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Cubs Claim Justin Dean

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The Giants announced that outfielder Justin Dean has been claimed off waivers by the Cubs. San Francisco had designated him for assignment last week to open a roster spot for Tyler Mahle. Chicago had multiple 40-man vacancies and doesn’t need to make a corresponding move. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle was among those to relay the transaction.

Dean, 29, just made his major league debut with the Dodgers last year. He was mostly used as a pinch runner and late-game defensive replacement. He appeared in 18 games for the Dodgers but only made two plate appearances. He then appeared in 13 postseason games as part of the Dodgers’ World Series run, but without making a plate appearance in any of those.

His speed gives him a decent floor as a guy who can steal some bases and run the ball down on the grass. From 2021 to 2025, he swiped 176 bags in 213 attempts in the minors, an 82.6% success rate.

His offense is more questionable but his 2025 was encouraging. Throughout his minor league career, he has drawn free passes but also been punched out at hefty rates. From 2021 to 2024, he had a nice 12.2% walk rate but an ugly 29.6% strikeout rate. In 2025, he was only struck out 23.6% of the time while keeping his walk rate at a healthy 11.2%. The result was a .289/.378/.431 line and 110 wRC+ in Triple-A, though that was propped up by a .380 batting average on balls in play.

The Dodgers bumped him off their 40-man at the end of the season. The Giants grabbed him off waivers and held him for a couple of months but ended up putting him back on the wire. For the Cubs, he’s a fine depth add, especially since they had multiple roster spots open. Dean still has a full slate of options and doesn’t need to be on the big league roster.

Chicago’s outfield alignment projects to feature Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki in starting roles. Kevin Alcántara, James Triantos and Pedro Ramírez are on the 40-man roster and could be candidates for bench roles. Triantos and Ramírez have no big league experience and still have options, so the Cubs would likely prefer them to be getting regular reps in the minors as opposed to sitting in the big league dugout. Alcántara has been optioned for extended stretches in each of the past three years but could qualify for a fourth option.

Since Dean is himself optionable, he could either be getting regular playing time in the minors or he could be in the majors, providing speed and defense off the pine. He has just 52 days of service time, so he can be cheaply controlled for the foreseeable future, as he won’t qualify for arbitration for at least three years.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Giants Aggressively Pursuing Second Base Upgrade

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That the Giants are in the market for help at second base is well known at this point, but ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that San Francisco has been particularly “aggressive” in its pursuit of late, with recent talks regarding a pair of NL Central standouts: Nico Hoerner of the Cubs and Brendan Donovan of the Cardinals. Both were known targets for the Giants already, but it’s notable that they’re ostensibly ramping up their efforts to make a deal happen.

Giants second basemen were among the least-productive in all of baseball in 2025, hitting a combined .217/.273/.343. The resulting 73 wRC+ (indicating they were 27% worse than average at the plate) ranked 27th in the majors, leading only the Angels, A’s and Rockies. Tyler Fitzgerald led San Francisco with 233 plate appearances as the team’s second baseman, followed by Casey Schmitt (193), Christian Koss (137) and Brett Wisely (43). All four posted well below-average numbers with the bat while playing second base (though Schmitt hit better while playing other positions and was close to league-average with the bat overall).

Either Donovan or Hoerner would stand as a major upgrade. Both will play next season at 29 years old. Both are established contact hitters with defensive versatility, although the presence of Matt Chapman and Willy Adames on the left side of the infield would lessen the Giants’ need to take advantage of that positional flexibility. Donovan, who agreed to a one-year deal worth $5.8MM to avoid arbitration last week, is controlled through the 2027 season. Hoerner is owed $12MM in the final season of his three-year, $35MM contract this season.

Donovan figures to be the more readily available of the two in trade talks. The Cardinals are in the early stages of a multiyear rebuilding effort under new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom. They’ve already shipped out Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras in separate trades to the Red Sox, and they’ve been fielding interest in lefty JoJo Romero while also working to find a taker for Nolan Arenado. Donovan’s remaining two years of club control don’t align with a realistic path to contention in St. Louis, and of all the team’s offseason trade assets, he stands as the one most likely to net a significant return.

