Mega Thread 2024-2025 MLB Hot Stove

[Dixie Flatline]

The Toronto Blue Jays have signed RHP Yimi Garcia to a two-year, $15 million contract. The Blue Jays have openings on their 40-man roster and don't need to make a move. Garcia has been with the Blue Jays since the start of the 2022 season, after he signed a two-year contract in the off-season before 2022, which had a club/vesting option for 2024. Garcia pitched well in the first two years of the deal, putting up a 3.61 ERA, with a 25.9% strikeout rate and a 5.9% walk rate across 127 innings between the seasons. However, while his 2024 season started brilliantly (0.47 ERA in 19 innings) he then landed on the IL with right elbow ulnar neuritis. He was activated off the IL in July and was traded to the Mariners, but only managed nine innings for the rest of the season after being diagnosed with inflammation in his right elbow.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The Baltimore Orioles officially confirmed their signings of OF Tyler O'Neill and catcher Gary Sanchez.





The Orioles signed Sanchez to a one-year contract worth $8.5 million a few days ago. Sanchez spent the first seven seasons of his MLB career with the New York Yankees, during which he hit .246/.328/.518 in 327 games through the end of the 2019 season, with 105 homeruns in 1,576 plate appearances. However, his offence started to dip between 2020-2022 and his defence behind the plate, which was never strong, became a liability. The Yankees traded Sanchez to the Twins prior to the 2022 season, where he continued to struggle on offence, although his defence improved. Sanchez became a free agent after the 2022 season but found no clubs interested in him prior to the start of the season. He signed with the Mets during Spring Training, but ended up with the Padres for the rest of the 2022 season. He hit .218/.292/.500 with 10 homeruns in 260 plate appearances as a Padre, and he then became a Brewer, backing up William Contreras.

With former Orioles backup catcher James McCann becoming a free agent, Sanchez will slot in as the primary backup to every-day catcher Adley Rutschman, and will also offer pop against left-handed pitching as a DH.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The Colorado Rockies have signed infielder Thairo Estrada to a one-year, $3.25 million contract. The deal comes with a mutual option for 2026, or a $750,000 buyout. However, if either side declines the mutual option, the Rockies can still retain Estrada through arbitration for 2026 due to Estrada's SuperTwo status.

Originally a Yankee, Estrada was traded to the Giants in 2021 and hit .266/.320/.416 with a 105 wRC+, 45 stolen bases and a 7.4 fWAR between 2021-2023 as the Giants' second baseman. Unfortunately for him, he was hit by injury in 2024 and while he only had short stints on the IL, he was clearly playing through the injury for much of the season. In 96 games, he hit .217/.247/.343 with a 64 wRC+. Estrada was sent to Triple-A in August and elected free agency at the end of the season.

The Rockies envisage that Estrada will replace Brendan Rodgers at second base after they non-tendered Rodgers in November. He will slot in beside Ezequiel Tovar at shortstop and Ryan McMahon at third base.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The Houston Astros are drawing interest in a potential trade for OF Kyle Tucker, according to reports. The Yankees and the Cubs are both interested in acquiring the left-handed hitter from the Astros, after their GM Dana Brown refused to rule out a trade of either Tucker or LHP Framber Valdez yesterday. Tucker is entering the final season of team control and shedding his salary may free up enough money to enable the Astros to re-sign 3B Alex Bregman, which the Astros have publicly noted is their top priority.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The Chicago White Sox are in agreement with free agent OF Mike Tauchman. It is a major league contract for him, worth $1.95 million with an extra $1 million available via incentives. There is also a $250,000 relocation bonus if the White Sox trade him during the season.

