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Dodgers Sign Hyeseong Kim

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With hours left to go before his posting window closes, Hyeseong Kim and the Dodgers signed a three-year contract worth $12.5MM. The deal includes a two-year club option (which would need to be exercised together) covering the 2028-29 seasons. If the Dodgers exercise the option, they’d pay an additional $9.5MM over those two years. Los Angeles designated catcher Diego Cartaya for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot. Kim is represented by CAA Sports.

Kim’s former team, the Kiwoom Heroes, officially posted him on December 5, giving him until 4:00 PM CT this afternoon to sign with an MLB club. As the days ticked by and the rumor mill remained relatively quiet, it seemed like a legitimate possibility that Kim would return for one more season with the Heroes. Instead, the Dodgers, who hadn’t been closely linked to Kim this winter, swooped in and made a winning offer in the nick of time. In addition to Kim’s salary, the Dodgers will have to pay a $2.5MM release fee to the Heroes (20% of the guaranteed $12.5MM on his deal). Their total investment is $15MM.

Kim, soon to be 26, is a four-time consecutive winner of the KBO Golden Glove Award, given annually to the best overall player at each position. He won the award at shortstop in 2021 before moving to second base and winning each year from 2022-24. In addition to playing a strong second base and at least a capable shortstop, Kim is also an asset on the basepaths. He led the KBO in stolen bases in 2021 and has swiped at least 20 bags in all seven full seasons of his career. His glove and legs should give him a relatively high floor as a utility player in MLB, if nothing more.

The big question is how Kim’s bat will hold up against MLB pitching. While he struggled at the plate early in his career, the lefty batter blossomed into a well-above-average hitter during his last three years in the KBO. From 2022-24, he produced a .326 batting average and a .384 OBP, while his wRC+ was never below 118 in any season. However, Kim has never hit for much power, even by the slightly lower power standards of the KBO. His 2024 season was the best of his career power-wise – he reached double-digit home runs for the first time – but his .132 isolated power was still below league average.  Thus, it’s fair to worry that Kim might not have the necessary power to be an everyday player in MLB. Just look at his former KBO teammate Ha-Seong Kim. Ha-Seong Kim was a genuine power threat in the KBO, socking 30 homers in 138 games during his final season in Korea. Since coming to MLB, he has become known as a soft-hitting contact specialist. His career .137 ISO in MLB is 15% worse than the league average over the last four years.

When MLBTR ranked Hyseong Kim at no. 26 on our Top 50 Free Agents list, we predicted he’d sign a three-year, $24MM contract. His actual deal guarantees him a little more than half of that predicted salary. That said, it’s worth mentioning that Kim reportedly turned down more money from at least one other team. A representative from Kim’s agency, CAA Baseball, told a Korean media outlet (passed along by Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News) that the Angels offered him a five-year, $28MM deal, while the Mariners, Cubs, and Padres also made offers with undisclosed terms. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register contradicts that report. According to Fletcher, the Angels made an offer to Kim but did not top what he received from the Dodgers.

To that point, Kim might not have a guaranteed starting role in L.A. The Dodgers already have Gavin Lux to play second base, Mookie Betts at shortstop, and Max Muncy holding down the hot corner. Furthermore, they have the talented defensive shortstop Miguel Rojas and the versatile Chris Taylor on the bench. Center fielder Tommy Edman can also play all around the infield.

According to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, Kim will play a “super-utility role” in 2025. The use of the prefix “super” seems to imply that he’ll be playing several positions. While he has significant experience at both shortstop and second base, he has only played a handful of games at third base in his professional career. He also played 44 games in left field during the 2020 season, and it will be interesting to see if the Dodgers consider using him in the outfield at all. As a “super-utility” player, Kim will presumably have a bigger role than that of a typical bench bat, but with so much competition on the Dodgers’ talent-filled roster, he’ll have to earn his playing time.

The fact that the Dodgers signed Kim despite already having so many infielders is evidence of how much this team values depth and flexibility. It’s also a sign of how much they value what Kim can bring to the table. Funnily enough, manager Dave Roberts has already made his team’s affinity for Kim quite clear. After the Dodgers played an exhibition match against the Korean national team last March, Roberts told reporters (including Yoo), “Our scouts like the second baseman: just the way his body moves.” That second baseman, of course, was Kim.

