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Gleyber Torres To Accept Qualifying Offer

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Infielder Gleyber Torres is going to accept the qualifying offer from the Tigers. Jon Heyman of The New York Post was among those to report the news. Torres will return to Detroit on a one-year deal worth $22.025MM.

Once Torres received the QO, it seemed like there was a decent chance of him accepting it, which is why we predicted he would do so as part of our Top 50 Free Agents list. Torres was a free agent a year ago. He reportedly received some kind of multi-year offer from the Angels but rejected it since he wanted to play for a contending club. The financial details of that offer from the Halos aren’t known. He eventually settled for a one-year, $15MM pact with Detroit.

He didn’t meaningfully increase his earning power during the 2025 season. He slashed .256/.358/.387 for a wRC+ of 113. That was better than his 2024 season, when he hit .257/.330/.378 for a 105 wRC+, but close to his career numbers. He now has a .264/.337/.433 line and 114 wRC+ for his career.

That 2025 production came in lopsided fashion. He had a .281/.387/.425 line in the first half but just a .223/.320/.339 showing in the second, leading to respective wRC+ figures of 131 and 88. He underwent sports hernia surgery after the season and said he had been playing through the injury for months, staying on the field because the club was in a playoff race. Presumably, that accounts for the reduced production.

Theoretically, getting back to full health could perhaps help him return to that first-half form when he was a substantially better hitter, but he’s also going into the offseason hurt. He isn’t expected to be hampered into next season and the Tigers felt good enough about his chances in 2026 to give him a bit of a raise. Perhaps some clubs out there were willing to pay him a bit more but they also would have been subject to penalties on account of the QO. We at MLBTR were considering predicting Torres for something like $40MM over three years before he received the QO.

Torres hasn’t played a position other than second base in over three years, so he’ll return to the keystone in Detroit for another year. Per RosterResource, they are now slated for a payroll of $146MM next year. That’s a bit shy of their year-end payroll in 2025, which was $155MM. It’s unknown how much they are willing to spend next year. They are a speculative fit for third baseman Alex Bregman but seem likely to focus on pitching pursuits.

Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images

Shota Imanaga To Accept Cubs’ Qualifying Offer

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Shota Imanaga will be returning to the Cubs, as The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney reports that the left-hander has accepted the team’s one-year, $22.025MM qualifying offer.  The surprising decision means that Imanaga stays put after his time in Wrigleyville seemed to be over, following a series of declined contract options on the part of the Cubs and Imanaga himself.

The four-year, $53MM deal that Imanaga signed with Chicago in January 2024 guaranteed Imanaga $23MM over the first two seasons, and this offseason presented both sides with decisions.  The Cubs had to decide whether or not to exercise a three-year option on Imanaga’s services that would’ve paid him $57.75MM over the 2026-28 seasons, and the team decided to decline.  Imanaga then had a $15.25MM player option for just 2026 that he also declined, even though exercising that option would’ve then created a $42.5MM club option for the Cubs for next winter covering the 2027-28 seasons that (if declined) would’ve created a $15.25MM player option for Imanaga for 2027.

The Cubs issued Imanaga the qualifying offer to ensure some compensation if Imanaga signed elsewhere, yet as it turned out, Imanaga will indeed take a one-year pact to remain, with roughly $7MM added beyond the price of his player option.  He would’ve locked in at least $30.5MM for himself by exercising his player option and generating that other player option for next winter, so he is currently leaving $8.475MM on the table given how this rather complicated situation turned out.

A 2026 season more in line with Imanaga’s impressive 2024 rookie campaign will easily land a multi-year contract worth far more than $8.475MM next winter, even though the lefty turns 33 in September.  He’ll be able to re-enter next year’s free agent market without the QO compensation attached to his services.  This removes one obstacle for Imanaga in free agency next winter, but more consistency on the mound will be the deciding factor.

Imanaga posted a 3.73 ERA, 20.6% strikeout rate, and an elite 4.6% walk rate over 144 2/3 innings for Chicago this season.  Apart from his great control and the solid bottom-line ERA, the rest of Imanaga’s peripherals were almost all well below the league average.  The problems included a lot of hard and high-impact contact, as only three pitchers allowed more home runs than Imanaga’s 31 big flies in 2025.