Since making his MLB debut four years ago, Donovan has done nothing but hit. He carries a lifetime .282/.361/.411 slash in the batter’s box (119 wRC+) and has regularly proven to be one of the game’s toughest strikeouts. He drew a walk in 8.2% of his plate appearances in 2025 (9.1% career) and fanned at only a 13% clip (13.5% career). Donovan’s power is below average — he’s never topped 14 homers in a season — but he’s a former All-Star and Gold Glove winner who can also handle third base and the outfield corners (and perhaps some shortstop, in a pinch).

Hoerner is statistically one of Donovan’s most comparable hitters. Over the past five seasons, his .285/.342/.388 line (106 wRC+) closely resembles Donovan’s production. Hoerner runs far more often (131 steals to Donovan’s 15) and would be a plus defender at shortstop if not for the fact that he slid over to second base in deference to Dansby Swanson at shortstop.

Unlike the Cardinals, however, the Cubs are in clear win-now mode. Trading Hoerner just days after agreeing to a five-year deal with Alex Bregman would offset much of the good brought about by that Bregman signing. Given that, it seems quite likely that the Cubs would seek immediate MLB talent in any trade involving Hoerner, and the cost of acquisition would be fairly steep. Chicago could always move former top prospect Matt Shaw to second base — he might be the heir-apparent there now anyhow — but the Cubs could also simply keep all three infielders for the 2026 season and use Shaw in a utility role before handing second base to him full-time in 2027.

Payroll-wise, the Giants should have little problem fitting either player into the picture. RosterResource currently projects a $185MM payroll for San Francisco. That’s up a few million from last year’s levels but also a ways shy of the $200MM franchise record set back in 2018. And considering the fact that over the past 18 months, ownership has made three separate nine-figure commitments (Chapman’s $151MM extension, Adames’ $182MM contract, the $250MM+ remaining on Devers’ contract), it stands to reason that they’re at least open to further additions.

It bears mentioning that there’s no indication from Passan that Hoerner and Donovan are the only two targets on which the Giants are focused. The free-agent market still has one high-profile option in Bo Bichette, and even if he lands elsewhere, that deal itself could create some potential avenues for the Giants to explore. If Bichette were to sign in Philadelphia, for instance, the Phillies might be more inclined to part with Bryson Stott than would otherwise be the case. If he ended up in Boston, the Red Sox might have some additional infielders to discuss in trades. There are various paths the Giants can consider and other needs left to address on the roster (namely the bullpen), but having added Tyler Mahle and Adrian Houser in the rotation, it appears second base is their focus for the time being.

Yankees Have Shown Interest In Nico Hoerner, Luis Robert Jr.

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At the start of the offseason, it felt inevitable that the Yankees and Cody Bellinger would reunite. That may still happen but it seems up in the air at the moment. Talks between the two sides have seemingly stalled out. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports today that both sides have been exploring alternatives lately. Bellinger has interest from other clubs. Meanwhile, the Yankees have been touching base with free agents Bo Bichette and Kyle Tucker, who they have been connected to previously. They’ve also checked in on trade candidates Luis Robert Jr. of the White Sox and Nico Hoerner of the Cubs. The Yanks’ interest in Hoerner was first reported by Pat Ragazzo of SI.

Bellinger spent 2025 in the Bronx and it seemed to go well. He hit 29 home runs and slashed .27/.334/.480 for a wRC+ 125. He stole 13 bases and played all three outfield slots as well as first base. He appeared to be especially comfortable in Yankee Stadium, slashing .302/.365/.544 there. He opted out of the final season of his contract, taking a $5MM buyout and leaving a $25MM salary on the table. At the start of the offseason, MLBTR predicted Bellinger to have enough juice for a five-year, $140MM deal.

It was reported on New Year’s Day that the Yanks had made an offer to Bellinger. A few days later came reports of a second offer. No details of either offer were initially revealed but further reporting indicated the sides weren’t close to a deal. Subsequent reporting has put the Yankee offer at five years and over $30MM annually, putting the guarantee somewhere in the vicinity of $155MM. That hasn’t been enough to get a deal done with Bellinger hoping to get to seven years.

