MLB Hot Stove 2023-2024

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The Los Angeles Angels are in agreement on a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training for DH Miguel Sano. Sano has long been regarded as a player who possesses tremendous power at the plate but also is prone to high strikeouts and has dealt with various ailments during his MLB career. Between 2015 and 2019 for the Minnesota Twins, Sano hit 118 homeruns in 2,051 plate appearances, but also struck out 36.3% of the time. His .245/.338/.498 slash line translated to a wRC+ of 121, which encompassed a successful 2019 campaign where he hit 34 home runs.

His success at the plate convinced the Twins to give him a three year, $30 million extension heading into the 2020 season, with a club option for 2023. However, Sano's production took a step back, and while he hit 43 homeruns across 2020-2021, his strike out rate rose north of 37% and he slashed just .218/.303/.470. In 2022, knee injuries limited him to 20 games and he hit a paltry .083/.211/.133.

After that injury-interrupted season, the Twins declined their option over Sano and paid him a buyout of $3 million rather than a $14 million salary. Sano held workouts for interested teams but ended up missing the full year of baseball. He has recently played some baseball in the Dominican Winter League and hit .225/.346/.405 in 107 plate appearances. He struck out 30 times but also managed 14 walks.

 

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The Angels officially announced their signing of RHP Robert Stephenson overnight and to create roster space for him, they designated 1B/OF Alfonso Rivas for assignment. Rivas was claimed by the Angels off waivers from the Guardians a month ago. Rivas has 459 career plate appearances in the majors, between the Cubs, Padres and Pirates, hitting a combined batting line of .243/.324/.349.

 

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The Philadelphia Phillies have signed LHP Kolby Allard to a one-year split contract. Allard will be added to the 40-man roster, but he does have a minor league option remaining. Allard was non-tendered by the Braves in November 2023, has over three years of MLB service time and is controllable through the 2026 season. Allard will be paid $1 million in the majors with another $125,000 in incentives. He will earn $375,000 in the minors.

 

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The Washington Nationals are in agreement with 1B/OF Joey Gallo on a one year contract worth a base salary of $5 million, with up to $1 million in incentives, pending a successful physical. Gallo made his MLB debut for the Rangers in 2015, and has played in 863 MLB games, hitting 198 home runs, and a career strike out rate of 37.9%, plus a walk rate of 14.8%.

Gallo's career slash line is .197/.323/.466, but the walks and homers mean that he has a wRC+ of 109. He signed a one year, $11 million deal with the Twins for 2023, and hit .197/.323/.466 for a WRC+ of 104. Gallo mashed 21 homeruns for the Twins but struck out in 42.8% of plate appearances.

 

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The Dodgers are in agreement with LHP James Paxton on an $11 million, one year deal. Paxton is due to earn an additional $1 million if he is on the Opening Day roster, and there is another $1 million in incentives available to Paxton.

 

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Trevor May is a former MLB player with the Mets and Athletics and has his own Youtube channel where he talks about life as a MLB player. This is his most recent video from a couple of weeks ago.

 

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The latest crop of Hall of Fame players has just been announced.

Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton have been elected by the Baseball Writers Association of America. They will be elected alongside Jim Leyland, who was selected by the Era Committee last month.

Beltre received 95.1% of the vote, Helton received 79.7% of the vote and Mauer received 76.1% of the vote.

Billy Wagner just missed out, polling 73.8% (75% is the threshold). This was Wagner's ninth year on the ballot, meaning that next year will be his final chance to be elected by the BBWA.

Gary Sheffield polled 63.9% of the vote in his tenth and final year on the ballot.

Full results below:

Player	Votes	Percentage	Year on ballot
Adrian Beltre	366	95.1%	First
Todd Helton	307	79.7%	Sixth
Joe Mauer	293	76.1%	First
Billy Wagner	284	73.8%	Ninth
Gary Sheffield	246	63.9%	Tenth
Andruw Jones	237	61.6%	Seventh
Carlos Beltran	220	57.1%	Second
Alex Rodriguez	134	34.8%	Third
Manny Ramirez	125	32.5%	Eighth
Chase Utley	111	28.8%	First
Omar Vizquel	68	17.7%	Seventh
Bobby Abreu	57	14.8%	Fifth
Jimmy Rollins	57	14.8%	Third
Andy Pettite	52	13.5%	Sixth
Mark Buehrle	32	8.3%	Fourth
Francisco Rodriguez	30	7.8%	Second
Torii Hunter	28	7.3%	Fourth
David Wright	24	6.2%	First
Jose Bautista	6	1.6%	First
Victor Martinez	6	1.6%	First
Bartolo Colon	5	1.3%	First
Matt Holliday	4	1	First
Adrian Gonzalez	3	0.8%	First
Brandon Phillips	1	0.3%	First
Jose Reyes	0	0	First
James Shields	0	0	First

