With less a month until pitchers and catchers begin reporting for Spring Training, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Kittredge to undergo physical:
Last week, the Orioles agreed to a one-year deal with right-hander Andrew Kittredge that guarantees the righty $10MM. According to Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun, Kittredge is set to undergo a physical today. It’s the final box to check before the deal can be made official. Physical exams rarely hold up deals from coming together, though it certainly happens. The Orioles, dating back to prior ownership and front office regimes, have a reputation for altering deals or backing out of them entirely due to concerns regarding a player’s physical. A new front office and owner hasn’t necessarily changed that, as the O’s reportedly backed out of an agreement with right-hander Jeff Hoffman last week due to an issue with his physical, leading Hoffman to sign with the Blue Jays instead. If Kittredge’s physical goes over without issue, the Orioles will need to clear a 40-man roster spot to accommodate his signing.
2. How will the Padres clear salary?
While Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller is typically among the most active executives in the game, things have been extremely quiet for San Diego this winter. They’ve signed zero free agents to major league deals and have remained equally quiet on the trade market. That lack of activity has been caused by a payroll crunch, as reporting has suggested the club hopes to not only duck under the luxury tax in 2025 but also end the offseason with a payroll lower than the $208MM RosterResource currently projects. That’s led to plenty of discussion of both Dylan Cease and Luis Arráez in the rumor mill this winter. Dennis Lin of The Athletic reported over the weekend that the club prefers to hold onto Arraez and has at least entertained interest in closer Robert Suarez. With just a month to go until Spring Training begins and holes to be filled in the club’s outfield and starting rotation, the Padres are likely to put together some creative deals to address those holes and the current payroll predicament.
3. Rangers Winter Caravan begins:
After delays due to inclement weather, the Rangers are set to begin their Winter Caravan later today. The series of 13 fan events run from today until January 29 and are all free to attend. Today’s event is scheduled to run from 6:30pm to 8pm local time at the Audacy Showroom in Dallas and will feature appearances from left-hander Cody Bradford and All-Star second baseman Marcus Semien. The first 225 people in line for the event will be able to get autographs from both players. More information, including a full schedule of the events set to take place throughout the month, can be found here via MLB.com.
For the Padres, all hinges on Sasaki. Get him, then trade Cease for an outfielder/1st base. If not, then Arraez for another l pitcher.
San Diego can end up with a lower payroll by mildly underpricing some of the costly talent it plans to unload. They don’t have to hit the ball out of the park. But relying on Sasaki might be iffy if they seem to be in a mini-teardown.
There is one option that I haven’t seen. If we assume that “reporting” is correct (meaning wanting to stay below Tax line – which they did last year so not sure why that is a thing), they don’t have to trim payroll and make these trades now. The CBT is calculated at the end of the season.
Sign a few lower end fixes, see what Apr-Jul does and trade a few pending FA guys at deadline if the idea is truly to just dip below the line.
Those decisions can wait.
Now, maybe they can’t sign a top FA this year but no reason why they can’t just plan to trade King, Cease and Suarez at deadline for a pretty good prospect haul.
Yeah. Don’t trade them now at full value when teams can extend QO
Wait till mid season and risk
Them not being healthy
Teams not offering much cause they can’t apply QO since they’re being acquired mid season
Running into a sellers market not a buyers market
Them not repeating their 2024 season
Get less value than you would if you trade them now.
Great plan.
The reason you haven’t seen that plan is because it’s terrible…as explained above by Bring San Diego
I wasn’t suggesting waiting for the trading deadline for the guys who are already expensive. Do it now, take a little less of a return if need to get maximum savings.
So Bring San Diego Fleet is Ryan? Using Ryan’s tried and untrue argument. Check. Attempts at being snarky that fall flat. Check.
Ryan, how many accounts do you have active right now?
Not Ryan.
Didn’t disprove a single thing I said Koalamu lmao
There’s risks involved with waiting until trade deadline to trade guys. That’s fact every season whether you agree or not is irrelevant.
