Valdez, Suarez Among Orioles’ Targets In Continuing Rotation Search
Jan. 6: Both Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez remain under consideration by the Orioles, reports Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner. The O’s have already been reported to have interest in both lefties, but that was prior to their recent slate of pitching acquisitions and prior to their $155MM signing of Alonso, so it’s notable that they’re still shopping in the deep end of the free agent pool even after spending a combined $195MM in free agency and taking on another $26MM or so via trade.
Jan. 5: The Orioles have made a couple of rotation moves in recent weeks but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re done. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic report today that the club is still looking for another starting pitcher, which could be either via free agency or the trade market.
Adding to the rotation has been an obvious goal for quite a while. Baltimore starters posted a collective 4.65 earned run average in 2025, which was better than just six other clubs in the majors. At season’s end, Tomoyuki Sugano and Zach Eflin became free agents, further thinning out the group.
Accordingly, the O’s have been connected to a wide number of free agents and trade candidates this winter. They made a notable move a couple of weeks ago, sending four prospects and a draft pick to the Rays for Shane Baz. A week ago, they brought back Eflin via a one-year, $10MM deal with a mutual option for 2027.
If the season started today, the rotation would feature Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, Baz and Eflin in four spots. Dean Kremer would be the favorite for the final slot. Guys like Tyler Wells, Chayce McDermott, Cade Povich and Brandon Young also on the roster but have options and could be sent to the minors if everyone is healthy. Albert Suárez is back on a minor league deal and prospect Trey Gibson is also lurking as another non-roster option.
That’s a decent group, and a team source describes it as “adequate” to The Athletic. For a club looking to rebound from a nightmare season, it’s understandable that they still want more. That’s especially true considering it’s hard to rely on this collection of arms.
Bradish just returned from Tommy John surgery late last year and made just six starts. He only made eight starts in 2024 before the surgery, so that’s just 14 starts and 77 1/3 innings over the past two years. Wells is similar, having made just seven starts over the past two years due to his own elbow surgery. Rogers was great last year but limited to 18 starts by a knee injury. Due to multiple ailments over his career, he’s never topped 133 innings in a big league season. Baz took the ball 31 times in 2025 and logged 166 1/3 frames but that was his first time going beyond 14 starts and his first time hitting the 80-inning mark. Eflin underwent back surgery in August. He recently said he’s hoping to be ready by Opening Day but that doesn’t seem to be a lock.
Adding another arm would make things a bit cluttered if everyone is healthy, but that’s a big if, considering the total track record of the group. Given the number of depth options, the O’s would presumably be looking for more upside with another rotation addition.
Rosenthal and Sammon mention Framber Valdez, Ranger Suárez and Zac Gallen as free agent possibilities, in addition to trade candidates Edward Cabrera, Freddy Peralta and MacKenzie Gore. That appears to simply be a list of the best pitchers still available, as opposed to reporting on anyone the O’s are specifically targeting, though the club has been connected to those free agents as well as Cabrera and Gore earlier in the offseason.
RosterResource projects the O’s for a payroll of $147MM next year. They opened 2025 at $165MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Signing one of the Valdez/Suárez/Gallen trio would likely require the O’s to pay $20 to $30MM annually. That would involve going beyond last year’s spending but not by much. It’s also possible they could save themselves a few bucks if they can trade Ryan Mountcastle, now that the Pete Alonso signing crowds him out. Mountcastle is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $7.8MM salary this year.
The trade candidates would cost less financially. Peralta will make just $8MM next year. Gore and Cabrera are projected for $4.7MM and $3.7MM respectively. But of course, the O’s would have to send something of value to those other clubs in trade. As mentioned, the O’s just sent out a big package of prospects in the Baz deal, which may lower their desire to further deplete the farm system with another big trade.
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Red Sox Sign Devin Sweet To Minor League Deal
The Red Sox have signed right-hander Devin Sweet to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Worcester but may get an invite to big league camp in spring training.
