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Cubs Expected To Designate Adbert Alzolay For Assignment

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The Cubs are likely to designate former closer Adbert Alzolay for assignment, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN (X link). That’ll open a spot on the 40-man roster as Chicago keeps prospects out of the Rule 5 draft. Alzolay underwent Tommy John surgery in August and is going to miss most or all of next season.

A DFA would’ve been tough to fathom just a few months ago. After an inconsistent run as a starter, the righty moved to the bullpen for good in 2023. He eventually pitched his way into the ninth inning, picking up 22 saves and six holds while only blowing three leads. Alzolay turned in 64 innings of 2.67 ERA ball with a 26.5% strikeout rate. A late-season forearm strain was the only red flag in an otherwise excellent year.

Unfortunately, the forearm issue proved a precursor to a disastrous ’24 season. Alzolay started the season horribly, allowing 13 runs (nine earned) over 17 1/3 innings. He blew five saves while locking down just four games and quickly lost the closing job. Alzolay’s walks jumped while his strikeout rate dropped by nearly 10 percentage points. The Cubs put him on the injured list with another forearm strain diagnosis in the middle of May.

It seems that’ll mark the end of his Chicago tenure, which began when he signed out of Venezuela at age 18. Alzolay tried to avoid surgery and went on a minor league rehab stint in July. He had a setback in Triple-A and went under the knife a month later. A typical 14-month recovery timeline would cost him the entire ’25 season. That wouldn’t be a roster issue for the Cubs during the season, as they could place him on the 60-day injured list between the opening of Spring Training and the end of the World Series. Without an IL during the winter, Alzolay would’ve counted against their offseason roster for each of the next two years even though he may not pitch until 2026.

That’s evidently not something they’re willing to do for what could amount to one more year of Alzolay. He has between four and five years of MLB service and would collect service time if he spent all of next season on the injured list. Alzolay is on track for free agency during the 2026-27 offseason.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects the 29-year-old for a modest $2.3MM salary if he’s tendered an arbitration contract. He’d be in line for a matching salary in ’26 if he misses all of next season. A combined sum in the $5MM range would be a bargain if Alzolay recaptures his best form in 2026. There’s no guarantee that’ll be the case, of course, and it seems the Cubs don’t want to carry him on the roster long enough to take that chance.

There are a few ways this situation could play out. Perhaps the Cubs can find a trade partner who is willing to send them a marginal prospect to buy low on a potential high-leverage arm. If they don’t line up a trade, Chicago could put Alzolay on waivers within the next few days. They wouldn’t get anything in return if he’s claimed, but it’d give other clubs an opportunity to retain him on that projected arbitration salary. As a player with at least three years of service time, he’d become a free agent if he went unclaimed.

The Cubs could also simply cut Alzolay loose by declining to tender him a contract at Friday’s non-tender deadline. That’d send him directly to free agency without putting him on waivers. It’s the only time of year in which teams can drop players from the 40-man roster without waiving them. Teams frequently try to re-sign players to minor league deals after a non-tender, but Alzolay and his representatives would be able to look for a major league opportunity elsewhere. In any case, it looks as if he’ll be headed to a new team after spending more than a decade in the Cubs organization.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Rays Designate Richard Lovelady For Assignment

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The Rays announced Tuesday that they’ve designated left-hander Richard Lovelady for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to outfielder Jake Mangum, whose contract has been selected. Mangum’s selection to the roster protects him from next month’s Rule 5 Draft.

Lovelady, 29, split the 2024 season between the Cubs and Rays, struggling with the former but pitching pretty well for the latter. The southpaw gave Tampa Bay 28 2/3 innings of 3.77 ERA ball, albeit with a sub-par 16.8% strikeout rate. Lovelady’s 7.6% walk rate and 53.5% ground-ball rate were both strong marks, however, and the lefty has long shown an interesting blend of missed bats and grounders to go along with solid command. In 99 1/3 big league innings, Lovelady has a 21.1% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 50.9% grounder rate. He’s still been tagged for a 4.98 earned run average, thanks in large part to a 66% strand rate, but metrics like xFIP (4.27) and SIERA (4.02) have been more bullish than ERA.

