White Sox Sign Justin Dunn To Minor League Deal
The White Sox have signed right-hander Justin Dunn to a minor league deal, per the team. The CAA client will be in spring training as a non-roster invitee.
Now 29 years old, Dunn was a first-round pick by the Mets in 2016. He ranked among the organization’s top prospect when he was traded to Seattle alongside Jarred Kelenic in the Robinson Cano/Edwin Diaz blockbuster. The M’s gave Dunn a look in parts of three seasons and got decent results along the way, though Dunn also battled multiple shoulder injuries in his Mariners tenure. Eventually, he was packaged with Brandon Williamson and Jake Fraley in the trade bringing Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker to Seattle.
With the Reds, Dunn only pitched a total of 65 2/3 innings between the minors and big leagues combined. His shoulder was ailing at the time of the trade, but Cincinnati made the swap anyhow. Dunn’s first season in Cincinnati was delayed by that shoulder; the team announced late in spring training that Dunn would miss “months” with a shoulder issue. He wound up pitching 31 innings in the minors and another 31 in the majors that year, logging an identical 6.10 ERA in both settings. Dunn’s 2023 season was again delayed by shoulder woes, and he eventually underwent surgery to repair the anterior shoulder in his right capsule late in 2023. He hasn’t pitched since.
Just a couple weeks ago, Dunn’s camp hosted a showcase for big league clubs. It was always unlikely that he’d land a guaranteed roster spot after such a lengthy layoff, but Dunn will head to a White Sox organization that should have ample opportunity for him next season. He’ll bring a career 4.44 ERA, 19.3% strikeout rate and ugly 14.7% walk rate in 133 2/3 innings to Chicago. When healthy, Dunn has averaged 93.7 mph on his heater and paired that offering with an 84 mph slider and 80 mph curveball.
Because of all the time Dunn has spent on a major league injured list, he has four full seasons of service time already. If he makes the White Sox’ roster at any point, he’d get to five years with another 152 days in the majors. At the very least, Dunn has a full slate of minor league options and two seasons of club control remaining. If he’s brought up midseason when there are fewer than 152 days on the calendar, he’d technically be controllable another three years, at minimum. All of that is putting the proverbial cart before the horse, however. First and foremost, Dunn will need to show that his shoulder injury is behind him and make some strides with his longstanding command issues. There’s plenty of former prospect pedigree, but it’s been close to a decade since Dunn was a first-rounder and about five years since he was last considered a top prospect.
NPB’s Hiroshima Carp Sign Elehuris Montero, Re-Sign Taylor Hearn
The Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced this week that they’ve signed infielder Elehuris Montero and re-signed lefty Taylor Hearn, who excelled for the Carp in a relief role in 2024 (Japanese-language links via Yahoo Japan). Both players are CAA clients, and both are receiving one-year deals for the 2025 campaign.
Montero, 26, was once a highly touted corner infield prospect in the Cardinals system. He landed with the Rockies alongside Austin Gomber, Mateo Gil, Tony Locey and Jake Sommers in the trade sending Nolan Arenado to St. Louis. Colorado outrighted him off the 40-man roster this past July, and he became a minor league free agent at season’s end.
The Rox gave Montero his big league debut in 2022, but while he’s shown power at times throughout parts of three MLB seasons, he’s never been able to put the ball in play or reach base with any real consistency. The righty-swinging slugger is a career .228/.277/.387 hitter in 739 plate appearances. He’s been far better in Triple-A, mashing at a .314/.392/.589 pace in 877 trips to the plate. That’s the type of production the Carp surely are hoping to acquire.
The 30-year-old Hearn was a fifth-round pick by the Nats back in 2015 and has pitched in parts of five MLB seasons — primarily with the Rangers. He worked as both a starter and reliever during his time in Texas, enjoying far more success in the bullpen (4.48 ERA, 24.6 K%, 11 BB%) than in the rotation (6.36 ERA, 18.3 K%, 9.5 BB%).
