Left-hander Kris Bubic won his arbitration hearing against the Royals, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He’ll be paid the $6.15MM salary figure he and his reps at Apex Baseball submitted rather than the $5.15MM figure submitted by the team.
More to come.
Eric Lauer lost his arbitration case against the Blue Jays, according to Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith. He will make $4.4MM this season instead of the $5.75MM he was seeking.
More to come…
The Marlins and left-handed reliever John King are in agreement on a one-year, $1.5MM contract for the 2026 season, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. He was non-tendered by the Cardinals back in November. Miami now needs to open two 40-man roster spots — one for King and another for righty Chris Paddack, who agreed to a one-year deal earlier in the week. Their 40-man roster is full, but one spot can be opened by transferring injured righty-hander Ronny Henriquez, who’ll miss the season following Tommy John surgery, to the 60-day injured list.
King, 31, spent three and a half seasons with the Rangers from 2020-23 before being traded to St. Louis at the ’23 deadline. He spent the next two and a half seasons in the Cardinals’ bullpen. The 6’2″ ground-ball specialist has a 3.70 ERA over his past 243 big league innings but is coming off a rough season in which he worked to a 4.66 earned run average with a career-low 12.6% strikeout rate in 48 1/3 innings.
While King has never been one to miss many bats, that 12.6% mark was still three percentage points south of his career mark entering the 2025 season. Last year’s 6.3% walk rate was a strong mark but still up from the prior season’s 5.6%. King’s 93 mph average sinker velocity was also its lowest since the 2022 season.
What King lacks in strikeouts, he at least partially makes up for in ground-balls. Opposing batters have an extremely difficult time elevating against the lefty’s arsenal. He sports a massive 61.5% ground-ball rate in his career and has run that number up as high as 66.9% (in 2023). As one might expect for an extreme ground-ball pitcher, King has done a nice job keeping the ball in the yard, with just 0.89 homers per nine frames in his major league career.
King has been more effective against fellow lefties than righties, holding same-handed opponents to a .251/.291/.337 slash in his career. Right-handers have hit him well, slashing .302/.353/.430 in 682 plate appearances.
More to come.
Astros closer Josh Hader is behind schedule in camp after imaging revealed biceps inflammation a couple weeks ago, manager Joe Espada told the team’s beat as camp opened this morning (link via Chandler Rome of The Athletic). Espada added that Hader has already been resting for the past 10 days or so and is scheduled to resume throwing from flat ground today. Hader himself told reporters that he felt “pretty good” after his brief shutdown (video via MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart). He acknowledged being a “probably a few weeks behind” due to the minor setback. Hader didn’t rule out Opening Day but also declined to put a firm timetable on his rehab.
The 31-year-old lefty (32 in April) is entering the third season of a five-year, $95MM contract in 2026. Hader enjoyed a decent first season in Houston and a dominant second campaign; overall, he’s pitched to a 3.06 earned run average while striking out a colossal 37.4% of opponents against a roughly average 8.5% walk rate. He’s picked up 62 saves along the way. Bryan Abreu would be the top candidate for saves early in the season if Hader were to miss time.
Elsewhere in the Houston bullpen, righty Enyel De Los Santos is current shut down from throwing for a couple days due to a strain in his right knee (via McTaggart). The 30-year-old De Los Santos was a nice bargain addition in August. Houston signed the well-traveled righty to a big league deal after he was cut loose in Atlanta. He went on to pitch 22 1/3 innings as an Astro, working to a 4.03 ERA with far more encouraging rate stats (26.4 K%, 6.6 BB%). He was dinged for five home runs in that time — an average of 2.01 per nine frames — which continued a worrying trend from the 2024 season. However, the long ball wasn’t an issue for him in Atlanta, and De Los Santos yielded just 0.53 HR/9 from 2022-23 in Cleveland. He’s playing out his final season of club control on a $1.6MM salary.
