Tigers Sign Kenley Jansen
December 17th: The Tigers officially announced Jansen’s signing today. It’s a $9MM salary with a $2MM buyout on a $12MM club option for 2027.
December 13th: The Tigers have agreed to a one-year contract with veteran closer Kenley Jansen, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. The deal pays Jansen $11MM, as per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, and The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen adds that the contract contains a club option on Jansen’s services for the 2027 season. Earlier today, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reported that the two sides were “deep in talks” and heading towards the final stages of a deal. Jansen is represented by the Wasserman Agency.
Will Vest is coming off a strong season as Detroit’s primary saves candidate, but Vest will now move back into a high-leverage setup role to accommodate one of baseball’s most experienced closers. Jansen has 476 career saves, and is just three saves away from passing Lee Smith for third place on the all-time list. It certainly seems possible that Jansen can reach the 500-save plateau this season, though catching Trevor Hoffman (601 saves) for the second-highest total in history doesn’t seem possible unless Jansen reaches his goal of pitching until at least through the 2029 season.
For now, however, the 38-year-old Jansen has a one-year commitment from Detroit, with the 2027 option representing a possible continuation into the right-hander’s age-39 campaign. The Tigers entered the offseason looking to reinforce their bullpen, and the team has signed Jansen and re-signed Kyle Finnegan just within the last week. Jansen’s deal probably takes the Tigers out of the running for another target in former Rays closer Pete Fairbanks.
Even after 16 Major League seasons, Jansen still has some gas in the tank, as evidenced by his 2.59 ERA over 59 innings with the Angels in 2025. However, his secondary metrics left something to be desired, as Jansen’s 24.4% strikeout rate and 44.6% hard-hit ball rate were both easily the worst of his career. A .195 BABIP and 85.2% strand rate helped Jansen’s bottom-line numbers remain in check, though his 3.94 SIERA was much higher than his actual ERA.
Jansen did post better numbers as the 2025 season went on, and the Tigers themselves were responsible for a big chunk of the damage on the righty’s ERA. (Of the 17 earned runs charged to Jansen in 2025, Detroit scored six of them in an ugly meltdown for Jansen back on May 2 in a 9-1 Tigers win over the Angels.) The stronger finish to the season provides some hope that Jansen can more fully get on track next year, and he might also be energized by again pitching for a contender after a year with the struggling Halos.
For a team that has thrived on “bullpen chaos” over the last couple of seasons, the Tigers will now move in a different direction by installing a true closer in place for the ninth inning. If Jansen can come close to his 2025 production, that’s a nice plus for the team, as Vest’s move to a set-up role will strengthen things all the way down the depth chart.
More bullpen moves may still be coming, as between Finnegan and Jansen’s 2025 numbers, the Tigers still haven’t solved their primary goal of adding more punchout power to their bullpen. Detroit had the second-lowest bullpen strikeout rate (20.1%) of any team in baseball in 2025, ahead of only the lowly Rockies.
Cubs To Re-Sign Caleb Thielbar
Dec. 17: Thielbar is guaranteed $4.5MM on the contract, reports Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. That breaks down as a $4MM salary and a $500K buyout on a 2027 mutual option. There are also incentives in the deal that can boost his 2026 earnings.
Dec. 16: The Cubs are re-signing veteran left-handed reliever Caleb Thielbar, per Jesse Rogers and Jeff Passan of ESPN. The agreement between the two parties is still pending the completion of a physical. Thielbar is represented by ISE Baseball.
Thielbar, 39 in January, spent his entire big league career prior to the 2025 season with his hometown Twins. He signed a one-year, $2.75MM contract coming off a down showing in his final year with Minnesota and bounced back in a major way with Chicago.
In 58 innings this past season, the South Dakota State product notched a sharp 2.64 earned run average and 25 holds — the latter tying him with Brad Keller (also a free agent this winter) for the team lead. Thielbar struck out 25.5% of his opponents, limited walks at an excellent 5.9% clip, and kept 40.7% of the batted balls against him on the ground (a career-high mark). He tacked on another 3 2/3 scoreless frames in the postseason.
While he doesn’t throw particularly hard (92.8 mph average fastball in ’25), Thielbar still managed to post a roughly average swinging-strike rate and an above-average strikeout rate thanks to dominant performances from his curveball and slider alike. Opponents hit just .135 and slugged .231 against the former while batting .169 and slugging .254 versus the latter. Thielbar dominated left-handed hitters (.161/.211/.276) and right-handed hitters (.205/.248/.342) alike during his lone season with the Cubs.
