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Royals Agree To Minor League Deals With Mike Brosseau, Tyler Duffey, Sam Long

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The Royals announced that they have agreed to terms on minor league deals with infielder Mike Brosseau, left-hander Sam Long and right-handers Tyler Duffey and Dan Altavilla. Reporting on Altavilla’s deal came out yesterday but the other three are new developments.

Brosseau, 30 in March, started the 2023 campaign with the Brewers but hit just .205/.256/.397 in 29 games and was outrighted in July. He then signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball but hit just .191/.218/.287 for that club.

It obviously wasn’t an amazing year for Brosseau, but he has some decent showings in his past. He got into 88 games with the Rays over 2019 and 2020, hitting .284/.343/.500 over that time for a wRC+ of 130. He then slumped badly in 2021 before getting flipped to Milwaukee, which led to a bounceback season. He hit .255/.344/.418 in 70 games for the Brewers for a wRC+ of 118.

If he could back to anything close to that, he could be a decent utility player for the Royals. He’s played all four infield positions in his career and has even had short stint in the outfield corners. The club is set at shortstop and first base with Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino but the other infield spots are less secure. Maikel Garcia and Michael Massey are the favorites for third and second base, respectively, but each of them had subpar offensive seasons in 2023.

The Royals recently signed Garrett Hampson to a major league deal, adding some depth all around the roster, but Brosseau should do the same in a non-roster capacity. If Brosseau gets selected at any point, he still has an option remaining, which would allow the Royals to send him back to the minors without exposing him to waivers.

Long, 28, has logged 128 innings over the past three seasons, pitching for the Giants and Athletics. He has a 4.92 earned run average in that time, along with an 18.5% strikeout rate, 9% walk rate and 40.5% ground ball rate. The Royals only have two lefty relievers on the roster right now in Jake Brentz and Josh Taylor, both of whom dealt with significant injury issues in 2023. If Long can earn his way onto the roster, he’s out of options but can be retained for future seasons since he has under two years of service time.

Duffey, 33 this month, spent 2023 in the Cubs’ system after signing a minor league deal. At the Triple-A level, he threw 45 1/3 innings with 3.77 ERA, 29.1% strikeout rate and 12.6% walk rate. He was selected to the club’s roster on the last day of the season and tossed two innings in the final game on the schedule.

He had a really strong run for the Twins over 2019 and 2020, posting a 2.31 ERA over 81 2/3 innings in those two campaigns, striking out 34.2% of opponents while issuing walks at just 6.1% rate. But his ERA jumped to 3.18 in 2021 and 4.91 in 2022. The Royals’ bullpen has plenty of uncertainty after trading away Aroldis Chapman and Scott Barlow last year, perhaps leaving space for someone like Duffey to take advantage.

Orioles Sign Craig Kimbrel

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December 7: Kimbrel can increase the value of the buyout based on game and games finished in 2024, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post. It will be an extra $100K for pitching in 35, 40, 45, 50 and 55 games, as well as another $100K for finishing the same amounts. If Kimbrel were to max out all of those, the buyout would jump to $2MM.

December 6: The Orioles announced the signing of closer Craig Kimbrel to a one-year deal with a club option for the 2025 season. It’s a reported $13M guarantee for the SportsMeter client. Kimbrel will make $12MM in 2024 with a $1MM buyout on a $13MM option for ’25.

Baltimore has been looking to fortify the back of their bullpen this winter, with Félix Bautista set to miss the 2024 campaign recovering from Tommy John surgery. In that search, they have been connected in rumors to just about every notable reliever, including Josh Hader, Robert Stephenson and Jordan Hicks, though those guys are set for multi-year deals.

Details of this deal between the O’s and Kimbrel aren’t known but it’s possible it’s a one-year deal, since he settled for a one-year pact last offseason and is now going into his age-36 campaign. In that case, Kimbrel could act as a bridge, covering the closing role in Baltimore for one season and then relinquishing it to Bautista for 2025.

Kimbrel has a lengthy track record of having been one of the most dominant relievers in the game, having racked up 417 saves since debuting with Atlanta back in 2010. Recent years have been a bit more rocky but he’s coming off a generally solid season.

