Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Transactions

Reds Option Noelvi Marté

By | at

The Reds announced a series of camp cuts today, the most notable being that infielder Noelvi Marté has been optioned to Triple-A Louisville. They also optioned right-handers Yosver Zulueta and Connor Phillips as well as infielder/outfielder Tyler Callihan ad outfielder Rece Hinds.

The news isn’t especially surprising but highlights how far Marté’s stock has fallen in the past year. He had been a top 100 prospect for years as he ascended the minor leagues and then had a torrid start to his big league career. The Reds, who acquired the prospect as part of the July 2022 trade that sent Luis Castillo to Seattle, first promoted Marté in the middle of August 2023. He took 123 plate appearances as that season was winding down, hitting .316/.366/.456.

That was inflated by a .384 batting average on balls in play that didn’t make it seem wholly sustainable, but Marté was only 21 years old at the time and had a lengthy track record of hitting in the minors. While some regression may have been expected, it was nonetheless hoped that he could take the third base job in Cincinnati and run with it.

Unfortunately, it’s been all downhill since then. Marté was hit with an 80-game suspension just over a year ago, on March 8 of 2024, after testing positive for the performance-enhancing substance Boldenone. He was reinstated in late June last year but hit a dismal .210/.248/.301 for the Reds after that. His 3.7% walk rate and 31% strikeout rate last year were both awful numbers. He has received 22 plate appearances this spring, striking out in 36.4% of those while only walking at a 4.5% clip, leading to a .150/.182/.400 line.

The Reds understandably don’t feel they can rely on Marté to face big league pitching right now, so he’ll head to minors and try to get back on track. For what it’s worth, the strikeout and walk profile was far better until recently. From 2019 to 2023, he stepped to the plate 1,729 times in the minors. He walked in 11% of those and was only punched out at a 20.2% clip. In the majors in 2023, his 6.5% walk rate was a bit below average but his 20.3% strikeout rate was solid.

It’s only been since the PED suspension that Marté has had such pronounced struggles at the plate. While it’s clearly been a rough year, he is still young, having just turned 23 in October. Perhaps being away from the big-league spotlight can help him get right again. In terms of service time, he didn’t collect any while suspended and is currently at 139 days, a bit shy of the one-year mark. He’ll get over that one-year line if he is recalled for at least 33 days during the 2025 season.

As for the third base job in Cincinnati, MLBTR recently took a look at some of the options. It’s possible that Jeimer Candelario ends up taking the bulk of the playing time there, but he could also be at first base or in the designated hitter slot. That could allow for players like Gavin Lux, Christian Encarnacion-Strand or Santiago Espinal to get some time there as well.

A’s Sign Lawrence Butler To Seven-Year Extension

By | at

March 10: The A’s made it official today, announcing they have signed Butler to a seven-year extension plus a club option for 2032.

March 7: Butler’s deal will pay him a $3MM signing bonus and $2.25MM in 2025, Evan Drellich of The Athletic reports. He’ll then earn salaries of $3.25MM, $5MM, $8MM, $10MM, $14MM and $16MM from 2026-31. The Athletics’ option checks in at $20MM and comes with a $4MM buyout. The contract also contains escalators that can push the option value north to $26MM, per the report. In all, Butler can max out at $87.5MM over eight years if he hits all those escalators and the option is picked up.

March 6: The A’s are in agreement with right fielder Lawrence Butler on a seven-year, $65.5MM extension, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. There’s a club option for an eighth season. The contract buys out at least two free agent seasons, while the option covers a third would-be free agent year. The team has yet to announce the signing, which is pending a physical. Butler is represented by CAA Sports.

A sixth-round pick out of high school in 2018, Butler struggled over his first couple minor league seasons. Things clicked for him in Low-A in 2021, and he continued to hit his way up the ladder. The lefty hitter reached the majors in 2023 and hit .211 over his first 42 games. While he got out to another relatively slow start last year, a monster second half demonstrated his potential.

Butler raked at a .300/.345/.553 clip with 13 homers and 32 extra-base hits after the All-Star Break. Among qualified hitters, he ranked 10th in wRC+ over that stretch. The nine more productive batters in the second half are stars: Aaron Judge, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bobby Witt Jr., Yordan Alvarez, Juan Soto, Shohei Ohtani, Francisco Lindor, Jackson Merrill, and teammate Brent Rooker.

