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White Sox Outright Corey Julks

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The White Sox announced Wednesday that outfielder Corey Julks passed through waivers unclaimed and was assigned outright to Triple-A Charlotte. He’ll remain with the organization as non-roster depth and be invited to big league camp this spring.

An eighth-round pick of the Astros in 2018, Julks came to the White Sox last May after he’d also been designated for assignment in Houston. Chicago sent right Luis Rodriguez, a 20-year-old reliever in Rookie ball, to the ’Stros in that swap. Julks wound up logging 66 games and 189 plate appearances for the South Siders but hit just .214/.275/.306 with poor batted-ball metrics during that time (84.9 mph average exit velocity, 28.2% hard-hit rate). He fared quite a bit better in Triple-A last year, slashing .278/.372/.470 between the two organizations.

Julks has always hit well in the upper minors. He’s a .267/.360/.491 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons and sports a .275/.339/.459 slash in a pair of Double-A campaigns. He’s a good runner (80th percentile sprint speed) with above-average arm strength who’s best suited for corner outfield work but does have the experience to handle center in a pinch.

Given the state of the White Sox’ outfield, Julks could play his way back onto the big league roster. Andrew Benintendi, Luis Robert Jr. and Mike Tauchman are slated to start for rookie skipper Will Venable in 2025, but Benintendi is coming off a pair of down seasons, while both Robert and Tauchman will be trade candidates this summer if they’re healthy and playing well. Others in the outfield mix include Dominic Fletcher, Zach DeLoach and Oscar Colas, but none of that trio has established himself as a credible big leaguer yet.

Royals Claim Braden Shewmake

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The Royals announced that they have claimed Braden Shewmake off waivers from the White Sox. The infielder had been designated for assignment by Chicago a week ago when they acquired left-hander Tyler Gilbert.

Shewmake, 27, was the 21st overall pick of the 2019 draft, selected by the Braves out of Texas A&M. He’s appeared in parts of two big league seasons between Atlanta and Chicago but has only 71 plate appearances to his credit, during which he’s posted an anemic .118/.127/.191 batting line. Obviously, 71 plate appearances isn’t much to go off, but Shewmake has been a light hitter even in the upper minors; he’s a .240/.299/.395 hitter in 866 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.

Though he’s never hit much, Shewmake is regarded as a sound, surehanded defender at shortstop who’s garnered additional experience at second base and third base in recent seasons. Statcast credits him with above-average sprint speed and arm strength. He still has a minor league option remaining as well, so he won’t need to make the Royals’ Opening Day roster.

Rather, Shewmake can be stashed in Triple-A as a defensive-minded depth piece who can fill in at the big league level in the event of injuries to any of Bobby Witt Jr., Jonathan India, Maikel Garcia or Michael Massey. With a strong spring, the former first-rounder could play his way into consideration for a utility role himself; he’ll join Nick Loftin and non-roster invitee Cavan Biggio in that mix.

Braves Sign Eddy Alvarez To Minor League Deal

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The Braves have signed infielder Eddy Alvarez to a minor league contract, as reflected on his transaction log at MLB.com. Alvarez, 35 at the end of the month, joins his seventh organization for what will be his 12th professional season.

After seven years in the minor leagues with the White Sox and Marlins, Alvarez made his big league debut for Miami in 2020. He has since appeared in 63 MLB games for the Marlins, Dodgers, and Mets between 2020-24, slashing .170/.257/.244 with one home run and four stolen bases. Primarily an infielder with experience at second base, third base, and shortstop, he also played a handful of games in the outfield with the Dodgers in 2022.

In between his MLB stints with the Dodgers and Mets, Alvarez played in the Brewers (2023) and Red Sox (2023-24) farm systems. He signed a minor league deal with the Brewers ahead of the 2023 season, and despite a strong performance at Triple-A, Milwaukee never called him up, prompting him to opt out of his contract in July. He quickly signed a new minor league pact with the Red Sox, only to suffer a season-ending injury after just one game at Triple-A Worcester.

