Rockies Hire Jeff Pickler As Bench Coach
The Rockies announced the hiring of Jeff Pickler as bench coach. Thomas Harding of MLB.com reported the move before the club announcement.
Pickler, who turns 50 in January, worked as game-planning/outfield coach with the Reds from 2019-24. He’d worked under skipper David Bell during that time but was not retained when Cincinnati hired Terry Francona. Before his time in Cincinnati, Pickler spent two seasons on the Minnesota coaching staff. Harding points out that Pickler had also worked in scouting with the Diamondbacks and Padres when Josh Byrnes was general manager of those clubs. Colorado hired Byrnes as GM underneath baseball operations president Paul DePodesta a couple weeks ago.
Before entering the scouting ranks, Pickler played eight minor league seasons as an infielder. That included one season in the Rox system. Pickler finished his playing days with their Triple-A club in 2005.
The Rockies have made a handful of hirings as Warren Schaeffer enters his first full season in the managerial role. Brett Pill (hitting coach), Alon Leichman (pitching coach), Gabe Ribas (assistant pitching coach), and Matt Buschmann (bullpen coach) are also in place. Colorado had used Clint Hurdle as interim bench coach after firing skipper Bud Black in May. It’s unclear whether Hurdle will remain in the organization in 2026.
Bo Bichette Reportedly Open To Playing Second Base
Bo Bichette is telling interested teams that he’s willing to sign as a second baseman, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. That’s not especially surprising but theoretically opens his market.
Bichette’s defensive fit has been the biggest question of his free agency process. He has played 6184 career regular season innings, all of them at shortstop. Public metrics haven’t looked favorably upon his work. Statcast has graded Bichette as an average or worse defender for virtually his entire career. Defensive Runs Saved was more positive over his first few seasons but has had him in the red in three of the past four years. Going back to 2023, he’s fifth from the bottom at the position with -15 Outs Above Average. DRS has him tied for eighth worst with a -11 mark.
It’s more a problem of range than any concern about his hands. He has only committed 11 fielding errors over the last three years, which isn’t many for a player who has logged almost 3000 innings at the infield’s most demanding position. He’s tied for ninth with 16 throwing errors in that stretch. He ranks middle of the pack in arm strength and is a below-average runner who doesn’t have great mobility. Statcast has graded him particularly poorly on batted balls by right-handed hitters, which a move to the opposite side of the diamond could mitigate.
Bichette could probably play an average or better second base. He made 30 appearances there in the minor leagues and more famously played there five times during this year’s World Series. Those were his first games back after a six-week absence due to a sprained ligament in his left knee. Bichette was clearly hampered physically and would have been a designated hitter if the Blue Jays didn’t have George Springer. Toronto needed to find somewhere to play Bichette to get his bat back in the lineup, but they kept Andrés Giménez at shortstop.
[Related: The Best Fits For Bichette]
Giménez is a superior defender even if Bichette is fully healthy. Very few middle infielders can match Bichette on the other side of the ball. He’s a career .294/.337/.469 hitter who has been a well above-average offensive player in every season besides 2024. He had a remarkable performance in the World Series, collecting eight hits (including a monster Game 7 home run off Shohei Ohtani) despite the knee pain.
There aren’t many teams actively seeking shortstop upgrades. The Padres, Rays, Guardians, Brewers, Marlins and Pirates could all improve the position. None of them are going to meet a potential $200MM+ asking price. Toronto would be better suited with Giménez at shortstop and Bichette at second base, though GM Ross Atkins suggested early in the offseason that they’d be willing to keep their old infield arrangement if Bichette wanted to stick at shortstop. Aside from the Jays, the Yankees and Tigers might’ve been the only teams that could plausibly offer Bichette a huge contract to play short.
Fielding interest as a second baseman could bring in teams like the Giants, Angels, Red Sox and Dodgers. It’s sensible to hear teams out even if only to expand the market. Last offseason’s top free agent shortstop, Willy Adames, expressed a similar willingness to move to second or third base. He wound up staying at his usual position with the Giants but commanded a seven-year contract despite San Francisco being the only high-spending club in need of a shortstop.
Twins, Dan Altavilla Agree To Minor League Contract
The Twins reached a minor league deal with reliever Dan Altavilla, reports Franycs Romero. The MAS+ Agency client will presumably receive a non-roster invite to MLB Spring Training.
