Adrian Sampson

Nationals Sign Adrian Sampson To Minor League Deal

By Anthony Franco | May 6, 2025 at 9:37pm CDT

The Nationals signed righties Adrian Sampson and Parker Dunshee to minor league contracts this evening. Both players were assigned to Triple-A Rochester, which announced the moves.

Sampson is the far more experienced of the duo. The 33-year-old righty has pitched in parts of five big league seasons. He has worked 292 2/3 innings in a swing role, turning in a 4.43 earned run average. Sampson’s 17.5% strikeout rate isn’t especially impressive, but he throws enough strikes to be a serviceable depth arm. He spent all of last season working out of the rotation for the Rangers top affiliate. Sampson posted a 5.64 ERA with an 18.8% strikeout percentage against a solid 7.2% walk rate through 28 appearances in a tough setting in the Pacific Coast League.

Texas never promoted Sampson last year, and he returned to minor league free agency at season’s end. He’d remained unsigned throughout the offseason but now gets another opportunity. Shinnosuke Ogasawara and prospect Andry Lara are on the 40-man roster and working out of the Rochester rotation. The Nats are light on non-roster rotation depth. Joan Adon and Konnor Pilkington have some big league experience but are working mostly in relief (exclusively in Adon’s case) in the minors this year.

Dunshee, 30, is a former A’s draftee who received a cup of coffee with the Braves last year. He made one appearance for Atlanta, allowing five runs over 2 1/3 relief innings in his big league debut. The Wake Forest product had strong numbers at the top two levels of the Braves’ system, however. He combined for a 3.34 ERA while striking out nearly 32% of opposing hitters over 59 1/3 frames. Dunshee was bombed for five runs in two-thirds of an inning in the Mexican League earlier this year, but he’ll get a chance to work out of Rochester’s bullpen.

Rangers Sign Adrian Sampson To Minor League Deal

By Darragh McDonald | February 13, 2024 at 3:40pm CDT

The Rangers announced that they have signed right-hander Adrian Sampson to a minor league deal with an invitation to major league Spring Training camp. The righty is a client of Apex Baseball.

It’s something of a homecoming for Sampson, now 32, as he was with the Rangers for three years. Claimed off waivers from the Mariners in November of 2016, he was with the org through the 2019 campaign. By that point, he had thrown 153 major league innings, allowing 5.71 earned runs per nine. He only struck out 17.3% of batters faced but limited walks to a 6% clip.

He went overseas prior to the 2020 season, signing with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization. He posted a 5.40 ERA in his one season in Korea before coming back to sign a minor league deal with the Cubs. He bounced on and off the Cubs’ roster throughout 2021 and 2022, posting solid results but with the numbers under the hood being a bit less impressive. He logged 139 2/3 innings over those two years with a 3.03 ERA, 17.6% strikeout rate and 6.1% walk rate. His .275 batting average on balls in play and 80% strand rate were both on the lucky side, which is why his 4.28 FIP and 4.44 SIERA were much higher than his ERA.

The Cubs retained him via arbitration for 2023, agreeing to a $1.9MM salary. He battled for a rotation job in camp but was ultimately optioned to the minors. While on optional assignment, he required debridement surgery on his right knee and wasn’t able to pitch much. He was outrighted off the roster in late July and flipped to the Rays a few days later. The Rays released him after about a week, indicating he was only really in the deal for financial reasons. The Cubs saved a bit of money while the Rays got some extra international bonus pool space and minor leaguer Manuel Rodríguez.

Due to his knee issue and getting released in August, he only tossed 28 minor league innings on the year with a 9.07 ERA. With the Rangers, he’ll be looking to bounce back for a club with some notable pitching depth concerns, particularly earlier in the year. Each of Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Tyler Mahle are going to start the season on the injured list due to their respective surgeries. That will leave the rotation as Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Andrew Heaney, Dane Dunning and Cody Bradford to start the year, with some of those pitchers having notable injury histories of their own.

