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Orioles Designate Blake Hunt For Assignment

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The Orioles announced that catcher Blake Hunt has been designated for assignment. The move opens a roster spot for right-hander Andrew Kittredge, who has now been officially signed to a one-year deal.

Hunt, 26, still hasn’t made his major league debut. Drafted by the Padres in 2017, he went to the Rays as part of the December 2020 trade that brought Blake Snell to San Diego. He had emerged as an intriguing prospect prior to that deal but his stock dropped after joining the Rays. In November of 2023, rather than add him to the roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft, the Rays traded him to the Mariners. The M’s gave him a roster spot but flipped him to the Orioles in May for Mike Baumann and Michael Pérez.

Around all those transactions, Hunt has generally produced middling offensive numbers in the minors. Over the past four years, he has a combined batting line of .231/.302/.395, which translates to an 82 WRC+. That includes a rough .218/.273/.364 line and 60 wRC+ in 2024.

After that performance, Hunt has lost his roster spot. The Orioles will now have a week to figure out what’s next for him, whether that’s a trade or a fate on the waiver wire. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade would need to come together in the next five days.

Despite his down season at the plate, it’s possible some club takes a shot on him based on past prospect pedigree. Going into 2021, FanGraphs listed him just outside the top 100 on that year’s top prospects list. His stock has fallen since then but he still has a couple of option years, meaning he could be an intriguing depth option for a club with a roster spot and a plan for getting him back on track.

Mariners Sign Donovan Solano

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The Mariners announced that they have signed infielder Donovan Solano to a one-year contract. Robert Murray of FanSided reports that the ACES client will make $3.5MM this year, with $1MM in performance bonuses also available to him. Left-hander Austin Kitchen was designated for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot.

Solano, 37, has somewhat quietly been one of the better utility players in the league in recent years. Earlier in his career, he spent time with the Marlins and Yankees but didn’t hit enough at the major league level. He languished in the minors in 2017 and 2018 but got back to the big leagues in 2019 and has been hitting almost non-stop since then.

Over the past six years, Solano has played for the Giants, Reds, Twins and Padres. He got into 546 games over that stretch, stepping to the plate 1,838 times. He has managed to produce a batting line of .294/.353/.413 in that time, which translates to a wRC+ of 112, indicating he’s been 12% above league average overall.

For those years, he has a combined .360 batting average on balls in play. That would normally be a concern, since the league average is usually below .300, but he’s been maintaining high BABIPs for several years now. Of the six most recent seasons, his BABIP bottomed out at .321 in 2021. He was at .346 or higher in the other five seasons. That suggests the numbers are more a reflection of his swing than mere luck.

Solano won’t provide huge power, with last year’s eight home runs actually marking a career high. His walk rates aren’t especially strong either. However, his style of offense could be a good fit for Seattle, as that club has been wary of its strikeout problems for a while now.

Going back to the 2023 club, guys like Mike Ford, Jarred Kelenic, Teoscar Hernández, Eugenio Suárez and Tom Murphy were not brought back after posting strikeout rates north of 27%. But Seattle didn’t find the improvements it was looking for in that category last year, with guys like Luis Urías, Mitch Garver, Mitch Haniger, Jorge Polanco and Randy Arozarena striking out more than 28% of the time after being brought aboard. Solano has a career strikeout rate of 18.9% and has never had that number finish higher than 22.2% in any individual season.

The Mariners have clearly been looking for infield help this winter. Justin Turner hit free agency. Josh Rojas was non-tendered. The M’s turned down a club option on Polanco. That left them with J.P. Crawford at shortstop and question marks elsewhere.

Solano has played all four infield spots in his career but hasn’t played shortstop since 2021. He has more experience at second base than anywhere else but has spent more time at the corners in recent years.

That flexibility gives the Mariners some options in terms of how Solano is deployed. Reporting this winter has suggested the club may feel it has enough in-house options to cover second base, with Dylan Moore and Ryan Bliss potentially covering there until prospect Cole Young seizes the job. Luke Raley is an option to be the strong side of a platoon at first, since he’s a lefty swinger with notable splits. Guys like Austin Shenton, Tyler Locklear, Samad Taylor and Leo Rivas are also capable of playing various infield positions and on the 40-man roster.

