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Giants To Sign Sam Hentges

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The Giants and left-hander Sam Hentges have agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.4MM, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The Giants have an open 40-man spot and won’t need to make a corresponding move when the deal becomes official. The southpaw is represented by Warner Sports Management.

It’s a buy-low wild card move for the Giants. Hentges was a solid bullpen piece for the Guardians a few years ago but he hasn’t been healthy for a while. Over the 2022 and 2023 campaigns, Hentges tossed 114 1/3 innings for Cleveland, allowing 2.91 earned runs per nine. His 7.9% walk rate was just barely better than average while his 27.4% strikeout rate and 60.1% ground ball rate were both very strong. He gradually moved up to high leverage work, earning 23 holds over that span.

In 2024, he kept things going for a while, posting a 3.04 ERA over another 23 2/3 innings. However, he hit the injured list in July due to some inflammation in his throwing shoulder. He required surgery in September, a procedure which came with a recovery timeline of 12 to 14 months.

Though he was likely to going miss most or all of 2025, the Guards still kept him around. He was still under club control through 2027, so there was still a potential long-term payoff. He had qualified for arbitration ahead of 2024 as a Super Two player and made $1.1625MM in his first of four arb seasons. The Guards gave him a slight bump to $1.337MM in 2025. Even if he couldn’t manage a late-season return to health, he would still have two further seasons of control.

In 2025, not only did he not make it back to the majors, but he didn’t even begin a rehab assignment. In September, he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. That procedure comes with a recovery timeline of three to four months. That means he should be healthy by the spring but the Guards decided to move on. They non-tendered Hentges last week, sending him to free agency.

The Giants have swooped in and will sign Hentges, giving him a slight raise over last year, even though he missed the whole season. San Francisco non-tendered Joey Lucchesi last week but currently has Erik Miller, Matt Gage and Reiver Sanmartin as lefties in their bullpen. Hentges is obviously a big unknown, having missed a season and a half at this point. But if he can get back to health, he could be the best southpaw in the bunch.

If he does get back on track, he would be a bargain at a salary barely above the league minimum, which will be $780K next year. He is out of options but could be retained via arbitration for the 2027 season if things go especially well next year.

Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images

Tigers Re-Sign Tanner Rainey To Minor League Contract

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The Tigers have re-signed right-hander Tanner Rainey to a minor league contract, according to Rainey’s MLB.com profile page.  Rainey returns to Motown a week after he was designated for assignment, and then cut loose at the non-tender deadline.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected that Rainey would earn $1.6MM in arbitration, so the non-tender allowed the Tigers to save some money and still bring the righty back on a non-guaranteed deal.  The terms of Rainey’s minor league pact aren’t known, but if he is selected to Detroit’s active roster, his guaranteed salary will probably clock in south of that $1.6MM estimate.

The 2025 season was a rough one for Rainey, who posted an 11.17 ERA over 9 2/3 innings and 13 appearances for the Pirates and Tigers.  Signed to a minor league deal by Pittsburgh last winter, his stint with the Bucs ended up being two stints, as he re-signed with the team again in June after he elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment.  The Pirates released Rainey entirely in July, and he caught on with the Tigers shortly thereafter and spent much of his time at Triple-A Toledo, save for two games in the bigs.

Rainey (who turns 33 on Christmas Day) is a veteran of eight MLB seasons, and was a solid member of the Nationals’ bullpen earlier in his career.  Control problems plagued Rainey even in his better years, and his production has gone totally south since he missed almost all of the 2023 season recovering from a Tommy John surgery.  His 2024 season saw him post a 4.76 ERA, an uncharacteristically low 19% strikeout rate, and an ungainly 12.6% walk rate across 51 relief innings for Washington, and he showed even less during his brief time in the Show in 2025.

The right-hander’s Triple-A numbers provide some hope for optimism, as Rainey had a 2.88 ERA and 32% strikeout rate over 40 2/3 innings for the Tigers’ and Pirates’ top affiliates in 2025.  Those numbers did come alongside an outsized 13.6% walk rate, but Detroit clearly saw enough in Rainey’s performance to warrant a new contract.  There’s no risk for the Tigers in bringing Rainey to camp and letting him compete for a bullpen job, and he could end up being a hidden gem if he can recapture any of his pre-surgery form.

