Injury Notes: Eovaldi, Musgrove, Callihan
Nathan Eovaldi‘s 2025 campaign ended in August when he went down with a rotator cuff strain. The veteran righty dealt with another health issue in October, undergoing surgery to repair a sports hernia. Eovaldi said on the SportsDay Rangers podcast that he’s recovered from both issues and expects to be ready for the 2026 season.
“I don’t expect to have any limitations coming into Spring Training,” Eovaldi said. “I’ve been throwing multiple bullpens, and my arm feels great, body feels great, and I’m ready for the season to get going.”
Eovaldi was phenomenal when healthy last season. His 1.73 ERA over 22 starts would’ve led the league if he had thrown enough innings to qualify for the crown. Injuries have plagued Eovaldi for the majority of his career, but he’s stayed relatively healthy in his three seasons with Texas. The 35-year-old has averaged more than 25 starts a year as a Ranger. He’ll form an imposing trio at the top of the rotation with Jacob deGrom and the newly-acquired MacKenzie Gore.
Fellow veteran starter Joe Musgrove is also getting back on track after multiple injuries. He missed all of last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Musgrove hit the IL multiple times in 2024 with elbow inflammation. He made it back for nine starts down the stretch, plus a postseason appearance, but ended up going under the knife in October of that year. Musgrove is expected to be good to go for Spring Training, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Tribune. Acee adds that Musgrove was preparing to be available in the NLCS if the Padres made it that far.
“I feel really good right now,” Musgrove said. “I feel like I’m in a good position physically, mentally for the season.”
San Diego will need Musgrove to be a steady presence on a staff with minimal proven options beyond Michael King and Nick Pivetta. The 33-year-old righty hasn’t reached 100 innings or 20 starts since 2022. “We expect him to be a guy that can throw a lot innings for us this year,” president of baseball operations A.J. Preller told reporters back in December.
On the position player side, Reds utilityman Tyler Callihan said he’s a “full-go” for Spring Training. The 25-year-old missed much of the 2025 season after a brutal crash into the wall in Atlanta. He broke his left forearm and wrist while trying to reel in a Matt Olson drive. Callihan provided the update to reporters, including Pat Brennan of the Cincinnati Enquirer, at Redsfest last week.
An injury to Jeimer Candelario in late April opened up a spot on the MLB squad for Callihan to make his debut. He played in just four games before getting hurt. Callihan had been torching Triple-A pitching prior to getting called up. Given his experience in both the infield and outfield, Callihan could play a versatile role for the Reds this season. “He’s going to come in and compete for a spot on the club,” president of baseball operations Nick Krall said. “That’s a testament to him and his rehab and our rehab staff and him just putting in the work.”
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images
Finding The Rays’ Closer Replacement
There was a time in the not-so-distant past that Tampa Bay shuffled through closers every season. Manager Kevin Cash took over in 2015. Over the next eight seasons, the club had seven different saves leaders. Alex Colome was the only reliever to pace the team in back-to-back seasons (2016 and 2017). That changed in 2023, when Pete Fairbanks took over as the full-time closer.
Fairbanks racked up 75 saves over the past three seasons. He’s been Cash’s go-to stopper when healthy. The right-hander ranks third in franchise history with 90 saves. He would have almost certainly passed Colome (95) and Roberto Hernandez (101) had he remained with the organization for another year. Instead, Tampa Bay declined Fairbanks’ $11MM option and allowed him to hit free agency. He signed a one-year, $13MM deal with the Marlins on Christmas Eve.
The Rays will now need to fill the void left by Fairbanks. Considering the organization didn’t want to pay a reasonable price to keep him, the new closer will likely be an internal choice. Tampa Bay has a long history of manufacturing solid relievers, with Fairbanks himself being part of that lineage. These are the potential candidates…
Uceta was the primary high-leverage righty behind Fairbanks last season. He led the bullpen with 76 innings and tied for the team lead with 21 holds. Uceta only had one save in 2025, but he previously served as the closer when Fairbanks missed time in 2024. The right-hander recorded the first five saves of his MLB career that season.
