MLB Player News

There’s some lingering uncertainty whether DeSclafani will be a full-go in time for Opening Day in a couple weeks, but it’s encouraging that he’s seemingly on the verge of facing hitters again, after dealing with some elbow soreness. If he’s not ready to go, it would be Louie Varland getting the nod as Minnesota’s fifth starter to open the year.

“I’m always open for talks or negotiations and just kind of seeing where that leads,” Tucker said. “But definitely, Chicago’s a great city to play in, great city just in general. So, I’m open for anything.” The Cubs acquired Tucker from the Astros in a four-player deal shortly after the Winter Meetings, and the 27-year-old star outfielder is scheduled to hit free agency at the end of the 2025 season. An extension is certainly possible, but Tucker will be the top free agent on the market if he does hit free agency. Take a look at what the last few top free agents have gotten on the open market.

Vargas was non-tenders off the roster by the Nationals in November. Vargas hit .246/.295/.316 in his time with Washington last year, and while he provides some defensive versatility, he doesn’t provide much in terms of value at the plate.

"[Shaw] has to earn that job,” Hoyer Said. “I’m not going to gift him that on a conference call in the middle of December.” Shaw is one of the top prospects in the Chicago system, and while the 23-year-old hasn’t played above Double-A, we’ve seen plenty of players skip the Triple-A level and have success. Shaw could be a contributor in several categories, and would have fantasy relevance if he does get the starting nod.

Nightengale notes the engagement with the first base market is in part due to the Yankees being in a stalemate with the Cubs in their bid to acquire Cody Bellinger. The first baseman that Nightengale mentions as targets for New York are Pete Alonso, Paul Goldschmidt, Carlos Santana and Christian Walker. It seems likely that the Yankees are going to be hard on the market for a first baseman even with a trade for Bellinger, with Walker being the name mentioned the most often. Alonso would be the most interesting, however, if only because he’s spent his entire career across town with the Mets.

A mere week after being reported as done, the Fried signing is now official. He’ll join Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Luis Gil and probably Clarke Schmidt in the Yankees rotation, though a deal involving Gil or Schmidt and opening up a spot for Marcus Stroman remains possible. Fried made 29 starts with a 3.25 ERA last season, but he did miss some time in July with forearm neuritis. In 2023, he was limited to 14 starts, mostly by a forearm strain. It’s a good sign that he passed his physical, but we do still worry some about his durability going forward.

MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf reports Cabbage has been cut loose to pursue an opportunity overseas. The 27-year-old was claimed off waivers last month from the Astros. He’s posted sublime power/speed combo numbers at the Triple-A level, but has never been able to parlay that brilliance into sustained success at the highest level. He’s exactly the type of foreign hitter that tends to excel overseas in either Japan or Korea.

Waddell is back stateside after spending the previous three seasons split between the Korea Baseball Organization and Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League. The 30-year-old righty made 11 relief appearances between four different organizations from 2020-2021. He’ll provide the Mets with some extra organizational relief depth heading into next spring.

The deal is official. Sugano has been one of Japan’s top starting pitchers for over a decade at this juncture and will finally make the leap to the major leagues after finishing last year with a sparkling 1.67 ERA and 111/16 K/BB ratio across 156 2/3 innings. The 35-year-old righty doesn’t offer premium velocity, but boasts a five-pitch mix that is headlined by a deadly splitter. The lack of strikeout upside limits his fantasy appeal to deeper mixed leagues, but he should provide a serious lift in the ratio departments as a back-end rotation stabilizer for fantasy purposes. He’s a decent late-round target in deep mixers heading into next season.

Serven provides the Tigers with some extra organizational catching depth behind Jake Rogers and Dillon Dingler until top prospects Thayron Liranzo and Josue Briceño are ready to reach the big leagues. The 29-year-old backstop got into 28 contests last year for the Blue Jays.

Sánchez fortifies Toronto’s catching situation heading into next season after getting into a career-high 31 contests last year for the Marlins, batting .167 (14-for-84) with two stolen bases. The 27-year-old backstop is merely emergency organizational depth behind Alejandro Kirk entering the 2025 campaign.