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Reds Sign Caleb Ferguson

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December 18th: The Reds officially announced Ferguson’s signing today. He’ll make $4.5MM, per Wittenmyer.

December 16th: The Reds are reportedly in agreement with reliever Caleb Ferguson on a one-year contract, pending a physical. Salary terms for the Excel Sports Management client have not been reported. Cincinnati has an opening on the 40-man roster.

Ferguson adds a needed left-handed option to Terry Francona’s bullpen. The Reds bought out Brent Suter at the beginning of the offseason. That left them with Sam Moll as their only lefty reliever. He had been up-and-down from Triple-A this year and gave up 16 runs across 18 1/3 MLB innings. Moll gets a decent number of whiffs and ground-balls and was a solid middle reliever between 2022-24, but the Reds couldn’t enter the season relying on him as their best option.

The 29-year-old Ferguson is coming off a solid season split between the Pirates and Mariners. He made a career-high 70 appearances and posted a 3.58 earned run average through 65 1/3 innings. He recorded 14 holds while relinquishing five leads. Ferguson got a lot of weak contact, but he benefitted from an unsustainably low home run rate and batting average on balls in play. That will probably tick back up in 2026, though it’s possible he compensates by missing more bats than he did this past season.

Ferguson is coming off an 18.9% strikeout rate that is by far the worst mark of his career. He had punched out at least a quarter of opposing hitters in each of his first six seasons. That’d be greater cause for concern if it were accompanied by a drop in his raw stuff. Ferguson’s 94 MPH average fastball speed was in line with that of prior years. He cut back on the four-seam fastball to more frequently use a sinker against left-handed batters. The result, as one might expect, was a drop in whiffs but a spike in ground-balls. Ferguson also did a much better job throwing strikes against southpaws, whom he held to a .184/.261/.204 line with zero home runs in 115 plate appearances.

Against left-handed opposition, Ferguson used his sinker roughly half the time and threw his four-seam fastball and cutter at a near-25% clip. He only sporadically mixed in a slurve. That was a much more frequent pitch for him without the platoon advantage. Ferguson almost never threw the sinker to righties, against whom the pitch’s arm-side run could leak back out over the heart of the plate. He instead mixed the four-seam, slurve and cutter versus opposite-handed opponents.

Ferguson is the second addition to Cincinnati’s bullpen this offseason. They also brought in out-of-options swingman Keegan Thompson on a split deal to compete for a long relief role. Their biggest move was to re-sign closer Emilio Pagán to a two-year, $20MM contract. He’ll be joined in the late innings by Graham Ashcraft, Tony Santillan and Ferguson. Power righties Connor Phillips and Zach Maxwell have the stuff to pitch their way into leverage roles as well, though it’s questionable whether either pitcher will throw enough strikes to earn that level of responsibility.

An already thin free agent lefty relief class is dwindling. The Pirates finalized their contract with Gregory Soto this morning, while Caleb Thielbar agreed to a new deal with the Cubs. Sean Newcomb, Danny Coulombe, Drew Pomeranz, Justin Wilson and Taylor Rogers are among those who remain unsigned.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the sides had an agreement, which Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer specified was for one year. Image courtesy of Jordan Godfree, Imagn Images.

A’s, Joel Kuhnel Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Athletics have agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Joel Kuhnel, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. The Octagon client will compete for a bullpen spot during spring training.

Kuhnel has appeared in parts of four major league seasons. He’ll turn 31 in February. In 93 2/3 big league frames, he’s pitched to a 5.86 earned run average. That’s not an appealing mark, of course, but Kuhnel has averaged 95.6 mph on his four-seamer and 95.7 mph on his sinker in his career while regularly posting quality walk and ground-ball rates. His 18.7% strikeout rate is below-average, but he’s also walked only 5.9% of his career opponents and kept 52% of batted balls against him on the ground.

