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Dodgers, Dave Roberts Making Progress In Extension Talks

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The Dodgers and longtime manager Dave Roberts are making progress on a new contract, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post. Sherman writes that a deal is expected to be finalized before the team heads to Tokyo next week in preparation for their opening series against the Cubs.

According to Sherman, Roberts is likely to establish a new record for average annual value. That indicates he’ll beat the $8MM salary which Craig Counsell received on his five-year deal with the Cubs last winter. It’s unclear how long Roberts’ next deal will be. He’s currently slated to enter the final season of the three-year extension he signed in March 2022.

A deal has seemed to be a formality for months. The front office has unsurprisingly expressed interest in continuity on the heels of their second World Series within the last five years. Roberts said in early February that negotiations had just gotten underway. He indicated he was hopeful of getting a deal done but added that he wanted “to feel (his) value” on the contract terms. A record-setting deal should do just that.

Roberts has been at the helm in Los Angeles since November 2015. He’s the National League’s longest-tenured active manager. Kevin Cash, who is entering his 11th season in Tampa Bay, narrowly tops him in that regard overall. The Dodgers have made the playoffs in each of Roberts’ nine seasons. Only a 107-win season by the 2021 Giants kept L.A. from winning the NL West every year. Los Angeles had also won the NL West under Don Mattingly in each of the three years preceding Roberts’ hiring.

The 52-year-old Roberts has been fortunate to work with incredible rosters. Still, talent alone doesn’t guarantee success. No other team has made the playoffs in each of the last nine years. Dodger brass was comfortable enough with Roberts’ leadership skills to stick by him despite some criticism about his in-game tactics in the postseason early in his tenure. The veteran skipper adroitly handled a rotation that had been decimated by injury during last year’s World Series run.

Roberts has led the Dodgers to an 851-507 record in the regular season. No other skipper who has managed as many games has bested that 62.7% win percentage. Roberts has helmed the Dodgers to four pennants and a pair of championships. He won the NL Manager of the Year award in 2016.

Athletics Announce Marc Badain As New President

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The Athletics announced that Marc Badain will be the club’s new president, per Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Badain is most notable for having previously been president of the NFL’s Raiders, who moved to Las Vegas in his time in that job. He will replace Dave Kaval, who announced his resignation from the position in December. Sandy Dean was named interim president when Kaval stepped down but will now serve as vice chairman.

“We are excited to welcome Marc to the Athletics,” A’s owner John Fisher said in a statement. “His vast experience, particularly his work on the opening of Allegiant Stadium and overseeing the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas, makes him a great addition to our team at this pivotal moment. His leadership, commitment to the community, and ability to oversee transformative projects will be key as we look to build a strong and successful future in Southern Nevada.”

Badain served as president of the Raiders from 2013 to 2021. At the start of that time frame, the Raiders played their home games in Oakland Coliseum, sharing the facility with the Athletics. Looking for a new stadium, the Raiders started to explore the possibility of moving to Las Vegas in 2015. Those plans gradually became reality and the move was approved in 2017, though the Raiders stayed in Oakland through the end of the 2019 NFL season, moving into their new stadium in Vegas in 2020.

Badain then resigned in 2021. Per a report from Daniel Kaplan and Tashan Reed of The Athletic in October of 2021, Raiders owner Mark Davis said that “accounting irregularities” prompted the resignation. He said the team “overpaid our taxes…we paid more than we owe,” a matter that “may have started in Oakland.” Badain has since been working with the Oak View Group, trying to build a hotel and casino complex with a venue capable of hosting an NBA team.

Controversial finish aside, there are some clear parallels between his Raiders tenure and the current state of the Athletics. The A’s are in a similar position to where the Raiders were a few years ago. The baseball club is planning to play out of a new stadium in Vegas starting with the 2028 season. They failed to work out a deal to stay in Oakland beyond the end of their 2024 lease of the Coliseum, so they are going to play out of Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento for the 2025-27 seasons. That is normally the home of the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the Giants. The A’s and River Cats plan to share the park for the next three years.

The detour to West Sacramento is a notable difference, but the journey of the two franchises is otherwise quite similar. Since Badain has already steered one franchise from the Oakland Coliseum to a new facility in Las Vegas, the A’s seem to be banking on his experience to guide them through the process in the coming years.