A hamstring strain cost Imanaga most of May and June, but he still managed a 2.40 ERA over his first 75 innings of the year before things started to turn in the second half.  Twenty of Imanaga’s 31 home runs allowed came during his last 69 2/3 innings of the season, resulting in a 5.17 ERA.  Things didn’t get any better in the playoffs, as the southpaw posted an 8.10 ERA and gave up three more homers in 6 2/3 frames of postseason work.

These issues with the long ball were also apparent in Imanaga’s 2024 season, if not to the same extreme level.  He also allowed less hard contact and had a solid 25.1% strikeout rate, while delivering a 2.91 ERA over 173 1/3 innings.  This excellent debut season earned Imanaga a fourth-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting, a fifth-place finish in Cy Young Award voting, and his first All-Star nod.

Given how well Imanaga was seemingly adjusting to the big leagues over his first season and a half, it seemed like a lock that the Cubs were going to exercise their options to keep Imanaga in the fold through 2028.  However, his rough finish to the season seemingly changed the Cubs’ mind about such a substantial commitment.

Likewise, Imanaga and his reps at Octagon could’ve been concerned over how the market would react to his homer-heavy final 69 2/3 innings.  MLB Trade Rumors ranked Imanaga 22nd on our list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents and projected him for a three-year, $45MM deal, but Imanaga and his reps at Octagon might have viewed the qualifying offer as an impediment to an acceptable contract.  If Imanaga was going to have to settle for a short-term “prove it” type of deal anyway, accepting the QO allows him to aim for a bounce-back season in a familiar environment, and for a bigger one-year average annual value.

Returning to the Cubs also allows Imanaga to play for a team that should again be playoff contenders.  Starting pitching should still continue to be a need for Chicago even with Imanaga back, but at least one box has now been checked off of the team’s rotation plans.  Imanaga joins Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton, Jameson Taillon, and Colin Rea in the projected starting five, with Justin Steele theoretically able to return from a UCL revision surgery relatively early in the 2026 campaign.  Javier Assad and Ben Brown are also on hand, but the Cubs will want to bolster this group with at least one more reliable starter, given how the team didn’t trust its depth (including Imanaga) during the postseason.

Inset photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski — Imagn Images

Nationals Select Three Players To 40-Man Roster

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The Nationals announced that they have selected the contracts of three players. They are outfielder Christian Franklin, left-hander Jake Bennett and right-hander Riley Cornelio. All three are now protected from being selected in next month’s Rule 5 draft. The club’s 40-man roster count climbs from 34 to 37.

Franklin, 26 this month, was just acquired from the Cubs in the deadline deal which sent Michael Soroka to Chicago. A fourth-round pick from the 2021 draft, Franklin is generally considered good at a lot of things without a standout tool.

Between the Nats and Cubs, he spent all of 2025 at the Triple-A level, stepping to the plate 535 times in total. His 15% walk rate and 20.6% strikeout rate were both above average, though he hit only 12 home runs. His .272/.390/.427 batting line translated to a 118 wRC+, indicating he was 18% above league average. He played all three outfield spots and stole 19 bases. He’s not really considered a top prospect but he has shown enough to get a 40-man spot. He’ll look to work his way into the Washington outfield mix, a group that currently includes James Wood, Jacob Young, Robert Hassell III, Dylan Crews, Daylen Lile and others.

Bennett, 25 next month, was Washington’s second-round pick in 2022. He was taken 45th overall and secured a signing bonus of over $1.7MM. He has since been climbing the ladder, although Tommy John surgery in 2023 led to him missing the 2024 season. Here in 2025, he got back on track by logging 75 1/3 innings over 19 appearances, 18 of those officially being starts. He allowed just 2.27 earned runs per nine with a 21.5% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and 47.3% ground ball rate. He just appeared in the Arizona Fall League and added another 20 innings.