The bullpen was already the weakest part of the roster last year and then they lost Aroldis Chapman, Will Smith and Chris Stratton to free agency. They subsequently signed David Robertson and Kirby Yates but Yates is the youngest of the two even though he turns 37 next month.

All told, there could be a need for the defending champions to lean on their non-roster depth this year. Sampson has worked both as a starter and reliever, giving the club depth in both areas. He will jump into a group of experienced guys on minor league deals that includes José Ureña, Shane Greene, Diego Castillo, Austin Pruitt, Chasen Shreve, Danny Duffy and many others. If Sampson is added to the roster at any point, he still has a couple of options remaining.

Rays Release Adrian Sampson

By Anthony Franco | August 8, 2023 at 6:38pm CDT

The Rays released right-hander Adrian Sampson last week, as reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. He’s now a free agent.

Tampa Bay acquired Sampson from the Cubs on the afternoon of the trade deadline. Clearly, his inclusion in that deal was financially motivated. The Rays picked up the roughly $633K remaining on Sampson’s $1.9MM arbitration contract. In exchange, Tampa Bay acquired some international signing bonus space and upgraded their bullpen depth by swapping Triple-A relievers Josh Roberson for Manuel Rodríguez.

Sampson hasn’t made a big league appearance this season. The well-traveled hurler threw 104 1/3 innings for the Cubs a season ago, pitching to a 3.11 ERA. A below-average 17.1% strikeout rate made it seem questionable he’d be able to replicate that kind of run prevention, but the Cubs felt comfortable enough with him as a depth arm to sign him for just under $2MM rather than non-tender him.

Hayden Wesneski beat out Sampson for the fifth starter job in Spring Training. After being optioned to the minors, he suffered a right knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery. Rather than reinstate him from the 60-day injured list, Chicago ran him through outright waivers when he returned to health a couple weeks ago. The 31-year-old has struggled when healthy enough to pitch for Triple-A Iowa, allowing a 10.17 ERA across 23 frames.

While it’s been more or less a lost season, Sampson could find some minor league interest elsewhere. The Rays are paying what remains of his salary. If he cracks the majors with another team this year, that club would only pay him the prorated portion of the $720K league minimum. He owns a 4.43 ERA through parts of five years at the major league level and is only a season removed from the best production of his MLB career.

Rays Acquire Adrian Sampson, Manuel Rodriguez From Cubs

By Tim Dierkes | August 1, 2023 at 11:16am CDT

The Rays announced they have acquired pitchers Adrian Sampson and Manuel Rodriguez and international free agent bonus pool space from the Cubs for minor league pitcher Josh Roberson. Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic first reported the deal.

Sampson, 31, joined the Cubs’ rotation in late June last year as the team dealt with injuries to Marcus Stroman, Drew Smyly, and Wade Miley. The journeyman righty was surprisingly able to stick, putting together 19 starts with a 3.28 ERA. Sampson’s low strikeout rate suggested that level of success was unsustainable, but it was enough for the Cubs to retain him on a $1.9MM arbitration deal.

After losing the Cubs’ fifth starter battle out of camp this year to Hayden Wesneski, Sampson was optioned to Triple-A. In May he hit the IL after a meniscal debridement procedure on his right knee and was bounced from the team’s 40-man roster once he recovered. To retain his career-best salary, Sampson could not reject the Cubs’ outright. Sampson has struggled mightily in his 23 innings at Triple-A this year, but the Cubs were able to clear his remaining $633K salary by including Rodriguez and the international free agent bonus pool space.

The Rays are the next stop for Sampson, who pitched in KBO in 2020 and was with the Rangers, Mariners, and Pirates before that. Until the Rays decide to add Sampson to their 40-man roster, he’ll head to the Triple-A Durham Bulls to serve as extra depth. Yesterday, the Rays picked up Aaron Civale in a trade with the Guardians, sending Taj Bradley back to Triple-A as a result.

Though Sampson has nearly 300 big league innings to his name, Rodriguez could be the bigger get for Tampa Bay. Rodriguez, a 26-year-old righty reliever, logged a total of 31 1/3 innings out of the Cubs’ bullpen in 2021-22 to limited success. The Cubs bumped him from the 40-man roster in January to make room for Julian Merryweather, and Rodriguez cleared waivers and was sent outright to Iowa.

