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Tigers To Re-Sign Kyle Finnegan

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The Tigers are reportedly bringing back veteran reliever Kyle Finnegan on a two-year, $19MM contract. There are also $1MM in bonuses available for the Warner Sports Management client. Detroit’s 40-man roster is full, meaning they’ll need to make a corresponding move once the contract is finalized.

It’s yet another domino to fall in a quick-moving relief market. Detroit initially acquired Finnegan from the Nationals at the trade deadline. He carried a 4.38 earned run average with a sub-20% strikeout rate at the time. It frankly seemed underwhelming for the team’s biggest bullpen pickup. The Tigers correctly identified Finnegan as a player who had another level of upside with a change to his pitch mix, however.

In Washington, Finnegan had thrown his fastball around two-thirds of the time. He used his splitter at a roughly 30% clip and sporadically mixed in a slider. The Tigers encouraged him to dramatically scale up the use of the split-finger offering. It was about a 50-50 divide in August, and he used the splitter more than 55% of the time in September and into the postseason. The impact on his results was immediate.

Finnegan allowed only three runs in 16 regular season innings as a Tiger. He fanned 23 of 66 opponents, almost doubling his early-season strikeout rate. His swinging strike rate jumped by five percentage points. The righty secured four saves and three holds while surrendering just one lead. He missed a couple weeks in September with a groin strain but immediately stepped back into a high-leverage role for skipper A.J. Hinch. Finnegan added 7 1/3 frames of three-run ball in the postseason, albeit with only three strikeouts.

Between the two teams, Finnegan posted a 3.47 ERA with a 24% strikeout percentage across 57 innings. The overall numbers aren’t far off the marks he’d carried over the first five seasons of his career. Finnegan entered 2025 with a 3.56 earned run average and a 23.5% strikeout rate in nearly 300 major league outings.

The altered pitch mix and the strong finish to the season have certainly changed teams’ perceptions of him. At this time last offseason, Finnegan found himself non-tendered by the Nationals in lieu of a projected arbitration salary around $8MM. He waited until a week into Spring Training to return to Washington on a $6MM contract with deferrals. Finnegan commands the first multi-year deal of his career one offseason later. The terms essentially match MLBTR’s prediction of two years and $20MM.

Finnegan will again pair with Will Vest at the back of Hinch’s bullpen. He has plenty of closing experience from his time in Washington and could handle the ninth inning on days when the Tigers use Vest earlier in leverage situations. Detroit could stand to bring in another swing-and-miss arm at the back end. Even after acquiring Finnegan, the Tiger bullpen ranked 25th in strikeout rate. Assuming they build Troy Melton back up as a starter, Finnegan and Vest are their only two projected leverage relievers who sit around 96 MPH on average. They’re a little light from the left side, but Vest and Finnegan each excel against opposite-handed batters. That could allow them to pursue another righty and stick with Tyler Holton and Brant Hurter as their top southpaws.

The specific salary breakdown is unreported. Evenly distributed $9.5MM salaries would push Detroit’s projected payroll to roughly $157MM, according to RosterResource. That’s about $15MM north of where they opened this past season. The long-term books are still wide open. Javier Báez and Colt Keith are the only other players under contract for 2027. Keith’s respective $5MM salaries for 2028-29 and modest option buyout in 2030 are their only commitments after the ’27 campaign.

Edwin Díaz, Gregory Soto and Finnegan came off the board on Tuesday. Robert Suarez, Brad Keller, Luke Weaver, Tyler Rogers, Seranthony Domínguez and Pete Fairbanks are the remaining unsigned relievers who made MLBTR’s Top 50 free agents. Keller and Weaver could get consideration as starters, while Rogers and Domínguez are setup types. Suarez is the best reliever still available. Fairbanks and Kenley Jansen join him as unsigned established closers.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the Tigers and Finnegan were nearing a deal. Robert Murray of FanSided had the two-year, $19MM agreement with $1MM bonus. Image courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images.