Alvarez’s 2024 campaign with Worcester was more successful, and although he never earned a promotion to the Red Sox, he played well enough to catch the Mets’ eye in September. New York acquired him from Boston for cash and selected his contract the following day. His appearance for the Mets as a pinch-runner on September 9 marked his first MLB action in more than two years. He ended up sticking on the big league roster for the rest of the regular season, although he was ineligible for postseason play because he joined the organization in September.

Alvarez will now look to return to the majors with the Braves in 2025. His chances of cracking the Opening Day roster are slim, but considering Atlanta’s lack of infield depth, he certainly has a shot to join the active roster at some point if he performs well enough at Triple-A.

Yankees Have Shown Interest In Jorge Polanco

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The Yankees have filled most of their biggest holes this winter, adding a closer (Devin Williams), a frontline starting pitcher (Max Fried), an outfielder (Cody Bellinger), and a first baseman (Paul Goldschmidt). Nonetheless, general manager Brian Cashman still has work to do. For one thing, New York could use a replacement for long-time middle infield stalwart Gleyber Torres, who signed with the Tigers in December. Notably, the Yankees did not make an effort to re-sign Torres after he became a free agent. However, they have been linked to various other infielders this offseason, including free agent Brendan Rodgers and trade candidate Luis Arraez. Most recently, Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post identified Jorge Polanco as another potential target. The Yankees have reportedly “checked in” on Polanco, who is a free agent for the first time in his career.

After spending the first 10 seasons of his big league tenure with the Twins, Polanco suited up for the Mariners in 2024. He played all of his defensive innings at second base. The 31-year-old was once a shortstop and has some experience at third base, but the keystone has been his primary home for the past four seasons. Presumably, that’s where the Yankees would be interested in having him play. Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s flexibility allows New York to pursue an upgrade at either second or third base, with Chisholm covering whichever position is left. Considering Polanco’s limited experience at the hot corner (24 games, 180.0 innings), it would seem to make the most sense to keep Chisholm at third.

Whichever team ultimately signs Polanco will be betting on him as a bounce-back candidate for 2025. From 2021-23, the switch-hitter was one of the better offensive second basemen in the game. Over 336 games, he hit 63 home runs with a .796 OPS and a 120 wRC+. His wRC+ was at least 19% better than the average second baseman’s in all three seasons. However, Polanco’s strong bat disappeared in 2024. His .651 OPS and 92 wRC+ were below average, even considering the lower offensive standards at second base. To make matters worse, his defense – which has never been his strong suit – was worse than ever. With -1 DRS, -10 OAA, -8 FRV, and -3.7 DRP, he either tied or sunk beneath his career lows in all four metrics.

For what it’s worth, Polanco spent time on the IL with a right hamstring injury in May and June and reportedly played through a left knee injury for much of the season. He had surgery on his knee this offseason and is expected to be ready for spring training. Perhaps a healthier Polanco will be able to hit more like his old self. To that point, ESPN’s Jeff Passan suggested the injury had a particular effect on the switch-hitter’s performance as a lefty batter. Polanco’s 94 wRC+ as a righty batter in 2024 was right in line with his career average of 95. On the flip side, his 91 wRC+ as a lefty batter in 2024 was significantly worse than his career 115 wRC+ from the left side.

Even at full strength, Polanco doesn’t offer quite as much upside as Torres. However, it’s not far-fetched to think Polanco could replace the offensive production the Yankees got out of Torres in 2024. This past season was also a down year for the younger infielder. Over 154 games, he hit for a .709 OPS and 104 wRC+. Funnily enough, those numbers are almost right in the middle of what Polanco produced in 2023 and ’24. He might not be the most exciting infielder the Bronx Bombers have been connected to this winter, but if the veteran can split the difference between his past two seasons, he’ll help the Yankees make up for what they lost.

