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Dodgers, Padres Looking Into Trading For International Bonus Pool Funds

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10:10PM: The Padres are also looking to trade for more int’l signing pool space, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand writes (multiple links).  More teams than just the Sasaki suitors are also exploring such trades, as an executive tells Feinsand that “other teams are recognizing opportunities” to be aggressive in the international market.

9:07PM: The 23-year-old Roki Sasaki is considered an international free agent due to his age, as league rules dictate, and thus his impending arrival to the big leagues has brought extra attention to the int’l free agent acquisition process, which officially began today with the opening of the signing window.  The race to sign Sasaki isn’t technically a bidding war since the money on offer is limited by the bonus pool structure, and Sasaki’s willingness to make the jump to the majors so early in his career indicates that salary isn’t his chief priority.

Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean the three teams reportedly remaining in the hunt for Sasaki won’t try to add a few extra dollars to their offers.  Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times reports that the Dodgers have engaged multiple teams in “exploratory” discussions about trading for extra money from their bonus pools, though there doesn’t appear to be any indication that any deals are close.

Clubs are permitted to trade from their bonus pools in increments of $250K, and teams are allowed to add to their pre-existing pools by as much as 60 percent of their original number.  The Dodgers’ 2025 pool was reduced by $1MM due to their signing of Shohei Ohtani last winter, as Ohtani rejected the Angels’ qualifying offer and the Dodgers were a luxury-tax paying team in 2023, which left Los Angeles with $5,146,200 to work with for this year’s international class.

This amount is tied with the Giants for the lowest pool of any team.  The Blue Jays and Padres (the other Sasaki finalists) have a pool size of $6,261,600, giving them a bit extra to work with in terms of paying Sasaki, or spending on other int’l talents should Sasaki sign elsewhere.  Should all three teams trade for the maximum amount of extra pool space, the Dodgers would have approximately $8,223,920 to offer Sasaki, while Toronto and San Diego could offer him $10,018,560.

As noted earlier, Sasaki likely isn’t going to base his decision on what will ultimately end up being pretty similar offers from his three suitors.  This could be why the Dodgers are apparently not yet pushing too hard to add to their pool space, as Sasaki might end up signing elsewhere anyway.  Harris also notes that for the Dodgers (and presumably the Padres and Blue Jays), there’s a lack of leverage in such trade talks, as rival teams know full well that int’l bonus money is of particular importance as the clock ticks down towards January 23 and the close of Sasaki’s posting window.

International pool space is usually not considered a hugely valuable trade asset in general, though naturally teams trying to amass extra money to complete a signing may think otherwise.  Earlier today, we saw the Giants acquire extra pool money in a pair of trades, as Blake Sabol was sent to the Red Sox and Will Kempner was dealt to the Marlins.  These additional funds helped San Francisco boost its $5,146,200 figure, and probably helped the team land its top signing — highly-touted Dominican shortstop prospect Josuar De Jesus Gonzalez, who got a bonus of $2,997,500.

The other wrinkle on the trade front is that teams with bonus space to spare might want to keep that money themselves for more signings, rather than deal it away.  The team that lands Sasaki will have to walk away from its pre-existing handshake agreements with most or all members of its 2025 international signing class, so several other interesting prospects could soon be entering the market.  Even the possibility that these unofficial agreements might not be honored has cost the Dodgers at least three prospects already, so the two teams who don’t sign Sasaki might both miss out on the pitcher and have to deal with a reduced group of int’l prospects if some of the players leave in advance.

Tommy Brown Passes Away

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Former big leaguer Tommy Brown passed away today at age 97, according to The Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh.  “Buckshot” Brown played in 494 games with the Dodgers, Phillies, and Cubs from 1944-53, and he holds distinctions as the youngest player to ever hit a home run in a Major League game, and the youngest non-pitcher to ever appear in a Major League game.

Brown broke into the majors in August 1944 when he was just 16 years old.  With several players serving in the military during World War II, big league teams were forced to fill out rosters with several players that wouldn’t have normally made the Show, opening the door to several young players like Brown.  He played in 46 games for his hometown Brooklyn Dodgers in 1944, and then made 57 more appearances in 1945.  It was on August 20, 1945 that Brown hit his first career homer and entered the record books at 17 years and 257 days old.

