Mets, Cristian Pache Agree To Minor League Deal
The Mets have agreed to a minor league contract with outfielder Cristian Pache, reports Pat Ragazzo of Mets On SI. He’ll be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee next spring. Pache is represented by the MVP Sports Group.
Pache, 27, was once considered one of the sport’s top outfield prospects during his earlier days in the division-rival Braves organization. He’s long been touted as a plus-plus defender in center field — a rangy outfielder with good speed and solid raw power but a shaky hit tool that didn’t allow him to get to that pop often enough.
That lack of hit tool has indeed held Pache back. Atlanta traded him to the Athletics as one of four players in return for first baseman Matt Olson, and he’s since bounced to the Phillies, Orioles and Marlins organizations. Pache hasn’t hit in the majors during any of his stops. He’s taken 610 plate appearances at the MLB level and carries just a .181/.243/.275 batting line with a troublesome 30.8% strikeout rate. He has indeed strong defensive grades, but Pache hasn’t hit enough to even profile as a viable fourth outfielder in the majors.
Pache’s numbers in the upper minors have been better but are still lackluster, particularly considering how hitter-friendly most of the environments in which he’s played have been. In parts of five Triple-A seasons, Pache carries a .257/.332/.397 batting line. He spent the 2025 season with the D-backs’ top affiliate in Reno, hitting .251/.351/.389 in 288 plate appearances. That looks decent on the surface, but in that exorbitantly hitter-friendly setting, it’s actually about 20% worse than league-average production, by measure of wRC+.
In many ways, Pache is an even more extreme version of Tyrone Taylor, who’s already on the Mets’ big league roster. Both are right-handed hitting center fielders with questionable bats and strong gloves, but while Pache is the better defender of the two, his bat is even lighter than that of Taylor (who hit .223/.279/.319 with the Mets in 2025).
Pache is out of minor league options, so if he’s added to the big league roster at any point, he’d need to stick or else be designated for assignment and passed through waivers. He gives the Mets some versatile outfield depth, but there are enough offensive question marks surrounding him that he profiles mainly as glove-first insurance in the event of multiple injuries at the big league level.
Rangers Sign Anthony Veneziano To Minor League Deal
The Rangers have signed left-hander Anthony Veneziano to a minor league deal, MLBTR has learned. The KHG Sports Management client also receives an invite to big league camp in spring training.
Veneziano, 28, has pitched for the Royals, Marlins and Cardinals over the past three big league seasons. He briefly crossed paths with Rangers manager Skip Schumaker, as Veneziano came to the Marlins via a waiver claim in September of 2024, when Schumaker was still the skipper in Miami. Veneziano has thrown 40 2/3 innings in the majors, allowing 3.98 earned runs per nine. He has averaged 93 to 95 miles per hour with his four-seamer but has thrown his slider more often while also mixing in a changeup. In 2025, he added a sinker to his arsenal in the big leagues.
That sinker seems to have helped him keep the ball on the ground. He tossed 25 innings this year, split between the Fish and the Cards, with a 4.68 ERA. He had just a 30.6% ground ball rate coming into 2025 but got grounders on 49.4% of balls in play this year, notably above the 41.8% league average. His 21.4% strikeout rate and 9.4% wak rate were both worse than league average but by less than 1% in both cases.
The Cardinals claimed Veneziano off waivers from the Marlins in August but then outrighted him off the 40-man in November. He was able to elect free agency, which allowed the Rangers to add him on this pact.
The southpaw came up as a starter but has primarily been working out of the bullpen in recent years. The 2025 Rangers built out their bullpen by signing a number of veterans to one-year deals. That worked fairly well but it meant that almost the entire relief group hit free agency last month. Phil Maton, Shawn Armstrong, Hoby Milner, Danny Coulombe and Chris Martin all hit the open market at season’s end. Texas also non-tendered Jacob Webb and Josh Sborz shortly thereafter.
Jacob Latz might get a chance at a rotation job next year, which means Robert Garcia is the top lefty in the bullpen. The Rangers added Tyler Alexander last week. If Veneziano can earn a 40-man spot, he still has an option, meaning he could be sent to Triple-A and back throughout the year. He also has less than a year of service time, meaning he could be cheaply retained for the foreseeable future if he can hold a roster spot through the upcoming season.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Diamondbacks Sign Isaiah Campbell To Minor League Deal
The Diamondbacks have signed right-hander Isaiah Campbell to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The ACES client has been assigned to the Triple-A Reno Aces but will presumably receive an invite to big league camp in spring training.