Espada also announced to reporters this morning that catcher Yainer Diaz suffered a foot sprain on a slide into second base during the Dominican Winter League season (video via McTaggart). The injury took place back in December, and Diaz immediately flew to Houston for a diagnosis and to begin treatment. He’s catching bullpens, swinging the bat and throwing as normal, though he’s on what Espada described as a “modified” running program while the foot is in its final stages of mending. There’s no indication that Diaz will miss time to begin the season or even be hobbled early during exhibition play, but it’s still something to keep an eye on; Houston has reportedly already been poking around the market for a backup catcher.
In broader terms, the Astros remain active in both the free agent and trade markets. They’ve reportedly been seeking a left-handed-hitting outfielder as part of the return in any trade talks surrounding infielder Isaac Paredes, who remains available for clubs looking to add some thump at the infield corners and/or at designated hitter. General manager Dana Brown suggested today that trade talks have slowed down in general since camp opened but stated that Houston remains open to roster changes throughout the course of spring training (via Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle).
In addition to seeking a backup catcher, looking for a lefty-hitting outfielder, and exploring trade scenarios for Paredes and pricey first baseman Christian Walker, the Astros have spent much of the offseason listening to interest in center fielder Jake Meyers.
This week’s mailbag gets into the Orioles’ and Braves’ rotations, whether Nick Castellanos could help the Tigers, and what the Brewers will do at third base after trading Caleb Durbin. It concludes with a bunch of my half-baked “hot takes” for your amusement. I’d love to see yours in the comments.
Michael asks:
Why couldn’t the Orioles have signed Ranger Suarez? Seems like they whiffed on this deal.
I don’t know that it needed to be Suarez specifically, but Orioles president of baseball operations and GM Mike Elias has thus far failed to add a front of the rotation starting pitcher. Shane Baz is probably good for 2 WAR and still has breakout potential. But (likely) better pitchers such as Suarez, Dylan Cease, Sonny Gray, Framber Valdez, Michael King, MacKenzie Gore, and Freddy Peralta were available this winter and the Orioles didn’t add any of them.
Elias had this to say in a recent press conference: “I think we’ve put together a really strong rotation as it stands right now. We’ll continue to look externally, if we can bolster this group in one way, shape or form. … But I think that this rotation looks good.”
Elias could still boost the team by one or even two wins by signing Zac Gallen, and Bob Nightengale of USA Today did name the Orioles as one of four suitors. Still, any of the above would’ve been better. Elias noted that “late signings can be tricky,” implying that his interest in adding a notable free agent starter might diminish by (in my estimation) the end of the month.
FanGraphs projects the Orioles’ rotation to be the 17th-best in MLB. That includes 3.1 WAR from Kyle Bradish in 148 innings. I think Bradish is good for more than that, though I’m also not confident Zach Eflin can reach his 146 inning projection, so maybe it’s a wash. Eflin underwent lumbar microdiscectomy surgery last August and aims to be ready for Opening Day.
FanGraphs’ projections currently calls for five different Orioles pitchers to reach 146 innings. Is there any chance of that happening?
[restrict]
Here’s the number of 140-inning starters per team in 2025:
This doesn’t account for quality or trades. Plus, as the Dodgers demonstrated, as long as your big dogs are healthy in the playoffs, you can still win it all. Still, only three teams managed even four starters with 140+ innings. It’s likely the Orioles’ front five – Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, Shane Baz, Dean Kremer, and Zach Eflin – falls well short of their projected 772 total innings. That’s why adding even a 2.5 WAR-ish starter like Gallen would still help – they don’t have enough rotation depth.
Daryn asks:
I found this very interesting. I think my math is right, but there were only 2 teams that had 3 starting pitchers with over 160 innings – Cleveland and Cincinnati. Do you think by having 3 starting pitchers with over 160 innings make you a sure thing for the playoffs? I do not think your teams has to have a #1 ace but you need 2-3 pitchers with 30 starts and over 160 innings.
This question relates well to my previous answer! Three teams had three pitchers reach 160 innings as a starter: the Angels, Blue Jays, and Yankees. The Dodgers only had one in Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Guardians and Reds were just shy of three, with Logan Allen and Nick Lodolo almost getting to 160.
