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Seiya Suzuki To Be Cubs’ Primary DH In 2025

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At the yesterday’s Cubs Convention in Chicago, manager Craig Counsell spoke to the crowd (video link) about the club’s outfield mix and clarified the Cubs’ outfield plans for the year. As Counsell lays things out, Ian Happ and Pete Crow-Armstrong will remain entrenched as the club’s regulars in left field and center field respectively, while offseason acquisition Kyle Tucker will take over as the regular right fielder.

That’s generally agreed to be the Cubs’ best defensive alignment as things stand and has seemed to be the most likely outcome ever since the Cubs acquired Tucker last month. With that being said, one side effect of making Tucker the club’s regular right fielder is that incumbent right fielder Seiya Suzuki will be pushed to DH on a regular basis this year. That’s a reality Counsell acknowledged, noting that Suzuki will DH “a lot” this season.

“We talked to Seiya this week about that, and he understands that, and he’s on board with that,” Counsell said, and he went on to note that they view Suzuki as an “extra outfielder” who can fill in for Happ and Tucker in the event of an injury.

Even so, it’s notable that the Cubs appear committed to Suzuki as a primary DH in 2025. Suzuki’s agent, Joel Wolfe of Wasserman, spoke to reporters during the Winter Meetings last month about Suzuki and made clear that his client wanted to play the field. Wolfe even suggested that Suzuki likely “would not have signed with a team” who pitched being their everyday DH to him in free agency. Those comments helped to stoke trade rumors surrounding Suzuki throughout December, and while they started to die down after the club traded Cody Bellinger to the Yankees his name has continued to come up on occasion in the rumor mill.

Counsell’s comments yesterday seemingly put that conversation to bed, indicating that the club and Suzuki have resolved whatever discord may have existed between the sides over the issue. Given that Tucker is Gold Glove award winner who trails only Mookie Betts and Aaron Judge in Defensive Runs Saved as a right fielder since he made his MLB debut in 2018, perhaps Suzuki is more willing to move off of his natural position in deference to him than he was for Bellinger, who was an average defender in right field (+0 Fielding Run Value, +1 DRS) last year.

Even with Suzuki, Tucker, Crow-Armstrong, and Happ set to be regulars for the club in 2025, there appears to be a need for at least one more outfield-capable player on the roster. While Suzuki can seamlessly shift to a corner in the event that Happ or Tucker either needs a day off or heads to the injured list, there’s no clear backup to Crow-Armstrong on the club’s roster after the Cubs non-tendered Mike Tauchman back in November. Happ has the most center field experience of the club’s other regulars, but he hasn’t played a single inning there in the past two years and was last a regular fixture at the position back in 2020.

Alexander Canario and Kevin Alcántara are both on the club’s 40-man roster and capable of playing center field, although Canario has almost exclusively been used in the corners to this point in his big league career and the Cubs may prefer to avoid using a top prospect like Alcántara in a bench role. Should the club look for an external option capable of playing center field amid their reported search for additional bench depth, Michael A. Taylor and Kevin Pillar are among the bench center fielders still available in free agency.

Chris Young Discusses Rangers’ Bullpen Plans

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The Rangers have made retooling their bullpen a priority after losing Kirby Yates, David Robertson, and José Leclerc to free agency at the start of the offseason. It’s an endeavor they’ve been largely successful in: Chris Martin, Robert Garcia, Jacob Webb, Shawn Armstrong, and Hoby Milner are all new additions who should help to steady the club’s bullpen in 2025. With that being said, though, it’s worth noting that the Rangers’ relief corps posted a 4.41 ERA last year even with Yates, Robertson, and Leclerc in the fold. That was a bottom-five figure in baseball, so merely replacing that production on the back-end would not be enough to make the club’s bullpen even league average.

It’s under that backdrop that president of baseball operations Chris Young commented (as relayed by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News) on the state of the bullpen during the club’s FanFest event yesterday and left the door open for another addition. While Young acknowledged that the club’s signings to this point are an improvement over what they had at the start of the offseason, he adds that the club is “going to need more than we have” over the course of the season.

“Some of that’s going to need to come internally with our player development, and some of it may be externally, but it’s our job to continue to look for ways to upgrade,” Young said, as relayed by Grant.