Campbell, 28, has appeared in each of the past three big league seasons. Suiting up for the Mariners and Red Sox, the righty has thrown 43 innings in the majors, allowing 5.65 earned runs per nine. His 21.9% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate are close to average while his 47.7% grounder rate is a few ticks better than par. His .341 batting average on balls in play and 66.6% strand rate are both to the unfortunate side, so metrics like his 4.34 FIP and 3.89 SIERA are a bit more optimistic than his ERA.
Only 7 2/3 of those innings came in 2025, as he spent most of the season with Triple-A Worcester. He logged 57 2/3 at that level this year with a 3.90 ERA. His 18.1% strikeout was a bit on the low side but he got grounders on 50.5% of balls in play. He averages in the mid-90s with his four-seamer and sinker but throws his slider more than half the time. He added a curveball in 2025 and mixed that in sporadically.
Campbell exhausted his final option season this year and will be out of options going forward, which will make it harder for him to hold a roster spot. The Sox outrighted him off their 40-man in October and he was able to elect free agency.
The bullpen was a big problem for the Snakes in 2025. They had planned for A.J. Puk and Justin Martínez but both were felled by UCL surgeries and other guys dealt with injury problems as well. Their relief corps had a collective 4.82 ERA this past season, which was better than just the Angels, Rockies and Nationals.
They will surely make some more moves to upgrade their bullpen before Opening Day but Campbell gives them some extra non-roster depth for now. He has just over a year of MLB service time. If he can earn a roster spot and hold it, he can be cheaply retained beyond the 2026 season.
Photo courtesy of Bob DeChiara, Imagn Images
Mets Sign Daniel Duarte To Minor League Contract
The Mets signed right-hander Daniel Duarte to a minor league deal, as first noted on Duarte’s MLB.com profile page earlier this week. Duarte spent the 2025 season on a minors contract with the Twins but didn’t pitch while recovering from a May 2024 UCL revision surgery.
A veteran of three MLB seasons, the bulk of Duarte’s 38 1/3 career innings came as a member of the Reds bullpen in 2023, when he tossed 31 2/3 frames across 31 games. Duarte has a respectable 3.99 ERA across his limited time in the Show, though with only a 17% strikeout rate and a troublingly comparable 14.5% walk rate. An extreme groundball pitcher early in his minor league career, Duarte still has a 47.3% grounder rate in the majors, but batters have capitalized when they’ve been able to get the ball in the air — Duarte has given up seven homers across his 38 1/3 career innings.
It remains to be seen how Duarte will look after such a long absence, though his return to the mound in Mexican winter league play this offseason has resulted in 19 2/3 scoreless innings. A 5.71 BB% and 21.43% strikeout rate are further steps in the right direction.
New York was impressed enough to extend a contract to the 29-year-old, and Duarte will get a chance to show the team his progress first-hand during Spring Training. There’s no risk for the Mets in bringing Duarte and several other pitchers to camp on minors deals, and there figures to be plenty of opportunity given how the Mets so often cycle relievers up and down between Triple-A and the active roster. Duarte has a minor league option year remaining, so this gives up some advantage over out-of-options players in the competition for roster spots.
White Sox Sign Oliver Dunn, Tim Elko To Minor League Deals
The White Sox have signed infielders Oliver Dunn and Tim Elko to minor league contracts (SoxMachine’s James Fegan was among the beat writers to report the news.) Dunn’s deal contains an invitation to Chicago’s big league Spring Training camp, though Elko will presumably miss camp due to his ongoing recovery from ACL surgery in October.
Elko was a 10th-round pick for the White Sox in the 2022 draft, and he’ll continue his career with the organization after being non-tendered in November. That move cleared a space on Chicago’s 40-man roster, and it is fair to guess that the two sides probably had a handshake deal to bring Elko back in relatively short order. Elko’s surgery came with an eight-month recovery timeline, so he won’t be a factor for a potential return to the 26-man roster until at least July.