Blue Jays, Dylan Cease Agree To Seven-Year Deal

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The Blue Jays are making a major splash at the top of the rotation. Toronto is in agreement with Dylan Cease on a seven-year contract, pending a physical. It’s reportedly a $210MM guarantee for the Boras Corporation client, though it includes deferred money that’ll drop the average annual value for luxury tax purposes to roughly $26MM. That puts the net present value closer to $182MM.

Even after adjusting for deferrals, it’s the largest free agent signing in franchise history. Though the Jays gave Vladimir Guerrero Jr. a $500MM extension earlier this year, they’d never gone beyond George Springer’s six-year, $150MM deal on the open market.

Cease, 30 next month, entered free agency as a test case of how much modern front offices care about earned run average. In two of the past three seasons, his ERA has jumped to the mid-4.00s, including a 4.55 mark in 2025. However, in just about every other respect, he has been great. He has been incredibly durable. His control isn’t amazing but he has racked up strikeouts. He has kept his fastball velocity in the upper 90s, while also featuring a slider, knuckle curve and changeup.

Though Cease debuted back in 2019, he has actually never been on the major league injured list, apart from a very brief stint on the COVID list in 2021. He made 12 starts in the shortened 2020 season and has taken the ball at least 32 times in each full season since. In total, he’s made 174 starts since the start of 2020, which leads all major league pitchers. He generally doesn’t pitch deep into games, however, so he’s ninth in that span in terms of innings.

On top of the quantity, the quality has been strong. For that same 2020-25 span, he posted a 3.88 ERA. His 9.9% walk rate was a bit on the high side but he punched out 28.9% of batters faced with a 14.4% swinging strike rate.

As mentioned, his ERA has wobbled in recent years, but it has done so while other elements of his game have stayed more consistent. He actually saw his ERA drop to 2.20 in 2022. With the White Sox at that time, he finished second in American League Cy Young voting to Justin Verlander. His ERA then shot up to 4.58 in 2023, dropped to 3.47 in 2024 and then climbed back up to 4.55 this year.

But during those ups and downs, his strikeout and walk rates have been less volatile. His strikeout rate did drop from 30.4% in 2022 to 27.3%, but then it climbed to 29.4% and 29.8% in the two most recent campaigns. His 10.4% walk rate in 2022 decreased to 10.1% and 8.5% in the next two years, followed by a slight uptick to 9.8% in 2025.

His batting average on balls in play, which tends to be a bit more luck based, has synched up more with his ERA shifts. A standard BABIP is usually around .290 but Cease was down at .260 in that 2022 season. It then swung the other way to .330 in 2023 as Cease’s ERA climbed, then went to .263 and .320 in the two most recent seasons as his ERA dipped and climbed again.

As such, ERA estimators have considered Cease to be far more steady than his actual ERA. His FIP has been between 3.10 and 3.72 for the past four years. His SIERA was at 3.48 in 2022, jumped a bit to 4.10 in 2023, and then has been at 3.46 and 3.58 in 2024 and 2025.

As we were deliberating our Top 50 Free Agents post at MLBTR, we had many debates about whether the inconsistent ERA would hurt his earning power, perhaps leading him to accept a short-term deal with opt-outs, or if teams would overlook the ERA and sign him based on his consistency in other areas. In the end, we opted for latter, predicting a seven-year, $189MM deal. Cease has surpassed that in terms of sticker price, though the deferrals will seemingly put the net present value closer just below that projection.

The Blue Jays are coming off their best season in years, as they charged all the way to Game Seven of the World Series, ultimately falling to the Dodgers in extra innings. However, the season ended with plenty of rotation uncertainty. Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer became free agents. Shane Bieber had a $16MM player option he seemed likely to decline. In the long term, Kevin Gausman is a free agent after 2026. José Berríos has an opt-out in his deal after the upcoming campaign.

In the past few weeks and months, the long-term outlook has improved considerably. Trey Yesavage came up late in the year and was immediately able to get hitters out, quickly establishing himself as a rotation building block. Bieber surprisingly decided to trigger his player option and stick with the Jays for one more year. Now Cease is in the fold for the long run.