Phillies Re-Sign Kyle Schwarber

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The Phillies are bringing him back. Slugger Kyle Schwarber has returned to the Phils on a five-year contract, the team announced. It’s reportedly a $150MM guarantee that pays the Excel Sports Management client an even $30MM per season. The Phils had multiple 40-man vacancies and didn’t need to make a corresponding move.

The deal is a testament to Schwarber’s elite talents as it sets new precedents in a few different ways. Schwarber is primarily a designated hitter, having played the outfield just 13 times combined over the past two years. He is also turning 33 years old in March.

Those are both qualities which tend to tamp down a player’s earning power. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, the biggest guarantee for any free agent age-33 or older was Josh Donaldson’s $92MM deal with the Twins, which was signed when he was still a capable third baseman. Pure designated hitters also tend not to get paid. Per the Contract Tracker, Shohei Ohtani is the only free agent DH to get to nine figures. He was obviously a special case as a two-way player and superstar. J.D Martinez signed a five-year, $110MM deal with the Red Sox in 2018. He was still an outfielder at the time but did become more of a DH over the course of that pact.

Schwarber himself has proved to be a special case, as he just keeps getting better at the plate. He has always been a guy who strikes out and walks a lot, with notable power mixed in. From 2017 to 2021, he was generally good for about 30 home runs per year. He got to 38 in 2019, but that was the year with the juiced balls.

Over the past four years, Schwarber has never finished with fewer than 38 long balls. He’s reached 46 in three of those four. In 2025, he set a new personal best with 56. He has also erased his previous platoon issues. In 2024, he slashed .300/.407/.490 for a 152 wRC+ against lefties, compared to a .218/.342/.482 line and 124 wRC+ otherwise. In 2025, those lines were .252/.366/.598 and .232/.364/.541 for respective wRC+ numbers of 162 and 146.

On top of the statistics, Schwarber has received praise for his leadership and clubhouse presence during his time with the Phillies. They clearly wanted to bring him back but plenty of other teams were interested as well. The Mets, Pirates, Reds, Red Sox, Orioles and Giants were all connected to him in recent weeks. The Bucs even reportedly made an offer of four-years and $120MM, a very bold gesture for a club that has never signed a free agent for more than $39MM.

But amid all that interest from other clubs, it always seemed like the safe bet would be Schwarber returning to Philadelphia. He was clearly beloved in the city and in the clubhouse. The Phils have a number of other needs but they have been aggressive spenders in recent years and it seemed like they would likely top whatever deal Schwarber got elsewhere. They have done so and, as mentioned, set new benchmarks for free agent deals for a hitter this age or a designated hitter of any age. MLBTR predicted he could secure a five-year, $135MM deal. He got those five years but did a bit better than predicted in terms of the average annual value.

Per RosterResource, the deal brings the Phils up to a payroll of $270MM and a competitive balance tax figure of $289MM. At the end of 2025, those numbers were $291MM and $314MM. If they plan on getting to a similar spot in 2026, they have about $20MM left to play with.

They still have a few things on the to-do list. In addition to Schwarber, they also want to bring back catcher J.T. Realmuto, who also became a free agent at the end of the 2025 season. Remaking the outfield and adding to the pitching staff are also on the agenda. $20MM wouldn’t be a ton to do all of that, so perhaps they will be willing to raise the payroll again, though they could also try to accomplish a few things on the trade market.

For the other teams, it’s possible that this opens the offseason floodgates. The position player section of free agency has been slow moving so far. Early on, Trent Grisham and Gleyber Torres accepted qualifying offers. The Mariners and Josh Naylor quickly reunited. For the past three weeks, there have been no multi-year deals for free agent hitters.

Now that Schwarber is off the board, the clubs who fell short will be pivoting to other options. Some of those clubs won’t be players for Kyle Tucker or Bo Bichette but perhaps Cody Bellinger, Pete Alonso, Eugenio Suárez, Alex Bregman and others will see their markets heat up in the coming days and weeks.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the five-year, $150MM agreement. Bob Nightengale of USA Today had the even salary breakdown. Photos courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Angels Acquire Vaughn Grissom

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The Angels have acquired infielder Vaughn Grissom from the Red Sox in exchange for minor league outfielder Isaiah Jackson, according to announcements from both clubs. Prior to the official announcement, Jeff Passan of ESPN reported the Grissom portion and Chris Cotillo of MassLive the Jackson part. The move drops Boston’s 40-man count to 39, perhaps allowing them to make a selection in tomorrow’s Rule 5 draft. The Halos’ 40-man count goes from 34 to 35.

If there’s a consistent theme in how the Angels are attacking this offseason, it is buying low on former top prospects. Their two biggest moves of the winter so far have been to sign Alek Manoah and acquire Grayson Rodriguez from the Orioles. Manoah and Rodriguez are both former first-round picks who are coming off a few years of injury struggles.

The situation with Grissom is somewhat analogous, though he is not a pitcher and didn’t have quite the same prospect pedigree. Atlanta took him in the 11th round of the 2019 draft but he put up huge numbers on his way up the minor league ladder. By the summer of 2022, he had become a top 100 prospect. He slashed .322/.411/.480 on the farm over the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Atlanta called him up in August of 2023, skipping him over the Triple-A level. He put up a big .291/.353/.440 line in his first 156 big league plate appearances.

Going into 2023, Atlanta let Dansby Swanson depart via free agency, signing with the Cubs. Grissom seemed to have a good shot at being the long-term answer there. There were questions about his defense but the bat seemed legit. Ron Washington, then on Atlanta’s coaching staff, worked with Grissom on his defense throughout the winter. At the end of spring training, Atlanta surprisingly decided to give Orlando Arcia the shortstop job. Grissom was optioned to Triple-A.

Atlanta called up Grissom a few times that year but he hit just .280/.313/.347 for a 79 wRC+ in his 80 plate appearances. But he still showed his offensive potential in the minors, as he hit .330/.419/.501 for a 138 wRC+ in Triple-A.

Going into 2024, Atlanta flipped Grissom to the Red Sox for Chris Sale. At the time, it seemed like a coup for the Red Sox. Sale had barely pitched from 2020 to 2022 due to injuries. He had made 20 starts in 2023 but with a 4.30 earned run average. Since he was going into his age-35 season, the final guaranteed season of his contract, the expectations weren’t high for him going forward.

That deal turned into a big bust for Boston. Sale posted a 2.38 ERA in 2024 and won the National League Cy Young award. Grissom, meanwhile, has mostly been stuck in Triple-A since being traded. Boston gave him 114 big league plate appearances in 2024 but he hit just .190/.246/.219 in those. He has still been putting up decent Triple-A numbers, but not quite as gaudy as before. Since the start of 2024, he has a .266/.357/.417 line and 106 wRC+ at the Triple-A level. He played all four infield spots during his time with Triple-A Worcester. He finished the 2025 season on the injured list due to plantar fasciitis.

Grissom exhausted his final option season in 2025, meaning he will be out of options going forward. The Sox have an uncertain infield picture at the moment but will likely address it with further moves this offseason. Since they just made the playoffs, they will be looking to compete again and surely didn’t want to rely on Grissom after a couple of uninspiring years.

For the Halos, they have been mired in mediocrity for a while now, having last made the playoffs over a decade ago. They need a lot to go right if they’re going to break that streak. They will probably make some more clear-cut upgrades at some point this winter but have thus far been taking chances on low-certainty upside plays.

Their infield has a couple of openings at the moment. They have Zach Neto locked in at shortstop and Nolan Schanuel at first base. Second and third base are up for grabs. At the hot corner, Anthony Rendon is technically signed for another season but is probably going to retire. The Angels gave Christian Moore a chance to grab the second base job in 2025 but he didn’t take advantage of that opportunity. Denzer Guzmán, Oswald Peraza and Kyren Paris are also on the roster but no one in that group has a track record of major league success.

There’s a path for Grissom to perhaps earn some playing time at second or third, or perhaps as a bench/utility guy. It’s possible those paths get blocked with future moves but they are there for now. Grissom still has less than two years of service time. If he can thrive as an Angel, they can retain him for five full seasons before he would be slated for free agency. He is only 24 years old, turning 25 in January.

