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White Sox Claim Penn Murfee

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The White Sox announced that they have claimed right-hander Penn Murfee off waivers from the Astros. The Sox also announced that righties Matt Foster and Jimmy Lambert both elected free agency in lieu of accepting outright assignments, indicating both players cleared waivers recently.

Murfee, 31 in May, posted strong results for the Mariners in 2022 and 2023. He tossed 83 1/3 innings with a 2.70 earned run average, 27.9% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate. Unfortunately, he’s been on ice for a while, having undergone UCL surgery in June of 2023.

Since then, he has bounced around the league, going to the Mets, Braves, Astros and now White Sox via waiver claims. He began a rehabbing in August of this year but that assignment was shut down after just one appearance with the Astros saying he had “a reoccurrence of right elbow discomfort.”

His current status is unclear but the White Sox are perhaps the team best positioned to be patient with him. They just wrapped up the worst season in the modern era of baseball and can’t be expected to return to contention any time soon. Murfee can still be retained for four more seasons and the Sox will see if they can get him back on track.

Foster, 30 in January, has thrown 119 1/3 innings in his major league career with a 4.30 ERA, 23.1% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate. He had Tommy John surgery in April of 2023 and has missed most of the past two years.

He could have been retained for next year via arbitration with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a $900K salary. However, this move indicates the White Sox didn’t want him back at that price point, nor did any of the other clubs who all passed on the chance to grab him off waivers.

Lambert, 30 this month, has thrown 99 2/3 innings for the Sox in his big league career with a 4.33 ERA, 22.1% strikeout rate and 11.3% walk rate. He exhausted his final option year in 2023 and went on to spend all of 2024 on the injured list, eventually undergoing shoulder surgery in August. He qualified for arbitration for the first time this winter and was projected for a $1.2MM salary next year but the Sox decided cut him from the roster.

Both he and Foster have at least three years of service time, which gives them the right to reject outrights assignments and elect free agency. Both players exercised their rights and will head to the open market in search of their respective next opportunities.

Twins Outright Five Players

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The Twins have outrighted right-handers Scott Blewett, Randy Dobnak, Josh Winder, and Daniel Duarte as well as first baseman Yunior Severino off their 40-man roster, as noted by Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune. While none of the quintet were previously announced as having been designated for assignment, all five has cleared waivers and been sent outright to the minors. The club also triggered a $1.5MM club option for right-hander Jorge Alcalá, per Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic on X.

Today is a big roster churn day, as the 60-day injured list goes away and doesn’t come back until spring training. Since players on the 60-day IL don’t count against a club’s 40-man roster count, this leads to roster crunches around the league. As such, the Twins have removed five players from the roster and passed them through waivers.

Dobnak has been passed through waivers a couple of times before, a reflection of his contract and service time status. Going into 2021, he and the Twins agreed to a five-year, $9.25MM extension but his results failed to live up to that deal. Players need to have at least five years of service to both reject an outright assignment and keep all the remaining money on their contracts. Dobnak was and is well shy of that, meaning he has continually turned down chances to elect free agency, allowing him to keep collecting his paychecks on the deal. That is likely how this will play out. He got back to the big leagues this year for the first time since 2021 but posted a 5.59 earned run average over his five outings, bringing his career ERA up to 4.99.

Blewett, 29 in April, signed a minor league deal with the Twins in the winter and ultimately tossed 20 1/3 innings for them with a 1.77 ERA. However, he wasn’t going to continue stranding 90.5% of baserunners, which is why his FIP was 4.00 and his SIERA was 4.05 for the year. He has been outrighted before in his career so he has the right to elect free agency.

Winder, 28, was drafted by the Twins and has been on the roster since November of 2021. Since then, he has tossed 110 2/3 innings with a 4.39 ERA, 18% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate and 37.2% ground ball rate.

