Red Sox Sign Isiah Kiner-Falefa
Feb. 10: The Red Sox formally announced the signing of Kiner-Falefa to a one-year deal this morning. Righty Tanner Houck was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Houck is recovering from August Tommy John surgery and is expected to miss the majority, if not the entirety of the 2026 season.
Feb. 4: The Red Sox reportedly have an agreement with infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa on a one-year contract that guarantees $6MM, pending a physical. There are an additional $500K in incentives available for the ALIGND Sports Agency client. Boston’s 40-man roster will be at capacity after the signing, so no corresponding move is required.
Kiner-Falefa will apparently be the Sox’s answer at second base after they lost Alex Bregman to free agency. Boston kicked around much bigger possibilities on the trade and free agent markets (e.g. Ketel Marte, Brendan Donovan, Isaac Paredes, Bo Bichette) but couldn’t find a deal to their liking. They reportedly prefer to keep Marcelo Mayer at third base and were looking for a quality defensive player whom they could plug in at the keystone.
A former Gold Glove winner, Kiner-Falefa qualifies on that front. He took home the defensive honor at third base as a member of the Rangers in 2020. He’s a plus defender at any of second base, third base or shortstop. He has more experience on the left side of the infield but carries strong marks from Defensive Runs Saved (+12) and Statcast (+2 Outs Above Average) in nearly 600 career innings as a second baseman.
The flip side is that Kiner-Falefa isn’t going to provide much at the plate. He puts the ball in play but has some of the lowest exit velocities in the sport. He has never reached double digits in home runs in a season, nor has he turned in a .700 OPS in any of his eight years in the majors. Kiner-Falefa is coming off a .262/.297/.334 showing across 459 plate appearances between the Pirates and Blue Jays. He’s a .262/.311/.349 hitter in more than 3300 trips to the dish over his career. He’s a solid baserunner despite average speed, stealing double digit bases in each of the past five years.
Second base was a weak point for the Red Sox last year. Kristian Campbell faded after a monster April and was back in Triple-A by the end of June. He posted disastrous defensive grades and no longer seems to be an option at the position. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has suggested a few times they view Campbell primarily as an outfielder. He’s a good enough athlete to have some promise as a defender on the grass, but Boston’s crowded outfield isn’t going to afford him many opportunities until someone suffers an injury.
The Sox used Romy Gonzalez, Ceddanne Rafaela, David Hamilton and Nick Sogard there in the second half and got just a .242/.292/.333 showing down the stretch. Rafaela is an elite defensive outfielder whom the Red Sox prefer to play in center field. Gonzalez hits lefties well but profiles as a short side platoon bat. Hamilton and Sogard are utility players on a team that expects to contend. Kiner-Falefa probably should be as well, yet there weren’t any clear regulars available in free agency at this stage of the offseason.
Kiner-Falefa is a right-handed hitter whose offensive profile doesn’t change regardless of the pitcher’s handedness. Gonzalez should still take the majority of at-bats against lefty pitching. Kiner-Falefa could slide to third on those days if the Sox want to shield Mayer from same-handed opposition. They might also prioritize having him on the field behind ground-ball pitchers like Brayan Bello and Ranger Suárez while plugging Gonzalez in for a little more offense on days when Garrett Crochet or Sonny Gray take the mound.
It appears the Sox had pushed close to their financial comfort zone after signing Suárez and trading for Gray and Willson Contreras. According to RosterResource, this pushes Boston to roughly $263MM in luxury tax commitments. They’re a few days removed from giving up a mid-tier starting pitching prospect, David Sandlin, to dump $16MM of the $24MM remaining on the Jordan Hicks contract on the White Sox. (Boston also picked up minor league pitcher Gage Ziehl in that trade.) If the cash considerations are evenly distributed, they saved $8MM on the 2026 payroll, some of which they’re now reallocating to Kiner-Falefa.