Thielbar is the third free-agent addition to the Cubs’ bullpen this winter, joining fellow southpaw Hoby Milner (one year, $3.75MM) and right-hander Phil Maton (two years, $14.5MM). Thielbar and Milner give manager Craig Counsell a pair of experienced southpaws, both of whom he’s previously managed, and create the potential for a trio of southpaws, should Luke Little also make the club. Thielbar, Milner and Maton will combine to help bridge the gap between the rotation and young closer Daniel Palencia.
There’s still room for Chicago to make further additions to the bullpen, which has at least three spots earmarked for relatively untested arms. Each of their bullpen pickups thus far has also been relatively low-cost in nature, leaving room for a significant addition elsewhere on the roster. The Cubs have been at least loosely tied to top free agents like Ranger Suarez, Tatsuya Imai, Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suarez, among others.
Marlins Re-Sign Brian Navarreto To Minor League Deal
The Marlins brought back catcher Brian Navarreto on a minor league contract, reports Kevin Barral of Fish On First. He had elected minor league free agency after being outrighted off the 40-man roster at the beginning of the offseason.
Navarreto, 31 later this month, is an organizational depth type. He made a two-game big league debut in the shortened season when the Marlins were dealing with a virus outbreak. He got back to the highest level five years later, this time as a September call-up. The Puerto Rico native picked up four hits, including a home run, in eight games while spending the final month of the season on the active roster.
A right-handed hitter, Navarreto owns a .234/.301/.369 batting line over parts of five Triple-A seasons. He has appeared in the Minnesota, Yankees, and Milwaukee systems in addition to his time with Miami. He’s very likely headed back to Triple-A Jacksonville. Navarreto can work behind prospect Joe Mack at the top minor league level.
Mack figures to earn a call-up relatively early next year, which might open some playing time for Navarreto in Triple-A. He’s also an option to compete for the backup job if either Liam Hicks or Agustin Ramirez suffers an injury in Spring Training, assuming the Fish want to keep Mack in the minors to open the year.
Angels Sign Drew Pomeranz
The Angels announced the signing of lefty reliever Drew Pomeranz to a one-year deal. It’s reportedly a $4MM guarantee for the CAA client. The Angels had five openings on the 40-man roster and are now up to 37 between this and their signing of right-hander Jordan Romano.
Pomeranz earned a big league deal after a comeback season with the Cubs. The 37-year-old southpaw had not appeared in an MLB game between 2022-24, as a brief stint on the Giants MLB roster in ’24 didn’t result in any game action. He began this past season on a minor league contract with the Mariners. Pomeranz posted big strikeout numbers against Triple-A opposition to convince the Cubs to add him to the MLB bullpen. He exercised an upward mobility clause in his contract to head to Chicago in mid-April.
It worked out quite nicely. Pomeranz tossed 49 2/3 innings of 2.17 ERA ball across 57 appearances. That included a remarkable stretch to begin the season, as he didn’t allow a single earned run in his first 26 outings. He hit a rough patch in July but rebounded with a 2.21 mark in 20 1/3 innings from the beginning of August through season’s end. Pomeranz fanned 28.1% of opposing hitters against a 7.4% walk percentage. While the Cubs didn’t use him in a ton of high-leverage situations, he recorded 14 holds while giving up the lead just twice.
Pomeranz leaned very heavily on his four-seam fastball. He threw the pitch three quarters of the time to right-handers and at an 84% clip against southpaws. It’s not going to blow hitters away on speed alone. His 92.7 MPH average velocity is middling. Pomeranz ranked near the top of the league in fastball spin, which allowed the pitch to play above its velocity at the top of the strike zone. That could put him in danger of home run issues, but it also led to a lot of harmless fly balls and a decent swinging strike rate. His only secondary pitch is an 83-84 MPH knuckle-curve that played more as a ground-ball offering.
The Angels need to do a lot of heavy lifting in the bullpen. Closer Kenley Jansen is headed to Detroit on an $11MM deal. They’re moving Reid Detmers back to the rotation, taking their top setup man out of the mix. Pomeranz pairs with Brock Burke to give rookie manager Kurt Suzuki a couple solid options from the left side. Burke has had neutral platoon numbers over the course of his career. Pomeranz doesn’t need to be in a specialist role but is probably the superior option against teams’ best left-handed bats. He held southpaws to a .176/.238/.203 line with a massive 35% strikeout rate in 80 plate appearances this year.