The M’s are likely not done adding to that group, so Solano’s role could well be determined by what other moves are forthcoming. He could take some playing time at second or third, while his right-handed bat could also allow him to shield Raley from lefties at first base. Solano has fairly neutral platoon splits for his entire career, with a 101 wRC+ against lefties and 98 wRC+ otherwise. However, he’s been a bit more extreme in his recent resurgence. Over the past six years, he has slashed .310/.361/.444 against lefties for a 122 wRC+, compared to a .285/.349/.395 line and 107 wRC+ against righties.

It has been reported this offseason that the M’s were working with about $15-16MM of payroll space. Solano will use up a small portion of that while strengthening the infield group. That still leaves with them with some powder dry for another infield addition. It was previously reported that they were interested in bringing back Turner, though it’s possible the Solano signing makes that harder to put together.

It’s also possible that the M’s make a bold move to totally remake the picture, as there have been rumors they could trade Luis Castillo as a means of freeing up some spending capacity. Whether they go that route or simply find another modest infield addition remains to be seen. Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to spring training in about a month.

Kitchen, 28 next month, has limited big league experience. A prospect in the Rockies’ system, he was selected to the big league roster in June but was designated for assignment the next day without getting into a game. He went to the Marlins via waivers and made four appearances for that club, allowing 11 earned runs in seven innings. A second DFA in September put him back on waivers, which led the Mariners to put in a claim.

Though Kitchen has an ugly 14.14 earned run average, it’s a tiny sample of major league work. His minor league track record has generally been solid, with the lefty keeping the ball on the ground. In 2024, pitching for three organizations, he logged 52 1/3 innings in the minors. In that time, he had a 3.78 ERA, 15.1% strikeout rate, 6.8% walk rate and 55.1% ground ball rate.

The M’s will now have a week to figure out what’s next for Kitchen, whether that’s a trade or another trip to the waiver wire. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trades would have to come together in the next five days. Kitchen still has a couple of option years and minimal service time, so a club willing to give him a roster spot could keep him as cheap depth for the foreseeable future.

Orioles Sign Andrew Kittredge

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January 13: The O’s officially announced their signing of Kittredge today.

January 9: The Orioles and free agent reliever Andrew Kittredge are in agreement on a one-year, $10MM guarantee, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Paragon Sports International client receives a $9MM salary for the upcoming season and is guaranteed a $1MM buyout on a $9MM club option for 2026. Baltimore has a full 40-man roster and will need to make a move when the contract is finalized.

Kittredge will step into a setup role in front of star closer Félix Bautista, who is making his return from Tommy John surgery. The veteran joins Seranthony Domínguez, Yennier Cano and Keegan Akin as potential high-leverage pieces in Brandon Hyde’s bullpen. Kittredge has plenty of seventh and eighth inning experience. He led the National League and finished second in MLB (behind Houston’s Bryan Abreu) with 37 holds for the Cardinals last season.

The righty earned the trust of St. Louis manager Oli Marmol as the top setup arm in front of star closer Ryan Helsley. He worked 70 2/3 innings with a 2.80 earned run average. Kittredge punched out a league average 23.3% of batters faced while limiting walks to a modest 7% clip. He missed bats on an above-average 13.7% of his pitches while doing a reasonable job keeping the ball on the ground.

Kittredge, who turns 35 shortly before Opening Day, isn’t a flamethrower. He worked in the 94-95 MPH range with both his sinker and four-seam fastball. That’s solid velocity but by no means exceptional for a modern late-inning reliever. Kittredge’s specialty is beating hitters with a plus slider. He turned to the breaking ball around half the time.

Opponents hit .177 against the pitch while swinging through it more than 40% of the time that they offered at it. He particularly excelled at getting hitters to go out of the zone. Opponents swung at nearly 42% of the pitches that Kittredge threw outside the strike zone. Among pitchers with 50+ innings, only Arizona left-hander Joe Mantiply got chases at a higher rate.