The Sox are above the $244MM first tax threshold. They’re second-time payors who pay a 30% tax on their first $20MM in overages, so they’re currently set for a minimal tax bill. That was also the case last year, as they paid a $1.5MM fee for going nearly $8MM above the line. The tax rate climbs to 42% for spending between $264MM and $284MM. There are no draft penalties associated with going into the second penalization tier, so that’d largely be an arbitrary stopping point if that’s where ownership sets the budget. The Kiner-Falefa signing comes with a $1.8MM tax hit.
Chris Cotillo of MassLive first reported the Red Sox and Kiner-Falefa were nearing a one-year deal. ESPN’s Jeff Passan confirmed an agreement was in place. Cotillo reported the $6MM guarantee and $500K in bonuses.
Image courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images.
Athletics Sign Aaron Civale
The A’s announced the signing of right-hander Aaron Civale to a one-year contract. It’s reportedly a $6MM guarantee and includes an additional $1.5MM in incentives. Civale is represented by agent Jack Toffey.
This is the second free agent agreement in the past five days for the A’s, who also came to terms with reliever Scott Barlow last Friday. The Athletics designated pitchers Mitch Spence and Grant Holman for assignment to create roster space.
Civale has been a solid fourth or fifth starter for the bulk of his big league tenure. The 30-year-old righty sports a 4.24 ERA with a 21.8% strikeout rate, 6.6% walk rate and 39.4% ground-ball rate in 680 2/3 innings dating back to the 2020 season. He had a knack for working deeper into games early in his career but has typically been a five-inning starter in recent seasons as he’s posted progressively worse splits when turning a lineup over for a third time in a game.
Civale split the 2025 campaign between the Brewers, White Sox and Cubs. He logged a total of 102 innings (18 starts, five relief appearances) and turned in a 4.85 ERA that stands as the second-worst mark of his career. Civale’s strikeout and walk rates weren’t drastically different than in prior seasons, but he was more susceptible to home runs and experienced some atypical struggles with men on base; his 67.8% strand rate was the second-worst mark of his career, sitting nearly six percentage points shy of his lifetime mark.
From 2023-24, Civale notched a solid 3.97 earned run average in 54 starts between the Guardians, Brewers and Rays. He fanned a roughly average 22.2% of opponents against a 7.1% walk rate that was comfortably better than league-average. Civale doesn’t throw particularly hard, sitting 91-92 mph with his four-seamer, 92-93 mph with his sinker and 89-90 mph with a cutter. He also features a curveball around 77 mph and mixes in the occasional slider or splitter. It’s something of a kitchen-sink arsenal full of average-ish offerings that, at his best, play up a bit thanks to plus command.
With the A’s, Civale will step onto a staff that also include Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, Jacob Lopez and Luis Morales. Severino and Springs led the A’s in starts and innings pitched last season, both posting ERA marks in the low-4.00s. Lopez logged similar run-prevention numbers in 17 starts (3.96 ERA, 84 innings) but did so with superior rate stats (27.7 K%, 9.2 BB%), likely punching a ticket to the 2026 rotation in the process. The 23-year-old Morales, one of the organization’s top prospects, debuted with a 3.09 ERA in his first nine starts, whiffing 22.6% of batters and issuing walks at an 8.9% clip.
Civale should round out the starting rotation and ensure that the A’s don’t need to place too much pressure on flamethrowing Luis Medina (returning from 2024 Tommy John surgery) or top prospects Gage Jump and Jamie Arnold, either of whom could debut at some point in 2026 (with Jump being the likelier of the two). Depth options on the 40-man roster beyond the current group include Gunnar Hoglund, Jack Perkins, J.T. Ginn, Joey Estes and yet-to-debut prospects Henry Baez and Braden Nett. Some of those depth pieces who’ve already struggled at the MLB level could shift to relief roles.
Civale’s $6MM base salary should take the Athletics’ Opening Day payroll to around $95MM, though thanks to their spate of contract extensions for their core hitters, the team’s luxury tax/CBT payroll clocks in around a much heftier $146MM. They’ve still been active in the bullpen market and have been poking around the third base market as well, so other additions could still be on the horizon.
Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported the agreement and salary terms.
Rangers Sign Ryan Brasier To Minor League Deal
Feb. 10: The Rangers formally announced a minor league deal and spring training invitation for Brasier this morning.
