Dodgers Claim Michael Siani, Designate Andy Ibanez
The Dodgers announced Tuesday that they’ve claimed outfielder Michael Siani off waivers from the Yankees. Infielder Andy Ibanez, who just signed a one-year $1.2MM deal with L.A. earlier in the offseason, has been designated for assignment to open a roster spot. As is relatively common around the league, they’ll now hope that guaranteed salary helps sneak Ibanez through waivers unclaimed, so he can be stashed in Triple-A as a depth piece.
To call the 2025-26 offseason a whirlwind for Siani, an over-slot fourth-round pick of the Reds back in 2018, would be an understatement. He began the offseason as a Cardinals but has since bounced to the Braves, Dodgers, Yankees and now back to the Dodgers via a series of DFAs and waiver claims.
With pitchers and catchers slated to report to spring training next week, Siani could finally have a path to stick on a 40-man roster. Once camp opens, teams will be able to place injured players on the 60-day IL, even if it’s not with the Dodgers. Los Angeles could need a 60-day spot for Brock Stewart, depending on his recovery from September shoulder surgery. That could give him a little bit of cushion, but if L.A. needs to open a 40-man spot and once again designates him, Siani could land with another team that has more 60-day IL candidates and thus more flexibility to keep him on the 40-man.
Siani, 26, has spent his entire big league career with the Reds and Cardinals. In parts of four major league seasons, he carries a tepid .221/.277/.270 batting line (58 wRC+). However, he’s drawn excellent grades for his defense and baserunning. He’s played 1014 major league innings in the outfield — primarily in center but with fleeting corner appearances mixed in — and been credited with outstanding marks from Statcast’s Outs Above Average (16) and from Defensive Runs Saved (7). He’s also gone 21-for-26 in stolen base attempts, giving him a success rate of nearly 81%.
Siani has a minor league option remaining, which helps to explain why teams continue to claim him; if he ever makes it to the season with one club, he’s a nice fourth or fifth outfielder who can be stashed in the minors without needing to pass through waivers.
The 32-year-old Ibanez signed a major league deal in mid-January. It’s rare to see a player sign as a free agent and then be designated for assignment three weeks later, but since he’s out of options and signed a low-cost deal, Ibanez always felt like a candidate for this sort of move. Other clubs might be reluctant to claim him when he’s making more than the league minimum and rosters around the game are generally at capacity. If he clears waivers, he’d have the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency, but doing so would mean forfeiting the remainder of any guaranteed money, so he’d surely accept.
Ibanez has played in parts of five major league seasons, all as a Ranger or Tiger. He’s a .254/.304/.389 hitter overall but a .280/.372/.452 hitter against left-handed pitching, specifically. Add in that he can capably handle first base, second base, third base or left field, and he’s a nice bench piece for a contender (particularly if he can be stashed as Triple-A depth). Ibanez did have a down season in 2025, even against left-handed pitching, slashing a roughly average .258/.311/.403 when holding the platoon advantage.
Since he signed as a free agent on a major league deal, Ibanez can’t be traded without his consent before June 15. He’ll very likely be placed on waivers at some point within the next five days, at which point he’d go through a 48-hour waiting period before learning whether he was claimed by another club or outrighted to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Kyle Bradish Wins Arbitration Hearing
Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish won his arbitration hearing over the Orioles, the Associated Press reports. He’ll be paid the $3.55MM that he and his camp at All Bases Covered Sports Management submitted rather than the $2.875MM figure submitted by the team.
The 29-year-old Bradish returned from UCL surgery late in the 2025 season and tossed 32 innings with a 2.53 ERA, 37.3% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate. The sinker that sat 95 mph prior to surgery clocked in at a near-identical average of 94.8 mph. Bradish can’t be reasonably expected to continue punching out 37% of his opponents over a larger sample, but the former Halos fourth-rounder — acquired in the trade sending Dylan Bundy from Baltimore to Anaheim — has proven himself to be a high-end starter when healthy enough to take the ball.
