MLB

Caminero’s meteoric rise to the big leagues culminated in a seven-game cameo with the Rays to close out the regular season as the youngest player in the big leagues. The 20-year-old top prospect, who has homered four times in his last seven Winter Ball contests, possesses stratospheric over-the-fence pop, and figures to open the 2024 campaign as a mainstay in Tampa Bay’s lineup. It might be a tad early for him to blossom into a full-fledged fantasy superstar, but we’re not ready to dismiss the possibility entirely either. He should be the first prospect off the board, likely as a mid-round pick, in fantasy drafts next spring.

The bad news? Mauricio committed three errors at third base on Friday evening as well. The 22-year-old is an extremely intriguing offensive performer, but doesn’t appear to have a clear path to a defensive home in New York. That could change this spring, but the recent addition of veteran Joey Wendle in free agency creates another obstacle to everyday at-bats.

Passan adds that the Giants remain a possibility, while also noting that the Rangers, Mets and Red Sox have pulled out of the Ohtani sweepstakes. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman speculated Friday that the Dodgers remain the favorites to land the 29-year-old two-way superstar, but he added that there appear to be five teams with a “legitimate chance” to land the generational talent. It’s unclear whether Ohtani will make his final decision this week at baseball’s annual Winter Meetings, but his process figures to have significant ramifications on the rest of the free agent market. Stay tuned.

Passan adds that the Rays aren’t actively shopping Arozarena, but it’s something they could consider this offseason as a potential cost-cutting measure to facilitate additional moves. The 28-year-old fantasy superstar recorded his third consecutive 20-homer, 20-steal campaign this past season and would almost certainly benefit from getting away from the spacious confines of Tampa Bay’s pitcher-friendly Tropicana Field.

Lodolo endured an injury-marred 2023 campaign as a stress reaction in his left tibia and left calf tendinosis limited him to just seven starts for the Reds. The 25-year-old southpaw looked like one of the most promising young pitchers in the game down the home stretch of the 2022 season, so he’s a strong bounce-back candidate for fantasy managers, if he’s fully healthy at the outset of spring training. He’ll likely wind up as a borderline top-50 starting pitcher in fantasy drafts next spring.

The deal to bring Severino to Queens after nearly a decade in the Bronx is now official after he passed his physical. The 29-year-old right-hander represents a high-upside gamble for the Mets after posting a calamitous 6.65 ERA, 1.65 WHIP and 79/34 K/BB ratio across 89 1/3 innings (19 appearances, 18 starts) this past season for the Yankees. Former Mets and Yankees reliever Adam Ottavino highlighted during an appearance earlier this week on SNY’s Baseball Night in NY that Severino dealt with issues related to the shape of his pitches, specifically his fastball and slider, which greatly contributed to his struggles during the 2023 campaign. If New York’s coaching staff helps resolve those issues, and he manages to stay relatively healthy, Severino will return to form as a reliable fantasy contributor. He’s a worthwhile late-round gamble for fantasy managers in drafts next spring.

Once considered among the top starting pitchers in all of baseball, the 29-year-old hurler has fallen on hard times over the past two years. He registered a miserable 8-15 record, 4.88 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and a 204/73 K/BB ratio across 184 1/3 innings between the White Sox, Angels and Guardians in 2023. If any organization can fix him though, it’s probably the Dodgers. They’re casting a wide net in their search for upgrades to their starting rotation — as they’ve also been linked to Jack Flaherty and Seth Lugo, in addition to their high-profile pursuits of Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani.

Martino notes that the Padres are asking for a package involving Michael King, Drew Thorpe and as many as four or five additional prospects — in return for Soto and Trent Grisham. It seems as though the Yankees are reluctant to include King as part of the deal, and would rather ship Clarke Schmidt to the Padres instead. There’s still time for talks to pick back up, but in the meantime the Blue Jays have emerged as another potential suitor for Soto.

The 25-year-old hurler wanted to go with a more conservative approach to attempt to avoid surgery, which led to him undergoing a Tenex procedure in mid-October, and a PRP injection the following week. He’s currently participating in physical therapy, with no clear timeline for when he may be able to resume throwing. While the rest and rehab route seems to be the choice here, Tommy John surgery always looms as a possibility in the near future for Waldichuk.

It has looked increasingly likely that Soto is going to be traded this offseason. The Yankees have already talked to the Padres as well, but those two sides are said to be far apart on consummating a deal. Rosenthal notes that the Padres are looking for major-league-ready or near major-league-ready pitching as part of a large multi-player return package for Soto. You’d think that Jays’ top pitching prospect Ricky Tiedemann would be a hot topic of conversation for the Padres in those discussions. Stay tuned, as the stove is starting to heat up.