Angels starting pitchers ranked 28th in baseball in ERA last year despite Yusei Kikuchi, Jose Soriano, and Kyle Hendricks all topping 160 innings. Mediocre pitchers do still reach that inning threshold. Of the 50 who did so in 2025, 12 were worth less than 2 WAR. The Nationals’ Jake Irvin was below replacement level, and the Cardinals’ Andre Pallante was close.
You need enough starting pitching to get through 162 games, but to succeed in the playoffs teams generally need two or three very good starting pitchers and/or perhaps three or four very good relievers. The Dodgers got only 198 2/3 regular season starting innings from Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, and Shohei Ohtani, but that trio pitched 45.9% of their postseason innings. Their big dogs were healthy at the right time.
Kevin asks:
Do the Braves final sign Chris Bassitt and then trade someone like Elder and Bummer (salary relief) or do they go with what they have and hope no rash of injuries like last year?
Kevin posed this question before it was revealed Spencer Schwellenbach will start the season on the 60-day IL due to elbow inflammation.
Elder is a 5.00 ERA-ish pitcher, but he was also the only Braves starter to reach 130 innings last year. He’s making the league minimum, so there’s no salary relief in trading him. The Braves just lost one win (best case scenario) with the Schwellenbach injury, and they’re counting on 140-160 innings apiece from Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, and Reynaldo Lopez. They badly need to add one starting pitcher, and should be looking to add two.
MLBTR’s Steve Adams suggested yesterday the Braves might want to stop at a $284MM CBT payroll for 2026; otherwise their pick in the 2027 draft will be moved back 10 spots. The club’s current CBT payroll appears to be just shy of $254MM, so they do have wiggle room to add starting pitching. A bunch of fifth starter types signed this week, plus Justin Verlander, but Bassitt, Zac Gallen, Lucas Giolito, Max Scherzer, and Zack Littell remain on the market.
The Braves gave Bummer a new contract in November 2024, reducing his CBT hit compared to his club option and transferring money to 2026. As a result, he’s owed $9.5MM this year. In 2025, the 32-year-old lefty reliever showed career-worst velocity, lost the faith of manager Brian Snitker, and saw his season end on August 23rd due to shoulder inflammation. Perhaps with a clean bill of health a lefty-needy team would pick up a million or two of Bummer’s contract.
Lloyd asks:
Hello. Now that JV is back in the D can the Tigers spare enough payroll to acquire Nick Castellanos? They need a right-handed bat, his numbers were good last year, and paired with Carpenter they’d have RF/DH well-covered. Does this make sense? If the Phillies will drop him for a PTBNL, ’cash considerations,’ etc., would Castellanos be an upgrade on whomever he’d displace (e.g., Jones or Perez)?
Castellanos did well at Comerica when he played there; does he have enough in the tank to justify maybe $2,000,00 and a roster spot for one big push for a championship?
Payroll-wise, just about any team can spare $2MM. I’m not sure anyone will offer the Phillies even that level of relief from Castellanos’ $20MM salary, given his recent performance and clubhouse strife plus the possibility he’s simply released.
I’ll have to disagree on Castellanos’ numbers being good last year; he posted a 90 wRC+ and was actually a bit worse than that against lefties. From 2023-24, though, Castellanos posted a healthy 136 mark against southpaws, so it’s possible that’s still in there with a change of scenery. Castellanos turns 34 in March, so not necessarily.
Castellanos has played at Comerica Park more than anywhere else, and he did hit there. He called the ballpark “a joke” in 2019 shortly before his trade to the Cubs, though the Tigers have since changed the dimensions of the outfield.
2025 was a tumultuous season for Castellanos, who said afterward his knee had been bothering him for months. When manager Rob Thomson removed Castellanos for defensive purposes in a June game – ending a consecutive game streak of 236 – Castellanos’ response “left players and coaches alike disgusted,” according to Matt Gelb of The Athletic. Dave Dombrowski is looking to move him this week.