It seems the two sides have taken a break from the staredown to look elsewhere. Heyman says they continued talking over the weekend but each party is considering alternatives. Heyman mentions the Dodgers, Giants and Mets as clubs believed to have interest in Bellinger. Those clubs have all been tied to Bellinger via rumors earlier this winter but are imperfect fits. All three could use outfield help to varying degrees but they also appear to be trying to avoid long-term commitments at the moment.

Since the hold-up between the Yankees and Bellinger appears to be the length of their offer, it’s hard to envision any of these clubs outbidding the Yankees. Any of the three could perhaps change their stance to take advantage of this opportunity but it also could be more likely that those clubs would prefer to get Bellinger via another short-term, opt-out laden deal. It’s unclear if he would want to do that after going down that road a couple of years ago, but it presumably depends on where things go in the next few weeks.

The Blue Jays have also been connected to Bellinger this winter but it seems they are more focused on Bichette and Tucker with Bellinger perhaps a backup plan. The Cubs were also connected to their old friend Bellinger this winter but signing Alex Bregman is presumably their big splash of the winter.

For the Yankees, they could perhaps increase their offer but are also seeing what else is on the menu. With Hoerner, it’s unclear if the Cubs have any interest in trading him but he has been in rumors and it’s arguable they should consider it. Hoerner is a good player but is a free agent after 2026. With the Cubs recently signing Bregman, their infield is now a bit cluttered. Putting Bregman at third bumps Matt Shaw to the bench.

If they wanted to, the Cubs could trade Hoerner and then move Shaw to second base. That would declutter things a bit and also should bring back something of note. Hoerner’s $12MM salary this year is very affordable considering his production. He doesn’t hit a ton of home runs but rarely strikes out, relying on his contact, speed and defense to provide value. It’s a combination that works, as FanGraphs has credited him with 3.9 wins above replacement or more in each of the past four years.

It could also give the Cubs a bit more breathing room in terms of the competitive balance tax. The Cubs went narrowly above the CBT in 2024 but have otherwise stayed under the line in each season from 2021 to the present.

RosterResource currently estimates them for a CBT number of just over $243MM, putting them less than a million from this year’s line. A team’s CBT number isn’t calculated until the end of the year, so in-season moves can move a club up or down. If the Cubs want to avoid the tax in 2026, creating some space now could be something they consider to give them more ability to make moves at the deadline.

For the Yankees, Hoerner wouldn’t help replace Bellinger in the outfield but he should make the team better. Though he has largely been a second baseman for the Cubs, he is considered good enough to be a shortstop. He has just been on the other side of the bag in deference to Dansby Swanson.

The Yanks have an uncertain shortstop situation at present, hence their previous connection to Bichette. Anthony Volpe is coming off a down year and may not be ready for Opening Day 2026 as he recovers from shoulder surgery. José Caballero currently projects as the top shortstop for the early season, though he has mostly been a utility guy in his career. If the Yanks add a shortstop, then he could return to that role.

The thinking with signing Bichette had a couple of attractions. He could upgrade the shortstop position now, then second base in the future. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is currently the club’s second baseman but he is slated for free agency after the upcoming season. With the Yanks having shortstop prospect George Lombard Jr. waiting in the wings, Bichette could cover short for a year and then slide to the other side of the bag with either Lombard or a resurgent Volpe at short.

Hoener wouldn’t be quite the same acquisition, barring an extension, as he is only signed through 2026. Still, that would likely have appeal for the Yankees in a different way. They could upgrade the middle infield for now without making a huge commitment. After 2026, depending on how things go with Lombard, Volpe, Hoerner and Chisholm, they could then decide about how to invest in the middle infield for the long term.

They would, however, have to give the Cubs something of value in return. As mentioned, it’s unclear if the Cubs have any interest at all in flipping Hoerner. Even if they do, they would presumably be looking for some kind of win-now upgrade, likely on the pitching staff. With the Yanks looking for pitching help themselves, it may be challenging to line up a deal that makes sense for both sides.

