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Brewers Place DL Hall On 60-Day Injured List

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The Brewers announced that left-hander DL Hall has been placed on the 60-day injured list. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com was among those to relay the news. That means Hall has been officially ruled out until late May at the earliest. That’s the corresponding move to open a roster spot for lefty Jose Quintana, who has now been officially signed.

Back on February 12th, it was reported that Hall had a lat strain and was going to be shut down for at least the next two weeks. It has now been three weeks since that reporting with little information coming out about his progress. About a week ago, McCalvy relayed that Hall had not even been cleared to start playing catch. Manager Pat Murphy tells McCalvy today that Hall is expected to resume playing catch at the end of this week.

Given the sluggish progress and this transaction, it seems the Brewers don’t expect Hall to return anytime soon. Players can be placed on the 60-day IL once pitchers and catchers report to camp but the clock doesn’t start ticking until Opening Day, so Hall won’t be eligible for reinstatement until late May even in a best-case scenario.

It’s an unfortunate development for Hall, who hasn’t been able to build a decent workload. He still doesn’t have a 100-inning season on his track record as a professional. With the Orioles in 2022 and 2023, they shuttled him between the majors and minors as well as the rotation and the bullpen. He was traded to the Brewers as part of the Corbin Burnes deal ahead of the 2024 season and Milwaukee mostly deployed him as a starter last year, but a knee sprain capped him at 84 frames, majors and minors combined.

The Brewers still have hope of Hall becoming a viable starter one day, given that he’s a former top 100 prospect and was a key part of the Burnes deal. He could still have a nice season in 2025 but starting it with a lengthy IL stint isn’t ideal.

For the Brewers, they will have some rotation question marks to start the season, though the Quintana signing helps to solidify the group. Alongside Quintana will be Freddy Peralta, Tobias Myers, Aaron Civale and Nestor Cortes. They will add Brandon Woodruff in there at some point, though his timeline is unclear after he spent 2024 recovering from shoulder surgery. Aaron Ashby has an oblique strain and is still getting tested, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, but seems likely to start the season on the IL. Robert Gasser is already on the 60-day IL as he recovers from last year’s Tommy John surgery.

Behind the front five, the Brewers currently have Logan Henderson, Carlos Rodríguez, Chad Patrick and Elvin Rodríguez as healthy options on the 40-man roster. However, Henderson and Patrick have no major league experience while the Rodríguezes have just 45 1/3 big league innings combined. Jacob Misiorowski is one of the top prospects in baseball but isn’t on the 40-man and walked 14.4% of batters faced last year.

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.

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.

Padres, Jose Iglesias Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Padres and free agent infielder Jose Iglesias are reportedly in agreement on a minor league contract. The Boras Corporation client will earn a $3MM base salary if he makes the roster and can take home another $1MM via incentives. That’s a bit heavier base than the standard minor league pact, which seems reflective of Iglesias’ 2024 season and perhaps strong interest on non-guaranteed deals of this nature.

Iglesias, 35, enjoyed a tremendous comeback season in 2024 after not appearing in the majors at all in 2023. (He spent a portion of that season with the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate.) Originally signed to a minor league deal by the Mets, Iglesias was summoned to the big leagues in late May as a scuffling Mets club shuffled up a roster that had produced a 24-33 record through the season’s first two months. The 12-year veteran went on to appear in 85 games and slash .337/.381/.448 in 291 turns at the plate. He also became a key figure in the Mets’ clubhouse and a fan favorite whose “OMG” song became an anthem for the Mets as they turned their season around and marched to an NLCS appearance that looked wildly improbable at the time of Iglesias’ call to the majors.

Impressive as Iglesias’ numbers were in 2024, the Mets haven’t been keen on bringing him back. That’s in part due to a largely inflexible roster; catcher Francisco Alvarez and likely backup infielder Luisangel Acuña are the only two projected position players on the Mets’ roster who can be optioned. Re-signing Iglesias would’ve effectively left the Mets with a static 13-player position core, as Alvarez isn’t likely to be optioned at any point in the near future. That would leave the Mets playing with a short bench anytime a position player needed a couple days off with a minor injury or illness.

