Yankees Claim Michael Siani, Designate Kaleb Ort For Assignment
The Yankees announced that they have claimed outfielder Michael Siani off waivers from the Dodgers. Los Angeles designated him for assignment earlier this week to open a roster spot for Kyle Tucker. New York designated right-hander Kaleb Ort for assignment as the corresponding move for Siani.
Siani, 26, is primarily a speed-and-defense outfielder. In his 160 big leagues games over the past four seasons, he has stolen 21 bases in 26 attempts. He has logged 1,014 innings on the grass, spread across all three outfield positions. He has been credited with seven Defensive Runs Saved and 17 Outs Above Average.
His offensive numbers are less appealing. In 383 big league plate appearances, he has drawn a walk just 6.3% of the time while striking out at a 27.9% clip. He has a .221/.277/.270 line, which translates to a 58 wRC+, indicating he’s been 42% worse than league average on the whole. In the minors, he has done a bit more with the bat, but not by a wide margin. Over the past three years, he has taken 938 minor league plate appearances with a 14% walk rate, 24% strikeout rate, .217/.329/.337 line and 77 wRC+.
He clearly has appeal to big league clubs, in spite of the relatively lifeless bat. He finished 2025 with the Cardinals. This offseason, he has gone to Atlanta, the Dodgers and now the Yankees via waiver claims. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he could be retained as non-roster depth, so perhaps all these clubs have been trying to be the beneficiary there.
That means the Yankees might put him back on the wire in the coming weeks. For now, he gives them a potential bench outfielder. He also has an option remaining and could be sent to Triple-A while holding onto his 40-man spot.
The Yankees lost Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger to free agency at the end of the 2025 season but have re-signed both. Those two and Aaron Judge should have three outfield spots spoken for, with Giancarlo Stanton in the designated hitter slot.
Jasson Domínguez and Spencer Jones are also in the mix but don’t have great paths to playing time right now. They both have options and could be sent to the minors. Both have also been in trade speculation since Bellinger re-signed, though the Yanks may want to hang onto them as coverage for injuries. Grisham is also slated to go back to free agency after 2026, so they may want to keep the depth until then.
Siani’s role with the club would depend on how all that shakes out and would be contingent on him hanging onto his roster spot. Marco Luciano is in a similar spot, having also been claimed off waivers this week, though he is out of options.
Ort, 34 in February, was just claimed off waivers from the Astros a couple of weeks ago. He has upper 90s velocity but hasn’t yet translated that into strong big league results. He has thrown 122 1/3 innings over the past five seasons, allowing exactly five earned runs per nine. His 23.7% strikeout rate is decent but he has also walked 10.5% of batters faced.
He is out of options, which gives him a tenuous hold on a roster spot. Houston bumped him off earlier this month and the Yanks grabbed him. It’s possible the Yankees planned to put Ort back on the wire later, as he would stick around as non-roster depth if he were to clear waivers. DFA limbo can last a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours. The Yanks could wait five days before putting him back on waivers but they could also start that process earlier if they so choose.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Samad Taylor Elects Free Agency
The Mariners announced that infielder/outfielder Samad Taylor has cleared outright waivers and elected free agency. He was designated for assignment last week when Seattle acquired right-hander Yosver Zulueta. Taylor had a previous career outright, which gave him the right to head to the open market this time.
Taylor, 27, has a small and unimpressive big league track record. He has appeared in 83 games over the past three seasons, split between the Royals and Mariners. He has stepped to the plate 83 times and produced a .205/.272/.260 line. However, he stole eight bases in that time without getting caught and has lined up defensively at second base, third base and all three outfield slots.
His offense has been better in the minors. Over the past four years, he has stepped to the plate 1,950 times at the Triple-A level. His 21.8% strikeout rate in that sample is fairly average but his 12.1% walk rate is quite strong. He has a combined .281/.373/.432 line in that stretch for a 108 wRC+. His base-stealing abilities have also been demonstrated more there, with 160 swipes in 200 attempts.
There’s appeal in a utility guy with wheels and a good eye at the plate but it seems that clubs deem Taylor just shy of rosterability. The Mariners passed him through outright waivers almost exactly one year ago, on January 21st of 2025. He was added back to the roster in April but spent most of the year on optional assignment. He exhausted his final option in the process, making it even harder for him to hold a roster spot.