In 2025, Kuhnel split the season between the Triple-A affiliates for the Yankees and Phillies, pitching quite well in both spots. He combined for a 3.53 ERA in 63 2/3 innings of work with a 21.6% strikeout rate, 4.2% walk rate and massive 65.4% ground-ball rate.

Kuhnel has typically used his four-seamer and sinker at nearly even rates in the past but far more heavily favored his sinker in ’25, tossing it at a 37% clip to just an 18% usage rate on the four-seamer. That’s far and away the highest rate at which he’s ever used his sinker, and the corresponding ground-ball rate is a career-high as well. Keeping the ball on the ground should be paramount for any A’s pitcher, given the manner in which Sutter Health Park played like a launching pad this past season.

Kuhnel is out of minor league options, so if he’s selected to the big league roster at any point, he’ll need to stick or else be exposed to waivers before he can be sent back down. He’d have the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency even if he went unclaimed on waivers, too. The A’s should have plenty of innings up for grabs in the 2026 bullpen. Recent free agent acquisition Mark Leiter Jr. is the only reliever on the roster with even two years of major league service time.

KBO’s Doosan Bears Sign Chris Flexen, Zach Logue

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Veteran right-hander Chris Flexen is headed back to the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization, the team announced. The Bears also announced the re-signing former big league lefty Zach Logue. Flexen, a client of O’Connell Sports Management, is guaranteed $1MM. Logue, an MSM Sports Management client, is guaranteed $1.1MM.

Flexen, 31, parlayed his first KBO stint into a two-year, $4.75MM contract with the Mariners. That contract included a club/vesting option that Flexen vested at $8MM with a strong performance in 2021-22, when he tossed a combined 317 1/3 innings of 3.66 ERA ball. His 16.5% strikeout rate was well below average, but Flexen showed good command (6.8% walk rate) and did a decent job avoiding hard contact.

The 2023 season proved to be a nightmare. Flexen was rocked for a 7.71 ERA in 42 innings with the Mariners before being designated for assignment. He was traded to the Mets, but New York only took on his contract as a financial counterweight to add reliever Trevor Gott without giving up much in the way of a return. Flexen was immediately designated for assignment by the Mets, who released him the following week.

Flexen has since signed with the Rockies, White Sox and Cubs. He was hit hard in 12 starts for the Rox down the stretch in ’23 but still landed a big league deal with the White Sox the following offseason. The South Siders gave Flexen 30 starts, during which he was a durable fifth starter, logging 160 frames with a 4.95 ERA. The Cubs added Flexen ahead of the 2025 campaign, and while he pitched to a tidy 3.09 ERA in 43 2/3 frames there, the right-hander did so with a 12.4% strikeout rate. The Cubs released Flexen in August, and he didn’t sign anywhere down the stretch.

Overall, Flexen parlayed his strong 2020 season in South Korea into another 147 MLB games and 623 1/3 innings of 4.48 ERA ball. He earned more than $15MM along the way and will now head back to the Bears, for whom he previously notched a 3.01 ERA in 21 starts (116 1/3 innings pitched).

As for Logue, this’ll be his second straight season with the Bears. He racked up 176 innings out of the Doosan rotation in 2025, turning in a tidy 2.81 earned run average. Logue doesn’t throw hard — he averaged 90.3 mph on his heater during parts of three MLB seasons — or miss bats at a particularly high level, but he used strong command and ground-ball tendencies to navigate a hitter-friendly league quite nicely. He set down 21.6% of opponents on strikes against a 5.4% walk rate and with a 53.8% grounder rate.

Logue, 30 in April, was a 2017 ninth-rounder by the Jays, who flipped him to the A’s in their four-player package to acquire Matt Chapman. He lasted only one season (2022) in Oakland, stumbling to a 6.79 ERA in his first 57 MLB frames. He’s since made brief appearances with the Tigers and Dodgers. In 70 MLB innings, he has a 7.20 ERA, a 17.6% strikeout rate and a 6.9% walk rate. ESPN’s Jeff Passan notes that Logue at least explored the possibility of coming back to North America before re-signing in the KBO. Another strong season could put him in line for a major league look next winter, particularly if he adds some velocity and/or noticeably ups his strikeout and swinging-strike rates.

