Mets Sign Michael Tonkin
December 6: Tonkin will earn $1MM, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post. Feinsand adds that Tonkin’s deal is actually a split contract, so the $1MM salary will be prorated over the time Tonkin spends on the big league roster. Tim Britton of The Athletic relays that Tonkin will make $400K in the minors. The Mets also officially announced the deal today.
December 5: The Mets have signed right-hander Michael Tonkin to a Major League contract, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via X).
After posting a 4.43 ERA over 146 1/3 innings with the Twins from 2013-17, Tonkin didn’t play in the majors until resurfacing with the Braves last season. The five-year odyssey saw Tonkin pitch in Japan, the Mexican Leagues, the independent Long Island Ducks, and within the affiliated minors with the Braves, Diamondbacks, and Brewers. That stint with Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate occurred in 2019 when David Stearns was still running the Brewers’ front office, so today’s deal reunites Tonkin with the Mets’ new president of baseball operations.
Tonkin’s return to the big leagues was a success, as he posted a 4.28 ERA over 45 appearances and 80 innings last year. Atlanta often used Tonkin in a multi-inning capacity, giving him a valuable role on a team that often had to figure out how to patch together innings in the wake of multiple rotation injuries. A .241 BABIP did provide some help to Tonkin’s efforts, though his 3.87 SIERA was actually lower than his ERA, and his 7.1% walk rate was well above the league average.
Since Tonkin’s peripherals were otherwise pretty lackluster, that could explain why Atlanta opted to non-tender him, despite a modest $1MM arbitration projection. The Braves were aggressive in moving a lot of arbitration-eligible players who were either obvious non-tenders or only borderline roster candidates for 2024, yet Tonkin didn’t linger in free agency long before catching on with another NL East team.
It would seem like Tonkin’s role in New York will resemble his assignment last year, as he’ll be called on to eat innings for a Mets club that currently has a lot of question marks on the pitching staff. The Mets signed Luis Severino and have been rumored to be pursuing some big-name talent on the free agent market, yet for now there isn’t much certainty in the rotation beyond Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana. The return of Edwin Diaz will fill the biggest hole in the Amazins’ bullpen, yet Tonkin will add a necessary long relief option to the mix. Tonkin joins Austin Adams (who signed a split contact) and minor league signings Cole Sulser, Andre Scrubb, and Kyle Crick as relief signings for the Mets over the last few weeks.
Astros Acquire Dylan Coleman From Royals
12:19pm: The Royals announced that they’ve acquired minor league right-hander Carlos Mateo from the Astros in exchange for Coleman.
The 19-year-old Mateo (20 later this month) has pitched in parts of two seasons with Houston’s affiliate in the Dominican Summer League. He’s worked primarily out of the bullpen, pitching a total of 36 innings with a 3.25 ERA, 29.8% strikeout rate and 11.3% walk rate during that time. Mateo was not ranked among Houston’s top prospects and figures to report to the low levels of Kansas City’s system for the 2024 campaign.
12:10pm: The Royals are trading right-hander Dylan Coleman to the Astros, per a report from Anne Rogers and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. As pointed out by Rogers, this opens a spot on Kansas City’s 40-man roster ahead of this afternoon’s Rule 5 draft. It’s unknown what they are receiving in return but it could be a cash deal.
Coleman, 27, has been on the Royals’ roster since September of 2021, serving as an optionable depth arm in that time. He has 92 2/3 innings of major league experience to this point with an earned run average of 3.88. His 24.1% strikeout rate in that time is above average but he has also walked 13.9% of batters faced. Control was a particular problem in 2023, as he gave free passes to 19.8% of hitters in the majors and 21.8% in Triple-A.
Despite the command issues, there are reasons for the Astros to be intrigued. For one thing, Coleman still has a couple of options, meaning he won’t require an active roster spot in the short term if the control remains an issue. He also has just over a year of service time, meaning he can be a long-term piece for the club if he gets things on track. His fastball averages in the upper 90s and he has always racked up plenty of strikeouts in the minors.
Coleman will be a project for his new club whereas it would appear the Royals feel they could make better use of that roster spot in the Rule 5 draft, which begins at 1pm Central. The Royals have the second pick, with the Athletics going first.