The closer-caliber stuff is there for Uceta. His fastball, changeup, and cutter all had whiff rates above 31% last season. He has a 15.5% swinging-strike rate for his career. The main issue is the long ball. Uceta gave up 11 home runs in 2025, which ranked in the top 10 among relievers. He had a healthy 34.4% fly ball rate and a massive 29.5% pulled air contact rate. A propensity to allow fly balls to the pull side is a scary trait for a reliever called on to protect small leads.
Acquired at the trade deadline for Taj Bradley, Jax was set to be the closer in waiting. He had been the setup man in Minnesota behind Jhoan Duran, though he had forced somewhat of a timeshare in 2024. Jax earned a career-high 10 saves that season. He opened the year as the closer with Duran dealing with an oblique injury, and was still called upon to finish games even when the incumbent returned. The 2025 campaign didn’t begin as smoothly, as Jax had a 4.50 ERA when he was dealt to Tampa Bay, but a 2.08 SIERA and a 1.79 xFIP suggested he had been unlucky.
The change of scenery didn’t help Jax. He allowed seven earned runs in his first 7 1/3 innings with Tampa Bay. Jax allowed three home runs in that stretch, including a game-losing three-run blast to Cal Raleigh in early August. He closed the season with 10 scoreless appearances, though they mostly came in low-leverage spots. Jax also served as an opener in two games down the stretch.
Garrett Cleavinger (honorable mention)
FanGraphs’ bullpen depth chart lists each of Uceta, Jax, and Cleavinger as closers. It’s fair to include Cleavinger, given his high-leverage work last season. He matched Uceta with 21 holds as the preferred lefty setup man. However, Cleavinger’s candidacy has a clear flaw. He’s the only left-handed reliever on the 40-man roster. There’s virtually no chance he’ll get the closer job without another lefty in the bullpen.
Baker had the makings of the unheralded reliever that Tampa Bay turns into a shutdown guy. He spiked a 32.5% strikeout rate through three months last season with the Orioles. The Rays traded for him in early July. Baker made a significant pitch mix tweak in 2025, doubling his changeup usage and prioritizing it ahead of his slider. The changeup was Baker’s best whiff pitch by far. It also held opponents to a measly .128 batting average.
While the jump in strikeouts was nice, Baker still got hit incredibly hard. He gave up barrels at a 12.6% clip, which ranked in the 1st percentile. His 48.3% hard-hit rate put him in the 3rd percentile. Unless Baker can find a way to miss bats and limit damage, he’s likely ticketed for the middle innings.
While he might not break camp with the team, Bigge looms as the potential closer of the future. Tampa Bay acquired him at the 2024 trade deadline in the deal that sent Isaac Paredes to the Cubs. Bigge had dominated at Triple-A that season, earning his first big-league promotion. He pitched well in his brief time in Chicago, then continued to excel with the Rays.
Bigge’s 2025 season was wrecked by two injuries. He went down with a lat strain in early May. In June, he was hit in the face by a 105 mph foul ball. Bigge suffered multiple facial fractures due to the incident. He did not make it back on the mound.
Bigge has the premium velocity and putaway pitch (a wipeout slider) to succeed as a closer. His recovery timeline isn’t clear, but he should be available to contribute on the big-league club at some point. Considering the long layoff, Bigge might be more of a 2027 closer candidate.
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images
Tomoyuki Sugano Intends To Stay In MLB
Free agent Tomoyuki Sugano is not planning to return to Nippon Professional Baseball, per a report from Yahoo Japan (hat tip here for the translation). The report cited a recent television interview from Sugano in which he said he’s “not considering” coming back to NPB. He has connected with multiple teams and is “waiting for offers.”
The report doesn’t mention any suitors, and it also doesn’t clearly state that the teams Sugano was referring to were in MLB, but it seems like a safe assumption. With the longtime NPB hurler rebuffing the idea that he’d return to Japan after one year in MLB, he’s presumably working through negotiations with big-league clubs. The recent interview echoes the sentiments Sugano shared near the end of last season.
