RotoFeed

Reds Outright Ivan Johnson

Anthony Franco — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:12:56 +0000

The Reds sent infielder Ivan Johnson outright to Triple-A Louisville, relays Charlie Goldsmith of Charlie’s Chalkboard. Cincinnati never officially designated Johnson for assignment but apparently placed him on waivers this week.

Johnson, 28 next week, was Cincinnati’s fourth-round pick back in 2019. The switch-hitter had some prospect buzz early in his time in the Reds’ system, with some scouts projecting him as a bat-first utility player. Johnson has posted solid offensive numbers in the minors but struggles with contact against higher level pitching. He also hasn’t really found a defensive home.

Cincinnati called Johnson up for the first time at the end of June. He was up and down on a couple occasions but never got much of a look. The Atlanta native went 1-16 with three walks and seven punchouts in his first 19 plate appearances. His lone knock was a single off Gavin Williams in late July. Johnson had a solid but not elite season with Louisville, hitting .247/.354/.424 with 11 longballs and 15 stolen bases over 273 trips to the plate.

This is Johnson’s first career outright assignment, so he can’t immediately elect free agency. That’s a mere formality, though, as he’ll hit the market at the beginning of the offseason as a seven-year minor league free agent. He’s likely looking at minor league offers, and Cincinnati could try to bring him back on a non-roster invite to Spring Training.

Elieser Hernandez, Ricky Vanasco Elect Free Agency

Charlie Wright — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 23:31:48 +0000

6:31pm: Vanasco also went unclaimed and elected free agency, according to the transaction tracker.

10:38am: Right-hander Elieser Hernandez is back on the open market, according to his MLB.com transaction tracker. The Braves designated the veteran reliever for assignment ahead of their Wild Card matchup against the Phillies. Righty Ricky Vanasco was also DFAed with Rowdy Tellez and Luke Williams joining the 40-man roster.

Once Carlos Carrasco signed overseas, Hernandez emerged as the Braves’ favorite DFA carousel guy. His contract was selected four times in the second half. He never spent more than a week on the roster. Hernandez would be DFAed, pass through waivers, and then re-sign with Atlanta on a minor league deal. While he’s currently a free agent, there’s a decent chance he comes back to the organization once again.

The 31-year-old Hernandez pitched well in his various stints in the majors. He compiled a 2.25 ERA across 12 innings. The righty picked up two wins and a three-inning save over his five appearances. Hernandez averaged a career-best 92.1 mph on his fastball out of Atlanta’s bullpen. He struck out more than a batter per inning, though it came with a career-worst 11.3% walk rate.

Hernandez and his ilk helped the Braves navigate an injury-plagued season on the mound. The club got a combined 11 appearances from Spencer Strider, Hurston Waldrep, and Spencer Schwellenbach. Reynaldo Lopez, Bryce Elder, and Martin Perez closed the year on the IL.

Tyler Mahle, added at the trade deadline as rotation depth, started Game 2 of the Wild Card series. Atlanta is expected to turn to a lefty opener (Ray Kerr, Brent Suter) and then Grant Holmes as the bulk reliever for an elimination game tonight. It’s certainly not an ideal situation. The Braves will have some work to do on the pitching side this offseason.

Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

Jameson Taillon To Undergo Flexor Surgery, Intends To Continue Career

Anthony Franco — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 23:21:08 +0000

Impending free agent starter Jameson Taillon tells Shi Davidi of Sportsnet that he’s scheduled for flexor surgery next week. The veteran right-hander acknowledged there’s a chance he’ll also require an internal brace repair of his UCL.

The surgery seems likely to cost Taillon most or all of the 2027 season. (It’s highly likely he’d miss the entire year if there’s a ligament repair.) Taillon stressed that he’s going this route because he intends to get fully healthy and continue his career. The former second overall pick turns 35 in November and would be eyeing a comeback for his age-36 campaign if he’s out until 2028.

It doesn’t come as a huge surprise, as Taillon revealed two weeks ago that he was undergoing multiple opinions on the elbow injury that sent him to the shelf on September 4. He tells Davidi that the soreness hasn’t really subsided within the past month. While Taillon weighed non-surgical treatment plans, he decided to go back under the knife and hope for a late-career act after the operation.

Taillon has already twice undergone full Tommy John reconstructions — as a prospect in 2014 and again in August ’19 after he’d established himself as a big leaguer. It’s not uncommon for pitchers to require revisions or another full repair within five to seven years of a previous ligament surgery. It at least doesn’t appear Taillon will need a third full Tommy John reconstruction. Only three pitchers (Jason Isringhausen, Jonny Venters and Tejay Antone) are known to have returned to the big leagues after three Tommy John procedures. They’re all relievers.

This was the final season of Taillon’s four-year, $68MM free agent deal with the Cubs. The signing worked out reasonably well for Chicago, as he pitched at a mid-rotation level for the first three seasons. The wheels fell off this year. Taillon was blitzed for an earned run average close to 6.00 across 15 starts. He missed most of June to a hamstring strain and was designated for assignment around the deadline. Chicago traded the Canadian-born righty to the Blue Jays in a change of scenery deal.

The elbow limited Taillon to three starts as a Blue Jay. He gave up four runs on nine hits across 10 innings. Taillon did make a couple adjustments to his pitch mix — most notably scaling up his cutter in place of his changeup — but didn’t really get an opportunity to put them into practice. It’s possible the Jays will look to bring Taillon back as a depth option on either a cheap two-year deal or a one-year guarantee with a club option to gauge his rehab.

2026-27 Club Option Preview: October Edition

Darragh McDonald — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 22:54:01 +0000

The regular season is now done, which means it’s almost time for decisions to be made on contract options. MLBTR looked at the player options last month. Now let’s turn to the club options. For the sake of streamlining this post, mutual options have not been included, as it’s been over a decade since a mutual option has been picked up by both sides.

Athletics

Jeff McNeil, 2B: $15.75MM club option (Mets responsible for $2MM buyout as part of December trade)

The A’s picked up McNeil from the Mets in the offseason. The Mets were mostly looking to dump some salary, while the A’s were hoping to get a veteran utility guy for their young roster. For the most part, that didn’t work out for the A’s. McNeil had a poor season overall, though he was at least trending in the right direction.

On the whole, McNeil stepped to the plate 520 times with a .264/.313/.368 line and 83 wRC+. That splits up as a .226/.290/.302 line and 59 wRC+ in the first half, compared to a .310/.342/.451 slash and 114 wRC+ in the second half. That’s nice momentum but McNeil has still barely been replacement level this year and will turn 35 in April, so the A’s should walk away. Even if they want to bring McNeil back, they should be able to re-sign him for less than the option price.

Jeffrey Springs, LHP: $15MM club option ($750K buyout)

Springs unquestionably did not have a good year. He posted a 6.18 earned run average across 29 starts. His 17.8% strikeout rate was below average and well below any previous season of his career. Pitching his home games in a minor league park doesn’t help but Springs also had a 5.35 ERA on the road. He just celebrated his 34th birthday last month.

It would normally be an easy call for a team to turn down a club option at that price for a pitcher with those numbers. However, it’s perhaps worth noting that the A’s badly need arms and have trouble signing free agents. Since their current home ballpark is both hitter-friendly and lacking in amenities generally, they have a real hard time convincing pitchers to take their money. Perhaps that would tempt them to lock up a veteran innings eater when they have the chance, even if it would be an overpay.

Atlanta Braves

Ronald Acuña Jr., RF: $17MM club option ($10MM buyout)

This one is easy, even if Acuña is having a relative down year. Acuña hit .255/.345/.451 this year for a wRC+ of 120, a low mark for him but still 20% better than league average. His defensive grades were down as well but he has still managed to rack up 20 steals. Even in this “down” season, Acuña produced 1.8 fWAR in 107 games. He is obviously capable of far more, with an MVP award already on his mantle. Given the large buyout price, it’s a $7MM net decision and will be easy for Atlanta to pick up. There’s also a $17MM club option for 2028, with no buyout.

Ozzie Albies, 2B: $7MM club option (no buyout)

This one is more borderline, as Albies hasn’t been great in recent years. He has a combined .242/.300/.385 line and 89 wRC+ dating back to the start of the 2024 season. That includes a .237/.293/.392 line and 86 wRC+ this year. That production has been held back by a .247 BABIP, so perhaps Albies has deserved better. The trend lines are poor, as he hit .267/.320/.439 in the first half and then .194/.253/.323 after the break, but the second half is where most of the poor batted ball luck lies. He went from a normal-ish .273 BABIP in the first half to .206 in the second.

Albies has been a staple at second base in Atlanta and $7MM isn’t bad for a regular, even one who’s not very exciting. Albies has still been worth 1.1 to 1.4 fWAR in recent seasons, even with his subpar offense. He might have fared better with neutral luck this year. With a question mark at shortstop, perhaps they don’t want to open another middle infield hole. Albies’ struggles have gone on for long enough that it wouldn’t be shocking if they decided it was time to make a change, but even if that were the case, Atlanta could find a willing trade partner.

Baltimore Orioles

LHP Dietrich Enns: $3.5MM club option ($125K buyout)

Enns had a decent season in 2025 after years overseas. The O’s made a bet on him carrying it forward into 2026 but it hasn’t panned out. In his first 16 innings this year, he walked 15.7% of batters faced, more than double last year’s 7.5% clip. His strikeout rate also fell from 24.5% to 18.6%. His ERA dropped because he didn’t allow any home runs, an unsustainable condition. He was outrighted off the roster in late May. He has a 5.80 ERA in Triple-A since then. He’ll definitely be bought out.

1B Ryan Mountcastle: $7.5MM club option

Mountcastle was once a middle-of-the-order threat for the O’s but it’s been a while. He had a down season in 2025, as a hamstring strain limited him to seven homers over 89 games. He was a non-tender candidate coming into 2026 but the O’s brought him back with a deal that paid him $6.787MM this year with a $7.5MM club option for 2027. He has largely been a non-factor, spending most of the season on the IL. Mountcastle has appeared in just eight games. Even if the O’s want to bring him back, they could turn down this option and re-sign him for less.

Luis Robert Jr., CF: $20MM club option ($2MM buyout)

Robert has occasionally shown huge upside on the field but not lately. Dating back to the start of 2024, he has a combined line of .223/.290/.379 and a wRC+ of 87. The Mets put him on waivers in August just to save a bit of money. The O’s grabbed him, hoping he could be part of a miracle late-season run, but he almost immediately went back on the injured list.

In a sense, $20MM for a guy who has been subpar for three years now feels rich. But clubs are clearly still intrigued by the ceiling he showed in 2023, when he hit 38 home runs, stole 20 bases and earned 5 fWAR. While the Orioles won the claim, reports indicated the Padres and Rays were also planning to claim Robert. If some team still has faith, the O’s could pick up the option and trade him, but it also feels like he could be sent to free agency and then signed at a lower price point.

Boston Red Sox

RHP Garrett Whitlock: $8.25MM club option ($1MM buyout)

This is one of the easiest decisions, as the Sox will definitely pick this up. UCL surgery wiped out most of his 2024 but Whitlock has a 2.03 ERA in 124 1/3 innings since coming back. His strikeout, walk and ground ball rates are all better than average. He has 50 holds and five saves over the past two seasons. There’s another club option for 2028, which only enhances the appeal of picking this one up.

Chicago Cubs

Colin Rea, RHP: $7.5MM club option ($1MM buyout)

Rea is wrapping up his second straight year as a solid swingman with the Cubs and fourth overall, as he also played this role with the Brewers in 2023 and 2024. He is capable of being a back-end starter or a serviceable reliever, depending on team circumstances. In those four seasons, he has made at least 19 starts and logged at least 124 2/3 innings. His ERA has always finished in the 3.95 to 4.55 range. This year’s 4.34 mark is a slight bump from last year’s 3.95 but he’s more or less the same guy.

At this time last year, the Cubs were deciding between a $6MM option for 2026 or a $750K buyout. The two sides hammered out a new deal that would guarantee him $6.5MM in the form of a $5.5MM salary this year but with a $1MM buyout on a $7.5MM club option for 2027.

The Cubs seem to value Rea’s contributions and they are about to lose their entire rotation to free agency. Kevin Gausman, Matthew Boyd, David Peterson, Shota Imanaga and Clay Holmes are all headed to the open market. Boyd has a mutual option that won’t be picked up by both sides and Holmes will turn down his $12MM player option for next year. They should be motivated to bring Rea back, either by picking up the option or working out a new deal like they did last time.

Jacob Webb, RHP: $2.5MM club option (no buyout)

Webb was somewhat surprisingly non-tendered by the Rangers after a solid 2025 season. He gave Texas 66 innings with a flat 3.00 ERA. The Cubs scooped him up on a $1.5MM deal with a $2.5MM club option for 2027. This year’s 3.36 ERA is a slight increase from last year but his 25.7% strikeout rate is a four-point bump from last year’s 21.7%. His ground ball rate also ticked up from 31.9% to 40.8%. He did that in a high-leverage role, picking up nine saves and nine holds.

$2.5MM is a fair price to keep a pitcher of that quality but he has been non-tendered two years in a row. He made $1MM with the Brewers in 2024 and had a 3.02 ERA but Milwaukee wouldn’t give him a raise in 2025. Texas gave him $1.25MM last year but another good season led to another non-tender. Despite consistently good numbers, the league doesn’t want to pay Webb for some reason. It feels like the Cubs should pick this up but precedent suggests they might not.

The Cubs hold a $3.3MM club option on RHP Javier Assad. He’ll remain eligible for arbitration through at least 2028 even if the option is declined.

Cleveland Guardians

Emmanuel Clase, RHP: $10MM club option ($2MM buyout)

Clase hasn’t pitched since July of last year due to an ongoing investigation related to pitch-fixing. He has been on unpaid leave all year. There’s a distinct possibility he’ll never pitch in the majors again. It’s unclear if they would have to pay the buyout if they turned down the option.

Trevor Stephan, RHP: $7.25MM club option ($1.25MM buyout)

Stephan put up some good numbers for the Guards from 2021-23. Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2024 and he hasn’t been able to get back on track. In 2025-26, the Guardians kept him in the minors. He has thrown 48 2/3 innings on the farm in that time with a 9.99 ERA. His fastball averaged 92.8 mph in Triple-A this year, almost four miles below the 96.5 mph he averaged in 2022. Stephan is clearly going to be bought out.

Detroit Tigers

Drew Anderson: $10MM club option (no buyout)

Anderson parlayed a strong run overseas into a $7MM guarantee from the Tigers. He was mostly used as a long reliever. After some deadline trades, he got a rotation spot for the latter weeks of the season. On the whole, he tossed 108 innings over 49 appearances with a 3.67 ERA. His 9.4% walk rate was a little high but his 25% strikeout rate and 48.4% ground ball rate were strong figures.

His ERA was better from the rotation, with a 2.61 as a starter compared to 4.63 as a reliever, but that’s mostly a mirage. From the bullpen, he had a 26.8% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate. From the rotation, his 22.9% strikeout rate and 11% walk rate were significantly worse but he allowed fewer runs because of a lucky .246 BABIP and 88.6% strand rate. His 4.46 FIP as a starter was higher than his 4.11 as a reliever.

On the whole, it was a decent season. $10MM is a bit high for a veteran swingman but not by much. Since there’s no buyout, the Tigers could let him walk and then try to re-sign him at a lower rate, but picking it up is also possible if they just want the certainty of having an extra arm on the staff.

Kenley Jansen: $12MM club option ($2MM buyout)

Jansen isn’t quite as dominant as he was at his peak but is still finding ways to get the job done in his late 30s. He gave the Tigers 45 innings this year with a 3.20 ERA. His 12.8% walk rate was more than four ticks higher than last year’s but he also increased his strikeout rate by a similar amount.

There are reasons for skepticism. He just turned 39 years old and finished with a BABIP under .200 for a second straight season. This year’s 4.46 FIP and 3.96 SIERA are not as nice as his ERA. If the Tigers think he can pull off this magic trick one more time, then they could pick it up. They gave Jansen $9MM last offseason and now face a net $10MM decision. But if they think the bottom is about to fall out, they could walk away.

Houston Astros

Ryan Weiss, RHP: $5MM club option ($500K buyout)

Weiss has a nice showing in the KBO over a couple of seasons and the Astros thought he could be a low-cost rotation upgrade for them. They gave him a $2.6MM guarantee to cross the Pacific and return to affiliated ball. It didn’t work out. Weiss posted a 7.62 ERA in 26 innings before being outrighted. He had a 5.42 ERA in Triple-A. General manager Dana Brown is now gone. It’s not exactly clear who will be making these decisions for the Astros but it should be an easy call to walk away from this option.

Isaac Paredes’ arbitration deal includes a $13.35MM club option for 2027. He’d be eligible for arbitration for a final time even if Houston declines the option.

Kansas City Royals

Carlos Estévez, RHP: $13MM club option ($2MM buyout)

2026 was a nightmare season for Estevez. He made one bad appearance to start the year, allowing six earned runs in a third of an inning. He spent the rest of the season on the injured list, meaning he finished the campaign with an awful ERA of 162.00. He underwent shoulder surgery last month and has an unclear timeline. Even before this injury-marred year, there were concerns. While he posted a 2.45 ERA in 2025, his strikeout rate was way down at 20.1%. It’s an easy call for the Royals to let Estevez walk.