Trading them now maximizes their trade value cause the acquiring team can recoup a draft pick if they sign elsewhere next off season.
Banking on contending teams having guys getting injured isn’t a smart plan
Hoping you run into a buyers market instead of a sellers market also isn’t a smart plan. Plenty of teams could sellers this year.
Seattle could very well be sellers too and trade from their glut of pitching which comes with more control than Cease and King have which takes away suitors for Cease and King as well.
And its definitely Ryan. Thanks for verifying that this is your newest name. How many do you have active right now Ryan?
Still not Ryan.
Just cause I find it funny you also use multiple accounts in your time here doesn’t mean I’m Ryan. I’ve seen your multiple accounts.
Idk what beef you and Ryan have but pot meet kettle on the multiple accounts issue.
Though I did get two of Ryan’s account banned I think
Fernando Ringworm Jr and Jimthegoat? I got those accounts banned.
There’s no way in Hell they trade King, Cease or Suarez at the deadline if the team is in the race. They already refused to trade Blake Snell and Josh Hader when they were out of the race and historically Justin Upton, Ian Kennedy, Jhoulys Chacin and Craig Stammen. Pretty ludicrous to suggest them trading King, Cease or Suarez when the team is in the race. Especially considering the Padres aren’t exactly not hurting for starters.
@BSDF They’re not going to trade any of those dudes at the deadline if the team is in the race. I could see if it they’re out of the race however. The Padres would obviously get more for those dudes now than at the deadline, especially because of the reasons you mentioned, but a title is worth more than getting every last prospect and the team needs 3 starters even if they don’t trade Cease or King.
You both use multiple accounts.
Get lives.
So Bring San Diego Fleet to the NFL is the same guy as “arty! Believes Jevon Belcher Quit on the Chiefs.” Sick
Longtimecoming is the same guy who said Matt Carpenter would opt-out after 2023 so idk what y’all were expecting.
As much as I love the padres
This team is not title ready
Getting QO picks for King Cease Suarez does nothing to extend their chances.
You can trade them and retool instead of rebuild.
Definitely think you can do Cease for Casas and Yoshida which fills 1B and OF or cease for Kjerstad, Creed Williams 1B/C, RHP Brandon Young, and Patrick Reilly who are all close to mlb readiness.
Definitely think you can trade King to say Detroit for a haul of Young arms including Faedo Madden Manning etc who are mlb ready and come with multiple years of control
Definitely think you can trade Suarez whatever else you need and then sign Kirby Yates and Carlos Esteves for less than Suarez makes and add to the late inning mix of relievers.
And then with money saved bring back Scott
We still don’t have a 1B, a LF, a catcher, and haven’t really replaced guys that left like Scott and missing key reserves like Solano who signed elsewhere and David Peralta.
If you don’t think the team can win a title in 2025 then yeah, trade those dudes now. If you think they have a chance then there is value in keeping them and then adding at the deadline if things break the Pads’ way or trading them for less (but still some) value if things don’t break their way. But it sounds like LTC was saying trade them at the deadline regardless of whether or not the team is in the race. Not only would that be stupid, but it would be very unlike A. J. Preller, who has historically been loathe to sell at the deadline, only ever really doing so in 2016 even though he frankly should have, at least on the pending FA’s, in every year but 2020, 2022 and 2024.
No, the language you use that is specifically language only Ryan uses means you are Ryan. Try again Ryan. We know its you.
“Retooling! I’ll retool you.” Bob Shirley, Christmas Vacation.
Ryan, that is typical for you. Not a change, typical.
It’s going to take a combination of both. They are clearly in a bad spot. They need to acquire young controllable talent that’s mlb ready for cease and Arraez. He may be a good fit in SF ? Arraez for the pitcher Black who has a decent track record and his ready for a full season in bigs
Then cease for casas
Get sasaki, and resign profar. Thats a decent team ready to compete !
