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Padres Decline Options On Elias Díaz, Tyler Wade, Kyle Hart

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The Padres have turned down options on three players, per Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune. They have declined a $7MM mutual option for catcher Elias Díaz, going for the $2MM buyout instead. Infielder/outfielder Tyler Wade’s $1MM club option has been turned down in favor of a $50K buyout. Left-hander Kyle Hart’s $5MM club option has been turned down in favor of a $500K buyout. All three will head to free agency.

None of the three moves comes as a major shock. The Padres signed Díaz last offseason, a one-year deal with a $3.5MM guarantee for his age-34 campaign. That took the form of a $1.5MM salary and a $2MM buyout on the $7MM mutual option. It’s been over a decade since both sides of a mutual option were exercised. They are usually a way for the team to kick part of the payment down the road. That appears to be the case here, as the option buyout was more than the salary in this case.

Díaz got into 106 games for the Padres, slashing .204/.270/.337 for a 74 wRC+. His defense was considered around par. With Díaz now removed, the Padres are down to two backstops on the roster. Freddy Fermin projects as the top option. Luis Campusano is still there but the club doesn’t appear to trust him behind the plate, as they opted to give playing time to older veterans like Díaz and Martín Maldonado, even though Campusano was crushing in the minors. It wouldn’t be surprising if Campusano were traded, now that he’s out of options, with the Friars circling back to Díaz or some other veteran.

Wade, 31 in November, has long been a glove-first utility guy in the majors. He got into 60 games for the Padres this year and played all the outfield slots as well as the three infield positions to the left of first base. However, he hit just .206/.309/.252.

The Padres signed Hart in February, hoping he could build off a strong year in Korea. Pitching for the KBO’s NC Dinos in 2024, he posted a 2.69 ERA in 157 innings. The Friars brought him back to North America on a one-year deal with a $1.5MM guarantee. That included a $1MM salary this year and a $500K buyout on a $5MM club option.

Unfortunately, his return to the majors didn’t go smoothly. He logged 43 big league innings with a 5.86 earned run average this year. His 20.7% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate were decent but he was mostly used in a low leverage swingman role. The Friars need pitching but they have a tight budget and Hart didn’t perform well, so it’s understandable that they haven’t given him a raise.

Photo courtesy of Denis Poroy, Imagn Images

Pirates Place Ji Hwan Bae, Liover Peguero, Jack Little On Waivers

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The Pirates have placed three players on waivers. One of them is outfielder Ji Hwan Bae, per Danny Demilio of Pittsburgh Baseball Now. The other two are infielder Liover Peguero and right-hander Jack Little, per Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

At one point, the now-26-year-old Bae was a high-profile international signing who ranked among the organization’s better farmhands. He’s appeared in parts of four big league seasons but has never found his stride. The South Korea native carries a meek .223/.294/.293 line in 514 trips to the plate at the MLB level. He’s a good runner, swiping 37 bags in 49 tries (75.6%) and sitting in the 82nd percentile of MLB players in terms of average sprint speed, but Bae has fanned in more than one-quarter of his plate appearances and sits well below average in terms of exit velocity, hard-hit rate and other batted-ball metrics.

Originally a middle infielder, Bae never developed into a passable option at shortstop due in large part to subpar arm strength. The Bucs have given him plenty of run at second base and in center field — more the latter in recent seasons — but he hasn’t drawn quality grades at either position. He’s continually posted strong numbers in Triple-A (.305/.389/.451 in 1109 plate appearances) and has a minor league option remaining.

Peguero was an even more highly touted prospect than Bae. Originally acquired from the D-backs in exchange for Starling Marte, he’s a former top-100 prospect whom the organization at one point viewed as a possible shortstop of the future. In an all-too-common refrain for Pirates position prospects, however, his bat never came around. Peguero has seen action in four big league seasons but has mustered only a .227/.278/.368 slash line in 315 turns at the plate.

Unlike Bae, Peguero has also looked overmatched at the top minor league level. Outside of a late-2023 cameo in Triple-A where he smacked a pair of homers in 30 promising plate appearances, Peguero has produced well below-average numbers with the Pirates’ top affiliate in Indianapolis. He’s a .253/.317/.403 hitter in 888 plate appearances there, including a career-worst .247/.313/.375 showing in 75 games with Indy this season. Baseball America and other outlets have lauded his quality defensive tools but also noted a penchant for slipping into poor mechanical stretches that lead to far too many throwing errors. Peguero is out of minor league options.