“I’m honored to join the Athletics and help guide the team into a new era of success,” Badain said in the news release. “Las Vegas is a city that celebrates innovation and excellence, and I’m excited to work alongside the team, the fans, and the community to create something extraordinary.”

Brewers Sign Jose Quintana

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March 5: The Brewers made it official today, announcing that they have signed Quintana to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2026. DL Hall was placed on the 60-day IL to open a roster spot. Per Jon Heyman of The New York Post, it’s a $2MM salary in 2025 with a deferred $2MM buyout on a $15MM mutual option for 2026 and a $250K roster bonus. The incentives are $125K each for 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24 games started, as well as $100K for 110, 120, 130 and 140 innings pitched.

March 3: The Brewers are making a veteran addition to their rotation. Milwaukee is reportedly in agreement with Jose Quintana on a one-year, $4.25MM deal. That takes the form of a $250K roster bonus and a $4MM base salary for the ACES client. The signing, which has not been made official by the team, also includes incentives. The Brewers have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move once the deal is finalized.

Quintana, 36, is one of the top unsigned free agents as the regular season is just over three weeks away at this point. He just finished a two-year, $26MM deal with the Mets that saw him post solid surface-level results, though with the numbers under the hood a bit less impressive.

In 2023, a left rib fracture put him on the injured list at the start of the season and kept him there until the middle of July. He returned in time to make 13 starts down the stretch, allowing 3.57 earned runs per nine innings, though his strikeout rate fell to 18.8%. Last year, he stayed healthy enough to take the ball 31 times for the Mets and logged 170 1/3 innings with a 3.75 ERA. But his strikeout was again a tepid 18.8% and he benefited from .263 batting average on balls in play. His 4.56 FIP and 4.57 SIERA on the year both pointed to him deserving worse results than he actually posted.

Prior to signing with the Mets, Quintana had engineered a strong bounceback season. After struggling with injuries and underperformance in 2020 and 2021, the lefty posted a 2.93 ERA over 32 starts in 2022. In that bounceback year, he had a 20.2% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and 46.4% ground ball rate. Since then, he has a 3.70 ERA over 246 innings but with his 18.8% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 45.6% ground ball rate each moving slightly in the wrong direction.

Quintana’s isn’t the most exciting profile, but even getting some boring back-of-the-rotation innings could be good for the Brewers, especially for the price. At the start of the winter, MLBTR predicted the lefty to secure a two-year, $20MM contract, alongside other mid-rotation or back-end guys like Frankie Montas, Andrew Heaney or Matthew Boyd.

The pitching market was very aggressive early on, with Montas able to get a two-year, $34MM guarantee plus an opt-out from the Mets. Boyd got two years and $29MM from the Cubs. But the heat died down more recently, which seems to have squeezed out certain guys. Heaney had to settle for a $5.25MM guarantee from the Pirates on a one-year deal. Quintana reportedly turned down a better offer than that Heaney deal from the Bucs but is now joining Milwaukee on a fairly similar arrangement.

The Brewers have clearly been operating with no financial wiggle room this winter. Prior to signing Quintana, their biggest free agent signing was giving a $1MM guarantee to Tyler Alexander. They did add Nestor Cortes in a trade with the Yankees, but that deal was fairly revenue-neutral, with Devin Williams going the other way.

Their rotation mix has a few question marks in it. Robert Gasser required Tommy John surgery in June of last year and will be out of action until the second half of 2025. Brandon Woodruff is working his way back from shoulder surgery which wiped out his 2024 campaign and it’s unclear when he will be a viable option. DL Hall suffered a lat strain a few weeks ago and will start the season on the injured list.

As of now, Freddy Peralta and Cortes have spots alongside Aaron Civale and Tobias Myers. Civale tossed 161 innings last year but that was a personal best for him, having never hit 125 frames in a big league season before. Myers posted an ERA of 3.00 in his first big league action but was a nomadic former prospect prior to that, so it remains to be seen if he can maintain his results or if his 2024 was a fluke.