Sweet, 29, has a limited big league track record. He tossed 8 2/3 innings in 2023, split between the Mariners and Athletics. He allowed ten earned runs, giving him an unsightly 10.38 earned run average in that small sample.
The M’s called him up in July of 2023 but he was designated for assignment the following month and went to the A’s via waivers. In the 2023-24 offseason, he went to the Giants and Tigers via waiver claims. Detroit later passed him through waivers unclaimed in February of 2024. In November of 2024, the Phillies acquired him and added him to their 40-man, preventing him from becoming a minor league free agent. He was outrighted in August of 2025 and then became a minor league free agent at season’s end.
Despite his limited track record, the interest from all those clubs demonstrates his appeal. From 2021 to 2024, he tossed 257 2/3 innings on the farm, with a 4.19 ERA. His 9.2% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 30% of batters faced. Unfortunately, he had a downturn in results in 2025. He logged 51 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 5.08 ERA, 21.2% strikeout rate and 11.7% walk rate. That’s why the Phillies bumped him from the roster last summer and no one claimed him.
For Boston, there’s no harm in a non-roster deal for some extra bullpen depth as they see if Sweet can bounce back. If he eventually earns his way onto the roster, he still has an option year remaining and less than a year of service time, meaning he can provide roster flexibility and is still years away from qualifying for arbitration.
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Mets To Sign Christian Arroyo To Minor League Deal
The Mets have agreed to a minor league deal with infielder Christian Arroyo, reports Mike Puma of The New York Post. The O’Connell Sports Management also receives an invite to big league camp in spring training.
Arroyo, 31 in May, was once a notable prospect but he hasn’t been able to do much with scattered big league opportunities. In seven seasons from 2017 to 2023, he appeared in 295 games split between the Giants, Rays, Guardians and Red Sox. In his 992 plate appearances, his 21.7% strikeout rate was decent but he only walked 5.1% of the time and hit just 24 home runs. That led to a combined .252/.299/.394 line and 86 wRC+.
He did at least provide defensive versatility. He has experience at all four infield spots as well as right field. But the lack of offensive output has kept him in the minors for the past two years. He signed a minor league deal with the Brewers for the 2024 season and the Phillies for 2025, without getting called up by either club.
With the Phils last year, he went on and off the minor league injured list throughout the season. He got into just 45 Triple-A games on the year. His .314/.384/.485 line in those was quite strong but aided by a .375 batting average on balls in play.
For the Mets, there’s no harm in a non-roster deal to add some more depth. They have the middle infield spots settled with Francisco Lindor at shortstop and Marcus Semien at second base. At first base, Pete Alonso has departed for the Orioles. Jorge Polanco has signed with the Mets and could take over at first but he could also spend significant time in the designated hitter spot. That could allow Mark Vientos to spend time at first and leave Brett Baty as the regular at third. Ronny Mauricio, Luisangel Acuña and Jared Young are also on the roster and could be in the mix.
It’s a fairly crowded group but Mauricio and Young still have options, meaning the Mets could send them to Triple-A for regular at-bats, which could open up room on the bench. It’s also possible that another swap shakes things up, as the Mets are reportedly open to talking Vientos, Mauricio and Acuña in trade talks. If Arroyo is eventually able to earn a roster spot as a veteran bench/utility player, he is out of options.
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Phillies Interested In Randal Grichuk
It was reported last month that the Phillies are looking for a righty-swinging platoon bat to add to their outfield mix. Today, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic report that Randal Grichuk is one specific name they are showing interest in.
The Phillies are likely to have a regular outfield of Adolis García in right, Justin Crawford in center and Brandon Marsh in left. Nick Castellanos is still on the roster but reporting throughout the winter has indicated the Phils are planning to move on from him before the season starts. That could be via a trade but he won’t have a ton of value due to his declining performance and $20MM left on the final year of his contract. If they can’t work out a trade in the coming weeks, he may just be released.
With the García/Crawford/Marsh trio, adding a righty-swinging complement makes a lot of sense, as Marsh and Crawford both swing from the left side. Marsh has a career .213/.278/.303 line and 61 wRC+ against southpaws, so it’s logical to shield him from those matchups as much as possible.