Diamondbacks Acquire Grae Kessinger

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The D-Backs have acquired infielder Grae Kessinger from the Astros for minor league pitcher Matthew Linskey, as first reported by Chandler Rome and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Houston had designated Kessinger for assignment before the holiday break as the corresponding move for the Christian Walker pickup. Arizona had a trio of 40-man roster spots available, so no further move was necessary. Both teams have now announced the trade.

Kessinger was Houston’s second-round pick in 2019. The righty-hitting utilityman has made 49 big league appearances over the past two seasons. Kessinger has hit .131 with one homer while striking out 19 times over his first 70 trips to the plate. The Ole Miss product has taken 524 Triple-A plate appearances over the last two years. He’s a .271/.363/.407 hitter at that level. Kessinger has walked at a strong 12.4% clip against a manageable 21.5% strikeout rate in the Pacific Coast League.

While Kessinger isn’t going to bring much power upside, his plate discipline gives him a chance to be a valuable bench piece. He was a college shortstop and has logged nearly 2000 innings there professionally. He also has significant experience at each of second and third base with limited work at first base. Kessinger still has two options remaining, allowing the Snakes to keep him at Triple-A Reno for a while.

Linskey, 22, is a 6’7″ righty reliever. He turned in a 2.78 earned run average over 32 1/3 innings in the low minors last season. He posted a massive 38.3% strikeout rate but also walked 12% of batters faced. Linskey was a 16th-round draftee out of Rice in 2023.

Rays Unlikely To Move Yandy Diaz, Brandon Lowe

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The Rays entered the offseason likely to shed some payroll via trades of veteran players — a frequent reality for the budget-crunched Tampa Bay club — which prompted many (MLBTR included) to speculate on the possibility of trading infielders Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe. The Rays are teeming with young infield options, and both players are set to earn eight-figure salaries in 2025. However, teams that have spoken to the Rays about Diaz and Lowe have been given the impression that Tampa Bay is likely to hold onto both players for the start of the upcoming season, reports SNY’s Andy Martino. More broadly, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic implies that the Rays aren’t keen on subtracting from the offense at all between now and Opening Day.

Tampa Bay has indeed shed some notable salary this winter, but it’s come in the form of trades and non-tenders. Left-hander Jeffrey Springs and his $10.5MM salary in each of the next two seasons went to the A’s in exchange for flamethrowing righty Joe Boyle, a pair of minor leaguers, and the Athletics’ Competitive Balance selection in the upcoming 2025 draft. Jose Siri (projected $2.3MM salary) was traded to the Mets in exchange for reliever Eric Orze. Nearly $10MM of additional projected salary was shed when the team non-tendered outfielder Dylan Carlson and lefties Colin Poche, Tyler Alexander and Richard Lovelady.

That collection of cost-cutting maneuvers trimmed $22-23MM from next year’s books. The only salary of note the Rays have added in place of those departures is the $8.5MM guaranteed to catcher Danny Jansen, who signed with Tampa Bay in mid-December. RosterResource currently projects the Rays for a $76MM payroll and about $104MM of luxury obligations — down from last year’s respective marks of $89MM and $115MM.

One of the motivations behind freeing up payroll space with trades of veterans would be to afford more at-bats to young players with little left to prove in Triple-A (e.g. Jonathan Aranda, Curtis Mead) while also creating flexibility to bring in other free agents of note. Circumstances well beyond the Rays’ control have hobbled any such efforts, however. The damage wrought on Tropicana Field by Hurricane Milton both left the Rays facing even more financial uncertainty than usual and also made it harder to lure free agents. The Rays will play their 2025 home games at a minor league facility — Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field, the Class-A home of the Yankees — which is going to reduce interest for plenty of players on the open market.