Altavilla spent the 2025 campaign with the White Sox. He was released in September despite tossing 29 innings of 2.49 ERA ball on the season. Altavilla’s 17.5% strikeout rate and 12.5% walk percentage were each far worse than the respective league averages. He only missed bats on 9.6% of his offerings. The Sox didn’t intend to offer him a contract for his final season of arbitration, so they dropped him from the roster a few weeks before the end of the year.
The 33-year-old Altavilla has appeared in parts of eight big leagues seasons between four teams. He’d only made seven combined appearances between 2021-24 before this year’s return run in Chicago. His 28 appearances were the second most of his career, trailing only the 41 games in which he pitched for the 2017 Mariners. Altavilla has a four-pitch mix led by a 96-97 MPH fastball. He didn’t miss many bats but got ground-balls at a strong 51.3% clip this past season.
Minnesota is a good landing spot for a depth reliever. The Twins dealt away most of their established bullpen arms at the deadline. Their only MLB acquisition thus far has been righty Eric Orze, whom they picked up from the Rays in a small trade as Tampa Bay created roster space to keep prospects out of the Rule 5 draft. The Twins should add a couple low-cost free agent relievers.
Justin Topa, Cole Sands and Kody Funderburk are probably the only pitchers locked into Opening Day bullpen roles. Topa is the only reliever on the 40-man roster who cannot be optioned. Altavilla would fit into that bucket as well by virtue of having five-plus years of service. If the Twins add him to the roster at any point, they wouldn’t be able to send him to Triple-A without his consent.
Giants Designate Joey Wiemer For Assignment
The Giants are designating outfielder Joey Wiemer for assignment, the team informed reporters (including Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). San Francisco needed to open a 40-man roster spot after signing reliever Jason Foley yesterday. They’ll need to open another spot once they finalize their two-year agreement with starter Adrian Houser.
San Francisco picked up Wiemer in a DFA trade with Miami last month. The 26-year-old always seemed a long shot to stick on the 40-man roster throughout the winter. Wiemer has bounced around over the past year-plus. He’s been traded from Milwaukee to Cincinnati to Kansas City, then landed with Miami on an August waiver claim. He’ll hope to land with a sixth organization within the next week.
Listed at 6’4″ and 226 pounds, the righty-swinging Wiemer has plus raw power. He’s also a plus runner who grades as a quality defender at all three outfield positions. The physical gifts are obvious, but his long levers have led to a lot of swing and miss. Wiemer has punched out at a near-30% clip across 499 career plate appearances, leading to a .205/.279/.359 batting line despite 16 homers and 12 stolen bases.
The Giants have five days to trade Wiemer or place him back on waivers. He has yet to clear waivers, so they’d be able to keep him in the organization as a non-roster player if they manage to sneak him through unclaimed.
The Best Fits For Munetaka Murakami
Munetaka Murakami will make his decision within the next five days. Japan's premier slugger is expected to sign with an MLB team after being posted by the Yakult Swallows. The 45-day process began on November 8, meaning Murakami has until December 22 to put pen to paper.
Murakami's camp has played things very close to the vest. While they've undoubtedly spent the past month speaking with teams, there hasn't been any reporting about which clubs are involved. It's inherently more difficult from the outside to project the market for players without any major league track record. A lot depends on individual teams' scouting evaluations.
That's particularly true in Murakami's case. Scouts are unanimous in praising his monster power potential. The lefty hitter drilled 56 home runs in his age-22 season a few years back. That's an outlier but he has another four seasons with between 31 and 39 longballs. That doesn't include this year, in which oblique injuries limited him to 69 games. Murakami connected on 24 homers while hitting .286/.392/.659 across 263 plate appearances -- which would have put him on a 55-60 homer pace over a full season. His exit velocities are off the charts. There's a chance he's in the Kyle Schwarber or Shohei Ohtani tier in terms of left-handed raw power.
As is often the case, the bigger question is whether he'll make enough contact to be an impact bat in MLB. Murakami has fanned a near-26% rate in his NPB career. That was up to 28.6% this year and closer to 30% in his last full season in 2024. Hitters can thrive while striking out that often -- Schwarber has gone down on strikes at a 28.8% rate over the last four years -- but Murakami's strikeout rate seems likely to climb against big league competition.
The average pitcher quality and velocity is higher in MLB than it is at the NPB level. Should Murakami be expected to strike out more than 30% of the time in the majors? Do teams expect him to punch out more than a third of the time? Scouts could have differing evaluations on Murakami's pure hitting ability.