Tony Gonsolin, RHP: $2.5MM club option (no buyout)

Gonsolin has been in the injury wilderness for a while. Due to various woes, including Tommy John surgery, he only made eight appearances over the 2024-26 seasons. That includes one outing for the Royals late this year. Gonsolin was a steady rotation member for the Dodgers once upon a time, with a 2.51 ERA in 572 2/3 innings from 2019 to 2022. The option price is modest but it’s hard to know what to make of Gonsolin after so much time off. It’s a reasonable gamble if the Royals think he’ll be healthy next year.

Los Angeles Angels

Robert Stephenson, RHP: $2.5MM club option (no buyout)

The Angels gave Stephenson a three-year, $33MM deal going into 2024 but injuries basically wiped out that whole contract. He missed all of 2024, made ten appearances in 2025, and then missed all of 2026. The one upside for the Angels is that all the time missed unlocked this club option for them. But after so much missed time, they might prefer to just walk away. Stephenson had elbow surgery in April, a ligament and flexor repair surgery. It’s unknown what his expected timeline is from here.

Miami Marlins

José Urquidy Elects Free Agency

Darragh McDonald — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 22:25:42 +0000

Right-hander José Urquidy has elected free agency, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Phillies a few days ago.

Urquidy bounced around the league this year, getting work in an emergency depth starter/swingman/long reliever kind of role. Between the Pirates, White Sox and Phillies, he logged 36 1/3 innings over 13 appearances, allowing 4.95 earned runs per nine. His 18.3% strikeout rate was below average but his 4.3% walk rate was excellent and his 40% ground ball rate just shy of par.

The Phils grabbed him from waivers in September as they needed some innings to get through the regular season. Because he was acquired after the September 1 cutoff, he wasn’t going to be playoff eligible for the Phillies. That makes it unsurprising that they cut him. It’s also understandable that no one else bothered to claim him this time. He wouldn’t have been playoff eligible with any other club and was slated for free agency at season’s end anyway.

There was also no reason for him to stick with the Phillies, so he’ll get a start on his offseason. His 2026 season was his most extensive big league work in years. He was once a rotation staple in Houston. By the end of the 2022 season, he had thrown 342 innings over 63 appearances with a 3.74 ERA. His numbers regressed in 2023 and then Tommy John surgery wiped out most of his 2024 and 2025 campaigns.

This year, he was healthy and had some reasonable effectiveness. In addition to his big league work, he tossed 95 2/3 innings over 20 Triple-A starts. He had a 3.48 ERA, 20.8% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 41.3% ground ball rate in those. Last offseason, he was able to get a big league deal with a $1.5MM guarantee from the Pirates. His earning power should be in about the same range this year. He could get a big league deal or a minor league pact from a club searching for experienced rotation depth.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images

Previewing The Upcoming Corner Outfield Class

Steve Adams — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 21:47:16 +0000

With the regular season in the books, MLBTR is taking a position-by-position look at the 2026-27 free agent market. Next up are the corner outfielders. There are a handful of notable bats on among this year’s group — including the very best bats this thin class has to offer. Note that, of course, any of the players covered under the center field entry in this series could also slide over into a corner role.

Player ages are for the 2027 season, and names within each tier are listed alphabetically, not “ranked.” Only players who appeared in MLB (or on major league 60-day injured lists) this year are included normally, though an exception has been made for a big bat coming from NPB.

Previous entries in this series: Catcher, First Base, Second Base, Third Base, Shortstop, Center Field

Top of the Class

Randy Arozarena (32)

Another year, another 20-20 season for the ultra-consistent Arozarena, who popped 26 homers and swiped 26 bags during the ’26 season. That’s six 20-20 seasons in a row, and his 2026 rate stats were the best of his career. Arozarena finished out the season with a .281/.381/.484 batting line — 51% better than league-average output after weighting for his cavernous home park, by measure of wRC+.

The primary knocks on Arozarena will be age and defense. He’s on the tail end of his prime, and it’s quite rare for hitters entering their age-32 seasons to command more than three years in free agency. As MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows, only eight hitters have done so in the past decade: Alex Bregman, Kyle Schwarber, Freddie Freeman, Starling Marte, DJ LeMahieu, Josh Donaldson, Lorenzo Cain and Justin Turner. Arozarena, who’s a lock to receive and reject a qualifying offer, might have a hard time adding his name to that list. Even if he doesn’t do so, he’s a better all-around performer than Teoscar Hernández was when he scored three years and $66MM with the Dodgers.

Arozarena drew below-average marks in left field but wasn’t a complete liability (-2 Defensive Runs Saved, -5 Outs Above Average). He has below average sprint speed but still takes plenty of bags because of his aggressive nature on the basepaths. His quality-of-contact metrics slipped a bit but are still well above average (90.8 mph average exit velocity, 43.2% hard-hit rate). The Hernández deal should be the floor, but Arozarena should top him in terms of AAV if he’s limited to three years — and he has a chance at landing four.

Teruaki Sato (28)

The 2026 MVP frontrunner in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, Sato is expected to be posted for major league teams on the heels of a gargantuan .316/.395/.626 batting line. He’s been just over twice as good as the league-average hitter in NPB, by measure of wRC+.

The lefty-swinging Sato has crushed 38 homers, following up on last year’s 40-homer showing, and added 39 doubles, three triples and eight steals (in 11 attempts). He’s drawn walks at a career-best 11.6% clip but has clear concerns with regard to his hit tool; Sato has fanned in 26.5% of his plate appearances, which is nothing new for the slugger (27.3% in ’25, 26.8% in ’24). His 66.9% contact rate is about 10 percentage points shy of the MLB average, and he’s facing lesser pitching. That said, it’s three percentage points higher than Munetaka Murakami’s contact rate from his final year in Japan.

There’s no doubt Sato will command major league interest. He’s played more third base than right field in recent seasons but has ample experience in both slots. The question for interested teams will be one of his defensive alignment and of how big a risk to take. There are surely some teams wishing they’d outbid the White Sox’ modest two-year, $34MM investment in Murakami — but will that prompt them to overpay so as not to miss a player with similar, albeit less-extreme, questions surrounding his contact ability?

It’s extremely difficult to predict how stars from Japan and South Korea will be compensated when major league clubs are bidding, but Sato seems like a slam-dunk candidate for a notable multi-year deal. His relative youth, immense power and generally strong track record will give him a chance at a nine-figure deal.

Seiya Suzuki (32)

Suzuki carries many of the same concerns and strengths to the previously covered Arozarena. He’s enjoying his fourth straight 20-homer campaign and has topped 30 in the past (32 just last year). Suzuki doesn’t run nearly as often as Arozarena, but he has the (much) faster sprint speed, per Statcast. He’s previously graded as a middling corner defender but has drawn positive grades from both DRS (14) and OAA (5) this season. He’s shown career-best range and maintained an excellent throwing arm, leading Statcast to peg him with a +8 overall FRV (Fielding Run Value).

There’s very likely a split camp among MLB front offices as to who the better buy is between Suzuki and Arozarena. Both are clear above-average, everyday corner outfield options with plus power and strong on-base skills. They should both receive and reject qualifying offers without hesitation. As with Arozarena, the three-year, $66MM deal signed by Teoscar Hernández a couple offseasons ago should be a floor for Suzuki. He and Arozarena should fetch three with a heavier AAV and could both credibly make a case that their consistency merits a fourth guaranteed year.

Everyday Options

Jake Bauers (31)

Bauers has gone from seventh-rounder, to top-100 prospect, to journeyman, to a surprising core slugger for MLB’s best team. Bauers nearly walked away from baseball entirely, and instead he’s probably going to get a multi-year deal paying him eight figures annually as a free agent. As of Sept. 1 last year, Bauers was hitting .184/.309/.331 as a part-time player in his second season with the Brewers. A non-tender looked likely … at least until he exploded to hit .383/.482/.596 in his final 56 trips to the plate.

That was enough to convince the Brewers to tender him a contract that paid a modest $2.7MM. Bauers entered the season a lifetime .211/.307/.365 hitter who may have been on his last chance. He’s going to get plenty more chances now.

In 578 plate appearances this season, Bauer wasn’t just the Brewers’ best hitter — he was one of the best hitters in the entire sport. He batted .266/.389/.484 with 26 homers, 11 steals, a colossal 16.3% walk rate and a 27% strikeout rate. That’s still a lot of swing-and-miss, but when you’re walking and hitting for power like that — against both right- and left-handed pitching, no less — teams aren’t going to care.

Bauers already had elite bat speed in 2025, but he’s benefiting from a better approach and better pitch selection in 2026. His 40.5% swing rate is the lowest of his career. After years of floundering against sliders, he’s batting .250 and slugging .536 on plate appearances that end with such pitches. Bauers entered the 2026 season with 1962 career plate appearances and … 50 (!) total hits against sliders. He’s collected 28 knocks against sliders in 2026, nine of which have left the yard. (He had five total homers versus sliders entering the season.)

There will be teams skeptical of Bauers’ ability to sustain this output, but dating back to his September surge last year, he’s hitting .276/.396/.494 with 28 homers, a 16% walk rate and a 26.1% strikeout rate in 631 plate appearances. He is, outrageously, tied with Pete Crow-Armstrong, Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto for the third-best wRC+ (148) among 132 qualified hitters in that time, trailing only Yordan Alvarez and Ben Rice. This would have sounded nonsensical not long ago, but Bauers has spent more than a calendar year as one of the five or six best hitters on the planet.

Ian Happ (32)

The 2026 season was a down year for Happ, but only relative to his typical standards. He hit .218/.326/.412, offsetting that low average with a characteristically excellent walk rate (12.7%) and the same level of power to which we’ve grown accustomed for the switch-hitter (24 homers, .194 ISO). Happ is remarkably consistent. He’s logged between 148 and 158 games in each of the past six seasons and played 57 of 60 games in 2020. Add it all up, and he’s appeared in 95% of the Cubs’ possible games in the past seven years.

Typically good for 20 to 25 homers per year, Happ is a low-average, high-OBP walk machine who is usually — usually — effective from both sides of the plate. That “usually” is an important caveat, because in 2026, he’s been terrible against left-handed pitching. From the left side of the plate, Happ has knocked righties around at a .239/.352/.457 clip. As a right-handed hitter? He’s batting .145/.217/.267. Part of the struggles stem from a fluky .200 average on balls in play, but he’s punched out at a 36% clip against lefties — about 10 percentage points higher than the rate he carried into the season.

Time will tell whether that’s an anomaly or the start of a trend, but it’s going to give some teams a bit of pause. That’s also true of the general shape of Happ’s season. He was on pace for one of his best years into mid-June, but he batted .206/.311/.355 in just over 300 plate appearances across the final three months of the year.

Happ will still have a case for a nice multi-year deal. He’s as durable as they come, and the broad track record is that of a quality regular. And, while he’s had a down year against lefties, he’s having a stronger-than-usual season versus right-handers and is enjoying one of his best defensive campaigns. Happ is a generally solid left fielder, but this year’s 10 Defensive Runs Saved is the second-best mark of his career, and Statcast is also a fan of his work (2 Outs Above Average, 6 overall FRV).

The Cubs have a borderline call on issuing Happ a qualifying offer, but there’s a reasonable chance they’ll make it. MLBTR’s estimated $23.1MM QO value isn’t far north of Happ’s annual value on his expiring three-year, $61MM deal and the Cubs could lose both him and Suzuki to free agency. If they both reject, the Cubs would be in line to recoup a pair of draft picks. If Happ accepts — Suzuki is very unlikely to do so — they’d fill one outfield need and check an item off their to-do list ahead of a winter where pitching needs to be the primary focus.

Taylor Ward (33)

If there were an award for “strangest season of the year,” it might go to Taylor Ward. The 32-year-old (33 in December) slugged 36 homers for the Angels in 2025 and connected on all of seven round-trippers for the Orioles and Mariners in 2026. It’s not due to any sort of major reduction in playing time; Ward was an everyday guy in both seasons, reaching 663 plate appearances in ’25 and 607 in ’26.

Ward showed a much more patient approach, walking at a sky-high 16.3% clip and cutting his strikeout rate from 26.4% to 21.4%. Was his approach too cautious? It’s certainly arguable. On the one hand, it’s good that no qualified hitter in baseball chased off the plate less often than Ward’s 14.9%. Hell, no one was even close. Steven Kwan’s 19.3% was second-lowest, and no other hitter checked in shy of 21%. But Ward also swung at the second-lowest rate of pitches within the strike zone, just 54.1% (trailing only Kwan). His overall 34.4% swing rate was the lowest in baseball and the third-lowest mark of any qualified hitter in a 162-game season over the past decade.

Ward has always been patient, but this was a new level — a downright passive approach. He’s been among the game’s most patient hitters for years now, but this was a whole new level. Ward did increase his swing rate a bit following a trade to Seattle … but not in a good way. His chase rate climbed more than four percentage points while his in-zone swing rate dropped by close to two percentage points.

Ward’s run with the Mariners was one he’d like to forget. He hit .125/.238/.148 with Seattle, dropping his season line to a bizarre .225/.359/.311. He’s a fine defensive corner outfielder — serviceable, not great — who’ll draw walks and until this season had averaged 25 homers over a four-year stretch. At 33, a multi-year deal is possible, but some teams might be put off enough by the power outage and terrible finish that he settles for a one-year offer.

Platoon / Part-Time Options

Miguel Andujar (32)

Andujar hasn’t played any outfield this season, but left field was his primary home in 2024-25. Realistically, however, if you want to call anywhere “home” for Andujar, it’s in the batter’s box against left-handed pitching. He’s not the star he looked like he might become when he finished second to a young up-and-comer named Shohei Ohtani in 2018 AL Rookie of the Year voting, but Andujar has settled in as a positionless tormentor of southpaws. He’s a career .292/.329/.461 hitter versus lefties, although he’s had a curiously pedestrian season versus them in 2026.

Even with a lackluster performance in platoon settings this year, Andujar has still wrecked left-handed pitching at a .339/.377/.506 pace across the past four seasons. He’s played third base and left field, dabbled at first and in right field, and graded out poorly in all spots. But if you want a cheap bench bat with good contact skills and a big track record against lefties, he fits the bill.

Michael Conforto (34)

Conforto was a star for the 2017-20 Mets, had a down season in 2021 and then missed all of 2022 due to a shoulder injury that required surgery. A brilliant finish to an otherwise middling two-year run in San Francisco netted him a weighty one-year deal with the Dodgers for the 2025 season. It flopped. Conforto hit .199/.305/.333 and took a minor league deal with the Cubs. He’s back on the map now, slashing .240/.331/.469 (119 wRC+) in a season that saw him afforded only 12 of his 315 plate appearances versus southpaws.

The lefty-swinging Conforto is now in his mid-30s. He’s pr

Colin Holderman To Undergo Season-Ending Wrist Surgery

Darragh McDonald — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 21:29:17 +0000

The Guardians will start an ALDS matchup against the White Sox on Saturday but right-hander Colin Holderman won’t be on the roster. He told reporters, including Tim Stebbins of MLB.com, that he will undergo right wrist surgery and won’t be able to rejoin the club at any point in October.

Holderman says his wrist has been an issue for four years. While with the Pirates, he had a few stints on the injured list related to that wrist. In June of 2023, right wrist inflammation put him on the shelf for 15 days. In August of 2024, a right wrist sprain put him out for about three weeks.

With Cleveland this year, more inflammation in that wrist put him on the IL on September 4. With about a week left in the season, it was relayed that he had received an injection and was going to try to ramp up throwing. It seems that plan didn’t work out, so he’ll now have a date with the scalpel and will miss the club’s playoff run.

For the Guardians, it’s a hit to their bullpen for October. After being non-tendered by the Pirates, the Guards scooped up Holderman with a $1.5MM deal and got a bounceback season out of him. He had an awful 7.01 earned run average for Pittsburgh last year but finished 2026 with a 2.73 ERA in 52 2/3 innings for Cleveland. His 22.5% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate were close to average but he induced ground balls at a strong 53.9% clip. He was trusted enough to earn a save and 11 holds.

Cleveland will still have a strong bullpen. As a team, their relievers had a 3.54 ERA on the year, sixth-best in the majors. But four of the five teams ahead of them are still alive and could be potential postseason opponents. Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis and Erik Sabrowski are still around and will try to lock down the late innings in Holderman’s absence.

Holderman can be retained for two more seasons via arbitration. Based on his strong campaign, the Guards should be willing to give him a raise and keep him around as long as he’s healthy. Holderman didn’t specifically say he would be healthy by spring training but he also didn’t say anything about his recovery impacting him next year.

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

Offseason Outlook: Miami Marlins

Steve Adams — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 20:57:19 +0000

A promising start to the season was derailed by a franchise-record 12-game losing stream early in the summer. That led to another deadline spent doing more selling than buying, but the Marlins’ short-term outlook is increasingly bright thanks to some breakthrough performances in 2026.

Guaranteed Contracts

None

Other Financial Obligations

$20MM total owed to Yankees as part of 2017 Giancarlo Stanton trade, $10MM each in 2027 and 2028

Option Decisions

Sandy Alcantara, RHP: $21MM club option ($2MM buyout)

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses)

Anthony Bender (5.153)

Andrew Nardi (4.053)

Max Meyer (3.166)

Calvin Faucher (3.156)

Eury Pérez (3.113)

Otto Lopez (3.109)

Tyler Zuber (3.104)

Esteury Ruiz (3.064)

Xavier Edwards (3.034)

Victor Vodnik (3.024)

Kyle Stowers (3.012)

Non-tender candidates: Nardi, Zuber, Ruiz

Free Agents

Pete Fairbanks

Though many teams who missed the postseason will see sweeping changes in the dugout and/or front office, that’s not the case with Miami. President of baseball operations Peter Bendix enters his third offseason on the job, and he’s already announced that manager Clayton McCullough will return for the 2027 campaign. There will be at least one change on McCullough’s staff, as hitting coach Pedro Guerrero will not be brought back. Bendix made the announcement at his end-of-season press conference, praising Guerrero but voicing his belief that it was also “time for a new voice in the hitting space.”

