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Reds To Sign Joe La Sorsa To Minor League Deal

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The Reds and left-hander Joe La Sorsa are in agreement on a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. The southpaw will make the league minimum $780K in the majors and $180K in the minors.

La Sorsa, 27 in April, had a very brief stay on the open market. The Nationals designated him for assignment and then put him on release waivers. The report of this deal came out less than two hours after the announcement that he had cleared waivers and become a free agent.

He has thrown 50 1/3 innings in the majors over the last two years, allowing 4.47 earned runs per nine. His 19.2% strikeout rate has been subpar but his 6.4% walk rate a couple of ticks better than average. He has done a decent job of limiting damage in that sample, with Statcast having his average exit velocity, hard hit rate and barrel rate all a bit better than the rest of the league.

His minor league production has mostly been similar to that major league work. Over 2023 and 2024, he logged 92 2/3 innings on the farm with a 2.82 ERA, 18% strikeout rate and 6.2% walk rate. His 2022 numbers were a bit more unique. He logged 73 1/3 minor league innings over 40 appearances that year with a 2.33 ERA, 31.4% strikeout rate and 3.6% walk rate.

Even if he can’t get those huge strikeout numbers back, he can perhaps be useful on account of his strong control and ability to stay off barrels. The Reds project to have three lefties in their bullpen, including recent trade acquisition Taylor Rogers as well as Brent Suter and Sam Moll, though there’s nothing wrong with more depth. If La Sorsa gets added to Cincinnati’s roster at any point, he has a couple of option years and less than a year of service time, meaning he can potentially provide cheap depth with roster flexibility.

Mets Have Shown Interest In Dylan Cease

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The Mets are among the teams that have spoken with the Padres regarding Dylan Cease, writes Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Jon Morosi of the MLB Network reported this afternoon that the Cubs were also involved on the star righty.

Cease is one of the biggest names to watch over the next six weeks. San Diego has fielded interest in virtually all of their highly-priced players who could test free agency next offseason (e.g. Cease, Luis Arraez, Michael King, Robert Suarez). Every contender could be involved on Cease, who is coming off a fourth-place finish in NL Cy Young balloting.

If he does move, it’d be the second straight winter in which Cease is dealt late in the offseason. The Padres acquired him from the White Sox midway through Spring Training last year. His first season with the Friars was excellent. He worked to a 3.47 ERA while striking out 224 batters over 189 1/3 innings. Cease has not missed a start since 2019. He has topped 200 strikeouts in four straight seasons and has two top five Cy Young finishes in the past three years.

San Diego has had a quiet winter as they navigate payroll restrictions and squabbling amongst their ownership group. The Padres only have three pitchers who’d be locked into their season-opening rotation: Cease, King and Yu Darvish. Trading either Cease or King would subtract from the rotation’s ceiling, but it stands to reason they’d demand at least one cheaper MLB-ready starting pitcher as part of the return. San Diego also needs to find a new left fielder after letting Jurickson Profar walk in free agency.

Last year’s Corbin Burnes trade serves as a template for what the Friars could demand for Cease. The Brewers netted two MLB-ready players who’d been borderline top 100 prospects (Joey Ortiz and DL Hall), plus the 34th overall pick in the 2024 draft, from the Orioles. Cease is slated for a $13.75MM salary in his final year of arbitration. While the Padres do not expect to work out a long-term deal with the Boras Corporation client, they’re trying to balance their long-term outlook against the goal of returning to the postseason this year.

Heyman suggests that the Padres could subsequently look to sign Jack Flaherty or Nick Pivetta if they deal Cease or King. That’d require an unexpected willingness to stretch the budget. Even if they look to short-term deals, Flaherty and Pivetta should each beat $13.75MM annually. Pivetta would also require draft pick forfeiture after declining a qualifying offer. That series of events would raise payroll and still leave San Diego with a hole in left field unless they address that via the hypothetical Cease trade.

The Mets have been reluctant to make long-term pitching investments under president of baseball operations David Stearns. They’ve addressed the rotation with a series of shorter-term moves. They brought back Sean Manaea for three years and (a partially deferred) $75MM, added reliever conversion pickup Clay Holmes on a three-year deal, and taken a two-year flier on Frankie Montas. That trio joins Kodai Senga and David Peterson in their projected starting five. Paul Blackburn, Tylor Megill and Griffin Canning are depth options. It’s not a bad group but lacks a true ace, especially if Senga’s workload is limited after he barely pitched in 2024.