Other options in the mix include Alexander and Aaron Ashby. Alexander has a 4.55 ERA in his career but mostly in a swing role, oscillating between starting and relieving. This Quintana deal should push him more firmly into that position again. Ashby, who left today’s Spring Training appearance with an oblique injury, has some starting experience but struggled through much of 2024 before finishing strong in a relief role. He is still a starting candidate but he could eventually end up back in the bullpen and also has an option year remaining, which could push him to the Triple-A rotation.

Even if Quintana’s results in 2024 were a bit of a mirage and he ends up with an ERA in the mid-4.00s this year, a steady veteran presence at this price is a logical add for a club with so many rotation question marks and little spending capacity.

For clubs still looking to add starting pitching at this late stage of the offseason, there are still a few unsigned options, including Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn and Spencer Turnbull. The trade market could feature Jordan Montgomery and Taijuan Walker, though their salaries are much larger than what free agents have been settling for in recent weeks.

Robert Murray of FanSided first reported that the Brewers were signing Quintana to a one-year deal. Francys Romero reported that the salary would land in the $4-5MM range and the presence of incentives. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com had the specific $4.25MM guarantee and salary structure.

Orioles, Nationals Announce Resolution Of MASN Dispute

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The Orioles and Nationals announced Monday morning that their yearslong dispute regarding television rights fees from the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) has reached a final resolution.

Per this morning’s press release, MASN and the Nationals have come to terms on a one-year agreement for the team’s 2025 television broadcasts. The Nats are free to explore alternative broadcast opportunities for the 2026 season and beyond. Further, this morning’s announcement plainly lays out that “all disputes related to past media rights between the Nationals, Orioles, and MASN have been resolved, and all litigation will be dismissed.”

The dispute between the two franchises spans nearly two decades, dating back to the network’s establishment in 2005. While MASN is technically co-owned by the Orioles and Nationals, the Baltimore franchise has had the controlling stake in the network since the network was established in 2005.

As part of the then-Expos’ relocation to Washington D.C., the franchise agreed to tie its television rights to the newly created MASN, with the Orioles controlling the majority stake of the network. That split was gradually set to become more balanced over the years, with the O’s currently holding about a three-to-one stake in the network. The arrangement was brokered as compensation for the Expos/Nationals franchise moving into the Orioles’ geographic territory. The two parties have never seen eye to eye on how rights fees should be divided, leading to multiple rounds of litigation over the past decade-plus. Under the relocation agreement, the Nationals have been barred from selling their broadcast rights to another regional network. That’s no longer the case.

That ugly legal battle and the fiscal uncertainty inherently tied to negotiations loomed large over the sale process for both the Nationals and the Orioles. The Angelos family eventually came to terms on a $1.725 billion sale of the Orioles to a group led by Baltimore native and billionaire David Rubenstein anyhow. The Lerner family, who own the Nationals, explored a sale of the team for more than a year but never came to terms with a potential buyer. Uncertainty regarding the team’s broadcast future was reportedly an impediment in the Lerner family’s sale efforts — understandably so.

The MASN saga has been a constant subplot for both franchises for the better part of two decades. There have been legal battles throughout. The first seven years saw the Nats’ television rights locked in at a fixed rate that they’ve since called heavily favorable to the Orioles. Subsequent rights fees were to be brokered between the two parties in five-year periods. None has proceeded smoothly.

The 2012-16  period was still wrapped up in litigation as recently as 2023. An arbitration panel ruled in favor of the Nationals as they sought unpaid rights fees for those seasons, but various waves of negotiations and an eventual elevation of the case to the New York Court of Appeals continually delayed the process. The two teams also went to court over rights distributions for the 2017-21 seasons. As of this January, the Nats had filed a motion with the Supreme Court of New York asking that the court confirm a ruling from MLB’s Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee that the Orioles owed an additional $320MM in fees for the 2022-26 seasons. In essence, the two teams have been in a standstill over the exact amount of television rights to be paid out for more than a decade.

Today’s announcement serves as a watershed moment for both organizations, as messy and near-interminable legal proceedings will no longer be required to continue in perpetuity. Both will have more direct control over their payroll and more understanding of their long-term financial security. Arguments as to whether the MASN arrangement was “fair” to either party or as to which side ultimately came away in the more favorable position will persist among onlookers — particularly as further details surrounding this resolution come to light — but the end result will be greater autonomy over broadcast revenues for both parties moving forward.

