MLB

The 2021-22 major league Rule 5 draft is expected to take place shortly after the signing of the next collective bargaining agreement, tweets JJ Cooper of Baseball America. Originally scheduled to take place this week, the major league Rule 5 draft was…

The Mets are scheduled to interview Buck Showalter tomorrow as part of their managerial search, reports Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (Twitter link). That’s hardly a surprise, as Showalter was reported to be on New York’s radar last week. Perhaps of…

Former big league catcher Tim Federowicz announced this evening that he’s retiring (on Twitter) after a 14-year professional career. That included parts of eight seasons in the big leagues, as the right-handed hitting backstop logged MLB action each season from 2011-19 aside from…

The Cubs recently signed Stephen Gonsalves to a minor league contract, according to the MLB.com transactions tracker. The southpaw was removed from the Red Sox’s 40-man roster in September and elected minor league free agency at the end of the season, making him…

As usual, this winter’s free agent catching market was pretty thin on viable everyday options, but there has been a fair amount of activity in general for teams looking to add new backstops. Jacob Stallings and Tucker Barnhart were two of the…

Former Athletics manager Bob Geren will interview for the Mets’ managerial vacancy this week, according to SNY’s Andy Martino (Twitter link).  Geren is the sixth known candidate for the job, joining Buck Showalter, Brad Ausmus, Joe Espada, Don Kelly, and Matt Quatraro…

The Tokyo Yakult Swallows have signed right-hander A.J. Cole to a one-year contract worth roughly $800.4K.  Though Cole has worked almost exclusively as a reliever in recent years, the Swallows have interest in using him as a starter, as per Yahoo Japan…

The latest on players inking contracts with Nippon Professional Baseball or the Korea Baseball Organization… NPB’s Hanshin Tigers announced earlier this week that right-hander Aaron Wilkerson has been signed.  Wilkerson is a veteran of three Major League seasons, posting a 6.88 ERA…

The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles have announced the signing of outfielder/first baseman Jose Marmolejos.  According to Tacoma Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto (Twitter link), “multiple Japanese teams ” were scouting Marmolejos last season. Marmolejos turns 29 in January, and is coming off a…