Splash Hits: A minor deal, an expiring contract and the state of the AL Central

A pitcher returns, the manager should get a new deal (or an extension of his current one) and what are the Minnesota Twins up to these days?

How about some random notes to start the first Friday of 2025? Nothing like some baseball chatter ahead of a pending Snowpocalypse.

We’ll lead off with a transaction. A real, happening transaction. Earlier this week, the Royals announced the signing of Austin Cox to a minor league deal.

You may remember Cox from his cup of coffee in 2023. He made his debut on May 4 and pitched two innings of hitless ball in relief. Cox returned to Omaha after that, but got another call in June. Once back with the big league club, Cox offered another 9.2 innings where he didn’t surrender a hit or a run. That’s a helluva way to introduce yourself to the league. That streak—which ultimately spanned 40 batters—is a Royals franchise record.

Alas, the good times were never meant to last. At least not like that. Cox began getting lit up, allowing runs in his next five appearances.

A left knee sprain ended his season in September. That November, he was designated for assignment. He re-signed on a minor league deal. Cox then exercised an opt-out in his contract that June. But he re-signed with the Royals again. He became a minor league free agent at the end of last season. And now…back in the fold.

Prior to his turn in the majors, Cox had a bit of prospect pedigree. He made Baseball America’s Royals top 30 from 2019 to 2022, peaking at number nine in 2020. This is his stat line since missing the Covid year of 2020.

Cox clearly scuffled with his control last year, finishing with a 6.2 BB/9, his highest walk rate at any stop at any point in his career. He will turn 28 on the day after Opening Day and will presumably be posting up in Omaha for his fourth season with the Storm Chasers.

MLB Trade Rumors had an article this week about managers and executives on expiring contracts. (I realize I’m aggregating from an aggregator. The Irony Police have been notified.) Matt Quatraro was mentioned as a skipper entering the final year of his deal. Quatraro was hired at the end of October 2022 and handed a three-year deal with a club option for 2026.

At the very least, I would assume some news on this front before the regular season begins. Maybe even before the team reports to Surprise next month. The minimum would be for the Royals to exercise his option for ’26 and then tack on another option for 2027. Except the Royals made quite the turnaround, which means Quatraro would be justified in looking for a little more security. Perhaps they renegotiate, giving him a new three-year deal beginning this coming season with a club option for 2028.

It would be well-deserved.

Let’s do a quick buzz around the AL Central to check in on the moves (and non-moves) the Royals’ rivals have made to this point.

The Cleveland Guardians cashiered the entire right side of their infield in trades. Andrés Jiménez was shipped to Toronto in what was a pure salary dump. Josh Naylor was dealt to Arizona shortly after that. The return after the wheeling and dealing was starting pitcher Luis Ortiz (acquired when they flipped Spencer Horowitz who arrived in the Jiménez deal) from Pittsburgh and starter Slade Cecconi from the Diamondbacks. The Naylor trade opened up a spot for…free agent Carlos Santana. Ok. Sure.

Naylor has one year of club control left and is projected by MLB Trade Rumors to earn $12 million next season. Santana signed for…wait for it…$12 million. Oh! He also signed just one day after selling the home he’s had in Cleveland since he first played for the Guardians. Maybe he can get it back if he gives the buyers Rolexes or something. That would be fun.

The Detroit Tigers signed free agent second baseman Gleyber Torres to a one-year, $15 million deal, which is an outstanding low-risk move but one that now necessitates some infield reshuffling. The conventional wisdom is that incumbent Colt Keith will slide over to first, which leaves Spencer Torkelson—the number one overall selection in the 2020 draft—in some sort of baseball purgatory.

Their most glaring weakness is at third base and they’re rumored to be in on Alex Bregman. We’ll see.

The highlight of the off-season for the Minnesota Twins was when they selected Eiberson Castellano from the Phillies in the Rule 5 draft. I’m not kidding. Honestly, it’s kind of surprising they stuck around the Winter Meetings that long to actually participate in the draft. They’ve also said goodbye to free agents Santana, Max Kepler (to the Phillies)and Kyle Farmer (to the Rockies). Are the lights on in the Minnesota front office?

I’m not sure I need to acknowledge the Chicago White Sox, but just by their recent signing of infielder Josh Rojas, they’ve something more interesting than the Twins. Fair is fair. Rojas, late of Seattle, was one of the more intriguing non-tenders back in November. I will assume he was given assurances from the White Sox that he will play every day. Because otherwise…why?

I guess in the new year, it’s kind of traditional to do a State of the Newsletter kind of thing. You know, a discussion about where we’ve been and an update about where we’re going. It’s probably kind of boring for you and a bit too much navel-gazing for me, but I’ll just say that 2024 was a very good year for ItF. Subscriptions are up, as are views. It didn’t hurt the Royals were kind of good. As always, I appreciate your continued support. Feel free to spread the word about this newsletter to your friends and family.

I don’t have a lot to add as far as what’s coming in 2025. I’ve been doing this for a few years now and have settled into something of a comfortable rhythm. There is one thing that could happen (that is—more accurately—likely to happen) that would favorably impact the newsletter, but that’s still a couple of months off. Ahh, the obligatory tease!

Several of you have asked about paid subscriptions to support the work here. A few of you have chipped in through the “subscribe” button that changes to something like “support” once you’ve signed up for the newsletter. Thank you for that, but I haven’t turned on the payment option or filled out the requisite internet forms, so I don’t collect a nickel. I have avoided doing this for a couple of reasons. One, I kind of like the freedom I have to publish whenever I like. If I start taking cash, this becomes an obligation. I cannot, in good conscience, take money for something that I don’t update on a daily business. Two, I’m not too keen on Substack taking a cut, of any kind, off my work. I sort of like that I’m basically squatting on their site and infrastructure.

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend.