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MLBTR Podcast: Ryan Pressly To The Cubs, Bregman’s Future, And Jurickson Profar

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Will Ben Cherington get the Pirates a right fielder before spring training? (21:10)
  • What is holding up Jack Flaherty’s market? (23:15)
  • Why is the MLB offseason so different from the other sports? (29:00)
  • Is there a common thread with the unsigned free agents? (32:50)
  • Brett Baty to the Padres and Luis Arráez to the Mets, straight up, no money changing hands. Who says no? (38:45)
  • News of the Pirates signing Adam Frazier breaks during recording (39:25)
  • Back to the Baty-Arráez question (39:50)
  • Should the Cubs get Michael King from the Padres and what would the cost be? (42:50)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Pirates Sign Adam Frazier

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Jan. 29: The Pirates formally announced their reunion with Frazier this morning.

Jan. 28: Adam Frazier is headed back to the Pirates. The McKinnis Sports client is reportedly in agreement with his old club on a one-year, $1.525MM contract. The team has yet to announce the signing.

Frazier, now 33 years old, had a strong six-year run with the Buccos to begin his career, slashing a combined .283/.346/.420 in 2232 plate appearances while posting quality overall defensive grades at both second base and in left field.

That stretch culminated with a huge .324/.388/.448 slash in the first half of the ’21 season, with Frazier logging a career-low 10.7% strikeout rate along the way. That resulted in an All-Star nod for Frazier and helped ramp up trade interest while the Pirates operated as deadline sellers. The Padres wound up acquiring Frazier, who was controllable through the 2022 season, in exchange for outfielder Jack Suwinski, utilityman Tucupita Marcano and righty Michell Miliano.

Things didn’t pan out for Frazier in San Diego, however, and he’s never gotten his bat back on track. While he hit for a decent average down the stretch with the Friars, his walk rate and already limited power output tumbled. In 211 plate appearances, he batted .267/.327/.335 — about 13% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+. Rather than pay him a raise in arbitration that winter, the Padres traded him to the Mariners, where his offensive struggles continued.

In three and a half seasons since leaving the Pirates, Frazier has suited up for the Padres, Mariners, Orioles and Royals. That covers a span of 1562 plate appearances, during which Frazier sports a tepid .236/.301/.336 batting line (82 wRC+). His 2024 season in Kansas City was the worst of his career; he batted only .202/.282/.294 in 294 plate appearances with the Royals last year and fanned in a career-worst 20.1% of his plate appearances.

Though his offense has continued to flounder, Frazier posted solid defensive grades at second base and in the outfield corners last year. His strikeout rate may have been a career-high but was still a couple percentage points lower than league-average, while his 7.5% walk rate was within one percentage point of average. The Pirates have not only a righty-heavy bench mix but more broadly a roster and lineup that skews right-handed. Oneil Cruz, Spencer Horwitz and switch-hitting Bryan Reynolds are the only lefty bats assured of frequent playing time in Pittsburgh. Frazier will give the Pirates a familiar face and a contact-oriented left-handed bat to slot into the bench group.

With Pittsburgh still facing uncertainty at both second base and in right field, Frazier is a cheap backup plan at either spot. He’s not going to be Plan A for the Pirates at either position, but he can step in at second base if a group of infielders including Nick Yorke, Nick Gonzales, Jared Triolo and Liover Peguero struggle and force versatile Isiah Kiner-Falefa into regular work at shortstop. Reynolds is locked into one outfield corner, but the other options on the 40-man roster right now include Suwinski (who struggled immensely in 2024), Billy Cook and out-of-options Joshua Palacios.

Frazier is the latest in a characteristically budget-friendly string of free agent signings for the Pirates. Pittsburgh has brought franchise icon Andrew McCutchen back on another one-year, $5MM contract — his third straight $5MM deal with the Bucs — which stands as their largest financial expenditure of the winter. The Pirates have also added lefties Caleb Ferguson ($3MM) and Tim Mayza ($1.15MM) on one-year deals, although Mayza’s deal was just agreed to yesterday and has yet to be formally announced by the team. RosterResource currently projects an $80.5MM payroll, including Frazier and Mayza, with about $104MM of CBT obligations. The Pirates have long been rumored to be seeking a corner outfield upgrade but have yet to bring in any outside help to fill that glaring need.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported the Pirates were in agreement with Frazier on a major league deal. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com had the $1.525MM salary.