If I was the Tigers, I wouldn’t bother with the drama for a short-side platoon DH who should really put his glove into storage. It’s true that Carpenter, penciled in at DH, does not hit lefties. It’s a bit hard to say whether switch-hitting prospective starting right fielder Wenceel Perez will hit southpaws; he did in 108 plate appearances last year. That was not the case for Perez in the minors or Majors in 2023-24.
Per RosterResource, the Tigers’ current bench features four right-handed hitters, one of whom is backup catcher Jake Rogers. The other three – Javy Baez, Jahmai Jones, and Matt Vierling, can all play some outfield. Jones, in particular, has been a lefty-masher in the Majors and Triple-A and fits better than Castellanos would.
Ed asks:
What are the Brewers thinking [with the Caleb Durbin trade]? They really have no third baseman. They traded away a good cheap third baseman. They didn’t get any player of much value for Durbin. Where do they go now? Paredes or just a fill in? Brewers fans must be going crazy right now.
In trading Durbin and Isaac Collins this offseason, the Brewers have dealt their starting third baseman and a player who took 57% of their innings in left field. Durbin and Collins finished third and fourth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. Durbin has six years of control remaining; Collins has five. Each player was worth 2.6 FanGraphs WAR.
The Brewers had clearly soured on Collins by the playoffs; he would’ve had a bench role for the ’26 club. The Durbin trade indicates, if nothing else, that the Brewers really like Kyle Harrison and Shane Drohan. It also suggests they’re bearish on Durbin, whose projection per 650 PA games ranges anywhere from 1.5 to 3.1 at FanGraphs.
In the short-term, Joey Ortiz could play third for the Brewers, with Brice Turang possibly moving to shortstop. So, the Brewers could potentially add at third or second base. A brief look at a few the team’s top prospects, according to Baseball America:
I can see the Brewers making it work at second base, shortstop, and third base in 2026 with some combination of Turang, Ortiz, Hamilton, and perhaps Williams, even if that group admittedly won’t provide much offense. By 2027, their four top-75 prospects will hopefully be emerging.
Paredes has two years of control and probably requires a bigger commitment than the Brewers need. I have doubts about Paredes’ ability to play third base in 2026 (more on that later), and he doesn’t complement Andrew Vaughn at first since both bat right-handed. The Brewers tend to find unexpected solutions, but some possible infield options could include Alec Bohm, Ben Williamson, Brett Baty, Luis Rengifo, Nacho Alvarez, Casey Schmitt, Tyler Fitzgerald, Ryan Bliss, Shay Whitcomb, Trey Sweeney, Darell Hernaiz, Jose Tena, Coby Mayo, Bryan Ramos, Kyren Paris, and Will Wagner.
Some of those players landed in new organizations this winter; others are former well-regarded prospects. Rengifo could easily be signed as a free agent, though he doesn’t fit the Brewers’ speed-and-defense vibe. Bohm is probably unlikely given that he’s making $10.2MM and the Phillies didn’t find an upgrade over him this winter.
Mark asks:
Houston is looking for LHH OF, Pirates are in search of an upgrade at 3B. Would a trade of high potential Oneil Cruz for Isaac Paredes work?
Cruz has three years of control left, while Paredes has two. That aside, I’m not sure Paredes would actually be an offensive upgrade over Cruz for the Pirates. 2025 was certainly a down year for the 27-year-old Cruz, especially against lefties. But I can’t see the Pirates selling low on him, especially with off-the-charts Statcast numbers that suggest he’ll bounce back to a 110 wRC+ in 2026. Lastly, trading Cruz would probably relegate Jake Mangum to the starting center fielder role in Pittsburgh, negating whatever offensive gains some might expect from adding Paredes.
Paredes, 27 next week, has a strong 124 wRC+ in over 2,000 plate appearances dating back to 2022. Something like that would probably make him the best hitter on the Pirates. However, Paredes has never had an expected slugging percentage above .380, per Statcast, as he’s lacking in exit velocity and barrels. While he benefitted from Daikin Park last year, Paredes had success on the road too. He presents an interesting case of track record vs. underlying metrics. When Cody Bellinger hit the 2023-24 free agent market as such a case, his contract demands were not met.