It’s impressive company, though it’s worth noting that Eugenio Suárez and Gavin Lux were among those closely behind Butler in second-half production. Three months is still a relatively small sample size. Butler went into last year’s All-Star Break as a career .205/.260/.337 hitter. He had fanned in almost 30% of his plate appearances to that point. He sliced the strikeouts to a tidy 19.8% clip in the second half. The whiffs began to creep back up in September, though he still managed a .280/.330/.409 in the season’s final month.

The A’s believe he’ll build off that strong finish. Butler ended the season with a .262/.317/.490 slash across 451 plate appearances. He hit 22 homers and went a perfect 18-18 on stolen base attempts. While most of his playing time came against right-handed pitching, he more than held his own in unfavorable platoon settings. Butler hit .291 with five homers in 89 plate appearances against southpaws.

Butler led off for Mark Kotsay throughout the second half. He has sufficient on-base skills to hit atop the lineup or the power to slot into the order’s middle third. He’s an effective baserunner who’ll play every day in right field. Statcast and Defensive Runs Saved each graded him as a league average defender over 955 1/3 innings. Butler has solid speed and arm strength, so he probably has the tools to be an above-average corner outfield defender. He started 32 games in center field as a rookie, but he only played four MLB innings there last season. JJ Bleday will play up the middle on most days.

The A’s had Butler under club control for five seasons. He wasn’t on track to reach arbitration for another two years. There have been a few recent extensions for hitters in that 1-2 year service bucket. The Pirates inked third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes to an eight-year, $70MM guarantee in 2022. The Rockies signed a seven-year, $63.5MM extension with shortstop Ezequiel Tovar last spring. The Nationals hammered out an eight-year, $50MM agreement with catcher Keibert Ruiz two seasons ago.

Butler has shown a higher offensive ceiling than all those players had at the time of their deals. They’d each been top prospects and played more valuable positions, though. Tovar and Hayes were already plus defenders. Butler’s deal puts him alongside the Hayes and Tovar contracts. That’s a reasonable landing spot. Butler locks in a significant sum that hedges against injury or regression. The A’s buy into his breakout relatively early. If they’d waited until next offseason, another strong season would probably have pushed Butler’s asking price beyond nine figures.

The A’s have now signed three of the four largest contracts in franchise history over the past few months. Their three-year, $67MM free agent deal with Luis Severino stands as their biggest ever. They signed Rooker to a five-year, $60MM extension with a sixth-year club option. As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, this is the first time the A’s have extended a pre-arbitration player since their $10MM deal with Sean Doolittle in April 2014.

The spike in spending has coincided with the franchise’s three-year move to Sacramento. They’ve reportedly needed to get their competitive balance tax number to $105MM in order to avoid a grievance from the MLB Players Association regarding their use of revenue sharing funds. They’d already achieved that between deals for Severino, Rooker, and reliever José Leclerc, as well as the trade for starter Jeffrey Springs.

Butler joins Rooker as the only players under contract through at least 2028, the scheduled opening of their Las Vegas ballpark. The option extends their control window through 2032. Butler would hit free agency after his age-31 season if they exercise the option.

It’s possible this is the first of a handful of spring deals for the A’s. General manager David Forst told Evan Drellich of The Athletic last month that the team had opened talks with multiple players. MLBTR highlighted a few of their extension candidates in a post for Front Office subscribers last week.

Image courtesy of Imagn.

Tigers Sign José Urquidy

By | at

The Tigers have signed free agent right-hander José Urquidy to a one-year, $1MM contract for 2025, the team announced. The deal comes with a $4MM team option for 2026. That team option also includes escalators that could increase Urquidy’s salary by up to $3MM. He will earn an additional $150K for reaching each of four and seven starts; $300K for reaching each of 10, 13, 16, and 19 starts; and $500K for reaching each of 22, 25, and 28 starts.

To free up space for Urquidy on the 40-man roster, the Tigers placed fellow right-hander Sawyer Gipson-Long on the 60-day injured list while he continues to recover from left hip labral repair and Tommy John surgery. The team has also placed Urquidy on the 60-day IL; he is recovering from Tommy John surgery of his own.