The 27-year-old Little came to the Pirates via waivers in August. He made his MLB debut with the Dodgers in 2025. Los Angeles selected Little out of Stanford with its fifth-round pick back in 2019. He’s pitched only three MLB innings and posted a 4.06 ERA with a 20.2% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate in 62 relief innings between the two organizations’ Triple-A affiliates in 2025.

Little sits 94 mph with his four-seamer and complements the pitch with a slider and splitter — both in the mid-80s. He’s never been a top-ranked prospect in L.A.’s system but does have a pair of minor league options remaining and decent track record in the minors.

Krall: Reds’ 2026 Payroll Will Be “Around The Same” As 2025 Levels

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The Reds enter the offseason likely to seek bullpen help and multiple upgrades within the lineup, but they won’t have an especially lofty budget for achieving those goals. President of baseball operations Nick Krall said Tuesday that 2026’s budget “will be around the same as our payroll from 2025” (link via C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic).

Cincinnati opened the 2025 season with a roughly $112MM payroll and finished around $116MM, per Cot’s Contracts. RosterResource pegs their end-of-season number a bit higher, at about $119MM.

Regardless, running back the same payroll gives the Reds a bit of spending power but not all that much. They’re currently projected for a payroll around $91MM, per RosterResource. That’s before option decisions on relievers Scott Barlow and Brent Suter. Barlow’s $6.5MM option seems likely to be bought out. Suter is a bit more of a borderline call at $3MM but could still be cut loose (or re-signed to a restructured deal with lighter immediate payroll implications, as was the case for the Cincinnati native this time last year).

The 2025 Reds nabbed the final NL Wild Card spot and saw an attendance increase of about 147,000 over their 2024 levels. However, the 2025 payroll was up about $20MM over the prior season, so much of the increased attendance revenue was offset by a more expensive on-field product. Reds ownership has never trotted out an Opening Day payroll north of roughly $127MM — though their prorated $55.5MM Opening Day payroll in 2020 indicates they’d have set a new franchise-high were it not for that year’s shortened schedule.

Cincinnati currently has just three players signed to guaranteed contracts for the 2026 season. Ace Hunter Greene will earn $8MM, while third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes is owed $7MM and catcher Jose Trevino is owed $5.25MM. Assuming the options on Barlow, Suter and outfielder Austin Hays (a $12MM mutual option) are bought out, their only other financial commitments will be in arbitration. The Reds already outrighted infielder Santiago Espinal and reliever Ian Gibaut, sparing themselves a projected $4.6MM in salary between the two of them.

The Reds still have 12 arbitration-eligible players even after that pair of outrights (effectively non-tenders), but the only players projected to earn more than $5MM are right-hander Brady Singer ($11.9MM) and catcher Tyler Stephenson ($6.4MM). Any of Gavin Lux ($5MM), Sam Moll ($1.2MM) or Will Benson ($1.7MM) could be non-tendered or traded to buy a little extra breathing room. Speculatively, the pitching-rich Reds could swap out Singer for a comparably priced veteran bat to plug into their outfield (e.g. Taylor Ward).

Krall has downplayed the possibility of trading a starter, but the quintet of Greene, Singer, Andrew Abbott, Nick Lodolo and top prospect Chase Burns is strong as it is, and well-regarded young arms like Chase Petty and Rhett Lowder loom as rotation possibilities as well.

Adding to the bullpen also figures to be on Krall’s to-do list. Closer Emilio Pagan is a free agent. Holdovers Tony Santillan, Graham Ashcraft and Connor Phillips all showed well in 2025 (Phillips in a fairly small 25-inning sample), while young flamethrowers Luis Mey and Zach Maxwell provide some upside. Still, there’s not much end-of-the-game certainty among the group, making a few reasonably priced bullpen pickups seem likely.

Depending on further non-tenders and some potential trades, it seems the Reds probably have room for one big-ticket item. A major bat like Pete Alonso or Cincinnati native Kyle Schwarber would be highly out of character, but there’s probably enough payroll flexibility to make that type of splash if the other moves are minimally priced. The likelier outcome would be a handful of more measured, mid-range additions to the roster, likely with a bit of wiggle room left for in-season maneuverings like we saw with this summer’s acquisitions of Zack Littell and Miguel Andujar.

