Latest On Braves’ Rotation
The Braves’ rotation has been a talking point in the early days of spring training, with a few injuries already popping up, leading to speculation about the club looking for an external addition. Atlanta has been connected to pitchers like Lucas Giolito and Chris Bassitt this offseason but Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the club’s interest in those two pitchers was overstated. Burns says they did not seriously pursue Bassitt before he signed with the Orioles and have not been involved with Giolito, who remains a free agent.
It’s a curious spot for the club to be in. Injuries to the starting rotation played a huge role in tanking the 2025 season. They went into the campaign as contenders but ended up at 76-86. Just about every starter got hurt, so that the only guy to surpass 126 innings was Bryce Elder, who posted a 5.30 earned run average.
Going into the winter, general manager Alex Anthopoulos said that bolstering the rotation would be a “point of emphasis” but he hasn’t made any significant changes there. He clearly had some money to spend but has invested it elsewhere, having signed outfielder Mike Yastrzemski, infielder Ha-Seong Kim, as well as relievers Robert Suarez and Raisel Iglesias to eight-figure deals.
That left the rotation looking vulnerable coming into camp and the picture has only gotten worse since then. Spencer Schwellenbach was placed on the 60-day injured list last week due to elbow inflammation. Hurston Waldrep is now getting checked out due to his own elbow soreness.
The rotation still has some upside, in theory, but with question marks everywhere. Chris Sale is the ace but he’s about to turn 37 years old and has been very injury prone in recent years. Spencer Strider missed most of 2024 due to elbow surgery and had lackluster results when he was back on the mound last year. Reynaldo López only made one start last year due to shoulder surgery. Grant Holmes was diagnosed with a partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament last year and is currently trying to return while avoiding surgery.
That group could be a strong front four if everyone is healthy and pitching well but that’s a massive if. The depth beyond that group is also questionable. Martín Pérez and Carlos Carrasco are in the organization on minor league deals but neither inspires a ton of confidence. Didier Fuentes is a notable prospect but he’s only 20 years old and got shelled when called up in emergency fashion last year. Jhancarlos Lara and José Suarez are on the roster but seem to be depth/swing types. JR Ritchie is another of the club’s top prospects but he has only 11 Triple-A starts under his belt.
There’s an argument for adding a reliable veteran to strengthen the back of the rotation, even if it doesn’t raise the ceiling much, but Anthopoulos recently said the club is looking for a playoff-caliber starter. Up until fairly recently, the starting pitching market still had a lot of attractive names on it but Atlanta has not pounced on that opportunity. Guys like Bassitt, Zac Gallen, Nick Martinez, Justin Verlander, Jose Quintana, Chris Paddack, José Urquidy, Tomoyuki Sugano, Aaron Civale, Miles Mikolas, Erick Fedde, Griffin Canning and Germán Márquez have agreed to modest one-year deals in the past week or so.
Perhaps the club will still pivot to add some reliable innings. If they don’t like Giolito, the market still features Zack Littell, Max Scherzer, Patrick Corbin, Tyler Anderson, Marcus Stroman and others.
It’s also possible the club is out of dry powder. RosterResource projects them for a $264MM payroll and $260MM competitive balance tax number. That payroll is about $50MM above where they finished last year and the CBT number puts them within $4MM of the second tier of the tax, which they may not want to cross.
If it’s the case that there’s no spending capacity left, it looks like a strange offseason for the club. They invested in several areas of the roster but didn’t target the area that was supposed to be a primary focus. Perhaps Anthopoulos can line up a trade of a young pitcher who is cheap and controllable, but the price on such pitchers will be high. Maybe they’ll get lucky and their guys will stay healthier than last year but the injury bug is already biting before spring games have even begun.
Photo courtesy of James A. Pittman, Imagn Images
Happ, Suzuki: No Recent Extension Talks With Cubs
It’s common for baseball teams to spend the winter focusing on new acquisitions and then pivot to extensions during spring training. Nothing seems urgent with a couple of Cubs, as outfielders Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki both tell Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times that they have not yet heard from the club on the extension front.
It’s possible that a big pivot is coming up in the club’s position player mix. Kyle Tucker just departed via free agency. After the 2026 season, the Cubs are slated to see Happ, Suzuki and second baseman Nico Hoerner hit the open market. Carson Kelly‘s deal has a 2027 mutual option but those provisions are almost never picked up by both sides, so he should be considered an impending free agent as well.