Urquidy spent the first six years of his MLB career with the Astros. While he looked like a solid mid-rotation starter in 2021 and ’22 (3.81 ERA, 4.22 SIERA in 49 games), the righty had a rough year in 2023. He struggled out of the gate in April before landing on the IL with shoulder troubles. His struggles continued upon his return in August, and he soon lost his spot in the starting rotation.

Unfortunately, Urquidy’s troubles only got worse in 2024. He opened the season on the injured list and eventually required UCL surgery in June. After clearing waivers in November, he elected free agency.

Urquidy will not be ready to return to action until midseason at the earliest, so he will not factor into the ongoing rotation battle in Tigers camp. Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, and Reese Olson are locks for the Opening Day rotation, and top prospect Jackson Jobe has the inside track on the number four spot, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. However, with Alex Cobb expected to miss the beginning of the season, one spot at the back end is still up for grabs. Casey Mize, Kenta Maeda, and Keider Montero are the primary candidates to win that job.

Meanwhile, Urquidy will continue his rehab in the Tigers organization. Once he is ready to get back on the field, he can provide depth as a back-end starter or long reliever. In a best-case scenario, Urquidy returns and looks like his old self, which would make his club option for 2026 a bargain. Meanwhile, the worst possible outcome for the Tigers is that they pay him $1MM to rehab in 2025 and cut their losses at the end of the year if he struggles or fails to get back on the mound.

Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 was the first to report the agreement between Urquidy and the Tigers. Chris McCosky of the Detroit News confirmed that it was a major league deal.

Astros, Jalen Beeks Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Astros are in agreement with lefty reliever Jalen Beeks, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. It’s a minor league contract, according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic.

Beeks divided the ’24 season between the Rockies and Pirates. He tossed 71 innings of 4.50 ERA ball between the two clubs. Beeks carried a 4.74 mark over 49 1/3 frames for Colorado. The Rox flipped him to Pittsburgh at the deadline for minor league reliever Luis Peralta. The 31-year-old southpaw managed decent production for the Bucs. He turned in a 3.92 ERA with three holds and a save across 20 2/3 innings.

However, Beeks’ strikeout rate trended down for the fourth consecutive season. He punched out 32.1% of opponents as a member of the Rays in the shortened 2020 season. Beeks missed all of ’21 rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, but he returned to post a 28% strikeout rate over 61 innings in 2022. That fell to 24.5% the next season and dropped to a well below-average 17.6% mark last year. The trade didn’t help in that regard. Beeks had run an 18% strikeout rate with Colorado and fanned 16.8% of opposing hitters in Pittsburgh.

Beeks still throws reasonably hard. His fastball averaged 94.5 MPH last season. That’s in line with where it has landed since his surgery. He leaned more heavily on the pitch at the expense of his changeup and cutter last year. Beeks did a decent job limiting hard contact on all three pitches, but he only missed bats effectively with the changeup.

Houston spent a few years operating without many left-handers in their bullpen. Josh Hader will close, leaving the lefty middle relief group rather thin. The Astros let deadline pickup Caleb Ferguson depart in free agency to the Pirates. That leaves Bryan King and Bennett Sousa as the only other lefty relievers on the 40-man roster. Beeks joins Steven Okert and Blake Weiman as non-roster southpaws in camp.

Mets Outright Sean Reid-Foley

By | at

March 6: The Mets announced that Reid-Foley has been outrighted to Triple-A, indicating he cleared waivers. He is no longer on the 40-man roster.

March 4: The Mets have placed right-hander Sean Reid-Foley on outright waivers, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. At this point, there’s nothing to suggest that the righty has been designated for assignment, so he seems to still be on the 40-man roster. If he goes unclaimed, the Mets could choose to outright him off the roster and open a spot. However, the waivers are not revocable, so he’ll join another club if he is claimed.

Clubs are allowed to place players on waivers without immediately removing them from the 40-man roster. It’s fairly rare that this actually happens, though the Rockies did it with Justin Lawrence just a few days ago. In that instance, the Rockies lost Lawrence when the Pirates put in a claim.

Reid-Foley, 29, has appeared in each of the past seven major league seasons. However, health has prevented him from taking on any kind of meaningful workload of late. He has never been able to throw 34 innings in a big league season. He twice got over 30 frames but hasn’t done so since 2019.