Furthermore, there’s simply good reason to believe that Iglesias’ output was unsustainable. He benefited from a sky-high .382 average on balls in play that sat 72 points higher than his career mark entering the 2024 season. That surge in batted-ball results came despite Iglesias producing bottom-of-the-scale marks in terms of average exit velocity (85.8 mph), barrel rate (2.2%) and hard-hit rate (30.6%). The Mets — and presumably, based on his eventual contract — other clubs around the league clearly didn’t expect him to replicate or even approximate his 2024 results.

While some regression is to be expected, that shouldn’t take away the entirety of what Iglesias did with the Mets. He continued to demonstrate superlative contact skills, fanning in only 12.4% of his plate appearances. He’s also retained plus sprint speed even as he’s entered his mid-30s, clocking in at 28.6 ft/sec, per Statcast, and landing in the 83rd percentile of big leaguers as a result. Iglesias also played strong defense at both third base and second base, per Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average. He’s not going to be the batting title contender that a cursory look at his 2024 line might suggest, but even a dip to his “expected” .314 weighted on-base average (via Statcast) would make him a useful utility infielder.

That could well be Iglesias’ role with the Padres, but it’s possible he emerges in a more significant capacity. San Diego presently expects to have Jake Cronenworth at second base and Luis Arraez at first base. If the Friars want to affordably bolster their infield defense, however, shifting Arraez to a DH role and moving Cronenworth back to first base could open second for Iglesias.

It’s also possible that he’s only in the mix for a bench spot, which would place him in something of an unofficial competition with infielders Eguy Rosario and Tyler Wade. Rosario is out of minor league options — one of the more intriguing out-of-options players in the league this spring — whereas Wade can’t be sent down without his consent due to his status as a veteran with more than five years of MLB service. The Padres aren’t going to carry all three on the roster. Iglesias could beat out either player, given his ability to handle any infield spot other than first base. Rosario isn’t yet arbitration-eligible and is thus earning roughly the league minimum. Wade’s $850K salary is barely north of the minimum. He has a $1MM club option, however, suggesting the Friars would prefer to keep him around.

Iglesias is an Article XX(b) free agent — meaning he’s a free agent with more than six years of MLB service who finished the preceding season on a major league roster or injured list. The 2022-26 CBA stipulates that such free agents who sign minor league contracts have three uniform opt-out opportunities baked into the contract: the first being five days prior to Opening Day, the second on May 1 and the third on June 1. As such, if Iglesias is informed late in camp that the Padres don’t plan to carry him on the Opening Day roster, he can trigger that out clause and explore opportunities with other clubs.

Robert Murray of FanSided first reported the agreement between Iglesias and the Padres. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported it was a minor league deal and also was first on the terms of the contract.

Johan Oviedo Facing Lengthy Absence Due To Lat Injury

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March 5: Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk provided an update on Oviedo to the team’s beat this morning (link via Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). The right-hander is currently shut down from throwing, and it seems he won’t pick up a ball anytime soon. The Pirates and Dr. Keith Meister (who performed Oviedo’s Tommy John surgery) will reconvene for a fresh round of imaging on Oviedo’s lat and elbow in one month. After that MRI, they’ll establish a timetable for him to resume throwing.

That strongly implies that Oviedo will be shut down from throwing for a good bit more than a month, shedding further light on the team’s decision to place him on the 60-day IL.

March 3: The Pirates placed right-hander Johan Oviedo on the 60-day injured list. That opens a 40-man roster spot for fellow righty Justin Lawrence, whose previously-reported waiver claim from the Rockies is now official.

