In roughly five weeks pitchers and catchers will report to spring training camps in Arizona and Florida. Only five of our top 50 free agents remain unsigned, including none of the top 25, though there are still plenty of trade candidates out there. Here is Sunday’s batch of hot stove news and rumors.
The Mariners have signed outfielder A.J. Pollock to a one-year contract worth $7 million, reports ESPN. Pollock declined his $13 million player option with the White Sox earlier this offseason and received a $5 million buyout, so he wound up taking a $1 million pay cut to leave Chicago and join Seattle. He did not rank among our top 50 free agents.
Pollock, 35, is beginning to settle into a role as a righty platoon bat after posting a .935 OPS against lefties and a .593 OPS against righties in 2022. Ideally Pollock would platoon with the lefty-hitting Jarred Kelenic, though Kelenic has yet to prove he can hit MLB pitching. Pollock joins Kelenic, Sam Haggerty, Dylan Moore, and Taylor Trammell as left field options for the Mariners.
The Marlins and Mets had some discussions regarding an Eduardo Escobar trade, reports the Miami Herald. Miami’s Jean Segura signing likely closes that door, however. Presumably the Escobar trade talks took place after the Mets agreed to sign Carlos Correa. With Correa’s signing dragging out and the Mets unable to trade Escobar just yet, the Marlins moved on to Segura.
Escobar, 34, is owed $10 million in 2023 and the switch hitter was much better against lefties (.817 OPS) than righties (.681 OPS) in 2022. Assuming the Correa signing is official, Escobar will become a trade candidate, though the Mets could keep him as infield depth and use him as a righty platoon partner for the lefty swinging Daniel Vogelbach at DH.
Mariners acquire Topa
In a minor trade, the Mariners acquired righty reliever Justin Topa from the Brewers for minor-league righty Joseph Hernandez, both teams announced Saturday. Topa, 31, has been limited to 53 innings the last three years by injuries and the pandemic. When healthy, he showed upper-90s gas and a sharp slider in the past. The 22-year-old Hernandez had a 3.39 ERA with 143 strikeouts in 116 2/3 Single-A innings in 2022. He has interesting slider traits and projects as a potentially lethal right-on-right reliever.