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Cardinals Select Four Players

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The Cardinals added four prospects to their 40-man roster on Rule 5 protection day: Outfielder Joshua Baez, catcher Leonardo Bernal, and left-handers Cooper Hjerpe and Brycen Mautz. They needed to open one spot, so they designated reliever Jorge Alcala for assignment.

St. Louis signed Bernal as an international free agent in 2021. MLB.com ranks him 4th among the organization’s prospects. Bernal hit .270 with 10 home runs over 96 games at High-A in 2024, earning a bump to Double-A. He scuffled to a 64 wRC+ in a brief sample with Springfield. Bernal was back with the Double-A squad this past season. He put together a league-average performance in terms of wRC+, while chipping in 13 home runs and 13 steals. The 21-year-old has shown decent base-stealing prowess for a catcher, swiping 20 bags over the past two years.

The Cardinals selected Baez in the second round of the 2021 draft. He’s the team’s 11th-ranked prospect on MLB.com. A bloated strikeout rate held Baez back in his first few professional seasons, but he got the contact in check this past season. After three straight years with a strikeout rate above 34%, Baez trimmed it to 20.6% across two levels in 2025. He also showed a new level of power, reaching 20 home runs between High-A and Double-A. Baez had totaled 24 home runs in his previous four professional seasons. He also racked up 54 stolen bases this past year.

Hjerpe is one of the team’s top arms in the minors, but he’s currently on the shelf after undergoing Tommy John surgery back in April. The lefty sits at 13th on MLB.com’s prospect list. Hjerpe was a first-rounder back in 2022. He posted a solid 3.27 ERA between High-A and Double-A in 2024. Hjerpe had a strikeout rate above 35% at both stops.

Mautz was taken in the second round back in 2022. He’s immediately jumped into a workhorse role as a professional, making at least 23 starts in all three of his seasons. Mautz struggled to a 5.18 ERA at High-A in 2024, but bounced back with his best season yet this past year. The lefty posted a 2.98 ERA with a career-best 28.6% strikeout rate across 114 2/3 innings at Double-A in 2025. The 24-year-old is a candidate to make starts at the big-league level at some point next season.

Alcala was claimed off waivers from the Red Sox back in August. He was knocked around in 15 appearances with the Cardinals, recording a 5.02 ERA. The 30-year-old had spent his entire MLB career with the Twins heading into 2025. He was dealt to Boston in June and made 19 appearances for the team before being designated for assignment and landing in St. Louis.

Tigers Designate Six Relievers For Assignment

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The Tigers designated six relief pitchers for assignment: Dugan Darnell, Jack Little, Sean Guenther, Jason Foley, Tanner Rainey and Tyler Mattison. They added five prospects to the roster to keep them out of the Rule 5 draft: Hao-Yu Lee, Thayron Liranzo, Trei Cruz, Eduardo Valencia and Jake Miller. The sixth roster spot is filled by Gleyber Torres, who officially accepted the qualifying offer.

Liranzo, 22, isn’t too far removed from being one of the better catching prospects in the game. The Tigers landed him alongside Trey Sweeney in the 2024 deadline deal that sent Jack Flaherty to Los Angeles. He’d posted a .378 on-base percentage that season but dropped to a .206/.308/.351 slash line in 88 games with Double-A Erie this year. The Tigers weren’t going to jump ship after one bad year, but he may need to repeat Double-A.

Lee, a 22-year-old infielder out of Taiwan, came over from Philadelphia in the 2023 Michael Lorenzen deadline trade. He spent the entire season at Triple-A Toledo, where he hit .243/.342/.406 across 579 trips to the dish. He walked at a strong 11.2% clip while striking out 21% of the time. Lee can’t play shortstop and isn’t going to have a path to second base playing time behind Torres. His best chance of carving out MLB playing time in 2026 comes at third base.

Cruz gets a 40-man spot for the first time going into his age-27 season. The Tigers had left the former third-round pick unprotected in the past two offseasons. The switch-hitting infielder, the son of former big league outfielder José Cruz, earned his way onto the roster with a breakout year in the upper minors. Cruz hit .279/.411/.456 while leading all minor league hitters with 102 walks between the top two levels. The Rice product can play both left side infield positions and has the athleticism to play some center field.

Valencia is a 25-year-old catcher/first baseman who posted a monster .311/.382/.559 slash line between Erie and Toledo. He blasted 24 home runs while keeping his strikeout rate around 20%. The Venezuela native has never been viewed as much of a prospect, but the offensive performance in the high minors was too much to ignore.