Angels Sign Angel Perdomo, Huascar Ynoa To Minor League Deals

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The Angels have signed left-hander Angel Perdomo and righty Huascar Ynoa to minor league contracts, per Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. Both are former big leaguers and both will presumably be in major league camp next spring.

Perdomo, 31, has pitched in parts of four big league seasons — including a brief 2025 appearance with the A’s. He’s totaled 52 major league frames and has an ugly 5.54 ERA in that time, though there are plenty of under-the-hood numbers to like. The towering 6’8″ southpaw sits 94.1 mph with his heater and gets great extension on the pitch due to his long levers. He’s punched out a massive 34.2% of his opponents in the majors but also struggles to command those lanky limbs, evidenced by a career 16% walk rate.

In parts of five Triple-A seasons, Perdomo has a 3.74 ERA, 35.7% strikeout rate and 15% walk rate. That ERA is slightly skewed from a rough showing this past season (5.52 ERA in 14 1/3 innings) as he returned from Tommy John surgery that cost him the entire 2024 season and a portion of the ’25 campaign. Perdomo is just shy of three years of major league service. If he’s called to the big leagues at any point and pitches like he did in 2023 before blowing out his elbow (29 innings, 3.72 ERA, 37.6 K%, 9.4 BB%), the Halos would be able to control him for another three seasons. He’s out of minor league options though, so if the Angels do add him to the major league roster, he’ll have to stick or else be designated for assignment.

Ynoa, 27, was a notable international signing by the Twins as a teenager out of his native Dominican Republic, way back in 2014. The Twins eventually traded him to Atlanta in exchange for lefty Jaime Garcia. Ynoa made his big league debut with the Braves in 2019 but posted uninspiring numbers in brief looks in both ’19 and ’20.

In 2021, Ynoa looked the part of a potential breakout arm. He logged a 2.90 ERA through his first 11 starts and 62 innings but stumbled through a poor finish that bloated his season-long earned run average to 4.05. It was a solid showing for a then-23-year-old righty all the same, but injuries halted his development. Ynoa pitched only 6 2/3 innings in the majors in 2022. He struggled to a 5.68 in 77 2/3 Triple-A frames as well before undergoing Tommy John surgery that wiped out his entire 2023 campaign.

Upon returning in 2024, Ynoa’s struggles continued. He posted an ERA north of 6.00 in limited action and became a minor league free agent at season’s end. He then inked a minor league deal to go back to the Twins but was cut loose after five very rough minor league relief outings. Ynoa closed out the season pitching in the Mexican League, and he’s had a decent run in the Dominican Winter League this offseason (2.16 ERA, 18-to-10 K/BB ratio in 16 2/3 relief innings). Like Perdomo, Ynoa is out of minor league options, so if he makes the roster he’d need to stick or else be exposed to waivers in order to be sent back down.

Twins, Dan Altavilla Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Twins reached a minor league deal with reliever Dan Altavilla, reports Franycs Romero. The MAS+ Agency client will presumably receive a non-roster invite to MLB Spring Training.

Altavilla spent the 2025 campaign with the White Sox. He was released in September despite tossing 29 innings of 2.49 ERA ball on the season. Altavilla’s 17.5% strikeout rate and 12.5% walk percentage were each far worse than the respective league averages. He only missed bats on 9.6% of his offerings. The Sox didn’t intend to offer him a contract for his final season of arbitration, so they dropped him from the roster a few weeks before the end of the year.

The 33-year-old Altavilla has appeared in parts of eight big leagues seasons between four teams. He’d only made seven combined appearances between 2021-24 before this year’s return run in Chicago. His 28 appearances were the second most of his career, trailing only the 41 games in which he pitched for the 2017 Mariners. Altavilla has a four-pitch mix led by a 96-97 MPH fastball. He didn’t miss many bats but got ground-balls at a strong 51.3% clip this past season.

