MLB

The New York Mets made one of the first, and most important, moves of the Major League Baseball offseason by signing Edwin Díaz to a long-term deal.

Some of New York's focus should turn to the trade market to add help for Díaz and even bolster the starting rotation that could lose Jacob deGrom in free agency.

According to MLB Network's Jon Morosi, the Mets are among a few teams that are interested in the available pitching that the Tampa Bay Rays have on their roster.

Tampa Bay is notorious for trading some of its top talents, and it already made one deal this offseason by shipping Ji-Man Choi to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The most notable name on the Tampa Bay roster is Tyler Glasnow, but he would require a large return of prospects. The Mets have a slew of prospects, led by catcher Francisco Álvarez, ready to hit the majors in 2023, and it may not be wise for the front office to trade away some of their top young players in this instance.

The best approach to trading with the Rays could be to go after their bullpen arms to add help in front of Edwin Díaz ahead of the expected fight between the Mets, Atlanta and Philadelphia in the National League East.

Jason Adam, Brooks Raley, Shawn Armstrong and Pete Fairbanks could be available for a lower cost. The Mets could add one or two of them to the bullpen and it would make that unit better going into 2023.

New York could even go after Drew Rasmussen, Jeffrey Springs or Ryan Yarbrough to build up depth at the back end of the rotation, or for the fifth and sixth innings to bridge the gap between starters and the top bullpen arms.

As of Monday morning, the Mets have Max Scherzer, Carlos Carrasco, Tylor Megill and David Peterson on the 40-man roster as potential starters. They may be better off chasing a starter in free agency than sending a mix of top prospects to Tampa Bay for Glasnow.

There are only three left-handed arms on the current 40-man roster. The Mets could call up the Rays to look at Springs, Raley or Colin Poche to balance out their pitching staff a bit.

Raley, who had a 2.68 ERA in 2022, has some playoff experience from his two seasons in Houston. He had 61 strikeouts to 15 walks in his 53.2 innings of work in the regular season.

Poche is a younger bullpen option than Raley. He produced 64 strikeouts in 58.2 innings, but he also walked 22 batters and had a 3.99 ERA.

Springs could be a back-end starter, a role that Yarbrough and Drew Rasmussen could also fill if the Mets pursue an addition to their starting rotation.

Both Springs and Rasmussen threw over 135 innings and struck out over 120 batters in 2022. They would be capable of filling a No. 4 or No. 5 starter role that could help the Mets overtake the Braves and Phillies on pitching depth.

The word "depth" is vital to the Mets' approach this offseason. They need to have depth behind Scherzer in the rotation and in support of Díaz in the bullpen.

Tampa Bay has a plethora of available arms who could help the Mets with that, and they may not come at expensive prices. A mid-tier prospect or two would be worth the deal for one pitcher, or the Mets could package some promising prospects to bring in multiple arms from the Rays.

A trade with Tampa Bay is one of the many avenues the Mets should explore, and it could become even more important to add pitching depth in a deal with the American League East squad if deGrom bolts in free agency.

The Philadelphia Phillies are aiming high in their quest to find an upgrade at shortstop in free agency.

Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the reigning National League champions are believed to have "real interest" in four-time All-Star Xander Bogaerts.

Bogaerts could be a fallback plan because the Phillies have been heavily linked to Trea Turner. Bogaerts became a free agent by opting out of the final three years and $60 million remaining on his deal with the Boston Red Sox.

Appearing on 97.5 The Fanatic earlier this week (h/t John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia), The Athletic's Jayson Stark said there have been "some interesting rumblings" that Turner wants to be in Philadelphia.

While both players will carry expensive price tags this offseason, Bogaerts could be more appealing to the Phillies because he may not cost as much as Turner. He is eight months older and has seen his power decline in each of the past three seasons.

Since posting a career-high slugging percentage in 2019 (.555), Bogaerts' power output has dropped by nearly 100 points to .456 this past season. He remains one of the best pure hitters at shortstop, posting a .307 average and .377 on-base percentage in 2022.

Boston's key decision-makers, including chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and general manager Brian O'Halloran, told reporters this week their top priority is re-signing Bogaerts.

It's not a surprise the Phillies will likely want to get involved in the Bogaerts sweepstakes. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has built a career on signing marquee players in free agency.

The Phillies only have $140.2 million in guaranteed salary commitments on their books for next season.

Bryson Stott was Philadelphia's primary shortstop in 2022. The 25-year-old rookie was used primarily for his defense. He only hit .234/.295/.358 with 10 homers and 49 RBI in 127 games.

Relief pitcher Rafael Montero has reportedly agreed to a deal to remain with the Houston Astros in free agency.

ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Saturday that Montero and the Astros came to terms on a three-year, $34.5 million contract.

The 32-year-old Montero spent parts of the past two seasons in Houston and was a key part of an Astros bullpen that dominated during the 2022 playoffs en route to a World Series championship.

Montero was arguably the Astros' best reliever last season, appearing in a team-high 71 games and going 5-2 with a 2.37 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 73 strikeouts over 68.1 innings.

The eight-year MLB veteran was also strong during the postseason, posting a 1-0 record with a 1.93 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 10 strikeouts in 10 appearances.

Montero pitched for the New York Mets, Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners over his first seven seasons and largely struggled, recording an ERA under 4.00 in only one of those seasons.

