Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Angels Reportedly “Weighing” Pursuit Of Pete Alonso

By | at

The Angels are reportedly “weighing” a pursuit of free agent first baseman Pete Alonso as they search for another bat to add to their lineup, according to a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Alonso, 30, is the top free agent available at first base this winter but hasn’t found the market he was surely hoping for to this point in the winter. While plenty of clubs entered the winter with needs at first base, a number of feasible landing spots for Alonso have subsequently addressed the position in other ways: the Yankees added Paul Goldschmidt, the Astros signed Christian Walker, the Nationals traded for Nathaniel Lowe, and the Tigers shifted Colt Keith to first base after signing Gleyber Torres. Meanwhile, many of the teams that could potentially be in the market for first base/DH such as the Mariners, Padres, and Twins are facing payroll constraints that make a pursuit of Alonso quite unlikely.

That’s led to a feeling in recent weeks that a return to Queens may be inevitable for the slugger. The Mets have not yet filled their hole at first base, and while they’ve replaced Alonso’s bat in the lineup with Juan Soto it’s hard to deny that the club could benefit from adding another slugger to the mix, particularly a right-handed hitter like Alonso who can help balance out Soto and Brandon Nimmo’s left-handed bats alongside switch-hitter Francisco Lindor. In recent weeks, however, it appears that Alonso’s market has begun to expand a bit. The Giants were connected to the slugger last week, and now the Angels have seemingly entered the fray as well. While both clubs would face a bit of a tight roster fit given the presence of incumbent first basemen on the roster, either club would surely benefit from adding Alonso’s bat to the middle of their lineup.

In Anaheim’s case, youngster Nolan Schanuel appears to hold the keys to first base for the time being. The club’s first-round pick in 2023, Schanuel rocketed through the minors to reach the majors shortly after being drafted and since then has slashed a respectable .255/.354/.357 in 176 games at the big league level. While the 22-year-old hasn’t developed the necessary power to be more than an average bat in the majors to this point, his phenomenal plate discipline suggests a bright future is ahead for the youngster. That makes it hard to believe that the Angels would kick Schanuel from the lineup to sign Alonso, but Heyman reports that both could coexist in the Anaheim lineup even with Jorge Soler entrenched as the club’s regular DH by moving Schanuel to left field.

It’s a novel solution to the problem given that Schanuel has not played the outfield before as a professional, but it’s not completely impossible to imagine him being able to handle the position defensively. After all, Schanuel got occasional reps in the outfield as an amateur and those days aren’t nearly as far behind him as they are for more established big leaguers or even fellow youngsters who spent more time in the minor leagues. That defensive risk could be worth taking if it means adding a hitter of Alonso’s caliber to the lineup, replacing the likely platoon of Jo Adell and Mickey Moniak the club currently seems poised to utilize in the outfield alongside Taylor Ward.

With that being said, it’s hard to imagine the Angels preferring an arrangement with Alonso that pushed Schanuel into the outfield to simply signing a big bat for their outfield mix and keeping their young hitter at his natural position. The Halos have also been connected to Anthony Santander on the free agent market recently, and Heyman concedes that the Angels landing Santander is “more likely” than the club ultimately ending up with Alonso due in part to the cleaner positional fit. With that being said, Santander’s market isn’t limited to the Angels. If he winds up signing somewhere else such as Detroit or Toronto, it suddenly becomes easier to imagine Angels brass being more willing to move things around to accommodate the addition of Alonso at first base given that the only other impact free agent available in the outfield would be Jurickson Profar, who lacks the lengthy track record of success that Alonso offers.

Free Agent Profile: Charlie Morton

By | at

The 2024-25 offseason has seen starting pitchers enjoy a hot market practically from the start of the winter, and virtually every starter has signed a deal that surpassed expectations this winter. That’s led to a run on starters all throughout the winter, and as the 2025 calendar year begins just four starting pitchers who MLBTR predicted to land multi-year deals this winter remain on the market: Jack Flaherty, Nick Pivetta, Jose Quintana, and Andrew Heaney. With a number of clubs still hoping to add starting pitching help this winter, that means several teams are going to have to turn towards one-year deals in order to add to their rotation.