Rockies To Release Connor Seabold
The Rockies are releasing right-hander Connor Seabold, per Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. In doing so, they’ll open a spot on their 40-man roster to make a selection in the upcoming Rule 5 Draft.
Seabold, 27, was a third-round pick of the Phillies back in 2017 and has twice been traded — first to the Red Sox as part of the deal bringing Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree to Philadelphia, and second to the Rockies last winter in exchange for cash.
Earlier in his professional tenure, Seabold ranked among the top pitching prospects in both the Phillies and Red Sox systems, but elbow and forearm injuries shortened his 2021 and 2022 seasons. Seabold came to the Rockies with a solid track record in the upper minors, but his lone season with the Rox proved nightmarish both in Colorado and with their Triple-A affiliate in Albuquerque.
Seabold started 13 games and made another 14 relief appearances with Colorado this past season but was tagged for a gruesome 7.52 ERA in the process. He posted a sharp 6.9% walk rate but struggled with a well below-average 16.4% strikeout rate and a sky-high 1.96 HR/9. Seabold’s status as a pronounced fly-ball pitcher did him no favors at Coors Field, and he allowed hard contact a fair bit more often than the average big league pitcher (40.5%). Things didn’t go any better in Triple-A, where Seabold posted a 7.47 ERA in 31 2/3 frames.
As recently as 2022, Seabold tossed 86 2/3 innings of 3.32 ERA ball with Triple-A Worcester in the Sox’ system, striking out 24.7% of his opponents against an excellent 5.3% walk rate. However, he’s also out of minor league options, so the Rox would’ve needed to carry Seabold on the Opening Day roster or else trade him, expose him to waivers or (as they’ll apparently do today) release him. Once he formally becomes a free agent, Seabold will be able to explore minor league deals with other organizations and perhaps gauge interest from teams in Japan and South Korea.
Royals, Dan Altavilla Agree To Minor League Deal
The Royals and right-hander Dan Altavilla are in agreement on a minor league deal with an invite to major league Spring Training, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The righty is a client of the MAS Agency.
Altavilla, 31, is coming off three mostly lost seasons due to June 2021 Tommy John surgery. He later signed a two-year minor league deal with the Red Sox, with that club realizing Altavilla likely wouldn’t contribute much or anything at all in 2022. He returned to the mound in July of 2023, making four appearances in the Complex League and another four in High-A. In his 12 innings pitched, he allowed four earned runs, walked five opponents and struck out seven. The Sox released him in August.
He didn’t sign with another affiliated club as the season was winding down but did go to the Dominican Republic for winter ball. He’s made 10 appearances for Tigres del Licey, with nine strikeouts, three walks and two earned runs allowed. Heyman reports that he was hitting 98mph in that showing.
Prior to the lengthy injury odyssey, Altavilla had some major league experience with the Mariners and Padres, showing an ability for big strikeouts but also control concerns. He currently has a career earned run average of 4.03 in 116 big league innings. He struck out 26.1% of batters in that time but also walked 12.1%.
The Royals have plenty of room in their bullpen for some guys to step up and take jobs. Scott Barlow and Aroldis Chapman were both traded last year, removing two of the higher-leverage guys. They have since acquired Nick Anderson, but there’s still not a lot of certainty in the relief mix. If Altavilla is in good form and gets a roster spot, he could be retained for another season via arbitration since his service time is still below the five-year mark. He is out of options, however, meaning he wouldn’t have the ability to be sent back down to the minors without being exposed to waivers.
Cubs Re-Sign Ethan Roberts To Minor League Deal
The Cubs have re-signed right-hander Ethan Roberts on a minor league deal, according to the transactions log on Roberts’s MLB.com player page. The deal presumably includes an invite to big league Spring Training.
Roberts, 26, missed the entire 2023 campaign after undergoing Tommy John surgery in June of 2022. Chicago’s fourth-round pick from the 2018 draft made just nine appearances in the big leagues before going under the knife, struggling to an 8.22 ERA and 8.59 FIP during that time. The injury-plagued start to his big league career belies Roberts’ strong track record in the minor leagues. The 2019 campaign was Roberts’ first full professional season, and he impressed with a sparkling 2.59 ERA in 59 innings split between the Single-A and High-A levels. Roberts did not pitch in 2022 due to the cancelled minor league season, but returned to his prior dominance in 2021 as he posted a 3.00 ERA with a 32.6% strikeout rate in 54 innings of work split between the Double-A and Triple-A levels that season.