I believe Cease hold the best value. You could get a Coupole MLB ready guys. Like a Kjerstead/Mountcastle from Baltimore, or someone else. I know maybe not exactly them, but like that.
There’s no chance of getting Kjerstad or a like player from Baltimore. They were unwilling to trade him for Cease with two years of control left, that’s definitely not going to happen fur just one.
San Diego would probably like to make that trade if Coby Mayo was the centerpiece. Enrique Bradford and Kjerstead also nice prospects. But Mayo is a third baseman, I don’t like moving him off third, he looks good at third. And the Padres have Machado signed thru 2031.
@dan that’s simply not true. The Sox were asking for Holliday or probably Kjerstad plus many others. Mountcastle with 2 years left plus another solid piece or two should be considered or Kjerstad straight up (5 years of control left) could be reasonable. Os would just need to sign another outfielder and I know a pretty good one that would like to come back. But asking for Kjerstad and more is a bit much
The team you just described would feature M King as the ace of the staff. Darvish as the 2 (for ALL 12 of the starts they’ll get out of him) & a knuckleballer as the #3. Your guess is as good as AJ’s when it comes to what’s next.
Casas would be the guy to put them over the top in this scenario?
What’s your plan then walla ? Casas and Black free up cap space
There is no silver lining to look for here @whiffa. The Pobres window for contention got slammed shut during their 25 inning mini vacay.
It’s clear that they need a reset, badly. Dealing Cease is the clearest path, but his value is limited by his expiring contract. Arraez’s one tool is vastly overrated by fans. Execs seem to have seen through the batting titles, and view him for what he is: a complementary piece whose one tool will get him pretty good money, but offer very little value as for as winning goes.
Darvish, Cronenworth & Boegarts contracts are underwater.
Machado gets paid to be the leader in the field & clubhouse & he is. He’s just a really bad one. Musgrove can’t contribute…
So the question becomes:
Where does Tatis end up?
Tatis is still making less money than he will in the future bc he’s still in his arb years. He’d be their most valuable asset but I don’t see them ever trading him. He’s contract looks really good now these larger deals are being signed
Big – His contract is looking good because he’s producing and is immensely popular with the fans.
Can’t say the same for JRod. If his slide continues he could end up dragging down the Mariners for years to come.
Seattle is a tough place to hit. They need to improve that lineup around him yet don’t seem interested in doing so.
Are you pissed at Sheel ?
Naming Sasaki in the lawsuit. The timing of its release. The guy is supposedly wary of negative publicity and she names him in her family fight at crunch time. It’s in line with the feel of the whole thing, but that in particular seems extremely vindictive and counter productive to me.
Read the lawsuit. Then tell me its vindictive and not someone trying to get what is due to them.
I did. I’ve done a fair bit of research. Love that type of stuff. Better than the on field sometimes. Yeah. I think vindictive is appropriate. Fraud, sexism, racism, relocation….
Sheel is a very astute woman. Maximum damage inflicted
In her attempt to get what is due. Thought naming sasaki directly was unnecessary and hardly the action of someone doing it for the fans.
That lawsuit is just one side of a story. MLB has the only succession plan in play and they were about to vote on John. That’s pretty telling to me as well.
I assume you are still rolling with “this is freaking awesome” for the padres ?
Not sure why you think that signing Sasaki would mean trading Cease. Quite the opposite is true. 2 main reasons. The Padres would have to go to a 6 man rotation so would need every possible starter. Most importantly, having Sasaki and Cease would give the Padres one of the best rotations in baseball.
If you are one of those that thinks the Padres have to cut payroll, what is your evidence? None of the execs have said that. In fact, they have said the opposite. The Padres have not made a single trade. Not one of the players this site and Rosenthal have said they were shopping have been moved.
The Padres made an offer to Profar. They also are known to have made offers to several other players but were outbid. So obviously they are willing to increase payroll. Kind of cuts through the BS that they need to cut payroll like a hot knife through butter.