There's little doubt that the bat needs to drive the profile. Listed at 6'2" and 213 pounds, Murakami isn't viewed as an especially rangy third baseman. He's likely to end up at first base before the end of his contract. Some teams might project him to the position on day one. Others could feel he'd be a passable third baseman in the short term, but his defense isn't likely to improve with age.
Murakami turns 26 in February. He's younger than essentially any top-tier domestic free agent, who'd need to play six full seasons in the big leagues before they can hit the market. This is a chance to add a potential prime-age superstar, but there's also massive downside given the swing-and-miss and defensive questions. It's likely that whatever deal he signs will come with one or more opt-out chances that allow Murakami to get back to free agency a few years from now if he has proven he can hit MLB pitching.
MLBTR predicted an eight-year, $180MM deal in ranking him the offseason's #4 free agent. That's admittedly without a huge amount of confidence given the challenges of projecting this profile. Let's take a look at which teams are best positioned to make this move.
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Steven Matz To Compete For Rotation Spot With Rays
The Rays finalized their two-year, $15MM deal with Steven Matz on Tuesday afternoon. The veteran lefty came out of the bullpen for all but two of his 53 appearances this past season, but he’ll have a chance to win a rotation spot out of Spring Training.
“There’s a real desire on his end to want to start and give that a real shot again, despite his success last year out of the bullpen, and we just believe that he has the the ability to do it,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander told Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. “So we’re going to give him the opportunity to prepare as a starter, to come in and try to lock down a day.”
Matz signed as a starter with St. Louis over the 2021-22 offseason. He battled injuries in each of the first three seasons of that four-year contract. He suffered a shoulder impingement and a knee sprain in ’22. A lat strain shelved him the following season, while it was his back that proved problematic in 2024. The stop-and-start seasons and inconsistent production quickly pushed him into a swing role. Matz wound up making just 35 starts — compared to 48 relief outings — over three and a half seasons with the Cardinals. He pitched to a 4.68 ERA despite solid strikeout (22.6%) and walk (6.4%) rates out of the rotation. The Red Sox used him in short relief after picking him up at last summer’s trade deadline.
The 34-year-old Matz held up as a starter earlier in his career. He topped 150 innings each full season between 2018-21. He allowed around four earned runs per nine in each year, generally performing at a league average level. Matz still has plus command and hasn’t much changed his repertoire even when pitching in shorter stints. He leans most heavily on a 94 MPH sinker while mixing in a curveball and a changeup, the latter pitch almost exclusively against right-handed batters. Righties have posted a .276/.322/.446 line over the past four seasons, while he has held same-handed opponents to a .225/.280/.339 mark.
At the moment, Matz projects as the fifth starter behind Drew Rasmussen, Ryan Pepiot, Shane McClanahan and Shane Baz. Virtually none of that is set in stone. Rasmussen is a top-of-the-rotation caliber starter but has a lengthy injury history. McClanahan hasn’t thrown a major league pitch in two seasons. Pepiot and Baz have come up in trade rumors. The former has only been mentioned in the context of a potential Ketel Marte blockbuster, but the Rays could be more open to a change-of-scenery deal on Baz given his inconsistency. It’s possible the Rays acquire another starter via trade or free agency. Second-year lefty Ian Seymour would be Matz’s top competition for a rotation spot if they don’t make any further moves.
A’s Made Four-Year Offer To Ha-Seong Kim
Ha-Seong Kim is back in Atlanta after signing a $20MM deal to remain the club’s starting shortstop. He took a one-year contract that’ll allow him to get back to free agency after what he hopes to be a healthy season. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported last night that Kim had declined multi-year offers.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes that the A’s proposed a four-year, $48MM deal. It’s unclear if that would have included any opt-out opportunities, though it seems safe to assume they wouldn’t have risked a four-year commitment that allowed him to opt out after just one season. The A’s have a franchise shortstop in Jacob Wilson but are looking for second and/or third base help.
Kim bet on himself with a straight one-year deal at a higher rate. Gleyber Torres accepted a qualifying offer, while Jorge Polanco commanded $20MM annually on a two-year contract from the Mets. The A’s certainly aren’t going to sign Bo Bichette or Alex Bregman to contracts north of $150MM. Rosenthal writes that NPB stars Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto are also expected to be out of their price range. Eugenio Suárez might be a long shot, as he command a similar annual salary to Kim and Polanco over two or three years.
