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Offseason In Review: Philadelphia Phillies

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The Phillies reinforced their rotation with a major extension and a major re-signing, but it was otherwise a relatively quiet offseason in the City of Brotherly Love.  After making the NLCS last year, have the Phillies done enough to book a return to the World Series?

Major League Signings

2024 spending: $35.57MM
Total spending: $183MM

Option Decisions

Trades & Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Notable Losses

In an offseason marked by several top-tier free agents lingering on the market deep into March, Aaron Nola came off the market by mid-November.  The Orioles, Blue Jays, Yankees, Dodgers, Cardinals and Braves were among the teams who were at least somewhat linked to Nola, and reports suggested that Atlanta was the most fervent non-Phillies suitor.  However, Nola’s preference to remain with the Phillies led the righty to re-sign on a seven-year, $172MM pact, even though a larger offer was reportedly on the table from an unknown team.

It seems as though Philadelphia’s $172MM figure was at least close enough to this mystery offer that Nola opted to stay in a comfortable situation, and the length of the new contract could very well make Nola a Phillie for his entire career.  Chosen seventh overall by the Phils in the 2014 draft, Nola has become a true front-of-the-rotation talent, capable of delivering both big innings totals and quality results.

This isn’t to say that the deal isn’t without a few red flags.  Nola was more good than great in 2023, with a 4.46 ERA and a near-average 38.5% hard-hit ball rate.  That particular metric is important for Nola given his tendency to allow a lot of barrels, so batters have been able to tag the veteran for a lot of home runs when they’re able to truly square up on the ball.  Nola’s curveball was also just an average pitch in 2023, after years of being at least a plus offering and sometimes one of the more effective pitches in the sport.

Nola’s strikeout rate was still above average, and for the third straight season he continued to be one of baseball’s best at limiting walks.  It also wouldn’t have been easy for the Phillies to fill all of the innings that the durable Nola has brought to the rotation, not to mention his behind-the-scenes status as a clubhouse leader.  Though Philadelphia checked in with Sonny Gray as a potential alternate if Nola went elsewhere, both Nola and the Phillies preferred the familiarity of their longtime relationship.

Philadelphia’s other big rotation investment didn’t come until Spring Training, and it again involved the Phillies locking up an in-house name.  Zack Wheeler is entering the final season of the five-year, $118MM contract he signed in December 2019, but he’ll now continue his Phillies tenure after signing a three-year, $126MM extension that begins with the 2025 campaign.  The new deal keeps Wheeler in the fold through his age-37 season, though he hasn’t shown many signs of slowing down, as he finished sixth in NL Cy Young Award voting last year.

Neither president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski or owner John Middleton have been very hesitant about spending, and the Nola/Wheeler contracts continue the Phillies’ simple (but effective) strategy of upgrading the roster via high-priced, name-brand talent.  The result has been an NL pennant in 2022 and an NLCS appearance in 2023, as the Phillies exceeded the luxury tax in both seasons.  Even with Wheeler’s extension not going onto the books until next year, RosterResource estimates a $261.8MM tax number for the Phillies in 2024, again putting the team over not just the $237MM tax threshold but also the $257MM second penalty tier.

The tax considerations could explain why the Phillies didn’t do all that much this winter, though there’s also the basic fact that the roster is largely set.  For instance, the door seemed to close on a reunion with Rhys Hoskins when the Phillies announced that Bryce Harper would be the everyday first baseman in 2024 and beyond.  With Harper now at first base and Kyle Schwarber as the full-time DH, Hoskins (who missed all of 2023 due to a torn ACL) was the odd man out, and he instead signed a two-year, $34MM deal with the Brewers.

Wheeler and Nola headline a rotation that also includes Ranger Suarez, Taijuan Walker, and Cristopher Sanchez, and the everyday lineup also looked more or less complete until the news broke in early February that Brandon Marsh would be sidelined for 3-4 weeks in the aftermath of arthroscopic knee surgery.  Marsh is back playing Spring Training games and should be ready for Opening Day, though it probably isn’t a coincidence that about a week after Marsh’s surgery was announced, Whit Merrifield was signed to a one-year, $8MM guarantee.

Merrifield’s unusual 2023 season included a spot on the AL All-Star team, but also a brutal second-half slump that saw him hit only .212/.250/.288 over his last 196 plate appearances.  The cold streak cost Merrifield playing time in the Blue Jays’ lineup, and it wasn’t a surprise that both Merrifield and the Jays declined their ends of the veteran’s $18MM mutual option for the 2024 season.

As he enters his age-35 season, the right-handed hitting Merrifield provides some platoon depth behind the lefty-swinging Bryson Stott (at second base) and Marsh (in left field).  There’s a chance Merrifield could get more playing time in left field if Marsh is needed in center field, as while Philadelphia would love to see defensive standout Johan Rojas win the everyday center field job, Rojas has looked overmatched at the plate in Spring Training.  Rojas was more than respectable (.302/.342/.430) over his first 164 big league PA in 2023, though since he doesn’t have any Triple-A experience, the Phillies might choose to give Rojas a bit more time in the minors to begin the season in order to get his bat on track.

Jordan Luplow was also brought into spring camp on a minors deal, and Luplow joins David Dahl (another non-roster signing), Cristian Pache, and Jake Cave as depth options.  Pache and Cave are both out of minor league options, which creates an interesting decision for the Phils as they decide who will earn the backup outfield spot on the Opening Day roster.

Dombrowski said in December that the team would look for additions “more around the edges” of the roster, considering how the team was lacking in major question marks after Nola was re-signed.  This approach was manifested in the low-cost signings of Spencer Turnbull and Kolby Allard, who provide some depth to the rotation and bullpen mix.  Additionally, Max Castillo was claimed off waivers and Michael Rucker was acquired in a deal with the Cubs.

This was pretty much it as far as bullpen additions, even though the closer role seemed to open up when Craig Kimbrel left in free agency.  Philadelphia reportedly looked into Robert Stephenson, Jordan Hicks, Phil Maton, and Jakob Junis before all four pitchers signed elsewhere, and nothing much seemed to materialize between the Phils and Josh Hader, despite a lot of speculation early in the offseason that Hader was a natural fit for a team in need of ninth-inning help.

