RotoFeed

Nationals Designate Chase Hampton For Assignment

Mark Polishuk — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 15:30:17 +0000

The Nationals announced that right-hander Chase Hampton has been designated for assignment, and right-hander Luis Perales was optioned to Triple-A Rochester. The two roster moves clear the way for Connelly Early’s activation from the 60-day injured list, and Early’s impending Nats debut was covered in greater detail yesterday.

Hampton has only been in the Nationals organization for a couple of weeks, and his time with Washington may come and go without any in-game appearances at the major or minor league levels. Hampton’s 2026 resume consists of an 8.18 ERA over 55 innings at three different levels of the Yankees’ farm system, and after New York DFA’ed Hampton earlier this month, the Nats made a waiver claim.

Considered one of the top 100 prospects in baseball prior to the 2024 season, injuries limited Hampton to just 18 2/3 minor league innings that season, and a Tommy John surgery in February 2025 shelved him for over a full year. He returned to action last May with the Yankees’ A-level affiliate, but the results just weren’t there for Hampton in A-ball, high-A ball, or at Double-A. The righty’s garish ERA was fueled by 13 homers allowed in his 55 innings, and he also had a 12.9% walk rate against a 21.3% strikeout rate.

Hampton has never been outrighted, so the Nationals would retain their control if he cleared waivers. Chances are that Hampton will be let go into minor league free agency, as the 25-year-old will seek out the next chapter of his career with a new club.

Tigers Activate Justin Verlander From 60-Day IL

Darragh McDonald — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 15:25:12 +0000

TODAY: Verlander has been activated from the 60-day IL, according to multiple Tigers beat writers (including MLive.com’s Evan Woodbery). In corresponding moves, left-hander Andrew Sears was optioned to the Florida Complex League since the Triple-A season is over, and Kerry Carpenter was moved from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL. Carpenter hasn’t played since July 26 due to plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

SEPTEMBER 22: The Tigers announced that Justin Verlander will start Saturday’s game. It will be the final start of his excellent career. He will need to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list but the Tigers have several candidates to head onto the 60-day IL, thus opening a 40-man spot for him.

It will largely be a ceremonial start but it should be a joyous occasion nonetheless. The Tigers signed Verlander in the offseason after he spent several years with other clubs but he still hasn’t been able to take the mound in Detroit since signing that pact. He made just one start this year, on the road, before hitting the injured list with inflammation in his left hip. His path back to the club was then blocked by a hamstring strain.

In July, he announced that he would retire after this season. Since then, he has been trying to get back into game shape while the club has fallen from contention. The Tigers are out of the postseason picture now and will be playing the Pirates this weekend, another club that has been eliminated. There won’t be anything at stake, which isn’t a great thing for the Tigers in the grand scheme of things, but one benefit is that it gives them the freedom to send Verlander out there and not worry about the results.

It probably won’t be a long start as he isn’t stretched out. He hasn’t been on a minor league rehab assignment recently. He just threw a one-inning simulated game on Friday. Today, he threw a bullpen session and felt good, per Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic.

For the fans, it gives them a chance to show up and cheer for Verlander one last time. He was drafted by the club in 2004 and was a staple of the roster through 2017, when he was traded to the Astros. Along the way, he racked up multiple All-Star selections, a Rookie of the Year award, an MVP award, a Cy Young award, and many statistical titles as well. He has continued to accrue accolades since leaving Detroit, suiting up for the Astros, Mets and Giants.

Last year, Verlander posted a 3.85 earned run average in 29 starts for the Giants. The Tigers re-signing him was initially a move aimed at legitimately improving the club, as opposed to being purely sentimental. But the combination of his injuries and the club’s general underperformance have pushed the circumstances in that direction. It’s not what anyone hoped for six months ago but it should make for a special day at the ballpark nonetheless.