Baseball America recently ranked Bennett the #6 prospect in Washington’s system. He hasn’t yet appeared at the Triple-A level but his final ten appearances in 2025 were at Double-A, so bumping up to the top minor league rung should be on the table next year. The Nats don’t have a ton of established arms in the rotation and might even subtract from the group by dealing MacKenzie Gore this offseason. Since they may be rebuilding for another year or two, Bennett could push his way into a major league audition at some point in the near future.

Cornelio, 26 in June, was a seventh-round pick from 2022. In 2025, he climbed from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A. In the process, he threw 134 1/3 innings with a 3.28 ERA, 24.8% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 37.6% ground ball rate. A few months ago, FanGraphs ranked him #36 in the system, projecting him to end up as a reliever in the long run. The Nats now have three option years, so they could keep trying him as a starter for a while or perhaps move him to the bullpen if they agree that’s where his future lies.

Photo courtesy of Lily Smith, Imagn Images.

Brandon Woodruff Accepts Qualifying Offer

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Brandon Woodruff has accepted the one-year, $22.025MM qualifying offer from the Brewers. The team confirmed that he’ll back for another season after an excellent but injury-shortened 2025 campaign.

Woodruff is one of four players who’ll opt for the strong one-year salary over exploring the market for a multi-year deal. Trent Grisham, Shota Imanaga and Gleyber Torres also accepted the QO. Woodruff and Grisham are the most surprising, as it was expected that they’d each command multi-year deals despite being attached to draft compensation.

Those players have had the past two weeks to survey the market. Perhaps they didn’t find the level of robust interest for which they’d hoped. It’s also possible that they preferred to stay with their current teams and are hopeful of using the QO as a springboard to hammering out an extension later in the offseason. That could be the case with Woodruff, a career-long Brewer who is headed into the eighth full season of his career.

A two-time All-Star, Woodruff has been among the best pitchers in MLB for most of that time. He has posted a sub-4.00 ERA in each season aside from his eight-start rookie year. Woodruff has allowed 3.10 earned runs per nine in 142 career appearances. He finished top five in Cy Young balloting in 2021 and posted a combined 2.82 ERA in 38 starts between 2022-23.

Woodruff missed a good chunk of the latter season with shoulder inflammation. That proved an unfortunate precursor to a few years of arm woes. Woodruff made it back in the second half of the ’23 season, but he revealed at the end of the year that he was headed for a capsule repair in his throwing shoulder. That immediately wiped out his 2024 campaign.

Milwaukee declined to tender him a one-year arbitration contract with the lost year looming, but the sides circled back on a two-year deal that guaranteed $17.5MM. Woodruff indeed missed the entire first season and started this year on the injured list as well. He had a couple fluky setbacks on his minor league assignment. An ankle tweak in May and a comebacker off his throwing elbow in June kept him off the big league roster until the week before the All-Star Break.

Woodruff made his long awaited return in the second week of July. He could not have pitched much better despite the layoff. He reeled off 64 2/3 innings of 3.20 ERA ball over 12 outings. Woodruff picked up quality starts in half those appearances while striking out 32.3% of opposing hitters against a 5.4% walk rate. Among starters with 50+ innings pitched, he ranked fifth in strikeout percentage and had the fourth-highest difference between his strikeout and walk numbers.

Excellent as that performance was, he didn’t look quite the same as he had before the surgery. His 93 MPH average fastball speed was down a couple ticks from the 95-96 MPH range at which he worked in 2023. It didn’t impact his production but is perhaps a slight red flag. More concerning was the possibility of Woodruff’s shoulder not holding up for the entire season. That came true at the worst possible time, as he was shut down just before the start of the postseason after suffering a moderate lat strain during a between starts bullpen session.

The Brewers made it to the NL Championship Series in his absence. Woodruff was not able to make it back and had reportedly not resumed throwing, so he almost certainly would have been unavailable if they’d gotten to the World Series. The Brewers were confident enough in next season’s health outlook to make the qualifying offer. Woodruff returns as the second-highest paid player on the roster after Christian Yelich, who’ll make $26MM per season ($4MM deferred annually) for another three years.