To get that shot on Grissom, they are giving up an outfielder from deep in their system. Jackson was just selected in the eighth round of the draft this summer. He has ten games of experience as a professional, which came at High-A, where he hit .219 /.324/.344. He turns 22 in May. For the Sox, they are likely happy to get any kind of return at all for a guy who was getting pushed off the roster anyway.

Photos courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

White Sox Sign Anthony Kay To Two-Year Deal

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December 9th: The White Sox officially announced the Kay signing today.

December 3rd: The White Sox and left-hander Anthony Kay are reportedly in agreement on a two-year, $12MM contract. The former first-round pick and top prospect, who’s represented by CAA, will be paid $5MM in each of the next two seasons and has a $2MM buyout on a $10MM mutual option for the 2028 season. He can earn another $1.5MM via incentives. Kay has spent the past two seasons pitching well for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.

It’s a familiar page in general manager Chris Getz’s playbook: sign a former first-rounder to a two-year deal on the heels of a strong run pitching in one of the top leagues in Asia.

That strategy worked out reasonably well when Chicago signed Erick Fedde for two years and $15MM in the 2023-24 offseason following a terrific season in the Korea Baseball Organization; Fedde was traded to the Cardinals in a three-team swap in July 2024, netting the White Sox Miguel Vargas and minor league infielders Alexander Albertus and Jeral Perez. Vargas was a league-average bat for the South Siders in 2025 and is controlled another four seasons. Albertus and Perez rank within the top 25 prospects in the Sox’ system.

The Sox will hope for similar results in their similarly priced investment into Kay. The 30-year-old southpaw (31 in March) has pitched 291 2/3 innings since heading to Japan. In that time, he’s logged a 2.53 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 54.5% ground-ball rate in 48 starts out of the BayStars’ rotation.

Kay has changed his pitch repertoire since moving to NPB. He sat 94.1 mph with a four-seamer, 87.9 mph with a cutter and 86.2 mph with a slider during his limited big league work from 2019-23. He’s added about three miles per hour to that cutter and also begun throwing a sinker that he didn’t have during his last run in North America, which he credits with generating more soft contact. He’s still throwing a sweeper and occasional changeup, and the lefty has also dabbled with a curveball. (He spoke about those changes and more in an October chat with Fansided’s Robert Murray.)

From 2019-23, Kay pitched 85 1/3 innings between the Blue Jays, Cubs and Mets. It was the Mets who originally selected him 31st overall back in 2016, though they were actually the third team for whom he pitched in the majors. New York traded Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson to the Blue Jays in exchange for Marcus Stroman back in 2019, and Kay made his MLB debut not long after the swap.

Things never clicked for Kay in the majors. He’s been tagged for a 5.59 ERA with a solid 22.4% strikeout rate but an ugly 12% walk rate. Opponents averaged 1.27 homers per nine innings against him. He didn’t fare much better in terms of run prevention in parts of four Triple-A seasons, logging a 5.40 earned run average in 148 1/3 innings pitched.

As we saw with Fedde and with yesterday’s three-year, $30MM deal between the Blue Jays and Cody Ponce, what Kay did in his prior MLB work holds virtually no bearing on his newfound payday. He’s a different pitcher now than he was at any point in 2019-23, and the White Sox are paying him based on the their belief that the changes he’s implemented while pitching in Yokohama will beget better results back in Major League Baseball.

There’s inherent risk, but at this price point, it’s also hard to fault a White Sox club that’s still in the midst of a rebuilding effort. Kay will either pitch well, at which point he’d emerge as a nice trade chip, or he’ll continue to struggle and the Sox will be out a relatively modest $5MM per season. The overall scope of this commitment is less than the $15MM paydays we saw for aging veterans in their late 30s/early 40s last year (e.g. Charlie Morton, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Alex Cobb). It’s a life-changing deal for Kay but a small-scale gamble for the team.

