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Dodgers Trade Arnaldo Lantigua To Reds For Pool Space

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The Dodgers announced that they’ve traded minor league outfielder Arnaldo Lantigua to the Reds for international bonus pool space. Cincinnati is reportedly sending $1.5MM in pool room to the Dodgers. Bonus pool money must be traded in multiples of $250K. Los Angeles now has sufficient funds to finalize their $6.5MM deal with Roki Sasaki.

Lantigua, 19, signed out of the Dominican Republic two seasons ago. The right-handed hitter has played two seasons in the Dominican Summer League and has yet to make the move stateside. Baseball America writes that he received mixed reviews from scouts despite a strong statistical performance. Lantigua has raw power projection on a 6’2″ frame but is expected to move to a corner outfield spot long term. That’ll put pressure on him to develop his pure hitting ability.

Cincinnati evidently preferred Lantigua as a development play to other players they may have added in this year’s international class. The Dodgers have added more than $2MM to their pool between this trade and their deal sending outfielder Dylan Campbell to Philadelphia. They had begun the day with $5.1462MM in their allotment.

The Lantigua deal allows the Dodgers to not only sign Sasaki but to finalize other low-cost international signings. L.A. lost a trio of players who had initially committed to join the team. Dominican infielder Darell Morel (Pirates), Venezuelan outfielder Oscar Patiño (White Sox), and Dominican outfielder Teilon Serrano (Twins) have signed elsewhere. Francys Romero reports that L.A. intends to complete its other verbal agreements — roughly 15 in total. Baseball America’s Ben Badler reports that the Dodgers finalized a deal with Venezuelan pitcher Carlos Ramirez tonight.

Francys Romero first reported that the Reds were acquiring Lantigua for more than $1MM in pool space. C. Trent Rosecrans and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported the $1.5MM figure.

Phillies Sign Koyo Aoyagi To Minor League Deal

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The Phillies have signed former NPB pitcher Koyo Aoyagi to a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to MLB camp, the team announced. The Hanshin Tigers made him available via the posting system on December 4.

Aoyagi’s posting window would have closed this evening. Had he not signed with a major league team, he would’ve returned to the Tigers. Aoyagi preferred a non-roster invite over staying with the NPB club. It’s unclear what his salary would be if he makes the major league roster. The Phils would owe a 20% posting fee to the Tigers on whatever salary or bonuses Aoyagi unlocks.

The 31-year-old righty projects as a depth arm. While he worked as a starting pitcher for the Tigers, Aoyagi throws from a sidearm slot that’s more commonly found in the bullpen. He’s coming off a pedestrian season which he split almost evenly between the Tigers and their minor league affiliate. Aoyagi made 12 starts at Japan’s top level and pitched 11 times in the minors.

During his work at the highest level, he turned in a 3.69 ERA across 61 innings. His 13% strikeout rate would be nearly 10 percentage points below the MLB average. He showed decent but not exceptional control, walking 7.8% of batters faced. His career track record is a bit more impressive. He owns a 3.08 ERA with a 17.1% strikeout percentage across nine NPB campaigns. This was his second consecutive middling season, though. Aoyagi was tagged for a 4.57 ERA across 100 1/3 innings for the Tigers in 2023.

The 5’11” hurler pitched for Japan at the 2020 Olympics (held in Tokyo a year late as a result of the pandemic). Japan went 5-0 and won the gold medal, though Aoyagi was tagged for five runs in 1 2/3 innings across two appearances. He did not make the nation’s World Baseball Classic roster two years later.

Dodgers Trade Dylan Campbell To Phillies

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The Dodgers announced that they’ve traded minor league outfielder Dylan Campbell to the Phillies for international signing bonus space. Los Angeles will reportedly receive either $750K or $1MM in pool allotments. Teams must trade the allotments in increments of $250K.

Los Angeles is adding to its bonus pool for the impending Roki Sasaki signing. The Dodgers reportedly agreed to a $6.5MM bonus with the Japanese star pitcher. The Dodgers had just $5.1462MM in their pool allotment at the beginning of the signing period. They were tied with the Giants for the lowest opening pool. That’s a reflection of their status as luxury tax payors and the fact that they surrendered $1MM in pool space to sign Shohei Ohtani after he’d rejected a qualifying offer last offseason.