Photo courtesy of David Rodriguez-Munoz, Imagn Images

Mickey Gasper Sidelined By “Significant Biceps Injury”

Mark Polishuk — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 15:02:29 +0000

Red Sox catcher Mickey Gasper sustained what manager Chad Tracy called a “significant biceps injury” during the first game of Boston’s doubleheader with the Cubs on Friday. Gasper was favoring his right arm in the aftermath of a fifth-inning strikeout, and Connor Wong replaced Gasper behind the plate prior to the top of the sixth.

After the second game of the twin bill, Tracy told MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith and other reporters that Gasper would “still be seeing more doctors” to determine the full extent of the problem. “We’ll get a final conclusion but it’s a pretty significant biceps injury. It’s probably going to take him out,” Tracy said, referring to Gasper’s availability for at least the Wild Card Series and possibly all of Boston’s playoff run.

Claimed off waivers from the Nationals last winter, Gasper has been an unexpectedly dangerous hitter for the Red Sox, batting .251/.357/.466 with 10 home runs over 225 plate appearances. Most of this production came during a memorable 59-PA stretch between August 17 and September 4, following Gasper’s second call-up of the season from Triple-A Worcester. Gasper batted .378/.525/1.000 with eight homers during this nuclear-hot streak, dwarfing the .186/.276/.250 slash line he’d posted in the first 252 PA of his MLB career (which began in August 2024 during his first stint with Boston).

While Gasper has naturally cooled off significantly in the last few weeks, the switch-hitter’s ability to crush right-handed pitching and play both first base and catcher made him a strong candidate to be included on Boston’s postseason roster. Adley Rutschman will get most or all of the catching duties with Wong slated to be the primary backup catcher, but Gasper could’ve gotten at-bats as a platoon DH or even at first base, given how Willson Contreras is still recovering from a hand injury.

Contreras hasn’t played since September 17, when he was hit in the right hand by a Jakob Junis pitch. Ceddanne Rafaela is day-to-day with hamstring tightness and didn’t play in the doubleheader, though he did play on Thursday. Beyond Gasper, the Red Sox bench has been thinned by injuries to such players as Masataka Yoshida, Curtis Mead, Anthony Seigler, and Eli White, who might all be unavailable for the postseason.

The situation will look better if Contreras and Rafaela are able to suit up against the Yankees in the Wild Card Series, and with their playoff spot clinched, the Red Sox can rest as many players as they want in advance of Game 1 on Tuesday. A nor’easter storm this weekend has led to some unusual rescheduling, as a planned series with the Cubs at Fenway Park turned into a doubleheader on Friday, an off-day today, and a final game to be played on Sunday at Tropicana Field. The Red Sox will then head from St. Petersburg to the Bronx for the start of their playoff series.

Josh Jung Suffers Fractured Right Hand

Mark Polishuk — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 13:57:15 +0000

Josh Jung was hit in the right hand by a Joe Ryan pitch in the first inning of the Rangers’ 10-2 loss to the Twins on Friday. Jung (in the lineup as the designated hitter) remained in the game to run the bases and eventually scored on Wyatt Langford’s RBI groundout, but Alejandro Osuna pinch-hit for Jung during his next scheduled at-bat in the third inning.

The postgame report from manager Skip Schumaker (to the Dallas Morning News’ Shawn McFarland and other media) confirmed the worst, as Jung sustained a fracture in his right hand. The exact nature and severity of the injury will be determined by further tests, but needless to say, Jung won’t be available for the Rangers’ final two regular-season games. If Texas manages to win the AL West and qualify for the postseason, Jung is unlikely to heal up in time to play any role even in an extended playoff run.

Despite matching 79-81 records, the Rangers and Astros remain in a battle for the AL West crown, with Houston in first place due to the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage. The division champ will become the first playoff team in MLB history with a non-winning record, yet that detail is surely irrelevant for both clubs — particularly a Rangers club trying to return to the postseason for the first time since winning the World Series in 2023.

Losing Jung is a terrible blow to Texas’ chances at the division title. The third baseman is hitting .299/.365/.462 with 12 home runs over 444 plate appearances, which translates to a team-leading 136 wRC+. It isn’t a reach to suggest that the Rangers might already have the AL West clinched if Jung hadn’t missed over seven weeks due to a left calf strain. Jung has been red-hot since returning from the injured list on September 12, with a 1.032 OPS over his last 48 PA.