As for Robert, he is surely available but also tricky to value. He has shown borderline MVP upside but is coming off two years marred by injuries and underperformance. In 2023, he hit 38 home runs and stole 20 bases, slashed .264/.315/.542 and got strong grades for his center field defense. But since then, he has made a number of trips to the injured list while slashing .223/.288/.372 for a wRC+ of 84.

The White Sox are rebuilding and will surely trade Robert but are seemingly hoping to trade him at peak value. He wasn’t moved in 2025 even though it was the final guaranteed year of his contract. They picked up a $20MM option for 2026. Teams like the Yankees and others might want to buy low but the Sox are likely motivated to wait. After his down year, it would make sense to hold him until the deadline, with the hope of him getting back in form and therefore increasing his trade value.

The Yankee outfield currently projects to include Aaron Judge and Trent Grisham in two spots. If the season started today, Jasson Domínguez and Spencer Jones would battle for a third. Domínguez is coming off a rough year in 2025, with an average bat and poor defense. Jones hit 35 home runs in the minors last year but also struck out 35.4% of the time, creating some doubt about how viable his bat will be in the majors.

Acquiring Hoerner wouldn’t do much to change that picture but perhaps the Yanks would be more comfortable with the uncertainty of the Domínguez/Jones combo with a stronger infield. Bringing back Bellinger, signing Tucker or acquiring Robert would strengthen the outfield group, bumping Domínguez to more of a part-time role and keeping Jones in Triple-A.

There are many moving pieces here as the offseason moves into the final weeks before pitchers and catchers report to spring training. Tucker, Bichette and Bellinger are the top position players still out there, with a lot of overlapping interest. The Jays are seemingly in on all three, considered by some to be the favorites for Tucker but a Bichette reunion also makes sense. Like Bellinger, Bichette is considering other options. He is meeting with the Phillies today, although that is a bit complicated, as Philadelphia would seemingly have to move on from both J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm to fit Bichette onto the roster and into the budget. The Red Sox just missed on Bregman and could turn to Bichette but they don’t seem too keen on big long-term investments. The Dodgers, Giants and Mets may be looking to get opportunistic if a nice short-term opportunity becomes possible.

It’s a bit of a game of musical chairs with the Yankees and Bellinger some of the key participants. Bregman just found a seat in Chicago but others will have to sit soon. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in about a month, so the music is slowing down.

Photo courtesy of Sergio Estrada, Imagn Images

Quick Hits: Davis, Kranick, Collins

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Former Giants and Red Sox outfielder Jaylin Davis announced his retirement in a post on his Instagram page, choosing to end his pro career at age 31 after four MLB seasons.  “This game has been a blessing, and while this chapter closes, I’m excited for what’s next,” Davis wrote.  MLB Trade Rumors congratulates Davis on his career, and we wish him all the best in the upcoming chapter of his life.

Davis faced a long road just to get to the majors as a 24th-round pick for the Twins in the 2015 draft, but his inclusion in the 2019 deadline trade that brought Sam Dyson from Minnesota to San Francisco allowed Davis to get his first taste of the Show.  The outfielder played in 17 games that season, and then made nine more appearances for the Giants over parts of the 2020-21 seasons before a Boston waiver claim resulted in 12 games with the Sox in 2022.  Davis finishes his career with a .207/.274/.299 slash line over 95 plate appearances in the majors, as well as a respectable .832 OPS over 1178 at the Triple-A level.  His final three pro seasons were spent in the Mets’ farm system, and with the independent American Association and Atlantic League.

