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Archives for January 2025

Blue Jays Interested In Max Scherzer

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There hasn’t been much public buzz about Max Scherzer this winter, apart from a report earlier this month that four unknown clubs were showing interest in the future Hall-of-Famer’s services.  The Blue Jays may or may not have been one of those four mystery teams, but Toronto is showing interest in Scherzer now, according to Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith.

The Jays have been linked to dozens of free agents this winter, continuing the unofficial “check in on everyone” strategy that general manager Ross Atkins has broadly used over the last five years, since the team’s rebuilding phase was ended when Hyun-Jin Ryu signed a four-year, $80MM contract.  It therefore isn’t surprising that the Blue Jays also have Scherzer on their radar, both because Toronto is looking for rotation help and because Scherzer has some intriguing buy-low potential given his lengthy resume.

2024 was perhaps the least-noteworthy of Scherzer’s 17 MLB seasons, as he pitched a career-low 43 1/3 innings.  Scherzer underwent back surgery last offseason and was expected to miss at least a bit of time at the start of the 2024 campaign while recovering, but subsequent issues with nerve irritation in his triceps, shoulder fatigue, and a hamstring strain resulted in what was pretty close to a lost season for both Scherzer and the Rangers as a whole.

At least the nerve problem seems to have been corrected by a mechanical change, as Scherzer relayed to reporters last September, and Scherzer is now over a year removed from his back procedure.  While the right-hander has generally been quite durable over his long career, it also wouldn’t be a surprise if the long grind of 2878 big league innings has finally caught up to Scherzer now that he has passed his 40th birthday.

Injuries notwithstanding, Scherzer was still able to post a respectable 3.95 ERA last season.  His walk and chase rates were both excellent in his small sample size of 43 1/3 frames, though that great chase rate manifested itself into only a modest 22.6% strikeout rate.  Scherzer also had a 3.77 ERA over 152 2/3 innings with the Mets and Rangers in 2023, which could be a better reflection of what might be reasonably expected from a healthy Scherzer at this late stage in his career — a solid mid-rotation starter who can still dial up some of his old magic every once in a while.

Scherzer and his former teammate Justin Verlander have often been linked together this winter as veteran superstars coming off injury-marred seasons, and Verlander (entering his age-42 campaign) inked a one-year, $15MM guarantee with the Giants two weeks ago.  With Verlander now off the board, more teams could be looking at Scherzer, even if Toronto is the first club publicly cited as a suitor.

While the Blue Jays signed relievers Jeff Hoffman and Yimi Garcia to multi-year deals this winter, the Jays’ last two offseasons have been defined more by the players the team hasn’t signed rather than the players who actually put pen to paper.  Toronto’s high-profile pursuits of Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, Roki Sasaki, and several other top-shelf free agents ended with those players all signing elsewhere, creating the impression that the Jays front office can no longer seal the deal with frontline talent.

It hasn’t helped Atkins’ recruiting efforts that the Blue Jays stumbled to a 74-88 record last season, and finished last place in the AL East.  The possible departures of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette into free agency next winter add to the uncertainty over the Jays’ long-term viability as contenders, or even if the team still has enough in the tank to make a rebound in 2025.  “As currently constructed, the Blue Jays might be a tougher sell for” Scherzer, Nicholson-Smith writes, as even if Scherzer’s market might be somewhat limited by his age and recent injuries, he would surely still prefer to play for a contending team if he has options available.

Cubs Interested In Carlos Estevez, Were Runners-Up For Tanner Scott

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7:15PM: The Cubs’ offer to Scott was a four-year deal worth $66MM, according to Jon Morosi.

5:43PM: Carlos Estevez ranked 22nd on MLBTR’s list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents, making him the top reliever left available on the market now that Tanner Scott, Jeff Hoffman, and Clay Holmes (who signed with the Mets as starter) have found new teams.  As one might expect, Estevez’s “market is intensifying,” MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports, with the Blue Jays and Cubs among the teams in on the 32-year-old righty.

Toronto’s interest in Estevez was first reported last month, and the Reds, Yankees, and Red Sox have also been linked to Estevez at various points this winter.  The Cubs are a new team in the hunt, adding to the perception that Chicago is willing to be much more aggressive than usual in pursuing relief pitching.