Hunter Renfroe, Chris Stratton Exercise Player Options

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Outfielder Hunter Renfroe and reliever Chris Stratton triggered player options in their deals with the Royals, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (X links). Kansas City declined its end of a mutual option on infielder Adam Frazier, per Feinsand. In other Royals’ news, lefty reliever Josh Taylor elected free agency, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Kansas City evidently ran him through outright waivers instead of reinstating him from the 60-day injured list.

All three option decisions went as expected. Renfroe, Stratton and Frazier each signed as free agents last winter. None had a particularly good season. That made it a straightforward call for the players who could return to pass on their chances to retest the market, while the front office had a similarly easy call to move on from Frazier.

Renfroe returns on a $7.5MM salary. He’ll look to improve on this year’s middling .229/.297/.392 slash line. Renfroe hit 15 homers but reached base at less than a .300 clip for a second consecutive season. It was a replacement level performance altogether. He’ll be penciled back in as the starting right fielder for the moment, but the corner outfield is a clear area for the front office to try to upgrade.

Stratton secures a $4.5MM salary. His deal contained a $500K buyout, so that was a $4MM call. The veteran right-hander would probably be limited to minor league offers if he were a free agent. He struggled to a 5.55 earned run average through 58 1/3 innings this past season. It’s not a guarantee that the Royals keep him on the roster all winter. If they do bring him back, they’ll hope to get something closer to the 82 2/3 innings of 3.92 ball that he provided the Cardinals and Rangers in 2023.

Frazier gets a $2.5MM buyout instead of an $8.5MM salary. The former All-Star second baseman hasn’t hit much since being traded from Pittsburgh to San Diego in 2021. That continued during what looks like it’ll be his lone season in Kansas City. Frazier hit .202/.282/.294 while appearing in 104 games. Michael Massey outplayed him to take the second base job. Frazier might need to settle for a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite this winter.

As for Taylor, this effectively serves as an early non-tender. He was eligible for arbitration for a final time. While he was projected for a modest $1.1MM salary, the Royals didn’t want to create a 40-man roster spot after he missed the entire 2024 season. Taylor lost this year to a biceps injury and has also struggled with back issues in recent years.

Royals Notes: Lineup Needs, Outfield, Wacha, Frazier

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Royals brass held their end-of-season press conference today, with general manager J.J. Picollo and manager Matt Quatraro fielding questions from MLB.com’s Anne Rogers (two links) and other reporters about the club’s successful 2024 campaign and some of their plans for the coming offseason.

While Picollo described the Royals’ offense as “acceptable” overall, the team is looking for bookends around the powerful 2-3-4 lineup combination of Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino, and Salvador Perez.  The Royals relied heavily on that trio for most of their offense, and thus finding a more consistent leadoff hitter and no. 5 hitter are the first steps in increasing production.

Picollo noted that impending free agent Tommy Pham did a good job in stabilizing the leadoff spot after Pham was claimed off waivers from the Cardinals at the end of August.  In general, however, “that leadoff spot, we were circulating guys all year long, trying to find the right person….Every lineup, and the better lineups that we faced, they’re deep,” Picollo said.  “The more you can push guys down, the better our lineup will be. You start with a leadoff man, and then you try to find somebody in the middle of the lineup, as well.  The deeper you get, the more explosive you can be as an offense.”

Kansas City batters had a collective .306 on-base percentage this season, ranking 19th of 30 teams.  Witt’s .389 OBP did a lot of the heavy lifting on that cumulative total, as Yuli Gurriel (in only 65 plate appearances) ranked second on the team with a .338 OBP, followed by Perez at .330.  Maikel Garcia had the majority of at-bats out of the leadoff spot and his strong third base defense kept him in the lineup, but he hit only .231/.281/.332 over 626 PA.  Garcia’s 69 wRC+ was the lowest of any qualified hitter in baseball this season.

