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Tigers Designate Alex Faedo For Assignment

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The Tigers have designated right-hander Alex Faedo for assignment, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to newly signed reliever Tommy Kahnle, whose one-year deal has been made official.

Faedo, 29, was the 18th overall pick back in 2017. The former Florida Gators standout has pitched in each of the past three seasons with Detroit but has yet to solidify himself in either the rotation or the bullpen. He’s coming off a decent showing spent mostly in relief, wherein he pitched 57 1/3 innings with a 3.61 ERA but shakier rate stats. Faedo punched out a roughly average 22.4% of opponents but issued walks at a rough 11.4% clip. He was also tagged for 1.41 homers per nine frames and benefited both from a .265 average on balls in play and especially a sky-high 83.1% strand rate, neither of which is likely to be repeated over a larger sample.

That said, there were some positives. The 94 mph Faedo averaged on his four-seamer was a career-best, and his 14.4% swinging-strike rate was excellent. He’s also upped his grounder rate in each of his big league seasons, though it still sits about three percentage points shy of league-average. Faedo did a fine job avoiding hard contact in 2024, and his slider generated excellent results; in the 82 plate appearances he finished off with that pitch, opponents posted an awful .171/.280/.314 batting line, and Statcast credited the offering with a paltry .269 expected wOBA (a nice followup to 2023’s .255 xwOBA).

Faedo is out of minor league options heading into the 2025 season. That put him at a disadvantage relative to other arms on the fringes of a Tigers roster that has turned over from rebuilder to win-now club, thanks in no small part to a magical playoff run spurred by their torrid hot streak down the stretch in 2024.

Faedo was no longer in the rotation mix, and the addition of Kahnle alongside Beau Brieske, Jason Foley, Will Vest and Tyler Holton in the late-inning mix leaves three other spots. One will likely be filled by Kenta Maeda, who’s still signed for $10MM this season. That leaves only two spots to divide up between Brant Hurter, Sean Guenther, Brenan Hanifee, Alex Lange, Mason Englert, Keider Montero and others.

If Faedo goes unclaimed on waivers, he can be sent outright to Triple-A and still compete for one of those final two spots. But as a former first-round pick with a sharp slider and encouraging swing-and-miss abilities, it wouldn’t at all be a surprise to see him land with another team. The Tigers have five days to trade him. At that point he’d need to be placed on waivers (a 48-hour process in their own right) to ensure an outcome within the one-week window for his DFA resolution.

Pirates Win Arbitration Hearing Over Johan Oviedo

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The Pirates won their arbitration hearing against right-hander Johan Oviedo, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He’ll be paid the $850K figure submitted by the team for the upcoming season, rather than the $1.15MM figure he and his camp submitted.

Oviedo, 27 in March, missed the entire 2024 season following Tommy John surgery. Prior to that injury, he’d stepped up and solidified himself as a viable fourth starter in Pittsburgh’s rotation. The right-hander, acquired from the division-rival Cardinals in the trade sending Jose Quintana and Chris Stratton to St. Louis, posted a 4.15 ERA in 39 starts from 2022-23, totaling 208 1/3 innings. That included a 2023 campaign in which he tied Mitch Keller for the team lead with 32 starts and finished second (also to Keller) with 177 2/3 innings pitched.

The composition of the Pirates’ rotation has changed greatly since Oviedo went under the knife. Ballyhooed prospects Paul Skenes and Jared Jones have made their big league debuts and cemented themselves in the team’s plans — Skenes in particular. The 2023 No. 1 overall pick burst onto the scene with 133 innings of 1.96 ERA ball last year, winning National League Rookie of the Year honors and finishing the season as a Cy Young finalist. Skenes, Jones and Keller now make up an enviable top three and are joined by southpaw Bailey Falter, who had something of a breakout himself last year (142 1/3 innings, 4.43 ERA).

Oviedo will head into the 2025 season as a favorite for the fifth spot in the rotation, but he may have to earn that with a healthy and effective spring showing, as he still has a minor league option remaining. The Bucs are deep in starting pitching talent, with prospects Mike Burrows and Braxton Ashcraft already on the 40-man roster and a pair of even more highly regarded arms — Bubba Chandler and Thomas Harrington — not on the 40-man but ticketed for Triple-A work to begin the season.