Various reports out of South Korea were first with the news that Kim was signing with Los Angeles on a three-year deal with a two-year club option. Jon Heyman of the New York Post was first to report the $12.5MM guarantee and the $22MM maximum value.

Latest On Jack Flaherty

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Jack Flaherty is the top unsigned starter as the calendar flips to 2025. While there haven’t been a ton of teams publicly linked to the right-hander, Flaherty was tied to the Orioles before their agreement with Charlie Morton this evening.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand wrote this afternoon that the Blue Jays, Cubs, Giants and Tigers are among the teams that “remain in the mix.” Feinsand also listed the Orioles as a suitor, though his column was published before the Morton signing. It’s not clear if that’ll take them out of the running. In an appearance on Foul Territory yesterday, Baltimore Baseball’s Rich Dubroff suggested the O’s could be reluctant to meet Flaherty’s asking price.

Will Sammon and Katie Woo of The Athletic wrote earlier this week that Flaherty was believed to be seeking a deal of at least five years. That’d probably be the necessary term if he’s to get into nine figures. MLBTR predicted Flaherty for five years and $115MM at the beginning of the offseason. The market has been favorable to starting pitching, but Flaherty has yet to find a deal to his liking.

He’s coming off an excellent season. Flaherty combined for a 3.17 ERA while striking out nearly 30% of batters faced between the Tigers and Dodgers. He walked fewer than 6% of opponents while getting swinging strikes at a strong 13.3% clip. It was easily his best season since his dominant finish to the 2019 campaign when he was a member of the Cardinals. Flaherty battled injuries between 2020-22 and struggled in ’23, when he allowed an ERA just below 5.00 across 29 appearances.

The inconsistency is a concern, as is Flaherty’s injury history. He’s been generally durable over the past two seasons, but the Yankees reportedly nixed a deadline trade because of concerns about his back. Flaherty went to the Dodgers instead and held up for the rest of the season. He didn’t pitch well in the postseason, but there’s no indication he wasn’t at full health during L.A.’s World Series run.

Flaherty’s fantastic regular season gives him a solid case for five years. He just turned 29 and isn’t attached to a qualifying offer because he was traded midseason. There hasn’t been a four-year free agent deal for a starting pitcher this offseason. Max Fried and Corbin Burnes got six-plus years, while Blake Snell signed for five. Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, Nathan Eovaldi and Yusei Kikuchi all signed three-year deals. Flaherty should beat that group and presumably expects to top the four years and $80MM which Eduardo Rodriguez received last winter.

That’s without many clearly interested teams, however. Baltimore has added Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano on one-year deals, suggesting they may be reluctant to make a significant pitching investment. The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma wrote at the Winter Meetings that while the Cubs had some interest in Flaherty, they were hesitant to meet an elevated asking price.

San Francisco didn’t make as strong a push as many expected for Burnes. President of baseball operations Buster Posey recently suggested to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic that the club was optimistic about its young starters and searching for offensive help. The Tigers might be in a similar spot. They’ve been tied to Alex Bregman and Anthony Santander recently. Detroit GM Jeff Greenberg indicated after they signed Alex Cobb at the Winter Meetings that they weren’t likely to be big factors in the rotation market aside from a long shot push for Roki Sasaki (link via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press). Toronto has been linked to essentially every free agent but remains in the Bregman/Santander markets and could prioritize free agency’s top relievers.

Dodgers Still Planning To Use Betts-Lux Middle Infield

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The Dodgers added to their middle infield with the signing of KBO second Hyeseong Kim to a three-year contract. That fueled speculation about Los Angeles dealing one of their other infielders.

General manager Brandon Gomes downplayed the notion that adding Kim will spur another trade. “I think it’s more that we’re adding a really talented player, and [then we’ll] see where things play out,” Gomes told reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times). “It’s helpful to have really strong pieces at a lot of different areas. So that’s how we’re viewing it right now.” He added that the team’s “mindset” remains a middle infield pairing of Mookie Betts at shortstop and Gavin Lux at second base.