The Rays will have a week to trade Lovelady or attempt to pass him through waivers. They can also non-tender him before Friday and cut him right from the roster without first exposing him to any form of waivers — the only time of year clubs are able to do so. He’s out of minor league options, so any club that acquires Lovelady would need to carry him on the 40-man roster to open the season. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Lovelady for a $900K salary in 2025. He’s controllable through the 2027 season.

Mangum, 28, came to the Rays as the player to be named later in the deal that sent utilityman Vidal Brujan and righty Calvin Faucher to the Marlins. He spent the 2024 season in Triple-A, where he slashed .317/.357/.442 with six homers and 20 steals in 428 turns at the plate. Mangum is a switch-hitter with good speed, strong bat-to-ball skills and the ability to play all three outfield spots. He’ll likely get an opportunity to make his MLB debut in a fourth-outfielder role with the Rays in 2025.

Marlins To Add Three Players To 40-Man Roster

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The Marlins are going to be selecting three players to their 40-man roster ahead of today’s Rule 5 protection deadline, reports Christina De Nicola of MLB.com on X. They are infielders Deyvison De Los Santos and Jared Serna as well as left-hander Dax Fulton. The 40-man roster will be full when the moves are official.

De Los Santos, 22 in June, just arrived with the Marlins at the trade deadline. He was one of two young players that the Fish received when trading lefty A.J. Puk to the Snakes in July. He went on to hit .240/.284/.459 while striking out in 28.4% of his plate appearances after the deal, leading to an 85 wRC+.

The Marlins are undoubtedly hoping that he can get back to the form he showed prior to the trade. In 87 contests this year ahead to the deal, he produced a robust .325/.376/.635 slash line while launching 28 home runs, leading to a 159 wRC+.

De Los Santos is a divisive prospect because the power is exciting but most of his other tools are considered weak. He has played both infield corners but isn’t well regarded for his glovework. He doesn’t take walks or provide much on the basepaths.

Still, a rebuilding club like the Marlins could give him some at-bats and see if the homers make him valuable regardless. The Fish have guys like Jake Burger, Jonah Bride and Connor Norby in their corner infield rotation but De Los Santos will give them some depth there. He already had 99 games of Triple-A experience and could make his major league debut at any time.

Serna, 23 in June, is also a new Marlin. He was one of three players to come from the Yankees as part of the Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade from this summer. He has slashed .265/.358/.435 over his four minor league seasons, walking at a solid 10.8% clip while keeping his strikeouts down to a 16.6% level, production leads to a 123 wRC+.

He may be ticketed for a utility role down the line, as he has played shortstop, second base, third base and a bit of right field as well. His shortstop defense isn’t considered especially strong, so he may end up playing those other positions a bit more. Prior to the trade, he had never played above High-A, so a major league debut might not be imminent. The Marlins did put him into 39 Double-A games and 6 Triple-A games after the swap, but he’s probably ticketed for more time in the upper levels of the minors next year.

Fulton, 23, is unlike the other two in that he was actually drafted and developed by the Marlins. A second-round pick from 2020, he has posted some strong numbers but hasn’t pitched since undergoing surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament in June of 2023. Prior to that surgery, he posted a 4.27 ERA in 229 2/3 innings across multiple levels from 2021 to 2023. His 10% walk rate was a bit high but he punched out 27.6% of batters faced. He will presumably need some time to get back into game shape after missing all of 2024, but he will eventually provide the Marlins with some pitching depth when he is back to full strength.

A’s To Select Gunnar Hoglund, Ryan Cusick

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1:15pm: The A’s are also adding outfielder Denzel Clarke to the 40-man, per McDaniel. A fourth-round pick of the A’s in 2021, he has since gone on to hit .261/.359/.467 over multiple levels while stealing 78 bases in 93 tries.