That gives the Jays a rotation of Gausman, Cease, Yesavage, Bieber and Berríos going into 2026, with guys like Eric Lauer, Ricky Tiedemann and Bowden Francis also in the mix. Though Bieber and Gausman are slated to depart after the upcoming campaign, with Berríos potentially joining them, Cease can serve as a bridge to another era. By then, it’s possible Jake Bloss has recovered from his Tommy John surgery and is back in the mix. Prospects like Gage Stanifer and Johnny King might have climbed into the picture by then as well.

Toronto is paying a significant cost to lock Cease in as a long-term anchor. RosterResource projected their 2026 payroll around $232MM, while their luxury tax number was right around the $244MM base threshold. It won’t be clear how much either number goes up until the payment and deferral structure is reported. The CBT number is based on the contract’s average annual value, so the salary breakdown doesn’t matter for tax purposes, but the deferrals reduce the contract’s actual value by around $4MM annually.

In any case, the Jays are clearly going to pay the tax in 2026, and this will push them beyond the $264MM first surcharge tier. They’re into CBT territory for a second consecutive season, meaning they’re taxed at a 30% rate for their first $20MM in overages. They’ll pay a 42% tax on spending between $264MM and $284MM, 75% for spending between $284MM and $304MM, and a 90% rate on any further spending. The Cease deal itself comes with roughly $8.5MM in taxes, but the penalties will get higher with any more significant additions.

The Jays almost certainly aren’t done. They’ve been loosely linked to Kyle Tucker and have interest in re-signing Bo Bichette. It seems fair to assume they won’t sign all three of this offseason’s top free agents, but a Bichette reunion could still be in play. They’ve also been linked to late-inning bullpen help, ideally a proven closer who’d push Jeff Hoffman into a leverage role in the seventh and eighth innings.

Cease rejected a qualifying offer from the Padres. The Jays are hit with the highest penalty to sign a qualified free agent because they paid the competitive balance tax this year. They’ll surrender their second- and fifth-highest selections in the 2026 draft plus $1MM from their international bonus pool in 2027. San Diego also paid the luxury tax this year, so they’re entitled to the lowest form of compensation: a selection after the fourth round next summer. They’ll get another of those if/when Michael King signs elsewhere.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported the Blue Jays and Cease were in agreement on a seven-year, $210MM deal. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was first on the presence of deferrals, while Mitch Bannon of The Athletic reported the approximate $26MM AAV.

Image courtesy of Christopher Hanewinckel, Imagn Images.

Caleb Boushley Signs With KBO’s KT Wiz

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The KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization announced this week that they’ve signed former Brewers, Twins and Rangers righty Caleb Boushley to a one-year contract. He’ll be guaranteed $900K on the contract and can pick up an additional $100K via incentives.

Boushley, who turned 32 in October, has pitched in parts of three big league seasons, totaling 49 2/3 innings. He has an ugly 5.80 ERA to show for it despite generally solid rate stats. Boushley’s 21.1% strikeout rate is only about one percentage point shy of average, and his 8.1% walk rate is lower than the league average. He’s also yielded only 1.09 homers per nine innings pitched. However, Boushley has been dogged by a sky-high .367 average on balls in play, which has contributed to a 62% strand rate that’s more than 10 percentage points lower than the MLB average. Metrics like SIERA (3.95) and FIP (4.03) feel Boushley has pitched far better than his more rudimentary earned run average would suggest.

In parts of six Triple-A seasons, Boushley has totaled 512 innings with a 4.61 ERA. As in the majors, he’s displayed a lower-than-average strikeout rate but better-than-average command. Boushley has generally been a durable source of Triple-A innings. Though he spent most of the 2025 season in the Rangers’ bullpen, the lanky 6’3″, 190-pound Boushley averaged 25 starts and 130 innings per season from 2021-24, despite spending a portion of that time (2023-24) shuttling between the majors and minors.

This will be Boushley’s first work overseas and will easily be the largest guaranteed payday in what’ll be ten professional seasons. Boushley was a 33rd-round pick by the Padres out of Division-II University of Wisconsin La Crosse back in 2017. He signed for just $1,000 out of the draft. After years of middling minor league pay and shuffling back and forth between the majors and Triple-A, he’ll take home a salary that tops the MLB minimum by $120K and land a chance at the first seven-figure salary of his career (if he can max out his incentives package).