It was in the bullpen that Hearn starred for the Carp upon signing with them last December. He missed some time in ’24 but was excellent when on the mound, pitching 35 innings with a pristine 1.29 ERA. Hearn was one of the primary setup men for the Carp, though he picked up a pair of saves as well. In his 35 frames, he fanned 20.2% of his opponents against a terrific 5.4% walk rate.
Angels Sign Kyle Hendricks
The Angels announced the signing of veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks to a one-year deal. The Wassrman client reportedly receives a $2.5MM base salary.
Hendricks, 35 in December, will be suiting up for a team other than the Cubs for the first time if the deal gets finalized. Though he was drafted by the Rangers in 2011, he was traded to the Cubs prior to his major league debut, as part of the July 2012 trade that sent Ryan Dempster to Texas.
He was able to get to the big leagues by 2014 and quickly established himself as a solid rotation piece. He didn’t have overpowering stuff but showed a knack for limiting damage, earning the nickname “The Professor”. He made 13 starts and logged 81 1/3 innings in his debut, allowing just 2.46 earned runs per nine innings despite a low strikeout rate of 14.6%.
From there, he found a few more punchouts but his success was generally built around weak contact. From 2014 to 2020, he tossed over a thousand innings for the Cubs with a 3.12 ERA, 20.8% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 47.5% ground ball rate. He was a pillar of the Cubs in that time, helping them become a perennial contender and break their World Series curse in 2016.
The last few years have been a bit more rocky, however. In 2021, his strikeout rate dipped to 16.7% and his ERA climbed to 4.77. In 2022, a capsular tear in his right shoulder limited him to 16 starts with a 4.80 ERA. He didn’t require surgery but was out of action until May of 2023.
He managed something of a rebound when he got back on the hill. Last year, he posted a 3.74 ERA over 24 starts after recovering from that shoulder injury. His 16.1% strikeout rate was still low but he only walked 4.7% of batters faced and prevented batters from producing big exit velocity.
The Cubs were encouraged enough to trigger a $16.5MM club option to bring him back for 2024, part of the extension the two sides agreed to ahead of the 2019 season. But that’s a move they likely regret, as Hendricks couldn’t keep his bounceback going in 2024. He struggled out of the gate and got bumped to the bullpen. Though he eventually retook a rotation role, he finished the year with a 5.92 ERA.
There might be a bit of bad luck in there, as Hendricks was only able to strand 64.2% of baserunners this year, well below the 72.1% league average. His 4.98 FIP and 4.83 SIERA on the season suggest he deserved better than his ERA would suggest, but still aren’t outstanding numbers.
Putting those recent ups and downs together, Hendricks has a 4.80 ERA since the start of 2021. His 43.3% ground ball rate in that time is around league average and his 6% walk rate quite strong, but his 16.5% strikeout rate well below par.
Perhaps the Angels see a way to get him back on track or simply want some affordable veteran innings on what may have been a hometown discount. Veteran innings eaters can often secure deals close to eight figures, even without strong overall results. 43-year-old Rich Hill got $8MM from the Pirates going into 2023 on the heels of a season in which he posted a 4.27 ERA. Jon Lester got $5MM from the Nationals for his age-37 after posting a 5.16 ERA. Corey Kluber got $10MM from the Red Sox after putting up a 4.34 ERA in his age-36 season.
Hendricks is younger than those guys but signing for less, very early in the offseason of his very first trip to free agency. Since he grew up in Orange County, perhaps he wanted to be close to home and quickly got a deal done with the Halos, though that’s totally speculative.
Signing Hendricks would fit with the club’s longstanding aversion to spending on the rotation. As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, the most they’ve spent on a starting pitcher in the past decade was three years and $39MM for Tyler Anderson. Apart from that and a two-year arbitration deal for Shohei Ohtani, they haven’t given any starting pitcher a multi-year deal in that time frame.
That tendency along with struggles to develop pitching internally have led to ongoing starting pitching deficiencies in Anaheim. The club has a 4.54 rotation ERA over the past decade, 24th in baseball for that stretch, mostly ahead of clubs that underwent yearslong rebuilds. 2024 was no exception as the Angels starters had a collective 4.97 ERA this year, which was better than only the Marlins and Rockies. One of their more talented starters is going to be on the shelf for a while, as Patrick Sandoval had UCL surgery in June.