From 2018 to 2020, he served as an up-and-down depth arm for the Blue Jays. He got over 30 innings in the first two of those seasons but spent most of the shortened campaign on optional assignment. In total, he logged 71 2/3 innings with a 4.40 earned run average.

He was flipped to the Mets as part of the January 2021 trade that sent Steven Matz to Toronto. Reid-Foley logged 20 2/3 innings for the Mets that year with a 5.23 ERA but his 28.3% strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate made for an intriguing combo. Unfortunately, some elbow inflammation sent him to the injured list that year. He avoided the surgeon’s table for a while but eventually required Tommy John in May of 2022.

He was non-tendered after that season but re-signed with the Mets via a minor league deal going into 2023. He was selected back to the roster late that year and kept his roster spot into 2024. Last year, he was placed on the injured list multiple times due to right shoulder impingements. Around those IL stints, he tossed 21 2/3 innings with a 1.66 ERA and 27.8% strikeout rate but a very high walk rate of 15.6%. He got a bit of help from a .255 batting average on balls in play and 63% strand rate. His 2.80 FIP and 3.98 SIERA were still good numbers but point to that ERA being unsustainable.

Control issues aren’t new for Reid-Foley, who now has a 14.2% walk rate in his career. Perhaps that’s due to the stop-and-start nature of his career, working around those injuries, but it’s been an ongoing theme nevertheless.

The Mets tendered Reid-Foley an arbitration contract this winter, agreeing to a salary of $800K. The righty has at least three years of service time, meaning he would have the right to elect free agency if he clears waivers and is outrighted. However, since he has less than five years of service, he would have to forfeit that salary in doing so.

Perhaps the Mets are hoping Reid-Foley will clear waivers and accept his assignment in order to keep that salary in place, which would allow them to open a roster spot and keep some depth in a non-roster capacity. But by putting him on waivers, they are risking losing him to another club. The health and the walks are a concern but some teams might be interested in his 28.8% strikeout rate since joining the Mets. Reid-Foley is out of options, but he can theoretically be controlled via arbitration through 2027.

Tyler Naquin Converting To Pitching, Signs Minor League Deal With Guardians

By | at

The Guardians announced that they have signed Tyler Naquin to a minor league contract, but that the longtime big league outfielder is attempting to move to the mound and is reporting as a right-handed pitcher.

Naquin, 34 in April, appeared in each big league season from 2016 to 2023. Most of that was with Cleveland, though he later went to the Reds, Mets and White Sox. Over those eight seasons, he got into 562 games, hitting 61 home runs and slashing .263/.316/.445 for a 101 wRC+. He spent most of 2023 in the minors, getting into just five big league games for the White Sox as the season was winding down. He didn’t sign anywhere for the 2024 campaign.

With his career as an outfielder seemingly stalled out, Naquin will try a late-career move to the mound. It’s a tough trick to pull off, but the Guardians have had one other such convert in the system in recent years. Anthony Gose is also an outfielder-turned-pitcher. He saw some action for the Guardians over the 2021-24 stretch, missing 2023 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He was outrighted off the roster in September and is now with the Mets on a minor league deal.

Naquin’s arm strength was an asset during his career. In 2020, when Statcast first started ranking arm strength, Naquin ranked in the 99th percentile. He dropped to the 98th and 94th percentile respectively over the next two seasons, but still quite a respectable position. He had 32 outfield assists in his career.

Whether he can harness that into effective results on the mound is anyone’s guess. For the Guardians, there’s no harm in bringing him aboard via a minor league deal to see how it goes. For the fans, it’s a fun and unique story involving a familiar face.

Mexican League’s Bravos De León Sign Jay Jackson

By | at

The Bravos de León of the Mexican League announced last week that they’ve signed veteran reliever Jay Jackson. The Bravos also announced a deal with righty Josimar Cousin, who spent some time on the White Sox’s 40-man roster last year. Francys Romero first reported the Cousin deal.

Jackson, a Nello Gamberdino client, has pitched in parts of six big league seasons. He reached the majors in each of the past four years, including a 20-game stint with the Twins last season. Jackson struggled to a 7.52 earned run average over 26 1/3 frames for Minnesota. He had a solid strikeout and walk profile (25.4% and 7.9%, respectively) but gave up seven home runs in his relatively small sample of work.