Their right-handed options are weaker even if they finally get a healthy season out of Robert Stephenson. They should continue to look for leverage arms from the right side. Their agreement with Pomeranz and $2MM rebound flier on Romano push their projected payroll to $172MM, according to RosterResource. They carried a $193MM payroll to begin the 2025 season. There’s a decent amount of space but a lot of work to be done. The Angels need another starter, at least one multi-positional infielder, and a center fielder. That’s on top of whatever moves are yet to come in the bullpen.
Pomeranz is the third free agent lefty reliever to come off the board today. Now former teammate Caleb Thielbar is headed back to the Cubs, while Caleb Ferguson agreed to terms with the Reds. Sean Newcomb, Danny Coulombe, Justin Wilson and Taylor Rogers are among those who remain unsigned.
Ari Alexander of Boston 7 News first reported that Pomeranz and the Angels had a one-year deal. Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register was first on the $4MM guarantee. Image courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images.
Angels Sign Jordan Romano
The Angels announced the signing of veteran reliever Jordan Romano to a one-year contract. It’s reportedly a $2MM guarantee for the VC Sports Group client. The Angels had five openings on the 40-man roster and are now up to 37 between this and their signing of left-hander Drew Pomeranz.
It’s a reclamation flier on a former All-Star closer. The Canadian-born Romano recorded consecutive 36-save seasons for the Blue Jays in 2022 and ’23. He went to the Midsummer Classic in both years and had a sub-3.00 earned run average each season between 2021-23. Things have gone completely off the rails over the past two seasons. Romano allowed a 6.59 ERA in 15 appearances before undergoing arthroscopic elbow surgery in 2024. The Jays non-tendered him heading into his final year of arbitration.
That worked out well for him from a financial perspective. Romano had been projected for a $7.75MM arbitration salary but found an $8.5MM guarantee from the Phillies in free agency. Philadelphia was not able to get him back on track, as he surrendered an even uglier 8.23 ERA across 42 2/3 frames. He was one of three pitchers to get to 40+ innings while allowing at least eight earned runs per nine innings. Romano’s season ended in August when he was diagnosed with a middle finger injury on his throwing hand as well as stiffness in his neck.
It’s surprising to see Romano command a major league contract at all, though the $2MM salary won’t make a huge dent on the Angels’ books. Romano still has a 95-96 MPH fastball and a promising mid-80s slider. He struck out a quarter of opponents behind a solid 11.8% swinging strike rate for the Phillies. There’s still some promise in his raw stuff, but he’ll need to avoid the injuries and home run barrages that have tanked his past couple seasons.
Tonight’s signings push the Angels’ projected payroll to $172MM, according to RosterResource. They carried a $193MM payroll to begin the 2025 season. Romano should start the year in low-leverage relief, leaving the club in need of a true right-handed setup man. They’re hoping for a healthy season from Robert Stephenson, who is the favorite to replace Kenley Jansen as closer. Ben Joyce is a question mark after undergoing shoulder surgery in May. Ryan Zeferjahn, José Fermin, Chase Silseth, Sam Bachman and Cody Laweryson are among their other right-handed options. It’s a clear area of need — alongside starting pitching, an infielder, and center field — for the remainder of the offseason.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan was first on the signing and terms. Image courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images.
Rangers Sign Alexis Diaz
December 16: Texas officially announced the signing of Díaz to a one-year contract. He only has three-plus years of MLB service time and will be eligible for arbitration through the 2028 campaign. This brings their 40-man roster count to 38, not including their yet to be finalized signing to bring back Chris Martin.
December 12: The Rangers are in agreement with reliever Alexis Díaz on a one-year deal, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News first suggested that the sides were closing in on a deal, and has suggested the contract will be on the cheaper side.
With Phil Maton, Chris Martin, Jacob Webb, Hoby Milner, and Danny Coulombe all reaching free agency after the season, Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young has to assemble a new bullpen once again. He made a pair of relief additions within minutes of each other Friday night with the signings of Diaz and Tyler Alexander.