Rockies, Parker Mushinski Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies have agreed to a minor league contract with left-handed reliever Parker Mushinski, reports Kevin Henry of the Denver Gazette. The Ballengee Group client will be in camp next spring as a non-roster invitee.

Mushinski, 30, has spent parts of three seasons in the majors — all of them as a member of the Astros. He’s pitched 33 big league frames and worked to a 5.45 ERA with a 17.4% strikeout rate, 8.1% walk rate and 45.2% ground-ball rate. Mushinski has done a nice job avoiding hard contact overall (average 88.4 mph exit velocity, 35.2% hard-hit rate), but much of the hard contact he’s allowed has been of the maximum-damage variety, especially against righties. He’s faced 83 right-handed opponents in the majors and served up five home runs.

Houston originally selected Mushinski out of Texas Tech in the seventh round of the 2017 draft. He spent his entire career in the Astros organization until this past season. Mushinski became a minor league free agent following the 2024 campaign and signed a minor league deal with the Guardians. The 6’0″, 225-pound southpaw spent last year in Triple-A Columbus, tossing 50 innings of 3.78 ERA ball. Mushinski fanned almost 30% of his opponents there but also walked nearly 15% of the batters he faced. In parts of five Triple-A seasons, Mushinski has a 3.71 ERA in 179 2/3 innings pitched.

Signing with the Rockies is a double-edged sword for any pitcher. On the one hand, the utter dearth of established big league arms on the staff creates plenty of opportunity, particularly for a non-roster player hoping to secure a bullpen spot. On the other hand, winning that roster spot means pitching home games at altitude and at the notoriously hitter-friendly Coors Field.

Mushinski becomes the second left-handed relief addition for Colorado in the past week. The Rox, under new president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta, acquired lefty Brennan Bernardino from the Red Sox last week. Bernardino, unlike Mushinski, is already on the 40-man roster. However, he’s the only established lefty reliever the Rockies have on the 40-man roster. Luis Peralta and Welinton Herrera are both on the 40-man, but Peralta has a 6.03 ERA in 31 MLB frames and Herrera has yet to pitch above Double-A.

KBO’s Kia Tigers Re-Sign James Naile

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The Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization announced this week that they’ve re-signed righty James Naile to a one-year deal. The Sports One client will be guaranteed $1.8MM with an additional $200K available via incentives.

It’s one of the more lucrative one-year deals we’ve seen for a foreign player re-upping in the KBO, though it’s not hard to see why. The 32-year-old Naile (33 in February) has spent the past two seasons pitching for Kia in the KBO, working to a combined 2.38 ERA across 53 starts — a total of 313 2/3 innings. He’s fanned 22.2% of his opponents and only yielded a walk to 5.8% of the batters he’s faced — all with a ground-ball rate around 56%. Despite the hitter-friendly nature of the KBO, he’s surrendered only 17 home runs in his 313 2/3 frames (0.49 HR/9). Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency points out that Naile is the only qualified starter in the KBO with a sub-3.00 ERA across the past two seasons.

A former 20th-round pick by the Athletics, Naile appeared in parts of two major league seasons — both with the Cardinals. From 2022-23, he pitched a tiny sample of 24 1/3 MLB innings, during which he was tagged for 20 runs (7.40 ERA) on 35 hits and 11 walks with 12 punchouts. Though Naile never got much of a look in the majors, he’s a veteran of six Triple-A seasons. He pitched to a 4.15 ERA across 357 2/3 innings in that time and logged a 17.6% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate in that time.

Naile is now up to $3.95MM in guaranteed earnings since signing overseas. He’s cleared $4MM when you factor in incentives on his prior contracts and could end up around $4.5MM in total over his first three seasons in the KBO with another strong performance in 2026. Readers curious about the lifestyle of an American player overseas may be interested in Naile’s 2024 vlog about his experience in Gwangju, where he and then-teammate Cam Alldred (a former Pirates farmhand who very briefly saw the majors in Pittsburgh) took some fans through their daily routine.