There’s a significant drop from there in free agency. Willi Castro, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Yoán Moncada, Luis Rengifo and KBO hitter Sung-mun Song are all one-year deal candidates. Song and Castro are probably the best bets to command a multi-year contract. The former at least comes with some intrigue as an upside play after consecutive strong seasons in Korea, but scouting reports raise questions about his pure hitting ability. The market for Song has been quiet publicly, but he’ll need to sign by Sunday or stay with the KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes for the ’26 season.
The second base trade market has gotten more attention. Ketel Marte and Brendan Donovan are the prizes, but the A’s aren’t great fits in either case. Marte’s six-year, $102.5MM contract is well below market value but would easily be the largest deal in A’s history. Donovan is affordable for any team, but the Cardinals are prioritizing controllable starting pitching. The A’s have a few talented arms (e.g. Luis Morales, Jacob Lopez, Braden Nett) who might appeal to St. Louis, but a lack of rotation depth is already the roster’s biggest flaw.
The Rays are open to offers on Brandon Lowe, who’ll make $11.5MM in the final year of his contract. Rosenthal writes that Tampa Bay isn’t interested in accepting a lowball offer merely to shed the salary. President of baseball operations Erik Neander said at the Winter Meetings that the Rays would be happy carrying Lowe and Yandy Díaz into the season. The Mets are shopping Jeff McNeil, but they’d probably need to eat a portion of the $17.75MM remaining on his deal. Impending free agents Nico Hoerner and Jazz Chisholm Jr. have come up loosely in trade rumors yet seem unlikely to move.
Speculatively speaking, Jake Cronenworth could be a potential fit. The Padres owe him $12MM annually through 2030. That’s a year longer than the A’s were willing to go on Kim but matches the average annual value they offered over four. A willingness to spend $12MM per season on Kim doesn’t necessarily mean they’d do the same for Cronenworth, who is a superior hitter but not as good a defender. Still, the Padres have looked for ways to clear payroll space to free money for their own rotation needs, so it’d make sense for the teams to explore trade scenarios.
Marlins Re-Sign Brian Navarreto To Minor League Deal
The Marlins brought back catcher Brian Navarreto on a minor league contract, reports Kevin Barral of Fish On First. He had elected minor league free agency after being outrighted off the 40-man roster at the beginning of the offseason.
Navarreto, 31 later this month, is an organizational depth type. He made a two-game big league debut in the shortened season when the Marlins were dealing with a virus outbreak. He got back to the highest level five years later, this time as a September call-up. The Puerto Rico native picked up four hits, including a home run, in eight games while spending the final month of the season on the active roster.
A right-handed hitter, Navarreto owns a .234/.301/.369 batting line over parts of five Triple-A seasons. He has appeared in the Minnesota, Yankees, and Milwaukee systems in addition to his time with Miami. He’s very likely headed back to Triple-A Jacksonville. Navarreto can work behind prospect Joe Mack at the top minor league level.
Mack figures to earn a call-up relatively early next year, which might open some playing time for Navarreto in Triple-A. He’s also an option to compete for the backup job if either Liam Hicks or Agustin Ramirez suffers an injury in Spring Training, assuming the Fish want to keep Mack in the minors to open the year.
Angels Sign Drew Pomeranz
The Angels announced the signing of lefty reliever Drew Pomeranz to a one-year deal. It’s reportedly a $4MM guarantee for the CAA client. The Angels had five openings on the 40-man roster and are now up to 37 between this and their signing of right-hander Jordan Romano.
Pomeranz earned a big league deal after a comeback season with the Cubs. The 37-year-old southpaw had not appeared in an MLB game between 2022-24, as a brief stint on the Giants MLB roster in ’24 didn’t result in any game action. He began this past season on a minor league contract with the Mariners. Pomeranz posted big strikeout numbers against Triple-A opposition to convince the Cubs to add him to the MLB bullpen. He exercised an upward mobility clause in his contract to head to Chicago in mid-April.
It worked out quite nicely. Pomeranz tossed 49 2/3 innings of 2.17 ERA ball across 57 appearances. That included a remarkable stretch to begin the season, as he didn’t allow a single earned run in his first 26 outings. He hit a rough patch in July but rebounded with a 2.21 mark in 20 1/3 innings from the beginning of August through season’s end. Pomeranz fanned 28.1% of opposing hitters against a 7.4% walk percentage. While the Cubs didn’t use him in a ton of high-leverage situations, he recorded 14 holds while giving up the lead just twice.