That gives the Cubs a good amount of future spending capacity. Dansby Swanson and Alex Bregman are the only players guaranteed more than $6MM next year. RosterResource projects them for just $76.25MM in spending next year. That number will come up with arbitration-eligible and pre-arb players but there’s a big gap between that figure and the $231MM they’re spending on the 2026 squad.
The flipside is that there are holes. The outfield has a lot of long-term uncertainty with Happ and Suzuki slated to depart. Pete Crow-Armstrong should be a fixture in center field since he remains under club control through 2030 but the corners would need to be addressed.
That could happen internally, in theory. Matt Shaw could get some outfield work this year and could be a potential factor. His most logical long-term fit would be second base, with Hoerner’s potential departure, though a Hoerner extension is another thing the Cubs could consider. Owen Caissie once looked like a long-term outfield solution but he was dealt to the Marlins in the Edward Cabrera trade. Kevin Alcántara is still in the mix but has struck out in almost 30% of his Triple-A plate appearances thus far, lowering his stock a bit. Justin Dean is on the roster but profiles more as a speed-and-defense depth outfielder. James Triantos and Pedro Ramírez are on the 40-man and have some minor league outfield experience but have mostly played the infield and neither has cracked the majors yet.
If the Cubs don’t believe in that internal group, there would be sense in pursuing extension talks with Happ or Suzuki. They already got one extension done with Happ. Back in 2023, Happ and the Cubs agreed to a three-year deal worth $61MM. That was a bit of a surprising deal at the time, with Happ just a few months from hitting free agency as a 29-year-old. Instead, he locked in some guaranteed money and is now slated to hit the open market shortly after his 32nd birthday in August.
The switch-hitter has been remarkably consistent at the plate. He has appeared in nine big league seasons now. In the seven campaigns where he played at least 60 games, his wRC+ finished between 105 and 122. He’s generally good for 15 to 25 home runs with solid on-base marks thanks to strong walk rates. The defensive grades have been mixed but he can steal a few bags and FanGraphs has considered him to basically be worth three-to-four wins above replacement in recent years.
Suzuki has been more of a bat-first player. He has a .269/.346/.472 line and 127 wRC+ over his four seasons with the Cubs. Defensive metrics have considered him to be subpar in the field and he saw a lot of time as the designated hitter last year. Tucker’s departure seemingly opens the door for him to be a more regular outfielder, with Moisés Ballesteros perhaps taking up a decent chunk of the DH at-bats.
External solutions could also be considered, as always. Next year’s free agent class doesn’t have a superstar outfielder. Happ and Suzuki should be two of the top options, alongside guys like Randy Arozarena, Daulton Varsho, Trent Grisham and others. The Cubs could perhaps wait and issue qualifying offers to Happ and/or Suzuki and try to lure them back that way, a situation which recently played out with left-hander Shota Imanaga. There could also be trade opportunities that develop in the next year or so.
The fact that no talks have taken place doesn’t mean they won’t in the future, so it will be interesting to see if the Cubs pick up the phone in the coming weeks or if they’d prefer to play the waiting game. As mentioned, the club has long-term spending capacity, meaning they could get something done now if they wanted to. The two players are in the same boat age-wise, as they were born within a week of each other in 1994, Happ on August 12th and Suzuki on August 18th.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Orioles Hire Robinson Chirinos As Special Assistant
Former player Robinson Chirinos will return to the Orioles but in a new role. The club announced that he will be working as a special assistant in the baseball operations and player development department. Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among those to relay the news, adding that Chirinos will “support players, coaches, and staff across our lower levels, providing leadership, mentorship, and reinforcement of organizational philosophies.”
Chirinos, 41, played in the majors from 2011 to 2022. He announced his retirement as a player in May of 2023. He quickly pivoted to the next stage of his career, getting hired as Baltimore’s bench coach in November of 2024, working under skipper Brandon Hyde.