The Rays scored the second-fewest runs in MLB last year, with their collective 604 mark leading only the White Sox. Tampa Bay ranked 27th in the majors in batting average (.230), 24th in on-base percentage (.302), 29th in slugging percentage (.366) and 28th in home runs (147). Viewed through that lens, subtracting one or both of Diaz (.281/.341/.414, 120 wRC+) and Lowe (.244/.311/.473, 123 wRC+) would feel counterproductive — at least in a vacuum.

However, the Rays habitually trade quality players as their salaries rise and their club control dwindles. Their willingness to engage in such frequent roster churn and their ability to successfully identify quality long-term contributors in the return for such trades has become a hallmark of the organization’s success and led to near-perennial contention in a stacked AL East — despite bottom-of-the-barrel payroll numbers. Diaz is earning $10MM this coming season and has a $12MM club option (no buyout) in 2026. Lowe will be paid $10.5MM this year and has an $11.5MM club option in 2026 ($500K buyout). Both are free agents in the 2026-27 offseason.

The dwindling club control on both players will make them prime trade candidates this summer if things don’t go well for the Rays or if Tampa Bay feels their production can be replaced by turning their respective positions over to younger options. The Rays aren’t the type of club to be shy about dealing solid contributors from the roster even in the midst of contending seasons.

With regard to the 2025 roster, however, the hope will ostensibly be for inexperienced players like Aranda and third baseman Junior Caminero to make strides at the plate, while other young players like Josh Lowe and Christopher Morel hopefully rebound at the dish. Both had strong showings in 2023 before wilting in 2024. Adding Jansen should be an upgrade to a catching corps that produced disastrous results at the plate in 2024 — even if the longtime Blue Jays backstop can’t recover from his own 2024 struggles with the bat. Jansen hit just .206/.308/.348 in 328 plate appearances last year, but even that would be an upgrade over the woeful .194/.272/.291 output from Tampa Bay backstops in 2024. And, if Jansen can rediscover the .237/.317/.487 form he displayed from 2021-23, it’d be a massive boon for the Rays.

Time will tell just how the Rays’ offense recovers — or fails to recover — from last year’s doldrums. Trades can never be expressly ruled out for a club like the Rays, but for the time being, it seems they’ll hang onto the veteran bats they have and reassess their trade candidacy this summer. Others on the roster (e.g. Pete Fairbanks, Zack Littell) have also come up in trade rumblings this winter, but there’s been some recent cold water thrown on that pair being available as well.

Nationals Sign Amed Rosario

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The Nationals announced Wednesday that they’ve signed infielder Amed Rosario to a one-year contract. Right-hander Joan Adon was designated for assignment to make space on the roster. Rosario will earn $2MM on the deal, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’s represented by Octagon.

Rosario, 29, was a solid regular in Cleveland from 2021-22, serving as the Guardians’ everyday shortstop and posting a combined .282/.316/.406 batting line (106 wRC+) with terrific baserunning but subpar defense at his position.

In 2023, however, Rosario fell into a prolonged slump and was eventually designated for assignment and traded to the Dodgers, for whom he filled a utility role down the stretch. He signed on with the Rays on a $1.5MM deal to hold down a similar multi-position role in 2024 before again being traded to the Dodgers at the deadline. His second stint in L.A. lasted only days, however, as he was designated for assignment and landed with the Reds thereafter.

Over the past two seasons, Rosario has still managed to hit .270 thanks to his speed and bat-to-ball skills, but it’s been a hollow batting average accompanied by paltry marks in on-base percentage (.305) and slugging percentage (.379). He’s essentially been a singles hitter who does most of his damage against lefties while contributing shaky defense at multiple positions. Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average have both panned his work at shortstop for some time, and he’s since dabbled at second base, third base and in all three outfield positions. Second base is the only position at which he’s drawn passable grades by measure of those two public metrics.

