Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Latest On Teoscar Hernandez
The thinking that Teoscar Hernandez would sign early in the offseason or in the immediate aftermath of Juan Soto’s decision has not played out as such. The 32-year-old slugger remains unsigned, reportedly juggling interest from at least the Dodgers, Blue Jays, Red Sox and Yankees to this point in the winter. Hernandez and the incumbent Dodgers have been unable to bridge a gap in Hernandez’s asking price and the team’s offer. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com adds further context, reporting that Hernandez is seeking a three-year deal that’ll guarantee him $22-24MM annually.
A three-year deal in $66-72MM range would generally dovetail with expectations. Hernandez’s agent, Rafa Nieves, already stated earlier in the offseason that Hernandez had been seeking three years last offseason when they pivoted and took a one-year deal in Los Angeles. A three-year deal on the heels of the slugger’s rebound campaign in L.A. seemed (and still seems) reasonable, even though he’s now headed into his age-32 season after rejecting a qualifying offer (and thus attaching himself to draft pick compensation). That $22-24MM range would align with last year’s $23MM salary (though some of that was deferred, dinging the net present value a bit).
With Soto off the board, Hernandez and fellow slugger Anthony Santander are the top corner outfield bats on the free agent market. Santander is two years younger but is also reportedly seeking a five-year deal after swatting 44 homers for the Orioles in 2024. Both players rejected QOs. Hernandez is the more affordable of the two but is also older and more strikeout-prone. The presence of Cody Bellinger on the trade market and the recent emergence of the now-traded Kyle Tucker might’ve combined to slow things down for Hernandez’s market, speculatively speaking.
Hernandez turned in a .272/.339/.501 slash with a career-high 33 home runs last season before going on to hit .250/.352/.417 in postseason play. His 28.8% strikeout rate was an improvement over his 31.1% mark from 2023 but still sat about six percentage points higher than league average. His 8.1% walk rate was the second-best of his career but fell right in line with the 8.2% league average. At this point, teams can expect plus power, a below-average walk rate and more strikeouts than they’d prefer from Hernandez. He drew well below-average marks for his defense, but Hernandez has plus speed and above-average arm strength, per Statcast, so a team might think there’s enough raw talent to coax some better performance out of him.
The defensive concerns do make a multi-year reunion with the Dodgers a potentially problematic pairing, however. Hernandez has said he hopes to return — and the Dodgers are clearly open to a reunion. Beating the rest of the market when Hernandez is already 32 and there’s no DH opportunity thanks to the presence of Shohei Ohtani could make a long-term arrangement worrisome for Los Angeles in a way that’s not the case with other Hernandez suitors.
Braves, Jordan Weems Agree To Minor League Deal
The Braves have agreed to a minor league deal with free agent righty Jordan Weems, per MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes. He’ll be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee in spring training. Weems is represented by O’Connell Sports Management.
Weems, who just turned 32, has spent the past three seasons with the Nationals, for whom he’s totaled 136 innings with a 5.03 ERA, 22.9% strikeout rate and 10.8% walk rate out of the bullpen. He’s averaged 96.4 mph on his heater during that time, primarily coupling the pitch with a slider that’s averaged 87.7 mph in that same span. Washington passed Weems through waivers back in August, and he became a free agent following the season, as was his right as an outrighted player with three-plus years of big league service time.
Weems’ most effective season came with the Nats in 2023, when he pitched a career-high 54 2/3 big league innings with a 3.62 ERA and 25.9% strikeout rate. That solid showing was bookended by a pair of rough years with ERAs north of 5.00, however. During his three years with the Nationals organization, he’s also pitched to a 3.27 earned run average in 77 Triple-A frames.
The Braves have clearly been operating on a tight budget this winter, looking to stockpile depth in the outfield and bullpen on low-cost deals. Weems joins Enoli Paredes and Ray Kerr as non-roster invitees who’ve signed in the wake of Joe Jimenez’s knee surgery, which will cost the righty most and possibly all of the 2025 season. (Kerr is recovering from Tommy John surgery and will be out until the summer as well.) Atlanta has also inked outfielder Bryan De La Cruz and righty Connor Gillispie to split (non-guaranteed) major league contracts with low salaries.