Dating back to 2023, Bradish carries a terrific 2.78 ERA in 240 innings. He has a 3.47 mark in his 357 2/3 frames overall. Beyond those solid baseline run-prevention numbers, he’s set down just under 26% of his opponents on strikes and walked only 7.8% of the batters he’s faced. The right-hander’s 2025 success was buoyed by an outstanding 14.6% swinging-strike rate and a 30.5% opponents’ chase rate on pitches off the plate — both career-best marks.
As a Super Two player, Bradish earned $2.35MM in 2025, his first of four arbitration seasons. Today’s win secures him a 51% raise over his 2025 salary, as opposed to the team’s proposed 22% raise. Bradish will be eligible for arbitration twice more before qualifying for free agency in the 2028-29 offseason.
Heading into the 2026 campaign, Bradish currently projects as either the No. 1 or No. 2 starter in Baltimore. He’ll former a one-two punch with the resurgent Trevor Rogers, who rebounded from a nightmare 2024 season to record a dominant 1.81 ERA in 109 2/3 frames. Rogers’ 24.8% strikeout rate doesn’t stack up to that of Bradish over his past two seasons, and the former Marlins hurler was surely aided by a microscopic .226 average on balls in play. He still boasted better-than-average strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates, just as Bradish has throughout his career. There are some health and workload questions regarding both pitchers, but they should form a high-end rotation pairing so long as they remain healthy.
Of course, the Orioles also remain in the market for further rotation reinforcements. They acquired righty Shane Baz from the division-rival Rays earlier in the offseason but continue to show interest in lingering free agents like Framber Valdez, Zac Gallen and Lucas Giolito. An addition at some point feels likely, but for now, Bradish will be in the mix to start one of Baltimore’s first two games of the 2026 season as the O’s try to shake off an ugly 2025 season and return to postseason play under new manager Craig Albernaz.
Twins Claim Jackson Kowar
The Twins have claimed right-hander Jackson Kowar off waivers from the Mariners, according to announcements from both clubs. Seattle had designated him for assignment a week ago when they acquired catcher Jhonny Pereda from the Twins. Minnesota had an open 40-man roster spot for Kowar thanks to trading Edouard Julien to the Rockies last week.
There’s a little bit of musical chairs happening here. The Twins recently signed catcher Victor Caratini and lefty Taylor Rogers, meaning they needed to open two roster spots. They designated Pereda and righty Pierson Ohl for assignment. They traded Pereda to Seattle, which nudged Kowar into DFA limbo. The Twins then traded both Ohl and Julien to the Rockies, getting a minor leaguer and cash while dropping their 40-man count to 39. They have now used that open roster spot to claim Kowar.
The 29-year-old Kowar has big velocity, averaging in the upper 90s with his four-seamer and sinker, but hasn’t yet translated that into major league success. He has 91 big league innings under his belt, split between the Royals and Mariners, allowing 8.21 earned runs per nine. He has walked 13.1% of batters faced, somewhat normal for guys with big heat, but has only punched out 20.3% of opponents. He hasn’t had much success in Triple-A either, with a 4.92 ERA at that level.
Seattle burned Kowar’s final option in 2025, so he is now out of options. Since he hasn’t been able to put up good numbers in the majors or the minors, he got nudged off the roster. For the Twins, they had a roster spot open and they also have huge bullpen questions. As part of their deadline fire sale last year, they traded away Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Danny Coulombe and Brock Stewart.
They are planning to return to contention in 2026 but haven’t done much to reload the relief corps. Apart from signing the 35-year-old Rogers, their biggest move has been to acquire Eric Orze, who has just 35 big league appearances.
Kowar is a wild card but the big velo is a nice starting point, even if he hasn’t harnessed it yet. He has landed with a club that should have lots of opportunities available. But given his out-of-options status and poor numbers, it’s possible the Twins try to pass him through waivers in the future. He doesn’t have a previous career outright nor three years of big league service time, so he wouldn’t have the right to reject an outright assignment.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Lee, Imagn Images
Astros, Isaac Paredes Avoid Arbitration
1:37pm: There’s also a 2027 club option on the deal worth $13.35MM, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. If Paredes finishes top ten in MVP voting, the club option converts to a mutual option. Even if the club/mutual option is eventually not picked up, Paredes will still be under club control for 2027 via arbitration. Most teams have a “file and trial” approach to arbitration, meaning they won’t negotiate one-year deals after the filing deadline. Most post-deadline agreement have an option tacked on to nominally adhere to this policy.