Ezequiel Duran is the likeliest candidate to assume third base duty in Jung’s absence, while Justin Foscue could be in line for most second-base duty along with Nicky Lopez. Right-handers Bailey Ober and Dean Kremer are Minnesota’s scheduled starters for the next two games, and Foscue has struggled against righties while crushing lefties this season.

This is the second time that a hit-by-pitch has resulted in a major injury for Jung, as a right wrist fracture in 2024 led to two surgeries (both during and after the season) and limited him to only 46 games played that year. Jung was an All-Star in 2023 and this season’s numbers are the best of his five-year MLB career, but between these wrist/hand problems, the calf strain, and other injuries, health remains a significant subplot of Jung’s career. Even if his hand fracture may not impact Jung’s readiness for the start of Spring Training, his offseason work will be significantly set back by the recovery process.

Joc Pederson was also lost to a fracture in his left hand just a couple of weeks ago, depriving the Texas lineup of another big bat. Pederson told McFarland and other reporters that he is hoping to be ready for the playoffs if the Rangers win the AL West, and the veteran hit in the batting cages yesterday. The weekend plan includes facing a pitching machine today and then a live batting-practice session on Sunday, as Pederson aims to be available for the start of the AL wild card series on Tuesday.

Diamondbacks To Designate Jesus Sanchez For Assignment

Mark Polishuk — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 13:15:45 +0000

The Diamondbacks will designate outfielder Jesus Sanchez for assignment prior to today’s game with the Padres, Arizona manager Torey Lovullo told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert and other reporters following Friday’s 11-4 Snakes victory. The roster move creates space to allow for the call-up of a catcher, as Gabriel Moreno made an early exit Friday due to what Lovullo described as a “tender” left hamstring.

Moreno’s injury doesn’t appear to be too serious, as Lovullo said the plan is for Moreno to play today as the designated hitter. On Friday, Moreno scored from first base on Geraldo Perdomo’s bases-clearing double in the top of the sixth inning, but was then replaced at catcher by James McCann before the bottom of the seventh got underway.

McCann will presumably start today’s game behind the plate, while the incoming Triple-A catcher will act as McCann’s backup. Gilbert assumes Adrian Del Castillo will be the call-up, and while Del Castillo is already on the 40-man roster, Sanchez may have been superfluous as basically a DH-only player whose role will now be filled by Moreno. Because Sanchez was claimed off waivers from the Blue Jays less than two weeks ago, he already wouldn’t have been eligible for a postseason roster if the D’Backs manage to squeak into the playoffs.

A six-game winning streak has kept the Snakes’ hopes alive, as Arizona now sits a game behind the Phillies for the final NL wild card berth. The D’Backs also hold the tiebreaker over Philadelphia, adding to the September drama. Given the circumstances, the Diamondbacks can only hope that Moreno (one of the team’s top bats) is able to at least hit up to his usual standard heading into the final two games of the regular season.

Sanchez has only two hits in his 16 PA in an Arizona uniform, so he has done little to improve the Diamondbacks’ team-wide struggles against right-handed pitching. The lack of production with the Snakes drops Sanchez to a 99 wRC+ for the season as a whole, as he had a 105 wRC+ and a .260/.318/.416 slash line in 299 PA for Toronto.

Most of Sanchez’s success with the Jays came early in the season, and he has hit only .168/.279/.253 over his last 111 trips to the plate with both Toronto and Arizona. He also missed about a month due to a sprained right ankle, and struggled badly from a defensive standpoint in the Blue Jays’ outfield. It was enough for the Jays to DFA Sanchez earlier this month, and the Diamondbacks made a flier of a waiver claim in the hopes that Sanchez could be sparked by a change of scenery.