11:36am: The A’s have selected the contract of right-hander Gunnar Hoglund, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. They’ve also selected the contract of righty Ryan Cusick, per Ari Alexander of KPRC-2. Both are now on the 40-man roster and thus ineligible to be selected in next month’s Rule 5 Draft. The Athletics’ 40-man roster is up to 36 players, so there’s room for more additions throughout the day.

Adding Hoglund doesn’t register as much of a surprise. The 2021 first-rounder (No.  19 overall by the Blue Jays) was the centerpiece prospect in the trade sending Matt Chapman from Oakland to Toronto. He’s had a slow road back after Tommy John surgery but pitched 130 2/3 innings this past season, splitting the year between Double-A (104 2/3 innings, 2.84 ERA) and Triple-A (26 innings, 5.88 ERA). Hoglund punched out 22.7% of his opponents against a 7% walk rate during that time. MLB.com’s Jim Callis notes that Hoglund’s velocity hasn’t come all the way back since that elbow reconstruction; he sat at 92 mph in 2024 — a ways shy of his college days when he sat a couple ticks higher and topped out around 96-97 mph.

Hoglund, 25 next month, is still regarded as a strike-thrower with strong command who has the potential to start. Given the state of the A’s rotation and the fact that he’s now on the 40-man roster, his first opportunity to do so in the majors could come as soon as the 2025 season.

The A’s have JP Sears locked into a rotation spot but little certainty thereafter. Last year’s Rule 5 pick, Mitch Spence, tossed 151 innings with a 4.58 ERA, good command and below-average strikeout numbers. Right-hander Joey Estes totaled 127 2/3 frames with even better command but even lower strikeout numbers and a 5.01 ERA. Righty J.T. Ginn had similar rate stats to both and a 4.24 ERA in a smaller sample of 34 innings. Twenty-nine-year-old swingman Osvaldo Bido mopped up 63 1/3 innings with a 3.41 ERA, a strong 24.3% strikeout rate and an ugly 10% walk rate. Flamethrowing righty Joe Boyle sat 98 mph with his heater but posted a 6.42 ERA while walking 17.7% of his opponents in 47 2/3 innings (10 starts). Lefties Hogan Harris and Brady Basso both made a handful of starts in 2024, but both are already 27 and posted more concerning numbers in the minors.

Cusick is also 25 and also came to the A’s in a major trade — the one sending first baseman Matt Olson to Atlanta. The right-hander was actually drafted by the Braves just five picks after the Jays took Hoglund in 2021. He moved from the rotation to a bullpen role in 2024, and the switch clearly paid off. Cusick began the year with an dismal 6.69 ERA in 37 2/3 starts working primarily as  starter through July 12. He shifted to the ’pen full time after the break and rattled off 26 innings of 1.73 ERA ball with a 28.2% strikeout rate. His 11.8% walk rate in that time was still too high, but those rate stats are lightyears better than the ones he logged working as a starter early on (19.7 K%, 15.2 BB%).

Given the success in a move to a relief role, it seems Cusick will likely be ticketed for a bullpen audition this spring. He’ll have to further rein in his command, but the uptick in strikeouts and the gains he’s already made in terms of limiting free passes in the ’pen are encouraging.

Astros To Select Colton Gordon

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The Astros are adding left-hander Colton Gordon to their 40-man roster, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (X link). The 6’4″ southpaw would otherwise have been eligible for next month’s Rule 5 draft. Houston has one additional opening on the 40-man roster, so it’s possible they’ll make another move before tonight’s deadline to keep players out of the Rule 5.

Gordon was an eighth-round pick in 2021. The Central Florida product has found success as a starter in the minors. He owns a 3.74 ERA in a little more than 300 professional innings. Gordon managed a 3.94 mark across 123 1/3 frames with Triple-A Sugar Land this year. He struck out a solid 23.8% of opponents while issuing walks at a respectable 7.5% clip.