12:13pm: The Astros have avoided an arbitration hearing with infielder Isaac Paredes, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. The two parties settled on a one-year deal worth $9.35MM, landing right at the midpoint of the team’s $8.75MM submission and the $9.95MM sum submitted by Paredes’ camp at CAA. Houston and catcher Yainer Diaz had their arbitration hearing yesterday, per the Associated Press. A result is expected today.
Paredes, 27 in a few weeks, came to Houston as part of last winter’s Kyle Tucker blockbuster and enjoyed a solid year in the Astros’ infield. He missed nearly two months due to a hamstring injury but still popped 20 homers while batting .254/.352/.458 over 438 plate appearances when healthy.
While Paredes was on the shelf, Houston reacquired Carlos Correa in a deadline salary dump deal with the Twins. The ‘Stros installed Correa at the hot corner in deference to standout shortstop Jeremy Pena. Since Paredes was sidelined into late September, the Astros didn’t have to deal much with the sudden glut of position players they had, but that won’t be the case heading into 2026.
Paredes appears to be a man without a position. Correa and Pena will again man the left side of the infield. The left field experiment for Jose Altuve didn’t prove all that fruitful, and Altuve is expected back at second base for the bulk of 2026. Christian Walker‘s first year as an Astro was a disappointment, but he’s signed for two more years and owed another $40MM, so he’ll be back at first base. Yordan Alvarez will see occasional time in left field but will still take the majority of the Astros’ DH at-bats. Prospect Brice Matthews, a natural middle infielder, will likely be pushed to the outfield by the infield logjam.
All of that has led to plenty of speculation about a potential trade, though general manager Dana Brown has said repeatedly that he doesn’t feel obligated to trade from the group. Were there any interest in the remainder of Walker’s deal, perhaps that’d change things, but other clubs have understandably been unwilling to take on that $40MM on the heels of a down season for the 35-year-old.
While there’s no immediate spot for regular at-bats for Paredes, that doesn’t necessarily matter. It takes all of one injury for him to have an everyday spot in the lineup, after all, and even if the entire group stays healthy, he can play fairly regularly by spelling Correa at third, Walker at first, Altuve at second and Alvarez at DH. Correa and Alvarez, in particular, have lengthy injury histories and are prone to missing chunks of time.
This was the third of four trips through the arbitration process for Paredes, a Super Two player. He’s controlled through the 2027 season and will be owed one more arbitration raise next winter. The 27-year-old Diaz is arb-eligible for the first time this winter. He and his reps at PRIME submitted a $4.5MM figure, while the team countered at $3MM.
Marlins Claim Garrett Acton, Designate Victor Mesa Jr. For Assignment
The Marlins have claimed right-hander Garrett Acton off waivers from the Rockies, according to announcements from both clubs. Miami designated outfielder Víctor Mesa Jr. for assignment as a corresponding move. Colorado designated Acton for assignment back on January 22nd when they signed Willi Castro. DFA limbo is normally capped at one week. MLBTR has learned that Acton was placed on release waivers and claimed last week. A player claimed off release waivers has the right to reject the assignment while electing free agency and can take five days to make that decision.
Mesa, 24, and his older brother Víctor Víctor Mesa were once notable defectors from Cuba. Their father Víctor Mesa had played in the Cuban National Series for 19 years and coached the Cuban team in the World Baseball Classic. The two sons left the island in 2018 in the hopes of pursuing deals with MLB clubs. Both brothers signed with the Marlins in October of 2018.
At that time, the elder brother was considered the stronger prospect, but things didn’t pan out for him. He never really put up good numbers in the minors. He has been off the radar since June of 2023, when he walked away from the team and hasn’t played anywhere since.