At present, RosterResource projects the Braves for a $201MM payroll with just over $217MM of luxury obligations. That places Atlanta about $30MM shy of where it ended the 2024 season in terms of payroll — and nearly $60MM shy of last year’s luxury tax ledger. President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said earlier this month that his club is willing to pay the luxury tax for what would be a third consecutive season, but to this point anyhow, most of Atlanta’s transactions have centered around scaling back spending and compiling affordable depth. That doesn’t preclude an eventual free agent strike of note and/or an impactful trade, but there’s been little to no inkling of such talks for Atlanta so far in the offseason.
D-backs Had Interest In Devin Williams Prior To Yankees Trade
The Diamondbacks are known to be on the lookout for high-leverage options in the bullpen — general manager Mike Hazen has said as much on record — and they spoke to the Brewers about a potential deal for Devin Williams before Milwaukee traded him to the Yankees, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 reports.
On the one hand, it’s entirely unsurprising that a team seeking a leverage arm would throw its hat into the ring with regard to Williams. On the other, it’s at least tangentially notable, given the number of similarly priced late-inning arms on the market. If the Snakes were trying to engage the Brewers on Williams, it stands to reason that Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley, Rays closer Pete Fairbanks and perhaps Houston’s Ryan Pressly are all of varying levels of interest. (At $14MM, Pressly costs significantly more than the other listed options, it should be noted.)
The bullpen market, unlike in many recent offseasons, has been slow to develop this winter. That could be in part due to the presence of names like Williams, Helsley, Fairbanks and Pressly (among others) all potentially being available. To this point, the only signings of note have been Aroldis Chapman (one year, $10.75MM to the Red Sox), Blake Treinen (two years, $22MM back to the Dodgers), Yimi Garcia (two years, $15MM back to the Blue Jays) and Jordan Romano (one year, $8.5MM to the Phillies). None of the market’s top relievers have come off the board, save for righty Clay Holmes, who signed a three-year deal to convert to a starting role with the Mets.
After last week’s Winter Meetings drew to a close, D-backs general manager Mike Hazen told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that both free agent and trade scenarios are still in play. Arizona did not complete any deals at last week’s event, but Hazen expressed confidence that the groundwork for future transactions was laid.
“There’s free-agent situations and trade situations that are both out there for all the areas that we’re looking at,” said Hazen, who is also looking for help at first base. “Trying to find what combinations go together in different ways is part of what we’re discussing right now.”
The top names still on the free agent market include Tanner Scott, Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez. All figure to command multi-year deals, with Scott in particular standing a chance at landing four years. That type of contract length could be an issue for the D-backs. Under Hazen, they’ve never signed a free agent reliever for more than two years and never gone higher than a $7MM annual value (as shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker). The market has plenty of intriguing one-year options as well, though any of David Robertson, Kirby Yates or Kenley Jansen would require pushing well past that $7MM highwater mark.
Brewers Grant Release To Jon Duplantier To Pursue NPB Opportunity
The Brewers have granted right-hander Jon Duplantier his release so that he can pursue an opportunity with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.
Duplantier, 30, inked a minor league deal with Milwaukee back in November and had been slated to compete for a job in spring training. It would seem that the opportunity overseas presented itself between the completion of that deal and today’s news, and the Brewers opted not to stand in the way of Duplantier’s guaranteed payday in NPB.
A former third-round pick and consensus top-100 prospect, Duplantier has only pitched in parts of two big league seasons: 2019 and 2021. Both came with the D-backs, who originally selected him in the 2016 draft. Duplantier held his own through 36 2/3 innings as a rookie in ’19 but was bombarded for 19 runs in only 13 innings in ’21. He’s posted a 6.70 ERA in 49 2/3 innings, striking out 19.7% of opponents against an 11.2% walk rate.