With just two games remaining in the regular season, Sanchez obviously won’t be claimed again. He’ll very likely be released once he clears waivers, as while Sanchez will be arbitration-eligible for the third and final time this winter, Arizona surely aren’t eager to give him a raise on his $6.8MM salary for 2026. Sanchez will get an early jump on free agency, and may be limited to just minor league offers as he tries to rebound from his rough season.

The Opener: Diamondbacks, AL West, Milestones

Mark Polishuk — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 12:35:59 +0000

Eury Perez capped off a solid season with the best start of his career, as the Marlins righty threw a complete-game one-hitter in Friday’s 3-0 victory over the Braves. Sean Murphy’s sixth-inning single was the only hit allowed by Perez, who had one walk while striking out eight over a career-high 105 pitches. It was not only Perez’s first career complete game, but the first time in his three MLB seasons that he had logged more than seven innings in a start.

1. Diamondbacks are one back

Friday’s 11-4 win over the Padres extended the Diamondbacks’ winning streak to six games. The Phillies dropped a 2-0 result to the Rays, as Philadelphia has now scored only two runs over the course of an ill-timed three-game losing streak. With two games remaining in the regular season, 87-73 Philadelphia sits just a game in front of 86-74 Arizona for the final NL wild card berth, and the D’Backs hold the tiebreaker over the Phils. The 88-73 Cubs are just a half-game ahead of the Phillies, while the 89-71 Padres hold the top wild card position. San Diego and Chicago have clinched postseason berths regardless, but some interesting three-way tie scenarios (either for seeding or to decide who gets in between Philadelphia and Arizona) are still in play heading into the final weekend.

2. AL West, .500 at best

For the first time in baseball history, a team will reach the playoffs with a non-winning record. The Astros and Rangers each lost on Friday to drop to 79-81 on the season, meaning that the AL West champion will have no better than a .500 record. Houston holds the tiebreaker over Texas, so the Astros can clinch today with a win over the A’s and a Rangers loss to the Twins. Hayden Wesneski will start for the Astros today against the Athletics’ Jack Perkins, while Nathan Eovaldi starts for Texas against Minnesota’s Bailey Ober.

3. Players reaching notable milestones, plus Verlander’s farewell

The other playoff position still up for grabs is the AL Central title, as the Guardians continue to hold a one-game lead over the White Sox for first place (with the Sox holding the tiebreaker). Both teams won on Friday, and Chicago’s 6-1 win over the Rockies was also significant in a less-appealing way for Colson Montgomery — the Sox shortstop established a new MLB record with his 224th strikeout of the season. In more positive statistical achievements from Friday, Elly De La Cruz became the fourth 30/30 player in Reds history when the shortstop stole third base in the third inning of Friday’s 6-5 loss to the Blue Jays. Carson Benge went yard for his 20th homer in the Mets’ 7-6 loss to the Nationals, making Benge the first New York rookie (and just the eighth rookie in history) to hit the 20/20 threshold in their first big league season. Finally, Justin Verlander will take the mound for the 557th and final time in his 21-year career, as the future of Hall-of-Famer will return from the 60-day injured list to make his last start in the Tigers’ game with the Pirates today.

The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 1540 – First Look at the 2027 Closer Pool

Paul Sporer — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 06:12:42 +0000

Paul and Justin take their first look at the 2027 closer pool

Source

Diamondbacks Place Corbin Burnes On Injured List

Darragh McDonald — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 04:59:10 +0000

The Diamondbacks announced that right-hander Corbin Burnes has been placed on the 15-day injured list with shoulder inflammation, retroactive to September 22. Fellow righty José Cabrera was recalled as the corresponding move. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported the Burnes news prior to the official announcement.

It’s a notable development as the Snakes have been hanging by a thread for a while now. They have managed to stay alive by winning five in a row. They are two games back of the Phillies for the final Wild Card spot with three to play. Arizona holds the tiebreaker, so they would get in if they even things up with Philadelphia.