His first year as a coach turned out to be a tumultuous one. The Orioles fell short of expectations in 2025, which led to a shake-up in the dugout, as Hyde was fired in the middle of May. When a manager is fired mid-season, the bench coach will sometimes takes over, but Chirinos was only a few months into his coaching career at that point. The Orioles instead went with third base coach Tony Mansolino, who had a few more years of coaching experience, as interim manager.
Mansolino held the job through the end of the 2025 season but the O’s made further changes after the campaign. Craig Albernaz was hired as the new skipper in late October. A new manager often leads to some coaching changes and it was reported a few days after Albernaz’s hiring that Chirinos would not be back in the bench coach role. Donnie Ecker was hired for that job a few weeks later.
Chirinos took a few months to pursue other opportunities but will now return to the Orioles in this player development role. He won’t be back in the dugout but it seems he will still be able to impact the franchise by working with younger prospects who will hopefully make it to the majors in the years to come.
Photo courtesy of Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images
Diamondbacks Sign Carlos Santana
Feb. 10: The Diamondbacks officially announced the Santana deal on Tuesday afternoon. Left-hander Andrew Saalfrank was placed on the 60-day IL in a corresponding move. Saalfrank had shoulder surgery on Monday and is expected to miss the entire 2026 season.
Feb. 3: The Diamondbacks and free agent first baseman Carlos Santana are in agreement on a deal, according to various sources. It is reportedly a one-year, $2MM pact. The Snakes have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move once Santana completes his physical and the deal becomes official.
Santana, 40 in April, made his major league debut back in 2010. While he’s never really been a star player, he has carved out a long career as a reliably strong contributor. He has always had strong strikeout and walk numbers while flashing a bit of pop with strong first base defense to boot. In over 9,000 career plate appearances, he has a 14.4% walk rate, 16.6% strikeout rate, .241/.352/.425 line and 114 wRC+. In almost 13,000 innings at first, he has racked up 48 Defensive Runs Saved and 45 Outs Above Average.
As one would expect, his production has declined as he has pushed closer to his 40th birthday. He still gets rave reviews for his glovework but his offense hasn’t been as robust in recent seasons. Dating back to the start of 2020, he has a combined line of .222/.321/.378 and a 96 wRC+. With the Guardians and Cubs in 2025, his 11% walk rate and 19.2% strikeout rate were still good numbers but down from his career levels. He slashed .219/.308/.325 on the year for a wRC+ of 82.
Despite the trend lines and the poor 2025 season, there are some reasons why Santana could be a good fit for the Arizona roster. A switch-hitter, he has always fared better against left-handed pitching. In 2025, he wasn’t great against pitchers of either handedness, with a .231/.318/.346 line and 89 wRC+ against southpaws. But as recently as 2024, he was able to put up a huge .286/.356/.578 line and 160 wRC+ in that split.
The Diamondbacks had Josh Naylor as their first baseman to begin 2025 but they traded him to the Mariners at the deadline. Coming into this offseason, they had Pavin Smith and Tyler Locklear atop the depth chart, but with question marks there.
Locklear, who came over from the Mariners in the Eugenio Suárez trade last summer, hasn’t yet found success against big league pitching. He also might not be ready for Opening Day this year. In a September game against the Red Sox, he was attempting to corral an errant throw from third baseman Jordan Lawlar when he made contact with batter-runner Connor Wong. He suffered a ligament tear in his elbow and a labrum injury in his shoulder and required surgery in October.
As for Smith, he has shown flashes of potential at times but with a heavy platoon split. A left-handed batter, he slashed .270/.348/.547 for a 140 wRC+ in 2024 but with most of that damage coming against righties. Last year, he had big splits again and also faded as the season went along, dealing with injuries in the second half. For the whole year, he hit .265/.361/.456 against righties but just .167/.375/.167 against lefties. He had a combined .261/.371/.446 line in the first half and .227/.261/.318 line in the second half. He spent time on the injured list due to an oblique strain and a quad strain and only played 87 games on the year.
Locklear hits from the right side, so a platoon with Smith is potentially a good arrangement at first. But Locklear is fairly unproven and also has the uncertain health status. Smith appears to be a good bat against righties but without an especially long track record of success. His first base defense also hasn’t received strong marks.