Though it’s been a lackluster couple years for Rosario all around, he still possesses plus speed (91st percentile of MLB players, per Statcast) and showed improved life on his throws last year (72nd percentile arm strength). He draws poor grades for his range despite that footspeed. Rosario has fanned in 19.3% of his plate appearances since 2023 — right in line with his career 19.6% mark. He’s all but allergic to drawing a walk, evidenced by a career 4.3% rate and a career-low 2.6% mark in 2024. However, he makes enough contact and runs so well that he’s capable of sustaining quality batting averages at the very least.

With the Nats, Rosario again figures to slide into a utility role. Washington has Luis Garcia Jr. at second base and CJ Abrams at shortstop. Rosario could factor into the competition at third base, where Jose Tena and Trey Lipscomb are also in the mix for the Opening Day job. However, prospects Brady House and Cayden Wallace are both in the upper minors. House, a former first-round pick and consensus top-100 prospect, hit well in Double-A last year but struggled in his first exposure to Triple-A pitching. Wallace, acquired at the deadline in the trade sending Hunter Harvey to the Royals, topped out in Double-A and is a bit further behind House in his minor league progression. With a strong start to the season, either could plausibly find his way to the majors and earn a look at the hot corner.

It’s also plausible that Rosario could be deployed in a straightforward platoon with Garcia. He’s a career .298/.337/.460 hitter against southpaws compared to Garcia’s lifetime .250/.269/.356 slash against lefties. Garcia has been far better against righties, hitting .277/.313/.428 in his career — including a personal-best .288/.326/.469 during last year’s breakout season.

Washington’s signing of Rosario will come at the expense of the 26-year-old Adon, who’s pitched for the Nats in each of the past four seasons. A 2016 international signee out of the Dominican Republic, Adon has logged 132 1/3 innings in the majors but never found consistency; he carries a career 6.66 ERA with a 19% strikeout rate, 11.3% walk rate and 45.3% ground-ball rate. He ranked as highly as No. 7 among Nationals’ prospects back in 2022, per Baseball America.

Adon averages nearly 95 mph on his heater and has been a durable rotation member in the upper minors, but he’s never replicated the strong 2019 season that put him on the prospect map in the first place. He’s had some work as a reliever in the minors recently, and he has enough velocity as a starter to create some intrigue about how he’d work as a power-armed bullpen piece. Command has been a consistent issue for the big righty, however, and he’s out of minor league options — meaning the Nats would’ve had to carry him on the Opening Day roster or else designate him for assignment a few months from now anyway.

Washington will have five days to trade Adon. At that point, he’d need to be placed on waivers (a 48-hour process). If he clears, he could be retained as non-roster depth. Within a week’s time, he’ll know the outcome of today’s DFA.

Royals Re-Sign Michael Lorenzen

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Jan. 8: Lorenzen has passed his physical, and the Royals have formally announced his new contract. Their 40-man roster is now up to 39 players.

Jan. 6: The Royals and Michael Lorenzen are reportedly in agreement on a one-year, $7MM contract. The deal, which is pending a physical, comes with a $5.5MM salary for next season. There’s a $12MM mutual option for 2026 that would come with a $1.5MM buyout if the Royals decline their end of the option. The contract also contains $1MM in performance bonuses for the CAA client.

Lorenzen heads back to Kansas City after finishing the ’24 campaign with the Royals. Kansas City acquired him from the Rangers in a deadline deal that sent reliever Walter Pennington to Texas. Lorenzen made a strong first impression, turning in a 1.57 ERA across 28 2/3 innings while starting six of his seven outings.

That capped off one of the better seasons of his decade-long MLB career. Lorenzen finished the year with a combined 3.31 earned run average over 130 1/3 innings. He started all but two of his 26 appearances. It was the third straight solid year since Lorenzen moved to the rotation. He’d turned in a 4.24 ERA over 18 starts for the Angels in 2022 and combined for a 4.18 mark in 153 innings between the Tigers and Phillies in ’23.