The torn right ACL was a sour end to Elko’s first big league season, as he made his debut in May. Elko hit only .134/.194/.328 in 72 plate appearances over 23 games, while also spending four weeks on the injured list due to a right knee sprain that now seems like a precursor to his ACL problems. The White Sox are expected to do something to address their first base position, but if they more or less stand pat, it could give Elko some more opportunity to see what he can do against MLB competition when he’s healthy.
Dunn’s MLB resume consists of 55 games with the Brewers over the last two seasons, and only a .206/.261/.290 slash line to show for 145 PA. A large portion of Dunn’s 2024 rookie season was spent on the injured list due to a back injury, but while Dunn was still in the mix for regular infield duty with Milwaukee going into this season, his lack of offense made him an afterthought. The Brewers designated Dunn for assignment and outrighted him off their 40-man roster in September, and Dunn elected minor league free agency at season’s end.
The 28-year-old Dunn has mostly played at second and third base during his pro career, but he has a handful of appearances as a left fielder, shortstop, and a couple of cameos at first base. The White Sox will see what Dunn can do in competing for a bench job this spring, and he could be retained as minor league depth even if he doesn’t break camp.
Brewers Trade Isaac Collins To Royals For Angel Zerpa
December 14: Both teams have officially announced the trade.
December 13: The Brewers are sending outfielder Isaac Collins and right-hander Nick Mears to the Royals, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Left-hander Angel Zerpa is heading to Milwaukee in the swap, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN.
Kansas City entered the offseason with a plan to add outfielders. The club made good on those intentions this week. After signing Lane Thomas on Friday, the Royals now add the switch-hitting Collins to the outfield mix. The cost is a controllable lefty reliever, though they get a bullpen piece back in return. Milwaukee clears some of its outfield glut while adding a hard-throwing reliever who is just now hitting arbitration.
The 28-year-old Collins went from relative obscurity to an integral part of Milwaukee’s offense last season. He made the team out of Spring Training and emerged as the club’s primary left fielder. Collins delivered a 122 wRC+ across 130 games. He finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting, just behind teammate Caleb Durbin.
The Brewers were reportedly looking to move some of their outfield depth, with Collins and Blake Perkins mentioned as potential candidates. Jackson Chourio and Sal Frelick are entrenched as everyday options, with Christian Yelich factoring in when he isn’t DHing. Collins, Perkins, Garrett Mitchell, and Brandon Lockridge were in the mix behind that trio. Milwaukee also added Akil Baddoo on a split deal.
Zerpa popped up in trade discussions last offseason, but ultimately remained in Kansas City. He reached 60 appearances for the second straight season, posting a 4.18 ERA over 64 2/3 innings. Zerpa pushed his solid ground ball rate to league-leading levels in 2025. He’d always been more of a grounder-getter than a strikeout guy, but his 63.7% ground ball rate ranked in the 99th percentile last season.
The 26-year-old Zerpa’s 3.97 career ERA doesn’t jump off the page, though his underlying numbers paint a better picture. The lefty posted a career-best 3.38 SIERA in 2025, bringing his career mark down to 3.67. He had a solid 3.50 xFIP this past year. Zerpa has recorded a BABIP above .320 in back-to-back seasons. His ground ball approach can lead to some batted ball variance, but that number could regress in future seasons.
Mears came to Milwaukee in a trade from Colorado in July 2024. He struggled mightily in his first partial season with the team, but provided solid results as a middle relief option in 2025. Mears faltered down the stretch, allowing five earned runs in five September appearances. He also missed time with back tightness that month. Mears tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings in the NLDS but was left off the NLCS roster.
Kansas City has been linked to several outfielders in the trade market, including Teoscar Hernandez, Jake Meyers, and Brendan Donovan. They were connected to Jarren Duran earlier today. Harrison Bader and Austin Hays have been mentioned as free agent possibilities for the Royals. They entered the offseason with an unproven group of Jac Caglianone, Kyle Isbel, and John Rave in the outfield, with Tyler Tolbert and Dairon Blanco as bench options.
Thomas and Collins aren’t Duran-level additions, but they’re improvements on the in-house choices. The former Brewer should help in particular against right-handed pitching. Collins slashed .280/.390/.415 over 295 plate appearances from the left side. He showed some power as a righty, but hit just .232 with a pedestrian .324 OBP. Thomas will likely grab playing time against lefty starters.
