Jon Duplantier Signs With NPB’s Yokohama BayStars
January 6th: Duplantier’s deal is for $3MM, per Yakyu Cosmopolitan.
January 5th: The Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced the signing of right-hander Jon Duplantier. The 31-year-old will remain in Japan for a second season after spending the ’25 campaign with the Hanshin Tigers.
A former highly-regarded prospect with the Diamondbacks, Duplantier was set back by injuries. He wound up making just 19 appearances between 2019-21. A lat strain led Arizona to drop him from the 40-man roster midway through the 2021 season. The Rice product subsequently bounced around on minor league contracts with Arizona, San Francisco, Philadelphia, the Mets, Dodgers and Milwaukee without getting to the majors. The Brewers granted him his release to pursue an NPB opportunity last year.
Duplantier’s first season in Japan could hardly have gone better from a performance perspective. He struck out 32.4% of opponents against a 5.7% walk rate while working to a 1.39 earned run average. Health was again the caveat, as he was limited to 15 starts and 90 2/3 innings by a lower body injury. His numbers were impressive enough that there was some thought he could return stateside. He evidently found a superior offer to join a new NPB club instead. If he can put together a full season at anywhere near his ’25 level of production, he should be in position to command a big league contract next offseason.
Tigers Trade Justyn-Henry Malloy To Rays
The Tigers and Rays announced a trade that sends Justyn-Henry Malloy to Tampa Bay for cash considerations. Detroit had designated him for assignment before the holiday DFA freeze when they officially re-signed reliever Kyle Finnegan. Tampa Bay had two openings on the 40-man roster and didn’t need to make a corresponding move.
A sixth-round pick by the Braves in 2021, Malloy was traded to Detroit after his first full minor league season in exchange for reliever Joe Jiménez. Prospect evaluators praised the righty-hitting Malloy’s plate discipline but questioned whether he’d find a home defensively. The positional fit remains the biggest issue. Malloy was drafted as a third baseman but was well below average there. Detroit used him as a full-time corner outfielder in 2024 and split his time between the corner outfield and first base last season.
Malloy, 26 in February, is a below-average runner and athlete, so the hope is that he’ll be merely adequate somewhere. There’s a high bar to clear offensively if he’s limited to first base or a full-time designated hitter role. Malloy hasn’t been close to clearing that in his scattered MLB opportunities, as he’s a .209/.311/.346 hitter over 357 career plate appearances.
The big league numbers are probably weighed down by his lack of consistent playing time. Malloy has been a fantastic offensive player in the minor leagues. He has a near-.900 OPS in his minor league career, including a .296/.424/.478 line in more than 1200 plate appearances against Triple-A pitching.
Malloy has decent power and popped 23 homers in Triple-A a couple seasons ago. The calling card is an extremely patient offensive approach that has allowed him to work walks at a massive 17.2% rate in the minors. Major league pitchers are going to do a better job challenging him within the strike zone, yet Malloy has still managed a 12% walk rate over his MLB work. That has come alongside an elevated 32.8% strikeout rate that he’ll need to bring down if he’s to carve out a long-term role.
Tampa Bay has Yandy Díaz and Jonathan Aranda lined up for the first base and DH playing time. There’s more opportunity in the outfield if the Rays feel Malloy can be a passable defender on the grass. He’d otherwise be ticketed for a depth role, either as a bench bat or stashed at Triple-A Durham. Malloy still has two minor league options remaining, which gives the team some roster flexibility, though he doesn’t have much to prove against minor league pitching.
Red Sox, Kutter Crawford Avoid Arbitration
The Red Sox announced they’ve avoided arbitration with right-hander Kutter Crawford. Although the team did not disclose salary figures, Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports that it’s a $2.75MM deal. That matches last year’s salary and the projection from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.
Crawford’s salary was easy to predict. Arbitration prices generally climb each season, but that doesn’t often happen when a player misses an entire year. In those situations, they’ll typically sign for the same amount they made year before. Crawford follows that path and gets an easy bit of business complete before teams and players exchange filing figures on Thursday.
A swingman over his first couple seasons, Crawford made 25 starts three years ago and took all 33 turns through the rotation during his last healthy season. He turned in a 4.36 earned run average over a team-leading 183 2/3 innings in 2024. He posted better than average strikeout and walk numbers but was undone to an extent by a late-season home run spike. Crawford carried a flat 3.00 ERA into the All-Star Break but was tagged for 6.59 earned runs per nine in the second half. He would up leading the majors with 34 homers surrendered overall.