Harrison Bader Declines Mutual Option With Phillies

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The Phillies announced that Harrison Bader has declined his end of a $10MM mutual option for 2026. He will now return to free agency, collecting a $3MM buyout on his way back to the open market.

Bader, 32 in June, is coming off a strong season. One of the top outfield defenders in the game, his offense has been inconsistent. 2024 was his third straight season with subpar offense, by measure of wRC+.

He settled for a one-year, $6.25MM deal with the Twins coming into 2025. That broke down as a $750K signing bonus, a $4MM base salary and a $1.5MM buyout on a $10MM mutual option. He could also increase the value of the buyout via plate appearance bonuses. By making 501 appearances this year, he hit all the bonuses and added another $1.5MM to the buyout value.

Those plate appearances were split between the Twins and Phillies, as Minnesota fell out of the playoff race and turned into deadline sellers, flipping Bader to Philadelphia. Bader’s deal also had a $500K assignment bonus for getting traded, so he unlocked that as well.

Overall, he performed well. He hit .277/.347/.449 for a 122 wRC+. Thanks to that offense joining forces with his typically strong baserunning and defense, FanGraphs credited him with 3.2 wins above replacement on the year.

The offense probably isn’t wholly sustainable. He had a .359 batting average on balls in play this year. That’s higher than his .305 career rate and the .291 league average in 2025. Regardless, he may have played himself into a nice multi-year deal this winter. It’s possible that could come with the Phillies but they are reportedly looking to make an outfield shake-up, which figures to include moving on from Nick Castellanos. Whether Bader can fit into the plans might depend on how that shuffle plays out.

Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images

White Sox Name Zach Bove Pitching Coach; Derek Shomon To Be Hitting Coach

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The White Sox have made two notable additions to their coaching staff. James Fegan of Sox Machine reports that Derek Shomon will be the new hitting coach and Zach Bove the new pitching coach. The Sox have already announced Bove’s hiring. It was announced back in September that the Sox would be making multiple coaching changes, with pitching coach Ethan Katz and hitting coach Marcus Thames among those not coming back.

Bove has spent the past three seasons as an assistant pitching coach for the Royals. It’s always tough to determine how much credit one coach gets for the performance of several individual players, but for what it’s worth, the Royals pitched better during his tenure.

The club was rebuilding when he was hired and had a team-wide 4.72 earned run average in 2022, better than just three other clubs. There wasn’t a step forward in his first season. Kansas City had a collective 5.17 ERA, better than just two clubs, in 2023. But in 2024, they were tied for seventh with a 3.76 ERA. In 2025, they were sixth with a 3.73 ERA.

Like the Royals a few years ago, the Sox are now rebuilding and have a big collection of young and fairly inexperienced pitchers on the roster. Bove will now be tasked with helping manager Will Venable develop the staff as the Sox look to climb of their rebuild.

Shomon has been an assistant hitting coach in the big leagues for the past three years, the first two with the Twins before spending 2025 with the Marlins. The Twins had a top ten offense by wRC+ in 2022, before Shomon was there, and that continued during his two seasons in Minnesota. The Marlins had an 87 wRC+ in 2024, ahead of only three clubs. This year, they improved to a 96 wRC+, just behind middle of the pack.

Like Bove on the pitching side, Shomon will be dealing mostly with young and developing players for the time being. The Sox have lost 100 games in three straight seasons. They will want to come out of the rebuild at some point but no one will be expecting immediate contention.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin, Oncea-Imagn Images

Astros Put Five Players On Outright Waivers

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The Astros have put five players on outright waivers, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. They are outfielders Chas McCormick, Kenedy Corona and Pedro León, left-hander John Rooney and right-hander Luis Garcia. Michael Schwab of The Ice Box reported on McCormick earlier today.

Some roster maintenance was inevitable for the Astros. They had a large number of injuries in 2025, leading to several players ending up on the 60-day injured list. The IL goes away five days after the World Series and doesn’t return until spring training, so the club would need to open some spots.