Minnesota is a good landing spot for a depth reliever. The Twins dealt away most of their established bullpen arms at the deadline. Their only MLB acquisition thus far has been righty Eric Orze, whom they picked up from the Rays in a small trade as Tampa Bay created roster space to keep prospects out of the Rule 5 draft. The Twins should add a couple low-cost free agent relievers.

Justin Topa, Cole Sands and Kody Funderburk are probably the only pitchers locked into Opening Day bullpen roles. Topa is the only reliever on the 40-man roster who cannot be optioned. Altavilla would fit into that bucket as well by virtue of having five-plus years of service. If the Twins add him to the roster at any point, they wouldn’t be able to send him to Triple-A without his consent.

Giants Designate Joey Wiemer For Assignment

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The Giants are designating outfielder Joey Wiemer for assignment, the team informed reporters (including Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). San Francisco needed to open a 40-man roster spot after signing reliever Jason Foley yesterday. They’ll need to open another spot once they finalize their two-year agreement with starter Adrian Houser.

San Francisco picked up Wiemer in a DFA trade with Miami last month. The 26-year-old always seemed a long shot to stick on the 40-man roster throughout the winter. Wiemer has bounced around over the past year-plus. He’s been traded from Milwaukee to Cincinnati to Kansas City, then landed with Miami on an August waiver claim. He’ll hope to land with a sixth organization within the next week.

Listed at 6’4″ and 226 pounds, the righty-swinging Wiemer has plus raw power. He’s also a plus runner who grades as a quality defender at all three outfield positions. The physical gifts are obvious, but his long levers have led to a lot of swing and miss. Wiemer has punched out at a near-30% clip across 499 career plate appearances, leading to a .205/.279/.359 batting line despite 16 homers and 12 stolen bases.

The Giants have five days to trade Wiemer or place him back on waivers. He has yet to clear waivers, so they’d be able to keep him in the organization as a non-roster player if they manage to sneak him through unclaimed.

Cardinals Designate Matt Koperniak For Assignment

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The Cardinals announced that outfielder Matt Koperniak has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding 40-man move for right-hander Dustin May, whose signing is now official.

Koperniak, 28 in February, has been with the Cards since signing with them as an undrafted free agent in 2020. From 2021 to 2023, he produced pretty solid results as he climbed the minor league ladder. Across those three seasons, he stepped to the plate 1,399 times. His 10.1% walk rate and 16.1% strikeout rate were both solid figures. He produced a combined line of .293/.375/.441, which translated to a wRC of 112, indicating he was 12% better than league average at the plate.

He seemed to find a new gear in 2024, his first full season at Triple-A. He hit 20 homers and slashed .309/.370/.512 for a 128 wRC+. That may have been a bit fluky, as he got some help from a .351 batting average on balls in play, but the Cards seemed to believe in him. They added him to the 40-man roster in November of that year to keep Koperniak out of the Rule 5 draft.

He spent 2025 back at Triple-A on optional assignment and his results backed up. His home run tally dropped to 14, despite taking 23 extra plate appearances. His BABIP dropped to a more average-ish .283. He finished the season with a .246/.317/.382 line and 85 wRC+.

The Cards are rebuilding and will be giving playing time to younger players in 2026 but Koperniak wouldn’t have been at the front of the line after that performance. He’s instead been bumped off the roster and into DFA limbo. The Cards will now see if there’s any trade interest in him. If not, he’ll be put on waivers. He does still have a couple of options remaining and is considered a strong defensive outfielder, with experience at all three spots. If some club out there likes him, they could acquire him and keep in Triple-A as depth as they hope for a bounceback at the plate.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Athletics Sign Mark Leiter Jr.

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December 17th: The A’s have officially announced their signing of Leiter.

December 11th: The Athletics have reportedly reached an agreement with right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. on a one-year, $2.85MM contract. The signing is still pending a physical. Leiter is a client of VC Sports Group.