To that end, Young suggested the club is “staying open-minded” about the possibility of further bullpen upgrades. That he didn’t commit more strongly to another external addition could be a consequence of the club’s budget, as Grant notes the club is rapidly approaching the first luxury tax threshold of $241MM. The Rangers are known to be aiming to duck under that threshold this year to reset their penalties as a repeat offender, and RosterResource projects the club for a luxury tax payroll of nearly $235MM in 2025. That leaves just $6MM of breathing room below that first threshold, which isn’t likely to be enough to make another impact relief addition in a market where players like Leclerc and Andrew Kittredge are garnering $10MM salaries in free agency.

Grant suggests that the Rangers could look to explore the trade market as a way to move salary and make room for the addition of a closer while specifically name-checking righty Jon Gray and center fielder Leody Taveras as potential trade options. Gray is due $13MM in 2025, which is the final year of his four-year deal with the club, while Taveras avoided arbitration with the Rangers by agreeing to a $4.75MM salary for 2025. It seems unlikely that either player would be dealt as part of a pure salary dump given Taveras’s value to the club as a quality fourth outfielder and Gray’s fairly solid peripheral numbers last year, but both are coming off down seasons and might be difficult to trade for full value. Of course, it’s also possible that a trade could allow the club to add relief talent more directly, as swapping first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to the Nationals for Garcia did last month.

Should the Rangers make room in the budget to pursue another arm with late-inning experience, both Yates and Robertson remain available in free agency. Tanner Scott is the best reliever available on the market but seems unlikely to fall into the club’s price range. The same can likely be said for top right-handed reliever Carlos Estévez. Kenley Jansen offers one possible alternative to Yates and Robertson who could be available on a similarly short-term deal. The most affordable option available if the Rangers are hoping to add closing experience to the roster would likely be right-hander Kyle Finnegan, who was non-tendered by the Nationals back in November. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Finnegan for an $8.6MM salary in his final trip through arbitration and, while it isn’t completely unheard of for a non-tendered player to meet or even exceed their arbitration projection on the open market, it stands to reason that Finnegan is unlikely to land a contract significantly more lucrative than that figure.

MLB Conducted Investigation Prior To Roki Sasaki’s Posting

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Prior to the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball officially posting right-hander Roki Sasaki for major league clubs last month, Major League Baseball conducted an investigation before authorizing Sasaki’s posting. Jack Harris of The Los Angeles Times reported this afternoon that MLB’s investigation was in order to “ensure the protocol agreement had been followed” and involved interviews with multiple parties. A report from Fabian Ardaya, Dennis Lin, Patrick Mooney, Ken Rosenthal, and Will Sammon of The Athletic added more details this evening, noting that the primary focus of the league’s probe was not Sasaki himself but rather the Marines. Both reports emphasize that the league found nothing that substantiated rumors of an illegal arrangement taking place.

That the league’s investigation focused on the Marines may seem somewhat surprising, but The Athletic’s report notes that the current posting system limits the payout for the Marines to just 25% of Sasaki’s total bonus. That’s a weak financial incentive for a club parting ways with its star player and represents not only a step back from the large posting fees players like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Seiya Suzuki have garnered for their clubs in recent years but also the $20MM posting fee the Nippon Ham Fighters were able to charge in exchange for Shohei Ohtani’s services when he signed with the Angels as an international amateur under the previous posting system back in December 2017. That relative lack of financial compensation for Sasaki’s services raised concerns among league officials for the potential for an under-the-table payment.

While MLB’s investigation found no wrongdoing by any party, speculation around the game of the possibility of an handshake agreement between Sasaki and the Dodgers grew significant enough to draw a strong denial from agent Joel Wolfe of Wasserman, who represents the right-handed phenom. As described in The Athletic’s report, clubs around the game felt uncertain about Sasaki’s goals throughout his posting process as teams like the Mariners and Red Sox failed to land a meeting with the 23-year-old while large market teams like the Cubs, Yankees, and Mets did in spite of suggestions that he may prefer to avoid the spotlight.

Regardless of that confusion, it became clear earlier this week that Sasaki had narrowed things down to three finalists: the Dodgers, Padres, and Blue Jays, each of whom then visited with Sasaki in their respective cities and began to prepare their offers. According to The Athletic’s report, San Diego told Sasaki’s camp that they would be willing to trade to maximize their bonus pool and offer Sasaki the entirety of those funds while the Dodgers lined up a trade with the Phillies to add additional bonus pool money in the event that they landed Sasaki. The Blue Jays were especially aggressive in their pursuit of Sasaki, however.