Strong as those minor league numbers were, Roberts’ non-existent big league track record and lengthy absence from the mound in recent years led the Cubs to non-tender him prior to last month’s tender deadline. Looking ahead to 2024, Roberts is expected to have a normal offseason this winter and be ready for camp come the spring, when the righty could look to compete for a spot in the club’s Opening Day bullpen. Adbert Alzolay, Julian Merryweather, and Mark Leiter Jr. all appear to be locks for Chicago’s relief corps next season after strong 2023 campaigns, leaving Roberts to join the likes of Keegan Thompson, Jose Cuas and Daniel Palencia in a battle for one of the club’s remaining bullpen spots.
Mets Sign Kyle Crick To Minor League Deal
DECEMBER 6: Crick’s deal is now official, with Joel Sherman of the New York Post reporting that the righty will earn $950K while in the majors and $180K while in the minor leagues.
DECEMBER 1: The Mets have signed right-hander Kyle Crick to a minor league deal, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The righty, who is represented by Paragon Sports International, has received an invitation to major league Spring Training.
It’s a belated birthday present for Crick, who turned 31 years old yesterday. The righty is coming off a mostly lost season in 2023. He signed a minor league deal with the Rays but opted out at the end of Spring Training and he remained unsigned through the end of the season. He recently joined Águilas Cibaeñas in the Dominican Republic, racking up four strikeouts in three innings there. It seems he looked good enough in that brief winter ball showing to pique the interest of the Mets.
Prior to 2023, Crick made 194 big league appearances from 2017 to 2022, pitching for the Giants, Pirates and White Sox. He has a career 3.56 earned run average, generally getting his fair share of strikeouts but also dealing with control issues. He has punched out 24.6% of batters faced in his career but also given out free passes at a 13.3% clip.
The Mets have been focused on improving their depth in the past few days, giving out one-year deals to Luis Severino, Joey Wendle and Austin Adams. Crick will give the bullpen a bit of extra depth in a non-roster capacity. The Mets traded away Dominic Leone and David Robertson from their bullpen during the 2023 season, then Adam Ottavino opted out of his deal at season’s end.
Pirates Acquire Marco Gonzales
The Pirates announced the acquisition of left-hander Marco Gonzales and cash considerations from the Braves. Atlanta receives a player to be named later or cash in return. The move comes just two days after Atlanta landed Gonzales as part of a five-player trade with the Mariners, yet it was already expected that Gonzales would be quickly flipped to another team.
Pittsburgh will presumably now be Gonzales’ final landing spot of the offseason, as the southpaw brings some experience to a Pirates team sorely in need of rotation help. Beyond ace Mitch Keller, the Bucs’ projected starting staff is thin on MLB service time and lacking in quality results at the big league level. Roansy Contreras, Bailey Falter, Luis Ortiz, and Quinn Priester were lined up as the next four in the rotation, as Johan Oviedo will miss all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery, and JT Brubaker and Mike Burrows won’t be options until closer to midseason due to TJ procedures of their own from last April. 2023 first overall draft pick Paul Skenes is expected to be on a fast track to the big leagues as early as next season, yet with only 6 2/3 pro innings on his resume, it is too early to assume Skenes is a lock for his MLB debut in 2024.
This isn’t to say that Gonzales (who turns 32 in February) is necessarily a clear-cut upgrade for the Buccos, as he is trying to bounce back from essentially a lost season. Gonzales’ 2023 campaign was cut short by a forearm strain in May, and he had struggled to a 5.22 ERA over 50 innings and 10 starts for Seattle before going on the injured list. While the forearm problem was a painful new wrinkle to the proceedings, the overall dip in form wasn’t a total surprise, given how Gonzales has been outperforming his peripheral numbers for years.
Gonzales posted a 3.94 ERA over 765 2/3 innings for the Mariners from 2018-22, with a more unflattering 4.64 SIERA reflecting his lack of strikeouts. Though Gonzales isn’t a hard thrower and he doesn’t miss many bats, he still achieved success with a recipe of solid control and limiting hard contact. Despite the lack of velocity, Gonzales’ four-seamer was quietly one of the more effective pitches in baseball before 2022, when it suddenly dropped into being a below-average offering.
