Blue Jays trade for 3-time Gold Glove winner Andrés Giménez

The American League Central champion Cleveland Guardians pulled off two significant trades at the winter meetings in Dallas on Tuesday night, first sending three-time Gold Glove second baseman Andrés Giménez to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Gimenez, considered one of baseball's best defensive middle infielders, was dealt by the Guardians along with reliever Nick Sandlin to Toronto for infielder Spencer Horwitz and outfielder Nick Mitchell.

Cleveland didn't even have time to welcome Horwitz before shipping him to the Pittsburgh Pirates for three pitchers: right-hander Luis Ortiz and lefties Michael Kennedy and Josh Hartle. Ortiz could slide immediately into a starting slot after going 7-6 with a 3.32 earned-run average last season.

The trades were the first announced at this year's Winter Meetings.

Ortiz, 25, is coming off his best season in the majors, recording career bests in wins, strikeouts (107), innings pitched (135 2/3), ERA and WHIP (1.11). He began 2024 in the bullpen, posting a 2.51 ERA in 20 appearances before joining the rotation in June.

Ortiz pitched six scoreless innings against the Guardians on Aug. 31.

Cleveland has been involved in numerous trade rumours this off-season, but few of them included Gimenez, who was once considered a core player for the future.

The 26-year-old Gimenez batted .252 with nine homers, 63 runs batted in and 30 steals last season. He was acquired by the Guardians as part of the Francisco Lindor blockbuster trade with the New York Mets in January 2021.

Two years ago, Gimenez was selected an all-star, hitting 17 homers with 69 RBI and being hit by pitches a major league-high 25 times. While the Guardians have always valued his stellar, run-saving defence, they'd like to get more offensive production from the bottom of their lineup and weren't getting it from Gimenez.

Financial considerations are always a part of every Cleveland move.

Gimenez has $96.5 million in guaranteed money remaining as part of a $106.5 million, seven-year contract he agreed to before the 2023 season. He's due $10 million next year, $15 million in 2026 and $23 million in each of the following three seasons.

The deal contains a $23 million team option for 2030 with a $2.5 million buyout.

Sandlin was a valued member of Cleveland's top-flight bullpen last season. The right-hander went 8-0 with a 3.75 ERA in a career-high 68 appearances, but he was left off the club's roster for the AL Division Series and ALCS.

Sandlin is eligible for arbitration this winter and next, then can become a free agent after the 2026 World Series.

Mitchell was drafted in the fourth round this year. The 20-year-old hit .289 in 22 games for Class A Dunedin.

Yankees nab Fried

Max Fried and the New York Yankees have agreed to a $218 million US, eight-year contract, the largest deal for a left-handed pitcher in baseball history, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The person spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because the agreement, first reported by ESPN, was subject to a successful physical.

New York made the move two days after outfielder Juan Soto left for a pending $765 million, 15-year contract with the rival Mets.

Fried, who turns 31 in January, gets the fourth-highest contract among pitchers behind the Los Angeles Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto ($325 million), the Yankees' Gerrit Cole ($324 million) and Washington's Stephen Strasburg ($245 million), who hasn't pitched since 2022 and has retired. Fried broke the mark for lefties set by David Price at $217 million.

Fried spent his first eight seasons with the Braves, making the All-Star team in 2022 and 2024. He had his first big season in 2019, finishing 17-6 with a 4.02 ERA.

He was 7-0 with a 2.25 ERA in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, finishing fifth in the National League Cy Young Award voting. The three-time Gold Glove winner had his best season in 2022, going 14-7 with a 2.48 ERA.

Fried was 8-1 with a 2.55 ERA in an injury-hampered 2023 season, then was 11-10 with a 3.25 ERA over 29 starts this year.

The right-hander was the seventh overall pick in the 2012 amateur draft by the San Diego and was traded to the Braves in a six-player deal that sent outfielder Justin Upton to the Padres.

Nats win draft lottery; Jays slip to 8th

The Washington Nationals will have the No. 1 overall pick in the amateur draft next summer after winning the lottery in a drawing of ping-pong balls at the winter meetings Tuesday.