In each of those seasons, Lorenzen has found bottom line success despite an unimpressive strikeout and walk profile. That was particularly true last year. His 18.1% strikeout percentage and 11.2% walk rate are a few points worse than the respective league averages. Lorenzen has missed bats on fewer than 10% of his pitches in consecutive seasons. Last year’s 9.1% swinging strike rate was his lowest mark since 2018.

Lorenzen nevertheless carries a 3.90 ERA across nearly 400 innings over the last three seasons. While he has outperformed his peripherals in each season, teams seemingly remain skeptical about his chances of doing so yet again. Lorenzen has been limited to one-year contracts with base salaries below eight figures in each of the last four offseasons. He reportedly sought a two-year deal last winter. Lorenzen lingered in free agency deep into Spring Training before heading to Arlington on a modest $4.5MM guarantee with $2.5MM in performance bonuses.

The 33-year-old jumped on a deal earlier in the winter this time around. Lorenzen earns a slight pay bump relative to last season. He’ll also get the benefit of sticking with the same organization with which he ended the previous year. This is the first time since Lorenzen’s early-career run in the Cincinnati bullpen that he’ll stick with the same team over an offseason.

Kansas City lost some mid-rotation stability when they swapped Brady Singer for Jonathan India early in the offseason. That vacated a rotation spot for Kyle Wright, who is coming back from shoulder surgery that cost him the entire 2024 season. Lorenzen could compete with Wright and Alec Marsh for the fifth rotation spot behind Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Kris Bubic. Skipper Matt Quatraro could also turn to a six-man rotation or keep Lorenzen in long relief with the flexibility to move back into the rotation as injuries arise or workload management necessitates.

Previous reporting had indicated that Lorenzen, who had a bit of outfield experience with Cincinnati early in his career, could sign with a non-contender to take some at-bats. The idea would’ve been to reach the 20 games as a hitter necessary to qualify as a two-way player. That would’ve meant he would not have counted against a team’s 13-pitcher limit. There is no indication that the Royals — a team that made the Division Series last year and certainly intends to reach the playoffs again — is planning to do that.

Lorenzen’s salary brings the Royals’ payroll to roughly $121MM, according to the RosterResource calculations. They’d been around last year’s spending level before this signing, their first MLB contract since they re-signed Wacha shortly before free agency officially opened. It’s not clear how much room remains in the budget. Kansas City has reportedly looked for a middle-of-the-order bat after acquiring India to hit atop the lineup. Corner outfield and bullpen help are the biggest needs on paper.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Royals and Lorenzen had agreed to a one-year, $7MM deal that included a $12MM mutual option. Anne Rogers of MLB.com reported the salary and the option buyout. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic was first to mention the $1MM in bonuses. Image courtesy of Imagn.

Joc Pederson’s Contract Allows Rangers To Override Opt-Out By Exercising 2027 Option

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The Rangers’ two-year, $37MM deal with slugger Joc Pederson was agreed to late last month and announced shortly before the New Year, but it seems full details of the arrangement weren’t made clear at the time. It’s already known that Pederson’s deal contains a mutual option for 2027 and that he can opt out of his contract following the 2025 season. However, the Associated Press reports that the Rangers can override Pederson’s opt-out by exercising that mutual option a year in advance. The contract also contains a no-trade clause, per the AP.

Effectively, if Pederson signals his intent to opt out, the Rangers can veto his return to the open market by agreeing to commit another two years and $37MM. It could become an even pricier commitment for Texas, though, as Pederson’s contract contains escalators that would boost his 2026-27 salaries up to $21.5MM in the event that he wins a Silver Slugger or is named to the All-MLB team (first or second team) at season’s end. That’d mean committing two years and $43MM to Pederson in order to override the opt-out. Paired with his $5.5MM signing bonus and $13MM salary in 2025, Pederson’s contract can max out at a hefty $61.5MM over three years if he turns in a big enough season.