Strikeout machine Jose Alvarado now looks like the favorite for the closer’s job, though he had some injury problems in 2023 and has long struggled to limit walks.  Any of Gregory Soto, Jeff Hoffman, Seranthony Dominguez, or Orion Kerkering could get save chances within the somewhat fluid Phillies bullpen situation, and the team would particularly love to see the hard-throwing Kerkering emerge as a legitimate bullpen weapon.  Kerkering still only has two seasons of pro experience, however, and the rookie was sidelined for a good chunk of Spring Training due to the flu.

There are enough interesting options on hand that the Phillies might be comfortable with their bullpen for now.  However, it wouldn’t at all be surprising to see the Phillies add another relief arm once teams start making roster cuts late in Spring Training, and Dombrowski might well seek out more high-leverage help closer to the trade deadline.

In terms of other big moves on the offseason radar, the Phils were among the most serious suitors for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, as the team reportedly offered the Japanese phenom a 12-year contract.  Yamamoto ended up signing with the Dodgers for $325MM over a 12-year term, so it seems like the Phillies at least got themselves in the ballpark even if the financial terms of their offer are still unknown.

Yamamoto’s age (25), obvious talent, and the Phillies’ desire to increase their presence in the Japanese market combined to generate the aggressive bid, as this same perfect storm didn’t exist for any other big names.  Philadelphia was only very loosely linked to the Juan Soto trade talks or to Cody Bellinger’s free agent market, and the club had some limited (and perhaps just due diligence) interest in Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery.  Since Montgomery is still without a team this close to Opening Day, the Phillies could technically still emerge as a bidder at the eleventh hour, even it doesn’t seem too likely that the Phils would offer the kind of long-term contract Montgomery was apparently still seeking as recently as two weeks ago.

The Phillies also added another year onto manager Rob Thomson’s contract, continuing the offseason’s overall “running it back” theme.  Standing pat is justifiable considering how successful Philadelphia has been in the last two seasons, and there is also some reason to believe the Phillies could be even better.  Harper is now fully healthy after two injury-marred seasons, and younger players like Stott, Marsh, Sanchez, Rojas and/or Kerkering could further emerge with more Major League playing time under their belts.  The real test will come in October when the Phillies try to take that final step towards a championship, and as presently constructed, it looks like Philadelphia should again be in contention.

How would you grade the Phillies' offseason?
B 52.83% (710 votes)
C 25.30% (340 votes)
A 13.84% (186 votes)
D 4.17% (56 votes)
F 3.87% (52 votes)
Total Votes: 1,344

The Opener: Opt-Outs, Martinez, Trades

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With MLB’s Seoul Series now in the books, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world heading into the weekend:

1. Article XX(B) Opt-Outs are today:

As a provision of the current collective bargaining agreement, uniform opt-out opportunities are provided to Article XX(B) free agents who are in camp with clubs on minor league deals. An Article XX(B) free agent is a player with at least six years of MLB service time who finished the prior season on a big league roster or injured list. The first of those aforementioned uniform opt-out opportunities is set for today at 1pm CT. At that point, any XX(B) eligible player can exercise their opt-out, which would leave their current club with a 48-hour window to either add them to the 40-man roster or release them. Players who remain in their current organization and are not added to the 40-man will have additional opt-out opportunities on May 1 and June 1.

Today’s opt-outs could be particularly impactful for clubs that have been ravaged by injuries in recent weeks. Teams looking for help on the positional side, such as the Reds and Rays, figure to benefit the most from today’s opt-outs, as sixteen of the 31 players with opt-out opportunities are hitters. Included amongst the names on that list are up-the-middle options such as Kolten Wong, Elvis Andrus, and Jake Marisnick as well as corner bats like Mike Moustakas and Garrett Cooper. By contrast, just five of them are starting pitchers, meaning teams facing pitching injuries such as the Marlins, Astros, and Yankees are far less likely to benefit from today’s opt-outs, though it’s at least feasible that a back-end arm or two such as Carlos Carrasco or Brad Keller could return to the open market.

2. Martinez deal to be made official:

The Mets and veteran slugger J.D. Martinez reached an agreement on a one-year deal yesterday that guarantees the 36-year-old a $12MM salary, though the majority of that money is deferred to reduce the net present value of the deal to just under $9MM per RosterResource. The Mets will need to clear space for Martinez on their 40-man roster assuming the deal, which is pending a physical, becomes official in the coming days. New York has no obvious candidates for a trip to the 60-day injured list, as right-hander Kodai Senga is on the verge of beginning a throwing program as he looks to return for a shoulder issue that has sidelined him this spring while fellow righty Max Kranick’s hamstring strain appears unlikely to sideline him for that long either. Barring a surprise injury or a setback for one of the two aforementioned players, that leaves the Mets in position to either designate a player for assignment or attempt to work out a trade of some sort that clears roster space.

3. Will the trade market heat up in the coming days?

The Mets are unlikely to be the only club looking to do 40-man roster maneuvering in the coming days, however. Between the impending opt-out opportunity for Article XX(B) veterans and the fact that Opening Day is fast approaching, teams have already begun to finalize their roster decisions ahead of the 2024 season. Clubs with full 40-man rosters hoping to add non-roster players to the Opening Day squad, whether they be veterans on minor league deals or top prospects who have yet to debut in the big leagues, will need to make room on their rosters in the coming days. That could lead to trades involving players already on the 40-man roster being moved elsewhere for non-roster pieces, allowing teams in need of 40-man space to recoup some value for a player rather than simply designating them for assignment.

Many trades of this caliber, such as the deal that sent outfielder Greg Jones from the Rays to the Rockies yesterday, are fairly minor. Others can be more significant, such as the deal between the Cubs and the Dodgers this offseason that saw the clubs swap top prospects, with Michael Busch headed to Chicago alongside reliever Yency Almonte. In return, the Dodgers cleared two spots on their 40-man roster while bringing back non-roster youngsters in left-hander Jackson Ferris and outfielder Zyhir Hope. Of course, it’s not always feasible for a team to work out a trade when they need 40-man roster space, though the flurry of transactions typically associated with Opening Day roster construction could help to spark a deal or two that might not otherwise get done.

Giants Release Amir Garrett

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The Giants announced Thursday evening that they’ve released veteran reliever Amir Garrett from his minor league deal (X link via Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle). He had been in camp as a non-roster invitee but wasn’t going to make the Opening Day roster.

That’s not a surprise given the left-hander’s numbers this spring. Garrett allowed nine runs over 6 1/3 innings. He surrendered 13 hits and issued seven walks while recording three strikeouts. The Giants could use lefty relief help, but Garrett simply hadn’t performed well.

