Reese McGuire Elects Free Agency
Catcher Reese McGuire elected free agency after clearing outright waivers, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction tracker. The White Sox designated him for assignment over the weekend.
McGuire was on the Sox’s roster for around a month. He was in camp with Milwaukee on a minor league contract but didn’t have a path to an MLB job after the Brewers signed Gary Sánchez to back up William Contreras. McGuire opted out at the end of Spring Training and pulled a big league deal from the White Sox.
The 31-year-old appeared in 11 games, hitting .172 without an extra-base hit across 34 plate appearances. He also had a tough time defensively, committing two passed balls and failing to throw out any of 15 base stealers. The pitching staff probably shoulders some of the blame for the latter issue. McGuire has a reasonably strong arm and threw out an above-average 26% of runners last season in a backup role with the Cubs.
In any case, the White Sox weren’t wedded to McGuire as a backup catcher. He has appeared for four teams, including two separate stints with the Sox, over a career spanning parts of nine seasons. They were paying him a $1.2MM salary, a little above the league minimum.
Players who have more than five years of MLB service time ordinarily can refuse a minor league assignment while retaining their full salary. However, some fringe roster players will sign contracts that include advance consent clauses. Barring injury, those deals aren’t fully guaranteed until 45 days into the regular season.
If McGuire’s deal contained such a clause, the Sox save a couple hundred thousand dollars by swapping him out for Drew Romo, who was selected from Triple-A to replace him. Edgar Quero remains the primary catcher as long as Kyle Teel is on the injured list.
McGuire will likely look for a minor league contract elsewhere. He was reasonably productive on the other side of Chicago last year, popping nine homers in 44 games for the Cubs. McGuire owns a .246/.292/.369 slash line in a little over 1200 career plate appearances.
White Sox Designate Reese McGuire, Select Drew Romo
The White Sox announced that catcher Reese McGuire has been designated for assignment. Taking McGuire’s spot on both the 26-man and 40-man rosters is catcher Drew Romo, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Charlotte.
After signing a minor league deal with the Brewers during the offseason, McGuire triggered an opt-out clause in the contract a few days before Opening Day when it became clear that he wasn’t making Milwaukee’s active roster. McGuire then signed a one-year deal worth $1.2MM in guaranteed money to join Chicago’s roster, as the Sox needed some veteran help to complement Edgar Quero while Kyle Teel was on the injured list. (Korey Lee was also designated for assignment and then outrighted off Chicago’s 40-man roster, as the White Sox seemingly preferred McGuire over Lee.)
The results haven’t been pretty for either Quero or McGuire, as the duo have combined for -0.6 bWAR (the lowest bWAR of any team’s catching corps) in the first month of play. Quero is hitting only .153/.271/.169 over 72 PA, while McGuire has slashed a near-identical .172/.273/.172 over 34 PA. Quero’s struggles are a bigger-picture concern for the White Sox since the young backstop is viewed as a potential building block, yet McGuire is naturally the far more expendable of the two.
If another team claims McGuire off waivers, they’ll absorb the approximately $1MM remaining of McGuire’s 2026 salary. The White Sox may be hoping that the price tag scares off any teams who might be thin enough at catcher to consider a claim, so that McGuire can clear waivers and be outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte.
Since McGuire has been outrighted in the past, however, he has the right to reject any future outright assignments in favor of free agency, so he’ll have some leverage if he does make it through the waiver wire. McGuire also has more than five years of MLB service time, so he would be able to keep his remaining $1MM-ish salary even if he did reject an outright assignment and become a free agent. Any new team who then signed McGuire would only owe him the prorated MLB minimum salary, which would be subtracted from what the White Sox still owe the catcher.
Romo landed with the Sox via a waiver claim off the Mets’ roster in January. This was the third waiver claim in a little over a month for Romo, who went from the Rockies (the team that drafted him 35th overall in 2020) to the Orioles to the Mets and finally to the Southsiders. Chicago then designated Romo for assignment and subsequently outrighted him in February, and Romo didn’t have the ability to elect free agency.