More from around baseball as we wrap up the weekend…

  • Max Kranick will throw on Monday for the first time since undergoing flexor tendon surgery in July, according to the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon.  Kranick is aiming to be ready for action for the second half of the 2026 season, fitting the usual 12-month estimate for flexor tendon procedures.  The Mets non-tendered Kranick in November, so any teams interested in the right-hander could look to sign him to a two-year free agent deal, with the idea of locking up Kranick for 2027 when he’ll presumably be fully recovered.  Kranick’s MLB resume consists of 43 2/3 innings of 5.56 ball with the Pirates in 2021-22, and a more impressive 3.65 ERA and a tiny 3.4% walk rate over 37 innings with New York last season (albeit with only a 16.9% strikeout rate).
  • Left-hander Tim Collins is attempting a comeback, and will throw for scouts this Wednesday, The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli reports.  Collins posted a 3.60 ERA over 242 1/3 relief innings with the Royals, Nationals, and Cubs from 2011-19, and didn’t see any big league work from 2015-17 due to a pair of Tommy John surgeries.  His nine games with Chicago in 2019 was seemingly it for Collins as a pitcher, as he opted out of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and then stepped away from playing, becoming a minor league coach for the Phillies over the last two years.  The 36-year-old Collins has now caught the pitching bug again, and it will be interesting to see if he can resume his career after this second large gap in his career.

Giants, Eric Haase Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Giants are in agreement with catcher Eric Haase on a minor league contract, reports Jon Morosi of The MLB Network. The Warner Sports Management client would lock in a $1.6MM base salary if he breaks camp and can opt out at the end of Spring Training if he’s not on the MLB roster.

Haase finished last season in Triple-A with the Brewers. He spent the first half of the season on the big league roster as William Contreras’ backup. Milwaukee acquired Danny Jansen in a deadline trade and pushed Haase to Triple-A. He cleared waivers and appeared in 19 minor league contests. He elected free agency at the end of the year.

The 33-year-old Haase has played parts of eight seasons in the big leagues. He had a two-year run as a #1 option with his hometown Tigers from 2021-22. Haase has otherwise mostly been a backup and combined for 60 appearances with the Brewers over the last two seasons. He has some right-handed power but has plenty of swing and miss. Haase has fanned at a 31% clip while hitting .228/.278/.396 in just under 400 big league contests. He’s regarded as a fringe defender behind the dish. Haase has a plus arm but hasn’t graded highly as a receiver, either framing or blocking balls in the dirt.

Two-time Gold Glove winner Patrick Bailey will get the majority of playing time behind the dish. The Giants were lacking in experience behind the defensive stalwart. Rule 5 pick Daniel Susac and prospect Jesus Rodriguez, neither of whom has played in MLB, are the other catchers on the 40-man roster. Logan Porter was their only non-roster catcher with any big league experience. He’s an organizational depth type who has played in 16 career games.

Rodriguez, whom the Giants acquired from the Yankees in the Camilo Doval deadline deal, is coming off a .307/.393/.403 showing in the upper minors. The Giants had him travel with the MLB team as a member of the taxi squad in the final week of the ’25 season. They’ll give serious consideration to allowing him to make the team. He has two options remaining and could be sent back to the minors. The Giants don’t have that luxury with Susac, who needs to stick on the MLB roster or be offered back to the A’s. The former first-round pick is coming off a .275/.349/.483 showing in an extremely hitter-friendly setting in Triple-A.

MLBTR Podcast: Contracts For Imai And Okamoto, And Thoughts On The Pirates And Giants

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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 Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

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!

Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images

Angels Claim Wade Meckler

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The Angels announced that they have claimed outfielder Wade Meckler off waivers from the Giants. He had been designated for assignment by San Francisco last month. The Halos had a couple of 40-man vacancies and didn’t need to make a corresponding move.

Meckler, 26 in April, changes teams for the first time. The Giants drafted him in 2022 and he has been with that club until today. Generally speaking, he has a contact-based approach at the plate with limited power. He stepped to the plate 1,157 times in the minors over the past three years with just 16 home runs but his 13.1% walk rate and 16.7% strikeout rate in that span were both excellent figures. Even with the lack of power, his combined line of .311/.403/.431 in those seasons translated to a 127 wRC+, with some help from a .371 batting average on balls in play.

Despite the solid numbers, the Giants never gave him much time in the majors. He got a brief look in 2023, hitting .232/.328/.250 in 64 plate appearances, but wasn’t called up in either of the past two campaigns.