Paredes tore his hamstring on July 19th, chose rest and rehab over surgery, and returned two months later as a DH for the Astros. In mid-November, four months after the injury, Astros GM Dana Brown said Paredes was about 65% recovered from the injury and would “potentially” be ready by Opening Day. He played nine games in winter ball, but I can’t easily tell if any of those came at the hot corner.
It’s been a while since Paredes shouldered a full third base load. His defense seems subpar in both range and arm strength, so if he’s hobbled to start the season that could be a problem. I don’t know for sure, but it’s possible teams share my reasons for hesitation with Paredes, and that’s why he’s still an Astro despite their logjam.
BD asks:
Is Steven Kwan a Guardian in October? If not, where do you expect he’ll be playing and what return will the Guardians receive?
My best guess is that Kwan will be traded at the deadline. I could see the Astros, Angels, Blue Jays, Diamondbacks, Reds, Phillies, or Giants landing him. It’s pretty hard to predict the return, but maybe two 50-grade prospects would suffice?
Joe asks:
Come on Tim, give us some hot take predictions for the upcoming season.
I’m much too boring to give hot takes! Therefore, these probably don’t qualify, but here’s an attempt:
Please don’t take these too seriously; I was just trying to come up with some interesting stuff that I find reasonable.
The Brewers have agreed to terms on a deal with veteran catcher Gary Sánchez, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The MDR Sports client will be guaranteed $1.75MM on the deal.
Sánchez, 33, spent the 2025 season with the Orioles organization but was limited to just 30 games and 101 plate appearances due to wrist inflammation and, more seriously, a sprain of the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He was reasonably productive when healthy, popping five homers and turning in a .231/.297/.418 batting line (100 wRC+).
This will be Sánchez’s second stint with the Brewers in the past three seasons. He spent the 2024 campaign in Milwaukee as well, hitting .220/.307/.392 with 11 homers in 280 plate appearances. He served as a backup to William Contreras and a part-time (40 games) designated hitter that season and figures to reprise that role in 2026.
A former top prospect and an All-Star earlier with the Yankees early in his career, Sánchez has settled into a backup/part-time role in recent seasons. He appeared in 128 games and totaled 471 plate appearances with the Twins in 2022 after being traded from the Bronx to Minnesota, but he’s taken only 648 plate appearances combined in the three subsequent seasons (albeit, in part due to last year’s injuries).
Sánchez developed a reputation as a defensive liability earlier in his career but progressed to the point that he turned in solid defensive marks behind the dish in both 2022 and 2023. He was closer to average in ’24 and slipped back below average in 2025, per both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast, though that was obviously a small sample (175 innings). He’ll return to a Milwaukee club where he’s familiar with some members of the staff (e.g. Brandon Woodruff, Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill, Aaron Ashby, Jared Koenig), but the Brewers’ staff has turned over a fair bit even in the roughly 18 months since Sánchez’s initial departure.
The Brewers recently signed veteran catcher Reese McGuire to a minor league deal and invited him to spring training. He’d been in line to serve as the backup to Contreras but now seems likely to be ticketed for Triple-A Nashville — if he doesn’t have an out clause in his contract that allows him to explore other opportunities late in camp.
The addition of those two veterans gives the Brewers the ability to be more patient with top prospect Jeferson Quero, who is widely regarded as the heir to Contreras behind the plate but still has just 59 games and 251 plate appearances of Triple-A ball under his belt. He could push his way into the mix with a big enough season in Nashville, and it’s feasible that he’ll be ready for a full-time look in 2027, when Contreras will be entering his final season of club control (and likely be an offseason trade candidate, as is often the case with top Brewers players who are a year from reaching free agency).
Feb. 11: Lindor will indeed undergo surgery to address the injury, manager Carlos Mendoza announced to reporters this morning (via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). The Mets haven’t officially ruled him out for Opening Day, but there’s obviously a decent chance he won’t be ready to begin the season.