Garcia, 29 in December, was an easy cut. 2026 was slated to be his final arbitration season before he qualified for free agency. He underwent Tommy John surgery last month and is going to miss that entire campaign. The Astros weren’t going to tender him a contract, so he’s been bumped off the roster now.

For the same reasons, he should pass through waivers unclaimed, unless some club wants to work out a two-year deal covering his recovery and theoretical return to the mound in 2027. But it’s more likely that clubs wait for him to clear and become a free agent before discussing such deals with him.

McCormick, 31 in April, is the other guy in this batch with notable major league experience. He was a solid contributor for the Astros from 2021 to 2023. He struck out a lot but hit at least 14 home runs in each of those campaigns. He slashed a combined .259/.336/.449 for a 120 wRC+ in that span with 27 stolen bases and strong defensive grades, with contributions in the postseason as well.

Unfortunately, he’s been nowhere near that productive in the past two years. He has slashed .211/.273/.301 since the start of 2024, production that translates to a 64 wRC+. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a $3.4MM arbitration salary next year. After two years of struggles, the Astros were probably going to non-tender him.

He is controllable through the 2027 season, so perhaps he gets claimed by some club who views him as a change-of-scenery candidate. However, it’s also possible that clubs wait for him to clear and then reach free agency, at which point they could try to sign him at a lower price point than the projected salary.

León, 28 in May, was once a high-profile signing out of Cuba but he hasn’t yet been able to deliver on the hype. He has only played in seven big league games so far. His minor league numbers have been more decent than amazing. A sprained MCL in his left knee put him on the shelf for most of 2025, limiting him to just 25 games.

It’s possible León garners interest from other clubs based on his past prospect pedigree. He still has options and could be stashed in the minors next year. While his 2025 was mostly a lost year, he slashed .299/.372/.514 in Triple-A last year for a 130 wRC+.

Corona, 26 in March, was an international signing of the Mets. He came to the Astros in the December 2019 trade which sent Jake Marisnick to Queens. Houston put Corona on their 40-man roster in November 2023, to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

His numbers have backed up since then. He has only played in three big league games. He has a .217/.311/.309 batting line and 74 wRC+ in the minors dating back to the start of 2024. That was a big drop from his 2022 and 2023 production, as he slashed .264/.346/.475 for a 116 wRC+ over those seasons. Like León, he still has options, which could increase the chances some other club grabs him as a depth option.

Rooney, 29 in January, was just acquired from the Marlins in an August cash deal. He has one big league appearance under his belt, having allowed one earned run over 1 1/3 innings for the Astros on August 24th. He tossed 38 2/3 Triple-A innings this year with a 2.56 earned run average, 34.2% strikeout rate, 14.9% walk rate and 42.5% ground ball rate. The lefty underwent surgery late in the year remove bone spurs and address tennis elbow. Per Rome, he’s expected to miss the entire 2026 season.

Garcia and McCormick each have enough service time to reject outright assignments and elect free agency if they clear waivers. Rooney and Corona have been in the minors for at least seven years, meaning they would be eligible for minor league free agency five days after the World Series, if they are off the roster by then. León doesn’t have seven years in the minors, nor does he have three years of service or a previous career outright. If he clears waivers, the Astros should be able to keep him as non-roster depth.

Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images

Braves To Exercise Club Option On Ozzie Albies

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The Braves are going to pick up their club option on infielder Ozzie Albies. The club hasn’t announced the decision yet but president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos confirmed the move in a radio appearance, per Mark Zinno of 92.9 The Game. Atlanta will pay him a $7MM salary instead of the $4MM buyout. There’s also a $7MM club option for 2027 but with no buyout.

Even coming off a down season, there was never any scenario where Atlanta would turn down what’s a net $3MM option to keep Albies in the fold. The 28-year-old switch-hitter (29 in January) posted a career-worst .240/.306/.365 batting line (87 wRC+) in 157 games/667 plate appearances this past season, but he’s also not far removed from a 33-homer campaign and .280/.336/.513 output back in 2023. Plus, Albies finished the season looking far more like his typical self; over his final 264 turns at the plate, he produced a .272/.330/.439 line that sat about 11% better than league average.

Albies is now entering year six of what can max out as a seven-year contract. He inked a five-year, $35MM extension that has long stood as one of baseball’s great bargains. That deal contained a pair of $7MM club options, the first of which is now guaranteed bringing the total to six years and $38MM. (The $4MM buyout was included in the original $35MM guarantee.)