The Cubs have been unable to find room for Rodriguez back on their 40-man or in their big league bullpen this year, despite a relief corps that has struggled at times. Rodriguez worked around 96-97 miles per hour in the Majors, and this year at Triple-A he’s posted interesting numbers despite a BABIP-inflated 4.42 ERA. In 38 2/3 innings, Rodriguez has managed to punch out nearly a third of batters faced, though he’s walked more than 10%. He also sports a groundball rate of 58.4%, which has resulted in only two home runs allowed all year. Like so many Rays relief pickups, this could be an underrated move.

The Cubs add Roberson, a 27-year-old righty reliever who has toiled in the minors since being drafted in the 12th round out of University of North Carolina Wilmington back in 2017. The Rays picked Roberson up as the player to be named later to complete the deal that sent Louis Head to Miami in November 2021. Roberson reached Triple-A for the first time this year, and has posted a 4.50 ERA, 25.7 K%, 13.2% BB%, and 41.1% groundball rate in 36 innings.

Statistically at least, Rodriguez is having a better year at Triple-A than Roberson. Perhaps the Cubs have a good scouting report on Roberson; before the season Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs wrote of “slam dunk big league stuff undercut by 20-grade command.” The salary relief the Cubs are getting on Sampson is likely a factor here in this low-profile deadline day trade.

Cubs Outright Adrian Sampson

By Steve Adams | July 25, 2023 at 9:34am CDT

The Cubs reinstated right-hander Adrian Sampson from the 60-day injured list yesterday, tweets Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times. Rather than add the veteran righty back to the 40-man roster, the Cubs instead passed him through waivers, where he went unclaimed, and assigned him outright to Triple-A Iowa.

Sampson, 31, pitched to a strong 3.03 ERA in 139 2/3 innings with the Cubs from 2021-22 upon his return from the Korea Baseball Organization, although fielding-independent metrics like FIP (4.28) and SIERA (4.44) were far less optimistic, in large part because of a pedestrian 17.6% strikeout rate. Sampson’s 6.1% walk rate was excellent, however, and he kept the ball on the ground at an only slightly below-average 41% clip.

That solid showing notwithstanding, it’s been a tough year for Sampson. The righty sustained a meniscus injury back April that would eventually require surgery. He’s pitched a total of 25 1/3 minor league frames this year and been tagged for an 8.17 ERA in that time. Sampson posted an ERA north of 8.00 in two appearances before the injury and in six appearances since returning.

As a player who’s been outrighted in the past, Sampson does have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, though he lacks the service time required to do so while retaining the remainder of his $1.9MM salary. That salary, paired with his recent struggles, surely tamped down interest in a potential waiver claim.

Given that financial commitment, he’ll surely accept an outright and remain on hand as a depth option for a Cubs team that could move at least one starter between now and next week’s trade deadline.

Cubs Notes: Hendricks, Gomes, Sampson

By Nick Deeds | May 7, 2023 at 11:56am CDT

Veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks has rejoined the Cubs in Chicago to work with the coaching staff midway through his current rehab assignment, as noted by Gordon Wittenmeyer at the Chicago Tribune. Hendricks struggled mightily in two rehab appearances at the Triple-A level last week, surrendering 10 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings of work. Despite those results, though, Hendricks has seen his velocity tick up as high as 90 mph. That marks a return to form for Hendricks, who had seen his fastball velocity decline in recent years, concluding with a fastball that sat 86-87 mph last season.

Entering the 2021 season, Hendricks was not just the most reliable starter in the Cubs rotation, but among the most reliable starters in all of baseball. From 2014 to 2020, only six pitchers with at least 1,000 innings pitched had a lower ERA than Hendricks’s 3.12 figure: Clayton Kershaw, Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Corey Kluber, Zack Greinke, and Chris Sale. Despite that elite company, however, injuries and ineffectiveness have plagued Hendricks since the start of the 2021 season, as the soft-tossing right-hander posted a 4.78 ERA and 4.87 FIP in 265 1/3 innings over the past two campaigns with strikeout, walk, and groundball rates all worse than his career average.