While all three clubs were clearly willing to add significant bonus pool dollars in order to land Sasaki, Toronto acquired $2MM in international bonus pool space from the Guardians by taking on the majority of the money owed to center fielder Myles Straw over the next two years despite not actually having a deal in place with the right-hander. The impetus behind that trade utlimately did not work out for Toronto as Sasaki wound up choosing Los Angeles. Despit that, The Athletic’s report indicates that the Blue Jays believe Straw could be a worthwhile addition in his own right and that the money they took on to land him won’t be prohibitive as they continue to look for ways to upgrade their roster. Notably, center fielder Daulton Varsho is not expected to be ready for Opening Day and the addition of Straw could give the club some depth at the position while Varsho recovers.

Padres Sign Niko Goodrum To Minor League Deal

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The Padres have signed utility player Niko Goodrum to a minor league deal, according to the transactions log on his MLB.com profile page. The deal presumably includes an invite to big league Spring Training. MadFriars first reported the transaction earlier this week.

Goodrum, 33 next month, has participated in parts of seven MLB seasons to this point. A second-round pick by the Twins in 2010 who made his big league debut in Minnesota back in 2017, Goodrum was cut from the club’s 40-man roster and wound up signing a minor league deal with the division rival Tigers during the 2017-18 offseason. The deal proved to be quite a coup for Detroit, as Goodrum went on to become a solid utility man for the club over the next four seasons. From 2018 to 2021, Goodrum hit a decent .232/.306/.401 (90 wRC+) in 376 games. He collected 6.3 fWAR during that time while mixing in at all three outfield spots in addition to first base, second base, third base, and even shortstop.

Unfortunately, Goodrum’s performance began to tail off in his later years with Detroit, and he hit just .203/.282/.350 in his final 504 trips to the plate with the club. That led the Tigers to outright him off their 40-man roster during the 2021-22 offseason, allowing him to return to free agency. Goodrum hasn’t found consistent work in the majors since departing Detroit, though he’s remained involved in stateside ball throughout the past three years. He spent the 2022 campaign in the Astros organization but was limited to just 35 games between the major and minor leagues due to injuries. The 2023 season saw Goodrum join the Red Sox organization and hit quite well over 65 games with Triple-A Worcester. That earned him an opportunity in South Korea’s KBO league during the second half and he hit .295/.373/.387 in 50 games with the Lotte Giants.

Goodrum returned to stateside ball in 2024 and bounced between five different organizations throughout the year. Goodrum initially signed back with the Twins on a minor league deal during the 2023-24 offseason, but after not making the club’s 40-man roster he was traded to the Rays and provided with a roster spot in Tampa. Throughout the year, Goodrum bounced between the Rays, Angels, and Pirates on the waiver wire before ultimately clearing waivers and electing free agency, where he signed a minor league deal with the Orioles. Goodrum failed to hit at the big league level in 2024 with a slash line of just .103/.188/.103 in the majors, albeit in a sample size of just 33 plate appearances. Goodrum’s Triple-A numbers were far stronger, as he slashed .284/.375/.460 in 243 trips to the plate across 60 games for the Rays’, Angels’, and Orioles’ affiliates.

Now, Goodrum is moving on to his sixth organization of the past calendar year in San Diego. The Padres are facing a significant budget crunch this winter and are severely lacking in positional depth after losing Jurickson Profar, Ha-Seong Kim, Donovan Solano, and David Peralta to free agency. While Goodrum is hardly an impactful bat even in his best years, the veteran utility man’s versatility could be a major asset to the Padres off the bench this year if they enter the season without more reliable solutions to their lackluster outfield mix.

Kevin Plawecki Announces Retirement, Joins Padres MiLB Coaching Staff

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Eight-year MLB veteran Kevin Plawecki announced his retirement on social media today. Plawecki’s announcement comes shortly after the Padres revealed their minor league coaching staff for 2025, where Plawecki is listed as an instructor for the club’s Arizona Complex League team.

“As I close the chapter on a playing career I’m excited for what the future holds. I still know I have a lot to give this game which has blessed me with so much,” Plawecki said in his announcement. “I look forward to joining the Padres as a coach in minor league player development this upcoming season. Thank you for all the love and support over the years! The best is yet to come! See y’all at a stadium near you!”

