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Cubs Acquire Matt Thaiss

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The Angels announced that they have traded catcher Matt Thaiss to the Cubs for cash considerations. The Halos had designated him for assignment last week. The Cubs have designated right-hander Trey Wingenter for assignment to open a roster spot, per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune on X.

Thaiss, 30 in May, leaves the Angels for the first time in his professional career. He was a first-round pick of that club in 2016, getting taken 16th overall. He was a catcher in college but the Angels announced him as a corner infielder when they drafted him, clearly more interested in his bat.

As he worked his way up the minor leagues, he did indeed show that his offense could be an asset. He hit .279/.363/.445 for a 117 wRC+ across multiple minor league levels from 2016 to 2019. However, his major league work hasn’t been nearly as impressive. At this point, he has 771 big league plate appearances with a .208/.313/.342 line and 83 wRC+.

That production would be unacceptable for a corner infielder but not bad by backup catcher standards. The Halos often had a crowded mix of guys vying for playing time as the designated hitter or the corner spots over the years, such as Shohei Ohtani, Albert Pujols, Anthony Rendon, Jared Walsh and others. That prompted them to move Thaiss back behind the plate in 2021. Most metrics view Thaiss as a subpar defender back there, perhaps not surprising for a guy who spent several years away from that spot.

Though he’s been a passable backup to Logan O’Hoppe in recent years, the Angels decided to move on. After Travis d’Arnaud was let go by Atlanta, the Halos quickly swooped in and signed him to a two-year deal. That nudged Thaiss down to #3 on the catching chart. Since he’s out of options, they designated him for assignment, which led to today’s deal.

For the Cubs, he’s a sensible landing spot for now, as they have question marks behind the plate. They released Yan Gomes in June, Tomás Nido in August and then outrighted Christian Bethancourt in November. Prior to acquiring Thaiss, Miguel Amaya was the only catcher on their 40-man roster. It was reported back in August that they would be looking for catching help this winter.

Amaya performed well down the stretch for the Cubs but was subpar for the season overall. He’s out of options and not far removed from being a top prospect, so he probably has a decent grip on a roster spot, but he’s far from established as a big leaguer. He has 170 major league games under his belt with a .227/.300/.357 batting line and 87 wRC+.

Perhaps the Cubs envision a platoon arrangement, since Amaya hits from the right side and Thaiss from the left, though Amaya has reverse splits in his short career so far. It’s also possible that the Cubs will sign a more established catcher and try to pass Thaiss through waivers later in the offseason. Danny Jansen, Kyle Higashioka and Carson Kelly are just some of the many backstops available in free agency.

Perhaps Moisés Ballesteros will be a factor as well, as he is considered one of the top 100 prospects in the game and has reached Triple-A. However, he has only 68 games at that level and is still just 21 years old, so keeping him on the farm a little longer is also possible.

Time will tell if the Cubs continue addressing their catching mix throughout the winter, but for now, they’ve taken a flier on a sensible stopgap. For what was surely a small amount of money in baseball terms, they’ve added an experienced catcher with an intriguing past pedigree, without doing anything to block the possibility of other moves down the road.

Wingenter, 31, was just claimed off waivers in August and made five appearances for the Cubs late in the 2024 season. They could have retained him for next season via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a $1.4MM salary next year. It seems they didn’t plan on doing that, so they have sent him into DFA limbo today. They will have a few days to see if there’s any trade interest, but he could end up back on waivers or non-tendered later this week. In his 95 1/3 major league innings, he has a 5.66 earned run average, 30.5% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate.

White Sox Sign Austin Slater

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Nov. 20: Slater will be guaranteed $1.75MM on the deal and can earn up to $500K more via incentives, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. He’s already passed his physical, Murray adds. The deal is complete and should be announced soon by the team.

Nov. 18: The White Sox are signing outfielder Austin Slater to a major league deal, per a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The terms of the agreement are not yet known. Slater will need to be added to the club’s 40-man roster when the deal is made official, though Chicago has space available so a corresponding move will not be necessary.