This was Oviedo’s first trip through the arbitration process. His camp surely sought a seven-figure payday based on the solid nature of his work pre-injury, but they faced a notable roadblock in that endeavor after Oviedo’s injury cost him the entirety of his platform season. He’ll remain under team control via arbitration through the 2027 campaign.

Dodgers & Deferrals: A Misguided Focus

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Zack Scott, former Mets Acting GM and four-time champion with the Red Sox, empowers sports operations and individuals to win through Four Rings Sports Solutions. He specializes in data-driven strategies and leadership development. His Sports Ops Launchpad helps aspiring sports ops pros break into the industry. Connect with him on LinkedIn here.  Zack will be contributing periodically to MLB Trade Rumors. 

The Dodgers aren’t ruining baseball with massive salary deferrals. They may be causing a perception issue for MLB, but focusing on deferrals for the next Collective Bargaining Agreement would be a misguided effort—a political gesture that won’t address the core competitive balance issues.

Deferrals serve two primary purposes: helping teams close deals and giving players a big headline to validate their market value and boost their status. They’re not a circumvention tool around the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT) rules. Spending power, not contract structure, drives baseball’s economic landscape. Teams with greater resources have always been able to outspend smaller-market teams. This dynamic is inherent in leagues without hard salary caps.

Over the past five years, the Dodgers have become a lightning rod for fan discontent by deferring over $1B to acquire many star players. Shohei Ohtani’s $680MM deferred salary is an extreme example, but their long-term contracts consistently feature deferrals.

Let’s consider a hypothetical scenario: What if deferrals were prohibited? Would the Dodgers still have offered Ohtani a $700MM contract? It’s highly unlikely. A league where deferrals are banned wouldn’t change the Dodgers’ desire to acquire Ohtani, but it would necessitate a different contract structure. Guaranteed dollar amounts would likely align more with the present value calculations we observe in current MLB contracts.

Ohtani’s contract (97% deferred) calculates to a $460MM present value using MLB’s 4.43% discount rate. This figure makes sense in historical context, as it surpassed Trout’s $426.5MM (no deferrals), which stood as the highest for nearly five years. However, it’s crucial to understand the discount rate’s role in these calculations. MLB uses a conservative rate, which limits the CBT benefits for teams.

This standardized rate doesn’t reflect team owners’ financial realities. Many owners, especially those directly connected to global investment firms, achieve significantly higher returns. Consider Guggenheim’s Mark Walter, the Dodgers’ owner, whose firm has generated approximately 10% average annual returns, or Point72’s Steve Cohen, the Mets’ owner, with around 14% average annual returns. The present value drops significantly if we apply these more realistic discount rates to Ohtani’s deferred contract.

Using Walter’s rate, the present value would be approximately $282MM. Using Cohen’s rate, it would be even lower, around $203MM. This substantial difference reveals that the perceived CBT advantages from deferrals are less significant than they initially seem. Although deferrals offer teams greater financial flexibility in managing cash flow, their present value is inflated by the conservative discount rate used for CBT calculations.

While the CBT benefits from deferrals may be overstated, they carry inherent long-term risks. Revenue declines or ownership changes could jeopardize those large future payments. However, the Dodgers’ deep pockets mitigate these risks. Guggenheim’s returns suggest they’re well-positioned to meet these obligations. Commissioner Manfred cited the early 2000s Diamondbacks as a cautionary tale. Still, Arizona’s spending outpaced revenue, and their ownership was less diversified than the current Dodgers group, making a similar outcome unlikely. LA’s bet on continued financial success is reasonable.

My experience negotiating MLB contracts in large markets has shown that various contract structures can be critical to reaching agreements. We used salary escalators, signing bonuses, player opt-outs, and, yes, those evil deferrals. When I was with the Mets, we signed Francisco Lindor to a $341MM contract, including $50MM in deferrals and a $21MM signing bonus. While the deferrals didn’t drastically alter our CBT payroll, they were instrumental in reaching a “magic number” for Lindor, pushing him $1MM over Fernando Tatis Jr. to secure the headline highest-paid shortstop.

The “magic number” concept is crucial in player negotiations. It represents the minimum financial threshold a player is willing to accept to validate their market value and status. These numbers are rarely explicitly stated, as agents are more likely to present significantly higher buy-it-now prices and counteroffers. Effective negotiation requires understanding the underlying motivations behind this elusive target. Athletes at this level are incredibly competitive, so their reasons for setting their sights on a particular “magic number” differ from the typical fan.