Duarte, 28 next month, was claimed off waivers in the offseason and made two appearances for the Twins this season before requiring season-ending elbow surgery. His timeline for returning to play is not currently clear. He has a previous career outright and is therefore eligible to elect free agency.

Severino, 25, was added to the club’s 40-man roster a year ago to keep him out of the 2023 Rule 5 draft. He put up a solid line of .254/.342/.434 in Triple-A this year but the offensive environment was strong in the International League this year, leading that to translate to a roughly league average wRC+ of 101.

As for Alcalá, he and the Twins avoided arbitration last year by agreeing to a $790K salary with a $1.5MM club option for 2025 that came with a $55K buyout. He went on to toss 58 1/3 innings for the Twins this year with a 3.24 ERA, 24.7% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate. Based on that performance, MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Alcalá to get a raise to $1.7MM through the abr process. The Twins have instead gone for the lower price of the club option to bring him back next year.

Astros To Acquire Taylor Trammell From Yankees

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The Astros are acquiring outfielder Taylor Trammell from the Yankees, according to a report from Chandler Rome of The Athletic. The return headed to the Bronx is not yet known.

Trammell, 27, was selected 35th overall in the 2016 draft by the Reds and was regarded as a top-100 caliber prospect as recently as 2021. By that point, he had been a part of multiple trades, heading from the Reds to the Padres in the three-team deal that sent Yasiel Puig to Cleveland before eventually being shipped from San Diego to Seattle as part of the seven-player deal that brought Austin Nola to the Padres. Though he was traded multiple times before reaching the Triple-A level, Trammell hit fairly well in his first taste of the level with the Mariners’ affiliate in Tacoma and earned a call up to the big leagues during the 2021 season.

Unfortunately, that call-up did not go well. Trammell hit just .160/.256/.359 with a 73 wRC+ in 178 trips to the plate across 51 games during his first season in the majors. While he flashed considerable power with eight home runs during that time, he struck out at a completely untenable 42.1% clip that left him as a lackluster option in the outfield, where he was capable of playing center but not a particularly strong defender. The results would improve somewhat over the next two years as Trammell rode the shuttle between Tacoma and Seattle. In 173 plate appearances at the big league level over those two seasons, he hit an improved .176/.285/.378 that was just 6% worse than average by measure of wRC+ thanks to an excellent 12.7% walk rate in conjunction with his impressive power.

That said, Trammell was still striking out more than 30% of the time in the majors, even as he tore up the Triple-A level to the tune of a .268/.381/.500 slash line throughout his time at the level. Trammell also gradually became less of a viable option in center with just two innings of work at the position in 2023, further putting pressure on his bat to perform. This led the Mariners to designate him for assignment back in March rather than keep him on the Opening Day roster. Trammell was promptly plucked off waivers by the Dodgers while veteran outfielder Jason Heyward dealt with a back injury, but appeared in just five games before being designated for assignment in mid-April.

That move led the Yankees to claim Trammell from the Dodgers, though he similarly lasted just five games on New York’s big league roster before being DFA’d for the third time in just over a month. This time, the move stuck and Trammell cleared waivers, allowing the Yankees to outright him to the minors. Once at Triple-A, Trammell hit fairly well with a .256/.381/.488 slash line in 106 games. Now, Trammell is on the move once again and will begin the 2024-25 offseason with the Astros. For Houston, the 27-year-old should provide additional outfield depth behind the right-handed Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers and could compete for a job on the club’s bench during Spring Training next year.

A’s Claim Anthony Maldonado, Justin Sterner

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The A’s announced they’ve claimed righty relievers Anthony Maldonado from the Marlins and Justin Sterner from the Rays. Both players had quietly landed on waivers last week.

Maldonado and Sterner each made their debuts this past season. Maldonado, 27 in February, has slightly more experience. He pitched in 16 games for Miami and allowed 12 runs across 19 innings. He struck out 11 while issuing seven walks. Maldonado showed better strikeout stuff in the minors, fanning 26.1% of batters faced over 46 1/3 Triple-A frames. While that came with a slightly elevated 10.8% walk rate and a middling 4.66 ERA, the A’s are evidently intrigued by his arsenal. Maldonado leaned most heavily on his mid-80s slider.

