Angels, Dakota Hudson Agree To Minor League Deal
The Angels and right-hander Dakota Hudson have agreed to a minor league deal, per Aram Leighton of Just Baseball (X link). The righty will presumably receive an invite to big league spring training as well.
Hudson, 30, is coming off a rough season. He signed a one-year deal with the Rockies with a $1.5MM guarantee but wasn’t able to give the club much in return for that investment. He made 18 starts and threw 89 innings but allowed 6.17 earned runs per nine. He struck out just 12.1% of batters faced, giving out walks at a higher rate of 12.4%. His 52.3% ground ball rate was typically strong for him but it wasn’t enough for him to cling to a job even in the injury-marred Colorado rotation.
In July, Hudson was designated for assignment and sent through waivers unclaimed. He was later added back to the roster in August but quickly wound up on the injured list due to elbow inflammation and finished the season there. He was outrighted off the roster again in October and elected free agency.
Once upon a time, Hudson seemed like a solid rotation option for the Cardinals. Over the 2019 and 2020 seasons, he tossed 213 2/3 innings with a 3.24 ERA, 18.4% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate and 56.9% ground ball rate. But Tommy John surgery wiped out most of his 2021 season and he hasn’t been able to bounce back since. His 221 innings in the 2022-23 seasons resulted in a 4.64 ERA with his strikeout rate falling to 12.9%. His 52.5% ground ball in that time was still above league average but a drop from his own previous track record.
For the Angels, rotation depth has been an ongoing issue for years. 2024 was no exception, as the club’s starters posted a collective 4.97 ERA, which was better than only the Marlins and Rockies. They subtracted from their group by sending Griffin Canning to Atlanta in the Jorge Soler deal. Patrick Sandoval was also non-tendered after requiring elbow surgery in the summer.
This offseason, they have signed Yusei Kikuchi and Kyle Hendricks, adding to a group that also includes José Soriano and Tyler Anderson. The roster also features Reid Detmers, Chase Silseth, Caden Dana, Sam Aldegheri, Jack Kochanowicz and others but Hudson will give them a bit of non-roster depth and try to get back on track after a few challenging years.
Cubs Sign Matthew Boyd
DECEMBER 9: The Cubs made Boyd’s signing official on Saturday and Robert Murray of FanSided (X link) has the full contract details today. Boyd gets a $5MM signing bonus and a salary of $7.5MM in 2025, followed by a $14.5MM salary in 2026. There is a $2MM buyout on a $15MM mutual option for 2027. As for the bonuses, Boyd gets $100K for getting to 80, 90, 100, 110 and 120 innings pitched in each season.
DECEMBER 2: The Cubs have agreed with left-hander Matthew Boyd on a two-year deal that will guarantee him $29MM, per a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The deal includes $1MM in performance bonuses, $500K each year, that could take the total guarantee to $30MM over two years. Boyd is represented by the Boras Corporation.
Boyd, 34 in February, made his big league debut with the Blue Jays back in 2018 but established himself in the majors as a member of the Tigers the following year. From 2016 to 2020, Boyd served as a slightly below league average starter for Detroit with a 4.75 ERA (95 ERA+) and 4.54 FIP in 727 innings of work. The southpaw at times flashed exciting peripherals, such as the 2019 season when he punched out 30.2% of opponents in 185 1/3 frames while walking just 6.3%, but his overall body of work cast him as more of a solid back-of-the-rotation arm than anything else.
Boyd’s time with the Tigers came to a close when he required surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon late in the 2021 campaign, which left him limited to just ten relief appearances as a member of the Mariners. He returned to the Tigers in 2023 but made just 15 starts to lackluster results before going under the knife a second time, this time due to Tommy John surgery.