The 31-year-old should nevertheless find interest on a minor league deal elsewhere. His fastball sits in the mid-90s and he has an above-average 26.4% strikeout rate over 325 1/3 career innings. Garrett fanned a quarter of batters faced with a 3.33 ERA in 27 appearances for the Royals last season, but Kansas City cut him loose because his walk rate had jumped to a near-18% clip. He finished the year in Triple-A with the Guardians, where he struggled in a very small sample. While Garrett is unlikely to get a season-opening opportunity in a major league bullpen, he’s a sensible target for teams looking for upper minors relief depth based on his velocity and bat-missing ability.

San Francisco only has one left-hander who is a lock for their bullpen: Taylor Rogers. They optioned Erik Miller earlier in camp, while Ethan Small is headed to the injured list after straining his right oblique. There are no other lefty relievers on the 40-man roster.

If the Giants want a second left-hander, non-roster invitee Juan Sanchez has seemingly pitched his way to the top of list. The 23-year-old has punched out 11 against two walks with a massive 60% ground-ball rate over nine innings in camp. He has allowed four runs, two of them earned.

Pirates Move Roansy Contreras To Bullpen

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The Pirates are moving right-hander Roansy Contreras to the bullpen, Derek Shelton told reporters after tonight’s Spring Training contest (X link via MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf). While the Pittsburgh manager left open the possibility of giving Contreras another rotation look down the line, he’s viewed as a reliever for the moment.

At this time last year, the 24-year-old looked like one of the more promising starting pitchers in the organization. The Bucs had made him the arguable centerpiece of their 2021 trade return from the Yankees for Jameson Taillon. Contreras was viewed as a fringe Top 100-caliber prospect before turning in a solid ’22 campaign as a rookie. Contreras held a spot in the Pittsburgh rotation for a good portion of that season. He tossed 95 innings of 3.79 ERA ball with a strikeout and walk profile that wasn’t far off league average.

That showing earned him a spot in last year’s rotation. Contreras’ raw stuff and results all backed up, though, and he was tagged for 6.59 earned runs per nine innings. His strikeout rate dropped nearly three percentage points, sitting at a middling 18.8% clip. His walk rate went slightly up. The average velocity on his four-seam fastball ticked down from 95.8 MPH to 94.6 MPH. Contreras’ slider remained an effective offering, although he even lost a few percentage points on that pitch’s swing-and-miss rate.

As the struggles mounted, the Bucs first kicked him to the bullpen and eventually back to the minors. He made eight appearances in Triple-A, where he had an ERA just below 5.00 in a hitter-friendly league. The Pirates even assigned him back to their Florida complex for a few weeks to work through his mechanics outside of a game setting.

Those paths aren’t on the table this year. Last season burned Contreras’ final minor league option. The Pirates can no longer send him down without first exposing him to waivers, where he’d very likely be claimed. If they don’t want to risk losing him, they need to keep him in the majors. Yet Contreras’ performance this spring has been far from encouraging.

He has started three of five outings in exhibition play but only gotten through 12 1/3 innings. Contreras has issued 13 walks against nine strikeouts while allowing nine runs. His fastball velocity has sat in the 94-95 MPH range, but the inability to find the strike zone is alarming. It would’ve been difficult to justify giving him a spot in the MLB rotation coming off that kind of performance. A relief role will afford Shelton some flexibility in keeping Contreras out of high-leverage spots while he tries to recapture the form that he’d shown through 2022.

In other Bucs news, the team announced they’ve optioned Nick Gonzales to Triple-A Indianapolis. That takes him out of the mix in the camp battle for the Opening Day second base job. The former #7 overall pick had a middling spring, hitting .235/.278/.412 over 36 plate appearances. Liover Peguero and Jared Triolo are the top options to start at the keystone. They’ve each hit well in camp. Peguero has a .292/.370/.458 line in 11 games, while Triolo has turned in a .344/.432/.469 mark over 12 contests.

Bowden Francis Makes Blue Jays’ Season-Opening Rotation

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Blue Jays manager John Schneider told the team’s beat this afternoon that right-hander Bowden Francis will be in the season-opening rotation (relayed by Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet). He’s tentatively scheduled to take the ball in the fourth game of the year at Tampa Bay.

That will be Francis’ first start at the major league level. Initially a seventh-round pick by the Brewers in 2017, Francis landed with the Jays in the 2021 deal that sent Rowdy Tellez to Milwaukee. He made it to the majors for one relief outing the following season but was sent outright from the 40-man roster not long after. Francis finished 2022 with a 6.59 ERA in Triple-A.

Needless to say, it didn’t seem at that time that he’d be only a season away from breaking camp in the Toronto rotation. Francis broke through with a very strong performance last year. After an early-season stint on the minor league injured list, he posted impressive numbers over 27 innings with Triple-A Buffalo. Francis turned in a 2.67 ERA while punching out more than 37% of batters faced at the top minor league level. That earned him another shot on the 40-man roster and his first extended stretch in the majors as a multi-inning reliever.

The 27-year-old Francis continued to impress against big league hitters. He turned in a sparkling 1.73 ERA in 36 1/3 innings spanning 20 appearances. While he didn’t maintain his eye-popping whiff rates from Triple-A, Francis fanned an above-average 25.7% of MLB opponents against a tidy 5.9% walk rate.

He has carried that strong production into Spring Training. Francis has tossed 18 2/3 innings over five appearances (four starts), allowing eight runs with 15 strikeouts and four free passes. That was enough to solidify himself as the next man up in the event that any of Toronto’s top five starters spent time on the injured list. Alek Manoah will begin the season on the shelf after battling shoulder soreness. It’s not expected to be a long-term issue but has kept him out of Spring Training action since his exhibition debut on February 27.

Toronto will give the ball to José Berríos on Opening Day. He’ll likely be followed by Chris Bassitt, Yusei Kikuchi and Francis. Ace Kevin Gausman is a bit behind because he dealt with what seemed to be minor shoulder fatigue earlier this month. He has expressed confidence he’ll avoid the injured list, although the Jays could keep him at the back of the first trip through the rotation to buy him a few extra days to continue building up.

Once Manoah is healthy, Francis might find himself bumped back to relief. He still has an option remaining, so the Jays could send him back to Buffalo if they want to keep him stretched out as a starter. He’ll at least get a few turns through the rotation in April to try to stake his claim to a permanent starting spot, his first chance to do so at the major league level.