By 1946, Brown was old enough to enlist for military duty himself, and he missed the 1946 season while serving in the U.S. Army.  He returned to baseball in 1947, and played in 169 more games for Brooklyn over parts of the next five seasons.  Playing primarily as a shortstop, Brown also saw a lot of time at the other three infield positions and in left field over the course of his career.  Dodgers manager Leo Durocher gave Brown his nickname of “Buckshot,” as Brown had a strong but erratic throwing arm that led to more than a few wayward throws in his early days.

While Brown didn’t see much action as a part-time player with Brooklyn, it was admittedly hard to crack the lineup of a star-studded Dodgers team.  As Lindbergh noted, when Brown returned from the war to participate in the Dodgers’ Spring Training camp, he lost the competition for the first base job to none other than Jackie Robinson.  Brown still played a valuable role as a utilityman during this memorable Dodgers era, and he had two pinch-hit at-bats during Brooklyn’s five-game loss to the Yankees in the 1949 World Series.

The Dodgers traded Brown to the Phillies in June 1951, and he played in 96 more games for Philadelphia over the next two seasons before landing with the Cubs for the final 126 games of his MLB career.  Brown finished with a .241/.292/.355 slash line and 31 homers over 1387 career plate appearances, with his best numbers coming in bench duty with the Dodgers in 1950, and amidst a surge in playing time in 1952 after he went to Chicago.

Brown played in six more minor league seasons before retiring at age 31.  This included a stint with Nashville’s minor league team from 1955-58 that ended up changing the course of Brown’s life, as he met his future wife in Nashville and spent 35 years working at the city’s Ford Glass plant after his baseball career was over.

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Brown’s family and friends.

Mets Interested In Tim Hill

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The Mets have “been interested lately” in left-hander Tim Hill, Newsday’s Tim Healey reports.  Hill has now drawn some looks from two different New York boroughs, as the Yankees were also linked to Hill’s market last month.

Adam Ottavino, Jake Diekman, Phil Maton, Drew Smith, Brooks Raley, and Ryne Stanek are all free agents, and the Mets have largely looked to replace this relief depth with an influx of minor league signings and waiver claims.  Griffin Canning was signed to a big league deal and looks to be part of the bullpen mix, as well.  Amidst all of these moves, however, Danny Young is the only southpaw bullpen option on the 40-man roster, so the Mets certainly have a need for more left-handed pitching help.

Signing Tanner Scott would certainly address the bullpen balance in a major fashion, yet regardless of whether or not the Mets’ pursuit of Scott pans out, a veteran arm like Hill would also help.  Hill got a taste of the New York spotlight last season, when he posted an outstanding 2.05 ERA over 44 regular-season innings with the Yankees and then a 1.08 ERA in 8 1/3 playoffs innings.

A .238 BABIP certainly contributed to that success in the pinstripes, and for an extreme groundball pitcher like Hill, batted-ball luck has largely contributed to his ebbs and flows over his seven MLB seasons.  Hill has a 3.99 ERA across 322 1/3 career innings with the Royals, Padres, White Sox, and Yankees, with an excellent 61.8% grounder rate.  He was an average strikeout pitcher at best in the early part of his career, but Hill’s strikeout rate has dropped to just 11.8% over the last three seasons.  The decrease in strikeouts has also generally coincided with a dropoff in home runs, as keeping the ball in the park was also an issue for Hill earlier in his career.

Hill turns 35 in February, and given how two rough months with the White Sox preceded his strong showing in the Bronx, the left-hander will surely land just a one-year contract in free agency.  That might fit well with David Stearns’ usual approach to investing in relief pitching, as the Mets president of baseball operations has rarely spent much on bullpen arms, instead preferring to develop relievers from within or to find hidden gems on minor league deals.

Latest On Mets, Pete Alonso

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7:28PM: Alonso and the Mets “are said to be making progress on at least the structure of a proposed deal that’s expected to be for three years and include at least one opt out,” according to Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman.  “While the sides appear amenable to that short-term structure,” Sherman and Heyman write, there’s still “a gap between offer and counteroffer,” with specific figures not mentioned.

5:15PM: The Mets and Pete Alonso have seemingly been in a staredown for quite a while and it’s still unclear who will blink first. Reporting from last week indicated that Alonso’s camp had pitched a short-term deal with opt-outs to the Mets but Alonso remains unsigned. Reports from both Andy Martino of SNY and Joel Sherman of The New York Post suggest a pivot point is coming where the Mets may move on to plans that don’t involve Alonso having a place on the 2025 team.

It has long seemed possible that Alonso’s free agency could go this way. Last winter, the “Boras Four” lingered in free agency well into the new year and eventually settled for contracts below expectations. Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery all signed deals that only were guaranteed for two or three years, though with each player having the chance to opt-out after each season. There were reasons to expect Alonso might follow them down this road.