Once again a free agent coming off major surgery, Boyd remained unsigned headed into the 2024 season before eventually landing a big league deal with the Guardians back in June. The lefty didn’t make his season debut until mid-August after building up to game readiness in the minor leagues, but once he suited up for Cleveland he looked quite good with a 2.72 ERA and 3.29 FIP in 39 2/3 innings of work across eight starts down the stretch. He struck out 27.7% of his opponents while walking just 7.3%, which would have given Boyd one of the better K-BB% figures for a starter in the sport this year if he had pitched enough innings to qualify. He built on that solid regular season performance with a strong showing during the Guardians’ run to the ALCS. He pitched 12 innings for the club across four appearances (three starts), and struck out 28% of opponents while posting a dazzling 0.75 ERA.
That strong finish to Boyd’s season left the southpaw poised to garner plenty of interest in free agency this winter, even in spite of his checkered injury history. MLBTR ranked Boyd as the #23 free agent in this winter’s class on our annual Top 50 MLB free agents list, and predicted a two-year, $25MM guarantee that comes in just below the pact he ultimately landed with the Cubs. Boyd becomes the fifth starting pitcher to sign a multi-year deal this winter, joining Michael Wacha‘s three-year deal with the Royals, Yusei Kikuchi‘s three-year pact with the Angels, Blake Snell‘s five-year contract with the Dodgers, and the two-year agreement between Frankie Montas and the Mets that was reported earlier this evening.
Notably, four of the five were unencumbered by draft pick compensation in a pitching market where plenty of borderline candidates such as Nick Pivetta and Luis Severino were extended the qualifying offer by their clubs. (Wacha re-signed in Kansas City the day before QOs were tendered but would very likely have received one.) Each pitcher has landed a deal that come in at or above expectations.
Even so, that seems to have pushed clubs that aren’t interested in signing a qualified free agent to act quickly. The calendar has only just flipped to December the market is already beginning to thin in terms of starters who aren’t attached to a qualifying offer. MLBTR predicted multi-year deals for just four more free agent starters who aren’t attached to draft pick compensation this winter: Jack Flaherty, Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney, and Jose Quintana.
Turning back to the Cubs, the addition of Boyd adds another capable veteran arm to a rotation that already features lefties Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga as well as right-hander Jameson Taillon. Adding to the rotation has been a well-established priority for the club this winter, though early reports of plans to shop for a top-of-the-rotation arm eventually gave way to the suggestion Chicago could instead look for arms a tier or two below that pedigree. Boyd fits the latter description, given his roughly league-average work throughout his career and his recent struggles with injuries. The lefty has been limited to just 202 2/3 innings of work since the start of the 2021 season, and in that time he’s posted a 4.04 ERA (105 ERA+) with a 3.97 FIP and a 23.2% strikeout rate against an 8% walk rate.
While Boyd may not necessarily profile as a front-end starter, it’s still not hard to imagine him providing an upgrade to the Cubs’ rotation when healthy. After all, the lefty was legitimately impactful for the Guardians this year in both the regular season and the playoffs, and that success being a late-career step forward rather than a simple hot streak can’t be ruled out for a pitcher who has long shown flashes of dominance throughout his time in the majors. What’s more, Chicago is perhaps uniquely well-equipped to handle any absences caused by future injuries thanks to a deep group of optionable arms that includes Ben Brown, Javier Assad, Jordan Wicks, and Hayden Wesneski who can step into the rotation fairly seamlessly if needed.
For the time being, that quartet appears likely to vie for the fifth spot in the club’s rotation this spring, with Assad as the early front-runner after a generally successful (3.73 ERA, 4.64 FIP) season as a starter in 2024. RosterResource currently projects the Cubs for a $176MM payroll in 2025, and the Boyd deal should move that up to the $191MM range. That still leaves a bit more than $20MM of breathing room relative to the club’s 2024 Opening Day payroll, which Cot’s Baseball Contracts notes sat just over $214MM. It’s not impossible to imagine the club pursuing another starter to strengthen their rotation through either free agency or trade this winter with the financial flexibility the club has remaining, but given the club’s needs at catcher and in the bullpen it seems those funds will likely be used elsewhere—at least unless a trade of Cody Bellinger clears some additional money off the club’s books.