Offseason In Review: Los Angeles Dodgers

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The Dodgers stole all the headlines this offseason, as they gave out multiple record-breaking deals, traded for an ace and did a bunch of other stuff as well.

Major League Signings

2024 spending: $162.9MM (counting Ohtani’s salary as the league-adjusted $46MM; doesn’t include posting fee for Yamamoto)
Total spending: $1.096 billion (adjusting Ohtani’s guarantee to present day value of $460MM makes this number $756.4MM)

Option Decisions

Trades And Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Notable Losses

The Dodgers have already been a powerhouse team for a long time, having won the National League West in 10 of the past 11 seasons. The one exception was 2021, when they won 106 games but somehow were one shy of a surprising 107-win Giants club.

But they still came into this winter hungry for improvements. That 11-year stretch of playoff appearances only led to one World Series title, which was in the shortened 2020 season. The 2023 season ended unpleasantly, despite the club winning 100 games and earning another division title. Their rotation was largely decimated by injuries as the season wore on and they were quickly swept by the Diamondbacks in the NLDS.

With the club looking to make a bold splash and this winter featuring one of the most anticipated free agents of all time, there were many who expected a pairing between the Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani. In fact, it’s something that has been expected for even longer than that.

When Ohtani initially came over from Japan, the Dodgers weren’t a perfect fit since the National League did not yet have the designated hitter, which led Ohtani to pick the Angels. But the NL got the DH in 2022, which started a countdown for many people, just waiting for the two-way superstar’s free agency.

The Dodgers were obviously going to be interested but also made their intentions clear by deciding not to issue a qualifying offer to J.D. Martinez. Under normal circumstances, he would have warranted one, given his strong 33-homer campaign in 2023. But if he had accepted, it would have clogged up the designated hitter spot they wanted to put Ohtani into, so they didn’t risk it.

It probably shouldn’t have been surprising that a player as unique as Ohtani ended up having one of the most unique free agencies. From the outset, it was marked by a strange insistence on secrecy, to the point that clubs would reportedly hurt their chances of signing him if they acknowledged that they were trying to do so. Perhaps the most absurd example of this was when Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins missed the winter meetings and met with reporters via Zoom but wouldn’t tell them he was in Florida, showing Ohtani the club’s Dunedin complex.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts seemed to break protocol when he admitted that he and his club had recently met with Ohtani. Given the cloak-and-dagger nature of the Ohtani free agency and the lack of real information, it seemed genuinely possible that this would actually have a negative impact on the club’s chances of getting the deal done. There was even more worry when there were reports that Ohtani was on a plane to sign with the Blue Jays, but those eventually proved to be inaccurate. The long-awaited Ohtani-Dodgers pairing finally got done with a massive 10-year, $700MM deal.

Or did it? The unicorn player with the bizarre free agency apparently couldn’t sign a normal contract. After news of the deal landed, reports quickly emerged that put the shocking numbers into more context. Despite the $700M price tag, there was some fine print.

Ohtani will actually only make $2MM in each season of the deal and then get $68MM annually, without interest, in the 10 years following the expiration of the deal. He will still get $700MM, but over 20 years instead of 10. Deferred money reduces the present day value of the deal to $46MM annually in the eyes of the league and $43.8MM from the perspective of the MLBPA. Even with those caveats, the approximate $460MM guarantee is still the largest in MLB history. Even the lower of the two AAV numbers puts Ohtani ahead of Max Scherzer for the largest of all-time.

This was perceived by many fans as a way for the club to “dodge” the luxury tax, but MLBTR founder Tim Dierkes argued otherwise at the time. The $46MM competitive balance tax hit the Dodgers will get for Ohtani was in line with most expectations coming into the winter. The $700MM number isn’t truly real, but it’s helpful for the agents to describe it that way.

Regardless of the optics, Ohtani reportedly suggested the structure to multiple teams. The Giants and Blue Jays were willing to pay it, just like the Dodgers, but the Angels were not. The appeal from the player’s perspective is obvious. The $2MM salary is obviously paltry by baseball standards but Ohtani won’t be starving as he has millions coming in via endorsements every year. By kicking his payments down the road, he can ensure the club has more resources to put a winning team around him. And the contract reportedly has language that makes sure they use their savings towards making the club as competitive as possible.

They certainly held up their end of the bargain with the remainder of this offseason. As mentioned, the club’s rotation was snakebit last year. Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin both had surgery last year and couldn’t be counted on to start 2024 healthy. Walker Buehler’s Tommy John was back in 2022 but he still missed all of 2023 and will be handled with care this year. Lance Lynn, Julio Urias and Clayton Kershaw all hit free agency after 2023, making starting pitching an obvious priority for the club.

Kershaw had hit free agency twice before and re-signed with the club but the Dodgers couldn’t rely on the same thing playing out this winter. Kershaw announced in early November that he had undergone shoulder surgery and wouldn’t be able to return until some point this summer. Ohtani wasn’t going to help either, as he underwent some kind of UCL surgery in September and will be limited to hitting only in 2024.

Despite already giving out a record-setting deal, the Dodgers seemed prepared for more, casting a wide net in their search for starting pitching. Throughout the winter, they were connected to high-profile free agents like Blake Snell and Aaron Nola, mid-range guys like Lucas Giolito and Seth Lugo, as well as trade candidates like Dylan Cease, Corbin Burnes and Jesús Luzardo.

Their first big rotation strike came via the trade market, as the Dodgers were able to land Tyler Glasnow from the Rays. With Tampa looking to cut payroll, the Dodgers took on both Glasnow and outfielder Manuel Margot, sending younger players Ryan Pepiot and Jonny DeLuca the other way.

Glasnow has struggled to stay healthy in his career but has pitched at an ace level when healthy. He overcame a lengthy Tommy John absence in 2023, setting a new career high with 120 major league innings, putting up a 3.53 earned run average in the process. The Dodgers were clearly not scared by the past health issues, as the deal they made with the Rays was conditional on getting an extension done with Glasnow, which they eventually did. The combination of this year’s salary and the four they added on means they are committed to him for five years and $136.5MM.

But they weren’t done there. The market around Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto seemed to get hotter and hotter as the winter nights grew darker. That was a testament not only to his incredible skills but also his age. It’s hard to find an ace in free agency but it’s almost unheard of to get a 25-year-old ace. He comes with no experience in the big leagues but a 1.82 ERA over his seven NPB seasons and little doubt about his ability to handle the show (rough debut notwithstanding).