Alonso reportedly turned down an extension offer of seven years and $158MM back in the summer of 2023. He still had one arbitration season to go at that point, ultimately making $20.5MM in 2024, so he effectively turned down $137.5MM for six free agent years. There had been reports that Alonso was looking at the contracts of Freddie Freeman and Matt Olson at targets. Freeman signed for $162MM over six years, though with deferrals. Olson signed an eight-year, $168MM extension when he was still two years away from free agency.

But Alonso isn’t as well-rounded of a player as those two. While his power is elite, his plate discipline and defense are both below Freeman and Olson. He’s also coming off a couple of relative down years. He had a career batting line of .261/.349/.535 and a 137 wRC+ through the 2022 season but then hit .229/.324/.480 for a 122 wRC+ over the two most recent campaigns. That’s still strong production but it will naturally concern a club thinking about making a long-term investment.

Alonso is still unsigned with pitchers and catchers set to report to spring training in less than a month. There is apparent willingness to pivot to a short-term deal but a deal still hasn’t come together. There is still more time, as Bellinger’s agreement came together in late February last year, Chapman’s in early March. However, today’s reports both point to the Mets starting to consider other options.

The Mets have had a front office shakeup since offering that extension to Alonso. Billy Eppler was the general manager at that time but David Stearns is now running the club’s baseball operations department. Stearns never really dedicated a lot of resources to first base, as shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker. A three-year, $16MM deal for Eric Thames was his biggest investment in the position for the Brewers. Milwaukee non-tendered Chris Carter after he hit 41 home runs in 2016, rather than pay him a projected $8.1MM salary.

Stearns is working with more resources now that he’s with the Mets but has continued to be measured in how he uses those resources, apart from the Juan Soto deal. Instead of signing top free agent starting pitchers, he has taken bounceback fliers on guys like Frankie Montas and Griffin Canning. He also signed Clay Holmes, hoping to get starting pitcher value for reliever prices.

The Mets do have some internal options for corner infield work. Mark Vientos had a great season in 2024, mostly playing third base, but his defense didn’t receive strong grades. It’s been suggested that he could be moved over to first base, with the hot corner then being open for a competition between guys like Brett Baty, Luisangel Acuña and Ronny Mauricio. There’s some uncertainty in going down that road and there would be some sense in adding Alonso back into the mix, but it seems the Mets and Alonso’s camp can’t agree on a fair price.

Teams will naturally be attracted to a short-term deal as it lowers the chances of them being saddled with a player’s decline years, but the player usually looks to get a higher average annual value as a compromise. Bellinger’s deal guaranteed him $80MM but in frontloaded fashion, allowing him to opt out after one year with $30MM in his pocket or after two years with $60MM in the bank. Alonso is perhaps looking for something similar, which the Mets may not be keen on.

The Mets are set to be a third-time payor of the competitive balance tax and RosterResource projects their CBT number at $276MM next year. Signing Alonso to something in the range of $25-30MM annually would push that close to the fourth and final tier of the tax, which is $301MM this year. The Mets would pay a 95% tax on spending from tier three to tier four, then a 110% tax for spending over the top line. As such, even employing Alonso for one year and then having him opt out would cost them something like $60MM. If he has a disappointing season and doesn’t opt out, as happened with Bellinger, they would be stuck with the deal for another year or two.

The Mets also stand to receive draft pick compensation if Alonso signs elsewhere. As a tax payor, their bonus pick wouldn’t be until after the fourth round. That’s not massively important in baseball terms but it’s not nothing and it would go away if they re-sign Alonso.

It’s a tricky calculation for the Mets to make with a franchise favorite, but it seems they are willing to play hard ball and move on to other options soon. Martino does mention that the Mets checked in with the Blue Jays about Vladimir Guerrero Jr. but also downplays the talks significantly, characterizing the fit as “fantasy baseball.” That aligns with public comments from Toronto’s general manager Ross Atkins, who has often downplayed the likelihood of the Jays trading Guerrero or Bo Bichette.

Martino mentions a reunion with Jesse Winker or signing Anthony Santander as other possible pivots, though he adds that the latter is less likely to come to fruition. For Alonso, if he’s not destined to go back to Queens, he will have to do his own pivot. MLBTR recently looked at some of the clubs that could potentially sign him to a short-term deal, with the Giants, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Angels, Athletics and Tigers some of the options.