The 37-year-old righty is only a year removed from posting much better numbers with Toronto. Jackson provided the Jays 29 2/3 innings of 2.12 ERA ball in 2023. His velocity was down slightly last year. His four-seam fastball sat at 91.9 MPH; he’d averaged a bit above 93 MPH two seasons ago. If he recaptures his previous velocity and/or misses bats in Mexico, he could pitch his way back to affiliated ball on a midseason minor league deal.

Cousin, 27, is a Cuban-born hurler who hasn’t pitched in the majors. The White Sox selected his contract in 2023 but outrighted back off the 40-man roster last April. He combined for a 2.80 ERA in 35 1/3 innings between the top two minor league levels. Cousin qualified for minor league free agency at season’s end.

Brewers Sign Jose Quintana

By | at

March 5: The Brewers made it official today, announcing that they have signed Quintana to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2026. DL Hall was placed on the 60-day IL to open a roster spot. Per Jon Heyman of The New York Post, it’s a $2MM salary in 2025 with a deferred $2MM buyout on a $15MM mutual option for 2026 and a $250K roster bonus. The incentives are $125K each for 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24 games started, as well as $100K for 110, 120, 130 and 140 innings pitched.

March 3: The Brewers are making a veteran addition to their rotation. Milwaukee is reportedly in agreement with Jose Quintana on a one-year, $4.25MM deal. That takes the form of a $250K roster bonus and a $4MM base salary for the ACES client. The signing, which has not been made official by the team, also includes incentives. The Brewers have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move once the deal is finalized.

Quintana, 36, is one of the top unsigned free agents as the regular season is just over three weeks away at this point. He just finished a two-year, $26MM deal with the Mets that saw him post solid surface-level results, though with the numbers under the hood a bit less impressive.

In 2023, a left rib fracture put him on the injured list at the start of the season and kept him there until the middle of July. He returned in time to make 13 starts down the stretch, allowing 3.57 earned runs per nine innings, though his strikeout rate fell to 18.8%. Last year, he stayed healthy enough to take the ball 31 times for the Mets and logged 170 1/3 innings with a 3.75 ERA. But his strikeout was again a tepid 18.8% and he benefited from .263 batting average on balls in play. His 4.56 FIP and 4.57 SIERA on the year both pointed to him deserving worse results than he actually posted.

Prior to signing with the Mets, Quintana had engineered a strong bounceback season. After struggling with injuries and underperformance in 2020 and 2021, the lefty posted a 2.93 ERA over 32 starts in 2022. In that bounceback year, he had a 20.2% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and 46.4% ground ball rate. Since then, he has a 3.70 ERA over 246 innings but with his 18.8% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 45.6% ground ball rate each moving slightly in the wrong direction.

Quintana’s isn’t the most exciting profile, but even getting some boring back-of-the-rotation innings could be good for the Brewers, especially for the price. At the start of the winter, MLBTR predicted the lefty to secure a two-year, $20MM contract, alongside other mid-rotation or back-end guys like Frankie Montas, Andrew Heaney or Matthew Boyd.

The pitching market was very aggressive early on, with Montas able to get a two-year, $34MM guarantee plus an opt-out from the Mets. Boyd got two years and $29MM from the Cubs. But the heat died down more recently, which seems to have squeezed out certain guys. Heaney had to settle for a $5.25MM guarantee from the Pirates on a one-year deal. Quintana reportedly turned down a better offer than that Heaney deal from the Bucs but is now joining Milwaukee on a fairly similar arrangement.

The Brewers have clearly been operating with no financial wiggle room this winter. Prior to signing Quintana, their biggest free agent signing was giving a $1MM guarantee to Tyler Alexander. They did add Nestor Cortes in a trade with the Yankees, but that deal was fairly revenue-neutral, with Devin Williams going the other way.

Their rotation mix has a few question marks in it. Robert Gasser required Tommy John surgery in June of last year and will be out of action until the second half of 2025. Brandon Woodruff is working his way back from shoulder surgery which wiped out his 2024 campaign and it’s unclear when he will be a viable option. DL Hall suffered a lat strain a few weeks ago and will start the season on the injured list.