His stint at Triple-A Charlotte has been a smash to date, as Romo has hit .298/.385/.561 with four home runs over his first 68 PA for the Knights. Matching anything close to that production in the big leagues is far-fetched, but it is possible Romo might still hold some late bloomer potential. The catcher is only 24 years old, and his big league resume consists of only 20 plate appearances with Colorado in 2024-25.
Romo will get another chance to show what he can do against MLB pitching, and even an average level of offense would be both an upgrade over McGuire and a chance to take some at-bats away from the struggling Quero. As for Teel, he has already passed the initial 4-to-6 week recovery timeframe for his Grade 2 hamstring strain, yet White Sox GM Chris Getz told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin and other reporters that Teel isn’t quite yet ready to begin a minor league rehab assignment.
White Sox Sign Reese McGuire
The White Sox announced that catcher Reese McGuire, has been signed to a one-year, $1.2MM contract. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers was the first to report the signing shortly before the club’s official announcement. No additional roster move was needed since the Sox had an open spot on their 40-man roster. McGuire is represented by Apex Baseball.
McGuire just opted out of a minor league deal with the Brewers yesterday and had 72 hours to explore the market for a new club. It took him about a day to land in a familiar location, as McGuire previously had a 53-game stint with the White Sox in 2022 (and he played on the other side of Chicago with the Cubs in 2025).
Signing a catcher didn’t seem any kind of priority for a Sox team that had Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero, and Korey Lee all lined up behind the plate, with Teel and Quero projected to get at-bats from both the catching position and the DH slot. However, Teel suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain during the World Baseball Classic that will keep him out of action for about 4-6 weeks, or roughly mid- to late April.
Teel told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin yesterday that he is “progressing fast,” and hoping to miss only about four weeks of time. Even with this positive update and the presence of both Quero and Lee, the White Sox apparently wanted to reinforce their catching depth, and perhaps retain the three-catcher plan they intend to deploy for the rest of the season. Lee is out of minor league options and sending either Teel or Quero down to Triple-A doesn’t seem to be in Chicago’s long-term interest (unless either is really struggling), so it creates an interesting question as to what will happen when Teel is healthy and the Sox are juggling four backstops.
For now, McGuire will suit up for his former team and look to provide his usual solid glovework. A top prospect back during his time in the Pirates’ farm system, McGuire has settled into a journeyman/backup type of career, playing for six different organizations during his career. McGuire has hit .248/.293/.374 with 25 homers over 1178 career plate appearances, with nine of those home runs coming last year with the Cubs (as part of a .226/.245/.444 slash line in 140 PA).
Reese McGuire Opts Out Of Brewers Contract
The Brewers announced that catcher Reese McGuire has become a free agent after exercising an out clause in his minor league contract. Rather than an Article XX(B) free agent situation, this was a specific clause in McGuire’s deal, and Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that McGuire can return to the Brewers if he doesn’t sign elsewhere within the next 72 hours.
William Contreras has Milwaukee’s starting catching job on lock, and Gary Sanchez was signed to a guaranteed big league deal in February. The Sanchez signing was a major roadblock to McGuire’s chances of winning the backup job, plus highly-touted catching prospect Jeferson Quero is at Triple-A and is likely to make his MLB debut before 2026 is over.
This crowded depth chart made it unlikely McGuire would be breaking camp with the team, which is probably why this interesting release clause was negotiated into his contract in the first place. McGuire has over five years of big league service time and can’t be optioned to the minors without his permission, so this 72-hour window gives him some time to access his options before deciding whether or not to accept a trip to the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate.
Catching depth is enough of a need around baseball that McGuire could find another job on a team with a clearer path to MLB playing time. McGuire has a good reputation as a defensive catcher, and he has carved out an eight-year career with four different teams at the Major League level, including a 44-game stint with the Cubs last year that saw the backstop hit .226/.245/.444 with nine homers over 140 plate appearances. That little power surge in Wrigleyville was an outlier, as McGuire has hit only .242/.286/.352 over his last 1040 PA.