Going into 2025, the rotation mix has plenty of uncertainty. Anderson, José Soriano, Jack Kochanowicz, Reid Detmers, Caden Dana, Sam Aldegheri and Chase Silseth are some of the options, though there are question marks with each. Anderson had a 3.81 ERA but outperformed his peripherals and had a 5.43 ERA the year before. Soriano seemingly had a breakout campaign this year but didn’t pitch much in the 2020-2023 period thanks to two Tommy John surgeries. Detmers has shown promise at times but had a 6.70 ERA in the majors this year and wasn’t much better in Triple-A. Silseth spent most of 2024 battling an elbow injury. Kochanowicz only has 11 MLB starts while Dana and Aldegheri each have just three.
For a club that hopes to compete in 2025, adding to that rotation is a sensible path. There are more exciting options than Hendricks out there but his track record of reliability is quite strong. His modest earning power lined up with the club’s track record when it comes to not spending much on the rotation, so the stars have aligned to have Hendricks be close to home this year. For the Cubs, they no longer have any connection to their curse-breaking team on the roster, as Hendricks was the final holdout from that club.
Bruce Levine of 670 The Score (X link) first relayed that the two sides were nearing a one-year deal. Jon Heyman of The New York Post (X link) pegged the value around $3MM. Joel Sherman of The New York Post (X link) first reported the $2.5MM number.
Giants, Sergio Alcantara Agree To Minor League Contract
The Giants are in agreement with infielder Sergio Alcántara on a minor league deal, reports Francys Romero (X link). The Quality Control Sports client gets an invitation to big league camp.
Alcántara has appeared with four teams at the major league level. He hasn’t played in the big leagues since 2022. The switch-hitting infielder split the ’24 campaign between the Triple-A affiliates of the Pirates and Diamondbacks. His .271/.388/.416 slash is solid on the surface, though that was mostly concentrated in a hitter’s paradise in Reno. Alcántara has played the role of light-hitting utilityman in his MLB career. He’s a .209/.281/.343 hitter over 502 big league plate appearances.
While Alcántara doesn’t provide much at the plate, he has bounced around on the strength of his glove. He has more than 6000 innings of shortstop experience in the minors. Alcátara has upwards of 1000 professional frames at both second and third base. The Giants are likely to add a starting shortstop this winter to push Tyler Fitzgerald to second base. Most of San Francisco’s utility players are stretched at shortstop, so Alcántara is a sensible depth target who’ll likely open the season in Triple-A.
Mets, Rico Garcia Agree To Minor League Deal
The Mets are in agreement with free agent reliever Rico Garcia on a minor league contract, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (X link). The Gaeta Sports Management client gets an invite to big league Spring Training on a deal that would pay him a $900K base salary if he makes the big league roster.
Garcia is trying to work back to the big leagues after spending this year in Triple-A. The righty had a nice year for Washington’s top affiliate. Garcia saved 20 games and turned in a 3.94 ERA through 61 2/3 innings. He struck out a massive 34.1% of opposing hitters. That came with a fair number of free passes, as an 11.5% walk rate is perhaps the biggest reason he didn’t get an MLB look.
The 30-year-old Garcia has pitched in parts of four big league campaigns between five teams. He has struggled to a 7.32 earned run average over 35 2/3 innings. His most recent MLB action came with 10 appearances between the Athletics and Nationals in 2023. Garcia hasn’t carried over much bat-missing ability to the highest level. His 12.4% career strikeout rate is well below average.
New York has made a couple bullpen depth additions since the offseason began. They gave Dylan Covey a major league contract last week. The 40-man spot gives Covey a leg up on Garcia and whichever other relievers the Mets add as non-roster invitees, but there’s likely to be a fair amount of competition for middle relief roles in camp.
Guardians Re-Sign Austin Hedges To One-Year Deal
The Guardians announced that they have re-signed catcher Austin Hedges to a one-year deal. The Boras Corporation client gets the same $4MM salary that he had last year.