So just stop. In no world does trading Cease after signing Sasaki make the team better and if it doesn’t make the team better it doesn’t make sense.
Pads do not have to “cut” payroll, but it’s also clear they ain’t signing anyone of note bc they haven’t been linked to one player all offseason yet have plenty of holes to fill
The Padres have very few holes.
1B – Arraez
2B – Cronenworth
SS – Bogaerts
3B – Machado
LF – Ornelas?
CF – Merrill
RF – Tatis
C – Campusano
DH – Shildt likes to use a rotation of position players but to put a name – Rosario, who can play all 4 IF positions..
Bench – Sullivan (C), Wade (UT), Lockridge (OF), McCoy (UT)
SP – Cease, King, Darvish, Waldron, Vasquez
with Brito, Cruz, Bergert. Baez in AAA as depth
RP – Suarez, Adam,. Estrada, Morejon. Hoeing, Matsui, Peralta, Reynolds, Jacob, Cosgrove, Kolek, and Rule V pick Nunez who has to stick or be sent back
So they need a LF, a catcher, and bench players.
If Profar returns or they sign/trade for another LF, then Ornelas replaces Lockridge on 26 man roster and makes the bench deeper. Any other signings/trades and Rosario replaces McCoy and makes the bench even deeper.
A SP would be nice but not critical and they are linked to one of the best ones on the market in Sasaki.
They have been linked to Profar, Higashioka, d’Arnaud,and several catchers. Higgy signed for a huge raise. d’Arnaud signed with the Angels for far more than anyone thought he would. Profar is still on the market and there is an offer of $8 million with a mutual option at $15 million pending him realizing he is not getting 3/45.
So where were they supposed to be shopping? What player “of note” is a backup catcher or a bench player or a 5th starter?
Is the goal a WS or to just put a competitive team on the field ? If it’s a WS, they have a lot of work to do ! And if they had minimal money to spend – why not lock up a Catcher before they are all gone ?
They really need a starting catcher as their current guy is still unproven. Profar was arguably their best hitter last year yet they haven’t replaced him and still need a DH. Plus that rotation still needs a jolt
Trading Cease and Arraez isn’t going to help them win a WS in 2025. It will help for all the years after though because they will be FA’s. Padres could even trade them then bring them back, if they want.
Why hasn’t there been any Red Sox articles today? It’s been over 9 hours! LOL!!
Hats off to the Rangers for their caravan, now THAT is the proper way to treat your fanbase.
Serious question- what’s better about the Rangers caravan vs. other teams? Are you highlighting the free autograph session, I’m guessing? Thanks.
jt – I’m not familiar with all of the MLB team fan events, just a few including my own team’s (I also learned the Braves cancelled theirs).
Here’s what I like about the Rangers caravan:
1) It’s being held in 13 different locations. The Red Sox was in the Fenway area only.
2) It’s being held over 13 days, which makes it easier to attend at least one day. The Red Sox was only one day, last Saturday.
3) It’s FREE to attend. The Red Sox charged $85 for adults, $35 for kids.
4) FREE autographs for the first 225 people each day.
It would be great if MLB required ALL teams to do something similar.
Fever: Since my team, the Woeful White Sox, are not holding a fan fest for the third year in a row because they’re a bunch of cowards who don’t want to face the fan(s), I say let the fans hold a fest. We can maybe get former players with actual MLB ability like Pierzynski, Fisk (who still lives part time in the Chicago area), Abreu, TA and…I guess that’s it. Almost everyone else is dead.
avenger – Did you not read my response the other day? The ChiSox are holding their fanfest on January 24th-25th.
. mlb.com/whitesox/fans/soxfest
@FPG MLB has always sucked at marketing its star players. Outside of that “Japanese player”, the majority of non-sports fans can’t name a single MLB player in my experience. I don’t know why Manfred stopped at Mike Trout when he said he wasn’t interested in being propped up for MLB. Ohtani is focused on the Japanese market so not much incentive for him to do more stateside.