Over 2019 and 2020 with the Cubs, Kimbrel had an earned run average of 6.00 in 36 innings, a noticeable slide since his previous nine seasons only once resulted in an ERA over 2.74. He got back on track in 2021 with an ERA of 2.26 between the Cubs and White Sox, though he was far better before being traded than after. His ERA was a ridiculous 0.49 before the deal but 5.09 after. He was traded to the Dodgers for the 2022 season and posted a respectable 3.75 ERA, but he was shaky enough that year to get removed from the closer’s role in September and then left off that club’s playoff roster.

Kimbrel signed with the Phillies for 2023, a one-year deal with a $10MM guarantee. He tossed 69 innings for the Phils over 71 appearances this year, finishing with a 3.26 ERA, 33.8% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate. He earned 23 saves and seven holds in the process. He didn’t fare so well in the postseason, allowing four earned runs in six innings, but that’s a tiny sample of work relative to the season overall.

That won’t quite live up to Bautista’s recent performance, but there are few pitchers in the world who could. His first two seasons in the big leagues resulted in a 1.85 ERA and 40.4% strikeout rate. Only Edwin Díaz, who missed 2023 due to knee surgery, had a higher strikeout percentage in that time. But Kimbrel will nonetheless strengthen the bullpen relative to where it was a few days ago, joining other high-leverage relievers such as Yennier Cano and Danny Coulombe.

Assuming Kimbrel is in the closer’s role, he will have a chance to continue climbing the all-time saves leaderboard. Kenley Jansen currently sits seventh on that list with 420 while Kimbrel is eighth with 417. Both of those closers will have a chance to jump three more spots in 2024. Billy Wagner is currently sixth with 422, John Franco is fifth with 424 and Francisco Rodríguez is fourth with 437. That means each of Jansen and Kimbrel could be in the top five by the end of next year.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that the O’s and Kimbrel were in serious discussions. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal first reported the sides were nearing and then in agreement on a deal. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported the financial terms.

Braves Sign Angel Perdomo, Outright Evan White

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The Braves announced Thursday that they’ve signed left-hander Angel Perdomo to a one-year, split Major League contract. Atlanta also passed recently acquired first baseman Evan White through waivers and assigned him outright to Triple-A Gwinnett. The Braves claimed Perdomo off waivers from the Pirates in early November but non-tendered him later in the month. He’ll now return to their 40-man roster.

White’s outright comes as little surprise; the Braves’ acquisition of him was always a financial mechanism to facilitate their trade for Jarred Kelenic, and it was obvious that no team would place a claim on White, given the remaining $17MM he’s owed under his previously signed contract extension with the Mariners. White technically has enough service time (three-plus years) to reject the assignment but not enough to do so while retaining the remainder of his salary (which requires five years). As such, he’ll surely accept the assignment and head to Triple-A Gwinnett to begin the 2024 campaign.

Perdomo, 29, posted a 3.72 ERA in 29 innings for the Pirates in 2023 and did so with a gaudy 37.6% strikeout rate against a 9.4% walk rate. Had he been healthy, the Pirates surely would’ve hung onto him, but Perdomo hit the injured list with an elbow injury in August. He ultimately required Tommy John surgery and is slated to miss the 2024 campaign as a result. Even if he spends the entire season on the 60-day injured list, he’d still finish out the 2024 season with two-plus years of service time, meaning Atlanta could potentially control a healthy Perdomo from 2025-28, if all goes well.

White, 27, was the Mariners’ first-round pick back in 2017 and was widely considered one of the sport’s best prospects. Touted as an elite defender at first base with a solid hit tool and above-average power, White looked the part of a future fixture in the Seattle lineup during his prospect days. His 2019 campaign in Double-A saw White turn in a .293/.350/.488 batting line with 18 home runs in 400 plate appearances. The Mariners signed White to a six-year, $24MM contract that November with the idea that he’d be their Opening Day first baseman in 2020. White, however, stumbled to a .165/.235/.308 batting line in 306 plate appearances from 2020-21 and was eventually overtaken by Ty France on the team’s depth chart.

Injuries have also played a notable role in White’s struggles. In the past three years alone, the University of Kentucky product has undergone a pair of surgeries on his left hip and a sports hernia surgery. He’s also dealt with a Grade 2 strain/tear in his groin. That hasn’t helped his production any, and it’s certainly possible that the faulty hip contributed to his struggles in prior stints with the M’s, as his first surgery took place midway through his second MLB campaign.