Due to that rarity, multiple clubs were willing to go over the $300MM mark to land Yamamoto, but the Dodgers ultimately sealed it with a 12-year, $325MM deal. But since Yamamoto had been subject to the posting system, the Dodgers will also have to pay a fee to the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball. Such fees are calculated as a percentage of the deal, so a massive deal means massive fees. This contract led to a $51MM posting fee for the Buffaloes, meaning the Dodgers were effectively paying $376MM to get Yamamoto. Factoring in the club’s luxury tax status means the outlay is even higher. Even before that posting fee, it was the largest guarantee ever given to a pitcher not named Ohtani.

They had one more move to remake their rotation, but it was far more modest than the Glasnow or Yamamoto acquisitions. They signed lefty James Paxton to a one-year deal. It was initially reported an an $11MM guarantee but was later changed to $7MM with incentives. The Dodgers apparently adjusted it down after Paxton’s physical, though they didn’t find anything to scuttle it entirely. Paxton has been oft-injured in recent years, hardly pitching at all from 2020 to 2022, but was able to make 19 starts for the Red Sox last year.

On the position player side of things, the most surprising developments surrounded Mookie Betts. Having spent the vast majority of his career in right field, the Dodgers moved him to the middle infield last year. He came up as a second baseman and had dabbled at that position earlier in his major league career, but the club was evidently impressed enough to make him their everyday guy at the keystone coming into 2024. More on that later.

With Betts moving to the infield, there was room for additions in the outfield. Jason Heyward was re-signed to a one-year deal, but he was effectively replacing himself. He had a nice bounceback for the Dodgers in 2023, being limited to a strong-side platoon role. The Dodgers were frequently connected to Teoscar Hernandez and were able to get him to sign a one-year deal as well, adding yet another potent bat to their lineup.

With Hernandez and Heyward set to join an outfield mix with James Outman, Margot started to seem a bit unnecessary. He could platoon with Heyward but they also had Chris Taylor on hand for that. They eventually decided to send Margot to the Twins and use the $4MM they saved to sign Enrique Hernandez instead. He can also hit from the right side and play the outfield, but his ability to play the infield gave them a bit of extra cover for Betts and third baseman Max Muncy.

But the position player mix had one more twist to come in spring. The Dodgers planned on having Gavin Lux, who missed all of 2023 due to a knee injury, as their everyday shortstop. But he struggled with some consistency in his throws this spring, an issue he’s had in the past. The Dodgers quickly decided to flip Betts and Lux, a move that Roberts described as “permanent for now.”

This put the Dodgers in the wild position of having committed over a billion dollars this winter (kind of) but somehow ending up with a 31-year-old right fielder as their everyday shortstop. Betts briefly played the position last year, getting into 16 games. That’s already the most ever games at the position for a guy after winning multiple Gold Gloves in the outfield, per Sarah Langs of MLB, highlighting how unprecedented this experiment is.

Many fans grew tired of hearing about the Dodgers this winter, as the club was incredibly active while many others sat on their hands. But the fact is that they were doing so many interesting things that it was hard to look away. No one had ever given a free agent $500MM before, let alone $600MM or $700MM. It turns out the Dodgers didn’t really do any of those either, but the bizarre deferral structure of Ohtani’s deal was itself interesting and unprecedented. They gave the largest guarantee ever to a pitcher that isn’t a two-way player. And they gave it to a guy with no major league experience. They put their MVP candidate right fielder at shortstop.

They did all of that and more, adding multiple bats and arms to a club that has already been a dominant force for over a decade. After getting Ohtani and making all of these other moves, the expectations will be even higher from now on. For the next 10 years, the club has Ohtani on the roster and is only paying him $2MM per year, a pittance in this league. All the chips are on the table and anything short of a World Series in that time will be counted by many as a failure.

How would you grade the Dodgers' offseason?
A 72.42% (1,859 votes)
B 12.12% (311 votes)
F 9.86% (253 votes)
C 3.97% (102 votes)
D 1.64% (42 votes)
Total Votes: 2,567

Oliver Ortega To Miss Three To Four Months After Undergoing Elbow Surgery

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The Astros announced to the beat, including Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle, that right-hander Oliver Ortega had surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow and will be shut down for three to four months.

Ortega, 27, was claimed off waivers from the Twins in October. He stuck on Houston’s roster all winter and made two appearances for them this spring. But manager Joe Espada announced a couple of days ago that the righty would be going to see a doctor, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. It seems the doctor determined surgery was necessary and that Ortega will be out of action for roughly half the season, at least.

The righty has 58 innings of big league experience between the Angels and Twins, with a 4.03 earned run average in that time. He has averaged between 95 and 97 miles per hour with both his four-seam fastball and his sinker but hasn’t translated that into big strikeout numbers in the majors, as he has punched out just 20.4% of major league hitters faced while walking 10.8%.

He’s generally been able to sit down more batters in the minors. He tossed 34 2/3 innings at Triple-A last year with a 1.82 ERA, 32.6% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate. He still has an option so the Astros were likely hoping for him to serve as a lively depth arm who could be summoned to the majors when needed throughout the season. Unfortunately, he will now have to sit out a decent portion of the upcoming campaign.

The club will likely put Ortega on the 60-day injured list when they need a roster spot, but they also have several other candidates for such a move. Kendall Graveman is going to miss the entire 2024 season due to shoulder surgery while both Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis García Jr. are targeting midseason returns after they each underwent elbow surgery last year.

Offseason In Review: Baltimore Orioles

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Between a new owner, a new lease at Camden Yards, and one of the offseason’s biggest trades, the Orioles made plenty of news on and off the field this winter.  Now the question is whether the reigning AL East champions can take the next step forward to challenge for a World Series title.

Major League Signings

2023 spending: $13MM
Total spending: $13MM

Trades & Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

The Orioles entered the winter with pretty clear needs at the top of their rotation and bullpen.  Since Felix Bautista’s recovery from Tommy John surgery will sideline the closer for the entire season, the O’s targeted some of the biggest names in the free agent relief market (such as Josh Hader, Jordan Hicks, Robert Stephenson, and Aroldis Chapman) before finalizing a one-year, $13MM deal with Craig Kimbrel.

