Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Twins Sign Ty France

By | at

TODAY: The Twins officially announced France’s deal.

FEBRUARY 11: The Twins are in agreement with infielder Ty France on a one-year contract, pending a physical. It’s a non-guaranteed major league deal that places the Equity Baseball client on the 40-man roster and reportedly pays him at a $1MM rate if he breaks camp with the team. France will fill the roster spot that was recently vacated when Minnesota placed lefty Brent Headrick on waivers and lost him to the Yankees.

France, 30, was an All-Star with the Mariners in 2022 but has seen his production dip over the past two seasons. From 2020-22, the former Padres farmhand mashed at a .285/.355/.443 clip despite playing his home games in perhaps the most pitcher-friendly setting in MLB: Seattle’s T-Mobile Park. Weighting for that disadvantage, wRC+ pegged him at 29% better than average with the bat.

The 2023 season brought about a downturn, but France was still slightly better than average in the box, batting .250/.337/.366. He declined further in 2024, however, hitting just .234/.305/.365. That came despite a midsummer DFA from the Mariners and subsequent landing with the Reds, who play in one of MLB’s top hitters’ parks. It was only 195 plate appearances, but the change in venue didn’t bring about a return to form for France, who’ll now look to bounce back with the Twins.

At his best, France has shown 20-homer pop with plenty of doubles and good bat-to-ball skills. Last year’s decline was in part due to a 21.6% strikeout rate, but from 2021-23, France kept that number down to 16.4%. He doesn’t walk much (career 6.5%), but his contact skills and line-drive approach have typically propped up his batting average and led to solid on-base marks.

Defensively, France has experience at first base, second base and third base, though he’s not a strong option at any of the three spots. From 2021-22, he looked to be improving considerably at first base, drawing positive marks from Defensive Runs Saved, Ultimate Zone Rating and Outs Above Average alike. Those grades slipped in 2023, and defensive metrics panned him as one of the worst defenders in the sport this past season.

Notably, France did miss time with a fractured heel; it stands to reason that could’ve hobbled him at the time of the injury in June and lingered throughout the season. At the time of the injury, France was hitting .251/.329/.403 (117 wRC+). His strikeout rate was up, but the results were still strong overall. Upon reinstatement from the IL just 11 days later, France fell into a deep swoon and batted .220/.285/.336 in a sample of 298 plate appearances.

Adding some right-handed depth to the lineup has been a priority for the Twins this winter. They recently brought in Harrison Bader to both back up Byron Buxton in center field and to serve as a platoon option with lefty-swinging corner outfielders Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner. France adds a second right-handed bat, one who’ll either supplant Jose Miranda as the favorite for reps at first base or perhaps just slot into a multi-player rotation between the infield corners and designated hitter.

Carlos Correa will be the Twins’ primary shortstop, but the rest of the infield is fluid. Royce Lewis is in line for regular time at third base, but the Twins have at least worked him out at second base as well. That’s in part because top prospect Brooks Lee — a natural shortstop — is seen as a better defender than Lewis at the hot corner. The presence of Lewis and Lee has pushed Miranda from third base to first base. The Twins also have second baseman/first baseman Edouard Julien in the mix, though the former top-100 prospect is looking to rebound from a down year at the plate in 2024. Utilityman Willi Castro can play virtually any spot on the diamond. The additions of France and Bader will likely push former top prospect Austin Martin from a bench role to a regular job in Triple-A.

Adding France into the mix only gives the Twins more options and safeguards against potential injury. Speculatively, that depth could also come into play in preparation for a late-offseason trade, though president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said recently that after focusing heavily on the trade market throughout the winter, the Twins saw more paths to upgrade in free agency. That didn’t appear to be in the cards for much of the winter, as the Twins have been up against a serious payroll crunch with the team up for sale, but it seems ownership recently gave the green light to upping the 2025 budget on a series of short-term deals. The Twins have added France, Bader ($6.25MM) and Danny Coulombe ($3MM) in the past week alone.

Phil Miller of the Star Tribune was first on the signing.

Twins Sign Erasmo Ramirez To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Twins have signed right-hander Erasmo Ramirez to a minor league contract, the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Bobby Nightengale reports.  Ramirez’s deal includes an invitation to Minnesota’s big league spring camp.