Crawford hasn’t even made his major league debut yet, but the Phils seem determined to give him a shot at taking the center field job this year. In the minors, his exposure to lefties has been limited. He only stepped to the plate 61 times against them in 2024 and just 91 times last year. His 2024 line was a fairly lackluster .263/.295/.439. He shot that up to .376/.411/.518 in 2025 but with a big spike in batting average on balls in play.
It’s hard to read much into the data with Crawford, since we’re talking about a small number of minor league events with no big league experience. Generally speaking, he’s a low-power contact-based hitter. He’s never hit more than nine home runs in a minor league season, as his production generally comes from putting the ball in play and using his speed. Time will tell how that approach translates against major league pitchers. Having a righty bat on hand to platoon with Marsh makes plenty of sense and perhaps Crawford as well, depending on how the latter fares in his first exposure to big league arms.
Grichuk fits the profile, as he swings from the right side and has been utilized as a lefty masher in recent years. He signed a $2MM deal with the Diamondbacks going into 2024 and provided excellent return on that modest investment. He was sent to the plate 279 times and slashed .291/.348/.528 for a 139 wRC+. That included a .319/.386/.528 line and 152 wRC+ against lefties.
Despite that solid season, Grichuk’s earning power didn’t improve greatly. He returned to the Snakes for 2025 with a $5MM guarantee. He wasn’t able to produce in quite the same way, as he slashed .228/.273/.401 for the year, getting flipped to the Royals at the deadline. His numbers were better against lefties last year but still not great, as he hit .227/.273/.430 for an 89 wRC+ in the split.
Obviously, the Phillies would be hoping for more of the 2024 version of Grichuk if they were to sign him. As an interesting sidenote, Grichuk and Castellanos actually have somewhat comparable profiles right now. Castellanos also didn’t have a great 2025 season but hit .269/.324/.506 against lefties in 2024, production that translated to a 124 wRC+. Each player is going into his age-34 season.
Perhaps it speaks to the poor relationship between Castellanos and manager Rob Thomson, who have publicly clashed a few times, that the Phils are seemingly plotting to get rid of Castellanos and replace him with a comparable player while potentially eating millions of dollars in the process. Castellanos was benched in June for some kind of inappropriate comment made to the skipper, per ESPN. Castellanos also publicly criticized Thomson for his communication skills. The Phils signed Thomson to an extension last month.
Grichuk is clearly superior in the field, however. Castellanos has never been a great defender. From 2018 to the present, he has been credited with minus-82 Defensive Runs Saved and minus-75 Outs Above Average. Those are the worst figures of any player in the majors for that span, regardless of position.
Grichuk, meanwhile, has been a strong defender in his career. His numbers have slipped to below average as he has pushed into his mid-30s but not by too much. Grichuk only has two center field innings since the start of 2024, which may work against him providing cover for Crawford in center. But Marsh is still arguably a viable center fielder, so it could still be possible to make the fit work.
Even if the Phillies don’t line up with Grichuk specifically, they will have other options to consider. Miguel Andujar, Austin Hays, Tommy Pham and Austin Slater are some other righty-swinging free agents who are available, none of whom should break the bank. Old friend Harrison Bader is out there but he might have enough juice to get a full-time job, as opposed to a short-side platoon role.
The Phils are one of the top-spending teams in the league but there have been some indications things are getting tight after their big deal to re-sign Kyle Schwarber. In addition to a platoon outfielder, they need to bring back J.T. Realmuto or do something else to replace him behind the plate.
The Phils opened last year with a payroll of $284MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. They are projected for $265MM next year, according to RosterResource. At the start of the offseason, MLBTR predicted Realmuto for a $30MM deal over two years. Between Realmuto and a platoon outfielder, the Phils would likely end up in the same range, though it’s still possible the offseason goes in some different directions. The Phils have reportedly explored the catching trade market, indicating a reunion with Realmuto isn’t guaranteed. They were also connected to Bo Bichette a few days ago, so perhaps there’s some chance of a big plot twist in the final weeks of the offseason.
