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Twins Outright Randy Dobnak

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The Twins sent righty Randy Dobnak outright to Triple-A St. Paul after he went unclaimed on waivers, relays Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star-Tribune. As expected, Dobnak will accept the assignment and report to the minors.

Minnesota has shuttled Dobnak on and off the 40-man roster a few times over the past couple years. They can comfortably do so because of his contract. Dobnak signed a $9.25MM extension back in 2021. He’s playing on a $3MM salary and is guaranteed a $1MM buyout on a ’26 club option. Another team would need to assume that contract to claim him off waivers. As a player with less than five years of service time, Dobnak would need to forfeit the salary to decline the outright assignment in favor or free agency.

Neither situation is likely, so the Twins can continuously outright him off the roster when they want to send him to Triple-A. Dobnak has made one big league appearance this year. He worked 5 1/3 innings of mop-up relief, allowing only one run on two hits and a pair of walks. He pitched in five MLB games last season, his first big league work since 2021. Dobnak spent the rest of the season working out of the St. Paul rotation. He posted a 4.25 ERA with a solid 22.7% strikeout rate across 28 appearances. He’ll stick around as non-roster rotation or long relief depth.

Hector Neris Elects Free Agency

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Veteran reliever Héctor Neris elected free agency, according to the MLB.com transaction log. He’d been designated for assignment by the Braves on Monday.

Neris broke camp with Atlanta after signing a minor league contract in early March. He didn’t have much of a leash, though, as they moved on after two appearances. Opposing hitters went 5-7 with a walk, a home run, and a strikeout. Neris had made all of three appearances during Spring Training, so it was a very brief Braves tenure.

The 35-year-old righty has topped 50 innings in each of the last five full seasons. He’d been a productive setup man with the Phillies and Astros for most of that stretch. Neris fired 68 1/3 frames of 1.71 ERA ball as recently as 2023, but he had a shaky ’24 season. He signed a $9MM deal with the Cubs and operated as Chicago’s closer for a good portion of the year.

Neris went 17-22 in save opportunities while walking more than 13% of batters faced. The Cubs released him in August. He returned to Houston to close the season, and while he threw a lot more strikes, he gave up four home runs in 16 appearances. Neris finished the year with a combined 4.10 ERA through 59 1/3 innings. He fanned a little less than a quarter of opponents against a 10.8% walk percentage. Between that and his slow start to 2025, he’ll likely be limited to minor league offers.

MLB Mailbag: Braves, Twins, Torkelson, Sutter Health Park

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MLBTR is going deep into the bench for this week's mailbag. With Tim Dierkes and Steve Adams each on vacation, I'll step in to answer questions on the Braves' poor start, whether the Twins are a playoff-caliber team, this year's most improved rosters, Sutter Health Park, situational hitting, and much more!

Abner asks:

Even when the biggest concern with the NY Mets has always been their starting rotation, so far the starters have looked pretty good in general and the bullpen has performed almost perfectly. With the problems that have experienced the Atlanta Braves in the opening week (Reynaldo López injury, Jurickson Profar suspended, Ronald Acuña out at least until May, Spencer Strider is out for a couple of weeks at the beginning of the season) do you think that we are about to see a battle between Mets and Phillies the rest of the way?

I had the Phillies and Mets a little ahead of the Braves to begin the season. The past week certainly hasn't increased Atlanta's odds of winning the division. It's way too early to start digging their grave, though. Last year's Astros dropped five of their first six games and seven of nine. They bottomed out at 12 games below .500 in the second week of May; they ended up winning the AL West by 3.5 games. Most teams that dig themselves that big a hole will not make the playoffs, of course, but they also usually don't have as much talent as the Braves do.

Atlanta has started the season against arguably the two best teams in the National League. They're without their best player, one of the league's best pitchers, and their starting catcher. Even if you don't expect much out of Sean Murphy at this point, getting Acuña and Strider back within the next few weeks is massive. They've got 96% of the season remaining to put this behind them.

Losing Profar and López obviously hurts, largely because they're stressing areas where the roster already looked weak. The Jarred Kelenic left field experiment didn't work out in year one. Alex Verdugo could push Kelenic into a fourth outfield role once Acuña comes back, but he was unsigned deep into Spring Training for a reason. The rotation depth behind the top four or five is spotty. Strider, Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach and some combination of AJ Smith-Shawver, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder and prospect Hurston Waldrep is probably workable. If they lose any of their top three to injury before López is able to return, it's teetering.