Despite the shaky finish, Crawford was a lock for a season-opening rotation job had he gotten through Spring Training healthy. The Sox revealed that he had been pitching through right knee discomfort for most of the ’24 campaign. Crawford entered camp behind schedule and started the season on the injured list. While working back from the knee issue in June, he sustained a right wrist injury that proved even more serious. Crawford underwent surgery that shut him down for the year.
The salary is modest, so there was no doubt the Sox would tender him a contract. He may need to compete for a rotation spot in camp this time around. Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray and Brayan Bello are locked into the top three spots. The final two jobs are up for grabs among a number of pitchers.
Patrick Sandoval will be back after missing last season rehabbing elbow surgery. Boston liked Johan Oviedo enough as a back-end arm to part with well-regarded rookie outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia. Top prospects Payton Tolle and Connelly Early debuted late in the season. Kyle Harrison is still in the mix after coming over in the Rafael Devers trade. Most of those pitchers, Crawford included, have minor league options remaining. He could head to Triple-A Worcester or begin the season in long relief if he doesn’t win a rotation spot. Injuries are inevitable, so there’ll be opportunity at some point.
The Red Sox avoided arbitration with Jarren Duran and Connor Wong earlier in the offseason. They’re awaiting resolution on Tanner Houck, Triston Casas, Romy Gonzalez, and Oviedo. There’ll be plenty of settlements over the next two days as teams and players look to avoid filing for hearings.
Astros Haven’t Discussed Extension With Manager Joe Espada, GM Dana Brown
Astros manager Joe Espada and GM Dana Brown are entering the final seasons of their respective contracts. It’ll be Espada’s third season in the role and Brown’s fourth year running baseball operations.
Many clubs prefer not to have their manager and front office heads on lame duck contracts. Astros owner Jim Crane has been more willing to do that than most of his counterparts, and it appears that both Brown and Espada may need to work on expiring deals in 2026. Crane said on Monday morning that there had been no extension conversations with either the GM or skipper, nor did the owner seem interested in doing that this offseason.
“I think we’ll go through this year like we always do, evaluate it and then make the decision at the end of the year,” Crane said (link via Matt Kawahara of The Houston Chronicle). “We won’t probably do any extensions now. But I’m not saying that’s impossible. We haven’t talked about it yet. We’ve been focused on getting what we need to compete this next year.”
That doesn’t necessarily indicate any kind of dissatisfaction on Crane’s part with the team’s direction. Dusty Baker managed the Astros on a series of one-year contracts before retiring after the 2023 season. Houston also allowed former GM James Click to work through the end of his contract in ’22. That was driven partially by personal discord between Click and Crane that led the Astros to move on from him even though the team won the World Series. There’s no suggestion of such issue between Crane and his current staff.
The Astros narrowly missed the playoffs last season, snapping an eight-year run of postseason appearances in the process. Their 87-75 record was only marginally worse than the 88-win showing that was enough to claim an AL West title one year earlier. Houston was in control of the division at the All-Star Break last year, but they played at a slightly below-.500 pace in the final three months of the season. That was enough to not only drop behind the Mariners but also fall back of the Guardians, who rode a September hot streak into an improbable playoff berth to bump Houston from the field.
Houston’s focus this winter has been on the rotation with Framber Valdez hitting free agency. They’ve added Mike Burrows and Tatsuya Imai as mid-rotation arms behind ace Hunter Brown. The roster is probably close to what they’ll have on Opening Day, but they’re looking for a backup catching upgrade behind Yainer Diaz and could try to land a better left-handed hitting outfielder than Jesús Sánchez.
Giants’ GM Zack Minasian Discusses Rotation
The Giants finalized their one-year, $10MM contract with Tyler Mahle this afternoon. He’s their second short-term free agent rotation addition. They brought in Adrian Houser on a two-year, $22MM deal last month.
Mahle and Houser are back-end types rather than the top-of-the-rotation arm which many fans hoped the Giants would add when president of baseball operations Buster Posey called pitching the offseason focus. The team has consistently downplayed their desire to make expensive or long-term free agent commitments and their first couple moves align with that reluctance. Like every team, they’ll continue to keep an eye on the rotation market, but general manager Zack Minasian suggested the Mahle and Houser moves may complete the rotation.