Perhaps they’re motivated to be the highest paid at their position, to push the market forward to benefit the union, or maybe it’s a number that just feels better (e.g., $2MM vs. $1.95MM). Sometimes, the gap between the player’s “magic number” and the team’s offer is too wide to bridge. However, in other cases, creative contract structures, including deferrals, can be the key to finding common ground. If this flexibility didn’t exist, reaching those critical “magic numbers” would become significantly more challenging. This could lead to longer, more drawn-out negotiations—a scenario that already frustrates many baseball fans.

Mookie Betts’ contract with the Dodgers offers another compelling example. He signed a $365MM deal with $115MM deferred. While the headline figure was impressive (second largest contract behind Trout!), the present value was $307MM, placing it below a few additional contracts (Bryce Harper, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gerrit Cole). This structure allowed the Dodgers to acquire a star player while satisfying Mookie and his agent’s desire to be seen as a top-two player. In Boston, we had tried to re-sign Betts, but our self-imposed $300MM limit wasn’t enough to meet this desire. A similar deferral structure to the Dodgers’ deal might have changed the outcome.

The Dodgers and other marquee franchises play an essential role in baseball. People are fascinated by greatness and love to root for or against the best, whether it’s Mahomes’ Chiefs, Jordan’s Bulls, Jeter’s Yankees, or Ken Jennings’ Jeopardy. Baseball’s “Goliaths,” as Scott Boras calls them, drive higher interest and TV ratings, ultimately benefiting all MLB teams. While fans of smaller-market teams may express frustration over the financial disparities, eliminating deferrals won’t solve their economic concerns.

The Dodgers are drawing all the attention because they added so many big names over the last five years. This is due to several factors: their superior financial resources, their ability to optimize player performance, their winning culture, and their West Coast location, which is a significant draw for Japanese players. These factors have raised their villain status, and that’s good for baseball. But along with that comes more noise, including misplaced outcries about deferrals.

Dodgers, Alex Vesia Avoid Arbitration

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The Dodgers and lefty reliever Alex Vesia have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $2.3MM deal with a club option for the 2026 season, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Vesia had filed at $2.35MM, while the Dodgers countered with a $2.05MM figure. Vesia comes out well ahead of the midpoint between those two figures and above the $1.9MM projection from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. He was the Dodgers’ lone pending arbitration case, so they’ve now avoided the need for any arb hearings in 2025.

Vesia’s deal pays him $2.25MM in 2025, with the additional $50K guarantee coming in the form of the buyout on a $3.55MM option for 2026, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports. Via a series of performance-based escalators, he can boost the value of that option by $175K, to $3.725MM.

The 28-year-old Vesia (29 in April) has been a key late-inning presence for Los Angeles since coming over from the Marlins alongside righty Kyle Hurt in a Feb. 2021 trade that sent Dylan Floro to Miami. He’s pitched 210 1/3 innings of 2.57 ERA ball for L.A. and picked up 47 holds and eight saves along the way. That includes a career-best showing in 2024, when he notched a minuscule 1.76 earned run average, collected five saves and 13 holds, and fanned 33.1% of his opponents (against an ugly 12.5% walk rate, granted).

The 2024-25 offseason marks Vesia’s second trip through the arbitration process. He picks up a hearty 130% raise on last year’s even $1MM salary. By tacking on a club option for the 2026 campaign, the Dodgers have both potentially bought out his final two seasons of arbitration eligibility and also, at least in a technical sense, adhered to the prominent “file and trial” approach to arbitration by the vast majority of teams in the league in recent years (which is to say, once figures are exchanged/filed, talks on one-year deals are halted).

The presence of the option is notable in that it technically makes Vesia’s contract a multi-year deal, even if the second season isn’t guaranteed. Because there’s an option on it, the agreement can’t be used as a comp in future arbitration negotiations on one-year deals with similar players — either by the Dodgers or the other teams in the league.

Poll: Will The Cardinals Be Able To Trade Nolan Arenado?

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One of the biggest storylines of the offseason has been the Cardinals’ to this point unsuccessful attempts at moving veteran third baseman Nolan Arenado. As the club scales back its payroll and focuses on youth, both the Cardinals and Arenado himself have expressed a desire to move on this winter. In theory, moving an eight-time All-Star who’s just two seasons removed from being an MVP finalist should not be an especially difficult task, but a confluence of factors has made things very complicated for St. Louis’s front office.

