Jose Barrero has elected free agency

The option was for $15.75 million and never really had any chance of being picked up. The Mets will be on the hook for his $2 million buyout under the terms of the deal that send him to the A’s last winter. Even with a strong second half, McNeil hit a modest .264/.313/.368 last season. He’ll most likely land a starting job in free agency, but at this point, it’s questionable whether he has the glove for second or the bat to help at first or in left.

The A’s held a $15 million option with a $750,000 buyout under the terms of the four-year, $31 million deal Spring signed with the Rays prior to the 2023 season. Springs’ strikeout rate collapsed immediately after the A’s picked him up two years ago, and he had a 6.18 ERA last season, giving up 35 homers in 142 2/3 innings.

The announcement says Arroyo will return to game action in April. Given that this seems to be internal brace surgery, Arroyo might be limited to DHing for a while into his return from surgery. Arroyo, who turns 22 next week, made his MLB debut in September and hit .371/.439/.514 in 15 games. That was going to put him in position to challenge for a spot next spring, though there was a good chance he’d open in Triple-A. Now it seems like he won’t be an option until May or maybe June.

Hiring a hitting coach before hiring a manager is a little odd, but the Mariners obviously wanted Gillman back. He was employed by the team as a minor league hitting coordinator from 2022-25 before spending last season as the Nationals’ director of hitting.

Bell gets a $1.25 million buyout from the $10 million option. The Twins paid him a total of $7 million for his .255/.319/.419 line and 96 RBI last season, and they might have some interest in re-signing him for a similar amount. However, if they see Byron Buxton doing a lot of DHing next year, that would leave less room for Bell.

Eflin will receive a $2 million buyout on the $25 million mutual option. He underwent Tommy John surgery in April and is hoping to be ready in the early part of next season. He’s indicated that he’d like to stay with Baltimore.

Hinds hit .179/.273/.250 in 12 games for Baltimore late in the year. The Orioles will probably wind up waiving Hinds in the near future, but some guaranteed money in the deal would make it more likely that he clears waivers and sticks around as a non-roster player. They did something similar with infielder Luis Vázquez and reliever Josh Walker last winter.

The option was just something Ryan and the Twins did in January in order to avoid arbitration; Ryan gets a $100,000 buyout on top of his $6.1 million salary from last season, and now he’ll be arbitration eligible again. Coming off a season in which he had a 3.79 ERA in 27 starts, he’s probably looking at a raise to $9 million-$10 million in his final season before free agency.

Stephenson’s three-year, $33 million deal with the Angels gave the team some protection due to injury in the form of a $2.5 million option for 2028 if he missed a certain amount of time. However, the Angels decided against bringing him back even at that greatly reduced rate as he rehabs from April surgery to repair his UCL and flexor tendon. Stephenson, signed after a breakthrough stint with the Rays in 2023, pitched just 10 innings for the Angels, all of them in 2025.

Gray gets a $10 million buyout for declining the option, so this was always the way it was going to go down. The Red Sox figure to have considerable interest in bringing him back, but he’ll be very popular around the league.