TROT COFFEY: December 6, 2024.

A repository of responsibly reported rumors as the offseason stove heats up.

The league will start descending on Dallas this weekend, as the Winter Meetings get rolling on Monday.

I will send out COFFEY entries regularly over the next week or so (and beyond, as warranted). The rumors are already starting to fly.

No paywall on today’s, but I’d dig it if you considered subscribing after this one to keep getting the rumor updates (and much more!) delivered straight to your email.

• Ken Rosenthal (The Athletic) suggests in a video interview that DH Joc Pederson would be a good fit for the Rangers — and adds that the club has talked about trading 1B Nathaniel Lowe. (That’s an option we discussed in the first base installment of our Building the 2025 Roster series.)

• In a fleshed-out story for The Athletic, Rosenthal expands on the Pederson concept, suggesting “[t]he Diamondbacks want Pederson back. The Tampa Bay Rays also could use him, though it’s doubtful any free agent with options will choose to play at a minor-league ballpark in the summer Florida heat. The Texas Rangers are a more intriguing fit.” As a caveat, Rosenthal adds that “[t]he question with the Rangers is whether owner Ray Davis will gain enough clarity on the team’s future local TV revenues to approve an increase in payroll later in the offseason. . . . Re-signing [Nathan] Eovaldi is the Rangers’ top priority. The bullpen, with relievers Kirby Yates, David Robertson, José Leclerc, and Andrew Chafin all hitting the open market, needs to be reconstructed. And, as mentioned above, Texas wants to add more offense.”

• As far as Eovaldi is concerned, the three-year, $67 million deal that the A’s gave RHP Luis Severino on Thursday does nothing but build his leverage. An executive of one NL club tells Mark Feinsand (MLB.com): “The market for pitching is insane right now. It’s through the roof.”

• (It’s never not been.)

• Anthony Castrovince (MLB.com) identifies the Rangers as one of six teams that “could make a surprise splash” this offseason, noting that “should the front office be empowered to increase the payroll, we know it’s a front office capable of big swings.”

• Jim Bowden (The Athletic) attempts to pair up one free agent with every club, putting RHP Jeff Hoffman in the Texas bullpen on a three-year, $27 million deal. Other Bowden predictions of Rangers-related note: Eovaldi to the Blue Jays (three years, $70 million), Pederson to the Reds (two years, $26 million), RHP Roki Sasaki to the Padres, and OF Jurickson Profar to the Royals (three years, $39 million).

• LHP Aroldis Chapman signed a one-year, $10.75 million deal with the Red Sox, the amount of which is not a great development for the Rangers, who are presumably looking for at least two relievers at that performance level — that is, Yates and Robertson or what they hope to be 2025 equivalents.

• Evan Grant (Dallas Morning News) lists Eovaldi, LHP Max Fried (not right-handed, as the story indicates), DH Justin Turner, and two relievers, RHP Andrew Kittredge and LHP Colin Poche, as free agents the Rangers “could be connected with during and after the [Winter M]eetings.”

• Ben Badler (Baseball America) tabs the Rangers as third-most likely to land Sasaki, behind the Dodgers and Padres and ahead of the Mets, Yankees, Orioles, and Red Sox. Badler reasons that “while [the Rangers] have a handful of players [in Latin America] lined up for 2025, it sticks out that they appear to have a significant amount of uncommitted space still available in their $6,261,600 pool for 2025, with no player projected to sign for a top 30 overall bonus in the class. Like other teams, they might have to trade for more pool space to maximize their offer for Sasaki, but they might not necessarily have to throw away commitments to other players to get him.”

• On the subject of Sasaki, Jeff Passan (ESPN) suggests “[t]he industry should not forget about the San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs. Nor forget that when [Shohei] Ohtani's free agent process was playing out, the Los Angeles Angels were never mentioned among the favorites.”

• Rustin Dodd and Sam Blum (The Athletic) write about certain organizations that have made “[e]fforts to penetrate the amateur ranks” in the Pacific Rim, that is, before players turn pro in the NPB or elsewhere in Asia. One scout “estimated that around six or seven clubs put resources into finding diamonds in the rough — actively scouting amateurs, lower-level professionals, and American players who could be candidates to return to affiliated baseball.” Dodd and Blum note that industry sources peg the Dodgers, A’s, Pirates, and Rangers as “leaders” on that front.

• Passan adds that the Rays are “willing to trade starting pitching, and with the Rays playing at Steinbrenner Field this season after Hurricane Milton destroyed Tropicana Field's roof, their revenue questions have prompted teams to inquire about LHP Jeffrey Springs, who will make $10.5 million each of the next two seasons and is widely considered a front-half-of-the-rotation starter.” Back in May, in my four-part, long-term Spitballing series, I proposed a July 2025 trade of Rosario, RHP Marc Church, RHP Jose Corniell, and OF Yeison Morrobel to Tampa Bay for Springs and 1B Yandy Diaz — and then, after the 2026 season, Texas would exercise Springs’s $15 million club option for 2027.

• In a piece titled “The trades we want to see at MLB's 2024 winter meetings,” Kiley McDaniel (ESPN) spitballs the Brewers sending closer Devin Williams to Texas: “Williams only has one year of control left, so unlike [a Garrett] Crochet deal, he would cost [only] one of the Rangers' top young arms, like Alejandro Rosario (93rd on my latest rankings), Emiliano Teodo or Jack Leiter — or possibly a position player like Justin Foscue.”

• Without naming teams, Rosenthal similarly suggests that “[i]deally, any return for Williams would include a young starting pitcher.”

• In the same story, Rosenthal acknowledges that the Diamondbacks are open to trading LHP Jordan Montgomery, who exercised his $22.5 million player option for 2025, but reports that “club officials are somewhat mixed on the idea, knowing Montgomery is a strong candidate to bounce back next season.”

• In a story compiling one potential trade candidate for each team, Feinsand identifies RHP Jon Gray for Texas, on the premise that moving his $13 million contract could help them fit Eovaldi into its payroll structure. Grant includes Gray in a list of five players the Rangers could be asked about in trade talks (or float themselves), along with OF Leody Taveras (in whom “[t]here was a lot of interest . . . at the trade deadline”), IF Josh Smith, RHP Jack Leiter, and, very interestingly, 2B Marcus Semien.

• DH Mitch Garver is Feinsand’s pick for a Mariners trade candidate, though “Seattle would likely need to pick up part of the contract to get anything of value in return.”

• Melissa Lockard (The Athletic) includes no Rangers prospects in her rundown of 15 “names to know” for Wednesday’s Rule 5 Draft — but it should be noted that, at the moment, the Rangers have an open spot on its 40-man roster and may be looking to make a pick in the draft themselves. Relievers are always strong candidates to make an impact.

• In that regard, in their latest draft preview, Geoff Pontes & J.J. Cooper (Baseball America) continue to list LHP Bryan Magdaleno among the top five draftable players. Other Rangers included in the update are 1B Blaine Crim and 1B Abimelec Ortiz.

• The Blue Jays signed RHP Kevin Gowdy to a minor-league deal with an invite to major-league spring training.

• The Draft Lottery will be conducted on Tuesday at 4:30 local time, to determine the first six picks in next July’s draft. The Rangers have the eighth-best odds, with a 2.45 percent chance at the top pick, and a 25.1 percent chance to end up with one of those top six picks. A longshot, for sure — but last year, the Guardians ended up with the top pick despite the ninth-best odds (and a 2 percent chance).