Ramirez has played for six different teams at the MLB level over his 12 seasons in the Show, with two different stints with the Rays accounting for 377 1/3 of his 849 career innings.  The second of those stints ended when Ramirez elected free agency last October, following a season that saw him post a 4.35 ERA over 20 2/3 innings.  Tampa Bay twice designated Ramirez for assignment and outrighted him off its 40-man roster over the course of the 2024 campaign, with Ramirez both times choosing to remain in the organization rather than testing free agency.

A starter and a swingman earlier in his career, the 34-year-old Ramirez has now settled into a role as a multi-inning reliever, though with plenty of ups and downs in his performance.  He seemingly got his career back on track with a 2.92 ERA in 86 1/3 innings with the Nationals in 2022, only to follow that year up with an ugly 6.41 ERA in 60 1/3 frames with Washington and Tampa in 2023.  His 2024 numbers represent something of a middle ground between those previous two seasons, but Ramirez benefited from a tiny .136 BABIP, and he allowed five homers in that small sample size of 20 2/3 innings.

Ramirez brings plenty of experience and innings-eating capability to the table, so he could be a useful pitcher for the Twins to keep around as a Triple-A depth option.  The Twins have a fair number of in-house bullpen options ahead of him on the depth chart, however, and Ramirez could possibly exercise his contract’s opt-out clause before Opening Day if he doesn’t feel he’ll get a clear opportunity for playing time in Minnesota.

Nationals Win Arbitration Hearing Against Nathaniel Lowe

By | at

The Nationals have won their arbitration hearing with Nathaniel Lowe, the TalkNats website reports.  Lowe will receive a $10.3MM salary for the 2025 season, rather than the $11.1MM salary he was hoping to land by going to a hearing.

First base was a major target area for D.C. this offseason, and the Nats addressed this need by acquiring Lowe from the Rangers for reliever Robert Garcia back in December.  Lowe hit .274/.359/.432 over 2576 plate appearances (123 wRC+) in his four seasons in Texas, with a resume that includes a Silver Slugger Award in 2022, and both a Gold Glove and a World Series ring in 2023.  Since the Rangers were looking to create room in their lineup and bolster their pen, the Garcia-for-Lowe trade helped both Texas and Washington check some boxes on their winter to-do lists.

Money was also a factor, as the Rangers were able to re-allocate Lowe’s projected salary towards other needs.  MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Lowe to earn $10.7MM, with that predicted salary falling right in between Lowe’s desired $11.1MM payday and the Rangers’ figure of $10.3MM.

An arbitration hearing is something of an awkward way for a player and a team to kick off a new partnership, yet even in defeat, Lowe’s $10.3MM salary is still a nice raise over the $7.5MM he earned in 2024.  He’ll have another year of arbitration eligibility before becoming eligible for free agency following the 2026 season.

Lowe’s hearing officially wraps up the 2024-25 arbitration class.  Of the 17 players who didn’t reach an agreement before the January 9 figure-filing deadline, nine went to hearings, with teams winning five of those nine cases.

Christian Yelich Says He’s “Ready For Opening Day” Following Back Surgery

By | at

Christian Yelich’s 2024 season was prematurely ended by a back surgery in mid-August, and at the time, the Brewers outfielder said he hoped he’d be fully recovered for the coming 2025 campaign.  It appears that best-case scenario looks to be in play, as Yelich told MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy and other reporters today that “I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day….Unless something crazy happens here, I don’t see why I wouldn’t be ready.”

It was a busy winter for Yelich, who said he didn’t get “really any break period” in between his rehab work and then his usual ramp-up work in advance of spring camp.  “If anything, I probably did more baseball stuff this offseason than I would in a typical offseason just out of necessity and having to check those boxes.  I feel good and wasn’t really delayed in any preparation for Spring Training,” the former NL MVP said.

Back problems have plagued Yelich for several years, so hopefully last year’s procedure might finally allow Yelich some longer-term relief as he enters his 13th Major League season.  Even before the surgery, Yelich was looking like he’d turned a corner and returned to his past MVP-level form.  After hitting a decent but unspectacular .254/.362/.407 over 2025 plate appearances during the 2020-23 seasons, Yelich broke out to a .315/.406/.504 slash line and 11 home runs over 315 PA in 2024 (translating to a 151 wRC+).  A .366 BABIP certainly contributed to that success, but several above-average secondary metrics indicated that Yelich’s big year was no fluke.

