Tag Archives: free agents

23 Nov

return engagement

It was a no-brainer that the Chicago Cubs would make a 2026 contract offer to Justin Steele. The more relevant news is that ex-George County High star Steele, coming off arm surgery, has begun throwing again and could be back in the team’s rotation next May, mlb.com reported. Steele, 30, went 3-1 with a 4.76 ERA in four games before going on the injured list last season. He won 16 games in 2023 and is 32-22, 3.30, for his five-year MLB career, which includes an All-Star Game nod. So of course the Cubs wanted the left-hander back in the fold. “He’s such a good competitor and everybody loves being around him,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy told mlb.com. Steele made $6.6 million last year and will get a nice bump in negotiations. P.S. Ole Miss product James McArthur signed a new $810,000 contract with Kansas City. The reliever missed all of the ’25 season after elbow surgery. He posted a 4.92 ERA with five wins and 18 saves for the Royals in 2024 and a had 4.63 as a rookie in ’23. … The news was not so good for ex-Ole Miss slugger Tim Elko, who has become a free agent after being non-tendered by the White Sox. Elko, 26, who made his MLB debut in 2025, recently had surgery to repair a torn ACL and could be sidelined several months. He hit .134 with four home runs in 23 MLB games this season and .292 with 26 homers in Triple-A. … Other 2025 MLB players with state ties who are current free agents: Tim Anderson (East Central CC); Adam Frazier (Mississippi State); Kendall Graveman (MSU); Nathaniel Lowe (MSU); Drew Pomeranz (UM); Hunter Renfroe (MSU); Chuckie Robinson (Southern Miss); Houston Roth (UM); Nick Sandlin (USM); Chris Stratton (MSU); Spencer Turnbull (Madison Central HS); and Jacob Waguespack (UM). … Ashton Lansdell, who played softball at Ole Miss last season, was the seventh overall pick (by Los Angeles) in the Women’s Professional Baseball League draft. Lansdell, a Georgia native, has played baseball in junior college and for the USA Baseball Women’s National team.

20 Nov

taking a flier

Atlanta, reportedly shopping for pitching this off-season, picked up former Ole Miss standout Ryan Rolison in a trade (for cash) with Colorado on Wednesday. Rolison, a 28-year-old left-handed reliever, doesn’t come with great MLB credentials. As a rookie last season, the injury-dogged Rolison had a 7.20 ERA in 31 games for the Rockies; he allowed 11 home runs in 42 1/3 innings. The Rockies designated him for assignment on Tuesday. Rolison, from Tennessee, won 16 games in two years as a starter at Ole Miss and was picked in the first round by Colorado in the 2018 draft. (Others taken in the first round in that draft include Casey Mize, Alec Bohm, Jonathan India, Brady Singer, Nolan Gorman and Brice Turang, all established big leaguers.) Injuries stalled Rolison’s advancement in the minors, where he has a 17-17 record and a 4.43 ERA over six seasons. P.S. USA Today/Sports Weekly ranks UM product Drew Pomeranz at No. 49 among the current free agent class. The veteran lefty reliever, 37, rejuvenated his career with the Chicago Cubs in 2025. … Ex-Madison Central High star Braden Montgomery made the All-Arizona Fall League team. The White Sox’s No. 1 prospect batted .366 in 12 games in the showcase loop.