Even if Atlanta brass had soured on Albies’ long-term outlook — and, to be clear, there’s no indication that’s the case — picking up the option was a no-brainer. Albies’ bargain-rate salary and matching club option (with no buyout) would still hold appeal to teams seeking second base upgrades on the trade market.

As things stand, Albies can be reasonably expected to serve as the Braves’ everyday second baseman again in 2026. He’ll return to a lineup that’s set at most positions. Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy will split catching duties. Matt Olson is locked in at first base. Third baseman Austin Riley is signed through 2032. Ronald Acuña Jr. is heading into the final guaranteed season on his contract but, like Albies, has a pair of no-brainer club options (his covering 2027-28). Jurickson Profar is signed through 2027. Michael Harris II, who like Albies had a terrible three months followed by a strong second half, is signed through at least 2030.

Shortstop is the lone position where the Braves aren’t set at the moment. They’ll need to upgrade their bench and have plenty of work to do on the pitching staff — both in the rotation and the bullpen — but that only makes the affordable nature of Albies’ contract all the more appealing. Atlanta’s projected payroll checks in at a hefty $214MM, assuming the club options for Chris Sale, Tyler Kinley and Pierce Johnson are exercised.

The Braves have several non-tender candidates, and cutting anyone from that group will trim next year’s total outlay and their luxury-tax ledger by a few million dollars. But the Braves have only crossed the tax threshold once during the current core group’s time together (2023), so if the aim it to again stay under that line ($244MM in 2026), they’ll need to be judicious in how they address the remaining holes on the roster.

Red Sox Decline Mutual Option With Liam Hendriks

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The Red Sox have declined their end of a $12MM mutual option for right-hander Liam Hendriks, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The former closer will take a $2MM buyout and return to free agency.

The decision doesn’t come as a surprise, as Hendriks has hardly pitched over the past three years. In 2023, a battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma kept him out of action for a while. He eventually won that battle and was declared cancer-free, only to require Tommy John surgery after just five innings pitched.

He reached free agency going into 2024 and the Red Sox signed him to a two-year deal with a $10MM guarantee. That took the form of a $2MM salary in the first year, a $6MM salary in the second, followed by the aforementioned option and buyout. The Sox knew they might not get any contributions from Hendriks in the first year but were hoping their investment would pay off in the second, with Hendriks ideally returning to his previous elite closer form.

It didn’t work out that way. Hendriks missed the entire 2024 season and then elbow problems lingered into the following year. He spent most of 2025 on the injured list, only throwing 13 2/3 innings. He underwent ulnar nerve transposition surgery in September and has an uncertain timeline.

Hendriks will presumably be focused on getting healthy for a while. He will celebrate his 37th birthday in February. He’ll be a candidate for another bounceback deal at some point, though the shape of that deal will depend upon his future health outlook.

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

Martín Pérez Declines Mutual Option With White Sox

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The White Sox announced that left-hander Martín Pérez has declined his end of a $10MM mutual option for 2026. He will take a $1.5MM buyout and return to free agency. The Sox also announced that they triggered their club option on outfielder Luis Robert Jr., a decision that was previously reported.

Pérez, 35 in April, is coming off a mostly lost season. He signed with the Sox in January, a $5MM guarantee in the form of a $3.5MM salary for 2025 plus the aforementioned buyout on the mutual option. He made just four starts before elbow inflammation put him on the injured list. He was diagnosed with a flexor strain and didn’t return to the club until August. He finished the year with a 3.54 earned run average in 56 innings.

Given that he’s now one year older and is coming off a less impressive walk year, he should have less earning power compared to last offseason. That makes it somewhat surprising that he is turning down his end of the option. Perhaps he figured the club was going to turn him down anyway, so he proactively walked away and therefore avoided the awkward situation in which he would trigger his end but then be rejected by the team.

He will now return to free agency and look for his next opportunity. His 19.3% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate in 2025 weren’t especially impressive but he’s never been a huge strikeout guy. He at least finished the season healthy and could get another deal to serve as a veteran back-end guy in 2026.