Before Gomes’ media session, Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic reported that the Dodgers view Kim as a utility player. Los Angeles values defensive flexibility as much as any team. The 25-year-old Kim has primarily been a second baseman but has experience in left field and at both positions on the left side of the infield. L.A. already has Miguel Rojas and Chris Taylor as veteran utility options. Tommy Edman can also play either middle infield spot but is expected to be the everyday center fielder between Michael Conforto and Teoscar Hernández. Assuming a four-man bench, Kim and backup catcher Austin Barnes would round out the position player group. That’d push outfielders Andy Pages and James Outman, each of whom has a minor league option left, to Triple-A if everyone’s healthy.

Rojas underwent postseason hernia surgery, but there’s no indication that’ll keep him from participating in Spring Training. Taylor is coming off a .202/.298/.300 showing. The organization clearly places a lot of emphasis on his versatility and clubhouse presence. L.A. designated former top prospect Diego Cartaya for assignment as the corresponding move for Kim. That suggests the Dodgers see a path to carrying all of Kim, Rojas and Taylor on the roster.

There could be an element of gamesmanship to Gomes’ comments. It wouldn’t do the team much good to proclaim they’re trying to deal a middle infielder even if they were. That said, it’s not surprising that the Dodgers don’t feel Lux’s situation changes much after the Kim signing. The latter’s three-year, $12.5MM guarantee is a modest investment that suggests MLB teams generally viewed him as a utility player rather than a regular.

Lux hit .251/.320/.383 with 10 homers while playing slightly below-average defense in more than 1000 innings at second base last year. He had a fantastic second half, hitting .304 with seven homers in 61 games after the All-Star Break. He has been a league average hitter over nearly 1500 MLB plate appearances. Evaluators question how much Kim will bring to the table offensively. It’d be risky for the Dodgers to deal Lux and expect Kim to handle the keystone.

The Dodgers also don’t have glaring weaknesses that they need to address via trade. There’s little reason to deal Lux for prospects. The Dodgers could open the season with a rotation including Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. They’re expected to bring Clayton Kershaw back. They might sign Roki Sasaki. Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May are returning from injury. The bullpen is the relative weak point, but Ardaya writes in a separate column at The Athletic that the team prefers to address that through free agency rather than trade.

Yankees, Andrew Velazquez Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees have brought back infielder Andrew Velazquez on a minor league contract with a non-roster Spring Training invite, reports Jack Curry of the YES Network. The CAA client is a Bronx native who appeared for his hometown team in 2021.

Velazquez, 30, has played for five teams over a big league career spanning parts of six seasons. Nearly half his playing time came as a member of the Angels in 2023. Velazquez appeared in a personal-high 125 contests that year. He hit .196 with a .236 on-base percentage but played great defense in more than 900 shortstop innings. His defensive grades slipped the following year and the Angels waived him that September.

Prior to his nearly two years in Orange County, he’d made brief appearances with the Rays, Cleveland, Orioles and Yankees. Velazquez hit .224 over 28 games in pinstripes four years ago. He played all of last season in Triple-A with the Braves after signing an offseason minor league contract. While he hit 16 homers and stole 33 bases, his overall offense was mediocre. Velazquez struck out nearly a third of the time while hitting .242/.298/.394 through 473 plate appearances with Atlanta’s highest affiliate.

The switch-hitting Velazquez is a career .189/.244/.293 hitter in 624 big league plate appearances. His glove is the selling point. He has logged nearly 1500 major league innings at shortstop. Velazquez played both middle infield positions and all three outfield spots in Triple-A last year. He’ll likely begin next season at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre as a versatile depth option.

Dodgers Designate Diego Cartaya For Assignment

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The Dodgers designated former top catching prospect Diego Cartaya for assignment. The move opens a 40-man roster spot for Hyeseong Kim, whose three-year deal is official.

Cartaya has yet to play in the major leagues, but he’s a bigger name than most players who find themselves in DFA limbo. The Venezuela native was one of the best talents in his amateur signing class and inked a $2.5MM bonus in 2018. He performed well in the low minors and shot to the top of the Dodger system. Baseball America ranked him as L.A.’s #1 prospect entering both the 2022 and ’23 campaigns. He was among BA’s 25 best minor league talents in both years.

The Dodgers added Cartaya to their 40-man roster after the 2022 season. There was no chance they’d leave him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. Cartaya’s long-term future on a team that already rostered Will Smith was debatable, but he at least seemed like a potential key trade chip. That he has been DFA just over two years later demonstrates how far his stock has fallen.