Whether his offensive approach can work against big league pitching isn’t really known at this point. According to Baseball America, he does well with fastballs but whiffs on a lot of breaking pitches. He does have a solid floor thanks to his speed and defense, however. BA describes his speed as “double-plus”. During his brief stint in the majors in 2023, Statcast ranked his sprint speed in the 95th percentile of big leaguers. He has played all three outfield spots in his professional career.

The Angels don’t really have a clear solution in center field right now. Jo Adell got most of the playing time there in 2025 but his defensive grades were poor. The Halos opened a corner for him by trading Taylor Ward to the Orioles for Grayson Rodriguez. The club has some willingness to let Mike Trout play center field going forward, after limiting him to right field and the designated hitter spot in 2025, but that likely wouldn’t be for more than an occasional appearance.

Bryce Teodosio got into 50 games in center for the Angels last year and got good grades for his glovework, but he hit just .193/.236/.287. Matthew Lugo is in the mix but he’s a converted infielder without the same defensive acumen. He hasn’t hit yet in the majors either. Kyren Paris is in a somewhat similar position. Nelson Rada might take over the position in the long run but he’s only 20 years old and hasn’t made his major league debut yet.

Considering that group, the Angels have been understandably linked to the center field market this offseason, but they haven’t really done anything about it. Perhaps that will change before Opening Day but it’s a good landing spot for Meckler now. He can battle for playing time either as the regular center fielder or for a role as a fourth outfielder. He also has an option remaining and could be sent to Triple-A as depth.

If things go well, the Angels can keep him around for a while. He has just 24 days of big league service time, that means he is still years away from qualifying for arbitration and even further from free agency.

Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images

Giants Designate Justin Dean For Assignment

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The Giants have designated outfielder Justin Dean for assignment, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. That’s the corresponding 40-man roster move for their signing of right-hander Tyler Mahle.

Dean, 29, has never played for the Giants. He was only just claimed off waivers from the Dodgers in early November, shortly after he won the World Series with Los Angeles. The Dodgers mostly used him as a pinch runner and defensive replacement. He played in 18 games last year, making his major league debut, but only made two plate appearances. He then appeared in 13 postseason games without a plate appearance.

In the minors, Dean has been good for double-digit steals in each season of his career going back to 2018, with the exception of the canceled 2020 season. However, he’s never reached double digits in the home run department. He has 2,038 minor league plate appearances from 2021 to 2025 with a solid 12.1% walk rate but a high strikeout rate of 28.6%.

There was some recent improvement in terms of the punchouts, as he only struck out in 23.6% of his minor league plate appearances in 2025, a noticeable improvement compared to prior years. That helped him slash .289/.378/.431 for a 110 wRC+ in Triple-A last year while stealing 27 bases in just 90 games.

It’s the profile of a decent bench outfielder, as a floor. The Giants were intrigued enough to grab him off the wire a couple of months ago but he’s now been squeezed off their roster. Perhaps they are hoping he can be passed through waivers this time around, which would allow them to keep him as non-roster depth. He doesn’t have three years of big league service time nor a previous career outright, so he wouldn’t have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.

He does have a full slate of options, so perhaps he will appeal to other organizations looking for a depth piece of the speed-and-defense variety. He’ll be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Giants could take five days to field trade interest.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Giants’ GM Zack Minasian Discusses Rotation

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The Giants finalized their one-year, $10MM contract with Tyler Mahle this afternoon. He’s their second short-term free agent rotation addition. They brought in Adrian Houser on a two-year, $22MM deal last month.

Mahle and Houser are back-end types rather than the top-of-the-rotation arm which many fans hoped the Giants would add when president of baseball operations Buster Posey called pitching the offseason focus. The team has consistently downplayed their desire to make expensive or long-term free agent commitments and their first couple moves align with that reluctance. Like every team, they’ll continue to keep an eye on the rotation market, but general manager Zack Minasian suggested the Mahle and Houser moves may complete the rotation.

“We’re very comfortable with the five that we have and then the bundle of arms behind them now to say that our depth is in a much better spot than it was at the beginning of the offseason,” Minasian told reporters (links via John Shea of The San Francisco Standard and Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle). “We’re happy with where we’re at. We’ll keep working at it but I do think this is a solid five-man rotation going into the spring.”