The news comes as something of a surprise. Oviedo had undergone Tommy John surgery in November of 2023. He missed the entire 2024 season but it seemed fair to expect him to be healthy coming into 2025 and there hadn’t been any reporting to suggest otherwise. Manager Derek Shelton tells Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that a “lat issue” has surfaced during a recent bullpen session.

This move now means Oviedo will be on the injured list for at least the first two months of the season. IL placements can be backdated to three days before Opening Day but the 60-day count doesn’t start until then, meaning Oviedo can’t be reinstated until late May at the earliest.

Prior to this IL placement, Oviedo projected to be in the mix for a back-end rotation spot, though that will no longer be the case. The Bucs have a front three in their rotation consisting of Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Mitch Keller. They recently signed Andrew Heaney to take a spot. Oviedo and Bailey Falter were perhaps the most logical candidates for the final spot.

Perhaps this news on Oviedo will give Falter a smooth path to a season-opening rotation gig, though the Bucs have some intention of stretching out relievers Carmen Mlodzinski and Caleb Ferguson to see how they handle longer outings. The Pirates also have Braxton Ashcraft and Mike Burrows on the 40-man roster while prospects like Bubba Chandler and Thomas Harrington are in camp as non-roster invitees.

Red Sox, Jose De Leon Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Red Sox have a minor league deal with José De León, according to Francys Romero. The righty first implied that he’d reached an agreement with Boston on social media.

De León, now 32, was once a top prospect while he was coming up through the Dodgers’ system. Injuries have largely prevented him from carving out a consistent role. De León has pitched in parts of six seasons but didn’t reach 20 major league frames in any. That has been divided among four teams. His most recent action came with the Twins two years ago. De León gave up 10 runs (nine earned) in 17 1/3 innings. He recorded 17 strikeouts while issuing five walks.

That season was cut short in June. De León underwent Tommy John surgery for the second time in his career, five years removed from his first such procedure. That ill-timed operation cost him the entire ’24 campaign. De León was outrighted off Minnesota’s 40-man roster during the 2023-24 offseason. He remained a free agent last year but made his comeback in winter ball in his native Puerto Rico.

De León impressed Boston evaluators enough to get another affiliated opportunity. He’ll likely begin the season with Triple-A Worcester. De León has solid numbers at the top minor league level. He carries a 3.44 ERA over 199 Triple-A innings divided between six seasons. De León hasn’t found much success in his scattered MLB opportunities. He has allowed 7.44 earned runs per nine over 65 1/3 big league frames despite a near-27% strikeout rate.

Cubs, Yency Almonte Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Cubs are re-signing reliever Yency Almonte to a minor league deal, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Chicago outrighted him off their 40-man roster at the end of last season.

Almonte, 30, landed with the Cubs as a secondary piece of last winter’s Michael Busch trade. He stepped into Craig Counsell’s middle relief group and made 17 appearances. Almonte surrendered seven runs (six earned) across 15 2/3 innings. He fanned 20 opponents and issued eight walks. That all came before the second week of May. The righty sustained a shoulder strain and underwent season-ending surgery in July.

Rogers suggests that Almonte is healthy now. There’s little downside for the Cubs in giving him another look as a non-roster player. Almonte has 223 major league innings under his belt. He owns a 4.44 earned run average with a decent 22.5% strikeout percentage and a 9.9% walk rate. His fastball has sat in the 95-96 MPH range at its best. It was down a tick in the early going last year.

Almonte has over five years of major league service. If the Cubs call him up at any point, they couldn’t send him back to the minors without his consent. The Cubs have limited roster flexibility in their bullpen. They have six relievers who cannot be sent down by virtue of their out-of-options status or service time: Ryan Pressly, Ryan Brasier, Tyson Miller, Caleb Thielbar, Keegan Thompson and Julian Merryweather.

If Colin Rea doesn’t get the fifth starter job out of camp, he’d add a seventh reliever without options. Porter Hodge is locked into a late-game role, while Nate Pearson and Eli Morgan should be in the mix. Almonte joins Trevor Richards, Phil Bickford, Brandon Hughes and Ben Heller among minor league signees who have MLB experience.