“We’re very comfortable with the five that we have and then the bundle of arms behind them now to say that our depth is in a much better spot than it was at the beginning of the offseason,” Minasian told reporters (links via John Shea of The San Francisco Standard and Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle). “We’re happy with where we’re at. We’ll keep working at it but I do think this is a solid five-man rotation going into the spring.”
Mahle and Houser would slot alongside Landen Roupp as the back three starters behind Logan Webb and Robbie Ray. They have a number of intriguing but unproven younger arms who’d compete to be the first one up in the event of an injury. Trevor McDonald, Keaton Winn, Hayden Birdsong, Carson Whisenhunt, Carson Seymour and Blade Tidwell are all on the 40-man roster. Everyone in that group has minor league options remaining and/or could contribute in a multi-inning role out of the bullpen.
While it’s a deeper group than most clubs have, the Giants are arguably lacking at the top end of the staff. Webb is a true ace, of course, but Ray tailed off in the second half. He had a solid year overall, striking out nearly a quarter of opponents with a 3.65 ERA across 182 1/3 innings. His ERA spiked to 5.54 as his strikeout rate dropped by five percentage points after the All-Star Break.
Houser was in Triple-A at the beginning of last season. He had a fantastic ERA over 11 starts for the White Sox but struggled after a deadline trade to Tampa Bay. Mahle is coming off a 2.18 ERA over 16 starts for the Rangers, yet his 19.1% strikeout rate was well below the plus marks he posted early in his career with the Reds. The righty also hasn’t reached 25 starts in any of the past four seasons because of 2022 Tommy John surgery and shoulder issues in each of the last two years.
The Giants opened the 2025 season with a $173MM payroll. RosterResource estimates they’re around $185MM for next season. That doesn’t include a $17MM deferred signing bonus owed to Blake Snell which comes due next week. The Giants have yet to address a wide open right field spot or done anything to add a late-inning reliever after last summer’s Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers trades and losing Randy Rodríguez to injury. They’re also poking around for an upgrade over Casey Schmitt at second base.
The payroll situation has seemingly taken them out of the mix for the top free agent starters. Trading Ray would offload most or all of his $25MM salary and create some short-term spending capacity if they wanted to upgrade the #2 starter spot, but that’d require a longer deal than their remaining one year commitment to Ray. (Framber Valdez, Ranger Suárez and Zac Gallen are the top unsigned starters.) Trading for a controllable starter like MacKenzie Gore and Edward Cabrera would require significant prospect capital. Even if the Giants turn to the trade market, they may focus more on the other needs and hope that Roupp and/or one of the unproven starters takes a step forward to raise the rotation’s ceiling.
Astros Could Open Season With Six-Man Rotation
The Astros officially introduced Tatsuya Imai at Daikin Park this morning. The surprising three-year deal continues what has been a pitching-focused offseason for a Houston team losing Framber Valdez to free agency. The Astros also acquired Mike Burrows in a trade that cost two of their better prospects while adding potential back-end starters Ryan Weiss and Nate Pearson on cheap one-year deals.
Manager Joe Espada said at Imai’s press conference that the club is likely to lean on a six-man rotation frequently throughout the season (link via Chandler Rome of The Athletic). That could be the case from day one, as the skipper indicated they may begin the year with an extra starter. Espada pointed to the team’s heavy early-season workload. The Astros only have two off days between Opening Day on March 26 and April 22. Barring rainouts, they’ll play 26 games in their first 28 days.
Hunter Brown is the clear #1 starter with Valdez expected to head elsewhere. Imai and Burrows slot into the middle of the rotation, while Cristian Javier is lined up for a spot somewhere in that 2-4 mix. Options for the final rotation spot or two include Weiss, Pearson, AJ Blubaugh, Spencer Arrighetti, Jason Alexander, Lance McCullers Jr. and prospect Miguel Ullola. Weiss, who signed for $2.6MM after pitching to a 2.87 ERA with a 28.6% strikeout rate in Korea, probably enters camp at the top of that group.