The one knock against Kittredge last season was a problematic platoon split. Pitchers who lean on a slider-sinker mix often struggle with opposite-handed hitters. That was certainly the case for Kittredge. He stifled right-handed batters to a .188/.247/.291 line in 183 plate appearances. Lefties teed off at a .296/.337/.571 clip with six homers in 104 trips. His career platoon splits aren’t as drastic, but lefties have managed a solid .244/.320/.455 slash in more than 400 plate appearances against him. Baltimore has a trio of southpaws who are locks for bullpen spots if healthy: Akin, Gregory Soto and Cionel Pérez. That gives Hyde some options if he wants to shield Kittredge from opposing lineups’ best lefty bats.

Despite the vulnerability to southpaws, Kittredge has a strong multi-year track record. He debuted with the Rays in 2017 and spent parts of seven seasons in Kevin Cash’s bullpen. Kittredge worked in middle relief for the first few years but had a breakout showing in ’21. He fired a career-best 71 2/3 innings of 1.88 ERA ball to earn an All-Star selection. Kittredge injured his elbow early the following year and required Tommy John surgery. The timing of that procedure limited him to 31 appearances between 2022-23.

Tampa Bay flipped him to St. Louis last winter for outfielder Richie Palacios. Kittredge picked up where he’d left off pre-surgery during his only season with the Cardinals. He owns a 2.48 ERA across 162 appearances going back to the start of the ’21 season. That made him one of the better relievers in this year’s free agent class, though his age limited the contractual upside.

MLBTR ranked Kittredge the offseason’s #40 free agent. We predicted a two-year, $14MM pact covering his age 35-36 seasons. He falls short of the multi-year deal and that overall guarantee but secures a solid salary for the upcoming campaign. Kittredge is the third pitcher and the fourth free agent whom the O’s have signed to a one-year deal this winter. Baltimore has added Charlie Morton ($15MM), Tomoyuki Sugano ($13MM), and Gary Sánchez ($8.5MM) alongside their biggest acquisition — outfielder Tyler O’Neill on a three-year, $49.5MM contract that allows him to opt out after the first season.

The five free agent expenditures have added $63MM (including Kittredge’s option buyout) to next year’s payroll. Baltimore has certainly been a bigger player under first-year owner David Rubenstein than they were in recent years under John Angelos. The O’s have shied away from any significant long-term commitments, instead adding shorter-term veteran pieces around their prized position player core. RosterResource calculates their ’25 player payroll around $156MM, which would be their highest figure since 2017. O’Neill is their only player on a guaranteed contract that stretches beyond this year.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Giants Sign Justin Verlander

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January 13: The Giants made the deal official over the weekend and introduced Verlander to the media today. Per Jon Heyman of The New York Post, in addition to the $15MM salary, Verlander’s deal also contains awards bonuses and a full no-trade clause.

January 7: The Giants are in agreement with Justin Verlander on a one-year deal, pending a physical. Verlander, a client of ISE Baseball, is reportedly guaranteed $15MM.

The future Hall of Famer will play his age-42 season in San Francisco. Verlander has previously suggested he hopes to pitch until he’s 45. There was never any doubt that he’d be back on a one-year contract somewhere. It always seemed unlikely to continue in Houston. Verlander had an illustrious run with the Astros around his first half stay with the Mets in 2023. He’s coming off a challenging season, though, leading Houston to let him walk.

Verlander took the ball 17 times and turned in a 5.48 earned run average through 90 1/3 innings. He had a pair of injured list stints — first in April for shoulder inflammation, then a two-month stretch between June and August related to a neck issue. Opponents tagged him for an ERA north of 8.00 over his seven starts after he returned from the latter injury. Verlander conceded after the season that he had come back too soon as he tried to contribute to Houston’s playoff push.