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MLBTR Podcast: Garrett Crochet’s Extension, Problems In Atlanta, And Other Early-Season Storylines

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Tim Heitman, Imagn Images

Poll: Who Will Win The AL Central?

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Opening Day has finally arrived, and teams all around the league are gearing up for another pennant chase in hopes of being crowned this year’s World Series champion. Of course, there’s still another seven months to go before someone raises the Commissioner’s Trophy. Until the playoffs begin, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. We’ll be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. That series has already covered the National League, with the Dodgers, Cubs, and Phillies each coming out on top in their respective divisions. In the American League, meanwhile, the Rangers were voted as the most likely AL West winner. Next up is a look at the AL Central. Teams are listed in order of their 2024 record.

Cleveland Guardians (92-69)

The Guardians surprised the baseball world by not only storming back to the top of the AL Central in Stephen Vogt’s first year replacing Terry Francona as manager in Cleveland, but by pushing past the Astros to secure a playoff bye alongside the Yankees. Though the club ultimately fell to New York in the ALCS, their strong showing inspired plenty of optimism about the club’s future. The offseason saw some major changes come to the organization as Andres Gimenez departed the club in a series of moves that ultimately brought back righty Luis Ortiz. The addition of Ortiz should help bolster a rotation that was the club’s clear weakness last year, as should getting more out of Shane Bieber after he returned to the club in free agency over the offseason.

Aside from that stronger rotation mix and the aforementioned loss of Gimenez, the 2025 Guardians don’t look much different than the 2024 club. Josh Naylor departed via trade but was swiftly replaced with Carlos Santana in his third stint with the club, and the club swapped Tyler Freeman for Nolan Jones just before Opening Day. Meanwhile, Jakob Junis and Paul Sewald add depth to a bullpen that was already baseball’s best last season. A stronger rotation mix should help the Guardians stay at the top of the AL Central this year, though they’ll need strong performances from players like Jones, Brayan Rocchio, and Kyle Manzardo in order to match last year’s output in the lineup without Naylor’s bat and Gimenez’s glove in the fold.

Kansas City Royals (86-76)

After making it back to the playoffs for the first time since their World Series championship in 2015, the Royals stayed busy in the offseason. They retained their strong front three of Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, and Michael Wacha in the rotation while trading fourth starter Brady Singer to the Reds to land Jonathan India, who has split time between left field and third base for the club so far this year. Meanwhile, the Royals made a splash at the back of their bullpen by signing closer Carlos Estevez to handle the ninth inning, bolstering a relief group that was a big source of frustration last year. Overall, the pitching staff seems to be in an even better place than 2024 with Singer set to be replaced in the rotation by some combination of Kris Bubic, who excelled in a short stint with the bullpen last year, the eventual return of Kyle Wright from the injured list.

Less certain is how the club will stack up on offense. India was the club’s only major addition to the lineup, though swinging a trade for Mark Canha just before Opening Day should raise the floor offensively and bringing in Cavan Biggio could also improve the club’s depth. India and Canha should help to balance out a lineup that was far too reliant on Bobby Witt Jr. last year. Even so, the club will either need Witt to repeat his otherworldly production or significant steps forward from players like MJ Melendez and Maikel Franco if they’re going to be even an average offense in 2025, given that last year’s club managed a wRC+ of just 96. Will the club’s modest improvements be enough to take control of the Central?

Detroit Tigers (86-76)

As is a theme throughout the AL Central, the Tigers were relatively quiet this winter. The lineup is largely unchanged from last year, with second baseman Gleyber Torres and outfielder Manuel Margot standing as the club’s only additions of significance. The duo’s right-handed bats should help to balance out a Tigers lineup that leans heavily to the left, but the more significant additions to the Tigers this year are in the rotation. The return of Jack Flaherty after the club traded him to the Dodgers over the summer should give the club an impressive prospective playoff rotation, with Flaherty joining reigning AL Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal, 2024 breakout righty Reese Olson, and perhaps top prospect Jackson Jobe to make what could rival the Royals for the division’s best rotation. Alex Cobb, meanwhile, should add some veteran depth to the rotation and has been extremely effective when healthy in recent years.

