MLB Player News

Hopefully this is just a day-to-day thing. If not, the Cardinals could bring back Nolan Gorman and turn to Brendan Donovan and José Fermín at third base.

The backloaded contract will then pay Suárez $15 million in 2027, $30 million in both 2028 and ’29 and $35 million in 2030. There’s a $35 million mutual option for 2031 that includes a $10 million buyout. The structure saves the Red Sox quite a bit in the short term and also protects Suárez in the event of a lengthy lockout in 2027; he’d be losing far less then than his AAV of $26 million.

That’s good news for Emmet Sheehan and Roki Sasaki, who would seem to be in the lead for the two spots behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow in the Dodgers rotation. The club also has Ben Casparius, Justin Wrobleski and Landon Knack as alternatives, as well as rehabbing righties River Ryan and Gavin Stone.

The deal is worth $1.75 million and includes $1.25 million in bonuses, says USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale. García, who is coming off his third stint with the Angels, will open his 14th big-league season with his eighth different club. He’s still throwing in the high-90s as he approaches his 39th birthday, and he had a 3.42 ERA, a 48/26 K/BB and a 50% groundball rate in 55 1/3 innings last year.

Chung’s third DFA of the winter comes nine days after the second, when the Rays put him on waivers to be claimed by the Mets. The former Pirates prospect is coming off a season in which he hit just .209/.307/.271 in Triple-A.

Would the Brewers want Jasson Domínguez, who could be available with Cody Bellinger back in New York? The Yankees also have major league starting pitching to part with in the form of Luis Gil, Will Warren or even the newly acquired Ryan Weathers. If the Brewers do decide to pull the trigger and deal their ace, this does seem like the most obvious trade fit.

Roberts said he hasn’t made any final decisions. Second and third are the usual spots of Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, respectively, which made us think Tucker might open up in the cleanup spot. If Tucker bats second, he’d presumably be followed by Betts and Freeman, but if Tucker bats third behind Betts, it might make sense to slide Freeman down to fifth to separate the lefty bats and use Will Smith in the cleanup spot.

We’re kind of confused by this, as Molina was already named a special assistant to the president of baseball operations for the Cardinals after the 2023 season. But apparently that arrangement quietly ended at some point. It’s back on now with Chaim Bloom having replaced John Mozeliak as the leader of the Cardinals’ front office. The 43-year-old Molina has made no secret of his desire to manage in the bigs someday. He will be at the helm for Team Puerto Rico in the WBC.

David Peterson, Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes, Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea would seem to be the Mets’ rotation for the moment, with prospects Jonah Tong, Christian Scott, Brandon Sproat and journeyman Cooper Criswell in reserve. Depth is nice, but getting a true upgrade is going to be expensive. It’s already possible that one or two of those prospects are better than the team’s veterans.

Tucker is getting the highest AAV of all-time, at least once one factors in the extreme deferments in Shohei Ohtani’s $70 million-per-year salary. He’s the third player to sign for exactly $240 million. The other two were Albert Pujols’ 10-year deal with the Angels in 2012 and Robinson Cano’s 10-year pact with the Mariners in 2014. Tucker will step in as the Dodgers’ right fielder, shifting Teoscar Hernández to left. Whether he winds up hitting third, fourth or fifth is still to be determined. As long as he’s third or fourth, he’s probably worth picking in the 10-15 range in spring drafts. It’d be surprising to see him hitting fifth, which would take a toll on his value, but, of course, it is a stacked lineup that he’s joining.

Siani will likely go on waivers for a third time this winter after previously bring dropped by the Cardinals and Braves. As a top-flight center fielder with pinch-running ability, he’s a decent bench option on the right team. He just shouldn’t be starting games very often.