Sugano signed a one-year, $13MM deal with Baltimore last offseason. He posted a 4.64 ERA across 30 outings. The righty got off to a solid start, putting up a 3.04 ERA through a dozen appearances, before falling off as the season went on. Sugano had an xFIP and a SIERA in the mid-4.00s during that stretch, so regression was coming.
Never a big strikeout pitcher, Sugano struggled mightily to miss bats stateside. His 15.7% strikeout rate ranked in the 6th percentile. He had the fourth-lowest swinging-strike rate among pitchers who threw at least 150 innings. Given that Sugano had a stellar 5.3% walk rate, plenty of balls were put in play against him. Sugano ceded a hefty 11.8% barrel rate and an above-average fly ball rate. That combo is part of the reason he gave up 33 home runs, the third-most in the league.
Sugano spent 12 seasons with the Yomiuri Giants before joining the Orioles. He capped off his time in NPB with a strong 2024 that saw him go 15-3 with a pristine 1.67 ERA. Sugano pushed his low walk rate down to a miniscule 2.6% that season. He didn’t receive a ton of fanfare last offseason, but landed a decent commitment from Baltimore.
The 36-year-old Sugano boasts a six-pitch arsenal. His mix is fairly unique, as his splitter and sweeper lead the way in terms of usage. Sugano’s four-seamer averaged just 92.7 mph, but he also threw a sinker and cutter at least 12% of the time. The full repertoire resulted in an underwhelming 92 Stuff+ last season.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images
Rangers Sign Austin Gomber To Minor League Deal
The Rangers have signed left-hander Austin Gomber to a minor league deal, according to Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. Gomber’s deal includes an invite to MLB Spring Training next month.
Gomber, 32, was a fourth-round pick by the Cardinals back in 2014. He made his big league debut with the team in 2018 but was traded to the Rockies in the deal that sent Nolan Arenado to St. Louis and has spent most of his MLB career in Colorado at this point. At the time of the trade, Gomber had the look of a solid enough swing man who could potentially fit into a contending rotation. He posted a 3.72 ERA with a 3.89 FIP in his 104 innings of work for St. Louis, and at the time of his trade to Colorado the Rockies were surely hoping he could become a reliable #4 starter for the club alongside existing arms like German Marquez and Kyle Freeland.
The results of Gomber’s time in Colorado were mixed. His 4.53 ERA (good for a 106 ERA+) in 23 starts for the Rockies in his debut season with the club was perfectly solid, but he took a step back in 2022 and ’23 before creeping back up to roughly league average numbers in 2024. A big part of that step backwards was a drop in strikeout rate. Gomber punched out 23.2% of his opponents while walking 8.4% in 2021. Over his next three seasons, he’d manage to shave two points off that walk rate, lowering it to a tidy 6.3%, but that came at the expensive of a much greater dip in strikeouts. From 2022-24, Gomber struck out just 16.3% of his opponents, a nearly seven-point drop relative to 2021. Gomber’s ground ball rate also dipped from a strong 44.3% to a somewhat more pedestrian 40.5%.
While he’s struggled to live up to his solid 2021 season over the past few years, the wheels really came off in 2025. Gomber’s strikeout rate plummeted to just 12.5%, his ground ball rate dropped to 33.2%, and his barrel rate reached an untenable 14.5%. That left the southpaw to get shelled across 12 starts for the Rockies, and he surrendered a 7.49 ERA with a 6.50 FIP across his 57 2/3 innings of work. It was a disastrous display and led the Rockies to release Gomber back in August. He signed with the Cubs on a minor league deal for the stretch run and looked good at Triple-A Iowa for the club, posting an impressive 0.47 ERA in 19 innings of work across four outings (three starts).
That late season success in a new organization creates some reason for optimism, though Gomber was never going to land more than a minor league pact given the 2025 campaign he had at the big league level. That pact has now come in Texas, and Gomber should provide some much-needed rotation depth for a Rangers club in clear need of it even after trading for MacKenzie Gore. A rotation that could feature Gore, Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Jack Leiter, and Kumar Rocker looks incredibly strong on paper, but Eovaldi and deGrom both come with substantial injury risk while Rocker has yet to prove himself as a capable MLB regular.
