Mining the News (12/24/25)

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American League

Astros

• Ryan Weiss 와이스 will get a shot at the rotation.

Weiss, who spent the last two seasons pitching in Korea, will slot into the rotation with Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, Spencer Arrighetti, Lance McCullers Jr. and others. Nate Pearson, who signed a one-year deal in October, will be built up as a starter, but he could wind up in the bullpen.

“What I like about [Weiss] is this guy is dedicated to his craft,” Dana Brown said. “He went over to Korea and turned his career around and got to the point where he’s back up to 97 [mph], sitting 94 [with] pretty good secondary stuff. The guy’s got a journey and he’s got a story, so we’re fired up about him. We’re hoping that he comes into camp and competes for a job at the back end of the rotation.”

• Jake Meyers is the team’s centerfielder.

Speaking of Meyers specifically, Brown said “it’s a really good deal, we may consider it. But right now, Meyers is going to be a guy for us that’s going to play center field and it looks like he’s the frontline guy as of today.”

• Brice Matthews will get take outfield reps.

“[Brice Matthews is] going to get some run in the outfield, but second base is still going to be his main position,” Brown said. “We project he’ll turn the corner with the bat and get maybe some run in the outfield a little bit, as well.”

Athletics

• Max Muncy, Darell Hernaiz, and Brett Harris will get a shot at the third base job.

General manager David Forst told Martín Gallegos of MLB.com that the A’s view McNeil as their primary second baseman. They’re planning to leave the third base job open for a Spring Training competition among a few players already on the roster.

“We’ll probably look internally at third base,” Forst told Gallegos. “Max Muncy did a really nice job there in his limited time. Darell Hernaiz has shown he can play the position. Brett Harris has a lot of experience at third base. So I like our internal options.”

Orioles

• Coby Mayo could see some time in the outfield.

Elias said on Saturday that the Orioles had use for Mayo, who spent last year working on his first base skills.

“He had, I think, a very successful stretch run last year, he looked really good and is in a really good spot,” he said. “And there is still a lot of playing time available for him on a team that has Pete Alonso now. We have first base reps, we have designated hitter reps, as you mentioned, and the exploration of other positions — whether it’s third or something in the corner outfield — has been something we’ve always talked about with him. So the path remains open for him.”

Rays

• The team’s management said that Richie Palacios is now the team’s second baseman.

Trading Lowe creates a clear opening at second base, where the Rays don’t have an obvious replacement. Neander mentioned Richie Palacios as an internal candidate, although Palacios has been limited by injuries each of the past two years and has bounced around the field during his time with Tampa Bay.

The Rays like a lot about Palacios, from his on-base skills and speed to his quality defense at second base, so he could be an option there. But they’re not giving the job to anyone yet.

• Steven Matz will get a shot at the rotation.

Matz’s selfless success earned him the respect of his former clubs, caught the Rays’ attention and ultimately led to another opportunity to start. Tampa Bay signed Matz to a two-year, $15 million contract on Tuesday with the intent to slot him into its rotation next season.

“We’re going to give him the opportunity to prepare as a starter, to come in and try to lock down a day. The investment was made with that in mind,” Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander said. “Believe that’s something that he’s going to be able to do, and we believe he’s going to be able to do it well.”

Red Sox

• The team’s goal for Payton Tolle is to improve his secondaries.

“This offseason will be essential for [Tolle’s] developmentally,” said Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. “There is no secret he put on quite a bit of velocity last offseason, and there will be a focus this offseason on developing some of those secondaries. So, we’ll see what that looks like when we get to Spring Training.”

White Sox

• Catchers Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero, and Korey Lee are not working on other positions.

The switch-hitting Quero has also been mentioned in offseason trade inquiries, while Lee offers the option of the White Sox keeping three catchers as they did at the end of the 2025 regular season. In that scenario, manager Will Venable could play Teel or Quero behind the plate, use the other player as designated hitter and still be covered by a third catcher.

None of the three is presently working at other positions, according to Venable.

• Top prospect, Braden Montgomery, will not be a part of the MLB team once Spring Training is over, according to their GM.

“We’re always open-minded,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz said. “I see Braden getting into the mix for being on the Major League club [in 2026], but I don’t anticipate that happening out of Spring Training.

“I don’t want anyone to get ahead of themselves. I want them to just have a dominant offseason, taking care of their bodies, going through a proper throwing program. Once you get to Spring Training and baseball action really picks up, you get a real idea of where these players and pitchers are.”

National League

Brewers

• Logan Henderson wants to add a curveball.

Henderson is focused on his secondary pitches beyond his bread-and-butter fastball and changeup, including a curveball he’s carefully reintroducing this winter. Henderson threw more cutters last year and intends to continue that progress. And his slider is a usable fifth pitch.

“I want a full arsenal instead of just using two pitches,” Henderson said. “I know there’s still a lot of ways for me to grow.”

Cardinals

• Dustin May’s elbow is healthy, and he’s bulking up.

May said he doesn’t expect the elbow neuritis to be an issue in 2026.

“Arm feels great, back to normal,” May said on Thursday. “As I’ve reiterated to a lot of people, I was going to be ready for the [Division Series] if [Boston] had advanced. My arm was in a better spot toward that time. … I took some time off and got the body right.”

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“[The sweeper] was kind of the only thing working, and my fastball was getting hit kind of hard, so I had to shy away from that,” said May, who has gone from 202 pounds in 2025 to 220 pounds now, with a target goal of 225 pounds. “Hopefully, bouncing back and re-tweaking my arsenal, I won’t be so reliant on that [sweeper] and so predictable.”