The Diamondbacks didn’t have a strict designated hitter in 2025, with various players rotating through that spot. It’s possible they could rotate Locklear, Smith and Santana based on various situations throughout the season. Santana provides stronger glovework than Smith and with better numbers against lefty pitchers. Locklear still has an option and could be sent to Triple-A but he could earn more playing time, with the DH spot allowing the club to spread some more at-bats around.
There’s also the financial component. Owner Ken Kendrick said in September that the payroll would likely be dialed back relative to 2025. General manager Mike Hazen has tried to downplay the payroll concerns but also recently implied that making a flashy bullpen signing would have closed the door to reuniting with Merrill Kelly.
With an uncertain first base situation and little money to spend, the Snakes were connected to right-handed-hitting first basemen who weren’t likely command high salaries. That included Santana but also Ty France and old friend Paul Goldschmidt. While a reunion with Goldy would have been fun, the Santana deal seems to make it far less likely, if not completely impossible.
Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that the sides were close to a deal. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic reported that an agreement was in place. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported that it would be a one-year deal. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM reported the $2MM figure. Photos courtesy of David Richard, Katie Stratman, Imagn Images
T.R. Sullivan: A Retrospective On The Harold Baines-Sammy Sosa Trade
T.R. Sullivan was a legend on the Rangers beat. He retired in December 2020 after 32 years writing for the Denison Herald, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and MLB.com. T.R. is also a friend to MLBTR. A couple of months ago, he kindly offered up a retrospective on the Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas trade. “I just felt like writing it,” T.R. explained. More recently, Texas got shut down by a snowstorm, which T.R. took as an opportunity to explore the 1989 trade involving Harold Baines, Sammy Sosa and others. We’re proud to publish it!
Texas Gov. George W. Bush was in the middle of an ultimately successful run for the White House in 2000 when he made a guest appearance on Late Night with David Letterman.
At one point, they started talking about Bush’s biggest mistakes, the ones he really regretted.
“Well,” Bush said with a sly smile. “I once traded away Sammy Sosa.”
The line got big laughs from the audience – coming at the height of Sosa’s career as a power-hitting outfielder – but probably not as much from Rangers fans watching at home in Texas. Bush’s twin daughters Jenna and Barbara probably weren’t amused either considering the same trade also involved Rangers shortstop Scott Fletcher.
The veteran infielder just happened to be their favorite player. They named their dog “Spot” in his honor.
The reality is Bush did not make that trade. True, he was the Rangers co-managing general partner in 1989 when Sosa, Fletcher and pitcher Wilson Álvarez were traded to the White Sox for outfielder Harold Baines and infielder Fred Manrique.
But the guy who made the trade was general manager Tom Grieve, who many years later would confess, “The minute I made that trade I knew it was a mistake. We made the deal for all the wrong reasons.”
The guy on the other end of the deal was White Sox GM Larry Himes, who would later hold the same position with the Cubs. In both jobs, Himes pulled off a trade that involved acquiring Sosa for a veteran All-Star designated hitter.
The first trade was not a popular one with White Sox fans at the time.
“It’s an unpopular decision as far as the fans are concerned…it doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good decision,” Himes said in the Chicago Tribune.
The Rangers-White Sox trade came down on July 29, 1989. At the time, the Rangers were trying to stay alive in the A.L West race and the White Sox were in a rebuilding mode. It was a classic mid-season trade, just like hundreds of others that are made or at least talked about at the trade deadline down through the years.
But this trade turned out different. This is the trade that wouldn’t go away. Instead, as the years passed, it really did take on a life of its own with a bewildering number of twists and turns involving implications felt from the White House and halls of Congress to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
In short, the trade involved a future member of the Hall of Fame, but not the one everybody expected, the one who ended up having to testify in front of Congress on national television at the height of baseball’s steroids scandal.
Royals Re-Sign Luke Maile To Minor League Deal
The Royals announced that they have brought back catcher Luke Maile via a minor league deal. The Meister Sports Management client also receives an invite to big league camp in spring training.
It’s a nice birthday present for Maile, who turns 35 years old today. The journeyman catcher has been a big leaguer for over a decade now, having made his debut back in 2015. He was with the Royals in 2025, bouncing on and off the roster throughout the year. He got into 25 games, stepped to the plate 54 times and hit .244/.346/.356.