The roster itself doesn’t present many immediate, difficult decisions. The Marlins’ perpetual frugality has left them in a position where they don’t have a single guaranteed contract on the books for the 2027 campaign. That’ll change as soon as the World Series ends, of course. Miami’s top starter, Sandy Alcantara, has a $21MM club option that will be exercised right out of the gate. The former NL Cy Young Award winner has been the subject of innumerable trade rumblings over the years, but beyond his excellent rebound from a missed 2024 season and down showing in 2025, Alcantara is a franchise icon and favorite of owner Bruce Sherman. The Marlins have no plans to trade him this winter, and Alcantara has repeatedly gone on the record to voice his love for the city and organization.

If anything, Alcantara now feels more like an extension candidate than a trade candidate. Miami’s long-term books are clean, there are some encouraging young players up and down the big league roster, and Alcantara has bounced back to a high-quality starter with just one more year on his contract. He’s voiced a desire to stay with the Marlins long term. It’d be surprising if the two parties didn’t discuss the potential of another long-term deal at some point this winter, so let’s take a look at what such a contract might cost the Fish.

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Cardinals Acquire Brian Curley As PTBNL In Lars Nootbaar Trade

Darragh McDonald — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 20:25:48 +0000

The Cardinals announced that they have acquired right-hander Brian Curley from the Diamondbacks as the played to be named later in the Lars Nootbaar trade. At this year’s deadline, the Cards sent Nootbaar to Arizona for prospects Daniel Eagen, left-hander Sandro Santana and a PTBNL.

Curley, 23, was a third-round pick in last year’s draft. The Diamondbacks took him out of Georgia and gave him a $700K signing bonus. He didn’t make his professional debut last year. Here in 2026, he started at High-A and got promoted to Double-A in July. Between those two levels, he made 25 appearances. Only 23 were officially starts but he pitched bulk innings in the two relief appearances he made. On the whole, he logged 116 innings, allowing 5.28 earned runs per nine.

That’s not an impressive ERA but the numbers under the hood are more intriguing. Curley struck out 25.3% of batters faced this year. He only issued walks to 6.6% of them. He induced grounders on 43.2% of balls in play. Those are all strong figures. The ERA was likely inflated by a .381 batting average on balls in play. He also saw 21.4% of his fly balls leave the yard, about double a normal rate. Sometimes, a home run spike can be related to what a pitcher is doing but it can also be fluky in small samples.

Baseball America lists Curley as the #19 prospect in Arizona’s system. Their report notes that his fastball sits in the mid-90s and can touch triple digits. His arsenal also features a slider, curveball, sweeper and changeup. BA isn’t sure if his stuff can be consistent enough to stick as a major league starter but they feel the fastball and slider could play up if he eventually moves to the bullpen.

Time will tell if the Cards view him more as a starter or a reliever. For now, he adds another arm to their pipeline. He won’t be eligible for the Rule 5 draft until after the 2028 season, so there’s some time for the club to try things out.

Photo courtesy of Joshua L. Jones, Imagn Images.

Diamondbacks To Retain Manager Torey Lovullo

Darragh McDonald — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 19:45:48 +0000

The Diamondbacks are keeping their bench boss. Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic reports that manager Torey Lovullo will be back next year. He gets a two-year deal. As Piecoro points out, this lines him up with general manager Mike Hazen. Hazen’s most recent deal runs through 2028 with a club option for 2029.

Lovullo has been the skipper in Arizona for a decade now. 2027 will be his 11th season at the helm. His tenure has had plenty of ups and downs. The team won 93 games and made the postseason in his first campaign. They hovered around .500 for a few years after that and had a nightmare season in 2021, losing 110 games that year. The club stuck with Lovullo through that. After another losing season in 2022, they had a huge step forward in 2023. They only won 84 games but got hot at the right time and made run to the World Series, falling to the Rangers in five games.

It hasn’t been smooth sailing since then. The club increased its win total to 89 in 2024 but missed the playoffs. They dipped down to 80-82 in 2025 and there were reports of clubhouse discord related to accusations that Ketel Marte was getting away with a lack of work ethic.

The Snakes brought Lovullo back for 2026 but let him continue in the final year of his contract. It’s pretty rare for managers or executives to be in lame-duck status but that’s how Lovullo and the team proceeded through 2026. The results of the season were mixed. Arizona was in contention for most of the year but again fell just shy of a playoff berth with 86 wins. There was more Marte drama, as he reportedly didn’t show up for a game at Fenway in August. He was initially placed on the restricted list but was later moved to the injured list with a knee injury.

As the season ended and Lovullo’s contract was about to expire, his future was unclear. He spoke to the media after the final game of the season, with video relayed by Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports, seemingly unclear of his own status. “I don’t know where it’s at,” he said. “I have some decisions to make. I have some things to think about, as do the D’Backs. Where it goes from here, I don’t know.”

Despite the mixed on-field results and the reports of discontent behind the scenes, there have also been signs that Lovullo is well respected in Arizona and around the league. Alex D’Agostino of SI recently spoke to various players on the roster who expressed their fondness for playing under Lovullo. Team CEO Derrick Hall clearly views things similarly. “If he walks out this door, he’s going to get a job in a heartbeat,” Hall said this week, per Weiner. “And he should because I do think he’s one of the best managers in the game.”

Hall may have been correct. The uncertainty around Lovullo was enough for at least one other club to sniff around. It was reported earlier this week that the Mariners had Lovullo as a leading candidate for their managerial vacancy. It now seems Seattle will have to cross his name off the list.

The Diamondbacks came up just short in 2026 but have a lot of good things in place for 2027. Their lineup core is essentially all coming back. James McCann and Ildemaro Vargas are the most significant free agents on the position player side. The pitching staff has a few more notable guys heading to the open market but the Snakes can go into 2027 with an on-paper rotation consisting of Eduardo Rodríguez, Corbin Burnes, Brandon Pfaadt and Merrill Kelly. There’s mutual interest in a reunion with Michael Soroka. The late-game trio of Juan Morillo, Brandyn Garcia and Justin Martínez will all be back next year as well.

The club still feels Lovullo is the right man to lead them back to October, so they have locked him up before the Mariners or any other club could get a chance to pluck him out of Arizona. The front office will try to bolster the roster before Opening Day to give him the best chance of success.

Photos courtesy of Joe Rondone, Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images

Athletics To Dismiss Two Coaches

Charlie Wright — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 18:53:11 +0000

The Athletics are moving on from hitting coach Chris Cron and quality control coach Marcus Jensen, reports Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. The club is pursuing replacements for both positions.

Cron has been with the organization since 2022. He spent two seasons as an assistant hitting coach. The “assistant” tag was dropped from his title in 2024. Cron worked alongside hitting coach Mike Aldrete for the past three seasons. He has two sons who are former big leaguers, C.J. Cron and Kevin Cron.

The A’s ranked 20th in scoring this season. It was a disappointing follow-up to their strong showing in 2025, when they ranked top 12 in runs for the first time since 2021. The club’s offensive output was especially underwhelming considering its home venue. The A’s have played in hitter-friendly Sutter Health Park for the past two years. It’s been the second-most favorable hitting environment per Statcast’s Park Factor metric, behind only Coors Field.

Major injuries to important bats hurt the A’s offense in 2026. Nick Kurtz, Brent Rooker, Tyler Soderstrom, and Shea Langeliers all missed significant time. Jacob Wilson had three separate stints on the IL. The shoulder injury that ended his season ultimately required surgery. With better health in 2027, the Athletics should bounce back on offense.

Jensen has been in the A’s organization for two decades. After his playing career ended, he got a job as the hitting coach with the club’s Rookie ball affiliate in 2007. He was promoted to manager in 2009, a gig he held through the 2013 season.

Jensen was bumped up to the major league staff in 2015. He’s operated as a catching coach, assistant hitting coach, and bullpen coach during his time with the A’s. Jensen has been the quality control coach since the 2023 season.

Photo courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images

Mariners Notes: Dipoto, Managerial Search, Arozarena

Charlie Wright — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 18:16:16 +0000

The Mariners have made several changes in the first week of their offseason. Manager Dan Wilson will not be returning. The club moved on from four other coaches. One person who will remain in place is president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto. The lead exec received the stamp of approval from chairman John Stanton earlier this week.

Stanton sat down for an interview with Adam Jude of the Seattle Times. He praised the organization’s drafting, player development, and health during Dipoto’s time at the helm.

“All of those things led me to believe that Jerry’s the right guy to lead the baseball organization,” Stanton said. “But we needed to have a new manager, and that manager would work for him. But he would be responsible for delivering that championship at the major-league level.”

Dipoto took over as Seattle’s general manager near the end of the 2015 season. He was promoted to POBO in 2021. Dipoto immediately delivered an 86-win season in his first year in charge. Seattle ended a decades-long playoff drought in 2022. The Mariners reached the ALCS last season for the first time since 2001. The club won 90 games for the third time in the past six years.

The 2026 campaign didn’t go as planned. The reigning AL West champs played .500 ball for the majority of the season. That was enough to keep them in the playoff race in a watered-down American League, but Seattle faded in the second half. The team went 28-37 after the All-Star Break and finished third in the division.

The Mariners have had very little turnover at manager since Dipoto took over. He hired Scott Servais in 2016. Servais spent eight years in charge before giving way to Wilson during the 2024 season. Stanton confirmed that Dipoto will “lead the process” to find a new manager. The organization is reportedly looking for an experienced skipper.

While the managerial search will be a priority, the Mariners are also going to be in the market for a new left fielder. Free agent Randy Arozarena is expected to test the market. Jude reiterated that point in an article today outlining the reasons the outfielder won’t be back with the club. That included a comment from Dipoto at Monday’s press conference seemingly hinting at the team’s plans.

“Obviously, we have free agents coming up,” Dipoto said. “We need to refill those voids, and they’re not small voids to refill, especially Randy in left field, but we are excited about our young players.”

Arozarena slotted in at No. 4 in the final edition of our Free Agent Power Rankings. He put together a tremendous season in his final year with Seattle, posting a 151 wRC+ with 26 home runs and 26 stolen bases. Arozarena scored a career-high 113 runs as a key catalyst in the Mariners’ lineup.

As far as Arozarena’s landing spot, Jude notes that he prefers to play on the East Coast. The veteran spent the majority of his career in Tampa Bay before getting dealt to Seattle ahead of the 2024 trade deadline. Arozarena lives in Tampa and wants to join a team that has spring training in Florida, per Jude. Seattle can extend Arozarena a qualifying offer and will receive draft pick compensation if he declines, which is the likeliest scenario.

Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images

Mets’ Jared Young Expected To Be Ready For 2027 Season

Charlie Wright — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 16:47:19 +0000

Mets first baseman Jared Young had his 2026 campaign cut short after a nasty collision with Nolan McLean. He was knocked unconscious and had to be stretchered off the field. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com spoke to Young yesterday and reports he is recovering well and is expected to be ready for Spring Training.

Young suffered a concussion along with neck and ear issues. He hasn’t fully regained his hearing, but anticipates it will return soon. He can’t remember the hours after the collision.

“How quick baseball can turn into life,” Young said, relayed by DiComo. “It was a scary thing, but it’s real. I cared about getting a hit that morning. I wanted to win that game, and I wanted to hit a home run and celebrate with my teammates. Very quickly did [that change to] I just wanted to get home.”

The unfortunate injury ended a solid season for Young. He slashed .266/.330/.429 across 103 games in his first extended look in the big leagues. Young broke camp with the team but went down in April with a knee injury that required surgery. He returned near the end of May and became an everyday starter at first base and DH.

[Related: Offseason Outlook: New York Mets]

Young stepped into regular reps with Jorge Polanco and Mark Vientos ailing. Polanco was set to be New York’s answer at first base after Pete Alonso departed in free agency. Instead, wrist and ankle injuries limited him to 37 games. Vientos broke his hand shortly before the All-Star Break and didn’t return until the final day of August.

Polanco still has a year left on the $40MM deal he signed over the winter. He’ll be in the mix at first base in 2027. Vientos remains a corner infield option as well. There could be openings around the infield if the club trades Polanco, Marcus Semien, or Francisco Lindor this offseason. Bo Bichette can also opt out of his contract. It seems likely that something will change on this roster, which should afford Young opportunties next season.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Elieser Hernandez Elects Free Agency

Charlie Wright — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 15:38:48 +0000

Right-hander Elieser Hernandez is back on the open market, according to his MLB.com transaction tracker. The Braves designated the veteran reliever for assignment ahead of their Wild Card matchup against the Phillies. Righty Ricky Vanasco was also DFAed with Rowdy Tellez and Luke Williams joining the 40-man roster.

Once Carlos Carrasco signed overseas, Hernandez emerged as the Braves’ favorite DFA carousel guy. His contract was selected four times in the second half. He never spent more than a week on the roster. Hernandez would be DFAed, pass through waivers, and then re-sign with Atlanta on a minor league deal. While he’s currently a free agent, there’s a decent chance he comes back to the organization once again.

The 31-year-old Hernandez pitched well in his various stints in the majors. He compiled a 2.25 ERA across 12 innings. The righty picked up two wins and a three-inning save over his five appearances. Hernandez averaged a career-best 92.1 mph on his fastball out of Atlanta’s bullpen. He struck out more than a batter per inning, though it came with a career-worst 11.3% walk rate.

Hernandez and his ilk helped the Braves navigate an injury-plagued season on the mound. The club got a combined 11 appearances from Spencer Strider, Hurston Waldrep, and Spencer Schwellenbach. Reynaldo Lopez, Bryce Elder, and Martin Perez closed the year on the IL.

Tyler Mahle, added at the trade deadline as rotation depth, started Game 2 of the Wild Card series. Atlanta is expected to turn to a lefty opener (Ray Kerr, Brent Suter) and then Grant Holmes as the bulk reliever for an elimination game tonight. It’s certainly not an ideal situation. The Braves will have some work to do on the pitching side this offseason.

Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

The Opener: Red Sox vs. Analytics, Cubs Swept, White Sox Advance

Charlie Wright — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 14:24:26 +0000

The non-stop action of the first two playoff slates will slow considerably until the weekend. Three sweeps mean there is only one game tonight. The Phillies and Braves will decide their series at 7 pm CT.

1. Red Sox voice concerns about approach after sweep

A lot went wrong for Boston, but manager Chad Tracy’s decision to pull both starters after 4 2/3 innings was a key talking point. Tracy yanked Sonny Gray after 70 pitches yesterday. “I would have liked to live-or-die with me in that moment,” Gray said (h/t Gabrielle Starr of the Boston Herald). “I would have liked to have been trusted in that moment.” First baseman Willson Contreras pointed to the club’s reliance on analytics as an area to address. “It’s not enough when you have talent or you have data or you have computers that’s telling you what to do. Because this is baseball,” Contreras said (h/t Christopher Smith of MassLive.com). “And the data is here to help us. But at the end of the day, you’re gonna have to need experience and veteran guys to win games.”

2. Cubs swept by Padres

The Cubs face their own questions after getting easily dispatched by the Padres. They scored once in two games. Michael King silenced them in Game 1 with seven one-hit innings. It was San Diego’s bullpen that came through in Game 2, firing 5 2/3 shutout frames. Chicago’s offensive drought came after the club led the league in scoring during the regular season, finishing 18 runs clear of the next-closest team (Milwaukee). “We just didn’t play well enough,” manager Craig Counsell told reporters, including AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. “And they’re playing really well.” The Padres have won 19 of their last 22 games. They’ll face the Brewers this weekend.

3. White Sox move on to ALDS

The White Sox earned their first postseason series win since the 2005 World Series on Wednesday. They jumped on the Astros out of the gate, knocking out ace Hunter Brown in the first inning. Houston chipped away at the early lead, but Chase Meidroth delivered the decisive blow with a three-run homer in the sixth inning. Chicago will now head to Cleveland to face the Guardians. The two teams battled down the stretch for the AL Central crown, with the Guardians narrowly edging the White Sox by one game. Chicago won the season series, 7-6.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

Pitching Coach Derek Johnson Will Not Return To Reds

Steve Adams — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 13:42:43 +0000

Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson, who has been away from the team for personal reasons, will not return to the club in 2027, president of baseball operations Nick Krall announced this morning (via FOX 19’s Charlie Goldsmith).

“Derek Johnson took a personal leave of absence in June of this year and will not be returning. We wish Derek and his family the best. A search for a new pitching coach will begin immediately.”

More to come.

2026 End Of Season Closer Report

Jeff Zimmerman — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 13:30:08 +0000
You get a save, you get a save.
Source

Offseason Outlook: New York Mets

Darragh McDonald — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 04:58:20 +0000

2026 was undoubtedly a massive disappointment for the Mets. They came in with championship aspirations and a huge payroll. They quickly fell out of contention and were sellers at the deadline. There are reasons for hope about the future, however. The club played fairly well in the second half, there is an emerging young core in place, and the front office should have lots of payroll space to work with this winter.