The White Sox currently project to have a fairly inexperienced rotation. Shane Smith, Davis Martin, Sean Burke, Grant Taylor, Yoendrys Gómez and Jonathan Cannon are some of the best options currently on the roster but no one in that group has more than 256 big league innings. Perhaps the Sox and Pérez could reunite but both parties will now be able to explore alternatives.

Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images

Jack Flaherty Exercises Player Option

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Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty will not opt out of his contract, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. He’ll exercise a $20MM player option and head back to Detroit for a third season. The Tigers formally announced the move just a minute or two after Passan’s initial report.

Flaherty, who turned 30 in October, had an uneven season, but it’s still a mildly surprising decision to pick up the player option. It’s unlikely he’d have commanded a $20MM annual value on the open market, but a multi-year deal at a slightly lesser rate doesn’t seem far-fetched. Middle-of-the-road starters like Luis Severino ($67MM), Taijuan Walker ($72MM), Jameson Taillon ($68MM) and Eduardo Rodriguez ($80MM) have all garnered notable three- or four-year contracts at this age or older.

That said, had Flaherty turned the option down, this would’ve been the third straight season in which he was a free agent. Perhaps there’s an element of fatigue there, particularly given that he lingered in free agency until early February last time around. Turning down the player option would probably also have emboldened the Tigers to make a qualifying offer (only $2.025MM more than Flaherty’s $20MM option). The prospect of another trip to the open market, this time with a QO hanging over him, may not have been especially appealing.

Flaherty started 31 games and pitched 161 innings for manager A.J. Hinch in 2025. He was tagged for a pedestrian 4.64 ERA, though there are plenty of encouraging rate stats that suggest he’s in line for better results moving forward. The right-hander struck out a well above-average 27.6% of his opponents, was slightly better than league-average in terms of swinging-strike rate (11.3%), and sat barely north of average in walk rate (8.7%).

Flaherty’s 92.9 mph average fastball was roughly in line with the prior season’s 93.2 mph mark. He was plagued by a slightly elevated average on balls in play and a lower-than-usual strand rate; metrics like FIP (3.85) and SIERA (3.67) felt that Flaherty was far better than his more rudimentary earned run average would suggest. The 18.9-point differential between his strikeout and walk percentages ranked 16th among the 53 MLB pitchers who tossed at least 160 innings, sandwiching him right between Freddy Peralta and Kevin Gausman.

The return of Flaherty provides some additional stability in Detroit’s rotation. Tarik Skubal will of course lead the staff again, taking aim at what would be a third consecutive Cy Young win (as he’s all but certain to win his second straight award in a couple weeks). He and Flaherty will be joined by Casey Mize and Reese Olson, health permitting, but the final spot is more up in the air. Rookie Troy Melton looked sharp down the stretch but hasn’t pitched a full season in the majors yet. Top prospect Jackson Jobe will miss most of next year after undergoing Tommy John surgery in mid-June. Keider Montero, Sawyer Gipson-Long and Ty Madden join Melton as an option for that last spot, but no one in that group brings much certainty to the table.

If the Tigers were hoping to see Flaherty decline and sign elsewhere, thus sparing $20MM from the books and allowing them to pursue a bigger fish in free agency, they still ought to be able to line up on a trade. Flaherty’s $20MM might feel a bit steep, but the going rate for innings continues to escalate. The Tigers themselves gave Alex Cobb $15MM last winter after a season in which he made just three starts with Cleveland. Aging veterans Charlie Morton ($15MM), Justin Verlander ($15MM) and Max Scherzer ($15.5MM) were all paid similarly — Verlander coming off a 5.48 ERA in 90 1/3 innings as he headed into his age-42 season.

Flaherty’s $20MM salary isn’t a raucous bargain but also isn’t out of line with modern-day contractual norms — particularly if one believes his true talent level lay closer to his fielding-independent metrics than his earned run average. Even with Flaherty now under contract, the Tigers’ projected payroll, per RosterResource, sits around $121.5MM. That doesn’t account for potential non-tenders or trades from a huge class of 14 arbitration-eligible players. Detroit has previously pushed payroll up to the $200MM range, albeit under the watch of now-late owner Mike Ilitch. The Tigers’ top Opening Day mark under his son, Chris Ilitch, has been last year’s $145MM number, though deadline acquisitions pushed the end-of-year figure up into the $155-160MM range.

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