There are durability and/or experience questions with everyone who slots behind Brown. Javier has been a quality starter at his best but was up-and-down upon his return from Tommy John surgery in the second half of 2025. This will be Burrows’ first full season in the big leagues. Neither Imai nor Weiss have pitched in MLB. Arrighetti and McCullers slogged through injuries last year and were ineffective when healthy. Blubaugh has three career starts. Alexander, J.P. France and Colton Gordon all look more like depth arms than rotation stalwarts.
Given the innings questions for almost everyone after Brown, it’s sensible to ease their early-season workloads. That would leave one fewer spot in the bullpen given the 13-pitcher limit, however. Houston has six relievers who are either slam dunks or near-locks for the MLB roster if healthy: Josh Hader, Bryan Abreu, Steven Okert, Bennett Sousa, Bryan King and Enyel De Los Santos. They’re also bringing Rule 5 pick Roddery Muñoz to camp and would need to carry him on the MLB roster to keep his contractual rights. Spring Training injuries and any late-offseason additions will change the picture.
Phillies Sign Zach Pop To Major League Deal
January 5th, 2026: According to the Associated Press, Pop will make $900K in the majors and $250K in the minors.
December 22nd, 2025: The Phillies announced that they have signed right-hander Zach Pop to a major league deal. Their 40-man roster count jumps to 39. Salary figures haven’t been reported.
It’s a bit surprising to see Pop command a big league deal. He bounced around during the 2025 season. He opened the year with the Blue Jays but was released shortly after Opening Day. Pop got to the big leagues for four appearances with the Mariners and pitched one time as a member of the Mets. He allowed 12 runs (11 earned) in just 6 2/3 MLB innings. That pushed his career earned run average to 4.88 over 162 1/3 frames spanning five seasons.
The Canadian-born righty made 20 appearances in the minors this year. He allowed a 4.19 ERA over 19 1/3 innings. His underlying numbers were more encouraging. Pop fanned more than a quarter of opponents against a manageable 8.9% walk rate. He got ground-balls at a massive 75% clip while sitting in the 96-97 MPH range with his sinker. Pop has always done a good job keeping the ball down, running a career 55% grounder percentage in the big leagues.
Philadelphia was intrigued enough by the stuff to give Pop one of their two vacant roster spots. Assuming he remains on the 40-man into Spring Training, he’ll get an opportunity to battle for a middle relief job in camp. Pop has exhausted his minor league option years, so the Phils cannot send him down without running him through waivers.
Philly has six bullpen spots accounted for if everyone gets through camp healthy. Jhoan Duran, Brad Keller, José Alvarado, Tanner Banks and the out-of-options Jonathan Bowlan are locks. Right-hander Orion Kerkering should pretty safely be in there as well unless he has a terrible Spring Training. Pop and Rule 5 pick Zach McCambley either need to stick in the big leagues or be taken off the 40-man (and offered back to the Marlins after clearing waivers, in McCambley’s case).
The Rangers’ Wide Open Infield Mix
The Rangers entered the offseason in need of a lineup reboot. They’ve had below-average offenses in consecutive years and haven’t strung together competitive at-bats consistently. They’ve been 20th and 26th, respectively, in on-base percentage over the last two seasons. Their walk rate dropped from 14th to 23rd. Their hitters were among the most aggressive in MLB, both on pitches within and outside the strike zone.
While that needed to be addressed, the front office is seemingly operating within a tight budget. They have five contracts on the books that pay at least $18.5MM annually. They’re now two years removed from their World Series run, and ownership began scaling back spending during the 2023-24 offseason in the wake of the collapse of their local broadcast agreement. Offseason reporting has cast doubt on their chances of meeting the asking price for even mid-tier free agent hitters J.T. Realmuto and Luis Arraez.
Texas has made a pair of significant changes on the offensive side, though they’ve each come with a notable corresponding subtraction. They swapped Marcus Semien for Brandon Nimmo, taking on more money overall but clearing a little payroll room in the short term. Nimmo provides the patient approach they’re seeking and allowed them to move on from Adolis García in right field. The other change has come behind the plate, where they non-tendered Jonah Heim after a second straight poor season. He has been replaced by Danny Jansen on a two-year free agent deal.
Catcher and the outfield mix are probably set. Jansen joins Kyle Higashioka as a veteran pairing behind the dish. Nimmo slots alongside Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter on the grass. However, they haven’t acquired anyone to replace Semien at second base. It seems they’re planning to do that internally. That’d be a tall ask for an infield group that was a weakness even with Semien.
