the season. On top of his poor finish in 2024, the O’s added Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano on one-year deals to pad out the rotation alongside Zach Eflin, Grayson Rodriguez and Dean Kremer.

Rogers is still optionable and may have been ticketed for another stint in Norfolk to start 2025 if he were healthy. An injury to those front five starters could have opened a path for him but he would be competing with guys like Albert Suárez, Chayce McDermott and Cade Povich for the #6 spot on the depth chart.

The O’s would obviously love for Rogers to get back into his 2021 form. With the Marlins that year, he made 25 starts with a 2.64 ERA, 28.5% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate. But his ERA climbed to 5.47 the following year and he spent most of 2023 on the injured list. He bounced back somewhat last year, with a 4.53 ERA prior to the trade, but then had his aforementioned struggles after the swap. The club will have a bit less pitching depth to start the year, though they have other options there. For Rogers personally, he’ll be a bit delayed in heading down the comeback trail.

Mateo would ideally be on the club’s bench, providing the Orioles with depth all over. In his career, he has played every position outside of the battery and first base. He’s not a huge hitter but is a threat to steal 30 bases a year, having done so twice, and gets strong marks for his glovework at several different spots. RosterResource currently projects the club’s four-man bench to consist of catcher Gary Sánchez and infielder Ramón Urías, with Ramón Laureano and Heston Kjerstad backing up the outfield. Kjerstad is the only one in that group who can be optioned to the minors, perhaps leaving him vulnerable to getting sent to the minors once Mateo is healthy unless someone else goes on the IL.

Mets Likely Done Adding, Not Expected To Bring Back Jose Iglesias

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An active offseason for the Mets looks to be largely completed. President of baseball operations David Stearns suggested during a session with the team’s beat yesterday that the Alonso deal was likely the team’s final big splash (video link via the Mets). Asked if felt he was done with major additions, Stearns replied:

“I think so. We’re always going to be involved in conversations. We’re always going to be trying to see if there are ways we can get better. We also feel really good about the group we have that’s reporting right now, and I would anticipate, by and large, that this is the team we’re going forward with.”

While it’s not a decisive declaration that there are no further transactions on the horizon, it seems likeliest that those would come via non-roster invitation. The Mets possesses a veteran roster that’s largely made up of players with five-plus years of MLB service or players who’ve exhausted their minor league options. Further veteran signings/acquisitions could exacerbate what’s already some fairly limited roster flexibility. Stearns’ response when asked whether the team was moving on from infielder Jose Iglesias is rather telling, in that regard:

“I think where we are now, for that role on our team, it’s important for us to keep some avenues open for some of our younger players. We think it’s important for us to have some roster flexibility with that spot. It’s really tough to freeze your entire position player roster. We did that for a portion last year, and we actually kind of got away with it, but there very easily could’ve been a circumstance where we got stuck with a completely frozen position player roster, so having some flexibility there in that role is, frankly, probably needed for us right now.”

That’s a disappointing reply for Mets fans who fell in love with Iglesias in what proved to be a renaissance campaign for the 35-year-old. Originally signed to a minor league deal, Iglesias was summoned to the majors at the end of May and became not only a highly productive role player but a fan and clubhouse favorite thanks to his OMG song that became a rallying cry. In 85 games, Iglesias took 291 plate appearances and batted .337/.381/.448. However, that production was way out of sync with his career norms (.279/.319/.382 entering the season) and was buoyed by a sky-high .382 average on balls in play that he’s not likely to repeat.

Beyond some justifiable questions about Iglesias’ ability to sustain his 2024 output, the “flexibility” aspect of Stearns’ reply is worth drilling into a bit further. Right now, the only member of the Mets’ projected lineup who can be optioned to Triple-A is catcher Francisco Alvarez. They’ll have three bench players — backup catcher Luis Torrens, backup outfielder Tyrone Taylor and outfielder/DH Starling Marte — who cannot be optioned. (Outfielder Jose Azocar is also out of options, so he’ll need to earn a roster spot or else be DFA later in camp.)

Adding Iglesias would create a fourth, effectively “freezing” the team’s entire group of position players, as Stearns suggested. That could be a reason the team opted to bring infielder Nick Madrigal into the mix. He provides similar bat-to-ball skills and infield versatility but also has a minor league option remaining, which will create more flexibility as the season wears on.

It’s similar on the pitching staff. Kodai Senga and David Peterson are the only starters who can be optioned. Reed Garrett is the only member of the projected ’pen who can be optioned. Each of Edwin Diaz, A.J. Minter, Ryne Stanek, Jose Butto, Griffin Canning, Danny Young and Sean Reid-Foley is either out of options or past five years of MLB service.