The younger Mesa stuck with the Marlins. The club added him to the 40-man roster in November of 2023 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He got to make his major league debut in 2025, taking 38 plate appearances in 16 games. He put up a .188/.297/.344 line in that small sample.
His numbers in the minors have been a bit better than that but he’s been on the injured list a decent amount. Over the past two years combined, he has taken 579 plate appearances on the farm with 20 home runs, a .266/.330/.437 line and 106 wRC+. He stole nine bases and played all three outfield spots. Prospect evaluators generally see Mesa as a depth outfielder at this point. He still has an option remaining, so perhaps he would be of interest to some other clubs. The Marlins will likely place him on waivers in the coming days.
Acton, 28 in June, also has a very limited major league track record. Between the 2023 Athletics and the 2025 Rays, he has seven big league appearances, having allowed eight earned runs in 6 2/3 innings. He missed the 2024 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Tampa put him on waivers at the beginning of November 2025, which is when Colorado claimed him.
He’s coming off an encouraging season in the minors. He logged 58 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level, allowing 3.68 earned runs per nine. His 11.4% walk rate was high but he struck out 30.1% of batters faced. He averaged around 94 miles per hour with his four-seamer while also featuring a mid-80s slider and changeup.
Acton still has a couple of options, so it seems the Marlins would rather have him as optionable bullpen depth than have Mesa as optionable outfield depth. If Acton sticks on the roster, he can be shuttled between Jacksonville and Miami fairly freely.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Royals, Vinnie Pasquantino Avoid Arbitration
February 3rd: Pasquantino will make $4.2MM in 2026 and $6.9MM in 2027 for a combined guarantee of $11.1MM, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post. He will also get an extra $200K in 2027 for getting to 450, 500 and 550 plate appearances. His base salary in 2027 can also jump based on awards voting in 2026. It would increase by $4MM with an MVP win, $3MM if he finishes second through fifth in the voting, $2MM for finishing sixth through tenth, $1.5MM for 11th to 15th, and $1.25MM for 16th to 20th. He would get an extra $1MM for being selected All-MLB first team and $750K for the second team, though the max he can jump is $4.6MM.
January 30th: The Royals and first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino will avoid an arbitration hearing. Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports that he and the club have agreed to a two-year deal worth more than $11MM, with a chance for him to max out close to $16MM via incentives. Exact figures have not yet been publicly reported.
Pasquantino just qualified for arbitration for the first time going into 2026. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a salary of $5.4MM. He was one of 18 players who did not have a deal in place through the arbitration filing deadline earlier this month. He and his camp filed at $4.5MM while the Royals filed at $4MM.
Most teams these days adopt a “file and trial” approach, which means they cut off negotiations of one-year deals after the filing deadline. This is to give them leverage in pre-deadline talks and also to prevent players from filing absurdly high numbers in an attempt to set out an aggressive bargaining stance. An arbiter can only pick the player’s or the team’s number, not a midpoint. Even if a team does have a “file and trial” policy, exceptions are made for deals that are longer than one year.
Arbitration hearings are generally viewed as a normal part of the business but occasional situations have occurred where the relationship between a player and a team have been damaged. Corbin Burnes said as much after his hearing with the Brewers three years ago. Pasquantino and the Royals have avoided that situation by agreeing to this multi-year pact, covering the first two of his three arbitration years. He will also be eligible for arbitration in 2028, before he’s slated to reach free agency.
There will now be no more than 14 hearings across the league this year. As mentioned, 18 players didn’t have a deal as of the deadline. Since then, Cade Cavalli, Bryce Miller, Joe Ryan and now Pasquantino have reached new deals to avoid hearings. The Royals still have one potential hearing on the docket, as they don’t yet have an agreement in place with left-hander Kris Bubic, who was projected for a $6MM salary. He filed at $6.15MM and the team at $5.15MM.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Lee, Imagn Images
Reds Designate Ben Rortvedt For Assignment
The Reds announced that catcher Ben Rortvedt has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move to open a 40-man spot for infielder Eugenio Suárez, whose signing is now official.