Slater, 31, was an eighth-round pick by San Francisco out of Stanford during the 2014 draft. The outfielder spent more than a decade in the Giants organization as he made his big league debut in 2017 and remained with the club through last season. In the first three seasons of his career, Slater was a decent but unspectacular fourth outfielder for San Francisco, slashing a combined .254/.335/.368 in 544 total plate appearances during that time. While primarily an outfielder, he also received occasional time at first base and even made token appearances at both second and third base off the Giants’ bench.

The outfielder broke out during the shortened 2020 season, however, with a 150 wRC+ and a .282/.408/.506 slash line in 104 trips to the plate while appearing in 31 of the club’s 60 games. That leap forward offensively earned Slater an expanded role over the next few years, and from 2021 to 2023 he became a regular for the Giants against left-handed pitching. While he was still generally shielded from righties, Slater slashed a respectable .257/.345/.412 in 343 games from 2021 to 2023. That’s good for a respectable 113 wRC+, and across those 838 plate appearances he walked at a 10.5% clip, swatted 24 homers, and swiped 29 bases despite frequent trips to the injured list cutting down on his playing time over the years.

Unfortunately for Slater, his production cratered in 2024. The outfielder hit just .209/.321/.266 (76 wRC+) overall in 212 trips to the plate this year while bouncing between the Giants, Reds, and Orioles. Even more surprisingly, the outfielder actually carried reverse splits this year after years of feasting on left-handed pitching. While he enjoyed a 141 wRC+ against lefties from 2020 to 2023, Slater hit just .188/.310/.231 against them in 142 plate appearances this year. Dismal as that overall production last year was, there is a silver lining in Slater’s performance. Once he arrived in Baltimore on the day of the trade deadline, he looked much more like the player he’s been throughout his career. In 79 plate appearances with the Orioles down the stretch, Slater hit .246/.342/.333 (102 wRC+) overall and posted a 114 wRC+ against southpaws.

That late-season rebound could inspire additional confidence in Slater’s ability to return to form in 2025 and beyond. That appears to be what the White Sox are betting on, and Slater makes plenty of sense for the club as a right-handed platoon option. Veteran lefty bat Andrew Benintendi is entrenched in left field, while the club also employs a host of left-handed youngsters in right field and at DH including Zach DeLoach, Dominic Fletcher, Gavin Sheets, and Oscar Colas. Of that group, only DeLoach (in a sample of just 79 big league PAs) lacks a significant platoon split.

Mixing in Slater against left-handed pitching should be a huge boost for a Sox offense that produced an MLB-worst 74 wRC+ against left-handed pitching last year, even if he merely recreates the production he offered the Orioles rather than bouncing back to the excellent form he showed from 2020 to 2023. While even an excellent short-side platoon bat isn’t going to make the White Sox contenders in 2025 following a 121-loss season this year, Slater was sufficiently attractive as a trade piece this summer to get dealt not once, but twice prior to the deadline. If he can garner that level of interest amid a down season, it’s easy to imagine the White Sox recouping some value for his services next July in the event he bounces back.

Sandro Fabian Reportedly Agrees To Three-Year Deal With NPB’s Hiroshima Toyo Carp

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Outfielder Sandro Fabian has reportedly agreed to join the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, per details from Francys Romero and Mike Rodriguez (X links). It’s a three-year pact worth $5.8MM, plus $600K of incentives. Fabian was on the 40-man roster of the Texas Rangers, who have apparently received some release fee from the Carp to let Fabian go, though the exact value of that hasn’t been reported. Once this all becomes official, the Rangers’ 40-man roster count will drop from 39 to 38.

Fabian, 27 in March, was an international signing of the Giants out of the Dominican Republic back in 2014. Baseball America considered him one of the top prospects in that system from 2017 to 2020 as he performed well in the lower levels of the minors, but he struggled more as he climbed the ladder. His prospect stock dimmed and he reached minor league free agency after 2021, having not climbed higher than Double-A.

In each of the past three offseasons, he has signed a minor league deal with the Rangers. He did finally get to make his major league debut late in 2024, getting selected to the roster in the first week of September. He went hitless in five plate appearances over three games.

