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Mariners Outright Hagen Danner

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The Mariners announced that right-hander Hagen Danner cleared waivers and will be outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma. The righty had been designated for assignment last week when the club added Luis F. Castillo to the roster. Seattle also placed Victor Robles on the 10-day injured list with a dislocated left shoulder and recalled Dominic Canzone — moves that were reported yesterday.

Players have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency if they have either a previous career outright or at least three years of major league service time. Neither applies to Danner, so he’ll stick with the Mariners as depth but without taking up a roster spot.

The M’s are likely glad about that. They were intrigued enough by Danner to grab him off waivers from the Blue Jays in January. His track record isn’t long, for a few reasons. He was drafted as a catcher and tried his hand at that spot for a few years before moving to the mound. Since taking the hill, he has posted some decent rate numbers but has also been held back by some injuries.

In the majors, he has just one third of an inning to his name. In the minors, he has tossed 116 2/3 innings from 2021 to the present. Thanks to various injuries, he hasn’t hit the 40-inning mark in any individual season. But he has a 2.93 earned run average, 28.3% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate.

Over the course of a long season, the Mariners will surely need fresh arms from time to time, as all clubs do. If Danner gets back to the majors, he still has one option year and just 52 days of service time.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Athletics Select Jason Alexander

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The Athletics announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Jason Alexander. In corresponding moves, righty Joey Estes was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas while left-hander Brady Basso was placed on the 60-day injured list.

Alexander, 32, is known for inspiring many George Costanza GIFs to be shared on social media but is also a baseball player. His major league track record is fairly limited. In 2022, he tossed 71 2/3 innings with the Brewers over 11 starts and seven relief appearances. He allowed 5.40 earned runs per nine, struck out 14.3% of batters faced, issued walks to 8.7% of opponents and got grounders on 50.2% of balls in play.

He hasn’t been in the big leagues since then. A shoulder injury hampered him throughout the first half of 2023. He started a rehab assignment in June but then the Brewers outrighted him off their roster in July. He had a 6.14 ERA in the minors that year and then elected free agency ahead of 2024. He signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox and logged 138 1/3 innings for their Triple-A club with a 4.42 ERA.

He also signed a minor league deal with the A’s ahead of this season. He tossed 9 2/3 innings over five spring appearances, allowing six earned runs. He then reported to Vegas and made one start, tossing 3 1/3 innings with one earned run allowed.

The A’s were in Denver over the weekend, which is always challenging for a pitching staff. Friday’s game went 11 innings with the A’s using five relievers. On Saturday, they used only three, but they all had pitched in Friday’s contest as well. Yesterday, Estes lasted only three innings, which led to Mitch Spence tossing 4 1/3 innings in relief. Overall, the relief group is fairly taxed and Spence is probably going to be unavailable for a few days, so Alexander is up to give them another arm capable of eating multiple innings.

Estes, meanwhile, will look for a reset in Vegas. He posted a 5.01 ERA last year and earned a rotation job out of camp this year. However, his first two starts have led to 12 earned runs allowed in seven innings, so he’s currently sitting on a bloated 15.43 ERA. His optional assignment opens a rotation hole but they may not need to fill it right away. The A’s have an off-day on Thursday and then another on Monday. They then play six in a row before another off-day on the 21st.

After that, they will play 16 straight games, but they can perhaps skate by with a four-man staff for now. It’s also possible that Spence could be given the gig, since he was kept in the majors while Estes was sent down.

As for Basso, he was shut down in early March due to a shoulder strain and started the season on the 15-day IL. His status is unclear but it seems the A’s don’t expect him back before late May, based on this transfer.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Pirates Promote Tsung-Che Cheng

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3:45pm: The Pirates have now made these moves official. Triolo’s injury was described as a lumbar spine strain.

1:25pm: The Pirates are going to promote infielder Tsung-Che Cheng to the majors, reports Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. He is already on the 40-man roster but will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. Fellow infielder Jared Triolo will head to the 10-day injured list due to a lower back injury.