The list of players who figure to be available in that corner of the market is wide-ranging, with solid but unspectacular veterans like Kyle Gibson and Martín Pérez as well as players hoping to rebound from down or injured seasons like Michael Lorenzen and Spencer Turnbull. One particularly unique group of pitchers available on one-year deals is a handful of aging veterans who have long been among the better starters in baseball but either can’t garner or aren’t interested in making multi-year commitments at this point in their careers. Former Cy Young award winners Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, and Justin Verlander all fall into this category, but the best of the group in 2024 was actually 41-year-old right-hander Charlie Morton.

Unlike the aforementioned trio, Morton isn’t a future Hall of Famer. He didn’t make his big league debut until he was 24 years old and didn’t fully break out as a front-end starter until his age-33 season, which came with the Astros back in 2017. Since then, however, Morton has been among the better pitchers in the sport. He’s grown into one of the more durable starters in the sport with more than 1200 innings of work over the past eight seasons, good for eighth in the majors. Among starters with at least 1000 innings of work during that time, Morton’s 3.64 ERA and near-matching 3.63 FIP rank ninth, while his fantastic 27.4% strikeout rate ranks sixth behind only Scherzer, Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Yu Darvish, and Blake Snell.

That steady, reliable production would have made Morton an attractive free agent for a number of clubs in recent years, but his last foray into free agency was back in the 2020-21 offseason, when he limited his market to just Atlanta and Tampa Bay in an effort to remain close to his family. Since then, he’s signed successive short-term extensions with the Braves in order to remain in Atlanta. In four years as a member of the Braves, Morton pitched to a 3.87 ERA (110 ERA+) with a 3.92 FIP in 686 1/3 innings of work, positioning himself as a durable mid-rotation arm.

There’s been some variance in Morton’s work with Atlanta, as he posted top-of-the-rotation caliber results in 2021 and ’23 but was closer to league average in 2022 and ’24. Even in those down years, though, Morton’s durability made him a quality rotation option not unlike Gibson. With the floor of a sturdy, back-of-the-rotation veteran and the ceiling of a playoff-caliber starter, Morton stands out among the remaining starters available as something like the best of both worlds; he’s been as durable over the years as a veteran like Gibson or Patrick Corbin, but with recent success that easily clears those more reliable arms.

While even Morton’s best years pale in comparison to what the aforementioned trio of aging aces looked like at their peak, Morton’s numbers after the past two years are actually very similar to Scherzer’s on a rate basis: Scherzer has posted a 3.81 ERA (109 ERA+) with a 4.29 FIP since the start of the 2023 season, while Morton has posted a 3.92 ERA (108 ERA+) with a 4.17 FIP over the same time frame. Scherzer’s 26.8% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate are better than Morton’s 24.7% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate, but Morton benefits from a much higher groundball rate and of course has nearly double Scherzer’s volume over the past two years.

While betting on a pitcher who’s already celebrated his 41st birthday will always come with risk, Morton’s impressive durability and consistent track record of success make him one of the most intriguing mixes of upside and stability still available in free agency at this point. With that said, it doesn’t appear that the veteran has fully decided whether or not he’ll return to the mound at all for 2025. Morton has frequently considered hanging up the glove to join his family at their home in Florida, and while initial reports indicated his intention to pitch in 2025, Morton’s plans seemingly remain up in the air as he would likely wind up somewhere other than Atlanta for the coming season.

Reportedly, Morton’s preference is to pitch for a team that hosts their Spring Training in Florida so he can stay close to home for more of the season. Aside from the Braves and Rays, the Orioles, Red Sox, Tigers, Astros, Blue Jays, Marlins, Twins, Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Pirates, Cardinals, and Nationals all play in the Grapefruit League during the spring. The majority of those teams are either facing significant payroll constraints or unlikely to add rotation help this winter, but the Orioles, Astros, Tigers, and Mets could all be speculative potential destinations for the right-hander should he wind up departing Atlanta.

Twins Sign Mike Ford To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Twins have signed first baseman Mike Ford to a minor league deal, according to a report from Jon Morosi of MLBNetwork. The deal includes an invitation to big league Spring Training next month.

Ford, 32, made his big league debut back in 2019 with the Yankees. Ford hit the ground running in 50 games for the club, slashing an impressive .259/.350/.559 with 12 home runs in just 163 plate appearance. That dynamic performance was enough to earn Ford additional chances with the Yankees over the next two seasons, but he wasn’t able to capitalize on them as he hit just .134/.250/.276 in 156 trips to the plate split between the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The Yankees eventually opted to trade Ford to the Rays in a cash deal midway through the 2021 season.