Diaz, 29, was a 12th round pick of the Reds out of a Puerto Rico high school a decade ago. He skipped Triple-A to make the Reds’ Opening Day roster in 2022, making good on the promotion by posting a 1.84 ERA and earning a fifth place Rookie of the Year finish despite a bout with biceps tendinitis. With a strong start to the 2023 season, Diaz earned an All-Star nod. He finished third in the NL with 37 saves that year. Diaz punched out 31.2% of batters faced during his first two seasons, 14th in baseball among relievers with at least 100 innings. However, he also had the fourth-worst walk rate in that group at 12.8%.
Diaz was able to save another 28 games with a 3.99 ERA for the Reds in 2024, but his strikeout rate plummeted to 22.7% with the walks remaining a problem. On the strength of his saves totals and early success, he landed a $4.5MM salary for 2025 as he entered the arbitration system.
The righty started 2025 on the IL with a hamstring injury, and things only went downhill from there. Diaz was still under consideration for the Reds’ closing job when he made his mid-April season debut, but after a disastrous three-homer outing against the Cardinals on April 30th, he was sent back to Triple-A.
Diaz’s control issues continued at Triple-A, and by the end of May the Reds sent him to the Dodgers in a trade for minor league pitcher Mike Villani. Diaz served in a low-leverage, up-and-down capacity for the Dodgers, who eventually designated him for assignment on September 4th. He then joined the Braves in a waiver claim and made three appearances before being sent down. Diaz elected free agency in early October.
Diaz’s nine-game stint with the Dodgers was easy to forget, but it ending up playing a role in the club signing his older brother Edwin a few days ago to a three-year, $69MM deal. According to Edwin, “He told me the Dodgers are a really good organization. He made it easy for me.”
Alexis may be on the opposite end of the relief salary spectrum as compared to his older brother, but Chris Young had success last winter with bargain-basement relievers. He let Kirby Yates and David Robertson depart for greener pastures, signing Armstrong, Webb, Milner, Martin, and Luke Jackson to one-year deals topping out with Martin’s $5.5MM. All but Jackson had solid years. Milner and trade deadline pickup Maton signed with the Cubs this offseason. Southpaw Robert Garcia serves as the main holdover.
Mike Maddux departed for the Angels after three years as the Rangers’ pitching coach, leading the club to elevate Jordan Tiegs to the role under new manager Skip Schumaker. According to Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News, “Tiegs, 38, ran the team’s bullpen last season in his first on-field role with the big league club, helped stabilize a group that was largely pieced together the previous winter and drew positive reviews from veteran relievers and organizational higher-ups.”
Tiegs will have his work cut out for him with Diaz. The righty’s average fastball velocity slipped from 95.8 miles per hour as a rookie to 93.6 with his three teams this year, though it plays up with some of the best extension in the game. It’s been two years since Diaz missed bats with a high spin rate fastball and one of the best sliders featured by any reliever. His control is worse than ever. Diaz has been able to dodge longballs until this year, but doesn’t really keep the ball on the ground.
Young’s active Friday evening included the signings of Diaz, Alexander, and catcher Danny Jansen in rapid succession. He previously swapped Marcus Semien for Brandon Nimmo for an OBP boost. With limited payroll flexibility, Young figures to continue adding to the pitching staff.
Mets Sign Jorge Polanco
December 16th: The Mets have now officially announced the Polanco deal.
December 13th: The Mets and free agent infielder Jorge Polanco have agreed to a two-year contract, The Athletic’s Will Sammon reports (multiple links). The deal is worth $40MM, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Polanco is represented by the Octagon Agency.
It’s a big strike for a Mets team that lost Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz to free agency just within the last week, not to mention last month’s trade that sent another longtime Met in Brandon Nimmo to Texas. New York acquired Marcus Semien in the Nimmo deal, and while Polanco also has a long history of playing second base, Passan writes that the Mets will deploy Polanco primarily as a first baseman and DH. Polanco could also potentially chip in at third base, though it looks as it the Mets view Polanco a piece of the puzzle in replacing Alonso at first base.
The 32-year-old Polanco hit .265/.326/.495 with 26 home runs over 524 plate appearances for the Mariners last season, playing a huge role for a Seattle team that won the AL West and fell just short of reaching the World Series. It was a fine bounce-back performance for Polanco after a down year in 2024, which still resulted in a one-year guarantee to return to the Mariners in 2025. That deal paid Polanco $7.75MM in guaranteed money, and he made enough plate appearances to turn an $8MM mutual option for 2026 into a $6MM player option, and Polanco unsurprisingly rejected that player option to re-enter the market after his much improved platform year.