Despite having the fifth-best odds at winning the lottery, the Toronto Blue Jays fell to the No. 8 overall pick.

Unlike last year, when the Nationals were ineligible after initially coming out with the top spot, they will get to make the first pick in July in Atlanta, the site of the All-Star Game.

Washington was ineligible for a top-six pick last year because the collective bargaining agreement states a team that pays into the revenue-sharing plan cannot have a lottery selection in back-to-back years. The Nationals chose outfielder Dylan Crews with the No. 2 pick in 2023.

The Los Angeles Angels have the second pick for next summer. Seattle, Colorado, St. Louis and Pittsburgh round out the top six.

A weighted lottery among the 18 teams that failed to make the playoffs this season determined the order of picks for the third year in a row.

The Nationals went in with a 10.2 per cent chance, the fourth-best odds, for getting the No. 1 pick. Colorado and Miami, both 100-loss teams, had the best odds at 22.45 per cent, ahead of the Angels at 17.96 per cent.

Seattle got the No. 3 overall pick after having a 0.53 per cent chance to get the No. 1 pick, the second-worst odds among 16 eligible teams.

The 121-loss Chicago White Sox, who had the most losses of any major league club since 1900, were not eligible for the draft lottery since they had one of the top six picks last year (No. 5) and is a team that pays into the revenue-sharing plan.

The CBA also doesn't allow teams that receive money in revenue sharing to have lottery picks three years in a row. That made the Athletics (69-93) ineligible for the lottery — they picked fourth last year after having the No. 6 selection in 2023.

Chicago instead got the 10th pick, one spot ahead of Oakland — the highest possible positions for those two teams because of their recent lottery picks.

Jays bring back reliever Garcia

Right-hander Yimi Garcia is returning to the Toronto Blue Jays, agreeing to a $15 million, two-year contract, a person with knowledge of the talks told The Associated Press.

The person spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because the agreement was subject to a successful physical.

The 34-year-old Garcia was traded from Toronto to Seattle on July 26 for outfielder Jonatan Clase and catcher/outfielder Jacob Sharp. He had a 6.00 ERA in nine innings over 10 appearances for the Mariners.

He was 3-0 with a 3.46 ERA and five saves overall this year in 39 games and 39 innings.

Garcia is 22-29 with a 3.59 ERA and 26 saves over 10 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers (2014-19), Miami (2020-21), Houston (2021), Toronto (2022-24) and Seattle. He missed the 2017 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Adames finalizes deal with Giants

Willy Adames and San Francisco finalized a $182 million, seven-year contract on Tuesday, providing the Giants with a power-hitting shortstop in the prime of his career.

San Francisco has missed the playoffs in each of the last three years, going 80-82 this season.

Adames' deal is the richest in franchise history, topping a $167 million, nine-year contract that Posey agreed to in 2013.

The 29-year-old Adames is coming off his best offensive season in the big leagues after hitting .251 with a career-high 32 homers and 112 RBIs with the Milwaukee Brewers. He's a solid defensive shortstop with a strong arm and good range, though his metrics slipped a little in 2024.

He also has provided consistent power with 150 homers over seven seasons, breaking into the big leagues in 2018 with Tampa Bay and hit 20 homers in his first full season in 2019.

Rangers keep pitcher Eovaldi: report

The Texas Rangers and right-hander Nathan Eovaldi have agreed on a three-year deal worth $75 million US, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Tuesday night because the deal was subject to a successful physical for the two-time World Series champion.

Bringing back the 34-year-old Eovaldi was one of the primary goals for the Rangers this off-season.

Eovaldi became a free agent Nov. 4 after declining a vested $20 million player option for the 2025 season.

The two-time all-star also got a $2 million buyout from that option earned by throwing more than 300 innings over his two years with the Rangers after joining them in free agency.

Eovaldi was the winning pitcher in their World Series-clinching game at Arizona in 2023, when he was 5-0 with a 2.95 ERA in six post-season starts. He was also part of Boston's 2018 title.