Despite Garcia’s lack of production, Picollo said Garcia and left fielder MJ Melendez (who also struggled) will be counted to improve at the plate as they head into their fourth Major League campaigns.  However, Picollo singled out the outfield as a natural area where the Royals could add some power and more offense in general, as only the Pirates and White Sox got less production from their outfielders in 2024 than the 79 wRC+ posted by Kansas City’s outfield mix.

“Generally speaking, when you’re looking at left field, right field, that’s where you’re thinking about power guys,” Picollo said.  “And we know this ballpark doesn’t lend itself to homers, but it does lend itself to slug.  So we’ve got to be more productive there.  And that’s where being optimistic about some of the guys that we have and looking at the experience they had, I think that’s fine.”

Right field is the most logical target area if Hunter Renfroe declines his $7.5MM player option for 2025, though Picollo said he hadn’t yet spoken to Renfroe about his upcoming decision.  Renfroe can take a $1MM buyout and return to free agency, but it probably seems likelier than Renfroe will take the larger $7.5MM payday after a sub-replacement season.  Renfroe had a -0.1 fWAR over 120 games with Kansas City, hitting .229/.297/.392 with 15 home runs, and he sandwiched a red-hot stretch in June and July between ice-cold performances in the first two and final two months of the regular season.

Kyle Isbel was also a below-average hitter but at least played some solid defense in center field, so he might have the most job security of all Royals outfielders heading into 2025.  If K.C. did indeed pick up a new corner outfielder or two, Renfroe, Melendez, Dairon Blanco, and Nelson Velazquez could all be vying for part-time or bench duty, or the Royals could look to move any to create roster space.

On the pitching end, Michael Wacha will have to decide on either exercising or declining his $16MM player option for the 2025 season.  Wacha’s excellent changeup powered his 3.35 ERA over 166 2/3 innings in his first season with the Royals, and induced a ton of soft contact while posting an above-average 6.6% walk rate.  Though his lack of strikeouts and velocity will always limit his market to some extent, Wacha has now posted very solid results in each of the last three seasons, and should certainly find a multi-year pact again on the open market this year.

Even if the likelihood is that Wacha does pass on his option, Picollo said “there’s no question we’d like to have him back.  How we go about that, I’m not sure just yet….He’s going to have opportunities with other clubs.  So we’ll work on that.”

The Royals aim to add more pitching with or without Wacha still in the rotation, though obviously it will be a more glaring need if Wacha does head elsewhere.  Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, and Brady Singer still combine for a nice top three and Alec Marsh earned himself a rotation job, so on paper Kansas City would have plenty of internal candidates to compete for just one open starting job.  But as Picollo noted, “we were remarkably healthy this year,” so the club expects to need more pitching in the likely even that the Royals aren’t as lucky in avoiding the injury bug.

As to how much the Royals will have to spend for any upgrade, Picollo was naturally unspecific on the topic, but he felt owner John Sherman would have as much “flexibility” with the payroll as last winter.  “I would suspect it would be very similar,” the GM said.  “Not necessarily in, ’We’re going to spend $100 million,’ but more so his flexibility, him being open-minded to what our team’s needs are.”

RosterResource estimates that the Royals finished the year with a payroll of slightly more than $113.5MM, which represents the franchise’s biggest spend since its $122.2MM payroll on Opening Day 2018.  An increase in attendance and two playoff games should boost revenue, but the Royals are also one of the teams whose broadcast deals with Diamond Sports Group will be severed as part of DSG’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.

It remains to be seen if the Royals could work out a new deal with DSG/Bally Sports for the 2025 season or if the team might seek out another broadcast partner, or pursue an agreement with Major League Baseball itself to broadcast games (as six other clubs have done).  While obviously a lot of uncertainty exists here, it should be noted that the Royals’ previous deal with Bally was already up after the 2025 season, and the team still went ahead and had a relatively big spending splurge last winter even with the looming questions about its broadcast future.