Sterner, 28, has all of two games of MLB experience. The BYU product tossed four innings of two-run ball with four strikeouts. He had a strong year with the Rays’ top affiliate in Durham. Sterner turned in a 3.28 earned run average over 46 2/3 innings. He punched out more than 31% of batters faced against an 8.9% walk percentage. Sterner used a fastball-cutter combination during his limited MLB look. Both he and Maldonado sat in the 93-94 MPH range with their heaters.

This was the first option year for both pitchers. The A’s can keep them in Triple-A for the foreseeable future if they stick on the 40-man roster.

Rays, Jacob Waguespack Agree To Extension

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The Rays announced that right-hander Jacob Waguespack has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and that the two sides have agreed to an extension, though no details of the new deal were provided. The club also noted that righty Joel Kuhnel cleared waivers and elected free agency.

Waguespack, who turns 31 tomorrow, has less than three years of service time and is therefore not close to the six years necessary to reach free agency. However, he did spent 2022 and 2023 pitching in Japan. Players coming back from overseas often have clauses in their contracts that allow them to become free agents regardless of service time considerations.

Waguespack signed a minor league deal with the Rays in January of 2024 and was selected to the roster early in March. Earlier today, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times noted on X that the Rays had a $1.3MM club option on Waguespack for 2025. Later, Topkin provided an update in a new tweet that Waguespack will indeed make $1.3MM next year with a $1.5MM club option for 2026.

It’s an interesting show of faith in Waguespack, as he didn’t pitch much this year. He tossed ten innings for the Rays over four appearances but the last of those was on April 12, with the righty being optioned to Triple-A after that. He was recalled in May to be placed on the 60-day injured list due to right rotator cuff inflammation. He was sent on a rehab assignment in June but made just one appearance at that time, starting another rehab assignment in September that lasted six outings.

After such an injury-marred season, there’s not much for the Rays to go on. He posted a 5.01 earned run average in his 23 1/3 minor league innings and a 5.40 ERA in his major league work. Presumably, they still like what they saw of Waguespack’s results in Japan. Over his two years in Nippon Professional Baseball, Waguespack had a 4.02 ERA in 116 1/3 innings. He struck out 29% of batters faced with a 10.8% walk rate. They’ll keep Waguespack around at a modest price point with the club option giving them some future upside if the bet pays off.

Kuhnel, 30 in February, was just claimed off waivers by the Rays in July. He has been bouncing around the league in recent years, having gone from the Reds to the Astros, Blue Jays, Brewers and then Rays via waiver claims, small trades or minor league deals since June of 2023. As a player who has been outrighted in the past, he had the right to elect free agency this time and has exercised that right.

He will now look for his next club, which will most likely come on a minor league deal. He has strong velocity but has turned that into more ground balls than strikeouts thus far. In 93 2/3 big league innings, he has a 5.86 ERA, 18.7% strikeout rate, 5.9% walk rate and 52% ground ball rate. He’s now out of options, which will limit his roster flexibility going forward.

Orioles Claim Rene Pinto, Thaddeus Ward

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The Orioles have made a few tweaks at the back of the roster to start the offseason. Baltimore announced a pair of waiver claims: catcher Rene Pinto from the division rival Rays and right-hander Thaddeus Ward from the Nationals. Baltimore also sent veteran reliever Matt Bowman through outright waivers; he elected free agency. Finally, the O’s selected the contract of lefty reliever Luis González. That series of moves leaves them with 37 players on the 40-man roster.