San Francisco believes there’s more in the tank with a healthy offseason. Verlander is only one year removed from an excellent season. He combined for a 3.22 ERA across 162 1/3 innings with New York and Houston in 2023. That came with a 21.5% strikeout rate that was well below Verlander’s prior level. That pointed to regression from his Cy Young form, but he still found plenty of success with diminished swing-and-miss stuff that year.

Verlander averaged 93.5 MPH on his four-seam fastball last season. That’s down slightly from the 94-95 MPH range in which he sat between 2022-23 but hasn’t completely fallen off the table. Pitching at less than full strength could account for that dip. If Verlander is fully healthy in 2025, it’s not outlandish to expect his velocity to rebound.

Health is an obvious caveat for a 42-year-old pitcher. Verlander has already defied expectations once, coming back from Tommy John surgery to win his third Cy Young at age 39 in 2022. Even if he’s not likely to repeat that kind of performance, he could be an asset as a mid-rotation arm and veteran presence in a staff that lost Blake Snell.

Logan Webb will be back to take the mantle as the team’s #1 starter. Verlander and Robbie Ray slot in the middle of the rotation as high-upside veterans who are trying to rebound from injuries. Former top prospect Kyle Harrison should be the fourth starter. President of baseball operations Buster Posey said last month that the Giants intend to give hard-throwing sinkerballer Jordan Hicks another chance at a rotation spot. Younger arms Landen Roupp, Mason Black and Hayden Birdsong could push Hicks for the fifth starter role.

This is the second free agent move of Posey’s first winter atop baseball operations. His big splash was a seven-year deal to install Willy Adames at shortstop. Posey has publicly suggested that continuing to strengthen the offense was a bigger priority than the rotation, but they evidently liked the value of a one-year roll of the dice on Verlander.

San Francisco had roughly $208MM in luxury tax obligations coming into today, as calculated by RosterResource. This will push them to around $223MM, a little less than $20MM shy of the $241MM base threshold. Verlander’s deal matches the $15MM salaries which veteran starters Alex Cobb and Charlie Morton also landed earlier this winter.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported that the Giants and Verlander had agreed to a one-year deal. Jesse Rogers of ESPN reported the $15MM salary. Image courtesy of Imagn.

Pirates Sign Burch Smith, Bryce Johnson To Minor League Deals

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The Pirates announced a slate of 13 non-roster invitees to spring training Monday, revealing within that they’ve signed right-hander Burch Smith and outfielder Bryce Johnson to minor league contracts.

Smith, 35 in April, split the 2024 season between the Marlins and Orioles, pitching to a combined 4.95 ERA with a below-average 19.1% strikeout rate but a superlative 5% walk rate. The Truth Sports client averaged 94.9 mph on his heater and kept the ball on the ground at a 43.9% clip that’s nearly two percentage points north of the league average of 42.2%.

Originally a 14th-round pick by the Padres back in 2011, Smith has pitched for seven big league teams across parts of six major league seasons. He’s pitched all over the globe, including a brief appearance with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization in 2023, a solid run with the Seibu Lions in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball in 2022, and some work with los Gigantes de Cibao in the Dominican Winter League as well.

In 247 1/3 big league innings, Smith has a 5.79 ERA, although it’s worth pointing out that the 2024 version of Smith looks far different from the version we saw in the majors between 2013-21. He’s throwing harder than he ever did early in his career, when he averaged 93.1 mph on his fastball from 2013-21. He’s also scrapped his changeup and sinker — both offerings he once leaned upon heavily — in favor of a four-pitch mix including a four-seamer, cutter, curveball and sweeper (used in that order of frequency). Smith’s ground-ball rate climbed by more than eight percentage points with that new-look arsenal, while his 5% walk rate was less than half the 10.1% rate he showed over his first five MLB campaigns.

Smith will give the Bucs some veteran bullpen depth and compete for one of the final spots in Pittsburgh’s relief corps this spring. At least five spots feel locked into place with now with David Bednar, Colin Holderman, Dennis Santana, Carmen Mlodzinski and free-agent signee Caleb Ferguson all staking their claim.