Yelich, the Brewers, and Milwaukee fans might wonder forever how a healthy Yelich might’ve changed the club’s postseason fortunes, as the Brew Crew were eliminated in heartbreaking fashion during the NL Wild Card Series.  The Brewers have made the playoffs in six of the last seven seasons, but haven’t won a postseason round since 2018, Yelich’s first season in the organization.

Missing out on this playoff run was painful both physically and emotionally for Yelich, but he was left with no choice since “my body stopped working, basically, so I had to have surgery.  It wasn’t like I could finish the season or not, or get surgery….If I could’ve finished the year I would’ve loved to have tried to finish the year, but the silver lining in having to get surgery then was like I’d for sure be ready for Opening Day.  So that was a good thing, and fortunately there weren’t many setbacks in the rehab process or anything like that.”

Yelich’s spectacular 2018-19 seasons led the team to lock him up on a new contract in advance of the 2020 campaign.  With seven years and $188.5MM in new money added in that extension, it was the biggest contract in Brewers history, and a sizable vote of confidence from an organization not known for big spending.  The outfielder’s modest production in the four seasons following the extension raised some concerns, but Yelich’s 2024 performance renews some hope that the 33-year-old can still reach an elite level.

Yelich spent 402 1/3 innings in left field last season but also got a good chunk of DH time.  Milwaukee has enough outfield depth that Yelich should again receive plenty of work as a designated hitter, in order to give him a partial rest day while still keeping his bat in the lineup.

Dodgers Sign Eddie Rosario To Minors Contract

By | at

The Dodgers have signed outfielder Eddie Rosario to a minor league deal, according to Ari Alexander of KPRC2.  Rosario has been looking for a new team since he was released from a previous minors deal with the Mets back in August.

A veteran of 10 MLB seasons, Rosario’s career highlight ironically came against the Dodgers back in 2021, when Rosario posted an absurd 1.647 OPS over 28 plate appearances in the Braves’ NLCS triumph over Los Angeles.  That incredible performance earned Rosario NLCS MVP honors, and he then earned a championship ring when Atlanta topped the Astros in the World Series.

The Braves re-signed Rosario to a two-year, $18MM free agent deal in the aftermath of that title, though the last three seasons have been much more of a struggle for the veteran.  Rosario didn’t hit well in 2022 before rebounding for a solid 21-homer campaign in 2023, but it wasn’t enough for Atlanta to exercise its $9MM club option on Rosario for the 2024 season.

He instead landed in Washington, where Rosario’s production tailed off so badly that the Nationals released him in July, and a return to the Braves also didn’t restore any of the old magic to Rosario’s bat.  Rosario’s brief stint with the Mets didn’t lead to any MLB playing time, and so his overall 2024 slash line finished at a lackluster .175/.215/.316 over 319 combined PA with the Nationals and Braves.

There’s no risk for the Dodgers in taking a flier on Rosario to see if the 33-year-old has anything left after multiple inconsistent seasons.  Rosario’s chances of breaking camp with arguably the most loaded roster in baseball aren’t great on paper, yet the situation could yet change in the event of an injury, or if Rosario forces the issue with some big Cactus League numbers.  Even if he doesn’t win a spot in Los Angeles, an impressive spring might help Rosario’s chances of landing with another team if he opts out of his minors deal before the end of camp.

Yankees Move Clayton Beeter To Relief Pitching

By | at

Clayton Beeter has started 83 of his 92 career minor league games, but going forward, the right-hander will be used as a relief pitcher, Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake told the New York Post’s Joel Sherman.  “As we got through last year, [Beeter’s] fastball-slider mix is super powerful and is best suited for relief,” Blake said.  “We decided to lean into the swing-and-miss of the fastball at the top of the zone and the slider at the bottom.  We thought it might even play up in short bursts.”

The news isn’t too surprising, as ever since Beeter was a second-round selection for the Dodgers in the 2020 draft, some pundits have felt he would ultimately end up as a reliever at the big league level.  Baseball America placed Beeter 21st on its most recent ranking of the Yankees’ top 30 prospects, and described the righty as a potential candidate for multi-inning relief work.  The 26-year-old Beeter has actually only pitched in the majors as a reliever, as all three of his MLB appearances (3 2/3 total innings) came out of New York’s bullpen last season.

