The 24-year-old Bragg was a 17th-round draft pick by the Twins in 2023. He finished last season with Double-A Wichita.

Wagaman batted .250 with 28 doubles, nine home runs and 53 RBIs in 140 games as a rookie last season for the Marlins, finishing strong with a team-leading .328 average over 61 at-bats during the month of September. The 28-year-old Wagaman started 94 games at first base and 13 games in left field in 2025, after appearing in 18 games with the Los Angeles Angels in his debut in 2024.

Drafted in the 13th round in 2017 by the New York Yankees, Wagaman was designated for assignment earlier this week by the Marlins. He’ll provide the Twins more potential depth at first base along with Kody Clemens behind veteran Josh Bell, who signed a one-year, $7 million contract last month.

The speedy Ruiz led the American League with 67 stolen bases for the Athletics in 2023. He is a career .241 hitter during four major league seasons with four teams, but excels as a baserunner and a defender.

The Dodgers acquired Ruiz from the A’s last April, and he was a little-used reserve when he was in the majors for the back-to-back World Series champions. Ruiz batted .190 in 19 games for Los Angeles, largely playing as a defensive replacement or a pinch runner.

The Marlins designated infielder Eric Wagaman for assignment to make room on their 40-man roster for Ruiz. The trade opened a spot on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster.

As a capable backup outfielder, Ruiz could be the Marlins’ replacement for Dane Myers, who was traded to Cincinnati last weekend.

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The deal is agreed to but contingent on Fairbanks passing a physical, according to a source.

Fairbanks will become the team’s second-highest paid player, behind Sandy Alcantara, and gives the Marlins their most established closer in several years.

To read the full report, click here for miamiherald.com

Morel, 26, hit .219 with 37 runs, 16 doubles, 11 homers and 33 RBI in 105 games with the Tampa Bay Rays last season. He started 57 games in left field with a .971 fielding percentage, made one start in right field and one appearance at second base.

The Santiago, Dominican Republic, native was signed by the Chicago Cubs in August 2015, ranking as high as the organization’s No. 8 prospect by MLB Pipeline in 2021.

He played in 323 games with Chicago over parts of three seasons from 2022-24 and hit .228 with 43 doubles, eight triples, 60 home runs, and 168 RBIs.

The move is the first significant signing of the offseason for the Marlins, who finished the 2025 season with a 79-83 record under first-year manager Clayton McCollough.

Leichman, who grew up on Kibbutz Gezer and was first introduced to baseball on a field his father built, had just wrapped up a season as assistant pitching coach for the Miami Marlins when he received the news.

“Thank you Miami! You’ve changed my life. Can’t wait for what’s next with the Rockies and Colorado ,” wrote Leichman in a recent post on Instagram announcing the move.

Before joining the Marlins, Leichman served as the assistant pitching coach for the Cincinnati Reds the previous two years. Earlier in his career, he also played and coached for Team Israel, including a stint as bullpen coach at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

In March, Leichman is expected to be the head pitching coach for Team Israel at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

Leichman’s latest accolade appears to make him the first Israeli to hold a head pitching coach position in the MLB. (In February 2024, Assaf Lowengart made pro-baseball history as the first Israeli-born position player to secure a contract in the United States.)

Leichman will be joined on the Rockies by Gabe Ribas, who will serve as the assistant pitching coach, and Matt Buschmann, who will be the bullpen coach.

“I was on the flight home to Israel when Buschmann was officially on board, so we quickly created a little group chat,” Leichman said in a Rockies press release. “We’re going to enjoy these few days, answer phone calls, call players, say our ‘thank yous’ and get to work.”

For more info, go to JTA.org. 

The Giants didn’t offer a 2026 contract to left-hander Joey Lucchesi.

Wiemer, 26, will join his fourth team after playing parts of three major league seasons for Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Miami. He played in 132 games in his first big league season for the Brewers in 2023 and had three home runs and 12 RBIs in 27 games this year for the Marlins.