The 132 wRC+ Polanco posted in 2025 was the highest of his career, and he drastically cut back on his strikeouts after seeing his K% balloon in each of the previous four seasons. While Polanco walked less than usual, his 45.8% hard-hit ball rate was a career best. Overall, the advanced metrics suggest that Polanco’s resurgence in 2025 was legitimate, and if anything, his .269 BABIP indicates that he perhaps deserved even better numbers.
One concern within Polanco’s otherwise strong year was that he made 89 appearances as a designated hitter, after amassing only 45 DH days over his 11 previous big league seasons. Polanco sustained an oblique injury early in the 2025 season that wasn’t quite serious enough to merit a trip to the injured list, but the Mariners compensated by using Polanco less frequently in the field, and cut back on the switch-hitter’s usage against left-handed pitching.
While there hasn’t been any concern that Polanco will be similarly limited going forward, the Mets’ plan to use him as a first baseman may also reflect Polanco’s age, his modest defensive numbers as a second or third baseman, and the fact that a stellar fielder like Semien is already in place at the keystone. Throughout his long pro career, Polanco has made exactly one career appearance as a first baseman, and it was just a late-game cameo for a single at-bat in Seattle’s 5-4 loss to the Giants last April 6.
Polanco is an experienced enough infielder that the Mets obviously feel he’ll be able to learn the position in due course. For all of Alonso’s pluses at the plate, he was a poor enough fielder that Polanco will be a defensive upgrade even if he’s just an average first baseman. Because the DH spot is open and because Polanco could also be utilized at third base, this signing also doesn’t necessarily close the door on the Mets’ chances of signing other known targets like Cody Bellinger or even a more first base-specific player like the Cardinals’ Willson Contreras.
Between losing both Alonso and Nimmo, the Mets’ offense has taken a hit by essentially replacing the duo with Polanco and Semien, given how Semien struggled in 2025. Run prevention has been a stated goal for Mets president of operations David Stearns, and upgrading the defense is another way of making the lineup better, even if the team will still need to add some more pop as the offseason develops.
MLB Trade Rumors ranked Polanco 23rd on our list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents, and projected a three-year, $42MM deal for the veteran. Polanco ended up just about matching that dollar figure on a two-year deal, as he opted for the higher average annual value rather than the extra security of the three-plus years he was seeking in his next deal.
The shorter term lines Polanco up for another free agent bid when he’s 34, and some continued production could line him up for another lucrative shorter-term pact. Stearns is known to prefer shorter-term commitments for free agents, so this also aligns with the PBO’s ideal method of roster-building.
The Pirates and Red Sox were known to have interest in Polanco this winter, and the infielder was also drawing a lot of attention from the Mariners about a possible reunion. Adam Jude of the Seattle Times hears from a source that the Mariners’ last offer to Polanco was also a two-year contract, and was “very competitive” price-wise with the Mets’ $40MM offer.
Seattle achieved its top offseason priority of re-signing Josh Naylor, and the team’s plan was then to explore Polanco and Eugenio Suarez as candidates to return. With Polanco now in Queens, the Mariners could turn to Suarez as a DH candidate and part-time third baseman, or explore some other infield options on the free agent or trade fronts. With plenty of internal candidates for third base, the M’s have been primarily looking at second basemen during their infield pursuits this winter.
Inset picture courtesy of Jordan Godfree — Imagn Images
Cubs Sign Hoby Milner
December 16th: The Cubs have officially announced Milner’s signing.
December 11th: The Cubs and left-hander Hoby Milner are reportedly in agreement on a one-year deal. The MVP Sports Group will make $3.75MM plus incentives. The Cubs have multiple 40-man vacancies and don’t need to make a corresponding move.
Milner, 35 in January, is an unusual but effective southpaw. He doesn’t throw very hard, averaging in the high 80s with his fastball and sinker. But he nonetheless manages to get outs with an unorthodox sidewinding delivery, with his arsenal also featuring a slider and a changeup.
Over the past four seasons, Milner has thrown at least 64 innings in each campaign. Put together, he has logged 264 innings in that span, allowing 3.55 earned runs per nine. His 22.6% strikeout rate in that time was close to average while his 5.8% walk rate and 51.1% ground ball rate were both notably better than par. His Statcast data in that span has also been better than league average, with Milner having an 87 mile per hour exit velocity, 5.4% barrel rate and 35.5% hard hit rate. He earned one save and 49 holds over that four-year stretch.