Rays Sign Jonathan Hernandez To Minor League Deal

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The Rays announced their list of non-roster invitees to MLB camp. Reliever Jonathan Hernández signed a minor league deal today and will be in big league Spring Training. He’d elected free agency at the start of the offseason.

Hernández, 28, joins the third organization of his career. He’d been a career-long member of the Rangers until last summer. Hernández signed with Texas as an amateur free agent and got to the big leagues in 2019. He had a strong showing in the shortened 2020 season, working to a 2.90 earned run average over 31 innings. An elbow injury required Tommy John surgery early the following year.

That kept Hernández out of action into the second half in 2022. He returned to post a 2.97 ERA through 30 1/3 frames, picking up his four career saves along the way. Hernández’s strikeout and walk rates were underwhelming, which proved a precursor for regression in the coming seasons. He has allowed 5.40 earned runs per nine in each of the last two years.

Texas pushed Hernández off the roster at last year’s trade deadline. He carried a 5.05 ERA over a career-high 41 innings at the time. The Mariners claimed him off waivers. Hernández allowed three runs over 2 1/3 innings with Seattle before the M’s designated him for assignment. He cleared waivers that time around and spent the rest of the season in Triple-A.

Since the start of 2023, Hernández owns a 5.40 ERA across 75 frames. His 21.5% strikeout percentage is slightly below average, while he has walked nearly 13% of batters faced. Hernández has kept the ball on the ground on half the batted balls he has allowed, though. He averages nearly 97 MPH on his sinker but hasn’t found success with that pitch; opponents have respectively hit .350 and .323 against it over the past two seasons. Hernández has fared a lot better with his slider, which he uses roughly half the time, and his infrequently deployed changeup.

Krall: Reds Likely To Open Camp With Current Roster

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The Reds have added $11MM to their payroll within the past two days. They signed outfielder Austin Hays to a one-year deal with a mutual option and assumed $6MM of the $12MM remaining on Taylor Rogers’ contract. They also inked veteran southpaw Wade Miley to a minor league deal that’d come with a $2.5MM base salary if he breaks camp.

It seems that’ll settle the roster going into Spring Training. President of baseball operations Nick Krall tells Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer that the Reds are “probably in a spot where this is (the) team going to camp.” Krall didn’t firmly shut the door on making any other moves — no front office head would — but it appears the Reds are content to take this group into Spring Training.

Earlier this evening, Jon Heyman of the New York Post floated the Reds as a potential dark horse fit for Pete Alonso. Cincinnati’s first base mix is a question after Jeimer Candelario and Christian Encarnacion-Strand struggled last season. Encarnacion-Strand was limited to 29 games before undergoing season-ending wrist surgery. While Alonso would unquestionably raise the floor, it’s hard to see a scenario in which Cincinnati would meet his asking price.

Alonso is reportedly open to a short-term deal with opt-outs after the market didn’t present the longer term he was seeking. That’ll only increase the average annual value, though, which is probably a non-starter for Cincinnati. Shortly after acquiring Gavin Lux from the Dodgers, Krall said the Reds didn’t have “a ton” of payroll space. Their subsequent local TV deal with Main Street Sports (the rebranded Diamond Sports Group) created some spending room for the Hays and Rogers investments. Offering $25MM+ annually to lure Alonso to Cincinnati would be on a completely different level.

RosterResource calculates the Reds’ payroll around $115MM. They finished last season in the $100MM range. According to Cot’s Contracts, Cincinnati’s franchise-record Opening Day payroll was around $127MM back in 2019.

Dodgers Designate Ryan Brasier For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced that they’ve designated Ryan Brasier for assignment. That’s the corresponding 40-man roster move for the signing of Kirby Yates to a $13MM free agent deal. Los Angeles still has five days to explore trade possibilities before they need to place Brasier on waivers. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so there’ll be official resolution on the DFA within a week.

It’s a moderate surprise to see Brasier cut loose. He’s a solid veteran reliever who signed a two-year free agent deal last winter. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported last week that the Dodgers were shopping the righty, though, suggesting he was the odd man out of Dave Roberts’ bullpen. While the DFA confirms that Brasier will not be back in Los Angeles, they have a few more days to try to line up a deal.

