The Nris Your Eyes May or May Not See

In his piece on Tuesday, Michael Baumann described a “true sicko” of a baseball fan as one who has strong opinions on players signed to minor league contracts with spring training invites. If simply having an opinion on those players makes me a sicko, having opinions on the demarcation between those who do and don’t make Opening Day rosters means I probably need to be double vaccinated against whatever sickness that is.

Opening Day for all but two teams is less than two weeks away, so that means front offices are soon going to have to start finalizing their major league rosters. Many of the guys who don’t make the big league club will remain with their current organizations, but a good chunk of NRIs who don’t make the cut will have the chance to opt out of their minor league contracts and seek a major league deal with another team.

As stated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, all XX(B) free agents — those with at least six years of service who ended the year on a 40-man roster — who ultimately sign minor league deals can opt out of their contracts six days before Opening Day (March 20); teams have until the March 22 to add them to the MLB roster or injured list or instead release them. Plenty of non-XX(B) NRIs also have opt-outs, though some of those may have gone unreported. Considering this, and for the sake of convenience, let’s assume that all of the NRIs mentioned in this piece are able to opt out if they do not make the major league roster out of camp.

Today, we’ll run through the NRIs who could end up in a different organization and possibly make an Opening Day roster. Because Baumann covered the NRI players who are projected to make Opening Day rosters, according to RosterResource, I’m going to do the opposite and touch on only the NRIs who, at least for now, are not projected to have a 26-man spot come the start of the season.

At least a few of these grizzled veterans would probably be upgrades over the catchers on some clubs, but even if they are, front offices will have to consider whether the new backstop’s talent outweighs the current one’s familiarity with the team’s pitchers. Catchers are almost never moved at the trade deadline because of the challenges that come with having to learn a new pitching staff on the fly, and while it’s true that the above catchers would have more time to get caught up than they would if they were joining a new team at the end of July, they’d still need to develop relationships with more than a dozen pitchers during the regular season, rather than in February bullpen sessions or exhibition games. A few of these backstops may well opt out of their current minor league contracts, but I wouldn’t expect them to sign a major league deal immediately unless an injury occurs and opens up a spot.

Teams That Could Come Calling: Rockies, Padres, Red Sox, Marlins

Most of the players in this group have had strong showings this spring; all except Chavis and Rodgers have posted a 125 or better wRC+. To what extent that matters, well, that’s up to you, but the point is that there’s at least a little bit of intrigue and plenty of experience. Rodgers was a somewhat surprisingly non-tendered by the Rockies this offseason, and it was even more surprisingly that had to settle for a minor league deal and an NRI, but he may yet find the MLB deal he should have earned all along despite an iffy small-sample Grapefruit League performance. Lopez and Ahmed have a long track record of fantastic glovework, too, especially useful for teams scrambling to find bench help in response to injuries or demotions.

Teams That Could Come Calling: White Sox, Angels, Yankees, Mets

There’s a range of defensive competence here — Marisnick and Almora can play a mean center field, but even in the corners you really don’t want a ball hit Rosario’s way these days — but they all have some sort of intriguing skill. Gallo, as has always been the case, has massive boom-or-bust potential; it’s been far more bust than boom lately, a trend that’s continued this spring training — he’s struck out over half the time. Thompson has probably been the MVP of the Grapefruit League with six (!) homers and has the best shot of making the roster of his current team.

Teams That Could Come Calling: White Sox, Tigers, Mariners

Managers wouldn’t want these guys playing the field much, but every member of this trio has mashed in the not-too-distant past. Despite his inconsistency, Bauers was a threat in the middle of the Brewers order at times last year. Cooper was an All-Star in 2022 and hit a career-high 17 home runs in 2023. If Jiménez is healthy — a big if but still — he boasts more upside than any other hitter in this article. Teams with open time at DH could do worse than sign one of these bats.

Teams That Could Come Calling: White Sox, Yankees, Mariners, Blue Jays, Padres, Giants

Have a last-minute injury at any one of seven positions? Not liking how your existing options are performing on either side of the ball? One of these players might be your savior, albeit the most modest savior in human history. Hampson, Biggio, and Vargas all saw a lot of MLB action last year, and Hampson played everywhere besides catcher. (He even pitched a scoreless inning!) He and Haggerty also have plus speed and can steal a base or two off the bench if needed.

Teams That Could Come Calling: All of the clubs mentioned above, as well as some others, should be interested in the versatility that these players offer.

Teams in need of 25-plus starts should just see if they can work out a late deal with Kyle Gibson or Lance Lynn. But the benefit of signing one of the above arms for a handful of starts is that they’ve been in camps, pitching in games, staying on schedule and in their routines. By contrast, Lynn and Gibson almost certainly won’t be ready to open the season in a rotation. Houser specifically strikes me as an intriguing option; his fastball velocity is up this spring compared to last year with the Mets, but the only way I can see him making the Rangers’ rotation to start the season is if one or more of their starters gets hurt. Sure, some of those pitchers are injury prone (hello, Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle), but if they remain healthy through the end of camp and Houser opts out for a major league deal elsewhere, another club could scoop him up before a Texas starter goes down.

Teams That Could Come Calling: Athletics, Rockies, Red Sox, Braves, plus any team who wants a multi-inning reliever.

I saved the best for last, and not just because it’s the longest list of players by far. Look at those names! I bet you didn’t even know Neftalí Feliz was still kicking around in affiliated ball. Heck, even I didn’t know that until I saw he signed with the Mariners. Jesse Chavez is hoping for yet another one last hurrah. (Justin Verlander is the only active player older than Chavez.) Meanwhile, a lot of the arms in their early 30s or late 20s are just trying to extend their careers for as long as possible or recapture successes from earlier this decade.

Teams That Could Come Calling: Take your pick of any of the 30 clubs. Teams always need relievers!

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