Cheng, 23, was an international signing out of Taiwan in 2019. His profile has a solid foundation from his speed and defense. Offensively, his approach has been leaned more to the contact-oriented side without too much power. Baseball America currently ranks him as the #19 prospect in the Pirates’ system.

He has appeared in 402 minor league games across various levels thus far in his career, with 1,684 trips to the plate. His 12.5% walk rate and 19.8% strikeout rate are both better than average, with 34 home runs in that time. Overall, he has hit .260/.359/.411 for a 117 wRC+. He has racked up double-digits steals in each year of his career. Lately, Cheng hit .353/.400/.647 in spring training but then .071/.133/.071 in five games for Triple-A Indianapolis.

Defensively, Cheng has primarily played shortstop but has also taken notable playing time at second base and occasional stints at third. He seems likely to take over Triolo’s utility role. The Bucs have had Isiah Kiner-Falefa at short, Ke’Bryan Hayes at third and Adam Frazier at second on most days but with players like Triolo, Enmanuel Valdéz and Endy Rodríguez also factoring into the infield mix. Triolo was a late scratch from yesterday’s contest due to back soreness and will now get a chance to heal up while Cheng helps fill in the gap.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Red Sox Select Robert Stock

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The Red Sox announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Robert Stock. Fellow righty Cooper Criswell was optioned to Triple-A Worcester to open an active roster spot. The Sox had a 40-man vacancy after trading Quinn Priester to the Brewers earlier today.

If Stock gets into a game, it will be his first big league appearance in years. He pitched in the bigs from 2018 to 2021 but has been away from the show since then. During that previous stretch in the majors, he pitched for the Padres, Red Sox, Cubs and Mets. He tossed 72 2/3 innings, allowing 4.71 earned runs per nine. He struck out 23.1% of batters faced, gave out walks to 12.2% of opponents and got grounders on 49.8% of balls in play.

He has continued playing baseball since then, travelling the globe in the process. In 2022, he made 29 starts for the Doosan Bears in the KBO League in Korea, posting a 3.60 ERA. He was back in North America in 2023, having signed a minor league deal with the Brewers. But he got lit up in 23 innings, posting an 8.22 ERA, before getting released and landing in Indy Ball.

He pitched for Tecos de los Dos Laredos of the Mexican League last year, putting up a 3.38 ERA in 98 2/3 innings over 19 starts. He hung around in Mexico for winter ball, playing for Naranjeros de Hermosillo. He tossed 84 1/3 innings in 14 starts for that club with a 1.60 ERA, prompting the Red Sox to sign him to a minor league deal in January. He logged three spring innings for the Sox, allowing four earned runs. He then reported to Triple-A Worcester, tossing 8 1/3 scoreless innings over one start and one long relief appearance.

For the Sox, Saturday’s game against the Cardinals was postponed by the weather, forcing a Sunday doubleheader. The Sox won both games yesterday but one of them went to ten innings. They used nine pitchers on the day overall. Criswell threw the final three innings of the nightcap and likely wouldn’t have been available for the next few days.

With the group fairly taxed, Stock has been added to give the bullpen an extra guy capable of throwing multiple innings. If another fresh arm is needed in the coming days, Stock is out of options. That means he would have to be bumped off the 40-man in order to be removed from the active roster.

Photo courtesy of Rick Cinclair, Imagn Images.

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast

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On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.

The 2025 season is now in swing, which means it’s time to wildly overreact to small sample sizes. If you have a question about the season, a look ahead to the deadline or anything else baseball-related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.

Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Brewers Acquire Quinn Priester

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The Brewers and Red Sox have announced a trade sending right-hander Quinn Priester from Boston to Milwaukee. In return, the Sox receive prospect Yophery Rodriguez, a Competitive Balance Round A draft pick in this year’s draft and a player to be named later or cash considerations. Hunter Noll of Beyond the Monster and BoSox Injection reported the deal prior to the official announcement. Left-hander Grant Wolfram has been designated for assignment by the Brewers to open a 40-man spot, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Priester, 24, is a former first-round pick and notable prospect. The Pirates took him 18th overall in 2019. As he climbed the minor league ladder, he was considered one of the top young players in the league. Baseball America ranked him the #58 prospect in baseball in 2022 and #88 in 2023. He was flipped to Boston at last summer’s deadline, a straight one-for-one swap which sent Nick Yorke the other way.

Despite his pedigree, he hasn’t broken through at the major league level yet. Between the Pirates and Red Sox, he has 99 2/3 innings pitched in the big leagues with a 6.23 earned run average. His 15.2% strikeout rate is well below par and his 9% walk rate is close to average, though his 55.2% ground ball rate is quite strong.

The minor league work has been stronger. He has thrown 184 Triple-A innings since the start of 2023 to the present. His 4.16 ERA isn’t especially impressive but he underlying numbers are better. He has a 25.8% strikeout rate in that sample and an 8.5% walk rate. He’s kept more than half of balls in play on the ground. His .318 batting average on balls in play and 66.9% strand rate are both on the unfortunate side, which is why his 3.44 FIP looks far more palatable than his ERA.

The Brewers have a strong reputation for working with pitchers, having helped many to reach their full potentials. Given Priester’s background and intriguing minor league numbers, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him take notable steps forward in Milwaukee. He has less than a year of service time, so there will be long-term benefits if they can help him out.

On the other hand, it also seems like a hefty price to pay and a reflection of the current pitching predicament in Milwaukee. They currently have seven starting pitchers on the injured list, some of them unlikely to return in the short term. Brandon Woodruff missed the entire 2024 surgery recovering from shoulder surgery and is still working his way back. Robert Gasser had Tommy John surgery in June and won’t be available in the first half. DL Hall has a strained lat and is also on the 60-day injured list alongside Gasser, meaning he’s not close to a return. Tobias Myers and Aaron Ashby are both on the shelf with oblique strains. Aaron Civale has a hamstring strain. Nestor Cortes landed on the IL yesterday with a flexor strain.

That all leaves Freddy Peralta as the only healthy member of the club’s projected rotation. To patch together a staff around him, the club has had to reach deep into its alternatives. Tyler Alexander was to start the season in a swing role but has moved way up the chart. Elvin Rodríguez was pitching in Japan last year, mostly in relief. He signed with the Brewers in the winter but has options and was slated to start the season in the minors before the injuries. Chad Patrick just got added to the 40-man in November and was also projected for the Triple-A rotation until the bodies kept dropping.

As the injuries were piling up in the spring, the Brewers signed Jose Quintana, though he hasn’t been able to help them yet. Due to his late start, he agreed to be optioned in order to effectively do a delayed spring training and is still getting built up. Priester could jump right into the big league rotation this week, as his last outing was throwing four Triple-A innings on April 7th. He has one option year left, so he could be sent to the minors if other pitchers get healthy in the coming months and he gets pushed down the pecking order.

Getting immediate rotation help on the trade block is usually difficult at this time of year. Most clubs still think they have a shot at competing, especially in the age of expanded playoffs, and likely want to keep a robust stable of arms on hand. The high rate of pitching injuries in the modern game only enhances the need, as teams know they will need far more than five starters to get through a season.

But the Red Sox seemingly need Priester far less than they did when they acquired him. In the offseason, they made a few notable additions to the rotation mix. They acquired Garrett Crochet from the White Sox and signed Walker Buehler. They also signed Patrick Sandoval, though he’s recovering from UCL surgery and is still a few months away from joining their rotation.

The Sox had to start 2025 with Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito and Kutter Crawford on the injured list, but that wasn’t enough to get Priester to the big leagues. They started the season with Crochet, Buehler, Tanner Houck, Richard Fitts and Sean Newcomb in the rotation. Cooper Criswell and Hunter Dobbins are also on the 40-man roster and capable of working in long relief roles or in the Triple-A rotation.