It seems that the Campbell trade is the first of what’ll be multiple moves on the Dodgers’ part to add to their pool allotment. Even if they receive $1MM from Philadelphia, they’d be at $6.1462MM overall. They’ll need to make at least one more move to get to their agreed upon bonus with Sasaki. Presumably, another deal is already in the works and will be finalized in the coming days. Sasaki has until the closing of his 45-day posting window on January 23 to officially sign his contract.

Philadelphia never had a chance to get Sasaki. They’ll leverage some unused pool space to add to their farm system. Campbell, a right-handed hitter, was the Dodgers’ fourth-round pick out of the University of Texas in 2023. He played his entire first full professional season at High-A Great Lakes. Campbell hit .251/.331/.372 with 10 homers and 42 stolen bases in a pitcher-friendly setting in the Midwest League. He can play all three outfield positions but spent most of his time in right field.

Kiley McDaniel of ESPN first reported the Dodgers were trading Campbell to Philadelphia for pool space. Francys Romero reported the $750K to $1MM allotment.

Nationals, Andrew Knizner Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Nationals are in agreement with catcher Andrew Knizner on a minor league contract, reports Andrew Golden of The Washington Post. The CAA client will get a non-roster invitation to MLB Spring Training.

Knizner, 30 next month, was drafted by the Cardinals in 2016. He’d converted to catching during his college days at North Carolina State. The right-handed hitter has produced offensively in the minors but hasn’t made much of an impact over parts of six big league campaigns. Knizner hit just .216/.290/.331 in nearly 800 trips to the plate with the Cardinals. St. Louis cut him loose last offseason.

The Rangers inked Knizner to a $1.825MM free agent deal last winter. He spent most of the year as Jonah Heim’s backup, but he didn’t perform especially well. Knizner hit .167/.183/.211 over 35 games. Texas acquired Carson Kelly at the deadline and designated Knizner for assignment not long after. He landed with the Diamondbacks via waiver claim. His time in Arizona consisted of 22 Triple-A games. The Snakes outrighted him off their 40-man roster without getting him into a big league contest. Knizner qualified for minor league free agency at the end of the season.

While Knizner hasn’t hit much at the MLB level, he owns a solid .271/.351/.424 slash over 454 career Triple-A plate appearances. There isn’t a huge bar to clear offensively for a backup catcher. Most backup catchers are well-regarded defensively. Knizner has struggled behind the plate, at least in the view of public metrics. Statcast has graded him as a below-average pitch framer. He also ranked in the bottom 10 among qualified catchers in average pop time (time to throw to second on a stolen base attempt).

There’s no risk for the Nationals in giving Knizner a non-roster look in camp. Keibert Ruiz has the starting job secure despite a difficult 2024 season. Riley Adams is the favorite for the backup job, a role he has held for the past three seasons. He is out of options and can’t be sent to the minors without going on waivers. Drew Millas is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. Knizner is out of options himself, so if the Nats call him up at any point, they’d need to keep him in the big leagues or risk losing him to another team.

Reds Sign Austin Wynns, Levi Jordan To Minor League Deals

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The Reds have signed catcher Austin Wynns and infielder/outfielder Levi Jordan to minor league deals, per the MLB.com transaction tracker for each player. Both have been assigned to Triple-A Louisville but could receive invites to big league camp. Wynns is represented by Klutch Sports.

Wynns, 34, is a journeyman catcher who was on and off the Reds’ roster last year. He had previously spent time with the Orioles, Giants, Dodgers and Rockies before signing a split deal with the Reds last offseason. The deal would pay him a $950K salary for time spent in the majors and a $300K rate for time in the minors. That second number was far higher than the typical salary for a minor league player, which was by design for a couple of reasons. It would decrease the likelihood of another team claiming him off waivers and increase the chances of Wynns accepting an outright assignment.

That quickly came to pass, as Wynns was off the roster by January, just a couple of weeks after signing his deal in mid-December. He accepted the assignment and gave the Reds some non-roster depth. This sequence played out throughout the season, with Wynns frequently added to the roster and then bumped off again shortly after when no longer needed. He finished the season on the injured list due to a right teres major tear. He was outrighted off the roster at the end of the year and elected free agency.

