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Latest On Dylan Cease’s Trade Candidacy

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Few players have found their names in more trade rumors this winter than Dylan Cease. It has been widely expected the White Sox would move him. He’s down to his final two years of arbitration control and first-year GM Chris Getz has expressed a willingness to reshape the roster.

At the same time, Getz and his front office have set a high goal in trade discussions. Reports have suggested they’re seeking a return built around multiple top prospects. Teams like the Reds, Yankees, Dodgers and Braves were involved in Cease discussions but have pivoted to other free agent/trade targets after balking at Chicago’s ask.

Cease remains with the Sox less than a month from the opening of Spring Training. That has led to increasing speculation that Chicago could hold him into the season. One rival executive cast doubt on a Cease trade to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com yesterday, suggesting the White Sox aren’t showing any interest in backing off their asking price.

That’s a sentiment echoed by a few other reports. ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted this morning that a pair of executives outside the organization believe Chicago will hold Cease until the deadline. Robert Murray of FanSided writes that the Sox don’t appear close to any deal, while Jon Heyman of the New York Post suggests there’s a “growing belief” within the industry that Cease stays in Chicago until the summer.

None of that is a guarantee Cease won’t move in the coming weeks. There’s nothing to suggest the White Sox plan to cut off trade dialogue even as they hold firm to a lofty ask. Chicago believed they’d have increased leverage in talks once Yoshinobu Yamamoto came off the board. Yamamoto’s signing didn’t spur a deal, but it’s possible they’re taking a similar stance with regards to Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery.

The Orioles, Red Sox and Mets have, to varying degrees, been linked to Cease this offseason. The Angels, Padres and Pirates haven’t been directly tied to the righty but are generally known to be looking for starting pitching. Baltimore has perhaps been the subject of the most speculation, a reflection of their loaded minor league pipeline and the benefit of adding a high-octane arm to last year’s 101-win club. Heyman reports that the O’s are reluctant to part with 24-year-old infielder Jordan Westburg, in whom the Sox are apparently showing interest. The former first-round pick hit .260/.311/.404 through his first 68 MLB games and has six years of club control.

Cease agreed to an $8MM salary for his second-to-last season of arbitration. He’s looking to rebound from a somewhat disappointing 2023 campaign in which he posted a 4.58 ERA over 177 innings. Cease still throws exceptionally hard and punched out 27.3% of opposing hitters a year ago. If the Sox do hold him into next season, he has the upside to be the most in-demand starter at the deadline.

José Berríos, Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle have all returned multiple highly-regarded prospects in summer deals with a year and a half of control. Yet the Sox would also assume the risk of Cease suffering an injury or regression if they hold him for another few months.

It’s the biggest decision for Getz in his first offseason leading baseball operations. He pulled the trigger on a deal sending reliever Aaron Bummer to the Braves for a five-player return at the start of the offseason. Getz and his staff have otherwise slow-played things thus far, supplementing the roster on the margins with fairly low-cost free agent pickups (i.e. Erick Fedde, Martín Maldonado, Chris Flexen, Tim Hill, Paul DeJong).

Dylan Cease Rumors: Dodgers, Busch, Orioles, Yankees

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Considering the Dodgers’ need for pitching, it isn’t surprising that L.A. was linked to White Sox righty Dylan Cease in trade rumors on multiple occasions this winter.  There hasn’t been much in the way of new reporting on the Dodgers’ interest in Cease for over a month, however, and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes that a trade may be less likely because the Dodgers have since fortified their rotation with other arms.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s twelve-year, $325MM contract was the big free agent strike, and Los Angeles swung a big trade with the Rays to land Tyler Glasnow and outfielder Manuel Margot.  Yamamoto, Glasnow, and Walker Buehler now project as the top three starters in the L.A. rotation, with Bobby Miller as the fourth, and a collection of candidates (Ryan Yarbrough, Emmet Sheehan, Gavin Stone, Michael Grove) battling for the fifth starter job.  Dustin May is expected to make a midseason return from elbow surgery, and a reunion with Clayton Kershaw remains a possibility even if Kershaw will also be sidelined until around the middle of the year as he recovers from shoulder surgery.