As Blake noted, Beeter relies heavily on a two-pitch arsenal, with a changeup and curveball used sparingly at the Triple-A level.  Beeter’s fastball generally sits in the low 90’s but has topped out at 96mph, according to BA’s scouting report, and more velocity could be unlocked with this move to the bullpen.  Beeter’s 60-grade slider is his most effective pitch, helping fuel much of the strikeout ability he has exhibited over his minor league career.  Across an even 300 innings in the minors, Beeter has a very impressive 33.1% strikeout rate.

All those missed bats have come with a 12.7% walk rate, and the lack of control is another reason why the Yankees feel Beeter might benefit most from relief work.  There’s also the health factor — Beeter was limited to 39 innings over 12 appearances in 2024 after shoulder problems cost him close to four months of the Triple-A season.  Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty) earlier this week that Beeter was dealing with another “shoulder issue” during the offseason but is back throwing side sessions.

Shifting Beeter to the pen makes sense as a bigger-picture move in the pitcher’s career, and the Yankees have enough rotation options on hand that they can probably afford to remove a starter from the depth chart.  The club has six starting candidates on the active roster alone depending on Marcus Stroman’s status as either a reliever or possible trade chip, and such pitchers as Will Warren, Yoendrys Gomez, and Brent Headrick are available at Triple-A.  New York also brought in Allan Winans on a waiver claim, and signed longtime veteran Carlos Carrasco to a minor league contract.

Since Beeter has two minor league options remaining, Sherman suggests that the right-hander will probably begin the 2025 season in Triple-A.  This will also allow Beeter to more fully ramp up after his injury-plagued 2024 campaign, and get used to his new bullpen role.  If all goes well, Beeter should receive a call-up at some point next season once injuries or a need for a fresh arm inevitably arises, and he’ll then get a chance to carve out a spot for himself as a regular member of the Yankees’ relief corps.

Scott Harris Discusses Tigers’ Pursuit Of Alex Bregman

By | at

The Tigers were linked to Alex Bregman for much of the offseason, and reports indicated that they were one of the finalists for the infielder’s services before Bregman signed a three-year, $120MM deal with the Red Sox earlier this week.  It would appear that Detroit might have been the top bidder in terms of pure dollars — Bregman was offered a six-year, $171.5MM contract that included an opt-out clause after the 2026 season, but he instead took the shorter-term deal from Boston that includes opt-outs after both the 2025 and 2026 campaigns.

Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris told reporters (including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News) that he wasn’t disappointed by Bregman’s decision to head to Boston.  “We made a compelling offer to Alex Bregman but he chose to sign somewhere else.  That’s fine.  We knew that was a possibility throughout the process, and we planned for that outcome,” Harris said.

The fact that the Tigers made such a push for Bregman was itself notable, as it represented the first time since Harris was hired in September 2022 that Detroit truly appeared willing to stretch the budget on a long-term free agent commitment.  Jack Flaherty (whose deal contains a player option for 2026) and Kenta Maeda are the only free agents to receive even a two-year contract during Harris’ relatively brief tenure.  Harris praised team owner Chris Illitch for giving “us the flexibility to chase some key free agents,” so the strategy is apparently less about money than it is about Harris’ oft-stated desire to build primarily around the Tigers’ young core.

“We don’t want to be that organization that is desperate to sign a specific free agent or hinging on our current plan or our future plans on a certain free agent,” Harris said.  “We have to be dependent on the young talent we’re acquiring and developing….I will say we feel like what we did this offseason, we made the moves we needed to make. We supplemented this young, emerging group with guys who can make the team better without blocking our young players.”

“It didn’t make sense for us, before or after Alex, to pivot to someone who would just take our money.  In recent winters, we’ve seen teams continuing to pivot until someone takes their money.  It may win a press release, but it may not actually push your organization forward.  We were very conscious of that throughout the winter and we were very targeted about the players we wanted to add to this group.”

Beyond the reunion with Flaherty, the Tigers also signed Alex Cobb to further bolster the rotation, and added veteran relievers Tommy Kahnle and John Brebbia on one-year deals.  On the position-player side, Gleyber Torres was signed to a one-year, $14MM contract to step in as the new everyday second baseman, pushing Colt Keith into a first base role.

The right-handed hitting Torres also gives Detroit a bit more balance within a lineup that still pretty heavy with left-handed bats.  Acquiring a marquee righty-swinger like Bregman would have further helped with that balance and naturally boosted the offense as a whole, and Harris hasn’t closed the door on still addressing this need.

