MLB Player News

Cronenworth hit the ground running in his first rehab game on Tuesday, blasting a home run and walking three times. He’ll play another rehab game on Wednesday and could rejoin the Padres in Colorado on Friday. If he does return this weekend, that could mean that Tyler Wade moves back to his role as a utility player off the bench.

Passan adds that Kyle Schwarber, Bo Bichette, Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Ranger Suarez, Edwin Díaz, Zac Gallen, Shota Imanaga, Michael King, Trent Grisham, Gleyber Torres and Brandon Woodruff are the other dozen impending free agent to receive the tag prior to Thursday evening’s deadline. They have until Tuesday, November 18 to decide whether to accept the one-year deal or decline and become free agents. Only 14 of 144 players to receive a qualifying offer since 2012 have actually accepted it. It’s worth noting that players who were on multiple teams — Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez — along with players who have previously received a qualifying offer — Pete Alonso, Cody Bellinger and Alex Bregman — were ineligible to receive one this offseason.

King can either accept the offer and return to San Diego on the one-year deal, or decline it and become an unrestricted free agent. The 30-year-old right-hander declined his $15 million mutual option last week to hit the open market this offseason. He was limited to just 15 starts this past season due to shoulder and knee injuries after finishing seventh in NL Cy Young Award balloting during his Padres debut the previous year. He’s one of the more intriguing talents in the free agent pool this offseason given his combination of age and upper-echelon talent.

Lantigua sipped a quick cup of coffee with the Phillies during the final month of the regular season, but ended up being shipped back to the minors before making his big-league debut. The 27-year-old infielder should be able to latch on somewhere as organizational depth this offseason.

It was a fait accompli once Baltimore re-acquired the veteran setup man earlier this week in a trade with the Cubs. The 35-year-old high-leverage specialist gives the Orioles another late-inning option while hard-throwing closer Félix Bautista continues his recovery from elbow surgery.

Little heads to Detroit as organizational relief depth after being jettisoned from Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster earlier this week. the 27-year-old righty made two relief appearances for the Dodgers this past season in his first taste of the majors.

Laweryson, a 2019 14th-round pick, made his major league debut in September and allowed one earned run and no walks in 7 2/3 innings for the Twins. He’s not a very hard thrower at 91-95 mph, but he’s solid relief depth for the Angels.

The New York Post’s John Sherman says it’s a done deal. DePodesta, part of the Moneyball A’s in the early part of the century, has spent the last 10 years working for the Cleveland Browns as their chief strategy officer. He also spent 2004 and ’05 as the Dodgers’ GM in the Frank McCourt days and worked for the Padres and Mets for a time. Bringing him back to baseball after such a long time away would seem to be a risky move, but it’s not like things can get any worse in Colorado.

Roa, a former Reds prospect, pitched three scoreless innings for the Marlins and had a 2.83 ERA in 60 1/3 innings for Jacksonville last season. Both he and Winkler have been outrighted before, so they can become free agents.

Guerrero, 25, has nice swing-and-miss potential, but he just hasn’t shown he can throw enough strikes to make an impact. He had a 4.15 ERA in 17 1/3 innings as a rookie for the Red Sox last season, but that came with a hideous 10/14 K/BB. Even in the minors, he walked 26 in 31 innings. Despite that, it’s hard to imagine that he’ll clear waivers, especially since he has a couple of option years remaining.

Brzycky, 26, gave up 23 earned runs in 23 innings for the Nationals last season, lowering his career ERA from 14.29 to 10.05. Subpar command of average stuff makes him seem like a pretty weak bet going forward.