That lack of flexibility is magnified when there’s a player in the lineup who perhaps needs two to four days off but probably not a full IL stint. It’s also notable when a specific reliever or the relief corps as a whole is overworked and the team would like to add a fresh arm to the mix. There could very well be some uncomfortable DFAs on the horizon for the Mets, though injuries or poor spring performances can make those decisions easier.

If the Mets are indeed done, they’ll enter the 2025 season with the game’s No. 2 payroll, trailing only the reigning World Series champs in Los Angeles. Stearns noted that he and owner Steve Cohen mapped out various scenarios regarding their potential payroll early in the offseason, and the point at which the Mets have now landed was toward the highest ranges the pair discussed at the time. RosterResource projects the Mets for a $331MM payroll, with $325MM on their luxury-tax ledger.

Reds Sign Scott Barlow

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February 13: The Reds officially announced Barlow’s deal today. Right-hander Julian Aguiar was transferred to the 60-day IL in a corresponding move. Aguiar had Tommy John surgery in October and will likely miss the entire 2025 season. Per Mark Sheldon of MLB.com, Barlow’s deal breaks down as a $1.5MM salary and $1MM buyout on a $6.5MM club option for 2026.

February 11: The Reds and free agent reliever Scott Barlow are in agreement on a one-year, $2.5MM contract, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN. The Warner Sports client’s agreement is still pending the completion of a physical.

Barlow, 32, was brilliant for the Royals from 2021-22, pitching to a combined 2.30 earned run average with a 28.2% strikeout rate against an 8.4% walk rate en route to tallying 40 saves and 20 holds. He’s taken a couple steps back in the two seasons since, providing a still-serviceable 4.32 ERA but diminished velocity and strikeout/walk rates that have trended in the wrong direction.

The Guardians, who had MLB’s best bullpen in 2024, wound up designating Barlow for assignment and releasing him in mid-September. He’d have been postseason-ineligible with a new club at that point and was ticketed to go back into free agency following the season, so he didn’t end up signing with a new club.

Last year’s 91.4 mph average four-seamer with the Guardians was a career-low for Barlow, sitting nearly four miles per hour shy of his average 95.3 mph from 2021. Since Opening Day 2023, he’s fanned 27% of his opponents against a 12% walk rate while suiting up for Kansas City, San Diego and Cleveland.

Even with the reduced velocity and worsening command, there are still positives to take away from Barlow’s 2024 season. His 13.5% swinging-strike rate remained comfortably north of the 11.5% league average. He doesn’t induce chases off the plate as much as he did at his peak. His opponents’ contact rate when they do chase is south of 41%, placing him in the top-10 of all 169 qualified big league relievers in that department. His opponents’ 83.9% contact rate on pitches in the strike zone is also a couple percentage points shy of average. Barlow’s four-seamer and sinker don’t have the life they used to, but his slider and curveball both miss bats at super premium rates and induce weak contact when opponents do put bat to ball.

Beyond those sharp breaking pitches and their ability to miss bats, Barlow offers a simpler benefit to manager Terry Francona: durability. The right-hander made his big league debut late in 2018 and has never been on the major league injured list. He’s made at least 61 appearances in each of the past five 162-game seasons and pitched in more than half the Royals’ 60 games (32) during the shortened 2020 campaign. Perhaps that heavy workload has contributed to his declining velocity, but Barlow is as durable as it gets for a reliever these days. Since 2019, only Hector Neris has appeared in more games than Barlow’s 359, and no reliever has more innings than Barlow’s 372.

Barlow will slot into a setup role in a reshaped Cincinnati bullpen. Alexis Diaz will reprise his role as closer, but setup man Fernando Cruz was sent to the Yankees in exchange for catcher Jose Trevino. The Reds picked up Taylor Rogers in a late trade with the Giants, too. Newcomers Rogers and Barlow will join holdovers Diaz, Emilio Pagan, Sam Moll, Tony Santillan and Brent Suter. The final couple spots in the ’pen will likely be determined in spring training. Former starters Graham Ashcraft and Carson Spiers are among the favorites — Spiers likely in swingman role — but the Reds have Yosver Zulueta and Lyon Richardson on the 40-man roster vying for spots as well (if Richardson isn’t in the Triple-A rotation). Non-roster options in camp include Alex Young, Ian Gibaut, Albert Abreu, Joe La Sorsa and Francona favorite (from their days in Cleveland) Bryan Shaw.

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