“There hasn’t been a ton of options for us to add a second right-handed bat,” the PBO said.  “We don’t think there is going to be one coming through free agency.  We’re going to explore trade options but we feel really good about the group we have, and we think it is a group that’s going to continue to get better.”

With this internal focus in mind, Harris cited Jace Jung, Matt Vierling, and Andy Ibanez as the chief in-house candidates for third base work.  “It’s going to be a competition in Spring Training” to decide exactly how the playing time might be divvied up, and Harris noted that “we have a really talented manager [A.J. Hinch] who is going to find the right matchup for those guys.”

Blue Jays, Bo Bichette Haven’t Discussed Extension

By | at

Bo Bichette will become a free agent at the end of the 2025 season, but the shortstop has yet to discuss a long-term deal with the Blue Jays, Bichette told MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson and other reporters.  “We haven’t had any talks, but from my perspective, we all grow up wanting to be one of those guys that has an opportunity to stay with an organization for their entire career,” Bichette said.  “I’m just focused on what I’ve got to do this year to help the team win and be the best version of myself.  Whatever happens will happen.”

While negotiations could still begin later in Spring Training, the lack of activity between Bichette and the Jays isn’t too surprising.  For one, Toronto is facing a more pressing deadline in extension talks with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., as the first baseman said he isn’t willing to continue discussions beyond February 18, which is the Blue Jays’ first full day of spring camp.  Since a Guerrero extension would surely represent both the largest deal in Jays history and one of the larger deals in baseball history, such a big-ticket negotiation is naturally the team’s priority before turning to any other contractual matters.

There’s also the simple fact that it isn’t clear whether or not Bichette is even still in the Blue Jays’ long-term plans, coming off a surprisingly poor 2024 campaign.  Bichette hit only .225/.277/.322 over 336 plate appearances, and played just once after July 19 due to a lengthy recovery from a right calf strain.  A previous IL placement due to another calf strain sidelined Bichette earlier in the season, plus he also had surgery on a fractured right middle finger in late September.

Plenty of other Toronto players struggled and/or battled injuries during an overall dismal year for the franchise, but getting virtually nothing from a cornerstone player like Bichette was a particularly harsh blow to the lineup.  Bichette more or less hit the ground running from the start of his MLB career in 2019, with a strong .299/.340/.487 slash line and 89 home runs over 2328 PA from 2019-23.  Bichette received down-ballot MVP support in each of the last three of those seasons, and twice received All-Star nods while also leading the American League in hits in both 2021 and 2022.

At this time last year, in fact, there was plenty of debate about whether Bichette or Guerrero was the better long-term investment for the Blue Jays, as Guerrero was coming off a relatively modest 118 wRC+ season in 2023 before returning to superstar form in 2024.  It should be noted that Bichette’s own 2023 campaign wasn’t without its warts, as knee and quad problems greatly reduced his production over the final two months of that season.

With all this recent history in mind, “it feels very difficult to find a middle ground both sides would agree on” in extension talks, Matheson observes.  Bichette surely feels like a big rebound year is coming, and so he isn’t going to sell himself short on an asking price.  From Toronto’s perspective, it is only natural that the team wants to see how (or if) Bichette bounces back before considering him for a hefty multi-year pact.

It isn’t too often that star players sign extensions once they get too deep into their final season prior to free agency, so even if Bichette does return to form, it feels like he is essentially a lock to test the market next winter.  Some trade speculation has circled around Bichette over the last couple of years, and while GM Ross Atkins has been steadfast in his refusal to deal Bichette, a trade might become more possible at the deadline if the Blue Jays are struggling again.

Red Sox Sign Alex Bregman To Three-Year Deal

By | at

TODAY: The Red Sox officially announced Bregman’s deal.  To create roster space, Patrick Sandoval was moved to the 60-day injured list.  Sandoval underwent an internal brace procedure on his left UCL last June, so he was already expected to be out of action until the second half of the 2025 season.  Speier also provided some added details on the contract’s structure, writing that $20MM will be deferred in each of the three seasons.  Bregman will begin receiving these deferred payments in 10 years’ time.

Feb. 13: The deferred money in the contract knocks the net present value of Bregman’s three-year deal into the $90MM range, ESPN’s Buster Olney reports. Per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe and Chris Cotillo of MassLive, the AAV will be calculated as $31.7MM for CBT purposes. Speier adds that there’s a $5MM signing bonus, followed by a $35MM salary in 2025, then $40MM salaries in the final two seasons.