Feb. 6, 11:46am: It’ll be a minor league deal with a non-roster invitation to spring training once the deal is complete, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
10:47am: The Rangers are finalizing a deal with right-hander Ryan Brasier, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. It’d be a homecoming for the ALIGND Sports client, who was born in Wichita Falls, Texas and attended college in Weatherford, just 40 miles west of Arlington.
Brasier spent the 2025 season with the Cubs but was limited to just 26 innings thanks to a pair of groin injuries — one which kept him out of action for nearly two months. He logged a 4.50 earned run average when healthy and set down 19% of his opponents on strikes while recording a tiny 4.8% walk rate. A .321 average on balls in play — 30 points higher than average and 40 north of Brasier’s career mark — at least partially inflated his ERA. Metrics like SIERA (3.74) and FIP (3.17) were more bullish.
Injuries have hampered the now-38-year-old righty in each of the past two seasons. In 2024, Brasier tossed 28 innings with the Dodgers, missing considerable time due a right calf strain. He was generally effective that season as well, logging a 3.54 ERA with a 22.7% strikeout rate and another excellent walk rate (4.5%).
Overall, Brasier’s last three seasons have been solid — at least when he’s been healthy enough to take the mound. He’s put a nightmare 2022 season (5.78 ERA in 62 1/3 inning) in the rearview mirror, bouncing back with a combined 3.48 ERA, 22.3% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate, two saves and 20 holds in a total of 113 2/3 frames. That said, it’s worth noting that last year’s 94 mph average four-seam velocity was down substantially from the 95.7 mph he averaged as recently as 2023. Perhaps accordingly, his 9.7% swinging-strike rate was a career-low — and the first time in his career that he’s posted a mark decidedly south of the league average (11%).
Whether a healthier Brasier will be able to regain some of the lost velocity and strikeouts in his age-38 season remains to be seen, but the right-hander still possesses excellent command. He keeps the ball on the ground at a roughly average rate and has managed to avoid home runs over the past three seasons (0.63 HR/9).
If he makes the roster, Brasier will be the latest low-cost addition to a Rangers bullpen that has given out one-year deals to veterans Chris Martin, Alexis Diaz, Tyler Alexander and Jakob Junis this season. It’s the second straight year that Texas brass has cobbled together its relief corps primarily by way of low-cost free agent deals. It worked out quite well in 2025, as the Rangers got strong results from Martin, Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb and Shawn Armstrong.
Finding success on that many one-year pickups of relievers — perennially MLB’s most volatile performers — isn’t a sustainable way to put together a bullpen, but reductions in payroll in recent seasons have pushed president of baseball operations Chris Young to take this sort of piecemeal approach. Ideally, the Rangers would see some of their younger arms step up to fill some of the spots, just as Cole Winn did in 2025. Winn will be one of the primary setup options for closer Robert Garcia, whom Texas acquired in the trade sending Nathaniel Lowe to Washington last winter.
Red Sox Acquire Caleb Durbin In Six-Player Trade
The Red Sox and Brewers pulled off a six-player trade on Monday. Boston acquired infielders Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio and Anthony Seigler, as well as Milwaukee’s Competitive Balance Round B pick in exchange for pitchers Kyle Harrison and Shane Drohan and infielder David Hamilton. All six players in question were on their clubs’ 40-man roster, so no corresponding moves were necessary.
Durbin is a notable pickup for the Boston infield and should be penciled in for everyday at-bats — presumably at third base, though he can also handle second base if the Red Sox prefer Marcelo Mayer at the hot corner from a defensive standpoint. The 25-year-old Durbin (26 in a couple weeks) finished third in National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2025 after he batted .256/.334/.387 with 11 home runs, 25 doubles, 18 steals (24 attempts), a 5.9% walk rate and a tiny 9.9% strikeout rate. He turned in above-average marks for his glovework at third in the estimation of both Defensive Runs Saved (5) and Outs Above Average (2).