Luis Gil To Be Shut Down For At Least Six Weeks Due To Lat Strain

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Yankees manager Aaron Boone informed reporters, including Greg Joyce of The New York Post, that right-hander Luis Gil has a high-grade lat strain. Gil will be shut down from throwing for at least six weeks. Even if he is declared healthy at that point, he would effectively have to restart his spring ramp-up period, so he’s likely out until late May or early June even in a best-case scenario.

It was reported last week that Gil had experienced some shoulder tightness during a bullpen session and would be going for an MRI. It seems that a significant strain was detected which will impact the start of his 2025 season. Bryan Hoch of MLB.com relayed over a minute of Boone’s comments, during which the skipper said there are still some further examinations to be done which could reveal more info but that the six-week no-throw is confirmed.

It’s obviously a frustrating development for both Gil and the Yankees. The young pitcher just won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 2024. He tossed 151 2/3 innings over 29 starts, allowing 3.50 earned runs per nine. His 12.1% walk rate was on the high side but his 26.8% strikeout rate was quite strong.

That excellent season came on the heels of a lengthy injury absence. Gil had a brief major league debut in 2021 before Tommy John surgery wiped out most of his 2022 and 2023 seasons. He returned and posted his aforementioned excellent results last year but now his health is now going to be at the forefront again.

The Yankees will now have to adjust their rotation plans, though the good news is that the solution should be pretty simple. The Yanks made a massive $218MM investment in Max Fried this offseason, which seemed to give them a rotation surplus. The club had an on-paper group of Fried, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt and Gil. That seemingly left Marcus Stroman on the outside looking in and the club reportedly tried to find ways to trade Stroman and the remainder of his contract.

No deal came together, so Stroman reported to camp and has been getting stretched out as a starter. With Gil now set to be on the shelf for a significant time, Stroman should be able to step into a rotation spot without issue.

Perhaps the rotation will again be crowded a few months from now if Gil is able to get healthy, though it’s also possible that other injuries will change the situation between now and then. Though the Yanks are still slated to go into the season with a strong front five, the depth has been thinned out a bit this spring. In addition to losing Gil, prospect Chase Hampton required Tommy John surgery. JT Brubaker, who projected to be a long reliever in the bullpen, suffered three fractured ribs trying to evade a comebacker and has an uncertain timeline.

Behind the rotation of Cole, Fried, Rodón, Schmidt and Stroman, perhaps the out-of-options Yoendrys Gómez can make the Opening Day Roster in the long relief role. Will Warren and Brent Headrick are on the roster and have options, perhaps meaning they will be in the Triple-A rotation. Carlos Carrasco is in camp as some veteran non-roster depth.

Espada: Astros Plan For Altuve To Spend “Majority” Of Time In Left Field

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The concept of Jose Altuve moving from second base to left field first emerged when the Astros reengaged with Alex Bregman late in the offseason. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported at the time that there were talks of re-signing Bregman, sliding Isaac Paredes from third base to second base and shifting Altuve to the outfield. Many initially took that with a heavy dose of skepticism; Altuve, after all, has played all of six major league innings at a position other than second base — and they were all at shortstop.

As Houston brass continued to paint a Bregman reunion as a long shot, however, they kept getting Altuve work in left field. Both manager Joe Espada and GM Dana Brown spoke about wanting to get some looks at Altuve in left and wanting to reduce Yordan Alvarez’s time on the outfield grass. Even when Bregman signed in Boston, the Altuve/left field experiment continued to progress.

The position change seems less like an experiment and more like a reality by the day, and Espada’s latest comments only further that shift. Speaking to the Astros beat this morning, Espada left open the door for Altuve to get some playing time at second base but also suggested it will no longer be his primary position (via Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle).

“Right now, the plan is for [Altuve] to play the majority of his games in left field,” Espada stated. “The days that he plays second base opens the door for [Alvarez] maybe getting a start in left field, someone getting a DH day. So this move allows us to be creative and do stuff like that.”

Espada added that frequently shuttling Altuve back-and-forth between the two positions “is something that I am going to avoid.” The second-year manager stopped short of outright proclaiming Altuve the Astros’ new everyday left fielder, but it certainly seems things are trending in that direction.