That was quite some time ago now. More recently, Duplantier dominated for the independent American Association’s Lake Country DockHounds in 2024, posting 18 scoreless frames with a 30-to-6 K/BB ratio. He parlayed that into Triple-A looks with the Dodgers and Mets, pitching to a combined 4.20 ERA with a 27.4% strikeout rate and grisly 16.1% walk rate in 65 2/3 innings of minor league work. In parts of four Triple-A seasons, Duplantier has a 4.85 ERA with similar strikeout and walk rates to the ones he notched in 2024.
Twins, Darren McCaughan Agree To Minor League Deal
The Twins and righty Darren McCaughan agreed to a minor league contract earlier this month, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’ll presumably head to big league camp as a non-roster invitee this coming spring.
McCaughan, 28, has spent the vast majority of his career with the Mariners, who selected him in the 12th round of the 2017 draft. He made his big league debut with the 2021 M’s and also pitched briefly for Seattle in 2023. The Mariners traded him to the Marlins for cash back in February, and McCaughan pitched a career-high 42 big league innings between Miami and Cleveland this past season.
In 56 major league innings, McCaughan has been hit hard. He carries a career 6.43 ERA with just a 15.3% strikeout rate. He’s done a fine job limiting walks (8.4%) and has avoided hard contact on a rate basis, but the hard contact he does allow is often of the maximum-damage variety. He’s yielded an average of 2.09 homers per nine innings in the big leagues.
Homers have been an issue for McCaughan throughout his pro career, as one might expect from a soft-tossing righty who averages about 90 mph on his fastball. He’s displayed decent strikeout and walk rates in the upper minors (21.7 K%, 6.4 BB%), but McCaughan has been tagged for 1.60 homers per nine frames even in Triple-A. He posted a 4.73 ERA with a 25.2% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate in 85 2/3 Triple-A frames last year.
What McCaughan can bring is some stability and durability to the Twins’ Triple-A staff. He’s pitched at least 127 innings in all of his pro seasons (and even in his 2017 draft year, if combining his NCAA and minor league innings). McCaughan has somewhat incredibly never gone on the injured list in the minors or in the big leagues.
The Twins have enough starters that McCaughan isn’t likely to crack the roster this spring unless it’s in a long-relief capacity. Minnesota’s rotation includes Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Chris Paddack and Simeon Woods Richardson, although Paddack was widely regarded as a trade candidate even before the extremely player-friendly market for starting pitchers this winter made his $7.5MM salary look all the more affordable. David Festa, Zebby Matthews, Louie Varland, Marco Raya and Travis Adams are on the Twins’ 40-man already, giving them further options ahead of McCaughan.
Yankees Acquire Devin Williams For Nestor Cortes, Caleb Durbin
The Winter Meetings might be done, but the big trades aren’t. The Yankees and Brewers on Friday agreed to a trade sending star closer Devin Williams to New York in exchange for left-hander Nestor Cortes, infield prospect Caleb Durbin and a reported $2MM in cash.
Both Williams and Cortes are entering their final seasons of club control, and both were projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $7.7MM in 2025. Milwaukee will still come out ahead a couple million dollars, which is of some moderate note, as the Brewers are working on an extremely tight budget this winter. Durbin, meanwhile, is a second baseman with experience at the hot corner. He was added to the Yankees’ 40-man roster ahead of the Rule 5 protection deadline and is likely to slot in at second or third base in 2025, with one of Brice Turang or Joey Ortiz moving to shortstop in place of Willy Adames, who signed with the Giants as a free agent.
Williams, 30, is one of the game’s elite relievers. The 2020 National League Rookie of the Year, he boasts a career 1.83 earned run average with 68 saves, 60 holds, a 39.4% strikeout rate and 48.1% ground-ball rate in his big league career. Command has been an issue at times (11.8% walk rate), but Williams’ utterly devastating changeup — nicknamed the “Airbender” — is one of the most dominant pitches in the entire sport. He’s finished off 2299 big league plate appearances with that pitch, during which opponents have posted a comically feeble .139/.223/.200. The pitch boasts a preposterous 23% swinging-strike rate.