Miller, a 24-year-old lefty, ranked 16th in the Detroit system at MLB Pipeline. An eighth-round pick in 2022 out of Valparaiso, he has shown an intriguing three-pitch mix with enough command and deception to project as a starter. Miller was limited to six starts between High-A and Double-A this year by a back injury, but Detroit likes him enough to keep him as a developmental play. He should begin next season in Erie.

Getting all those players onto the roster required cutting most of their depth relievers. Little and Darnell were just claimed off waivers. Detroit knew they’d be likely non-tenders but could try to bring them back on minor league deals. That’s also the case for Mattison, whom they kept out of the Rule 5 draft last winter but who had a middling year in the minors. Guenther has been up and down for the past couple seasons and missed the second half of 2025 recovering from hip surgery.

Rainey is a journeyman righty who cracked Detroit’s big league bullpen in the final week of the season. He’s narrowly shy of six years of service and therefore could have been retained via arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a modest $1.2MM salary, but Rainey is looking at minor league deals as a free agent.

Foley was probably the toughest cut. He’d been a valuable late-innings arm between 2021-24, a run which he capped off by saving 28 games last year. Foley missed all of ’25 recovering from shoulder surgery, and he would have been set to match this year’s $3.15MM salary if they tendered him a contract. They opted not to do so and are likely to cut him loose on Friday, though they have the next few days to see if there’s any trade interest.

Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free-Press first reported the Cruz, Valencia and Miller additions.

Marlins Select Three Players

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The Marlins selected catcher Joe Mack and right-handers Will Kempner and Josh White onto the 40-man roster to keep them out of the Rule 5 draft. Miami designated outfielder Joey Wiemer for assignment in a corresponding move, as they’d previously had two vacancies.

Mack is one of the more obvious names to keep away from the Rule 5 draft. A supplemental first-round pick out of high school in 2021, he has developed into one of the better all-around catching prospects in the majors. The left-handed hitter connected on 21 homers with a .257/.338/.475 slash line in 468 plate appearances between the top two minor league levels.

Most of that production came in Triple-A. Mack is on the doorstep of the majors and he’s a better defensive catcher than either Liam Hicks or Agustin Ramirez. Mack has the best chance of the group to be Miami’s long-term answer behind the plate. It’s not out of the question he breaks camp, and he’ll almost certainly debut at some point next season.

Kempner, 24, was acquired from the Giants for international bonus pool room last offseason. A third-round pick out of Gonzaga in 2022, he’s a pure reliever who turned in a 2.26 ERA across 67 2/3 innings between a trio of levels in his first season in the Miami system. Kempner fanned more than a third of opponents but walked upwards of 14% of batters faced. He sits around 95 MPH and could be an up-and-down reliever next season. The 24-year-old White should also be in that mix after running a monster 40.8% strikeout rate across 67 2/3 frames between the top two levels. The former fifth-round draftee sits in the 93-94 MPH range and leans heavily on a plus mid-80s slider.

Miami claimed Wiemer, a one-time top prospect, off waivers from Kansas City in August. He played in 27 games down the stretch, hitting .236 with a trio of home runs but striking out 23 times in 61 trips to the plate. Wiemer has big physical tools but has been too strikeout prone throughout his career. He’s a .205/.279/.359 hitter in a little under 500 plate appearances. Miami can non-tender him on Friday and try to bring him back on a minor league contract.

Astros Designate Ramon Urias For Assignment

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The Astros announced they’ve designated infielder Ramón Urías for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to pitching prospect Miguel Ullola, who has been selected to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. Their roster remains at capacity.

Houston acquired Urías from the Orioles at this past summer’s trade deadline. It initially seemed he’d be the fill-in third baseman after the Isaac Paredes injury. The Astros pulled off the shocking Carlos Correa deal a day later, pushing Urías into more of a second/third base hybrid role. He didn’t perform especially well. He hit .223/.267/.372 with 28 strikeouts in 101 trips to the plate after the trade.

That will end up being his only work in an Astros uniform. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Urías for a $4.4MM salary in his final year of arbitration. Houston wasn’t going to pay that amount coming off the rough finish. They can technically spend the next three days trying to find a trade partner, but it’s likelier they’ll simply non-tender him on Friday. He’d become a free agent at that point.