Altuve is a former Gold Glove winner at second base, but his defense has declined considerably as he’s entered his mid-30s. Defensive Runs Saved has pegged him at -13 or worse in each of the past three seasons. Statcast’s Outs Above Average isn’t as down on Altuve’s glovework during that three-year period but does agree he’s been a negative since 2023, including a particularly rough -8 mark in 2024.

That’s problematic in and of itself, but it’s particularly egregious when Houston has one of the best second base defenders in the sport (statistically speaking) on its roster already. Mauricio Dubon hasn’t even logged a full season’s worth of second base innings in his career, but in 1154 frames at the position he’s been credited with 12 DRS and 8 OAA. The Astros also inked longtime Rockies second baseman Brendan Rodgers, another plus defender at second base, to a minor league deal and invited him to camp.

At the very least, when ground-ball pitchers like Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown are starting games — Valdez is the top ground-ball starter in the sport over the past three seasons — it makes sense to have a superior defender in there. Either Dubon or Rodgers would fit the bill. Espada’s comments make it sound like Altuve is being pushed to left field more frequently than that, however.

Houston’s decidedly lackluster outfield mix is surely a factor as well. Owner Jim Crane seemed determined to dip under the luxury tax threshold after paying the tax in 2024, and as a result the outfield looks thinner than at any point in recent memory. The Astros traded their final season of control over Kyle Tucker to the Cubs in a deal netting new third baseman Isaac Paredes, rotation candidate Hayden Wesneski and new top prospect Cam Smith. With Tucker gone and Alvarez ticketed for more DH time in ’25, Altuve joins a mix of Jake Meyers, Chas McCormick and free agent signee Ben Gamel in the outfield. There are still a handful of interesting free agents out there — David Peralta or Alex Verdugo could fit the ’Stros — but Crane’s preference is to remain south of the $241MM tax threshold; the Astros are currently at $236.8MM, per RosterResource.

If Altuve’s outfield move yields early dividends, it’s easy enough to see it becoming a permanent arrangement. The nine-time All-Star is entering the first season of a five-year, $125MM extension signed 13 months ago. He’s owed $30MM each year from 2025-27 before his salary greatly reduces to $10MM per season in 2028-29. That extension also came with a $15MM upfront signing bonus that has already been paid out.

Nationals Re-Sign Kyle Finnegan

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March 3: Finnegan’s $6MM salary has $4MM of deferrals, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post. This seems to drop the net present value to $5.7MM.

February 27: The Nats made it official today, signing Finnegan with Stone Garrett designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

February 25: The Nationals are bringing back Kyle Finnegan, with Robert Murray of FanSided reporting that the two sides have agreed to a one-year contract. The Warner Sports Management client gets a $6MM guarantee, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN. The Nats have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to make this official.

Finnegan, 33, spent the past five years with the Nats. He made 291 appearances for the club in that time, allowing 3.56 earned runs per nine innings. He struck out 23.5% of batters faced, gave out walks at a 9.5% clip and got grounders on 47.5% of balls in play. He also took over the closer’s job in that time. He earned 11 saves in both 2021 and 2022, then got that number to 28 in 2023 and 38 last year.

The Nats could have retained Finnegan for 2025 via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a salary of $8.6MM, a bump from the $5.1MM he made in 2024. They somewhat surprisingly decided to walk away instead, non-tendering him back in November.

Though that move initially raised some eyebrows, there were some concerning numbers under the hood. His ERA has held fairly steady recently but his strikeout rate has been ticking down. He struck out 26.1% of batters faced in 2022, but that number fell to the 22% range in each of the past two seasons. His 2024 campaign was also fairly lopsided. He had a 2.45 ERA and 26.1% strikeout rate in the first half but a 5.79 ERA and 16.4% strikeout rate in the second.

He has also been susceptible to some loud contact in his career, especially lately. His 91.3 mile per hour exit velocity last year was considered by Statcast to be in the first percentile of qualified pitchers. His 48.1% hard hit rate was in the second percentile. In 2023, he allowed a 92.2 mph average exit velo (first percentile) and 47.5% hard hit rate (fourth percentile).