There’s certainly a chance that Naile could eventually look to return to North American ball, but he’ll be entering his age-34 campaign next offseason and has never been an especially hard thrower, sitting 91.7 mph with his sinker in his brief MLB looks. Both traits could give MLB clubs some pause. Regardless of whether Naile pursues a big league return, he ought to have plenty of opportunity to continue being paid handsomely to pitch in the top leagues in Asia for the next few seasons.

Cardinals Trade Sonny Gray To Red Sox

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The rebuild is underway in St. Louis. The Cardinals and Red Sox announced a trade sending right-hander Sonny Gray and cash considerations to Boston in exchange for righty Richard Fitts, left-handed pitching prospect Brandon Clarke and a player to be named later or cash. The Cardinals are reportedly including $20MM to help offset Gray’s salary.

Gray, who turned 36 earlier this month, opted not to waive his full no-trade clause last offseason when the Cardinals laid out their plan to take a step back and focus on player development rather than their typical win-now mantra. Following the team’s playoff miss in 2025, however, Gray publicly acknowledged that he would “definitely” consider trade scenarios as the Cardinals lean even further into a multi-year rebuilding effort. “I signed here two years ago with the expectation of winning and trying to win, and that hasn’t played out that way,” he said in September. “I want to win.”

He’ll get that opportunity to win in Boston, joining a Red Sox rotation headlined by Cy Young runner-up Garrett Crochet and an offense anchored by budding superstar Roman Anthony. Boston secured a Wild Card berth in the American League this past season, and though they fell to the Yankees two games to one in that series, they’re a clear win-now club with postseason aspirations. The same cannot be said for the Cardinals.

Gray was heading into the final guaranteed season of a three-year, $75MM contract originally signed in St. Louis, when he was coming off his own Cy Young runner-up performance with the 2023 Twins. It was a heavily backloaded contract, paying the right-hander $35MM in 2026 plus a $5MM buyout on a $30MM club option for the 2027 season. The contract stipulated that even if the option was picked up, Gray could opt out and head back into free agency.

That deal has been slightly restructured. The new arrangement pays Gray $31MM in 2026 and includes a $10MM buyout on a $30MM mutual option for 2027. The amended deal reinforces the fact that Gray is a one-year rental — it’s been more than a decade since a mutual option was exercised by both parties in MLB — but it also comes with some perks for him.

Gray is now guaranteed an extra million dollars — likely a kicker for him to waive his no-trade protection — and he’ll now receive the full buyout on his 2027 option. Under the previous contract, if the Red Sox had picked up Gray’s option, he’d have forfeited the $5MM buyout by opting back into free agency. Now, he’ll receive a fully guaranteed $41MM for one year.

Because the Cardinals are kicking in $20MM, only $21MM of Gray’s $41MM guarantee will count against the Red Sox’ luxury tax total. Gray has already received a qualifying offer in the past (from the Twins in ’23), so he won’t be eligible to receive one from the Red Sox at season’s end.

Gray tossed 180 2/3 innings of 4.28 ERA ball in 2025 and had a more encouraging 26.7% strikeout rate and 5% walk rate. Metrics like SIERA (3.29) and FIP (3.39) feel he was far better than his earned run average.

By today’s standards, Gray is a workhorse. With the exception of the shortened 2020 season (when he made 11 of 12 possible starts), the former first-round pick has started at least 24 games every year since 2019, averaging 29 starts per 162-game season in that time. Gray hasn’t gotten back to the level of performance he displayed in that second-place Cy Young finish with Minnesota, but he posted a 4.07 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, 5.4% walk rate and 43.2% grounder rate in 347 innings across his two seasons in St. Louis.

Gray will join Crochet and Brayan Bello in the top three spots of manager Alex Cora’s rotation. The remaining two places will be sorted out either later this offseason or next spring. Rotation candidates include veteran Patrick Sandoval (who signed a two-year deal last offseason while rehabbing Tommy John surgery), righty Kutter Crawford (who didn’t pitch in ’25 owing to oblique and wrist injuries, the latter requiring surgery), Payton Tolle, Connelly Early, Kyle Harrison, Hunter Dobbins and Luis Perales.