The 33-year-old was selected 35th overall by the Mets back in 2012 and made his big league debut with the club during the 2015 season. Plawecki was a consensus top-100 prospect at the time of his debut but struggled to hit at the major league level, with a .211/.287/.285 slash line in 121 games between the 2015 and ’16 campaigns. His offense took a step forward over the next two campaigns, though he remained a part-time player as he slashed .225/.330/.379 with a roughly league average 96 wRC+. Those four partial seasons concluded Plawecki’s time with the Mets, as he was traded to Cleveland prior to the 2019 season in a swap that saw New York acquire Walker Lockett and Sam Haggerty. Unfortunately for Plawecki, he struggled to hit with his new club and was non-tendered during the 2019-20 offseason.

That led to Plawecki signing with the Red Sox prior to the 2020 season, which quickly proved to be the most successful year of his career. While the catcher was shelved by a hamstring strain and a COVID-19 diagnosis that limited him to just 24 games during the shortened 60-game campaign, Plawecki hit quite well when he was healthy enough to take the field. The then-29-year-old posted a strong .341/.393/.463 slash line in 89 trips to the plate for the club that year as they made it all the way to the ALCS. Plawecki remained with the Red Sox for two additional seasons afterwards as a back-up to Christian Vázquez. He posted solid results in 2021 but took a step back in 2022, hitting just .217/.287/.287 in 60 games before being designated for assignment late in the year.

Plawecki was picked up by the Rangers late in the 2022 season and appeared in three games for the club, which ultimately proved to be the final three games of his big league career. The veteran bounced between the Rangers, Nationals, and Padres organizations on minor league deals in 2023 before spending the entire 2024 season in the Padres’ minor league system but never made it back to the majors after 2022. He walks away from his playing days a career .235/.313/.342 hitter across 449 MLB games, with 298 hits (including 22 homers) on his big league resume.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Plawecki on a fine career and wish him all the best as he begins the next chapter of his life as a coach in the Padres organization.

Nico Hoerner Discusses Surgery Rehab

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The Cubs have attempted to retool their roster this winter in an effort to get back to the playoffs for the first time in a 162-game season since 2018. As they’ve done so, one of the biggest question marks facing the team this winter has been the status of second baseman Nico Hoerner. The Cubs revealed in late October that Hoerner had undergone flexor tendon surgery without providing a timeline for his return. The injury ultimately didn’t stop teams such as the Mariners from pursuing Hoerner on the trade market this winter as the Cubs tried to open up a spot on the infield for top prospect Matt Shaw, but rumors of a deal died down after Chicago shipped third baseman Isaac Paredes to Houston as part of the Kyle Tucker trade.

With those trade rumors seemingly a thing of the past, Hoerner figures to be in the Cubs organization on Opening Day 2025. Whether or not he’ll be in the lineup is another matter, however. As noted by Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune, Hoerner discussed his injury and rehab in detail at the Cubs Convention in Chicago earlier today. Per Montemurro, Hoerner noted that he played through the issue throughout the 2024 campaign and that it had the largest impact on his throwing in the field.

That reality is borne out in his defensive metrics last year. According to Statcast, the fielding that earned Hoerner a Gold Glove award in 2023 faltered somewhat last year. While his +10 Outs Above Average remained in this 95th percentile of all MLB fielders last year, Hoerner’s Fielding Run Value dipped from +11 in 2023 to +8 in 2024. Looking specifically at his arm strength, Hoerner saw his throws lose more than three ticks of velocity year-over-year as he averaged 79.1 mph on his throws in 2023 but just 75.7 mph in 2024.

Given how noticeably the injury was impacting Hoerner’s elite work on the infield, it’s not necessarily surprising that he and the Cubs are taking his rehab process slowly. As relayed by Montemurro, Hoerner has not yet begun a throwing program or hitting since he went under the knife back in October. With the Cubs’ first game of the 2025 season against the Dodgers in Tokyo just two months away, that casts some doubt on the second baseman’s ability to be ready for the start of Chicago’s season. To that end, Montemurro reports that Hoerner not only could not answer whether or not he’d be ready for the Tokyo Series in March, but also couldn’t comment on whether or not he’d be back on the field in time for the Cubs’ home opener on April 4.