Hendricks saw his 2022 season come to an end early as he underwent surgery to repair a capsular tear in his shoulder last July. He began the season on the injured list as the Cubs decided to take his recovery slowly, though he appears to be nearing a return, with Mark Gonzales noting the club plans for him to return to Triple-A Iowa for rehab starts on Tuesday and Sunday. Upon his return, Hendricks will factor into a rotation that currently sports Marcus Stroman, Justin Steele, Drew Smyly, Jameson Taillon, and Hayden Wesneski.

Also noted by Gonzales is that catcher Yan Gomes has resumed baseball activities. Gomes was placed on the 7-day concussion IL, who was hit in the head by a backswing last week, opening the door for catching prospect Miguel Amaya to make his big league debut. Amaya has shared time behind the plate with Tucker Barnhart while Gomes has been on the shelf, but Gomes figures to take the lion’s share of playing time once he returns from injury.

A less positive injury update came from Cubs manager David Ross regarding right-hander Adrian Sampson, as noted by Wittenmeyer. The 31-year-old journeyman underwent debridement surgery on his right knee on Friday. No timetable has been announced for Sampson’s return to action. After a solid pair of partial seasons with the Cubs that saw him post a 3.03 ERA and 4.28 FIP in 139 2/3 innings since the start of the 2021 season, Sampson was in the mix to be the Cubs’ fifth starter this spring, though he ultimately lost out on the role to Wesneski. Sampson has yet to pitch in the majors for the Cubs this season, but figures to be a depth option for them whenever he returns to the mound.

Cubs Option Adrian Sampson, Name Hayden Wesneski As Fifth Starter

By Mark Polishuk | March 25, 2023 at 1:03pm CDT

The Cubs ended the competition to determine the team’s fifth starter, as manager David Ross told reporters that Hayden Wesneski would be joining the rotation. Adrian Sampson had been one of the other contenders for the job, but the right-hander was optioned to the minor leagues earlier today.

The news officially confirms what had become increasingly obvious during Spring Training, as Wesneski set himself apart with a 2.12 ERA over 17 innings of work, as well as a strong 31.43% strikeout rate and an 8.57% walk rate. By contrast, Sampson struggled to an 8.66 ERA over 17 2/3 innings, while Javier Assad pitched well (2.57 ERA) but tossed only seven innings due to his commitments with Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic.

Wesneski was a sixth-round pick for the Yankees in the 2019 draft, and he came to Chicago at last year’s trade deadline as the return for Scott Effross. That trade is suddenly looking like a pretty significant steal for the Cubs, considering that Effross threw 12 2/3 innings for New York before undergoing Tommy John surgery that will sideline him for the entire 2023 season.

Meanwhile, the Cubs now have a viable starting candidate in Wesneski, continuing his relatively quick career ascension considering that he didn’t pitch at all during the canceled 2020 minor league season. The 25-year-old had solid but not eye-popping numbers (3.68 ERA over 269 minor league innings) on the farm with the Yankees and Cubs, but he looked impressive in his first taste of MLB action last year, delivering a 2.18 ERA, 25% K%, and 5.3% walk rate over 33 innings for Chicago.

Wesneski slots in behind Marcus Stroman, new signing Jameson Taillon, Justin Steele, and Drew Smyly in the Cubbies’ rotation. Longtime Chicago veteran Kyle Hendricks is still recovering from a capsular tear in his shoulder, and Sampson and Assad project as further depth options in the minor leagues.

NL Central Notes: Reds, Weaver, Cessa, Suzuki, Wesneski, Miller

By Mark Polishuk | March 19, 2023 at 10:03pm CDT

Luke Weaver hasn’t pitched since Monday due to a sore forearm, and “I think we’d have to push pretty hard to get him ready for Opening Day,” Reds manager David Bell told the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale and other reporters. Despite the ominous nature of forearm-related injuries, Weaver’s issue seems to be just soreness, and he might throw a bullpen session in a few days’ time. However, that still doesn’t leave the right-hander with much time to fully build his arm strength in advance of the Reds’ first game on March 30.