The Sox have several other starting pitchers on their 40-man roster, including a few just-added names (David Sandlin, Tyler Uberstine, Shane Drohan) ahead of the Rule 5 protection deadline. It’s a deep crop of arms that positions Boston well, both in terms of navigating inevitable injuries next year and in exploring the trade market for further roster upgrades.

Of course, the Red Sox don’t have to exclusively shop on the trade market for upgrades. Including Gray’s $21MM, the Sox are now projected for about $176.75MM in 2026 payroll, per RosterResource. That’s more than $30MM shy of last year’s spending, and it’s certainly feasible that ownership would push the envelope even further. Boston has trotted out Opening Day payrolls as high as $236MM in the past. The addition of Gray leaves them about $21MM shy of the first tier of luxury tax penalization. The Red Sox have paid the luxury tax in two of the past four seasons, including 2025. Simply put, there’s ample room for additional spending.

For the Cardinals, the trade trims $20MM off the books and brings in a pair of promising arms. Fitts is big league ready and could step right into the St. Louis rotation. The 25-year-old (26 next month) made 11 appearances for the Red Sox in 2025, including 10 starts. He was tagged for a 5.00 ERA in that time due to an extreme susceptibility to home runs (11 homers, or 2.20 HR/9). However, Fitts posted a respectable 20.5% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate in the majors, and he was solid in the minors as well (3.60 ERA, 21.3 K%, 8.7 BB% in 30 innings).

Originally a sixth-round pick by the Yankees back in 2021, Fitts landed in Boston by way of the 2023 Alex Verdugo trade. (Though new Cardinals president of baseball ops Chaim Bloom formerly ran the front office in Boston, he’d already been replaced by Craig Breslow by the time of that trade, so there’s no prior connection between Fitts and Bloom.) Fitts ranked 11th among Red Sox farmhands in 2024 and 12th in 2025, per Baseball America, whose scouting report pegged him as a back-of-the-rotation starter or multi-inning reliever.

Fitts averaged a hearty 95.9 mph on his four-seamer in 2025 and complemented the pitch with a slider, curveball and newly implemented sinker. BA’s scouting report on the righty noted that he struggles to miss bats within the zone, and the numbers have thus far borne that out. Fitts missed bats off the plate with his sweeper/slider, but opponents made contact on 87.5% of his pitches within the strike zone — a couple percentage points higher than the 85.4% league average. The addition of that sinker/two-seamer looks to have helped Fitts bolster his ground-ball rate, as it enjoyed a nice bump both in Triple-A and the majors, now sitting at 43.6% — just north of the 41.8% league average.

Whether Fitts settles in as a fourth starter or moves into a bullpen role, he should pitch plenty of innings in St. Louis this season. He’s controllable for a full six seasons, as he finished the year eight days shy of one full year of major league service. Fitts also still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, which only gives the Cardinals more flexibility with him in the years ahead.

Clarke, 22, was Boston’s fifth-round pick in 2024. He sat fourth among Red Sox prospects (and 86th in the game overall) on the midseason rankings from FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen. Clarke ranked fifth among Red Sox prosects on MLB.com’s midseason rankings. He was not included in Boston’s top 10 on yesterday’s latest prospect rankings from Baseball America.

Though he was drafted in ’24, Clarke didn’t make his pro debut until ’25. He split this past season between the Red Sox’ Low-A and High-A affiliates, working to a combined 4.03 ERA in 38 innings (14 starts). Clarke sits 97 mph with his heater and draws praise for a plus-plus (70-grade) slider. He currently lacks an average third pitch, however, and his command is clearly a work in progress. That velocity and slider combo blew hitters away in the low minors (34.5% strikeout rate), but Clarke also walked a whopping 15.5% of his opponents — including an 18.1% walk rate in High-A against more advanced hitters.

Listed at 6’4″ and 220 pounds, Clarke has a starter’s build and two potent weapons in his arsenal. The new Bloom-led Cardinals will be tasked with refining Clarke’s command and perhaps incorporating a third pitch to help him more capably combat right-handers, who drew a walk in nearly 18% of their plate appearances against Clarke. If Clarke can’t find a third pitch or hone his command any further, it’s easy to imagine that fastball/slider combo playing up in a late-inning relief role.