Though Ford wouldn’t make it back to the majors in 2021, that trade nonetheless set off a lengthy series of transactions that saw the slugger bounce around the league with a number of different stops. Two months after being acquired by the Rays, he was claimed off waivers by the Nationals. After being non-tendered by Washington following the 2021 season, he was signed by the Mariners and added to their 40-man roster ahead of the 2022 season. Before appearing in a big league game with the club, however, he was traded to the Giants in a cash deal. His stay in San Francisco then lasted just one game before he was traded back to the Mariners, where he then appeared in 16 games before being designated for assignment and claimed off waivers by the Braves. After five games in Atlanta, he was then shipped to Anaheim and finished the 2022 season with the club, playing 28 games for the Angels down the stretch.

Given that whirlwind of transactions Ford found himself a part of over the course of 14 months, it’s perhaps no surprise that his 2022 season left much to be desired. While he garnered 149 plate appearances across 50 games with the four teams that played him in the majors that year, he hit just .206/.302/.313 during that time. Ford ultimately returned to free agency and signed a second consecutive minor league deal with Seattle. After lingering at Triple-A for the first two months of the year, he was added to the Mariners’ roster at the start of June and proceeded to have the best season of his career. He slashed a solid .228/.323/.475 (128 wRC+) in a career-high 84 games while clobbering 16 home runs in just 251 trips to the plate. Ford still struck out at a hefty 32.3% clip, but his power allowed him to carve out a semi-regular role with the Mariners serving mostly as the club’s DH.

Unfortunately for Ford, he was non-tendered by the Mariners following the 2023 campaign as the club looked to overhaul its lineup to focus more on contact rather than power. Ford signed with the Reds on a minor league deal prior to the 2024 campaign but managed to get into just 17 games with the club this year and hit a paltry .150/.177/.233 in 62 plate appearances. After being cut loose by Cincinnati at the end of May, Ford tried his luck overseas with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars. His time in Japan did not go especially well, and he made it into just six games with the club’s Central League team before returning to the open market this winter.

Now, Ford is poised to join the Twins as a budget first base option for the club. Minnesota has struggled with a significant payroll crunch throughout the offseason and been limited in its ability to add to a roster that entered September in clear playoff position but collapsed down the stretch. After watching Carlos Santana depart for their division rivals in Cleveland last month, Minnesota appeared thin at first base with some combination of José Miranda and Edouard Julien likely to be the club’s internal solution at the position. With Ford now in the mix, those two youngsters will have additional competition this spring for the first base job, though signing a non-roster veteran like Ford is unlikely to stop the Twins from adding a more proven player in free agency should they manage to create enough payroll space to do so.

Guardians Sign Luis Frias To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Guardians have signed right-hander Luis Frias to a minor league deal with an invite to big league Spring Training, per a club announcement.

Frias, 27 in May, signed with the Diamondbacks out of the Dominican Republic as an amateur and made his pro debut back in 2016. After slowly making his way through the lower levels of the minors in his early years with the club, Frias quickly rose from High-A all the way to Triple-A during the 2021 season. While he struggled to a 4.93 ERA in 23 starts across three levels of the minors that year, that didn’t stop Arizona from giving Frias his first big league opportunity down the stretch. He pitched fairly well in that brief cup of coffee, with a 2.70 ERA and three strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings of work, though his five walks represented a clear red flag regarding how his command would play at the big league level.

Those control issues manifested in the form of a brutal 2022 season. Frias’s sophomore campaign in the desert scarcely could have gone worse, as he posted a 10.59 ERA in 17 big league innings of work while once again walking (17) more batters than he struck out (14). His 3.99 ERA at Triple-A offered some level of optimism, though even that was held back by a 12.3% walk rate at the level. Despite his struggles, Frias’s tantalizing stuff was enough to convince Arizona to keep him in the fold for 2023, and he delivered the best season of his career in return. Though he walked 12.2% of opponents in the majors that year, Frias posted a 4.07 ERA that was 9% better than average by measure of ERA+ in 31 innings of work. His 18.7% strikeout rate was lackluster, but in terms of pure run prevention his results were those of a perfectly adequate middle reliever.