Impressive as the rotation mix might be, the Tigers’ lackluster offensive additions mean a lot will need to go right for the club in the lineup if they’re going to make it back to October. Strong, healthy seasons from Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter will be a must, and steps forward from youngsters like Colt Keith and the ever-streaky Spencer Torkelson would go a long way to getting the club back to the postseason. As for the club’s bullpen, little changed outside of the addition of right-hander Tommy Kahnle, so the club will once again need strong performances from pieces like Tyler Holton and Will Vest in 2025. Will all of that be enough to overcome the Royals and Guardians in 2025?

Minnesota Twins (82-80)

After a disappointing season where the club appeared poised to make the postseason before collapsing in dramatic fashion down the stretch, the Twins are more or less running back the same club they put forward in 2024. Carlos Santana, Max Kepler, and Caleb Thielbar all departed the club with reasonable facsimiles of their expected production entering the door in their place when the club signed Ty France, Harrison Bader, and Danny Coulombe. Aside from that trio of modest additions to replace outgoing free agents, the Twins did very little to augment the club this winter. That’s not to say another weak season should be expected, however. On paper, the Twins have long been the most talented club in the AL Central and that figures to once again be the case in 2025.

Carlos Correa, Royce Lewis, and Byron Buxton all have star potential when healthy, though Lewis has already opened the season on the injured list. Brooks Lee (also on the IL) and Matt Wallner provide plenty of upside to the club’s lineup, and steady contributors like Willi Castro, Ryan Jeffers, and Jose Miranda should help make for a strong offensive nucleus. The rotation, meanwhile, has a solid front three in the form of Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, and Bailey Ober to go along with a handful of interesting back-end options like Simeon Woods Richardson and David Festa. Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax make for a frightening combo at the back of the bullpen, leaving the club without any clear holes. With that being said, health and consistency have always been difficult to come by in Minnesota despite a deep and talented group of players. Will they be able to put it all together in 2025?

Chicago White Sox (41-121)

After the worst season in MLB history, the White Sox did little to inspire optimism about the 2025 season. Arguably, the club is weaker on paper than it was last year after losing Erick Fedde at the trade deadline and Garrett Crochet over the offseason. Kyle Teel and Colson Montgomery should arrive sometime this year to pick up the slack, and a fully healthy and productive season from Luis Robert Jr. would go a long way to getting the White Sox away from that 120-loss threshold. Even with those potential upsides, however, it would be perhaps the most shocking turnaround in baseball history if this club managed to bring a division title back to the south side of Chicago in 2025.

__________________________________________

The offseason didn’t see any status-quo-altering changes in the AL Central. While the three postseason clubs from last year all made at least some modest additions, the story of the division is not all that dissimilar from 2025. After a 92-win season in 2025, the Guardians’ pitching additions seem likely to be enough to make them a potential favorite as long as Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan continue to play up to lofty expectations, though the additions Detroit and Kansas City made can’t be ignored. The Twins lurk in the background, meanwhile, even after a quiet offseason thanks to their strong in-house group of talent. With four of the division’s five clubs likely to be in the mix for the AL Central crown once again, who do you think is most likely to come out on top? Have your say in the poll below:

Dodgers Acquire Esteury Ruiz

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The Athletics announced that they have traded outfielder Esteury Ruiz to the Dodgers for right-hander Carlos Duran. Prior to that official announcement, Alden González of ESPN reported that Ruiz was headed to the Dodgers. The outfielder was designated for assignment by the Athletics a few days ago. The Dodgers will option him to Triple-A. Right-hander Kyle Hurt has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Hurt required Tommy John surgery in July and won’t be an option until later in the season.

Ruiz, now 26, long been known for his wheels but has always had questions about his bat. He burst onto the major league scene with the A’s in 2023, topping the American League by stealing 67 bases. At the plate, he slashed .254/.309/.345 for a wRC+ of 85. Despite his speed, his glovework received mixed reviews. He was credited with two Outs Above Average but -20 Defensive Runs Saved.

The stolen bases weren’t enough to get buy-in from the A’s. They optioned him to the minors early in 2024. He was recalled but then suffered a strained left wrist which kept him on the IL for months. He also underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in September. He was in camp with the A’s this spring but was optioned in mid-March and bumped off the 40-man when they claimed left-hander Angel Perdomo off waivers this past weekend.