In 40 appearances for the Mariners during the 2021 season, Montero had a bloated 7.27 ERA, but he got right following a trade to Houston, allowing no earned runs in four appearances to close the year.

Montero finally put together the best full season of his career in 2022, and he was rewarded with a contract that will pay him $11.5 million annually.

On the heels of winning the 2022 World Series, Montero was among the top Astros players to hit free agency, along with starting pitcher Justin Verlander, first baseman Yuli Gurriel and outfielder Michael Brantley.

With Montero returning, Will Smith is the only notable reliever from last season's team who is not under contract with the Astros.

Montero, Héctor Neris, Ryne Stanek, Phil Maton, Bryan Abreu, Seth Martinez and closer Ryan Pressly are all expected to be back next season barring trades, meaning Houston should have one of the elite bullpens in baseball once again.

The Astros were slated to be one of the top World Series contenders in 2023 regardless of Montero's status, but the return of a bullpen linchpin undoubtedly helps their cause.

Major League Baseball all-time hits leader Pete Rose asked for his lifetime MLB ban to be lifted in a letter to commissioner Rob Manfred this week.

TMZ Sports obtained a copy of the letter, which included the following line:

"I am writing today for three reasons. First, because at my age I want to be 100% sure that you understand how much I mean it when I say that I'm sorry. Second, to ask for your forgiveness. And third, because I still think every day about what it would mean to be considered for the Hall of Fame."

Rose, 81, received a lifetime ban from baseball in 1989 after it was found that he bet on MLB games while serving as a player and manager for the Cincinnati Reds. As a result, Rose was ruled ineligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Nicknamed Charlie Hustle, Rose is widely recognized as one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

His playing career spanned 24 years with the Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos. He earned 17 All-Star nods, three World Series championships, three National League batting titles, two Gold Glove Awards, one NL MVP award, one World Series MVP award and the 1963 NL Rookie of the Year Award.

Rose was a lifetime .303 hitter with 160 home runs, 1,314 RBI and 2,165 runs scored. His 4,256 hits are also the most in MLB history.

The Hit King has appealed for reinstatement many times in hopes of one day being enshrined in Cooperstown, but he has been turned away each time.

In his latest attempt, Rose apologized for having "brought shame" to baseball and called it his "dream" to be a Hall of Famer.

The contentious relationship between Houston Astros owner Jim Crane and general manager James Click has come to an end less than one week after Houston's World Series victory.

The Astros and Click parted ways Friday after he rejected the team's one-year contract offer.

Crane issued a statement about Click in the wake of his departure:

The team also parted ways with assistant general manager Scott Powers, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan:

While it is unusual to see a general manager leave after the team wins the World Series, the move isn't a total surprise.

USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported before the playoffs that Houston would likely have to win the World Series for Click to keep his job.

An Oct. 27 report from The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal noted a number of issues that caused conflict between Crane and Click, ranging from the size of the baseball operations staff to Click's concern that other people in the organization influenced Crane.

Click's contract expired Oct. 31, five days before the Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies to win their second championship. He was in Las Vegas this week for the general manager meetings despite not having a contract.

The Astros re-signed manager Dusty Baker to a one-year contract Wednesday. Crane told reporters during the press conference to announce Baker's deal that he was "in discussions" with Click about an extension.

The Astros hired Baker and Click almost simultaneously in 2020 after firing A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow in the wake of MLB's discipline from the cheating scandal during the 2017 season.

The Astros made the playoffs in each of Click's three years as general manager. They reached the World Series in each of the past two seasons and won the title this year.

Houston's 106 wins during the 2022 regular season were the second-most in franchise history (107 in 2019).

The Los Angeles Dodgers are reportedly "showing interest" in Japanese starting pitcher Koudai Senga, a three-time Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star.

Jon Morosi of the MLB Network reported Friday that Senga, 29, is "now eligible" to enter free-agent contract talks with MLB teams after opting out of his contract with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

Since Senga is a traditional free agent—he's not part of the posting system typically involved with Japanese players making the switch to MLB—the team that signs the right-hander won't incur any additional fees beyond the contract's value.

The five-time Japan Series champion is coming off a 2022 season with the Hawks where he posted a 1.94 ERA and 1.06 WHIP with 156 strikeouts in 144 innings. His career ERA across 11 years of Japanese pro baseball stands at 2.42.

In October, Senga said making the move to MLB is the end of a long-term plan.

"I'm absolutely going to file for free agency," Senga told reporters. "I've been saying I'm going to do it for the past six years, so this represents nothing new for me."

The Dodgers will face plenty of competition for him in free agency.

Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Tuesday the San Diego Padres were interested along with "virtually every other MLB team."

The Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays are among the other clubs publicly linked to Senga so far, per Darragh McDonald of MLB Trade Rumors.

MLB sources told Joel Sherman of the New York Post that Senga features a fastball that can reach triple digits and an elite splitter, but there are concerns about his lack of a polished breaking ball and some nagging elbow injuries over the years.

"[Senga] is one of the most talented, physically gifted players I've ever played with," Fukuoka teammate Colin Rea told Sherman. "His competitiveness on the mound is second to none and he works his butt off in between starts. He throws 100 and has a split that no one can touch. He's constantly trying to improve every day. His English also is improving. He could be a star in MLB."

Regardless of where he signs, he'll likely open his U.S. career as a mid-rotation starter in 2023. Any team signing him to become an ace-level contributor would be taking a risk.