After the Dodgers signed Scott to a four-year, $72MM deal earlier today, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers (multiple links) reported that the Cubs were second in the bidding, with an offer thought to be “in the ballpark” of what Scott received from Los Angeles.  This tracks with the Friday report from Morosi suggesting that the Cubs were one of Scott’s “top remaining suitors,” which was the first time the Cubs had been linked to the southpaw all winter.

Coming even close to a four-year, $72MM offer for a reliever represents a huge sea change in how Chicago usually approaches its bullpen.  President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has never signed a reliever to a multi-year contract during his four-plus years in charge of the Cubs’ front office, and Hector Neris’ one-year, $9MM pact from a year ago represents the most money Hoyer has given to a relief pitcher.

Improving the relief corps was a stated goal for Hoyer heading into the offseason, and just earlier this week, the PBO stated that the team was still looking to add more to its bullpen.  Chicago’s biggest bullpen acquisitions of the winter have thus far fit Hoyer’s preferred lower-cost models — a one-year, $2.75MM deal with Caleb Thielbar, and trading for Eli Morgan, who will make $950K in 2025 and is arbitration-controlled through 20227.

Porter Hodge looked tremendous in his rookie season, to the point that he took over as the Cubs’ closer down the stretch when the team’s bullpen ranks were reduced by injury.  Hodge will certainly be in the high-leverage mix next year, though having him as a full-time closer could be a lot to ask of a second-year pitcher with just 43 big league innings on his resume.  Adding a veteran reliever with closing experience like Estevez makes a lot of sense for Chicago, even if Estevez might ultimately end up as a setup man if Hodge can handle being the primary ninth-inning option.

MLBTR projected Estevez for a three-year, $27MM contract, though it is unclear what exactly Estevez and his reps at Premier Talent are looking to land in second foray into the open market.  It is safe to say Estevez’s price tag will be much less than Scott’s contract, so if the Cubs were willing to venture into that spending area, Estevez should be well within their price range.  Signing Estevez to something in the range of MLBTR’s projection would also match the $9MM average annual value of the Neris contract, which could be more palatable for Hoyer.

It was two offseasons ago that Estevez signed a two-year, $13.5MM guarantee from the Angels, but it is safe to say his asking price has risen considerably after he established himself as a viable closing candidate.  Estevez has a 3.22 ERA over 117 1/3 innings with the Angels and Phillies over the last two seasons, and the 2024 campaign saw him reduce both his walk rate and (more troublingly) his strikeout rate.  Philadelphia is seemingly taking a less-costly approach to its own bullpen, so there doesn’t appear to be much chance of a reunion between Estevez and the Phillies, plus Hoffman already signed with the Blue Jays.

Jeff Torborg Passes Away

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Longtime former big league catcher, manager, and broadcaster Jeff Torborg passed away today at age 83, the White Sox announced.  Torborg played for 10 seasons with the Dodgers and Angels from 1964-73, and then managed the Indians, White Sox, Mets, Expos, and Marlins over parts of 11 seasons from 1977-2003.

Torborg was the Dodgers’ backup catcher behind John Roseboro and then Tom Haller during his seven seasons in Chavez Ravine, and this tenure was highlighted by a World Series with Los Angeles’ 1965 championship team.  That same season saw Torborg play a big role in one of the most memorable pitching performances in baseball history — Sandy Koufax’s 14-strikeout perfect game against the Cubs on September 9.

Torborg holds a unique place in baseball history as the only catcher who caught no-hitters from both Koufax and Nolan Ryan, as Torborg was behind the plate for the first of Ryan’s record seven career no-nos on May 15, 1973.  Torborg also caught Bill Singer’s no-hitter on July 20, 1970, and is one of only 18 catchers to ever catch three different no-hit games.

Over 574 games and 1525 plate appearances, Torborg hit eight home runs with a career slash line of .214/.268/.265.  He retired after the 1973 season at the end of a three-year stint with the Angels, and quickly moved into coaching with a job on the Indians’ staff in 1975.  This led to Torborg’s first managerial gig, as he was promoted to become Cleveland’s skipper partway through the 1977 season, and he managed the club through the end of the 1979 campaign.