Since Bautista, Martinez, Colon, Holliday, Gonzalez, Phillips, Reyes and Shields did not achieve at least 5% of the vote from the BBWA, they will be removed from next year's ballot and will not qualify for the Hall of Fame through the voting system.

Adrián Beltré, Todd Helton, Joe Mauer elected to Baseball Hall of Fame – BBWAA

bbwaa.com

 

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Turns out that I have watched three HoF players live. I was at the Twins @ A's back in June 2010. Mauer was catcher that day, while Justin Morneau pinch hit for Brendan Harris and Jim Thome was the Twins' designated hitter. Mauer went 1-5 and scored a run, Thome went 1 for 2 and scored two runs, while Morneau was intentionally walked in his sole plate appearance. The Twins went on to win 4-3

 

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The Milwaukee Brewers are reportedly in the process of finalising a two year, $34 million contract with free agent first baseman Rhys Hoskins. According to reports, the contract will contain an opt-out after 2024. Hoskins missed the entirety of the 2023 season while with the Phillies thanks to a torn ACL suffered during Spring Training. While Hoskins was sufficiently recovered to take batting practice by the end of the season, he didn't make it back to the Phillies for the postseason and saw his spot at first base taken by Bryce Harper. The Phillies did suggest that Hoskins may have been reactivated off the IL had the Phillies beaten the Diamondbacks in the NLCS and made it to the World Series.

Hoskins joins a new club for the first time in his career, having been drafted by the Phillies in the fifth round of the 2014 draft. He was very productive at the minor league level and made it to the majors in time for the second half of the 2017 season. Hoskins hit .259/.396/.618 with 18 home runs in his first 50 games in the majors. Between 2018 and 2022, Hoskins hit between 27 and 34 home runs, and was on the same pace in the COVD-shortened season of 2020, where he hit 10 homers in 41 games. Since 2018, Hoskins has hit .241/.350/.483, with a 25% strikeout rate and a walk rate above 10%.

 

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The Los Angeles Angels are reportedly in agreement with LHP Matt Moore on a $9 million contract. Moore returns to the Angels for the second straight season, having signed a one-year, $7.55 million contract last off-season. Moore pitched 44 innings for the Angels in 2023 out of the bullpen, managing an ERA of 2.66, with a 28% strikeout rate and a 6.9% walk rate.

 

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The Milwaukee Brewers are reportedly in the process of finalising a two year, $34 million contract with free agent first baseman Rhys Hoskins. According to reports, the contract will contain an opt-out after 2024. Hoskins missed the entirety of the 2023 season while with the Phillies thanks to a torn ACL suffered during Spring Training. While Hoskins was sufficiently recovered to take batting practice by the end of the season, he didn't make it back to the Phillies for the postseason and saw his spot at first base taken by Bryce Harper. The Phillies did suggest that Hoskins may have been reactivated off the IL had the Phillies beaten the Diamondbacks in the NLCS and made it to the World Series.

Hoskins joins a new club for the first time in his career, having been drafted by the Phillies in the fifth round of the 2014 draft. He was very productive at the minor league level and made it to the majors in time for the second half of the 2017 season. Hoskins hit .259/.396/.618 with 18 home runs in his first 50 games in the majors. Between 2018 and 2022, Hoskins hit between 27 and 34 home runs, and was on the same pace in the COVD-shortened season of 2020, where he hit 10 homers in 41 games. Since 2018, Hoskins has hit .241/.350/.483, with a 25% strikeout rate and a walk rate above 10%.

Damn you for moving to the NLC.