Kay steps into a rotation mix that has plenty of options but is lacking when it comes to established contributors. Right-handers Shane Smith, Sean Burke and Davis Martin all pitched between 134 and 146 innings with ERAs between 3.81 (Smith) and 4.22 (Burke). None of the three has more than one full season of big league success. Smith was a Rule 5 pick at last year’s Winter Meetings and a rookie in 2025.

Those four are now favored to open the year in manager Will Venable’s rotation. Jonathan Cannon is tentatively penciled into the fifth spot for the time being, but he struggled greatly in 2025 and has minor league options remaining. Prospects Ky Bush and Drew Thorpe could be midseason options as they work their way back from Tommy John surgery performed last spring. Lefties Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith rank among the game’s top pitching prospects and could be ready at some point next summer as well.

There’s still room for the Sox to add some veteran innings. Getz has previously voiced a reluctance to commit to free agents beyond the 2026 season — though he did so with Kay, albeit in moderate fashion. There ought to be plenty of veteran arms looking at one-year deals, whether that’s a back-of-the-rotation innings eater (e.g. Michael Lorenzen, Patrick Corbin) or an upside play coming off an injury or poor performance (e.g. Nestor Cortes, Walker Buehler, Dustin May). The White Sox’ payroll currently projects at just $68MM, per RosterResource, so there’s room for Getz & Co. to bring in several additions to fill out the rotation, bullpen, outfield and infield.

Murray first reported that the two parties had agreed to a two-year, $12MM deal. The Athletic’s Will Sammon added details about the specific breakdown and incentives.

Braves Sign James Karinchak To Minor League Deal

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The Braves have signed right-hander James Karinchak to a minor league contract, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports.  Should Karinchak make Atlanta’s roster, he’ll earn $840K in guaranteed money, as per 7News Boston’s Ari Alexander.  He’s represented by Gaeta Sports Management.

Best known for his days as a strikeout artist in Cleveland’s bullpen, it has now been more than two years since Karinchak last pitched in a big league game.  His 2024 workload consisted of just 6 2/3 innings in the minors due to shoulder problems, and after the Guardians outrighted him and allowed Karinchak to enter free agency last winter, he landed with the White Sox on a minor league deal.  Karinchak posted a 2.45 ERA and a 28.1% strikeout rate over 29 1/3 innings for Triple-A Charlotte before he was released in June.

Those seemingly strong numbers in Triple-A were undermined by a 16.5% walk rate, which is essentially the story of Karinchak’s career.  He owns an eye-popping 36.3% career strikeout rate over his MLB career, and he also posted a 3.10 ERA over 165 2/3 innings with Cleveland from 2019-23.  However, a 14.1% walk rate and some problems with the home run ball limited Karinchak’s effectiveness, plus injuries like his shoulder woes or a teres major strain in 2022 provided further obstacles.

The Guardians have one of baseball’s more celebrated pitching development staffs, so the fact that the Guards chose to move on from Karinchak doesn’t bode well for the possibility that he might solve his control problems.  Still, Karinchak’s strikeout potential is so tantalizing that it isn’t at all surprising to see teams like the White Sox or Braves take minor league fliers on the righty to see if he can get things on track, or perhaps Atlanta’s coaches think they might have a fix.  Karinchak is still only 30 years old and he has two years of arbitration eligibility remaining, so there’s hidden-gem potential for the Braves if Karinchak can manage even average control.

Rays Sign Logan Davidson To Minor League Contract

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The Rays have agreed to a minor league deal with infielder Logan Davidson, 7News Boston’s Ari Alexander reports.  The contract contains an invitation for Davidson to attend Tampa Bay’s big league spring camp.

Selected 29th overall by the Athletics in the 2019 draft, Davidson didn’t make his debut in the Show until this past May at age 27, and he ended up hitting .167/.222/.286 over 47 plate appearances with the A’s and Angels.  The A’s designated the infielder for assignment in July and he was claimed off waivers by the Astros, only to be DFA’ed again and claimed off waivers by Los Angeles in September.  The Angels then outrighted Davidson off their 40-man roster at the end of October, and he entered into minor league free agency.