Righty Kyle Nicolas was solid for 54 1/3 innings last year (3.95 ERA) but walked too many hitters (12.8%) and has minor league options remaining. DFA pickups Joey Wentz (claimed last September) and Peter Strzelecki (acquired for cash this offseason) are both out of minor league options and will need to make the Opening Day club or else be removed from the 40-man roster themselves. Others in the running could include Elvis Alvarado (on the 40-man roster) and non-roster invitees Yohan Ramirez, Tanner Rainey, Yerry Rodriguez, Isaac Mattson and Eddy Yean.

Turning to the 29-year-old Johnson, he’ll give Pittsburgh some depth at a corner outfield spot where they’ve been seeking help throughout the offseason. He’s played in each of the past three big league seasons, spending time with both the Giants and Padres, but carries a tepid .177/.248/.226 slash over a small sample of 140 major league plate appearances.

Those numbers clearly don’t impress, but Johnson also had his best Triple-A season in 2024, hitting .288/.407/.431 with the Padres’ El Paso affiliate. He’s played in parts of four Triple-A campaigns and touts a sharp .286/.381/.429 slash. Johnson is lacking in power — he hasn’t reached a double-digit homer total since hitting ten round-trippers across three minor league levels in 2019 — but he’s been a fleet-footed on-base machine in the minors. The former sixth-rounder (Giants, 2017) has walked in 10.9% of his minor league plate appearances, including an 11.6% clip in his four Triple-A seasons. He’s 181-for-226 in minor league stolen base attempts (80%) and has a trio of 30-steal seasons under his belt. Last year, he went 20-for-23 in just 74 games at the Triple-A level.

As things stand, the Pittsburgh outfield will have Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz locked into two of the three spots (with Cruz set in center field, in particular). Joshua Palacios, Jack Suwinski, Ji Hwan Bae and Billy Cook are all on the 40-man roster and hoping for outfield at-bats. The Pirates have also been looking outside the organization, though, with recent reports indicating interest in Alex Verdugo and Randal Grichuk.

Cubs Designate Michael Arias For Assignment

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The Cubs announced Monday that they’ve designated right-hander Michael Arias for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to fellow right-hander Colin Rea, whose previously reported one-year deal is now official.

Arias, 23, was selected to Chicago’s 40-man roster in the 2023-24 offseason in order to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. The infielder-turned-reliever spent the 2024 season in the upper minors, pitching to a combined 4.77 ERA in 60 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. Arias was more effective at the former than the latter, logging a 3.75 ERA in Double-A but a 5.35 mark in Triple-A.

Command was an issue for Arias at both levels, as has been the case since he moved to the mound. The hard-throwing righty sits mid-90s with his sinker but has walked a dismal 16.5% of opponents in his professional career — including 19.6% of his opponents in 36 1/3 Triple-A frames this past season.

Even with that notable flaw, Arias still landed 11th on FanGraphs’ recent ranking of the Cubs’ farm system. Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice profiled the righty, touting a potential plus-plus changeup, a bat-missing slider and the ability to work multiple innings in relief. Arias’ location struggles — FanGraphs’ report notes that Arias “hasn’t even progressed to 40-grade control” yet — are prominent enough that the Cubs are comfortable trading him or exposing him to waivers.

While the Cubs may feel they don’t have room for him on their 40-man, Arias is a 23-year-old with a sinker up to 98 mph, a pair of average or better secondaries, and two minor league option years remaining. He seems like he’ll draw interest from another club, be it via a small trade or simply via waivers. The Cubs have five days to trade Arias. After that, he’ll need to be placed on waivers (a 48-hour process).

Cubs Sign Colin Rea

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Jan. 13: The Cubs have announced Rea’s signing.

Jan. 10: The Cubs are in agreement with Colin Rea on a one-year, $5MM guarantee. Rea receives a $4.25MM salary for the upcoming season and is guaranteed a $750K buyout on a $6MM club option for 2026. The right-hander is represented by Joe Speed. The Cubs have a full 40-man roster and will need to open a spot in order for this deal to become official.