That span did feature a fluky ERA spike, as Milner posted a 4.73 ERA with the Brewers in 2024. The Brewers could have retained him for 2025 via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a $2.7MM salary, but they non-tendered him instead. The Rangers scooped him up with a deal for $2.5MM plus incentives and benefitted from a bounceback, as Milner posted a 3.84 ERA in 2025.
The Cubs have now given him a slight raise in the hopes that he can keep things rolling in 2026. Cubs manager Craig Counsell is plenty familiar with Milner’s abilities, as he was the skipper in Milwaukee when Milner established himself as a viable big league reliever.
Chicago had a decent relief corps in 2025. Their relievers had a collective ERA of 3.78, putting them just outside the top ten of MLB clubs. But at season’s end, Brad Keller, Caleb Thielbar, Drew Pomeranz, Taylor Rogers, Michael Soroka, Aaron Civale and Ryan Brasier all became free agents. The Cubs flipped Andrew Kittredge to the Orioles in the early days of the offseason, getting cash considerations back in return.
The Cubs generally prefer to build their bullpens on the cheap. From 2020 until last month, they didn’t sign any free agent relievers to multi-year deals, part of the reason why they just lost so many arms to free agency. They broke that pattern recently by signing Phil Maton to a two-year deal, but Milner is another low-cost, short-term commitment to the relief group.
The southpaw contingent of the bullpen was particularly lacking before this move, with Thielbar, Pomeranz and Rogers all departing for the open market. That left Luke Little as the top option, despite having just 35 1/3 career innings with an 18.2% walk rate. Milner is now the most experienced lefty in the group, though the Cubs could make further additions before the offseason is through.
This move brings the Cubs to a $184MM payroll and $199MM competitive balance tax figure, according to RosterResource. It’s unclear where the Cubs want the payroll to end up. The base threshold of the CBT is $244MM next year, meaning the Cubs are $45MM away. They went narrowly over the tax line in 2024 but ducked back below in 2025. They are still on the hunt for a big rotation upgrade. They’ve been connected to free agent Alex Bregman. They will presumably be looking for more relievers. How it all plays out will depend on how much dry powder the Cubs have.
Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation was first on the deal. Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic noted it would be for one year. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com had the guarantee. Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Benny Sieu, Imagn Images
Braves To Sign Aaron Schunk To Minor League Deal
The Braves will have infielder Aaron Schunk in camp as a non-roster invitee, reports Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That indicates the CAA Sports client and the club have agreed to a minor league deal.
Schunk, 28, changes organizations for the first time in his career. He was drafted by the Rockies in 2019, selected in the second round, and has been with that club a few weeks ago. With Colorado, he got into 55 big league games over the past two seasons. He stepped to the plate 131 times but struck out in 31.3% of those plate appearances and only drew a walk 3.1% of the time as he put up a tepid .222/.246/.302 line.
His minor league offense has been better but not outstanding. In 1,170 Triple-A plate appearances, he has a .291/.348/.468 line. That looks good at first blush all those trips to the plate took place in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, where that kind of production translates to an 89 wRC+. That indicates he was actually 11% worse than league average. The Rockies outrighted him off the roster in October and he elected free agency.
Defensively, his reputation is pretty strong. He is considered an above average third baseman and has also spent a lot of time at the middle infield spots. The left side of Atlanta’s infield has some uncertainty. Austin Riley has finished the past two seasons on the injured list. He underwent core surgery in August of 2025 and spent the final few weeks of the campaign on the IL. At shortstop, they just signed Ha-Seong Kim to take over there. He returned from shoulder surgery in 2025 but battled other injuries and only got into 48 games.
Atlanta has Mauricio Dubón on the bench to provide backup at those two spots, as well as others. Second baseman Ozzie Albies is also a bit of a question mark after two straight down seasons at the plate. Vidal Bruján and Brett Wisely are also on the roster but both are out of options and could be on the roster bubble. Nacho Alvarez Jr. is on the 40-man but Atlanta would presumably prefer to have him getting regular playing time in the minors.
If Schunk is eventually able to earn a 40-man spot, he still has an option, meaning he could be shuttled to Triple-A and back. He has less than a year of service time, meaning he could also be cheaply retained for years to come if that becomes a consideration.
Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images
Royals Sign Maikel Garcia To Extension
The Royals signed infielder Maikel Garcia to a five-year extension with a club option for a sixth season. The Wasserman client is reportedly guaranteed $57.5MM with an additional $10MM in escalators.
