MLB Player News

As far as we can tell, Cruz is only officially retiring from LIDOM. However, there’s also been nothing to suggest he’ll give MLB another try, as he decided against signing anywhere after being released by the Padres in July. The 43-year-old Cruz hit .245/.283/.399 in 152 plate appearances for San Diego this year. He’s second among “active” major leaguers with 464 homers, 47 behind Miguel Cabrera. Assuming that he joins Cabrera in retirement, Giancarlo Stanton, at 402, will take over as the active leader next year.

It wasn’t a firm declaration, but Atkins made it clear that Bichette hasn’t experienced any setbacks during his rehabilitation process following surgery back in late September to address a lingering right middle finger injury. The 26-year-old shortstop looks like an obvious bounce-back candidate for fantasy purposes next season and should be an easy top-15 selection at the position in drafts next spring.

Manoah underwent Tommy John surgery back in June and is expected to miss a significant portion, if not all, of next season. There’s a chance he’s ready to return at some point in the late stages of the 2025 campaign, but that’s up in the air at the moment. The 26-year-old former ace seems like a bit of a long shot to be fantasy-relevant at any point in the future.

Romano was non-tendered by the Blue Jays a couple weeks ago in what Atkins described to reporters as purely a business decision. He added that it was a mutual decision for both sides to allow the veteran closer to explore his options on the open market and that they’re “heavily pursuing” a reunion. The fact that the 31-year-old stopper is expected to be fully healthy heading into spring training is notable since he missed the four months of last year due to persistent elbow issues. There’s a chance he’s closing somewhere, possibly back in Toronto, at the outset of the 2025 campaign, which would make him relevant in all fantasy formats.

Vilade broke into the big leagues back in 2021 with the Rockies and got into a career-high 17 contests this past season for the Tigers, batting .178 (8-for-45) with one homer across 49 plate appearances. The 25-year-old former second-round pick is merely extra organizational depth at this stage of his career.

The posting is expected to take place at noon Eastern. Once the 25-year-old has been posted, MLB clubs will have 30 days to negotiate a contract with Kim. If no deal is reached, he’ll return to his KBO club — the Kiwoom Heroes — but it’s widely expected that Kim will be on someone’s MLB roster for the 2025 campaign and beyond.

The conditional year after Snell’s five-year, $182 million contract would be available to the Dodgers if Snell was assigned to another level at any point in the first five years, or if the left-hander was to miss 90 or more days consecutively on the injured list. It’s an interesting wrinkle to an already intriguing contract that includes a massive signing bonus of $52 million and — of course — deferrals.

The deal will pay the 6-foot-8 right-hander $600,000. Guerrero will head overseas after spending 2024 in the Angels’ organization. The 33-year-old could be back with an MLB club with a strong showing overseas, but he hasn’t pitched in the majors in five years.

Maton, 27, was last with the Orioles’ organization. He’ll provide versatility for the White Sox and has a decent shot of making the Opening Day roster; although they’ll need to create a spot on the 40-man if he does play well enough in Arizona to earn that right.

Kahnle, 35, hasn’t put in a full season since 2019, but he has been very effective when available the last two seasons, amassing a 2.38 ERA for the Yankees. A reunion with the Bombers makes plenty of sense.

Chapman gets $250,000 more than he did from the Pirates last year, even though he was rather mediocre in finishing with a 3.79 ERA. He remained one of baseball’s hardest throwers at age 36, and he still managed an elite 37% strikeout rate last season. However, he doesn’t make it easy when he’s walking two batters every three innings. The Red Sox will likely put him in a setup role, but he could always be a candidate for saves if the need arises.