Unfortunately, Frias’s performance went back off the rails in 2024. In 13 MLB appearances split between the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays, the right-hander struggled to a 13.97 ERA and 5.55 FIP while recording just 9 2/3 total innings of work. Things even looked dire at the Triple-A level during his time in Arizona, as he posted a lackluster 4.88 ERA for the club’s affiliate in Reno. Fortunately for Frias, however, he dominated at Triple-A late in the year after being plucked off waivers from the Snakes. He posted a 0.96 ERA and a 27.9% strikeout rate for his new club’s Buffalo affiliate, and while that wasn’t enough to convince the Jays to keep him on their 40-man roster this winter it was evidently enough to earn Frias a look from the Guardians this winter.

While Frias isn’t likely to break camp as part of a crowded Cleveland bullpen, he’ll now have the opportunity to work with one of the league’s best pitching development organizations in hopes of further harnessing his potential and sorting out his command going forward. In the meantime, he’ll serve as a non-roster depth option for the Guardians out of the bullpen who could be called upon in the event of an injury.

The Opener: Kim, Arbitration, Scherzer

By | at

As the MLB offseason continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Kim’s posting window draws closed:

KBO infielder Hyeseong Kim has just under 32 hours remaining in his posting window, which is set to close at 4pm CT tomorrow. MLBTR ranked Kim as the #26 free agent available in our annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list, where we predicted a three-year, $28MM deal for Kim at the outset of the offseason. With that being said, it’s worth noting that the earning power of international free agents can be difficult to predict as Kim’s fellow countryman Jung Hoo Lee demonstrated last winter when he signed a nine-figure deal with the Giants that blew past all expectations at the time of his posting.

There’s been few concrete rumors regarding Kim’s free agency to this point in the offseason, and with so little known about Kim’s free agency it’s difficult to predict which teams may be interested in the infielder or if he could consider returning to the Kiwoom Heroes in 2025 if he’s unable to find a contract to his liking. Kim is primarily a second baseman but has plenty of experience at shortstop as well and is generally regarded as a strong defender who should have little trouble handling third base if needed. The Mariners, Yankees, Angels, Cubs, Padres, and Brewers are among a number of teams who could make sense as potential suitors for a versatile infielder like Kim.

2. Arbitration filing deadline approaches:

Arbitration-eligible players around the league have to either reach an agreement with their club or face an arbitration hearing each winter, and decision day is rapidly approaching for those players this winter. The deadline to file for arbitration is one week from today on January 9. While teams and players are free to negotiate even after filing, clubs have increasingly used next week’s deadline as a cutoff for negotiations, taking what’s been termed a “file-and-trial” approach to arbitration. The majority of arb-level players typically sign before the deadline in order to avoid arbitration, as Royals right-hander Kyle Wright did last month. Many more players figure to follow in Wright’s footsteps over the next week, including what’s sure to be a rush of deals on the day of the deadline.

3. Scherzer’s market heating up?

Reporting yesterday indicated that four teams are involved in the market for future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, though no specific clubs have been connected to the veteran hurler. At age 40, Scherzer is coming off an injury-marred season and is no longer the perennial contender for Cy Young awards that he was during his peak. Even so, the right-hander has remained valuable when healthy, with a 3.81 ERA (109 ERA+) and a 26.8% strikeout rate over the past two seasons. The eight-time All-Star is among the highest upside players still on the market and offers a relatively low-cost alternative to the top hurlers remaining on the market, Jack Flaherty and Nick Pivetta, while standing out in a crowd of veterans searching for one-year deals as the most impactful option at that level of the market now that Walker Buehler is off the board.

MLB Mailbag: Braves, Red Sox, Cubs, Mariners, Torkelson, Alonso, Bregman

By | at

Welcome to the first mailbag of 2025!  In this one we get into what the Braves, Red Sox, Cubs, and Mariners might do, the future of first basemen Spencer Torkelson and Pete Alonso, outfield options for the Astros, various Alex Bregman destinations, and much more.

John asks:

Braves fan here wondering if the Braves will re-sign AJ Minter?

Bill asks:

With market choices dwindling whom might Atlanta pursue in the pitcher/outfield categories? Or will they rely on young pitching hopes and current outfield options?

Phillip asks:

What do you see the Atlanta Braves doing? We need another outfielder, starting pitcher, and 2 relief pitchers. Are we going to be thrifty or are we going for quality?

Bruce asks:

Can you predict what the usually unpredictable Alex Anthopolous will acquire to play LF and SS and SP down the 2025 Atlanta Braves?

In attempting to guess how the rest of the Braves' offseason will go, it may be helpful to first project their payroll.  President of baseball operations and GM Alex Anthopoulos said in October payroll would be going up.