The Diamondbacks still need a lot to go right, so it’s not ideal to be losing Burnes. It was just over two weeks ago that he was reinstated from the IL, having worked his way back from Tommy John surgery. He has made three starts with his velocity ticking down and his results worsening. In his first outing, his sinker averaged 94.1 miles per hour as he threw three scoreless innings. In the next outing, he dropped to 93.1 mph as he allowed five earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. Last time, he dropped to 92.3 and allowed four earned runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Given those trends, it’s possible the shoulder started bugging him at some point along the way. Given his struggles and his declining velo, it’s understandable for the Snakes to put him on ice, but it means they will have to improvise something this weekend while they have a narrow margin for error. Brandon Pfaadt is scheduled for tonight and Michael Soroka for Sunday. Burnes was scheduled to take the ball on Saturday but that won’t be happening now. Eduardo Rodríguez just pitched yesterday and Merrill Kelly on Wednesday, so they won’t be available.

Piecoro suggests Ryne Nelson could be part of the plan on Saturday, either as a starter or a bulk pitcher as part of a bullpen game. Nelson also just returned from a lengthy IL stint, as a flexor strain put him on the shelf for almost three months. He is not fully stretched out. He made three rehab appearances in early September. The first two of those were one inning and the final one was an inning and two thirds. Since being activated, he has made two big league appearances, both of which lasted an inning and a third.

Zac Gallen, also recently reinstated from the IL, has thrown at least three innings in his past two outings. However, he has a 6.12 ERA this year. Cabrera could also help. He last pitched in Triple-A a week ago and logged six innings.

If the Diamondbacks manage to make it through to the postseason, they would have to assemble their a playoff rotation without Burnes, at least to start. Since Soroka is starting the final game of the regular season, he probably wouldn’t be available in the Wild Card round. That could leave Kelly starting a game, which isn’t great since he has a 4.94 ERA this year. If Burnes can get healthy, he could be back in the mix later, though his IL window will extend past the start of the NLDS.

Burnes has the chance to opt out of his contract at season’s end. It never seemed especially likely that he would walk away from four years and $140MM after spending most of 2025 and 2026 rehabbing from surgery. His recent struggles and shoulder troubles should make it even less plausible.

Photo courtesy of Arianna Grainey, Imagn Images

Mets Outright Xzavion Curry

Charlie Wright — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 04:30:43 +0000

The Mets sent right-hander Xzavion Curry outright to the club’s Florida Complex League affiliate ahead of Friday’s game against the Nationals. Curry was designated for assignment on Wednesday after the team claimed lefty Philip Abner off waivers from the Giants.

Curry opened the season in the Mexican League. He signed a minor league deal with the Mets in May. The veteran has been on and off the big-league roster several times throughout the summer. His most recent stint was a brief one. Curry spent a day in the majors and was torched in his lone appearance. The Orioles hammered him for six earned runs over three innings, including four homers.

The 28-year-old Curry posted a 5.48 ERA in his nine games with the Mets. He’ll head to free agency this winter looking for another big-league opportunity. Curry has pitched in parts of six seasons with the Guardians, Marlins, and Mets. He hasn’t had overwhelming success, but he’s been a useful innings eater often called upon to spell tired bullpens.

The Mets could look to bring Curry back as an experienced depth piece behind what’s shaping up to be a youthful rotation. Nolan McLean, Christian Scott, Zac Thornton, and Jonah Tong seem to be heading toward 2027 rotation spots. Veteran Sean Manaea will round out the group. Kodai Senga, who has been the team’s closer recently, could also factor into the rotation plans.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

Nationals To Activate Connelly Early From 60-Day IL

Charlie Wright — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 03:43:39 +0000

The Nationals are expected to reinstate lefty Connelly Early from the 60-day IL ahead of Saturday’s matchup against the Mets, per Mark Zuckerman of Nats Journal. Early will draw the start for his team debut. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since late June.

The plan is for Early to toss a few innings ahead of bulk reliever Jake Irvin, notes Zuckerman. He threw 40 pitches over 1 2/3 innings in his last rehab outing. Washington’s 40-man roster is currently full, so a move will be needed to make room for Early.