Guaranteed Contracts

Juan Soto, OF: $596.25MM through 2039 (can opt out after 2029 but Mets can negate opt-out with salary increase)

Francisco Lindor, SS: $160MM through 2031 ($5MM deferred annually)

Bo Bichette, IF: $84MM through 2028 (Bichette can opt out after 2026 or 2027, taking $5MM buyout)

Marcus Semien, IF: $46MM through 2028

Devin Williams, RHP: $30MM through 2028 ($5MM deferred annually)

Sean Manaea, LHP: $25MM through 2027 ($7.75MM deferred)

Jorge Polanco, IF: $20MM through 2027

Kodai Senga, RHP: $14MM through 2027 (includes 2028 club option conditional on elbow injury)

Luis Torrens, C: $9.5MM through 2028 (excluding $2MM signing bonus)

Option Decisions

IF Bo Bichette can opt out of remaining two years and $84MM, taking $5MM buyout. Bichette can also opt out after 2027.

Additional Commitments

Owe $6MM to Pirates as part of trade of RHP Luke Weaver

Owe $2MM to Athletics for buyout on club option for IF/OF Jeff McNeil

2027 financial commitments: $229.25MM
Total future commitments: $992.75MM

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projected salaries to be added later)

Cionel Pérez (5.139)

Tylor Megill (5.031)

Christopher Morel (4.080)

Francisco Alvarez (3.164)

Reed Garrett (3.143)

Austin Warren (3.137)

Mark Vientos (3.102)

Brett Baty (3.088)

Cristian Pache (3.086)

Dedniel Núñez (3.074)

Non-tender candidates: Pérez, Morel, Vientos, Pache

Free Agents

Zack Short, Kevin Herget, Vidal Bruján (eligible for minor league free agency), MJ Melendez (eligible for minor league free agency), Chris Devenski (eligible for minor league free agency), Bryce Conley (eligible for minor league free agency), Guillo Zuñiga (eligible for minor league free agency), Matt Seelinger (eligible for minor league free agency), Dan Hammer (eligible for minor league free agency)

There’s no sugarcoating the letdown of this year. The Mets opened the season with the highest payroll in the league. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the Mets had a cash payroll of $355MM on Opening Day, almost $40MM north of the Dodgers. The goal was to win it all but they didn’t even sniff contention in the final months of the season.

But some good things did happen. Carson Benge had a great rookie year, a 20/20 season. A.J. Ewing’s offense was more questionable but he seems to have a decent floor as a speed-and-defense center fielder. On the pitching side, Nolan McLean and Zac Thornton also had good rookie seasons while Christian Scott’s return from Tommy John surgery went very well.

Thanks to the emergence of those young players and some decent finishes from the more veteran players, the Mets ended their terrible season with a smidge of positive momentum. They went 34-31 in the second half. The midseason managerial change from Carlos Mendoza to Andy Green seemed to go well. All reports indicate that Green was well-liked in the clubhouse and the Mets signed him to a three-year extension to keep him around beyond this year.

Going into 2027, there is certainly work for the front office to do but some things are already in place. The outfield feels fairly set. Ewing had subpar offense this year but his speed and defense helped him produce two wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs. Benge is now locked into right field and Juan Soto in left. Soto isn’t a great fielder and missed a lot of time with calf issues this year, so perhaps he will spend a lot of time in the designated hitter spot, but the Mets also have other veterans who will need DH time.

The infield is less settled. Francisco Lindor is the projected shortstop but he is about to turn 33 years old and his defensive metrics aren’t as strong as they used to be. Jefferson Rojas is a top 100 prospect and knocking on the door. Third baseman Bo Bichette can opt out of his deal and return to free agency. Marcus Semien, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and Jorge Polanco all had poor seasons, leaving second and first base up in the air.

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MLBTR Podcast: Wild Card Rosters And What’s Next For The Rangers, Diamondbacks, and Pirates

Darragh McDonald — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 04:57:44 +0000

The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Garrett Crochet making the Red Sox’ playoff roster but Aaron Judge being left off the Yankees’ roster (1:40)

The Rangers going into offseason mode after just missing the playoffs (6:50)

The Diamondbacks going into offseason mode after just missing the playoffs (17:40)

The Pirates apparently keeping general manager Ben Cherington after their first winning season since 2018 (22:40)

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

The Guardians keep making the playoffs with low payrolls. Doesn’t that prove a point to the owners regarding the lockout? (30:15)

What managerial or front office opening do you find interesting? (38:15)

Should the Brewers consider extending Kyle Harrison while his stock is down a bit? And which teams would be impacted most by a cap/floor system? (46:15)

Which of the Cubs’ impending free agent starting pitchers is most likely to be re-signed? What will they do in the outfield? (55:30)

Check out our past episodes!

Free Agent Power Rankings, Cade Cavalli’s Extension, And Likely Playoff Matchups – listen here

Dodgers Hot Topics, The D-Backs Claim Jesús Sánchez, And Prospect Evaluation Time – listen here

What To Expect From The Angels Under Stan Kroenke – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Blue Jays Notes: Clement, DH, Rotation

Anthony Franco — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 04:51:53 +0000

Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins spoke with the Toronto beat on Wednesday, addressing various aspects of the roster. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet was among those to relay the comments, which Jays fans are encouraged to give a full read.

Atkins was most notably noncommittal about the second base position, where Ernie Clement started 107 games this year. Atkins said Clement would need to “earn every bit of that” when asked if he’d be the starting second baseman in 2027. The GM left the door open to Clement winning the job, saying “when he’s been given an opportunity, he’s run with it.”

Clement had his best season last year and was a postseason hero during Toronto’s run to an AL pennant. He wasn’t nearly as impactful this season, hitting .259/.285/.364 across 621 plate appearances. Clement had an All-Star first half but was a liability down the stretch, batting .203/.235/.259 in the second half.

That leaves second base as an obvious area to address for an underperforming Toronto offense. The Jays scored the fewest runs in MLB and had a league-low 152 home runs. They were among the best teams in the league at putting the ball in play — only the Rays had a lower strikeout rate — but didn’t hit for power and had the AL’s lowest walk rate. The Jays rode a contact-heavy approach to success in 2025, but they clearly became too one-dimensional this year.

Most of that falls on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s power outage. They’re nevertheless going to need to upgrade over some of the role players. That could come in the middle infield, where they could push Clement into a split at shortstop with Andrés Giménez. Mitch Bannon of The Athletic reported this week that the Jays tried to add an impactful middle infielder at the trade deadline.

There won’t be any significant free agent upgrades at shortstop, so an upgrade there would probably need to be on the trade front (e.g. Zach Neto, CJ Abrams). It’s a comparatively strong free agent second base class. Brandon Lowe is the preeminent power bat at the position and hits the market for the first time — likely after receiving a qualifying offer from the Pirates. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is coming off a down year but has 30-homer ceiling and draws plenty of walks. Luis Arraez would fit much more within the Jays’ traditional contact archetype without addressing the low walk rate or power questions.

George Springer is Toronto’s biggest free agent on the position player front. He’s undecided on whether he’ll play at all in 2027. Even if Springer returns for a 13th full season, it seems the Jays are looking for a different role out of the designated hitter position. “I don’t want to eliminate that possibility,” Atkins replied when asked about acquiring a full-time designated hitter, “but we would like to prioritize having versatility and being able to DH multiple players.” To that end, the GM said that Anthony Santander is still viewed as a corner outfield option.

It’s difficult to rely on Santander after a second straight lost season. The Jays should be in the market for at least one outfield. They’ve already been linked to impending free agent Seiya Suzuki. Keegan Matheson of MLB.com writes that the Jays also plan to send a scouting contingent to Asia this offseason. Star NPB third baseman/outfielder Teruaki Sato is expected to be posted by the Hanshin Tigers. The Jays went the NPB route and are surely pleased with the early returns on their four-year signing of Kazuma Okamoto, whose 33 homers were more than twice as many as any other hitter on the team.

Toronto also hit on the first season of their biggest pitching deal last offseason, as Dylan Cease is likely to finish second in AL Cy Young voting. He’ll lead a strong top three with José Soriano and Trey Yesavage locked into rotation spots. The Jays have Cody Ponce coming back from ACL surgery and have Spencer Miles in the mix. There’s plenty of high-end talent but the Jays saw firsthand how quickly injuries can deplete starting pitching. Atkins unsurprisingly confirmed the Jays will be in the rotation market this winter.

Lyon Richardson Elects Free Agency

Anthony Franco — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 03:36:28 +0000

Right-hander Lyon Richardson elected free agency after being outrighted by the Brewers, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Milwaukee designated him for assignment last Friday.

Richardson got a couple brief big league stints this season. He made two appearances for the Reds in the first half and tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings for Milwaukee on August 10. The Brewers waived him, re-signed him to a minor league deal, then called him back up a week ago. He was on the MLB roster for two days but didn’t get into a game and got squeezed back out when Bryse Wilson returned from injury.

The 26-year-old Richardson is out of options and needs to be designated for assignment every time he’s taken off the big league roster. He opts for a head start on his offseason rather than accepting a minor league assignment, as it’s highly unlikely he’d have gotten consideration for the playoff roster. Richardson has pitched parts of four big league seasons and owns a 6.48 ERA through 58 1/3 innings. The majority of that work came with the 2025 Reds.

A former second-round pick, Richardson worked as a starter in the minors until last year. He pitched in long relief between the Triple-A affiliates of Cincinnati and Milwaukee, working 75 frames of 4.44 ERA ball. He fanned nearly a quarter of opponents against a lofty 12.1% walk percentage. He’ll be looking for minor league offers this winter.

D-Backs, Michael Soroka Have Mutual Interest In Reunion

Anthony Franco — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 02:47:15 +0000

The Diamondbacks will show interest in bringing Michael Soroka back in free agency, reports John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. The feeling is mutual, as the righty told reporters (including Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports) he’d “absolutely love to return” after the Snakes were eliminated on the final day of the regular season.

Soroka had a strong first season in the desert. Signed to a one-year, $7.5MM free agent contract, Soroka pitched to a 3.41 earned run average across 22 appearances. The deal technically contains a $10MM mutual option for 2027, but the pitcher will easily decline that. He was second on the team with 114 strikeouts and paced their starting pitchers in strikeout rate (24.1%).

The Canadian-born hurler dealt with some injury issues, as he has throughout his career. He missed six weeks from late June to the start of August with a left glute strain. Arm inflammation in late August resulted in another minimal stay on the shelf. Soroka’s 116 innings were light for a starting pitcher but represented his heaviest workload since 2019.

That injury history is going to keep Soroka from securing a massive free agent payday. He should be in line for at least two and potentially three years, however, as he’s coming off one of the better platform seasons among mid-tier free agent starters. Soroka is still just 29 years old and has mid-rotation talent — if not the consistent durability to lock him in as a true #3 starter. He sits in the 93-94 mph range with a high-spin fastball and has an excellent low-80s breaking ball that gets a lot of whiffs. Soroka also added a new cutter as a fourth pitch this year.

The D-Backs will again be in the rotation market. It seems safe to assume they’ll let Zac Gallen walk on the heels of an ERA north of 6.00. Corbin Burnes has barely pitched for the last two seasons and ended the year on the shelf with a shoulder issue. He’s expected to avoid surgery but is something of a wild card. Merrill Kelly is coming off his worst season in Arizona, posting a near-5.00 ERA with a 16% strikeout rate.

Burnes and Kelly are under contract and figure to have Opening Day rotation spots if they’re healthy. Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez had strong ERAs with below-average strikeout stuff. Ryne Nelson underperformed and missed most of the second half to a partial flexor tear in his forearm. None of the Snakes’ returning starters missed bats at close to an average level. Only the Rockies had a lower team strikeout rate from their rotation overall.

It’d make sense for the D-Backs to add two starters, ideally pitchers with some swing-and-miss upside. Retaining Soroka would address one of those needs. The Snakes probably wouldn’t risk a qualifying offer that’s likely to land around $23.1MM. They could kick the tires on a multi-year deal at a lower annual salary but one that nevertheless gives Soroka a decent raise (e.g. $14-16MM annually).

Previewing The Upcoming Center Field Class

Steve Adams — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 22:18:01 +0000

With the regular season in the books, MLBTR is taking a position-by-position look at the 2026-27 free agent market. Next up are the center fielders. There are no slam-dunk everyday options — MLBTR’s Anthony Franco took a look at the trend of underwhelming center field classes a couple weeks ago — but there are some interesting bounceback candidates to consider.

Player ages are for the 2027 season, and names within each tier are listed alphabetically, not “ranked.” Only players who appeared in MLB (or on major league 60-day injured lists) this year are included.

Previous entries in this series: Catcher, First Base, Second Base, Third Base, Shortstop

Current or Recent Center Field Regulars

TJ Friedl (31)

Friedl entered the 2026 season locked in as the Reds’ primary center fielder — and understandably so. In 2025, he slashed .261/.364/.378 (112 wRC+) with 14 homers and a dozen steals. The lefty-swinging Friedl was far better against righties but held his own against fellow southpaws.

By early June this season, Friedl had been optioned to Triple-A. He was hitting so poorly (.179/.259/.256) that the Reds had little choice. Friedl returned four weeks later when Blake Dunn suffered an injury, but he never found his footing. The Reds placed him on outright waivers in August. He went unclaimed. A month later, they designated Friedl for assignment and passed him through outright waivers. He elected free agency yesterday.

Friedl has never been a plus defender, and his power output has always been below-average. But at his best, he offered quality bat-to-ball skills with enough walks to notch strong on-base percentages, good baserunning, and enough defensive acumen to hold things down in center field. This year was an unmitigated disaster, but Friedl has multiple seasons where he’s been worth 3 WAR or better. Any team that signs him will be able to control him via arbitration into 2028, as he finished the current season with four-plus years of service time.

Trent Grisham (30)

Grisham had a breakout season in 2025, belting a career-high 34 homers with a career-best 14.1% walk rate. He hasn’t come close to replicating that output in 2026, in part due to injuries. Grisham missed about seven weeks due to a pair of IL stints for a right hamstring strain — one in June and another in September.

When he’s been on the field, Grisham’s season has been a mixed bag. On the plus side, he cut his strikeout rate from last year’s 23.6% to a career-best 18.4%. For a player who fanned at a 28% clip from 2022-24, it’s a notable uptick in contact ability. However, Grisham’s power output dwindled. He popped 18 homers in 484 plate appearances — 16 fewer home runs in only 97 fewer trips to the plate. His ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average) fell sharply, from .229 last year to .184 this year. His defense in center graded well below average for a second straight season. Statcast actually credited him with a stronger throwing arm than in 2025, but his range diminished even without an appreciable downturn in his sprint speed.

Grisham has never been great against lefties, but he was close to league average in 2026. The big surprise was a precipitous step back in his production against righties: .254/.364/.506 in 2025 compared to .201/.305/.403 in 2026.

Age is on Grisham’s side, to an extent. He’ll turn 30 on Sept. 1. He can’t receive a qualifying offer this winter. He accepted a QO from the Yankees at the outset of the 2025-26 offseason, and players can only receive one QO in their career. Grisham is probably better suited for a corner spot, but he has nearly 6700 center field innings in the majors and could perhaps be expected to produce better results — with the glove and the bat — in a season with healthier legs.

Cedric Mullins (32)

Mullins technically has an option on his contract, but it’s a mutual option and therefore a mere formality. Teams use mutual options as accounting measures more than anything else — kicking a portion of a player’s guaranteed salary down the road by a season in the form of a buyout on an option that will (almost) never be exercised by both parties. It’s been a dozen years since the last time a mutual option was exercised by both parties. Mullins’ $10MM option will be declined by one side, and he’ll receive a $500K buyout whether it’s the team or Mullins himself who declines.

It seems likely that the team is preparing to move on. Mullins had a big rebound showing with the glove (6 DRS, 11 OAA in 1086 innings), but he batted just .205/.284/.344 in 502 turns at the plate. He still has a nice blend of homers (15) and steals (21 — albeit in 31 attempts), but Mullins’ 30-30 campaign back in 2021 now looks like a clear outlier. He’s been below average in three of the five seasons since and only a slight bit better than average in the other two. Overall, he’s posted a .231/.303/.392 batting line (97 wRC+) in 2626 plate appearances since that scintillating ’21 showing.

Mullins didn’t hit well against lefties or righties this season. He took a one-year, $7MM deal last winter in hopes of bouncing back from a below-average offensive performance in 2025. Instead, his offense slipped even further. Center field options are minimal this winter, but another one-year contract still seems to be the likeliest outcome.

Alek Thomas (27)

A 2018 second-round pick by the D-backs and longtime top prospect, Thomas has played in parts of five big league seasons but never provided anything with the bat. He’s a career .230/.273/.360 hitter who’s never reached double-digit homers in a given season. He’s played 3429 innings in center field at the big league level and been credited with 6 DRS and 11 OAA, though most of the positive grades for his defense came in his first two big league seasons.

The Diamondbacks cut bait on Thomas and designated him for assignment in May. He was traded to the division-rival Dodgers and spent the majority of the season with their Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City. To his credit, Thomas hit .305/.378/.537 in 322 plate appearances there. Hitting minor league pitching has never been an issue for the lefty-swinging Thomas, though. He’s a .313/.387/.504 hitter in his minor league career, including a .326/.394/.551 mark in parts of five Triple-A campaigns.

Hitting big league pitching has (clearly) been another story entirely. Thomas has a free-swinging approach, chasing off the plate at elevated rates and making contact at below-average levels both within the strike zone and on those chases off the dish. His exit velocities and hard-hit rates tend to hover slightly below average — a deficiency that’s exacerbated by Thomas’ penchant for hitting the ball into the ground. Thomas’ 54.5% ground-ball rate is the seventh-highest among 349 qualified major league hitters dating back to his 2022 MLB debut.

Thomas finished up the 2026 season just shy of four years of major league service. Anyone who signs him to a cheap one-year deal — a minor league pact is also possible — would be getting three seasons of club control. However, he’s out of minor league options, and he’d need to rebuild his stock quite a bit before that future control really comes into play.