In some injury updates, Hunter Harvey, James McArthur, and Chris Stratton should all be ready for the start of Spring Training after finishing the season on the injured list.  Some health uncertainty awaits Adam Frazier, who will be undergoing some type of procedure on his right thumb this week.

Frazier had a minimal 10-day IL stint in late June/early July due to a sprain in that same thumb, and an injury could explain his rough hitting numbers, as the veteran batted only .202/.282/.294 in 294 PA.  Kansas City is sure to decline its end of an $8.5MM mutual option on Frazier for 2025, and he’ll be bought out for $2.5MM.  Between his down year and perhaps this surgery impacting his readiness, Frazier may have to settle for a minor league pact in free agency.

Royals Select Walter Pennington

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The Royals announced today that they have reinstated infielder/outfielder Adam Frazier from the injured list and selected the contract of left-hander Walter Pennington. In corresponding moves, they optioned infielder CJ Alexander and right-hander Carlos Hernández. To open a 40-man spot for Pennington, right-hander Dan Altavilla was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Pennington, 26, signed with the Royals as an undrafted free agent in 2020. That year’s draft was reduced to just five rounds due to the pandemic. Since then, he has been climbing the minor league ladder, getting lots of strikeouts and ground balls but also struggling with command at times.

Last year, he tossed 70 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, allowing 3.18 earned runs per nine frames. He struck out 25.5% of batters faced and got grounders on more than half of the balls allowed in play, but he also gave out walks at an 11.9% clip. Here in 2024, he’s tossed 53 2/3 innings over 32 Triple-A appearances. He has a huge 35.3% strikeout rate and 52.6% ground ball rate, also reducing his walk rate to 8.8%.

That strong performance will get him called up to the big leagues for the first time. He’ll provide the Royals with a left-handed reliever, one capable of pitching multiple innings per outing. 14 of his 32 appearances this year have been for two innings or longer, with Pennington getting as high as four frames.

As for Altavilla, he landed on the 15-day IL on June 2o due to a right oblique strain. He’ll now be ineligible to return until 60 days from that initial IL placement, which would be the middle of August.

Royals Option Nelson Velázquez

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The Royals announced a series of roster moves today. Infielder Michael Massey was reinstated from the injured list and the club selected the contract of infielder CJ Alexander. In corresponding moves, the club placed infielder/outfielder Adam Frazier on the 10-day injured list due to a right thumb strain and optioned outfielder Nelson Velázquez to Triple-A Omaha. To open a 40-man spot for Alexander, left-hander Jake Brentz was designated for assignment.

Velázquez, now 25, was acquired from the Cubs in a deadline trade last year with reliever José Cuas going the other way. It seemed like that deal was going to work out brilliantly for the Royals, as Velázquez hit 14 home runs in 40 games after the deal last year.

That seemed to set him up to play a prominent role in Kansas City going forward but it hasn’t played out that way. He has added eight more home runs this year but is slashing just .200/.274/.366 overall. Part of that could be his .237 batting average on balls in play but he’s also not squaring it up like last year. He had a 21.4% barrel rate in 2023 but that figure is down to 8.8% this year. His average exit velocity has dropped by almost three miles per hour. His hard hit rate is down more than ten points and his infield fly ball rate has more than doubled.

The Royals have been good overall this year, currently at 42-35 and just half a game outside of a playoff spot. However, their outfield has been their weakest link, something that MLBTR’s Steve Adams looked at last month. Velázquez is a poor fielder and doesn’t provide value on the basepaths, so the drop-off at the plate has made him a big drawback on the roster this year.

He’ll head to Omaha to try to get things back on track for now, though this move could also have implications for him down the line. He came into this season with his service time count at one year and 13 days, meaning he would have finished the campaign at 2.013 if he had stayed up for the entirety. If this assignment lingers for more than a few weeks, it will push back his trajectory to free agency and/or arbitration. Coincidentally, Cuas also struggled with his new club and was designated for assignment by the Cubs, getting claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays over the weekend.