For now, White will head to Gwinnett and hope for better health and performance to create an opportunity — if not with the Braves then with another club. The aforementioned slate of injuries has limited him to just 30 minor league games since Opening Day 2022 — including only two last year. He’s owed $7MM in 2024 and $8MM in 2025. He’s also guaranteed a $2MM buyout on the first of three club options.

Latest On Corbin Burnes

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Brewers ace Corbin Burnes, one year away from reaching the open market, is among the most compelling names on the trade market for starting pitchers this offseason. The Brewers haven’t actively shopped Burnes, but that hasn’t stopped other clubs from expressing interest. Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweets that executives with other clubs are of the impression that there’s a legitimate chance of Burnes ultimately being moved. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, however, frames things differently, noting that Milwaukee GM Matt Arnold said this week that he still expects Burnes to be his Opening Day starter.

If the Brewers are shopping Burnes at all, Arnold isn’t tipping his hand on the matter either in public comments or in comments made to Burnes’ agent, Scott Boras. As McCalvy writes, Boras said at this week’s Winter Meetings that “everything I’ve heard from Milwaukee is that they’re putting together a competitive team to win the division in ’24.” Boras added that the Brewers haven’t approached him about a long-term extension, but it seems they’ve also not given any signal that Burnes could be on the move.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic once again brought up the possibility of a Burnes/Willy Adames package heading to the Dodgers, noting that Wisconsin native Gavin Lux could be of interest to a Brewers club with some infield uncertainty (which would only be exacerbated by a trade of Adames, of course). There’s no clear indication that a trade of that nature is currently being discussed, to be clear. Similarly, Rosenthal’s colleague Brendan Kuty speculated this morning that if the Yankees ultimately miss out on NPB ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, they could turn their focus to Burnes. Again, that’s not a firm report that talks have taken place, but Burnes is a logical option both for clubs that miss out on top free agents (e.g. Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery) and for teams that have no intention of spending at the levels necessary to sign those free agents in the first place.

[Related: Looking for a Match in a Corbin Burnes trade]

Arnold openly acknowledged this week that demand for Burnes has been high (link via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). The GM unsurprisingly didn’t tip his hand one way or another, but speaking in more general terms did note that the Winter Meetings are often a place where groundwork on larger trades can be done. Arnold explained to Rosiak and others that much of the framework of last year’s three-team Sean Murphy/William Contreras/Esteury Ruiz trade was put into place at the Winter Meetings, but a trade didn’t come together for several more days while the Brewers, A’s and Braves worked out the complementary pieces in the swap.

Burnes, 29, pitched to a 3.39 ERA with a 25.5% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate in 193 2/3 innings atop Milwaukee’s rotation this past season. Over the past four years, he’s compiled a 2.86 earned run average with a 30.9% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 46.4% ground-ball rate in 622 1/3 innings. He’s been highly durable, pitching in 105 games during that time and only hitting the injured list for an oblique strain that sidelined him less than a month. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a $15.1MM salary for Burnes in his final season of arbitration.

Franchy Cordero, Albert Abreu Sign With NPB’s Seibu Lions

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First baseman/outfielder Franchy Cordero has signed with the Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, his representatives at Republik Sports announced today on Instagram. He’ll be joined on the Lions roster by another former Yankee, right-hander Albert Abreu, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray, who reports that Abreu is also set to sign there. Abreu is represented by Vayner Sports.

Cordero, 29, has long tantalized Major League teams with his rare blend of immense raw power and plus speed. Persistent plate discipline and strikeout issues have undercut his upside in both departments, however, as indicated by a career .217/.283/.395 batting line in 797 plate appearances between the Padres, Red Sox, Royals and Yankees. He spent the 2023 season with the latter, enjoying a hot first week before falling into a prolonged slump and ending up with a .188/.211/.478 slash in 71 plate appearances.