In hindsight, the decision not to tender him a contract looks like a wise one for the Nats. Though the righty received interest from some other clubs this winter, the Nats stayed in contact with Finnegan and were able to bring him back while saving a few million bucks relative to his projected price range.

The Nats have been rebuilding for the past few years and their offseason has mostly been about adding solid short-term veterans to their young core. Those vets can stabilize the roster and will ideally turn themselves into deadline trade chips if Washington isn’t contending in July.

In the bullpen, they have signed Jorge López and Lucas Sims to one-year deals, with Finnegan now joining them in that category. Derek Law is back for his final season of club control, retained via arbitration. Colin Poche is in camp as a non-roster invitee and is just about two months shy of six years of big league service time. If he’s added to the roster, the Nats would have five experienced bullpen arms slated for free agency after the season, making them logical summer trade candidates.

In the interim, there will be opportunities for younger arms to pitch around those guys. Jose A. Ferrer has just 66 big league innings but has posted huge ground ball rates in that time. Rule 5 pick Evan Reifert has to hold a spot or else be offered back to the Rays. Perhaps one of the club’s many starting candidates will end up in the bullpen as a long reliever. Eduardo Salazar, Zach Brzykcy and Orlando Ribalta are also on the 40-man but each has less than a year of big league service and can be optioned to the minors.

Giancarlo Stanton To Begin Season On Injured List

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The Yankees officially announced that Giancarlo Stanton won’t be available for the start of the season, as the slugger will be placed on the injured list due to his recurring elbow issues.  Stanton received PRP injections in both elbows, and is expected to return to the team’s spring camp later this week after dealing with an unspecified personal matter in New York.

The announcement doesn’t come as any surprise, as Stanton hasn’t swung a bat in five or six weeks due to continued soreness in his elbows.  Two weeks ago, Stanton and manager Aaron Boone described the problem as similar to tennis elbow, with Stanton noting that some tendon damage had taken place.  While surgery wasn’t being considered, surgery would naturally become an option (or inevitable) in the event of an actual tendon tear, which is why Stanton said he and the team were being cautious in their approach to the injuries.

No timetable was announced for Stanton’s recovery, but probably the end of April would represent a best-case scenario for the five-time All-Star to make his 2025 debut.  Some time will be needed to evaluate Stanton’s elbows in the aftermath of the PRP treatment, and if all is well, he’d then need to start his usual ramp-up proceedings after missing so much of both Spring Training and even his pre-camp offseason work.  Given Stanton’s long history of leg-related injuries, he’ll need some prep time beyond just hitting work, even if he is going to be a DH-only player this season.

Injuries have long hampered Stanton’s career, and kept from fully delivering on the whopping 13-year, $325MM contract he signed with the Marlins back in November 2014.  There is still $96MM owed to Stanton in the final three guaranteed years of that deal, counting the $10MM, though the Yankees are only responsible for covering $66MM of that figure as per the terms of the trade that brought Stanton from Miami to New York in December 2017.

Stanton has been pretty productive (.241/.323/.483 with 162 home runs in 2776 plate appearances) during his time in the pinstripes, and has still looked like one of baseball’s most dangerous hitters from time to time.  However, those red-hot streaks have been countered by both extended slumps, and several times when Stanton has simply been unable to play due to injury.

The 2024 season saw Stanton miss about five weeks due to a hamstring strain, though he bounced back reasonably well from a down year in 2023.  Stanton hit .233/.298/.475 with 27 home runs in 459 PA last season, which translated to a 116 wRC+ even if low average and on-base numbers continue to be a concern.  The slugger then elevated his game in October, hitting .273/.339/.709 with seven homers over 62 PA during New York’s playoff run, and he captured ALCS MVP honors for his huge performance in the Yankees’ five-game elimination of the Guardians.

Following up that great postseason with yet another significant injury is undoubtedly a huge frustration for Stanton as he enters his 16th Major League campaign (and his age-35 season).  The fact that these elbow problems are an entirely new injury for Stanton could be viewed in one of two ways — either as a positive that he isn’t again dealing with leg problems, or as a negative that Stanton is now dealing with elbow issues on top of the ever-present concern over his lower body.