As for Alexander, he gets to the majors just before his 28th birthday, which is coming up in July. A 20th-round pick of Atlanta in 2018, he came to the Royals via the 2022 trade that also sent Drew Waters to Kansas City. He is hitting .323/.369/.555 in Triple-A this year, which is at least partially inflated by a .400 batting average on balls in play, but is impressive nonetheless.

He has played all four corner spots this year, but more third base than anywhere else. He is in the lineup at the hot corner tonight with Maikel Garcia having been moved over to second base and Massey in the designated hitter slot. Massey will stick in the DH spot for now, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com on X. He landed on the IL last month due to a low back ligament sprain and says he feels good enough to swing a bat but not take the field. With Massey and Frazier both unable to play second, perhaps Garcia will get regular time there with Alexander at third, though Garcia could also go back to the hot corner with Nick Loftin and Garrett Hampson taking some time at the keystone.

To get Alexander onto the 40-man, Brentz has been bumped off. The 29-year-old lefty had an encouraging major league debut back in 2021, making 72 appearances with a 3.66 earned run average. His 13.3% walk rate was quite high but he struck out 27.3% of batters faced and kept 49% of balls in play on the ground.

Unfortunately, he’s had a challenging time since then. He landed on the injured list early in 2022 and ultimately required Tommy John surgery that summer. He was non-tendered at the end of that season and re-signed on a two-year deal. He started a rehab assignment in August of 2023 but was shut down with a lat strain, unable to return to the big league club.

Here in 2024, he suffered a Grade 2 left hamstring strain in the middle of March, putting him back on the IL to start the season. He started a rehab assignment about a month later and was optioned to Omaha when reinstated off the IL.

The results have been abysmal thus far, as he has a 12.71 ERA through 17 innings on the farm this year. He has struck out 15 opponents but given out 30 walks, hit nine batters with pitches and thrown two wild pitches as well.

Some rust after so much missed time is understandable but the Royals clearly felt this was too much. They will now have a week to trade Brentz or pass him through waivers. He still has a full slate of options and could perhaps appeal to a club that believes in the stuff and has enough patience to let him get back on track.

If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he has more than three years of service time and can therefore elect free agency instead of accepting an outright assignment. However, since he has less than five years of service time, doing so would mean forfeiting what remains of his salary. As part of that aforementioned two-year deal he signed with the Royals, he is making $1.05MM this year with more than half a million left to be paid out. He presumably wouldn’t want to walk away from that money and would likely accept an outright assignment if no other club wants to grab him off waivers.

Picollo On Roles For Massey, Frazier

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The latest move in a busy Royals offseason brought veteran second baseman/left fielder Adam Frazier to Kansas City on a one-year deal. Though Frazier has a long track record as an everyday player, Kansas City general manager J.J. Picollo suggested following the signing that Michael Massey will still be the regular second baseman, with Frazier operating in more of a utility role (link via Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star).

“[Massey] needs to be a big part of our team, and we shared that with [Frazier] last week,” Picollo stated. The second-year K.C. GM stressed the importance of being up-front with a veteran like Frazier about the role he’d likely be stepping into. That, it seems, won’t be an everyday one. Picollo noted that with his defensive versatility, Frazier “can protect us, so to speak, in a lot of ways.”

Massey, who’ll turn 26 in March, has logged significant big league time in each of the past two seasons but has yet to solidify himself as a productive big league hitter. Selected by the Royals in the fourth round of the 2019 draft, Massey breezed through the minors. He’s a .293/.355/.503 hitter in the minors overall, and he slashed an impressive .312/.371/.532 between Double-A and Triple-A in 2022 before getting his first call to the big leagues.

Unfortunately for both Massey and the Royals, that level of output hasn’t carried over to the big leagues. The lefty-swinging second baseman has appeared in 181 games over the past two seasons and turned in a middling .233/.284/.379 slash. Massey didn’t walk at prolific rates in the minors, but his 5.2% walk rate in 655 MLB plate appearances is clearly lacking. He’s popped 19 home runs and struck out at a slightly lower-than-average 21.5% clip, but his 88.8 mph exit velocity and 38.7% hard-hit rate are both a bit shy of league average.

