Mets considering signing Justin Verlander?

The Astros remain without a general manager less than a month from the start of Spring Training. Owner Jim Crane dismissed former GM James Click at the start of the offseason once Click declined a one-year extension offer on the heels of a World Series win. That came after months of reported friction between owner and GM, leaving Houston’s front office in a state of uncertainty.

The Red Sox are discussing a deal with free-agent catcher Roberto Perez, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (Twitter link). Boston already added Jorge Alfaro on a minor league deal this winter and also picked up Caleb Hamilton off waivers from the Twins in October (later passing him through outright waivers as well), but the front office is still exploring other potential options behind the dish.

The Nationals have signed veteran reliever Alex Colome to a minor league contract and invited him to major league spring training. Colome is represented by Wasserman. According to Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post, Colome has long been on the Nationals’ radar. Colome, 34, pitched for the Rockies last...

The Yankees have been in contact with free agent outfielder David Peralta this offseason, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. It isn’t clear whether talks are ongoing, as Heyman suggests the Yankees look likelier to roll with their in-house options in left field. That position has been...

The Cardinals announced Friday that they’ve signed lefty Andrew Suarez to a minor league contract and invited him to Spring Training. He’ll provide some left-handed depth and a potential bullpen option after spending the past two seasons pitching in the Korea Baseball Organization (2021) and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (2022).

The Royals signed veteran infielder Matt Duffy to a minor league contract Friday, per a team announcement. The TWC Sports client will be invited to Major League Spring Training and compete for a roster spot. Duffy, 32, spent the 2022 season with the Angels, where he played three different spots...

The Rangers announced they have signed left-hander Danny Duffy and outfielders Clint Frazier* and Travis Jankowski to minor league deals with non-roster invitations to big league camp. Texas also confirmed previously reported minor league deals for Reyes Moronta and Ian Kennedy. Duffy is the most notable addition as a 12-year...

The Dodgers have agreed to minor league contract with right-handers Jordan Yamamoto and Dylan Covey. Yamamoto announced his own deal with the Dodgers on Instagram yesterday. Taiwan’s United Daily News first reported that Covey, who spent 2021-22 pitching for the Rakuten Monkeys in Taiwan’s CPBL, was signing with the Dodgers (hat tip: CPBL Stats, on Twitter).

The Mariners announced that left-hander Justus Sheffield has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma. Sheffield, 27 in May, was a first round draft pick and was previously considered one of the top prospects in baseball. Selected 31st overall by Cleveland in 2014, went to the Yankees in 2016 as part of the Andrew Miller trade and then went to Seattle in the 2018 James Paxton deal. Baseball America placed him on their top 100 list for four straight years beginning in 2016, including placing Sheffield in the top 50 for the latter two years of that stretch.

The Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball have signed right-hander Hirokazu Sawamura, according to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. Sawamura pitched with the Red Sox in 2021 and '22 and was reportedly looking to sign on with another MLB team earlier this offseason, but he’ll now head back to Japan instead.

The Braves announced Friday they’ve signed manager Brian Snitker to an extension through the 2025 season. He’d been headed into the final guaranteed year of his contract, which also contained an option for 2024. Atlanta has preemptively triggered that option and tacked on an additional season for the Illinois native.

The Dodgers have signed reliever Wander Suero to a minor league deal, as relayed by Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. Pitcher Kevin Gowdy and catcher Hamlet Marte have also signed non-roster pacts with L.A. Suero, 31, is the only member of that group with big league experience. The righty was...

The Orioles have acquired left-handed pitcher Cole Irvin in a trade with the Athletics, per announcements from both clubs. Right-handed pitching prospect Kyle Virbitsky will also head to Baltimore while infield prospect Darell Hernaiz is heading to the A’s. On one hand, this move comes as a surprise, since...

DJ LeMahieu continues to make progress in his recovery from a foot fracture, and based on the infielder’s offseason workouts, “it looks like there was never a problem,” Yankees hitting coach Dillon Lawson said. Although LeMahieu has yet to face live pitching, Lawson told the New York Post’s Dan Martin that the infielder is “able to do everything he needs to do, whether [the pitch] is inside, outside, up or down.” When LeMahieu was battling his injury late last season, “sometimes when he came out there for batting practice, he’d have to come off his back side and couldn’t really rotate into the ball.”

Reports surfaced last week that the Blue Jays’ renovations to Rogers Centre would involve some changes to the playing field, and those changes were confirmed yesterday when the team officially announced the dimensions of the newly-reconfigured outfield. Rogers Centre had previously had uniform dimensions in terms of wall size and relative distances from home plate, but now many aspects of the outfield will play a bit differently in 2023. (MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson has a visual aid of the new dimensions within his piece on the outfield changes.)

The Guardians have named JT Maguire as their new outfield coach, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Maguire has been working in Cleveland’s organization for the last five years, and this will be his first official role with the big league team. The 36-year-old Maguire spent six...

The Red Sox have checked in on free agent reliever Matt Moore this offseason, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive (Twitter links). The extent of their interest isn’t known, but Cotillo adds that fellow southpaw Andrew Chafin has not been on Boston’s radar thus far. Moore and Chafin are...

The Phillies recently agreed to minor league deals with reliever Jesús Cruz and corner outfielder Dustin Peterson, according to their transactions log at MLB.com. It’s unclear if either will get a non-roster Spring Training invitation. Cruz, 27, is a 6’1″ right-hander with eight MLB appearances to his name....

A handful of free agent hurlers threw for scouts this afternoon in Arlington, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Cole Hamels, Derek Holland and Kyle Crick each worked out for clubs in search of an opportunity. Hamels, who turned 39 last month, is obviously the highest-profile of the...

The Brewers have signed right-hander Robert Stock to a minor league contract, tweets Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. He’ll be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training. Stock appeared at the MLB level each season from 2018-21. He first cracked the majors during his age-28 season...