Tauchman spent 2023-2024 with the Cubs, hitting a combined .250/.360/.372 across 751 plate appearances over that period, including a .248/.357/.366 in 350 plate appearances in 2024. The Cubs decided to non-tender Tauchman this year, making him a free agent. Tauchman joins Austin Slater as two new outfielders in the White Sox organisation, after the White Sox non-tendered Gavin Sheets last month.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The New York Yankees are in agreement with LHP Max Fried on an eight year, $218 million contract.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The Toronto Blue Jays have acquired second baseman Andres Gimenez from the Guardians. The return received by the Guardians is not yet publicly announced.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

During the Winter Meetings, the MLB conducted the lottery to set the order for the 2025 MLB draft. The Washington Nationals won the first overall pick in the draft. The Chicago White Sox were prohibited from picking any higher than 10th under the lottery rules, despite finishing with the worst record in the MLB and one of the worst records of all time.

The first round order is as follows:

Pick No.	Team
1	Washington Nationals
2	Los Angeles Angels
3	Seattle Mariners
4	Colorado Rockies
5	St Louis Cardinals
6	Pittsburgh Pirates
7	Miami Marlins
8	Toronto Blue Jays
9	Cincinnati Reds
10	Chicago White Sox
11	Oakland Athletics
12	Texas Rangers
13	San Francisco Giants
14	Tampa Bay Rays
15	Boston Red Sox
16	Minnesota Twins
17	Chicago Cubs
18	Arizona Diamondbacks
19	Houston Astros
20	Atlanta Braves
21	Baltimore Orioles
22	Milwaukee Brewers
23	Kansas City Royals
24	Detroit Tigers
25	San Diego Padres
26	Philadelphia Phillies
27	New York Mets
28	Cleveland Guardians
29	New York Yankees
30	Los Angeles Dodgers

 

[Dixie Flatline]

As Fried received and turned down a qualifying offer from the Braves, Atlanta will now receive a pick following the end of the fourth round as compensation for losing Fried. The Yankees will forfeit its second- and fifth-highest picks and lose $1 million from its international bonus pool.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

According to reports, RHP Nathan Eovaldi is re-signing with the Texas Rangers on a three year contract worth $75 million.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

As noted above, the Toronto Blue Jays have acquired second baseman Andres Gimenez from the Cleveland Guardians, as well as RHP Nick Sandlin. Going to Cleveland will be infielder Spencer Horwitz and prospect Nick Mitchell.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

To make room for their new pitcher Alex Cobb, the Tigers have designated outfielder Akil Baddoo for assignment.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The Yankees' eight year contract with LHP Max Fried comes with a full no-trade clause. It also comes with no deferred money or opt-out provisions. The Yankees outmatched the Red Sox and the Rangers for Fried.

 

[FreoRicci]

The Nationals traded Soto because he refused to entertain a contract extension with them. The Nationals did make him an offer and he turned it down, because he felt (rightly) that it undervalued him. The Padres traded him because their owner died and their belts had to be tightened so they weren't going to re-sign him.

What was it 445m over 15 years?
Soto definitely betted on himself and won.

 

[FreoRicci]

Stinging from the loss of OF Juan Soto to the cross-town Mets, the Yankees are reportedly prepared to give LHP Max Fried a seven year contract as the bidding for him heats up. Reportedly the Yankees, Red Sox and the Blue Jays are the teams leading the chase for the former Braves starting pitcher.

Thought he had rather an average 2024.
11-10, 3.25 ERA- his largest since 2019.
Awful lot for a player that’s never won the CY Young Award.

Chris Sale is the better option, but he’s 35 now.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Update on how the top free agents have been tracking this off-season:

• Juan Soto, OF (signed with Mets)
• Corbin Burnes, RHP
• Alex Bregman, 3B
• Blake Snell, LHP (signed with Dodgers)
• Willy Adames, SS (signed with Giants)
• Max Fried, LHP (signed with Yankees)
• Pete Alonso, 1B
• Jack Flaherty, RHP
• Anthony Santander, OF
• Sean Manaea, LHP
• Teoscar Hernandez, OF
• Yusei Kikuchi, LHP (signed with Angels)
• Christian Walker, 1B
• Tanner Scott, LHP
• Luis Severino, RHP (signed with Athletics)
• Jurickson Profar, OF
• Nathan Eovaldi, RHP (signed with Rangers)
• Jeff Hoffman, RHP
• Tyler O'Neill, OF (signed with Orioles)
• Gleyber Torres, 2B
• Clay Holmes, RHP (signed with Mets)
• Carlos Estevez, RHP
• Matthew Boyd, LHP (signed with Cubs)
• Joc Pederson, DH
• Andrew Heaney, LHP
• Hyeseong Kim, 2B
• Frankie Montas, RHP (signed with Mets)
• Nick Pivetta, RHP
• Nick Martinez, RHP (signed with Reds)
• Danny Jansen, C (signed with Rays)
• Jose Quintana, LHP
• Michael Conforto, OF (signed with Dodgers)
• Max Scherzer, RHP
• A.J. Minter, LHP
• Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
• Kyle Higashioka, C (signed with Rangers)
• Walker Buehler, RHP
• Kirby Yates, RHP
• Michael Soroka, RHP
• Andrew Kittredge, RHP
• Kyle Gibson, RHP
• Tommy Kahnle, RHP
• Ha-Seong Kim, SS
• Shane Bieber, RHP (signed with Guardians)
• Justin Verlander, RHP
• Tomoyuki Sugano, RHP
• David Robertson, RHP
• Shinnosuke Ogasawa, RHP
• Harrison Bader, OF
• Spencer Turnbull, RHP
• Blake Treinen, RHP (signed with Dodgers)

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Thought he had rather an average 2024.
11-10, 3.25 ERA- his largest since 2019.
Awful lot for a player that’s never won the CY Young Award.

Chris Sale is the better option, but he’s 35 now.

Despite me previously criticising ERA as an accurate measure of pitching performance, since 2019, Fried has a 3.07 ERA in 824 2/3 innings. Only one pitcher in baseball has pitched more innings and had a lower ERA - Gerrit Cole. Fried induces groundballs at a 54.2% rate and keeps walks at a 6.3% rate (well above average).

The Yankees needed to improve their starting rotation, and they've got one of the top two pitchers in free agency. Given the reports of how much money they offered to Soto, they're still well in position to add Corbin Burnes, as well.

 

[largebus]

Gimenez to Toronto is a dumb trade for both sides. Blue Jay's need runs not defence and whatever Cleveland get back won't be enough to replace him.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The Texas Rangers have acquired 1B/3B Jake Burger from the Miami Marlins in exchange for infielder Echedry Vargas, infielder Max Acosta and LHP Brayan Mendoza.

Burger hit .250/.306/.460 in 579 plate appearances for Miami, with 29 home runs in 2024. He has hit 63 homeruns since the start of the 2023 season, tied with Jose Ramirez and Corey Seager for 15th in the MLB over that timespan. He has hit .250/.305/.488 in the last two seasons between the White Sox and Marlins.

Burger has generally played third base during his professional career, but has ranked poorly as a defender at that position. He is a roughly average defender at first base. He will not necessarily be a starter at either position at Texas, but would be a reasonable fill-in for the often injured Josh Jung at third base while Nathaniel Lowe could become a trade chip should the Rangers not push for a post-season push in 2025, since he is due to make $10.7 million in arbitration.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

After acquiring him from the Blue Jays, the Guardians have flipped infielder Spencer Horwitz to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for RHP Luis Ortiz, LHP Josh Hartle and LHP Michael Kennedy. Horwitz looks like he will have first dibs on playing first base for the Pirates after he would have been buried on the depth chart in Cleveland behind Josh Naylor and Kyle Manzardo.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The Boston Red Sox have made it known that they are in the process of preparing a formal contract offer to RHP Corbin Burnes after they missed out to the Yankees on LHP Max Fried earlier today.