 

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The New York Yankees announced overnight that OF Oscar Gonzalez and INF Jeter Downs both passed through waivers unclaimed and have been outrighted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. A third player the Yankees put on waivers, OF Bubba Thompson, was claimed by the TWins.

The Twins had two open spots on their 40-man roster prior to claiming Thompson, so they do not need to create roster space for him. Thompson is the fastest player in the game by measure of average sprint speed metric (30.4 feet per second) but is also one of the lightest hitters in the game, hitting .242/.286/.305 in 241 career plate appearances at the MLB level. His average exit velocity (career 84.1 mph) and hard-hit rate (21.9%) are towards the bottom of the pile among qualified hitters.

 

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The Detroit Tigers have signed RHP Drew Anderson to a minor league deal. It is not clear whether Anderson will get an invitation to Spring Training. Anderson has previously pitched in the majors with the Phillies, White Sox and Rangers, appearing in five consecutive seasons but never making more than nine appearances in any particular season. Anderson has thrown a combined 44 1/3 innings in 19 games, with a career 6.50 ERA. He has a career strikeout rate of 14.7%.

Anderson has spent the last two seasons in the NPB with the Hiroshima Carp, pitching 115 innings in 34 games, with a 3.05 ERA. He struck out batters at 20.7% rate and walked batters 8.4% of the time.

Anderson has experience both as a starter and as a reliever, so presumably he will be tried out in the former role first and then shifted to the bullpen should he not produce satisfactory results as a starter.

 

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The Cincinnati Reds parted ways with long-time first baseman Joey Votto early in the offseason and the Reds have ruled out the possibility of bringing Votto back to the club, with their president of baseball operations Nick Krall telling season ticket-holders that they have no plans to "bring him back as of now".

The Reds have a crowded infield and also added free agent Jeimer Candelario to the mix early in the off-season, signing him to a three-year, $45 million contract. Spencer Steer also has been forced into left field despite being more suited to an infield role, while the Reds also need to find playing time for the likes of Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, Noelvi Marte, Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Jonathan India.

Votto was a second-round selection of the Reds in the 2002 MLB draft and made his MLB debut for them in 2007. He has indicated that he would like to keep playing for an 18th MLB season, but it seems all but certain that if he is to continue his professional baseball career, it will be with a club other than the Reds.

 

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The Miami Marlins are in agreement with 1B/OF Trey Mancini on a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. Mancini is still technically playing under the two-year, $14 million contract he signed last off-season with the Cubs, so the Marlins will only owe Mancini the prorated league minimum for any time he spends on their active roster. The Cubs released Mancini after the trade deadline. Mancini went to the Reds on a minor league deal later that month but did not promote him to the MLB before releasing him at the end of the season.

Mancini, previously with the Orioles and the Astros, struggled in his time with the Cubs, hitting just .234/.299/.336 in 79 games with Chicago before being released. Mancini hit only four home runs during that period and struck out at a 29.7% rate, a career worst mark for him.

Mancini was traded by the Orioles to Houston just after the 2022 All-Star break, and that coincided with his downturn in form. While with the Orioles in the first part of the 2022 season, Mancini hit .285/.359/.429 in 351 plate appearances, but after being traded, he batted just .176/.258/.364 in 51 games with the Astros. Across the Astros and Cubs, Mancini has had 499 plate appearances and turned in a .204/.280/.335 batting line.

If he sticks with the Fish, Mancini will be competing for a bench spot and possibly time as the Marlins' designated hitter, with Josh Bell seemingly secure at first base, and Bryan De La Cruz and Jesus Sanchez in the corner outfield spots.

 

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The Detroit Tigers have signed INF Colt Keith to a six-year contract with club options for the 2030, 2031 and 2032 seasons. Each club option contains salary escalators. The deal guarantees Keith $28.6425 million and could max out at $82 million over nine years if the Tigers exercise all three options and they are escalated.

The deal also includes a $2 million signing bonus, and Keith will be paid $2.5 million in 2024, $3.5 million in 2025, $4 million per season in 2026 and 2027, and $5 million per season in 2028 and 2029. Before escalators, the 2030 club option is worth $10 million with a $2.6425 million buyout, while the 2031 club option is valued at $13 million with a $1 million buyout, while the 2032 option is valued at $15 million with a $2 million buyout.