This spring, Gomber could compete with Rocker and swing man Jacob Latz for the fifth and final spot in the Rangers’ rotation. Gomber appears to be the least likely choice to emerge from that camp battle with a rotation spot, and other pitchers could be brought in who would further complicate matters. Even so, however, Gomber still appears fairly well positioned to enter the season with a real shot at breaking into the rotation, whether that comes by way of beating out other potential fifth starters or due to an injury creating an opening at some point during the season.
Latest On Justin Steele’s Rehab
When the Cubs made it back to the postseason in 2025, they did so short-handed. The club had lost staff ace Justin Steele just four starts into his 2025 season to UCL revision surgery. That procedure, which Steele underwent in mid-April of last year, came with an initial recovery timeline of roughly one year. There’s been minimal updates on Steele’s status since then, but the left-hander (as noted by MLB.com) took a big step forward in his rehab last week when he threw off a mound for the first time since going under the knife.
In an interview with Elise Menaker of Marquee Sports Network, Steele noted that while he doesn’t have a specific timeline for his return to the majors, he expects to face hitters at some point during Spring Training and added that he’s not only suffered no setbacks but is “ahead of schedule, if anything.” That’s certainly a positive sign for Cubs fans who are hoping to see Steele back on the mound early in the 2026 campaign. The team returns its entire rotation from 2025 but could benefit this year from a full season from Rookie of the Year runner-up Cade Horton and the addition of right-hander Edward Cabrera, who the Cubs swung a deal to land from the Marlins earlier this month.
With Cabrera, Horton, Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon, and Colin Rea all set to be on the big league roster to start the year (to say nothing of depth options like Javier Assad, Jordan Wicks, and Ben Brown behind that group), the team’s crowded rotation mix could lead the Cubs to be a bit more careful with Steele’s rehab than they otherwise might be. After all, there are nine other starters on the team’s 40-man roster, before getting into the possibility that top prospect Jaxon Wiggins debuts at some point this year and the ability for a non-roster arm like Connor Noland to chip in some innings as well.
Steele himself acknowledged in his interview with Menaker that Dr. Keith Meister (who performed Steele’s surgery back in April) will likely suggest some sort of full-season innings limit for the lefty as he works his way back onto the mound. After adding Cabrera and Alex Bregman to a team that came within one game of the NLCS last year, the Cubs certainly have hopes of playing deep into October this year. They’ll also surely want a healthy Steele to be part of those playoff plans, so if Chicago’s rotation mix is mostly healthy throughout the first half of the season it could make sense for the team to slow-play Steele’s rehab and focus on having innings left to work with come the postseason.
Of course, health in the rotation is no guarantee. Imanaga, Horton, Taillon, and Cabrera all spent time on the injured list last year, while 2025 was Boyd’s first time making 30 starts in a year since 2018. Any of those pitchers once again needing significant time on the shelf this year can’t be ruled out, and slow-playing Steele’s rehab could leave them in position to be caught short-handed if the team’s rotation struggles to stay healthy early in the year. While players like Assad, Brown, and Wicks are quality depth, it’s difficult to argue that a version of Steele that’s even just approaching full strength wouldn’t be a safer bet to produce than that trio of youngsters.
Steele’s been one of the most effective starters in baseball since he broke out midway through the 2022 season, and since that time only nine pitchers (min. 300 innings pitched) have a lower ERA. That group of nine names is a who’s who of the leagues top aces, ranging from Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal and Shohei Ohtani to Chris Sale, Max Fried, and Zack Wheeler. It would be difficult to leave that sort of upside on the sidelines for longer than absolutely necessary, especially when Chicago will be looking to chase down a Brewers team that both won the NL Central crown last year and also knocked them out of the playoffs back in October. However the Cubs ultimately decide to handle Steele’s rehab, they surely won’t make any firm decisions until Spring Training gets underway and they have a better understanding of the other pitchers on the roster in terms of their own health.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Mark P
- Welcome to the Weekend Chat! We’ll take a minute for some questions to pile up, then get rolling….