For the most part, Fabian has been upper level depth for the Rangers. He has taken 1,093 plate appearances in 265 games at the Triple-A level, keeping his strikeout rate down to 15.3% but only walking at a 6.9% clip. In the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League, his .272/.332/.482 batting line over that time translates to a wRC+ of 95.

His grip on his roster spot was likely tenuous and he was probably looking at more time in a minor league depth role if he had stayed in North America. Even if he earned himself a regular big league job, it would have taken him three years to get enough service time to qualify for arbitration. By heading to Japan, he is leaving affiliated ball but jumping to a higher level of earning power far more quickly.

Perhaps that will lead to another MLB opportunity down the road. After three years with the Carp, Fabian will be heading into his age-30 season. If he flourishes overseas, he can look for a new deal that would allow him to return to North American ball.

Athletics, Seth Brown Avoid Arbitration

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The Athletics and first baseman/outfielder Seth Brown have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year contract for the 2025 season, per a club announcement. The financial components of the deal have not yet been publicly announced.

Brown, 32, looked as though he was no longer in the A’s plans midseason when he was passed through waivers unclaimed. He accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A, so as not to forfeit the remainder of last year’s $2.6MM salary, but Brown caught fire in the minors and hit his way back up to the big leagues in short order.

At the time of his removal from the 40-man roster, Brown was hitting just .189/.251/.306 through 195 plate appearances. He erupted with a .403/.416/.736 slash and seven homers in 77 Triple-A plate appearances, however, and found himself back on the big league roster less than a month later. From the time he returned to the majors through season’s end, Brown hit .271/.312/.448 in a sample of 205 plate appearances that was nearly identical to his early-season struggles.

That proved enough to keep Brown in the team’s plans for at least another year, it seems. The lefty-swinging slugger figures to again split his time between first base and the outfield corners, while Brent Rooker takes the majority of plate appearances at designated hitter. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $3.8MM salary for Brown in free agency, though deals hammered out prior to the non-tender deadline (known as “pre-tender” deals) often come with salaries south of projections. Teams have more leverage prior to the non-tender deadline and thus will frequently present offers in what’s effectively “take it or leave it” fashion, with the “leave it” option representing a non-tender.

Brown has now had consecutive disappointing seasons at the plate, but he popped 45 homers in 261 games with the A’s from 2021-22. He’s a .225/.289/.426 hitter (102 wRC+) in 1640 plate appearances dating back to the 2021 season.

Rockies Re-Sign Jacob Stallings

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The Rockies announced today that they have re-signed catcher Jacob Stallings to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2026. Per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (X link) and Jon Heyman of The New York Post (X link), it’s a $2.5MM deal including a $2MM salary in 2025 and a $500K buyout on a $2MM mutual option for 2026. Heyman says Stallings has a chance to earn $3MM, so there are presumably some incentives or bonuses for the Bo McKinnis client. Colorado’s 40-man roster is now full.

It’s not a surprise to see the two sides reunite. The Rockies signed Stallings a year ago and he went on to have a solid season. It seems he enjoyed his time at altitude, as it was reported in September that the two sides had mutual interest in a reunion. Though he wanted to come back, he turned down a $1.5MM mutual option for 2025 in favor of a $500K buyout. He was presumably hoping to secure a guarantee larger than the $1MM difference between those two numbers and has indeed done so.

Stallings got into 82 games for the Rox in 2024, stepping to the plate 281 times. He hit nine home runs and drew walks at a solid 9.6% clip. His .263/.357/.453 batting line translated to a 114 wRC+, his best offensive showing in any season in which he took at least 20 plate appearances.

The defensive reviews were a bit more mixed. He had racked up 42 Defensive Runs Saved from 2019 to 2021, the highest of any catcher in the majors for that time frame. But that metric has soured on him, giving him a grade of -15 over the past three seasons, including a -6 grade in 2024. Outlets like Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have considered him to be an excellent blocker in recent years but not so great in terms of framing or controlling the running game.