Under the CBA, accepting the qualifying offer is akin to signing a major league free agent contract. That means Woodruff cannot be traded without his consent until June 15, 2026. The Brewers would not have made the QO if they weren’t willing to have him take up a significant chunk of the payroll, even if the front office believed he’d probably decline and find a multi-year contract elsewhere. Woodruff will be back as one of the top two starters in Pat Murphy’s rotation. He cannot be tagged with another QO in his career and will hit free agency unencumbered by draft compensation after next season, barring an extension. He’ll be entering his age-34 campaign.

While Woodruff isn’t getting traded, this could impact the front office’s decision on Freddy Peralta. He’s headed into the final year of his contract on a bargain $8MM salary. The Brewers would have no shortage of suitors if they made Peralta available. President of baseball operations Matt Arnold said last week that they’ll consider offers out of due diligence but certainly weren’t eager to deal him.

Milwaukee has $68.525MM committed to Yelich, Woodruff, Peralta, Jackson Chourio and Aaron Ashby. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects their arbitration class to cost around $32MM. They’re at roughly $100MM before accounting for another $10-12MM in minimum salaried players to fill out the roster. They opened this season with a player payroll around $115MM, and they paid $16MM in option buyouts for Woodruff, Jose Quintana and Rhys Hoskins at the beginning of the offseason.

The Brewers should have some extra money in the coffers after their NLCS run. It’s hard to imagine they would’ve made the QO if Woodruff accepting would really strain them financially. Still, his return could give them more freedom to entertain offers on Peralta now that they know they’ll have at least one veteran anchor atop the staff either way.

If Peralta stays, he and Woodruff will be co-aces for another season. Quinn Priester and Jacob Misiorowski are going to be in the middle of the rotation. Chad Patrick, Logan Henderson, Tobias Myers and Robert Gasser could battle for spots at the back end. The Brewers tend to add a cheap free agent starter or swingman at the tail end of the offseason, so a smaller depth pickup could still be on the way.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported that Woodruff was accepting. Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images.

Rays To Listen To Offers On Brandon Lowe

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The Rays will field trade interest in Brandon Lowe this winter, writes Jeff Passan of ESPN. That’s to be expected with the All-Star second baseman one year from free agency. The Rays picked up an $11.5MM option, making him their second highest-paid player — narrowly behind the $12MM they’ll pay first baseman Yandy Díaz.

Trade speculation on Lowe is an annual offseason tradition. His salaries have escalated over the course of the extension he signed in Spring Training 2019. They’ve remained below market value for one of the better offensive middle infielders in the sport. That surely has led to a lot of trade interest over the years, but the Rays have valued Lowe highly enough to not bite on anything they’ve been offered thus far.

Lowe featured prominently on MLBTR’s list of the Top 40 Trade Candidates coming into the offseason. The 31-year-old is coming off another solid year. Lowe hit 31 home runs, the second most of his career and tying him with Jazz Chisholm Jr. for most by a second baseman. He hit .256/.307/.477 across 553 plate appearances. Lowe has had an above-average bat in every season of his career. He has topped 20 homers in three straight years and owns a .245/.315/.466 line in more than 1400 trips to the plate since the start of 2023.

The bat has been Lowe’s calling card throughout his career. That’s even more the case as he gets into his 30s. He’s a below-average runner and graded as the game’s worst defensive second baseman this year by Statcast’s Outs Above Average (-13). He was third from the bottom with a -14 mark by Defensive Runs Saved.

Lowe hasn’t had much defensive versatility throughout his career. He has a little bit of corner outfield experience and has picked up a few more first base innings over the past two seasons. The Rays have Díaz and Jonathan Aranda lined up for the majority of the playing time between first base and designated hitter. They might not feel great about Lowe’s glove at second base, but they’re lacking in upper level middle infield depth. Carson Williams and Taylor Walls could be one of the weakest offensive shortstop duos in MLB. Richie Palacios might be their best second base alternative on the MLB roster, and he’s more of a part-time player who missed most of 2025 to injury.

The Rays certainly don’t need to trade Lowe, but they’re not going to close themselves off to conversations on any player who is this close to free agency. There could be a decent amount of overlap between teams that are in on Lowe and those in conversations with the Cardinals about their lefty-hitting second baseman/outfielder, Brendan Donovan.

