Just over two weeks out from Major League Baseball spring training getting underway in Florida and Arizona, there are plenty of free agents still looking for jobs for the 2025 season. One of those is the Philadelphia Phillies’ former closer Carlos Estévez.
The newly-turned 32-year-old right-hander is coming off a career year and is looking to cash in this winter, but the reliever market has been slow to develop.
But now that Tanner Scott is off the board, the rest of the top relievers left should start signing soon. According to recent reports, Estévez is getting plenty of attention but has yet to sign anywhere.
Many MLB pundits and experts had been predicting that Estévez would end up with the Chicago Cubs, but that idea is out the window with their trade for Houston Astros’ Ryan Pressly.
Carlos Estévez is one of the top free agent relievers and is drawing plenty of interest
Bob Nightengale of USA Today recently reported that the Cincinnati Reds have been engaged in talks with the former Phillies closer. Nothing has come to fruition yet, which has opened the door to another reported rumor that the Detroit Tigers are interested in signing Estévez, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.
“But the Tigers are interested in signing a high-leverage reliever with experience as a closer for the 2025 season, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation,” Petzold said earlier this week. “With that, the Tigers have expressed some level of interest in the best reliever remaining on the free-agent market — Carlos Estévez.”
Estévez began 2024, his eighth major league season, with the Los Angeles Angels and went 20-for-23 in saves opportunities, posting a 2.38 ERA and a ridiculous 0.78 WHIP in 34 innings. He earned his first career All-Star nod but then was traded to the Phillies at the deadline. In 21 innings in red pinstripes, Estévez had a 2.57 ERA and 1.19 WHIP and gathered six saves. Unfortunately, his most memorable moment with the Phillies was serving up the NLDS-clinching grand slam to the New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor.
The Phillies had expressed interest in bringing him back, both after the trade and during the offseason. However, with predictions that he’d be looking to land a multi-year deal, perhaps up to three seasons, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski went out and signed veterans Jordan Romano and Joe Ross to one-year deals instead. But who knows, they could still be talking to Estévez’s camp with spring training looming around the corner and free agents perhaps getting desperate.
Whether it’s the Reds, Tigers or another team, Estévez will undoubtedly find a home for the upcoming season. It’s just a matter of when.