The Braves' actions thus far this offseason do not match those of a team planning to increase payroll: declining Travis d'Arnaud's option, dumping Jorge Soler, moving money around with the Reynaldo Lopez and Aaron Bummer extensions (though not in a way that helps their CBT payroll), non-tendering Ramon Laureano, and most importantly, failing to sign any notable free agents.  It's also true that Anthopoulos' October comments came before the Braves learned more information about the timelines of Ronald Acuña Jr., Spencer Strider, and Joe Jimenez.  I could see how that would affect payroll allocation, but not why it would affect the total payroll.

The Braves appear to have a $220MM CBT payroll at present, and on December 11th David O'Brien of The Athletic wrote that the Braves "don’t seem inclined to go too far above that $241 million [luxury tax] threshold."  That's after running a $276MM CBT payroll in 2024.  Perhaps in his October "payroll is going up" comments, Anthopoulos was threading a needle where the team's 26-man Opening Day actual payroll will increase, but their CBT payroll will not.  Last year's Opening Day actual payroll was $222MM and the team is at $197MM at present.  It's also likely the team would like to keep powder dry for midseason additions.

Given O'Brien's comment, we probably shouldn't project much more than $25MM in additional AAV to be added this offseason.  The second tax threshold of $261MM could be a ceiling on the CBT payroll.  So how might Anthopoulos improve the team with many major names now off the board?

Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription

BENEFITS
  • Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
  • Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
  • Remove ads and support our writers.
  • Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker

Padres, Moises Gomez Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Padres agreed to a minor league contract with Moisés Gómez last month, according to the MLB.com transaction log. The 26-year-old corner outfielder had been outrighted and released by the Cardinals last season.

Gómez is working to get to the big leagues for the first time. He seemed on track after hitting 39 homers in the minor leagues in 2022. That earned him a 40-man roster spot with St. Louis. Gómez spent the entire ’23 campaign on optional assignment to their Triple-A affiliate. He popped another 30 homers but hit .232 with a .293 on-base percentage. That wasn’t enough to crack the MLB roster. St. Louis sent him through outright waivers last February.

The righty-hitting outfielder again opened the season at the Triple-A level. He hit .208 and saw his power production evaporate, as he only managed three longballs in 45 games before being released. Gómez closed the season in the independent American Association. He has mashed in winter ball in his native Venezuela this offseason. Gómez is hitting .273/.396/.613 with 15 longballs in 48 winter ball games.

San Diego will give him an opportunity to rebound from his difficult past two seasons. Gómez has big power, hitting 127 homers in parts of nine minor league seasons between the Tampa Bay and St. Louis systems. That includes 49 longballs in fewer than 1000 Triple-A plate appearances, though he’s a .236/.303/.452 hitter at that level. He has punched out in nearly a third of his trips to the plate in Triple-A.

Where Can Astros Turn For A Left-Handed Outfielder?

By | at

After last month’s Kyle Tucker trade, the outfield is the biggest question for the Astros. Jake Meyers and Chas McCormick are lined up to start in center and right field, respectively. Meyers is a defensive stalwart without much offensive upside. McCormick has been a very good hitter in the past, but he’s coming off the worst season of his career.

Left field is completely open. While Yordan Alvarez could get a few starts there, the Astros want to use him mostly as a designated hitter. Former top prospect Taylor Trammell, who started one major league game last season, is Houston’s projected left fielder at RosterResource. Trammell is coming off a strong season in Triple-A, but he’s 27 years old and has a .167/.270/.368 batting line over 359 MLB plate appearances. If not Trammell, utility player Mauricio Dubón would probably get the majority of the playing time. Houston still expects to compete for an AL West title. They’ll need to add at least one outfielder before Opening Day.

General manager Dana Brown has acknowledged as much. Houston is looking for a left-handed hitter, in particular, potentially allowing them to spell McCormick or Meyers. The Astros project narrowly above the competitive balance tax threshold and don’t seem likely to make a play for Anthony Santander. If they’re dealing with a tighter budget, where could they look?

Free Agency

Jurickson Profar: Profar might be out of their financial comfort zone as well. As of last month, the switch-hitting left fielder was looking for a deal of at least three years. He’s the best non-Santander outfielder available in free agency. Profar has had an up-and-down career but is coming off by far his best season. He hit .280/.380/.459 with 24 homers behind massively improved exit velocities. He’ll turn 32 in February, but the Astros have made three-year free agent commitments to much older hitters (i.e. José Abreu and Christian Walker). Profar is an ideal fit on paper, but the money could be an issue.