The Astros, Guardians, Royals and Dodgers have been linked to Donovan either this winter or at last summer’s deadline. The Angels would probably love to land a left-handed hitting middle infielder. The Cardinals will get more for Donovan — who’s cheaper, better defensively, and controllable for two seasons. Lowe would be an excellent fallback if the Rays finally pull the trigger on a trade.

Mets To Release Frankie Montas, Select Nick Morabito

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The Mets announced that they have designated Frankie Montas for assignment, and the team has requested unconditional release waivers on the right-hander.  The transaction removes Montas from the 40-man roster, allowing the team to select the contract of outfield prospect Nick Morabito in advance of today’s Rule 5 deadline.  The Athletic’s Will Sammon reported on Morabito’s selection earlier today.  Reporter Michael Marino was the first to pass on the news that Montas would be designated for assignment, with SNY’s Andy Martino providing the later update that Montas was being released.

The DFA period is essentially irrelevant since no team will claim or make a trade offer for Montas, who is owed $17MM in 2026 and will miss all or most of the season while recovering from a torn UCL.  As such, today’s move closes the book on Montas’ Queens tenure after less than a year, as he signed his two-year, $34MM free agent deal with the Mets last December.

Montas ended up tossing just 38 2/3 innings over nine appearances in a Mets uniform.  Montas suffered a lat strain in Spring Training and didn’t make his Mets debut until June, and he then struggled to a 6.28 ERA and lost his rotation job.  Even worse injury news emerged in late August, as Montas underwent UCL surgery.  It wasn’t known if Montas had a Tommy John surgery or a brace procedure, but either way, 2026 is going to be another lost year for the veteran righty.

Unsurprisingly, Montas didn’t trigger the opt-out clause after the first year of his contract, and thus he remains on the Mets’ books for a $17MM salary in 2026.  Montas probably won’t land his next contract until next winter, and a minor league deal seems like the next step for a pitcher with such a shaky recent track record.  Beyond his disastrous 2025 season, Montas also appeared in just one game in 2023 due to shoulder surgery, stemming from shoulder issues that led to a rough end to his 2022 campaign.

He recovered to toss 150 2/3 innings of 4.84 ERA ball with the Reds and Brewers in 2024, which was enough to convince the Mets that Montas might be close to regaining his early-career form as a staple of the Athletics rotation.  Instead, the signing will go down as a total bust for David Stearns’ front office, and one of several ill-advised pitching moves that contributed to New York’s disappointing 83-win season.

Morabito was a second-round pick for the Mets in the 2022 draft, and his selection to the 40-man roster means that rival teams won’t be able to select the 22-year-old in December’s Rule 5 Draft.  Known for his excellent speed, Morabito has stolen 130 bases in 160 attempts during his pro career, including 49 swipes for Double-A Binghamton in 2025.  This was Morabito’s first time playing Double-A ball and he hit .273/.348/.385 with six homers and 27 doubles to go along with his impressive stolen-base total.

MLB Pipeline ranks Morabito 16th amongst all Mets prospects, and the scouting report notes that Morabito’s offensive potential is held back by his tendency to hit too many grounders.  His speed can turn some of those grounders into singles, of course, but “elevating on contact will be a big goal…if he is going to have a chance to be more than a speedy, high-contact fourth outfielder.”  Defensively, Morabito is seen as a decent outfielder who can handle all three positions, though his modest throwing arm probably makes right field his least-effective spot on the grass.

Mets, Tigers, Giants Interested In Devin Williams

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The Mets have expressed interest in signing reliever Devin Williams, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The Tigers and Giants are also interested, per Jon Morosi of MLB Network. It had previously been reported that roughly a dozen teams were in on Williams, including the Red Sox, Reds, Dodgers, and Marlins. The Mets, Tigers, and Giants can now be counted among his suitors.

Williams, 31, is coming off an uneven season for the Yankees. The Brewers traded the star reliever to New York in exchange for Nestor Cortes, Caleb Durbin, and cash considerations in December 2024. At the time, he was long established as an elite closer, having posted a 1.83 ERA across 235 2/3 innings for Milwaukee from 2019-2024. In that time, his 39.4% strikeout rate and 27.6% K-BB rate were fourth- and fifth-best among qualified relievers, respectively. Though he did walk 11.8% of hitters in that span, the elite strikeout numbers were more than enough to compensate. All told, Williams was worth 7.6 fWAR during his time in Milwaukee, which placed sixth among qualified relievers. Ryan Pressly, who ranked fifth ahead of Williams, was worth 8.0 fWAR but pitched 74 more innings.