Kyle Keller Re-Signs With NPB’s Yomiuri Giants
Right-hander Kyle Keller has re-signed with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball, MLBTR has learned. Keller’s new contract is a one-year deal that includes a mutual option for the 2026 season, though specific financial terms remain unclear.
Keller, 31, was an 18th-round pick by Miami back in 2015 and made his big league debut with the club back in 2019. He ultimately spent three years in the majors with the Marlins, Angels, and Pirates. He struggled through 46 1/3 big league innings during that time with a 5.83 ERA and 7.00 FIP. While he struck out opponents at a decent 22.4% clip, he was held back by an untenable 14.7% walk rate that severely limited his effectiveness at the big league level. Those struggles in the big leagues led Keller to look overseas for his next opportunity, and he eventually signed with NPB’s Hanshin Tigers for the 2022 season.
The right-hander wound up acting as a prominent late-inning arm for the club over his two seasons with them. After dominating the Western League for the Tigers’ affiliate almost immediately, he found himself promoted to the Central League rather quickly and didn’t look back with a 3.31 ERA in 32 2/3 innings of work. Importantly, he showed far better command over his arsenal in NPB play with a fantastic 35.9% strikeout rate against a microscopic 3.9% walk rate during his first year in the Central League. His peripherals weren’t quite as stellar in his second season with the Tigers, as his 23.7% strikeout rate and 13.6% walk rate were more reminiscent of his time in the big leagues than anything else. That didn’t stop him from posting strong results, however, as he pitched to a 1.71 ERA in 26 1/3 innings of work.
Those strong results earned Keller interest both in NPB and from MLB clubs last winter, and he ultimately settled on a third season in NPB as he landed with the Yomiuri Giants on a one-year deal last winter. His 2024 season turned out to be the best of his NPB career so far as he dominated with a 1.53 ERA in 47 innings of work while flashing strong peripherals. Keller struck out an excellent 29.5% of opponents for the Giants last year, while his walk rate sat at a more manageable 10.4%. That combination of excellent results and solid peripherals backing the performance up was evidently enough convince the Giants to retain Keller for at least the 2025 season.
Given the recent MLB interest he’s received and his strong season last year, if Keller is able to turn in a similarly strong campaign at age-32 next year it wouldn’t be hard to imagine him exploring a return to stateside ball at some point in the future as other successful big league relievers like Robert Suarez have done in the past.
Rockies Sign Austin Nola To Minors Deal
The Rockies have signed catcher Austin Nola to a minor league deal, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (X link). Nola will receive an invitation to the Rockies’ big league spring camp.
After signing a split contract with the Royals last winter, Nola didn’t appear in a single game in the Show, though he was briefly called up to Kansas City’s roster for a few days in June. Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin were both so durable that the Royals never had a real need for another catcher on the roster, and Nola also didn’t do much to force the issue by hitting only .174/.260/.298 over 191 plate appearances with Triple-A Omaha. The Royals outrighted Nola off their 40-man roster in September, and he became a free agent after the season.
Entering his age-35 season, the veteran backstop will look for a path back to the majors in Colorado, though a depth role at Triple-A is also a possibility given the number of catchers already on hand. Jacob Stallings was re-signed to a new contract a few weeks ago, Hunter Goodman is a multi-position utility player who can catch, and top prospect Drew Romo made his MLB debut in 2024 and could be in line for more playing time on the active roster.
There is a bit of a full-circle element to Nola’s signing, as the Rockies picked him in the 48th round of the 2008 draft when Nola was still a high schooler, but he instead opted for college ball at LSU. Nola made his MLB debut with the Mariners in 2019 and looked like a budding star, but his production gradually declined after a trade to the Padres in 2020. He was still getting regular at-bats behind the plate in San Diego as recently as 2022, yet a sharp decline in 2023 resulted in the Padres non-tendering him a little over a year ago.
