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Red Sox Sign Cooper Criswell To Major League Contract

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The Red Sox announced agreement with right-hander Cooper Criswell on a major league contract. He’ll remain in the AL East after being non-tendered by the Rays last month. The move brings the Sox’s 40-man roster count to 39. Criswell, a Frontline client, is reportedly guaranteed $1MM.

Criswell occupied a depth role for Tampa Bay in 2023. He made 10 appearances as a long reliever, tossing 33 innings with a 5.73 ERA. Criswell didn’t miss many bats at the highest level, striking out a below-average 17.9% of opponents. He generated swinging strikes on only 7.7% of his offerings while averaging 88.4 MPH on his sinker.

The 27-year-old had a better season in Triple-A. Working mostly out of the rotation, he pitched to a 3.93 ERA in 84 2/3 frames. Criswell’s 21.6% strikeout rate wasn’t much worse than average and he kept the ball on the ground for over half the batted balls he allowed.

While it’s not overpowering stuff, the North Carolina product has plus control. He has done an excellent job avoiding free passes throughout his minor league career and walked only 7.3% of batters faced at the MLB level last season. Criswell has a four-pitch arsenal that allows him to work as a depth starter or long reliever.

Since he has a minor league option remaining, the Sox can freely move Criswell between Fenway Park and Triple-A Worcester for another year. They go a little above the league minimum salary and commit a 40-man roster spot to a player they clearly identified as a depth target. Criswell has yet to reach one year of MLB service, so the Red Sox could control him well into the future if he pitches well enough to hold that 40-man spot.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Red Sox and Criswell had agreed to a one-year, $1MM deal.

Endy Rodriguez Undergoes UCL Surgery, Will Miss 2024 Season

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Pirates catcher Endy Rodríguez underwent surgery to repair the UCL and flexor tendon in his throwing arm, the team announced. He won’t begin baseball activity for 10-12 months and will miss all of 2024.

Rodríguez had been the presumptive favorite to open the season as the Bucs’ primary catcher. Unfortunately, he suffered the freak injury on a swing while playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic last month. Next year will go down as a lost season for the switch-hitter.

Regarded as one of the sport’s most talented catching prospects, Rodríguez made his big league debut not long after the All-Star Break. He served as Pittsburgh’s starter down the stretch despite struggling in his first look at MLB pitching. Over 57 games, the 23-year-old hit .220/.284/.328 with a trio of home runs.

While Rodríguez doesn’t have a ton of power, he has shown excellent strike zone discipline in the minors. He walked at an 11.4% clip while keeping his strikeout rate south of 15% in 315 plate appearances for Triple-A Indianapolis, where he hit .268/.356/.415. He combines that with rare athleticism for a catcher and solid defensive reviews from scouts. Statcast graded him as an average receiver in his first 410 big league innings but credited him with better than average arm strength.

Between Rodríguez and 2021 first overall pick Henry Davis, Pittsburgh entered the season with two high-end catching prospects. The Pirates preferred Rodríguez defensively, keeping him behind the plate as a rookie while moving Davis almost full-time to right field. At last month’s GM Meetings, general manager Ben Cherington said the organization still planned to give Davis extended run behind the dish. Rodríguez’s unfortunate injury opens a path for the Louisville product to assume the #1 job.

Like Rodríguez, Davis made his MLB debut last summer but didn’t produce much at the plate. He hit .213/.302/.351 with seven longballs in his first 255 plate appearances. The 24-year-old also received well below-average defensive marks in right field. His MLB track record at catcher consists of two innings, but scouts have raised questions about his receiving skills in college and during his minor league tenure.

If the Pirates want Davis to continue developing defensively in Triple-A, their top in-house options are light-hitting defenders Ali Sánchez and Jason Delay. Veteran options available in free agency include Martín Maldonado, Tom Murphy, Austin Nola, Tucker Barnhart and old friend Jacob Stallings.

Zack Greinke Preparing To Pitch In 2024

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The representatives for free agent right-hander Zack Greinke are telling teams that he is preparing to pitch in 2024 and open to contract talks, per a report from Jon Morosi of MLB.com. He was reportedly still undecided on his future as recently as last month but it now seems he has tilted towards returning for another season on the mound.

Now 40 years old, Greinke is no longer the ace he was for most of his career, but he’s still a serviceable veteran capable of logging some solid innings. In each of the past two offseasons, he has signed one-year deals with the Royals, the club that gave him his start. Kansas City drafted him in 2002 and he pitched for them at the big league level from 2004 to 2010. He then went on an odyssey around the league, jumping to the Brewers, Angels, Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Astros, before returning to Kansas City last year.