Both Bello and Giolito are on rehab assignments and should be with the big league club in the next week or two. They should slot in next two Crochet, Buehler and Houck. Dobbins is already back in Triple-A after serving as the 27th man in yesterday’s double-header. If the Sox want to keep Newcomb, they could move him to the bullpen while optioning Fitts and Criswell. As mentioned, Sandoval could be in the mix later in the year.

That’s a fairly healthy amount of rotation depth even without Priester in it, which seemingly allowed the Sox to feel comfortable moving on, even with the risk that further injuries throughout the season could cut into that depth.

As mentioned, most clubs aren’t very willing to part with notable starting depth this early in the season, so the Brewers have paid up to get some from Boston. The draft pick the Sox receive will be the 33rd overall selection this summer. That comes with a slot value of around $2.77MM, per Carlos Collazo of Baseball America. That’s a pretty nice chance to add some young talent to the system in a few months.

They are also adding young talent to the system today, getting Rodriguez and perhaps another player later. As for Rodriguez, he was a noteworthy international signing out of the Dominic Republic, with the Brewers giving him a $1.5MM signing bonus. He has played 165 professional games thus far between the Dominican Summer League, Single-A and High-A. He has a combined batting line of .254/.361/.408 in that time.

Baseball America ranked him Milwaukee’s #14 prospect coming into the year. They note that he’s likely to be moved off center field into a corner over time, which will put more pressure on his bat to carry the profile.

Still, from the Sox perspective, it looks like a nice bit of business. Priester didn’t appear to be in their short-term plans. He was on pace to be out of options next year and may have been on track to getting squeezed off the roster. By pulling the trigger today, they have subtracted a depth piece but added some notable future talent.

For the Brewers, despite all their injuries, they’re hanging in the race with a 5-5 record. Priester can hopefully help them stay afloat and has some future ceiling, given his past pedigree. If he clicks, he can be a long-term solution for them as well. Cortes, Civale, Woodruff, Alexander and Quintana are slated for free agency after this year. Peralta has a club option for 2026 but will be a free agent after that.

Wolfram, 28, was a somewhat surprising signing in the winter. He had previously spent his career in the minors with the Rangers, but reached free agency after 2024. The Brewers gave him a 40-man spot in December, though he’s still looking for his major league debut. He was called up yesterday when Cortes landed on the IL but optioned back down after the game.

The Brewers will now have a week of DFA limbo to figure out what’s next for him. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade interest would need to be gauged in the next five days. Perhaps some club could be interested based on his minor league work, which is presumably what caught the eye of the Brewers. In the years since the minors were cancelled in 2020, Wolfram has thrown 249 minor league innings with a 3.94 ERA. He has a high 12.2% walk rate in that time but has also punched out 29.6% of opponents.

Photos courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, John E. Sokolowski and William Glasheen, Imagn Images

Twins Select Scott Blewett, Designate Darren McCaughan For Assignment

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The Twins announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Scott Blewett. To make room for him on both the active and 40-man rosters, fellow righty Darren McCaughan has been designated for assignment.

McCaughan, 29, is a swingman who was selected to the Minnesota roster a week ago. On March 30, starter Bailey Ober only lasted 2 2/3 innings as he pitched through an illness, which led to Randy Dobnak covering 5 1/3 frames in relief. After that yeoman’s work, Dobnak was going to be unavailable for a few days, so the Twins swapped in McCaughan and designated Dobnak for assignment.

This move also seems to be motivated by notable innings going to the bullpen. In this case, it wasn’t just one guy. The Twins lost a heartbreaker yesterday, falling 9-7 to the Astros in ten innings, a game in which they were leading from the bottom of the first to the top of the ninth. Starter Chris Paddack had only gone four innings, so the club used seven relievers the rest of the way, including McCaughan. They also used five relievers on Saturday, leaving the overall group fairly taxed.