Leiter, 35 in March, made his big league debut back in 2017 but didn’t fully establish himself at the big league level until joining the Cubs in 2022. He served as a swing man and long reliever for Chicago that year, with a 3.99 in 67 2/3 innings of work in that role, but moved to a short relief role full-time in 2023. In 100 2/3 innings of work for the Cubs over the next two seasons, Leiter pitched to a 3.75 ERA with a 3.12 FIP while striking out 30.9% of his opponents and walking 8.8%.

Those exciting peripherals were enough to convince the Yankees to swing a trade for the right-hander at the 2024 trade deadline, but he struggled in New York even as his peripheral numbers remained strong. In 70 innings of work for the Yankees over parts of two seasons with the club, Leiter posted a 4.89 ERA despite a 4.07 FIP. In 2025, Leiter struck out 24.7% against a 7.8% walk rate while generating grounders on 45.5% of his batted balls allowed. Unfortunately for the righty, the results weren’t there enough for the Yankees to tender him a contract last month, and he wound up reaching free agency a year earlier than anticipated.

Headed into 2026, the A’s can expect Leiter to be a solid middle relief arm at least. His 4.15 ERA over the past four seasons is exactly league average (100) by ERA+, and the right-hander’s impressive splitter actually makes him particularly effective against left-handed batters. In 104 2/3 innings of work against lefties the last three years, Leiter has posted a 2.49 ERA and 2.57 FIP with a 32.1% strikeout rate. With league average results overall and elite numbers against lefties, Leiter has a much higher floor than a typical non-tendered middle relief arm, which is surely why he was able to command a solid guarantee even coming off a tough year in New York.

Leiter hasn’t managed to play up to his peripherals throughout his career, but if he can do so he could wind up a valuable setup man for the A’s this year. The righty’s 3.13 SIERA over the past three seasons ranks 13th among relievers with at least 150 innings of work since the start of the 2023 season, and that puts him on a similar level to well-regarded late-inning arms like Luke Weaver. Leiter’s .359 BABIP and 66.5% strand rate over the past two years indicate extremely poor fortune when it comes to batted balls and sequencing; if those numbers experience enough positive regression to get within spitting distance of league average, Leiter’s a good bet to be impactful at the back of the A’s bullpen next year.

It’s been a quiet offseason for the A’s so far, though there’s certain reasons for optimism regarding the club’s future. Nick Kurtz emerged as a potential superstar this year, and he’s backed by a core of exciting positional talent like Brent Rooker, Shea Langeliers, Jacob Wilson, and Lawrence Butler. The club’s pitching staff needs plenty of work if the team is going to contend in 2026, but adding Leiter to a bullpen that already houses respectable arms like Hogan Harris and Michael Kelly should be a small step towards accomplishing that goal. Jeffrey Springs and Luis Severino remain in the fold as solid back-of-the-rotation veterans, though it remains to be seen how much A’s ownership is willing to spend in order to augment that group. Whether the A’s are facing significant budget constraints or not, however, bringing Leiter into the fold as a reliever with possible late-inning upside on a relative bargain can only be a good thing for the club.

Robbie Hyde of Foul Territory first reported the agreement. Janie McCauley of The Associated Press reported the $2.85MM guarantee, after ESPN’s Jesse Rogers first noted it would close to $3MM.

Cardinals Sign Dustin May

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December 17th: The Cards officially announced May’s signing today. May will make $12.5MM in 2026 and the mutual option is worth $20MM, per Passan. It’s a $12MM salary and a $500K buyout on the option, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat.

December 13th: The Cardinals are expected to sign right-hander Dustin May, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. It’s a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2027. May spent last season split between the Dodgers and Red Sox.

May was sent to Boston at the trade deadline for James Tibbs and Zach Ehrhard. After scuffling through 19 appearances with L.A., he battled injuries and poor performance with the Red Sox. May set career highs in innings (132 1/3) and games (25) last season, but posted an unsightly 4.96 ERA with an xFIP and SIERA in the mid-4.00s.