The 2022 campaign saw Greinke throw 137 innings with a 3.68 earned run average. He only struck out 12.5% of batters faced but limited walks to just a 4.6% clip and kept 41.3% of balls in play on the ground. His ERA jumped up to 5.06 this year, though his peripherals actually improved, with a 16.4% strikeout rate, 3.9% walk rate and 43.1% ground ball rate. But his strand rate went from 72.9% to 68.7% as a few more fly balls went over the fence, leading to a 4.74 FIP and 4.57 SIERA that paint a more flattering portrait.

It’s unclear how much interest Greinke would have in pitching for teams other than the Royals at this stage. He reportedly turned down similar offers from the Tigers and Twins prior to 2022, preferring to return to where his career began.

The Royals agreed to a deal with Seth Lugo today, adding him into the rotation mix alongside Cole Ragans, Brady Singer and Jordan Lyles, with guys like Daniel Lynch IV, Alec Marsh, Ángel Zerpa and others also in the mix.

General manager J.J. Picollo previously stated that the club could have around $30MM to spend in the offseason. The deal for Lugo, along with deals for Will Smith and Chris Stratton, have resulted in $24MM spent on upgrading the 2024 club. That suggests the budget might be getting a little tight, but it’s possible they can stretch it a bit. Greinke was given a guarantee of $13MM last year and a base of $8.5MM here in 2023, but there was also $7.5MM available in incentives, with Greinke eventually unlocking $4.5MM of those.

Perhaps the two sides could find a similar incentive-laden deal for 2024, allowing the club to further strengthen their pitching depth for the coming season. For Greinke personally, his career strikeout total currently sits at 2,979, just 21 punchouts away from the 3,000 milestone that only 19 pitchers have reached.

Nationals Sign Dylan Floro To Major League Deal

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The Nationals announced that they have signed right-hander Dylan Floro to a one-year major league deal. They also announced their previously-reported pact with infielder/outfielder Nick Senzel. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, infielder Jeter Downs was designated for assignment. Per Jim Bowden of The Athletic, Floro will make $2.25MM plus incentives. Jon Morosi of MLB.com relays that Floro will get an extra $1.25MM if he pitches in 60 games next year.

Floro, 33 this month, has plenty of major league success but is coming off a frustrating 2023 campaign. From 2018 to 2022, he tossed 252 2/3 innings for the Reds, Dodgers and Marlins with an earned run average of 2.96 in that time. He struck out 21.6% of hitters faced, issued walks at a 7.6% clip and kept 50.9% of balls in play on the ground.

He was back with the Fish to start 2023 but had an earned run average of 4.54 through 39 2/3 innings. He was then traded to the Twins for another struggling reliever in Jorge López, with both clubs hoping for a change-of-scenery boost. But Floro posted a 5.29 ERA in 17 innings for Minnesota before getting released as the season was winding down.

There’s no denying that those results were less than ideal, but it’s possible that the baseball gods were responsible for them. Floro’s peripherals were still strong, as he struck out 23.4% of batters for the season as a whole, walked just 6.9% and got grounders at a strong 54.4% rate. But his .401 batting average on balls in play and 65.3% strand rate were both on the unlucky side of average. His 2.96 FIP and 3.34 SIERA suggest he may have been closer to his previous self than would appear on first glance. His 37.1% hard hit rate in 2023 was a career high but his 87.1 mph average exit velocity was actually lower than the year before.

The Nats are in rebuilding mode and aren’t expected to compete in 2024. They can give Floro a job in their bullpen and perhaps flip him to a contender at the deadline if he bounces back. This was a strategy the Nats deployed last season, signing Jeimer Candelario, Dominic Smith and Corey Dickerson to one-year deals. The deals for Smith and Dickerson didn’t work out, but Candelario bounced back nicely and was flipped to the Cubs at the deadline for two prospects.

Downs, 25, was claimed off waivers from the Red Sox about a year ago. Once a highly-touted prospect, he was part of the package that the Sox received in the Mookie Betts trade. But his performance in the past few years diminished his stock significantly. He played in just six games for the Nats in 2023, spending most of the year either on optional assignment or the injured list. In 60 minor league games this year, he walked in 16.6% of his plate appearances but also hit just three home runs. His .222/.363/.356 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 91.