The minor league offense has been better in recent years. Dating back to the start of 2022, Ruiz has a line of .337/.444/.535 on the farm. However, most of that was in his breakout 2022 season. He was in the majors in 2023 and mostly hurt in 2024. His minor league production was more middling prior to that. He slashed a combined .247/.318/.391 from 2017 to 2021 across various minor league levels for a 97 wRC+.

It’s been up-and-down overall. His huge 2022 showing got him a lot of attention. The Padres traded him to the Brewers that year as part of the infamous Josh Hader deal. Milwaukee then flipped Ruiz to the A’s as part of the three-team Sean Murphy trade. The A’s clearly were making a big bet on Ruiz at that time but apparently soured on him after his middling offensive performance in 2023 and then injury-marred 2024.

For the Dodgers, they effectively had a 40-man roster spot open due to Hurt’s surgery. There’s little harm in bringing Ruiz aboard to see how he looks after last year’s injuries. Even if the bat doesn’t come around, he could perhaps prove to be useful as a pinch-running specialist. Any offensive developments would be a nice bonus.

Duran, 23, has been working as a starter in the minor leagues with some decent numbers but health concerns. Despite primarily working as a starter in the minors, he’s never topped 81 innings in a season.

In March of last year, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked him the #22 prospect in the Dodgers’ system, noting that Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2023 and he also had some shoulder troubles on his track record. He returned to the mound last year and gradually built up to toss 53 1/3 innings across 19 starts. He had a 3.71 earned run average, 29.4% strikeout rate and 12.9% walk rate. He reached Triple-A in the process and will give the A’s some non-roster pitching depth at the upper levels.

Photo courtesy of Kelley L Cox, Imagn Images.

Offseason In Review: Detroit Tigers

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After Detroit surprised the baseball world by sneaking into the playoffs off the back of a late-season surge and wound up making it within a game of the ALCS, the club entered the offseason looking to assert itself as a contender but fell short in many of its most significant pursuits.

Major League Signings

2025 spending: $67.8MM
Total spending: $77.8MM

Option Decisions

Trades and Waiver Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

Fans in Detroit and many around the game believed that 2024's surprise success would spur the Tigers to act more aggressively this winter than they had during president of baseball operations Scott Harris's previous seasons at the helm. Those expectations made plenty of sense on paper. After all, Detroit had just made the postseason for the first time since 2014 amid a season where they enjoyed a breakout from superstar southpaw Tarik Skubal. He asserted himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball, winning both the Cy Young award and the Triple Crown in the American League, but now has just two seasons remaining before he's scheduled to reach free agency.

When the final years of team control over a breakout superstar were combined with an excellent season from Riley Greene, positive signs from other foundational youngsters like Colt Keith and Reese Olson, and a barren payroll that featured less than $40MM in guaranteed salary commitments for 2025, it seemed clear that this offseason was as good of an opportunity as the Tigers could expect to push their chips in and build a World Series contender. That's not how the 2024-25 offseason panned out for the club, however. While the Tigers were involved on at least some level with a number of potentially impactful players on the market, the vast majority of those efforts to acquire impact talent did not pan out.

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2024-25 Offseason In Review Series

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MLBTR’s annual Offseason In Review series breaks down what each of the 30 teams did (or didn’t) do this winter to build their 2025 rosters.  This landing page will contain the links to all 30 of our posts, for easy reference and to track when your favorite team’s post is online.  The full articles are available to MLBTR’s Front Office subscribers.

NL West

NL Central

NL East

AL West

AL Central

AL East

The Opener: Braves, Dodgers, Padres, Tucker

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On the heels of a huge extension in San Diego, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Dodgers, Braves streaking:

The reigning World Series champions are off to a phenomenal start, having won their first seven games in a row. After sweeping the Cubs out of Tokyo last month, the Dodgers then swept the Tigers out of Dodger Stadium and since then have taken two of three from the Braves. As noted by Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, the 7-0 start to the season matches the 1933 Yankees for the strongest start to a season of any reigning World Series champion in history, and is also the Dodgers’ best start to the regular season since they relocated to Los Angeles in 1958.

On the other side of things, Atlanta can’t buy a win. They’re the only club that’s yet to win a game this season, and their nine runs scored across six games is tied for the fewest in the majors. The Dodgers will attempt to keep the good times rolling at 5:38pm local time tonight with lefty Blake Snell (3.12 ERA in 2024) on the mound, while Atlanta will counter with righty Bryce Elder (6.52 ERA in 2024) as they try to stop the bleeding.