It took a decade for Torborg to become a manager again, as after he spent the next decade on the Yankees’ coaching staff, he was hired as Chicago’s new manager prior to the start of the 1989 season.  He won only 69 games in his first year, but after the Sox surged to a 90-win season in 1990, Torborg was named the American League’s Manager of the Year.  The White Sox won 87 games in 1991 to finish second in the AL West for the second consecutive season, as Torborg’s Sox were beaten out first by an Athletics team that won three straight AL pennants, and then by the upstart Twins who won the 1991 World Series.

This successful run in Chicago led the Mets to lure Torborg away to become their next manager, with Torborg receiving a hefty four-year, $1.7MM contact.  Unfortunately, the 1992 Mets were one of the more infamous teams in franchise history, as the club’s splashy acquisitions of Bobby Bonilla, Bret Saberhagen, and others resulted in only a 72-90 record.  After the Mets stumbled again to a 13-25 start in 1993, Torborg was fired with more than two and a half years remaining on his contract.

Torborg returned to the dugout in 2001 as the Expos’ manager, but when then-Expos owner Jeffrey Loria took over as the Marlins’ new owner prior to the 2002 season, Torborg also went to South Florida as the Marlins’ new skipper.  Torborg had a 95-105 record in parts of two years with the Marlins, and the 2003 team went on to win the World Series after Jack McKeon stepped in as Torborg’s replacement.  Torborg’s overall managerial record was 634-718 over 1352 games with his five clubs.

Both before and after these stints in Montreal and Florida, Torborg worked as a TV and radio broadcaster.  He worked for CBS Radio throughout the 1990’s and for Fox in both the 90’s and 2000s, with Torborg calling Braves games in 2006.

MLB Trade Rumors sends our condolences to Torborg’s family, friends, and loved ones.

Orioles, Red Sox, Blue Jays Had Interest In Tanner Scott

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Tanner Scott is headed to Chavez Ravine, as he became the Dodgers’ latest big-ticket acquisition when he signed a four-year, $72MM deal earlier today.  The Cubs, Braves, Mets, and Yankees had all been linked to Scott’s market earlier this winter, but various reports from this afternoon indicated that the Blue Jays, Orioles, and Red Sox also had interest in the left-hander’s services.

The willingness of the Dodgers and other teams to give Scott four guaranteed years seemed to be the dealbreaker for at least a couple of teams.  The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka and MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo wrote that the Orioles and Red Sox, respectively, each had misgivings about that long of a commitment.  In particular, Cotillo poured cold water on speculation that Boston offered Scott a longer deal with a larger average annual value, as a source tells Cotillo that such reports of a bigger offer were “very inaccurate.”

The O’s still at least “remained engaged” on Scott “as of a few days ago,” Kostka wrote, which could speak to the team’s familiarity with the reliever.  Of course, Scott began his career as a Baltimore draft pick and spent his first five MLB seasons in an Orioles uniform, posting a 4.73 ERA over his 156 innings out of the team’s bullpen.  The big strikeout numbers and potential was clearly already present for Scott during his time in Baltimore, though it wasn’t until the 2023 season (when Scott was with the Marlins) that he finally seemed to solve his longstanding control problems.

Baltimore’s one-year, $10MM deal with Andrew Kittredge from earlier this week also seems to generally line up with Kostka’s timeline, so it isn’t surprising that the O’s moved away from Scott after landing another high-leverage reliever at a much lower price tag.  Kittredge projects as the Orioles’ top setup man in front of closer Felix Bautista, who is returning after a year recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Kittredge is the highest-profile reliever the O’s have acquired this winter, while the Red Sox brought in Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson on guaranteed contracts, and a few other veterans on minor league deals.  As Cotillo notes, the Red Sox had talks with Scott, Kittredge, and several other relievers who have since signed contracts, as Boston continues to look for help at the back end of its bullpen.  Liam Hendriks is penciled into the closer’s role, though some depth is a necessity since Hendriks (like Bautista) also missed 2024 while rehabbing from a TJ procedure.