The allure of Cordero’s raw tools is apparent to anyone who’s seen him enjoy a productive game in the big leagues or even just in glancing at his career line in the minors. He’s a .301/.384/.538 hitter with 54 home runs, 77 doubles, 22 triples and 42 steals (in 50 tries) over the life of 306 Triple-A contests. Cordero’s hit tool (or lack thereof), free-swinging approach and generally sub-par defensive grades in the outfield have all held him back. He’ll look to improve on each in his first venture overseas. He won’t turn 30 until next September, so with a good year or two in Japan, it’s feasible that he could eventually return to North American ball and make an impact.

As for Abreu, he’ll join his former and once-again teammate in his own debut in Asia. The hard-throwing righty was long considered one of the top prospects in the Astros and Yankees organizations — Houston traded him to New York in the Brian McCann swap — but he’s yet to find sustained MLB success.

Abreu tossed 59 innings for the Yankees in 2023, logging a 4.73 ERA with a 22.8% strikeout rate and 13.1% walk rate. The Yankees non-tendered him last month rather than pay him a raise in arbitration.

Command has been a consistent issue for Abreu, who carries a career 4.58 earned run average, 22.4% strikeout rate, 12.9% walk rate and 47.4% grounder rate. He’s averaged 97.9 mph on his sinker in his career, including 97.5 mph in 2023, and generates plenty of ground-balls with that pitch. However, Abreu doesn’t miss bats at the level you’d expect from someone with that type of velocity, as evidenced by his pedestrian career strikeout rate, below-average 10.2% swinging-strike rate and a sub-par 28.3% chase rate.

Download Our Free Trade Rumors App

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At the prompting of MLBTR readers, we have fixed bugs related to leaving comments and muting people in the Trade Rumors iOS app.  Sorry for the delay on those fixes.  If you have noticed other bugs in our iOS or Android apps, please mention them in the comments of this post if you’re so inclined.

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Red Sox Rumors: Second Base, Rotation, Turner, Outfield

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The Red Sox have a clear need at second base this winter, and as recently noted, newly installed chief baseball officer Craig Breslow indicated to reporters that he feels a trade is likelier than a free-agent signing. Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic adds some more context from Breslow’s media session, noting that he called the “ideal” acquisition a right-handed bat and plus defender.

Second base was a black hole in the Boston lineup last year. Ten different players saw time there — Christian Arroyo, Enmanuel Valdez, Luis Urias and Pablo Reyes primarily — and combined for a .240/.286/.376 slash on the whole. Urias has since been traded to the Mariners. Arroyo was outrighted and became a free agent. Reyes and Valdez remain on the roster, but the former is a career .256/.318/.367 hitter who’s best suited for a utility role, while the latter has all of 149 MLB plate appearances to his name.

Veteran Whit Merrifield headlines the free-agent crop of second basemen, though bounceback candidates like Amed Rosario and Adam Frazier hold some appeal to clubs in search of help at second base as well. The trade market offers far more intriguing possibilities. The Reds have an enviable surplus of infield talent, and 2021 Rookie of the Year Jonathan India has been an oft-rumored candidate to change hands (though Cincinnati president Nick Krall downplayed the possibility recently). The Twins have their own glut of infield talent and are open to offers on veteran Jorge Polanco as they seek to reduce payroll and bolster the pitching staff. McCaffrey suggests that San Diego’s Ha-Seong Kim would be of interest if available, although that would presumably only be the case if the Padres continue to scale back payroll — and the prospect cost to acquire Kim would hardly be insignificant.

As one would expect for a newly hired baseball operations leader who’s trying to turn around a last-place team, Breslow has plenty of balls in the air at the moment. In addition to the pursuits at second base, Boston has also been active in the rotation market. Reports this week indicated they’re among the top suitors for Seth Lugo, and McCaffrey writes that the Sox were interested in Luis Severino before he signed with the Mets. Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweets that the Sox had interest in a reunion with Eduardo Rodriguez but didn’t want to make a commitment with NPB newcomers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga both still in play via free agency. The Sox have interest in both.

Beyond the pitching staff, the Sox remain engaged with Justin Turner about a potential reunion, Breslow confirmed yesterday (via Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe). Turner declined a player option with Boston after hitting .276/.345/.455 with 23 home runs in his first year with the team. That was a foregone conclusion, however, as the net $6.7MM value of that option (after factoring in the buyout he received) is well shy of what Turner can command in free agency, even at 39.