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Athletics Sign Brian Serven, Cade Marlowe To Minor League Deals
The Athletics have signed catcher Brian Serven and outfielder Cade Marlowe to minor league deals, according to each player’s respective transaction tracker at MLB.com. The Prime Agency clients have both been assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas for now but may be invited to big league camp in spring training.
Serven, 31 in May, spent 2025 with the Tigers on a minor league deal. He got into 62 contests for Triple-A Toledo with a .232/.335/.313 batting line. The Tigers didn’t call him up during the campaign and he returned to free agency at season’s end.
He does have 101 big league games on his track record from previous seasons, having suited up for the Rockies and Blue Jays. He only mustered a .187/.247/.293 line in his 299 plate appearances for those clubs but he got strong reviews for his work behind the plate. Outlets like FanGraphs, Statcast and Baseball Prospectus all considered him adequate in terms of blocking and controlling the running game and very strong in terms of pitch framing.
The A’s currently have just two catchers on their 40-man roster. Shea Langeliers is slated to be the regular with Austin Wynns projected to be the backup. Bringing Serven aboard gives them some experienced non-roster depth. If Serven is eventually needed in the big leagues, he may not hit very much but he will at least be a glove-first option for the A’s. If he’s added to the roster at some point, he still has an option and less than two years of service time. That means he can provide roster flexibility and hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration.
Marlowe, 29 in June, joins a new organization for the first time. He was drafted by the Mariners in 2019. He was added to that club’s 40-man roster in November of 2022 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.
He has shown some potential with the bat but also with big strikeout numbers. In his 109 big league plate appearances, his .240/.330/.406 line is decent but he has been punched out at a 31.2% rate. He also struck out 29.4% of the time at the Triple-A level over 2023 and 2024. His .246/.340/.419 line for Tacoma over those two seasons isn’t bad at first blush but actually translates to an 89 wRC+ in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
In February of 2025, the Mariners passed him through waivers unclaimed. He spent last year still in the system but in a non-roster capacity. He began the season on the injured list and didn’t make it into game action until July. He finished the year having played 46 Triple-A contests with a strong .316/.401/.474 line and 123 wRC+. He got some help from a .400 batting average on balls in play but his 23.6% strikeout rate was an encouraging improvement.
The A’s have a strong group of outfielders but there’s no harm in adding some extra non-roster depth. If Marlowe eventually gets a roster spot, he has a minor league option remaining and less than a year of big league service time.
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Orioles Claim Jhonkensy Noel, Designate George Soriano For Assignment
The Orioles have claimed outfielder Jhonkensy Noel from the Guardians, according to announcements from both clubs. Noel was designated for assignment last month. To open a spot for Noel, the O’s designated right-hander George Soriano for assignment.
Noel, 24, changes organizations for the first time. The Guards signed him as an international amateur back in 2017 and he has been part of that system until today. Over the past two years, he has shown some big power ability but also a poor approach. In 351 big league plate appearances, he has 19 home runs but his 4.8% walk rate and 32.8% strikeout rate are both awful figures. That’s led to a lopsided .193/.242/.401 slash line thus far.
He exhausted his final option season in 2025, which pushed him off Cleveland’s roster. He was designated for assignment December 17th when Cleveland acquired Justin Bruihl from the Blue Jays. DFA limbo is normally capped at one week but there are clearly different rules around the holidays, as “Big Christmas” just spent close to three weeks in that liminal space.
The O’s have grabbed him today, though Noel won’t have a great path to playing time. Baltimore has a fairly crowded group for their outfield corners, as well as the first base and designated hitter spots. Pete Alonso should be the regular at first, with Coby Mayo and Ryan Mountcastle also in the mix there. Those guys could spill over into the DH slot, though the O’s might also want at-bats for their catching tandem of Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo. The outfield group includes Colton Cowser, Taylor Ward, Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Beavers, Leody Taveras, Heston Kjerstad and others.