While Stallings may not be a perfect player, perhaps he’s the right guy for the Rockies and their current circumstances. Drew Romo may be viewed as the club’s long-term solution behind the plate but he’s not quite there yet. Selected 35th overall in the 2020 draft, he is just 23 years old and is still a work in progress. He has made his major league debut but hit poorly in just 16 games.

Perhaps Romo will get a lengthier big league audition in 2025, with the 35-year-old Stallings around as a veteran mentor/backup. Or if Romo is getting more seasoning in Triple-A, a level at which he has less than 100 games of experience, then perhaps Stallings will get more big league playing time. Utility player Hunter Goodman is the third catcher on the roster and he could be a factor if Romo is down on the farm, or perhaps the Rockies could bring in another veteran.

Either way, the club should be playing the long game. They just wrapped up their sixth straight losing season, with more than 100 losses in each of the past two campaigns. There are some positive developments on the roster but they can afford to give Romo some time to get his feet wet and get accustomed to the big leagues. Since player development doesn’t always go in a straight line, it makes sense to have a vet like Stallings around to help the process or simply step in whenever Romo might be more focused on things like training, developing relationships with pitchers or any of the other facets of being a big league catcher.

Cubs Acquire Eli Morgan, Designate Patrick Wisdom For Assignment

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The Cubs and Guardians have made a trade sending right-hander Eli Morgan from Cleveland to Chicago, per announcements from both clubs. Outfield prospect Alfonsin Rosario heads the other way. Chicago designated infielder Patrick Wisdom for assignment to open space on the 40-man roster.

Morgan, 28, isn’t a household name but nonetheless represents a notable addition to the Chicago relief corps. The former eighth-round pick is fresh off a terrific season in Cleveland, having posted a 1.93 ERA in 42 frames out of the bullpen. Morgan was the beneficiary of a microscopic .222 average on balls in play and a bloated 85.2% strand rate, both of which serve as a portent for some ERA regression. However, he’s been a quality reliever for the past three seasons, working to a combined 3.27 ERA in 176 innings for the Guards.

Morgan did see his strikeout rate check in at a career-low 20.4% this past season, which is something of a red flag. The primary culprit has been a drop in swinging strikes against his four-seamer, though he hasn’t lost much in the way of velocity on the pitch. Morgan still racks up plenty of whiffs with his slider and changeup, and that pair of secondary offerings has helped him to keep both righties and lefties off balance in his four-year MLB career. Even with the dip in punchouts — Morgan fanned 28.1% of his opponents in 2022 and 25.1% in 2023 — he maintained strong command, issuing a walk to only 6.6% of opponents.

For the Cubs, Morgan will be a multi-year option in the ’pen — and an affordable one at that. He’s controlled for another three seasons and is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn just $1MM this coming season. His role in Chicago will determine the extent to which his price tag rises over the next few seasons — saves are compensated more in arbitration than middle relief work, for instance — but the Cubs will very likely pay fewer than $10MM for the three years of service they’re acquiring.

In addition to adding Morgan to the bullpen mix, the Cubs are bidding farewell to the slugging Wisdom, who’s tagged 84 home runs in a Cubs uniform over the past four seasons. The 33-year-old has been a consistent source of power and been a frequent thorn in the side of left-handed pitching, but Wisdom’s limited skill set has long been evident and proved particularly restrictive in 2024, when he hit just .171/.237/.392 in 174 plate appearances.

Strikeouts have been an issue for Wisdom throughout his career, but at least from 2021-23, he was productive enough against lefties and affordable enough that the Cubs were willing to overlook his flaws. He’s fanned in a whopping 36.5% of his trips to the plate dating back to 2021 and has reached base at only a .290 clip — all while playing sub-par defense at third base (with occasional work at first base and very fleeting looks at second and in the outfield corners). From 2021-23, Wisdom hit .231/.312/.517 against lefties and at least hit for power against righties, even though his .206 average and .291 OBP were eyesores. He didn’t produce against pitchers of either handedness in 2024.