That leaves Hoerner missing at least the season’s first couple of weeks on the table, and without a clear timeline for return the possibility of a somewhat longer absence cannot be fully ruled out. With Shaw seemingly set to take over for Paredes at third base, the club’s internal options to fill in for Hoerner currently appear to be Rule 5 draft pick Gage Workman and utility infielder Vidal Brujan. Those options don’t exactly inspire confidence as fill-ins for Hoerner in the event he’s not ready for the start of the season, so it’s not necessarily a surprise that the Cubs appear to be focused on bolstering their bench mix ahead of Spring Training. Chicago was connected to Yoán Moncada earlier this month, and other players such as Paul DeJong and Jose Iglesias could also make sense as depth options who could fill in for Hoerner to start the season and provide insurance in case Shaw struggles in his first taste of big league action.

No Extension Talks Between Cardinals, Ryan Helsley

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Right-hander Ryan Helsley spoke to reporters about his future with the Cardinals during the club’s Winter Warmup fan event this weekend. As relayed by Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat, Helsley indicated that he was actually under the impression he’d be getting traded this winter when the offseason began. The righty added that when his camp heard from president of baseball operations John Mozeliak about six weeks after the season ended and was told the Cardinals plan to hold onto him this winter, he initially believed the call was to inform him of a trade.

Part of Helsley’s belief that he was ticketed for a trade this winter is based on the fact that there’s “never been any talk about extensions” between his camp and the Cardinals, he indicated. As noted by Jones, Helsley made clear that he would love to stay in St. Louis beyond the end of his time under team control but called negotiations a “two-way street” before adding that “if only one side wants [an extension], it’s not going to work out.”

It’s not a response that projects much confidence from Helsley about his prospects of remaining in town beyond the end of his contract. While the Cardinals have been seen as unlikely to part with Helsley on the trade market all winter even in spite of interest from rival clubs, keeping Helsley for the start of the regular season doesn’t necessarily mean that the club has interest in keeping the right-hander in the fold long-term or even that they’re opposed to considering a trade for Helsley over the summer if the club isn’t in playoff contention.

The biggest reason for the club to hold onto Helsley to open the season is that the club hopes to maintain some level of competitiveness in a relatively weak NL Central division this year. Helsley was among the best closers in baseball last season as he posted a 2.04 ERA and 2.41 FIP in 66 1/3 innings of work while collecting an MLB-best 49 saves. He struck out 29.7% of his opponents and continued to flash triple-digit velocity on his fastball. That’s the sort of dominant performance that can substantially boost a team’s odds of staying competitive, and the Cardinals don’t have a bevy of young relief arms ready to step into Helsley’s shoes the way they do with veteran hitters from the 2024 club like Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado.

Of course, another consideration is money. Helsley and the Cardinals settled at an $8.2MM salary to avoid arbitration this year. That $8.2MM, while not insignificant, would not do as much to assist the club’s goal of lowering payroll in 2025 as letting Goldschmidt (who signed for $12.5MM with the Yankees last month) depart in free agency did, to say nothing of how much more impactful trading most or all of the $60MM the Cardinals still owe Arenado over the next three seasons would be. In fact, Helsley’s impact relative to the Cardinals’ financial obligation to him arguably makes him one of the most valuable players on the team. Viewed through that lens, it’s understandable that St. Louis is planning to keep him in the fold through at least the first half of the season as they attempt to compete for a playoff spot.

Once Helsley is no longer under team control, that value calculation figures to change radically. Edwin Diaz and Josh Hader have set a new standard for elite relievers in free agency by landing deals that garnered both more than $90MM over a five-year period by measure of net present value. Helsley’s track record isn’t quite on the same level as Hader’s but even this year’s top free agent reliever, Tanner Scott, is rumored to be in line for an annual salary that could approach $20MM. If Scott, who had a dominant platform season but has a shorter track record of late-inning excellence than Helsley does, can land that sort of deal in free agency this winter it’s hard to imagine the righty not garnering a deal that at least comes close to doubling his annual salary next offseason.