Alonso, Mayo, Mountcastle, Ward and O’Neill are all right-handed power bats. The same is true of Noel, though he has a lesser track record of major league success than everyone in that group. The O’s tend to be very aggressive at claiming players off waivers and then putting them back on the wire later, hoping to keep them as non-roster depth. It’s possible that is the plan here, as Noel currently faces a steep path to a big league role.
His numbers in the minors are more encouraging than his major league work. Over the past two years, he has stepped to the plate 536 times at the Triple-A level with 30 home runs. His 7.5% walk rate and 23.7% strikeout rate were still not amazing but much better than his big league work. His .285/.349/.538 line in that sample translates to a 130 wRC+.
Being out of options will make it challenging for him to carve out a lengthy amount of big league playing time. But if he gets a chance and runs with it, he can be affordably controlled for years to come. His service time clock is at one year and 29 days, meaning he is still five years from free agency and two years from qualifying for arbitration.
Soriano, 27 in March, has never pitched for Baltimore. He spent his entire career with the Marlins until the Orioles grabbed him off waivers in early November. Over the past three years, he tossed 118 innings for Miami, allowing 5.95 earned runs per nine. He struck out 22% of batters faced and gave out walks at a 10.3% clip.
Like Noel, Soriano exhausted his final option season in 2025 and got pushed to the waiver wire. As mentioned, the O’s like to make claims and then try to pass guys through waivers later to keep them as non-roster depth. Soriano flashed some intriguing potential in Triple-A last year, tossing 42 2/3 innings with a 2.32 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 55.7% ground ball rate.
His service time clock is at 1.095, so he also has years of potential cheap control. That could entice another club to acquire him but the O’s would surely be happy if they can get him through waivers and hang onto him in a non-roster capacity.
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Players In DFA Limbo
When a team designates a player for assignment, he is removed from that club’s 40-man roster. The team then has a period of time with some ability to impact what is next for that player. This is colloquially referred to as “DFA limbo”.
The team can trade the player to another club, unless the trade deadline has passed and the new offseason has not yet begun. The team can also place the player on outright or release waivers. This limbo period can last as long as seven days. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the team has a maximum of five days to work out a trade.
Or at least that’s the case for most of the year. It’s different around the holidays, with several instances in recent years of players being in DFA limbo for longer than two weeks. For instance, catcher Sam Huff was designated for assignment by the Rangers on December 23rd of 2024. He stayed in DFA limbo until he was claimed off waivers by the Giants on January 8th of 2025, 16 days later.
There has never been an official announcement made about what the rules are but it’s clear there’s some sort of freeze on the DFA clock around the holidays in late December and early January.
In this morning’s edition of The Opener, MLBTR mentioned two players who had been designated for assignment on December 17th, expecting those situations to be resolved today. There have been no updates as of the publication of this post. It’s possible the situations have been resolved but just haven’t been reported publicly because of media/communications people taking time off for the holidays. It’s also possible that those players have had their DFA clocks frozen and will remain in limbo into January.
Below is a list of players who have been designated for assignment in the past week without resolution, listed chronologically.
December 17th
- The Guardians designated outfielder Jhonkensy Noel for assignment when they acquired left-hander Justin Bruihl from the Blue Jays.
- The Giants designated outfielder Joey Wiemer for assignment when they signed right-hander Jason Foley.
December 19th
- The Orioles designated left-hander Josh Walker for assignment when they acquired right-hander Shane Baz from the Rays.
- The Giants designated outfielder Wade Meckler for assignment when they signed right-hander Adrian Houser.
- The Pirates designated outfielder Marco Luciano and infielder Tsung-Che Cheng for assignment to complete their three-team trade with the Astros and Rays.
December 20th
- The Tigers designated outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy for assignment when they re-signed right-hander Kyle Finnegan.
- The Guardians designated left-hander Justin Bruihl for assignment when they signed right-hander Shawn Armstrong.
December 22nd
- The Athletics designated left-hander Ken Waldichuk for assignment when they acquired Jeff McNeil from the Mets.