Mahle and Houser would slot alongside Landen Roupp as the back three starters behind Logan Webb and Robbie Ray. They have a number of intriguing but unproven younger arms who’d compete to be the first one up in the event of an injury. Trevor McDonald, Keaton Winn, Hayden Birdsong, Carson Whisenhunt, Carson Seymour and Blade Tidwell are all on the 40-man roster. Everyone in that group has minor league options remaining and/or could contribute in a multi-inning role out of the bullpen.

While it’s a deeper group than most clubs have, the Giants are arguably lacking at the top end of the staff. Webb is a true ace, of course, but Ray tailed off in the second half. He had a solid year overall, striking out nearly a quarter of opponents with a 3.65 ERA across 182 1/3 innings. His ERA spiked to 5.54 as his strikeout rate dropped by five percentage points after the All-Star Break.

Houser was in Triple-A at the beginning of last season. He had a fantastic ERA over 11 starts for the White Sox but struggled after a deadline trade to Tampa Bay. Mahle is coming off a 2.18 ERA over 16 starts for the Rangers, yet his 19.1% strikeout rate was well below the plus marks he posted early in his career with the Reds. The righty also hasn’t reached 25 starts in any of the past four seasons because of 2022 Tommy John surgery and shoulder issues in each of the last two years.

The Giants opened the 2025 season with a $173MM payroll. RosterResource estimates they’re around $185MM for next season. That doesn’t include a $17MM deferred signing bonus owed to Blake Snell which comes due next week. The Giants have yet to address a wide open right field spot or done anything to add a late-inning reliever after last summer’s Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers trades and losing Randy Rodríguez to injury. They’re also poking around for an upgrade over Casey Schmitt at second base.

The payroll situation has seemingly taken them out of the mix for the top free agent starters. Trading Ray would offload most or all of his $25MM salary and create some short-term spending capacity if they wanted to upgrade the #2 starter spot, but that’d require a longer deal than their remaining one year commitment to Ray. (Framber Valdez, Ranger Suárez and Zac Gallen are the top unsigned starters.) Trading for a controllable starter like MacKenzie Gore and Edward Cabrera would require significant prospect capital. Even if the Giants turn to the trade market, they may focus more on the other needs and hope that Roupp and/or one of the unproven starters takes a step forward to raise the rotation’s ceiling.

Nationals Claim Joey Wiemer

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The Nationals have claimed outfielder Joey Wiemer off waivers from the Giants, reports Robert Murray of Fansided. San Francisco designated Wiemer for assignment last month in order to open a roster spot for newly signed reliever Jason Foley.

Wiemer, 27 next month, was a fourth-round pick by the Brewers in 2020 and previously drew some top-100 fanfare back in 2022-23. His stock has since dipped as he’s bounced from Milwaukee to Cincinnati to Kansas City via the trade market, and now from Miami to San Francisco following a pair of DFAs.

In parts of three big league seasons, Wiemer carries a tepid .205/.279/.359 batting line with a strikeout rate just under 30%. That said, he popped 13 homers and swiped 11 bags as a rookie in 2023 and has held his own against lefties in the majors, hitting .255/.298/.484. It’s a power-over-OBP skill set, but Wiemer can play all three outfield spots and has a solid glove. He’s drawn positive marks in left, center and right in his career, drawing 11 Defensive Runs Saved and 7 Outs Above Average overall.

Wiemer is out of minor league options, so he’ll need to stay on Washington’s 40-man roster for the rest of the offseason and break camp with the team or else be designated for assignment once again. He can’t be sent to the minors without first passing through waivers.

For now, he projects as a possible bench option who could provide a righty-swinging complement to outfielders like James Wood, Daylen Lile and Robert Hassell III — although it’s also possible that the acquisition of Wiemer bumps Hassell back down to Triple-A. Hassell, unlike Wiemer, has minor league options remaining. A return trip to Triple-A Rochester could afford him everyday at-bats as he hopes to carve out a larger role on the big league club.

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