Toronto fans won’t be pleased to hear the Blue Jays lost another target to the Dodgers, but the New York Post’s Jon Heyman indeed reports that the Jays “were among [the] teams in on Scott.”  The depth of the Blue Jays’ interest isn’t known, and since the Jays landed Jeff Hoffman last week, it seems possible that the Hoffman signing was a pivot away from Scott’s escalating market.

That said, the Blue Jays have already been more aggressive than usual in adding relief pitching, which isn’t a surprise given the dire performance of their 2024 bullpen.  Toronto has already added Hoffman, Nick Sandlin, and old friend Yimi Garcia as part of the bullpen overhaul, and depending on whether or not the Jays acquire another starting pitcher, Yariel Rodriguez might be part of the relief mix as well if he isn’t used as the fifth starter.

Cardinals Notes: Payroll, Rotation, Liberatore

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The Cardinals are facing a major obstacle as they attempt to retool their roster towards a younger (and cheaper) product for the 2025 campaign: they’ve been unsuccessful to this point in their attempts to move on from veteran third baseman Nolan Arenado. It’s against that backdrop that president of baseball operations John Mozeliak revealed yesterday (as reported by Katie Woo of The Athletic) that the club’s payroll situation may not be quite as dire as it seemed earlier this winter.

“(Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr.) is giving me a little bit of flexibility because we haven’t been able to accomplish what we thought we would by now,” Mozeliak said, as relayed by Woo. “He’s been very understanding about what that might look like.”

Mozeliak went on to describe moving a different significant salary like that of left-hander Steven Matz or righty Erick Fedde as not something the club would have to do if they’re unable to deal Arenado. While he acknowledged that making such a deal would be “helpful” from a payroll perspective, he also emphasized that he was not interested in making a deal “for the sake of just trying to get to a number.”

That the Cardinals’ front office won’t necessarily be forced to slash payroll in other areas of the roster if they’re unable to move on from Arenado and his salary is surely a relief for fans in St. Louis who are hoping to see the team compete in 2025. RosterResource currently projects the club for a $148MM payroll in 2025, which represents a $35MM haircut relative to the club’s 2024 payroll. Moving most of Arenado’s contract, which calls for the Cardinals to pay him $27MM in 2025, would come close to doubling the gap between the 2024 and ’25 payrolls. That would surely provide the club with the room below even their lowered payroll capacity to add talent to the bullpen and bring in a right-handed bat who can help balance a lineup that figures to revolve around Lars Nootbaar, Nolan Gorman, and Alec Burleson in 2025.

With that said, it seems as though Mozeliak is not interested in dealing away salary from his rotation in order to make those upgrades to other parts of the roster happen at this point. When he spoke at the Cardinals’ Winter Warmup fan event yesterday, Mozeliak made clear that he values the depth the club currently has in the rotation. With that being said, St. Louis has reportedly expressed some level of interest in reuniting with veteran right-hander Kyle Gibson throughout the winter, and it’s at least plausible to imagine a scenario where the club manages to trade away Matz or Fedde before turning around and re-signing Gibson for a lower salary than that of the starter they dealt. That could create some additional room in the payroll to sign a reliever or bench bat even in the event the club is unable to trade Arenado.

If the Cardinals do end up dealing from their rotation mix this winter, there’s one player in the organization in particular who could be poised to seize on that opportunity: southpaw Matthew Liberatore. A former top prospect who the Cardinals traded for in the deal that sent Randy Arozarena to the Rays, the lefty was mostly used as a reliever in 2024. While he made six starts for the Cardinals in the majors last year, only one of those outings saw the southpaw finish the fourth inning. That’s not stopping Liberatore from stretching back out in 2025, however, as John Denton of MLB.com relayed this afternoon that the lefty plans to work towards starting in Spring Training and throughout the 2025 season.

As Denton notes, it’s hard to imagine Liberatore finding success in the rotation over the long-term without substantial improvement against right-handed hitters, as he’s been torched to the tune of a .292/.368/.510 slash line throughout his career when pitching without the platoon advantage. That held true in 2024 as well, as Liberatore surrendered an ugly 6.16 ERA with a 5.22 FIP against right-handed batters this past season while limiting lefties to a 1.98 ERA and 2.59 FIP. If the lefty can sort his platoon issues out, however, he could be an option worth considering for the club’s rotation mix alongside right-hander Michael McGreevy in the event that the club deals from its rotation without bringing in Gibson or another veteran arm.