The veteran closer brings a possible Cooperstown-worthy resume and plenty of experience to the back to the Orioles’ pen, where Kimbrel will team with setup men Yennier Cano and Danny Coulombe to hopefully get close to replicating the lockdown dominance of the Bautista-led 2023 relief corps.  Of course, some red flags are apparent — Kimbrel faded down the stretch in both 2021 and 2022, and he had a couple of ill-timed blowups when pitching for the Phillies in last year’s NLCS.  The righty is also entering his age-36 season, and is prone to allowing walks and hard contact.

An argument could be made that Baltimore could have aimed a little higher or gone with someone a bit steadier than Kimbrel, though with Bautista ostensibly returning in 2025, GM Mike Elias might not have wanted to make too lengthy of a commitment to a new reliever.  As it stands, Kimbrel’s $13MM guarantee still represents the largest amount of money the O’s have given to a player since Elias took over the front office after the 2018 season.

While the Orioles’ lengthy rebuild precluded a lot of major spending, Elias continued to take a relatively measured approach to the payroll this offseason, even in the wake of a 101-win performance.  While the O’s checked in on such notable free agents as Hader or Aaron Nola, the team mostly focused on the trade market to address its pitching needs.  There were plenty of rumors linking the Orioles to top names like Dylan Cease or Jesus Luzardo, but amidst all these reports, Baltimore eventually landed another top trade candidate.

Corbin Burnes has been arguably the best pitcher in baseball over the last four seasons, and his acquisition instantly solves the Orioles’ desire for a frontline ace.  Since Burnes is a free agent following the 2024 campaign, the trade also represents another shorter-term move for Elias — Burnes avoided arbitration with the Brewers by agreeing to a $15,637,500 salary, making him only slightly pricier than Kimbrel.

Trading for Burnes was a clear win-now move for the O’s, and a deal made possible by the team’s seemingly bottomless minor league talent pool.  The Brewers came away with a potential shortstop of the future in Joey Ortiz, an intriguing rotation or bullpen candidate in DL Hall, and the 34th overall pick in the 2024 draft (the Orioles’ selection in Competitive Balance Round A, which are the only types of picks that can be traded).  This is a pretty significant trade package, yet from Baltimore’s perspective, even a top-100 prospect like Ortiz is expendable considering how the Orioles’ infield of the future looks to already be in place.

Between Jordan Westburg, reigning AL Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson, and soon-to-debut star prospect Jackson Holliday, the Orioles may have second base, third base, and shortstop locked up for the better part of the next decade.  This doesn’t even count Coby Mayo or Connor Norby knocking on the door of the big leagues, or incumbent utilitymen Ramon Urias and Jorge Mateo still on hand as perhaps overqualified bench depth.

The outfield is also crowded.  Anthony Santander (a free agent next winter), Cedric Mullins, and Austin Hays (free agents in the 2025-26 offseason) have Colton Cowser, Heston Kjerstad, and Kyle Stowers pushing for playing time right now, let alone looming to eventually supplant the more experienced players as the Orioles’ starting outfield.

If the O’s were still rebuilding, it is easy to imagine a world where any of Santander, Mullins, Hays, Urias, or Mateo have been traded by now to let the kids play.  However, the Orioles are both trying to win in 2024 and not hamper the development of any of their up-and-comers.  That means someone like Stowers or Kjerstad might start the year at Triple-A in order to get regular at-bats rather than sporadic playing time in the majors, and the Orioles could use their bench spots for veterans more accustomed to part-time roles.

This could mean in-house names like Urias, Mateo, Terrin Vavra, and Ryan McKenna, or a familiar face back in the fold like Tyler Nevin (re-acquired from the Tigers in a January trade).  Baltimore also dealt for Nick Maton and signed Kolten Wong and Michael Perez to minor league deals, further adding depth just in case the young core needs a bit more seasoning.

All of this depth makes it easy to see how more trades could be coming at the deadline or earlier, once the Orioles have a better sense of their needs or which of their prospects may or may not be ready for prime time.  It isn’t out of the question that Elias could move earlier to obtain more pitching help, considering how Baltimore already has a couple of starters set to begin the season on the injured list.

Kyle Bradish emerged as the Orioles’ top hurler last year, yet his status is in question after an MRI revealed a sprain in his right UCL in February.  Bradish received a PRP injection and has been slowly building his arm up over the last five weeks, with decent progress to date but still a lot of uncertainty over when (or even if) he’ll be able to make a proper return this season.  John Means will also be sidelined for perhaps the first month of the season, as soreness in his surgically repaired elbow last October delayed Means’ offseason ramp-up work.

With two members of the projected rotation down, Burnes, Grayson Rodriguez, and Dean Kremer will be joined by Cole Irvin and Tyler Wells for the time being.  Minor league signing Julio Teheran, waiver claim Tucker Davidson, trade acquisition Jonathan Heasley or Bruce Zimmermann figure to work as the top depth options before the Orioles think about dipping into their starting pitching prospect pool (i.e. Cade Povich, Chayce McDermott, Seth Johnson).

Michael Lorenzen and James Paxton were on the team’s radar as shorter-term signing options, and Mike Clevinger remains unsigned as a potential one-year stopgap.  Beyond Baltimore’s flirtation with Nola, there wasn’t much of a sense that the Orioles were going to splurge on a big free agent arm, so Jordan Montgomery still doesn’t seem all that likely of a possibility even though Montgomery is still available as Opening Day nears.

The rotation picture could gain clarity once more is known about Bradish or Means’ recoveries, and things will look more stable if Rodriguez takes another step forward in his second MLB season.  However, the question remains — could the Orioles have done more to shore up their pitching staff?  Even with the prohibitive costs of pitching (either via signing or trade) in mind, adding Burnes but losing Bradish and Means more or less leaves the O’s in the same place rotation-wise as they were at the end of 2023.

It may be too soon to second-guess Elias’ decisions given that more moves could still be made, and that the roster on the whole still looks very capable of contending.  It is also very much worth noting that the Orioles have increased spending, as their projected payroll (as per RosterResource) of $96.8MM is still a modest total in comparison to the rest of the league yet also a big jump from Baltimore’s $60.9MM payroll on Opening Day 2023.

Perhaps the most intriguing element of the Orioles’ season is whether or not the impending ownership change could give the front office some immediate extra spending capacity.  David Rubenstein would hardly be the first new owner to want to make a splash upon buying a team, and since the billionaire’s investment group could be fully approved to buy the Orioles within even the next few weeks, Rubenstein might well be interested in giving Elias the green light to be more aggressive at the deadline.  Boosting spending to even league-average levels would create a lot of extra spending capacity for the O’s to add talent, or (perhaps more importantly) start signing some of their cornerstone young players to extensions.