To his credit, Massey improved down the stretch in 2023. His second-half batting line of .237/.271/.434 still sits well below average, but he cut his strikeout rate from a glaring 28.2% in 200 first-half plate appearances to 15.4% in 228 second-half trips to the plate. Massey reduced his chase rate on pitches off the plate, greatly improved his contact rate on pitches within the zone and generally swung through fewer pitches. The overall quality of his contact didn’t improve much, but the frequency of it did. Were it not for a .238 average on balls in play in that stretch of 228 plate appearances, the second half of his season would likely look a whole lot better.

The 2024 season will be an important one for Massey. He’s still relatively young, heading into his age-26 season, but with another year of comparable production to what he’s already displayed at the MLB level, it’ll be far more difficult for the Royals to continue with him in a prominent role. To that end, that’s one of the areas in which Frazier affords the team some of the “protection” mentioned by Picollo. Frazier’s own production has dropped off since his Pirates days, but last year’s .240/.300/.396 is better across the board than Massey’s was.

Frazier also offers some protection against an uncertain outfield group. MJ Melendez is another once-promising Royals farmhand who’s yet to hit in the big leagues. Free agent signee Hunter Renfroe hits lefties far better than righties. The hope is surely for him to patrol right field on an everyday basis, but if Renfroe struggles, Frazier does have nearly 400 career innings in right field. He also provides the Royals with injury depth for each of Massey, Melendez and Renfroe.

Royals Sign Adam Frazier

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An active offseason for the Royals continued Tuesday, as the team announced the signing of veteran second baseman/left fielder Adam Frazier to a one-year contract with a 2025 mutual option. Frazier, a client of McKinnis Sports, will reportedly be guaranteed $4.5MM in the form of a $2MM base salary in 2024 and a $2.5MM buyout on the 2025 option, which is valued at $8.5MM.

Frazier hit .240/.300/.396 over 445 plate appearances with the Orioles last season, after inking a one-year, $8MM contract back in December 2022.  Brought in to provide some veteran leadership within a young Baltimore infield, Frazier got the bulk of starting second base duty, with Ramon Urias acting a platoon partner in the first half of the season and then Jordan Westburg stepping into the platoon after making his MLB debut.  With Westburg tabbed for a bigger role and star prospect Jackson Holliday also on the verge of his Major League debut and joining Gunnar Henderson in the Baltimore infield in 2024, the Orioles seemed content with moving on from Frazier and turning things over to their impresssive young core.

In signing with Kansas City, Frazier is basically assuming the same role as an experienced big leaguer on an overall young team, even if the Royals have been aggressive in adding some veteran help.  Most of their moves have come on the pitching end (i.e. Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo, and a host of relievers), though the Royals also addressed their position-player mix by signing outfielder Hunter Renfroe to a two-year, $13MM pact and utilityman Garrett Hampson on a one-year, $2MM contract.

The platoon fit isn’t quite as clean in K.C. as it was in Baltimore, as presumptive second baseman Michael Massey is also a left-handed hitter.  However, Massey has yet to show much against big league pitching, with only a .233/.284/.379 slash line to show over the small sample size of 655 career PA.  The Royals obviously still want to see what they have in Massey, and Frazier’s ability to play the corner outfield also creates some room for both players to be in the lineup when a righty is on the mound.

It is also fair to wonder what the 32-year-old Frazier can deliver at the plate, given how his own numbers have been subpar for the better part of four seasons.  Frazier has a .260/.323/.370 slash line and a 94 wRC+ over 1926 PA since the start of the 2020 season, and those numbers are buoyed by a great first half of the 2021 campaign.  Frazier was even named to the 2021 All-Star Game based on that early showing, yet a hefty BABIP suggested that some regression was in order, and that downturn came after Frazier was dealt to the Padres at the trade deadline.

Frazier has been one of the better contact hitters in baseball over the course of his eight-year career, as only 22 qualified hitters have a lower strikeout rate than the 13% number Frazier has posted since debuting with Pittsburgh in 2016.  The problem is that Frazier’s hard-contact and barrel rates are near the bottom of the league in that same period, and with a subpar 7.4% walk rate, Frazier’s offense has tended to wane unless the batted-ball luck is swinging in his favor.