Now that he has been outrighted a second time, he has the right to elect free agency. He has exercised that right and heads to the open market for the first time. Since he just cleared waivers, it can be assumed no club is willing to give him a 40-man spot. He will therefore be looking at minor league offers, with pitchers and catchers reporting in just over two weeks.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images
Rangers Acquire MacKenzie Gore
The Nationals have sent left-hander MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers for a package of five prospects, per announcements from both clubs. The five players are shortstop Gavin Fien, right-hander Alejandro Rosario, first baseman/outfielder Abimelec Ortiz, infielder Devin Fitz-Gerald and outfielder Yeremy Cabrera. Gore and Ortiz were the only players with 40-man spots, so the deal is 40-man neutral and no corresponding moves were required.
Gore, 27, has been one of the more obvious trade candidates of this offseason. Back at the start of November, MLBTR’s list of the top trade candidates of the winter had him in the #1 spot. That was partly due to Gore’s appeal as a potential budding ace and also the team’s situation.
The Nationals have been stuck in a rebuild for quite a while now. They won the World Series in 2019 but haven’t finished above .500 since then. They traded players like Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Juan Soto in 2021 and 2022. It was hoped that Washington could be back to relevance by now but the rebuild stalled out. Things dragged to such a degree that heads rolled. President of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez were both fired during last season.
Paul Toboni, previously an assistant general manager with Boston, was hired to replace Rizzo as the front office leader. The general expectation in the industry is that he will get some time to turn the ship around and get the Nats into contention again, as opposed to having the pressure of trying to win immediately. Gore is only two years away from free agency, making him a trade candidate in those circumstances. As a Boras Corporation client, a contract extension was probably going to be hard to put together.
On top of all that, there’s Gore’s track record and affordability. He was once a top prospect, getting selected third overall by the Pades in 2017. He was flipped to the Nats as part of the aforementioned Soto trade. Gore hasn’t quite lived up to his potential yet, with a 4.19 earned run average in 532 1/3 innings. However, he looked on the verge of a huge breakout for most of 2025.
Last year, Gore made 19 starts for the Nats through the All-Star break. He logged 110 1/3 innings in those with a 3.02 ERA. His 7.7% walk rate was a bit better than average and his 30.5% strikeout rate was quite strong. That strikeout rate was behind just four other qualified pitchers in baseball at that time. Tarik Skubal led the pack at 33.4%, followed by Zack Wheeler, Garrett Crochet and Hunter Brown.
Unfortunately, Gore wasn’t able to stick the landing. He went on the injured list at the end of August due to shoulder inflammation. He was reinstated about two weeks later but then returned to the IL late in September due to a right ankle impingement. Around those IL stints, he tossed 49 1/3 innings with a 6.75 ERA. That bumped his season-long ERA to 4.17.
Despite the poor finish, Gore remained an enticing player. The strong run to the All-Star break showed his ceiling and it’s an appealing arsenal. He averaged over 95 miles per hour with his four-seamer last year while mixing in a curveball, slider, cutter and changeup. He’s also quite affordable. He’s going into his second of three arbitration seasons and will be making $5.6MM this year. He’ll be due another raise in 2027 before he’s slated to reach free agency.
The trade market for starting pitching has been robust this winter. The Orioles sent four prospects and a draft pick to the Rays for three years of Shane Baz. The Cubs sent three players, including their top prospect, to the Marlins for three years of Edward Cabrera. Last night, the Mets sent two of their top prospects to the Brewers for one year of Freddy Peralta.
Gore’s track record of success isn’t quite as long as Peralta’s but Gore offers an extra year of control. Baz and Cabrera offered one extra year compared to Gore but haven’t shown the same kind of ace upside and both have checkered injury histories. Given the difficulty in evaluating the future outcomes of prospects, it’s impossible to say which package will provide the most long-term value.
For the Rangers, it’s understandable that they would prefer the trade route to free agency this winter, as there have been signs that money is tight. The team and manager Bruce Bochy parted ways at the end of last year with the club’s financial uncertainty cited as playing a role in that break-up. Pitching coach Mike Maddux departed for the Angels, with some suggestion that may have been financially motivated as well.
In terms of the roster, the Rangers traded three years of Marcus Semien to get five years of Brandon Nimmo, with Nimmo making less annually. Various reports from December suggested that the club couldn’t even afford mid-market free agents like J.T. Realmuto or Luis Arráez.
But upgrading the rotation was still on the to-do list. The club saw Merrill Kelly, Jon Gray, Patrick Corbin and Tyler Mahle all depart via free agency at season’s end. They went into the winter with a strong one-two of Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, but a drop-off after that. Jack Leiter seemed to earn himself a rotation job with a 3.86 ERA last year but his strikeout and walk rates were only average-ish. Jacob Latz had a good season in a swing role but hasn’t been a full-time big league starter yet. Kumar Rocker is a former top prospect but hasn’t put it together in the majors yet.