Sasaki week, and it really does feel like San Diego’s offseason hinges on that signing. Whatever happens with him will affect everything else they do.
Hopefully Roki has made his decision already and things get done quickly to wherever he goes.
I’m confused as to why MLBTR is noting the Rangers Caravan. Don’t all teams have these offseason events? What is special about the Rangers one, and why is MLBTR reporting on fan events? Odd.
@just thinkin: The Braves cancelled their Fan Fest due to ongoing construction issues related to the 2025 MLB All Star game. So not “all teams.”
It’s a Caravan, suggesting they take the traditional fan fest on the road to multiple localities. That sounds especially cool to me.
los – The Red Sox actually did something similar many years ago, although on a much smaller scale. It made sense though, if you are going to bill yourself as “New England’s Team” you should have a presence in each of the New England states.
Heck the Celts even used to play regular season games in Hartford.
The Orioles do this too.
just – I enjoy EVERYTHING written about MLB, and wouldn’t mind if they had a paragraph about each team’s annual fan event.
Sure, I’m not sure why they don’t.
Padres learned nothing from their Eric Hosmer debacle.
How is this like Hosmer?
And add to it – like every team doesn’t have a contract in their history they regret!
Long – There are some teams that are giving out a lot of high risk contracts that could best be described as gambling. It really makes you wonder why they are valuing all the wrong things in players.
Signing Strasburg with no insurance was a high-risk gamble. Had he worked out and Patrick Corbin not turn into a pumpkin, I think the Nats would’ve had a very different plan with Bryce Harper and/or Soto.
That’s some great intuition, Fem. Welcome to the party—-pretty sure that nobody, anywhere has projected that contract to get to that level.
Not sure how this commentary fits the posted story, but your words are marked and stellar insight appreciated.
The Dodgers will lead MLB in attendance like always.
Not to minimize the tragedy of what’s happening – baseball isn’t terribly important in the grand scheme of things…but both the Dodgers and Angels’ stadiums don’t appear to be threatened by the fires.
Obviously smoke is a problem, but I can’t imagine that will be an issue when the season starts.
Good for the Rangers, making it bout the fans n FREE @that.
That’s not exactly insightful…I think most people are wondering whether he’ll crack 100
Mark my words: Santander won’t sign for more than 400 million.
@chemfinancing….No, half of LA is not burnt down. Almost all is gone in Palisades and Altadena, however. Hopefully, the fires containment is still maintained in this week’s winds. Please don’t make statements without a little research.
Thank you-you too
Orioles’ health checks are draconian. God help you if your ten million dollar contract is on the line and the doctors at Camden Yards find out you broke a finger in middle school.
@Mike: Seems the O’s made a good call on Hoffman. Braves fan sites are reporting that Atlanta nixed a deal w/Hoffman due to a failed physical before Baltimore did.
Ken Rosenthal and his puppet Dennis Lin keep trying to will the dismantling of the Padres into existence. Ever since he got burned on the Sherzer non-trade he has had nothing but disdain for the Padres. The two of them would love nothing more than for the Padres to return to the team of the previous two decades where they couldn’t even pretend they were trying to be competitive.
The Padres won’t clear payroll. Much like last year the Padres will make trades to fill the holes in the lineup and opportunistically make trades during the season to make the team better.
Why you keep pushing that narrative when there is no evidence that they need or want to cut payroll and in fact all of the executives have said publicly that the team was shooting for a payroll somewhere between 2023 and 2024. They have also said that level of spending is sustainable.
So why do you keep spreading this BS Nick? Just to get clicks? Pathetic.
C’mon dude. Tim’s trying to hire someone to do TikTok content. Articles like these shouldn’t be the least surprising.
Ha ha. Here we go again.
“How dare you report on something I disagree with !”
Magnificent.
And calling the writer by his first name like he knows them personally or something.
Because you have been correct about so many things in the past?
What specifically?