Wynns only got into seven games for the Reds last year but they clearly like him as a depth catcher. His .230/.277/.332 career batting line across six different seasons isn’t much to look at but his work behind the plate has generally been considered solid. Cincinnati currently has just two catchers on the 40-man roster in Tyler Stephenson and Jose Trevino. Wynns provides them with an experienced veteran who could be the first up in the event of an injury to one of those two, without taking up a roster spot. If he gets added back to the roster at any point, he is out of options.

Jordan, 29, just made his major league debut with the Reds in 2024. It was a very limited debut, as he received just 11 plate appearances in seven games, getting just one hit. He was outrighted off the roster in the summer and elected free agency at season’s end.

He has generally produced solid numbers in the minors. Over the past four years, he has slashed .268/.353/.424 for a 108 wRC+ in 1,382 minor league plate appearances. He has done that while bouncing between various defensive positions, lining up at all three outfield spots and the three infield positions to the left of first base.

The Reds have plenty of uncertainty in their position player mix, as guys like Matt McLain, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, TJ Friedl, Jake Fraley, Jeimer Candelario and others missed time due to injuries in 2024. Jordan provides them with a bit of depth all over the diamond. If he gets added back to the roster at any point, he still has a full slate of options.

Mets Re-Sign Jesse Winker

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The Mets officially announced that they’ve re-signed Jesse Winker on a one-year deal. The Excel Sports Management client is reportedly guaranteed $7.5MM (including a $1MM signing bonus) and can earn an additional $1.5MM via incentives.

Winker, 31, began the 2024 season with the Nationals. He’d signed a minor league deal after a pair of injury-ruined seasons that saw him undergo both knee and spinal surgeries in the 2022-23 offseason. The injuries that necessitated those surgeries in 2022 contributed to a bleak .219/.344/.344 showing with the Mariners that season, and the lingering effects likely played a role in his tepid .199/.320/.247 showing with the 2023 Brewers.

The 2024 campaign seemingly saw Winker back to full health. He hit .257/.374/.419 in 379 plate appearances with Washington before going to Queens in a deadline trade that sent minor league righty Tyler Stuart back to the Nats. Winker batted a diminished but respectable .243/.318/.365 in 129 turns at the plate down the stretch before catching fire with a .318/.531/.636 slash in 32 October plate appearances.

Winker figures to see the bulk of time at designated hitter for the Mets, who have Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto locked into the outfield corners. Jose Siri, Tyrone Taylor and Starling Marte are also in the outfield mix, with Marte also likely to see time at DH if he’s not traded. The Mets have been exploring potential deals for Marte, who’s owed $19.5MM in the final season of a four-year contract, to no avail.

Winker could see some occasional time in the outfield as well, of course, and he’s likely to be platooned regardless of the role he occupies. He’s a career .276/.379/.463 hitter against righties but just a .210/.324/.338 hitter against fellow southpaws. Winker can work a walk against left-handers, but nearly all of his power comes in advantageous platoon matchups.

The broader and more impactful takeaway from Winker’s reunion with the Mets is that it could spell the end of Pete Alonso’s time with the club. The Winker agreement is reportedly the beginning of a pivot away from Alonso, whom the Mets feel is likelier to sign elsewhere than in Queens. Their plan moving forward appears to be to spread that would-be Alonso money around to different targets, the first of which is Winker.

With that in mind, it’s possible the Mets could look to external options at first base, but a good portion of that market has been picked over. Sticking in-house, Mark Vientos would likely move from third base to first base, opening the hot corner for a competition between Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña. There are more options at third base on the market than at first base — Alex Bregman, a Nolan Arenado trade — but it’s hard to square the idea that the Mets would balk at a long-term deal for Alonso and then make a sizable commitment to older infielders like Bregman (still seeking a long-term deal) or Arenado (34 and owed $64MM over the next three seasons).