Nationals Sign Franchy Cordero To Minor League Contract

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The Nationals signed outfielder/first baseman Franchy Cordero to a minor league contract, according to Aram Leighton of Just Baseball Media.  There are conflicting reports over whether or not the deal includes an invitation to the Nats’ big league spring camp, as Leighton writes that Cordero got an invite while the Washington Post’s Andrew Golden writes otherwise.

Cordero returns to North American baseball after a year spent with the Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball.  More specifically, most of Cordero’s time was spent with the Lions’ top minor league affiliate, as he played only 23 games with the Lions and struggled to a .129/.151/.200 over 73 NPB plate appearances.

It was hardly the performance Cordero was hoping for in his trip to Japan, which could be why (as per Golden’s report) Washington only issued him an invite to its minor league Spring Training site.  Regardless of the exact nature of Cordero’s contract, the minor league deal is a no-risk move for the Nationals to look at Cordero first-hand and see what he can still bring to the table as he enters his age-30 season.

Cordero hit .217/.283/.395 with 27 home runs over 797 PA and 251 games with the Padres, Royals, Red Sox, and Yankees from 2017-23.  Despite the lack of production, it was easy to see why so multiple teams kept taking chances on Cordero, as his power potential, exit velocity numbers, and plus speed gave the impression that a breakout was just around the corner. However, Cordero’s 34.9% career strikeout rate minimized his impact, as pitchers were often able to turn Cordero’s aggressive approach at the plate into a minus rather than a plus.

Defensively, Cordero has experience at first base and at all three outfield positions, though he isn’t considered to be much of a fielder.  Washington’s minor league depth chart doesn’t have many players with MLB experience at first base or in the outfield, so the Nationals could be viewing Cordero solely as a Triple-A backup plan.

Yankees Acquire Michael Arias

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The Yankees announced that they have acquired right-hander Michael Arias from the Cubs in exchange for cash considerations. The latter club had designated Arias for assignment earlier this week. The Yankees have multiple 40-man vacancies and don’t need to make a corresponding move.

Arias, 23, was originally an international signing of the Blue Jays. Signed as a shortstop, he was released and then signed by the Cubs, who moved him to the mound. Arias has shown some potential as a pitcher but lack of control has been the biggest drawback, which isn’t especially surprising for a guy who has only been in this role for a few years.

Overall, Arias has thrown 182 innings across multiple levels over the past four years, allowing 4.25 earned runs per nine. His 27.7% strikeout rate in that time is a solid number, but his 16.5% walk rate is quite high.

Despite the issues, the Cubs added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2023 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. His control didn’t improve in 2024, as he tossed 60 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 4.77 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate and 16.8% walk rate. When the Cubs signed Colin Rea, they bumped Arias off the roster.

For the Yankees, they have a few roster spots open, so there’s little harm in taking a flier. Arias still has a couple of options and can be kept in the minors as they try to help him harness his stuff better. Per Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice of FanGraphs, his arsenal includes “a mid-90s sinker, a potentially plus-plus changeup, and a righty-dowsing slider.”

Free Agent Faceoff: Jose Quintana vs Andrew Heaney

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The starting pitching options available in free agency have begun to dwindle with the start of Spring Training less than a month away, but a few interesting options still remain available. Jack Flaherty and Nick Pivetta are the top names still available in free agency at this point, though they figure to come with a high annual salary in the case of Flaherty and cost their new club draft capital as a qualified free agent in the case of Pivetta. Meanwhile, future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer stands alone at the top of the market for veterans likely to accept one year deals after Walker Buehler, Charlie Morton, and Justin Verlander all found homes earlier this winter.

Overlooked in this free agent class, however, is a pair of solid mid-rotation lefties. Veterans Andrew Heaney and Jose Quintana have garnered little if any buzz in the rumor mill to this point, but at this late stage in the offseason they stand out among the remaining crop of starters as some of the more reliable options still available. Ranked #25 and #31 on MLBTR’s annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list, Heaney and Quintana figure to be among the best arms available for clubs looking to bolster their rotation that don’t have room in the budget for a player like Flaherty or Pivetta. Even Scherzer could land a higher annual salary.

Quintana and Heaney have a number of striking similarities. From 2019 to 2021, both players posted an ERA north of 5.00 in less than 300 innings of work as they struggled to stay healthy and effective. Both players then appeared to take a major step forward in 2022, however, and since then have proven to be a reliable mid-rotation option despite occasional injury issues persisting. In Heaney’s case, his 2021 breakout came as a member of the Dodgers. While he was limited to just 72 2/3 innings of work due to injuries that year, he was dominant when healthy enough to pitch with a 3.10 ERA (130 ERA+) and an incredible 35.5% strikeout rate.