Gore immediately upgrades the group, especially if he can get back to his first-half performance from 2025. He slots into the front three with deGrom and Eovaldi, bumps Leiter to a back-end role for now and perhaps creates a competition for a fifth spot between Latz, Rocker and others. There is a cliff over the horizon as Eovaldi and Gore are both slated for free agency after 2027. deGrom’s deal has a club option for 2028, with the value conditional on Cy Young voting and inning tallies, though he’ll be 40 by then. But for the next two years, the rotation has a strong core three.
To get that rotation upgrade while avoiding the free agent market, the Rangers have had to part with a notable pile of prospects. Fien appears to be the headliner here. The Rangers just took him 12th overall in the 2025 draft. They gave him a $4.8MM bonus to get him to forgo a commitment to the University of Texas. Still just 18, turning 19 in March, he’s a long-term play.
Baseball America lists him as the #3 prospect in the Texas system. He gets high praise for his offense but with bigger questions about his defense. Most evaluators expect him to be moved off shortstop in the long run, with third base or the outfield corners potential outcomes.
Kiley McDaniel of ESPN writes that the Red Sox really wanted Fien in last year’s draft but they didn’t pick until 15th, three spots behind Texas. Toboni was running Boston’s draft as assistant general manager at the time. Now that he is running his own front office, he apparently made Fien a priority and has used Gore as a means of getting his guy.
Fitz-Gerald, Rosario and Cabrera are a few spots behind Fien on BA’s list, coming in at #8, #13 and #14 respectively. Fitz-Gerald is a 20-year-old infielder who was drafted in the fifth round in 2024. He got into 41 games between the Complex League and Single-A last year, slashing .302/.428/.482. A left shoulder strain prevented him from taking on a bigger workload. He seems to do a decent amount of stuff well without a standout tool. BA suggests a future as a multi-positional player with a bit of pop and speed.
Rosario, 24, was a fifth-round pick in 2023. He had a strong season in 2024, posting a 2.24 ERA between Single-A and High-A, but has been on the shelf since then. He missed 2025 due to an elbow injury and is soon set to undergo Tommy John surgery, so he’ll miss the entire 2026 season as well. His strong 2024 campaign made him a top 100 prospect, with BA having him at #49 going into 2025, but he’ll be a long-term question mark after two entirely missed seasons. He’ll be Rule 5 eligible this coming December.
Cabrera, 20, was an international signing out of the Dominican Republic. He spent last year in Single-A with a strong walk and strikeout profile but only eight home runs. He’s considered a strong defender in the outfield and he stole 43 bases last year.
Ortiz, 24 next month, has the least prospect hype of this group but is the one closest to impacting the major league club. He split last year between Double-A and Triple-A, hitting 25 home runs and walking in 11.7% of his plate appearances. He had a combined line of .257/.356/.479 and a 124 wRC+. He was added to the Texas 40-man roster a couple of months ago to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.
Though his numbers in the minors look good on the surface, he has a propensity to chase breaking balls. Evaluators fear that will limit him to being a platoon bat in the majors. He’s also not a strong defender or baserunner, so he needs to hit to carry the profile. Washington has a pretty wide open first base/designated hitter mix, so he can force his way in there if he hits. He also has three option years and can be kept in the minors if he doesn’t.
With four of the five players being long-term plays, it would appear that Washington is just trying to grab whichever players it considers the most talented, as opposed to trying to rush a move towards contending in the near term. Perhaps that was isolated to this deal of their biggest trade chip but it could perhaps indicate that the club is generally operating with a long lens. For the Rangers, losing most of these players won’t hurt them in the short term but it does cut into the system more broadly. As of August, BA ranked them 26th in the league in terms of overall system talent.
CJ Abrams has also been floated as a trade candidate for Washington but with less certainty than Gore as he has three years of club control remaining. The Nats could now pivot to marketing him but his stock is also down a bit due to a poor finish to his most recent season, and in 2024 as well. Perhaps they will hold him for another season to see if he can raise his trade value.
It is clearly an offseason about loading up on future talent for the Nats. They also traded reliever Jose A. Ferrer to the Mariners for catcher Harry Ford and right-hander Isaac Lyon. This deal adds five more intriguing young players to the pipeline.