The Yankees were surely hoping for more of the same from Williams in his final year before free agency. Instead, he posted a 4.79 ERA in 62 innings while being shifted in and out of the closer role due to his performance. His first 12 games of the season were abysmal, as Williams struck out an uncharacteristically low 20.0% of hitters across March and April while walking 16.0% and allowing an opposing batting line of .300/.420/.400. The strikeout and walk numbers returned to normal the rest of the way, but Williams continued to post uneven run prevention numbers, with an ERA of 0.93 in June followed by ERAs over 4.90 in July and August, then settling down to 3.72 in September and October. Though his contributions were still worth 1.4 WAR according to FanGraphs, the bottom-line results were clearly not what Williams was hoping for in his platform season.

That said, he is still garnering a lot of interest, largely due to his excellent peripheral stats. Despite the below-average ERA, Williams still got strikeouts at a rate of 34.7% in 2025, which was tied for eighth-best among qualified relievers. His 9.7% walk rate, while still higher than league average, was actually his best mark since 2020 and down from 12.5% in 2024. He also continued to induce groundballs 44.6% of the time, above the league average of 42.3% for relievers. His expected stats, including a 3.07 xERA and a 2.95 xFIP, also paint a much better picture than just his ERA. In terms of stuff, Williams’s signature changeup remained a plus pitch by run value, while his four-seam fastball velocity only declined slightly from 94.7 mph in 2024 to 94.1 mph this year.

Those signs point to Williams still being an elite closer, so the high amount of interest is hardly surprising. Among the three new teams mentioned, the Mets are an interesting case. Their president of baseball operations, David Stearns, is familiar with Williams due to their shared years in the Brewers organization. The Mets bullpen ranked 15th with a 3.93 ERA and 13th with a 22.8% strikeout rate in 2025. Owner Steve Cohen is clearly willing to spend big, and the pressure to win will be higher in 2026 after a lackluster 83-79 season and playoff miss this year.

Meanwhile, the Tigers bullpen posted a 4.05 ERA (17th in the league) but an 11.3% K-BB rate that ranked 27th. The team surely wants to capitalize on Tarik Skubal’s final year of team control, so their interest in Williams makes sense. As for the Giants, their bullpen was slightly better than Detroit’s but still below-average with a 12.8% K-BB rate (20th) this year. We at MLBTR rated Williams as the 16th-best free agent this offseason and predicted that he will sign a four-year, $68MM contract.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

Rangers Shopping Jonah Heim, Adolis Garcia

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The Rangers are shopping catcher Jonah Heim and outfielder Adolis Garcia ahead of the non-tender deadline on November 21st, according to a report from ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Passan adds that both players are candidates to be non-tendered if Texas is unable to work out trades for them.

Both longtime stalwarts of the Texas lineup were featured on MLBTR’s list of the Top 40 Trade Candidates for the 2025-26 offseason. While Heim and Garcia were both key parts of the core that won the 2023 World Series for the Rangers, neither has played especially well since then. Heim was a four-win player and an All-Star in 2023 but since then has slashed just .217/.269/.334 (71 wRC+) in 255 games with sharply declining defensive metrics behind the plate. Garcia has fallen from similar heights, as he garnered MVP votes and won a Gold Glove in 2023 but has hit just .225/.278/.397 (89 wRC+) in 289 games the past two seasons.

Given each player’s past success, it’s not impossible to imagine either one bouncing back to be quality players in 2026. With that being said, the Rangers are facing payroll constraints this winter that will make it difficult for them to roll the dice on either player. That makes the decision to shop them on the trade market an easy one, as they can look to potentially recoup some value for one or both players before they’re forced to either pay the pair hefty arbitration salaries or non-tender them, cutting them from the organization for no return whatsoever.