Cartaya’s bat has stalled in the upper minors. He hit .189 with a 29% strikeout rate over 93 Double-A games in 2023. While that knocked him off Top 100 lists, he still ranked eighth among Dodger prospects at Baseball America going into last season. Cartaya improved offensively in his second shot at Double-A, where he hit .236/.354/.379 over 45 contests. He couldn’t maintain that after being promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City in the middle of June.

The 23-year-old hit .208/.293/.350 while striking out at a 27.4% clip across 49 games in the Pacific Coast League. He had the second-lowest batting average and fifth-lowest OBP among PCL hitters with at least 200 plate appearances. Cartaya had been surpassed by Dalton Rushing as the top catching prospect in the system, while Smith signed a contract extension that’ll keep him in Los Angeles through 2033.

After Cartaya struggled through consecutive down seasons, the Dodgers are willing to move on. They’ll have five days to trade him or place him on waivers. Another team will almost certainly roll the dice, likely via trade that’d allow them to jump the waiver order.

Cartaya draws praise for his defensive acumen and has drawn plenty of walks even as his numbers have fallen in the high minors. While the swing-and-miss means he’s unlikely to become a franchise catcher, there are probably teams that feel he’ll be a capable backup or a potential low-end regular. Cartaya still has a minor league option remaining. An acquiring team would be able to send him to Triple-A for another season.

Dodgers Re-Sign Teoscar Hernandez

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The Dodgers have brought Teoscar Hernández back on a three-year deal. The Republik Sports client is reportedly guaranteed $66MM, including a $23MM signing bonus. There is $23.5MM in deferred money, while the deal includes a $15MM team option (or a $6.5MM buyout) for the 2028 season. He’ll receive a $10MM salary next season, $7.5MM of which is deferred. Another $8MM of his respective $12MM and $14.5MM salaries for 2026 and ’27 are also deferred. The deferrals reportedly reduce the contract’s net present value to roughly $58.1MM.

Hernández, 32, gets the three-year deal he’d been seeking. The slugger had called returning to the Dodgers a priority after a huge first season with the team. Hernández slashed .272/.339/.501 with 33 homers across 652 plate appearances. He carried that strong production into the postseason, hitting three longballs with a .250/.352/.417 slash over 16 games to help the Dodgers secure their second championship in five years.

This was the ideal outcome for a player on a pillow contract. Hernández had reached free agency last winter on the heels of a middling season in Seattle. He had turned in a .258/.305/.435 slash over 678 plate appearances as a Mariner. As a result, Hernández didn’t find the lucrative long-term offer he’d been seeking. While the Red Sox offered him a two-year deal that would’ve come with a $28MM guarantee, he signed for one season on a deferred $23.5MM salary with the goal of reestablishing his market value.

It couldn’t have worked out much better for either side. Hernández had one of the best seasons of his career. He earned his second All-Star nod and Silver Slugger award while picking up down ballot MVP votes for the third time. Hernández established a new career high in home runs with rate stats that were in line with his best years in Toronto. He was an instrumental part of a championship roster.

The down year in 2023 looks like an anomaly. He’s hardly the only veteran hitter to struggle in Seattle’s extremely pitcher-friendly home park. Hernández has been an impact hitter in each of the other four seasons since his breakout in 2020. Over the past five years, he owns a .274/.328/.493 batting line in nearly 2700 trips to the plate. There’ll be a decent number of strikeouts, but few players hit the ball as hard as he does. Hernández is an annual threat for 30+ doubles and at least 25-30 homers.

Hernández was the only key offensive player whom the Dodgers feared losing in free agency. He’ll return to join Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Max Muncy, Tommy Edman and Gavin Lux in a loaded offense. The Dodgers added Michael Conforto on a one-year, $17MM contract at the Winter Meetings. No other team rivals the potency of the L.A. lineup.

The Dodgers are taking on some risk from a defensive perspective. Despite plus arm strength and surprisingly strong athleticism, Hernández has never graded as a good defender. That continued this season. Defensive Runs Saved felt he was three runs below par in his 1308 combined innings between the corner outfield spots. Statcast rated him much more harshly, estimating he was 11 runs below average.