Mets Sign Oliver Ortega To Minors Contract
The Mets have signed right-hander Oliver Ortega to a minor league deal that includes an invitation to New York’s big league spring camp, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports (X link). Ortega was outrighted off the Astros’ 40-man roster in November, and since it wasn’t his first career outright, he chose to enter free agency.
The 28-year-old Ortega made his Major League debut in 2021, and he has a 4.03 ERA, 20.4% strikeout rate, and 10.8% walk rate over 58 career relief innings with the Angels and Twins. After Houston claimed him off waivers from the Twins in October 2023, Ortega’s tenure as an Astro came and went without a single game played in either the majors or minors. A pair of surgeries cost Ortega the entire 2024 season, as an initial procedure in Spring Training to remove loose bodies from his throwing elbow didn’t take, and he needed another surgery in late June to remove a bone spur from that same right elbow.
While a minor league deal doesn’t represent a huge commitment, the Mets seem satisfied enough with Ortega’s health situation to at least give him a look during Spring Training. Ortega’s career Triple-A numbers include a 3.61 ERA, 27.7% strikeout rate and 7.42% walk rate over 72 1/3 innings, so he might be able to tap into that potential if he can improve his control against big league hitters.
Pirates Sign Tanner Rainey, Hunter Stratton To Minor League Contracts
The Pirates have signed right-handers Tanner Rainey and Hunter Stratton to minors deals, as respectively reported by Just Baseball’s Aram Leighton (X link) and Stratton’s MLB.com profile page. Rainey’s contract contains an invitation to the Pirates’ big league spring camp, and it can be assumed that Stratton’s deal also has an invite, though Stratton’s uncertain health situation in the wake of knee surgery could limit his participation in Spring Training.
Rainey heads to Pittsburgh after a topsy-turvy six-year run with the Nationals, highlighted by a World Series ring in his first year with the club. Rainey delivered a 3.91 ERA and 34.6% strikeout rate in 48 1/3 relief innings for that 2019 championship team, but also had an ugly 17.8% walk rate. These control issues plagued Rainey for most of his time in Washington, and he also missed virtually all of the 2023 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
After Rainey posted a 4.76 ERA, 19% strikeout rate, and 12.6% walk rate over 51 innings in 2024, the Nationals unsurprisingly decided to non-tender the righty, even though Rainey was projected for a modest $1.9MM arbitration salary. Now entering his age-32 season, Rainey will look to rebuild himself in the Bucs’ spring camp, and hopefully regain some of the form and velocity that made him a valuable bullpen asset for the Nats in 2020 and 2022.
Stratton was also non-tendered by the Pirates in November, but there was an expectation that Pittsburgh would (just as they did last offseason) re-sign the righty to a new minor league deal. Stratton has an impressive 3.26 ERA and 4.9% walk rate across 49 2/3 career Major League innings, all with Pittsburgh over the last two seasons. Despite a lack of big strikeout totals, Stratton’s ability to induce soft contact has made him an interesting relief option out of the Pirates’ bullpen.
Unfortunately for Stratton, his 2024 season was cut short by a flukish injury on August 24 that left him with a ruptured patellar tendon. Stratton was behind home plate at PNC Park and pursuing a loose ball when he stumbled into the stone wall, causing the injury and putting his career on hold for an estimated 7-10 months. This fluid timeline means that Stratton would return anywhere from Opening Day to late June, but the minor league contract gives him plenty of time to fully get himself right during Spring Training or in the Pirates’ farm system.
White Sox Sign Nick Maton To Minor League Contract
The White Sox signed Nick Maton to a minor league deal in late November, as indicated by the infielder’s MLB.com profile page. Aram Leighton of Just Baseball Media (X link) writes that Maton’s contract an invitation to Chicago’s big league Spring Training camp.
Maton played in 179 games with the Phillies and Tigers over his first three Major League seasons, but he made just five appearances with the Orioles in 2024. Baltimore acquired Maton from Detroit last February, and Maton then spent the season bouncing on and off the Orioles’ 40-man roster. Maton was designated for assignment and then outrighted on three separate occasions, and he also spent about a month on the injured list at Triple-A Norfolk.