Even considering the ailing health of majority owner Peter Angelos, the legal drama between members of the Angelos family, and team chairman John Angelos’ cautionary statements about spending, it still counted as a surprise when reports emerged in January that the Orioles were being sold.  This news broke just as the O’s were finalizing a new lease agreement with state and city officials about remaining at Camden Yards, and while this new lease technically only runs for the next 15 years, at least another 15 years could be added to the deal if the franchise and Maryland officials can work out (prior to December 31, 2027) a development plan for a “ballpark village” type of project around Camden Yards.

The ownership change only cements the new era that was already dawning for the team in terms of the on-field product.  Baltimore fans had to endure a lot over the Orioles’ multi-year rebuilding period, but things couldn’t look much better for the fanbase over both the long term and in the immediate future.  The O’s look like legitimate World Series contenders even with the remaining questions in the pitching staff, and some work at the deadline might patch those few remaining holes.

How would you grade the Orioles' offseason?
B 48.92% (1,331 votes)
A 30.32% (825 votes)
C 15.69% (427 votes)
D 2.83% (77 votes)
F 2.24% (61 votes)
Total Votes: 2,721

Latest On MLBPA Leadership

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With under a week until the season starts and with three seasons remaining on the 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement, there’s been an atypical amount of drama pertaining to the MLB Players Association this week. Monday evening, reports emerged that a contingent of players has voiced a desire for executive director Tony Clark to replace deputy director Bruce Meyer, swapping him out for 33-year-old lawyer Harry Marino, the former head of Advocates For Minor Leaguers who negotiated the sport’s first minor league collective bargaining agreement alongside Meyer.

As one would expect, there are various lenses through which the current drama is being viewed. Reporting from Jeff Passan of ESPN, from Bob Nightengale of USA Today and from Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic offer various glimpses at a layered, complex and — to some degree — contentious situation that could have historic ramifications on the state of labor within Major League Baseball. Chandler Rome of The Athletic, meanwhile, has published an exhaustive Q&A with Astros player rep and MLBPA executive subcommittee member Lance McCullers Jr. MLBTR readers seeking to get a full grasp of the current state of affairs are encouraged to read all of these pieces in full so as to best formulate an opinion on the matter, but some of the key takeaways are as follows.

Passan broadly suggests that Marino has worked to rally a contingent of players — primarily minor leaguers, whom he knows from his time working to unionize Minor League Baseball — to gain momentum toward a change in power. The now-former MLBPA counsel — Marino left the union last summer after brokering the minor league CBA — has also spent the spring conducting secret meetings with players who are their teams’ union representatives, per Passan. Marino has deliberately avoided clients of the Boras Corporation, Passan adds, wary of the perception that Scott Boras has a heavy influence over the union — Meyer specifically. (Meyer has vehemently denied any such allegations in the past.)

Marino himself refuted the notion that he’s orchestrated a coup attempt within the ranks of the MLBPA. In a statement to Passan, he laid out that players to whom he’s spoken want to know how their union dues are being spent and that they want a new direction for collective bargaining, while also conceding that there’s some understandable skepticism regarding his youth, experience and general unknown background among big leaguers who didn’t work with him during his efforts to establish the minor league union.

Marino’s critics, according to Passan, suggest Marino has ties to agencies in the same manner he alleges to be the case with Meyer/Boras — CAA and WME — and that they’re fearful he could be more amenable to a salary cap than prior union leaders, who’ve considered the issue a strict nonstarter. Others — particularly those whose teams were excluded from Marino’s series of meetings because of his trepidation regarding Boras — feel blindsided by his efforts and think they run counter to the unity he’s preached.

Discontent regarding Meyer isn’t necessarily new, however. Drellich and Rosenthal report there have been multiple requests to make a change over the years — the preference for Marino is simply the latest among them. That decision ultimately comes down to Clark, a fact that has rankled some members of the union. The Athletic’s report wonders whether frustration over Clark’s ostensible decision to side with Meyer despite an apparent majority in favor of implementing a change could lead to a vote on Clark’s status as the union’s executive director.

That’s far from a certainty. For one, Passan notes that Clark is well liked among players on a personal level — even among those who don’t always agree with the union’s direction. Moreover, there’s on-record support from multiple prominent union voices for Clark. In his Q&A with Rome, McCullers makes clear that he “absolutely [has] faith” in Clark and that many union members share his stance. The MLBPA just extended Clark’s contract by five years back in 2022. McCullers also praised the job Meyer has done, saying the MLBPA is in a “much better place” now than when Meyer was hired. He acknowledged that the deputy director’s tenure is up in the air at the moment but doubled down that the decision is Clark’s to make.

Of course, as many readers are aware, McCullers is a client of the Boras Corporation. That might prompt skeptics to be dismissive of the right-hander’s support for Clark and Meyer. But Passan also spoke to former MLBPA executive subcommittee member Andrew Miller — a client of Frontline Athlete Management — who echoed McCullers’ sentiments that he’s never seen or experienced anything that’d cause him to lend credence to the Boras narrative. Miller noted that Meyer was “always a professional,” even when he didn’t see eye-to-eye with him personally.

I believe what [Meyer] has been quoted as saying about it not being true,” said Miller. “It’s not something I ever saw that was worrying to me.”

One of Miller’s former peers on the union’s executive subcommittee, Daniel Murphy, offered a different take — without speculating about a possible Meyer/Boras relationship. Murphy spoke more broadly in favor of new leadership, telling Passan “…guys are finally seeing the truth.”

Boras, who’s already publicly taken shots at Marino and denied having the sort of cloak-and-dagger influence over the union as portrayed in that common narrative, again spoke candidly on the matter after yesterday’s Blake Snell press conference with the Giants. Nightengale quotes Boras again blasting Marino, this time for deliberately excluding his clients in a move he suggests won’t be well received by the union membership as a whole.

“Go to the union,” said Boras. “Be upfront. Let them know what your plan is. If it’s a better plan, we should all listen. We’re not denying information. But when you take a course of secrecy, selectivity, and denial of information from a category of major leaguers, you’re not going to be well-received by the totality of the group.”