Luca
- Do the Rays have any more moves in store ? Will they add another catcher ?
Mark P
- You’ll likely see at least some lower-level stuff (i.e. minor league deals) take place before Spring Training, but in terms of truly big stuff, probably not. The Rays plan to give Matz a look as a starter again, but signing someone like Littell would seem like a more stable move in my view. Littell was linked to the Rays earlier this offseason and he remains unsigned, whereas other known Tampa targets like Eflin or Houser are off the board.
Tampa Bay has been looking for a catcher almost as long as they’ve been looking for a better ballpark. They might add someone else on a minors deal or something, but the chances of them finally landing that “catcher of the future” type in the limited time remaining this winter is pretty slim
Kevin
- Guardians find money to extend Rameriz, does this mean there is money to add help to roster?
Mark P
- The deferred money involved in J-Ram’s new deal certainly would seem to mean the Guards have something in the realm of $6MM extra to suddenly work with. They might spend this before the offseason ends, or maybe it goes towards trade deadline reinforcements. Given that their lineup is still in need of help now, I’d argue they should get to adding a bat sooner rather than later
Elias
- Any market on Danny Coulombe? He’s very good but I let him walk last offseason due to age/injury concerns.
Mark P
- Boston’s been the only team publicly linked to Coulombe, but surely multiple teams could use more LHP bullpen help.
Natitude
- Light return for the Nats In the Gore trade? Doesn’t seem like a surefire big league prospect in the group of 5 players coming from TEX. Too harsh?
Mark P
- Reports indicated that Toboni really liked Fien in particular, dating back to last year’s draft when Toboni was still with the BoSox. So it seems like Fien is viewed as the prize of the trade package, and the other four are varying degrees of lottery ticket.
I’ve written multiple times in these chats that the Nationals would likely be retaining Gore unless they got a particularly huge offer, so I made the wrong call on that one. This doesn’t fit what I had in mind of a huge prospect haul, but we’ll see how things plan out. If any one of these five players ends up being a significant piece for Washington, it’ll go down as a win for the team
Guards4Life
- Does Jose signing mean a Kwan extension is near?
Mark P
- Unlikely. Ramirez is the exception that breaks Cleveland’s usual rule about extensions, which is that the Guards only extend guys early in their careers. Kwan being two years away from free agency mean he’s missed that window, and is likely a year away from being dealt.
I love Yu
- If some/all of Yu’s contract comes off the books. What could the Padres do to upgrade the offense/starting pitching? Could they move a bullpen arm (Estrada) for a bat?
Mark P
- It would be that Darvish’s situation is the answer for why the Padres’ offseason has been relatively quiet. If the team is seeing if he’ll retire or take some kind of buyout with deferred money, suddenly the Padres have some extra cash to work with in making signings or trades.
Someone like a Bassitt or a Verlander would be a big help in their rotation, and neither of those two would be particularly expensive. You’d think either of those pitchers would be a signing SD could afford right now with or without clarity on Darvish, but only the Padres know exactly what their budget is
Reds Sign Davis Daniel, Anthony Misiewicz To Minor League Deals
The Reds have signed right-hander Davis Daniel and southpaw Anthony Misiewicz to minor league deals, according to the transactions trackers on their respective MLB.com player pages.
Misiewicz, 31, is the more experienced of the two in the majors. An 18th-round pick by the Mariners back in 2015, Misiewicz was in the Seattle bullpen for the shortened 2020 season. The lefty turned in 21 solid appearances in that first season as a big leaguer, posting a 4.05 ERA with a 30.1% strikeout rate and a 3.04 FIP. That’s a solid start for a rookie, but over the next two years he was unable to turn those solid peripherals into better results. By the end of the 2022 campaign, Misiewicz had been shipped off to the Royals and posted a 4.52 ERA over the past two seasons despite a solid 3.88 FIP and a 22.4% strikeout rate.