Among pitchers with at least 200 innings pitched since 2019, Emmanuel Clase (1.67) is the only pitcher with a better ERA than Williams’ 1.83 mark. No other pitcher is within even 40 points. (Jacob deGrom is next, at 2.24.) In that same time, only Josh Hader and Edwin Diaz have posted higher strikeout rates than Williams’ 39.4%. Only Gerrit Cole has a higher mark in terms of win probability added. Hader is second in WPA among relievers, but his 12.46 mark isn’t close to Williams’ 14.24. Sports Info Solutions credits Williams’ changeup as far and away the most valuable pitch of its type in the majors.
Dominant as Williams has been, he’ll come to the Yankees with some recent injury concerns. A stress fracture in his lower back caused the right-hander to miss the first four months of the 2024 season. Williams wasn’t activated for his 2024 debut until July 28. Once healthy, he generally looked like his dominant self, rattling off 21 2/3 innings with a microscopic 1.25 ERA, a massive 43.2% strikeout rate and an unsightly 12.5% walk rate (that was largely mitigated by his near-unparalleled ability to rack up strikeouts). Of course, the lasting memory for many fans will unfortunately be the backbreaking three-run homer that Williams surrendered to Pete Alonso in Milwaukee’s NLDS loss to the Mets.
Similarly, one of Cortes’ final moments as a Yankee is one he’d like to forget. The left-hander served up a walk-off grand slam to Freddie Freeman in Game 1 of the World Series — the first of four Gibson-esque home runs the hobbled L.A. first baseman swatted en route to World Series MVP honors. As with Williams, there are some notable 2024 health concerns; Cortes gutted his way through a late-season flexor strain to return to the Yankees in the postseason. Cortes was also limited to 12 starts in 2023, thanks to a strain in his rotator cuff. Clearly, both clubs are satisfied with the medical reports on the veterans they’re acquiring.
Cortes, who just turned 30, has been a rock-solid mid-rotation arm when healthy in recent seasons. Dating back to his 2021 breakout with the Yankees, he’s pitched 489 innings with a 3.33 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate and 6.2% walk rate. The ERA is skewed by the 4.97 mark he logged in ’23 when dealing with that shoulder strain, but Cortes has been quite effective in three of the past four seasons.
In 2024, Cortes pitched a career-high 174 1/3 innings while sitting a career-best 92.1 mph with his four-seamer. The lefty fanned 22.8% of his opponents and notched a career-best 5.5% walk rate. If he can deliver anything close to that, the Brewers will surely be thrilled. Adding to the rotation was a significant need for the Brewers this offseason, but they’ve been operating with minimal resources as they try to find creative ways to do so.
Cortes will give Milwaukee an experienced arm to slot in behind Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff (returning from 2023 shoulder surgery), Aaron Civale and diamond-in-the-rough Tobias Myers. The Brewers also have lefties Aaron Ashby and DL Hall as rotation candidates, plus young righties Carlos Rodriguez, Logan Henderson and Chad Patrick on the 40-man roster but likely ticketed for Triple-A.
With a full, healthy season, there’s a chance Cortes is a more valuable pitcher on the whole than Williams. He’s been worth about 10 wins above replacement over the past four seasons, per both Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs (even when accounting for his poor showing in an injury-marred 2023 season). For the Yankees, however, he was no more than sixth or seventh on the depth chart — not with Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt and Marcus Stroman all on the roster.
For the Yankees, the deal is about not only beefing up their bullpen during the regular season but more specifically about bolstering their postseason roster, where Williams would be a focal piece and Cortes would be relegated to a lower-leverage relief role. In that sense, there are some parallels with the 2022 Jordan Montgomery/Harrison Bader swap: ship out a starter who’s not in the playoff rotation in exchange for someone who’ll have greater impact on postseason results. In the end, the trade involves both teams dealing from areas of strength.