Overall, it’s a nice return for the Cardinals, who secure an MLB-ready arm and a high-risk but high-upside prospect — all while trimming $20MM off the books. Today’s trade only further cements that the Cardinals are shifting their focus to the future. Further trades are sure to follow, with Brendan Donovan, JoJo Romero, Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado and Lars Nootbaar among the possibilities.

As for the Red Sox, they’ll pay a relatively steep price (both in terms of dollars and talent) to add a durable veteran starter with plus rate stats and a nice postseason résumé (3.26 ERA in 30 1/3 innings). Gray clearly makes them better, and the Boston front office seems comfortable paying a higher short-term price to maintain some long-term flexibility. Whether they pursue further upgrades in the rotation or now turn their attention to the infield corners, the bullpen or their oft-discussed outfield logjam, the Red Sox have payroll space and a nice stock of young pitching to give them plenty of options in further augmenting their 2026 roster.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported that Gray was being traded to Boston. ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Cardinals’ return. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported specifics surrounding the slight restructuring of Gray’s contract. MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reported the specific amount of cash Boston was receiving from St. Louis.

Rays Sign Jake Fraley

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The Rays announced the signing of outfielder Jake Fraley to a one-year deal. It’s reportedly a $3MM guarantee for the CAA client, who can earn an additional $400K in bonuses — $100K apiece for 85, 115, 145 and 175 days on the active roster. The Rays non-tendered him last week but were reported to be interested in bringing Fraley back at a lesser rate than his projected arbitration price tag (which MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz pegged at $3.6MM).

Fraley, 30, was originally drafted by the Rays with the No. 77 overall pick back in 2016. He wound up in Seattle, where he’d go on to make his MLB debut, after being included in the trade that brought catcher Mike Zunino to Tampa Bay. Fraley played parts of three seasons with the M’s before again being traded, this time to Cincinnati as part of the return for Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker.

In parts of four seasons with the Reds, Fraley hit .260/.336/.421 with 38 homers, 54 doubles and a pair of triples in 1202 plate appearances. Calf, shoulder and oblique injuries combined to limit him to just 76 games and 217 plate appearances this season, during which he batted .241/.332/.382. The Reds placed Fraley on waivers in August, at which point he was claimed by the Braves. Atlanta waived Fraley after the season, and the Rays claimed him — only to non-tender him last week. He’s now back on what are surely more favorable terms for the team.

Fraley doesn’t hit lefties whatsoever (.175/.271/.237 in 240 career plate appearances), but he’s a .261/.344/.432 hitter in more than 1300 attempts versus right-handed pitching. He runs well — this season’s average sprint speed of 28.4 ft/sec sat was a career-high and sat in the 77th percentile of big leaguers — and is a capable defender in either outfield corner. His arm strength checked into the 86th percentile of big league outfielders in 2025, per Statcast.

The addition of Fraley gives the Rays an even more crowded outfield mix. He’s a third pure lefty swinger joining Chandler Simpson and Josh Lowe, as well as the right-handed-hitting Jonny DeLuca and switch-hitting Jake Mangum in the mix for playing time. Lefties Tristan Peters and Richie Palacios are also on the 40-man roster. The exact manner in which playing time shakes out will hinge on subsequent moves and spring performance, but Fraley should see time in both corners and at designated hitter against right-handed pitching. He’s a good enough fielder and runner to profile as a late-game substitute, whether that’s as a defensive replacement, a pinch-runner or a pinch-hitter against a tough righty.

Tampa Bay currently projects for a $94MM payroll, per RosterResource. Fraley will obviously push that number north a bit. That’s already higher than the payroll in 2025, a season spent in a minor league park wherein the Rays ranked second-to-last in the majors in attendance. The Rays already made the somewhat surprising option to decline their $11MM club option on closer Pete Fairbanks, and it stands to reason that further veteran pieces could be moved. Brandon Lowe and his $11.5MM salary are available on the trade market, and speculatively speaking, Josh Lowe (projected $2.9MM salary) could be easier to part with now that Fraley is on board.

Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times first reported the agreement and the $3MM salary with $400K in bonuses. The Associated Press reported the bonus specifics.