The most obvious limiting factor at play is Arenado’s hefty contract. The infielder is due $74MM over the next three seasons, and even with the Rockies poised to pitch in $10MM as a condition of the trade that sent him to St. Louis in the first place, it’s hard to imagine a number of smaller or even mid-market clubs being able to stomach the majority of that salary. Even for clubs who can afford to pay Arenado, it would be understandable if there was some level of pause about committing that much money to a hitter coming off a .272/.325/.394 slash line that was essentially league average (102 wRC+). Arenado’s glove is still enough to make him a roughly three-win player even with his diminished offensive numbers but the division rival Cubs’ difficulties in finding a trade partner when looking to move Cody Bellinger this winter show how depressed the market can become for a three-win player who’s making more than they would fetch on the open market.

Things are further complicated by Arenado’s no-trade clause, which he’s appeared to be very comfortable wielding in order to direct the Cardinals’ negotiation efforts towards clubs he wants to join. Arenado blocked a trade to the Astros in mid-December despite previous belief that he would approve a trade to Houston, in large part because he wanted to see how the club would fortify the roster after trading away Kyle Tucker. That decision to wait and see what was next for Houston backfired, as they pivoted towards signing Christian Walker in a move that likely closed the door on Arenado joining the Astros.

Since the deal with the Astros fell through, the market for Arenado’s services has been exceptionally quiet, with the Cardinals beginning to entertain the possibility that Arenado might be in camp for the start of Spring Training or even still be in the club’s starting lineup on Opening Day. The Yankees reportedly tried to convince the Cardinals to do a swap that would’ve sent Arenado to the Bronx and right-hander Marcus Stroman to the St. Louis, but the Cardinals dismissed that offer without even presenting it to Arenado due to a lack of interest in adding Stroman to the fold. It’s hardly a surprise that they wouldn’t want to take on Stroman and is $18.5MM salary for 2025, but that decision only serves to highlight the financial difficulties the Cardinals face in attempting to move their third baseman.

Even as a trade of Arenado has become less likely as the calendar has flipped to 2025, there are at least some reasons for optimism. Arenado has reportedly become more open-minded about what clubs he would approve a trade to in recent weeks, which could theoretically inspire renewed efforts from clubs like the Mariners, Royals, and Tigers who have some level of interest in him but initially believed that Arenado would block any trade they worked out with the Cardinals. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have indicated that they wouldn’t necessarily need to cut payroll elsewhere if Arenado remains with the club in 2025. It’s at least theoretically possible that’s simply a negotiation tactic, but if the Cardinals are truly not operating under a mandate to cut payroll to a specific level, then perhaps they’ll be more willing to chip in cash to help pay down Arenado’s salary or accept another underwater contract as part of the return.

One obvious catalyst that could spur Arenado talks back to the forefront of the hot stove would be Alex Bregman finding a new home in free agency. Bregman entered the winter ranked as the #3 free agent overall and the top available infielder according to MLBTR’s annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list, but he’s found a relatively quiet market to his point in the winter. The Red Sox, Tigers, Astros, Blue Jays, and Cubs are all known to be involved in Bregman’s market to this point on at least some level. While trading Arenado to a division rival like the Cubs is nearly impossible to imagine, the Astros have already moved on, and Toronto may not be competitive enough to satisfy the veteran. The interest is mutual in at least the case of the Red Sox, who currently figure to start Arenado’s longtime Rockies teammate Trevor Story at shortstop on a regular basis this year. If Bregman were to come to a decision, and especially one that saw him end up in Houston, Chicago, or Toronto, it’s easy to imagine Arenado’s market picking up more significantly.

How do MLBTR readers think things will play out? Will Arenado be in another uniform before Opening Day? And if so, will a deal get done before he’s scheduled to report to the Cardinals for Spring Training on February 17? Have your say in the poll below:

Will The Cardinals Trade Arenado This Offseason?
No, he'll be a Cardinal on Opening Day 2025. 64.22% (5,836 votes)
Yes, but he'll be traded after camp begins on February 17. 18.07% (1,642 votes)
Yes, and he'll be traded before Spring Training. 17.72% (1,610 votes)
Total Votes: 9,088

Tigers Sign Tommy Kahnle

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The Tigers are adding to one of their primary strengths from the 2024 season, announcing the signing of veteran right-handed reliever Tommy Kahnle to a one-year, $7.75MM contract. Detroit designated Alex Faedo for assignment in a corresponding move. Kahnle is represented by the Ballengee Group.