The Nats will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He still has one option year remaining and less than a year of service time. Given his past status as a top prospect, some club could put in a claim and wouldn’t even need to commit an active roster spot to him.

Julio Urias Case Being Reviewed By Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office

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Law enforcement officials have completed their investigation into the domestic violence allegations against former Dodgers left-hander Julio Urias and turned their findings over to the L.A. County District Attorney’s office to determine whether charges will be filed, per a report from Jack Harris of the L.A. Times. There’s no timeline for when a decision will be reached at this time.

The 27-year-old Urias, who became a free agent at season’s end, was suspended under MLB’s domestic violence policy back in 2019, although he was never criminally charged in that instance; his suspension came after a league investigation into his case. The report from Harris indicates that law enforcement has obtained cell phone footage of the current alleged incident involving Urias and a woman, which reportedly took place near L.A.’s BMO Stadium after an LAFC Major League Soccer match.

Urias was arrested on the night in question and released the following day on $50,000 bail. Major League Baseball placed him on paid administrative leave two days after the alleged incident, and he did not return prior to the end of the season. If Urias is ultimately suspended, any money paid out during his time on administrative leave would be rescinded.

MLB’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy grants the commissioner’s office the power to levy discipline even in the absence of criminal charges, so it’s possible that Urias could face a suspension even if the DA’s office does not bring forth charges. He would be the first player to be suspended twice under that policy since its implementation.

Tigers Sign Andrew Chafin

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December 12: The Tigers have now made it official, announcing their deal with Chafin and the details on the $1.25MM in annual incentives. In both 2024 and 2025, Chafin can get $125K for 50 games pitched, $250K each for 55 and 60 games pitched, $300K for 65 games pitched and $325K for 70 games pitched.

December 10: The Tigers are reportedly in agreement with left-hander Andrew Chafin on a one-year deal that includes a club option for the 2025 season, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Petzold goes on to note that the contract comes with a $4.25MM base salary in 2024 that could reach $5.5MM with incentives. The club option, worth $6.5MM, could reach $7.75MM with incentives and comes with a $500K buyout, raising the contract’s total guarantee to $4.75MM.

It’s a reunion for the veteran lefty, who pitched in 64 games with the Tigers in 2022. Chafin, 34 in June, was a first-round pick by the Diamondbacks in the 2011 draft and made his big league debut not long after in 2014. He’d go on to play in Arizona for six-and-a-half seasons as a solid left-handed middle relief option, pitching to a 3.74 ERA in 306 innings of work with the Diamondbacks before being shipped to the Cubs at the trade deadline in 2020. During his time in Arizona, Chafin struck out 25.8% of batters faced while routinely posting groundball rates north of 50%. The lefty’s 2020 season was limited by injury woes to just 9 2/3 innings, but that didn’t stop Chicago from retaining him on the roster headed into the 2021 season.

2021 proved to be a breakout season for Chafin, who dominated in 43 appearances with the Cubs as one of the club’s primary set-up men to Craig Kimbrel alongside Ryan Tepera. Early in the 2021 season, Chafin combined with Tepera, Kimbrel and starting pitcher Zach Davies to no-hit the Dodgers for the first combined no-no in Cubs history. While Chafin helped to make history in Chicago, it wound up being little more than a footnote in his dominant 2021 campaign. The southpaw’s 24.7% strikeout rate and 50% groundball rate with the Cubs that year produced an impressive 2.06 ERA and 2.69 FIP. Upon a midseason trade to Oakland, Chafin unlocked another gear, posting a microscopic 1.53 ERA in 29 1/3 innings down the stretch to bring his overall season ERA down to just 1.83 over 68 2/3 innings of work. That performance was good for a whopping 229 ERA+.

Chafin’s strong 2021 campaign earned him a two-year guarantee in Detroit that included an opt-out after the first year of the deal. Though not as dominant as his 2021 campaign, Chafin put up strong numbers for the Tigers in 2022 with a 2.83 ERA and 3.06 FIP across 57 1/3 innings of work. His strikeout rate ticked up to 27.6% while he induced grounders 51.3% of the time. The solid performance backed up by excellent peripherals persuaded Chafin to opt-out of the final year and $6.5MM of his contract in Detroit last offseason. That decision ultimately did not go well, as Chafin signed with his original team in Arizona for just $6.25MM guaranteed last year after lingering on the free agent market until mid-February.