Diamondbacks

• Mike Soroka cleared up a health issue causing inflammation …

Soroka is a different pitcher than he was in 2019, and he recently made changes to his delivery and arsenal. Pairing these changes with solutions to undisclosed, underlying health issues that have impacted his ability to stay on the field he believes will set him up for a resurgence.

“There were some things as far as internal health that I think we’d kind of figured out that I’d rather not completely dive into, but we’d had some things I’ve been dealing with for a long time that I didn’t really understand until this past year,” Soroka said.

“I think that’s gonna be one really big key is just being able to actually recover and not deal with a ton of inflammation at all times. Ultimately that’s where injuries have added up for me is just chronic inflammation and the ability to clear that. … Obviously working on delivery, you change things, you work on new ways to do things efficiently. I think that all kind of started to come into place and this was kind of the last key. Moving forward, I really feel confident.”

… and will add a cutter, sweeper, and a gyro slider.

Soroka credited Cubs vice president of pitching Tyler Zombro with some of the adjustments.

“It’s gonna be traditional cutter,” Soroka said. “I’d already at times tended to cut the ball a little bit just naturally being a little bit supinated* through release. … Tyler Zombro was able to kind of show me some things with just the way I was able to stay supinated with certain pitches and throw the cutter, as well as a sweeper. It’s thrown the same way as my slurve or curveball, just with a different grip and it kind of stays on that straight horizontal axis. It’s gonna be useful for giving guys a different look.

“Then the last one’s a traditional gyro slider.** It is basically the curveball grip thrown like a fastball. So, that was the key with all three of these, is that I really didn’t need to do too much. I didn’t need to manipulate anything. I was already set up right to throw it. Tyler was able to show me exactly how all that worked.”

Giants

• Rule 5 pick, Daniel Susac, will get a chance to be the team’s backup catcher.

The Giants had a clear need for more catching depth after non-tendering Andrew Knizner last month. They quickly identified the 24-year-old Susac as someone who could plug a hole on their roster.

“Plus defender behind the plate, power,” general manager Zack Minasian said of Susac, who is now ranked as the Giants’ No. 15 prospect by MLB Pipeline. “History with him back to high school through the Draft. Bay Area ties. It’s a position of need. We’re always looking to build depth. Still young, still upside. So a lot of positives, a lot of boxes checked. We’re excited to give him this opportunity.”

While Susac was acquired via trade, he’ll still be subject to the usual Rule 5 stipulations, which means the Giants will have to keep him on their 26-man roster for the entire 2026 season or offer him back to the A’s. That should make the right-handed-hitting Susac the clear frontrunner to serve as Patrick Bailey’s backup next year.

“I think he’s a candidate,” Minasian said. “Obviously he’s going to have to come in and earn it, but obviously to take him shows what we think of him. We definitely see him as a really strong candidate. We’re excited about where our catching depth is with him.”
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“We’re very excited about Jesus Rodriguez but also understand that the amount of games that he’s caught is somewhat limited,” president of baseball operations Buster Posey said. “But we’re really excited about his future. I think what excites me is when I hear our manager or a coach on the staff in Triple-A just talk about his makeup and how well he’s worked with the pitchers and his desire to get better defensively.”

Mets

• Jorge Polanco will play first base.

Jorge Polanco has never logged a major-league inning at first base, where the New York Mets are expecting to play him, but the position isn’t entirely unfamiliar to him.
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However, over two months starting in the middle of June, Polanco worked out at first base several times before games. He spent time with Mariners infield coach Perry Hill and bench coach Manny Acta, among others, learning the intricacies of the position. The lessons included how to hold a runner on, how to get to the base without getting stepped on, how to position himself, how to throw to second base on a grounder using his backhand and how to get back to the bag in case a catcher made a snap throw.

“He knows how to do all that stuff,” Hill said in a recent phone interview.

Padres

• Miguel Mendez, the team’s top starting pitcher prospect, will not be competing for a rotation spot during Spring Training.

“[Miguel Mendez is] going to continue to start and come in and build innings,” Preller said. “Again, a lot of guys have broken into the big leagues coming into the bullpen. We’ll see. Right now, he’s more a prospect coming in to continue his development than he is competing for the team coming into Spring Training. But the player is going to tell us. Those things can change.”

Pirates

• Carmen Mlodzinski will transition back to being a starter.

Right now, Cherington says they have a lot of confidence in a group that still has some depth, which includes Carmen Mlodzinski preparing for a starter’s workload again. Cherington says they’re open to adding a backend starter, but as far as trading another starting pitcher, a deal would have to clear a high bar.

• Brandon Lowe is preparing to play second base …

The key when it comes to what positions the Pirates can target lies with Lowe. If he can play his position, the Pirates could add a third baseman, designated hitter or even any other position to provide depth. Injuries have limited Lowe’s ability to stay on the field in the past, but he is preparing this offseason to play second.

“The fact that he can play second, we believe, also keeps options open for us to add another bat in another spot,” Cherington said.

… so Nick Gonzales will need to find another position.

Adding Lowe doesn’t mean the Pirates are giving up on Gonzales — Cherington referred to him as “an important player for us” — but it’s probably going to be in a different role. We’ve seen him play on the left side of the infield before, and with third base currently open and shortstop up in the air until Pittsburgh’s No. 1 prospect Konnor Griffin arrives, perhaps that could be explored again.

“The biggest thing about Nick, we can go back to his amateur days in the Draft, he’s just always met the challenge in front of him,” Cherington said. “So we acquired a player who we believe in, who we expect to play some second base, in Brandon Lowe. This is an opportunity for Nick to continue to push for an opportunity on the Major League team.