The Milwaukee bullpen, after all, was one of the best in baseball last season — even in a year where Williams missed two-thirds of the year. The Brewers’ collective 3.11 bullpen ERA ranked second in the sport, and they were top-10 in terms of FIP (3.78, seventh), walk rate (8.3%, ninth) and K-BB% (15.5, tenth). With Williams out of the picture, they’ll likely look to Trevor Megill (2.72 ERA, 27.3 K%), Joel Payamps (3.05 ERA, 25.1 K%) and Bryan Hudson (1.73 ERA, 26.8 K%) for late-inning work. The previously mentioned Ashby (1.37 ERA, 36.8 K%, 19 1/3 innings) and Hall (3.00 ERA, 26.5 K%, 12 innings) also looked impressive when working as relievers.
The other major piece of the puzzle for the Brewers, of course, is the 24-year-old Durbin. Milwaukee lost Adames to free agency this offseason and has been in search of infield help but with scant money to spend. Durbin could slot in at second or third base, with one of Ortiz or Turang sliding over to shortstop. He could also simply give the Brewers a versatile utility option with intriguing contact skills and speed.
Durbin, who came to the Yankees from the Braves in exchange for Lucas Luetge, spent the bulk of the 2024 season in Triple-A Scranton Wilkes/Barre. He missed more than two months after being hit by a pitch on the wrist in May, but when he was healthy he was quite impressive. An infielder from the Altuve mold, Durbin is listed at just 5’6″ but nevertheless hit .287/.396/.471 (129 wRC+) with 10 homers and 31 stolen bases in 82 Triple-A games (375 plate appearances). He walked more than he struck out, drawing a free pass in 12.5% of his plate appearances versus a 9.9% strikeout rate.
With Durbin having missed a notable chunk of the season, the Yankees sent him to the Arizona Fall League to pick up some extra reps. He thrived there, hitting .312/.427/.548 with another five home runs and an AFL-record 29 stolen bases in 24 games (117 plate appearances). As he did in Triple-A, Durbin recorded more walks (17) than strikeouts (six).
Durbin has yet to take a single big league plate appearance, but the success he’s had in Triple-A and in the Arizona Fall League — coupled with the Brewers’ needs in the infield — give him a legitimate chance to break camp with the club. He might need to earn his way into a starting gig this spring, and his ultimate role will depend on any subsequent moves the Brewers make, but he’s very clearly an option to help the club in 2025. As it stands, he’s controllable through at least the 2030 season.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Yankees and Brewers were finalizing a Williams trade. Will Sammon of The Athletic reported that the deal was in place. Robert Murray of FanSided first reported that Cortes was in the deal. Durbin’s inclusion was first reported by Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reported that there was cash in the deal, and Nightengale chimed in with the exact amount.
Blue Jays, Eric Lauer Agree To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays agreed to a minor league deal with left-hander Eric Lauer, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The CAA client will be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet adds that if Lauer makes the big league roster, he would earn a $2.2MM base salary with additional incentives based on innings pitched and games started.
Lauer, 29, was a first-round pick by the Padres in 2016 and has had solid seasons both in San Diego and particularly in Milwaukee. The Brewers acquired Lauer and Luis Urias in the 2019 trade sending Trent Grisham and Zach Davies to the Padres. In the first two seasons of his career, Lauer logged a 4.40 ERA in 261 2/3 innings with the Padres. He was hit hard in his 2020 debut for Milwaukee but looked to be on the cusp of a full-fledged breakout with the Brewers in 2021-22.
In 2021, Lauer added a slider to his repertoire midway through the season and went on an absolute tear to close out the year. Over his final 80 2/3 frames, he pitched to a sparkling 2.23 ERA with a 23.6% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate. He came roaring out of the gates with a 2.38 ERA, 27.7% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate in his first 10 starts of the 2022 campaign as well. Lauer hit a rough patch early in the summer and had some uneven results leading up to a season-ending placement on the injured list due to elbow inflammation in September but still ended the year with a solid 3.69 ERA in 158 2/3 innings.
Injury problems persisted for Lauer in 2023. He lost more than two miles per hour off his fastball early in the season, posted a 5.48 ERA through late May and wound up on the injured list for the bulk of the season due to a shoulder impingement. Lauer split the 2024 season between the Triple-A affiliates for the Pirates and Astros before heading overseas to pitch for the Korea Baseball Organization’s Kia Tigers down the stretch. He was hit hard at all three stops, with an ERA approaching or in excess of 5.00 as a member of each team.