The veteran lefty went on to struggle in 2023, posting a 4.73 ERA and 4.01 FIP across 51 1/3 innings of work split between the Diamondbacks and Brewers last year. Chafin’s 28.1% strikeout rate was as good as ever, but he generated a groundball rate of just 38.5% while walking a career-high 12.5% of batters faced. Despite Chafin’s struggles in his age-33 season last year, the signing could prove wise for a Tigers club that was known to be interested in adding a lefty reliever to its bullpen should he find a way to either cut down on the walks or rediscover the proclivity for grounders he demonstrated in recent years.

Ronny Mauricio Diagnosed With Torn ACL, Will Undergo Surgery

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Mets infielder Ronny Mauricio has a torn ACL in his right knee and will require surgery, reports Andy Martino of SNY. A timeline for his recovery hasn’t been publicly reported but he’s likely to miss a notable amount of the upcoming campaign. Martino reported last night that Mauricio suffered the injury while playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic on Sunday.

Mauricio, 23 in April, made his major league debut as a September call-up a few months ago. He hit just .248/.296/.347 in his first taste of the big leagues, but in a small sample of just 26 games. He has been considered one of the top 100 prospects in the league for years, hitting 20 homers in the minors in each of the past three years. He also has some speed, stealing 24 bags in the minors this year and another seven in the majors.

He’s generally considered to be a passable shortstop but the Mets have moved him elsewhere due to their specific circumstances. Francisco Lindor is under contract through 2031 and is still considered one of the best defensive shortstops in the league, so the club has had Mauricio line up at second base, third base and left field.

Just last week, president of baseball operations David Stearns said that the club would stick with internal options for third base, with Mauricio set to compete with Brett Baty and Mark Vientos for playing time there. None of those three players have established themselves as viable big leaguers yet, but the club was seemingly content to go into 2024 hoping that one of them would pull away from the other two.

Now that calculation could change in light of this new development. It’s still unclear how long the club expects Mauricio to be out, but it will likely be the majority of the upcoming season. For reference, Rhys Hoskins tore his anterior cruciate ligament in Spring Training earlier this year and still wasn’t able to rejoin the Phillies by the time they were eliminated in the NLCS in late October. Mauricio will have a few extra months on Hoskins since his injury occurred in December, but he’s still probably looking at a late-season return in a best-case scenario.

That will leave the club with Baty and Vientos as their third base options in the short term. Baty was also a top 100 prospect on his way up to the majors but has underwhelmed in the majors thus far, having hit .210/.272/.325 in his first 431 plate appearances with subpar defense. Vientos is fairly similar, with a line of .205/.255/.354 in 274 plate appearances at the big league level.

The club has added some infield depth by signing Joey Wendle to a major league deal and claiming Zack Short off waivers from the Tigers. Martino suggests the club is likely to add some extra insurance at the hot corner and floats Justin Turner as a speculative fit. It may be a bit of a tricky calculus as they won’t want to completely cut off Baty, Vientos or Mauricio from playing time throughout the year. Each has performed extremely well in the minors and the club is planning a sort of transition year in 2024, making it the perfect time to give some rope to such players. The injury to Mauricio will obviously lessen his ability to take advantage of those circumstances in the coming campaign but the Mets might still want to see if either Baty or Vientos can run with the third base job.

That makes this the second straight offseason wherein the Mets are potentially losing a player for the entirety of the upcoming campaign due to a knee injury. Closer Edwin Díaz required surgery on his patellar tendon back in the spring after injuring himself during the World Baseball Classic. He attempted to rehab throughout 2023 but pumped the brakes on that when the club fell out of contention, eventually sitting out the entire season.

Brewers Sign Rob Zastryzny To Minor League Deal

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The Brewers signed left-handed reliever Rob Zastryzny to a minor league deal and invited him to big league camp this spring, reports Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Zastryzny, 31, has appeared in parts of five big league seasons but was out of MLB from 2019-21. He returned for a brief look with the Mets and Angels in 2022 before logging a more significant workload of 20 1/3 innings over 21 appearances with the Pirates this past season. Zastryzny posted a 4.79 ERA with a 15.5% strikeout rate, 13.3% walk rate and 38.8% grounder rate in that time. Overall, he carries a 4.70 earned run average, 18.4% strikeout rate and 11.2% walk rate in 59 1/3 MLB frames.

While the big league track record may not leap out, Zastryzny has been quite sharp in his past three seasons of Triple-A work, pitching to a 3.62 ERA with respective strikeout and walk rates of 28.8% and 8.1%.