Rangers Notes: deGrom, Seager, Carter, Jung

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Rangers right-hander Jacob deGrom is enjoying the first fully healthy offseason he’s had in quite some time after returning from rehab for Tommy John surgery back in September. As noted by Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News, deGrom spoke to reporters about his outlook headed into the 2025 season and revealed that he’s begun throwing off the mound early this winter. The veteran hopes that building up towards pitching in games more slowly over a longer period of time than he has in the past will help him to stay healthy this season.

The 36-year-old is perhaps the very best pitcher in the entire sport when healthy, but maintaining his health has been a struggle over the past half decade. After winning back-to-back NL Cy Young awards with the Mets in 2018 and ’19 and finishing third during the shortened 2020 season, deGrom got off to an unbelievable start in 2021 with a 1.08 ERA and an eye-popping 45.1% strikeout rate. Unfortunately, he was sidelined in early July with forearm and elbow issues that ultimately ended his season. It’s been more of the same ever since, with deGrom making increasingly brief appearances in the majors each year but nonetheless continuing to dominate whenever he’s on the mound.

Since the start of the 2021 season, deGrom has pitched to a 2.01 ERA (200 ERA+) with a 1.63 FIP and 307 strikeouts in 197 1/3 innings. That would be on a shortlist for the greatest pitching seasons of all time if it hadn’t taken deGrom parts of four seasons to accumulate those numbers, and after watching Jordan Montgomery and Max Scherzer depart from their rotation in back-to-back offseasons the Rangers are surely hoping that they’ll get to see what deGrom can do over a full slate of starts this year. That’s something deGrom is fully on board with, as he told reporters (including McFarland) yesterday that his goal is to make 30 starts this year.

While McFarland notes that deGrom has not yet spoken to Rangers brass about his workload for 2025, the idea of a pitcher with deGrom’s injury history making 30 starts can’t be entirely dismissed. After all, southpaw Garrett Crochet made 32 starts with the White Sox last year despite not having pitched more than 65 innings in a season throughout college and his entire professional career due to injuries and time spent in the bullpen. The White Sox made that possible by aggressively managing his innings throughout the second half. He never recorded an out in the fifth inning this year after the calendar flipped to July and his pitch count maxed out at 77 after the All-Star break. Crochet, of course, is more than a decade younger than deGrom, but this sort of aggressive innings management could allow the Rangers to utilize their ace all throughout the regular season and into the playoffs without him needing to throw anything close to 200 innings.

deGrom isn’t the only key player for the Rangers who is hoping for better health in 2024. McFarland relays that third baseman Josh Jung, outfielder Evan Carter, and shortstop Corey Seager are all healthy and ready for Spring Training next month after undergoing surgeries in the fall. Seager underwent sports hernia surgery back in September but resumed baseball activities in November, while Jung and Carter are on a slightly more delayed timeline after undergoing wrist and back surgery respectively in October.

That trio being healthy and effective in 2025 would be a huge boon for the Rangers who failed to defend their 2023 World Series title in the 2024 postseason in large part thanks to a lackluster offense. Rangers hitters produced a collective wRC+ of just 95 last year as Seager was limited to 123 games by injuries while Jung and Carter managed just 46 and 45 games respectively. Seager remained as effective as ever when healthy enough to take the field with a .278/.353/.521 slash line in 533 trips to the plate, but Jung (102 wRC+) and especially Carter (80 wRC+) struggled to keep up with their expected production even when they were on the field due to the nagging nature of their injuries.

While the club has augmented its offense this winter by bringing in Joc Pederson and Jake Burger to replace Nathaniel Lowe in the lineup, better health from Jung and Carter figure to be necessary if the Rangers hope to look more like their 2023 offense, which was third in baseball with a 116 wRC+, than their below-average 2024 club in the upcoming season. Healthy seasons from Jung and Carter would also come with the benefit of pushing outfielder Leody Taveras and infielder Josh Smith into bench roles, giving them one of the deeper positional groups in the sport when fully healthy.