It also opens up more rotation chances for their other pitchers. As of now, they project to have Cade Cavalli, Foster Griffin, Josiah Gray, Brad Lord, Jake Irvin and Mitchell Parker in the mix for starts. Arms like Jake Eder, Luis Perales, Riley Cornelio and Andrew Alvarez will be looking to push in there as well. Perhaps the Gore deal with be followed by the Nats signing a veteran to eat some innings but they could also leave space for the guys in that group.
Due to Gore’s appeal, he reportedly drew interest from half the teams in the league. Some of those clubs moved on to other trade candidates or signed free agents. For those still on the hunt for starting pitching, the market is drying up but they may still have options. As mentioned, a lot of the trade candidates have already changed hands. The Red Sox may have enough depth after their Ranger Suárez signing to flip someone else. The Royals may be willing to part with someone. Free agency still has Framber Valdez, Zac Gallen, Chris Bassitt and a few others.
Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported Gore was headed to Texas. Jeff Passan of ESPN first laid out the five-for-one framework. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News first reported Fien’s inclusion. Spencer Nusbaum of The Washington Post first mentioned Rosario. Grant then reported Ortiz and Fitz-Gerald, followed by Andrew Golden of The Washington Post adding Cabrera.
Photos courtesy of Brett Davis, Eric Hartline, Kevin Jairaj, Joe Camporeale, Imagn Images
Rockies Designate Garrett Acton For Assignment
The Rockies announced they’ve designated reliever Garrett Acton for assignment. That opens a 40-man roster spot for Willi Castro, who has officially signed the two-year deal to which he agreed a week ago.
Colorado claimed Acton off waivers from the Rays at the outset of the offseason. The 27-year-old righty had made one appearance with Tampa Bay, navigating around a couple walks to get through a scoreless inning against the Cubs on September 14. Acton was optioned back to Triple-A one day later. He spent the bulk of the season at the top minor league level, pitching to a 3.68 earned run average across 58 2/3 innings. He struck out more than 30% of opponents while walking 11.4% of batters faced.
Acton’s only other MLB experience comprised six games for the Athletics in 2023. He underwent Tommy John surgery midway through his rookie year and missed all of ’24 rehabbing. The Illinois product averaged 94 MPH on his fastball last year after sitting a tick higher before the surgery. He leans very heavily on the heater but has a mid-80s slider and changeup as well.
Colorado will trade Acton or place him back on waivers within the next five days. He has a couple minor league options remaining, so a team could keep him in Triple-A as long as they’re willing to carry him on the 40-man roster. He doesn’t have the previous career outright necessary to decline a minor league assignment if he goes unclaimed, in which case the Rockies would be able to bring him to camp as a non-roster invitee.
Mariners, Dane Dunning Agree To Minor League Contract
The Mariners are in agreement with righty Dane Dunning on a minor league deal, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. That’ll presumably come with a non-roster invite for the Wasserman client.
Dunning is looking to rebound from a frustrating season. The former first-round draftee was limited to 12 big league appearances between the Braves and Rangers. He allowed a near-7.00 ERA across 20 2/3 innings out of the bullpen. Dunning has spent the majority of his career as a starter and continued to work from the rotation in Triple-A. The results there were a little better, as he pitched to a 4.67 ERA with a league average 21.6% strikeout percentage and 7.6% walk rate across 69 1/3 frames.
The 31-year-old Dunning held a rotation spot for the Rangers from 2021-23. He fired a career-high 172 2/3 innings of 3.70 ERA ball for the World Series team in ’23. He has never had big velocity or strikeout ability, but he’s generally a solid strike-thrower who did a decent job avoiding hard contact during his best seasons. The home run ball has become a bigger issue over the past two years.
Dunning can work as long relief or rotation depth at Triple-A Tacoma. He’d probably need multiple Spring Training injuries to get consideration for an Opening Day roster spot. Dunning obviously wouldn’t crack Seattle’s rotation if their top five starters are healthy, and most of their projected bullpen is out of minor league options.
They don’t have an especially deep rotation beyond their excellent front five, however. Logan Evans and Emerson Hancock would be their next men up. Neither has found much success at the MLB level. Evans posted a 4.32 ERA with below-average strikeout stuff over his first 16 appearances. Hancock was pitching in short relief by the end of last season and might fit better there, as he has a near-5.00 ERA in 31 career starts. Rookie Blas Castaño and swingman Jhonathan Diaz are the other depth starters on the 40-man roster.