Breslow also suggested that he’d like to add a right-handed bat who can handle center field (via Abraham), though he stopped short of calling it a “need.” MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo tweets that Breslow also implied the Sox could stand pat in the outfield and head into the 2024 season with the current group of Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela, though that’s obviously an inexperienced group and a further addition clearly hasn’t been ruled out. Boston was linked to right-handed-hitting outfielders Michael A. Taylor and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. this week, though only the former is an option in center field (and a very good one, at that).

Yankees Interested In Jordan Hicks

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The Yankees are among the mounting number of teams with interest in free-agent righty Jordan Hicks, per Chris Kirschner and Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. The Yanks will likely look to replenish their bullpen after trading four pitchers to the Padres in last night’s Juan Soto blockbuster. The flamethrowing Hicks is among the most sought-after relievers on the open market.

Just 27 years old, Hicks is an atypically young free agent. He’s also one of the game’s hardest throwers, with career averages of 100.8 mph, 100.2 mph and 91.6 mph on his four-seamer, sinker and splitter, respectively. That uncommon blend of age, velocity and strong recent performance appear to have positioned Hicks quite well in free agency.

Hicks split the 2023 season between the Cardinals, who drafted and developed him, and the Blue Jays, who acquired him at the trade deadline. In 65 2/3 innings, he pitched to a 3.29 ERA with a very strong 28.4% strikeout rate against an 11.2% walk rate that could stand to come down a ways but is actually lower than his career mark (12.8%). Hicks used that power sinker to pile up grounders at a robust 58.9% clip, which is roughly in line with his brilliant 60.4% career mark.

The 2023 season was one of the most successful of Hicks’ young career. He’s pitched just 243 1/3 big league innings since debuting back in 2018, thanks in large part due to injury. Hicks had Tommy John surgery in 2019, opted out of the shortened 2020 season while rehabbing from that procedure (and also due to his status as a Type 1 diabetic, making him a high-risk case during the Covid pandemic), and then battled elbow and flexor troubles in 2021-22.

Hicks has only twice topped even 40 appearances in a season — his 2018 rookie showing and this past season in 2023. Durability may not be a selling point, but his elite velocity and ground-ball rate, above-average strikeout rate and knack for inducing weak contact (career 86.7 mph average exit velocity, 31.3% hard-hit rate) all combine with his relative youth to create an air of upside. That’s perhaps reflected in the substantial number of clubs with reported interest. Hicks has been linked to the Astros, Angels, Rangers, Red Sox and Orioles this week alone. Back in October, Katie Woo of The Athletic reported that Hicks and the Cardinals nearly agreed to a three-year extension prior to his summer trade to Toronto. The Cardinals are known to be pursuing bullpen help, so logically speaking, it stands to reason that they’d be in the mix too.

The Yankees have shown a clear affinity for high-end ground-ball rates over the years, evidenced by their acquisitions of Clay Holmes, Zack Britton, Wandy Peralta and others. Hicks would be another acquisition in that vein, albeit a much higher-profile one than Holmes and Peralta (but perhaps less so than Britton). Even with the injury track record, interest in Hicks is robust enough that three-year deal seems to be the floor, with a strong possibility of him commanding an even lengthier pact than that.

Following last night’s Soto acquisition, the Yankees’ luxury-tax ledger checks in just shy of $289MM, per Roster Resource’s projections. The Yankees would be taxed at a 90% clip for any dollars up to $297MM and then a staggering 110% clip for any dollars spent thereafter. Signing Hicks at an annual value of $10MM, for instance, would cost the Yankees roughly $19.6MM for the 2024 season. The Yankees knew this would be the case when acquiring Soto and Trent Grisham from the Padres, however, and they’re still pursuing upgrades in the bullpen and in the rotation anyhow (most notably, Yoshinobu Yamamoto). It doesn’t seem like those taxes will be a substantial deterrent, but they’re nonetheless worth pointing out as the Yankees continue their efforts to bounce back from a disappointing 2023 campaign.

Marlins Re-Sign Devin Smeltzer To Minor League Deal

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The Marlins are bringing back one of their most heavily used depth arms for another stint, as they’ve re-signed lefty Devin Smeltzer to a minor league deal, according to the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’ll presumably be in big league camp next spring.