While his Astros tenure was a disappointment, Urías had been a capable role player for the Orioles for the past few seasons. He won a Gold Glove at third base in 2022, though his defensive grades in every other season have been right around average. Urías was also essentially an average hitter throughout his time in Baltimore. He batted .259/.324/.404 in a little more than 500 games over parts of six seasons with the Orioles. He’s been serviceable against pitchers of either handedness and can play any non-shortstop position on the dirt.

Urías should be able to command a major league contract if he’s non-tendered. It’d surely be a one-year deal but he could find a $3-4MM guarantee to work as a right-handed infielder off the bench. Houston will ideally find a lefty bat to fit that role, as their lineup already skews very heavily to the right side. They’ll need to decide whether to tender righty-hitting utilityman Mauricio Dubón (projected at $5.8MM) or start from scratch with their infield depth.

Ullola appears to be the only prospect whom the Astros were concerned would get taken in next month’s Rule 5 draft. The 23-year-old righty spent the entire ’25 season working out of the Triple-A rotation. He managed a solid 3.88 earned run average across 113 2/3 innings in the Pacific Coast League. Ullola fanned 27% of opponents but walked nearly 16% of batters faced. He has never thrown strikes at a tenable rate in the minors, which presumably points toward a long-term bullpen future. Ullola’s fastball sits around 94 MPH in his work as a starter, so he could be a solid power arm with significant bat-missing upside if the Astros move him to relief.

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.

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.

Diamondbacks Outright Christian Montes De Oca

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The Diamondbacks outrighted reliever Christian Montes De Oca, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. That drops Arizona’s 40-man roster count to 37.

Montes De Oca is a 26-year-old who made his big league debut this past season. Arizona first called him up in May but didn’t get him into a game before optioning him back out. He came back up in early June as the extra pitcher for a doubleheader in Cincinnati. Montes De Oca tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings of mop-up ball, striking out two while issuing a walk.

That ended up being his only MLB appearance of the season. Montes De Oca went on the injured list with elbow inflammation a few days later. The Snakes subsequently announced that he was headed for surgery on a seemingly unrelated lower back injury. Montes De Oca finished the season on the injured list but needed to be reinstated onto the roster at the beginning of the offseason.

Montes De Oca didn’t enter the professional ranks until his age-22 season. He has pitched to a 4.34 earned run average in 186 2/3 innings over parts of four minor league seasons. He has punched out a quarter of opponents against a serviceable 8.1% walk rate. He’ll remain in the system as a non-roster player and figures to get an invite to big league camp if he’s healthy next spring.

Tomorrow evening is the deadline for teams to add players to the 40-man to keep them out of the Rule 5 draft. Mitch Bratt and Kohl Drake — the top two pitching prospects acquired from Texas for Merrill Kelly — will both need to be added to the roster. Dropping Montes De Oca gives them an extra spot in case they want to keep someone like Double-A outfielder Gavin Conticello, Triple-A starter Dylan Ray or former third-round pick Jacob Steinmetz out of the draft.

Will Anyone Accept The Qualifying Offer?

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Tomorrow afternoon is the deadline for players to decide whether to accept the qualifying offer. Thirteen free agents were tagged with the $22.025MM offer. It’s a formality for most of them, who’ll easily decline and command a much larger multi-year contract. Each offseason features a handful of borderline decisions, however, and we’ve seen at least one player accept in six of the past seven years. In that span, only in 2023 — when an abnormally low amount of seven players received the QO — did everyone decline.

For the purposes of this poll, we’ll exclude seven players: Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette, Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Edwin Díaz, Kyle Schwarber and Ranger Suárez. There’s no scenario in which any of them accept the qualifying offer. Most of the remaining six will decline as well, but there’s at least a small chance for any of them to accept. Players and their representatives have had the past two weeks to gauge early demand on the open market, and it’s possible someone from the group has found sufficiently lukewarm interest to consider locking in the strong one-year deal and trying again next offseason.

Zac Gallen and Michael King are each somewhat buy-low rotation options. Gallen is coming off a 4.83 earned run average across 33 starts. His strikeout rate has regressed in a few consecutive seasons, and he gave up the fourth-most home runs (31) of any pitcher in MLB. He once looked like a lock for a $100-150MM+ contract. That’s probably no longer on the table, but Gallen should have enough of a track record to decline the QO and at least command a multi-year deal with an opt-out if he wants to retest free agency.

King has been a much better pitcher than Gallen over the past two seasons. He missed most of his walk year battling a nerve issue in his shoulder. He finished the year healthy but didn’t pitch well in September. The Padres didn’t trust him much going into the playoffs, though they’re obviously confident enough in his health to make the QO. Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune wrote last week that the Padres expect King to reject the offer and will probably not meet his asking price on the open market. MLBTR predicted a four-year, $80MM deal for Gallen and King alike.