Kahnle, 35, has been oft-injured in recent years but when healthy has been one of the top setup arms in the sport on a rate basis. He’s only pitched 97 frames dating back to 2020, but 83 of those innings have come over the past two seasons. And, since 2020, he touts a pristine 2.41 ERA with a 28% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate. He’s been placed into 38 save situations and tallied 32 holds and four saves along the way, only being saddled with two blown saves in that span.

Though Kahnle is right-handed, he carries neutral platoon splits because he possesses one of the game’s best changeups. That helps him mitigate damage against lefties, and the pitch is effective enough for him to use in right-on-right settings as well. He’s held fellow righties to a .206/.307/.343 slash in his career and seen lefties hit him at a similar .215/.295/.359 pace.

Because his changeup is so effective, Kahnle has taken the already frequent use of the pitch to new heights over the past three years. Since 2022, he’s thrown his changeup a comical 74.6% of the time on the mound. He famously threw 61 consecutive changeups as the Yankees progressed through the postseason this year. It’s hard to blame him for leaning on the pitch so heavily; opponents have slashed just .175/.236/.287 against Kahnle’s changeup in his career — including an even worse .157/.227/.264 slash in 2024.

Kahnle adds a seasoned setup arm to a Tigers relief corps on which manager A.J. Hinch leaned heavily down the stretch. Late in the season, Detroit was typically only using Tarik Skubal and Reese Olson as starters, following that duo with a series of bullpen games where any pitcher could be called upon at any time. The addition of Kahnle might add a bit more order and structure to what Hinch termed “pitching chaos.” Detroit doesn’t have a set closer at the moment, but Kahnle’s experience in high-leverage spots should put him in that mix along with Beau Brieske and Jason Foley, who paced the team with 28 saves in 2024.

With Kahnle, Brieske, Foley, Tyler Holton and Will Vest likely to handle late-inning work, the Tigers’ bullpen is largely taking shape. They’ll have Kenta Maeda in a long role as he looks to potentially pitch his way back into the rotation mix. Sean Guenther, Brenan Hanifee, Brant Hurter and former closer Alex Lange will be in the mix for innings as well.

The $7.75MM guarantee on Kahnle’s deal will take the Tigers to a payroll just shy of $119MM. That stands as an increase of roughly $15MM over the team’s 2024 levels but still sits nowhere close to the franchise-record $200MM mark reached under late owner Mike Ilitch (whose son, Chris, is now the team’s chairman and CEO).

The Tigers have recently been connected to seasoned late-inning relievers, specifically names with closing experience. They’ve also been prominently involved in third baseman Alex Bregman’s market. Given that interest, it would stand to reason there’s at least room for one more bullpen addition if the team prefers — the cost of Kahnle plus a second reliever would still fall well shy of even one year of Bregman’s salary — though it’s unclear whether the team has earmarked some potential funds for the longtime Houston third baseman or if the deal with Kahnle is the start of a pivot in a new direction.

The Tigers have added three free agents this offseason, though none has inked a deal longer than a year in length. Right-hander Alex Cobb and infielder Gleyber Torres both agreed to one-year deals with a $15MM guarantee.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported the two sides were close to a deal. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic added that it’d be for one year. Robert Murray of FanSided reported the finalized agreement and the $7.75MM guarantee.

MLBTR Podcast: Ryan Pressly To The Cubs, Bregman’s Future, And Jurickson Profar

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Will Ben Cherington get the Pirates a right fielder before spring training? (21:10)
  • What is holding up Jack Flaherty’s market? (23:15)
  • Why is the MLB offseason so different from the other sports? (29:00)
  • Is there a common thread with the unsigned free agents? (32:50)
  • Brett Baty to the Padres and Luis Arráez to the Mets, straight up, no money changing hands. Who says no? (38:45)
  • News of the Pirates signing Adam Frazier breaks during recording (39:25)
  • Back to the Baty-Arráez question (39:50)
  • Should the Cubs get Michael King from the Padres and what would the cost be? (42:50)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Reds, Wade Miley Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Reds and veteran lefty Wade Miley have agreed to a minor league contract, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The O’Connell Sports Management client will earn a prorated $2.5MM base salary in the big leagues and can bump that to $4MM via innings-based incentives, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