There’s still some room here for the Dodgers to further solidify things beyond a potential new contract with Kershaw, so a Cease trade can’t be entirely ruled out, even if may be less likely.  It’s safe to assume that the Dodgers will continue to monitor the market for any bigger-name possibilities, yet Rosenthal writes that Los Angeles might now be “looking for future value” in any further trades, such as Thursday’s swap with the Cubs that saw the Dodgers acquire two teenage prospects in exchange for Michael Busch and Yency Almonte.

In one particularly novel scenario, Rosenthal reports that the Dodgers even considered acquiring Cease from the White Sox and then flipping him to a third team.  The specifics of this arrangement aren’t clear, yet it would’ve been a fascinating way for both the Dodgers and White Sox to obtain some high-level young talent for Cease, in a mix-and-match of prospects each team might’ve had their eye on in the Dodgers’ organization or within the pipeline of whoever the third club involved might’ve been.

Busch was also part of some of the Dodgers’ offers for Cease, Rosenthal writes, so the young infielder might’ve found himself on the south side of Chicago rather than landing in Wrigleyville.  Without knowing what the rest of this trade package to the White Sox might have included, it makes sense why the Sox might have not been too enthralled with Busch as a key piece.  While Busch has been crushing minor league pitching, his defense is considered a weak point — if first base ends up being his ultimate position, the White Sox already have Andrew Vaughn in place.

It isn’t any secret that the White Sox have put a very high price tag on Cease, so while Busch is a top-100 type of prospect, the Sox might’ve viewed him as a secondary or even tertiary piece in an acceptable trade package.  Several highly-regarded prospects have been reportedly on Chicago’s radar in trade talks, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale adds Yankees pitching prospect Chase Hampton and Orioles outfielders Heston Kjerstad and Colton Cowser to the list of young players drawing interest from the Southsiders.

Since the Yankees just signed Marcus Stroman this week, they could perhaps be out on Cease, since naturally New York isn’t keen on the idea of moving Hampton or slugger Spencer Jones, who is also reportedly of interest to the White Sox in a Cease trade.  Considering how the Yankees already dealt a lot of their younger pitching depth to the Padres to obtain Juan Soto, moving Hampton in particular might be something of a non-starter.

Kjerstad (the second overall pick of the 2020 draft) and Cowser (fifth overall in 2021) are two of the many up-and-comers in Baltimore’s loaded farm system, and both players made their Major League debuts this past season, though with only 110 combined plate appearances.  The duo might well be lined up as the Orioles’ corner outfielders of the future, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see pending free agent Anthony Santander dealt at some point this season if either Kjertsad or Cowser prove themselves capable of being MLB regulars right away.

Of course, it’s not out of the question that the O’s might deal from their deep minor league pipeline at some point this offseason, perhaps to obtain a front-of-the-rotation pitcher like Cease.  Baltimore might be more willing to come closer to Chicago’s asking price due to the sheer number of quality prospects the O’s have on hand, yet considering how many of those youngsters have barely reached the majors or even Triple-A, the Orioles might want more time to evaluate their options before deciding on who might be trade bait.

Orioles Interested In James Paxton

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The Orioles have shown some interest in free agent left-hander James Paxton, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.  Paxton is the latest of many pitchers linked to the O’s on the rumor mill this offseason, largely in the middle tier of the free agent market — as Heyman phrases it, “every starter from Marcus Stroman on down.”

Paxton is theoretically a familiar AL East opponent for the Orioles given his recent time with the Red Sox and Yankees, though Paxton hasn’t actually faced Baltimore since 2019 when he was part of New York’s pitching staff.  This speaks to both a quirk of the schedule and the simple fact that injuries have largely kept the southpaw on the shelf for most of the last four seasons.  After pitching just 21 2/3 innings total from 2020-22, Paxton was healthy enough to toss 96 innings for the Red Sox last year, posting a 4.50 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate, and an eight percent walk rate.

This 2023 work was bookended by two stints on the injured list.  A hamstring strain delayed Paxton’s season debut until May 12, and his last outing came on September 1 before right knee inflammation shut him down for the remainder of the campaign.  It is worth noting that Paxton had a 3.34 ERA over his first 86 1/3 innings and 16 starts, before getting tagged for a 14.90 ERA in 9 2/3 frames in his last three outings.

If the sour ending can be attributed to his knee problem or perhaps just fatigue from his first significant workload in years, Paxton’s 2023 results indicate that he can still find success against big league batters.  Naturally injuries are always going to be a lingering concern for Paxton and he won’t be counted on as an innings-eater, but he could be an interesting fit on a young Orioles team.

Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer, and John Means seem locked in as the top four members of the Orioles rotation, and Paxton would therefore be the primary fifth starter.  In order to preserve Paxton’s health, the O’s could manage his innings and usage by having any of Cole Irvin, Tyler Wells, Bruce Zimmermann, DL Hall, or Jonathan Heasley either take spot starts, or work in some kind of non-“starting” capacity (i.e. as piggyback starters or opener/bulk pitcher combinations) to cover innings.

Signing Paxton wouldn’t necessarily raise the ceiling of the rotation, yet if a frontline ace isn’t available in the Orioles’ price range (whether financially or in trade costs), a relatively smaller outlay for Paxton might at least help raise the floor of what the O’s could expect from their pitching.  It would also leave some flexibility for Baltimore to perhaps pursue another starting option closer to the trade deadline.

Baltimore has seemed unwilling to make a splashy move in the free agent pitching market, as a source tells Heyman that such top available hurlers as Jordan Montgomery or Blake Snell aren’t realistic options on the Orioles’ radar “unless the market collapsed.”  However, the O’s did at least check in on Aaron Nola before he re-signed with the Phillies, and they have reportedly had interest in such trade targets as Dylan Cease and Corbin Burnes.  The team also looked into such upper-tier relievers as Josh Hader, Jordan Hicks, and Robert Stephenson before inking Craig Kimbrel to a one-year, $13MM deal.

Orioles Announce Coaching Staff

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The Orioles announced their 2024 coaching staff this morning. That included three new hires: the previously reported addition of Drew French as pitching coach, Mitch Plassmeyer as assistant pitching coach, and Grant Anders as major league development coach.

Plassmeyer is the brother of left-hander Michael Plassmeyer (who signed a minor league deal with Pittsburgh last week). Mitch Plassmeyer, 28, gets his first look on a big league staff. He had spent the better part of the last two years as a minor league pitching coordinator for the O’s. Before joining the professional ranks, he coached at the University of Missouri. Anders, 27, is also a first-time MLB staffer. He has worked in player development with Baltimore for four seasons.

They join a staff that remains essentially unchanged on the offensive side. Brandon Hyde is back for a sixth year at the helm. Fredi González returns as bench coach. Co-hitting coaches Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller continue to work alongside offensive strategy coach Cody Asche. Tony Mansolino and Anthony Sanders are the base coaches, while Tim Cossins (field coordinator) and José Hernández (major league coach) are also returnees.

French and Plassmeyer join pitching strategy coach Ryan Klimek in the run prevention realm. Prior pitching coach Chris Holt is returning to an overhead organizational role as director of pitching, while former assistant Darren Holmes departed and joined the Cubs as bullpen coach.

Orioles, Anthony Santander Avoid Arbitration

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The Orioles have agreed to an $11.7MM deal with Anthony Santander to avoid arbitration, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). The outfielder is a client of Beverly Hills Sports Council.

Santander, 29, is coming off yet another solid season as a potent middle-of-the-order bat with the Orioles. The switch hitter slugged 28 home runs in 2023 while batting .257/.325/.472. That line translated to a wRC+ of 119, indicating he was 19% better than the league average hitter overall. His defense isn’t considered as strong as his offense but his glovework received better grades last year than it did in 2022.

This is his fourth arbitration season, as he was a Super Two player going into 2021. He and the O’s went to a hearing that year, with the club winning and paying him a salary of $2.1MM, as opposed to his filing number of $2.475MM. He then avoided arbitration in each subsequent campaign, earning $3.15MM in 2022 and $7.4MM last year before this year’s bump into eight-figure territory. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a bump to $12.7MM, though Santander will come in a bit below that.

Due to the O’s avoiding notable free agent deals, Santander will remarkably be second on the club in terms of the salary the O’s are paying. Craig Kimbrel is at the top of he list, making a $12MM salary and he has a $1MM buyout on a 2025 option. James McCann is also set to make $12MM this year but the Mets are paying $8MM of that as part of the trade they made with the O’s just over a year ago.

Due to the club’s surplus of outfielders and position players in general, there has been some speculation the O’s would use that to line up a trade for some pitching. There’s still plenty of time for that to happen but nothing significant has happened thus far. That leaves Santander in the corner outfield/designated hitter mix alongside guys like Austin Hays, Ryan Mountcastle, Ryan O’Hearn, Sam Hilliard, Heston Kjerstad, Colton Cowser, Ryan McKenna and Kyle Stowers. Santander is slated to become a free agent after the 2024 season.