Brandon Woodruff has some parallels to King. He’s a high-end starter whose main question is durability. Woodruff finished the season on the injured list with a lat strain after missing all of ’24 recovering from shoulder surgery. He was fantastic over 12 starts in between, though, and he’s expected to be healthy going into 2026. Woodruff is entering his age-33 season. There’s less long-term earning power if he accepts a one-year offer and retests free agency at 34. MLBTR predicts a three-year, $66MM deal.

Trent Grisham and Gleyber Torres were the two mid-level hitters who received the offer. Grisham is coming off a 34-homer season and is the top all-around center fielder on the market. He’d hit below the Mendoza line in three straight seasons coming into 2025. Entering the year, the notion of him receiving a qualifying offer would’ve been laughable. Things can change quickly. We predicted he’d decline and command a four-year, $66MM deal.

Torres was the most surprising QO recipient to those of us at MLBTR. He’s also the only one we projected to accept on our Top 50 free agent list. (We would’ve predicted a three-year, $40MM contract had he hit the market without draft compensation attached.) He was a deserved All-Star behind an excellent first half but struggled down the stretch and underwent postseason sports hernia surgery.

Finally, that leaves Shota Imanaga. The left-hander only hit free agency because the Cubs declined to trigger a three-year, $57.75MM option and he passed on the remaining two years and $30.5MM on his deal. The Cubs weren’t willing to make the three-year commitment but are evidently content to have him back for one season because they followed up by making the QO. Perhaps they assumed he’s a lock to decline after passing on the $30MM guarantee, though the QO represents an approximate $7MM raise over what he would’ve made in 2026 had he not opted out. Imanaga was very good for most of his first two seasons in Chicago, but he became extremely homer-prone down the stretch and into the playoffs. MLBTR predicts a three-year, $45MM contract.

How does the MLBTR readership expect tomorrow to play out? Will anyone lock in for one year with their 2025 club or will they all remain on the market?

 

Jose Altuve Undergoes Minor Foot Procedure

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Jose Altuve underwent a minor procedure on his right foot this afternoon, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. The aspiration drained fluid from an injury between his fourth and fifth toes. It should not impact his readiness for Spring Training.

Altuve played through foot discomfort in the waning weeks of the season. The pain cost him a game in the middle of September, but Altuve wouldn’t go on the injured list as the Astros battled for a playoff spot. It wasn’t until they were officially eliminated with two games remaining in the season that he shut it down. Altuve wasn’t particularly effective as he played through the injury, hitting .218/.295/.385 in the final month.

It was something of a down season overall for the nine-time All-Star. Altuve still managed 26 homers with a solid .265/.329/.442 batting line, but his average and on-base percentage were his lowest in a full season in more than a decade. Altuve hit .363 with five longballs during a monster July but was otherwise a middle-of-the-road contributor. He had a .745 OPS or lower in every other month.

It’s not surprising to see Altuve’s numbers begin to trend down as he gets into his mid-30s. He’s still a good hitter but no longer the MVP-caliber bat he was in his prime. The bigger question moving forward is how the Astros will minimize his defensive weaknesses. The Astros have increasingly soured on his second base work. They hoped to use him primarily in left field this past season, reasoning that the short porch with the Crawford Boxes at Daikin Park could compensate for mediocre range. Altuve didn’t take naturally to the position, though, and skipper Joe Espada used him mostly at second base again by the end of the season.

The Astros don’t have great alternatives at the keystone. Rookie Brice Matthews had decent overall numbers in Triple-A, but he struck out in 28% of his plate appearances against minor league pitching. He punched out 20 times in his first 13 big league games. Mauricio Dubón is a quality defender with a light bat whose escalating arbitration salaries could make him a trade or non-tender candidate. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects the switch-hitting utilityman to make $5.8MM in his final year of club control. Ramón Urías struggled after a deadline trade and is likely to be cut loose in lieu of a $4.4MM arbitration projection.

At the moment, that leaves Altuve as their primary option at second base. They could continue to get him some left field work and use him more frequently at designated hitter if they’re willing to play Yordan Alvarez semi-regularly in left (especially at home). An offseason acquisition could change the calculus. Their longstanding interest in Cardinals’ trade candidate Brendan Donovan continues. Tampa Bay’s Brandon Lowe could also be on the move, while Gleyber Torres and Willi Castro are free agent possibilities.

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