Alex Verdugo: For most of his Red Sox tenure, Verdugo was a capable if mercurial everyday player. He hit .281/.338/.424 across four seasons in Boston. The Sox traded him to the Yankees, who stuck with him as their regular left fielder amidst the worst season of his career. Verdugo finished the year with a .233/.291/.356 slash across 621 plate appearances. Almost all the positives came in the first month of the season. Verdugo carried a .267/.358/.446 line into May. He hit .225/.275/.336 over his final 501 plate appearances. Verdugo doesn’t turn 29 until May, so he’s a plausible rebound candidate, but that’d be less risky for a fringe contender than it is for a true win-now team like Houston. He’s likely looking at a one-year pillow deal, probably for less than the $10MM that Max Kepler received from Philadelphia.

Jesse Winker: Outside of Profar, Winker probably has the best offensive profile of this group. He hit .258/.366/.422 with 13 homers in 404 plate appearances against righty pitching last season. He’s a career .276/.379/.462 hitter with the platoon advantage. Winker isn’t a huge threat against lefties, but he can hit right-handers. The big drawback is the defensive profile. He’s a poor defender in left field who should primarily be a designated hitter. The Astros would either need to have him divide left field work with Alvarez or play Winker there regularly if they want to keep their superstar DH off his feet. Maybe they feel the Crawford Boxes and limited left field to cover in Houston makes that worthwhile. Winker might be able to get two years but shouldn’t be all that expensive.

Jason Heyward: Heyward finished the 2024 season in Houston after being released by the Dodgers. He hit four homers in 24 regular season contests and started one of their Division Series games against the Tigers. While it was a fairly strong finish, Heyward had hit .208/.289/.393 across 197 plate appearances with Los Angeles. He’s at best a strong-side platoon option and might be a better fit for a bench role going into his age-35 season. He’d be available for one year and a base salary of a few million dollars.

David Peralta: Peralta has a similar profile to Heyward. He’s a former above-average regular who has settled into a platoon role in his late 30s. He’s coming off a nice season for the Padres, hitting .267/.335/.415 across 260 plate appearances. The Astros would probably prefer to bring Heyward back if they’re going this route, but Peralta had better numbers in 2024.

Trade Candidates

Jesús Sánchez: Outside of Sandy Alcántara and the dead money owed to released outfielder Avisaíl García, Sánchez projects as the highest-paid player on the Marlins. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a $3.2MM salary in his second of four trips through arbitration. That’s hardly exorbitant, but Miami has shown a willingness to move virtually anyone amidst their full rebuild. Sánchez is a former top prospect who has settled in as a low-end regular in the big leagues. He’s coming off a .252/.313/.417 showing with 18 homers and 16 stolen bases — his second straight league average offensive performance. He’s a roughly average defender in either corner. The 27-year-old may not have the upside that many prospect evaluators had hoped, but he’d be an upgrade over Trammell.

Mike Yastrzemski: The Giants seemed likely to deal one of their arbitration-eligible players at the start of the offseason. Yastrzemski, who agreed to a $9.25MM salary in his final year of club control, seemed the most logical candidate. San Francisco has been quiet since pulling off the Willy Adames deal, however, so they might not be looking to shed payroll to open additional free agent pursuits. Yastrzmeski is coming off a .231/.302/.437 showing with 18 homers through 474 trips to the plate.

Willi Castro: Castro is a switch-hitting utility player who has more than 800 innings of left field experience. He has had a solid two-year run in Minnesota, hitting .251/.334/.395 in 1044 plate appearances. Castro was a nice find for the Twins’ front office, who inked him to a minor league deal after he’d been non-tendered by the Tigers. He’s in his final winter of arbitration and projected for a $6.2MM salary. Minnesota highly values his versatility and clubhouse presence, so they’re probably not keen on moving him. Yet the Twins are working with an extremely tight budget and have done nothing in free agency. Trading Castro would be one way to open a bit of payroll space.

————————

There are a few other trade candidates if Houston wanted to take a bigger swing. Players like Wilyer Abreu, Jake McCarthy and Alec Burleson could be available. They’d require a stronger prospect return than any of Sánchez, Yastrzmeski or Castro, however. That seems unlikely considering the Astros dealt Tucker because they wanted to add talent to a very thin farm system without giving up on the upcoming season.