Between the roster shuffling and the injury absence, Maton was quite productive at the Triple-A level, hitting .258/.363/.471 with 16 homers in 344 plate appearances for Norfolk. This marks the third straight season that Maton has posted strong numbers against Triple-A pitching, and he carried that momentum forward to the MLB level in 2022, posting an .855 OPS in 85 PA with the Phillies.
The Tigers were intrigued enough to bring Maton to Detroit as part of a five-player trade in January 2023, but Matt Vierling ended up being the much more productive utility option for the Tigers in both 2023 and 2024. Maton struggled to a .173/.288/.305 slash line in 293 PA with Detroit, then had an arthroscopic knee surgery last offseason.
As he enters his age-28 season, Maton should have plenty of opportunity to break camp with a White Sox team that needs help all over the diamond. Maton’s ability to play second base, third base, shortstop, and both corner outfield slots makes him an interesting candidate for bench or part-time duty, and his left-handed bat could complement Lenyn Sosa and Miguel Vargas (both righty swingers) at second and third base in particular. The White Sox will give Maton a look in camp and see if he’s a fit, though keeping him as an organizational depth piece could be complicated by the fact that Maton is out of minor league options.
Rangers Sign Adrian Houser To Minors Contract
The Rangers have signed right-hander Adrian Houser to a minor league deal, according to Just Baseball Media’s Aram Leighton (via X). The contract contains an invitation to the Rangers’ big league spring camp.
It was just under a year ago that the Mets acquired Houser and Tyrone Taylor from the Brewers, as New York president of baseball operations David Stearns looked to bolster the Mets’ roster with two familiar faces from his old position in Milwaukee. Taylor delivered respectable production as part of New York’s outfield mix, but Houser had a much rougher time in the Big Apple, posting a 5.84 ERA over 69 1/3 innings.
Injuries to other pitchers opened the door for Houser to begin the season in the Mets’ rotation, and he temporarily moved back to starting pitching when the Mets briefly adopted a six-man rotation. The splits were pretty stark — Houser had an 8.55 ERA in 33 2/3 innings as a starter and a 3.28 ERA in 35 2/3 innings as a reliever, with those bullpen assignments usually coming in multi-inning form.
While it seemed like Houser had found his groove as a long reliever, the Mets opted to designate him for assignment and then release him in late July. The Cubs and Orioles each signed Houser to minor league contracts during the season but those deals failed to translate into any more big league playing time for the righty.
Houser has started 104 of his 152 career Major League games, delivering solid-to-passable results as a swingman for the Brewers for much of his career. A grounder specialist whose career strikeout rate is only 18.5%, Houser’s results in 2024 could somewhat close the door on his usage as a starter, even if the Rangers could see value in having a swingman around as rotation depth. Beyond just last year’s splits, Houser has a 2.32 ERA in 97 career innings as a reliever, as compared to a much less impressive 4.57 ERA in 511 2/3 frames as a starter.
Relief pitching is also a much more significant need for a Rangers team could lose most of its 2024 bullpen (Kirby Yates, David Robertson, Jose Leclerc, Jose Urena, and Andrew Chafin) to free agency, plus Josh Sborz will be out until at least the start of June due to offseason shoulder surgery. A multi-inning reliever like Houser could eat some up valuable innings out of the bullpen, while also providing a rotation safety net. The current Texas pitching staff of Jacob deGrom, Jon Gray, Tyler Mahle, Kumar Rocker, and Jack Leiter is full of health question marks or inexperienced arms, so in addition to depth signings like Houser, the Rangers are also hoping to re-sign at least one of Nathan Eovaldi or Andrew Heaney.