Mets Sign Robert Stock, Nick Burdi To Minor League Deals

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The Mets have agreed to minor league contracts with pitchers Robert Stock, Nick Burdi and Anderson Severino and with outfielder Jose Ramos, according to SNY. Mike Rodriguez reported the Severino agreement a couple weeks ago, while Burdi’s deal first appeared on the MLB.com transaction log. Stock has confirmed his signing on social media. All four players receive invitations to big league camp.

Burdi and Stock each spent the 2025 season in the Red Sox organization. They both got brief looks in Alex Cora’s bullpen. Burdi tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and a pair of walks over four appearances. The 32-year-old has good stuff but has never been able to stay healthy. He missed a couple months with a foot injury this year and has previously had thoracic outlet syndrome, two Tommy John surgeries, appendicitis, and hip issues. Burdi has a career 3.05 ERA with a 31.3% strikeout rate in 76 2/3 Triple-A innings. He has pitched in parts of six MLB campaigns but has yet to reach even 10 big league innings in a season because of the injuries.

Stock, 36, made two appearances for the Sox this year. He walked four batters and gave up three runs over 2 2/3 innings. Stock has worked as a reliever in MLB but started 15 of 19 outings at Triple-A Worcester. He tossed 85 innings with a 3.92 ERA while punching out an above-average 26.2% of batters faced. Stock hasn’t found much MLB success since turning in a 2.50 ERA over 32 appearances as a rookie with the 2018 Padres. He still sits in the mid-90s with his fastball and has intrigued various teams as a depth signing. Stock previously spent time in the Mets’ system, starting four Triple-A games for the organization in 2021.

Severino is a 31-year-old lefty reliever who pitched six times for the White Sox in 2022. He has spent the past two seasons pitching in the Mexican League. Severino has tossed eight innings of two-run ball with 11 punchouts in the Dominican Winter League to get back to affiliated ball. Ramos, 25 in January, has never played in the majors. He spent seven seasons in the Dodgers’ system and combined for a .251/.326/.456 batting line between their top two minor league affiliates in 2025. The right-handed hitter changes organizations for the first time as a minor league free agent.

Kenta Maeda Signs With NPB’s Rakuten Eagles

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The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced they’ve signed Kenta Maeda. The 37-year-old righty said in August that he planned to return to his home country next year. A report from Japan’s Sankei Sports indicates he signed a two-year contract.

This will all but officially close the book on Maeda’s career in the major leagues. He pitched in nine MLB seasons, turning in a 4.20 earned run average while coming up a little shy of 1000 innings pitched. Maeda spent the first four seasons of his career with the Dodgers after signing an eight-year deal to join Los Angeles over the 2015-16 offseason. His rookie year was his best in Dodger blue, as he won 16 games and turned in a 3.48 ERA over a career-high 175 2/3 frames. Maeda struggled in the postseason that year but rebounded with 10 2/3 innings of one-run ball in October 2017 to help the Dodgers to a pennant.

L.A. shipped Maeda to Minnesota for Brusdar Graterol and Luke Raley over the 2019-20 offseason. Maeda’s first season in Minnesota was shortened by the truncated schedule but arguably the best of his career. He turned in a 2.70 ERA while averaging more than six innings per appearance over 11 starts, earning a runner-up finish behind Shane Bieber in AL Cy Young voting. Maeda remained in the Twin Cities for another three seasons, though he missed the 2022 campaign rehabbing Tommy John surgery.

The Tigers signed him to a two-year, $24MM free agent deal going into 2024. While it was a sensible bet on Maeda’s strong strikeout and walk profile, his diminishing stuff led to significant home run issues. Maeda was hit hard to the tune of a 6.09 ERA in 2024. He didn’t find any better results early in the ’25 campaign while pitching out of the bullpen, leading the Tigers to release him in early May. That wound up marking the end of his MLB career. Maeda pitched in Triple-A with the Cubs and Yankees, posting a 5.40 ERA across 20 starts through the end of the year.

Maeda returns to Japan, where he starred for the Hiroshima Carp for eight seasons before making the move to MLB. He owns a 2.39 ERA in a little more than 1500 career NPB innings. He’ll be teammates with former big leaguers Luke Voit and Roansy Contreras, each of whom have already signed with the Eagles for the 2026 season.

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