Angels, Sebastian Rivero Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Angels signed catcher Sebastián Rivero to a minor league contract last month, as reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. It’s unclear if he’ll be invited to major league Spring Training.

Rivero, 26, has two seasons of major league experience. He played in 34 games for the Royals between 2021-22, hitting .167 without a home run over 73 trips to the plate. Kansas City released him after the ’22 campaign. The Venezuelan-born catcher has spent the past two seasons in the upper minors, dividing his time between the White Sox and Braves organizations. He hit .186/.239/.249 in 75 games between Double-A and Triple-A in the Atlanta system a year ago. Rivero has been playing winter ball, where he’s hitting .182 in 21 games.

While there’s clearly not a ton of offensive upside, Rivero adds catching depth to the upper levels of the minors. He has started nearly 400 games and caught almost 3500 innings in his minor league career. Rivero has cut down around a quarter of attempted basestealers in each of the last two seasons.

Logan O’Hoppe and Travis d’Arnaud will divide the catching duties at Angel Stadium. Recent trade pickup Chuckie Robinson projects as the top depth option as the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. They hadn’t had any non-roster catchers with major league experience before signing Rivero, who could back Robinson up at Triple-A Salt Lake.

Latest On Max Scherzer

By | at

With the rotation market moving more quickly than the rest of free agency, the number of unsigned starting pitchers is dwindling. Jack Flaherty, Nick Pivetta and potential reliever conversion Jeff Hoffman are at the top of the class. Beyond that, teams are evaluating pitchers who’ll likely be limited to one- or two-year commitments.

Max Scherzer may be the most intriguing of those short-term targets. The future Hall of Famer was limited to nine starts and 43 1/3 innings during his final season with the Rangers. Scherzer has made clear that he has no plans to retire. He’ll be back for his age-40 campaign in hopes of a healthier, more productive season.

In a live stream for Bleacher Report this afternoon, Jon Heyman suggested that Scherzer is fielding interest from four teams. Heyman indicated that the market “is heating up a bit,” so it’s possible that the three-time Cy Young winner could come off the board in the relatively near future.

Scherzer opened the ’24 season on the injured list as he finished rehab from last December’s back surgery. Nerve irritation in his throwing hand delayed his return until late June. Scherzer made eight starts before going back on the shelf with shoulder fatigue. That kept him out into September. His season concluded after one additional start because of a strained left hamstring.

A pitcher battling multiple injuries, including back surgery, at age 40 is obviously going to raise concerns. Scherzer is only one season removed from starting 30 games and topping 160 innings between the regular season and playoffs. He’d surpassed 170 innings in every full schedule between 2009-21. Until last year, he’d been incredibly durable.

Scherzer remains productive when he’s able to pitch, albeit not at a Cy Young level. He turned in a 3.77 ERA with a 28% strikeout rate between the Mets and Rangers in 2023. Last season, he allowed just under four earned runs per nine with a diminished 22.6% strikeout percentage. Scherzer still got a ton of chases and whiffs on a per-pitch basis though. His 14.6% swinging strike rate ranked fifth among starting pitchers with 40+ innings. Only Blake Snell, Garrett Crochet, Logan Gilbert and Dylan Cease missed bats at a higher rate.

Aside from perhaps Flaherty, Scherzer arguably has the highest ceiling for next season alone of any unsigned starter. There’s also significant risk because of the recent spate of injuries. Scherzer will almost certainly be limited to a one-year contract, so the long-term downside is limited, but he should command a strong salary.

Alex Cobb landed $15MM from the Tigers coming off a season in which he combined for 23 innings between the regular season and playoffs. He recently turned 37 and doesn’t miss bats at anywhere near the rate Scherzer does. It stands to reason that Scherzer and his representation at the Boras Corporation will be aiming to beat Cobb money, perhaps in pursuit of a contract closer to $20MM.

Heyman’s report doesn’t specify any of the teams involved in the bidding. Speculatively speaking, the Braves, Orioles, Blue Jays, Cubs, Nationals and Mets are among the teams that could have some spending room and a desire for a short-term upside play. Scherzer isn’t going to sign with a team that doesn’t have a path to contention, but there are very few truly rebuilding clubs right now. Every team aside from Colorado, Miami and the White Sox may feel they have a path to a Wild Card spot.

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