Billy Gardner Passes Away

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Former MLB infielder and manager Billy Gardner passed away last week at age 96, according to the Hall of Fame (X link). An obituary is available courtesy of The Day in Gardner’s hometown of New London, Connecticut.

Gardner, who was born in 1927, signed with the then-New York Giants out of high school. He played in their minor league ranks for almost a decade before reaching the majors in 1954. The right-handed hitter played sporadically at the MLB level from 1954-55, appearing in 121 games. He won a ring as a rookie when the Giants swept the Indians in the 1954 Fall Classic, although he didn’t make an appearance in the series. In April ’56, New York sold his contract to the Orioles. Gardner immediately stepped in as Baltimore’s starting second baseman.

He would have his greatest success as a player over the next four seasons. In 1957, Gardner led the American League in plate appearances (718) and doubles (36). While his overall .262/.325/.356 batting line was a little worse than league average, his durability and defensive reputation earned him some down-ballot MVP votes. Gardner continued to play regularly in Baltimore through 1959. The O’s flipped him across town to the Washington Senators in 1960. Gardner tallied 649 plate appearances with a .257/.313/.363 slash.

That wound up being the franchise’s final season in D.C. During the 1960-61 offseason, the organization uprooted to Minnesota and rebranded as the Twins. Gardner was briefly part of the original Twins team and was traded to the Yankees for lefty Danny McDevitt midseason. It proved a fruitful trade for him personally, as he finished the year in the Bronx and collected a second World Series title. He made one appearance in what would ultimately be a five-game triumph over the Reds.

Gardner closed his playing career in Boston after being traded yet again. He finished with a .237/.292/.327 line over parts of 10 MLB seasons. He hit 41 homers and 159 doubles in a bit under 3900 trips to the plate. Gardner played more than 8000 innings on defense, with the vast majority of that time coming at the keystone.

The end of his playing days didn’t mark the finale of his baseball career. Gardner transitioned to coaching with the Red Sox after his playing career concluded. He worked his way to an MLB staff with the Expos before rejoining the Twins as a coach in 1981.

Within a couple months, he was tabbed as manager to replace Johnny Goryl. Gardner held the managerial role in Minneapolis for parts of five seasons. The team only got to .500 once (an 81-81 record in 1984) and he was dismissed midway through the ’85 campaign. He got one more managerial opportunity, leading the 1987 Royals to a 62-64 mark before being replaced by John Wathan. His teams finished with a 330-417 record (44.2% win percentage).

MLBTR sends our condolences to Gardner’s family, friends and loved ones.

Six Teams Interested In Ryan Brasier

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Free agent reliever Ryan Brasier is drawing interest from at least six different teams, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Jon Heyman of the New York Post.  Goold writes that the Cardinals and Dodgers are involved in the market, while Heyman writes that the Angels, Cubs, Orioles, and Rangers also have interest.

Brasier has already pitched for both Los Angeles teams, as he made his MLB debut with nine innings for the Angels back in 2013 and then seemingly got his career back on track with the Dodgers last season.  The right-hander posted a 6.16 ERA over 83 1/3 innings with the Red Sox in 2021 and in the first two months of the 2022 campaign before he was released, and then signed to a minor league contract by the Dodgers in June.

Secondary metrics (especially in 2022) indicated that Brasier was pitching better than his ERA would indicate, and the turn-around came once he donned Dodger Blue.  L.A. selected Brasier’s contract in late June and he was almost untouchable the rest of the way, posting an 0.70 ERA over 38 2/3 innings out of the Dodgers’ bullpen.  Brasier had a 26.6% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate, and 51.1% grounder rate as a Dodger — all major improvements over his numbers in Boston last year, though Brasier also enjoyed a .183 BABIP in Los Angeles, as opposed to a .344 BABIP with the Red Sox.

As The Athletic’s Chad Jennings explored in August, Brasier started throwing a cutter for the first time in his career and the results were immediate.  Not only did batters hit only .152 against Brasier’s new offering, he noted that “having another pitch to get guys off certain other pitches.  But (while) working on the cutter, some other stuff started to come back.”

