According to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, free agent Josh Rojas is drawing interest from multiple teams. The Cubs are one such club, and Feinsand characterizes their attraction to the veteran utility man as “serious.”
Rojas, who turns 31 next June, was somewhat surprisingly non-tendered by the Mariners earlier this offseason. His bat was middling at best in 2024, but he did steal 10 bases and draw walks at a well-above-average clip. More importantly, he graded out as a strong infield defender according to several metrics, including Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and Outs Above Average (OAA). As a result, he finished with 1.9 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) according to FanGraphs and 2.1 WAR according to Baseball Reference. If he could simply repeat that performance in 2025, he would have been well worth his projected $4.3MM salary. Yet, the Mariners decided to move on.
Although Rojas played the vast majority of his games at the hot corner in 2024, he is also a capable defensive second baseman. On top of that, he can cover most other positions in a pinch. He has played shortstop, both outfield corners, and (briefly) first base at times throughout his six-year MLB career.
The Cubs are stocked with Gold Glove winners at second base, shortstop, and both outfield corners. However, they don’t currently have anyone locked in at third base. Top prospect Matt Shaw seems like the most logical choice to replace Isaac Paredes on the far left side of the infield, but Shaw has no big league experience and only 35 games at Triple-A under his belt. To that point, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer recently said Shaw will have a chance to earn the third base job, but it’s not his just yet. Recent trade acquisition Vidal Bruján can also play third base, but given his complete lack of MLB success over the past four years, Bruján should be nothing more than a utility player for the bench. Finally, Rule 5 pick Gage Workman is a terrific defender at third base, but like Shaw, he has no major league experience – and unlike Shaw, there are serious questions about how his bat will hold up against MLB pitching.
With all that in mind, Rojas seems like a perfect fit for the Cubs. He could take over as Chicago’s starting third baseman to begin the season, batting at the bottom of the lineup and supplementing what is already one of the best defensive alignments in the league. However, he wouldn’t block Shaw if the youngster proves himself ready for everyday playing time at the big league level. Instead, he would slide into the utility job on the bench, offering a significant upgrade over Bruján.
Financially speaking, the Cubs should have no trouble paying whatever price Rojas is seeking. Presumably, he’ll end up signing a one-year contract with a seven-figure guarantee. After offloading most of Cody Bellinger’s salary earlier this month, Chicago is approximately $50MM below the first luxury tax threshold and $54MM below last year’s final payroll (per RosterResource). If the Cubs don’t land Rojas, other free agents who could address the same need at a similar price point include Jose Iglesias and Paul DeJong.
Streaky hitter, little to no pop, excellent d at 3rd, definitely belongs on the bench of a good team or starting for a less competitive group
Makes sense to have someone who can play 3rd in MLB to start the year.
So a starter on the Mariners?!
Mariners have been 85+ wins the last 3 seasons. Would hardly call them uncompetitive.
To be precise: The Seattle Mariners have averaged 88+ wins over the past four seasons (with the fourth-best cumulative record in a league that now sends six teams to the postseason).
100%. Nice bench/utility player, not a starter on a team with playoff aspirations. Even one with an infield as bad as our poor M’s.
Wishing Josh the best
I would like to see Josh get on a playoff team like the dodgers or braves or Yankees he would be a good postseason performer
I hope his career doesn’t turn out like Kyle seager where he commits all these years and never sees the playoffs
A comparison to Kyle Seager is a strange take. I can only see 2 similarities, 3b and left hitters.
Kyle Seager was a average hitter
Josh Rojas is below average
Neither are cornerstones of a playoff caliber team
I wasn’t comparing I was just saying that I wish Rojas could be on a playoff team
He’s definitely not a starter but would be nice on the bench as a pinch hitter/defensive replacement
Maybe his career will follow in the footsteps of Jose Caballero? On the right team he just have the chance to seize the opportunity…you never know.
Personally, I think 9 out of 10 seasons with 20+ home runs including two seasons over 30 is hardly “average.” Seags, he was a good hitter. No, not a great hitter, but certainly a good one.
His batting average was generally slightly above league average, and his pop was consistently above average.
Cubs signing Bregman in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..
Rojas is a perfect Hoyer signing. Mediocre talent that is cheap.
On a pillow deal. Yes. Long term? No.
Even on a pillow deal I don’t think they do it. They want to see Shaw get a shot in the majors.
Those aren’t pillows!!
Zero
As things are shaping up, the M’s will definitely regret letting him go.
My.thoughts exactly. Don’t the Mariners need infield help?
Mariners need infielders who can hit. Rojas was amazing defensively and had a torrid April, but was well below average overall offensively
The Mariners need good players. He’s a 2 win player in less than regular playing time. The Mariners need lefty hitters. They need help at both 2b and 3b which Rojas plays. The Mariners should have kept him around.
I’d be fine with Rojas, Frazier, Polanco, Moncada, Rosario all aren’t great but fit open positions on the mariners
I’ll take defense over hitting if we can improve other spots
I’d like a Bregman, Alonso or Santander as a larger upgrade . It’s sad the mariners won’t play in this market
Wrong
He slashed .188/.272/.283 with a 67 wRC+ from 15 May through the end of the season.