Pinto opened this past season as Tampa Bay’s starting catcher. It didn’t take long before he lost that job. He only made 19 appearances before being optioned to Triple-A Durham. Pinto spent the bulk of the year in the minors and slumped to a .191/.257/.373 line over 230 trips to the plate. His broader minor league track record is quite a bit better. The Venezuelan-born backstop is a .253/.303/.487 hitter in his Triple-A career. He owns a .231/.263/.404 slash in 237 plate appearances against big league pitching. He joins Blake Hunt on the 40-man roster as options to back up Adley Rutschman, though an external acquisition still seems likely.

Ward, 27, pitched in 26 games for the Nats last year. Washington took him out of the Boston system in the Rule 5 draft. Like many Rule 5 picks, he struggled in his debut campaign. The UCF product posted a 6.37 ERA with nearly as many walks as strikeouts in 35 1/3 innings. Washington kept him on optional assignment to Triple-A for the entire ’24 season. Ward started 28 games but allowed a 5.64 ERA over 119 2/3 frames. He walked an untenable 17% of batters faced.

Bowman bounced around the league via waivers before finishing the year in Baltimore. The sinkerballer posted a 4.40 earned run average through 30 2/3 innings between four teams. He had a strong year in Triple-A and should have no trouble landing another minor league deal this winter.

As for González, he earns a long-awaited selection to a 40-man roster. He turns 33 in January and has yet to pitch in the majors. The Dominican Republic native has pitched in Japan, Mexico and even Italy during his winding career arc. He worked his way to the Orioles on a minor league deal and tossed 60 innings of 4.50 ERA ball with Triple-A Norfolk this past season. González punched out nearly 29% of batters faced while walking fewer than 5% of opponents.

Those underlying numbers evidently impressed the Baltimore front office. Rather than allow González to hit minor league free agency, they’ll give him a spot on the 40-man for now. If he holds that all winter, there’s a good chance he’ll make his major league debut next year.

2024-25 MLB Free Agent Tracker

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The best 2024-25 MLB Free Agent Tracker on the internet is available as part of our MLB Contract Tracker.  In the Contract Tracker, simply filter the contract status to “unsigned,” and then you can further filter by position.

Our MLB Contract Tracker already documents all free agent signings and extensions going back to 2008.  Learn more about it here.  We’re happy to answer any questions about how to use this tool, which is available exclusively to Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.

We also have our class 2024-25 MLB Free Agent list, where players will be removed as they sign.  Click here for that.  The 2025-26 list will be published later this week, for those who’d like to look ahead a year.

Colin Rea Clears Waivers, Brewers To Decline Club Option

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Right-hander Colin Rea has cleared waivers, as first reported by MLBTR’s own Steve Adams. The news leaves the Brewers poised to decline his $5.5MM club option for 2025 in favor of a $1MM buyout.

Rea, 34, finds himself headed to free agency after a surprising turn of events. The right-hander has generally performed solidly for the Brewers in two seasons since coming over from Japan following the 2022 season. He’s spent most of those two seasons in the rotation, providing roughly league average consistency with a 4.40 ERA (96 ERA+) in 292 1/3 innings of work over the past two seasons spread between 49 starts and nine relief appearances.

Given the elevated cost of even back-end rotation arms in recent years that’s seen veterans such as Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn land eight-figure salaries in free agency, it seemed likely the Brewers would exercise their option on Rea’s services for next year. That didn’t come to pass, however, and evidently it seems no team in baseball was willing to commit a $5.5MM salary to the right-hander this early into the offseason following an unusual winter in which back-of-the-rotation pieces such as Michael Lorenzen and Mike Clevinger lingered on the market deep into Spring Training and were available at deep discounts.

Amid ongoing uncertainty regarding TV rights for a number of clubs, it’s possible that clubs in the market for a back-end starter such as the Reds, Twins, and even the Brewers themselves would prefer to see how the market develops this winter rather than commit a salary to Rea in early November. For the Brewers, in particular, parting ways with Rea could be a sensible decision given the emergence of Tobias Myers in the rotation along with their mid-season deal for right-hander Aaron Civale. With Myers, Civale, and Freddy Peralta all back in the rotation next year and ace Brandon Woodruff also expected back from shoulder surgery, that leaves the club with four starters locked into a rotation that could see Aaron Ashby, DL Hall, and prospect Jacob Misiorowski all fight for the fifth starter job next spring if no further additions are made.