Seiya Suzuki To Be Cubs’ Primary DH In 2025

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At the yesterday’s Cubs Convention in Chicago, manager Craig Counsell spoke to the crowd (video link) about the club’s outfield mix and clarified the Cubs’ outfield plans for the year. As Counsell lays things out, Ian Happ and Pete Crow-Armstrong will remain entrenched as the club’s regulars in left field and center field respectively, while offseason acquisition Kyle Tucker will take over as the regular right fielder.

That’s generally agreed to be the Cubs’ best defensive alignment as things stand and has seemed to be the most likely outcome ever since the Cubs acquired Tucker last month. With that being said, one side effect of making Tucker the club’s regular right fielder is that incumbent right fielder Seiya Suzuki will be pushed to DH on a regular basis this year. That’s a reality Counsell acknowledged, noting that Suzuki will DH “a lot” this season.

“We talked to Seiya this week about that, and he understands that, and he’s on board with that,” Counsell said, and he went on to note that they view Suzuki as an “extra outfielder” who can fill in for Happ and Tucker in the event of an injury.

Even so, it’s notable that the Cubs appear committed to Suzuki as a primary DH in 2025. Suzuki’s agent, Joel Wolfe of Wasserman, spoke to reporters during the Winter Meetings last month about Suzuki and made clear that his client wanted to play the field. Wolfe even suggested that Suzuki likely “would not have signed with a team” who pitched being their everyday DH to him in free agency. Those comments helped to stoke trade rumors surrounding Suzuki throughout December, and while they started to die down after the club traded Cody Bellinger to the Yankees his name has continued to come up on occasion in the rumor mill.

Counsell’s comments yesterday seemingly put that conversation to bed, indicating that the club and Suzuki have resolved whatever discord may have existed between the sides over the issue. Given that Tucker is Gold Glove award winner who trails only Mookie Betts and Aaron Judge in Defensive Runs Saved as a right fielder since he made his MLB debut in 2018, perhaps Suzuki is more willing to move off of his natural position in deference to him than he was for Bellinger, who was an average defender in right field (+0 Fielding Run Value, +1 DRS) last year.

Even with Suzuki, Tucker, Crow-Armstrong, and Happ set to be regulars for the club in 2025, there appears to be a need for at least one more outfield-capable player on the roster. While Suzuki can seamlessly shift to a corner in the event that Happ or Tucker either needs a day off or heads to the injured list, there’s no clear backup to Crow-Armstrong on the club’s roster after the Cubs non-tendered Mike Tauchman back in November. Happ has the most center field experience of the club’s other regulars, but he hasn’t played a single inning there in the past two years and was last a regular fixture at the position back in 2020.

Alexander Canario and Kevin Alcántara are both on the club’s 40-man roster and capable of playing center field, although Canario has almost exclusively been used in the corners to this point in his big league career and the Cubs may prefer to avoid using a top prospect like Alcántara in a bench role. Should the club look for an external option capable of playing center field amid their reported search for additional bench depth, Michael A. Taylor and Kevin Pillar are among the bench center fielders still available in free agency.

Chris Young Discusses Rangers’ Bullpen Plans

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The Rangers have made retooling their bullpen a priority after losing Kirby Yates, David Robertson, and José Leclerc to free agency at the start of the offseason. It’s an endeavor they’ve been largely successful in: Chris Martin, Robert Garcia, Jacob Webb, Shawn Armstrong, and Hoby Milner are all new additions who should help to steady the club’s bullpen in 2025. With that being said, though, it’s worth noting that the Rangers’ relief corps posted a 4.41 ERA last year even with Yates, Robertson, and Leclerc in the fold. That was a bottom-five figure in baseball, so merely replacing that production on the back-end would not be enough to make the club’s bullpen even league average.

It’s under that backdrop that president of baseball operations Chris Young commented (as relayed by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News) on the state of the bullpen during the club’s FanFest event yesterday and left the door open for another addition. While Young acknowledged that the club’s signings to this point are an improvement over what they had at the start of the offseason, he adds that the club is “going to need more than we have” over the course of the season.