December 23rd
- The White Sox designated left-hander Ryan Rolison for assignment when they signed fellow lefty Sean Newcomb.
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Rockies Retain Several Coaches
The Rockies announced a few coaching decisions this week. Third base coach Andy Gonzalez and assistant hitting coach Jordan Pacheco will return in their prior roles. Ron Gideon, who previously served as first base and outfield coach, transitions to a newly-created role of assistant bench coach.
The decisions provide a small amount of continuity for a club that has otherwise overhauled quite a bit. The Rockies have been losing a lot in recent years, which prompted them to fire manager Bud Black in May. He was replaced by third base coach Warren Schaeffer on an interim basis. Gonzalez then moved from his assistant hitting coach role to Schaeffer’s previous gig as third base coach. Pacheco began the season as hitting coach for Triple-A Albuquerque but was brought up to the big league squad as an assistant hitting coach at that time.
Once the season was over, the club parted ways with general manager Bill Schmidt. With the vacuum of the top of the front office, everything else was on hold. The new front office leader would eventually have some say in whether or not Schaeffer would be back. The coaching decisions would also have to wait until there was clarity on the front office and managerial situations.
In early November, Paul DePodesta was hired as Colorado’s new front office leader, with the title of president of baseball operations. Later that month, the club announced that Schaeffer would indeed continue as skipper.
In the past two-plus weeks, Schaeffer has been filling out his staff with new faces. Alon Leichman will be the pitching coach, Gabe Ribas assistant pitching coach, Matt Buschmann bullpen coach, Brett Pill hitting coach and Jeff Pickler bench coach.
This week’s hirings mean that at least a few familiar faces are returning. However, as mentioned, Gonzalez and Pacheco both got their current titles in May as part of the shake-up when Black was fired. With Gideon now changing roles, it means each job has been rolled over in some way in the past eight months.
Gonzalez has been with the Rockies for 11 seasons, spending much of that time in the minors. He became assistant hitting coach with the big league club in the 2022 season. As mentioned, he changed roles before completing his fourth campaign with that title. He played in the majors from 2007 to 2009, with the White Sox, Cleveland and the Marlins.
Pacheco played in the majors from 2011 to 2016, spending a lot of that time with the Rockies, plus stints with the Diamondbacks and Reds. Colorado brought him aboard as a minor league hitting coach in 2022.
Gideon has been with the Rockies for 30 years, mostly in the minors, spending the last nine seasons on the big league staff. He had been the first base coach since the 2019 campaign. His role change means that the Rockies still have one vacancy. They will have to find a first base coach at some point before the season ramps up.
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Reds To Sign Michael Chavis To Minor League Deal
The Reds and infielder Michael Chavis have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The CAA Sports client also receives an invite to big league camp in spring training.
Chavis, 30, returns to North America after a brief stint overseas. He signed with the Chunichi Dragons of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball in July. However, he hit just .171/.267/.352 in 38 games for the Dragons.
The Reds have overlooked that small-sample disappointment and brought him aboard via a non-roster pact. Chavis was once a notable prospect, getting selected by the Red Sox in the first round of the 2014 draft. He had a breakout season in 2017 when he launched 31 home runs in the minors. Baseball America ranked him as the #85 prospect in the league going into the 2018 season.
He made a major league debut with a bit of a splash in 2019, hitting 18 home runs in just 382 plate appearances, but with some asterisks. That was the juiced-ball season, so Chavis was one of 151 players to reach the 18-homer mark that year. He also struck out in 33.2% of his plate appearances.
The strikeouts would continue to be a problem and bumped his stock down. In the coming years, he would bounce from Boston to Pittsburgh and Washington while continuing to whiff. He currently has 1,186 big league plate appearances on his statsheet with a 31.9% strikeout rate in those. His 5.4% walk rate is also subpar. Despite launching 42 home runs, his .238/.283/.401 batting line translates to an 80 wRC+, indicating he’s been 20% below average overall.