He’s not the big middle-of-the-order presence many Sox fans have coveted, but Durbin is an affordable, controllable and versatile defender who’ll further the Red Sox’ pivot toward run prevention and help to lower a team strikeout rate that was 10th-highest in the sport last year at 22.9%. He’s a right-handed hitter whose pull percentage (43.3%) is a bit higher than league average (40.6%), which should play well with the Green Monster at Fenway Park. Durbin comes to the Red Sox with five full seasons of club control and two minor league option years remaining (not that there’ll be any thought of optioning him to the minors anytime soon after last year’s strong performance).
If Durbin is ticketed for the hot corner, that’ll leave second base to a combination of the left-handed-hitting Mayer and righty-swinging Romy Gonzalez. Recently signed utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa can back up both those positions as well as shortstop.
The 28-year-old Monasterio could also factor in at either second or third base, although like Gonzalez and Kiner-Falefa, he’s a right-handed hitter. As is the case with Gonzalez, Monasterio also carries notable platoon splits. He’s a career .255/.352/.375 batter against lefties but a .246/.303/.338 hitter against fellow righties. He’s coming off a career-best showing in the majors — albeit in a limited sample of 135 plate appearances — having slashed .270/.319/.437 (111 wRC+) with four homers. He’s controllable for another four seasons and won’t be arbitration-eligible until at least next offseason (possibly later, depending on how much time he spends in the minors this year).
Monasterio also has nearly 3500 professional innings at shortstop under his belt, so he gives Boston another backup option to oft-injured Trevor Story at shortstop (alongside Kiner-Falefa). He also has a full slate of three minor league option years remaining, so there’s no guarantee he’ll open the season on Boston’s major league roster. He’ll have the opportunity to win a role in camp, but barring injury and/or trade, Boston’s bench seems likely to include Gonzalez, Kiner-Falefa, catcher Connor Wong and outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida.
All of that assumes that Mayer makes the Opening Day roster, but it’s possible that the former No. 4 overall pick could open the season in Triple-A Worcester, too. Mayer’s .228/.272/.402 slash was well below league-average in 2025, but he only turned 23 in December and has an impressive minor league track record. That includes a .271/.347/.471 showing in Triple-A last year. He’ll have every opportunity to win a starting job in camp with the Red Sox, but late additions of Durbin and Kiner-Falefa lessen the team’s reliance on the still largely untested top prospect.
Boston also picks up the 26-year-old Seigler, who’ll provide some depth in the upper minors and could be a frequently used bench piece over the course of the coming season. He’s batted just .194/.292/.210 in an insignificant sample of 73 major league plate appearances, but Seigler hit .285/.414/.478 with eight homers, 16 doubles, four triples, 23 steals (27 attempts), a 16.9% walk rate and a 19.2% strikeout rate in 307 Triple-A plate appearances this past season. He’s been used as an infielder (second base, specifically) far more frequently than a catcher in recent seasons due to troubles controlling the run game and a susceptibility to passed balls.
Even if he’s rarely deployed behind the plate, Seigler is at the very least an interesting third catcher option who also is comfortable at second base and third base. He has two minor league option years remaining and doesn’t even have a full season of major league service, making him controllable for at least the next six full seasons.
The Red Sox also add a Competitive Balance draft choice — the only picks permissible to be traded under MLB rules. Milwaukee’s Round B selection is the first in that round, currently 67th overall (although that could change by a spot or two depending on what happens with Zac Gallen, the final remaining free agent who rejected a qualifying offer and is thus subject to draft pick compensation). They’ll not only get to add an extra player but will also add that selection’s slot value to their draft bonus pool. Last year’s No. 67 selection came with a $1.285MM value. This year’s should be up from that a bit. The Red Sox don’t need to spend that amount on this pick specifically; the slot value will be added to their bonus pool, which they can freely divide up among their picks how they see fit.
Turning to Milwaukee’s side of the swap, it feels like a precursor to another acquisition. The Brewers not only traded their incumbent starter at third base — they traded two of the top depth options behind him in the same swap. Perhaps there’s some infield shuffling on the horizon, but it feels like the Brewers will need to add some help on the dirt. Hamilton could see reps at the hot corner this spring but has spent far more time at second base in the Red Sox organization. Shortstop Joey Ortiz and second baseman Brice Turang are plus defenders who could both slide one position over to the left, but doing so might weaken the overall defensive aptitude of the group.