Usually a very solid defensive second baseman, Frazier’s glovework tumbled last year in the view of public defensive metrics.  His 0.2 UZR/150 was just slightly above average, while his -4 Defensive Runs Saved and -15 Outs Above Average painted a more dire picture.  Frazier has been passable enough as an outfielder that he could get more looks in the corners if Massey hits well enough to draw regular work at the keystone, and he could complement Renfroe in right field or MJ Melendez (another left-handed bat) in left field.

While none of the Royals’ expenditures this offseason have individually counted as splurges, the club had already spent $101MM on free agents even before signing Frazier.  K.C. is projected by Roster Resource for an $111.5MM payroll without Frazier’s still-unknown price tag added, so the Royals have topped their $91MM payroll from 2023 by a healthy margin.  This tracks with general manager J.J. Picollo’s statement in early December that the Royals were going to increase their payroll around $30MM this winter, with some possible flexibility to spend even more in the right scenario.

After winning the World Series in 2015, Kansas City was a .500 team in 2016 and has now posted seven straight losing seasons.  A rebuilding process has either yet to fully materialize or has stalled out entirely, given how the Royals’ 106 losses last season matched the highest total in franchise history.  Picollo (who took over the front office late in the 2022 season) might have gotten some leeway in his first full year as GM because a lot of focus was placed on revamping the team’s developmental system, yet it is clear the Royals are aiming to be much more respectable on the field in 2024.  Most of their offseason signings have been pretty short-term in nature, so if necessary, K.C. could pivot to trading any of these veterans at the deadline if the club again isn’t in contention.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported the agreement between the two parties. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported the financial terms.

The Top Unsigned Second Basemen

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Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Spring Training in about three weeks but a slow offseason means there are still plenty of free agents out there. MLBTR already took a look at the catchers, first basemen, shortstops, third basemen, center fielders and starting pitchers still available and will now take a look at some notable second basemen.

  • Whit Merrifield: A late bloomer who also signed an extension with the Royals, Merrifield is now a free agent for the first time at the age of 35. He’s never been a huge power guy, nor does he take many walks, but he’s tough to strike out and has had some success with the contact approach. He’s also provided defensive versatility by playing the keystone and the outfield, along with some brief time at the infield corners. In each of the past three years, he’s hit either 10 or 11 home runs while walking less than 7% of the time, but his strikeout rate has never climbed above 17.1%. He’s stolen 82 bases over those three seasons while getting solid defensive grades at second and passable marks in the outfield corners. His .284/.330/.420 career batting line translated to a 101 wRC+.
  • Tim Anderson: From 2019 to 2022, Anderson hit .318/.347/.473 for the White Sox for a wRC+ of 123. But his batting line dropped all the way to .245/.286/.296 last year. That translated to a wRC+ of 60, the worst mark of any qualified hitter in the league. His glovework also seemed to decline, relative to his previous work. He’s a prime bounceback candidate, with an April knee injury perhaps helping to explain his poor results last year. The lack of available shortstops could lead to him getting a job at that position but he has expressed a willingness to move over to second going forward.
  • Amed Rosario: Mostly a shortstop in his career, Rosario got his first taste of second base in the latter stages of the 2023 campaign. His glovework received solid marks at the keystone, albeit in a small sample of 190 innings. But since he was never considered a strong defensive shortstop, he’s probably best suited to move across the bag regardless. Like Anderson, the weak shortstop market might get him a gig at that spot but he could be a solid option on the other side if that’s his best bet. He’s also a bounceback candidate, having hit .263/.305/.378 for a wRC+ of 88 last year but .282/.315/.412 for a 101 wRC+ in the four previous seasons.
  • Donovan Solano: Somewhat quietly, Solano has been an excellent utility piece over the past five years. Since the start of the 2019 season, he has hit .296/.355/.413 for a wRC+ of 112. His on-base percentage hasn’t been below .339 in any of those seasons and his wRC+ never below 100. He’s done that while playing all four infield positions, though he hasn’t played shortstop in the past two years. The majority of his time in the field has come at second base, where he’s received passable reviews for his glovework.
  • Adam Frazier: Somewhat similar to Merrifield, Frazier doesn’t walk much or run up huge power numbers, but he’s tough to strike out and does a few things well. His 13 homers in 2023 were a career high and he has career walk and strikeout rates of 7.4% and 13%, respectively. He’s hit .269/.331/.393 overall for a wRC+ of 98, though his 2023 output was slightly below that, except in the power department. DRS likes his glovework at the keystone but OAA doesn’t, though both like his work as an outfielder. He’s tallied double-digit steal totals in each of the past three seasons.