That’s not the type of contract extension that would make sense for a Cardinals club that’s facing payroll constraints to offer, even before considering the uncertainty the team faces as it turns its focus towards developing younger players at the big league level. That makes it somewhat understandable for the Cardinals to not pursue an extension with Helsley at this point. After all, playing out the final year of his contract allows them to leave the door open for a midseason trade if the club is out of contention while also not stopping them from re-upping with him after the season should they believe that he’s a fit for their needs in 2026 and beyond. If the Cardinals exceed expectations and remain in the mix for a playoff spot all year, it will be much easier for them to project the level of competitiveness in 2026 necessary to make splurging on a closer of Helsley’s caliber more justifiable.

John Mozeliak Discusses Arenado, Cardinals’ Offseason

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Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak met with reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat) at the team’s Winter Warm-Up event today, and discussed several topics related to quiet St. Louis offseason.  In general, Mozeliak didn’t have much new to offer on the Nolan Arenado trade front, other than to say that “I think priority one, two and three is still Nolan” in terms of how dealing the third baseman is the clear focal point for the rest of the team’s winter plans.

Mozeliak has been open abut the team’s intentions of cutting payroll and giving more playing time to younger players in 2025, even if the PBO and other Cardinals’ officials have stopped short of officially considering next season a rebuilding year.  During the Winter Meetings, Mozeliak candidly said that “It’s my intention to try” and trade Arenado to aid in this process, and Arenado was tacitly on board with these endeavors, though Arenado ultimately has control over his own fate via his no-trade clause.

The eight-time All-Star already used this influence to reject a proposed deal in December that would’ve seen him dealt to the Astros, with Houston taking on — according to conflicting reports — at least $45MM and as much as $59MM of the $60MM still owed on Arenado’s contract.  (The full total is $74MM, but the Rockies are covering $10MM of that figure and the other $4MM is reduced due to deferrals.)  In the wake of that scuttled deal, the Astros moved on entirely by signing Christian Walker to address their corner infield needs, leaving St. Louis still in need of a trade partner.

Later reports suggested Arenado hadn’t entirely closed the door on joining the Astros, but just wanted more time to evaluate the situation considering that Houston had just dealt Kyle Tucker to the Cubs earlier that same week.  Mozeliak admitted today that he “was a little bit surprised” Arenado turned down the trade, and suggested that the Cardinals were hampered by the timing of the Tucker deal.  “It was almost more like order of operation.  Had we been a few days ahead of that, I think there would’ve been [a trade]….So yeah, things happen.” Mozeliak said.

In regards to the lack of other interest in Arenado, Mozeliak said “I would imagine the free agent market would be what’s slowing that down,” referencing the fact that Alex Bregman remains unsigned.  Some movement on the Arenado front could happen once Bregman chooses his next team, and Mozeliak said he hadn’t yet spoken with Arenado or his camp about possibly expanding the third baseman’s list of preferred trade destinations.

In fact, Mozeliak said he hadn’t directly spoken with Arenado for close to a month, as the two last had contact before the holidays.  Given the calendar, their next conversation might also have to address the scenario where Arenado isn’t traded prior to Spring Training, so he’d have to go through his normal spring routine under the weight of a potential change of scenery.

“There’s the mental side of this too, right?” Mozeliak said.  “He’s probably thinking, like, OK, if I have to come to camp, I want to start preparing for that, and maybe he wants to be committed to [staying in St. Louis] at that point.  So I don’t want to speak for him at this point, because we have not discussed that.  But clearly, as we get closer to Jupiter, that is something we will have to touch on.”

In a piece for MLBTR Front Office subscribers earlier this week, Anthony Franco described the Cardinals’ winter as “a half-measure offseason,” given how the team hadn’t dealt any of its higher-salaried players, let alone Arenado.  Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray left the Cards’ hands tied by refusing to waive their own no-movement clauses, yet impending free agents Ryan Helsley, Erick Fedde, and Steven Matz all seem like obvious trade candidates, and all remain on the roster here in mid-January.

Mozeliak provided some explanation for not moving Fedde or Matz today, noting that the Cards “don’t really love [the] idea” of potentially leaving the team short-handed on the pitching front.  “We really feel like we have some depth in our rotation right now, so I really don’t want to start preparing tearing away from that, in terms of thinking about moving a position player to achieve some financial goals,” Mozeliak said.  “That would be something we could consider as well, but we really don’t want to.”