The cutter’s effectiveness adds yet another wrinkle to the up-and-down nature of Brasier’s career.  After his cup of coffee with the Angels in 2013, he didn’t return to the majors until 2018, as the righty spent the interim years pitching with the Athletics’ Triple-A team and with the Hiroshima Carp in Japan.  Brasier returned to North America by signing a minors deal with the Red Sox in 2018, and he unexpectedly emerged as a key bullpen weapon for the eventual World Series champions.  Brasier had a 1.60 ERA over 33 2/3 regular-season innings for the Sox that season, plus a 1.04 ERA in 8 2/3 postseason frames.

The remainder of Brasier’s time in Boston was much shakier, as he ended up with a 4.55 ERA over his 209 2/3 career innings in a Red Sox uniform.  As he now enters his age-36 season, however, Brasier again seems like an intriguing relief option given how well he pitched with the Dodgers.  His age and somewhat inconsistent track record could limit him to a one-year contract, yet with so much interest in his market, Brasier might be able to land some type of option for the 2025 season depending on how sold teams are with his late-season performance.

Yankees Interested In Dylan Cease

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The Yankees were connected yesterday to free agent Blake Snell but it appears they are exploring the trade market as well. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Yankees, and the Orioles, have “sincere” interest in Dylan Cease. The O’s were previously connected to Cease and Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reported earlier this week that they “remain engaged” with the White Sox. Rosenthal adds that the Dodgers, Cardinals and Red Sox, all previously reported to have interest in Cease, are possibly still in the mix, with other clubs perhaps involved as well. The Braves and the Reds, who once had interest in Cease, appear to have moved on to other targets with Atlanta trading for Chris Sale and the Reds signing Frankie Montas and Nick Martínez.

Rumors have been flying around Cease all winter but he remains on the White Sox for now. About a month ago, it was reported that the White Sox were “pulling back” on the Cease talks. That wasn’t to take him off the market, but rather that the Sox wanted to wait until Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed to find out if clubs that missed on him would pivot to Cease as a fallback.

With the interest from the Yankees, that would appear to be exactly the case. They were one of the clubs that was heavily connected to Yamamoto before he signed with the Dodgers, leaving the Yanks looking elsewhere. They have considered Snell as well as free agent Jordan Montgomery but are checking in on Cease as well.

For the Yanks, they have Gerrit Cole cemented into the top spot of their rotation but things get less clear after that. Carlos Rodón and Nestor Cortes have the potential to be excellent contributors but both of them struggled badly in 2023, both with injuries and poor performance. Clarke Schmidt will likely be in the mix towards the back of the rotation, but the club subtracted from its depth in the Juan Soto trade, as Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito and Randy Vásquez are all Padres now. Adding another starting pitcher, and having Rodón and Cortes bounce back a bit, would give the club a very strong front four, with Schmidt likely in the five spot and pitchers like Clayton Beeter, Yoendrys Gómez, Luis Gil and Will Warren providing the depth.

Cease would upgrade any rotation in the league, despite a relative down year in 2023. He had a 2.20 earned run average in 2022 but that figure jumped to 4.58 last year, though his underlying numbers paint a less drastic picture. His 2022 success wasn’t likely to be sustainable anyway, given his .260 batting average on balls in play and 82.3% strand rate, both of which are on the lucky side. Those numbers moved to .330 and 69.4% in 2023, pushing some extra runs across. His strikeout and swinging strike rates did tick down slightly but were both still well above average. His 3.10 FIP in 2022 jumped to 3.72 in 2023, suggesting a far less concerning shift, while his SIERA went from 3.48 to 4.10.

Looking at the past three years as a whole evens out some of that luck and paints and an incredibly flattering portrait. He’s made 97 starts since the start of 2021 with a 3.54 ERA and 29.8% strikeout rate. The 10.1% walk rate is on the high side but his 12.6 wins above replacement from FanGraphs in that time puts him eighth among all MLB pitchers.

His appeal goes beyond his skills, as his earning power is still capped by the arbitration system. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Cease for a salary of $8.8MM this year and he will be due a raise in 2025 before reaching free agency.

The Yankees currently have a competitive balance tax figure of $290MM, according to Roster Resource. They are set to pay the tax for a third straight year in 2024, which sets them up for escalating penalties. They are already above the third tier of $277MM and nearing the fourth and final tier of $297MM. That means they are facing a tax rate of 95% on current spending until they go over the last line and then have a 110% rate on spending from there.