Bringing in some help at third base seems prudent, but options there are few and far between. Time will tell if president of baseball operations Matt Arnold has another move up his sleeve, but for right now, the Brewers look thin at third base.
Their pitching depth, however, continues to grow — even after trading ace Freddy Peralta to the Mets last month. Today’s trade brings in a pair of big league-ready arms. Harrison, 24, already has 42 big league games (37 starts) under his belt. He’s pitched to a 4.39 ERA with a 22.9% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate in that time.
At the moment, Harrison profiles as a fifth starter option for the Brewers, but he carries more upside than most back-of-the-rotation candidates. The 2020 third-round pick ranked as one of the top minor league talents in all of baseball for several years, peaking as the No. 26 prospect in the entire sport on Baseball America’s top-100 prior to the 2023 season. He’s yet to put it all together in the majors, but Harrison has fanned better than 30% of his opponents in parts of two Triple-A seasons.
The Brewers have developed a reputation as one of the sport’s top “pitch labs.” They worked wonders with righty Quinn Priester in 2025 and have helped to facilitate turnarounds or breakouts from relievers like Trevor Megill, Joel Payamps, Bryse Wilson, Colin Rea, Nick Mears, Jared Koenig and others. There are plenty of parallels between Priester’s trajectory and that of Harrison; both were former top prospects traded to Boston and quickly buried on the Red Sox depth chart. The Brewers will hope to convert on that same profile for a second consecutive season now.
Drohan just turned 27 last month, making him old for a “prospect,” but he nonetheless sat 15th on Baseball America’s recent update of Boston’s system. His path to big leagues has been slowed both by injury and a selection in the Rule 5 Draft. The White Sox took Drohan back in 2023 after Boston left him unprotected. He required a nerve decompression surgery in his shoulder that spring, however, which limited him to 16 1/3 rehab innings that season. A forearm injury in 2025 limited him to 54 minor league frames.
When he’s been healthy, Drohan has looked the part of an interesting prospect. His Triple-A numbers are skewed by a rough showing late in 2023 and during some rehab work in 2024 — both potentially impacted by his shoulder — but he was excellent last season, tossing 47 2/3 innings with Worcester and recording a 2.27 ERA, a 35.3% strikeout rate, an 8.4% walk rate and a massive 17.3% swinging-strike rate. He also posted a 2.17 ERA in parts of two Double-A seasons and was part of the 2023 Futures Game. Drohan sat 93.3 mph with his four-seamer in Triple-A in 2025, complementing the pitch with an 84.7 mph slider, an 88.8 mph cutter, an 84.3 mph changeup and a 77.9 mph curveball (listed in order of usage rate).
Hamilton, 28, returns to the club that originally drafted him but traded him to Boston as part of 2021’s Hunter Renfroe swap. He’s played in parts of three seasons with Boston and totaled 550 plate appearances with a .222/.283/.359 batting line.
Hamilton hasn’t hit much but is a plus runner with 95th percentile sprint speed, per Statcast, and 57 career steals in 68 attempts (83.8%). On a rate basis, he’s been one of the game’s elite defensive second basemen during his time in the majors, piling up 16 Defensive Runs Saved and 8 Outs Above Average in only 679 innings.
The Brewers originally drafted Hamilton in the eighth round of the 2019 draft out of the University of Texas. Arnold and top lieutenants like AGMs Matt Kleine, Will Hudgins and Karl Mueller were all in the Milwaukee front office when they first signed Hamilton out of the draft. That familiarity with him both as a player and as a person presumably played a role in this morning’s trade.
Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports that Hamilton will see plenty of reps at third base this spring. Whether his stellar second base defense carries over to third base and whether Hamilton performs well enough to secure a job will determine his roster status come Opening Day. He has a minor league option year remaining, so if the Brewers do make another acquisition or if Hamilton simply struggles to a great enough extent this spring, he can be sent to Triple-A Nashville without needing to pass through waivers. The Brewers can control him for at least four additional seasons — five if he spends more than 25 days in the minors this year.