Miley, who’s on the mend from Tommy John surgery performed late last April, is aiming for a return in mid-to-late May. That’d mark a roughly 13-month recovery window if he’s able to do so. (Nightengale also adds that there’s a June 1 opt-out, though that’s standard for any Article XX(B) free agent who signs a minor league contract; Miley will also have opt-outs five days prior to Opening Day and on May 1, but he’ll still be rehabbing at both points.)

It’s the second stint with the Reds for Miley. He also pitched in Cincinnati from 2020-21, signing a two-year, $15MM contract with the Reds in the 2019-20 offseason. The Reds don’t have a glaring rotation need, as they’re currently expected to deploy Hunter Greene, Brady Singer, Nick Lodolo, Nick Martinez and Andrew Abbott — with prospects like Rhett Lowder, Chase Petty and Connor Phillips all climbing the ranks as well. However, injuries are an inevitability for any pitching staff, and Miley could provide some veteran reinforcement at about the one-third mark of the 2025 season.

Miley, 38, made only two starts with the Brewers in 2024 before requiring elbow surgery. Emotional at the time, the southpaw said he’d take some time to determine whether he wanted to return to pitching or whether the torn elbow ligament would effectively end his career. In late December, Miley made clear that he indeed planned to return to the mound and hoped to do so as a member of the Brewers, with whom he’d spent the past two seasons. However, Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Miley’s shortlist of clubs for which he’d pitch also included his other two most-recent employers — the Reds and the Cubs — and that Cincinnati put together a more compelling contract structure for the southpaw.

The last mostly healthy season for Miley came with Milwaukee in 2023, when he tallied 120 1/3 innings and posted a tidy 3.14 earned run average along the way. He posted just a 16.1% strikeout rate, one of the lowest in the league, and surely benefited from a .234 average on balls in play. However, Miley also displayed good command (7.8% walk rate), kept the ball on the ground at a solid clip (46.3%) and continued a careerlong trend of inducing weak contact far more often than most pitchers.

Miley has never missed many bats. Earlier in his career, he was the consummate crafty left-hander/innings eater, making 30-plus appearances each season from 2012-17. Late in that stretch, however, his career looked to be on the downswing. His already pedestrian fastball velocity dipped to just over 91 mph on average, and he was tagged for a 5.37 ERA and 5.61 ERA in consecutive seasons in 2016-17.

Miley’s career had a second act beginning with a minor league pact in Milwaukee back in 2018. Since that time, he’s only reached 100 innings three times in seven years but has been better than ever on a rate basis. Dating back to 2018, he’s tossed 589 2/3 frames with a 3.46 ERA between the Brewers, Astros, Cubs and Reds.

Pirates Designate Elvis Alvarado For Assignment

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The Pirates announced Wednesday that they’ve designated right-hander Elvis Alvarado for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to infielder/outfielder Adam Frazier, whose previously reported one-year deal to return to his original organization has now been formally announced by the team.

Alvarado, 26 next month, has yet to make his big league debut. He signed the with Pirates as a free agent just over six weeks ago but did so on a split major league deal, giving him separate salaries in the majors and minors (paid out in prorated fashion based on where he’s pitching). Today’s DFA doesn’t necessarily preclude him from pitching in the majors, but he’ll first have to clear waivers and, if he does, pitch his way onto the MLB roster either this spring or at some point during the regular season.

Originally signed out of the Dominican Republic by the Nationals, Alvarado has also pitched with the Mariners, Tigers and Marlins organizations. He spent the bulk of the 2024 campaign with Miami’s Triple-A affiliate in Jacksonville, where he logged a 2.79 ERA and fanned a whopping 33.1% of his opponents in 48 1/3 innings pitched. However, command issues that Alvarado had experienced in the lower minors and looked to have moved past instead resurfaced; he issued a free pass to a glaring 17.8% of his opponents and plunked five of the 214 batters he faced as well. Overall, 20.1% of his opponents reached base without putting a ball in play.

