Welcome to the first week of a brand new year. We are now only a little over a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training, so the hot stove is bound to get hotter over the coming weeks. Things didn’t come to a standstill over the holiday season as you’ll see below, but there hasn’t been much in the way of major news over the New Year week, much like with Christmas.
Expect things to start moving more as January gets a little longer in the tooth, but for this week we’ve got a rundown of your most recent hot stove moves, some stories to watch for in 2025, an actress who was hyped about her baseball card selections, and the one thing in-demand pitcher Roki Sasaki doesn’t want to see from teams hoping to woo him into signing.
Happy Monday, everyone, let’s get into the week that was.
General Updates
Hot Stove Moves
Trevor Williams is returning to Washington Nationals on a two-year, $14 million contract, a source tells The Athletic. Williams, 32, had a 2.03 ERA over 13 starts last season. He missed some time due to a right flexor muscle strain.
— Stephen J. Nesbitt (@stephenjnesbitt) December 30, 2024
The White Sox have acquired LHP Tyler Gilbert from the Phillies for minor-league RHP Aaron Combs. Chicago has also designated INF Braden Shewmake for assignment.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) January 1, 2025
The Texas Rangers today announced that the club has acquired left-handed pitcher Mason Molina from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for right-handed pitcher Grant Anderson.
— Texas Rangers PR (@TXRangersPR) January 3, 2025
Right-hander Charlie Morton and the Baltimore Orioles are in agreement on a one-year, $15 million contract, sources tell ESPN. The Orioles’ rotation now includes Morton, Zach Eflin, Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer, Tomoyuki Sugano and a variety of others who will vie for innings.
— Jeff Passan (@jeffpasan.bsky.social) 2025-01-03T22:41:53.022Z
Social Media Highlights
Ballot #71 is from Jay Jaffe. He checks 5 new candidates & 5 of his 6 holdovers. Pettitte falls to +9 w/ his 1st drop. Martin gets his 3rd vote & is at 4.2%, McCann his 2nd & is at 2.8%. Félix is 1 vote from estimated safe
His column: blogs.fangraphs.com/jay-jaffes-2…
In the Tracker: tracker.fyi
— Anthony Calamis (@tonycal.bsky.social) 2024-12-30T17:26:18.000Z
Alphonse Dante Bichette Jr. will be playing for Brazil in WBC qualifiers this March
Bo’s older brother is a former top 10 Yankees prospect and is retired from baseball, but will be making a temporary comeback to try to help Brazil make it back to the World Baseball Classic pic.twitter.com/cyco80qwS1
— Shawn Spradling (@Shawn_Spradling) January 3, 2025