That has all led to McCaughan getting bumped off the 40-man. He performed well in his brief stint on the roster, tossing 5 1/3 innings over three appearances. He allowed one earned run while striking out six batters and issuing just one walk.

That’s obviously a small sample and the overall body of work is less impressive. He has a 6.02 ERA in 61 1/3 innings in his big league career. He is out of options, so his grip on a roster spot was likely tenuous even before the Minnesota pitching staff was ground into dust over the weekend. The Twins will now have to trade him or put him on waivers in the coming days. He has a previous career outright, so he will have the right to elect free agency if he is passed through waivers unclaimed.

The Twins don’t have another off-day until the 17th, so keeping the bullpen healthy enough to survive is going to be a challenge. For now, they’ve added one fresh arm in Blewett. A few days from his 29th birthday, Blewett has 28 1/3 innings of major league experience, most of that coming with the Twins last year. His 2.22 ERA looks quite nice in that small sample but his 21.3% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk rate are both subpar numbers. He’s been helped by an 86.4% strand rate, a very fortunate number, which is likely why his 3.84 FIP and 4.43 SIERA are far higher.

He was outrighted off the Twins’ roster at the end of last year and elected free agency but re-signed on a minor league deal. He had a 2.79 ERA in Spring Training but was sent to Triple-A to start the year. He allowed three earned runs in 2 1/3 innings for the Saints to open the campaign.

Blewett has mostly been working in relief this year but has done plenty of starting and long relief work in his minor league career. Given that he’s out of options and the Twins don’t have another off-day for more than a week, it’s possible they will lean on him for a few innings in what could be a short stay on the roster.

Photo courtesy of Chris Tilley, Imagn Images

Blue Jays To Extend Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

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11:14pm: Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reports that the two sides have reached an agreement on a $500MM deal over 14 years, pending a physical. That’s an average annual value of $35.7MM. Davidi reports that there’s no deferred money in the deal, making it the second-largest deal in MLB history by net present value behind that of Soto. Heyman reports that the deal contains a full no-trade clause and comes with a signing bonus, while Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportset reports that the deal does not include an opt-outs.

8:49pm: The Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. have been playing “will they, won’t they” for a long time, but it appears the stare down between the sides may be coming to a close. Mike Rodriguez reported on Friday that the two sides are nearing an agreement on an extension worth more than $500MM, and while no deal appears to be in place yet USA Today’s Bob Nightengale confirmed this morning that the sides are discussing a deal worth $500MM that would keep Guerrero in Toronto for at least fourteen years while suggesting that “perhaps” the deal would get done as soon as this coming week.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post joined the fray this evening, noting that sources around his team have “suggested” the the Jays are working to finish up a 14-year deal in the $500MM range while adding that a deal could be consummated “soon.” Heyman went on to refer to the deal as “seemingly all-but-done” and added that “optimism is huge” that a deal will get done, though he emphasized that both GM Ross Atkins and Guerrero himself declined to comment. Guerrero’s most recent comment on the matter was given to ESPN’s Jorge Castillo, who he told that he did “not know anything” about the state of extension talks before emphasizing that he has always “left that to [his] agent” at the Prime Agency.

Of course, Guerrero rather famously set a deadline of the start of Spring Training that came and went without a deal. The sides have seemingly continued to negotiate both in the eye of the media and behind closed doors since then, however, with fairly specific reports regarding Guerrero’s asking price and a new offer from the Jays coming to the surface. It’s fairly common for contract talks to continue beyond self-imposed deadlines if the sides are close enough, with Garrett Crochet standing as a notable recent example of a player who set a hard deadline (in his case, Opening Day) for extension talks before ultimately signing after that deadline. Jackson Merrill, Ketel Marte, Brandon Pfaadt, and Kristian Campbell are among the other players to have signed extensions since the season began who presumably opened negotiations with their clubs during Spring Training.