Daulton Varsho (30)

Long one of the game’s best defensive center fielders, Varsho ripped 20 round-trippers in only 271 plate appearances last season after returning from 2024 shoulder surgery. He added three blasts in 81 postseason plate appearances. That offensive uptick, coupled with his prime age and plus-plus defense, gave Varsho a chance at slugging his way to a hefty multi-year deal — perhaps even a nine-figure contract — if he could put together a strong 2026 showing.

As with so many free agents in this year’s class, the opposite played out.

Varsho turned in a punchless .243/.307/.375 batting line in 365 plate appearances with the Blue Jays before being traded to the Astros, for whom he was even less impactful: .127/.224/.311 in 161 plate appearances. Wrist trouble dogged Varsho during his time in Houston, and he’s not on their playoff roster after finishing the season on the injured list. The Astros announced Wednesday that Varsho underwent arthroscopic surgery to address the issue, so even if they advance beyond the Wild Card round of play, Varsho won’t be a part of the roster. His season is over.

Back in spring training, Sportsnet’s David Singh detailed how the Jays were working to develop more of an all-fields approach for Varsho, who has been a dead-pull hitter in recent seasons. Varsho pulled nearly 52% of his batted balls from 2022-25. He hit just 27.5% up the middle and 20.6% to the opposite field. In 2026, Varsho’s pull rate dipped to 39.9%. His percentage of opposite-field batted balls was largely unchanged (21.2%), but he hit 38.9% of his batted balls back up the middle/to center field — a massive increase.

The change in approach didn’t pay off in terms of results, and Varsho now heads to the market on the heels of a career-worst offensive performance and with a nagging wrist injury that required minor surgery. His track record is solid, and he won’t turn 31 until next July, so there’s a bit of upside here. Perhaps a switch back to his pull-heavy approach can restore some of the lost offense, and a healthier wrist certainly won’t hurt. He’s ineligible for a QO this season, so if a team signs him and he bounces back nicely, there’s the potential to make a QO and recoup a 2028 draft pick, too (if the QO system survives the upcoming wave of collective bargaining). A deal that allows Varsho to get back to free agency quickly — whether one year or two with an opt-out — seems likely.

Short-Side Platoon

Tyrone Taylor (33)

Taylor has been a phenom since being traded from the Mets to the Cubs alongside Clay Holmes, albeit in a tiny sample of 82 plate appearances. He’s batting .351/.390/.500 with Chicago and slashed .279/.325/.502 in 241 total plate appearances this season.

It’s career-best production for the longtime Brewer, who’s sporting a career-low 17% strikeout rate. Taylor rarely hits the ball hard, though, evidenced by a career 87.4 mph average exit velocity and 36.4% hard-hit rate. He has significant platoon splits this season (153 wRC+ versus lefties, 102 versus righties), though the gap isn’t as pronounced when looking at his career on the whole (105 vs. 94). Taylor is a plus defender in all three outfield spots. He’ll turn 33 in January but still boasted 92nd percentile sprint speed this season.

From 2023-25, Taylor was a well below-average hitter. He posted slightly above-average numbers at the plate in a limited role with Milwaukee from 2019-22. He’s never topped 405 plate appearances in a season. In all likelihood, he’ll be viewed as a part-time player, but Taylor is good enough defensively and hit well enough this season that it’s at least feasible a club could sign him with an eye toward a larger role. He’s a candidate for a relatively low-cost multi-year deal.

Lane Thomas (31)

Thomas had a roughly league-average showing at the plate with Kansas City (.232/.326/.393) but cratered upon being traded to the Braves. It’s only 46 plate appearances, granted, but a .171/.261/.317 performance isn’t what either player or team was hoping to see following the change of scenery.

In 2023-24, Thomas posted big power and speed totals (43 homers, 52 steals) while logging largely regular at-bats in Washington and Cleveland (who acquired him from the Nats at the ’24 deadline). His bat tailed off as soon as he was traded to the Guardians, however, and it’s never really recovered. Since being traded away from D.C., Thomas has tallied 703 plate appearances but mustered only a .207/.290/.363 batting line. The glimmer of a rebound in Kansas City this year has quickly faded with that Atlanta swoon, and he’ll head back to free agency as a rebound candidate for a second straight season.

Thomas can play all three outfield spots but drew career-worst marks for his center field defense this year (-9 DRS, -7 OAA in only 459 innings). He’s a clear platoon bat who’s hammered lefties at a .287/.360/.489 clip in his career but floundered against fellow righties with a .217/.286/.378 performance.

Club Option Decisions

Luis Robert Jr. (29) — $20MM club option with $2MM buyout

There’s no bigger upside play in this year’s class than Robert, but there’s also no greater injury risk. The 38-homer, 20-steal season he posted back in 2023 will continue to tantalize teams, but Robert has managed only 1086 plate appearances in three seasons since, during which he’s batted .223/.290/.379. Robert was one of the highest-profile signings we’ve ever seen out of Cuba, and he signed what was at the time a record contract extension for a player who’d never logged even one big league game. He has a genuine superstar-level set of tools but one of the longest injury histories you’ll come across for a player under 30.

Despite an underwhelming, injury-marred showing with the Mets, Robert was scooped up on waivers in late August. The Orioles had the top waiver priority among the interested clubs, but both the Padres and Rays reportedly placed claims on him, too. Robert was still owed $2.99MM of his $20MM salary at the time, plus at least that $2MM buyout. The fact that at least three clubs were willing to take a $5MM gamble to claim the final month of Robert underscores how tempting his blend of speed, power, defense and athleticism is.

Will that be enough for the O’s to pick up his option? Would Baltimore consider trading him to another club before that option decision is due? We’ll find out after the World Series, but even if the O’s simply buy him out, Robert will be one of the most popular rebound candidates on the market this winter.

Victor Robles (29) — $9MM club option with $500K buyout

It’s easy to forget now, but Robles was once a consensus top-10 prospect in the entire sport. He looked to have arrived in full force in 2018-19 when he gave the Nats 176 games (683 plate appearances) with a .258/.328/.430 batting line (96 wRC+), 20 homers, 31 steals and absolutely elite defense in center (24 DRS, 22 OAA).

Robles never sniffed that level of production again, however — at least not with the Nats. Washington designated him for assignment and released him in June 2024. Robles signed with the Mariners and improbably went on the best run of his career, hitting .328/.393/.467 with four homers and 30 steals in only 262 plate appearances. He parlayed that performance into a two-year, $9MM extension but has spent the bulk of that time on the injured list. Shoulder, biceps and pectoral injuries have combined to limit him to 263 plate appearances since Opening Day 2025.

The Mariners are going to decline this option, and Robles will hit the market in search of a rebound opportunity. A small one-year deal is the best for which he can hope this winter, and it’s possible he’ll need to settle for a non-guaranteed contract.

Myles Straw (32) — $8MM club option with $1.75MM buyout

Straw was traded from Cleveland to Toronto in what was largely a salary dump by the Guardians. Toronto was a willing taker, as the Guards sent them a notable chunk of international pool space as compensation for taking on about $11MM of Straw’s remaining contract. The goal at the time was to build up enough pool space to sign Roki Sasaki, who eventually spurned the Jays to sign with the Dodgers.

Though Straw wasn’t the main component of that trade, he’s made it well worth the Jays’ while. Toronto added him to the 40-man roster — he’d been outrighted in Cleveland — at the end of camp in 2025, and he’s since given them 629 plate appearances with a .251/.308/.354 line. That’s 13% worse than average, admittedly, but Straw has provided elite defense in the outfield and plus baserunning. He’s said to be a beloved figure in the Toronto clubhouse, too. The option price here is probably a bit steep, given Straw’s likely reserve role, but he’s already said he wants to return to Toronto, so perhaps the Jays will negotiate a new arrangement or buy him out but re-sign him to a cheaper deal.

Five Personal Lessons From the 2026 Fantasy Baseball Season

Corbin Young — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 21:30:41 +0000
While examining my fantasy baseball teams, we're analyzing what went wrong on teams that struggled as an early look at 2027 fantasy baseball drafts.
Source

Red Sox Remove Roman Anthony From Roster With Hand Injury

Darragh McDonald — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 21:23:27 +0000

4:23pm: MLB has now officially announced the move, with Mead replacing Anthony.

4:15pm: It will be Mead replacing Anthony, per Jorge Castillo of ESPN.

3:34pm: The Red Sox are going to remove outfielder Roman Anthony from their roster due to his hand injury. He has multiple new strains in his hand and a re-aggravation of the injury he dealt with earlier this year. Curtis Mead and Anthony Seigler are candidates to replace him. The league has not yet approved the transaction. By rule, a player removed from a playoff roster during a series has to miss the subsequent series as well, so Anthony won’t be eligible for the ALDS if the Sox advance. Rob Bradford of WEEI, Chris Cotillo of MassLive, and Ian Browne of MLB.com were among those to relay the details.

The hand injury has really soured Anthony’s sophomore season. He debuted last year and put up an excellent .292/.396/.463 line in his first 71 big league games. Along the way, the Red Sox signed him to a $130MM extension. Ideally, he would have been even better in his second big league campaign but that hasn’t come to pass. His wrist/hand issues put him on the IL for almost four months of the regular season. He was only able to play in 55 regular season games and hit .245/.339/.396 in those.

The official diagnosis for his IL placement in May was a right wrist sprain but Anthony said it was actually a torn ligament in his right ring finger. It was initially thought to be a fairly minor issue but it lingered for most of the season. He was back on the field in September and made the Wild Card roster but departed last night’s game with more soreness. It now appears he might be in a worse spot than he was in May.

“He was sent back last night after leaving the game,” manager Chad Tracy said today, per Cotillo. “We sent him back to Boston for extra, additional imaging which actually revealed some new strains to different muscles in his wrist in addition to exasperating the old injuries. It’s not great.”

For now, the Sox will be focused on staying alive. They lost last night’s game and are now on the brink of elimination. Anthony was the designated hitter last night and the Sox had an outfield of Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Jarren Duran. With lefty Max Fried on the hill for the Yankees, Nate Eaton has subbed in for Duran to start tonight’s contest. Jahmai Jones is in the DH spot. Mead or Seigler will be added to the bench once the transaction is formally approved.

Perhaps Anthony can be a factor for the ALCS and the World Series if the Sox survive but the injury sounds fairly ominous. Since his previous absence was for several months and this one seems worse, it would be a surprise if he were healthy enough to play in a few weeks, though the Sox haven’t explicitly ruled him out for the season yet.

At some point, whether it’s due to Anthony being shut down for the year or the club’s season ending, the focus will shift to the future. The Sox and Anthony will have to figure out how to get his hand back to normal, whether that involves surgery or some other path forward.

Photo courtesy of Eric Canha, Imagn Images

Daulton Varsho Undergoes Wrist Surgery

Steve Adams — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 20:45:54 +0000

The Astros announced Wednesday that outfielder Daulton Varsho underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left wrist. He’d been plagued by a pair of cysts in that wrist, which had become increasingly uncomfortable as the final stretch of the season inched toward its conclusion. Varsho finished the season on the injured list and wasn’t on the Wild Card roster anyhow, but his season is over regardless of whether Houston advances.

Houston opened the Wild Card round of play with Yordan Alvarez, Joey Loperfido, Cam Smith, Lucas Spence, Taylor Trammell and Nelson Velazquez as their outfield options. Had they advanced and Varsho’s wrist improved, he might’ve jumped into that group and added some experience to an outfield that sorely lacks it.

The Astros acquired the 30-year-old Varsho at the trade deadline, sending righty Spencer Arrighetti back to the Blue Jays. He’d posted slightly below-average numbers on the season, hitting .243/.307/.375 in 365 plate appearances, but his production evaporated following the trade. In 161 trips to the plate with Houston, Varsho managed only a .172/.224/.311 batting line — just a 48 wRC+ (52% worse than league-average production).

It’s particularly poor timing all around for Varsho, who’s slated to become a free agent for the first time this coming offseason. He missed the early portion of the 2025 season following 2024 shoulder surgery but was a powerhouse upon returning, slamming 20 homers in just 271 regular-season plate appearances (plus another three in 81 postseason plate appearances). A strong showing in 2026 would’ve propelled Varsho into the upper echelon of this winter’s free agent class, but he’ll instead head to the open market on the heels of a career-worst showing at the plate and with a recent surgery under his belt.

The trade from Toronto to Houston ensured that Varsho can’t receive a qualifying offer (as did his play with the Astros). He’d have been a borderline case had he remained with the Jays and continued posting slightly below-average numbers in the batter’s box. Now, he’ll enter the market as a prominent rebound candidate who’s primarily looking at short-term offers — whether that be a one-year deal or a short multi-year deal with an opt-out opportunity.

Red Sox To Remove Roman Anthony From Roster With Hand Injury

Darragh McDonald — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 20:45:27 +0000

The Red Sox are going to remove outfielder Roman Anthony from their roster due to his hand injury. He has multiple new strains in his hand and re-aggravation of the injury he dealt with earlier this year. Curtis Mead and Anthony Seigler are candidates to replace him. The league has not yet approved the transaction. By rule, a player removed from a playoff roster during a series has to miss the subsequent series as well, so Anthony won’t be eligible for the ALDS if the Sox advance. Rob Bradford of WEEI, Chris Cotillo of MassLive, and Ian Browne of MLB.com were among those to relay the details.

The hand injury has really soured Anthony’s sophomore season. He debuted last year and put up an excellent .292/.396/.463 line in his first 71 big league games. Along the way, the Red Sox signed him to a $130MM extension. Ideally, he would have been even better in his second big league campaign but that hasn’t come to pass. His wrist/hand issues put him on the IL for almost four months of the regular season. He was only able to play in 55 regular season games and hit .245/.339/.396 in those.

The official diagnosis for his IL placement in May was a right wrist sprain but Anthony said it was actually a torn ligament in his right ring finger. It was initially thought to be a fairly minor issue but it lingered for most of the season. He was back on the field in September and made the Wild Card roster but departed last night’s game with more soreness. It now appears he might be in a worse spot than he was in May.

“He was sent back last night after leaving the game,” manager Chad Tracy said today, per Cotillo. “We sent him back to Boston for extra, additional imaging which actually revealed some new strains to different muscles in his wrist in addition to exasperating the old injuries. It’s not great.”

More to come.

Tigers Notes: McGonigle, Keith, Free Agent Bats

Charlie Wright — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 20:09:45 +0000

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch and president of baseball operations Scott Harris addressed the media earlier this week (video link via the Tigers on X). The duo outlined offseason plans and provided details on the outlook for 2027. The infield, particularly from a defensive perspective, was a frequent topic of discussion.

The matchup-conscious Tigers have shuffled players around the diamond during Hinch’s tenure. The club leans on platoons and is quick to pinch-hit when an opposing starter leaves the game. Having versatile defenders is a key part of the equation, and Kevin McGonigle was chief among them in 2026. The infielder split his time almost evenly between shortstop and third base as a rookie.

McGonigle will not go into next season with a set position, per Hinch and Harris, as the organization values his flexibility. He made 94 appearances at third base and 96 appearances at shortstop this year. Obviously there’s some overlap there, with McGonigle bouncing around depending on other lineup moves.

Heading into the season, McGonigle had only played shortstop and second base as a professional. He had no problem with the transition to the hot corner. McGonigle recorded 8 Defensive Runs Saved in 644 innings at third base. He notched 2 DRS at shortstop. His ability to handle both spots gives Detroit the option to pursue a more regular option at either position. Light-hitting John Peck closed the year at shortstop. Veteran Javier Baez also spent time there. Colt Keith and Hao-Yu Lee saw time at third base.

Keith will also head into next season in a flexible role. Hinch and Harris cited his ability to play every infield spot, excluding shortstop. After emerging as the team’s primary second baseman as a rookie in 2024, Keith has moved around often the past two years. Most of his time in the field came at third base this past season. He didn’t make a single appearance at the keystone.

The defensive fit for Keith isn’t as seamless as it is for McGonigle. He’s been a negative defender by both DRS and Outs Above Average as a big leaguer. Keith also faces more questions as a hitter. He endured a massive power outage to begin the year, failing to hit a home run until the first week of June. Keith picked it up in the second half and finished with a .728 OPS across 423 plate appearances. Almost all of his opportunities came against right-handed pitching. Hinch afforded Keith just 25 PAs versus lefties. He went 3-for-24 with zero extra-base hits.

Detroit finished 14th in scoring this season. The club ranked just outside the top 10 in wRC+ as a team. It’s a lineup that could need some retooling with Gleyber Torres entering free agency, plus Zach McKinstry and Matt Vierling being non-tender candidates. Any changes aren’t likely to come in free agency, though. Hinch and Harris harped on not blocking young players with outside additions.

The commitment to the young core could mean Lee, Max Clark, and Eduardo Valencia are in line for more consistent opportunities. The same goes for Jace Jung and Ben Malgeri, to a lesser extent. Prospects Max Anderson, Zyhir Hope, and Josue Briceno are also on the verge of contributing in the majors. Detroit is trending toward a youthful lineup in 2027.

Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images

Joe Mantiply Elects Free Agency

Charlie Wright — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 18:04:27 +0000

Veteran left-hander Joe Mantiply is a free agent, per his MLB.com transactions page. The reliever was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays last week. Mantiply passed through waivers unclaimed. He’d been outrighted before, so he had the option to reject a minor league assignment and choose free agency.