Alvarado has a major fastball, averaging a blazing 98 mph on the pitch last season and coupling it with an 86.6 mph slider (on average) and 96.1 mph sinker (on average). He threw that heater nearly three quarters of the time, generally overpowering opponents with the pitch but also displaying scattershot command of the strike zone.

The Pirates will have five days to trade Alvarado. He’d have to be placed on waivers at that point, as waivers are a 48-hour process and the DFA window lasts only seven days. If he’s not traded, that split contract he signed will make it likelier that he’s able to pass through waivers. Most teams likely weren’t willing to commit a 40-man spot to Alvarado — and those that were may not have offered as compelling a package in terms of minor league salary. If he does clear, he’ll likely be in camp as a non-roster invitee and hope to impress enough to get a big league bullpen job.

Pirates Sign Adam Frazier

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Jan. 29: The Pirates formally announced their reunion with Frazier this morning.

Jan. 28: Adam Frazier is headed back to the Pirates. The McKinnis Sports client is reportedly in agreement with his old club on a one-year, $1.525MM contract. The team has yet to announce the signing.

Frazier, now 33 years old, had a strong six-year run with the Buccos to begin his career, slashing a combined .283/.346/.420 in 2232 plate appearances while posting quality overall defensive grades at both second base and in left field.

That stretch culminated with a huge .324/.388/.448 slash in the first half of the ’21 season, with Frazier logging a career-low 10.7% strikeout rate along the way. That resulted in an All-Star nod for Frazier and helped ramp up trade interest while the Pirates operated as deadline sellers. The Padres wound up acquiring Frazier, who was controllable through the 2022 season, in exchange for outfielder Jack Suwinski, utilityman Tucupita Marcano and righty Michell Miliano.

Things didn’t pan out for Frazier in San Diego, however, and he’s never gotten his bat back on track. While he hit for a decent average down the stretch with the Friars, his walk rate and already limited power output tumbled. In 211 plate appearances, he batted .267/.327/.335 — about 13% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+. Rather than pay him a raise in arbitration that winter, the Padres traded him to the Mariners, where his offensive struggles continued.

In three and a half seasons since leaving the Pirates, Frazier has suited up for the Padres, Mariners, Orioles and Royals. That covers a span of 1562 plate appearances, during which Frazier sports a tepid .236/.301/.336 batting line (82 wRC+). His 2024 season in Kansas City was the worst of his career; he batted only .202/.282/.294 in 294 plate appearances with the Royals last year and fanned in a career-worst 20.1% of his plate appearances.

Though his offense has continued to flounder, Frazier posted solid defensive grades at second base and in the outfield corners last year. His strikeout rate may have been a career-high but was still a couple percentage points lower than league-average, while his 7.5% walk rate was within one percentage point of average. The Pirates have not only a righty-heavy bench mix but more broadly a roster and lineup that skews right-handed. Oneil Cruz, Spencer Horwitz and switch-hitting Bryan Reynolds are the only lefty bats assured of frequent playing time in Pittsburgh. Frazier will give the Pirates a familiar face and a contact-oriented left-handed bat to slot into the bench group.

With Pittsburgh still facing uncertainty at both second base and in right field, Frazier is a cheap backup plan at either spot. He’s not going to be Plan A for the Pirates at either position, but he can step in at second base if a group of infielders including Nick Yorke, Nick Gonzales, Jared Triolo and Liover Peguero struggle and force versatile Isiah Kiner-Falefa into regular work at shortstop. Reynolds is locked into one outfield corner, but the other options on the 40-man roster right now include Suwinski (who struggled immensely in 2024), Billy Cook and out-of-options Joshua Palacios.

Frazier is the latest in a characteristically budget-friendly string of free agent signings for the Pirates. Pittsburgh has brought franchise icon Andrew McCutchen back on another one-year, $5MM contract — his third straight $5MM deal with the Bucs — which stands as their largest financial expenditure of the winter. The Pirates have also added lefties Caleb Ferguson ($3MM) and Tim Mayza ($1.15MM) on one-year deals, although Mayza’s deal was just agreed to yesterday and has yet to be formally announced by the team. RosterResource currently projects an $80.5MM payroll, including Frazier and Mayza, with about $104MM of CBT obligations. The Pirates have long been rumored to be seeking a corner outfield upgrade but have yet to bring in any outside help to fill that glaring need.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported the Pirates were in agreement with Frazier on a major league deal. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com had the $1.525MM salary.

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