The Nationals acquired Early from the Red Sox straight up for infielder Curtis Mead in late July. It was an intriguing move for both sides, but one that has produced next to zero results so far. Early hit the 15-day IL with left elbow inflammation in early July. Washington moved him to the 60-day IL in August. Unlike Early, Mead was healthy when he was traded. It didn’t last long. He was hit by a pitch in his second at-bat with the Red Sox and broke his wrist. Mead hasn’t played since the injury.

Early earned a spot in Boston’s Opening Day rotation with a dazzling four-start run at the end of 2025. The lefty piled up 29 strikeouts in his first taste of the majors. He permitted just five earned runs. The punchouts came down this season, but Early was a steady member of Boston’s rotation before the injury. He posted a 3.44 ERA across 17 starts.

Washington locked down ace Cade Cavalli on a four-year deal last week. Beyond Cavalli, the 2027 rotation is unsettled. Lefty Andrew Alvarez has put together a solid audition over the final two months of the season. Fellow lefty DJ Herz is back after missing the 2025 campaign due to Tommy John surgery. Irvin and Jackson Kent are in the mix. Brad Lord, Riley Cornelio, Luis Perales, and Will Dion all have ample starting experience. It’s not the caliber of group that would keep a healthy Early from securing a rotation spot next year.

Photo courtesy of Jaiden Tripi, Imagn Images

Previewing The Upcoming Shortstop Class

Steve Adams — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 02:46:27 +0000

As the regular season winds down, MLBTR is taking a position-by-position look at the 2026-27 free agent market. Next up are the shortstops. Free agency is always a tough place to go shopping for a shortstop, but that’s extra-true this season, where the best options are rebound candidates and utilitymen.

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.

Top Names

J.P. Crawford (32)

Once upon a time, Crawford rated as a plus defensive shortstop, but we’re a long way removed from 2020-21. The 31-year-old veteran’s glovework has deteriorated considerably. He’s played 706 innings at shortstop and graded out at -12 Defensive Runs Saved and -13 Outs Above Average. Crawford has made five throwing errors in his 706 innings this season — way above his typical pace for errant throws. That could be attributable to separate IL stints for shoulder, wrist and hand injuries this year. It’s tougher to blame what Statcast considers to be bottom-of-the-scale range on that trio of arm/hand issues, though.

At the plate, Crawford is a low-average, high-OBP hitter. He’s walked in 11.6% of his career plate appearances and has logged an 11.3% walk rate or better in each of the past five years. He’s at 13.3% this season. He’s not going to do a lot of damage against southpaws, but he walks a ton versus righties and lefties alike, so he doesn’t really need a platoon partner. Crawford is batting .218/.334/.344 on the season. His average is being dragged down a bit by a .251 BABIP, though some of the discrepancy between that mark and the career .296 mark he carried into the season can be explained by an uncharacteristic uptick in pop-ups. Entering the season, 11% of Crawford’s career fly-balls had been harmless infield flies. This year, that number is 17.5%. His 20 infield pop-ups are the second-most in his career, despite considerable time on the injured list this season.

Crawford is likely past his prime, though an age-32 renaissance in a better hitter’s environment than T-Mobile Park wouldn’t be a total shock. He’ll draw some extra interest for his off-field traits, too. Crawford is revered as a clubhouse leader in Seattle. Teammates are never shy to sing his praises. Crawford went out of his way to approach the Mariners this season about moving to third base as a means of clearing a path for shortstop-of-the-future Colt Emerson to get acclimated at shortstop in the majors. That may not seem like a big deal, but there are stories every year about veterans not wanting to move off their positions. Crawford not only being willing to do so but volunteering for it exemplifies the type of teammate he’s been in Seattle.