Weaver was projected to be Cincinnati’s fourth starter, creating another wrinkle in what was already a battle for the fifth starter’s job. Connor Overton, Luis Cessa, Brandon Williamson, and non-roster invitee Chase Anderson were all in the running for the final rotation job, and two of those pitchers might now earn jobs if Weaver indeed needs to miss any regular-season time. Cessa is also a bit of a question mark for workload-related reasons, as he might need to build up his arm since he hasn’t pitched much as a member of Mexico’s World Baseball Classic team. Even if Cessa doesn’t make the rotation, Bell said the right-hander will still be a member of the Reds’ bullpen.

Examining The Cubs’ Fifth Starter Options

By Nick Deeds | February 21, 2023 at 10:38pm CDT

Longtime Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks is expected to begin the season on the injured list, setting the 2023 Opening Day roster in Chicago up to be the first one to not include a member of the 2016 World Series championship team since 2012 following the departure of Willson Contreras and Jason Heyward over the offseason. As fans on the north side of Chicago begin getting used to the new era of Cubs baseball, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer’s front office has an important question to answer this spring: who will take Hendricks’s turn in the rotation while he’s injured?

As manager David Ross told reporters, including the Chicago Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro, young righties Keegan Thompson and Adbert Alzolay do not figure into the club’s rotation plans, with both players expected to start the season as members of the bullpen. That still leaves plenty of options for the final spot in the Cubs’ rotation behind Marcus Stroman, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon, and Drew Smyly, however. Two players in particular seem. to have the inside track toward the first crack at starting for the big league club in 2023:

Adrian Sampson

Perhaps the most likely contender for the role, the journeyman Sampson is entering his age-31 season with a strong chance at an extended look in the big leagues for just the third time in his career. Sampson’s tenure as a member of the Cubs began late in the 2021 season following a late August call-up. Across 10 appearances and five starts, Sampson pitched well, with a 2.80 ERA (152 ERA+) in his 35 1/3 innings of work. The underlying metrics didn’t feel so positively about his performance, however, as Sampson allowed a minuscule .232 BABIP and left a whopping 88.4% of runners on base despite over one in five of his fly balls allowed leaving the yard. Those red flags left him with a concerning 5.72 ERA, but the Cubs saw enough in Sampson to sign him to another minors deal for the 2022 season.

The 2022 season proved to be something of a revelation for Sampson after he received an opportunity in Chicago’s rotation following a slew of injuries. In 104 1/3 innings across 21 appearances (19 starts), Sampson pitched to a strong 3.11 ERA (132 ERA+) that, unlike the previous season, was more supported by underlying metrics. Sampson’s BABIP of .288 and LOB% of 77.6% both returned to figures far closer to his career norms of .299 and 76%, respectively, giving him a much more palatable 3.79 FIP on the season. Much of this improvement came from a drastically reduced home run rate, however, as Sampson saw just 7.7% of his fly balls allowed leave the yard during the 2022 campaign. That rate isn’t likely to be sustainable going forward, leaving a major red flag in Sampson’s profile entering the 2023 season.

Given his success in 2022 and the $1.9MM salary he agreed to for 2023 in a pre-tender deal with the Cubs, it would make plenty of sense if the veteran righty had the inside track to the fifth starter’s job to open the 2023 season even in spite of those concerns. That being said, Sampson still has a minor league option remaining, meaning he could be stashed in Triple-A as depth should he not make the Opening Day rotation. Furthermore, for a team like the Cubs with a handful of pitching prospects approaching the big leagues, it would be understandable for the organization to prioritize figuring out what they have in those youngsters over giving a journeyman like Sampson an extended run, even following his big league success in 2022.