The Rangers were in the bottom half of MLB in offense from each non-shortstop infield position. Semien’s strong defensive grades kept them above average at second base overall despite his declining production at the dish. The corners were the biggest issue. They had a combined .248/.298/.393 batting line from their first and third basemen.
Most of the positives came from utilityman Josh Smith, who had a .283/.369/.439 showing in his 227 plate appearances at those positions. If the Rangers don’t replace Semien externally, Smith is ticketed for regular playing time at second base. The other nine players who logged any corner infield reps last year combined to hit .241/.283/.384 in nearly 1100 trips.
Three players from that group — Rowdy Tellez, Dylan Moore and Blaine Crim — are no longer on the roster. Former first-round pick Justin Foscue is coming off back-to-back league average seasons in Triple-A and turns 27 before Opening Day. He’s probably on the roster bubble. Ezequiel Duran should be as well, as he’s a .237/.278/.309 hitter over the last two seasons. Joc Pederson made two starts at first base but was otherwise a full-time designated hitter, and he was a major disappointment in the first season of a two-year free agent deal.
As it stands, that leaves three players battling for the remaining two infield spots: Jake Burger, Josh Jung and Cody Freeman. Freeman, who turns 25 today, is coming off a fantastic Triple-A season but hit .228/.258/.342 in 36 MLB games. He’s a gifted contact hitter but doesn’t walk often and has questionable power upside. Freeman did slug a personal-best 19 homers at Triple-A Round Rock last year, but the Pacific Coast League inflates most hitters’ power numbers. He ranked near the bottom of the league in hard contact rate in his brief MLB look.
If Freeman settled in as an everyday third or second baseman, that’d allow Skip Schumaker to move Smith around the infield in a utility role. Freeman feels more like a utility type himself, though. Burger and Jung project as the primary corner infield tandem despite speculation that Texas could move on from one or both players.
The Rangers acquired Burger from the Marlins last offseason. He went on the injured list three times and had a brief stint in Triple-A when he slumped early in the year. Burger concluded his first season in Arlington with a replacement level performance. He hit .236/.269/.419 over 376 plate appearances and offered limited baserunning and defensive value. Burger underwent postseason surgery to address a tendon sheath tear in his left wrist. The hope is that his power was limited by playing through the issue and he can get back to being a 30-homer threat. Burger has never posted an OBP above .310 in a season (excluding a rookie year in which he played in 15 games), so he’s not going to get on base much even if the power returns.
Jung is a similarly aggressive hitter. The Rangers clearly grew frustrated with his approach. They optioned him after he’d hit .158 with a .208 on-base mark in June. He came back on a hot streak a few weeks later, but that was driven by a huge average on balls in play that masked a continuing rough strikeout/walk profile. Jung’s numbers crashed again in September. He finished the season with a .251/.294/.390 slash and seemed like a change-of-scenery candidate coming into the winter. There haven’t been any reports about the Rangers shopping Jung. It seems they’re leaning towards giving him a rebound opportunity, which could be driven by their lack of alternatives.
Maybe that’ll change once Spring Training approaches and free agent prices fall. Alex Bregman or Eugenio Suárez are probably out of their range no matter the timing. If Arraez lingers unsigned into February, could he come into play on a one-year deal? Rhys Hoskins or Yoán Moncada will sign affordable one-year contracts and would at least provide insurance at first or third base, respectively. Ryan Mountcastle should be traded now that the Orioles signed Pete Alonso. Would the Rangers be willing to meet a near-$8MM arbitration projection, or is Mountcastle too similar to Burger? Maybe Bregman signs with a team that has a semi-established third baseman who comes available as a trade chip.