Garcia receives a $1MM signing bonus, half of which will be paid this offseason. He’ll receive the other $500K in January 2027 regardless of whether there’s a work stoppage. Garcia’s salaries are as follows: $4MM in 2026, $7MM in ’27, $10.1MM in ’28, $13.1MM in ’29 and $19.1MM in 2030. He’s guaranteed a $3.2MM buyout on the option, which is valued at $21MM.
He could push his 2030 and ’31 salaries (if the option is exercised) by up to $5MM annually. They’d each jump $4MM if he finishes in the top 10 in MVP twice in the previous seasons. His 2030 salary would climb $1MM if he reached 525 plate appearances in two of the first four seasons of the deal, while the option value would jump by $1MM if he has four seasons of 525+ PAs within the five guaranteed years.
Garcia, who’ll turn 26 in March, had previously been under club control through 2029 but will now be on a guaranteed contract through 2030. Between that 2030 season and the 2031 club option, Kansas City is picking up control over two would-be free-agent seasons. Garcia was arbitration-eligible for the first time this offseason. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $4.8MM salary on the heels of a breakout showing in 2025. As a Super Two player, Garcia would have been arb-eligible four times and thus due three more raises in subsequent seasons.
Though Garcia has been a regular with the Royals for three seasons now, the 2025 campaign was the first in which he provided any real value with the bat. He was a valuable player in 2023-24, but that was primarily due to plus speed (combined 60 steals) and quality defense at multiple infield positions.
The 2025 campaign brought a full-fledged breakout. After batting just .249/.300/.344 in 1141 plate appearances from ’23-’24, Garcia erupted with a .286/.351/.449 showing in a career-high 666 plate appearances. He posted career-best tallies in home runs (16) and doubles (39), tied a career-high with five triples, swiped another 23 bags and notched career-best walk and strikeout rates of 9.3% and 12.6%, respectively.
Garcia continued on as a plus, versatile defender this past season. He spent the bulk of his time at third base but also appeared at second base, shortstop and in center field. Third base has been his most frequent and best position, evidenced both by superlative defensive grades (15 Defensive Runs Saved, 18 Outs Above Average in 1144 innings) and the first of what could very well end up being multiple Gold Glove Awards.
Garcia profiles as the Royals’ long-term option at third base. With shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. also signed long-term, Kansas City should have an outstanding left side of the infield, on both sides of the ball, for the better part of the next half decade. It’s always possible that Garcia slides to a different position somewhere down the road, but the Royals tendered Jonathan India a contract this offseason and plan to deploy him regularly at second base after using him at multiple positions in 2025.
That left-side infield duo of Garcia and Witt will now be the Royals’ only players signed beyond the 2027 season, though right-handers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha can be retained via club options. Kansas City also controls lefty Cole Ragans and first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino — another extension candidate — through the 2028 season. Team captain and franchise icon Salvador Perez is signed through 2027 and seems likely to continue re-signing in Kansas City until he opts to retire. That could increasingly be as a designated hitter, given the emergence of top catching prospect Carter Jensen (with fellow backstop Blake Mitchell not far behind him).
Between his previously projected $4.8MM salary in 2026 and what would have been three arbitration raises, it’s reasonable to think that Garcia’s four arbitration seasons might’ve cost somewhere in the vicinity of $35-40MM. That’s obviously just a rough approximation, but the extension seemingly values the free agent year around $17-22MM, depending on how bullish one is on Garcia’s earning power in free agency. In a best-case scenario, Garcia could have topped $40MM in earnings and hit free agency ahead of his age-30 campaign.
The Royals are clearly buying into him as a perennially productive regular, and if that proves to be the case, they’ll be rewarded handsomely with an extension that could play out like a bargain. For Garcia, this type of contract would’ve been unfathomable just nine months ago. As is the case in any extension scenario, it’s possible he could’ve earned more going year-to-year and reaching free agency at a younger age. However, it’s plenty understandable that a player who signed for under $100K as a 16-year-old back in 2016 and had well below-average offensive output in his first two MLB seasons would jump at the opportunity to lock in a deal that guarantees nearly $60MM and could top $80MM if that option is picked up.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Royals were signing Garcia to a five-year extension with a club option. Anne Rogers of MLB.com had the $57.5MM guarantee with a max value around $85MM. Ronald Blum of The Associated Press had the salary/escalator breakdown.