Both previous talks between the sides and reports regarding the latest framework have centered around a 14-year pact. That’s a reflection of Guerrero’s youth, as he only just turned 26 years old last month. It’s a somewhat similar situation to Juan Soto, who hit free agency right around his 26th birthday. Given his youth and talent, he was able to parlay a frenzied free agency into a record-shattering 15-year deal worth $765MM. On that kind of length, the Jays and Guerrero weren’t far apart in February. A gap of $50MM on a 14-year deal would only be $3.57MM annually. A $100MM gap would be $7.14MM per year. Those are fairly small numbers in terms of an MLB club’s budget, so it was understandable that Shapiro and Atkins felt good enough about bridging the gap to publicly suggest they would sign Guerrero when all was said and done.

Prior to Soto moving the goalposts, the reported $500MM value of the deal Guerrero and the Jays are discussing would have been a record-breaking deal. Shohei Ohtani signed a ten-year, $700MM contract with the Dodgers just over a year ago. However, the massive deferrals in that contract significantly lowered the NPV. The league calculated his AAV as $46.06MM while the MLBPA pegged it at $43.78MM. Ballparking the guarantee around $450MM was still a record at the time, with Mookie Betts and his $365MM the previous top guarantee. Of course, Ohtani’s deal moved to a distant second with the Soto deal and now Guerrero is apparently poised to shoot past him as well.

Guerrero’s track record isn’t quite as elite as that of Soto, who is simply in a class all his own as an offensive talent with a career wRC+ (158) in the same ballpark as Guerrero’s peak seasons. Even so, his numbers are quite good and he’s only a year older; when Guerrero is at his best, he’s easily the closest comparison to Soto in the game in terms of age and overall offensive ability. For the Jays, he has been the face of the franchise for a long time. After the club’s postseason appearances in 2015 and 2016, they entered a quick rebuild period that saw them post losing records for the next three years. As such, many fans rested their hopes on an emerging core of young prospects like Guerrero, Bo Bichette and others.

His initial major league work was good but not great, though it came at an age when most prospects are still playing in college or in the minors. He hit .269/.336/.442 over the 2019 and 2020 seasons for a 107 wRC+, indicating he was 7% better than league average at the plate. To be holding his own in the big leagues during his age-20 and -21 seasons was still a notable accomplishment, however, even if he wasn’t immediately playing at All-Star levels. Any doubts about his ability to reach the ceiling he flashed as a prospect were quelled in 2021, as he hit 48 home runs, drew walks at a 12.3% clip and only struck out 15.8% of the time. His .311/.401/.601 batting line led to a wRC+ of 166. He would have won the American League Most Valuable Player award that year, if not for an absurd two-way season from Ohtani.

Guerrero couldn’t quite carry that MVP-caliber offensive output over into his next two seasons. He hit a combined .269/.341/.462 in 2022 and 2023 for a 125 wRC+. While that’s still strong production, it’s obviously a drop from his 2021 campaign and 2023 in particular cast him as closer to pedestrian than superstar as he posted a 118 wRC+ with just 1.3 fWAR. Fortunately, Guerrero helped to quell his doubters when he cranked things back up last year, slashing .323/.396/.544 for a 165 wRC+ and finishing sixth in a crowded AL MVP field.

That’s not to say that there is no risk. The defense is questionable and he’s not a burner on the basepaths. But he has already accomplished a lot with the bat at a young age. His walk and strikeout rates have been consistently better than average, with strong power to boot. On any kind of massive deal like this, the signing club probably knows it won’t look pristine all the way to the final season, as the Tigers and Angels could tell you about their deals for Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols. The Jays will be hoping that they get piles of value from Guerrero’s prime years, both in terms of on-field and off-field value, in order to ease the pain of his eventual decline.

Arguably, it would have been cheaper to extend Guerrero earlier in his career, as players generally gain earning power as they get closer to free agency. However, Guerrero’s oscillating results perhaps gave the Jays pause about making a significant commitment to him. From Guerrero’s perspective, he was an incredibly talented prospect and on track to reach free agency at such a young age, giving him incentive to bet on himself. Finding a price amenable to both sides would have been challenging.