For the Red Sox, today’s trade seems to largely round out the infield. With Kiner-Falefa also aboard as a glove-first utility option, there doesn’t appear to be much more room to add. Durbin should be an upgrade of a couple wins, and his extreme put-the-ball-in-play approach and defensive aptitude should help to raise Boston’s floor quite a bit, even if the offense as a whole looks suspect beyond the top few hitters.
The Brewers are now 10 to 12 deep in their rotation mix, which could set the stage for another trade. They could also simply hold onto that depth, knowing they’ll need an army of pitchers to get through a 162-game season and that many of their current arms have less than a full year of experience in the majors, but some form of additional infield depth seems likely to be on the horizon after today’s trade thinned them out.
Jeff Passan of ESPN was first to report Durbin, Harrison, Drohan and Hamilton’s inclusions. Will Sammon of The Athletic first reported Seigler, Monasterio and the draft choice.
Dodgers Sign Seby Zavala, Jordan Weems To Minor League Deals
The Dodgers announced their full slate of 32 non-roster invitees to Spring Training. The majority of the group are from the farm system or playing on minor league contracts that had already been reported, but the team revealed a couple unknown names who evidently signed minor league deals. Catcher Seby Zavala and reliever Jordan Weems are among those in camp, according to the team.
Weems, 33, is a righty who has pitched in MLB in six consecutive seasons. He was limited to four appearances with the Astros last year, allowing seven runs across 4 1/3 innings. That brought his career earned run average to 5.51 over 160 frames. Weems spent the majority of the season between the Triple-A clubs of the Astros and Braves, pitching to a 4.44 ERA in 46 2/3 innings. He struck out a solid 24% of batters faced with an elevated 11.2% walk rate.
Zavala is a right-handed hitting catcher who joins Chuckie Robinson as non-roster backstops who have MLB experience. The 32-year-old is a glove-only depth type who owns a .205/.271/.342 line in 194 career games. Zavala spent last season in Triple-A with the Red Sox, limping to a .164/.273/.333 line while striking out 36% of the time.
The Dodgers recently re-claimed Ben Rortvedt from Cincinnati. He’s out of options and trying to win the backup job behind Will Smith, though second-year player Dalton Rushing enters camp as the favorite for that spot. There’s a decent chance the Dodgers lose Rortvedt again if he doesn’t break camp and needs to go on waivers, which would leave Zavala and Robinson as their most experienced third catching options.
Also receiving non-roster invites are relievers Wyatt Mills, Carlos Duran and Antoine Kelly. Mills, who posted a 6.21 ERA in 38 appearances with the Mariners and Royals between 2021-22, signed a minor league deal last August but was assigned to the complex and did not pitch in an affiliated game. He remains in the organization, as does former #2 overall pick Nick Senzel. The infielder signed a minor league contract last May and hit .252/.341/.408 at Triple-A Oklahoma City. It seems that was a two-year minor league deal, as Senzel did not elect free agency at season’s end and will be in camp.
Duran and Kelly were early offseason signees. They’re power arms who’ll serve as bullpen depth. Duran spent the majority of his career in the L.A. system but was traded to the A’s last April for Esteury Ruiz. He made his MLB debut with the A’s last May but gave up three runs to the Angels while recording one out. The 6’7″ righty walked almost 19% of Triple-A opponents last year. Kelly is a 6’5″ lefty with a 96-97 MPH heater but untenable command. He walked 14% of batters faced while posting a 5.63 ERA in 34 games for the Rockies’ top affiliate a year ago.
Tigers To Sign Konnor Pilkington To Minor League Deal
The Tigers are adding left-hander Konnor Pilkington on a minor league agreement, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The 28-year-old made 32 appearances out of the Nationals’ bullpen last season. He was designated for assignment and elected free agency last week. Pilkington’s deal includes an invitation to MLB Spring Training. It’s worth $1.2MM if he’s in the big leagues, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.