Brasier broke out with the Red Sox a few seasons ago. He fell on hard times later in his Boston tenure and was designated for assignment early in 2023. A minor league deal with the Dodgers paid huge dividends, as Brasier fired 38 2/3 innings of 0.70 ERA ball in the second half. He returned to Los Angeles on a two-year, $9MM pact.

The 37-year-old Brasier was never going to replicate his late-season ’23 numbers. He had another decent year when healthy, working to a 3.54 ERA with a league average 22.7% strikeout percentage. Brasier kept his walk rate to a tidy 4.5% clip, in large part because he got opponents to chase 40% of pitches off the plate.

Health was the biggest caveat. Brasier suffered a significant strain of his right calf in late April. He was shelved into the middle of August and limited to 28 innings on the season. He had an excellent second half but was nevertheless relegated to low-leverage appearances during the World Series run. Brasier allowed five runs with seven strikeouts and three walks across nine playoff innings.

The DFA is less a reflection of Brasier of “losing” his job and much more about L.A.’s bullpen depth. They added Tanner Scott and Yates after re-signing Blake Treinen. They join Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips and Alex Vesia as bullpen locks. The Dodgers are going to run a six-man rotation, meaning they can only devote seven roster spots to relievers.

They could go back to an eight-man bullpen once Shohei Ohtani returns to the rotation, since Ohtani doesn’t count against their 13-pitcher limit as a two-way player. They’re not going to push Ohtani’s elbow rehab merely to get another bullpen spot, so there’s probably only one available if all their relievers are healthy coming out of camp. Anthony Banda is out of options and seems likely to grab the final relief job.

Los Angeles owes Brasier $4.5MM for the coming season. They’ll surely try to find a taker for at least part of that salary in trade. They’d also save 110% in taxes for any salary they could offload. If they can’t line up a trade, they’ll put Brasier on waivers. Any claiming team would need to take his full salary, which is unlikely. He’d probably clear waivers and be available as a free agent for the league minimum, leaving the Dodgers on the hook for the rest of the money.

Robert Murray of FanSided first reported that the Dodgers had DFA Brasier.

Pedro Avila Elects Free Agency

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January 30: Avila has declined the assignment in favor of free agency, the team announced.

January 29: The Guardians have sent reliever Pedro Avila outright to Triple-A Columbus, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. Cleveland had designated him for assignment a week ago when they signed Paul Sewald. Avila has been outrighted once before in his career, which gives him the right to elect minor league free agency.

Avila, 28, was a bullpen workhorse this year. He took the ball 54 times and tossed 82 2/3 relief innings between the Padres and Guardians, fourth in the majors behind Ryan Yarbrough, Derek Law and Luke Weaver. While most of Avila’s work came in low-leverage relief, he managed solid results. Avila turned in a 3.81 earned run average with a decent 23.2% strikeout percentage and 45% grounder rate. The righty had a slightly higher than average 10.2% walk rate, but he was generally an effective bullpen piece for skipper Stephen Vogt. He added four scoreless innings during the postseason.

That was Avila’s second straight decent year. He provided San Diego 50 1/3 innings of 3.22 ERA ball while striking out nearly a quarter of opponents in 2023. That makes it somewhat surprising that he didn’t attract any interest on the waiver wire. Avila is out of minor league options, though, so any team that claimed him would’ve needed to keep him in the MLB bullpen or designate him themselves. Apparently no team was willing to commit him a roster spot.

As mentioned, Avila now decides whether to stick with the Guardians or test the market. That he went unclaimed on waivers suggests he’d probably be looking at a minor league deal with a non-roster Spring Training invite if he elects free agency.

Athletics Acquire Jhonny Pereda, Designate Kyle McCann

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The Athletics announced the acquisition of catcher Jhonny Pereda from the Marlins in exchange for cash considerations. Miami had designated the 28-year-old for assignment on Tuesday as the corresponding move for the Connor Gillispie waiver claim. The A’s designated catcher Kyle McCann for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot.

Pereda has played professionally for 11 seasons. He earned his long-awaited major league call last spring. Pereda held his spot on Miami’s 40-man roster all year, though he spent the majority of the season on optional assignment to Triple-A Jacksonville. He made 20 major league appearances, hitting .231/.250/.231 across 40 trips to the plate. The right-handed hitter ran a more impressive .297/.405/.424 slash over 195 plate appearances with Jacksonville.