Hedges, 32, has carved out a decade-long career in a unique way as he’s one of the worst performers at the plate but one of the best behind it. In 2,359 career plate appearances, Hedges has hit .186/.243/.315. That production translates to a wRC+ of 50, meaning he’s been 50% worse than league average as a hitter in his career.
But he has also produced 91 Defensive Runs Saved over the past decade, the top mark of any backstop in the league for that time frame. Roberto Pérez and Buster Posey are the next two names on that list, though Posey retired years ago and Pérez hasn’t contributed in a while due to injuries. No other catcher has even 50 DRS in that time. For that same frame, Hedges is second to only Yasmani Grandal in terms of the FanGraphs framing metric. Outlets like Statcast and Baseball Prospectus also give him glowing grades for his glovework.
Teams have generally tolerated the poor offense in order to get at that strong work behind the plate. He has maybe been pushing the limits of their patience, as his offense has declined even relative to his own low standards recently. He hit .184/.234/.227 last year for a wRC+ of 23 and then .152/.203/.220 for a wRC+ of 20 this year. The latter line was with the Guardians after they signed him to a one-year, $4MM deal. Since they are bringing him back, it seems they have no buyer’s remorse and are happy to sign up for another year of poor hitting but strong work otherwise.
Hedges got essentially half as much playing time as Bo Naylor in 2024, getting 146 plate appearances over 66 games while Naylor got 389 trips to the plate in 123 games. Presumably, a similar timeshare will be the plan for 2025. Naylor also had strong defensive grades this year, although with a better performance with the bat.
The Guardians put together a successful campaign with this duo behind the plate this year, winning the American League Central and progressing as far as the American League Championship Series. The rotation was a bit of a struggle but much of the club’s success was due to having the best bullpen in the league.
Cleveland relievers had a 2.57 ERA in 2024, easily the best in the majors with only four clubs within a run of that. The Brewers were second at 3.11, then Atlanta at 3.32, the Dodgers at 3.53 and Tigers at 3.55. The pitchers are obviously a big part of that but having capable receivers undoubtedly helps.
Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Guardians and Hedges had agreed to a one-year deal. ESPN’s Buster Olney reported the $4MM salary.
Spenser Watkins Signs With CPBL’s TSG Hawks
Right-hander Spenser Watkins has signed a one-year deal with the TSG Hawks of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today on X. The righty is a client of Gaeta Sports Management.
Watkins, 32, has appeared in 40 major league games, suiting up for the Orioles and Athletics over the 2021 to 2023 seasons. He tossed 164 1/3 innings over those appearances, allowing 5.97 earned runs per nine. He struck out 13.9% of batters faced, walked 6.9% of opponents and got grounders on 38.4% of balls in play.
He signed a minor league deal with the Nationals going into 2024 but never got the call to the big leagues. He tossed 118 1/3 Triple-A innings on the year with a 4.56 ERA, 18.1% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 45.8% ground ball rate.
If he had stayed in North America, he likely would have been looking at another minor league deal and more riding the bus while hoping to get the big league call. By heading to join the Hawks, he’ll get to explore new horizons while also likely collecting a larger paycheck than he would on the farm.
Giants, Logan Porter Agree To Minor League Deal
The Giants and catcher Logan Porter have agreed to a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training, according to Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 on X. The backstop is represented by Gaeta Sports Management.
Porter, 29, was briefly in the Giants’ organization last year. He started 2024 in the Royals organization on a minor league pact but was flipped to the Giants in June for cash considerations. After about a month of struggles, he opted out of that deal. He then briefly landed a spot on the Mets’ 40-man roster but was kept on optional assignment and later outrighted.
He has a sliver of major league experience, hitting .194/.324/.323 in 38 plate appearances for the Royals in 2023. He has produced some interesting minor league numbers, though not consistently. He split 2022 between Double-A and Triple-A, producing a robust combined slash line of .301/.442/.476, leading to a 145 wRC+. In 2023, despite getting called up to the majors, his minor league performance fell. He hit .232/.339/.377 in Triple-A for an 83 wRC+.