That breakout led Heaney to sign a two-year deal with the Rangers in free agency and, though he hasn’t quite reached that level of elite production since then, he’s managed to stay healthy and provide solid results to Texas. In 307 1/3 innings for the Rangers over the past two years, the lefty has pitched to a roughly league average 4.22 ERA (98 ERA+) with a 4.34 FIP. His strikeout rate has dipped to just 23.2% during his time in Dallas, but even in spite of that, he’s shown positive signs for the future. That’s particularly true of the 2024 season, when he cut his walk rate from 9.4% to a career-best 5.9% while his barrel rate dipped from 10.2% down to just 8.3%. Those improvements in batted ball results and walk rate allowed Heaney to post a 3.95 SIERA last year, good for 32nd among starters with 160 innings of work last year and sandwiched between Seth Lugo and Sean Manaea on the leaderboard.

By contrast, Quintana continued to get above average results this year with a 3.75 ERA (105 ERA+) in 31 starts for the Mets but started to show troubling signs in terms of peripherals. Quintana struck out just 18.8% of opponents for the second year in a row in 2024, but saw his walk rate climb to 8.8% while his barrel rate crept up to 6.7%. All that left Quintana with a 4.57 SIERA that ranks just 53rd among qualified starters. Father Time is also on Heaney’s side, as he’s roughly two-and-a-half years younger than Quintana, who will celebrate his 36th birthday later this month. Of course, that aforementioned barrel rate is still better than Heaney’s figure from 2024 and his career-best 47.4% groundball rate suggests he may be able to continue limiting damage and outperforming his peripherals going forward.

It’s also worth noting that Quintana has the stronger overall track record than Heaney. Although he experienced a blip in productiveness from 2019 to 2021, he had seven above-average seasons under his belt prior to that and since then has posted an excellent 3.39 ERA (118 ERA+) with a 3.74 FIP in 411 2/3 innings of work. Though he’s struck out just 19.4% of opponents in that time, that ERA is tied for 22nd among qualified starters since the start of the 2022 campaign, on par with the likes of Dylan Cease and George Kirby. While it seems unlikely that Quintana would be able to replicate that elite production going forward without improving on his strikeout and walk numbers, it’s possible his grounder-heavy profile could work quite well in front of a strong defense.

If your club was looking to add a veteran southpaw to its rotation, which would you prefer? Would you value Heaney’s relative youth and stronger peripherals in his platform campaign? Or would you overlook Quintana’s age and concerning peripherals in favor of his more consistent track record and knack for keeping the ball on the ground? Have your say in the poll below:

Which Would You Rather Have For 2025?
Jose Quintana 62.01% (2,027 votes)
Andrew Heaney 37.99% (1,242 votes)
Total Votes: 3,269

Rockies To Sign Keston Hiura, Nick Martini To Minor League Deals

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The Rockies have agreed to minor league deals with infielder Keston Hiura and outfielder Nick Martini, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Both players will receive an invite to Colorado’s major league spring camp. Hiura is represented by CAA Sports, while Martini is represented by Meister Sports Management.

Hiura, 28, has shown huge power potential in the majors. Unfortunately, that has been undercut by a massive strikeout problem. At this point, he has 1,084 major league plate appearances. 50 of those resulted in homers but 390 ended with a strikeout, a 36% punchout rate.

In 2024, he was only in the majors briefly, as the Angeles had him on the roster for a few weeks in July. He got 27 plate appearances in 10 games, hitting .148 with ten strikeouts. He also stepped to the plate 364 times at the Triple-A level, between the Tigers’ and Angels’ systems, hitting 26 home runs but striking out 29.4% of the time. Defensively, Hiura came up as a second baseman but his glovework hasn’t been well regarded at that spot. That’s led him to spend more time at first base, with a few stops in left field along the way.

With the big strikeouts and lack of defensive contributions, Hiura hasn’t managed to contribute much in his career yet. However, he’s a fine enough depth add for the Rockies. They’ve lost over 100 games in two straight seasons now, so competing in 2025 will be a challenge. There could be a path to playing time in the club’s first base/designated hitter mix. Kris Bryant will be one option there but he’s coming off three straight injury-marred seasons. Michael Toglia is also in the mix but he’s fairly Hiura-esque himself, having hit 25 home runs last year with a 32.1% strikeout rate.