Fedde is owed $7.5MM in 2025, while Matz is owed $12MM and would likely be more of a salary-dump candidate given his injuries and struggles in recent years.  Helsley will receive $8.2MM in his final season of team control.  While all have substantial salaries, the $27.2MM total is only slightly less than the $27MM owed to Arenado in 2025, when Colorado’s $5MM contribution is subtracted from his $32MM price tag.  Between that math and the $27MM also owed to Arenado in 2026, it seems like the Cardinals simply want to exhaust all possibilities in moving Arenado before moving onto other payroll-cutting moves.

The more salary St. Louis is able to unload, the more the team can also add to the roster.  Mozeliak suggested that if the money becomes available, the club could look at “obviously [the] bullpen” or possibly “a right-handed bat with some thump, something like that.”  The Cardinals have a decent amount of lineup balance already, but with Arenado on the move, the team would presumably be looking to replace him with another righty bat at a much lower price tag.  In theory, this bat might come in the outfield — right fielder Jordan Walker is right-handed, but Lars Nootbaar, Victor Scott II, and Michael Siani all swing from the left side.

Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts Discusses Offseason, Payroll, Front Office

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The Cubs’ blockbuster trade for Kyle Tucker generated the biggest headlines in Wrigleyville this winter, with the team also adding such notables as Matthew Boyd, Colin Rea, Eli Morgan, Carson Kelly, and Caleb Thielbar to the roster.  President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer stated this week that the Cubs were still looking to add to the bench and bullpen, and recent reports suggest that the latter pursuit could even take the form of a big-ticket signing of Tanner Scott.

One of the over-arching questions about Chicago’s winter plans is exactly how much Hoyer had available to spend, and chairman Tom Ricketts addressed this point in an interview with The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney.  Ricketts said that the team expects to spend around the $241MM luxury tax threshold, which therefore gives the Cubs quite a bit of extra capacity, as RosterResource estimates its current tax number at roughly $198.3MM.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that the Cubs will be splashing around a lot of that cash in the coming weeks, however, as Ricketts said some money could be earmarked for upgrades at the trade deadline.  “We always have the ability to add payroll if we need to at the deadline.  And if there’s a piece we need to keep winning, there’s always that option,” Ricketts said.

The same wait-and-see mentality also impacts the remainder of the winter, as Ricketts noted that teams “don’t control the timing of when these guys sign.  And every offseason is different.  Nothing will happen for three weeks, and then one guy will sign.  And then three other guys want to sign in the next two days.  You just have to be flexible through the process, and keep an eye open at the end with some dry powder, in case there is someone that might be value-added that comes at a good price.”

A more expensive signing like Scott would take up a sizeable, yet not overwhelming, portion of Chicago’s budget space.  Rumors have persisted that the Cubs remain at least on the periphery of the Alex Bregman and Jack Flaherty markets, so despite Hoyer’s comments about the team’s focus on more lower-tier moves, Chicago can’t be entirely ruled out as a landing spot for either player until they sign elsewhere.  Bregman is reportedly not interested in a shorter-term deal with opt-outs while Flaherty is at least open to such an arrangement, so Flaherty could be a better fit as the type of “value-added” opportunity Ricketts describes (though any number of teams might also be interested in Flaherty in that same context).

The Cubs have taken a step back in their approach to payroll in recent years, as 2024 marked the first time since 2020 that Chicago’s Opening Day payroll landed within the league’s top ten spenders.  While the Cubs boosted payroll last year and into this offseason, some budget restraints are still clearly in place.  Most notably, the trade that sent Cody Bellinger to the Yankees was about unloading the majority of Bellinger’s remaining salary, in addition to clearing room for Tucker in Chicago’s outfield.

Fans have criticized Ricketts for this relative lack of spending from a big-market team, with some fingers pointed at the private investment firm Arctos for having an influence in this department.  Ricketts pushed back against this criticism in particular, noting that because Arctos has investments in multiple MLB teams, “they’re not allowed to participate in any baseball discussions, so they’re walled off from anything to do with payroll or player analysis….Ultimately, the private equity investors have very long-term horizons and are just looking to participate in the appreciation of sports assets in general.  They don’t need certain win totals or cash-flow numbers.  They’re just strong, silent partners.”

As always, the Competitive Balance Tax is calculated via average annual value plus additional player benefits, as opposed to just straight dollars — this is why the Cubs’ $227.7MM payroll in 2024 translated to a $239.9MM tax number, which put Chicago slightly over the $237MM tax threshold.  This means that the Cubs would have to give up two draft picks in order to sign a qualified free agent like Bregman, which is why non-qualified free agents like Scott or Flaherty could be preferable.