Brewers Notes: Priester, Henderson, Quero
Quinn Priester has battled lingering wrist soreness throughout the spring. The Brewers will place him on the 15-day injured list to begin the season. The timeline beyond that isn’t entirely clear, but Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports that Priester will visit a specialist on Wednesday to try to identify the source of the problem.
Priester described the injury last week as intermittent soreness rather than any acute injury. It traces back to the second half of last season. Priester has been able to continue playing catch but hasn’t pitched in a game this spring. They’ll hope that tomorrow’s evaluation can give them a clearer path forward. There’s no indication yet it’s a serious injury. According to the MLB.com injury tracker, the team is still hoping he’ll make his season debut at some point in April.
Manager Pat Murphy said last week that Jacob Misiorowski and Chad Patrick were the only locks for the Opening Day rotation. Brandon Woodruff will obviously be in there as well if he’s sufficiently built up from last year’s lat issue. He threw two innings and 32 pitches in his Spring Training debut over the weekend. Priester would have been a lock if healthy after turning in a 3.32 ERA across 157 1/3 innings last year.
His injury leaves at least two spots up for grabs to begin the season. Logan Henderson has a good chance to win one of them after pitching to a 1.78 ERA while striking out a third of opponents over his first five career starts.
Henderson, who finished last season on the injured list with elbow inflammation, reported minor elbow discomfort over the weekend. Fortunately, the Brewers don’t seem concerned. McCalvy relays that the 24-year-old is feeling better and scheduled to return to mound work tomorrow. He could be back in Cactus League action as soon as this weekend. Henderson has pitched four innings of two-run ball with one strikeout across two spring appearances. It’s a situation to monitor but one that isn’t currently trending towards an IL stay.
Offseason trade acquisitions Brandon Sproat and Kyle Harrison are probably competing with Henderson and lefty Robert Gasser for the rotation jobs. Murphy has also left open the idea of using Aaron Ashby or DL Hall as starters, though they profile better in relief roles.
Hall and Harrison — each of whom has only logged three Spring Training innings so far — are the respective scheduled starters for the next two games. Sproat has surrendered three runs despite striking out seven of 21 opponents. Gasser has been hit around for seven runs on a trio of homers across 6 1/3 frames.
The Brewers also made a few camp cuts this week, most notably optioning catching prospect Jeferson Quero. He’ll begin the season back in Triple-A, where he hit .255/.336/.412 across 250 plate appearances last season. That was the expectation after the Brewers signed Gary Sánchez to a cheap one-year deal to work behind William Contreras.
Non-roster invitee Reese McGuire is also in camp but has an uphill path to a roster spot barring injury. He has gone 2-14 with a homer and six strikeouts. Sánchez has also struggled, hitting .208 without an extra-base knock in 27 trips to the plate. Contreras, Sánchez and Quero are the three catchers on the 40-man roster. McGuire, who cannot be sent to the minors without his consent if he secures a 40-man spot, could attract interest from another team with more flexibility in the backup role later in camp.
Brewers, Reese McGuire Agree To Minor League Deal
The Brewers have signed catcher Reese McGuire to a minor league contract and invited him to major league spring training, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reported last week that the two sides had been talking. McGuire is represented by Apex Baseball.
McGuire, 31 in March, is a former first-round pick and top prospect who’s played in parts of eight major league seasons with four teams — most recently the 2025 Cubs. He hit .226/.245/.444 (86 wRC+) in 140 turns at the plate with Chicago last year and is a career .248/.293/.374 hitter in 400 games and 1178 plate appearances as a big leaguer.
Though he never developed into much of a threat in the batter’s box, McGuire has been a frequently used backup in recent years, due primarily to his defensive acumen. He receives above-average grades for his framing, ability to block balls in the dirt and his throwing. He nabbed eight of 31 thieves on the bases this past season (25.9%) and has a career caught-stealing rate just over 27%.