It’s been a few years since Lauer looked to be solidifying himself as a high-quality big league starter. He’s dealt with elbow and shoulder injuries along the way and has yet to regain his form. However, on a no-risk non-roster deal, there’s little harm in taking a look at a former first-rounder who had some legitimate big league success prior to a run of poor health. If the Jays can get him back on track, Lauer has 4.111 years of big league service, meaning he’d be controllable for multiple seasons.
Anthony Santander Reportedly Seeking Five-Year Deal
Free agent slugger Anthony Santander is one of the top power bats on the market this winter and has drawn interest from a wide array of suitors, including the Red Sox and Blue Jays. Jon Heyman of the New York Post writes that Santander is also of interest to the Yankees, now that Juan Soto is in Queens, and adds that the longtime Orioles slugger is seeking a five-year contract in free agency.
The switch-hitting Santander is coming off a career year in which he belted a personal-best 44 home runs. He’s heading into his age-30 season and doing so on the heels of a .235/.308/.506 batting line (129 wRC+). Santander doesn’t hit for much average and typically carries a pedestrian (at best) walk rate, but he’s been a consistent source of power for the O’s in recent seasons. Dating back to 2020, the former Rule 5 pick is a .245/.312/.476 hitter with 134 home runs, a 7.8% walk rate and a 20.6% strikeout rate. This past season’s 8.7% walk rate was the best of Santander’s career, while his 19.4% strikeout rate was his second-lowest in a full 162-game season.
Defensively, Santander hasn’t generated particularly strong reviews in recent seasons, but his work in 2024 drew harsher grades than usual. Defensive Runs Saved pegged him at -7, while Statcast’s Outs Above Average was at -2. Santander’s average sprint speed, per Statcast, sat in just the 18th percentile of big league players this past season (26.0 ft/sec). His raw arm strength was better than average, but Statcast still pegged his throwing value as well below average, likely suggesting some inaccurate and/or ill-advised throws.
Historically speaking, there’s some precedent for this skill set — defensively limited, corner-only slugger — still landing a five-year pact. Nick Castellanos comes to mind as the most recent example, having inked a five-year, $100MM deal with the Phillies just three winters ago. That same offseason saw Kyle Schwarber sign for four years and $79MM with the Phils. Prior to that, J.D. Martinez landed a five-year, $110MM deal with the Red Sox to serve as a full-time DH.
Each of Castellanos (140 wRC+), Schwarber (145) and especially Martinez (170) were coming off superior offensive seasons in free agency, however. Of the three, only Castellanos received and rejected a qualifying offer. Neither Schwarber nor Martinez were eligible for qualifying offers when they reached free agency, as both were traded during their respective walk years — Martinez from Detroit to Arizona, and Schwarber from Washington to Boston.
All of those reasons factored into MLBTR’s decision to “only” predict a four-year deal worth $20MM per season for Santander at the outset of free agency. Of course, in the six weeks since our Top 50 Free Agent Rankings were published, the market has proven to be the most aggressive in recent memory. While the position player market hasn’t yet to fully take shape beyond Juan Soto’s expectation-shattering $765MM contract, it’s been a bull market for starting pitching. Whether that will carry over to the offensive side of the market remains unclear, but Santander appears well positioned to cash in.
The Yankees, who were spurned by Soto, have already spent a stunning $218MM on Max Fried and just earlier today acquired Devin Williams from the Brewers. They still have a hole in right field, however, and while Santander wouldn’t make up for all of the lost production from Soto, “Tony Taters” would offer comparable home run power (with lower averages and dramatically lower on-base skills). Similarly, the Blue Jays have been trying to make a splash to upgrade their lineup but came up empty in their Soto bid. The Red Sox don’t need another corner bat at the moment, but if they deal from their stock of outfielders to acquire additional starting pitching, that calculus could change. Other teams seeking middle-of-the-order bats include the Nationals, Tigers and Dodgers, among others.