Mantiply closed the 2025 campaign in the Blue Jays organization after getting cut by the Diamondbacks midway through last season. He entered free agency over the winter but re-signed with Toronto on a minor league deal. Mantiply debuted with the club in early April. He carried a strong 2.04 ERA into mid-May, but went down with a knee injury. Mantiply eventually needed arthroscopic surgery to address the issue.

After recovering from knee surgery, Mantiply struggled. He permitted five earned runs over eight appearances in September. The lefty was bumped off the roster during the final week of the regular season.

The 35-year-old Mantiply has never been a hard thrower, but his velocity ticked down even more this season. He sat at a career-low 88.2 mph with his sinker. Opponents hit .347 against the pitch, which Mantiply throws nearly half the time. His curveball and changeup averaged right around 80 mph. The arsenal helped Mantiply generate a strong 58.3% groundball rate. That came with a double-digit barrel rate and a 25% pulled air rate. Mantiply was likely fortunate to finish with a 3.00 ERA, as evidenced by his 5.40 xERA.

Mantiply has pitched in parts of nine seasons with four different teams. He’s unlikely to generate a ton of interest at this stage of his career, but there’s a decent chance he finds another big-league gig given his steady production in recent years.

Photo courtesy of Denny Medley, Imagn Images

Cardinals Notes: Third Base, Burleson, Walker

Charlie Wright — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 16:58:46 +0000

The Cardinals spent most of the 2025 season searching for a solution at third base. The Opening Day starter, Nolan Gorman, was demoted by June. Offseason acquisition Ramon Urias was injured for most of the year. St. Louis trotted out four different players for 70+ plate appearances at third base. None produced an OPS above .700.

President of baseball operations Chaim Bloom addressed the situation directly in his year-end press conference. “We have a long-term vacancy there,” Bloom told reporters, including Derrick Goold and Daniel Guerrero of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

While the club could look outside the organization for a solution at the hot corner, it has plenty of internal candidates. Blaze Jordan showed flashes as a rookie before an ankle sprain ended his season. Utilityman Thomas Saggese spent time at third base to close the year and delivered a solid .730 OPS in September. Jose Fermin held his own in his first full season in the majors.

None of those candidates are particularly intriguing, though. That includes Gorman and his untenable strikeout rate. One option that is of interest would be Rainiel Rodriguez. The consensus top prospect in the system is primarily a catcher, but spent time at first base last season. The Cardinals are looking to get him reps at third base as well.

“More versatility tends to be better as long as it’s real,” Bloom said. “As long as you can get someone there with a chance to play the position [capably].”

Rodriguez certainly has the hitting profile of a corner infielder. He launched 27 homers in 115 games this season, splitting his time between High-A and Double-A. Rodriguez slashed .324/.413/.574 across the two levels. He’s still just 19 years old and has never played third base professionally, so it’s hard to imagine Rodriguez being the 2027 answer at the position. The additional flexibility could give him a better chance at securing a roster spot, though.

The rest of the Cardinals’ infield is locked in, at least for now. Masyn Winn and JJ Wetherholt will be up the middle for the foreseeable future. St. Louis held onto first baseman Alec Burleson at the trade deadline, so he’ll be back at the cold corner. Burleson is open to extension talks with the Cardinals, though Bloom said the organization didn’t have “anything up our sleeves right at this moment.”

Burleson has two arbitration years remaining. Without an extension, he’ll hit free agency in the 2028-29 offseason. Burleson has been a staple in the middle of the Cardinals’ lineup over the last three seasons. He’s coming off his best campaign to date, slugging a career-high 26 home runs and leading the league with 116 RBI. Burleson is entering his age-28 season. Securing him to a longterm deal would give St. Louis an imposing trio at the top of the order, along with Wetherholt and Jordan Walker.

Walker’s breakout season ended with a whimper. He hit just .172 with a bloated 36.8% strikeout rate in September. It seems an injury is to blame for the poor month. Bloom said Walker was playing through a hip issue over the final weeks of the year. The injury stemmed from a mounting workload and a stance change. Walker easily set a career high with 158 games played. He had 200+ more plate appearances than his previous high watermark.

Bloom added that Walker’s hip injury should get better with rest. The outfielder wrapped up the 2026 season with 29 homers and 22 stolen bases. He earned his first All-Star selection. Walker was even on track to shake off the dreaded Home Run Derby curse. After winning the event, he put up a strong .853 OPS in August. His stumble to end the year did drop his season-long OPS below .800, but it was still an excellent campaign for the former top prospect.

Photo courtesy of Liam Keating of USA Today via Imagn Images

D-backs Outright Jesús Sánchez

Steve Adams — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 15:42:08 +0000

Outfielder Jesús Sánchez cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks and was assigned outright to Triple-A Reno, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’ll have the right to become a free agent, which he’ll surely take.

Sánchez’s time with the Snakes was brief. Arizona claimed him off waivers on Sept. 14 after the Blue Jays had designated him for assignment, absorbing the remaining $500K on his contract in hopes that he could provide some needed help against right-handed pitching in the season’s final two weeks. It didn’t really pan out. Sánchez appeared in six games and went 2-for-15 with a pair of singles, a walk and five strikeouts in 16 official plate appearances.

That quiet finish in Arizona brought Sánchez’s season-end batting line to .254/.311/.401. It’s respectable production, right in line with the league average, but given Sánchez’s longstanding platoon issues and the glaring manner in which the 28-year-old (29 next week) declined on the defensive side of the game, that wasn’t enough for either the Jays or D-backs to carry him on the 40-man roster into 2027 and give him a raise on this year’s $6.8MM salary in what would have been his final year of arbitration eligibility.

Sánchez had previously graded as an above-average defender in the outfield corners, but metrics like Defensive Runs Saved (-10) and Statcast’s Outs Above Average (-8) indicate that his glovework fell off a cliff this year. Those numbers would obviously be ugly over the course of a full season, but Sánchez logged only 559 innings on the grass this year. If he’d logged a full season of innings at the pace he was on, he’d have graded out as one of the least-effective defensive players in recent memory. His average sprint speed declined for a third straight season, checking into just the 24th percentile of big league position players, per Statcast. His arm strength still grades well above average, but his accuracy has declined.

Sánchez entered 2025 as a career .253/.324/.450 hitter against right-handed pitching. He more or less matched that output (.267/.325/.430), but his already feeble production against southpaws dried up even further. Granted, Sánchez only received 35 plate appearances against lefties in 2026 — about 11.1% of his plate appearances. Still, a .152/.200/.182 output is egregious enough that even in a limited sample, it weighed down his production considerably.

Once he elects free agency — a formality at this point — Sánchez will head to the open market and look to latch on with a club seeking some help in the outfield corners and/or against right-handed pitching. He’ll have to settle for a one-year contract with a low base salary and probably some incentives — if there’s a big league deal to be found at all. Platoon corner bats aren’t typically compensated all that well in free agency unless they’re elite on the strong side of their platoon and/or plus defenders.

Even in his absolute best seasons (2023-24), Sánchez batted .268/.337/.465 against righties — about 18% better than average, by measure of wRC+. He posted 3 DRS and 2 OAA, combined, in that pair of seasons — useful production, but not the type for which a team will break the bank. He’ll enter free agency coming off a decidedly weaker offensive performance and with pronounced defensive questions, both of which will adversely impact his earning power.

The Opener: Rice, Anthony, Musgrove

Charlie Wright — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 13:53:28 +0000

Under the current postseason format (introduced in 2022), the winner of Game 1 in the Wild Card round is 15-1 in the series (h/t Jeff Passan of ESPN). The only team to lose the first game and win the series was the Yankees over the Red Sox in 2025.

1. Rice carries NY offense

Cam Schlittler and Payton Tolle were locked into a pitchers’ duel into the fifth inning on Tuesday. With Ben Rice coming up for the third time, Red Sox manager Chad Tracy went to the bullpen. Rice then slugged a solo homer off reliever Erik Miller. The floodgates opened from there, with the Yankees hanging eight runs on Boston’s bullpen. Rice capped the scoring with a grand slam off Brayan Bello in the eighth inning. The Yankees can knock the Red Sox out for the second straight year in Game 2 tonight.

2. Anthony’s status unclear

Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony was removed midway through Game 1 with a right hand injury. He missed more than three months during the regular season with a partially torn tendon in his right ring finger. Tracy wasn’t sure if Anthony would be headed for an MRI. “We’re still talking through it,” Tracy said, relayed by Ian Browne of MLB.com. “The game just ended, but it’s difficult. Obviously it flared up on him and became uncomfortable, and you have to make a move there. So we’ll see what the next steps are, but yeah, it was difficult.” Andruw Monasterio replaced Anthony. He’d be a candidate to start tonight, especially against lefty Max Fried.

3. Musgrove makes his return

San Diego’s dominant shutout victory over the Cubs last night included three home runs and a no-hit bid, but it was a former ace who stole the show. Joe Musgrove made his long-awaited return to the mound after nearly two years. Musgrove loaded the bases on two hits and a walk, but struck out Michael Conforto to wrap up the victory. “That was dope,” Jackson Merrill said (h/t Bob Nightengale of USA Today). “We did a lot of good things out there, but nothing compared to watching Joe do that. That was the best part of the game, in my opinion.”

Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images

Tout Wars Victory(!) Recap

Alex Chamberlain — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 12:30:10 +0000
Sometimes, boring wins. So does depth.
Source

Roman Anthony Leaves ALWCS Game 1 Due To Hand Soreness

Mark Polishuk — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:59:43 +0000

The Yankees crushed the Red Sox in a 9-0 rout in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, putting Boston in immediate do-or-die mode in the best-of-three series. The chances of a comeback will be more difficult if Roman Anthony isn’t available, and his status is now in question after an early exit in Game 1.

Anthony (hitting leadoff as the DH) struck out twice against New York ace Cam Schlittler, accounting for two of the 10 punchouts Schlittler delivered over 6 1/3 dominant shutout innings. For Anthony’s third at-bat in the top of the sixth, Andruw Monasterio instead came to the plate to pinch-hit.

Postgame, manager Chad Tracy told the Boston Herald’s Gabrielle Starr (multiple links) and other reporters that Anthony’s right hand “flared on him” and felt “uncomfortable” following checked swings during both plate appearances. The continued nature of the discomfort led the manager to pull Anthony from the lineup. So soon after Game 1’s conclusion, Tracy noted “it’s hard to say right now” if Anthony will be available for Wednesday’s Game 2.

Anthony played in only 55 games this season due to problems with that same right hand. Placed on the 10-day injured list on May 5 with what was initially described as a wrist sprain, Anthony’s injury was really a partially torn tendon in his right ring finger, and he wasn’t able to return to action until August 30. Anthony hit a respectable .262/.321/.476 in 112 PA after returning from the IL and mostly played in the outfield, so it seemed like the injury was behind him entering the postseason.

The uncertainty leaves the Red Sox in a difficult spot. If this was the regular season, Anthony would almost surely be benched for at least a game given the recurring soreness in a previously-injured body part. Playing with just 25 men in a must-win Game 2, however, obviously puts the Sox at a disadvantage. So if there’s real concern over Anthony’s ability to play at all, Boston could remove Anthony from the roster for an injury replacement. Such a move would mean that Anthony couldn’t play again until the ALCS, yet that’s a trade-off the Red Sox may have to consider to help their chances of just getting out of the first round.

NL Injury Notes: Freeman, Henriquez, Elder, Ortiz, Woodruff

Mark Polishuk — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:58:52 +0000

The Dodgers don’t begin their quest for a threepeat until the NLDS begins on Saturday, and the veteran team is benefiting from five full days off. Freddie Freeman told the Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett and other media that he loves having the time “to really work on mechanics of my swing, and my knee’s in a good spot where I feel like I will be able to do that.” Freeman hit only .235/.305/.283 with one home run over his final 187 plate appearances of the regular season, as a bout of patellar tendinitis in the first baseman’s right knee seemingly took a toll on his production. Rather than point directly to the knee discomfort, Freeman admitted that “maybe I created bad habits, but I won’t blame it on that. I just played bad.”

Lower back discomfort has kept Edgardo Henriquez from pitching since September 13, but Los Angeles activated the righty from the 15-day injured list today and it seems like the reliever will be part of the NLDS roster. Manager Dave Roberts told Plunkett and company that Henriquez will likely have an advanced throwing session on Wednesday, either “another live [bullpen] or sim game to some hitters.” In his first full season of big league action, Henriquez rode his 100.7mph fastball to a 2.85 ERA, 29.3% strikeout rate, and 10.3% walk rate over 60 innings.

More injury updates from two other NL playoff clubs…

Bryce Elder was expected to miss 3-4 weeks after undergoing minor surgery to remove bone chips from his right knee on September 8. It therefore wasn’t surprising that Elder wasn’t included on the Braves’ Wild Card Series roster, but the right-hander did face four hitters in a live batting practice session on Monday. Elder told Chad Bishop of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he has felt good in the rehab process thus far, but isn’t sure when he’ll be available to pitch. “We kind of got a checklist of things that I’ve got to hit, and if the checklist is too long to get back, then I won’t be able to go,” Elder said. The Braves’ Game 1 win over the Phillies today put Atlanta a big step closer to advancing to face the Dodgers in the NLDS, yet it remains to be seen if Elder will even be an option by Saturday.

As the Brewers use their bye week for rest and prep, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy has a few health updates from the Crew’s camp. Andrew Vaughn is taking part in full baseball activities and is expected to be ready to play Saturday, after flu-like symptoms have kept him on the IL since September 22. Joey Ortiz is only a limited participant, as the Brewers are giving Ortiz some rest to heal up some nagging injuries. Perhaps most intriguingly, Brandon Woodruff is waiting to hear from Dr. Keith Meister about potentially throwing off a mound, as Woodruff has now wrapped a five-week throwing progression. It seemed like Woodruff’s season was over after a shoulder surgery in July, but he got the green light to begin throwing near the end of August, as Woodruff still has a faint hope of pitching if Milwaukee makes a deep playoff run.

12 Players Elect Free Agency

Mark Polishuk — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:26:03 +0000

Now that the season is over, we’ll start seeing several players choose to become minor league free agents. Major League free agents (i.e. players with six-plus years of big league service time) will hit the open market five days after the end of the World Series, but eligible minor leaguers can already start electing free agency.

To qualify, these players must have been all outrighted off their team’s 40-man rosters during the 2026 season without being added back. These players also must have multiple career outrights on their resume, and/or at least three years of Major League service time.

MLB Trade Rumors will offer periodic updates over the coming weeks about many other players hitting the market in this fashion. These free agent decisions are all listed on the official MLB.com or MILB.com transactions pages, for further reference.

Catchers

Riley Adams (Nationals)

P.J. Higgins (Reds)

Sam Huff (Orioles)

Infielders

Joey Meneses (Athletics)

Zack Short (Mets)

Outfielders

TJ Friedl (Reds)

Nolan Jones (Mariners)

Alek Thomas (Dodgers)

Pitchers

Kevin Herget (Mets)

Parker Mushinski (Rockies)

Jared Shuster (Cardinals)

Steven Wilson (Rays)

Tom Pohlad: Twins Will “Meaningfully Invest” In Payroll, Plan To Contend In 2027

Mark Polishuk — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 03:18:20 +0000

2026 marked the first season of Tom Pohlad as the Twins’ designated control person, with Pohlad becoming his family’s representative in league ownership matters and the franchise’s executive chair. Derek Falvey’s surprising departure as the president of baseball operations in January (and GM Jeremy Zoll becoming the new head of baseball ops) marked the first step in a new direction under Pohlad, who walked back some of the club’s rebuilding direction with a goal towards “playing meaningful baseball in September.”

The Twins were still above the .500 mark at the end of July, but a 21-30 record in the final two months of play dropped Minnesota to 77-85 — a seven-game improvement over 2025, but not a quantum leap ahead. Pohlad made it clear today that more is expected from the club next season, as Pohlad, Zoll, and manager Derek Shelton addressed the media during an end-of-year press conference. (Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune, Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Aaron Gleeman, and MLB.com’s Matthew Leach were among the reporters on hand.)

“I understand the patience in this market has run out, and I assure you we have a sense of urgency,” Pohlad said. “Our goal this offseason is to field a roster next spring where making the playoffs isn’t a hope; it’s the expectation that everybody in this room agrees is realistic.”

This goal will come with an increase in payroll, though Pohlad stopped short of saying how much extra spending capacity Zoll will have available. As per MLBTR’s Payroll Tracker, Minnesota ranked 22nd of 30 teams in payroll, with just over $109.5MM. The Twins had an Opening Day payroll of around $153.7MM as recently as 2023, but (when Tom Pohlad’s younger brother Joe was control person) the club then cut payroll over the next two offseasons, with Minnesota’s major selloff at the 2025 trade deadline acting as the biggest step yet towards a rebuild. Still, the Twins added extra salaries at this year’s deadline in an attempt to make a push for a playoff berth, before multiple injuries ruined the club’s chances.

“I have said over and over that a $100 million payroll or anything close to that is not sufficient to be consistently competitive and in the playoffs, and so we intend to take the offseason and meaningfully invest,” Pohlad said. “I know everybody in this room wants me to define what meaningfully is, and I understand that that’s a subjective word. But I am confident that [Zoll], if he has conviction about a move that’s going to improve this roster and help us accomplish our goals, that this ownership group is prepared to support him with the financial resources he needs.”

How exactly a spending increase will develop has yet to be seen, but Pohlad said “we are going to be aggressive when free agency starts.” Minnesota could also add salaries via the trade market like at the deadline, and Zoll suggested that the club will look into extending some of its more promising younger players.