Maile has never been a huge standing next to the plate, with a career .209/.277/.320 line and 63 wRC+. However, he has received strong reviews for his work crouching behind the plate over the years. FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus consider him to be an above average framer. Statcast ranks him just a smidge below average at framing but gives him strong marks for his blocking.
For the Royals, they should have Maile ticketed for a similar depth role that he had last year. Franchise legend Salvador Perez is catching less as he ages into his mid-30s but he still caught about 90 games per year for the past three seasons. The Royals traded Freddy Fermin to the Padres at last year’s deadline because they felt good enough about prospect Carter Jensen, who made his big league debut last year.
Perez and Jensen will be sharing the catching duties. Both will likely see notable time as the designated hitter as well. They are the only two backstops on the 40-man roster at the moment. The Royals added some non-roster depth by signing Jorge Alfaro last month and now Maile gives them some more.
Maile is an Article XX(b) free agent, which is a fancy way of saying he’s a standard free agent, one who has at least six years of service time and finished the previous season on a club’s 40-man roster. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, such players get uniform opt-outs dates in minor league deals. Those opt-outs are five days before Opening Day, followed by May 1 and on June 1.
That was the case for Maile last year as well. He had signed a minor league deal with the Royals in February. He opted out of that deal in late March but then re-signed with the club on a fresh pact. He was selected to the 40-man roster for a little more than two weeks in May, was outrighted back to the minors, then was selected back to the roster in July.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images
White Sox Outright Jairo Iriarte, Drew Romo
The White Sox announced that right-hander Jairo Iriarte and catcher Drew Romo have cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Both will be in big league camp in spring training as non-roster invitees. The two were designated for assignment earlier this week as corresponding moves when the White Sox acquired Jordan Hicks and David Sandlin from the Red Sox.
Iriarte, 24, was once a notable prospect. The White Sox acquired him from the Padres two years ago as part of the return for Dylan Cease. His stock has dipped since then. In 2024, he tossed 126 Double-A innings. His 3.71 earned run average wasn’t bad but his 22.8% strikeout rate was a big drop from the 33.2% rate he had the year before. His walk rate remained high at 10.7%.
The control problems were already present before he came to the White Sox, which hinted at a potential long-term move to the bullpen. The Sox mostly used him in relief in 2025 but he didn’t take to the move. In 46 Triple-A innings, he had a 7.24 ERA. His 21.6% strikeout rate wasn’t great and his control got worse, with Iriarte walking 16.7% of batters faced.
He still has an option year remaining but that wasn’t enough to convince another club to give him a 40-man roster spot. This is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, so he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency. The Sox will keep him in a non-roster capacity and try to get him back on track.
Romo, 24, was also once a prospect of note. The Rockies recently decided to move on, however, and he has been riding the waiver wire this winter. He has gone from the Rockies to the Orioles, Mets and White Sox via waivers. Now that the Sox have passed him through unclaimed, they will be the ones who get to keep him. Like Iriarte, Romo doesn’t have the right to elect free agency.
The Rockies took Romo with the 35th overall pick in 2020. Considered a strong defender, his offense was decent enough as he climbed the ladder that he was ranked as one of the top prospects in Colorado’s system and even got some top 100 love. But his stock has faded lately as he has struggled at the plate. He slashed .264/.329/.409 in Triple-A last year, which looks good at first blush but actually translates to a 75 wRC+ in the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League.
Romo will head to Charlotte and try to get back on track. He doesn’t currently have a great path to playing time, as the Sox have Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero and Korey Lee all on the roster. However, Lee is out of options and might get squeezed off. There has also been a bit of trade buzz around both Teel and Quero. It doesn’t seem like the Sox are motivated to move either but Romo’s path would improve if a deal does come together. As always, an injury could alter the calculus as well.
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images
Athletics Sign Scott Barlow
The Athletics and right-hander Scott Barlow have agreed to a deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. It’s a one-year pact with a $2MM guarantee for the Warner Sports Management client and performance bonuses worth $1.3MM. The A’s have a full 40-man roster and will need a corresponding move to make this official.
Barlow, 33, has a fairly established profile at this point in his career. He walks too many guys but is still a somewhat effective setup guy thanks to his ability to strike guys out, induce ground balls and limit damage. He’s also quite durable, having never appeared on the major league injured list in his career.