Guardians To Re-Sign Shane Bieber
Right-hander Shane Bieber is coming back to the Guardians. He and the club have reportedly agreed to a deal with a $10MM salary in 2025, with a $16MM player option for 2026 that comes with a $4MM buyout. That makes it a $26MM guarantee over two years but Bieber can potentially return to free agency after banking $14MM in year one. He reportedly turned down more money with other clubs in order to return to Cleveland. The righty is represented by Rosenhaus Sports Representation.
Bieber, 30 in May, returns to the only organization he’s ever known. The contract is a reflection of his current status, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in April, meaning he will miss at least part of the upcoming season. This deal affords him the chance to return to the mound in 2025 and establish his health. If his performance can return anywhere near his previously elite levels, he can decide to return to the open market. Though if he hits any kind of setback or doesn’t quite bounce back immediately, he can bank the extra $12MM and stick around another year.
Whether he can indeed get back in form is the big question. Bieber’s ceiling is well established, as he won the American League Cy Young award in 2020. He dominated the shortened season, making 12 starts that year with a 1.63 earned run average. He struck out 41.1% of batters faced, walked 7.1% of opponents and got grounders at a 48.4% rate.
But things have mostly gone downhill since then, even before the surgery. In 2021, his numbers dipped, which wasn’t exactly unexpected as maintaining his 2020 stats over a full season would have been almost impossible. His 3.17 ERA and 33.1% strikeout rate were both off of his previous season but still strong numbers. He missed about three months due to a right shoulder subscapularis strain.
In 2022, he stayed healthy enough to make 31 starts and log 200 innings with a 2.88 ERA, but with more concerning signs elsewhere. He averaged just 91.3 miles per hour on his fastball that year, after mostly being in the 93-94 range in prior years. His strikeout rate also dipped to 25%, still a bit above league average but a drop for him personally. In 2023, he missed time due to right elbow inflammation, which seems in hindsight like a precursor to his surgery. He did make 21 starts on the year but with a 3.80 ERA, 20.1% strikeout rate and similar velocity to the year prior.
Going into 2024, his name was in plenty of trade rumors. The Guardians often trade players as their salary grows and they get closer to free agency, doing so with players like Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber somewhat recently. In hindsight, perhaps the Guards should have pulled the trigger on a deal, but maybe they didn’t receive substantial offers on the heels of all the red flags in 2022 and 2023.
For a brief moment, hanging onto Bieber seemed like a brilliant move. He made two starts at the beginning of 2024, tossing six shutout innings in each of them and recording 20 strikeouts in those 12 innings. His velocity came back slightly, with his fastball averaging 92.3 mph in his first start of the year. But it dipped to 91.6 mph in the second start and the news of his surgery dropped before he could make a third.
Now he’ll be looking to come back from the lengthy Tommy John recovery process, as well as the concerning seasons that preceded the operation. It’s now been a long time since Bieber had his best stuff over a full season, arguably since 2019. The shortened 2020 season was obviously outside of his control but all but one season since then has seen him miss significant time. In the one season where he stayed on the mound, his stuff was clearly diminished.
All that makes this an interesting gamble for the Guardians, as this is a fairly notable expenditure for them. They don’t generally spend much in free agency, particularly on the pitching side. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, in the last 15 years, this is the first time they’ve given a pitcher more than $7MM. That’s partially a testament to their ability to develop their own pitching but they’ve also only given four position players a larger guarantee than this in that time.
Per RosterResource, the Guards are now projected for a payroll of $107MM next year, already more than what they spent in 2024. They could perhaps drop that by trading someone like Josh Naylor or Lane Thomas but this Bieber deal is a decent chunk of the budget either way.
It’s a risky proposition for those parameters. Given that recovery from Tommy John surgery normally takes 14 months or longer, the Guards might only get half a season or so from Bieber in 2025. If he hits a setback of any kind, it could be less than that. Even if he is back on a big league mound by June, it’s no guarantee that he’ll be in good form.
The upside play is that Bieber comes back to something resembling an ace. The Guards install him into their second half rotation and then, ideally, as a key piece of their postseason rotation. At that point, he would decline his player option and they could issue him a qualifying offer, which will probably be in the $22MM range. Assuming he declines that and goes out looking for a major deal, they would recoup draft pick compensation.