McGuire has more than five years of major league service time, so if he makes the roster in Milwaukee, the Brewers won’t be able to option him to the minor leagues. As things stand, there would appear to be a good chance that McGuire can indeed break camp with the club. William Contreras is, of course, in line to handle the bulk of the Brewers’ catching work.
Prior to their deal with McGuire, there was no clear backup option. Top prospect Jeferson Quero is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster, but the Brewers aren’t going to have a 23-year-old top-100 prospect sit on the bench as a backup at the major league level. Bringing McGuire into the mix allows Milwaukee to send Quero to Triple-A Nashville where he can play regularly and continue his development. Quero notched 250 plate appearances in Triple-A last season, but that was his first exposure to the top minor league level and he posted only league-average offensive marks in that time. He’s the heir apparent to Contreras behind the dish but isn’t yet ready for a full-time major league look.
The Brewers could always bring in some more veteran catchers to create some competition in camp, but for now, McGuire jumps to the front of the pack as the likeliest in-house option to serve as Contreras’ backup in 2026.
National League Non-Tenders: 11/21/25
Every National League team has officially announced their non-tender decisions. It was a quiet evening in terms of subtractions, with only the Rangers parting with any marquee players. All players who were non-tendered are free agents without going on waivers. A few teams dropped pre-arbitration players from the back of the 40-man roster. It’s possible they preferred not to expose them to waivers and are hopeful of re-signing them to non-roster deals.
Here’s a full list of today’s activity in the NL, while the American League moves are available here. All projected salaries are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.
- The Braves announced that right-handers Alek Manoah and Carson Ragsdale were not tendered contracts. Both had been acquired earlier in the offseason via waivers, and both are now free agents. Manoah was projected to earn $2.2MM. Ragsdale was not arb-eligible.
- The Brewers tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.
- The Cardinals chose not to tender contracts to lefty John King, catcher Yohel Pozo and righty Sem Robberse, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Jorge Alcala, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, was also non-tendered, John Denton of MLB.com adds. King and Alcala were both projected for a $2.1MM salary. The others were not arb-eligible.
- The Cubs non-tendered catcher Reese McGuire, per ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. He hit .226/.245/.444 through 140 plate appearances in a backup catcher role and was arb-eligible for the final time. He’d been projected to earn $1.9MM. Right-hander Eli Morgan, who was projected to earn $1.1MM, was also non-tendered, according to MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian.
- The D-backs non-tendered left-hander Tommy Henry, who’d already been designated for assignment, and right-hander Taylor Rashi. Neither was eligible for arbitration. They tendered contracts to their entire arb class.
- The Dodgers did not tender a contract to closer Evan Phillips, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. He was only under club control for one more season and projected for a $6.1MM salary but underwent Tommy John surgery in June. Dodgers righty Nick Frasso, who was not arb-eligible and finished the season on the 60-day IL, was also non-tendered, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.
- The Giants non-tendered left-hander Joey Lucchesi, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Lucchesi pitched to a solid 3.76 ERA with a below-average 18.8% strikeout rate and strong 7.3% walk rate in 38 1/3 innings and had been projected for a $2MM salary. San Francisco also non-tendered catcher Andrew Knizner, who was designated for assignment this afternoon when the Giants acquired Joey Wiemer from Miami.
- The Marlins tendered contracts to all of their eligible players, per Isaac Azout of Fish On First.
- The Mets are non-tendering right-hander Max Kranick, according to Will Sammon of The Athletic. Kranick, 28, posted a 3.65 ERA in 37 innings with the Mets this year. It was his first big league opportunity since a five-inning cameo with the Pirates back in 2022. Kranick’s season came to an abrupt end back in July due to flexor tendon repair surgery. Southpaws Jose Castillo and Danny Young were also non-tendered, Sammon adds. Young had Tommy John surgery back in May. Castillo was a waiver claim who pitched for four different teams in 2025.
- The Nationals tendered contracts to their entire roster, per a team announcement.
- The Padres announced that lefty Omar Cruz and righty Sean Reynolds were non-tendered. Neither was arbitration-eligible. They tendered contracts to every member of their arbitration class.