Hernández isn’t likely to improve on a contract that runs through age 34. An ideal landing spot would’ve allowed him to move to designated hitter in year two or three. That’s not an option on a team with Ohtani. The Dodgers are moving Betts to shortstop and will have Hernández and Conforto flanking Edman in the outfield. They’ll accept a mediocre defensive unit for the chance to stack with the lineup with good hitters.

Adding Conforto and re-signing Hernández blocks the path to everyday at-bats for youngsters Andy Pages and James Outman. The latter feels like a change of scenery candidate after a disappointing second MLB season. The Dodgers will probably be less inclined to move the 24-year-old Pages, who had a league average .248/.305/.407 showing as a rookie. He still has a minor league option remaining, so they could start him in Triple-A if they don’t want to limit him to fourth outfield work.

Pages doesn’t have anything else to prove in the minors, but the Dodgers have the resources to continue loading up. Other teams figure to at least try to pull him away via trade, though L.A. could prefer to hold him as a replacement for Conforto after next season. Signing Blake Snell and retaining Blake Treinen earlier in the winter leaves the Dodgers without any clear holes on the roster.

At the start of the offseason, MLBTR predicted Hernández would receive a three-year deal at $60MM. He’ll land slightly above that forecast in raw money, though the deferrals will reduce the net present value to a hair below it. A three-year, $66MM deal without deferrals would have come with a $22MM competitive balance tax hit. Hernández’s number ends up around $19.4MM.

Including Hernández, RosterResource calculates the Dodgers’ luxury tax number around $353MM. They’re well beyond the $301MM mark that represents the final tier of penalization. They’re taxed at a 110% rate on the final AAV. Re-signing Hernández will likely cost them upwards of $40MM next year after taxes. The Dodgers have been undeterred by the CBT as they push for a repeat.

Hernández had declined a qualifying offer. Other teams would have needed to forfeit a draft choice to sign him. The Dodgers only relinquish the right to receive a 2025 compensation pick, which would have come after the fourth round. The Blue Jays and Red Sox had also been linked to Hernández this winter. Those clubs (especially Toronto) could turn to Anthony Santander, who stands as the clear top unsigned outfielder. Jurickson Profar is a tier or two below that as the next-best outfield bat.

Yancen Pujols first reported that Hernández and the Dodgers were finalizing a three-year, $66MM deal. Chris Cotillo of MassLive confirmed there was an agreement in place. ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the $15MM option for 2028, as well as the signing bonus and the approximate $23MM in deferrals. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported the salary and deferral breakdown. Jon Heyman of the New York Post had the final NPV.

Image courtesy of Imagn.

Mets Notes: Manaea Contract Details, Alonso

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After previously reporting that Sean Manaea’s deal with the Mets would include $23.25MM in deferred payments, Will Sammon of The Athletic offered more details on the structure of Manaea’s contract this morning.

Manaea will earn equal $25MM salaries in all three years of the deal, adding up to the reported total guarantee of $75MM. However, $7.75MM of his salary will be deferred without interest each season, adding up to the reported total of $23.25MM in deferrals. As Sammon previously mentioned, the deferrals will be paid out in equal portions over 10 years from 2035-44. Sammon also notes that Manaea can earn standard additional incentives for making an All-Star appearance ($50K), winning a Gold Glove ($50K), winning LCS MVP ($50K), winning World Series MVP ($100K), and finishing top-three in Cy Young voting ($50K for first place, $25K for second place, $10K for third place).

The deferred payments mean that Manaea’s contract isn’t quite worth $75MM in present-day value. Therefore, the luxury tax hit for the Mets won’t be quite as high as his $25MM AAV. Jon Becker of FanGraphs suggests the present-day value of his AAV for luxury tax purposes is just over $22MM. That’s not entirely insignificant to the Mets, who will be paying the luxury tax once again in 2025. It’s also interesting that Manaea’s contract is about $1MM less valuable than the three-year, $67MM deal his former teammate Luis Severino signed with the Athletics. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported last week that Manaea turned down that same offer from the A’s before they gave it to Severino instead. Of course, it’s not hard to understand why Manaea would rather pitch for the Mets than the A’s, but it’s interesting that he technically took a discount to re-sign with New York.