Rortvedt, 28, has never appeared in a game for the Reds. Cincinnati just claimed him off waivers from the Dodgers in November. At the time of that waiver claim, it was reported that Rortvedt and the Dodgers had already signed a deal for 2026 to avoid arbitration. The backstop will make $1.25MM this year.
The Dodgers were likely hoping that figure was high enough that no other club would claim him off waivers. Rortvedt is out of options and therefore can’t be sent to the minors while staying on the 40-man roster. Since he has at least three years of big league service time, Rortvedt has the right to reject outright assignments. But since his service clock is less than five years, he would have to forfeit his salary commitments in electing free agency. Had he cleared waivers, he likely would have stayed with the Dodgers as non-roster catching depth.
Instead, the Reds claimed him and have held him for the past few months. They might now be hoping that they get to keep Rortvedt as non-roster depth instead of the Dodgers. With this DFA, Cincinnati now has Jose Trevino and Tyler Stephenson as the only two catchers on the 40-man roster. Will Banfield is their most experienced non-roster guy at the moment, even though he has just seven big league games on his track record.
Rortvedt’s career has been up and down but he would be a solid depth option. He showed his potential by having a decent showing with the Rays in 2024. He stepped to the plate 328 times and put up a .228/.317/.303 line. That line led to an 87 wRC+, indicating he was 13% below league average. But since catchers are usually about ten points below the rest of the league, that’s not bad for a part-time backstop. Rortvedt’s glovework also got decent reviews, enough for FanGraphs to credit him with 1.4 wins above replacement for the year, even with that so-so offense.
Things backed up with Tampa last year. He hit .095/.186/.111 in his 70 plate appearances before getting outrighted off the roster. He was flipped to the Dodgers at the deadline as part of the three-team trade which saw the Reds gets Zack Littell. The Dodgers called him up in September when Will Smith was injured and Rortvedt bounced back somewhat, with a .224/.309/.327 line in a small sample of 58 plate appearances for the eventual World Series champs.
The Dodgers liked him enough that they seemingly hoped to keep him around as relatively expensive depth behind Smith and Dalton Rushing. The Reds will now have a maximum of one week of DFA limbo to work with. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so they could field trade interest but will likely place Rortvedt on waivers at some point in the next five days. If another team claims him, the Reds would likely need to add some veteran depth via minor league deals.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
Reds Sign Eugenio Suarez
February 3rd: The Reds made the Suarez deal official today. Catcher Ben Rortvedt was designated for assignment as the corresponding move.
February 1st: Eugenio Suarez is returning to Cincinnati, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that the slugger has signed a one-year, $15MM deal with the Reds that includes a mutual option for the 2027 season. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the option is worth $16MM, though mutual options are rarely triggered by both sides. The deal will become official once the Reds clear a spot on their 40-man roster, and presumably when Suarez passes a physical. Suarez is represented by Octagon.
Reports emerged last week that the Reds had interest in a reunion with the third baseman, who hit .253/.335/.476 with 189 homers over 3730 plate appearances during the 2015-21 seasons. The continued uncertainty over the Reds’ broadcast deal with Main Street Sports was said to be a holdup for the team in how much money they had available to pursue Suarez or other targets like Austin Hays (who signed with the White Sox yesterday).
With an agreement now in place with Suarez, it could be that the Reds have gotten some clarity about how they’ll proceed with MSS or perhaps a new broadcasting agreement with Major League Baseball itself. Alternatively, Suarez’s acceptance of just a one-year deal and arguably a discount price may be another reason why the two sides were able to line up on a contract.
MLB Trade Rumors ranked Suarez 20th on our list of the winter’s top 50 free agents, and projected him for a three-year, $63MM deal. The one-year, $15MM pact falls well short of that prediction in both years and average annual value, as it could be teams were wary of making a larger commitment to a strikeout-prone player who turns 35 in July. Suarez’s third base glovework also dropped in 2025, as he posted -6 Defensive Runs Saved and -3 Outs Above Average.