Otherwise, the Rangers would be reliant on a handful of rebound hopefuls and a thin farm system. Top infield prospect Sebastian Walcott could be the answer by the end of the season. He has no Triple-A experience and doesn’t turn 20 until March, so he’s unlikely to break camp. First baseman Abimelec Ortiz hit his way onto the 40-man roster with a .257/.356/.479 showing between the top two minor league levels. Most prospect evaluators feel he projects as a bench bat/Quad-A type, but the opportunity is there if he can outperform that. Texas will need someone unexpected to step up to get enough production on the dirt.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images
Athletics Sign Tyler Soderstrom To Seven-Year Extension
Jan. 5: Some details on the breakdown are provided by Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Soderstrom gets a $3MM signing bonus and $1MM salary in 2026. His salary then jumps to $6MM, $10MM, $12MM, $16MM, $17MM and $19MM in the subsequent seasons. The 2033 club option is worth $27MM with a $2MM buyout. His 2032 and 2033 salaries can jump by $1MM or $2MM based on MVP finishing, though specifics of those escalators haven’t been reported. There should also be further escalators, considering Passan’s reporting that the deal can max out at $131MM. Soderstrom also gets some limited no-trade protection for 2032 and 2033, though details are also unreported in that department.
Dec. 29: The Athletics have formally announced the extension.
Dec. 25: The Athletics aren’t taking the holiday off. They’re in agreement with outfielder Tyler Soderstrom on a seven-year, $86MM extension, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Passan adds that there’s a club option for 2033 and escalators that could push the contract value by another $45MM if the option is exercised. The deal buys out at least three free agent years and potentially a fourth, keeping him under club control through his age-31 season. Soderstrom is represented by Paragon Sports International.
Soderstrom becomes the latest core offensive piece whom the A’s lock up on a long-term deal. They extended Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler on respective $60MM and $65.5MM guarantees last winter. Soderstrom tops those by a decent margin, becoming the largest contract in club history in the process. Their three-year, $67MM free agent deal with Luis Severino had previously been that high-water mark.
[Related: Largest Contract in Franchise History for Each MLB Team]
The lefty-hitting Soderstrom was a first-round pick in 2020. He’d been an excellent offensive player dating back to high school. The biggest question was where he’d fit on the other side of the ball. While Soderstrom was drafted as a catcher, most scouts felt he’d need to move off the position. That has essentially been borne out, as his only 15 MLB starts behind the dish came during his 2023 rookie season. The fallback for poor defensive catchers is generally first base, and that’s indeed where Soderstrom spent the early part of his big league tenure.
Soderstrom struggled over a 45-game sample as a rookie. His .233/.315/.429 slash across 213 plate appearances in 2024 was a significant step forward but hadn’t yet put him alongside Rooker, Butler and Shea Langeliers as clear members of the A’s core. Soderstrom entered this year with a little pressure in the form of 2024 fourth overall pick Nick Kurtz, a college first baseman who was expected to hit his way to the majors very quickly.
While Kurtz would do just that, Soderstrom’s breakout ’25 campaign ensured the A’s couldn’t afford to take him out of the lineup either. The 24-year-old was one of the league’s best hitters in the first few weeks of the season. He connected on nine home runs with a .284/.349/.560 slash before the end of April. Soderstrom was tied for fourth in MLB (behind only Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh and Eugenio Suárez) in homers through the season’s first month. By the time Kurtz forced his way to the majors on April 21, Soderstrom was locked into the middle of Mark Kotsay’s batting order.
That presented the A’s with a positional dilemma. Rooker is an everyday designated hitter. The 6’5″, 240-pound Kurtz wasn’t going to be able to play anywhere other than first base. Despite his catching/first base background, Soderstrom is a solid athlete and average runner. The A’s threw him into left field on the fly even though he’d had no professional experience there. They presumably expected to live with some defensive growing pains to keep his bat in the lineup.
Soderstrom dramatically exceeded those expectations. He graded 10 runs better than an average left fielder by measure of Defensive Runs Saved. Statcast graded his range five plays above average. Soderstrom ended the season as a Gold Glove finalist at a position he’d never played five months earlier. He joins Butler as core outfield pieces, ideally in a corner tandem flanking defensive specialist Denzel Clarke in center.
The increased defensive responsibility didn’t impact Soderstrom’s rhythm at the plate. He scuffled between May and June but rebounded with a .305/.359/.530 showing over the season’s final four months. Soderstrom finished with an overall .276/.346/.474 batting line while ranking fourth on the team with 25 homers. He improved his contact rate by six percentage points and held his own against same-handed pitching (.270/.315/.423) while teeing off on righties (.278/.356/.491). The breakout also wasn’t a product of the A’s playing half their games at the hitter-friendly Sutter Heath Park. Soderstrom had an OPS north of .800 both at home and on the road.