Keith was selected by the Tigers in the fifth round of the 2020 draft and has motored through the minors, reaching Triple-A last season. He is a consensus top 30 prospect in the game, with MLB.com ranking him 22nd overall, while Baseball America have him ranked 28th.

Keith had been expected to take the jump into the big show at some stage this season but it appears that the Tigers are planning on Keith being their second baseman on Opening Day.

 

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The Cleveland Guardians have signed RHP Carlos Carrasco to minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training. Carrasco previously pitched for the Guardians back in 2009 after being acquired from the Phillies in a trade. Carrasco made his MLB debut for the Guardians shortly after joining Cleveland and stayed for over a decade, pitching to a 3.77 ERA and 3.42 FIP across 1,242 1/3 innings. Carrasco picked up votes for the AL Cy Young award in 2015 and 2017. The Guardians traded Carrasco at the deadline in 2020 to the Mets together with Francisco Lindor in a deal that brought Amed Rosario, Andres Gimenez, Josh Wolf and Isaiah Greene to the Guardians.

While Lindor has gone from strength to strength in Queens, Carrasco struggled on the field and regularly faced time on the sidelines thanks to injury. Carrasco heads into his age-37 season with a 4.87 ERA in 443 2/3 innings pitched since 2019.

Carrasco is set to make a base salary of $2 million if he makes the Guardians' active roster.

 

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The Seattle Mariners have signed utility man Cole Tucker to a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training. Tucker signed a minor league deal with the Rockies last winter, but was not selected to the Rockies' active roster until August and only played in five MLB games before being outrighted off the Rockies' 40-man roster. At the end of the season, Tucker exercised his right to hit minor league free agency. Tucker was a first round draft pick of the Pirates back in 2014 and struggled against MLB pitching while with Pittsburgh, hitting just .216/.266/.318 over 479 plate appearances. He was designated for assignment by the Pirates in the 2022 season and was claimed off waivers by the Diamondbacks, but did not make their active roster.

 

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The Chicago Cubs have signed RHP Hector Neris to a one-year, $9 million contract, with a $9 million club option for 2025 which vests into a player option if Neris makes at least 60 appearances in 2024 for the Cubs. Between that option and additional incentive bonuses, Neris is set to earn up to $23.25 million over two years.

Neris initially made his name as the Phillies closer and spent the previous two seasons in Houston with the Astros. Neris posted a 1.71 ERA over 68 1/3 innings out of the Astros' bullpen, but he saw his fastball velocity drop from an average of 94.3mph down to 93mph in 2023. Neris' walk rate also climbed above 10% to 11.4%, marking the third season in the last four that Neris' walk rate has sat within the bottom 23rd percentile of all pitchers.

Neris does bring durability and availability to the Cubs bullpen, having appeared in 307 games since the start of the 2019 season, with a stint on the IL for COVID back in 2020 the only time Neris has been unavailable to pitch through injury during his big league career.

It is likely that the Cubs will use Neris as their top set-up man, with Adbert Alzolay set to continue his role as the Cubs' closer in 2024. Neris joins Yency Almonte (formerly of the Dodgers) as new faces in the Cubs' bullpen.

 

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Max Scherzer told Rangers' fans at their FanFest over the weekend that he has not yet had any setbacks in his recovery from back surgery and he expects to begin working out in about three weeks. That timeline puts him on pace to commence workouts shortly after Spring Training commences, but there is still a lengthy rehab ahead of Scherzer, who is not officially set to be pitching for the Rangers in games until June at the earliest.

 

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Byron Buxton told Twins' fans at their FanFest over the weekend that he expects to resume every day duties as their centre fielder in 2024, after he spent the entirety of 2023 as the Twins' DH before he underwent knee surgery in October 2023. Buxton did not have a great season in 2023, hitting just .207/.294/.438 that was approximately league average through wRC+, and significantly lower than the combined .258/.316/.558 slash line that he hit between 2019-2022.

Twins star Byron Buxton on return to center field: ‘I’m back’

Because of injuries, Buxton did not play a major league game in center field last season.

www.twincities.com

 

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The Oakland Athletics are reportedly in agreement with veteran LHP Alex Wood on a contract, though the details (which were pending a physical) have not been made public. Wood spent the last three years with the Giants, having been selected by the Braves in 2012. Wood has previously pitched for the Reds, as well as the Braves and Giants.