15 Oct

impressive debut

In an Arizona Fall League replete with highly ranked prospects, Cade Smith certainly looked like he belonged in his first appearance. The former Mississippi State standout, pitching in relief for Mesa on Tuesday night, threw three hitless innings, walking one and fanning five. The 23-year-old right-hander is ranked No. 19 among New York Yankees’ prospects by MLB Pipeline. He started his 2025 minor league season on the injured list and worked through three levels over the summer, finishing at High-Class A Hudson Valley. For the year, Smith was 2-1 with a 2.50 ERA in 11 starts. He went 6-7, 3.65, in A-ball in 2024. Smith was drafted in the sixth round in 2023 after three solid seasons at State, where he pitched for the College World Series champs as a freshman in 2021. He has a championship pedigree, having won two Class 6A state titles at DeSoto Central High. The Yankees’ system is stacked with pitching prospects, including lefty Pico Kohn, a 2025 draftee from MSU who is already rated their No. 14. … In other Yankees news, ex-MSU infielder Travis Chapman will not be retained as the club’s first-base/infield coach, per various reports. He has been on the MLB staff since 2022. P.S. Several Mississippi products are on track to be MLB free agents after the World Series concludes, per a recent report from mlb.com, and among them is Drew Pomeranz, the Ole Miss product who pitched so well for the Chicago Cubs this season. The 37-year-old lefty, back in the big leagues in 2025 after four injury-prone years away, recorded a 2.17 ERA in 57 regular season games and a 1.50 in the postseason. “I just wanted to get out there and pitch one more time, and here I am, however many appearances later,” he recently told marqueesportsnetwork.com. “It just doesn’t feel real sometimes. But I don’t take one single second for granted here, not at all.” Some team is sure to sign him for 2026. Other free agents-to-be include Adam Frazier (Mississippi State), Hunter Renfroe (MSU), Chris Stratton (MSU), Kendall Graveman (MSU) and Tim Anderson (East Central CC). All but Frazier were released during the season. … Brandon Woodruff (MSU), who had a bounce-back year with Milwaukee, is a potential free agent, though his contract contains a mutual option, so he is likely to be back with the Brewers. The team is still alive — barely — in the National League Championship Series, and Woodruff has said he hopes to come off the IL should they make the Fall Classic.

28 Jan

circling back

Adam Frazier, the ex-Mississippi State standout, is off the free agent market, having reportedly agreed to sign with his original MLB team, Pittsburgh. A nine-year veteran, Frazier spent the first 5 1/2 years of his career with the Pirates, making the All-Star Game in 2021. The 32-year-old utility man has bounced around ever since, playing for four other teams, three of which made the postseason. The left-handed hitter batted just .202 for Kansas City in 2024 but has a .264 career mark with 60 homers and 55 steals. … With the gates of spring training camps soon to swing open, three other notable Mississippi products, each a big league veteran, remain unsigned. Pitchers Spencer Turnbull, Lance Lynn and Kendall Graveman would seem to be attractive, reasonably priced options for teams that still have holes to fill. Former Madison Central High star Turnbull, 32, has a 4.26 ERA in six big league seasons, working primarily as a starter, and made just $2 million last year with Philadelphia. He posted a 2.65 ERA in an injury-shortened 2024 season but is reportedly healthy now. Ole Miss alum Lynn, 37, had a 3.84 ERA in 23 starts last season with St. Louis, where he was on a one-year, $11M deal. Lynn has 143 career wins dating to 2011, when he helped the Cardinals win the World Series as a rookie. Ex-State star Graveman, 34, missed all of 2024 following shoulder surgery last off-season. A nine-year vet, he has a career ERA of 3.95, working strictly as a reliever since 2020. He was effective in middle relief for Houston in 2023. P.S. Former Mississippi College standout Blaine Crim, who batted .277 with 20 homers and 86 RBIs for Texas’ Triple-A team in 2024, has received a non-roster invite to the Rangers’ camp. The Gulf South Conference’s player of the year in 2019, the righty-hitting first baseman has batted .295 in his minor league career with 103 homers in 562 games. … MLB Pipeline gave 70-grade arm tools (on the 20-80 scouting scale) to 2024 draftees and Magnolia State prep products Konnor Griffin (Pittsburgh system) and Braden Montgomery (Chicago White Sox).