As recently as this past summer, there was speculation about the A’s potentially swapping Soderstrom for a controllable starting pitcher. The extension firmly takes that off the table and ensures he’ll remain alongside Kurtz, Rooker, Butler and Jacob Wilson in an excellent offensive corps. The first three are signed through at least 2029. Kurtz and Wilson are under team control for five seasons. Langeliers has another two seasons of arbitration eligibility.
Soderstrom was already under club control for four seasons. He was a year closer to free agency than Butler was at the time of his extension, which explains why the price was a little more than $20MM higher. Soderstrom tops the $57.5MM guarantee which Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia received in the same service class, but that deal only extended K.C.’s control window by two seasons.
The A’s backloaded the Rooker and Butler extensions, with the highest salaries corresponding to their planned move to Las Vegas in 2028. The salary breakdown on Soderstrom’s deal hasn’t yet been reported. The A’s had a projected payroll around $87MM before today, as calculated by RosterResource. That’s $12MM above where they opened the ’25 season. General manager David Forst told MLB.com’s Martín Gallegos last week that the team was looking to upgrade a rotation that ranked 27th in ERA and 25th in strikeout percentage.
Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images.
Will The Imai Signing Spur An Astros Trade?
The Astros finalized their three-year, $54MM deal with Tatsuya Imai this afternoon. It came as a surprise that the Japanese righty ended up in Houston — not because the Astros didn’t need a starter, but due to what appeared to be a tight budget.
Imai settled for an $18MM average annual value that landed below most projections. Houston got a short-term deal at a reasonable salary by offering opt-out chances after each of the first two seasons. RosterResource projects their Opening Day payroll around $242MM. They’re at an estimated $238MM in luxury tax commitments. The Astros also need to pay a $9.975MM release fee to Imai’s NPB club, the Seibu Lions. That does not count against their luxury tax ledger, though it’s a not insignificant sum for what could amount to one year of Imai’s services if he opts out.
The Astros opened the 2025 season with a $220MM payroll. Their season-ending luxury tax number landed just shy of $246MM, subjecting them to a modest ($1.5MM) bill for exceeding the $241MM base threshold. Next season’s cutoff is $244MM. They’re already projected within $6MM of that number. A team’s luxury tax payroll is not finalized until the end of the year, meaning in-season acquisitions count on a prorated basis towards that sum. So do any unlocked incentives and contracts for players on minor league deals who are selected onto the MLB roster.
Early offseason reporting indicated that Houston owner Jim Crane was reluctant to go beyond the tax line for what would be a third straight season. Chandler Rome of The Athletic wrote this morning that remains the case even with Imai on the books.
Will that be a firm mandate? Crane was loath to pay the CBT in each of the past two offseasons as well. That changed quickly in 2024, when they responded to a season-ending injury to Kendall Graveman by signing Josh Hader — a deal that rocketed them into tax territory. Houston stayed below the CBT line entering the ’25 season. Then came an opportunity to reacquire Carlos Correa at the deadline, again pushing them above. The owner has changed his mind before.
As it stands, it’s difficult to see the Astros staying below the tax line throughout the 2026 season. They’d be very limited in what they can accomplish at the trade deadline. RosterResource’s calculation is unofficial and pending resolution on a number of arbitration cases, so there are decent-sized error bars in the $238MM estimate, but the broader point remains that they’re not far below the CBT line. Some clubs prefer to have more than $10MM in payroll room for in-season additions.
That could lead the front office to clear a few million in an offseason trade. Let’s look at how their payroll is shaping up.
Players on Guaranteed Contracts (10)
- Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Christian Walker, Josh Hader, Tatsuya Imai, Lance McCullers Jr., Cristian Javier, Ryan Weiss, Nate Pearson
Correa, Altuve and Alvarez obviously aren’t getting traded. Hader anchors the bullpen and is headed into the third season of a five-year deal; he’s not going anywhere. Imai, Weiss and Pearson signed free agent contracts this offseason. That only leaves three possibilities from this group.
Javier is headed into the fourth season of a five-year, $64MM extension. His deal comes with a $12.8MM luxury tax hit. Tommy John surgery wiped out most of his last two seasons. He made it back for eight starts at the end of last year. His whiff rate was down compared to pre-surgery levels but the raw stuff didn’t look much different. It’s fair to attribute his inconsistency to some rust off the layoff. A team with a deeper rotation might consider selling low in this situation, but that’s not a luxury the Astros can afford. They’d need to replace him in the middle of the rotation and are unlikely to find anyone better in free agency for less than $13MM annually.