If Gonzales can stay healthy and get back to his pre-2023 results, that alone represents a nice boost for the Pirates’ staff. It might help that the lefty is leaving Seattle for another pretty pitcher-friendly locale in PNC Park, as home runs also became an increasing problem for Gonzales in 2021-22.
2024 is the last guaranteed season of the four-year, $30MM extension that Gonzales signed with the Mariners prior to the 2020 campaign, and the deal also contains a $15MM club option for 2025 with no buyout. Since Gonzales received a $250K assignment bonus for being traded from the Mariners, the $4.5MM Seattle included in the trade package to Atlanta left $7.75MM remaining in owed salary to the left-hander. The Braves have eaten part of that portion to facilitate this next deal with Pittsburgh, only increasing Gonzales’ affordable nature — no small matter for a Pirates team that is always looking to keep its spending in check.
Though the Bucs are intending to raise their modest payroll by some extent, obtaining Gonzales for less than $7.75MM allows the club to fill one rotation hole without taking up much of whatever spending capacity GM Ben Cherington has been allotted this winter. Since Jack Flaherty is another name on the Pirates’ radar, it could be that Pittsburgh will address its rotation with veterans on short-term deals, hoping that at least one reclamation project like Gonzales or Flaherty can bounce back to become solid starter.
From Atlanta’s perspective, taking on the contracts of Gonzales and Evan White was the price necessary to obtain Jarred Kelenic from the Mariners. White’s injury history makes him more or less immovable outside of a total salary dump, yet Gonzales’ history as a decently effective and durable starter prior to 2022 made him a better candidate to be flipped, considering the league-wide need for pitching depth. The Braves are known to be looking for higher-tier pitching upgrades themselves, after missing out on Aaron Nola earlier in the offseason.
Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Pirates were acquiring Gonzales and cash for a player to be named later.
Angels Sign Luis Garcia
The Angels announced the signing of reliever Luis García on a one-year contract. He’ll reportedly make $4.25MM.
An 11-year big league veteran, García is set for a second stint with the Halos. The right-hander spent the 2019 campaign in Orange County, turning in a 4.35 ERA across 64 appearances. That was amidst a difficult three-year run spanning 2018-20, but García has generally turned things around over the past couple seasons.
After pitching to a 3.24 ERA in 34 games with the Cardinals in 2021, the Dominican Republic native inked a two-year pact with the Padres. He had a strong first year at Petco Park, tossing 61 innings of 3.39 ERA ball while working in a high-leverage role. García’s second season wasn’t as impressive. His ERA jumped to 4.03 while his strikeout rate dropped from a quality 26.3% mark to a middling 19.9% clip. As his production tailed off, the Padres deployed him in mostly low-leverage situations.
Despite that dip, there are still a few clear positives for the Halos front office. García has an extended track record of keeping the ball on the ground. He has allowed fewer than one home run per nine innings in three straight seasons and racked up grounders at a massive 61.5% rate this year. Even as he enters his age-37 campaign, he’s still one of the harder throwers available. García’s sinker sat north of 97 MPH.
It’s the second grounder specialist whom the Halos have added this offseason. They signed left-hander Adam Kolarek to a $900K guarantee a few weeks ago. García also steps into the middle innings mix alongside younger, more volatile arms like Ben Joyce and José Soriano. The Halos still seem likely to look for a clearer setup option to bridge the gap to closer Carlos Estévez.
The signing brings the Angels’ 2024 payroll projection to roughly $156MM, as calculated by Roster Resource. They’re upwards of $50MM from last season’s Opening Day payroll and around $70MM shy of the luxury tax threshold.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today first reported the Angels and García were in agreement on a one-year, $4.25MM deal.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Yankees Acquire Alex Verdugo
The Yankees and Red Sox have lined up on a rare major trade. The teams announced a deal sending outfielder Alex Verdugo to the Bronx for reliever Greg Weissert and minor league pitchers Richard Fitts and Nicholas Judice.
Verdugo, who turns 28 in May, has spent the past four seasons in Boston. The Sox acquired him from the Dodgers as the key piece of the Mookie Betts trade return. The left-handed hitting outfielder never quite lived up to that lofty billing. Verdugo has settled in as a solid regular without emerging as an impact player on either side of the ball.