In the years since 2022, Misiewicz has made only occasional MLB appearances. He bounced between the Diamondbacks, Tigers, Yankees, and Twins over the past three years, and in doing so compiled a 7.56 ERA across 16 2/3 innings of work with nearly as many walks (11) as strikeouts (14). Each of those years has been spent primarily in the minor leagues, however, and he’s fared much better there. While pitching at Triple-A St. Paul last season, Misiewicz posted a 3.82 ERA in 33 innings of work while punching out 23.8% of his opponents. There’s certainly reason to believe, given his past contributions in Seattle and more recent success at Triple-A, that Misiewicz could be a solid middle relief arm for the Reds this year. Sam Moll, Brock Burke, and Caleb Ferguson are all ahead of him on the depth chart when it comes to southpaws, but the season-long churn of a typical bullpen should still provide Misiewicz with opportunities to break into the majors with good enough performance.
As for Daniel, the Angels’ 7th-round pick back in 2019 made his debut with Anaheim back in 2023. Over his first two years in the majors, Daniel made nine appearances (six starts) and pitched to a 5.06 ERA with a 4.41 FIP in 42 2/3 innings of work. His 19.9% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate were nothing to write home about, but he did have the look of a potentially useful swing option during those seasons with the Halos. He was squeezed off the club’s roster last offseason and found himself traded to Atlanta, where he was leaned on for a couple of spot starts throughout 2025 amid a series of injuries to the team’s primary rotation options.
With the Braves, Daniel posted a 5.40 ERA and 5.04 FIP across ten innings. That’s mostly more of the same for the right-hander, and he figures to offer that same slightly below-average production as a non-roster depth option for the Reds headed into the 2026 campaign. Cincinnati has a deep rotation headlined by Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott, but the idea of trading a pitcher has percolated throughout the team’s offseason. Brady Singer is the most frequently discussed name when it comes to trade candidates, and if the Reds did wind up moving Singer or another pitcher that would force the team to lean on youngsters like Rhett Lowder and Chase Petty in the rotation with little depth behind them. That’s where a player like Daniel could come in handy, helping to plug holes in the rotation as they come up throughout the year due to injuries.
Blue Jays Sign Connor Seabold To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays have signed right-hander Connor Seabold to a minor league deal, according to the transactions tracker at MLB.com.
A third-round pick by the Phillies back in 2017, the 30-year-old Seabold made his big league debut back in 2021 and has collected 119 big league innings across parts of four seasons in the majors. Though he began his MLB career with two years in an up-and-down role with Boston, the majority of Seabold’s time in the majors came as a member of the Rockies in 2023. The righty served as a swingman for the Rockies that year, and while he managed 87 1/3 innings of work between 13 starts and 14 relief outings, Seabold’s numbers were far from impressive.
The righty struggled to a ghastly 7.52 ERA with Colorado. As if often the case when it comes to Rockies pitchers, that bloated ERA doesn’t tell the full story. An elevated .338 BABIP and a strand rate of just 60.3% indicate that Seabold had some poor fortune when it came to batted balls and sequencing, though that hardly excuses a 16.4% strikeout rate and a 10.1% barrel rate. Those underlying numbers suggest severe deficiencies in Seabold’s game even after accounting for bad luck, and that’s backed up by his 5.75 FIP and 5.03 SIERA that year.
Seabold didn’t appear in the majors in 2024, as he headed to the KBO to pitch for the Samsung Lions. He made 28 starts for the Lions and looked good doing it, with a 3.43 ERA in 160 innings. That allowed him to catch on with the Rays last year, and he appeared for seven appearances with Tampa and Atlanta. Unfortunately, this was more of the same for the right-hander. While he combined for a 4.35 ERA and 4.20 FIP this year, a 12.5% walk rate and a 15.6% barrel rate both suggested that he was fortunate to surrender so little damage. A lackluster 6.07 ERA at the Triple-A level between the Rays’ Durham affiliate and Atlanta’s Gwinnett affiliate only further underscores his struggles last year.