With the bat, however, Suarez hit 49 home runs in 2025, matching his career high set with the Reds in 2019. Suarez’s overall slash line of .228/.298/.526 reflects his power-heavy output, as he delivered a below-average walk rate for the second consecutive season. Though Suarez’s 29.8% strikeout rate put him in the fifth percentile of all batters, he maxed out when he did make contact, with strong hard-contact and barrel rates.
It has been a strange two-season run for Suarez, who sandwiched a superstar-level campaign in between two mediocre half-seasons. Suarez had only a .591 OPS over his first 315 PA of the 2024 season with the Diamondbacks, before he caught fire and hit .276/.336/.593 with 60 homers over 766 PA from July 1, 2024 to July 31, 2025. Unfortunately, Suarez then drastically cooled off after he was dealt to the Mariners at the trade deadline, but he somewhat rebounded to get some key hits during Seattle’s postseason run to Game 7 of the ALCS.
This rather extreme streakiness could be another reason Suarez’s market never really took off this winter, as teams were justifiably not sure exactly which version of Suarez they’d get in his 13th big league season. The Mariners had some interest in a reunion, and other teams like the Cubs, Red Sox, and Pirates were also linked to the slugger.
Pittsburgh was the other finalist for Suarez’s services, according to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. As per MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf and Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates were willing to offer a $15MM average annual salary to Suarez and also offered him a second guaranteed year. In taking just a one-year contract, Suarez seems to be hoping to fully re-establish his market by having a big season in 2026 and then re-entering free agency next winter. It was also very likely to Cincinnati’s benefit that Suarez is already very familiar with the organization from his previous seven-year run in the Queen City.
While the Pirates are on the way up, Suarez may have been more interested in joining a Reds team that actually did make the playoffs in 2025. Cincinnati reached the postseason on the strength of its rotation, as the lineup was average at best in most offensive categories, and 21st of 30 teams in home runs. Elly De La Cruz and Spencer Steer combined for 43 homers as the Reds’ top two home-run hitters in 2025, so Suarez alone tops that total.
Suarez steps right into an everyday role in the Reds’ lineup, though it will be interesting to see where exactly Suarez is deployed. Ke’Bryan Hayes is arguably the best defensive third baseman in the game, so Suarez is more likely to see a lot of action as a DH and possibly at first base. Suarez’s MLB history as a first baseman consists of just three late-game appearances, all of which came last year. The Reds will surely give Suarez plenty of time at the position this spring to see how Suarez fares at the cold corner, and Steer and Sal Stewart will also receive at-bats in the first base/DH mix. Stewart can also play some second base and Steer could play left field, with Steer’s right-handed bat complementing the left-handed hitting JJ Bleday on the grass.
Bleday and Dane Myers were the only notable offensive adds the Reds made prior to today, with the two outfielders more or less replacing Hays and Gavin Lux (who was dealt to the Rays as part of the three-team deal with the Angels that brought reliever Brock Burke to Cincinnati). Suarez now represents a major boost to the Reds’ lineup, and a source of stability on a team that is still waiting to see what it has in players like Steer, Stewart, Matt McLain, or Noelvi Marte. Even De La Cruz was more good than great in 2025, but EDLC figures to benefit with Suarez providing protection behind him in the lineup.
RosterResource estimates a $126.1MM payroll for the Reds at the moment, which is a minor increase over their $118.7MM figure from the 2025 season. President of baseball operations Nick Krall said in early November that the Reds would be spending at “around the same” levels as 2025, so it could be that the team is essentially done with significant offseason moves unless they can unload some salary.
This could again change depending on what happens with the Reds’ broadcast deal, or ownership might potentially green-light some more spending either now or during the season (perhaps once some ticket revenue starts rolling in). The Reds seem to be well-positioned to make another run at a postseason berth in 2026, even though within the NL Central alone, the Pirates will be better and the Brewers and Cubs each figure to keep battling for the division crown.