As Red Sox lose out to Yankees on Max Fried, team prepares Corbin Burnes offer

Max Fried is off the board, going to the Yankees on an eight-year deal. Now, the Red Sox are preparing an offer to Corbin Burnes.

www.masslive.com

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The Pittsburgh Pirates are in agreement with reliever RHP Elvis Alvarado on a split contract. He will receive a 40-man roster spot for the Pirates, for the first time in his career, having previously been with the Nationals, Mariners, Tigers and Marlins without making it on to their 40 man roster. Alvarado was mostly with the Marlins in Triple-A in 2024, with a 33% strikeout rate and a 18% walk rate. Alvarado has a full slate of minor league options and will probably start the season in Triple-A.

 

[JLC]

The Houston Astros are drawing interest in a potential trade for OF Kyle Tucker, according to reports. The Yankees and the Cubs are both interested in acquiring the left-handed hitter from the Astros, after their GM Dana Brown refused to rule out a trade of either Tucker or LHP Framber Valdez yesterday. Tucker is entering the final season of team control and shedding his salary may free up enough money to enable the Astros to re-sign 3B Alex Bregman, which the Astros have publicly noted is their top priority.

Tucker even if only for a year would be an amazing pick up for the Yankees.

You add Bellinger and suddenly the line up looks better and defensively much stronger.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

LHP Garrett Crochet has been traded to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for four prospects.

According to announcements from both clubs, the White Sox have acquired catcher Kyle Teel, outfielder Braden Montgomery, infielder Chase Meidroth and RHP Wikelman Gonzalez in exchange for LHP Garrett Crochet.

The White Sox drafted Crochet with the 11th overall pick in the 2020 draft and he made his MLB debut later that year with six innings of work. He was an essential part of the White Sox bullpen in 2021, pitching 54 1/3 innings for 2.82 ERA and 2.80 FIP. He missed all of the 2022 campaign and a part of the 2023 season after Tommy John surgery, and struggled on his return to the majors, walking more batters than he struck out in 12 2/3 innings.

However, Crochet was named by the White Sox as their opening day starter and that kickstarted a dominant campaign for the pitcher, pitching 146 innings in 32 starts for a 3.58 ERA (115 ERA+) and a 2.69 FIP. Among starters with 100+ innings in 2024, he led allcomers in strikeout rate (35.1%), SIERA (2.53), and also put up a 5.5% walk rate and a 45.1% groundball rate.

The Red Sox have paid a decent price to acquire Crochet from the White Sox. Teel is ranked the 25th overall prospect in baseball by Baseball America, and the third best prospect in the Red Sox farm system, behind Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell, both of whom are reportedly regarded as untouchable. Teel was the 14th overall pick in the 2023 draft and hit .299/.390/.462 in 84 games at Double-A before going up to Triple-A by the end of this season. He turns 23 in February 2025 and is likely to earn a promotion to the majors at some stage during the 2025 season.

The Red Sox drafted OF Braden Montgomery with the 12th overall pick of the 2024 draft. Montgomery is a switch-hitter who is yet to make his pro debut but hit .322/.454/.733 in 295 plate appearances with Texas A&M this year. Even though he is yet to make his pro debut, he is regarded as the 59th overall prospect in the sport by Baseball America.

Meidroth and Gonzalez are not ranked inside the top 100 prospects but were highly regarded in the Boston farm system, ranked as the 11th and 14th prospects before the trade.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

As noted yesterday, LHP Max Fried is now a Yankee, but reports suggested that the Athletics were aggressively pursuing Fried in free agency (a report that Athletics GM David Forst has subsequently denied). The Red Sox were also after Fried before pivoting to a trade with the White Sox for Crochet. According to reports, the Red Sox best offer for Fried was seven years, $190 million, while the Texas Rangers were also in that ballpark (though the lack of a state tax in Texas means that their offer was on par with the successful offer from the Yankees).

There is still time for the Red Sox to save themselves

The Boston Red Sox haven’t had good success so far this offseason in winning bidding wars for high-priced. players they have prioritized to serve as the foundation for their team.

www.audacy.com

Yankees weren’t initially Max Fried’s top choice — here’s how they lured him to The Bronx

His market included the Angels and Giants as darkhorses, but the four main contenders were the Yankees, Blue Jays, Rangers and Red Sox.

nypost.com