Tampa is always on the lookout for multi-positional players, and Davidson fits the bill with a lot of experience at all four infield positions, plus at least some work in all three outfield slots.  Shortstop has been Davidson’s most frequent position over his minor league career, though he has mostly been utilized as a corner infielder in recent years.

Between this defensive versatility and his switch-hitting bat, Davidson brings some pluses to the table as he’ll look to compete for a bench job in Spring Training.  Davidson has a respectable .271/.367/.441 slash line and 27 home runs over 1002 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, with the caveat that his Triple-A career has been spent entirely in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

Tigers Sign Drew Anderson

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The Tigers announced the signing of righty Drew Anderson to a one-year, $7MM contract. There’s a $10MM club option for the 2027 season. Anderson, a client of Turner-Gary Sports, is expected to compete for a rotation spot. Detroit had an opening on the 40-man roster and didn’t need to make a corresponding move.

Anderson, 32 in March, bounced around the big leagues a few years ago. He got brief looks in five straight seasons from 2017 to 2021, spending time with the Phillies, White Sox and Rangers. He posted a 6.50 earned run average in 44 1/3 innings spread across those five seasons.

He went overseas for the 2022 season, joining the Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He had a pretty good run as a Carp, posting a 3.05 over two seasons in Hiroshima. On the heels of that performance, he tried coming back to North America. The Tigers gave him a minor league deal in January of 2024. He didn’t make the team out of camp and was pitching for the SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization by the end of April.

His first year in Korea went quite well. He tossed 115 2/3 innings over 24 appearances with a 3.89 ERA. His 10.7% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 31.9% of batters faced and got grounders on 45.8% of balls in play. The Landers re-signed him for 2025 and his performance this year was even better. He made 30 starts and logged 171 2/3 innings with a 2.25 ERA, 35.3% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate and 45.9% ground ball rate.

In the past few days, a handful of teams have agreed to deals with players returning from stints overseas. The Astros agreed to a one-year, $2.6MM deal with Ryan Weiss, who had been pitching in Korea. Anthony Kay, who has been in Japan, got a two-year, $12MM deal from the White Sox. The Blue Jays made a big splash by agreeing to a three-year, $30MM deal with Cody Ponce.

Anderson’s numbers in 2025 were fairly close to Ponce’s in a few areas. Ponce’s 36.2% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate were both slightly ahead. His 45.7% ground ball rate was just barely behind Anderson’s. Ponce posted a 1.89 ERA, coming out slightly ahead of Anderson.

While the numbers might suggest a narrow gap between the two, the industry consensus is that Ponce is further ahead of Anderson based on his stuff. To illustrate, this piece from Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs pegged Ponce as a #4 starter on a good team who should earn $20-25MM on a two-year deal, fairly close to what he eventually secured. Anderson, on the other hand, split the two writers. Without naming names, they say one of them felt Anderson could be a decent back-end guy while the other felt he would likely end up as a reliever.

It’s still unknown how much the Tigers are spending but they are making a bet that Anderson can hack it as a big league starter. Detroit’s rotation will be fronted by Tarik Skubal, with Reese Olson, Casey Mize and Jack Flaherty in behind him. Anderson will presumably be competing for the #5 spot in spring training alongside guys like Keider Montero, Troy Melton, Ty Madden and Sawyer Gipson-Long. The Tigers have been connected to free agents such as Zac Gallen, Ranger Suárez and Michael King, so it’s possible they change up the picture between now and when camp opens.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported that the Tigers and Anderson reached a one-year deal with a club option. The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen suggested Detroit views the righty as a starter.

Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images

Cooper Hummel To Sign With NPB’s Yokohama BayStars

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Former Astros outfielder Cooper Hummel is expected to sign with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. It’s a one-year deal with a club option for 2027. Hummel is now represented by GSI, per an Instagram post from the agency in late November. He appeared in 37 games between Baltimore and Houston last season.