In another Mets update, Sammon theorizes that “contract length” is currently what’s holding up a deal between the Mets and Pete Alonso. Heyman recently made a similar suggestion, saying “I do think the years are the hang-up right now” (per Jon Heyman’s Insider Notebook on Bleacher Report). Back in December, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported the Mets were still “pushing hard” to reunite with Alonso. From Alonso’s perspective, it’s hard to picture a better fit than the only team he’s ever known. Yet, a deal hasn’t come together. A disagreement over contract length could certainly explain why.

Presumably, Alonso and his agent Scott Boras are still looking to beat the guaranteed money from the seven-year, $158MM extension he reportedly turned down from the Mets in the summer of 2023. To do so, he’d need to sign for at least $137.5MM this winter (he already earned the first $20.5MM in 2024 during his final year of arbitration). It’s hard to imagine Alonso approaching that number on anything shorter than a six-year contract. Meanwhile, it’s not hard to understand why teams would balk at offering a six-year contract to a 30-year-old first baseman coming off two consecutive down years.

Red Sox To Keep Ceddanne Rafaela In Center Field “As Much As Possible”

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The Red Sox made a big investment in Ceddanne Rafaela last season, extending the youngster on an eight-year, $50MM deal in April. At the time, he had just 38 MLB games under his belt. They weren’t the most successful 38 games, either. Rafaela had a .672 OPS and 76 wRC+ with an abysmal 6:37 walk-to-strikeout ratio. Despite his blistering speed, he only had four stolen bases to that point, and he had already been caught stealing twice. Yet, his elite defensive capabilities must have helped the Red Sox look past his struggles on the other side of the ball.

Rafaela was long praised for his outfield defense as a prospect, and he lived up to the hype in the majors. By the end of the 2024 season, he had racked up 12 Defensive Runs Saved and a +7 Fielding Run Value in just 748.0 career innings as a center fielder. On the one hand, we have to be careful when looking at defensive metrics in such a small sample size. On the other hand, if Rafaela could keep those numbers up over a full season of work, he’d be one of the best fielders in the sport.

As if his performance in center field weren’t impressive enough, Rafaela has also appeared in 87 games at shortstop, 14 games at second base, and 4 games at third in his brief MLB tenure. He had plenty of infield experience in the minors. In fact, he began his pro career as a full-time infielder in 2018 and didn’t play the outfield until 2021. However, he took to center field so naturally that it soon became his primary position. By the time he made his MLB debut, it seemed safe to say he was a full-time center fielder.

But not so fast. As Trevor Story spent significant time on the IL in 2023 and ’24, the Red Sox needed help in the infield. Rafaela started five games at shortstop during his brief big league cup of coffee in 2023. The following year, the Red Sox temporarily named him their primary shortstop when Story went down with a shoulder injury in early April. He ended up playing more shortstop than any position and more shortstop than anyone else on Boston’s roster.

Rafaela’s versatility proved to be invaluable to the Red Sox in 2024. Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that he wasn’t more than a backup plan at short. His defense at the position was poor according to just about every available metric. Over 692.0 career innings at shortstop from 2023-24, Rafaela has made six fielding errors and four throwing errors. He has -3 Defensive Runs Saved and a -8 Fielding Run Value. Once again, it’s important to take defensive metrics in a small sample size with a grain of salt. Still, it’s impossible not to notice the world of difference between Rafaela’s performance in center field and at shortstop.

With that in mind, it was hardly controversial when Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow told reporters (including Sean McAdam of MassLive) that the Red Sox plan to keep Rafaela in center field “as much as possible.” With Rafaela in center full-time, the Red Sox could play 2024 Gold Glove finalist Jarren Duran in left field and 2024 Gold Glove winner Wilyer Abreu in right, giving them, perhaps, the best defensive outfield in the sport. Yet, McAdam raises the question of what Boston will do once star prospect Roman Anthony is ready for the majors. That shouldn’t take long, considering Anthony put up a .982 OPS and a 162 wRC+ in 35 games at Triple-A last season. Neither Anthony nor Duran is quite as talented as Rafaela in center field, but both can play the position. More to the point, Rafaela has shown far less promise at the plate. Duran has an .832 OPS and a 126 wRC+ over the past two seasons, while Anthony has spent the last two years tearing up the minor leagues. Similarly, Abreu has a .794 OPS and a 117 wRC+ over 160 MLB games. No matter how strong Rafaela’s defense might be, his .664 OPS and 79 wRC+ in 180 career games pale in comparison to those numbers.