I think they regret not finding a replacement at the deadline.
Josh Rojas was a 159 WRC+ through May 15th. Was 67 from there after. Really good couple of weeks boosted his early numbers, then nothing. That’s what they didn’t tender him.
Yes please. Jed, please sign Rojas and then immediately cut Miles Mastrobuoni.
Rojas can start the year at 3B while Shaw and Triantos get acclimated to the big leagues.
How does a premium prospect “get acclimated to the big leagues” without being on the active MLB roster? I seriously doubt Matt Shaw will be getting splinters on the Cubs bench in 2025. He either starts at 3B or perhaps 2B if Nico Hoerner isn’t fully healthy or traded before opening day. Shaw will be getting full reps at AAA Iowa if he’s not playing 3B or 2B to beging the new season.
You never know how prospects will do once they face big league pitching, and having someone like Rojas will help alleviate any possible growing pains. Not every prospect hits the ground running.
Seems like Hoyer is at least willing to admit he failed miserably with the Cubs bench the last 2 years. Now he’s just bringing in every lame option to see them fight it out in ST. Although how he’s even going get any of them enough playing time there to even make an evaluation. Not to mention they have even less time to make evaluations because of the Japan trip. Instead of getting someone who COULD make a difference like a Closer, He’s beating the bushes for lame cast offs. Please resign.
True enough. Matt Shaw could certainly struggle like many other top prospects have in their MLB debuts. If that’s the case he will likely be sent back to AAA like Orioles rookies Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo were last season. That said, Shaw won’t be riding the pines at Wrigley Field. He will be getting full time reps in Chicago or Iowa in 2025.
Tanner Scott is still available, Hoyer should add him to solidify the bullpen.
He’s had the money and Luxury Tax space to sign Tanner Scott this whole off season. Now with Bellinger’s money gone too, What’s his excuse now?
How much more than 2.2 WAR are the Mariners hoping to get out of their third baseman this year? Yikes that front office has had a bad off-season.
Such an incredibly frustrating organization. Love the core that the M’s have, it’s a shame that they are content with winning 54% of their games. Idk how they’ll salvage this offseason at this point.
This offseason the Mariners could still sign Josh Rojas, Jorge Polanco and Ty France to fill their infield needs.
Or not.;-)
I mean they clearly had something in mind when they declined to tender Rojas. Whom? We’ll never know. Definitely wasn’t Bregman (they have WAY too many young pitchers needing to be paid to sign any huge long term deal). Maybe they were close to a Bohm deal but Philly pulled the rug out? But Bohm’s not all that much better than Rojas.
The only way we can salvage it is trading Castillo and getting someone decent back from the Red Sox or orioles
And using the savings to get bregman or Alonso or another trade
At this point though I am preparing for Oops! All internal options!
The only way we are still able to salvage this off-season is, STANTON SELLS THE TEAM! Uh…. Mr. Bezos? Are you reading this?
If bezos or bill gates buys the team that would be my pipe dream
Our payroll would at least quadruple and we would make Steve cohen look cheap
Why do you assume new owners will spend? Business owners universally like profit, and most owners prioritize it over winning.
Not all WAR is created equally. Seattle needs offense, which Rojas doesn’t supply. Would you consider Rojas a better player than Arraez(1WAR)?
“Not all WAR is crested equally”
Thats a really ignorant comment.
um…no it’s not.
Yes. That’s exactly what WAR is supposed to measure: Value across all aspects – hitting, defense, and baserunning. So yeah, if that’s what fWAR says, then you can say that Rojas was a better player than Arraez last year. Obviously not in some previous years.
People overvalue players (or employees in general in any business) who do one thing spectacularly well but are bad at everything else. Arraez has never been that good a player. 2023 was his peak and it was better than Rojas’ best year. But it cannot be emphasized enough how bad a defender Arraez is, and how meh he is in general when he’s not hitting 330.
Arraez had a similar offensive season in 21 but has 3.4 WAR for the season while playing fewer games. Why did he get more WAR? He wasn’t a better defender or base runner, he just stood on a different spot on the infield. It’s supposed to measure value across all aspects of the game but imo has missed the mark
That is, if you believe fWAR actually translates to on-the-field wins.
Regardless of the analytic WAR, your eyes tell you that this guy offensively is a maybe 1 for 4 with little pop….regardless of his glove….most his WAR value (god bless these modern analytics that finds positives amongst the obvious negatives) was his defense so maybe coming off the bench but a starter…..I think not unless you’re really hurting…
Who’s starting at 2b and 3b currently for the Mariners?
Nobody as good as Rojas. That’s for sure.
Nobody worse either.
Roster Resource currently lists the Seattle Mariners with Ryan Bliss at second base and Dylan Moore at third base.
Steamer600, which assumes 600 plate appearances for each hitter, projects 2025 WAR of 2.0 for Josh Rojas, 2.1 for Bliss and 2.4 for Moore.