Zerpa is an intriguing fit in what projects to be a lefty-heavy bullpen. Milwaukee already has Jared Koenig and Aaron Ashby locked into leverage roles, with Rob Zastryzny in a middle relief gig and DL Hall as the long guy. Trevor Megill and Abner Uribe should soak up the majority of the save opportunities, with Koenig as the situational closer if multiple lefties are coming up. Zerpa might need one or two of those relievers to get dealt to factor into a late-inning job.
Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images
Orioles Outright Ryan Noda
The Orioles announced earlier this week that first baseman Ryan Noda has cleared outright waivers. Noda was designated for assignment by the Orioles last week.
Noda, 30 in March, was plucked from the Dodgers’ system by the Athletics in the 2022 Rule 5 draft. His rookie campaign in 2023 was a strong one, as he slashed .229/.364/.406 (122 wRC+) with a 15.6% walk rate and 39 extra-base hits in 128 games. With that being said, a 34.3% strikeout rate did not exactly bode well for Noda’s long-term ability to stick in the majors, especially given his relative lack of power. While his production was far above league average, it’s worth remembering that he required a massive .347 BABIP to garner those results.
All of those red flags have proved to be accurate in the years since. Noda had appeared in just 59 MLB games over the past two seasons with the A’s, Orioles, and White Sox. In that time, he’s hit a paltry .127/.262/.197. While his 14.7% walk rate in those games remains excellent, his 36.5% strikeout rate borders on completely unplayable and crosses over that line thanks to the complete lack of power Noda has offered. While Noda’s .205 BABIP in that time would surely tick up if given a full season of playing time, he’s unlikely to reach those unsustainable peaks he flashed in 2023 any time soon. His barrel rate dropped from 13.0% in his rookie season to just 6.1% the past two years, and his Hard-Hit rate also dropped more than ten points.
Overall, it’s a profile that’s become difficult to see succeeding in the majors. That’s becoming increasingly apparent as Noda has even struggled to hit at the Triple-A level in recent years, with a .188/.409/.361 slash line in 74 games between the Orioles, White Sox, Red Sox, and Angels organizations. Given his fall from grace even at the Triple-A level, it’s not necessarily a shock that Noda cleared waivers. Even so, his knack for drawing walks could make him a potentially valuable depth piece for the Orioles headed into next season. If the journeyman can manage to make a little more contact or get a little more power out of his swing, that disciplined approach at the plate provides a floor that could be built upon in a big way, as 2023 showed.
Now that he’s been outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk, he’ll spend the 2026 season with the Orioles as a non-roster depth piece. After signing Pete Alonso last week to join players like Coby Mayo, Ryan Mountcastle, and even Samuel Basallo in the first base mix, Noda’s path to playing time at the big league level seems slim. With that said, injuries are always a risk, and it’s entirely possible one or both of Mayo and Mountcastle find themselves playing elsewhere by Opening Day in order to mroe fully clear the deck for Alonso’s arrival.
Twins Release Carson McCusker To Pursue Opportunity In Asia
Dec 13: McCusker has signed a one-year contract with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, per Francys Romero of Beisbol FR.
Dec 10: The Twins have placed outfielder Carson McCusker on unconditional release waivers, per Dan Hayes of The Athletic. McCusker is expected to play in Asia next year, though no details have been provided about the specific country or team he is headed to. For the Twins, their 40-man roster count drops to 39, just hours before the Rule 5 draft. That means they could now be in position to make a selection in that draft.
McCusker, 28 in May, was a bit of a feel-good story for the Twins in 2025. He went undrafted out of college and wound up in indy ball in 2021 and 2022. The Twins then signed him and he worked his way up the ladder to the majors. He was sent up to the plate 30 times over 16 appearances. His .172/.200/.172 line was not impressive in that small sample but he was surely delighted just to make it to the show after not even being in affiliated ball a few years prior.
His minor league track record is greater in quantity and quality. From 2023 to 2025, he stepped to the plate 1,146 times across various levels of the farm. His 32.1% strikeout was quite high but he hit 55 home runs and slashed .265/.335/.494 for a wRC+ of 119.
If McCusker had stayed in with the Twins, he likely would have spent the majority of 2026 in the minors. Minnesota’s outfield mix currently consists of Byron Buxton, Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner, James Outman, Alan Roden, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Gabriel Gonzalez, Hendry Mendez as well as infield/outfield types like Austin Martin, Kody Clemens and Ryan Kreidler. Prospect Walker Jenkins isn’t on the 40-man yet but has reached Triple-A and should be in the mix soon.
