MLB Player News

Strange-Gordon signed a minor-league contract with the Reds on Sunday, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN reports.

The 32-year-old spent the past three years in Seattle but struggled at the plate in 2020 with a .200/.268/.213 slash line in 82 plate appearances, leading to the team declining his option for 2021. Strange-Gordon likely will compete for a utility role in spring training with the Reds.

Owings (hamstring) agreed to a minor-league deal with the Rockies on Friday.

The 29-year-old had a solid showing with the Rockies in 2020 with a .268/.318/.439 slash line in 44 plate appearances before going down with a hamstring strain, and he'll receive another chance to crack the team in 2021. Owings is likely to be competing for a utility role in spring training.

Adrianza signed a minor-league contract with Atlanta on Tuesday, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports.

Adrianza has spent eight years in the majors as a useful enough utility man, though he shouldn't be relied on for much more than that. His career .244/.310/.360 slash line gives him a shot at a bench role considering that he can play anywhere except catcher and center field, but he'll have to prove that his awful .191/.287/.270 line in 101 plate appearances last season was just a small-sample fluke.

Seager and the Dodgers reached a one-year, $13.75 million deal Friday, avoiding arbitration, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports.

Seager will get a significant pay increase heading into 2021 and won't require an arbiter during the offseason. The 26-year-old performed incredibly well over the shortened season in 2020, posting a .943 OPS with 15 home runs and 41 RBI.

Lindor and the Mets reached a one-year, $22.3 million deal Friday, avoiding arbitration, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports.

Lindor was acquired by the Mets on Jan. 7, and he won't require an arbiter with his new club after agreeing to terms on a one-year deal Friday. With a deal in place for his final year of arbitration, the two sides will now presumably begin working on a long-term deal for the star shortstop. Lindor's marks were down during the abbreviated 2020 season, and he posted a career-worst .750 OPS with eight home runs and 27 RBI while appearing in all 60 games.

Turner and the Nationals agreed to a one-year, $13 million deal Friday, avoiding arbitration, Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com reports.

The star shortstop gets a big raise compared to the $7.45 million deal he signed last offseason. It's hard to say that's undeserved, as he's coming off a year in which he hit an excellent .335/.394/.588 with 12 homers and 12 steals over 59 games. Prorated to a standard 162-game season, that translates to 32.4 homers and steals, which would be a full-season low in the latter category for Turner but which would smash his previous career best of 19 homers.

Baez and the Cubs agreed to a one-year, $11.65 million contract on Friday, avoiding arbitration, Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com reports.

Arbitration raises are as much about experience as performance, a situation Baez will be quite happy with following his awful 2020 season. His performance at the plate completely collapsed, as he hit just .203/.238/.360 after posting a .286/.321/.544 line over the previous two seasons. He struck out 31.9 percent of the time while posting an anemic 3.0 percent walk rate. His defense at shortstop remained strong, but it will be hard for the Cubs to justify giving him an everyday role if he continues to reach base in less than a quarter of his plate appearances going forward.

Lindor was traded from Cleveland to the Mets on Thursday along with Carlos Carrasco in exchange for Amed Rosario, Andres Gimenez, Isaiah Greene and Josh Wolf, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.

Lindor has just one year remaining on his contract, but the Mets will be acquiring one of the best shortstops in baseball for at least that one year, though he is coming off a season in which he posted career worsts across his mediocre .258/.335/.415 slash line.

Reyes (suspension) signed a minor-league deal with the Brewers on Thursday that includes an invitation to spring training, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.

Reyes missed all of the 2020 campaign after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. He was originally suspended for 80 games, but that suspension is now considered complete despite last season's schedule being shortened to 60 games. He won't necessarily be a favorite for a major-league roster spot in Milwaukee, even in a bench role, as he's a career .229/.295/.368 hitter through 89 games at the highest level.

Preciado was traded to the Cubs on Monday as part of the trade that sent Yu Darvish and Victor Caratini to San Diego, Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic reports.

A 6-foot-4 shortstop from Panama, Preciado has a very high ceiling but has not yet played in an affiliated league, having signed in 2019 at the age of 16 for $1.3 million. He could grow into impact power while sticking at a premium position. Zach Davies, Owen Caissie, Yeison Santana and Ismael Mena were also shipped to Chicago in the deal.