Those projections are that way because Rojas doesn’t have a job and those 2 are currently projected to start. And they are just projections.
You think there isn’t room for all 3 of those guys? I think there is……..
Steamer600 assumes 600 plate appearances each for Josh Rojas, Ryan Bliss and Dylan Moore.
That’s why those projections were cited.
Of course the Mariners could roster all three.
Kinda like him for the Yankees for 3B, with his ability to move around a solid fallback role
No thanks…..don’t need a maybe 1 for 4 with no pop and another .225 hitter…..and don’t care about his glove…..if he can’t hit, he couldn’t even make the bench…..
Feels like the type of signing the Jays will pull off. Somewhat decent value, all on the defensive side of things.
Feinsand says the attraction is “serious”. That doesn’t tell people anything which is the standard for mlb.com’s article writers posing as reporters. Basically, they are HuffPost writers with their “crazy stat lines from 2024” or “wackiest plays of the year”. Like teams jokingly inquire about players.
Kinda surprised the Jays haven’t been interested.
Seems more like the signings of late…
Or is this the sneaky shatkins not appearing interested?
Sorry folks…just a very sarcastic and angry (maybe ex) jays fan.
It’s a really odd situation, Josh was hotter than a pistol early season-when no one else was and then lost all his steam. Defensively he played exceptionally well, definitely passed the eye test watching him so it was a head scratcher when they cut him loose. Hard to say what the plan is behind the face of the Mariners front office. Sure looks like they’re trying hard to keep their money rather than trying to make a jump. Maybe they think Colt and Cole are closer than we do. Sure would be nice to have his low cost coverage until then…… still scratching my head.
I’d be shocked tbh if “Trader Jerry” goes an entire offseason without doing any tradin’, but as far as their decision to non tender Josh Rojas, they probably didn’t feel he was worth the risk to wager that much of their limited budget on him. I’m sure they thought they’d be able to get interest, as they do every offseason from several high profile free agents to play for significantly discounted contracts in the ballpark that eats hitters for breakfast.
They have been quite open about how signing high profile free agents is not part of their draft-develop-trade philosophy. They aren’t trying to replace Rojas with a FA.
Wrong, if anything they offer more than other teams & still get turned down. Santana a couple days ago, more garunteed money.& years but he chose Cleveland. Turner, Ohtani, it happens over .& over again.
Daniel Descalso 2.0
Somebody please sign him so the Mariners aren’t tempted to run it back…
He fits Chicago’s price range and needs on a one year deal. I believe holding a rookie back for six or eight weeks still extends control for another season. There is no reason to rush Shaw or Triantos.
That depends on where they finish in the ROY voting. Cubs don’t want to risk a Skenes scenario where you lose a year of service time and lose the draft pick compensation by not having a ROY candidate on the roster to start the season.
To me, this looks like it would be a depth move in the event Shaw struggles or gets hurt out of the gate.
***teams can still manipulate service time by sending guys down later in the season. They have to be on the roster a certain % of games for it to be considered a year, so any team could start a player at the beginning of the season and send him down for three weeks later
Keeping this guy would have been a pretty solid acquisition at this point!
Rojas will have a breakout season in 2025. He is a better player than perceived. I am certain that he is working hard this offseason trying to be a consistent player. M’s needs to resign him.
I’ve been a big Josh Rojas believer since the Greinke trade; his defense has come a lot further than I thought, but his hitting against LHP has been pretty bad in most seasons.
The power and speed (or lack thereof) and the plate discipline have stayed pretty consistent, so this is pretty much who he is at this point; a skill-heavy, longside platoon hitter with a good glove and positional versatility, with none of the tools that you’d traditionally want out of that type.
Some team would be fortunate to have him on the bench, and I would like to point out: we can definitely say that his 175 wRC+ through 77 PAs in Mar/Apr made his overall season line look a lot better than it should’ve, but we can also say that his 15(!) wRC+ in 67 PAs against LHP made his overall season line look a lot worse than it should’ve
He’ll do well in the right role; many teams would be lucky to have him as a complementary piece, and I’m a little bummed that he doesn’t really have a fit on the DBacks as currently constructed.
I’ve wanted the Cubs to sign Iglesias for years now. He keeps playing good defense and hitting better. Just while slowing down. So he could be a great veteran backup InF
Jed Hoyer stop going after these crap projects and sign some real winning talent.
Fans need to start Boycotting Wrigley
Bring back Cookie Rojas!
Makes sense for CHC as a bench, insurance piece for Shaw at 3rd and for Horner at 2nd as he recovers from surgery. I could see how teams that have RH infields could view him as a solid bench piece.
Same as the reliever, I would like it better if they signed more than a prayer.
You can bet the cubs won’t overpay no matter their perceived needs. As a mid market team with financial restraints, forget any possible signing unless it’s on their terms.
Yup, too many yum yum donut shops to convert to gambling houses Cubs are in a really really tight spot
Meh. Better off w Cookie Rojas