As of now, Freddy Peralta and Cortes have spots alongside Aaron Civale and Tobias Myers. Civale tossed 161 innings last year but that was a personal best for him, having never hit 125 frames in a big league season before. Myers posted an ERA of 3.00 in his first big league action but was a nomadic former prospect prior to that, so it remains to be seen if he can maintain his results or if his 2024 was a fluke.

Other options in the mix include Alexander and Aaron Ashby. Alexander has a 4.55 ERA in his career but mostly in a swing role, oscillating between starting and relieving. This Quintana deal should push him more firmly into that position again. Ashby, who left today’s Spring Training appearance with an oblique injury, has some starting experience but struggled through much of 2024 before finishing strong in a relief role. He is still a starting candidate but he could eventually end up back in the bullpen and also has an option year remaining, which could push him to the Triple-A rotation.

Even if Quintana’s results in 2024 were a bit of a mirage and he ends up with an ERA in the mid-4.00s this year, a steady veteran presence at this price is a logical add for a club with so many rotation question marks and little spending capacity.

For clubs still looking to add starting pitching at this late stage of the offseason, there are still a few unsigned options, including Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn and Spencer Turnbull. The trade market could feature Jordan Montgomery and Taijuan Walker, though their salaries are much larger than what free agents have been settling for in recent weeks.

Robert Murray of FanSided first reported that the Brewers were signing Quintana to a one-year deal. Francys Romero reported that the salary would land in the $4-5MM range and the presence of incentives. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com had the specific $4.25MM guarantee and salary structure.

Brewers Place DL Hall On 60-Day Injured List

By | at

The Brewers announced that left-hander DL Hall has been placed on the 60-day injured list. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com was among those to relay the news. That means Hall has been officially ruled out until late May at the earliest. That’s the corresponding move to open a roster spot for lefty Jose Quintana, who has now been officially signed.

Back on February 12th, it was reported that Hall had a lat strain and was going to be shut down for at least the next two weeks. It has now been three weeks since that reporting with little information coming out about his progress. About a week ago, McCalvy relayed that Hall had not even been cleared to start playing catch. Manager Pat Murphy tells McCalvy today that Hall is expected to resume playing catch at the end of this week.

Given the sluggish progress and this transaction, it seems the Brewers don’t expect Hall to return anytime soon. Players can be placed on the 60-day IL once pitchers and catchers report to camp but the clock doesn’t start ticking until Opening Day, so Hall won’t be eligible for reinstatement until late May even in a best-case scenario.

It’s an unfortunate development for Hall, who hasn’t been able to build a decent workload. He still doesn’t have a 100-inning season on his track record as a professional. With the Orioles in 2022 and 2023, they shuttled him between the majors and minors as well as the rotation and the bullpen. He was traded to the Brewers as part of the Corbin Burnes deal ahead of the 2024 season and Milwaukee mostly deployed him as a starter last year, but a knee sprain capped him at 84 frames, majors and minors combined.

The Brewers still have hope of Hall becoming a viable starter one day, given that he’s a former top 100 prospect and was a key part of the Burnes deal. He could still have a nice season in 2025 but starting it with a lengthy IL stint isn’t ideal.

For the Brewers, they will have some rotation question marks to start the season, though the Quintana signing helps to solidify the group. Alongside Quintana will be Freddy Peralta, Tobias Myers, Aaron Civale and Nestor Cortes. They will add Brandon Woodruff in there at some point, though his timeline is unclear after he spent 2024 recovering from shoulder surgery. Aaron Ashby has an oblique strain and is still getting tested, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, but seems likely to start the season on the IL. Robert Gasser is already on the 60-day IL as he recovers from last year’s Tommy John surgery.

Behind the front five, the Brewers currently have Logan Henderson, Carlos Rodríguez, Chad Patrick and Elvin Rodríguez as healthy options on the 40-man roster. However, Henderson and Patrick have no major league experience while the Rodríguezes have just 45 1/3 big league innings combined. Jacob Misiorowski is one of the top prospects in baseball but isn’t on the 40-man and walked 14.4% of batters faced last year.