Over parts of four Triple-A seasons, Pereda carries a strong .293/.385/.408 batting line in nearly 800 plate appearances. He spent time in the Cubs, Red Sox, Giants and Reds organizations before getting his major league look in Miami. Pereda joins Shea Langeliers as the only catchers on the 40-man roster. That makes him the favorite for the backup job right now, though it’s possible the A’s look for a more experienced veteran in the coming weeks. Tyler Soderstrom came up as a catcher but only spent four MLB innings behind the plate last season. He’s probably ticketed for everyday run at first base. Pereda still has a couple minor league options and could go back to Triple-A if the A’s add another catcher.

McCann was the A’s fourth-round pick in 2019. The Georgia Tech product made his big league debut last year. He got into 54 games and slashed .236/.318/.371 through 157 plate appearances. McCann had also fared well at Triple-A Las Vegas two seasons ago. He connected on 17 homers with a .270/.351/.474 batting line over 388 plate appearances, albeit in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

The lefty-swinging McCann has had a solid offensive reputation dating back his time in college. He has hit for power and taken plenty of walks during his minor league career, though he also strikes out much too often. He fanned at a 37.6% clip during his MLB time and struck out in 32.2% of his plate appearances with Las Vegas. Scouting reports have long questioned his receiving skills. Statcast indeed graded him as a below-average pitch framer for his 324 major league innings. He posted slightly below-average pop times and ran a middling 19% caught stealing rate.

The A’s will trade McCann or place him on waivers within the next few days. His offensive promise could get him a look from another club that is willing to live with some of the defensive tradeoffs. McCann still has a full slate of options and could be freely sent to Triple-A if a team is willing to carry him on the 40-man roster.

Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase first reported that the A’s were acquiring Pereda.

Padres Re-Sign Elias Díaz

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The Padres officially announced that they’ve re-signed catcher Elias Díaz to a one-year deal with a mutual option for the 2026 season. The ACES client is reportedly guaranteed $3.5MM — taking the form of a $1.5MM base salary for the upcoming season and a $2MM buyout on the $7MM option. San Diego had multiple openings on the 40-man roster and didn’t need to make a corresponding move.

Díaz, 34, finished the 2024 season with the Padres. After being released by the Rockies, he landed a minors pact with the Friars and was added to the roster just before the calendar flipped from August to September. He joined Kyle Higashioka and Luis Campusano on the roster, though Campusano would be optioned a little more than a week later. Díaz hit .190/.292/.429 in 24 plate appearances. For the postseason, the Friars carried Higashioka and Díaz on the roster over Campusano, though Higashioka took the bulk of the work as Díaz received only one plate appearance.

Both Díaz and Higashioka became free agents at the end of the season, leaving the Friars with a clear hole behind the plate. Higashioka signed with the Rangers. Campusano, who is still on the roster, seemed to have a breakout season in 2023 when he hit .319/.356/.491, but his line had a steep drop last year, finishing at .227/.281/.361. Since his defensive metrics were also poor, he was considered to be below replacement level on the year.

That made the position a clear target area for the Friars this offseason. However, the club has been remarkably quiet this winter. Once completed, this will be their first free agent signing. Their only trade so far was acquiring right-hander Ron Marinaccio after he was designated for assignment by the White Sox.

That’s surely related to the club’s uncertain payroll situation. The Padres spent aggressively while Peter Seidler was owning the club but it turned out to not be sustainable. In September of 2023, it was reported that the club was “out of compliance with MLB regulations regarding their debt service ratio.” Seidler died in November of that year. The 2023-24 offseason saw the Padres look to cut their payroll, which led to Juan Soto getting traded to the Yankees.

This winter, it once seemed that the club would have to dial back projected spending some more, which led to plenty of rumors involving players like Dylan Cease, Luis Arráez, Michael King, Robert Suarez and others. Reporting in recent days has suggested the situation isn’t quite so dire, with the Friars not necessarily having to cut spending. However, with holes in left field, at catcher, in the rotation and perhaps at shortstop, trading one of those players might still be necessary in order to free up money and then add elsewhere.

Regardless of the specifics, it’s clear that the budget crunch has made president of baseball operations A.J. Preller far less active than in other offseasons. It has also limited the club in addressing their catching situation. They signed Martín Maldonado to a minor league deal and have now made a modest investment with this deal.