- The Phillies non-tendered righties Michael Mercado and Daniel Robert, neither of whom was arbitration-eligible. They’re both free agents. The Phils tendered contracts to all of their arb-eligible players otherwise.
- The Pirates non-tendered outfielders Alexander Canario and Ronny Simon, as well as righties Colin Holderman and Dauri Moreta. All four were designated for assignment earlier in the week. Holderman was projected for a $1.7MM salary and Moreta for $800K. The others weren’t arb-eligible.
- The Reds announced that catcher Will Banfield and right-handers Carson Spiers and Roddery Munoz were not tendered contracts. They’re all free agents. None of the three were arbitration-eligible, but by non-tendering them rather than designating them for assignment, Cincinnati bypasses the need to place them on waivers and can try to quickly re-sign any of the bunch to minor league deals, if the Reds are so inclined.
- The Rockies non-tendered first baseman Michael Toglia, the team announced. He’d been designated for assignment earlier in the week, making today’s non-tender all but a formality.
Cubs Place Miguel Amaya On 10-Day IL, Select Reese McGuire
TODAY: The Cubs officially placed Amaya on the 10-day IL and selected McGuire’s contract from Triple-A.
SATURDAY, 11:00pm: Jesse Rogers of ESPN reports that McGuire is likely to be the Cubs’ choice to replace Amaya on the roster.
10:16pm: The Cubs were dealt a blow to their lineup today when catcher Miguel Amaya exited their game against the Reds due to an oblique issue. As noted by MLB.com’s Mike Petraglia after the game, the issue was described by the club as a left oblique strain and will require a trip to the injured list according to manager Craig Counsell. Petraglia adds that Amaya is expected to undergo imaging to determine the severity of the issue on Tuesday, which will likely give the club a clearer timetable for his return.
In the meantime, it’s safe to assume that Amaya will miss at least the next ten days and quite possibly much longer than that. Teammate Ian Happ required only a minimum stint on the shelf for an oblique issue earlier this month, but it’s not uncommon for more serious strains to require weeks or even months of recovery. It’s impossible to know exactly how long Amaya will be shelved until results from the imaging come back, but an absence of any length is frustrating for the 26-year-old given his brilliant start to the season at the plate this year. Through his first 98 plate appearances this season, Amaya has hit .286/.320/.516 with a 131 wRC+.
The youngster’s .333 BABIP is unlikely to be sustainable and 22.4% strikeout rate that’s five points higher than last year stands as a cause for concern, but even Amaya’s .313 xwOBA suggests at least league average production in his future. That’s a solid outcome for a young a catcher, but figuring out exactly where Amaya’s offensive future is headed will be put on hold for the time being. In the meantime, veteran Carson Kelly figures to step into a larger role behind the plate. The 30-year-old entered the season as the backup to Amaya on paper but forced himself into something of a starting role with a sensational start to the season.
He’s hit an unbelievable .287/.416/.574 in 125 plate appearances entering play today. That 176 wRC+ leads all catchers with at least 80 plate appearances, his nine home runs so far have already tied his total across 91 games last year, and he’s even walking (17.6%) more than he’s striking out (13.6%). It’s superstar level production from Kelly overall, and while he can’t realistically be expected to keep these numbers up forever, he smacked another two hits (including his ninth homer of the year) to improve his numbers for the month of May, which had dipped a touch below league average after a recent cold spell.
With Kelly now more firmly poised to take up the mantle of primary catcher in Chicago, the question remains of who will serve as Kelly’s primary backup while Amaya is injured. Moises Ballesteros is the only other catcher on the Cubs’ 40-man roster at the moment. He made his big league debut while Happ was on the IL earlier this month, but served exclusively as a DH while Seiya Suzuki shifted over to right field to cover for Happ. Ballesteros went 3-for-16 with two walks and a strikeout in his first five-game cup of coffee in the majors but did not take the field as a defender at any position, including catcher. Scouts have long considered his work behind the plate to be questionable, and while his .349/.410/.490 slash line at Triple-A this year shows there’s little left for Ballesteros to prove offensively in the minors it remains to be seen if the Cubs would be comfortable with him serving as a backup catcher in the majors at this point in his development.