The former Guardian delivered 28 1/3 innings of a 4.45 ERA in his lone season in Washington. He pushed his strikeout rate to a career-best 27.6%, but his walk rate also climbed to 13.8%. Pilkington has walked batters at a 12.4% clip or higher in all three of his MLB seasons.
Pilkington came up as a starter with Cleveland in 2022. He kept his ERA under 4.00 across 15 appearances (11 starts), but his xFIP and SIERA were more than a run higher. Pilkington appeared in just one game with the Guardians the following season. He was dealt to Arizona for cash early in the year. He did not reach the big leagues with the Diamondbacks.
The Nats added Pilkington on a minor league deal ahead of the 2025 campaign. He was called up in July to serve as a full-time reliever. The permanent transition to the bullpen saw Pilkington’s arsenal take a step forward. Starters moving to the bullpen typically see an increase in velocity, and the veteran lefty saw a bump of more than 2 mph on his fastball as a reliever. Pilkington also raised his slider usage, and the pitch notched an elite 46.3% whiff rate. He’ll now get a chance to compete for a spot in Detroit’s bullpen.
Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images
Brewers To Sign Peter Strzelecki To A Minor League Deal
The Brewers are expected to add reliever Peter Strzelecki on a minor league deal, per multiple reports (including Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). The righty debuted with the club in 2022. Strzelecki last appeared in the big leagues with the Guardians in 2024. He’s a client of O’Connell Sports Management.
The 31-year-old Strzelecki spent last season at Triple-A with the Rays and Pirates. He scuffled to a 9.41 ERA across 22 innings. Strzelecki has pitched in parts of three MLB seasons with a trio of clubs. He posted a 2.31 ERA in 10 appearances with Cleveland in his most recent big-league stint.
Strzelecki emerged as a strong contributor in the Brewers ‘pen when he first arrived in the big leagues. He notched a 2.83 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning across 35 frames. The lone mark against Strzelecki was a double-digit walk rate, but keeping the ball in the yard helped him limit the impact of the traffic on the base paths.
The 2023 season did not go as well. Strzelecki stumbled to a mid-4.00s ERA and found himself bumped back to Triple-A by the end of June. He was dealt to the Diamondbacks for fellow reliever Andrew Chafin at the trade deadline. Strzelecki appeared in just one game with Arizona. He latched on with Cleveland the following season, providing solid results in his brief time in the majors.
Strzelecki was a four-seam/changeup/sweeper guy when he first came up with the Brewers. He added a sinker in 2023, which he used nearly 20% of the time. Strzelecki introduced a cutter to lefties during his stretch with the Guardians. The changeup missed bats at a 35.7% clip in his rookie year, but it’s ticked down since then. The rest of his arsenal has also trended in the wrong direction. Strzelecki posted a meager 5.7% swinging-strike rate with Cleveland. For a pitcher who gets ground balls at a below-average rate, failing to miss bats tends to be an issue.
Photo courtesy of Michael McLoone, Imagn Images
Angels To Sign Hunter Strickland To Minor League Deal
The Angels have signed reliever Hunter Strickland to a minor league deal, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Strickland has spent parts of the past two seasons with the club. The right-hander is a client of All Bases Covered Sports Management.
The 37-year-old Strickland has pitched for seven different MLB squads since 2019, but the Angels have been his most consistent home. He first came to the organization in a 2021 trade from the Rays. That stint only lasted a few weeks, but Strickland returned to the club on a more permanent basis in 2024. He logged a career-high 73 1/3 innings with the Angels that season.
The veteran righty opened the 2025 campaign in the Rangers organization, but ultimately found his way back to the Angels on a minor league deal. Strickland was promoted in May and appeared in 19 games at the big-league level. He posted a 3.27 ERA over 22 innings, but went down with a shoulder injury in July and missed the rest of the year.
Strickland debuted with the Giants in 2014. He became a fixture in the San Francisco bullpen the following season. Strickland notched a sub-3.00 across 226 innings in his five years in the organization. He capped off his time in San Francisco with a career-best 14 saves in 2018, though that season included a lengthy IL stint due to a broken hand. Strickland suffered the injury after punching a door following a blown save.