By heading overseas, he will presumably lock in a bigger guarantee and a more regular opportunity to showcase his abilities. If he succeeds in this new venture, he could parlay that into a return to North America or further opportunities in other leagues.
Photo courtesy of Matt Krohn, Imagn Images
Royals Sign Kevin Newman, Jose Cuas To Minor League Deals
The Royals announced the signing of infielder Kevin Newman and reliever Jose Cuas to minor league contracts. The team only officially announced a non-roster invite to Spring Training for Newman.
Newman, 32, was a regular shortstop for the Pirates early in his career. He has played on different teams in each of the past four seasons, settling in as a light-hitting utility player. Newman batted .278 over 111 games with the Diamondbacks in 2024. That earned him a major league contract from the Angels last offseason, but he mustered only a .202/.209/.272 showing over 116 trips to the plate. The Halos designated him for assignment when they took a flier on former top prospect Oswald Peraza at the trade deadline.
The right-handed hitting Newman finished the season in Triple-A with the Tigers. He hit .296 with a .377 on-base percentage over 15 games but didn’t get an MLB look with Detroit. Newman puts the ball in play but rarely with any authority. He doesn’t walk very often and grades as a slightly below-average defender around the infield. He’ll try to win a bench spot in Spring Training behind Jonathan India, Bobby Witt Jr. and the newly-extended Maikel Garcia.
Cuas returns to Kansas City, where he first reached the majors in 2022. The righty turned in a 3.58 ERA across 37 2/3 innings as a rookie. An early-season spike in strikeout rate the following year caught the attention of the Cubs. The Royals dealt him to Chicago in a swap for young outfielder Nelson Velazquez. It didn’t work for either team, as both players struggled in their new environment. The Cubs waived Cuas less than a year after the trade, and he spent the 2025 season in the minors. He divided his time between the Phillies’ top affiliate and Atlanta’s Double-A club, posting a combined 5.20 ERA over 27 2/3 innings.
Phillies To Sign Bryse Wilson
The Phillies have a deal in place with right-hander Bryse Wilson, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. It’s unclear if it’s a major league or minor league pact for the Pro Edge Sports Management client. The Phils have multiple 40-man vacancies, so they won’t need to make a corresponding move even if this is a big league deal.
Wilson, 28 in December, has worked both as a starter and a reliever in his career. He has appeared in 163 games over the past eight big league seasons, 57 of those being starts, having suited up for Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and the White Sox. He has logged 461 innings over those eight seasons, allowing 4.82 earned runs per nine. His 16.6% strikeout rate is quite low but he has limited walks to a 7.5% clip.
He’s coming off a rough season. He signed a one-year, $1.05MM deal with the White Sox. He had just been cut loose by the Brewers and presumably hoped that signing with a rebuilding club would give him a path to carving out a nice role and showcasing his abilities. Instead, he posted a 6.65 ERA over 47 1/3 innings. He was passed through waivers unclaimed twice during the year. While in the minors, he posted better numbers. He tossed 48 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.25 ERA, 20.5% strikeout rate, 5.5% walk rate and 53.8% ground ball rate.
It’s possible the Phils want Wilson to serve in a swing role, logging multiple innings out of the bullpen with the occasional spot start. They signed Spencer Turnbull for a role like this in 2024 and Joe Ross in 2025.
As of this moment, the Phillies have a rotation that consists of Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, Aaron Nola and Taijuan Walker. It’s possible that Wheeler begins 2026 on the injured list while he recovers from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. While he’s out, prospect Andrew Painter could take a rotation job but Painter had a 5.40 ERA in Triple-A last year and still hasn’t made his major league debut.
It’s possible that the Phils get to the end of spring training and decide Painter needs more time in Triple-A. If Wheeler or anyone else needs some time on the injured list, then they would need someone else to step up. Wilson could potentially take a rotation spot and then bump into long relief when Painter forces his way in or Wheeler or whoever else gets healthy.
Wilson is out of options, meaning he can’t be sent to the minors easily. However, he has less than five years of big league service time. That means that, if he has a 40-man roster spot at the end of the year, the Phils could decide to retain him beyond 2026 via arbitration.
Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images