Hayden Wesneski

One such pitching prospect is Wesneski, the right-hander the Cubs acquired from the Yankees at the 2022 trade deadline in exchange for sidearming reliever Scott Effross. Wesneski made his big league debut in September and found instant success, even throwing an immaculate inning during his late season cup of coffee. Overall, Wesneski pitched to a sterling 2.18 ERA (190 ERA+) over 33 innings. He also struck out a quarter of opponents with a meager 5.3% walk rate, leading to an excellent 3.20 FIP backing up his raw run prevention numbers.

This fantastic performance towards the end of the season has seen Wesneski generate considerable hype throughout the offseason, and he enters Spring Training as Sampson’s likely biggest challenger for the fifth starter role in Chicago. As previously mentioned, the Cubs have an assortment of interesting pitching prospects in the upper levels of their minor league system, including Caleb Kilian, Ben Brown, and DJ Herz. Given this reality, it would make plenty of sense for the Cubs to use these early season innings to get Wesneski more experience against big league pitching and see how the league adjusts to him following his strong debut.

However, with just four starts and six total appearances in the big leagues under his belt, it would be understandable if the Cubs wanted to take things slowly with Wesneski. After all, the righty just turned 25 years old and has multiple minor league option years remaining. Additionally, Wesneski’s 143 1/3 innings between Triple-A and the majors in 2022 was a career high, so it’s possible the Cubs will be keeping a close eye on his innings this season, while the club is still working towards a return to contention.

Other Options

While Sampson and Wesneski appear to be the front-runners for the job, there’s a few other players who seem likely to be in the mix for the fifth spot in Chicago’s Opening Day rotation. Ross specifically mentioned right-hander Javier Assad as a potential candidate. Assad, like Wesneski, is entering his age-25 season in 2023 and received a brief cup of coffee in the big leagues in 2022. Over 37 2/3 innings across nine appearances and eight starts, Assad pitched to a strong 3.11 ERA (133 ERA+), though his unimpressive 18.1% strikeout rate and concerning 12% walk rate leave plenty of room for concern, as demonstrated by his 4.49 FIP.

In addition to Assad, a pair of non-roster invitees could see consideration for a rotation spot. Nick Neidert spent his career as a member of the Mariners and Marlins organizations prior to signing with the Cubs on a minor league deal this offseason, and pitched well in 2022, both in 46 innings at the Triple-A level (1.96 ERA) and in a spot start for the Marlins in the big leagues (3.60 ERA over five innings), though he spent much of the season on the injured list.

Meanwhile, Roenis Elias has some success in the big leagues, with a career 3.96 ERA (98 ERA+) and 4.26 FIP in 395 2/3 innings of work in the big leagues. Elias also delivered a particularly strong performance in the Dominican Winter League this offseason, posting a fantastic 0.92 ERA in 39 innings of work. On the other hand, most of Elias’s recent big league experience has come out of the bullpen, with the lefty starting just 5 major league games since the start of the 2016 season. Both Elias and Assad are also set to pitch in the World Baseball Classic this spring, giving the Cubs a unique potential look at their abilities in a more competitive setting than Spring Training can usually provide.

Between Sampson, Wesneski, and the above trio of darkhorse options, the Cubs have an interesting choice to make ahead of Opening Day regarding who will take up Hendricks’s spot in the rotation until he returns from the injured list. It’s possible injuries could make the decision easier by that time, either by taking options out of the running or opening up more spots in the rotation for those competing. Even if that happens, though, the Cubs appear to be in a good place in terms of quality starting pitching depth as they begin to prepare for the 2023 campaign.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: 11/18/22

By Darragh McDonald | November 18, 2022 at 8:42pm CDT

The deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7:00pm Central. There will be a frenzy of non-tenders and trades today, but also some signings.

For many players, there’s little pressure to agree to terms this week. The deadline for exchanging figures isn’t until January 13, with the hearings taking place in March. However, players that are borderline non-tender candidates might get a low-ball offer at this time, with the team hoping that the looming possibility of a non-tender compels the player to accept. As such, deals at this part of the baseball calendar have a higher likelihood of coming in under projections.