Feb. 10: Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor is being evaluated for a hamate bone injury, per president of baseball operations David Stearns. The five-time All-Star would face a six-week absence if the injury requires surgery. Steans told reporters, including Jorge Castillo of ESPN, that he’s confident Lindor would be back for the beginning of the season even if he has surgery.
Lindor underwent a debridement procedure on his right elbow early in the offseason. Insurance coverage issues related to the injury kept the Team Puerto Rico captain out of the 2026 World Baseball Classic. The announcement from Stearns is the first mention of the hamate injury. Lindor is set to be examined to determine the next steps. The Mets open the season against the Pirates on March 26.
The 32-year-old Lindor missed a month with an oblique strain in the middle of his first season with the Mets in 2021. Since then, he’s been the picture of health. Lindor has played in at least 152 games in four straight seasons. He’s piled up 680+ plate appearances each year in that stretch, including a league-leading 732 this past year. Lindor hasn’t been on the IL since the 2021 oblique issue.
The six-week timeframe would leave little breathing room for Lindor to recover in time for Opening Day, if he were to undergo surgery. The shortstop has been dealing with the stress reaction in his hamate bone over the past few days, Stearns said (relayed by Anthony Dicomo of MLB.com). Hamate bone issues have a history of sapping power from hitters. Lindor has been a 30-homer hitter for three straight years.
The Mets have a handful of in-house options available to replace Lindor if he misses any time. Free agent acquisition Bo Bichette was ticketed for third base, but could move back to his natural position of shortstop. Bichette’s declining skills at the position narrowed his list of suitors and led to him landing with a team that didn’t need him up the middle, but he could survive at short until Lindor ramped back up.
Ronny Mauricio spent the majority of his minor league career at shortstop. He’s been mostly a third baseman in the big leagues, though that’s mostly due to Lindor’s stranglehold on shortstop. Vidal Bruján is the only other player with recent shortstop experience on the 40-man roster.
Losing Lindor’s bat for any amount of time would be significant for an offense that will look quite different in 2026. Mainstays Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso have departed, along with midseason acquisition Cedric Mullins. Marcus Semien, Jorge Polanco, and Luis Robert Jr. are now in the mix, along with Bichette.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
The Blue Jays are in agreement on a minor league contract with first baseman/outfielder Juan Yepez, per Aram Leighton and Eric Treuden of Just Baseball. He’ll presumably be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee later this month.
Yepez, 27, has appeared in parts of three big league seasons with the Cardinals and Nationals — most recently with Washington in 2024. He’s a .258/.307/.423 hitter (103 wRC+) in 588 plate appearances as a major leaguer. The righty-swinging Yepez has fairly neutral platoon splits in his MLB time and carries a 6.5% walk rate against a 20.9% strikeout rate.
The 2025 season was a struggle for Yepez. He didn’t appear in the majors and struggled badly in Triple-A while also spending nearly two months of the season on the minor league injured list. He appeared in 75 minor league games overall (62 in Triple-A, plus 13 rehab games in High-A) and posted a combined .220/.292/.358 batting line in 284 turns at the plate.
It was a year to forget, but Yepez has a track record as a well above-average hitter in Triple-A and a solid, roughly league-average producer in about one season’s worth of plate appearances. He has below-average speed (31st percentile in 2024, per Statcast) and doesn’t bring much defensive value to the table, with poor marks from Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average at first base and in both outfield corners.
Yepez joins the Blue Jays just one day after they revealed outfielder/designated hitter Anthony Santander will miss five-plus months due to shoulder surgery. With Santander sidelined, the Jays will likely go with Nathan Lukes, Daulton Varsho and Addison Barger in the outfield, with George Springer mixing in occasionally but spending most of his time at designated hitter.