Honorable mentions: Elvis Andrus, Enrique Hernández, Tony Kemp, Kolten Wong

Central Notes: Frazier, Pirates, Twins, Tigers, Miller

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The Pirates are coming off a season that saw the club take some steps forward as young players like Jack Suwinski and Johan Oviedo took steps forward while prospects like Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez rose to the majors for the first time. Unfortunately, those young players didn’t help Pittsburgh much in the standings as the club finished fourth in the NL Central with a 76-86 record, 16 games back of the division-leading Brewers while key pieces like Oviedo and Rodriguez are expected to miss the 2024 season.

Those obstacles aren’t stopping the Pirates from participating in the shallower end of free agency, however. The club has already inked Rowdy Tellez and brought back Andrew McCutchen to help fill out the lineup, and Kevin Gorman of TribLive relays comments from GM Ben Cherington indicating the club hopes to add at least one more position player to the mix. One player Gorman notes the club has been connected to in the rumor mill is second baseman Adam Frazier, who spent parts of six seasons in Pittsburgh following the club drafting him in the sixth-round of the 2013 draft and promoting him to the majors in 2016.

Since the Pirates traded Frazier to the Padres partway through the 2021 season, Frazier struggled with both San Diego and Seattle before catching on with the Orioles on a one-year deal last offseason. Though Frazier saw his playing time reduced somewhat by the presence of young, up-and-coming players like Jordan Westburg vying for playing time at the keystone, he still got semi-regular playing time in Baltimore. In 455 trips to the plate with the Orioles last season, Frazier slashed .240/.300/.396 with a wRC+ of 93, a considerable upgrade over the 80 wRC+ he posted in Seattle the previous year. While approximately league average offense and rough defense (-15 OAA, -1 DRS) at second base isn’t exactly an impact signing, the addition of Frazier to the Pirates lineup could offer the club a stable, veteran solution at the keystone while not blocking the likes of Nick Gonzalez from taking a step forward and seizing everyday playing time in the majors.

More from around the league’s Central divisions…

  • The Twins have faced plenty of uncertainty regarding the future of their TV broadcasting situation this offseason, prompting the club to cut payroll even after the club won its first playoff game since 2004. Some clarity of the specifics of Minnesota’s situation could be on the horizon as we head into the new year, according to Phil Miller of the Star Tribune. Miller reports that the Twins have been in the midst of negotiations with Bally Sports North to televise the club’s games in 2024. Though the previous deal between the sides concluded after the 2023 campaign, Miller indicates that BSN has “strong and sincere interest” in a one-year arrangement with the Twins. If the Twins aren’t able to come together with BSN on a deal for 2024, Miller suggests that the club’s games would likely be distributed by MLB as the league did with the Padres and Diamondbacks in 2023.
  • Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris spoke effusively about newly-signed right-hander Shelby Miller after he landed in Detroit on a one-year pact last week. According to Chris McCosky of The Detroit News, Harris was particularly impressed by Miller’s performance with the Dodgers after coming off the injured list last summer. Miller’s final eleven appearances with the club saw him post 12 scoreless innings as he scattered seven hits and one walk while striking out 25.6% of batters faced. Per McCosky, Harris went on to suggest that Miller’s role has yet to be determined. The righty could compete for a spot at “the very back” of the Tigers’ bullpen alongside the likes of Alex Lange and Andrew Chafin or could be used in a multi-inning role. Miller recorded more than three outs in eleven of his thirty-six appearances with the Dodgers last year.
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