Signing a player like Snell or Montgomery would likely require the Yanks to give out a salary of around $25MM or more, with the taxes effectively doubling that. Given that Cease will be making around a third of that salary figure, that would obviously make him more attractive.

But the flip side of that equation is that Cease will also require sending something to the White Sox in return, likely a very significant package of talented young players. The Yanks just sent away a big batch of young pitchers in the Soto deal and may be reluctant to make another sizable dent in their talent pipeline. As for what the Sox would be looking for, Rosenthal says they are “staying open-minded” and “not necessarily inclined to favor a team that could include major-league-ready pitching.”

With the O’s also having “sincere” interest, they might have an edge on the Yankees in terms of having the talent to get a deal done. Despite constantly graduating prospects to the major league level in recent years, they are still considered to have the top farm system in the league by many evaluators. Jackson Holliday is almost certainly untouchable but the club also has guys like Colton Cowser, Coby Mayo, Jordan Westburg, Samuel Basallo, Heston Kjerstad and Joey Ortiz without enough open positions for all of them.

The club has also shown a bias against bold moves, both in the trade market and free agency, which is why they have that loaded farm system and almost no money on the books. If they decide now is the time to strike, Cease would fit nicely into a rotation with lots of talent but limited experience. Kyle Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez are at the top of the rotation for now, after each showed encouraging signs in 2023, but Bradish has less than two full years in the big leagues and Rodriguez less than one. Then there’s John Means, who has hardly pitched in the last two years due to Tommy John surgery, and guys like Dean Kremer and Cole Irvin options for the back end.

As mentioned, clubs like the Dodgers, Cardinals and Red Sox may still be involved and that might not even be the extent of the market. But with Yamamoto off the board, it seems the pitching market is broadly heating up and a Cease trade could happen at any time now.

Orioles Sign Michael Perez, Albert Suarez To Minor League Deals

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The Orioles announced seven minor league deals this afternoon, with catcher Michael Perez and right-hander Albert Suarez standing out as the only two with previous major league experience.

Perez, was a fifth-round pick by the Diamondbacks in the 2011 draft but didn’t make his major league debut until 2018 as a member of the Rays. Perez spent three seasons in Tampa backing up Wilson Ramos and, later, Mike Zunino. Those three seasons saw Perez get into just 84 games total, where he slashed a meager .221/.286/.314 in 228 trips to the plate. That weak performance eventually led the club to designate Perez for assignment as they sought to revamp their catching corps following their AL pennant-winning 2020 season.

Perez then returned to the NL to serve as the backup to Jacob Stallings in Pittsburgh for the 2021 season after being claimed off waivers from the Rays. While Perez appeared in a career-high 70 games for the Pirates in 2021, he only managed an anemic .143/.221/.290 slash line in 231 plate appearances. Despite that weak performance, Perez remained with Pittsburgh to start the 2022 season before eventually being traded to the Mets just before the trade deadline that summer.

The Mets eventually designated Perez for assignment in October before reuniting with him on a minor league deal later in the offseason. Perez then managed to secure a spot on the 40-man roster back in May following the placements of Omar Narvaez and Tomas Nido on the injured list, but the veteran journeyman appeared in just three games for the Mets throughout the year, as he spent most of his 2023 campaign at the Triple-A level. The Mets ultimately outrighted Perez off the roster when the offseason arrived, and he departed for minor league free agency.

Now in Baltimore, Perez figures to act as non-roster depth for the Orioles behind the club’s catching tandem of Adley Rutschman and James McCann alongside fellow minor league signing David Banuelos, who has no major league experience but slashed an impressive .270/.369/.526 at the Double-A level for the Twins last year.

As for Suarez, the 34-year-old right-hander last appeared in the major leagues in 2017 as a member of the Giants. For his career, the righty sports a 4.51 ERA and 4.40 FIP across 115 2/3 innings of work in the majors. Since then, Suarez briefly appeared with the Diamondbacks at the Triple-A level before trying his luck overseas. The righty managed a 3.00 ERA in 162 innings of work in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball before moving on to the Korea Baseball Organization, where he pitched for the Samsung Lions for two years. In that time, Suarez appeared in 49 games for the Lions, 48 of them starts. The righty struck out 19.4% of batters faced while posting a 3.04 ERA in 281 2/3 innings of work for the Lions before ultimately being released to make room for right-hander Taylor Widener back in August.