Prospect evaluators have never graded Gordon especially highly. Baseball America has ranked him in the back half of their top 30 prospects in a thin Astros’ system for the last two years. Gordon doesn’t throw hard and had a middling 9.7% swinging strike rate in Triple-A. That limits his ceiling, but starting pitchers with upper minors success are often plucked away in the Rule 5 draft. The Astros ensure that won’t happen with Gordon, who could make his big league debut as a spot starter or long reliever next season.

White Sox To Select Colson Montgomery, Juan Carela

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The White Sox have selected the contracts of shortstop Colson Montgomery and right-hander Juan Carela, per the team transaction log at MLB.com. Both are now on the 40-man roster and ineligible to be taken in next month’s Rule 5 Draft.

Montgomery, 22, was the Sox’ top pick in the 2021 draft, coming off the board with the No. 22 overall pick. He’s been the system’s top prospect since and currently factors prominently into top-100 lists at multiple publications (e.g. No. 38 at Baseball America, No. 37 at MLB.com). He ripped through High-A and Double-A as a 21-year-old in 2023 before struggling for much of the season as a 22-year-old in Triple-A this year. Montgomery did finish the season nicely, slashing .263/.357/.465 in his final six weeks of action, but his overall .214/.329/.381 slash obviously leaves plenty to be desired.

Even with those struggles, however, there’s no way the Sox were going to leave a prospect of Montgomery’s caliber unprotected. He breezed through the low minors and was four years younger than his average opponent in Triple-A. Montgomery hit .313/.511/.656 in 45 plate appearances during the Arizona Fall League as well, further adding to that nice finish. Scouting reports aren’t sold on him as a long-term shortstop, due primarily to his 6’3″, 225-pound frame, but Montgomery is thought to have the arm and defensive chops to handle third base even if a position switch is necessary down the road.

Carela, 22, came to the ChiSox from the Yankees in the 2023 trade that sent Keynan Middleton to the Bronx. He split the 2024 campaign between High-A and Double-A, logging sub-4.00 ERAs at each stop. Collectively, it played out as a 3.71 earned run average, a strong 25.2% strikeout rate and a 9.9% walk rate he’ll work to pare down in the future. Carela totaled 106 2/3 innings, all as a starter. He’ll likely head back to Double-A to begin the 2025 season, as he only tossed 32 2/3 innings there. Given his placement on the 40-man roster and the likelihood that he’ll split 2025 between Double-A and Triple-A, he’ll be a candidate to make his big league debut later in the 2025 campaign if he continues to pitch well.

Nationals Add Robert Hassell III, Andry Lara To 40-Man Roster

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The Nationals announced that they have added outfielder Robert Hassell III and right-hander Andry Lara to their 40-man roster. Both players are now protected from being selected in the Rule 5 draft, with the deadline for such moves coming at 5pm Central today. Washington’s 40-man roster count climbs to 38.

Hassell, now 23, was one of six players who went from the Padres to the Nationals in the Juan Soto blockbuster. At the time, Hassell was considered one of the top 100 prospects in the league, having been selected eighth overall in 2020 and then performing well in the lower levels of the minors.

His stock has fallen since the trade thanks to some uneven results as he has battled wrist injuries. He spent most of 2023 in Double-A, getting into 106 games at that level. His 10.9% walk rate was solid but he also struck out at a huge 31.9% clip. He produced a line of .225/.316/.324 for a wRC+ of 81. In 2024, he got into 85 games across multiple levels, lowering his strikeout rate to just 21% but his .241/.319/.328 batting line wasn’t much of an improvement.

However, he is just coming off a strong performance in the Arizona Fall League. He got 100 plate appearances there across 22 games, hitting .281/.360/.517 in those. It’s a small sample but an encouraging sign nonetheless.