San Francisco, which missed the playoffs for a fourth straight year and hired new manager Tony Vitello from the University of Tennessee, designated catcher Andrew Knizner for assignment.

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Additionally, Frankie Piliere was promoted to vice president of amateur forecasting and player evaluation initiatives, and Vinesh Kanthan was moved to senior director of baseball operations.

Kapler will be the club’s sixth general manager after beginning his tenure with the Marlins in 2024 as an assistant GM focusing on player, coaching and staff development.

This past season, the Marlins’ minor league system made club history with four different affiliates reaching the postseason at their respective levels. That includes Jacksonville, which claimed the Triple-A National Championship.

Kapler spent the previous six seasons as a manager with Philadelphia (2018-19) and San Francisco (2020-23). The Los Angeles-native was also the World Series champion Dodgers’ director of player development from 2015-17, during which he worked with Marlins manager Clayton McCullough.

Miami outperformed many expectations in McCullough’s first season, going 79-83. The Marlins had an over/under of 62 1/2 wins before the season, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. Their 16 1/2-win overperformance was the best in baseball, and they won 13 of their final 17 games.

“It is an exciting time to be part of the Marlins organization, and I am ready to continue the great work we are doing here, alongside Peter (Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix) and our entire Baseball Operations staff,” Kapler said in a statement. “The growth and momentum we’ve built are a direct reflection of a clear vision, a strong culture, and an incredible team working together toward a shared goal. I’m proud to help continue that progress and contribute to what’s ahead.”

Piliere joined the Marlins as director of amateur scouting, overseeing the club’s amateur scouts and draft. And Kanthan, before coming to Miami, spent five seasons with the Texas Rangers organization.

Sanoja beat out the World Series-winning Dodger Miguel Rojas and the Pirate Jared Triolo.

The 23-year-old rookie mainly rotated between second and third base, where he tallied nine defensive runs saved, according to FanGraphs. He also spent some time in the outfield, posting a .988 fielding percentage across 785 innings.

Sanoja is the ninth Marlin to win a Gold Glove, joining left fielder Christian Yelich and second baseman Dee Strange-Gordon among others. He’s also the second rookie in Miami’s history to win a Gold Glove (Charles Johnson was the first). The award for utility players was created in 2022.

Schumaker’s deal was announced after Chris Young, the president of baseball operations, acknowledged earlier in the day that the Rangers were focused on an internal candidate in their search to replace Bruce Bochy. Schumaker had been in a senior advisory role with the team since last November.

The 45-year-old Schumaker was the 2023 NL Manager of the Year when Miami went 84-78 and made the fourth postseason appearance in club history. That was the same year Texas, with Bochy in his debut there, won its only World Series championship.

“While I attained a good understanding of the organization through my front office role this past season, the conversations with Chris Young, (general manager) Ross Fenstermaker, and others this week have only intensified my interest in this opportunity,” Schumaker said in a statement. “I can’t wait to begin the work for 2026.”

The Rangers and the 70-year-old Bochy, a four-time World Series champion who was baseball’s winningest active manager, agreed Monday to end his managerial stint. That was the day after Texas finished 81-81 for its second non-winning record since its championship. Bochy was at the end of his three-year contract.

The Marlins slipped to 62-100 in 2024 after changes in the front office and with a roster decimated by trades and injuries. Schumaker and the team agreed that he wouldn’t return for this season.

Texas then hired Schumaker for the advisory position, a move viewed by many as making him the heir apparent to Bochy.

“We are thrilled to announce this promotion and have Skip leading this club in the dugout,” Young said in a statement. “Over his past year as a senior advisor to our baseball operations group, Skip has proven to be driven, passionate and thorough in everything he does. He has a winning spirit and energy, and we are fortunate that someone so highly regarded in the industry has agreed to become our manager.”

The Rangers became the first of eight major league teams to fill a managerial vacancy. Young wouldn’t say earlier in the day if any other teams had requested permission to speak with Schumaker.