Swartz had projected Wisdom for a $3MM salary this coming season — perhaps a reasonable price tag for a defensively limited corner bat who can torment lefties to the extent he did in ’21-’23. But the Cubs’ veteran-laden roster — which includes no-trade clauses for Ian Happ, Dansby Swanson and Seiya Suzuki — offers minimal paths to reshaping an offense that simply hasn’t gotten the job done in recent seasons. Subtracting Wisdom both frees up a bit of cash and subtracts a narrow skill set from the roster. That spot on the bench can now be allocated to a new acquisition, presumably one with a more well-rounded skill set.

The Cubs can trade Wisdom for the next week or place him on waivers within the next five days. Friday’s looming non-tender deadline also affords the Cubs the opportunity to simply non-tender the now-DFA’ed Wisdom, which would allow him to immediately become a free agent without needing to first pass through waivers (the only time of year teams are allowed to do so). They could use that as a mechanism to try to quickly re-sign Wisdom on a minor league deal, though he’d likely want to canvas the rest of the league to see if his power potential could land him a 40-man spot elsewhere.

Cleveland had the most dominant bullpen in MLB this past season, so the Guardians surely feel they’re dealing from a position of strength. Morgan’s salary is hardly prohibitive, but even in spite of his success, the rest of the Cleveland was so dominant that Morgan rarely found himself working in leverage spots. Emmanuel Clase, Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis and Tim Herrin all joined Morgan as relievers with 40-plus innings and sub-2.00 ERAs (sub-1.00, in Clase’s case).

The Cubs, meanwhile, dealt with bullpen issues throughout the 2024 season and ultimately wound up releasing last winter’s big relief acquisition, Hector Neris. Midseason pickup Jorge Lopez became a free agent at season’s end. As it stands, their late-inning mix is still full of relatively inexperienced arms, headlined by Porter Hodge, Tyson Miller, Keegan Thompson, Nate Pearson and Luke Little. Morgan will add some stability to that mix, but Chicago still seems likely to pursue further additions in the months ahead.

Rosario, 21 in June, was a sixth-round pick in 2023. He played 109 Single-A games in 2024, striking out 32.2% of the time but also drawing walks at a strong 12.3% clip. He hit 16 home runs and slashed .230/.344/.423 for a wRC+ of 127. He also stole 16 bases while playing both center and right field. Baseball America currently lists him as the Cubs’ #27 prospect.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported on Morgan going to the Cubs (X link). Jesse Rogers of ESPN mentioned Wisdom’s DFA (X link). Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic first mentioned that an A-ball prospect would be going to the Guardians (X link).

MLB Mailbag: Braves, Padres, Red Sox, Rangers, Reds, Rizzo, Buehler

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This week's mailbag gets into Braves, Padres, and Red Sox offseason possibilities, where Anthony Rizzo and Walker Buehler could land, off-the-wall Reds trade ideas, potential Rangers trade partners, and much more.

Bill asks:

What will Atlanta do this offseason with their shortstop, pitching, catching, and outfield needs?

I don't think the Braves will do anything significant at catcher; they might be content to use Chadwick Tromp as Sean Murphy's backup and see how Drake Baldwin comes along.  If they wanted to limit Murphy's playing time, they would've kept Travis d'Arnaud.

In terms of starting pitchers, the Braves have been linked to Walker Buehler, Nick Pivetta, and Nathan Eovaldi so far.  We'll know by Friday whether they tender a contract to Griffin Canning.  I don't love the Pivetta fit, given that he declined a qualifying offer.

12 days ago, Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tossed out some of these same names and also speculated on Jordan Montgomery, Jack Flaherty, Kevin Gausman, and Shane Bieber.  I consider Kikuchi another viable free agent option, as well as Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, and a reunion with Charlie Morton.  The Braves could make a play for Garrett Crochet, or try to trade for Fedde, Sonny Gray, Zack Littell, Jesus Luzardo, Luis Castillo, or Jeffrey Springs.  They could sign Jeff Hoffman as a starter, given how well that strategy worked with Reynaldo Lopez.