Of course, even with those flaws it still remains true that Seabold has only ever gotten a significant look at the big league level in the difficult pitching environment of Colorado. Perhaps he’ll find a way to earn a more significant role with the Jays this year, though he’s surely being signed purely as a depth option given their wide array of starting options. Dylan Cease was signed to lead the rotation at the outset of the offseason. He and Cody Ponce will join existing starters Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage, and Jose Berrios in the mix of starts entering the year, with Bowden Francis, Eric Lauer, and Yariel Rodriguez among the organization’s depth options. Top prospect Ricky Tiedemann could also break into the majors this year. Such a deep cache of starters could leave Seabold without a clear path to the majors this year without a large number of injuries or a move to the bullpen.
Hanser Alberto Announces Retirement
Veteran infielder Hanser Alberto announced his retirement via Instagram earlier this week, bringing a career that saw him spend parts of eight seasons in the majors to a close. He played for the Rangers, Orioles, Dodgers, Royals, and White Sox throughout his time in the big leagues.
Alberto, 33, signed with the Rangers out of the Dominican Republic as an amateur and made his pro debut back in 2010. He hit well out the gate in the Dominican Summer League and went on to slowly climb his way through the minors before making it to the majors in 2015. He struggled early on in his big league career and hit just .194/.204/.226 across 76 games in the majors as an up-and-down bench bat for Texas during his first two years in the show. After missing the 2017 season due to a shoulder injury, Alberto re-emerged with the Rangers in 2018 but once again struggled badly across a 13-game sample.
After being designated for assignment by Texas during the 2018-19 offseason, Alberto bounced around the league on waivers before finally landing in Baltimore ahead of the 2019 campaign. The Orioles were headed for a 108-loss campaign that year, but Alberto proved to be a major bright spot for the club as he took over a regular role with the team. He enjoyed a career year in Baltimore, slashing .305/.329/.442 in 139 games. That batting line was good for a 95 wRC+, and combined with strong defense at second base was enough to make Alberto a 3.4-win player according to Baseball Reference. He also struck out at a career-low 9.1% clip. Alberto took a step back during the shortened 2020 season, posting an 87 wRC+ with 13.1% strikeout rate, but still managed to appear in 54 of the Orioles’ 60 games that season.
Impressive as he had been in 2019, the Orioles opted to non-tender Alberto rather than carry him on the 2021 roster at his arbitration price tag. Over the final three seasons of his career in the majors, Alberto bounced between various clubs in a utility role. He joined the Royals on a minor league deal for the 2021 campaign, and his 83 wRC+ in 103 games for the rebuilding club was enough to convince the Dodgers to give him a major league contract for 2022. Alberto’s productivity took a step back as he neared his 30th birthday, however, and he slashed just .235/.259/.374 with a wRC+ of 74 over his final two years in the majors with L.A. and Chicago.
After being dogged by injuries during his time with the White Sox, Alberto missed most of the 2024 campaign and was limited to only playing winter ball. He returned to full-season play in 2025 when he joined the Mexican League’s Piratas de Campeche, and ultimately appeared in 26 games for them (plus an additional one for the Saraperos de Saltillo) before returning to winter ball. He appeared in 24 winter league games during the 2025-26 season for the Gigantes del Cibao but has now called it a career.
In all, Alberto made it into 488 games at the big league level. Along the way, he collected 378 hits, 22 homers, 12 steals, and 4.4 bWAR. He wraps up his career with a lifetime .269/.292/.381 slash line. MLB Trade Rumors congratulates Alberto on his career and wishes him the best in his future pursuits as his playing career comes to a close.
Pirates Open To Re-Signing Andrew McCutchen
January 25: McCutchen took to social media overnight to express his frustration with his unsigned status and the fact that he wasn’t in attendance at PiratesFest this weekend.
“I wonder, did the Cards do this [to] Wainwright/Pujols/Yadi? Dodgers to Kershaw? Tigers to Miggy? The list goes on and on,” McCutchen wrote. “If this is my last year, it would have been nice to meet the fans one last time as a player.”