Over his time with the Red Sox, Verdugo hit .281/.338/.424 in a little more than 2000 plate appearances. His strongest season was the shortened 2020 campaign. After posting a .308/.367/.478 slash, he has hit at a league average level for three years running. Verdugo owns a .277/.334/.417 mark since the start of 2021. This past season’s .264/.324/.421 line over 602 plate appearances fit that recent body of work.
Verdugo doesn’t have prototypical home run power for a corner outfielder. He has hit between 11 and 13 longballs in each of the last three years. Verdugo has topped 30 doubles in each season, however. He has always had excellent bat-to-ball skills and generally shows an all-fields approach. Aside from a 15-game debut showing in 2017, he has hit .260 or better in every year of his big league career.
Bringing in a hit-over-power lefty bat seems a deliberate effort by the New York front office to add balance to the lineup. The Yankees have skewed right-handed and leaned heavily on power hitters in recent years. They’ve found themselves generally lacking in consistent offensive production beyond Aaron Judge and, to a lesser extent, Gleyber Torres.
Verdugo isn’t an impact lineup presence, but he checks a box which general manager Brian Cashman had identified as a priority. Cashman expressed a desire for two outfielders to join Judge, preferably ones who hit from the left side. Top center field prospect Jasson Domínguez will be out into the middle of the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, while left field has been a significant problem for the past couple years. 22-year-old Everson Pereira might be a longer-term solution there but limped to a .151/.233/.194 line in his first month as a big leaguer.
The desire for multiple outfield additions still leaves the Yankees very much in play for bigger stars. New York has been tied to Juan Soto in trade rumors and Cody Bellinger on the free agent market. Various reporters (including Andy Martino of SNY) unsurprisingly relay that the Yankees are still involved on Soto. Talks between the Yankees and Padres reportedly slowed over the weekend after San Diego demanded a pitching-heavy return built around Michael King and prospect Drew Thorpe.
Verdugo won’t take them out of that mix (or presumably impact a run at Bellinger if they can’t line up on a Soto deal). However, it could require the Yankees to lean on Judge in center field for a season if they were to acquire Soto. Verdugo hasn’t played center field since 2021. He has generally received solid marks for his glove in right field. Verdugo has one of the game’s better arms, although his speed and overall range are closer to average.
The outfield alignment is to be determined based on future moves. Verdugo steps in a short-term acquisition who’ll solidify one position while buying time for Domínguez to rehab and Pereira to see more action in Triple-A. The veteran outfielder is a year away from free agency. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz forecasts him for a $9.2MM salary in his final season of arbitration.
That pushes the Yankees’ projected spending to roughly $246MM, as calculated by Roster Resource. Their luxury tax number sits right at the $257MM line that marks the second tier of penalization. Since they’re paying the CBT for what’d be a third consecutive season, the Yankees are taxed at a 50% rate on spending between $237MM and $257MM. That’ll push their overall tab on Verdugo into the $14MM range, while they’re sure to continue adding to the roster (with accompanying higher penalties beyond the $257MM mark).
On the other side of the equation, Boston offloads Verdugo’s salary projection. They’re moving on from a player who, while reasonably effective, had a somewhat disappointing overall run at Fenway Park. In addition to the leveling off in his performance, Verdugo occasionally came under fire with the organization for perceived effort questions.
Beyond that, it’s not uncommon for an incoming baseball operations leader to reshape a roster. This is the first significant trade of Craig Breslow’s tenure as chief baseball officer. It leaves a vacancy in right field, where the Sox seem likely to look to free agency or the trade market. Boston has left-handed hitting Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu and Masataka Yoshida in the outfield mix, so the pursuit of a righty bat might make the most sense.
They’ll also add controllable pitching help, with Weissert standing as the most immediate upgrade. The 28-year-old righty has pitched at the MLB level in each of the past two seasons. Weissert has worked 31 1/3 innings, allowing a 4.60 ERA. His underlying numbers are more intriguing. The Fordham product has averaged around 94 MPH on his sinker and four-seam fastball. He has struck out a solid 24.4% of batters faced while keeping the ball on the ground at a 47.3% clip.
Weissert also had an excellent year in Triple-A in 2023. Over 40 1/3 frames, he pitched to a 2.90 ERA while punching out more than 34% of batters faced. Control has been an issue throughout his career, but Weissert has consistently shown the ability to miss bats in the minors. He still has two option years remaining and won’t reach arbitration for three seasons, making him an affordable and flexible bullpen piece.