St. Louis was in desperate need of rotation depth after trading Sonny Gray to Boston and watching Miles Mikolas hit free agency. The club also lost swingman Steven Matz, who signed with Tampa Bay. May is set to join holdovers Andre Pallante and Michael McGreevy in the rotation. May’s former teammate on the Red Sox, Richard Fitts, will likely be in the mix after coming over in the Gray trade. The Cardinals are considering converting Kyle Leahy into a starter to round out the staff.

The Dodgers spent a third-round pick on May in 2016. He emerged as one of the top pitching prospects in a system typically stocked with elite arms. May made his MLB debut in 2019, working largely out of the bullpen. He spent the majority of the shortened 2020 campaign in the rotation, making 10 starts. It would be the only time he would reach double-digit starts until this past season. Injuries capped May to just 20 games from 2021 to 2023. He missed all of 2024 due to flexor tendon surgery.

May stayed healthy for the first time in 2025, making 19 appearances for the Dodgers. He stumbled to a 4.85 ERA over 104 innings. Despite the performance, May still netted LA an intriguing prospect in Tibbs, a first-round pick in 2024 (by San Francisco). The veteran righty made just six appearances with the Red Sox before right elbow neuritis cut his season short.

The Cardinals are betting on May pairing the flashes of solid production he’s shown in prior seasons with the improved health from 2025. The 28-year-old recorded a sub-3.00 ERA in 2020, 2022, and 2023, albeit in abbreviated campaigns. While he did go down with the elbow issue in September, he still destroyed his previous career bests in terms of workload. May had totaled 101 innings over four seasons before putting up 132 1/3 frames last year. It was the first time in his six-year career that May showed the ability to stay on the mound for any kind of extended stretch.

May has a perplexing pitching profile. He has a GIF-worthy arsenal headlined by a high-spin sweeper and a fastball in the mid to upper-90s. Oddly, the repertoire hasn’t generated whiffs or strikeouts for much of his career. May spiked a 37.6% strikeout rate over five games in 2021, but he’s been at best an average strikeout pitcher in every other season. He posted a middling 21.1% mark between L.A. and Boston last year. May has a modest 8.8% swinging-strike rate for his career. None of his five pitches has a standout whiff rate.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post was first to report that the contract was for one year. MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo was first to note the deal included a club option for 2027.

Photo courtesy of Paul Rutherford, Imagn Images

Orioles Sign Albert Suárez To Minor League Deal

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The Orioles announced that they have signed right-hander Albert Suárez to a minor league deal. The righty will presumably receive an invite to big league camp in spring training, though the O’s didn’t explicitly say so.

Suárez, now 36, signed a minor league deal with the Orioles ahead of the 2024 season. At that time, he had spent a number of years pitching in Japan and South Korea. The deal worked out well for Suárez and the O’s last year. He was added to the roster in April and gave Baltimore 133 2/3 innings as a swingman with a 3.70 earned run average.

Unfortunately, 2025 wasn’t as pleasant. A subscapularis strain in his throwing shoulder put him on the shelf after just one appearance. He came off the injured list in September and made four appearances before going back on the IL, this time due to right elbow discomfort. The team announced in October that Suárez had a mild flexor strain and would avoid surgery.

Suárez crossed three years of service time in 2025, qualifying him for arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for just $900K, barely above next year’s $780K league minimum. The O’s decided not to tender him a contract after his injury-marred season. That sent him to free agency without being exposed to waivers, allowing them to re-sign him in a non-roster capacity.

Assuming he’s healthy in the spring, he can try to earn his way back onto the roster. Baltimore’s current rotation mix includes Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, Cade Povich, Tyler Wells, Chayce McDermott and Brandon Young. The O’s are expected to add to that group before the offseason is out. As the season goes along, injuries will surely pop up and Suárez may be needed for a spot start or a long relief role.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images

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