One new wrinkle from the new collective bargaining agreement is that all of these deals will be guaranteed. Previously, teams could cut a player during Spring Training and only pay a portion of the agreed-upon figure. However, the new CBA stipulates that any player who settles on a salary without going to a hearing will be subject to full termination pay, even if released prior to the beginning of the season.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for each team’s arbitration-eligible players last month but, as mentioned, it’s not uncommon for the deals agreed to at this time to come in below projections. This post may be updated later as more agreements come in…

Latest

The Tigers announced agreement on a deal with outfielder Austin Meadows. Financial terms are undisclosed. Meadows was projected for a $4MM salary. He’s coming off an injury-plagued first season in Detroit but is arbitration eligible twice more. [UPDATE: Meadows signed for $4.3MM, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.]
The Braves avoided arbitration with Mike Soroka on a $2.8MM contract, the club announced. It’s the same salary he’s made in each of the past two seasons, which is typical for an arbitration-eligible player who didn’t see any MLB action but was nevertheless tendered a contract. Soroka hasn’t pitched since 2020 on account of a pair of Achilles ruptures and some late-season elbow soreness, but he’s expected to compete for a rotation spot in Spring Training. He’s arbitration eligible once more next winter.

Earlier Deals

The Pirates and infielder/outfielder Miguel Andujar agreed at $1.525MM, per Murray. Andujar was claimed off waivers from the Yankees in September.
The Padres announced that they have agreed to a one-year contract with left-hander Jose Castillo. The terms have not been disclosed.
The Diamondbacks announced they’ve agreed to a deal with reliever Cole Sulser. Financial terms haven’t been disclosed, but Sulser has been projected at $1MM. Arizona recently claimed him off waivers from the Marlins.
The Cubs and right-hander Adrian Sampson agreed to a $1.9MM salary, while fellow right-hander Rowan Wick will take home a $1.55MM salary in 2023, according to Jordan Bastion of MLB.com. Sampson broke out in 2022, finishing with a 3.11 ERA across 104 1/3 innings. Wick tossed 64 innings of relief, finishing up with a 4.22 ERA.
The Yankees and right-hander Lou Trivino agreed to a salary of $4.1MM, per Feinsand. Trivino had been a solid reliever for Oakland over the past couple of years but struggled to a 6.47 ERA with them in 2022. He was dealt to the Yankees and then righted the ship with a 1.66 ERA the rest of the way.
The Rockies and Brent Suter avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $3MM salary, per Murray. Suter was claimed off waivers from the Brewers earlier today.
The Brewers and righty Matt Bush have agreed at $1.85MM, per Murray. Bush came over from the Rangers in a deadline deal. He posted a 2.95 ERA prior to the deal and a 4.30 after.
The Marlins and Dylan Floro are in agreement on a contract for 2023, reports Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. He’ll make $3.9MM, Mish reports. Floro tossed 53 2/3 innings in 2022 with a 3.02 ERA.
The Brewers and right-hander Adrian Houser agreed on a $3.6MM salary, per Robert Murray of FanSided. The ground ball specialist saw his ERA jump from 3.22 in 2021 to 4.73 this year as his ground ball rate dropped from 59% to 46.7%. He’s likely the club’s sixth starter going into the winter and could jump into the rotation if someone gets injured.
The Phillies and right-hander Sam Coonrod have agreed on a salary of $775K, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He posted a 4.04 ERA in 2021 but was limited to just 12 2/3 innings this year due to a shoulder strain.
The Tigers and left-hander Tyler Alexander agreed on a salary of $1.875MM, per Murray. Alexander got into 27 games in 2022, 17 of those being starts. His 4.81 ERA was certainly on the high side, but he had a 3.81 in 2021.
The Yankees and shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $6M salary. You can read more about that here.
The Braves and left-hander Tyler Matzek avoided arbitration by agreeing to a two-year deal. You can read more about that here.
The Giants and outfielder Mike Yastrzemski avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $6.1MM deal, per Jeff Passan of ESPN. He first qualified for arbitration a year ago as a Super Two player and earned $3.7MM in 2022. He took a step back at the plate this year with a line of .214/.305/.392 but still provided value with his glovework.

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