Mets Designate Richard Lovelady For Assignment
The Mets designated lefty reliever Richard Lovelady for assignment. That’s the corresponding 40-man roster move for utility player Vidal Bruján, whom they acquired from Minnesota tonight.
Lovelady signed a split deal at the beginning of the offseason. He secured a spot on the 40-man at the time of signing but knew there was a decent chance he’d be dropped from the roster over the winter. The contract pays Lovelady a $1MM salary for time in the majors and a $350K rate in the minor leagues. He’s out of options, so the MiLB salary only becomes relevant if the team gets him through waivers at some point. Lovelady would have the right to elect free agency if he’s outrighted but would lose his salary, so the deal is structured to incentivize him to report to Triple-A.
The 30-year-old southpaw made eight appearances for the Mets and pitched twice for the Blue Jays last season. He combined for 11 2/3 innings and gave up 11 earned runs. Lovelady struck out 12 but issued 10 free passes — six via walk and four hit batters. That elevated his career earned run average to 5.35 across 111 innings.
Lovelady had a much better season in the minors. He tallied 38 innings of 1.66 ERA ball while striking out 26.3% of batters faced in Triple-A. The Mets like him as a depth option, so they’ll hope he clears waivers and sticks around in a non-roster capacity. A.J. Minter and Brooks Raley are slated to be the pair of southpaws in Carlos Mendoza’s season-opening bullpen.
Twins Trade Vidal Bruján To Mets
The Twins announced they’ve traded infielder Vidal Bruján to the Mets for cash. Minnesota designated him for assignment yesterday when they acquired a different utility player, Tristan Gray, in a trade with Boston. The Mets have not announced the move and will need to designate someone themselves to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.
Bruján is on the move for the second time this offseason. He finished the season with Atlanta but was designated for assignment a couple weeks ago. The Twins snagged him off waivers. They’ll pick up a bit of cash out of the sequence but not much more, as they apparently prefer Gray as a depth infielder. That could be as much about roster flexibility as anything else. Bruján is out of minor league options, while Gray can be sent to Triple-A without going on waivers.
The switch-hitting Bruján was a top prospect during his time in the Tampa Bay system. His bat has stalled at the upper levels, and he’s a .199/.267/.276 hitter over parts of five seasons in the big leagues. Bruján has decent plate discipline and contact skills but rarely hits the ball hard. He has five home runs in 645 career plate appearances.
Bruján has shortstop experience but is stretched there defensively. He’s better suited at second base or bouncing around the outfield. While he was a plus runner as a prospect, Statcast graded his sprint speed as slightly below-average last year. The Mets subtracted infield depth when they swapped Luisangel Acuña to the White Sox for Luis Robert Jr. this week. Bruján backfills that to an extent even if he’s hardly guaranteed to stick on the roster.
Eligible for arbitration for the first time in his career, Bruján agreed to a split deal with Atlanta in November. He’d make $850K if he’s in the big leagues and be paid at a $500K rate in the minors. He can’t be sent to the minors without getting through waivers. Players who have less than five years of MLB service time would need to forfeit their salary if they reject an outright assignment. Bruján is unlikely to walk away from that higher than average Triple-A salary, so the Mets will probably try to get him through waivers before Opening Day and hope he sticks around in a non-roster capacity.
White Sox, LaMonte Wade Jr. Agree To Minor League Deal
The White Sox are in agreement with first baseman/corner outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. on a minor league contract, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. A client of Covenant Sports Group, Wade will be in MLB camp as a non-roster invitee.
Wade is a veteran of parts of seven MLB seasons. He has spent most of the past few seasons as the Giants’ primary first baseman, at least against right-handed pitching. Wade was an above-average hitter as recently as 2024, when he put up a .260/.380/.381 slash line across 401 plate appearances. It was his second consecutive season with excellent on-base marks in a platoon role. Wade combined to hit .258/.376/.401 between 2023-24. Among hitters with 800+ trips to the plate, he ranked 11th in on-base percentage.
Everything went off the rails last year. Wade hit .167 with a .275 OBP over 50 games for San Francisco. They traded for Rafael Devers at designated hitter and eventually signed Dominic Smith to play first base. Wade was designated for assignment as the corresponding move for the Smith acquisition.
The Angels rolled the dice on a change of scenery, acquiring Wade out of DFA limbo in a small trade. They got him into 30 games over two months, but he hit .169/.260/.215 and was released in August. That ended his season with a .167/.271/.254 slash over 242 plate appearances. That kind of production obviously isn’t going to cut it, but there’s minimal risk for the Sox in giving him a look during camp to see if an offseason gets him back on track.