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Reds Notes: Martinez, Offseason, De La Cruz

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Nick Martinez accepted the Reds’ $21.05MM qualifying offer this week, making him the lone player of the 13 who received a QO to accept that one-year deal. The two parties talked about a potential multi-year deal before the 34-year-old righty accepted, and while talks on a multi-year deal are reportedly on hold for now, Martinez suggested that he’s still open to such an arrangement and has received no indication from the club that talks won’t pick up down the line (links via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com and C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic).

“Accepting the qualifying offer doesn’t limit us from talking, so I’m definitely still open to it if that helps mitigate costs for this year or sign more guys,” Martinez said yesterday (via Rosecrans). Via Sheldon (on BlueSky), he added: “To my understanding, [discussing a multi-year deal] is still on the table.”

Martinez’s $21.05MM salary puts the Reds right back at their 2024 payroll level, per RosterResource’s projections. Reds COO Doug Healy said last week that the 2025 payroll would be “at or above” last year’s roughly $100MM level. A $21MM salary for Martinez doesn’t leave tons of wiggle room, and the Reds haven’t divulged just how far “above” that $100MM level they’d be comfortable spending. Working out a two- or three-year deal with Martinez that might reduce his 2025 salary would give the Reds more flexibility and also allow them to further extend their control over a player who president of baseball ops Nick Krall called a “great team guy” and a “lead-by-example guy.”

Prior to the Reds’ surprise decision to tender a QO to Martinez, MLBTR had penciled Martinez in for a three-year, $39MM contract on our annual Top 50 Free Agent rankings. The Athletic’s Tim Britton offered a very similar three-year, $40MM prediction. A deal in that range could allow the Reds to trim several million off Martinez’s 2025 salary — perhaps even more, if the team is willing to backload the deal so Martinez’s salaries are greater in 2026-27, when other contracts will be coming off the books. Emilio Pagán is earning $8MM in 2025 but is a free agent at season’s end. Jeimer Candelario is signed for two more years and earning more in ’25 ($15MM) than in ’26 ($12MM).

Among the Reds’ other goals in free agency are adding a bat to the lineup, deepening the bullpen and, per Sheldon, improving the team’s overall defense. Landing a corner outfield bat has long seemed like a viable target for the Reds, with Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hernández, Tyler O’Neill, Jurickson Profar, Michael Conforto and Max Kepler are among the non-Soto tier of free agent possibilities. Again, bringing Martinez back at a weighty price point complicates the pursuit of such hitters, but all should sign contracts that are within reasonable proximity to the Reds’ prior free agent thresholds. Cincinnati has in the past signed both Nick Castellanos and Mike Moustakas to four-year, $64MM free agent deals, for instance. Santander will very likely command a larger guarantee than that, but the others should come in at or below (well below, for Conforto and Kepler) that type of total commitment and/or annual value.

One other area of focus for the Reds this winter will be making incremental improvements to Elly De La Cruz’s already impressive game, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. One of the game’s most dynamic talents and still just 22 years old, the 6’5″ De La Cruz wowed with 25 homers, 67 steals and a .259/.339/.471 batting line while playing 160 games and spending every inning he was in the lineup at shortstop. Krall specifically voiced a desire to work with De La Cruz on whittling away at his 31.3% strikeout rate — a mark that’s already down a bit from his 33.7% rate as a 21-year-old in 2023.

Interestingly, Krall noted that “a lot of our guys” are in that same boat, perhaps foreshadowing one of the traits he’ll look for as he looks to bolster his lineup this winter. With regard to De La Cruz, however, both Krall and GM Brad Meador emphasized to Wittenmyer that even with a crowded infield mix and prospect Edwin Arroyo on the rise, De La Cruz is the team’s shortstop for the foreseeable future. Krall and Meador spoke of working with De La Cruz to tighten up his defense on routine plays and scale back outs made on the basepaths, though the team is surely thrilled with the overall quality of their budding star shortstop’s performance. De La Cruz is under club control for at least five more seasons and likely won’t be eligible for arbitration until the 2026-27 offseason.

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