Zastryzny is out of minor league options, so if he makes Milwaukee’s big league roster at any point, he’ll have to stick in the Majors or else be exposed to waivers before he can be sent back down. He’s been previously outrighted as well, so he’d have the right to elect free agency if he clears waivers at any point.

The Brewers have several lefty bullpen options, with Hoby Milner, Ethan Small, Clayton Andrews and Aaron Ashby (pending his rehab from this year’s shoulder surgery) among the options currently on the 40-man roster. Zastryzny will add a non-roster entrant to that mix, and he’ll head to Triple-A Nashville to open the season if he doesn’t crack the roster out of spring training.

Red Sox, Blue Jays To Meet With Yoshinobu Yamamoto

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NPB ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto is in the process of meeting with interested MLB clubs and is slated to meet with both the Red Sox and Blue Jays in the coming days, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Yamamoto met with the Yankees yesterday and the Giants on Sunday. Mets owner Steve Cohen reportedly flew to Japan to meet with Yamamoto before his current slate of team visits in North America. That’s a total of five known teams meeting with Yamamoto, and Feinsand suggests another two or three teams could also hold meetings.

The Blue Jays, after missing out on Shohei Ohtani, figure to have both the motivation and money to pursue a significant upgrade (or upgrades) to other areas of the roster. Yamamoto obviously wouldn’t impact the 2024 lineup like signing Ohtani would have, but installing him into a rotation that also features Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios and Chris Bassitt would make for a formidable top four. If Alek Manoah can regain his 2022 form or if Yusei Kikuchi can continue his 2023 performance levels, a Toronto rotation including Yamamoto could rank as one of the best in the game and have solid depth beyond the top quintet.

Over in Boston, the need is arguably more acute. The Red Sox’ rotation is rife with question marks, perhaps none bigger than what the team can expect from oft-injured top starter Chris Sale. The 34-year-old lefty was serviceable in 2023 when healthy, but he was again limited by injury. Last year’s 120 2/3 innings were Sale’s most since 2019. He posted a 4.30 ERA in that time, albeit with excellent strikeout and walk rates of 29.4% and 6.6%, respectively. Beyond Sale, Boston’s rotation ranges from inexperienced to inconsistent; Brayan Bello, Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford are all in the mix for innings.

Both teams can likely fit a massive commitment to Yamamoto onto the long-term books without significant issue. Doing so for the Jays would raise further questions about the team’s ability and/or desire to extend cornerstones Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., but those questions will exist in some regard anyway, as both are now two years from free agency and still going year-to-year in arbitration. Toronto will see Kikuchi and reliever Yimi Garcia come off the books in 2025. Bassitt, Bichette, Guerrero and Chad Green are all off the books come 2026. Roster Resource pegs the Blue Jays’ payroll commitments over the next three years at approximately $203MM, $116MM and $65MM. Berrios is their only player signed beyond 2026.

For the Red Sox, the long-term outlook is similarly open for a sizable free-agent deal. Sale’s $145MM contract expires after the upcoming 2024 season. Rafael Devers, Trevor Story and Masataka Yoshida are all signed through at least 2027. However, as it stands, the Sox only have about $76MM on the books in ’25 and similar or declining totals thereafter. That payroll outlook, combined with the considerable uncertainty that permeates the starting staff, is why the Sox are active in top tiers of the rotation market and have been prominently linked to the likes of Yamamoto and Jordan Montgomery.

Yamamoto, 25, is among the most sought-after players to ever make the jump from Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball. He’s won three straight MVP Awards and Sawamura Awards (NPB’s Cy Young equivalent) and just wrapped up a season that saw him post a 1.21 ERA in 164 innings. Yamamoto has a career 1.72 ERA in seven NPB seasons, including sub-2.00 marks in four of his past five campaigns. MLB scouts and evaluators generally view him as a legitimate No. 1-2 starter in a big league rotation. A contract north of $200MM has long seemed plausible, but recent speculation about a deal closer to $300MM has begun to arise.

Because Yamamoto has under nine years of NPB service, he’s only available to MLB clubs via the MLB/NPB posting system. Any team that signs Yamamoto will not only owe him the value of the contract agreed upon by the two parties, but also a release fee to the Orix Buffaloes — Yamamoto’s now-former team. That fee is equivalent to 20% of the contract’ first $25MM ($5MM), 17.5% of the next $25MM ($4.375MM) and 15% of any dollars paid to Yamamoto thereafter.

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