Yepez joins the mix for a bench spot behind that group, though there’s not much space for a non-roster player to force his way in. Tyler Heineman will take one spot as the backup catcher, while speedster Myles Straw is in line for backup outfield work. Infielder Leo Jimenez is out of minor league options and is the primary backup to Andres Gimenez at shortstop (though second baseman Ernie Clement can certainly handle shortstop as well). Infielder/outfielder Davis Schneider has minor league options left, as do outfielders Joey Loperfido and Jonatan Clase. Yepez will try to leapfrog Schneider, Loperfido and Clase for the final bench spot, but there’s a good chance he simply heads to Triple-A Buffalo to serve as depth in the upper minors.
The Dodgers announced Wednesday that they’ve re-signed reliever Evan Phillips to a one-year deal worth $6.5MM. Catcher Ben Rortvedt was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Phillips, a client of Apex Baseball, was non-tendered by the Dodgers in November after undergoing Tommy John surgery late last May but will return on a new one-year deal.
Phillips, 31, came to the Dodgers via a 2021 waiver claim out of the Rays organization. He pitched well enough down the stretch in ’21 to stick on the roster throughout that offseason, but Phillips didn’t immediately look like a waiver heist in the initial months following his claim.
That changed in 2022. A then-27-year-old Phillips erupted for 63 innings with a microscopic 1.14 ERA. He set down 33% of opponents on strikes and walked only 6.4% of the batters he faced, averaging better than 96 mph on his four-seamer and sinker alike. Phillips picked up 19 holds that year, but by 2023 he’d stepped into the closer’s role in L.A. — a job he handled with aplomb. Phillips turned in another dominant season, recording a 2.05 ERA with 24 saves, six holds, a 28.2% strikeout rate and a 5.6% walk rate.
For three full seasons from 2022-24, Phillips was a wipeout late-inning reliever. He combined for a 2.21 ERA with 44 saves, 34 holds and only nine blown saves, whiffing 29.6% of opponents with a 6.5% walk rate. His 2025 campaign got out to a strong start as well, with 5 2/3 shutout frames and six strikeouts. Phillips hit the injured list early in the year, however, and by late May the team announced that he’d require Tommy John procedure, sidelining him for what’ll likely be 13 to 14 months.
Phillips figures to aim for a return around the All-Star break, give or take a couple weeks. If he’s able to do so, he’ll be a prominent midseason boon to the bullpen — effectively the same as picking up a prominent reliever ahead of the trade deadline. There’s risk in any pitcher coming back from major surgery, but if it works out, he’ll be healthy for October, which has been the Dodgers’ primary concern (relative to the regular season) with all their higher-end pitchers in recent seasons.
The Dodgers are an annual luxury tax payor and are well into the top bracket of penalization. Phillips will come with the maximum 110% tax on his salary, meaning he’ll cost the Dodgers $13.65MM overall. It’s a steep price to pay, particularly relative to the risk, but the Dodgers’ spending knows virtually no bounds.
As for Rortvedt, he’ll likely head back to the waiver wire on the heels of his latest DFA. He ended the season on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster and quickly inked a $1.25MM deal to avoid arbitration. The Dodgers then placed him on waivers, hoping he’d clear and could then be stashed in Triple-A Oklahoma City as upper-level depth. Ideally, the $1.25MM salary would’ve dissuaded other clubs from claiming him while also giving Rortvedt a reason to accept the minor league assignment; he has enough service time to reject an outright in favor of free agency but not enough to do so while retaining his guaranteed salary.
The Reds scooped Rortvedt up anyhow and carried him on the 40-man roster for much of the offseason. When he was designated for assignment earlier this month, the Dodgers placed a claim to bring Rortvedt back to the organization. They’ll now hope to pass him through waivers, as they initially planned.
It’s easy to see why clubs would be happy to have the out-of-options Rortvedt in the upper minors but might be wary of carrying him on the big league roster. He’s a plus defender behind the plate whose keen eye typically lends itself to strong walk rates. Rortvedt is strikeout-prone and consistently hits for a low average, however, and he has little in the way of in-game power. He’s a career .190/.279/.270 hitter in 633 MLB plate appearances and a .239/.328/.412 hitter in 574 Triple-A plate appearances.
The Dodgers can trade Rortvedt or place him on waivers at any point within the next five days. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so his DFA will be resolved within a maximum of one week.