“Some of that’s going to need to come internally with our player development, and some of it may be externally, but it’s our job to continue to look for ways to upgrade,” Young said, as relayed by Grant.

To that end, Young suggested the club is “staying open-minded” about the possibility of further bullpen upgrades. That he didn’t commit more strongly to another external addition could be a consequence of the club’s budget, as Grant notes the club is rapidly approaching the first luxury tax threshold of $241MM. The Rangers are known to be aiming to duck under that threshold this year to reset their penalties as a repeat offender, and RosterResource projects the club for a luxury tax payroll of nearly $235MM in 2025. That leaves just $6MM of breathing room below that first threshold, which isn’t likely to be enough to make another impact relief addition in a market where players like Leclerc and Andrew Kittredge are garnering $10MM salaries in free agency.

Grant suggests that the Rangers could look to explore the trade market as a way to move salary and make room for the addition of a closer while specifically name-checking righty Jon Gray and center fielder Leody Taveras as potential trade options. Gray is due $13MM in 2025, which is the final year of his four-year deal with the club, while Taveras avoided arbitration with the Rangers by agreeing to a $4.75MM salary for 2025. It seems unlikely that either player would be dealt as part of a pure salary dump given Taveras’s value to the club as a quality fourth outfielder and Gray’s fairly solid peripheral numbers last year, but both are coming off down seasons and might be difficult to trade for full value. Of course, it’s also possible that a trade could allow the club to add relief talent more directly, as swapping first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to the Nationals for Garcia did last month.

Should the Rangers make room in the budget to pursue another arm with late-inning experience, both Yates and Robertson remain available in free agency. Tanner Scott is the best reliever available on the market but seems unlikely to fall into the club’s price range. The same can likely be said for top right-handed reliever Carlos Estévez. Kenley Jansen offers one possible alternative to Yates and Robertson who could be available on a similarly short-term deal. The most affordable option available if the Rangers are hoping to add closing experience to the roster would likely be right-hander Kyle Finnegan, who was non-tendered by the Nationals back in November. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Finnegan for an $8.6MM salary in his final trip through arbitration and, while it isn’t completely unheard of for a non-tendered player to meet or even exceed their arbitration projection on the open market, it stands to reason that Finnegan is unlikely to land a contract significantly more lucrative than that figure.

MLB Conducted Investigation Prior To Roki Sasaki’s Posting

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Prior to the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball officially posting right-hander Roki Sasaki for major league clubs last month, Major League Baseball conducted an investigation before authorizing Sasaki’s posting. Jack Harris of The Los Angeles Times reported this afternoon that MLB’s investigation was in order to “ensure the protocol agreement had been followed” and involved interviews with multiple parties. A report from Fabian Ardaya, Dennis Lin, Patrick Mooney, Ken Rosenthal, and Will Sammon of The Athletic added more details this evening, noting that the primary focus of the league’s probe was not Sasaki himself but rather the Marines. Both reports emphasize that the league found nothing that substantiated rumors of an illegal arrangement taking place.

That the league’s investigation focused on the Marines may seem somewhat surprising, but The Athletic’s report notes that the current posting system limits the payout for the Marines to just 25% of Sasaki’s total bonus. That’s a weak financial incentive for a club parting ways with its star player and represents not only a step back from the large posting fees players like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Seiya Suzuki have garnered for their clubs in recent years but also the $20MM posting fee the Nippon Ham Fighters were able to charge in exchange for Shohei Ohtani’s services when he signed with the Angels as an international amateur under the previous posting system back in December 2017. That relative lack of financial compensation for Sasaki’s services raised concerns among league officials for the potential for an under-the-table payment.

While MLB’s investigation found no wrongdoing by any party, speculation around the game of the possibility of an handshake agreement between Sasaki and the Dodgers grew significant enough to draw a strong denial from agent Joel Wolfe of Wasserman, who represents the right-handed phenom. As described in The Athletic’s report, clubs around the game felt uncertain about Sasaki’s goals throughout his posting process as teams like the Mariners and Red Sox failed to land a meeting with the 23-year-old while large market teams like the Cubs, Yankees, and Mets did in spite of suggestions that he may prefer to avoid the spotlight.