Santander’s market is in many ways linked to that of Teoscar Hernandez, a similarly powered-up bat with defensive questions and a rejected qualifying offer hanging over his head. Hernandez is two years older and thus seems likely to sign a shorter deal, but he could still land three or perhaps even four years if the market is strong enough.
Pirates Exploring Corner Outfield, Bullpen Markets
The Pirates checked an item off their offseason to-do list when they acquired Spencer Horwitz in hopes that he can serve as a long-term option at first base. They’re still not done hunting for bats, however, as Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports within a broad-reaching piece on several Winter Meetings takeaways that the team is looking for a corner outfielder, with a likely preference to operate on the trade market. The Bucs will also likely be in the market for a low-cost reliever or two, Hiles adds.
Corner outfield help isn’t a new need for the Pirates. They sought to address the issue with their deadline acquisition of Bryan De La Cruz from the Marlins, but he turned in a disastrous .200/.220/.294 slash in 44 games with Pittsburgh following the trade. The Pirates chose not to double down on an acquisition they’d come to regret, non-tendering De La Cruz rather than paying him a projected $4MM salary in arbitration (courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz).
With De La Cruz now on the open market, the Pirates’ outfield alignment includes Bryan Reynolds in left and converted shortstop Oneil Cruz in center field. Right field options include Joshua Palacios, Billy Cook and Jack Suwinski, the latter of whom looked to have broken out as a key bat for the Pirates in 2023 before struggling through a disastrous 2024 season (.182/.264/.324 in 277 plate appearances). There’s been some talk of Reynolds logging some reps at first base (link via Alex Stumpf of MLB.com), but the Horwitz trade pretty clearly indicates that’s at best a backup plan for the time being.
Cruz will be getting the lion’s share of reps in center field. Reynolds can technically play either corner, though his once-premium range has eroded substantially. Reynolds still posted better-than-average sprint speed in 2024, per Statcast, but his reaction times and jumps in the outfield graded quite poorly. As recently as 2021, Statcast credited Reynolds with 98th-percentile range in the outfield; in 2024, he was at the very bottom of the league, in the first percentile. His arm strength on his outfield throws actually ticked back up after a down year in 2023, but he’ll need to make some adjustments regardless of which corner he roams (though it’ll presumably be left, based on recent usage).
There are a handful of known and obvious corner outfield trade candidates on the market. Pittsburgh was never going to pony up for Kyle Tucker, who just went to the Cubs, as ownership wouldn’t be willing to spend the necessary money to keep him long term. But names like Taylor Ward (a deadline target for the Bucs), Wilyer Abreu, Jake McCarthy, Alek Thomas and Mike Yastrzemski have all been bandied about the rumor mill this offseason. The Pirates will surely look into some potential under-the-radar options as well. Budget-strapped teams with some outfield depth (e.g. Twins or, if they’re comfortable dealing within the division, Brewers) could make intriguing partners, as could a team like the Orioles, with plenty of interesting young hitters but less supply in terms of quality young starting pitching.
Of course, if trade efforts fall flat, the free agent market does have some affordable names. Max Kepler, Alex Verdugo, Jesse Winker and Austin Hays are among the interesting and affordable free agents who could fit even a small-payroll club like Pittsburgh.
On the bullpen front, there’s little use speculating on specific targets, given the sheer volume of possibilities. Hiles cautions against the chances of another relatively significant splash like the one the Bucs made when signing Aroldis Chapman last year, instead positing that the Pirates will be shopping at far lower rates. Typically, the best way to find bargain options is to wait out the market and see who’s left without a seat when the musical chairs stop in February. The Pirates could also try to convince a potential trade partner to include some pre-arbitration bullpen help in any deal netting them an outfielder.
The Pirates currently project for a payroll of about $74.5MM, per RosterResource. That does not include an expected reunion with designated hitter Andrew McCutchen. Pittsburgh finished the 2024 season with a roughly $87MM payroll and peaked with a franchise-record $100MM outlay back in 2016.