Rea, 34, is coming off a solid two-year run with the Brewers. Over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, he tossed 292 1/3 innings for Milwaukee, making 49 starts and nine relief appearances. He allowed 4.40 earned runs per nine. His 19.9% strikeout rate was a bit below league average, but he showed strong control with a 6.6% walk rate.

The Brewers could have retained Rea for 2025 via a modest $5.5MM club option, but they somewhat surprisingly put him on waivers to see if any other club wanted him at that price point. No team ended up claiming him, so the Brewers simply went for the $1MM buyout instead. By getting $5MM from the Cubs on top of that $1MM buyout, Rea will come out marginally better financially than if the Brewers had simply picked up the option.

By joining the Cubs, Rea will be reunited with manager Craig Counsell, who was the skipper in Milwaukee before coming to Chicago a year ago. Rea was also with the Brewers in 2021, though he only got to pitch six innings in the majors that year. He then headed to Japan for the 2022 season, parlaying his decent performance over there into a return to the Brewers two years ago.

Rea doesn’t overpower hitters, averaging around 93 miles per hour on his fastball over the past two years, but he can keep them off balance with a diverse mix of six pitches. Per Statcast, he also threw a sinker, cutter, sweeper, splitter and curveball. He also didn’t lean on any one pitch too often, topping out with his sinker in each of the past two seasons, around 30% of the time in each year. That’s helped him have fairly neutral splits, with lefties hitting .257/.308/.465 against him last year and righties at .258/.315/.429.

For the Cubs, Rea is likely to slot into a similar swing role to the one he served with the Brewers. Chicago signed Matthew Boyd earlier this winter, adding him to a rotation mix that already had Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga and Jameson Taillon. Rea and Javier Assad have somewhat similar numbers over the past two years and could perhaps compete for the fifth spot in the rotation if everyone is healthy, with the other perhaps getting a long relief role in the bullpen.

Of course, rotations shift over the course of a season. Injuries are inevitable and some players will perform better or worse than expectations. The Cubs have guys like Jordan Wicks, Caleb Kilian, Ben Brown and Cody Poteet also on the 40-man roster, though they all still have options and are fairly lacking in experience. Prospect Cade Horton is not yet on the roster but could force his way into the mix during the upcoming season.

It’s also possible that the Cubs will make further moves to change the rotation plan. Since acquiring Boyd and trading Wesneski, they have been connected to free agent Jack Flaherty and trade candidates like Luis Castillo and Jesús Luzardo. The latter was already traded from the Marlins to the Phillies but another rotation acquisition of some kind is not off the table.

Rea’s role figures to be determined by those moves as well as the health and performance of everyone on the roster, including his own. He improves the depth of the pitching staff at a fairly low cost, relatively speaking. The starting pitching market has been aggressive this winter, as guys like Justin Verlander and Alex Cobb got $15MM guarantees despite being relatively older veterans coming off injury-marred seasons. Rea doesn’t have the same track record or ceiling as those guys but has been healthy and performing well lately, with just one third the salary commitment.

RosterResource now has the Cubs at a payroll of $181MM and a competitive balance tax number of $198MM. Last year, they eventually got to a $228MM payroll and went narrowly over the tax line. It’s unclear if they want to get to the same levels in 2025, but even if they want to avoid the tax, they can still add about $40MM to their CBT number while doing so. This year’s base CBT threshold is $241MM.

MLBTR’s Steve Adams first reported that the Cubs and Rea had agreed to a one-year, $5MM deal. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reported the presence of a ’26 club option. MLBTR reported the option terms.

Rockies Sign Jake Woodford To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies have agreed with right-hander Jake Woodford on a minor league deal, according to a report from Thomas Harding of MLB.com. The deal presumably includes an invite to big league Spring Training, as Harding says he’ll be able to compete for a spot in the rotation or bullpen when camp opens next month.