Regardless of that confusion, it became clear earlier this week that Sasaki had narrowed things down to three finalists: the Dodgers, Padres, and Blue Jays, each of whom then visited with Sasaki in their respective cities and began to prepare their offers. According to The Athletic’s report, San Diego told Sasaki’s camp that they would be willing to trade to maximize their bonus pool and offer Sasaki the entirety of those funds while the Dodgers lined up a trade with the Phillies to add additional bonus pool money in the event that they landed Sasaki. The Blue Jays were especially aggressive in their pursuit of Sasaki, however.

While all three clubs were clearly willing to add significant bonus pool dollars in order to land Sasaki, Toronto acquired $2MM in international bonus pool space from the Guardians by taking on the majority of the money owed to center fielder Myles Straw over the next two years despite not actually having a deal in place with the right-hander. The impetus behind that trade utlimately did not work out for Toronto as Sasaki wound up choosing Los Angeles. Despit that, The Athletic’s report indicates that the Blue Jays believe Straw could be a worthwhile addition in his own right and that the money they took on to land him won’t be prohibitive as they continue to look for ways to upgrade their roster. Notably, center fielder Daulton Varsho is not expected to be ready for Opening Day and the addition of Straw could give the club some depth at the position while Varsho recovers.

Padres Sign Niko Goodrum To Minor League Deal

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The Padres have signed utility player Niko Goodrum to a minor league deal, according to the transactions log on his MLB.com profile page. The deal presumably includes an invite to big league Spring Training. MadFriars first reported the transaction earlier this week.

Goodrum, 33 next month, has participated in parts of seven MLB seasons to this point. A second-round pick by the Twins in 2010 who made his big league debut in Minnesota back in 2017, Goodrum was cut from the club’s 40-man roster and wound up signing a minor league deal with the division rival Tigers during the 2017-18 offseason. The deal proved to be quite a coup for Detroit, as Goodrum went on to become a solid utility man for the club over the next four seasons. From 2018 to 2021, Goodrum hit a decent .232/.306/.401 (90 wRC+) in 376 games. He collected 6.3 fWAR during that time while mixing in at all three outfield spots in addition to first base, second base, third base, and even shortstop.

Unfortunately, Goodrum’s performance began to tail off in his later years with Detroit, and he hit just .203/.282/.350 in his final 504 trips to the plate with the club. That led the Tigers to outright him off their 40-man roster during the 2021-22 offseason, allowing him to return to free agency. Goodrum hasn’t found consistent work in the majors since departing Detroit, though he’s remained involved in stateside ball throughout the past three years. He spent the 2022 campaign in the Astros organization but was limited to just 35 games between the major and minor leagues due to injuries. The 2023 season saw Goodrum join the Red Sox organization and hit quite well over 65 games with Triple-A Worcester. That earned him an opportunity in South Korea’s KBO league during the second half and he hit .295/.373/.387 in 50 games with the Lotte Giants.

Goodrum returned to stateside ball in 2024 and bounced between five different organizations throughout the year. Goodrum initially signed back with the Twins on a minor league deal during the 2023-24 offseason, but after not making the club’s 40-man roster he was traded to the Rays and provided with a roster spot in Tampa. Throughout the year, Goodrum bounced between the Rays, Angels, and Pirates on the waiver wire before ultimately clearing waivers and electing free agency, where he signed a minor league deal with the Orioles. Goodrum failed to hit at the big league level in 2024 with a slash line of just .103/.188/.103 in the majors, albeit in a sample size of just 33 plate appearances. Goodrum’s Triple-A numbers were far stronger, as he slashed .284/.375/.460 in 243 trips to the plate across 60 games for the Rays’, Angels’, and Orioles’ affiliates.

Now, Goodrum is moving on to his sixth organization of the past calendar year in San Diego. The Padres are facing a significant budget crunch this winter and are severely lacking in positional depth after losing Jurickson Profar, Ha-Seong Kim, Donovan Solano, and David Peralta to free agency. While Goodrum is hardly an impactful bat even in his best years, the veteran utility man’s versatility could be a major asset to the Padres off the bench this year if they enter the season without more reliable solutions to their lackluster outfield mix.

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