Though Hassell isn’t really considered a top 100 guy anymore, it’s possible that overcoming his wrist injuries could get him back on track going forward. The Nats clearly didn’t want him to get plucked away by another club, so he’s been added to the roster today to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

The Nats have Dylan Crews, James Wood and Jacob Young as their likely outfield trio at the moment but Hassell will give them some optionable depth. If he performs well enough to earn his major league debut, perhaps Young could be pushed into a fourth outfielder role, though the designated hitter slot is also fairly open at the moment. That could allow enough room in the lineup for everyone but that will naturally depend on what moves the club makes in the remainder of the offseason.

Lara, 22 in January, was an amateur signing out of Venezuela who just wrapped up a breakout season in the minors. From 2021 to 2023, he posted a 4.97 earned run average across various minor league levels with a 20.8% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate. This past year, he made 25 starts between High-A and Double-A with a 3.34 ERA, 24.3% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate.

The Nats gave him a roster spot today to keep him away from other clubs. He will presumably get a bump to Triple-A at some point in 2025 and give the club some optionable starting depth. The club’s projected rotation is fairly lacking in experience, as none of MacKenzie Gore, Cade Cavalli, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker, DJ Herz or Jackson Rutledge has reached 400 major league innings pitched yet. Gore and Irvin are the only two of that group with more than 151 frames.

The Nats could bolster that squad by signing or trading for a veteran this winter, but if any of those in-house guys struggle or get injured, Lara will be around and battling for a shot to make his major league debut.

Brewers Add Logan Henderson, Chad Patrick To 40-Man Roster

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The Brewers added right-handers Logan Henderson and Chad Patrick to their 40-man roster in advance of today’s Rule 5 deadline, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports (X link).  Since Milwaukee has two more open spaces on the 40-man, McCalvy writes that more players could still be protected prior to 5pm CT.

Henderson was a fourth-round pick for the Brewers in the 2021 draft, though an elbow surgery kept him from making his pro debut until over a year after his draft date.  After pitching only 13 2/3 innings in 2022, Henderson tossed 78 2/3 frames at A-ball in 2023, then 81 1/3 innings across four different minor league levels this past season.  The overall numbers (3.32 ERA, 32.8% strikeout rate, 4.73% walk rate) were very impressive, though Henderson had a 4.56 ERA in 23 2/3 Triple-A innings and ran into some home run trouble.

Henderson’s signature pitch is a plus changeup that is so effective that it allows him to get away with a fastball that has movement but sits in the 88-92mph range.  This two-pitch arsenal could mean that Henderson will ultimately end up as a reliever, though obviously the Brewers will first give him plenty of looks to see if he can further develop as a starting pitcher.  Since the 22-year-old Henderson has already cracked the Triple-A level and could be close to his Major League debut, it stands to reason that he might’ve gotten a lot of attention from teams in the Rule 5 Draft.

MLB Pipeline ranks Henderson 11th among all Milwaukee prospects, while Baseball America ranks him 21st.  Patrick isn’t on either outlet’s top-30 list, though considering his solid amount (158 innings) of Triple-A experience, he also likely would’ve been on rival teams’ R5 radars.

Patrick was also a fourth-round pick in 2021, as the Diamondbacks took the right-hander nine spots before the Brewers selected Henderson.  Arizona dealt Patrick to the Athletics for Jace Peterson at the 2023 trade deadline, and the A’s then flipped Patrick to the Brewers almost exactly one year ago in the trade that sent Abraham Toro to Oakland.

After struggling badly in 2023, Patrick found his footing in his new organization, posting a 2.90 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate, and seven percent walk rate across 136 1/3 innings with Triple-A Nashville.  While a .267 BABIP and 79.2% strand rate helped Patrick’s cause, he started 24 of his 26 games and delivered quality bottom-line results, thus earning his first 40-man placement.  Since the Brewers frequently churn pitchers up and down from the minors, the 26-year-old Patrick also could get a look for his MLB debut next season.