Woodford, 28, was a first-round pick by the Cardinals back in 2015. The right-hander worked his way up the minor league ladder with the club to make his big league debut during the shortened 2020 season. That debut wasn’t much to write home about, as he posted a lackluster 5.57 ERA in 21 innings of work. Woodford continued to pitch for St. Louis in an up-and-down role over the next few seasons, and actually enjoyed generally solid results in 2021 and ’22 with a 3.26 ERA (121 ERA+) and a 3.93 FIP in a combined 116 innings of work spread between nine starts and 42 relief appearances. Even during those years, however, his 15.4% strikeout rate was well below-average and a clear cause for concern.

Woodford’s lack of strikeouts came back to bite him during the 2023 season, when he pitched to a 6.23 ERA over 47 2/3 innings of work with the Cardinals. He not only continued to struggle with striking opponents out (13.1%) but also began having problems with his control to the point where his walk rate (9.1%) started to approach his strikeout rate. That’s nearly always a recipe for disaster, and while Woodford’s 51.2% groundball rate was solid, opposing hitters were crushing the ball when they did manage to elevate as evidenced by an 11.3% barrel rate. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Woodford’s brutal results led the Cardinals to non-tender him that November.

Ahead of the 2024 season, Woodford signed with the White Sox on a minor league deal. He ultimately was added to the roster in late May to replace injured right-hander Mike Clevinger and made two starts for Chicago. Neither of those starts went well, and he wound up surrendering ten runs on 15 hits (two homers) and five walks while striking out seven in 8 1/3 innings of work for the White Sox before he was designated for assignment in early June. He elected free agency and was signed to a minor league deal by the Pirates shortly thereafter.

Pittsburgh selected him to the roster shortly after the trade deadline last July, but his tenure with the Pirates only went slightly better than his time on the south side of Chicago had. In all, Woodford made seven appearances for the club: five starts and two relief outings. He surrendered an ugly 7.09 ERA during that time, and while a 4.07 FIP suggests that the righty may have been the victim of bad luck during his stint with the Pirates, his strikeout woes continued as he punched out just 15.7% of opponents during his time with the club.

Woodford was eventually outrighted off the Pirates’ roster near the end of last season and headed back into minor league free agency once the regular season came to a close. Now, the right-hander will get his latest opportunity with the Rockies. Colorado has famously struggled to field an effective pitching staff over the years due in large part to the difficulties associated with pitching at elevation. That’s led the Rockies to prioritize adding groundballers to their pitching staff, so it’s hardly a surprise that they would have interest in adding Woodford given that his career groundball rate at the big league level is a robust 45.1%.

Of course, Woodford’s lackluster results weren’t enough to earn him a major league deal, and he’ll need to earn a roster spot during Spring Training or wait for an opportunity to present itself later in the year as a non-roster depth option. As things stand, the Rockies appear to be more or less set in the rotation with Germán Márquez, Kyle Freeland, Austin Gomber, Ryan Feltner, and Antonio Senzatela all seemingly ticketed for the Opening Day roster. There’s a bit more room for flexibility in the bullpen, however, and it’s not impossible to imagine Woodford beating a player like Angel Chivilli or Tanner Gordon out for a roster spot with a strong showing in Spring Training.

Twins Sign Armando Alvarez To Minor League Deal

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The Twins have signed infielder Armando Alvarez to a minor league deal, according to the transaction log on Alvarez’s MLB.com profile page. The deal presumably includes an invite to big league Spring Training next month.

Alvarez, 30, was a 17th-round pick by the Yankees back in 2016. He climbed the minor league ladder with the club and eventually reached the Triple-A level in 2019. Unfortunately for Alvarez, however, the cancelled minor league season in 2020 and a down season in 2021 led to him not making his big league debut in a Yankees uniform. Instead, he elected minor league free agency following the 2022 season and signed on with the Giants for the 2023 season. Playing for the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento, Alvarez took to the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League quite well as he slashed .308/.379/.581 with a wRC+ of 125 in 74 games. He once again failed to crack the club’s big league roster, however, and moved across the bay to Oakland ahead of the 2024 season.