07 Dec

names and numbers

There hasn’t been much activity on the major league free agent market, but that will change soon. Juan Soto, the biggest fish in the pond, likely will sign — for $600 million-plus — next week during the Winter Meetings. That figures to trigger a lot of movement in the market. Quite a few Mississippians with MLB experience are out there looking for a 2025 team. Some could get big bucks. The list includes: Madison Central High alum Spencer Turnbull; ex-Ole Miss star Lance Lynn; former Mississippi State standout Kendall Graveman; MSU alum Adam Frazier; former Bulldogs star Ethan Small; ex-East Central Community College standout Tim Anderson; MSU product and Pascagoula native Konnor Pilkington; and Michael Rucker, a Columbus native. Of note: Lynn, 37, a 13-year MLB vet, recently told the New York Times that he has dropped 20 pounds this off-season and has received numerous calls from MLB clubs about pitching next season. He had a 3.84 ERA with St. Louis in 2024, when balky knees limited him to 23 starts. … Two state prep players made MLB Pipeline’s latest Top 100 draft prospects chart for 2025: Pitcher Landon Harmon of East Union High at No. 49 and shortstop JoJo Parker of Purvis at 86. The 6-foot-5 Harmon, the Class 2A player of the year, is a Mississippi State commit who pitched in the MLB-sponsored High School All-America Game at Petco Park last summer. Parker, a lefty hitter, is also an MSU commit. His twin brother, outfielder Jacob, won a share of the high school home run derby competition during the MLB All-Star festivities last summer and will get some scouts’ attention, as well. Only one high school player was drafted from the state in 2024: No. 9 overall pick Konnor Griffin of Jackson Prep. Also making MLB Pipeline’s new draft list at No. 66 is LSU’s Conner Ware, an injury-prone lefty from Germantown via Pearl River Community College. No players from Mississippi’s four-year schools cracked the Top 100. … Three state juco products made the top nine in d1baseball.com’s list of the Top 50 impact juco hitters now at NCAA Division I schools: Pearl River CC’s Bryce Fowler (now at Alabama) is No. 6, Mississippi Gulf Coast’s Brandon Cain (Oklahoma) No. 7 and PRCC’s Hollis Porter (Maryland) No. 9. Porter was the MACCC player of the year and a first-team NJCAA Division II All-America pick. Hinds product Thomas Marsala (Western Kentucky) was ranked 48th. … William Carey University, which went 37-16 in 2024 and made yet another trip to the NAIA World Series, is ranked ninth in the NAIA coaches preseason poll. Carey was the preseason No. 4 in 2024.

14 Nov

shopping season

Three Mississippi products, all right-handed pitchers, made USA Today’s shopping list of major league free agents, though none is deemed to be highly coveted. Madison Central High alum Spencer Turnbull is ranked No. 49 on the list of the top 120, ex-Ole Miss star Lance Lynn is No. 75 and former Mississippi State standout Kendall Graveman is No. 89. Turnbull, 32, posted a 2.65 ERA in an injury-shortened season with Philadelphia, with whom he signed a one-year deal for $2 million last off-season. Lynn, 37 and reportedly considering retirement, had a 3.84 ERA in 23 starts with St. Louis, where he was also on a one-year deal ($11 million). Lynn has 143 career wins — and 2,000-plus career innings. Graveman, 34, missed all of 2024 following shoulder surgery last off-season. He has a career ERA of 3.95 and was an effective middle reliever during Houston’s playoff run in 2023. Adam Frazier, the MSU alum cut loose by Kansas City last month, is also on the market; the versatile 32-year-old batted just .202 for the Royals in 2024. He has played for five teams over the past four seasons. … Onetime big league pitchers Konnor Pilkington, a State alum, and Michael Rucker, a Columbus native, are minor league free agents, as are ex-MSU standout Hunter Stovall, Madison Central product Regi Grace and ex-Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College star Brandon Parker.

01 Nov

halloween hauls

Three Mississippi college alums went to the bump on Halloween in the Arizona Fall League. Houston Harding cleaned up. The other two, Jackson Fristoe and Dylan DeLucia, came away with the proverbial bagful of rocks. Left-hander Harding, a Coldwater native and ex-Mississippi State standout, pitched four innings — with a 13-1 lead — for Mesa on Thursday night, allowing just one hit and no runs in a 17-4 victory against Salt River. Signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Los Angeles Angels in 2021, Harding, now 26, reached Triple-A this season; he has a 4.41 career ERA in the minors. Over three appearances (seven innings) in the AFL, he has posted a 3.86. … The starting pitcher for Salt River was Fristoe, who got just two outs before departing. He yielded five hits (one homer), two walks and seven runs (five earned) and is now 0-2, 11.37, in four AFL starts. Fristoe was a 12th-round draft pick by the New York Yankees in 2022; he pitched in A-ball this summer. … DeLucia, a hero on Ole Miss’ 2022 College World Series winner, worked three innings in relief for Suprise on Thursday and gave up four hits, three walks and four runs (three earned) in a win against Peoria. He has a 11.12 ERA in four AFL outings. A sixth-rounder by Cleveland in 2022, DeLucia, because of arm issues, did not make his pro debut until this season, working in 13 games (2.55 ERA) at three levels of the low minors. P.S. Big leaguers Lance Lynn (Ole Miss), Kendall Graveman (MSU), Adam Frazier (MSU) and Spencer Turnbull (Madison Central High) hit the free agent market on Thursday. Ex-State stars Hunter Renfroe and Chris Stratton exercised contract options to remain with Kansas City, at least for the time being.