 

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The young Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki has put pen to paper on a new contract with his NPB club, the Lotte Marines, over the weekend. It puts to bed rumours that have been circulating since the off-season began of Sasaki seeking to make the jump from the NPB to the MLB this winter. This would have been unusual, since MLB posting rules require Japanese players to be at least 25 years old and have played at least six professional seasons before they can sign with a big league club on anything other than a minor league contract (recall that Ohtani signed a minor league contract with the Angels when he came to the USA from Japan since he did not meet these requirements at the time).

Sasaki came to prominence at last year's WBC as a pitcher with a fireball fastball routinely exceeding 100 mph as well as a devastating forkball. Sasaki owns a career 2.00 ERA and 34.4% strikeout rate in 46 NPB starts, and holds the NPB record for the most number of strikeouts in a single NPB game with 19.

Sasaki refused to answer questions about when he would like to go to the MLB during his press conference to announce his contract signing, stating that he wanted to focus on the upcoming 2024 campaign with the Marines. There are rumours suggesting that Sasaki has included a provision in his contract that would permit him to go to the USA next off-season.

Rōki Sasaki says he wants to play in MLB but Japanese pitcher won't say when that might be

Japanese pitcher Rōki Sasaki is likely to be the next big thing out of Japanese baseball. It’s just not clear when he will make it to Major League Baseball.

apnews.com

Baseball: Lotte, ace Sasaki deny discord over MLB ambitions

Lotte Marines flamethrower Roki Sasaki says he has expressed his desire to one day play Major League Baseball ever since joining the Pacific League club.

english.kyodonews.net

 

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The New York Mets have agreed to a one-year contract with RHP Adam Ottavino, bringing him back for the third consecutive season. Ottavino will earn $4.5 million in 2024, pending a physical. Ottavino declined a player option at the end of the off-season that would have seen him earn $6.75 million. Ottavino discussed his decision to decline the option on a podcast recorded before he put pen to paper on the contract with the Mets, saying that, at the time, he had concerns about the club's future given their uncertain managerial situation and rumours that the club planned to take a step back during the 2024 campaign. At 38 years of age, Ottavino is all-in on chasing a World Series before he retires.

It appears that Ottavino has been convinced to stay in New York on a reduced salary after the Mets brought in OF Harrison Bader, OF Tyrone Taylor, INF Joey Wendle, RHP Jorge Lopez, LHP Sean Manaea, RHP Adrian Houser and RHP Luis Severino.

Although Ottavino superficially loses money on the deal, it is reported that Ottavino's player option contained $4 million of deferred money whereas his new contract with the Mets contains no deferrals.

Adam Ottavino: Mets rebuffed contract talks, so I’m becoming free agent

The Mets have a void in the bullpen after the veteran turned down his $6.75 million option for next season.

nypost.com

 

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The New York Yankees have claimed LHP Matt Gage off waivers from the Astros, after Houston designated him for assignment last week. Gage has spent time in the majors in each of the past two seasons, putting up a combined 1.83 ERA in 19 2/3 innings between the Blue Jays and the Astros. Gage has managed a strikeout rate of 26%, but also gave up walks at a 11.7% rate.

To create roster space on their 40-man roster, the Yankees designated utility man Diego Castillo for assignment. Not to be confused with the pitcher by the same name, Castillo has bounced around various clubs over the past few years. Signed by the Yankees as an amateur international free agent, Castillo was traded by the Yankees to the Pirates as part of the prospects for Clay Holmes back in 2021. The Pirates then traded Castillo to the Diamondbacks after the 2022 season and Castillo was with Arizona through the 2023 season. The Diamondbacks designated Castillo for assignment in December 2023, and he went to the Mets and then the Yankees on waiver claims. He has been designated for assignment for the third time in just over a month.

Castillo is by no means a slugger, hitting just three homeruns in 556 plate appearances at Triple-A in 2023, but walked 17.4% of the time and struck out at 14.2% of the time. His Triple-A slashline of .313/.431/.410 was good enough for a 117 wRC+. This hasn't translated to the big leagues just yet, as he has a career .205/.250/.380 in 284 plate appearances for a wRC+ of 71.