His 2024 started out strong, as he had a .319/.428/.575 batting line and 159 wRC+ through his first 138 Triple-A plate appearances. But his bat wilted as soon as he was traded away from the Royals, as he slashed .224/.318/.351 the rest of the way for a 74 wRC+ between the Triple-A affiliates of the Giants and Mets. Baseball Prospectus gives him solid grades for his minor league defense, so he can be a solid contributor at the times when the bat is producing.
The Giants have Patrick Bailey as their primary catcher but the backup spot is more open. They signed Tom Murphy to a two-year deal going into 2024 but a left knee sprain limited him to just 13 games this year. His current status is unclear but he told Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle in August that he was still in pain and seemed uncertain about the path ahead. Blake Sabol is also on the 40-man roster but he was mostly kept in the minors this year despite Murphy’s injury, so perhaps the club views him more as a depth piece.
Perhaps there’s a path there for Porter to get back to the big leagues, depending on how the offseason progresses for the Giants. If he makes it onto the roster, Porter has a full slate of options and just a handful of service days, meaning he can be cheaply retained well into the future.
Cardinals Re-Sign Chance Sisco To Minor League Contract
The Cardinals have re-signed catcher Chance Sisco to a minor league contract for the 2025 season. The team revealed the news via the Cardinals Player Development account on X.
Sisco, who will turn 30 in February, is a veteran of five big league seasons, although he has not played in the majors since 2021. Selected by the Orioles in the second round of the 2013 draft, he rose through the system over the next four years, hitting well at every step along the way. By the time the 2017 season rolled around, he was Baltimore’s top-ranked prospect according to Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, ESPN, and FanGraphs. Unfortunately, Sisco was never able to put things together at the highest level. Over 196 MLB games from 2017-21, he slashed .197/.317/.337, good for an 82 wRC+. Those numbers just weren’t strong enough for a catcher who also produced below-average blocking, throwing, and framing metrics.
The Orioles designated Sisco for assignment in June 2021, and the Mets put in a claim. However, he appeared in just five games for the Mets down the stretch before they, too, DFA’d him in September. He then bounced between the Mariners and Twins minor league systems, the Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican League, and the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League before signing a minor league deal with the Cardinals this past August. Evidently, the Cardinals liked what they saw from Sisco in the Atlantic League (.274/.416/.609 slash line) enough to bring him into the organization, and they liked what they saw during his brief stint with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds to bring him back for the 2025 campaign. Over seven games with Memphis, the backstop went 5-for-23 with one home run, one walk, and two hit-by-pitches.
In further Cardinals news, the team confirmed that they have signed a new minor league deal with Packy Naughton, news the left-hander first announced himself over Instagram. St. Louis also announced the re-signing of nine additional minor leaguers to new contracts for 2025: right-handed pitchers Augusto Calderon, Angel Cuenca, Inohan Paniagua, Dionys Rodríguez, Victor Santos, and Leonardo Taveras; catcher Gavin Collins; infielder Ramon Mendoza; and second baseman and outfielder Darlin Moquete.
Cardinals Re-Sign Packy Naughton To Two-Year Minors Contract
The Cardinals have re-signed Packy Naughton to a two-year minor league deal, as revealed by the left-hander himself on his Instagram page. The extended nature of the contract is due to another tough injury setback for Naughton, as he said that he underwent a UCL reconstruction surgery last July. Naughton was already working his way back from a flexor tendon surgery in June 2023, though he also re-tore his flexon tendon in addition to the UCL damage.
Naughton didn’t specify if he underwent a full Tommy John surgery or a brace procedure, though in either case, it seems unlikely that he’d be able to pitch again before the end of the 2025 season. The two-year contract therefore allows Naughton plenty of time to rehab while still keeping him under St. Louis’ control for what will hopefully be a comeback year in 2026.
The southpaw made his MLB debut with the Angels in 2021 and then came to the Cardinals on a waiver claim prior to the 2022 season. Over 59 2/3 innings and 37 appearances in the big leagues, Naughton has a 4.98 ERA, and he last pitched in the Show on April 7, 2023. He pitched in one more Triple-A game that season before undergoing his first surgery, and he threw 20 1/3 combined innings over three levels of the Cardinals’ farm system this year before injuries again put his career on hold.