Perhaps an injury to someone in that group, or someone in the corner outfield mix, could open up some playing time for Hiura. If he gets a roster spot, watching him hit at Coors Field could make for a good show. He is out of options but has less than four years of service time.

Martini, 35 in June, has a far less extreme profile. He has 575 career plate appearances over five separate seasons. His 9.6% walk rate and 21.7% strikeout rate are both slightly better than average. His .252/.336/.400 batting line leads to a 101 wRC+, indicating he’s been very slightly above average as a hitter in his career. Defensively, he’s played all three outfield slots, though mostly in left. His glovework there has been graded just a shade below par.

The outfield mix in Colorado projects to include Brenton Doyle, Nolan Jones, Sam Hilliard, Jordan Beck, Greg Jones, Sean Bouchard, Zac Veen and others. If Martini gets a roster spot at any point, he is out of options but has less than three years of service time.

Pirates Acquire Brett de Geus

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The Pirates have acquired right-hander Brett de Geus from the Blue Jays in exchange for cash, per announcements from both clubs. Toronto designated de Geus for assignment last week to create 40-man roster space for Jeff Hoffman.

The 27-year-old de Geus pitched 11 1/3 innings in the majors last year over the course of brief stints with the Mariners, Marlins and Blue Jays. He yielded nine earned runs in that time (7.15 ERA) and has a career 7.48 ERA in parts of two big league seasons (61 1/3 innings).

Obviously, that number is an eyesore, and de Geus’ career marks in Triple-A don’t inspire much more confidence (6.66 ERA in 50 innings). However, teams looking beneath the hood will see a sinker that averages better than 96 mph, consistently plus ground-ball rates, and interesting swing-and-miss data on the 6’2″ righty’s secondary offerings (cutter, knuckle curve, and seldom-used splitter). A former Rule 5 pick, de Geus has seen time with the Royals, Mariners, Marlins, Jays and now Pirates over the past two calendar years.

While de Geus will have to earn a spot in Pittsburgh’s bullpen — if he survives the rest of the winter on the 40-man roster — he won’t necessarily have to break camp with the club if he doesn’t. He has two minor league option years remaining, so the Bucs can hold onto him as relief depth to begin the season if they’re so inclined, with no risk of exposing him to waivers.

Despite the lack of success in the majors and upper minors, de Geus has been on four different 40-man rosters since April and six dating back to 2021. On the one hand, it’s easy to argue that’s because he’s routinely proven expendable. On the other, it’s also indicative of the fact that even with the unsightly earned run averages, teams have had a hard time sneaking de Geus through waivers. It’s clear that clubs are intrigued by his raw stuff, even if the results have yet to line up.

Mets Claim Austin Warren

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The Mets announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed right-hander Austin Warren off waivers from the Giants, who designated him for assignment last week. New York’s 40-man roster is now up to 38 players.

Warren, 29 next month, has seen small amounts of action in four straight big league seasons. He pitched for the Angels from 2021 to 2023 and then the Giants in 2024, though his workload stayed below 21 innings in each of those campaigns. Put together, he has thrown 48 2/3 innings, allowing 3.14 earned runs per nine. His 18.8% strikeout rate is subpar but his 7.4% walk rate and 46.2% ground ball rate are both strong numbers.

He underwent Tommy John surgery while still with the Angels in May of 2023 and spent the rest of that year on the injured list. He was released going into 2024 but managed to secure a big league deal from the Giants. He spent a decent chunk of 2024 on the IL as well but was back on the mound by season’s end.

Though his major league track record is fairly limited, spending most of the past two years on the injured list pushed him to Super Two status this winter. Back in November, he and the Giants avoided arbitration by agreeing to a split deal. Per the Associated Press, Warren will have a salary of $785K in the majors and $350K in the minors. When the club claimed Sam Huff a week ago, they bumped Warren off the roster, perhaps hoping to have him clear waivers. However, the Mets seem to like Warren at that price point and have snagged him off the wire.

Perhaps the Mets see the potential for a bit more with Warren. Over the past four years, he has thrown 104 1/3 innings in the minors with a 4.05 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate, while getting grounders on roughly half of the balls in play he’s allowed. If he can bring a few of those punchouts up to the big leagues, that would be a nice step forward. He still has one option year and can therefore be shuttled between Triple-A and the majors fairly freely. If he still has a roster spot at season’s end, he can be retained for 2026 via arbitration.

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