Munetaka Murakami will get everyday work at first base. The designated hitter spot will probably be divided between young catchers Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero. A rebuilding team isn’t going to press the 32-year-old Wade into the lineup over their younger hitters, but he could earn a spot as a left-handed bat on a bench that skews heavily to the right side. There’s also a wide open competition for playing time in right field, though GM Chris Getz left the door open to an outfield pickup after trading Luis Robert Jr. on Tuesday.
Nationals Designate Riley Adams For Assignment
The Nationals announced that catcher Riley Adams has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for their claim of right-hander Gus Varland, which was previously reported.
Adams, 30 in June, has been with the Nats for the past four-plus years. Originally drafted by the Blue Jays, he came to Washington in the 2021 deadline deal which sent lefty Brad Hand to Toronto.
He was mostly an up-and-down guy through the end of 2024, never appearing in more than 48 games in any individual campaign. He exhausted his final option in 2024 but stuck on the roster through the 2025 season. Overall, he has appeared in 263 big league games with 849 plate appearances. He has shown a bit of pop by hitting 21 home runs but also struck out at a 32.5% clip. He has a .211/.287/.354 line and 78 wRC+. Outlets such as FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have all graded him as a poor defender.
The Nats acquired catcher Harry Ford from the Mariners in the Jose A. Ferrer deal last month. Ford should share the bulk of the big league playing time behind the plate with Keibert Ruiz. Even if Ford needs more time in the minors, the Nats also have Drew Millas and Mickey Gasper on the 40-man roster. Millas and Gasper have options, so perhaps that led to Adams getting squeezed out.
Back in November, Adams and the Nationals avoided arbitration by agreeing to a split deal which would pay him $1MM in the majors and $500K in the minors. Since his service time is at least three years but below five, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment but would have to walk away from that money in exercising that right. It seems there’s a decent chance he’ll end up sticking with the Nats as non-roster depth after clearing waivers.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Cubs, Chas McCormick Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cubs are signing free agent outfielder Chas McCormick to a minor league contract and inviting him to major league camp this spring, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. The Covenant Sports client was outrighted by the Astros following the 2025 season and became a free agent.
McCormick, 31, had a few good years with the Astros but is coming off a couple of poor seasons. He got into 342 games for Houston from 2021 to 2023, stepping to the plate 1,184 times. His 27.6% strikeout rate in that time was high but his 9.4% walk rate was good and he popped 50 home runs. That led to a combined .259/.336/.449 slash line and 120 wRC+.
His 2023 season was particularly good. He hit 22 home runs and stole 19 bases. He slashed .273/.353/.489 for a 132 wRC+. He got strong grades at all three outfield spots, spending most of his time in center. FanGraphs credited him with 3.3 wins above replacement for the year.
He’s been in quite a trough since then, unfortunately. Dating back to the start of 2024, he has a dismal .211/.273/.301 line. He hit just six home runs in his 386 plate appearances and also only drew walks at a 6.8% clip. As mentioned, he was passed through waivers and elected free agency at the end of the 2025 season.
For the Cubs, there’s no harm in bringing him aboard in a non-roster capacity for some extra outfield depth. They have let Kyle Tucker depart in free agency, which has opened the door for Seiya Suzuki to move from the designated hitter spot to right field. He’ll be next to center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and left fielder Ian Happ.
They will need a fourth outfielder and have some candidates. Kevin Alcántara and Justin Dean are currently on the 40-man roster. Matt Shaw also might get some outfield playing time in a utility capacity, now that Alex Bregman has been signed to play third base.
McCormick gives the club another name to throw into the mix there. His righty bat could give him a leg up in the competition for a bench spot. He has a career .280/.353/.493 line and 137 wRC+ against lefties. Crow-Armstrong had a breakout season last year but put up a rough .188/.217/.376 line against southpaws.
Alcántara is also right-handed but the Cubs might prefer to have him getting regular playing time in the minors. He has used three options but may qualify for a fourth, so perhaps the Cubs will be able to send him down. Dean also swings from the right side but doesn’t have McCormick’s track record of major league success. He also has options and could be sent down alongside Alcantara.
McCormick would also have options if added to the roster, though with a catch. His service time count is at four years and 161 days. With 11 more days in the majors, he would get to five years and earn the right to not be optioned without his consent.
Ultimately, McCormick will still have to earn a job, but he’s a nice fit for Chicago’s current group. If things go well and he has a roster spot at season’s end, he can be retained for 2027 via arbitration.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images