After half a decade overseas, Suarez is now returning to stateside ball as a member of the Orioles organization, where he figures to serve as non-roster pitching depth who could pitch both out of the rotation or in the bullpen. It’s a role he shares with Tucker Davidson, who the club outrighted to the minor leagues earlier this offseason. Suarez figures to compete alongside the likes of Davidson, Mike Baumann, and Bruce Zimmermann for a role on the big league club this spring.

Managers & Top Front Office Executives On Expiring Contracts

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On paper, a longer contract equals a larger amount of job security.  And yet every year, we seem to be adding a longer list of caveats to this annual post detailing which managers and front office bosses (a GM, president of baseball operations, chief baseball officer, or whatever the title may be) are entering the final guaranteed year of their contracts.

First off, this list is somewhat speculative — some teams don’t publicly announce the terms of employee contracts, nor are details always leaked to reporters.  It is entirely possible some of the names listed have already quietly agreed to new deals, or were already contracted beyond 2024.  Secondly, obviously a contract only carries so much weight if a team drastically underperforms, and if ownership feels a change is needed in the dugout or in the front office.  Or, ownership might still desire a change even if the team is doing well on the field, i.e. the Marlins parting ways with Kim Ng after a wild card berth last season.

Craig Counsell’s five-year, $40MM deal to become the Cubs’ new manager also provides an interesting wrinkle to the managerial market.  With Counsell’s contract setting a new modern benchmark for managerial salaries, some of the more established skippers on this list will surely be looking to match or top Counsell’s deal.  These managers might choose (as Counsell did) to finish the year without signing a new contract and then test the open market, since you never know when a mystery team like the Cubs might swoop in to top the field.

As always, thanks to Cot’s Baseball Contracts for reference information on some of these contract terms.

Angels: The Halos have had eight consecutive losing seasons, including the first three years of Perry Minasian’s stint as general manager.  Minasian now faces the challenge of trying to break this losing streak without Shohei Ohtani on the roster, and even before Ohtani joined the Dodgers, Minasian was clear that the Angels weren’t going to be rebuilding.  This tracks with the overall aggressive nature of owner Arte Moreno, yet this approach has also manifested itself in five non-interim GMs running the Angels since Moreno bought the team in 2003.  As Minasian enters the last year of his contract, it will take at least a winning season to keep Moreno from making yet another front office change.

Athletics: There hasn’t been any word about an extension for general manger David Forst, even though Forst’s last deal purportedly expired after the 2023 season.  It can therefore probably be assumed that Forst inked a new deal at some point, as it has appeared to be business as usual for the longtime Oakland executive this winter (or as “usual” as business can be given the Athletics’ bare-bones rebuild and the unusual nature of the team’s impending move to Las Vegas).  Manager Mark Kotsay would’ve been entering the final guaranteed year of his original deal with the A’s, except the team exercised their club option on Kotsay through the 2025 season.

Braves: Alex Anthopoulos is entering the last season of his three-year extension as Atlanta’s president of baseball operations, and one would imagine that ownership will aim to lock Anthopoulos up to another deal as soon as possible.  The Braves have won six straight NL East titles and the 2021 World Series championship during Anthopoulos’ six seasons with the organization, and look to be contenders for years to come thanks to the core of star players under long-term deals.  Anthopoulos would seemingly be eager to stay in Atlanta for this same reason, though if he did choose to play out the year and test the market, he would undoubtedly command a lot of interest from teams looking for a new chief executive.

Cardinals: For just the third time in the last century, a Cardinals team lost 91 or more games.  This unexpected interruption in the Cards’ run of success has naturally put a lot of heat on Oliver Marmol, who is entering the final season of his three-year contract.  Unsurprisingly, the team had yet to have any extension talks with Marmol as of early December, and it remains to be seen if Marmol will get even one extra year of security.  With such franchise stalwarts as Yadier Molina or Joe McEwing perhaps waiting in the wings as managers of the future, Marmol will surely need a quick start and at least a winning record in 2024 to retain his job.

Guardians: Chris Antonetti’s contract details haven’t been publicly known for more than a decade, yet there isn’t any sense that the longtime executive will be leaving Ohio any time soon.  Antonetti has been part of Cleveland’s front office since 1999, and he has been running the baseball ops department (first as GM and then as president of baseball operations) since 2010.  While the Guardians stumbled to a 76-86 record last year, Antonetti has a long track record of building contending teams on low payrolls, and he’ll now embark on a new era with Stephen Vogt replacing Terry Francona as the Guards’ manager.