Pederson, 33 in April, has never won a Silver Slugger Award or earned All-MLB honors (dating back to the inception of the All-MLB teams in 2019). He certainly has enough pop in his bat to do so, but his long-running struggles against left-handed pitching have both weighed down his rate stats and likely kept him from accumulating the playing time to mash his way into consideration. Pederson is just a .210/.300/.330 hitter in his career against southpaws, compared to a .246/.349/.494 output against righties. The D-backs afforded him only 42 plate appearances against lefties last year (.219/.405/.344), but Pederson decimated righties with a .281/.392/.531 showing.

Even absent the escalators, the revelations of a no-trade clause and the team’s ability to override Pederson’s opt-out provision are plenty notable on their own. Texas, after all, was willing to commit a guaranteed two years and $37MM to Pederson this offseason. If he performs to expectations, they’ll essentially have the option to make that same commitment for his age-34 and age-35 seasons, which would lock the slugger in as a Ranger through 2027.

It’s also worth pointing out that there’s no scenario where Pederson can opt out and receive a qualifying offer from the team; Pederson already received (and accepted) a qualifying offer from the Giants following his All-Star 2022 season. Players can only receive one qualifying offer in their career. As such, if Pederson triggers his opt-out in November, the Rangers’ choices will be to extend him for another two years or to let him return to the open market with no compensation for his potential departure.

The Opener: Giants, Extensions, DFA Limbo

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With the offseason back in full swing after the holidays, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:

1. Giants 40-man roster move incoming:

Yesterday, the Giants reportedly brought future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander into the fold on a one-year deal. The club is rolling the dice on a return to form for Verlander after the first truly poor season of the right-hander’s career; Verlander mustered only a 5.48 ERA with a 4.78 FIP across 17 starts with the Astros last year. There’s certainly risk involved in expecting Verlander, who is more than four years older than San Francisco’s new president of baseball operations Buster Posey, to turn back the clock even by just a year or two. However, the 2022 AL Cy Young Award winner pitched like a starter that belonged in the front half of a playoff rotation as recently as 2023, and it’s hard to bet against Verlander’s pedigree.

Before Verlander can get to work with San Francisco, he’ll need to be officially added to the 40-man roster. That could happen as soon as today, and when it does the Giants will need to clear a roster spot. The most common way for clubs to do this is by simply designating a player for assignment, though occasionally clubs will work out a trade to clear that 40-man spot.

2. Are more extensions on the way?

Yesterday, the Rays hammered out an extension with right-hander Drew Rasmussen. The deal, which guarantees Rasmussen $8.5MM, covers his final two years of arbitration and includes a club option for the 2027 season — what would’ve been his first free-agent season. It’s a deal that was surely helped along by the impending deadline for players and teams to exchange figures ahead of arbitration hearings. The majority of arbitration-level players typically agree to deals before that deadline in order to a hearing, which makes the days leading up to that deadline a natural time for clubs to discuss longer-term extensions with players. With that deadline set to arrive tomorrow, it’s possible — if not likely — that we’ll see other extensions over the next day and a half. At the very least, there should be some early one-year agreements today.

3. Players in DFA Limbo:

We’re officially one week into 2025, which means that players who were designated for assignment while the MLB league offices were closed for the holidays should finally reach their long-awaited conclusion (though it’s worth noting that the rules surrounding the holiday freeze for players in DFA limbo are fairly nebulous in nature). It’s a situation that currently applies to three players: infielder Braden Shewmake, who was DFA’d by the White Sox on New Year’s Day; righty Hagen Danner*, who was designated by the Blue Jays back on Dec. 20; and left-hander Bailey Horn, who was DFA’d by the Tigers over the holidays to make room for the Gleyber Torres signing. At this point, the window for these players to be traded appears to have passed. Each figures to have already been exposed to waivers. The next step in the process for is to either clear waivers, providing their clubs the opportunity to outright them to the minors as non-roster depth, or be claimed by a new club and retain a 40-man roster spot in another organization.

*We initially and mistakenly omitted Danner from the original list of players in limbo. 

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