Smeltzer, who just turned 28 this week, had a Ryan Weber/Yankees-esque run in Miami last year. The Marlins signed him to a minor league deal over the winter and selected his contract to the Majors on four different occasions. Each call to the big leagues was followed by a DFA after an appearance or two, and Smeltzer passed through waivers and accepted outright assignments to return to the club’s Triple-A affiliate each time.

It wasn’t the most direct path to doing so, but Smeltzer still picked up about six weeks of big league service time and pitched 22 1/3 MLB frames over the course of the year. He was knocked around for a 6.45 ERA in that time and posted similar numbers in 86 innings at the Triple-A level.

Lackluster performance notwithstanding, Smeltzer has a stronger track record dating back to his days with the Twins, who originally acquired the former fifth-round pick (2016) in a trade sending Brian Dozier to the Dodgers. Smeltzer pitched 140 innings of 3.99 ERA ball for Minnesota in parts of three seasons, showing a well below-average strikeout rate (16.6%) but strong command (6.4% walk rate). Smeltzer has regularly shown good command throughout his pro career and has experience both as a starter and a reliever. The Marlins also know he’ll likely be amenable to similar up-and-down usage in 2024 if necessary, making the reunion a fairly logical one.

The Opener: Yankees, Reds, Ohtani

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On the heels of last night’s blockbuster trade and a pair of notable free-agent signings, here are three things for MLBTR readers to keep an eye on today…

1. What’s next for the Yankees?

The Yankees hearkened back to their Evil Empire days with yesterday’s blockbuster acquisition of Juan Soto, who came to the Bronx alongside Trent Grisham in a trade sending five players back to the Padres. The Yanks now have a projected $278MM payroll and an even heftier $290MM worth of luxury-tax obligations, but it doesn’t seem they’re done. Because the Yankees traded four pitchers — current starter Michael King, depth arms Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez, and top prospect Drew Thorpe — in order to add Soto, further maneuvering to bring some starting pitching into the fold seems likely. That could even be a high-end arm. Yoshinobu Yamamoto remains a free agent, and he’s slated to meet with the Yankees on Monday. They’ve also been tied to a (much) lower-cost reunion with rebound candidate Frankie Montas after an injury-ruined Yankees tenure.

2.  Will the Reds move an infielder for pitching help?

There’d been plenty of talk about the Reds possibly trading Jonathan India even before last night — though president of baseball operations Nick Krall has worked to downplay it. Cincinnati already had a wealth of infield talent in the form of India, Spencer Steer, Matt McLain, Noelvi Marte, Elly De La Cruz and Christian Encarnacion-Strand all having reached the big leagues. Wednesday evening’s surprise addition of Jeimer Candelario on a three-year deal likely pushes Steer into left field on a full-time basis. Even still, that leaves the Reds with six infielders for four spots — five if you include a potential rotational usage of the designated hitter spots.

There’s plenty of versatility among the bunch. Candelario can play both corners. De La Cruz can play third and short, as can Marte. McLain can play both middle infield spots. Krall spoke just yesterday about India possibly moving around the infield in a utility capacity. And, of course, injuries are a near inevitability for any big league club. Still, as the Reds look to bolster their rotation, it’s hard not to wonder whether that infield depth will be used to facilitate a trade. They’ve balked at the price for Dylan Cease thus far and might be loath to part with a controllable infielder for one year of either Shane Bieber or Tyler Glasnow, but there could yet be other creative opportunities for Cincinnati to explore. The Marlins are again listening on their bevy of arms, for instance, and with so much infield talent to peddle, Krall might be able to convince another team that’s not an obvious seller of starting pitching to part with an unexpected arm.

3. All eyes (still) on Shohei:

Shohei Ohtani continues to hold up the top end of the free-agent and trade markets, to varying extents. However, he’s ostensibly met with the majority (if not all) of his suitors by now, and MLB.com’s Jon Morosi suggested yesterday that Ohtani is “expected” to make a decision on his free agent destination before the conclusion of this weekend. The Dodgers, Blue Jays, Giants and Angels are believed to be finalists, and Cubs president Jed Hoyer earlier this week denied reports that his club has become pessimistic in its quest to sign the two-way star.

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