Mariners: Another somewhat speculative situation, as while president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and manager Scott Servais signed extensions in September 2021, the exact length of those extensions wasn’t reported.  It is probably fair to assume both men are signed beyond 2024, though Servais’ previous two deals were three-year contracts, and 2024 would be his final guaranteed year if the skipper’s latest contract was also a three-year pact.

Orioles: Baltimore is particularly mum about the details of any employee contracts, as GM Mike Elias’ contract terms have never been publicized since he took over the club in November 2018.  Manager Brandon Hyde has already signed one extension that flew under the radar, and that deal has apparently stretched beyond the 2023 season, as there hasn’t been any suggestion that Hyde won’t return to the AL East champions.  In either case, Elias and Hyde won’t seem to have any worries about job security given how the Orioles won 101 games last year, and might be budding powerhouses for the next decade given the amount of young talent on the roster and in the minor league pipeline.

Pirates: Ben Cherington is entering his fifth season as Pittsburgh’s general manager, and terms of his original deal weren’t reported.  With the Bucs perhaps starting to turn the corner after their long rebuild, there wouldn’t appear to be any reason for ownership to move on from Cherington, if he hasn’t already been quietly signed to a new deal.  The Pirates already extended manager Derek Shelton back in April, in another hint that ownership is satisfied with the team’s direction.

Rays: Kevin Cash’s last extension was a lengthy six-year deal covering the 2019-24 seasons, with a club option for 2025.  It seems like a lock that the Rays will at least exercise that club option and seek out another multi-year deal, and Cash has a good case to argue for a Counsell-esque contract.  Widely considered one of baseball’s best managers, Cash is 739-617 over his nine seasons in Tampa Bay and has led the team to five consecutive postseason berths.

Red Sox: Alex Cora is entering the final year of his contract, and the Red Sox are coming off a pair of last-place finishes in the AL East.  Despite these results, the blame seems to have been placed on now-fired chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, as there hasn’t been much indication that ownership is dissatisfied with Cora’s performance as manager.  Since Cora has hinted that he might like to run a front office himself in the future, it will be interesting to monitor if he might pursue those ambitions as soon as next offseason, or if he might sign a new extension with the Red Sox as manager, or if Cora could perhaps let the season play out and then accept bids from several suitors outside of Boston.

Rockies: In each of the last two Februarys, Bud Black has signed a one-year extension to tack an extra year onto his run as Colorado’s manager.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see Black do the same this spring, as past reports have indicated that Black and the Rockies are working on an unofficial roll-over arrangement with the manager’s contract status.  As loyal as owner Dick Monfort is known to be with his employees, however, one wonders if the Rockies’ 103-loss season in 2023 (or their five straight losing seasons) might lead to questions about Black’s future, even if the team’s roster construction or their boatload of pitching injuries last year can’t be blamed on Black.  For what it’s worth, the terms of GM Bill Schmidt’s deal weren’t publicized when Schmidt was promoted to the full-time position after the 2021 season, though Schmidt isn’t thought to be in any danger of being replaced.

Twins: Chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine are both apparently entering the final year of their contracts, though Minnesota has been known to be somewhat quiet about employee contracts (such as manager Rocco Baldelli’s last extension).  The duo known as “Falvine” have been on the job for seven seasons, with something of an all-or-nothing track record of either losing seasons or playoff berths, and the Twins were on the upswing again with an AL Central title in 2023.  Assuming either exec hasn’t already signed an under-the-radar extension, the Twins would seemingly be eager to retain both Falvey and Levine, though either could explore options elsewhere for at least leverage purposes.  For Levine in particular, he could be looking to lead his own front office, after being a finalist for Boston’s CBO job this fall and previously getting some consideration for front office vacancies with the Rockies and Phillies in recent years.

Yankees: Perhaps no skipper in baseball faces more public pressure than Aaron Boone, given how a lot of Bronx fans were calling for his ouster even before the Yankees missed the playoffs and won only 82 games in 2023.  Boone is entering the last guaranteed year of his contract, and the Yankees have a club option on his services for 2025.  For as much loyalty as owner Hal Steinbrenner and GM Brian Cashman have shown to Boone, it is hard to imagine the manager would be retained if New York doesn’t at least make the postseason again, and another miss could also raise some new questions about Cashman’s status (though his deal runs through the 2026 season).

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