Over the past three years, Barlow has thrown 191 1/3 innings for the Royals, Padres, Guardians and Reds. He has allowed 4.28 earned runs per nine. He gave free passes to a huge 13% of batters faced but also punched out opponents at a 26.3% clip and kept the ball on the ground at a 44.1% pace. Statcast has considered his average exit velocity and hard hit rate to be 90th percentile or better in each of those three seasons. He earned 16 saves and 42 holds in that time. He throws his sweeper more than any other pitch but also features a four-seamer, slider, curveball and sinker.
The A’s have been rebuilding recently and while they have seen a lot of success when it comes to graduating position players, the pitching lags behind. The club had a collective 4.71 ERA last year, putting them ahead of just the Angels, Nationals and Rockies. Playing in a hitter-friendly minor league park is certainly playing a role there but there’s clearly room for improvement.
The club hasn’t been super active in adding to the pitching staff this offseason. Perhaps that’s due to pitchers not wanting to play in Sutter Health Park or maybe it’s because the A’s have been focusing their resources on extending their young core. Whatever the reason, their only other addition of note so far was to sign Mark Leiter Jr. to a one-year deal worth $2.85MM, so the A’s have invested less than $5MM in upgrading the pitching staff so far.
Perhaps more investments will be forthcoming. For now, Barlow and Leiter project to be the two most experienced arms in the bullpen. Younger guys like Hogan Harris, Justin Sterner, Elvis Alvarado, Brady Basso, Mitch Spence, Grant Holman and others will also be in the mix.
Photo courtesy of Frank Bowen IV, Imagn Images
Rays Designate Brett Wisely For Assignment
The Rays announced that they have designated infielder Brett Wisely for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for them to acquire outfielder Víctor Mesa Jr. from the Marlins, a move that was previously reported.
Wisely, 27 in May, has been riding the DFA carousel for quite a while. The Giants designated him for assignment in the middle of September. He was claimed off waivers by Atlanta but got another DFA from that club in January. The Rays sent cash considerations to get both Wisely and Ken Waldichuk from Atlanta but subsequently bumped both from the roster. Waldichuk was claimed off waivers by the Nationals earlier this week.
The hope with Wisely is seemingly to get him to the minors as non-roster depth. He is out of options and can’t be sent to the minors without first clearing waivers. If he were to pass through unclaimed, he would not have the right to elect free agency since he has less than three years of service time and does not have a previous career outright.
Wisely has taken 466 trips to the plate so far in his big league career but has produced a tepid .214/.265/.319 line. Despite that lack of offense, his defensive versatility is appealing. He has experience at all four infield spots and has a little bit of outfield experience as well. It’s also possible there’s a bit more in the bat, as he has hit .276/.375/.436 in the minors over the past three years, leading to a 113 wRC+.
DFA limbo can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Rays could take five days to explore trade interest. If they hope to pass Wisely through waivers, they will probably put him on the wire sooner rather than later. The 60-day injured list opens up next week, adding some extra roster spots which could potentially be used for moves like waiver claims.
Photo courtesy of Matt Krohn, Imagn Images
Angels Designate Kaleb Ort For Assignment
The Angels announced that right-hander Kaleb Ort has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move to open a spot for left-hander Brent Suter, who has now been officially signed to a one-year deal.
Ort, 34, has been riding the DFA carousel quite a bit this year. He was with the Astros last year but that club designated him for assignment in early January. He then went to the Yankees and Angels via waiver claims and has now been designated for assignment yet again.
That’s a reflection of a few facts. Ort is out of options. His major league track record isn’t amazing. However, he has big stuff, with a fastball that averages in the upper 90s. If he were to clear waivers, he would not have the right to elect free agency, since he doesn’t have a previous career outright and is shy of three years of service time. It seems several clubs are hoping to get Ort to the minors as non-roster depth but none have succeeded so far.
Despite the big arm, Ort hasn’t done too much to impress in the majors. He has thrown 122 1/3 innings, having allowed five earned runs per nine. His 23.7% strikeout rate is decent but he has also walked 10.5% of batters faced.
The Angels can take as long as five days before putting Ort back on the waiver wire but will probably do so sooner than that. The 60-day injured list opens up next week, which will give most clubs some extra roster spots and greater ability to make marginal moves such as waiver claims.
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