Feb. 12: The Red Sox are reportedly in agreement with Alex Bregman on a three-year, $120MM deal. The Boras Corporation client receives massive $40MM salaries in each season, though an unreported amount of that money is deferred. Bregman can opt out after each of the first two seasons. The team has yet to officially announce the signing.

Boston gets the best remaining free agent by offering a massive annual sum. Bregman reportedly had a standing six-year offer valued at $156MM from the Astros for most of the offseason. The Tigers reportedly put forth a six-year, $171.5MM proposal, while the Cubs offered a $120MM guarantee over a four-year term. As of last month, Bregman remained committed to a long-term deal. The Sox’s willingness to offer one of the biggest AAVs in league history changed the calculus.

It marks the end of an illustrious tenure in Houston. The second overall pick in the 2015 draft, Bregman was in the majors within a year of coming out of LSU. He immediately locked down third base. He hit .284/.352/.475 over his first full big league campaign, helping the Astros to their first World Series title in 2017. He was one of the top handful of players in baseball over the next two seasons. Bregman secured consecutive top five finishes in AL MVP balloting while combining for a .291/.409/.561 slash with more walks than strikeouts between 2018-19.

Bregman, 31 in March, successively hit 31 and 41 home runs over that stretch. His power production has ticked down since the ’19 campaign, which was the most homer-heavy season in league history. Bregman has hit between 23 and 26 homers in each of the past three seasons. He’d continued to post excellent on-base numbers up through 2023, though his OBP dropped last year as his walks plummeted.

The two-time All-Star hit .260/.315/.453 across 634 trips to the plate in 2024. He had by far his lowest on-base percentage since his half-season as a rookie nearly a decade ago. That was almost entirely because of a drop in free passes. Bregman walked in 6.9% of his plate appearances, nearly halving his typical 12-13% rates. He remained incredibly difficult to punch out (13.6% strikeout rate) and narrowly established a new career high with a 40.1% hard contact percentage.

Bregman started the season very slowly. He hit .216/.283/.294 with only one home run through the end of April. While his power started to rebound in May, he reached base at a meager .276 clip that month. He entered June with a .219/.280/.372 slash line that was beginning to raise questions about his earning power. He put those to rest with a fantastic finish to the season. Bregman hit .284/.337/.500 with 20 doubles and 19 home runs across his final 398 plate appearances. While the walks remained down, he managed much better batted ball results in the second half.

Over eight-plus seasons with the Astros, Bregman hit .272/.366/.483 with 191 home runs. FanGraphs and Baseball Reference each valued his Houston tenure around 40 wins above replacement. He won a Silver Slugger and was MVP runner-up in 2019 and won his first career Gold Glove last season. He has been an instrumental piece of Houston’s sustained postseason success and World Series wins in 2017 and ’23. His swing is perfectly suited for the short left field at Houston’s home park. Bregman certainly hasn’t been a product of the Crawford Boxes, though. He has been essentially the same hitter on the road (.275/.362/.489) and at home (.270/.369/.476).

Bregman will have a similar home setup with the Green Monster at Fenway. He’ll reunite with Sox manager Alex Cora, who was Houston’s bench coach in 2017. While the Sox’s front office had trepidation about adding another long-term infield commitment alongside Rafael Devers and Trevor Story, they were willing to pay handsomely in the short term.

Boston had roughly $210MM in luxury tax commitments going into this evening, as calculated by RosterResource. A $40MM average annual value for Bregman would push that close to $250MM. The actual AAV won’t be quite so high, as the deferrals will drop the net present value to an extent. It’s likely that the Sox will still end up beyond the $241MM luxury tax threshold. They didn’t pay the CBT last season, so they’d only owe a 20% tax on spending between $241MM and $261MM. Even a true $40MM AAV for Bregman would only come with a $1.8MM tax hit for the Sox.

It’s the culmination of an exciting offseason for chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and his staff. The Sox opened the winter looking to add upside in their rotation. They eschewed long-term pitching investments, instead acquiring Garrett Crochet for four prospects while bringing in Walker Buehler on a one-year, $21.05MM deal. Boston signed Patrick Sandoval to a two-year contract midway through his rehab from Tommy John surgery and made a pair of one-year pickups in the bullpen (Aroldis Chapman, Justin Wilson).