Despite a potential logjam in the outfield, Breslow made it clear that the Red Sox don’t want Rafaela playing the infield (per McAdam). That’s not exactly a shocking revelation. After all, Rafael Devers has third base on lock, and Story should be the full-time shortstop as long as he’s healthy. Boston doesn’t have a guaranteed starter at second base, but David Hamilton was a stronger offensive player and a better infield defender than Rafaela in 2024. Vaughn Grissom has yet to show that he’s ready for regular playing time, but he’s still young, and presumably, the Red Sox would like to give him a chance to prove himself after an injury-plagued 2024 campaign.

Ultimately, however, this isn’t really about the other options in the infield. Simply put, the Red Sox want Rafaela to focus on the position where he’s most valuable. Indeed, Breslow thinks that moving between the infield and the outfield might have hampered his performance in both spots: “I’m not sure we saw the best of him even defensively because of the fact that he was switching back and forth between center and shortstop.”

It’s hard to argue with Breslow’s logic. At the same time, it’s worth wondering what the Red Sox plan to do with Rafaela once Anthony demands a promotion. Similarly, it’s worth wondering what this means about Boston’s purported pursuit of a right-handed bat. Could a slightly crowded outfield picture prevent Breslow from adding the righty bat his lineup so badly needs?

The simplest answer is that Rafaela can take on a fourth outfielder role if/when he finds himself squeezed out of the starting lineup. He could also be the short side of a platoon with Abreu, who struggles against southpaws. In addition, it’s not as if Breslow completely closed the door on Rafaela returning to the infield. Perhaps if Story suffers another injury, Rafaela will be back on the dirt after all. A role like that might not be what the Red Sox had in mind when they signed him to a $50MM contract, but it’s not as if his $1.25MM salary for the 2025 season is an overpay for a Gold Glove-caliber bench player. Maybe Boston will eventually try to trade an outfielder, but there’s no reason to think they’re in a rush to get Rafaela – or Duran, Abreu, or Anthony – off their hands. Besides, Anthony isn’t even on the 40-man yet, and there’s plenty that could happen to affect Rafaela’s potential role between now and Opening Day.

Image courtesy of Imagn.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat today, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers! Anthony took questions on whether the Cubs could extend Kyle Tucker, the Angels/Pete Alonso rumors, Robbie Ray's trade candidacy, whether the Marlins would move Sandy Alcantara, the Yankees' third base options, next moves for the Brewers, and much more.

 

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Latest On Financial Dispute Between Nationals And Orioles, MASN

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The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) is co-owned by the Orioles and Nationals, although the Orioles have a controlling stake. Since the network was established in 2005, the two clubs have regularly fought over how much money the Nationals should receive in rights fees each season. These disagreements have led to several court battles over the years.

Earlier this week, the Nationals filed a petition with the Supreme Court of New York, requesting that the court confirm a decision from MLB’s Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee. The committee found that the Orioles and MASN owe the Nationals approximately $320.5MM in TV rights fees to cover the 2022-26 seasons (per Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun). That would mean around $203.9MM in backpay for the past three seasons ($72.8MM for 2022 and ’23 and $58.3MM for ’24) and another $58.3MM in 2025 and ’26. To put those numbers in context, RosterResource estimates the Nationals spent around $130MM on player payroll in 2024.

As Weyrich points out, a quick resolution to this petition would mean the two clubs will be in agreement on a deal that holds for multiple years to come for the first time since 2012. As for whether or not the two sides will be able to stay out of court in 2027 and beyond? That remains to be seen. Orioles majority owner David Rubenstein previously spoke about his desire to move these discussions “away from the lawyers” but stopped far short of making any promises. “I don’t have an easy answer yet,” he said. “If it was easy, it would have been resolved” (per Weyrich).

The Nationals have been active this offseason, trading for Nathaniel Lowe, signing Josh Bell and Michael Soroka, and re-signing Trevor Williams. However, they have not made the kind of big splash (or even medium splash) that some thought they’d make this winter. With a projected 2025 payroll that is still $22MM below last year’s final figure and the possibility of more financial certainty if this $320.5MM agreement is confirmed, perhaps the Nationals will continue adding this offseason to supplement a roster full of talented but unproven young players.

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