Pomeranz leaned very heavily on his four-seam fastball. He threw the pitch three quarters of the time to right-handers and at an 84% clip against southpaws. It’s not going to blow hitters away on speed alone. His 92.7 MPH average velocity is middling. Pomeranz ranked near the top of the league in fastball spin, which allowed the pitch to play above its velocity at the top of the strike zone. That could put him in danger of home run issues, but it also led to a lot of harmless fly balls and a decent swinging strike rate. His only secondary pitch is an 83-84 MPH knuckle-curve that played more as a ground-ball offering.
The Angels need to do a lot of heavy lifting in the bullpen. Closer Kenley Jansen is headed to Detroit on an $11MM deal. They’re moving Reid Detmers back to the rotation, taking their top setup man out of the mix. Pomeranz pairs with Brock Burke to give rookie manager Kurt Suzuki a couple solid options from the left side. Burke has had neutral platoon numbers over the course of his career. Pomeranz doesn’t need to be in a specialist role but is probably the superior option against teams’ best left-handed bats. He held southpaws to a .176/.238/.203 line with a massive 35% strikeout rate in 80 plate appearances this year.
Their right-handed options are weaker even if they finally get a healthy season out of Robert Stephenson. They should continue to look for leverage arms from the right side. Their agreement with Pomeranz and $2MM rebound flier on Romano push their projected payroll to $172MM, according to RosterResource. They carried a $193MM payroll to begin the 2025 season. There’s a decent amount of space but a lot of work to be done. The Angels need another starter, at least one multi-positional infielder, and a center fielder. That’s on top of whatever moves are yet to come in the bullpen.
Pomeranz is the third free agent lefty reliever to come off the board today. Now former teammate Caleb Thielbar is headed back to the Cubs, while Caleb Ferguson agreed to terms with the Reds. Sean Newcomb, Danny Coulombe, Justin Wilson and Taylor Rogers are among those who remain unsigned.
Ari Alexander of Boston 7 News first reported that Pomeranz and the Angels had a one-year deal. Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register was first on the $4MM guarantee. Image courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images.
Angels Sign Jordan Romano
The Angels announced the signing of veteran reliever Jordan Romano to a one-year contract. It’s reportedly a $2MM guarantee for the VC Sports Group client. The Angels had five openings on the 40-man roster and are now up to 37 between this and their signing of left-hander Drew Pomeranz.
It’s a reclamation flier on a former All-Star closer. The Canadian-born Romano recorded consecutive 36-save seasons for the Blue Jays in 2022 and ’23. He went to the Midsummer Classic in both years and had a sub-3.00 earned run average each season between 2021-23. Things have gone completely off the rails over the past two seasons. Romano allowed a 6.59 ERA in 15 appearances before undergoing arthroscopic elbow surgery in 2024. The Jays non-tendered him heading into his final year of arbitration.
That worked out well for him from a financial perspective. Romano had been projected for a $7.75MM arbitration salary but found an $8.5MM guarantee from the Phillies in free agency. Philadelphia was not able to get him back on track, as he surrendered an even uglier 8.23 ERA across 42 2/3 frames. He was one of three pitchers to get to 40+ innings while allowing at least eight earned runs per nine innings. Romano’s season ended in August when he was diagnosed with a middle finger injury on his throwing hand as well as stiffness in his neck.
It’s surprising to see Romano command a major league contract at all, though the $2MM salary won’t make a huge dent on the Angels’ books. Romano still has a 95-96 MPH fastball and a promising mid-80s slider. He struck out a quarter of opponents behind a solid 11.8% swinging strike rate for the Phillies. There’s still some promise in his raw stuff, but he’ll need to avoid the injuries and home run barrages that have tanked his past couple seasons.
Tonight’s signings push the Angels’ projected payroll to $172MM, according to RosterResource. They carried a $193MM payroll to begin the 2025 season. Romano should start the year in low-leverage relief, leaving the club in need of a true right-handed setup man. They’re hoping for a healthy season from Robert Stephenson, who is the favorite to replace Kenley Jansen as closer. Ben Joyce is a question mark after undergoing shoulder surgery in May. Ryan Zeferjahn, José Fermin, Chase Silseth, Sam Bachman and Cody Laweryson are among their other right-handed options. It’s a clear area of need — alongside starting pitching, an infielder, and center field — for the remainder of the offseason.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan was first on the signing and terms. Image courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images.