2. Padres also streaking:

Phenomenal as the Dodgers’ start to the 2025 campaign has been, they’ve not been able to put away their division rivals. The Padres have gotten off to almost as strong of a start, winning all six of their games to this point in the season. They were the beneficiaries of Atlanta’s struggles for the first four games of the year, and since then have taken the first two games of their series against the Guardians to run up a 6-0 record on the season. They’ll be going for their second consecutive sweep today at 1:10pm local time in San Diego with right-hander Dylan Cease (3.47 ERA in 2024) on the mound. Cleveland, meanwhile, will counter with righty Ben Lively (3.81 ERA in 2024). Fortunately for the Guardians, they’re not in as dire straits as the Braves are after taking two of three in their opening series against the Royals.

3. Tucker looks to continue homer streak:

There’s a fourth noteworthy streak going on in the National League at the moment, although this one isn’t about the club’s records. After scuffling during the Tokyo Series, newly-acquired Cubs star Kyle Tucker has looked more like himself at the plate since the club returned stateside. Overall, he’s hitting an incredible .353/.450/.853 in 40 trips to the plate across eight games. He leads all of baseball with 12 hits, five doubles, 11 RBI, and 29 total bases, but the streak in question has to do with the long ball.

Tucker’s homered in four consecutive games after hitting a long ball off newly-minted A’s starter Luis Severino last night, and he’ll go for a fifth straight homer against A’s lefty Jeffrey Springs at 12:35pm local time in West Sacramento this afternoon. He’d become just the fifth Cubs player in history to have five games in a row with a homer, joining Sammy Sosa in 1998, Ryne Sandberg in 1989, and Hack Wilson in 1928… as well as teammate Michael Busch, who accomplished the feat just last year.

Max Scherzer Receives Cortisone Injection To Treat Thumb Injury

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Max Scherzer received a cortisone shot to treat the inflammation in his right thumb, the future Hall of Famer told reporters (including Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet). The Jays will have a better idea of when he could return after they see how he responds.

Scherzer’s thumb has bothered him back to last summer, when it was linked to some kind of nerve problem in his hand. The injury resurfaced this spring. Scherzer opened the season on the active roster but departed his first start in a Jays’ uniform after three innings and 45 pitches because of lat discomfort. The three-time Cy Young winner said postgame that the thumb was the cause of his other issues. “My arm is making adjustments because of that. That’s a recipe for disaster,” he told reporters on Saturday.

The Jays placed Scherzer on the injured list the next day. It’s a frustrating situation for the righty. Scherzer acknowledged on Tuesday that he has had conversations with doctors about the potential for surgery, but he said they’re “not even close to that” scenario right now (via Hazel Mae). He added that he’s hopeful he can begin playing catch again as soon as Friday.

Toronto has an opening in their rotation around Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis. It initially seemed that Yariel Rodríguez would step into the starting five after beginning the season in the bullpen. Rodríguez has continued working in a leverage role since Scherzer’s injury. He fired a scoreless inning to earn a hold on Sunday. He came on tonight in relief of Berríos and tossed another inning (allowing one run) to pick up his second hold.

The Jays list left-hander Easton Lucas as their probable starter for tomorrow’s series finale against the Nationals. They’ll push Gausman to Friday, giving him six days rest early in the season. They’re off on Thursday but will begin a stretch of 13 consecutive game days between April 4-16. They’ll probably want a fifth starter by the middle of next week.

Tomorrow’s start will be the first in the big leagues for the 28-year-old Lucas. He has 18 1/3 career innings across 14 relief appearances between the A’s, Tigers and Jays. Lucas worked out of the bullpen for all but four of his 38 Triple-A outings last year. He combined for an impressive 2.75 earned run average with a 26.2% strikeout rate over 68 2/3 innings. Lucas worked mostly 1-2 inning stints, but he made a five-inning start during his final Triple-A appearance. He topped out at 2 2/3 frames in a game in Spring Training, so they’ll likely lean heavily on the bullpen behind him tomorrow. Rodríguez, Jake Bloss and non-roster veteran Eric Lauer are alternatives if the Jays want to turn to a more traditional fifth starter next week.

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