On the other end of the spectrum are the scenarios where Bieber isn’t quite fully healthy or simply isn’t as good as he was before, in which case he sticks around for another year at an even higher salary than in 2025.
It’s a risk the Guardians are willing to take, which is perhaps due to the respect that the organization has for him, but it’s also perhaps a reflection of the current rotation situation. The Guardians managed to win the Central in 2024, but the Bieber-less rotation was the weakest part of the roster. They struggled to find viable solutions there for much of the year, finding success on the backs of a decent offense and elite bullpen.
Pitchers like Carlos Carrasco, Triston McKenzie, Gavin Williams and Logan Allen either struggled or were injured or both. Tanner Bibee was the club’s only starter who has consistently healthy and performing well all year long. Matthew Boyd was an excellent midseason addition, coming in after recovering from his own Tommy John surgery, but he became a free agent at season’s end and has a deal in place with the Cubs.
Next year’s Opening Day rotation for Cleveland currently consists of Bibee and many question marks. Guys like Williams, McKenzie and Allen are still in the mix but coming off those aforementioned difficulties. Journeyman Ben Lively is on the roster, as are fairly unproven guys like Joey Cantillo and Doug Nikhazy. The Guards probably have more to do in upgrading that group but they will hope that Bieber can charge in like a proverbial white knight at some point in the middle of 2025 to save the day.
The aforementioned Boyd gives a rough template of what Bieber and the Guards will be hoping for next year. Boyd posted a 2.72 ERA in eight starts down the stretch and then had three more good outings in the postseason. That was enough to get him a two-year, $29MM deal, but Bieber has a path to earning far more than that. Boyd is going into his age-34 season whereas Bieber will be going into his age-31 campaign in 2026. Boyd’s injury track record is also more extensive than Bieber’s and Bieber has the more impressive early career numbers.
As such, with a strong finish in 2025, Bieber could position himself to earn far more than Boyd just did, joining 2025-26 free agent starters such as Dylan Cease, Zach Eflin, Zac Gallen, Michael King, Seth Lugo, and Framber Valdez. Though that’s just one of many potential scenarios in front of him and the Guardians in the year to come.
Buster Olney of ESPN (X link) first reported that the two sides were in agreement. Robert Murray of FanSided (X link) first relayed that it was a one-year deal plus a player option. Jeff Passan of ESPN (X link) first had the dollar figures. Jon Heyman of The New York Post (X link) first relayed that Bieber had larger offers elsewhere.
White Sox, Cal Mitchell Agree To Minor League Deal
The White Sox agreed to a minor league deal with free agent outfielder Calvin Mitchell, as first reported by Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. The Sports Management Partners client will be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee next spring.
Mitchell, 25, has spent parts of two seasons in the big leagues, logging 237 plate appearances with the Pirates from 2022-23. He hit .222/.284/.343 with five homers, 11 doubles, three stolen bases, an 8% walk rate and a 22.4% strikeout rate in that time. The former No. 50 overall draft pick (Pirates, 2017) spent the 2024 season with the Padres (his hometown organization) but didn’t get a call to the majors in spite of solid production with Triple-A El Paso: .277/.359/.512 (114 wRC+).
That was Mitchell’s fourth season with at least some time logged in Triple-A. He’s shown little difficulty hitting at that level, logging a career .287/.358/.487 batting line in 1067 plate appearances there. The lefty-swinging outfielder has typically had modest platoon splits but posted far more drastic numbers in that regard this past season, hitting .309/.397/.595 against righties but just .183/.239/.269 in 114 plate appearances against lefties.
Mitchell has played primarily right field but has more than 1000 innings in left field in addition to a tiny sample of 71 innings in center. He’ll give the Sox some left-handed depth behind a big league outfield mix currently including Andrew Benintendi, Luis Robert Jr., Dominic Fletcher, Austin Slater, Oscar Colas and Corey Julks.