It’s been a relatively quiet first week since the calendar changed to 2026. But with a crunch to finish up arbitration-related work, that should change soon. Boston took care of arbitration-eligible Kutter Crawford on January 6, one of several moves made on the day.
Red Sox re-sign Crawford
The Red Sox announced that the team avoided arbitration with Kutter Crawford, as the two sides agreed on a one-year deal. Per multiple reports, it’s worth $2.75MM, the same salary that he received in 2025.
Crawford missed the entire 2025 campaign. The right-hander dealt with knee problems earlier in the year, followed by a wrist injury that required season-ending surgery.
The 29-year-old pitched very well in the first half of the 2024 campaign, as he posted a 3.00 ERA and averaged nearly one strikeout per inning (112 K over 114 IP). However, he gave up 20 home runs over 69.2 innings during the second half, which pushed him to the top of the league in home runs allowed (34).
Aside from that news, the Red Sox also announced seven players who will join the team as non-roster invites.
Former first-round pick T.J. Sikkema, Hobie Harris, Osvaldo Berrios, Devin Sweet, and Alec Gamboa are the pitchers among that group of seven. Ex-Pirates catcher Jason Delay and former White Sox infielder Vinny Capra will also be in camp.
Tigers trade Malloy to Rays
The Rays are taking a flier on Justyn-Henry Malloy. Malloy, who made his MLB debut in 2024 with the Tigers, was traded from Detroit to Tampa Bay in exchange for cash.
Malloy hit well in Triple-A this past season. The 25-year-old hit for power (9.1% Barrel%) with 29 extra-base hits in 72 games with the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate. His 15.3% Chase% was fifth-lowest in Triple-A last season (min. 300 swings), a fair explanation as to why he walked so much (17.3% BB%).
However, Malloy has been overmatched at the Major League level thus far. He has a career slash line of .209/.311/.346 (.657 OPS) in the Majors. Across his first two seasons, Malloy had 40+% Whiff% against both breaking ball and offspeed pitch groups.
Cardinals get Bruihl
Justin Bruihl has a new home this winter — again. The Cardinals acquired Bruihl via trade from the Guardians, as St. Louis sent cash to complete the trade.
This will be the third team that Bruihl has been on this winter. He originally started in the Jays organization. Bruihl was DFA’d in mid-December after Toronto signed reliever Tyler Rogers.
Cleveland DFA’d him a few days later.
Other moves
The Giants designated outfielder Justin Dean for assignment. Dean was claimed off waivers from the Dodgers back in November.
Baltimore signed ex-Angels relief pitching prospect Eric Torres to a Minor League deal. Torres last pitched in affiliated baseball during the 2024 season.
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