Of the two, Heim appears to be far more tradable. He’s projected for a salary of just $6MM by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz in 2026 as he heads into his age-31 campaign. That’s not a particularly onerous figure for even teams with real budgetary concerns, and between that light salary and the dearth of quality catching options around the league it would make sense if another club was interested in rolling the dice on Heim. Teams like the Rays, Padres, Astros, and Phillies all could be in the market for catching help this winter and could consider giving Heim a look.

Garcia, by contrast, seems harder to convince a team to take a chance on. He’s entering his age-33 season and is projected for a $12.1MM salary in 2026. While the market for right-handed outfielders is somewhat sparse this winter, players like Austin Hays, Miguel Andujar, and Rob Refsnyder all provided above-average offensive production from a corner outfield spot this past year and would likely be able to be had for much less than Garcia’s arbitration price tag. Teams might even see Garcia as more comparable to a roll of the dice on a player like Randal Grichuk, Lane Thomas, or Starling Marte, any of whom could be had in free agency much more affordably without having to trade anything away.

As for the Rangers, they’ll need to find another complement to Kyle Higashioka behind the plate if they wind up trading or non-tendering Heim. Garcia would be easier to replace internally given the presence of controllable outfielders like Alejandro Osuna and Michael Helman, though the team’s need for more offense could still lead them to peruse external additions to help Wyatt Langford, Josh Smith, and Evan Carter out on the grass as well.

Red Sox Designate Nathaniel Lowe, Josh Winckowski For Assignment

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The Red Sox announced that first baseman Nathaniel Lowe has been designated for assignment. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported the move shortly before the official announcement. That opens a 40-man spot for Tristan Gray, who has been acquired from the Rays. The Sox are also designating right-hander Josh Winckowski for assignment, reports Ari Alexander of 7 News. That will open another 40-man spot, presumably for Boston to add someone ahead of today’s Rule 5 protection deadline.

The moves are effectively early non-tenders. Friday afternoon is the deadline for teams to decide whether or not to tender contracts to their arbitration-eligible and pre-arb players. But as mentioned, today is the deadline for adding players to the 40-man in order to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. By cutting these two players now, the Sox have made space for adding Gray and someone else in the coming hours.

Nathaniel Lowe | Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY SportsIt’s not a surprise that Boston isn’t bringing Lowe back. He was a midseason desperation addition. The Sox lost Triston Casas to injury early in the season, leaving a hole at first base. They had been patching that over with guys like Romy González and Abraham Toro. Lowe became available in August when the Nationals released him. He has a good overall track record but was having a bad season. The Sox were able to grab him for essentially nothing to bolster their first base group down the stretch.

The Sox also could have kept Lowe for 2026 via arbitration but it never seemed likely they would do so. He qualified for Super Two status going into 2023, giving him four arb passes instead of the usual three. He had already raised his salary to $10.3MM in 2025. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a $13.5MM salary in 2026, which will be his age-30 season. The Sox presumably had no intention of paying that after Lowe hit .228/.307/.381 for a 91 wRC+ this year. They have Casas potentially coming back in 2026 and they could also pursue external additions.

Technically, Boston has some time to try to trade Lowe but other teams presumably aren’t keen on him at that $13.5MM price point either. He will likely stay in DFA limbo until Friday and then be non-tendered, becoming a free agent.

Once he’s officially on the open market, he will be an interesting bounceback candidate. As mentioned, his 2025 season wasn’t good, but he was a solid everyday first baseman for the Rangers for many years. From 2021 to 2024, he got into at least 140 games in four straight seasons, including at least 157 in the first three. He launched between 16 and 27 home runs in each of those. He also had a walk rate of 12.5% or higher in three of the four. He had a combined .274/.359/.432 slash line and 124 wRC+ for that span. FanGraphs credited him with 10.8 wins above replacement.

That strong performance helped the Rangers win the 2023 World Series and also pushed Lowe’s salary up into eight-figure territory. Those factors combined with his down year to make him a clear non-tender candidate.

Based on his track record, some club should give Lowe a big deal at some point, though at a lesser price point than his projected arbitration salary. He will jump into a first base market that has already seen Josh Naylor come off the board. Pete Alonso, Ryan O’Hearn, Luis Arráez and others are still out there, while Christian Walker and Willson Contreras are potential trade candidates.