Feb. 11: The Padres formally announced Andujar’s one-year deal and 2027 mutual option this morning. He’s passed his physical and is in camp with his new team.
Feb. 4: The Padres reportedly have an agreement with free agent corner infielder/outfielder Miguel Andujar on a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2027. It’s a $4MM guarantee that includes a $1.5MM salary for the upcoming season. That suggests there’s a $2.5MM option buyout. The CAA client can earn another $2MM+ via incentives. San Diego has a couple openings on the 40-man roster and won’t need to make any corresponding moves.
It’s a tidy bit of business for the Padres, who add a strong right-handed bat on a modest contract. Andujar, 31 next month, put together an excellent .318/.352/.470 slash line over 94 games a year ago. He split the year between the A’s and Reds, so he was certainly the beneficiary of favorable home parks, but that’s above-average production in any stadium.
It was Andujar’s best season since his 2018 Rookie of the Year runner-up campaign when he played for the Yankees. He has been a part-time player for the majority of his career and didn’t get to 200 plate appearances in any season from 2019-23. He tallied 319 trips to the plate while putting up a league average .285/.320/.377 mark for the A’s in 2024. Andujar weathered a pair of injuries that year, undergoing an early-season meniscus repair on his right knee and a season-ending core procedure in August.
The A’s nevertheless tendered Andujar a $3MM contract for his final season of arbitration. He hit .298/.329/.436 in 60 games before being traded to Cincinnati. He really turned things on upon landing with the Reds, running a .359/.400/.544 line over 110 plate appearances to close the season. He hit well against pitchers of either handedness but particularly teed off on left-handers. The righty-swinging Andujar has been a plus against southpaws throughout his career, batting .297/.332/.475 in 521 plate appearances with the platoon advantage.
It’s somewhat surprising that strong finish didn’t result in a better market. Although teams obviously weren’t going to expect him to keep up the pace he showed with the Reds, his track record against lefties and plus contact skills make him a strong bat to have on the bench. There are enough red flags in the profile that clubs seemingly still view him as a lower-end utility piece. Andujar has an aggressive approach and isn’t going to take many walks. He doesn’t have huge exit velocities and is largely dependent on an elevated average on balls in play to carry the offensive profile.
Andujar also has an extensive injury history going back to the 2019 labrum repair in his right shoulder that wiped out his second season in the majors. He had the aforementioned pair of surgeries in ’24 and missed five weeks last year with a right oblique strain. He also doesn’t have a clear defensive fit. He’s a subpar defender at third base and in the outfield. Andujar has a strong arm but isn’t a good runner or athlete.
That’s probably not a huge concern for San Diego, who projects to use him mostly as a first baseman or designated hitter. Manny Machado is locked in at third, while Ramón Laureano and Fernando Tatis Jr. have the corner outfield spots. Andujar should be a good complement to lefty hitters Gavin Sheets and Sung-mun Song, who had been lined up as the primary options at first base and designated hitter. He can step in for Sheets at first base against southpaws while still getting a decent amount of playing time at DH versus righty pitching, as Song is expected to bounce around the diamond to keep other players fresh.
The lower salary and mutual option is a common tactic for San Diego. It allows them to kick a little over half the contract back to the end of the season. RosterResource calculates their cash payroll around $221MM. Their luxury tax estimate is much higher, landing around $266MM. They’ll be paying the luxury tax for a second straight season. They’re taxed at a 30% rate on spending between $244MM and $264MM, which comes out to a $6MM hit. That jumps to 42% for their next $20MM. Andujar’s salary is low enough that it won’t much impact their CBT ledger, as they’re only paying around $1.25MM in taxes to add him. The Padres could still look for a bench bat and a back-end starter as Spring Training approaches.
Jon Heyman of The New York Post was first on the agreement. ESPN’s Jeff Passan had the one-year, $4MM terms. Heyman reported the mutual option and salary. Will Sammon of The Athletic reported the upwards of $2MM in bonuses.
Image courtesy of Jeff Hanisch, Imagn Images.
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