The 30-year-old Hummel spent time with four different organizations in 2025, including two stints with the Astros. The club designated him for assignment in late March, and he joined the Yankees on a minor league deal. New York released Hummel in late May, and he latched on with the Orioles. He appeared in one game with the team, striking out in his only at-bat. Hummel was then DFAed and soon found himself back in Houston. He earned semi-regular at-bats with the Astros until he was designated for assignment yet again. Hummel closed the year at Triple-A in the Rays’ system.

Hummel hit just .170 with three home runs and a stolen base at the big-league level last year. He now has a 58 wRC+ across 119 career games. Hummel debuted with the Diamondbacks in 2022. He came to the organization from the Brewers in a trade headlined by Eduardo Escobar. Hummel slashed .176/.274/.307 in 201 plate appearances with Arizona, his most extensive MLB work to date. He also had brief stretches with Seattle in 2023 and Houston in 2024.

Strikeouts have been a consistent issue for Hummel. He posted a 29.5% strikeout rate between the Orioles and Astros last season. He’s at 31.2% for his big-league career. Hummel had better contact numbers in the minors and also showed a tremendous eye at the plate, but has struggled to reproduce those results at the highest level.

Hummel is the latest in a slew of signings for Yokohama. The club also signed infielder Dayan Viciedo and added reliever José Ruiz in recent weeks.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea, Imagn Images

Rangers, Tyler Wade Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers have agreed to a minor league contract with free agent infielder/outfielder Tyler Wade, reports Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. Presumably, the Paragon Sports International client will be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee next spring.

Wade, who turned 31 a couple weeks ago, has spent the past two seasons in the Padres organization. He’s a versatile but light-hitting utility player who posted a .212/.296/.245 batting line in 283 plate appearances with the Friars and carries a career .216/.294/.284 batting line (65 wRC+) in 992 turns at the plate in the majors. He has above-average speed but doesn’t get on base frequently enough to make great use of that speed. However, he did swipe 17 bags in just 145 plate appearances with the 2021 Yankees — albeit in part due to frequent use as a pinch-runner (7-for-8 in steals during 19 pinch-running appearances).

While Wade has been primarily a middle infielder in his career, he’s also spent plenty of time at third base and has at least 133 innings at each of the three outfield spots. He’s drawn solid marks for his glovework at second base but more tepid results at third base, shortstop and in the outfield.

Texas recently traded Marcus Semien to the Mets and non-tendered Adolis Garcia. While Brandon Nimmo — acquired for Semien — will step into the outfield alongside Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter, Wade provides some veteran depth as a potential backup outfielder and second baseman. He’ll vie for a bench job next spring, competing against Ezequiel Duran, Cody Freeman, Justin Foscue, Sam Haggerty and Michael Helman — among others.

Padres Sign Daison Acosta To Major League Contract

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The Padres announced Monday that they’ve signed right-hander Daison Acosta to a one-year, major league contract. Their 40-man roster is now up to 37 players.

Acosta, 27, has never pitched in the majors but enjoyed a strong 2025 showing in the Nationals’ system, pitching to a combined 2.42 ERA with a 33% strikeout rate, 12.4% walk rate and 44.1% ground-ball rate across three levels in a total of 52 relief innings. He sits 94.5 mph on his four-seamer, coupling that heater with a splitter, sinker and slider to round out a four-pitch repertoire.

Originally an international signee with the Mets out of his native Dominican Republic way back in 2016, Acosta made his way to the Nats by way of the Rule 5 Draft’s minor league phase back in 2023. He spent two seasons with the Nationals organization and pitched well in both seasons, logging a sub-3.00 ERA while striking out just shy of one-third of his opponents. He’s posted gargantuan swinging-strike rates of 19.1% and 17.3%, respectively, across the past two minor league seasons.

Acosta hasn’t started a game since 2022, so it seems he’ll be a pure depth signing for the San Diego bullpen. It’s a low-cost pickup, presumably paying Acosta the MLB minimum for any time spent in the majors on a split deal. He still has a full slate of minor league options, so the Padres can send him to Triple-A next spring without first placing him on waivers.

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