Mets Place Sean Reid-Foley On Outright Waivers

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The Mets have placed right-hander Sean Reid-Foley on outright waivers, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. At this point, there’s nothing to suggest that the righty has been designated for assignment, so he seems to still be on the 40-man roster. If he goes unclaimed, the Mets could choose to outright him off the roster and open a spot. However, the waivers are not revocable, so he’ll join another club if he is claimed.

Clubs are allowed to place players on waivers without immediately removing them from the 40-man roster. It’s fairly rare that this actually happens, though the Rockies did it with Justin Lawrence just a few days ago. In that instance, the Rockies lost Lawrence when the Pirates put in a claim.

Reid-Foley, 29, has appeared in each of the past seven major league seasons. However, health has prevented him from taking on any kind of meaningful workload of late. He has never been able to throw 34 innings in a big league season. He twice got over 30 frames but hasn’t done so since 2019.

From 2018 to 2020, he served as an up-and-down depth arm for the Blue Jays. He got over 30 innings in the first two of those seasons but spent most of the shortened campaign on optional assignment. In total, he logged 71 2/3 innings with a 4.40 earned run average.

He was flipped to the Mets as part of the January 2021 trade that sent Steven Matz to Toronto. Reid-Foley logged 20 2/3 innings for the Mets that year with a 5.23 ERA but his 28.3% strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate made for an intriguing combo. Unfortunately, some elbow inflammation sent him to the injured list that year. He avoided the surgeon’s table for a while but eventually required Tommy John in May of 2022.

He was non-tendered after that season but re-signed with the Mets via a minor league deal going into 2023. He was selected back to the roster late that year and kept his roster spot into 2024. Last year, he was placed on the injured list multiple times due to right shoulder impingements. Around those IL stints, he tossed 21 2/3 innings with a 1.66 ERA and 27.8% strikeout rate but a very high walk rate of 15.6%. He got a bit of help from a .255 batting average on balls in play and 63% strand rate. His 2.80 FIP and 3.98 SIERA were still good numbers but point to that ERA being unsustainable.

Control issues aren’t new for Reid-Foley, who now has a 14.2% walk rate in his career. Perhaps that’s due to the stop-and-start nature of his career, working around those injuries, but it’s been an ongoing theme nevertheless.

The Mets tendered Reid-Foley an arbitration contract this winter, agreeing to a salary of $800K. The righty has at least three years of service time, meaning he would have the right to elect free agency if he clears waivers and is outrighted. However, since he has less than five years of service, he would have to forfeit that salary in doing so.

Perhaps the Mets are hoping Reid-Foley will clear waivers and accept his assignment in order to keep that salary in place, which would allow them to open a roster spot and keep some depth in a non-roster capacity. But by putting him on waivers, they are risking losing him to another club. The health and the walks are a concern but some teams might be interested in his 28.8% strikeout rate since joining the Mets. Reid-Foley is out of options, but he can theoretically be controlled via arbitration through 2027.

Nationals Outright Stone Garrett

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The Nationals announced that outfielder Stone Garrett has cleared outright waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Rochester. He had been designated for assignment last week. He’ll remain with the Nats but will no longer take up a spot on the 40-man roster.

Garrett, 29, has shown some flashes of offensive potential in his career. That made him a somewhat surprising DFA recipient when the Nats officially re-signed Kyle Finnegan last week and many fans expected him to be quickly snatched up by some other club. However, there are also some downsides in his profile that make it understandable why teams balked at grabbing him off waivers.

It is true that Garrett has a career batting line of .276/.341/.492 in the big leagues, which translates to a 125 wRC+. However, that came in a somewhat small sample size of 361 plate appearances spread across three separate seasons. His .369 batting average on balls in play is heavily to the lucky side, with typical league average usually being in the .290-.300 range. He also struck out in 30.2% of those plate appearances.