Boras further pushed back on the narrative that he holds great influence in the union, noting that he thought the MLBPA accepted a deal too soon during the last wave of collective bargaining — particularly calling out the concessions the union made within the amateur draft. He also took a not-so-subtly veiled shot at Marino and his lack of experience in negotiations of this magnitude.

“I can tell you clear and convincingly that labor expertise and CBA direction is a science of itself,” Boras said. “It requires great expertise. You have to have experience. You don’t see Major League Baseball going in and placing inexperienced people to head a negotiation on their behalf.”

Suffice it to say, there’s a broad range of opinions on the current leadership within the union, on Boras’ influence (or lack thereof), and on how the group should move forward. Some of the Boras narrative could stem from the fact that five of the eight members of the executive subcommittee are Boras clients, but both McCullers and Miller rather firmly disputed the popular characterization. Boras did as well, firmly stating that he “operates for [his] players individually” and “not for the union.”

One notable takeaway comes from McCullers, in particular, who suggested that the entire characterization that the union is weak right now is misconstrued. Rather, McCullers points to the divide in opinions as a symbol of strength — as it’s indicative that member interest and involvement is at an all-time high.

“Typically in the past, it was like the player reps had to almost, I don’t want to say pull teeth, but almost had to really engage guys and really try to get a sense of what they feel and then go to the subcommittee,” McCullers explained. “…I think now, you’re seeing all players across the board — not even guys on the subcommittee, not even guys who are actually player reps — wanting to be involved and wanting to have their voices heard. I think that’s where this is coming from. Guys want a clear, decisive path that all players are behind. I think that’s good. Maybe people want to push the narrative that the union is weak, but at the end of the day, I think the union is strong.”

McCullers noted that the engagement spans all ranks of players, from minor leaguers on the bottom end of the earning scale to the game’s top-paid stars. He recalled an anecdote from the last wave of collective bargaining talks:

“Gerrit Cole is pounding the table on year two of his nine-year free agency deal … and literally said ‘I will miss the entire year if that’s what I have to do to help advance player rights in the CBA.’ He has nothing to gain from that. All he has is money to lose. You’ve seen guys over the history of our union, especially this last CBA, willing to make big sacrifices that matter to them and that affect them negatively only.”

For now, there’s no action that’ll be forced. Clark has heard opinions on Meyer’s status, but the decision on his deputy director’s future lies with Clark alone — for now. Drellich, Rosenthal and Passan all suggest that Marino could attempt to force a vote on Clark’s very status within the union — a full-scale powerplay to install himself atop the union hierarchy. That’d be potentially damaging in its own right, however, as a massive portion of his supporting contingent lies with minor league players and not established big leaguers who form the foundation of the union and who hold a larger number of executive board and executive subcommittee seats.

Time will tell whether Clark feels enough pressure to make a move or whether Marino and his supporters attempt to further force the issue. What’s clear right now is that there are multiple factions, each with their own view of the unrest among the union, even though there are those among the group who will contest that the increased engagement is a sign of strength and good sign for the long-term health of the organization, contrary as it may seem.

Keston Hiura Won’t Make Tigers, Has Upward Mobility Clause

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4:30pm: Petzold tweets that the upward mobility clause dates are March 26, June 1 and August 1.

4:10pm: The Tigers announced today that they have reassigned right-hander Trey Wingenter, left-hander Andrew Vasquez, catcher Anthony Bemboom, infielder Keston Hiura and outfielders Bligh Madris and Ryan Vilade to minor league camp, indicating that no one in that group will make the club’s Opening Day roster.

Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press takes a look at the moves and notes that the organization plans to have Hiura serve as the primary first baseman for Triple-A Toledo. However, the wrinkle in that plan is that his minor league deal has an upward mobility clause, also known as an assignment clause. There are multiple dates where the Tigers must ask the other 29 clubs if any is willing to give Hiura a roster spot. If any of them say yes, the Tigers either have to call him up themselves or trade him to the team that wants him.

That means that the Tigers can only keep him in Triple-A if the other teams all pass on the chance to take him. Petzold doesn’t provide specifics about the dates when the clause will be triggered, but he does note that one of them is next week.

The 27-year-old has had a feast-or-famine career thus far, as he has shown huge home run power but also a worrying penchant for strikeouts. He has 1,057 plate appearances at the major league level, all with the Brewers from 2019 to 2022. He struck out in 380 of them, a 36% rate which is well above par. The league-wide average was 22.7% in the majors last year, for reference. But Hiura did hit 50 home runs in that time.

Last year, Hiura was stuck in Triple-A. He hit 25 homers in 367 plate appearances at that level while keeping his strikeout rate to a more passable 24.5% clip. But he never got called back up to the big leagues and hit minor league free agency at season’s end, signing a minor league deal with the Tigers.

Here in the spring, he batted .323 for the Tigers with two homers in 34 plate appearances. He only struck out at a 23.5% rate but it’s a small sample size and spring stats are always to be taken with a grain of salt as opposing pitchers may not be major league caliber or may be experimenting as they get ready for the season.

Hiura doesn’t have a strong path to playing time in Detroit. He came up as a second baseman but was a poor defender there and spent more time at first base and left field last year. The Tigers have Spencer Torkelson entrenched at first for the foreseeable future. The designated hitter slot will likely be used to rotate their outfielders through, with Kerry Carpenter perhaps seeing the most time as a DH while Mark Canha, Parker Meadows and Riley Greene are on the grass. The bench will be taken up by backup catcher Carson Kelly and utility infielder/outfielders Andy Ibañez, Zach McKinstry and Matt Vierling.

The Tigers would surely like to keep Hiura around as depth but the other 29 clubs will have multiple opportunities to take a chance on him. The Rays just lost one player from their first base/designated hitter mix as it was reported today that Jonathan Aranda requires surgery for a broken finger. The Yankees may be without DJ LeMahieu to start the season after he fouled a ball of his foot. Hiura wouldn’t be able to step in as the everyday third baseman but could provide another bench bat while Oswaldo Cabrera covers the hot corner. The Angels have Nolan Schanuel as their first baseman despite the fact that he was just drafted last summer, and he’s also currently dealing with some back tightness.

There’s also the possibility for platooning, as Hiura has significant reverse splits in his career. He’s hit just .201/.283/.323 against southpaws for a 64 wRC+ but .253/.332/.508 against righties for a 122 wRC+, despite being a right-handed hitter. For any club that feels they are weak against righties, Hiura will be there for the taking. His deal comes with a $2MM base salary if he’s in the majors.

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