Adding a right-handed bat was the one offseason goal that the Sox had not accomplished. While an outfielder may have been a cleaner roster fit, Bregman’s willingness to move off his longtime position makes this workable. The Sox intend to play him at second base, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. That made him a better fit than Nolan Arenado, who has been connected to the Sox in trade rumors for much of the winter.

Devers has been vocal about preferring to stick at third base. Bregman is a superior defender at the hot corner, but he should be athletic enough to move to the keystone for at least one season. He’d likely have spent most of his career in the middle infield had he not broken in with a team that had a Jose Altuve/Carlos Correa pairing.

That blocks the path to playing time for top prospect Kristian Campbell in the short term. The 22-year-old had a monster minor league season (.330/.439/.558 between three levels) to put himself in consideration for the second base job. Campbell seems likelier to begin the year in Triple-A Worcester now. He has played both middle infield positions and all three outfield spots in the minors, though, so the Sox should be able to find playing time for him somewhere as injuries arise throughout the year.

Campbell’s presence is probably a big reason the Red Sox kept this to a short-term commitment. Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe reports that Boston wasn’t interested in going past three guaranteed years. The tradeoff involves one of the largest per-year commitments in MLB history. The pre-deferral $40MM AAV is tied for the sixth-largest ever. It’s the second-biggest of this winter behind Juan Soto’s $51MM AAV and ties the Aaron Judge deal for third in history among position players (trailing Shohei Ohtani and Soto).

Bregman was the final unsigned free agent who had declined a qualifying offer. Boston surrenders their second-round pick (54th overall) in the upcoming draft, as well as $500K from their international signing bonus pool in 2026. They’re getting a compensatory pick about 20 spots later with Nick Pivetta signing with San Diego, so the draft capital comes out relatively close to a wash. As luxury tax payors, the Astros get the lowest compensation pick for Bregman’s departure — a selection after the fourth round, which lands around 137th overall.

Chandler Rome of The Athletic first reported that Bregman was signing with the Red Sox on a three-year, $120MM deal. Jon Heyman of The New York Post had the presence of deferrals. Ari Alexander of Houston’s KPRC-2 had the even salary structure. Image courtesy of Imagn.

Nationals Have Stayed In Contact With Kyle Finnegan

By | at

Kyle Finnegan is one of the top remaining relievers in a thinning free agent market. The righty somewhat surprisingly hit free agency when the Nationals opted not to tender him a contract for his final season of arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected the All-Star for an $8.6MM salary.

That’s a price the Nats were unwilling to pay. Washington has seemingly had interest in bringing Finnegan back at a lesser number. The sides reportedly had some conversations before the non-tender. General manager Mike Rizzo told reporters on Thursday that the Nats have “been talking to Finnegan throughout the offseason” about a potential reunion (link via Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com). There’s evidently still a financial gap. Rizzo declined to specify what kind of contract has been discussed beyond noting that “it takes two to tango.”

Finnegan has topped 60 innings with a sub-4.00 ERA in four consecutive seasons. He has been Dave Martinez’s primary closer for most of that time, recording 88 career saves. That includes a career-high 38 saves in 43 attempts last year. Only Ryan Helsley and Emmanuel Clase locked down more games. Finnegan concluded the season with a 3.68 earned run average across 63 2/3 innings.

Despite the gaudy save total, Finnegan’s peripherals were about average. He struck out 22.1% of opponents against an 8.9% walk rate. His 10.8% swinging strike percentage was a bit below the 11.6% league mark for relievers. That combined with a rough second half to lead the Nationals to non-tender him. Finnegan carried a 2.45 ERA and 26.1% strikeout rate into the All-Star Break. He lost nearly 10 percentage points off the strikeout rate while allowing 5.79 earned runs per nine after that.

That didn’t come with any kind of velocity drop. The 33-year-old averaged 97 MPH on his fastball in each month of the season. Opponents make a lot of hard contact against the heater, though, and they had increasing success differentiating the pitch from his splitter as the year progressed.

The Nats haven’t done much to address the bullpen. In addition to cutting Finnegan, they traded Robert Garcia to Texas for first baseman Nathaniel Lowe. They added Jorge López on a $3MM free agent deal. Japanese southpaw Shinnosuke Ogasawara could pitch in long relief, while Rule 5 pick Evan Reifert is trying to hold a middle relief job. Washington could certainly use more stability in a late-innings mix led by López, Jose A. Ferrer and Derek Law. Righty David Robertson is the top unsigned reliever, while Andrew Chafin and Phil Maton are among the next tier.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top