Winckowski, 28 in June, has spent the past few years working in a swing role for the Sox. He has logged 242 1/3 innings over 21 starts and 100 relief appearances, allowing 4.20 earned runs per nine. His 18.2% strikeout rate is subpar but his his 8.3% walk rate is around average and his 51.6% ground ball rate quite strong.

He only logged 11 2/3 innings in the majors in 2025. He spent most of the first half on optional assignment in the minors. In June, the Sox called him up and put him on the big league 60-day injured list due to a a flexor strain in his right elbow. That allowed them to open a 40-man roster spot. Winckowski stayed on the IL for the rest of the year, collecting service time along the way. The IL goes away five days after the World Series, so he retook a 40-man spot at that time.

His current health status is unknown but he was going to be on the roster bubble regardless. He exhausted his final option season in 2025. He also pushed his service time just over the three-year mark, therefore qualifying for arbitration. He is projected for a salary of $800K next year. That’s barely above the league minimum, which will be $780K next year. But for a guy who was hurt for most of 2025 and can’t be easily sent to the minors anymore, the Sox aren’t keen to pay him at that level.

While he’s in DFA limbo, they could try to trade him elsewhere. He can be controlled for another three seasons and is relatively cheap. But it’s also possible he gets non-tendered alongside Lowe on Friday and ends up a free agent.

Photos courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Kevin Jairaj, Eric Canha, Imagn Images

Rays Release Forrest Whitley To Pursue NPB Opportunity

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The Rays announced that they’ve released former top prospect Forrest Whitley to pursue an opportunity in Japan. Tampa Bay had selected him onto the 40-man roster a couple weeks ago to avoid losing him to minor league free agency. When the former first-round pick evidently found a better job overseas, the Rays were willing to let him depart.

Tampa Bay’s release of Whitley and trade of infielder Tristan Gray to Boston clears a couple spots on the 40-man roster. That’s down to 38 as this evening’s deadline to keep eligible prospects out of the Rule 5 draft approaches. It’s likely there are a few more cuts on the horizon for a Tampa Bay team that tends to churn the back of the roster and relies heavily on its farm system.

Whitley was once arguably the most talented pitching prospect in the sport. The Astros viewed the 6’7″ righty as a potential ace as he dominated up through the Double-A level. A failed drug test for a banned stimulant in 2018 was the first setback, and Whitley then suffered through multiple seasons ruined by injuries and underwhelming performance. That included Tommy John surgery in 2021 and a significant lat strain in ’23. Whitley could never find much of a rhythm when he was healthy enough to pitch in Triple-A.

He eventually exhausted his minor league options (even with Houston granted a fourth year) before he’d had much of a look at the big league level. He began this past season on the injured list. The Astros carried him on the MLB roster once he returned but designated him for assignment when he pitched terribly over his first 7 1/3 innings. The Rays acquired him in a cash trade but placed him on waivers after five underwhelming appearances. He cleared and finished the season as a non-roster player in Triple-A.

The final few months of the ’25 season were Whitley’s most promising in years. He fired 55 1/3 innings of 2.60 ERA ball while striking out 30.4% of opponents out of Durham’s rotation. Whitley’s heater averaged around 95 MPH and he leaned more heavily on his cutter and changeup while pulling back the usage of his sinker and curveball. It was encouraging enough for the Rays to keep him out of minor league free agency, but his out-of-options status meant he still would have needed to impress the club in Spring Training or risk heading back into DFA limbo.

Whitley is headed into his age-28 season and presumably has a rotation opportunity lined up in Japan. He has the power stuff and prospect pedigree to be one of the highest-upside NPB returnees a couple seasons from now if he carries over the form he showed in Durham. Doing so would come with a far higher earning ceiling than he was likely to find domestically. He’ll not only lock in a guaranteed contract for 2026, but he’d be able to return to MLB with the benefit of open market bidding if things go well in Japan. Whitley has yet to reach one year of MLB service time and would not have qualified for MLB free agency until his age-34 season even if he’d finally clicked at the big league level.

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