It’s not the first time the veteran has alluded to his unsigned status and the narrative surrounding his future. In a post on January 19, McCutchen contended with the notion that he’s no longer a capable defender in the outfield, arguing that he simply hasn’t been asked to play the field and that the games he did play the field last year were at his own suggestion. While defensive metrics are hardly reliable in such a small sample size, he did rate out positively on defense across his seven games in the outfield last year according to Outs Above Average and has been worth +2 OAA overall since moving to a primary DH role with Milwaukee back in 2022.
January 24: After spending 12 of his 18 Major League seasons with the Pirates, Andrew McCutchen said back in August that he wanted to return for another season in the black-and-gold, while acknowledging that his shortcomings during the 2025 season. “I have to do what I need to do to…show that I was able to have a good year and still can play the following year,” McCutchen said, noting that he didn’t want to be just “filling in a spot” and not contributing.
There hasn’t been any buzz about McCutchen’s market as he enters his age-39 season, with the assumption being that the Pirates are his only potential destination. When asked about McCutchen during the PiratesFest fan event this weekend, Bucs GM Ben Cherington told fans and reporters (including Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) that the club is still has to assemble more of its roster before considering McCutchen’s role.
“Andrew has meant a ton to the team. He’s had an incredible run at two different times. Certainly his legacy as a Pirate is secure,” Cherington said. “Everybody with the Pirates, it’s our desire to maintain a really good relationship with Andrew well into the future. Then we come back to our team. What is the job? The job is to build a team that gives us the best chance to win games when you’re at the ballpark in June and July….Our approach this offseason has been laser-focused on what gives us the best chance to win more baseball games in Pittsburgh than we have in the past seasons. That’s gonna continue to guide our decisions.
“So much respect for Andrew. That relationship is really important to us. We’ll continue to communicate with him directly as the team comes together. We have more work to do.”
McCutchen hit .239/.333/.367 with 13 homers over 551 plate appearances in 2025, translating to a 95 wRC+. While it was just the second time in McCutchen’s stellar career that he dropped under the 100 wRC+ mark for league-average offense, most of his Statcast metrics were also average at best, apart from a very strong 12.2% walk rate.
These aren’t the numbers you want from a designated hitter in particular, and McCutchen is primarily a DH at this point in his career, with only 20 games played in the outfield during his 2023-25 return tenure in Pittsburgh. To this end, the Pirates have seemingly already addressed the DH spot by signing Ryan O’Hearn, who may alternate with Spencer Horwitz between the first base and DH positions in the lineup.
O’Hearn can also play in the corner outfield, and since O’Hearn and Horwitz are both left-handed hitters, there would seemingly be some roster space for Cutch as a part-time righty bat who is perhaps limited to facing southpaw pitching. As Cherington implied, however, the Pirates remain looking for ways to improve the team. If that means choosing between McCutchen or a younger and more versatile position player, the second option might simply make more sense for the Pirates.
Improving the offense has been the club’s chief goal this winter. Between O’Hearn, Brandon Lowe, Jhostynxon Garcia, and Jake Mangum, the Bucs hope they’ve already both raised the ceiling and elevated the floor of their offensive potential, plus it would naturally help a ton if Bryan Reynolds or Oneil Cruz bounced back from disappointing 2025 campaigns. As underwhelming as McCutchen’s 2025 numbers were, his 95 wRC+ still ranked fourth amongst all Pirates hitters last year, speaking to the lackluster state of Pittsburgh’s lineup.
If McCutchen was any other player, it probably wouldn’t even be a question that the Pirates would move from an aging DH-only bat. However, cutting ties with a franchise icon doesn’t sound like something Cherington (or likely owner Bob Nutting) wants to do until it is absolutely necessary, or if Cutch makes the decision to retire on his own terms. Part of the reason McCutchen returned to the Pirates prior to the 2023 season was his desire to be part of Pittsburgh’s next winning era, yet with seven straight losing seasons, the Bucs have yet to fully break out of their rebuild.
Breaking through to at least a winning record (and maybe a playoff berth) with McCutchen on the roster would be ideal for all parties. McCutchen’s previous three one-year deals with the Pirates were signed earlier in the offseason than January 24, though of course there’s still plenty of time before Spring Training for a deal to be worked out between the two sides.