The stars have seemingly aligned recently. Guerrero’s 2024 season seemed to prove that 2021 wasn’t a fluke. Meanwhile, the Jays have attempted to secure mega deals with other players and fallen short. They were heavily tied to Ohtani, Soto, Roki Sasaki and plenty of other players who would have been headline-grabbing acquisitions, but none on those pursuits panned out. Until this Guerrero deal becomes official, the largest deal in franchise history is George Springer’s $150MM guarantee on a six-year pact, which is now more than four years old. With Shapiro and Atkins reportedly both nearing the ends of their respective contracts and the Jays disappointing in 2024, it has been suggested they are under pressure for a big public relations victory.

Since they haven’t been able to get those big deals for marquee free agents done, that leaves them some future payroll space to commit to Guerrero. He and Bichette are both slated for free agency after 2025, as are Chris Bassitt, Max Scherzer and Chad Green. After 2026, Springer, Kevin Gausman and Daulton Varsho are slated to hit the open market. José Berríos is under contract through 2028, but has an opt-out after 2026. Anthony Santander will have an opt-out chance after 2027. Andrés Giménez and Alejandro Kirk could be the two players making notable money still on the team by 2028 if those opt-out clauses are exercised, and there’s nothing on the books beyond 2030.

If Guerrero and the Jays officially put pen to paper, it will deprive the coming offseason of one of the top free agents. As of now, Guerrero and Kyle Tucker are viewed as the top position players likely to be available. On the pitching side, Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen and Michael King will be some of the most attractive names. That will be a tough development for fans of other clubs but it could be a huge benefit to those other free agents, especially Tucker, who will become the uncontested best free agent hitter available in a market that looks increasingly starved for impact offense without Guerrero at the top. Of course, all of this would require the sides to officially get a deal done.

Rockies Promote Chase Dollander

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TODAY: The Rockies officially selected Dollander’s contract, and optioned Bradley Blalock to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

APRIL 4: The Rockies are going to promote their top pitching prospect, reports Patrick Lyons of Just Baseball. Right-hander Chase Dollander will make his major league debut when he starts for the club on Sunday. There’s already an opening on the 40-man roster, so the club will only need to make a corresponding active roster move.

Dollander, now 23, has been a hyped-up name for a while now. He put up big numbers for Tennessee and was ranked as one of the top players available in the 2023 draft. The Rockies selected him with the ninth overall pick and then signed him to a slot-value bonus of $5,716,900.

He made his professional debut last year in impressive fashion. He tossed 118 innings over 23 starts, going from High-A to Double-A in the process. He allowed just 2.59 earned runs per nine, striking out 33.9% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 9.4% clip.

Going into 2025, the industry consensus is that he’s one of the top prospects in the league. Baseball America currently lists him #7 overall and MLB Pipeline #24. FanGraphs had him at #12 to start the season, but with the now-graduated Dylan Crews as one of the guys ahead of him. ESPN had Dollander at #14, though also behind Crews. Keith Law of The Athletic was more bearish, putting Dollander down at #75, with concerns about some of his results in Tennessee.

The Rockies reportedly gave some consideration to having Dollander in the season-opening rotation. They sent him to Triple-A Albuquerque instead, where he made one start, allowing one earned run over four innings. The big league club started the season with just four games before their first off-day, having Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela, Ryan Feltner and Germán Márquez start those.

Austin Gomber likely would have had a fifth spot but he started the season on the 15-day injured list with shoulder soreness. He made a rehab start for Albuquerque but was scratched from making a second due to inflammation in that shoulder, per Thomas Harding of MLB.com. Perhaps due to Gomber’s setback, Dollander will get an early-season call-up.