Not coincidentally, the Cubbies’ scaled-back spending through a semi-rebuild coincided with a dearth of postseason baseball.  After reaching the postseason in 2020, the Cubs had sub-.500 seasons in both 2021 and 2022 before posting identical 83-79 records in each of the last two seasons.  There has been plenty of frustration among Cubs fans over the last two years’ worth of near-misses, and it has led to speculation that Hoyer is facing extra pressure as he enters the last year of his contract as the team’s PBO.

Ricketts downplayed the idea of 2025 as a particularly important season, noting that “every year, the goal is the playoffs.”  While Ricketts didn’t give Hoyer an outright vote of confidence in terms of promised job security, the chairman did praise Hoyer’s big-picture approach to roster-building.

“You evaluate the front office on a couple levels.  Obviously, No. 1, is just the wins on the field,” Ricketts said.  “That’s the most obvious metric to check.  But it’s just overall organizational health.  One thing that’s been very encouraging over the past few years is that we have drafted better. And the guys that we have drafted have developed more quickly than some years past.  We put ourselves really behind the eight-ball a few years ago with a series of drafts that weren’t very productive.  And I think we’re on the other side of that now.  We’ve got a lot of players coming through, which will give Jed a lot of trade capital to go into the future.”

Evaluators and pundits have increasingly praised the state of the Cubs’ farm system, and this depth already manifested itself in the Tucker trade.  Isaac Paredes was included in the three-player trade package to the Astros because the Cubs have confidence that Matt Shaw is ready for regular third-base work, plus top prospect Cam Smith was also sent to Houston in the deal.

“Maybe in a few years, people will say we should have traded somebody else,” Ricketts said.  “But that’s what it is – there’s a balance to every trade.  In this case, I think Jed was right in assessing that we needed an impact bat this season.”

Ricketts also added that “hopefully, [Tucker will] enjoy his time here and he’ll be here a long time.”  Tucker is a free agent after the season, and while Ricketts naturally isn’t going to outright say that the Cubs view him as a just a one-year rental, his comment at least leaves open the possibility that the Cubs are willing to give Tucker the mega-deal that he’ll undoubtedly command if he keeps up his current form.  Jason Heyward’s $184MM contract remains the most expensive deal in Cubs history, and the club is very likely going to have to at least double that price to re-sign Tucker.

Royals Sign Harold Castro To Minor League Contract

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The Royals announced that utilityman Harold Castro was signed to a minor league contract.  The 31-year-old Castro will get an invitation to Kansas City’s big league spring camp.

Castro is no stranger to the AL Central, as he spent his entire pro career (and his first five MLB seasons) with the Tigers before joining the Rockies on a minor league deal prior to the 2023 season.  He appeared in 99 games with Colorado after his contract was selected to the active roster, but Castro spent the 2024 season outside of affiliated baseball, instead suiting up with the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League.

Castro hit .320/.366/.447 over 363 plate appearances and 84 games with Tijuana, and he followed up that strong performance with even bigger numbers in the Venezuelan Winter League.  This was enough to get the Royals’ attention for a camp invite, and the left-handed hitting Castro will now compete for a job on the K.C. bench.

Despite his short-lived nickname of “Hittin’ Harold” during his time in Detroit, Castro has a modest .278/.303/.366 slash line over 1485 career plate appearances at the MLB level.  His career minor league numbers aren’t much better, though it is worth noting that Castro hasn’t played in the affiliated minor leagues since the 2019 season.  What he does bring to the table is defensive versatility, as Castro has played at every position except catcher during his time in the big leagues, with quite a bit of experience in particular at all four infield spots.

Kansas City, if anything, might have more than infield depth already, given how one of Jonathan India or Michael Massey could find themselves in left field when they aren’t at second base or designated hitter.  The Royals also recently signed Cavan Biggio to a minors deal, so both Castro and Biggio figure to be competing for the same roster spot as a left-handed hitting utilityman.  Incumbent third baseman Maikel Garcia swings from the right side and hasn’t produced much at the plate, so third base stands as a logical platoon area for Castro (or Biggio) to carve out a niche for playing time.

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