The addition of Winker pushes the Mets’ payroll to about $287MM, per RosterResource. Their cash payroll is actually a slight bit higher than their luxury tax ledger, as the Mets’ long-term deals with Edwin Diaz and Kodai Senga are a bit front-loaded and carry 2025 salaries that are higher than the contracts’ respective annual values. New York currently sits about $17MM shy of the top $301MM luxury tier. They’ll pay a 95% tax on any dollars spent up to $301MM and then a 110% tax on any dollars thereafter. Because they’re now exceeding the $241MM threshold by more than $40MM, their top pick in the 2026 draft will drop by ten places (barring additional moves to duck down into and remain in the second penalty tier).

SNY’s Andy Martino first reported that the Mets and Winker had an agreement. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported it was a one-year deal with a guarantee around $8MM and a $1MM signing bonus. The Post’s Joel Sherman had the $7.5MM guarantee and the $1.5MM in bonuses.

Orioles Outright Liván Soto

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The Orioles announced that infielder Liván Soto has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Norfolk. He had been designated for assignment a week ago when the club claimed right-hander Roansy Contreras, though Contreras has since been sent info DFA limbo himself.

Soto, 25 in June, has been in plenty of transactions in recent years. It seems he has been seen as good enough to attract the attention of several clubs, but without ever having a firm grip on a roster spot. In February of 2024, he went from the Angels to the Orioles via waivers, then back to the Angels via another waiver claim that same month. In April, the O’s claimed him from the Angels yet again. They put him back on waivers a few days later, with the Reds swooping in with a claim. At the end of July, just before the trade deadline, he and Austin Slater were traded to the O’s for cash.

Around all of those transactions, Soto has found the time to play baseball here and there. He has appeared in 35 big league games over the past three seasons and stepped to the plate 87 times. He has a strong .351/.407/.494 batting line in that time, though that’s a small sample and it’s inflated by a .441 batting average on balls in play.

Naturally, he has spent more time on the farm. Over the past three years, he’s had 1,390 minor league plate appearances, split between Double-A and Triple-A as well as three different organizations. In those, he has strong walk and strikeout rates of 12.9% and 20.2%, respectively. His .266/.366/.366 batting line translates to a 95 wRC+. He has spent significant time at the three infield spots to the left of first base, as well as a brief stint in center field.

The combination of solid plate discipline and defensive versatility has clearly made Soto an attractive depth player around the league but he has now finally cleared waivers. He’ll give the O’s a bit of non-roster infield depth. They are unlikely to need it, as they have Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Jackson Holliday, Ramón Urías, Jorge Mateo, Ryan O’Hearn, Ryan Mountcastle, Coby Mayo, Emmanuel Rivera and Jacob Amaya on the roster. Still, there’s no harm in having a bit more depth, especially when it’s a guy who’s not taking up a roster spot. If Soto gets back on the roster at any point, he still has one option year remaining.

Mariners, Shintaro Fujinami Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners have agreed to a minor league deal with hard-throwing righty Shintaro Fujinami, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. The Boras Corporation client will be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring.

Fujinami, 31 in April, came over from Japan in 2023 when he signed a one-year deal with the A’s. After a calamitous start to his big league career in the former Oakland rotation, he moved to the bullpen and wound up settling in nicely. His season-long ERA never really recovered from being routed for 24 runs in his first 15 MLB innings, but Fujinami cruised to a 3.32 ERA, 25.6% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate over his final 21 2/3 innings before being traded to the Orioles — and he did so while averaging an eye-popping 99.5 mph on his heater and posting a mammoth 15% swinging-strike rate.

Fujinami got out to a fine start with the O’s post-trade, logging a 3.76 ERA with big strikeout totals in his first 26 1/3 innings. He was roughed up for five runs in his final 3 1/3 innings, spanning five appearances, and finished his time in Baltimore with a pedestrian 4.85 ERA. Still, the underlying numbers looked intriguing.

The Mets took notice of those under-the-hood numbers and inked Fujinami to a one-year contract last winter. He was expected to have a spot in the team’s bullpen but was limited in spring training by shoulder troubles. He began on the season on the injured list and rehabbed in the minors before being recalled in early May to move to the 60-day injured list (and open a 40-man spot) due to what was termed a shoulder strain. Fujinami was shelved until late June.

In 24 1/3 innings upon being reinstated in the minors, Fujinami posted a 1.85 ERA and 29-to-12 K/BB ratio. He did so with a 97.3 mph average fastball that was more than two full miles per hour shy of his 2023 mark, however, and he wilted in the season’s final weeks, yielding eight runs in his final 4 1/3 frames of minor league ball.