The big unknown will be how Dollander handles the challenges of pitching at Coors Field, the most hitter-friendly venue in the big leagues. Geoff Pontes of Baseball America believes Dollander is well-positioned to succeed, even though plenty of other talented arms have struggled there. Pontes points out that pitchers with low release heights, such as Dollander, have previously fared well at Coors. The piece also cites the spin efficiency of Dollander’s fastball, which sits between 96 and 98 miles per hour, as a factor that could work in his favor. In addition that fastball, he throws a  changeup, a curveball and another breaking ball that is characterized as either a slider or a cutter by various sources.

If Dollander can thrive at Coors, he could become the most important arm in the rotation for their next competitive window. The club has been losing for a long time now but have seen some young players come up and establish themselves as building blocks, such as Ezequiel Tovar at shortstop and Brenton Doyle in center field.

In the rotation, there’s little long-term certainty. Márquez and Gomber are impending free agents while the contracts for Senzatela and Freeland are only guaranteed through 2026, with options for 2027. It’s possible the Rockies sign new deals with those pitchers but they’re all in their 30s now regardless. At 23 years old, Dollander could potentially be the rock of the group for many years to come, if everything breaks right.

Though he wasn’t on the Opening Day roster, he is getting called up early enough to potentially earn a full service year in 2025. A baseball season is 187 days long but a player needs only 172 days on the active roster or injured list to get a full year. If he’s not optioned down to the minors at any point, he would be on track to qualify for free agency after the 2030 campaign, though a notable optional assignment would push that trajectory by one year.

If he does stay up, the Rockies would be eligible to potentially receive an extra draft pick. The current collective bargaining agreement introduced measures to combat service time manipulation. One such measure is that a team can earn an extra draft if they promote a top prospect early enough to earn a full service year. To qualify, a player must be on two of the three Top 100 lists of BA, ESPN and MLB Pipeline. The player must then win Rookie of the Year or place in the top three of MVP or Cy Young voting in their pre-arbitration seasons.

Those will perhaps be factors later in the year. For now, one of the best young pitchers in the game is coming up to the majors. Facing big league hitters for the first time is always a fascinating challenge for any pitching prospect but the interest level is arguably even higher in this case, given the unique circumstances of Coors Field and Dollander’s potential importance to the franchise.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri and Steven Branscombe, Imagn Images

Richard Lovelady Elects Free Agency

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TODAY: Lovelady has opted to reject the outright assignment and become a free agent, according to his MLB.com profile page.

APRIL 4: The Blue Jays have sent left-hander Richard Lovelady outright to Triple-A Buffalo, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment a few days ago.

Lovelady, 29, has the right to elect free agency but it’s unclear if he will do so. Players with at least three years of major league service time, such as Lovelady, have that right. However, a player needs at least five years of service in order to both elect free agency and retain whatever money is still owed to him on his contract. Lovelady is just barely over the three-year line, meaning he’d have to walk away from his current contract if he heads to the open market.

It’s unclear what sort of financial decision he’s weighing. He signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the winter and was added to the 40-man prior to Opening Day. His major league salary on that deal hasn’t been publicly reported.

If he reports to Buffalo, he’ll give the Jays some non-roster depth. His brief time on their major league roster didn’t go well, as he allowed four earned runs in 1 2/3 innings. But his career track record is better than that. Overall, he has 101 innings in the majors with a 21.2% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate. Both of those numbers are close to league averages but his 50.2% ground ball rate is a few ticks better than par.

This has all resulted in a 5.26 earned run average but perhaps with some bad luck in there. His .301 batting average on balls in play and 65% strand rate are both on the unfortunate side of normal. That’s perhaps why his 4.32 FIP and 4.04 SIERA look far nicer than his ERA.

The Jays currently have Brendon Little and Mason Fluharty as the lefties in their bullpen. Josh Walker is on the 40-man but on optional assignment. As the season rolls along, injuries will pop up or the bullpen will get taxed during busy parts of the schedule. If Lovelady accepts his assignment and he performs well in Buffalo, the Jays could call him back up at some point. If he decides to head to free agency, he will likely be limited to minor league offers from other clubs.

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