Given that depth in the rotation, it’s somewhat understandable that the Brewers would prefer to allocate the $4.5MM they declined to offer Rea elsewhere, particularly in an offseason where they’ll need to find a way to replace departing shortstop Willy Adames in the lineup. Given the strong defensive abilities of both Joey Ortiz and Brice Turang, that addition doesn’t necessarily need to come at shortstop, and the budget space being used to pay Rea could be reallocated to a free agent infielder such as Amed Rosario or Jose Iglesias. As for Rea, the right-hander will join free agent class that’s relatively deep in back-of-the-rotation options with Gibson, Lorenzen, and Martin Perez among the lengthy list of other similarly productive players available.

Pirates Claim Trey Cabbage From Astros

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The Pirates are claiming first baseman/corner outfielder Trey Cabbage from the Astros, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (X link). Neither team has officially announced the move.

Houston had not previously designated Cabbage for assignment. They evidently placed him on waivers in recent days to take him off the 40-man roster. He would’ve qualified for minor league free agency had he gone unclaimed, but Pittsburgh saw enough to give him a 40-man spot.

Cabbage, 27, has played in 67 big league contests over the last two years. He made 22 appearances for the Angels two seasons ago and got into 45 contests with Houston this year. He hasn’t done much offensively, limping to a .209/.245/.331 slash line while striking out 60 times in 147 plate appearances (a 40.8% rate). The swing-and-miss is nothing new, as Cabbage has fanned in more than 30% of his Triple-A plate appearances. He has shown big power and surprising athleticism in his minor league career, though, including a 30-30 showing in the Halos’ system back in 2023.

Pittsburgh hasn’t been able to find an answer at first base in recent seasons. Cabbage isn’t a long-term solution, but he’s a depth flier who still has a minor league option remaining. If the Bucs carry him on the 40-man all winter, they can keep him in Triple-A for another season.

Orioles Exercise Club Option On Seranthony Domínguez, Decline Danny Coulombe

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The Orioles announced that they have exercise a club option on right-hander Seranthony Domínguez while declining their option on left-hander Danny Coulombe. They also announced that they have exercised options on left-hander Cionel Pérez and first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, as was reported earlier today. Domínguez will get $8MM next year instead of a $500K buyout. Coulombe could have been brought back for a $4MM salary but instead becomes a free agent with no buyout.

Domínguez, 30 this month, was acquired from the Phillies at the trade deadline. He went on to make 25 appearances for the O’s with a 3.97 earned run average. He struck out 28.6% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 9.2% clip.

The righty now has a 3.59 ERA, 27.3% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 45.9% ground ball rate over his 255 career appearances. Some of that has come in leverage situations, as he has racked up 38 saves and 58 holds in his career. Given that generally solid track record, it’s not really a surprise to see the Orioles plunk down another $7.5MM to keep him from getting away.

The decision on Coulombe is a bit more surprising as the lefty has had a solid two-year run with the O’s. He has tossed 81 innings for Baltimore since the start of 2023 with a 2.56 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, 5.4% walk rate and 45.4% ground ball rate.

$4MM for a solid lefty reliever like that seems like good value for money but Coulombe also had some challenges this year. He underwent surgery in June to remove bone chips removed from his throwing elbow. He was able to come off the IL in September, making four appearances for the club down the stretch and one in the postseason, but that seemingly wasn’t enough to convince the O’s to keep him around for next year.

They could circle back to him in free agency but Coulombe will have a chance to speak to all of the other clubs as well. The fact that he’s now 35 and coming off an injury-marred season will hurt his earning power but his results over the past two years will work in his favor.

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