MLB Player News

It doesn’t look particularly easy right now for Matthews. He’s missing bats, but struggling to put hitters away. He’s throwing plenty of strikes, but consistently missing his spots. He’s finding his way out of jams, but giving up too many homers. It’s easy to forget he started the season in High-A when he forced the Twins’ hand and is getting meaningful innings in a pennant race. Yet, it’s incredibly frustrating to have such a short outing against the lowly Angels. He’s now allowed a homer in five of his six outings and sports an ugly 7.11 ERA, mostly due to one nine-run blow up. He’s lined up for a two-start week starting next Monday in Cleveland before heading to Boston.

Wow. Heyman says the Burnes can opt out after two years. It sounded like Burnes and the Giants were a match, but it seems San Francisco couldn’t come up with the money. He’s a huge get for an Arizona team that is very well set in the rotation now with Burnes, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt. One wonders if the club might part with Gallen for offense, opening up a spot for Jordan Montgomery or Ryne Nelson.

The two sides agreed to the deal just before Christmas and it finally became official on Friday. Manaea was a key cog in the Mets’ rotation during the 2024 season, registering a 3.47 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and a 184/63 K/BB ratio over 181 2/3 innings in his 32 starts. The 32-year-old southpaw currently sports an average draft position just outside the top 175 players overall in early fantasy drafts.

Jeff Passan of ESPN adds that the contract includes a $15 million option for a fourth season, a $23 million signing bonus and more than $23 million in deferred money. The 32-year-old outfielder took to Instagram to announce that he was officially returning to the Dodgers. Hernández was outstanding in his lone season with the World Champions, slashing .272/.339/.501 with 33 long balls, 99 RBI and 12 stolen bases in 652 plate appearances. He’ll return to one of the deepest and most talented lineups in all of baseball and should be a force in fantasy leagues once again in 2025. Hernández is currently going just outside the top 75 players overall in early fantasy drafts.

The 37-year-old hurler had a career resurgence with the Rangers in 2024, registering a minuscule 1.17 ERA, 0.83 WHIP and an 85/28 K/BB ratio over 61 2/3 innings while recording 33 saves. The Diamondbacks want to add another capable arm to the backend of their bullpen to help out Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk and Yates would certainly fit the bill. The Tigers have also shown interest in his services this off-season while the Rangers are interested in bringing him back as well.

Interesting. The Tigers signed Gleyber Torres on Friday to a one-year deal, and Keith — who has primarily played second base with Detroit — will move a little further to his left and play at the not-as-hot corner instead. The 23-year-old will likely be in a platoon with Spencer Torkelson for the 2025 season, assuming Torkelson isn’t traded, of course. Keith’s fantasy value goes up a tick, as he’ll have eligibility at multiple positions shortly into the campaign.

Horn, 26, was just claimed off waivers by the Tigers near the end of November. The left-hander will hit the waiver wire again, and if he goes unclaimed he’ll remain in the Detroit organization but off the 40-man roster.

The deal also includes a $500,000 assignment bonus. Torres joins the Tigers after forging a .709 OPS and 15 homers over 154 games in his final year with the Yankees. The Tigers will hope he plays closer to his 2023 form when he had 23 homers and an .800 OPS while playing solid enough defense up the middle. It’s not the best fantasy landing spot, but there are enough talented options in the Detroit lineup for Torres to be a useable option in 2025.

ESPN"s Jesse Rogers says it’s a one-year, $15 million deal. It’s really rather disappointing to see the Tigers settle for this with Alex Bregman still out there and maybe better options than Torres already on the roster. Colt Keith is a definite keeper, but either he’s moving or Torres, who can’t be viewed as a legitimate shortstop at this point, will have to learn a new position. It looks like Jace Jung or Spencer Torkelson is going to be shut out, and Matt Vierling will spend most of his time in the outfield.

There have been reports that the Mets have offered somewhere in the neighborhood of three years and $90 million, while Alonso and Scott Boras are looking for a deal that approaches $200 million overall. There’s still plenty of time to hammer out a deal and the market of teams looking for first baseman has shrunk considerably over the past week, so the most likely scenario is still that Alonso winds back up with the Mets.

Perhaps it was Torres just giving the Nationals an excuse for why he didn’t want to sign there and he could consider offers to play the hot corner from viable contenders, but for now it appears that he’s looking for a job at second base. The 28-year-old hit .257/.330/.378 with 15 homers, 63 RBI and four stolen bases. Torres is projected by MLBTradeRumors.com to land a two-year, $36 million contract on the open market.