With the Athletics, Alvarez raked at the Triple-A level to the tune of a .315/.407/.560 slash line in 75 games. That performance finally earned Alvarez his first taste of big league action at the age of 29, and he ultimately appeared in 16 games with the A’s throughout the season. The infielder struggled during his lone cup of coffee in the majors, hitting just .243/.282/.270 in 39 plate appearances while playing the infield corners, left field, and second base. That lackluster performance led the A’s to outright Alvarez off their roster back in October, allowing him to elect minor league free agency for a third consecutive offseason.

Now, Alvarez is headed to Minnesota to try and work his way into the Twins’ infield mix. Carlos Correa, Royce Lewis, and Brooks Lee appear likely to get the lion’s share of playing time at shortstop, third base, and second base respectively when the roster is fully healthy. In theory, that should leave first base available for some combination of Jose Miranda and Edouard Julien, but the Twins have expressed interest in help at the position throughout the winter and as such appear to be open to other options. Alvarez is the second infielder the club has brought in on a minor league deal who could try to work his way into the big league first base mix, joining lefty slugger Mike Ford.

With less than 40 trips to the plate in the majors on his resume headed into his age-30 campaign, Alvarez may wind up outmatched by the Twins’ more established options in a camp battle for the first base job. Even if that comes to pass, however, he’ll still be a solid depth piece for the club given his ability to play multiple positions and his status as a career .280/.345/.492 hitter at the Triple-A level. The majority of Alvarez’s playing time in the minors has come at the hot corner, though he has plenty of first base experience as well and has made cameos at the keystone, the outfield corners, and even shortstop throughout his career. That versatility should come in handy for a Twins club that has a number of players who have struggled to remain healthy in recent years.

Braves Sign Garrett Cooper To Minor League Deal

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The Braves have signed first baseman Garrett Cooper to a minor league contract, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray.  The deal includes an invitation for Cooper to attend Atlanta’s big league Spring Training camp.

After spending the majority of his eight MLB seasons with the Marlins, Cooper now heads back to the NL East in the hopes of achieving some stability in what has become a journeyman-esque couple of years.  Miami dealt Cooper to the Padres at the 2023 trade deadline, and upon entering free agency last winter, Cooper landed with the Cubs on a minor league contract.  He was then designated for assignment and subsequently traded to the Red Sox at the end of April, but was then DFA’ed again by Boston in June and then released.

Cooper signed another minors deal with the Orioles but didn’t make any appearances with Baltimore at the MLB level, as injuries hampered his time at Triple-A Norfolk.  Cooper had a .914 OPS over 84 plate appearances with Norfolk, which might hint that he has something left in the tank as he enters his age-34 season, even if his MLB numbers with Chicago and Boston left a lot to be desired.

Cooper hit well in 41 PA with the Cubs before struggling badly over 75 PA with the Red Sox.  It added up to an overall .206/.267/.299 slash line over 116 plate appearances, and the second straight season of declining numbers for Cooper after his Marlins heyday.  Cooper hit .274/.350/.444 over 1273 PA for Miami from 2019-22, and was the team’s All-Star representative in 2022 even though injuries and the Marlins’ overall lower profile made him something of an underrated hitter.

While there has always been a good deal of swing-and-miss in Cooper’s game even in his prime years, his strikeout rates have increased over the last two seasons and his hard-contact numbers have dropped.  Defensively, Cooper played a good deal of right field earlier in his career but has been almost exclusively a first baseman since the start of the 2021 season, apart from two appearances in left field for the Cubs this year.

Since Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna have the first base and DH positions locked down in Atlanta, the outfield is likely Cooper’s best path to winning a job on the Braves’ Opening Day roster.  Jarred Kelenic is penciled in for the bulk of work in left field, but since he’ll need a platoon partner, a right-handed bat like Cooper might be an ideal fit.

A return to right field also might not be out of the question, as Ronald Acuna Jr. is expected to miss some time at the start of the season as he returns from a torn ACL.  The Braves have added Bryan De La Cruz (a former teammate of Cooper’s in Miami) and Conner Capel to an outfield depth chart that also includes Luke Williams and Eli White, as the team will try to make do in the corner outfield slots until Acuna is back in action.

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