For the Reds, there’s no real harm in bringing him aboard via a minor league deal. For what it’s worth, his minor league production has been more viable. Dating back to the start of 2024, he has 740 Triple-A plate appearances, only striking out 22.3% of the time. He slashed .270/.339/.483 in that sample for a 103 wRC.
He can also provide plenty of defensive flexibility. He has big league experience at the three non-shortstop infield positions as well as the outfield corners.
The Reds have a lot of moving parts in their position player mix. Matt McLain could be the second baseman but he missed all of 2024 while injured and then had poor offensive results in 2025. Sal Stewart has second base experience in the minors but the Reds utilized him at first and third in the big leagues. Though he performed well down the stretch, he still has just 58 big league plate appearances. The hot corner should be locked down by Ke’Bryan Hayes after he was acquired at the deadline in 2025. If Stewart takes over at first, that could push Spencer Steer to the grass, the same way that Gavin Lux and Noelvi Marté have been largely pushed from the infield to the outfield. Steer, Lux and Marté were all around league average at the plate in 2025. Christian Encarnacion-Strand is also in the corner infield mix but is coming off two straight challenging seasons.
Chavis gives Cincy a bit of experience depth behind that group and can step in if there are openings due to injuries or underperformance. Chavis still has an option remaining, meaning he could be easily sent back to the minors if he gets a 40-man spot at some point.
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Owen White Signs With KBO’s Hanwha Eagles
The Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization announced that they have signed right-hander Owen White. The Wasserman client will make $1MM in the form of a $200K signing bonus and a salary of $800K. Hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net for relaying the news, translated into English.
White, now 26, was a notable prospect a couple of years ago. The Rangers drafted him 55th overall in 2018 but his professional debut wouldn’t come until a few years later. He missed 2019 due to Tommy John surgery and then the Covid-19 pandemic wiped out the minor leagues in 2020.
Once he was back in action, he hit the mound running. Between 2021 and 2022, he tossed 115 2/3 innings in the minors, allowing 3.42 earned runs per nine. His 7.5% walk rate was strong and his 34.1% strikeout rate excellent.
The Rangers gave him a 40-man spot in the 2022-23 offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. Going into the 2023 campaign, Baseball America ranked White as the #59 prospect in the league.
Since then, however, White has hit a number of speed bumps. He got shelled in his first major league appearances and his results also backed up in the minors. He tossed 207 2/3 innings for the Triple-A Round Rock Express over 2023 and 2024 with a 4.90 ERA. The Express play in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but White’s 18.3% strikeout rate and 11.3% walk rate were both poor figures.
That performance pushed White to the fringe of the Texas roster. He was designated for assignment in December 2024. His past prospect status still attracted a number of teams. Prior to the 2025 season, he went to the Reds, Yankees and White Sox via small deals or waiver claims.
He spent 2025 with the Sox but was mostly kept on optional assignment. He threw only seven big league innings, allowing seven earned runs. Combined with his brief MLB appearances with the Rangers, he now has an unfortunate 12.86 ERA in 14 total innings in the majors.
He also tossed 81 Triple-A innings in Chicago’s system. His 4.44 ERA wasn’t awful and he got grounders on 46.7% of balls in play but his 18.8% strikeout rate and 12.4% walk rate were subpar.
He exhausted his final option season in 2025, meaning he will be out of options going forward, making it harder for him to cling to a roster spot. The Sox passed him through waivers unclaimed in October and he became a minor league free agent shortly thereafter.
If White had stayed in North America, he surely would have been limited to minor league deals. Even if he earned a roster spot with some club in 2026, his salary likely would have been near the $780K league minimum. By heading overseas, he gets a bigger guarantee and an opportunity to showcase himself on a notable stage.
It has become quite common for pitchers to reinvent themselves in Asia and return to North America for big paydays. This offseason alone has seen Cody Ponce, Anthony Kay, Drew Anderson, Foster Griffin and Ryan Weiss get deals with MLB clubs after pitching in Japan or South Korea in 2025. They all got at least a $2.6MM guarantee with Ponce getting all the way up to $30MM. White is still quite young and could go down this path if he’s able to find a new gear with the Eagles.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images