Byron Buxton, Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Victor Caratini, and deadline pickup Jeff Hoffman are the only Twins under contract for 2027, and only Buxton is under contract through 2028. An extension for a Brooks Lee or Luke Keaschall wouldn’t start really getting expensive until several years down the road, so there’s plenty of long-term spending capacity available and even shorter-term dollars depending on how much of an increase Pohlad has in mind for Zoll’s front office.

Nobody expects Minnesota to return to its 2023 spending levels this winter, nor are the Twins suddenly going to be bidding on the biggest names in the free agent market. But, Pohlad’s comments suggest that the door isn’t closed to at least a medium-level splash of a transaction, if the right possibility emerges. Given that the AL Central is perpetually one of the lower-spending divisions in baseball, even a moderate payroll boost might be enough to get the Twins into the hunt for a division title.

Pohlad also noted that Zoll and Shelton will be returning in their roles in 2027, as “they have proven themselves to be the right leaders and the right partners for me.” Pohlad said his family will also continue its majority ownership of the Twins, as the family’s past explorations of a possible were put on hold after three new minority owners bought over 20% of the franchise late last year.

“If you were to ask our limited partners, it’s better than we could have hoped for,” Pohlad said. “I think they are as emotionally invested as our family is, and I think we’ve got big goals and a lot of work to do. It’s going to take some time. We are in this for the long haul.”

In other Twins news, Zoll said Walker Jenkins will undergo a surgery to address bone chips and a bone spur in his right elbow. The procedure appears to be fairly minor, as Zoll said the outfielder will be “full go” for next season. One of baseball’s top prospects and a cornerstone of Minnesota’s future plans, Jenkins made his MLB debut in 2026 and hit .226/.293/.393 over his first 93 plate appearances.

Cubs Claim Julian Aguiar, Outright Antoine Kelly

Mark Polishuk — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 02:15:36 +0000

TODAY: Kelly cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A, as per his MLB.com profile page.

SEPTEMBER 26, 8:43pm: Left-hander Antoine Kelly has been designated for assignment, according to his official transactions page at MLB.com. That clears a 40-man roster spot for Aguiar, who’s been optioned to the Arizona Complex League. Kelly made his big league debut back in July but was on optional assignment since early August. He’ll reach minor league free agency once the season is over if he’s not on a 40-man roster somewhere.

12:28pm: The Cubs have claimed right-hander Julian Aguiar off waivers, according to the Reds. There hadn’t been any indication that Aguiar had been designated for assignment, but he’ll now look to continue his career with one of Cincinnati’s division rivals. A corresponding move will need to be made since Chicago has a full 40-man roster.

Selected in the 12th round of the 2021 draft, Aguiar made his big league debut with the Reds in 2024 and posted a 6.25 ERA over seven starts and 31 2/3 innings. An elbow sprain that September led to a Tommy John surgery, and Aguiar missed the entire 2025 season while rehabbing. More injury problems led to some stops and starts to Aguiar’s 2026 campaign, limiting him to 58 minor league innings before he finally made his return to the Show last week. Aguiar was charged with two earned runs in three innings of relief in the Reds’ 6-4 win over the Cubs on September 18, and he was optioned back to Triple-A the day after that cup-of-coffee outing.

Aguiar isn’t eligible for the Cubs’ postseason roster, so this claim may have just been made with an eye towards picking up some pitching depth for 2027. It is possible Aguiar might get into Chicago’s season finale tomorrow, as the Cubs face the Red Sox at (of all places) Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, and the team might prefer to rest its more established pitchers heading into the playoffs.

Aguiar’s 6.23 ERA over 34 2/3 career MLB innings isn’t much of a sample size, but he did post considerably better numbers in the lower levels of Cincinnati’s farm system. The jump up to Triple-A didn’t go as smoothly, as the right-hander has a 5.34 ERA, 20.88% strikeout rate, and 10.9% walk rate in 94 1/3 innings at the top rung of the minor league ladder. That time in Triple-A was split almost equally before and after Aguiar’s Tommy John procedure, with the better numbers coming before his surgery.

It could be that Aguiar needed 2026 to shake off the post-surgery rust, and he can return to his past form if fully healthy next year. Aguiar has started 87 of his 101 career games, so assuming this isn’t just a short-term pick-up, he can provide the Cubs with a depth option for their Triple-A rotation, or he might garner some consideration for a long relief job in the big league bullpen.

Marlins Notes: McCullough, Nardi, Marsee, Zuber

Mark Polishuk — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 01:36:11 +0000

We’ve already had a couple of notable Marlins-related items today on MLBTR, but Miami president of baseball operations Peter Bendix also shared updates on several injured players and the status of manager Clayton McCullough during today’s season wrap-up press conference. (Fish On First’s Kevin Barral, MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola, and The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson were among those in attendance.)

Unsurprisingly, McCullough will be back for a third season as the Marlins’ skipper, with Bendix praising McCullough as “an excellent…voice of the organization, and he has helped establish a fantastic culture in our clubhouse. He’s an excellent communicator. He’s very good at a difficult job.” Bendix stopped short of saying whether or not the team will discuss an extension with McCullough, as the Marlins generally don’t publicize details about employee contracts.

For instance, the terms of McCullough’s initial deal weren’t known until today, when Jackson reported that 2027 will be the final season of what was apparently a three-year contract. Hired when the Marlins were in full-on rebuild mode, McCullough led the team to a surprisingly solid 79-83 record in 2025, and then slightly topped that mark with this year’s 80-82 record.

McCullough accomplished these respectable results with the second-lowest payroll in baseball, so it’s interesting to wonder what Miami could achieve with even a bit more spending. While it remains to be seen if any real spending boosts will ever come under owner Bruce Sherman, it’s a positive sign that McCullough has already gotten the Marlins on the outskirts of real contention three years into Bendix’s organizational overhaul.

The PBO isn’t resting on his laurels, however, as Bendix said that “we’re all disappointed” by not reaching the postseason, and “we are not satisfied with where we are. That said, I’m also very proud of our team, our organization. There was tremendous progress shown on the field, off the field.”

One player who might not be part of the 2027 picture is Andrew Nardi. The left-hander underwent an unspecified type of elbow surgery in mid-August, and Bendix confirmed today that Nardi will miss most or all of next season in recovery. The fact that Bendix left the door slightly open for a return might hint that Nardi had an internal brace procedure (which has a 12-14 month timeframe) rather than a full Tommy John surgery, which usually requires a minimum of 13 months on the shelf.

Nardi already missed all of 2025 due to back problems, and he posted a 5.16 ERA over 22 2/3 innings this season while dealing with a stress reaction in his ribcage and then the elbow problem that ended his season. Nardi is arbitration-eligible for the second time this winter and is due only a minor raise on his $800K salary for 2026, but he looks like a clear non-tender candidate for the Marlins.

As for other pitchers undergoing UCL surgeries, Bendix said that William Kempner (who had his own elbow surgery in August) will also miss all or most of next season. Adam Mazur is expected back to game action in April or May after an internal brace procedure last March, and Robby Snelling’s brace procedure last May puts him on pace for a return in May or June of 2027.

Turning to other players on Miami’s IL, Bendix said Max Meyer, Owen Caissie, Ronny Henriquez, and Anthony Bender should all be ready for the start of Spring Training. The news isn’t as promising for right-hander Tyler Zuber or a though-to-be healthy player in Jakob Marsee, as both will visit Dr. Keith Meister due to some elbow soreness.

A veteran of five MLB seasons, Zuber set new career highs in games (44) and innings (39 2/3) in 2026, and he had solid strikeout and walk rates. However, batters made a ton of hard and loud contact that resulted in a 5.67 ERA for Zuber, who allowed 10 homers in his 39 2/3 frames. Miami placed him on the 15-day IL with a right elbow sprain on the third-last day of the regular season, and the upcoming appointment with Dr. Meister should provide clarity on Zuber’s status entering the offseason.

Marsee didn’t match the heights of his 55-game rookie breakout in 2025, but he established himself as Miami’s everyday center fielder while hitting .231/.348/.359 with 11 homers and 23 steals over 616 plate appearances. Marsee posted an .862 OPS in the second half after struggling to a .615 OPS in 389 PA before the All-Star break, and this late surge is all the more impressive since Marsee was apparently battling multiple injuries.

“Credit to Jakob, he was banged up all season with a lot of different things,” Bendix said. “Not just the elbow, a lot of things, [and] never went on the IL. Continued to play through, and not only that, but had an incredible stretch at the end of the season.”

Liam Hendriks Announces Retirement

Mark Polishuk — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:14:43 +0000

In a very amusing and self-deprecating post on his Instagram page, veteran reliever Liam Hendriks has announced his retirement after 14 big league seasons. The 37-year-old Hendriks cited the fans, his family (“a huge thank you to my wife for always believing in me, which was honestly a terrifying display of delusion on her part“), past rivals like Salvador Perez (“who I am completely convinced [treated] my heater like a light afternoon snack“), his “miracle worker” of an agent, and many others who played a role in his career.

“As for what’s next: My immediate retirement plans include testing whether my elbow can survive holding onto the leash when my dog sees a rabbit, and choosing a new hobby where being single-handedly responsible for losing a game doesn’t lead to ESPN SportsCenter breaking down my psychological collapse in slow motion for the next 24 hours. Thanks for the ride. It’s been an absolute blast.”

Hendriks’ impressive resume is highlighted by back-to-back AL Reliever Of The Year awards in 2020 and 2021, and he also received down-ballot Cy Young Award votes in those two standout seasons. One of only a few dozen Australians to play in Major League Baseball, Hendriks is one of just four Aussies (along with Dave Nilsson, Grant Balfour, and Travis Bazzana) to make an All-Star Game, and Hendriks is the only one of that group to earn All-Star recognition multiple times, receiving three nods for the Midsummer Classic.

Signing with the Twins as an international free agent in 2007, Hendriks made his MLB debut with Minnesota in 2011 but it took him a while to make his mark in the Show. Over 188 2/3 innings and 39 games (34 of them starts) over the 2011-14 seasons, the right-hander struggled to a 5.92 ERA for three different teams, plus he bounced around to a couple of other clubs without any time on their active rosters.

A move to full-time bullpen work in 2015 reshaped Hendriks’ career. He posted a 2.92 ERA, 27.2% strikeout rate, and 4.2% walk rate over 64 2/3 innings out of the Blue Jays’ bullpen, and played a major role in Toronto’s AL East title. Despite this success, the Jays dealt Hendriks to the Athletics after the season for a more experienced pitcher in Jesse Chavez, in a deal that backfired for Toronto since Chavez didn’t pitch well and was flipped again at the 2016 trade deadline.

Hendriks spent the next five years in Oakland and had some ups and downs, as the A’s designated for assignment and outrighted him midway through the 2018 campaign. Still, Hendriks got himself on track after returning to the active roster in September 2018 and then rediscovered his 2015 form over the next two years. Hendriks posted a 1.79 ERA, 5.7% walk rate, and a whopping 38K% over 110 1/3 frames for the A’s in 2019-20, and he was moved into the closer’s job partway through the 2019 campaign.

Now established as a stopper, Hendriks cashed in with what was technically a three-year, $54MM free agent deal with the White Sox in January 2021, with a fourth year “club option” worth $15MM, same as the buyout. The first two years of the deal went swimmingly, as Hendriks continued to deliver elite numbers and was twice named to the AL All-Star team.

Hendriks’ baseball career became secondary in January 2023, when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Thankfully, three-plus months of chemotherapy treatments resulted in a cancer-free diagnosis, and Hendriks was able to return to Chicago’s mound by the end of May.

This return led Hendriks to be awarded AL Comeback Player of the Year honors at season’s end, but he pitched in only five games in 2023 once another health issue emerged. Hendriks underwent Tommy John surgery that August, and he ended up missing the entire 2024 campaign due to both the TJ rehab progress that some late-season arm issues that scuttled any hopes of a return.

Once the White Sox declined their club option on Hendriks for 2024, he changed his Sox by signing with Boston on a backloaded two-year contract worth $10MM in guaranteed money, plus a mutual option for 2026. The 13 2/3 innings of 6.59 ERA ball Hendriks posted in 2025 ended up being his only appearances in a Red Sox uniform, and his final 14 games in the majors It was exactly a year ago today that Hendriks underwent an ulnar nerve transposition surgery on his right elbow, and though he signed minor league deals with both the Twins and Cubs in 2026, his only on-field action was five games in the Cubs’ farm system.

In the wake of these continued elbow issues, Hendriks has decided to hang up his glove. Or, as he put it in colorful terms on Instagram, “my arm has told me in no uncertain terms that it has exactly zero fastballs left in it, and my elbow has made it clear that throwing anything harder than a light breeze now requires a three-day recovery window.”

Hendriks retires with a career 3.88 ERA, 26.7% strikeout rate, and 6.0% walk rate over 663 2/3 innings and 490 games with the Twins, Royals, Blue Jays, A’s, White Sox, and Red Sox. He has a 3.16 ERA as a reliever, though that number is a little misleading as Hendriks made several “starts” with the Athletics as an opener. Beyond just his production on the field, Hendriks was nominated seven times for the Roberto Clemente Award over the course of his career, as he has been a tireless advocate for the fights against cancer and poverty.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Hendriks on a tremendous career, and we wish him the best in plenty of healthy dog-walks and other future endeavors.

Jake Woodford Elects Free Agency

Darragh McDonald — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 23:18:14 +0000

TODAY: Woodford has rejected the outright assignment and become a free agent, the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin reports.

SEPTEMBER 28: The Rays have sent right-hander Jake Woodford outright to Triple-A Durham, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.

It’s not a surprise that Woodford cleared. He has been an innings-eating journeyman for a long time now. Teams mostly add him to the roster when they want to spare their other arms from being overworked. Dating back to the start of 2023, Woodford has pitched for the Cardinals, White Sox, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Cubs and Rays, posting a combined earned run average of 7.00 across 146 2/3 innings. Woodford wouldn’t be postseason eligible with any claiming club and the regular season is done, so there are no more innings that need eating.

Woodford has been previously outrighted in the past, which gives him the right to elect free agency. The log doesn’t indicate whether or not he will do so. If he wants, he can jump into offseason mode right now. He could also decide to stick with the Rays just in case they suffer a few postseason injuries and need to grab some fresh arms in October. He would become a free agent at season’s end even if he took that path, as is the case for all outrighted players with at least three years of big league service time.

Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images

Mickey Gasper To Undergo Biceps Surgery

Darragh McDonald — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 22:37:54 +0000

Red Sox catcher/first baseman Mickey Gasper hit the 10-day injured list a few days ago with a right biceps strain. Rob Bradford of WEEI reports that Gasper actually tore his biceps off a tendon and will have surgery on Friday.

Bradford doesn’t provide a timetable for Gasper’s recovery but it seems fair to conclude his season is done. Before Gasper was even placed on the IL, manager Chad Tracy said that the injury was significant and was “probably going to take him out.”

Gasper’s season was inconsistent but trending up. He got two stretches of significant playing time, with the second of those being far more successful. He started the season in the minors but was recalled in early May. He then hit .243/.305/.308 over 119 plate appearances before getting optioned back to the farm in June. He was recalled again in August and hit 10 home runs in 106 plate appearances to end the season, leading to a .262/.415/.667 line in that sample.

Ideally, Gasper would have carried some of that momentum into the postseason but this biceps injury has erased that possibility. Assuming his 2026 is done, he will be focused on getting healthy for 2027. The Sox project to have Adley Rutschman as their primary catcher and Willson Contreras as the first baseman next year. Gasper could occasionally give those two time off while also getting some playing time in the designated hitter spot, if he’s healthy.

Gasper will finish this season with his service time clock between one and two years. That means he can still be controlled for five full seasons after this one and hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration. He also still has one option season remaining.

Photo courtesy of David Butler II, Imagn Images

Marlins Part Ways With Hitting Coach Pedro Guerrero

Darragh McDonald — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 21:35:14 +0000

Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix met with the media today to discuss various topics. Bendix mentioned that hitting coach Pedro Guerrero will not be back with the club next year. Christina De Nicola of MLB.com was among those to relay the news. The rest of the coaching staff is expected to return.

“He did a tremendous job for us,” Bendix said of Guerrero. “He’s a wonderful human being. We’re going to miss having him around, and really appreciate everything that Pedro gave to us. Just time for a new voice in the hitting space.”

Guerrero was hired by the Marlins going into the 2025 season. He had previously served as the assistant hitting coach for the Phillies and Giants. Miami’s offense has been middle of the pack since Guerrero came aboard. Last year, Marlins hitters had a combined .250/.314/.393 batting line and 96 wRC+, indicating they were 4% worse than league average on the whole. The 2026 club improved slightly, getting to a .249/.326/.400 line and 100 wRC+.

It’s always tough to determine how much credit or blame to give to a specific coach since he doesn’t control which players are on the roster. Also, many players consult with various outside organizations and personal hitting instructors these days, making it all the more difficult to tell what impact a team’s hitting coach is having.

“Evaluating a hitting coach is very difficult,” Bendix said. “That role is very, very difficult. I think we have a unique structure here, not just in the hitting department, but in all of our departments, with a director, a director of hitting, in this case, that oversees our hitting space. And so really looking for that sort of alignment from top to bottom with our director, with our entire hitting coaches. That’s what we’ll be prioritizing.”

Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images

Mets Notes: Rotation, Senga, Second Base

Steve Adams — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 20:32:32 +0000

The Mets’ rotation was one of the worst in MLB this season, sitting 23rd with a 4.47 ERA, 22nd with 791 innings pitched and 24th with a 9.1% walk rate. Only four Mets pitchers reached 100 innings: Nolan McLean (179 2/3), Sean Manaea (150 2/3), Christian Scott (110) and Freddy Peralta (113 2/3), the latter of whom was traded to the Rays at the deadline.