Padres, Jose Iglesias Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Padres and free agent infielder Jose Iglesias are reportedly in agreement on a minor league contract. The Boras Corporation client will earn a $3MM base salary if he makes the roster and can take home another $1MM via incentives. That’s a bit heavier base than the standard minor league pact, which seems reflective of Iglesias’ 2024 season and perhaps strong interest on non-guaranteed deals of this nature.

Iglesias, 35, enjoyed a tremendous comeback season in 2024 after not appearing in the majors at all in 2023. (He spent a portion of that season with the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate.) Originally signed to a minor league deal by the Mets, Iglesias was summoned to the big leagues in late May as a scuffling Mets club shuffled up a roster that had produced a 24-33 record through the season’s first two months. The 12-year veteran went on to appear in 85 games and slash .337/.381/.448 in 291 turns at the plate. He also became a key figure in the Mets’ clubhouse and a fan favorite whose “OMG” song became an anthem for the Mets as they turned their season around and marched to an NLCS appearance that looked wildly improbable at the time of Iglesias’ call to the majors.

Impressive as Iglesias’ numbers were in 2024, the Mets haven’t been keen on bringing him back. That’s in part due to a largely inflexible roster; catcher Francisco Alvarez and likely backup infielder Luisangel Acuña are the only two projected position players on the Mets’ roster who can be optioned. Re-signing Iglesias would’ve effectively left the Mets with a static 13-player position core, as Alvarez isn’t likely to be optioned at any point in the near future. That would leave the Mets playing with a short bench anytime a position player needed a couple days off with a minor injury or illness.

Furthermore, there’s simply good reason to believe that Iglesias’ output was unsustainable. He benefited from a sky-high .382 average on balls in play that sat 72 points higher than his career mark entering the 2024 season. That surge in batted-ball results came despite Iglesias producing bottom-of-the-scale marks in terms of average exit velocity (85.8 mph), barrel rate (2.2%) and hard-hit rate (30.6%). The Mets — and presumably, based on his eventual contract — other clubs around the league clearly didn’t expect him to replicate or even approximate his 2024 results.

While some regression is to be expected, that shouldn’t take away the entirety of what Iglesias did with the Mets. He continued to demonstrate superlative contact skills, fanning in only 12.4% of his plate appearances. He’s also retained plus sprint speed even as he’s entered his mid-30s, clocking in at 28.6 ft/sec, per Statcast, and landing in the 83rd percentile of big leaguers as a result. Iglesias also played strong defense at both third base and second base, per Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average. He’s not going to be the batting title contender that a cursory look at his 2024 line might suggest, but even a dip to his “expected” .314 weighted on-base average (via Statcast) would make him a useful utility infielder.

That could well be Iglesias’ role with the Padres, but it’s possible he emerges in a more significant capacity. San Diego presently expects to have Jake Cronenworth at second base and Luis Arraez at first base. If the Friars want to affordably bolster their infield defense, however, shifting Arraez to a DH role and moving Cronenworth back to first base could open second for Iglesias.

It’s also possible that he’s only in the mix for a bench spot, which would place him in something of an unofficial competition with infielders Eguy Rosario and Tyler Wade. Rosario is out of minor league options — one of the more intriguing out-of-options players in the league this spring — whereas Wade can’t be sent down without his consent due to his status as a veteran with more than five years of MLB service. The Padres aren’t going to carry all three on the roster. Iglesias could beat out either player, given his ability to handle any infield spot other than first base. Rosario isn’t yet arbitration-eligible and is thus earning roughly the league minimum. Wade’s $850K salary is barely north of the minimum. He has a $1MM club option, however, suggesting the Friars would prefer to keep him around.

Iglesias is an Article XX(b) free agent — meaning he’s a free agent with more than six years of MLB service who finished the preceding season on a major league roster or injured list. The 2022-26 CBA stipulates that such free agents who sign minor league contracts have three uniform opt-out opportunities baked into the contract: the first being five days prior to Opening Day, the second on May 1 and the third on June 1. As such, if Iglesias is informed late in camp that the Padres don’t plan to carry him on the Opening Day roster, he can trigger that out clause and explore opportunities with other clubs.

Robert Murray of FanSided first reported the agreement between Iglesias and the Padres. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported it was a minor league deal and also was first on the terms of the contract.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top