If not Ballesteros, the Cubs will need to select the contract of a veteran in the organization on a minor league deal to the 40-man roster. The most likely candidate for that role would seemingly be Reese McGuire, who has 355 games under his belt at the big league level and is considered a quality defender despite being held back somewhat by a lackluster .252/.300/.364 slash line at the plate for his career. Another option would be 34-year-old veteran Carlos Perez, who offers even less with the bat than McGuire but does have five years of MLB experience under his belt and has a strong defensive reputation of his own. Neither player is as exciting as Ballesteros, but for a club that already has one of the league’s best offenses this year it’s fair to wonder if prioritizing defense behind the plate could make sense.
Cubs, Reese McGuire Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cubs and catcher Reese McGuire have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. The Apex Baseball client will presumably receive an invite to major league spring training as well.
McGuire, 30, has appeared in the past seven big league seasons as a part-time catcher. Spending time with the Blue Jays, White Sox and Red Sox, he has appeared in 355 games and stepped to the plate 1,038 times. He has a .252/.300/.364 batting line in that time, which translates to a wRC+ of 80.
Though that puts him 20% below the league average hitter, it’s actually not terrible production for his position, since catchers usually produce about 10% less than par. Unfortunately, the last two years have seen him slide down a bit. With the Red Sox over 2023 and 2024, he slashed .242/.297/.331 for a wRC+ of 70.
Defensively, he’s generally gotten good marks. Outlets like Baseball Prospectus and Statcast consider him to have been a strong framer, while his blocking and work with the running game have been close to average.
When the offense was a bit stronger, McGuire was a useful player. FanGraphs considered him to have been worth least 1.2 wins above replacement in each full season from 2019 to 2022. But as his bat dropped off over the past two years, his value slid along with it. Boston outrighted him off their roster in August and McGuire became a free agent at season’s end.
The Cubs only have two catchers on their 40-man roster now in Miguel Amaya and Carson Kelly. Prospect Moisés Ballesteros should be pushing his way into the mix eventually but he’s only 21 years old and has only 68 Triple-A games under his belt, so perhaps he’ll spend a bit more time in the minors. McGuire will give the club a bit of extra depth without taking up a roster spot for now. If he gets added at any point, he is out of options but his service clock is just below the five-year line, meaning it’s theoretically possible for him to be retained via arbitration for 2026 if he has a roster spot at season’s end.
34 Players Elect Free Agency
As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.
Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com log.
Catchers
- Alex Jackson (Rays)
- Andrew Knapp (Giants)
- Andrew Knizner (D-Backs)
- Reese McGuire (Red Sox)
- Jakson Reetz (Giants)
- Ali Sánchez (Marlins)
- Brian Serven (Blue Jays)
Infielders
- Diego Castillo (Twins)
- José Devers (Marlins)
- Thairo Estrada (Giants)
- Danny Mendick (White Sox)
- Cole Tucker (Angels)
- Jason Vosler (Mariners)
Outfielders
- Billy McKinney (Pirates)
- Cristian Pache (Marlins)
Designated Hitter
- Willie Calhoun (Angels)
Pitchers
- Phil Bickford (Yankees)
- Ty Blach (Rockies)
- Nick Burdi (Yankees)
- John Curtiss (Rockies)
- Kent Emanuel (Marlins)
- Cole Irvin (Twins)
- Casey Kelly (Reds)
- Matt Koch (Rockies)
- Steven Okert (Twins)
- Yohan Ramírez (Red Sox)
- Gerardo Reyes (A’s)
- Trevor Richards (Twins)
- Ryder Ryan (Pirates)
- Kirby Snead (Mariners)
- Touki Toussaint (White Sox)
- Tanner Tully (Yankees)
- Jordan Weems (Nationals)
- Mitch White (Brewers)