His minor league production has been more modest. Over the past four years, he has a .271/.331/.488 slash line and 107 wRC+ on the farm. His 7.5% walk rate and 26.2% strikeout rate in that sample are both subpar numbers.

Major league clubs likely considered his big league production to be at least partly a mirage and unlikely to be sustained. That was likely true before a significant injury and lackluster return. In August of 2023, Garrett suffered a scary injury when he leaped in attempt to catch a DJ LeMahieu home run at Yankee Stadium. In colliding with the wall, he hurt his leg and needed to be carted off the field. It was later announced that he had a fractured left fibula. Garrett was back on the field in 2024 but hit just .247/.338/.336 for a WRC+ of 82 in his 71 Triple-A games.

Put together, Garrett was likely viewed as a decent hitter but one whose results outpaced his actual talents. Factor in the notable leg injury and tepid numbers in his return last year, and his stock was a bit down. That nudged him off Washington’s roster and none of the other 29 clubs were willing to give him a spot.

Since he has less than three years of service time and doesn’t have a previous career outright, he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency. The Nats will go into the season with a projected outfield of James Wood, Dylan Crews and Jacob Young in starting roles, with Alex Call likely on the bench. Robert Hassell III is also on the 40-man while Franchy Cordero is an experienced major leaguer who is in the system on a minor league deal. If Garrett is added back to the roster at any point, he still has options remaining.

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.

Pirates Claim Justin Lawrence

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The Pirates have claimed right-hander Justin Lawrence off waivers from the Rockies, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com. Colorado placed Lawrence on waivers over the weekend. The Bucs haven’t formally announced the claim and will need to make a 40-man roster move to accommodate Lawrence once the transaction becomes official.

Lawrence, 30, agreed to a $975K salary earlier this offseason when he avoided arbitration. The Pirates will take on that salary and hope to coax a rebound effort out of the right-hander. Lawrence was roughed up for a brutal 6.49 earned run average in 2024 but was a quality late-inning arm for the Rox in 2023, saving 11 games and picking up 11 holds en route to a 3.72 ERA.

The 6’3″ Lawrence has shown the ability to miss bats and generate grounders in the past, though command has long been an issue. He fanned 24% of his opponents and posted a 48.5% ground-ball rate for Colorado during that strong 2023 season while sitting 95.4 mph on his sinker and 83.8 mph on his slider. Both pitches lost 0.8 mph in 2024, however, and Lawrence saw his strikeout rate plummet to 16.1% while his already problematic 11% walk rate crept up to 11.8%.

Lawrence did post a career-high 53.1% ground-ball rate, and he was far better on the road than at Coors Field, as most would expect. He was tagged for a disastrous 8.49 ERA in Denver compared to a more palatable 4.50 mark on the road. He had pronounced home-road splits in 2023 as well: 5.40 at Coors Field and 1.62 when the Rockies were away. Over the past two seasons, Lawrence has a 6.69 ERA at Coors Field and a 2.98 mark on the road.

The Pirates won’t be able to send Lawrence to Triple-A. He’s out of minor league options. As such, he’s now a virtual lock to make the Opening Day bullpen, barring an injury. With last year’s poor results and several other arms ahead of him on the bullpen pecking order, Lawrence probably won’t jump right into high-leverage work. He could certainly pitch his way into that role, as he did in ’23, but Pittsburgh will likely hope for a David Bednar rebound in the ninth inning with Colin Holderman, Dennis Santana and Carmen Mlodzinski all setting up. Lefties Caleb Ferguson and Tim Mayza, both signed as free agents, give skipper Derek Shelton at least two southpaw options. Joey Wentz, Kyle Nicolas, Chase Shugart and Peter Strzelecki are all on the 40-man roster as well. Wentz and Strzelecki are out of options. Notable non-roster invitees to camp include Ryan Borucki, Tanner Rainey, Burch Smith and Hunter Stratton.

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