The Angels have stacked older relievers with closing experience this offseason. The club has added Kirby Yates, Jordan Romano, and Drew Pomeranz over the winter. Brent Suter was also recently brought in to add a left-handed look in middle relief. Strickland doesn’t have a clear path to the big-league roster, but he’s had a knack for finding his way into an Angels uniform.
Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images
Yankees Outright Braden Shewmake, Dom Hamel
The Yankees announced Monday that infielder Braden Shewmake and right-hander Dom Hamel, both of whom were designated for assignment last week, went unclaimed on waivers and were assigned outright to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Both will be in big league camp as non-roster invitees.
Shewmake’s outright comes nearly a year to the date after the Yankees claimed him off waivers from the White Sox. He spent the 2025 season in Scranton, where he hit .244/.318/.362 with four homers and 15 stolen bases in 315 plate appearances. The former first-round pick (Braves, 2019) has played in parts of four Triple-A seasons, hitting .241/.304/.386 in 1181 plate appearances.
Offense has never been Shewmake’s calling card. He’s a glove-first infielder whose best attribute has long been his ability to play good defense at multiple positions. He’s spent the bulk of his 2025 season at shortstop, which has been his primary position in pro ball, but also logged a handful of appearances at both second base and third base. Shewmake has over 2800 innings at short since being drafted, in addition to 765 at second base and 118 at the hot corner. He’ll stick with the Yankees as a depth option who could be called upon if they need a defensive-minded option to take a spot on the bench as injuries arise.
Originally a third-round pick by the Mets in 2021, Hamel made his major league debut this past September. He faced six batters and tossed one scoreless inning. Hamel has been hit hard in a pair of seasons at the Triple-A level, with a 6.27 ERA in 192 1/3 frames. He’s fanned 22.6% of his opponents in Triple-A but has also been plagued by an 11.2% walk rate, although those rate stats improved in 2025 (25.2%, 7.4%) relative to their 2024 levels (21.3%, 13.2%).
Hamel sits 92-93 mph with his four-seamer, pairing the pitch with an upper-80s cutter and low-80s slider. He posted a strong 13.2% swinging-strike rate in Triple-A this year and generally fared better on the mound after moving from the rotation into what was primarily a relief role. As with Shewmake, he’ll stick around as a depth option and could get a look at some point this season if the Yankees incur some injuries in the bullpen.
A’s Trade Max Schuemann To Yankees
The Athletics have traded infielder Max Schuemann to the Yankees in exchange for minor league right-hander Luis Burgos, according to announcements from both teams. Schuemann, who was designated for assignment last week, will take the roster spot of outfielder Yanquiel Fernandez, whose previously reported DFA was announced as the corresponding move for this trade.
Schuemann was bumped off the roster after the A’s claimed Andy Ibáñez. The 28-year-old infielder delivered subpar offensive numbers over parts of the past two seasons with the club. Schuemann has a career 78 wRC+ across 672 big-league plate appearances. He did contribute on the base paths with 21 steals in 23 attempts. Schuemann was a consistent base stealer in the minors, including a 52-theft season across three levels in 2021.
Schuemann’s main intrigue during his time with the A’s was defensive versatility. While the majority of his starts came at shortstop, Schuemann saw time at second base, third base, and all three outfield spots. He ranked in the 95th percentile in Outs Above Average last season.
The swap will give New York a glove-first option to serve as infield depth. Second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. has dealt with his fair share of injuries. Shortstop Anthony Volpe is currently recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and isn’t expected to be ready by Opening Day.
The Athletics net a 20-year-old right-hander with minimal professional experience. The Yankees signed Burgos as an international free agent in 2024. The entirety of his brief pro career has been spent at the Dominican Summer League. Burgos has a 3.39 ERA across 79 2/3 innings with the DSL Bombers. The solid run prevention results have come with subpar strikeout numbers (8.0 K/9) and control concerns. Burgos has walked 4.7 batters per nine innings. The 20-year-old is likely headed to the lowest levels of the A’s minor league system for more seasoning.