Fujinami revealed back in October that he planned to play winter ball on the heels of that injury-wrecked year. The aim was to catch on with another big league club, and he’s now done just that after thriving in the Puerto Rican Winter League. In 20 2/3 innings with los Gigantes de Carolina, Fujinami boasts a 3.05 ERA, 26.7% strikeout rate and 12.2% walk rate. Command remains an issue, but the right-hander’s blistering fastball, ability to miss bats and generally strong winter showing will earn him another opportunity to return to the majors.

The Mariners have a track record of finding hidden gems on the bullpen market and will hope Fujinami can be their latest rags-to-riches success story. Seattle’s bullpen is anchored by star righty Andrés Muñoz, and he’ll have Collin Snider, Trent Thornton, Gregory Santos and Tayler Saucedo in his setup corps. Options to fill out the bullpen include Gabe Speier, Eduard Bazardo, Carlos Vargas, Troy Taylor, Cody Bolton and waiver pickups Tyler Jay and Hagen Danner, among others. The M’s also have powerhouse reliever Matt Brash on the mend from last May’s Tommy John surgery, and they could get a look at Jackson Kowar early in the season as well; he underwent his own Tommy John procedure late last March.

Mariners Outright Nick Raposo

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The Mariners have announced that catcher Nick Raposo has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Tacoma. He had been designated for assignment earlier in the week when the club acquired infielder Miles Mastrobuoni.

Raposo, 27 in June, still hasn’t made his major league debut. The Cardinals added him to their roster in June of last year when both Willson Contreras and Iván Herrera were injured. But Raposo never got into a game and was later put on waivers, getting claimed by the Blue Jays in August. He was kept on optional assignment for the rest of the year and the Jays put him back on waivers in December, with the M’s putting in a claim at that time.

He has a combined batting line of .241/.321/.387 over his four minor league seasons. That production translates to a wRC+ of 85, indicating he’s been 15% below average overall. Catchers normally come in about 10% below the league-wide mean, so that’s not bad production for a backstop. Baseball Prospectus has given him solid marks for his defense.

The M’s have a clear #1 catcher in Cal Raleigh, with Mitch Garver likely to be the backup. They recently acquired Blake Hunt to add some depth and now Raposo will be sticking around to give them some more depth in a non-roster capacity.

Tigers To Re-Sign Tomas Nido On Minor League Deal

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The Tigers are re-signing veteran catcher Tomas Nido on a minor league contract, as first reported by Mike Mayer of Metsmerized. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports that Nido would receive a $1.5MM base salary if he makes the big league roster. The ACES client will be a non-roster invitee in major league camp this spring.

Nido, 31 in April, began the 2024 season with the Mets before being cut loose and going on to sign free agent deals with both the Cubs and Tigers — though he only played in three Triple-A games with Detroit after signing in mid-September.

A premium defensive catcher with a light bat, Nido is a career .210/.245/.309 hitter (53 wRC+) in 323 games and 945 trips to the plate. He’s punched out in 26% of his career plate appearances and has a 4.1% walk rate. Despite the lack of punch, he’s gotten considerable MLB run due to elite framing grades and plus marks for both his blocking and throwing. Nido has nabbed 22% of runners who’ve attempted to steal against him in his career, including a 22.7% mark in 359 frames last season when the league-average was just 20.3%.

The Tigers don’t have a need for catching help on the big league roster at this juncture. Jake Rogers will reprise his role as the starter there. He hit just .197/.255/.352 in 2024 but was a Gold Glove finalist and is only a year removed from popping 21 homers and delivering roughly league-average rate stats in the batter’s box.

Former second-round pick Dillon Dingler is the favorite to serve as Rogers’ backup. He hit only .167/.195/.310 with Detroit, but that came in a tiny sample of 87 plate appearances. Dingler was worlds better in Triple-A Toledo, where he absolutely raked at a .308/.379/.559 pace (139 wRC+) and belted 17 homers in 301 trips to the plate. He draws better-than-average framing and blocking grades, and Dingler thwarted a gaudy 38% of stolen base attempts against him in Toledo as well.

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