27 Jan

more cowbell?

With the signing of Adam Frazier, Kansas City has now collected three former Mississippi State players in free agency, all three having been teammates on the 2012 Bulldogs team that won the SEC Tournament. That might be a good vibe for a Royals team that could use it. Frazier joins Chris Stratton and Hunter Renfroe on the Royals’ 40-man roster, which also includes ex-Ole Miss standout James McArthur. Frazier, 32, a lefty-hitting second baseman who played in Baltimore in 2023, reportedly has a one-year deal with the Royals, who’ll become his fifth team since 2021, when he was an All-Star with Pittsburgh. He hit .240 with 13 homers and 11 steals for the playoff-bound Orioles last season and is a career .269 hitter over eight MLB campaigns. Stratton, a right-hander, was on Texas’ World Series-winning team last year, and Renfroe, an outfielder, played for the Los Angeles Angels and Cincinnati before being released in September. KC was 56-106 last year, missing the postseason for the eighth straight year since winning the 2015 World Series. Incidentally, another player from the 2012 State roster is a current free agent: right-hander Brandon Woodruff, who is expected to miss the 2024 season after arm surgery. (Future big leaguers Kendall Graveman, Jonathan Holder and Jacob Lindgren were also on the Bulldogs’ roster in 2012.) P.S. Kudos to ex-State standout Brad Freeman, an NFL referee who has been selected to work the Super Bowl next month. Freeman was a seventh-round pick by St. Louis in 1998 and played two seasons in the Cardinals’ minor league system.

05 Jan

head for rockies

Mississippi State alum Dakota Hudson, who has a 38-20 career record in the majors, has signed with Colorado, which needs pitching help. Hudson, 29, once a regular member of St. Louis’ rotation, didn’t make the club out of spring training last year but did eventually get called up, posting a 6-3 record and 4.98 ERA in 18 appearances, 12 starts. The right-hander, a first-round pick in 2016, has a career 3.84 ERA in six seasons and joins a Rockies staff that finished last in MLB with a 5.68 in 2023. … The Rockies might still hold out hope that ex-Ole Miss star Ryan Rolison can contribute someday. The 26-year-old lefty was a first-round pick in 2018 but has been derailed by injuries, pitching in just four games since 2021. Yet to make his MLB debut, he is no longer on Colorado’s 40-man roster. P.S. If you’re keeping score, Hudson joins Lance Lynn (St. Louis), Chris Stratton (Kansas City) and Hunter Renfroe (Royals) as Mississippi-connected free agents to sign big league contracts this off-season. Still available: Adam Frazier, Tim Anderson, Brandon Woodruff and Spencer Turnbull.

08 Dec

… and we wait

While the world waits for Shohei Ohtani to pick a team, some here in the ‘Sip are just wondering when the local guys are going to sign. Former Ole Miss standout Lance Lynn signed with St. Louis on Nov. 21. Since then … crickets. Ex-Mississippi State star Adam Frazier, East Central Community College product Tim Anderson and MSU alum Chris Stratton (a World Series champ in 2023) were ranked among the top 89 available free agents by USA Today. They’re still out there. So are Brandon Woodruff (unlikely to pitch in 2024 after arm surgery), Dakota Hudson and Spencer Turnbull, a trio of quality pitchers who became free agents after USA Today published its rankings. Hunter Renfroe, the veteran slugger (177 career homers) out of Crystal Springs and MSU, hasn’t landed. (At one time, Atlanta was rumored to be interested, but the Braves have since filled — maybe — their left field void.) Other Mississippi connections with big league experience still looking for jobs include Billy Hamilton (326 career steals), Drew Pomeranz (289 career games pitched), Demarcus Evans, Chuckie Robinson, Mike Mayers and Jonathan Holder. Some of these guys may retire, but many surely want to play on in 2024. It feels like a wave of signings is coming soon.