MLB Rumors: Ronald Acuña Jr. update, Dodgers rotation setup, Masataka Yoshida trade

At least until the one we're probably not expecting, the bulk of the work of the MLB offseason appears to be settled away. The Boston Red Sox have Alex Bregman in the fold, Pete Alonso is back with the New York Mets, and it feels like there aren't many major dominos left unless we get a Padres blockbuster trade or, even more unlikely, the Blue Jays waving the white flag with Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Yet, there are still plenty of MLB Rumors about in the offseason ether that fans should keep their eye on, starting with the team that just acquired Bregman, which could force Boston to deal another highly-paid player.

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Alex Bregman opens Red Sox back up to Masataka Yoshida trade

As the Bregman sweepstakes appeared to be trending away from the Red Sox (obviously before the tides dramatically turned in Boston's favor), it seemed as if Craig Breslow was going to end up turning to Nolan Arenado as their backup plan. That move almost surely would've moved Rafael Devers to DH and, thus, necessitated the Sox finding a trade for Masataka Yoshida.

With reports immediately after the Bregman deal that the longtime Astro will play second base in Boston, though, that seemed to leave Yoshida safe and Devers still at third base. Red Sox insiders, however, don't seem to entirely agree that's the case.

According to Chris Cotillo of Mass Live, the acquisition of Bregman and his potential to play at second base doesn't fully eliminate the possibility of the newcomer spending time at his longtime position of third base and, thus, putting the dominoes into motion for a Yoshida trade:

"Yoshida was likely to be the odd man out if the Red Sox acquired Arenado and shifted Devers to DH and a similar situation could play out on a longer timeline with Bregman in tow. Again, it’s pretty easy to envision a Red Sox lineup with Bregman at third, [Kristian] Campbell at second and Devers at DH being the best version available by the time spring turns to summer. Yoshida doesn’t do enough things well to stand out in that mix and it’s expected that the Sox will continue to look to trade him."

Trading Yoshida is quite complicated as a team would have to be willing to take on his $18.6 million per season salary a year after Boston basically said he couldn't be anything more than a DH who doesn't have great power numbers. That's not to say another team wouldn't believe he's more valuable than that. At the same time, though, reading the tea leaves would say the Red Sox will go into the season with Yoshida at DH and hope to restore some trade value if they do still intend to deal him this year.

Dodgers won't unleash a six-man rotation... at least not yet

Sometimes the simplest questions are also the right ones. And in the case of the Los Angeles Dodgers, one of the biggest questions is how all of their high-priced and newly acquired pieces are going to fit on the roster and what the hierarchy will be. That question is particularly relevant when it comes to the Dodgers rotation after they brought back future Hall-of-Famer Clayton Kershaw on a one-year deal.

Just with the offseason additions of Kershaw, Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki combined with Shohei Ohtani's impending return to the mound, the rotation is packed in the City of Angels. Where does that leave the likes of Tony Gonsolin or Bobby Miller? That has led many to wonder if the Dodgers would run out a six-man rotation. General manager Andrew Friedman, however, doesn't think that's coming — at least not yet.

Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported on Friday that Friedman said that the Dodgers will use a "traiditional five-man rotation" to begin the season but will become a six-man rotation once Ohtani is able to return to the mound.

As Ardaya mentioned, that means a deep eight-man bullpen for Los Angeles and tons of flexibility with the pitching depth. While that might seem a bit counterintuitive, though, it's actually a wise course of action for the Dodgers. Given the injury history of guys like Tyler Glasnow and Kershaw along with questions about Sasaki's potential health concerns, having flexibility is crucial. The five-man rotation will afford them that, and Ohtani will eventually help as well as a two-way player that provides even more roster flexibility.

Ronald Acuña Jr. gives Braves huge update on his impending return

Even if Atlanta Braves fans certainly wish that Alex Anthopoulos had or still will show more aggressiveness to improve the roster going into the 2025 season, there is still a silver lining. Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider, two all-world type players at the positions, will return to the roster this season after missing most of the 2024 campaign due to injury. And in the case of Acuña, his latest update made it sound like he might be even closer to returning than expecting.

As the star outfielder and former NL MVP continues to rehab from the second torn ACL of his career (in different knees, it should be noted), Acuña told the media that he feels "90-95%" when it comes to his ability to cut and run. That's not the end-all, be-all when it comes to his recovery but it's undeniably a sign that he's trending in an unmistakably positive direction.

In fact, Acuña feels good enough that he's already saying it'll be hard for him to "take it easy" in spring training, admitting that'll be a struggle when he gets on base, per Alison Mastrangelo of WSBTV.

Braves fans certainly want Acuña, who has unfortunately struggled with injuries in his career, to take it as easy as he needs to in order to be on the field as much as humanly possible in the 2025 season. At the same time, though, all signs point to him being further ahead in his recovery than he was when he worked his way back from the same injury in 2022 — Anthopoulos said as much in spring training — and could return to the Atlanta lineup sooner than expected.