During his end-of-season press conference, president of baseball operations David Stearns noted that it will be “necessary” to add to the rotation this winter. Stearns didn’t indicate whether free agency or the trade market was a likelier avenue, nor did he give an indication as to the caliber of rotation arm he plans to seek (video link via SNY).

“I do think it is necessary for us to add to our starting rotation,” Stearns said. “We can do that in a variety of different ways. … You’d always love to add to the top of your rotation — any team would love to do that. Over the long term, what we need to do is develop pitchers at the top of our rotation. I think we are proving we can do that and will continue to do that. We also need to make sure we have more options, and we need to make sure we have the flexibility that allows us to go and get those options when they’re needed. We’ll be focused on that aspect of rotation building as well.”

In McLean, the Mets have developed a pretty clear top-of-the-rotation arm. His 2026 season wasn’t quite as dominant as his eight-start debut in 2025, but the 25-year-old still logged a 3.16 earned run average in 31 starts this year. He’s now tossed 227 2/3 major league frames and has a 2.93 ERA, 26.8% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 45.5% ground-ball rate. McLean finished out the season with 1.044 years of big league service, meaning he’s controllable for an additional five seasons and won’t even reach arbitration until the 2028-29 offseason.

Scott and rookie Zac Thornton both pitched well enough to garner looks next year, too. The 27-year-old Scott returned from his 2024 Tommy John surgery and notched a 3.85 ERA, 28.3% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate. His extreme fly-ball nature (32.2% grounder rate) could lead to some home run troubles down the road, but that wasn’t the case in 2026. He’s controlled for another four seasons and won’t reach arbitration until next winter.

Thornton, a 24-year-old lefty, debuted this season with 84 1/3 frames of 3.42 ERA ball. His 18.7% strikeout rate was well below average, but his 5.3% walk rate was excellent. He’d tossed 64 2/3 innings with a 4.02 ERA in Triple-A beforehand, and the 2023 fifth-rounder had generally been considered one of the system’s best prospects.

Manaea has had an up-and-down showing across the past two seasons, splitting time between the rotation and bullpen. He pitched to a 4.68 ERA in the rotation this season but logged a 5.02 ERA in 14 relief outings as well. Overall, Manaea has a 5.03 ERA in 211 1/3 innings since putting pen to paper on a three-year, $75MM contract in the 2024-25 offseason. Manaea is something of a wild card, but the rest of the group is wholly uncertain.

Former top prospect Jonah Tong logged a 3.82 ERA in 30 2/3 innings but recorded a pedestrian 4.54 mark in 23 Triple-A starts. His command both in the majors and in the minors was sub-par, and his average fastball velocity (94.8 mph) was down nearly a mile per hour from the prior season. Swingman Tobias Myers posted career-worst numbers, and righty Tylor Megill missed the entire season following last September’s UCL surgery. Jonathan Santucci, a 23-year-old lefty whom New York selected in the second round of the 2024 draft, posted quality numbers in Double-A before struggling through eight Triple-A starts. He’ll probably still be in the mix for a rotation spot at some point next season.

It’s even harder to know what to make of righty Kodai Senga, who’ll be entering the final season of a five-year, $75MM contract. That deal started out brilliantly, with Senga finishing second in NL Rookie of the Year voting, but he’s been hobbled by injuries and seen his production crater in three subsequent seasons. Senga has lost his rotation spot in each of the past two seasons, consenting to be optioned in 2025 and being shifted to the bullpen in 2026.

After using Senga in a multi-inning role during the middle of the season, the Mets moved him to a single-inning role in August. He fired 16 2/3 innings of 3.78 ERA ball with a 22-to-9 K/BB ratio following that move. Whether that’s enough to preserve a roster spot for Senga isn’t clear. Senga has voiced that he prefers to work out of the rotation, and while Stearns didn’t make a firm declaration on the the right-hander’s role in what will be his age-34 season, he implied that Senga will need to earn another spot as a starter (video via SNY):

“We’ll make that determination as we get into spring training and see where we are. We know where Kodai’s passion is. He’s been very honest with that. We also understand that we need a level of production in whatever role he’s going to be in to contribute to a winning team, so we’ll ultimately make that role determination as we get into next year.”

Stearns took a similar noncommittal tone when asked about second base, where Marcus Semien struggled through a career-worst season (.215/.280/.340 in 547 plate appearances). Stearns called out Brett Baty’s torrid finish to the season and a “host of really good minor league infielders” in declining to make a decisive call on second base. Infielders Jefferson Rojas, Emilien Pitre and Mitch Voit are all ranked within the Mets’ top 20 or so prospects; Rojas (Clay Holmes) and Pitre (Peralta) came to the Mets at the trade deadline. Voit was their first-round pick in 2025. Rojas and Pitre both reached Triple-A. Voit topped out in Double-A. A bit further down the ladder, Sammy Stafura (acquired for Luke Weaver) finished the season in High-A and will probably open next season in Double-A.

Rojas is expected to be added to the team’s 40-man roster in the offseason, writes Will Sammon of The Athletic. That’s not at all surprising, given that he’d be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft otherwise. It’s possible the looming lockout leads to the cancellation of that event — that was the case back in 2021 — but teams aren’t going to risk leaving prospects of Rojas’ caliber unprotected and simply assume that the Rule 5 Draft won’t take place.

Semien, 36, not only posted the weakest offense of his career but saw his typically exceptional defensive ratings tank. Both Defensive Runs Saved (-2) and Outs Above Average (-9) pegged him as a negative presence at second base for the first time in his career. He’s still signed for two years and a total of $46MM ($26MM in ’27, $20MM in ’28). The Mets could look to swap him out for a bad contract or eat some of the remaining money to dump him on another club, but his considerable step back in 2026 creates a major offseason question without any easy answer.

Report: Marlins Don’t Plan To Trade Sandy Alcantara In Offseason

Darragh McDonald — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 19:58:58 +0000

The Marlins have no plans to trade right-hander Sandy Alcantara this offseason, per reporting from Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. 2026 was the final guaranteed year of Alcantara’s deal but he can be retained for 2027 via a $21MM club option or sent to free agency via a $2MM buyout. It appears the most likely outcome is he will be back with Miami next year.

It’s not really a surprise. Although Alcantara has been in trade rumors for years, the Marlins have repeatedly held him while trading other pitchers. Owner Bruce Sherman told Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald in July that he views Alcantara as a franchise icon. Braxton Garrett, Edward Cabrera, Ryan Weathers, Trevor Rogers, Jesús Luzardo, Pablo López and others have been traded as the Fish have held onto Alcantara.

Alcantara’s $21MM salary next year is pretty high for the Marlins but they almost literally have nothing else on the books. Thanks to very modest free agent spending in recent years, the Marlins have no players locked into a contract for 2027 yet. They haven’t signed a free agent to a deal longer than one year since the two-year pact they gave Jean Segura for 2023-24. Alcantara’s 2021 extension is the most recent one the club has signed, apart from a two-year pact for Richard Bleier for 2022-23.

Once Alcantara’s option is picked up, that will be basically the only thing on the ledger apart from $3MM the Marlins still owe Giancarlo Stanton. Arbitration-eligible players will add to that but they have almost nothing locked in yet. Alcantara, Eury Pérez, Max Meyer should be the rotation nucleus next year, with Janson Junk, Tyler Phillips, Ryan Gusto and others potentially rounding out the group.

The larger question is perhaps whether or not the Marlins will get an extension done to keep Alcantara in Miami beyond next season, which will be his age-31 campaign. President of baseball operations Peter Bendix declined to comment on that possibility today, per Jackson. A couple of days ago, Alcantara said that he was interested in staying a Marlin for life, per Kevin Barral of Fish on First.

Alcantara won the National League Cy Young in 2022 when he posted a 2.28 earned run average but he hasn’t been near that level since. His ERA jumped to 4.14 in 2023 and then he missed 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He has been back on the mound for two seasons now but with mid-rotation results.

His 5.36 ERA in 2025 was significantly higher than this year’s 3.87 but his underlying numbers actually regressed. Last year’s 19.1% strikeout rate dropped to 17.1% this year. This year’s 41.9% ground ball rate was almost five ticks below last year’s 46.5% clip. The ERA difference is mostly due to last year’s 61.9% strand rate being very unlucky. It regressed to a more normal 73.4% this year. Though Alcantara’s ERA dropped by about a run and a half, his SIERA increased from last year’s 4.38 to this year’s 4.55.

Even though he may not be an ace, the Marlins clearly value him as a stable presence in a roster that otherwise has turned over a lot in recent years. In addition to being a rotation workhorse, he dabbled in closing late in the season. That was seemingly to limit his workload as he had already sailed beyond 200 innings on the year. That is something that Alcantara and the Marlins are open to continuing, with other pitchers potentially in the mix as well.

It’s normal for a starter to throw a bullpen in between starts. Teams have occasionally had pitchers effectively throw that bullpen in a game setting, usually in a must-win situation late in the season or in the playoffs. It seems the Marlins are willing to experiment by doing that a bit more often in the regular season, if the pitchers themselves are up for it.

Turning to other possibilities for the Miami offseason, Jackson says the club plans to be moderately active in free agency, whether or not there’s a salary floor in the next collective bargaining agreement. “Moderate” is a subjective term, so it’s hard to say what that could mean. As mentioned, the Marlins haven’t done a multi-year deal for a long time and have basically nothing on the books. In theory, they could go after any free agent available but time will tell how that works in practice.

Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images

Royals To Replace Hitting Coach Alec Zumwalt

Steve Adams — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 18:35:27 +0000

The Royals are planning to replace hitting coach Alec Zumwalt, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. He’s being reassigned within the organization and not fired, however. Zumwalt will continue on in his role as the team’s senior director of hitting performance but apparently won’t be in uniform and working with the big league staff on a daily basis.

Zumwalt has spent more than a decade working with the Royals. The former Braves fourth-rounder (1999) joined the Royals as a scout in 2013 after his minor league playing days ended. Then-Royals GM Dayton Moore was plenty familiar with Zumwalt, having worked in the Braves’ scouting department and front office at the time Atlanta selected him in the draft.

Zumwalt climbed the organizational ladder in Kansas City, moving from advance scout to director of baseball operations and director of player development. The Royals named him the organization’s director of hitting performance following the 2021 season, and by May of 2022 he’d been shifted into the dugout in place of hitting coach Terry Bradshaw, who was let go after the team started the season mired in a dreadful offensive funk.

Scoring runs has been an issue for the Royals throughout Zumwalt’s tenure on the big league staff. Dating back to 2022, Kansas City ranks 23rd in the majors in runs scored (3392), 26th in home runs (800), 29th in walk rate (7.5%) and 26th in on-base percentage (.308). To their credit, Royals hitters have the game’s fifth-lowest strikeout rate in that time (20.7%) and have been more of a middle-of-the-pack group in terms of batting average (.246, tied for 15th) and slugging percentage (.396, tied for 19th).

On a rate basis, this year’s group was actually better than at any point during Zumwalt’s tenure. Royals hitters batted .247/.316/.402. By measure of wRC+, that’s two percent worse than league-average production. They still ranked in the bottom third of the league in homers, runs scored, walk rate and wRC+. Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen had breakout seasons. Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino both delivered quality numbers relative to the league as a whole, but their results were down relative to their own prior standards. Maikel Garcia’s bat regressed to about league-average as he dealt with injuries.

Salvador Perez, meanwhile, struggled through the worst season of his career. Given that he’s 36 and was long one of the game’s iron men behind the plate, catching immense workloads on a yearly basis, a mid-30s downturn in production isn’t a huge shock. Jonathan India’s 2025 struggles bled into 2026 before an injury ended his season in April. Offseason acquisition Isaac Collins didn’t come anywhere close to replicating his 2025 breakout in Milwaukee. Center fielder Kyle Isbel has always been a glove-first player, but this year’s offensive output was the worst of his career by a wide margin.

It’s not clear if there are any other coaching changes on the horizon on the heels of a thoroughly disappointing year in Kansas City. Manager Matt Quatraro isn’t likely to be replaced, though. He signed a three-year extension this past February. That deal hasn’t even kicked in yet; it covered the 2027-29 seasons and included a club option for the 2030 campaign.

Charting Rookie Pitchers: End-of-Season Review

Jack Martin — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 18:30:04 +0000
End-of-season composite scores for every rookie starter with at least 50 IP.
Source

Tyler Wade Announces Retirement

Charlie Wright — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 18:00:18 +0000

Utilityman Tyler Wade is hanging up his spikes. The nine-year veteran announced his retirement on Instagram yesterday. Wade played for the Yankees, Angels, Athletics, and Padres during his big-league career. He spent this past season in the Rangers organization.

Wade was taken by the Yankees in the fourth round of the 2013 draft. He moved steadily through the system, reaching the majors for a brief stint in 2017. Wade would be on and off the big-league roster over the next four seasons. His most productive year came in 2021, when he appeared in a career-high 103 games. Wade hit .268 and stole 17 bases as a semi-regular that year.

After the 2021 season, Wade was bumped off New York’s roster. He was designated for assignment and traded to the Angels. Wade struggled in Los Angeles and was traded back to the Yankees that same season, but didn’t appear in the majors. He bounced to the A’s and Padres from there.

The 31-year-old Wade signed a minor league deal with the Rangers this winter. He posted a 53 wRC+ over 16 games at Triple-A Round Rock. Texas released him in mid-April.

Wade never made much of an impact at the plate (65 wRC+), but he offered good speed and ample defensive versatility. He finished his big-league career with 51 steals in 992 plate appearances. Wade spent time at every position except catcher and first base. He graded out as a decent defender at most spots, though his glove lagged at the end of his career.

We at MLBTR wish Wade the best in his future endeavors.

Photo courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images

Padres To Activate Joe Musgrove

Charlie Wright — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 17:20:16 +0000

12:20 pm: Catcher Rodolfo Duran was shifted to the 60-day IL, per his MLB.com transactions tracker. That clears a 40-man spot for Musgrove. Duran went on the minor league IL in mid-September. His injury has yet to be reported.

11:46 am: Right-hander Joe Musgrove has made the Padres’ postseason roster for the Wild Card round, per a team announcement. Musgrove will need to be activated from the 60-day IL, which will come with a 40-man roster adjustment. San Diego has not revealed the official move yet.

Musgrove will be making his return to a major league mound for the first time in almost exactly two years. His last appearance also came in the Wild Card round. He started against the Braves in a series-clinching game back in 2024. Musgrove dealt with an elbow injury after that outing that ultimately led to Tommy John surgery.

After missing all of the 2025 season, Musgrove has had multiple setbacks in his recovery this year. As recently as early September, he was dealing with arm fatigue that cast doubt on whether he’d be able to return at all this year. Musgrove’s last rehab appearance came on August 27. He fired five innings of one-run ball with Triple-A El Paso, but didn’t recover well from the outing.

Musgrove operated as a starter in each of his four rehab appearances. He’ll likely shift to a bullpen role with the Padres. San Diego will hand the ball to Michael King for Game 1 against the Cubs. Nick Pivetta and Robbie Ray are the top candidates to start Game 2 and Game 3 (if necessary). Walker Buehler tossed 73 pitches on Saturday. He’ll be an option later in the series.

When healthy, Musgrove has been a steady contributor in the San Diego rotation. He delivered a low-3.00s ERA across his first three campaigns with the club. Even as he battled elbow issues in 2024, Musgrove posted a 3.88 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning. While his recovery didn’t go smoothly, the Padres had to be encouraged by Musgrove’s velocity. He sat 94.4 mph with the four-seamer in three Triple-A appearances. That’s up more than a tick from 2024.

Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images

Tigers To Part Ways With Two Coaches

Charlie Wright — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 16:33:21 +0000

The Tigers are expected to make two coaching changes involving the major league staff. Assistant pitching coach Juan Nieves and first base coach Anthony Sanders will not be back with the club, reports Cody Stavenhagen and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

Nieves has been with the Tigers since 2021. He’s worked under pitching coach Chris Fetter for the duration of his tenure with Detroit. Nieves has ample experience on big-league staffs, including as bullpen coach with the White Sox from 2008 to 2012 and as pitching coach for the Red Sox from 2013 to 2015. Nieves spent three seasons as the Marlins’ pitching coach before joining the Tigers organization.

Detroit ranked sixth in ERA this year. A half season from Tarik Skubal certainly boosted those numbers, but the team also got solid production from unheralded names like Drew Anderson and Keider Montero. Troy Melton took a step forward in his first full season in the majors. Jackson Jobe seemed to make good on his big prospect pedigree in a nine-start stint with the club to close the season.

The Tigers’ bullpen was generally solid, outside of a down season for Kyle Finnegan and a major injury to Will Vest. The team will have a decision to make on closer Kenley Jansen. The veteran has a $12MM club option for 2027.

Sanders spent one season with the Tigers. He previously served as first base coach for the Orioles from 2020 to 2025. Detroit will enter 2027 with two new base coaches. Third base coach Joey Cora was let go in July. Billy Boyer stepped into his role to close the season.

The Tigers were one of the least-active teams on the basepaths this year. They ranked 29th in stolen bases, ahead of only the Astros. Detroit was also second-to-last in stolen base attempts. It’s technically an improvement, as the Tigers were last in steals and attempts in 2025. Part of the lack of running has to do with the roster without much speed. A full season of Max Clark should help boost the numbers next season. Kevin McGonigle could also run more. He only stole a dozen bases this year, but had 32 steals in 162 minor-league games from 2024 through 2025.

Photo courtesy of Brian Bradshaw Sevald, Imagn Images

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