McCullers is making $17MM in the final season of his five-year extension. Injuries cost him all of 2023-24. He pitched to a 6.51 ERA around three more IL stints last year. He might be looking at minor league offers if he were a free agent. No one is taking any of this contact unless the Astros attach a prospect to convince a team to pay down a small percentage. Maybe that’d work for a rebuilding club, but McCullers also locked in full no-trade rights when he crossed the 10-year service threshold last season. There’s probably not much to be done about this one.
Of the players on guaranteed deals, that only leaves Walker. He’s owed $40MM over the next two seasons and counts for $20MM against the tax ledger. His first year in Houston was a disappointment. Despite hitting 27 homers, he had a below-average .238/.297/.421 batting line over 640 plate appearances. Walker’s typically excellent defensive metrics tanked. He picked things up offensively with a near-.800 OPS in the second half, though even that narrative is clouded by a .277 on-base percentage in September.
Altogether, Baseball Reference graded Walker as a replacement level player. FanGraphs credited him with one win. He wouldn’t come close to $40MM for his age 35-36 seasons if he were a free agent. Even getting another team to cover half the contract would be a stretch. (Ryan O’Hearn, who is two years younger, just signed a two-year deal at $14.5MM annually coming off a .281/.366/.437 season that was valued between 2-3 WAR.) The Astros could probably find a taker if they paid Walker down to $7-8MM per season, yet that’d be a lot of dead money to eat a third of the way into the contract. General manager Dana Brown downplayed the chance of moving Walker at the GM Meetings in early November, calling him the team’s “everyday first baseman.”
Arbitration-Eligible Players (12)
- Enyel De Los Santos, Bryan Abreu, Steven Okert, Isaac Paredes, Jesús Sánchez, Jeremy Peña, Jake Meyers, Hunter Brown, Yainer Diaz, Nick Allen, Bennett Sousa, Hayden Wesneski
There’s no chance of a Hunter Brown trade. Dana Brown said at the Winter Meetings that teams weren’t even asking about Peña because they’re aware “there’s no way” they’d move their franchise shortstop (via Rome).
De Los Santos will make $1.6MM after avoiding arbitration. The Astros could have non-tendered him if they just wanted that small amount off the books. Okert, Allen, Sousa and Wesneski are all projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for $2MM salaries or less. Savings compared to the $780K minimum would be negligible. They’re useful role players or, in Wesneski’s case, a potentially valuable long-term piece.
Abreu ($5.9MM projection) and Diaz ($4.5MM projection) are probably too valuable to trade. The former is their best setup man, the latter their starting catcher. While there’d be significant interest in both, they’re not easily replaced by someone making the league minimum. That leaves three players: Paredes, Meyers and Sánchez.
Paredes is projected for a $9.3MM salary and has two years of remaining control. The GM said in November that the team had “no interest” in moving him. Paredes had an excellent start to his Astros tenure, hitting 20 homers with a .254/.352/.458 line over 438 plate appearances. He missed most of the second half with a significant hamstring injury. The Astros responded by acquiring Correa to play third base. Paredes could factor in at second base but is unlikely to be a strong defender there. Walker is penciled in at first for now with Alvarez and Altuve splitting left field and designated hitter.
The Astros dangled Meyers for a controllable starter early in the offseason. It would’ve been a bit of a sell-high situation on the heels of a career-best .292/.354/.373 showing at the plate. He’s less likely to move now that the Astros dealt outfield prospect Jacob Melton to Tampa Bay in the three-team trade to land starter Mike Burrows. Meyers’ $3.5MM projection isn’t onerous, and trading him would place a lot of faith in rookie Zach Cole to step up as an everyday center fielder.
That may leave Sánchez as their top candidate for a pure salary dump move. He’s projected for a $6.5MM salary, and it came as a surprise that Houston tendered him a contract at all. Sánchez was a disappointment after a deadline deal from Miami, batting .199/.269/.342 over 160 plate appearances while making a handful of defensive lapses. They could shop Sánchez and add a cheaper left-handed free agent outfielder (e.g. Mike Tauchman, Michael Conforto) to compete with Cole and Cam Smith for right field playing time.