A’s Sign Jason Alexander To Minor League Contract

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The Athletics have signed right-hander Jason Alexander to a minors deal, according to Alexander’s MLB.com profile page.  The contract presumably includes an invitation to the Athletics’ big league Spring Training camp.  Alexander returned to minor league free agency at season’s end after spending the 2024 campaign pitching with Boston’s Triple-A affiliate.

Alexander went undrafted in 2017 but signed with the Angels as a free agent, and the A’s now represent the fifth different organization the righty has played with during his seven pro seasons.  The resume includes one season in the majors, as Alexander posted a 5.40 ERA over 71 2/3 innings with the Brewers in 2022, working as both a swingman and reliever in his 18 appearances.

While not a standout performance, Alexander’s ability to generate grounders and work as a swingman made him a candidate for Milwaukee’s roster heading into 2023 Spring Training, but a shoulder injury kept him out of action until a minor league rehab assignment that June.  The Brewers outrighted him off their 40-man roster a month later and then moved on entirely after the season, leading to Alexander landing a deal last winter with the Red Sox.

Over 328 1/3 career innings at Triple-A, Alexander has a 5.04 ERA, 7.04% walk rate, and 18.85% strikeout rate.  Alexander is a grounder specialist who has regularly posted groundball rates north of 55%, though his lack of real strikeout power has limited his ceiling.

Still, the 31-year-old can eat innings and work in a variety of roles, giving him value as a depth arm for the A’s to evaluate at Triple-A, or perhaps consider for a look on the big league roster.  If he does make the team, it’ll be something of a homecoming for Alexander, whose hometown of Windsor, California is within a few hours’ drive from the Athletics’ temporary new home of Sacramento.

Thomas Hatch Signs With KBO’s Doosan Bears

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The Korea Baseball Organization’s Doosan Bears have signed right-hander Thomas Hatch, per a team announcement (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO). The 30-year-old will earn $1MM in 2025, paid out as a $200K signing bonus and an $800K salary.

A third-round pick by the Cubs in the 2016 draft, Hatch was shipped to Toronto in the 2019 trade that brought right-hander David Phelps to Chicago. Hatch subsequently made his big league debut with the Blue Jays just a year later during the shortened 2020 season and impressed in his first taste of big league action with a 2.73 ERA in 26 1/3 innings of work. Solid as that top-level run prevention figure was, however, there were some potential red flags under the hood including an 11.9% walk rate and a rather pedestrian 4.14 FIP.

Given those concerning peripherals, it wasn’t necessarily a shock when the wheels came off for Hatch a bit during the 2021 season. The right-hander pitched just 14 innings in the majors with a 10.93 ERA over the next two years as he walked eight batters and struck out 12. In spite of those struggles, he continued to post decent numbers with Triple-A Buffalo and earned a more extensive opportunity in the majors during the 2023 season. It went reasonably well for the right-hander, as he posted a solid 4.08 ERA across 28 2/3 innings of work with the Blue Jays and Pirates. Looking under the hood, Hatch’s performance came with a strong 52.3% groundball rate and a respectable 20.2% strikeout rate while his walk rate dipped to a still elevated but more manageable 9.3%.

Those promising peripherals and improved results got the attention of the Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, who signed him to a one-year deal last offseason. That first foray into overseas baseball didn’t go especially well for Hatch, as he was relegated to the Carp’s Western League affiliate for most of the season after struggling with the Central League club. While he dominated in 72 1/3 Western League innings to the tune of a 2.36 ERA, Hatch was torched in the Central League with a 7.36 ERA in 22 innings across five appearances. Those struggles were evidently enough for Hiroshima to part ways with Hatch this winter, leading him to head to South Korea to sign with the Bears. In the KBO, Hatch will lock down a larger salary than he would’ve been able to find in stateside ball and hope to re-establish himself as a pitcher, potentially opening the door to a more lucrative return to either NPB or MLB play in the future.

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