Inset photo courtesy of Stephen Brashear — Imagn Images
Twins, Eduardo Salazar Agree To Minor League Deal
The Twins and right-handed reliever Eduardo Salazar are in agreement on a minor league contract, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’ll presumably be in camp as a non-roster invitee later this month.
Salazar has pitched in each of the past three major league seasons, spending time with the Reds, Dodgers and Nationals, in that order. The 27-year-old righty has pitched 70 2/3 big league innings but been tagged for a grisly 5.99 ERA in that time. Salazar sat 95.1 mph with his four-seamer and 94.4 mph with his sinker in 2025, complementing that pair of heaters with a slider that averaged 87.5 mph. He’s fanned only 16% of his opponents in the majors against a 10.2% walk rate, but the right-hander does sport an encouraging 52.8% ground-ball rate.
Salazar’s production in the upper minors hasn’t been demonstrably better. He has a 5.71 ERA in 117 Triple-A frames with comparable strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates. That said, he did post quality swinging-strike and strikeout rates during his Triple-A time with the Nationals in 2024-25, which is notable given that Washington altered his pitch selection. He’d previously been almost exclusively a sinker/slider reliever with very occasional four-seamers and changeups. The Nats significantly upped his four-seam usage, so perhaps Minnesota is intrigued by what he’d look like with further tweaks to his pitch usage and/or pitch shapes.
There’s plenty of room in the Twins’ bullpen, should Salazar enjoy a nice performance in spring training or early in the season with the Twins’ Triple-A club in St. Paul. Minnesota had one of baseball’s best bullpens heading into the 2025 trade deadline and gutted it by trading Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Danny Coulombe and Brock Stewart as part of an 11-player fire sale. They’ve done virtually nothing to revamp the relief corps this offseason. Taylor Rogers returned on a $2MM deal for what will be his age-35 season, and the Twins picked up righty Eric Orze in a small trade with the Rays.
That pair will join holdovers Justin Topa, Cole Sands and Kody Funderburk in what looks like one of the weakest bullpens in the sport. The Twins have more young starting pitchers in the upper minors than they have rotation spots available, so perhaps some of David Festa, Zebby Matthews, Taj Bradley, Connor Prielipp and Marco Raya will end up in the bullpen rather than on the starting staff.
Regardless, the Twins represent a good opportunity for someone like Salazar as he tries to find his footing in the majors. Salazar is out of minor league options. If he’s added to the 40-man at any point, he’ll need to stick or else be exposed to waivers. If things click, he can be controlled for five seasons, but there’s a lot that needs to go right before that’s a real consideration.
Phillies Re-Sign Daniel Robert To Minor League Deal
The Phillies are in agreement with reliever Daniel Robert on a minor league contract, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. He’ll be in camp as a non-roster invitee after being dropped from Philadelphia’s roster at the tender deadline.
Robert landed in Philly last May via DFA trade with the Rangers. The 31-year-old righty made 15 appearances, allowing seven runs (six earned) across 13 innings. He struck out 15 but walked 10 out of 59 batters faced. Robert had better numbers in the minors, combining for a 2.67 earned run average across 30 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level. He struck out 27.3% of opponents against a sub-7% walk rate. A forearm strain cost him the final month of the season.
The Phillies cut Robert from the 40-man roster in November. The non-tender sent him to free agency without exposing him to waivers. Teams frequently try to circle back on minor league deals with pre-arbitration players in those situations. It took a few months but the Phillies follow that path with Robert, who’ll try to pitch his way back into the middle innings as long as he’s healthy during Spring Training.
Philadelphia doesn’t have a ton of bullpen opportunities available if everyone gets through camp healthy. Jhoan Duran, José Alvarado, Brad Keller, Tanner Banks, Jonathan Bowlan and Orion Kerkering have jobs secure. That’d leave two bullpen roles up for grabs unless the Phillies add a swingman late in the offseason. Free agent signee Zach Pop is out of options, while Rule 5 draftee Zach McCambley needs to break camp or be placed on waivers and offered back to the Marlins if he clears.