Before going to Miami, Schumaker was on San Diego’s staff from 2018-21 and then was the bench coach for St. Louis, where he played for the Cardinals during their 2011 World Series win over Texas. He played 11 big league seasons with St. Louis (2005-12), the Los Angeles Dodgers (2013) and Cincinnati (2014-15).

Schumaker will take over a Rangers team that for the first time in franchise history this year led the majors in ERA (3.47), and will bring back starting pitchers Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Jack Leiter. Texas also set a single-season MLB record with its .99112 fielding percentage, bettering the 2013 Baltimore Orioles’ mark of .99104.

But the Rangers ranked 26th in the majors with a .234 batting average and 22nd with 684 runs scored.

“It was a little bit bittersweet. It was painful to really see some of the things that we did so well, and then also there was optimism to know that we did so many things so well and came up short,” Young said earlier Friday. “But there’s a lot to look forward to moving forward, and I think there’s a lot of optimism I have that this is going to get corrected quickly. I mean, we’re not talking about a 20-game jump here to make the playoffs.”

Fenstermaker said while Schumaker lives on the West Coast, he had been very involved with the team in his advisory role.

“He’d spend time with us and many different folks in the front office, add his perspective, his wisdom. He was around and available a lot,” Fenstermaker said. “We probably talked to him every few days, if not daily, throughout the course of the year and bounce ideas off him and get his perspective.”

Bochy has been offered an advisory role in the Rangers’ front office. He also could be in line for such a position with the San Francisco Giants, though he isn’t a candidate for the managerial opening of the team he led to World Series titles in 2010, ’12 and ’14.

With 2,252 wins, Bochy is sixth among major league managers, with the five ahead of him all in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was 249-237 with the Rangers.

MIAMI — The New York Mets entered Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Miami Marlins with a singular goal: win.

That was the only thing manager Carlos Mendoza’s fading team could still control in its bid to reach the postseason. But those hopes dissipated in one decisive inning.

New York could not overcome a four-run fourth by the Marlins, and the Mets were eliminated from the playoff field with a 4-0 loss.

The Mets missed the postseason a year after reaching the National League Championship Series and after holding the best record in the majors on June 12 — a stunning collapse for the star-studded club with a major league-high $322.6 million payroll on opening day.

New York’s loss meant the Cincinnati Reds earned the final NL wild-card spot despite falling to the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 on Sunday.

The Reds and Mets entered the day with the same record, but because Cincinnati owned the head-to-head tiebreaker — the Reds won four of six meetings with New York this season — they’re heading to the playoffs for the first time since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

Mendoza had been adamant during the series in Miami that the Mets put themselves in that position with their poor second half of the regular season.

New York had the best record in the majors at 45-24 — a season-high 21 games over .500 — after beating Washington 4-3 at home on June 12.

But starter Kodai Senga injured his hamstring in that game, which seemed to mark a turning point in the Mets’ season. They lost their next seven games and 10 of the next 11. Unable to overcome a series of pitching woes, they went 38-55 the rest of the way.

The collapse was an all-too-familiar outcome for many Mets fans, who endured similar endings in 2007 and 2008.

In 2007, New York failed to hold a seven-game division lead with 17 games left in the season, and in 2008, they wasted a 3 1/2-game advantage with 17 games remaining. Their playoff fate then was also pushed to the last game of the season, when losses to the Marlins ended their hopes.

It was also a reversal from last season, when the Mets got into the postseason as a wild card on a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Arizona Diamondbacks. New York then knocked Milwaukee out of the playoffs with a thrilling comeback in the decisive Game 3 of their NL Wild Card Series.

Before a sellout crowd Sunday of 34,660 that included Ivanka Trump and plenty of New York fans, the Mets were in position to mount a comeback in the fifth when they loaded the bases with two outs on three walks. But slugger Pete Alonso lined out to left field, and that was New York’s best threat.

With runners on first and second in the eighth, Francisco Alvarez struck out to end the inning and snapped the bat over his knee in frustration as many Mets fans headed for the exits.