With Stanton out, the Yankees might just opt to fill the designated hitter spot with a rotation of players, in order to spread around at-bats and partial rest days for other veterans like Aaron Judge, Paul Goldschmidt, or DJ LeMahieu.  In terms of overall roster construction, Ben Rice now looks to have a better chance of making the Opening Day roster, and picking up some DH at-bats himself.

An external addition also can’t be ruled out, if Stanton is facing an extended amount of time on the IL.  Reports have already indicated the Yankees have been in touch with J.D. Martinez, perhaps laying some groundwork for a future contract in case Stanton isn’t making much progress in a couple of weeks’ time.  Adding a prominent veteran like Martinez, however, would also threaten to push the Yankees’ even further over the top luxury tax tire — RosterResource projects New York’s tax number at roughly $305.1MM, and beyond the upper penalty threshold of $301MM.

Out Of Options 2025

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Every spring at MLBTR, we publish a list of players who are out of minor league options and cannot be sent to the minor leagues without first clearing outright waivers. Option status is particularly relevant as teams set their rosters prior to Opening Day. A lack of minor league options is often a key reason a certain player will make the roster over another who had a superior spring performance, and it’s a frequent factor in March trades.

The following is a list of all 40-man players throughout the league with fewer than five years of service time — players with more than five years of service can refuse an optional assignment — and no minor league options remaining. We’ve included players who have signed extensions or multi-year deals, even though they’re often less likely to be optioned.

Angels

Astros

Athletics

Blue Jays

Braves

Brewers

Cardinals

Cubs

Diamondbacks

Dodgers

Giants

Guardians

Mariners

Marlins

Mets

Nationals

Orioles

Padres

Phillies

Pirates

Rangers

Rays

Red Sox

  • None

Reds

Rockies

Royals

Tigers

Twins

White Sox

Yankees

Andrew Benintendi To Miss Four To Six Weeks Due To Hand Fracture

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The White Sox announced that outfielder Andrew Benintendi has a non-displaced fracture in his right hand and will miss four to six weeks. He departed today’s spring training game after being hit by a pitch.

It’s an unfortunate blow for Benintendi and the White Sox. With the spring just getting going, he’ll now be shut down and miss the remainder of camp. Once healthy, he’ll have to head out on a rehab assignment and effectively start his spring training over again.

The Sox weren’t going to compete this year. They set a modern-day record with 121 losses in 2024. They aren’t likely to be significantly better in 2025. They did sign a few veterans to fill some roster spots but also traded Garrett Crochet to the Red Sox in exchange for prospects.

However, Benintendi had a chance to play himself into being a trade candidate, something that MLBTR looked at just yesterday. With three years and $15.83MM left on his deal and the Sox deep in a rebuild, they would surely love to move him. Any improved performance would have helped them do that while allowing Benintendi to play for a contender, a win-win for both sides.

Since signing with the Sox ahead of the 2023 season, Benintendi has hit just .246/.309/.374 for a wRC+ of 90 with poor defensive metrics to boot. But his 2024 season finished on a strong note. He had a stint on the injured in June due to left achilles tendinitis. He had hit just .195/.230/.284 before that IL stint but then slashed .251/.326/.470 the rest of the way. That latter line translated to a 124 wRC+, indicating he was 24% above league average at the plate.

That led to some hope that he could return to form in 2025, since he had hit .279/.351/.431 for a 109 wRC+ before joining the White Sox. If Benintendi has a bounceback in him, it will have to stay on ice until he gets over this injury.

The Sox will now have some early-season playing time to reallocate. Luis Robert Jr., another trade candidate that the Sox are hoping to see build value, will be the everyday guy in center. Mike Tauchman and Austin Slater could perhaps form a platoon in one corner. Michael A. Taylor is on the roster, likely viewed as a fourth outfielder/defensive replacement/pinch runner type.

Oscar Colás and Dominic Fletcher are on the 40-man roster. Each still has an option remaining and seemed ticketed for time in Triple-A but perhaps this opens some big league time for one of them. Joey Gallo is also in camp as a non-roster invitee, so this could lead to his contract being selected. Other NRIs with some big league experience include Corey Julks and Calvin Mitchell. If the Sox decide they want to bring in some more depth, players like Alex Verdugo, David Peralta and Robbie Grossman remain unsigned.

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