Díaz generally gets better marks for his glovework than for his bat. For his career, he has hit .251/.304/.388 for a wRC+ of 78, indicating he’s been 22% below the league average hitter. Catchers generally come in about 10% below the league-wide mean, though Díaz will still come in below that lower bar. Between the Rockies and Padres last year, he hit .265/.313/.382 for a wRC+ of 81.

Behind the plate, outlets like FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have generally ranked him as a poor framer but close to average in terms of blocking and strong when it comes to controlling the running game.

Díaz and Campusano now project as the club’s catching duo. Campusano still has an option and could be pushed to Triple-A, though the only other backstop on the 40-man roster is Brett Sullivan, who is about to turn 31 years old and has a .206/.243/.299 line in just 103 big league appearances.

Ideally, Campusano would regain his 2023 form and run with the job. He has less than three years of service time and therefore has the potential to be a cheap solution for his four remaining years of club control. But if he can’t rebound from his rough 2024, the Padres now at least have a competent veteran on-hand. Maldonado also gives them some seasoned non-roster depth and it’s also possible the club makes further moves to address the catching situation.

RosterResource now projects the Friars for a competitive balance tax number of $245MM. That’s just a bit above this year’s $241MM base threshold, though as mentioned, it’s possible that they change their financial situation via trades of players making notable salaries.

Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase first reported that Díaz had agreed to a one-year deal that guaranteed $3.5MM and included a mutual option. Álvarez-Montes also reported the specific salary breakdown and the option value.

Reds Designate Casey Legumina For Assignment

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The Reds announced that right-hander Casey Legumina has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move to open a roster spot for outfielder Austin Hays, whose one-year deal is now official.

Legumina, 28 in June, has had a limited role with the Reds over the past two seasons. He logged a combined 22 innings over the 2023 and 2024 campaigns, allowing 17 earned runs. His 16.7% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate were both subpar marks but he did get ground balls on 56.4% of balls in play. As one would expect, his minor league work in that same timeframe has been better. He tossed 91 frames on the farm over the past two years with a 3.76 ERA. His 25.1% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate were both quite strong.

Despite the solid minor league numbers, the lack of results in the big leagues has seemingly cost Legumina his roster spot. The Reds will have one week of DFA limbo to figure out his fate, whether that’s a trade or something on the waiver wire. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade talks would need to come together in the next five days.

Legumina still has one option year and less than a full season of service time. If a club is intrigued by his minor league results and acquires him somehow, he could give them some cheap depth with roster flexibility.

Mets Designate Dylan Covey For Assignment

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The Mets made their signing of right-hander Ryne Stanek official today. Per Will Sammon of The Athletic, right-hander Dylan Covey has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Covey, 33, has never pitched for the Mets. He was with the Phillies in 2024 but was outrighted off their roster in August. He elected free agency at season’s end and the Mets signed him to a big league deal at the end of October.

The righty has been a starter for most of his career but converted to relief work more recently. He tossed 39 innings out of the Philly bullpen in 2023 with a 3.69 earned run average. His 15.6% strikeout rate wasn’t strong but he did manage to get ground balls on 54% of balls in play.

He wasn’t really able to follow that up in 2024. He started the season on the injured list due to a right shoulder strain, eventually getting transferred to the 60-day IL. He wasn’t able to start a rehab assignment until late July. Once he was healthy, the Phils ran him through waivers instead of adding him back to the roster. Before the offseason came, he managed to toss 15 Triple-A innings with a 1.20 ERA, 27.6% strikeout rate, 12.1% walk rate and 71.4% ground ball rate.

Covey has always been a ground ball guy, so perhaps the Mets were intrigued but that uptick in strikeouts to end the season. Per the Associated Press, his deal pays him an $850K salary while in the majors and $350K while in the minors.

That minor league salary is relatively large, which is probably by design. Per the minor league collective bargaining agreement that was worked out a couple of years ago, the Triple-A minimum salary is just under $36K, so Covey’s is almost ten times that.

If he were to clear waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency since he has more than three years of big league service time. But since he has less than five years of service, heading to the open market would mean forfeiting what’s left of his deal. If he clears waivers, that means no club is willing to give him a big league roster spot, meaning he would likely be limited to minor league offers on the open market. That means he should probably just keep his current minor league deal. It’s possible that all comes to pass in the next few days. If it does, the Mets will get to keep Covey as some bullpen depth but without him taking up a roster spot.

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