Fitts, who turns 24 in a few weeks, is the more intriguing of the minor leaguers involved. An Auburn product, he was drafted in the sixth round in 2021. The 6’3″ righty had an impressive year at Double-A Somerset, working to a 3.48 ERA across 152 2/3 innings. He punched out nearly 26% of batters faced against a tidy 6.8% walk percentage. Prospect evaluators praise Fitts’s slider and overall command, projecting him as a potential back-end starter. Boston doesn’t need to add him to the 40-man roster until next offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft, but it’s possible he pitches his way into the MLB rotation mix at some point during the summer.
Judice was an eighth-round pick this year out of UL-Monroe. The 6’8″ hurler had posted a 3.74 ERA over 53 innings in his draft year. BA’s draft report praised his potential plus slider and mid-90s velocity. Judice projects as a reliever and is a low minors development flier.
Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the trade terms. Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.
White Sox, Erick Fedde Agree To Two-Year Contract
The White Sox are in agreement with right-hander Erick Fedde on a two-year, $15MM contract, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (X link). The deal is pending a physical. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported last night that Fedde, a client of the Boras Corporation, was nearing a two-year pact and named the White Sox and Mets as finalists.
Fedde returns to the majors after one season in South Korea. He’d signed a one-year, $1MM pact with the KBO’s NC Dinos last December. A few weeks earlier, Fedde had been non-tendered by the Nationals, with whom he’d spent his entire pro career up to that point. Within 12 months, he has dramatically raised his profile.
The 30-year-old righty turned in an excellent season for the Dinos. He pitched to a 2.00 ERA in 180 1/3 innings covering 30 starts. He struck out an excellent 29.5% of batters faced while walking under 5% of opposing hitters. As a result of that dominant showing, he was named the KBO’s Most Valuable Player.
Before his move to Korea, Fedde had a fairly nondescript run in Washington. The 6’4″ hurler was a first round draft choice in 2014. He received some Top 100 prospect attention as a potentially quick-moving college starter. Fedde got to the majors midway through the 2017 season but didn’t solidify himself in the rotation for a few years. He spent time on the injured list with shoulder inflammation during the 2018 campaign and bounced between the nation’s capital and Triple-A in ’19.
Fedde carved out a spot in the Nats rotation during the shortened 2020 campaign. He’d hold that role for the next three seasons, combining to log 310 2/3 innings over 67 appearances. The results weren’t great, as he posted a 5.42 ERA with a middling 18.1% strikeout rate. Rather than meet a projected $3.6MM arbitration salary last offseason, Washington moved on.
While surely a tough pill to swallow at the time, Fedde has come out ahead following the non-tender. This past August, he told the Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty that he’d developed more horizontal action on his slider and tweaked the grip on his changeup as part of an overhauled approach in the pitching lab.
Between the repertoire adjustments and the dominance in a hitter-friendly KBO, Fedde secured the largest guarantee for a former affiliated pitcher returning from Korea. Each of Josh Lindblom, Merrill Kelly and Chris Flexen landed multi-year guarantees. Fedde is the first to cross the $10MM threshold, doing so rather handily.
The $7.5MM average annual value is a strong deal for the righty, although it could still turn out to be solid value for the Sox if Fedde can turn in league average results in the majors. Chicago is in desperate need of starting pitching. Dylan Cease had been the only pitcher on the roster who was clearly assured of a rotation spot and he’s widely expected to be traded. Fedde is almost certain to get a spot in the starting five, while Michael Kopech and trade pickup Michael Soroka have a decent chance at rotation roles. Jared Shuster, Jesse Scholtens and Touki Toussaint are also in the mix.
That’s still a lackluster group, particularly if the Sox wind up moving Cease. First-year general manager Chris Getz and his front office are likely to continue searching for starting pitching. The specific breakdown of Fedde’s contract has yet to be reported. If it’s distributed evenly, a $7.5MM salary would bring the Sox’s projected payroll (courtesy of Roster Resource) around $144MM. Getz has already suggested they’re not planning to approach their franchise-record spending mark, which topped $193MM, but they’re still more than $35MM shy of this year’s approximate $181MM Opening Day figure.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.