Mauricio Dubón (32)

Dubón probably fits better in the “utility players” section below, but he’s played well on both sides of the ball this winter and the options for any team seeking shortstop help are minimal. Dubón is hitting .276/.321/.395 with career-highs in plate appearances (612), homers (11), doubles (28), triples (3) and stolen bases (10). He doesn’t hit the ball hard (86.4 mph average exit velocity, 29.2% hard-hit rate) but puts it in play a lot; Dubón’s 11.9% strikeout rate is the 10th-lowest among all qualified big league hitters. It’s good that he has such strong bat-to-ball skills, as Dubón is a free swinger who has never walked much and probably isn’t going to change at this point.

Admittedly, Dubón has never been a full-time shortstop, but there’s no real reason to think he couldn’t handle the job for a year or two. He’s not likely to command more than a two-year deal anyhow. He could capably serve as a one-year or even partial-season stopgap at shortstop for a team looking to bridge its way to a top prospect’s promotion, or he could take over shortstop duties outright for a club looking to scale back on its strikeouts. Of course, there will be more teams that target Dubón with an eye toward him reprising his jack-of-all-trades utility role. It’s one he’s handled quite well.

Utility Players

Isiah Kiner-Falefa (32)

There are some similarities between Kiner-Falefa and Dubón, but the latter has better contact and on-base skills. Kiner-Falefa’s strikeout rate hovers between 15-17%, which is well shy of the roughly 22% league average, but he typically doesn’t walk much. This year’s 9.8% walk rate is easily a career-best but comes in a tiny sample of 173 plate appearances. Is it an outlier or the beginning of a trend? Kiner-Falefa’s plate discipline history suggest the former. His 31.2% chase rate on pitches outside the zone and 47.5% swing rate are right in line with the respective 30.8% and 47.3% marks he posted in 2024-25, when he walked at just a 3.5% clip between Pittsburgh and Toronto.

From a defensive standpoint, IKF can handle shortstop, second base and third base more than capably. He has limited experience in the outfield. He dabbled with catching earlier in his career, and while he’s not going to return there on a regular basis at any point, he makes a fine emergency catcher. Kiner-Falefa is hitting just .242/.318/.314 in this year’s 173 turns at the plate. He should get a big league deal, but it’ll probably be a one-year pact with a lesser guarantee than the $6MM he got from Boston.

Edmundo Sosa (31)

Sosa has had an odd season, posting awful numbers in May and July, roughly league-average numbers in April and June, and then finishing the season on a blistering hot streak in August and September. Such is life for a versatile utilityman who typically tallies 250 to 300 plate appearances per season and thus is prone to some bizarre small-sample streaks in either direction. In the aggregate, his 2026 offense (.247/.285/.417) is below average but not egregiously so. It’s also not far off the combined .261/.301/.438 pace he set from 2023-25 in Philly.

The righty-hitting Sosa is very good against lefties, poor against righties and can play all over the field. He has plus defensive marks at second base, shortstop and third base in his career and has held his own in limited left field work, too. The Phils have used him as an emergency option in center, though he has just three innings there during his time with the team.

Rebound Candidate

Ha-Seong Kim (31)

Kim has seemingly never recovered from the shoulder surgery he required late in 2024. He signed a two-year, $29MM deal with the Rays in the 2024-25 offseason, which allowed him to opt out following the season. Kim’s return took longer than expected, and he hit poorly with Tampa Bay. The Braves scooped him up off waivers in August 2025, and he caught fire for a few weeks before cooling off for the final few games. Atlanta clearly was intrigued by his upside; the Braves re-signed him to a $20MM deal after Kim turned down a $16MM player option.

It’s proven to be a disastrous decision. Kim has been one of the least productive players in baseball this year, hitting .113/.203/.121 in 139 trips to the plate. By measure of wRC+ (-4), he’s been 104% worse than average at the plate. That’s the third-worst single-season wRC+ mark of any player (min. 130 plate appearances) in the past decade, leading only 2023 Cam Gallagher and 2018 Trayce Thompson.

It’s been a shocking fall for Kim, who at one point looked like a potential nine-figure shortstop. He’s never been a great hitter, but from 2022-24 he batted .250/.336/.385 in a total of 1678 plate appearances. That was 6% better than average, and Kim paired that solid-but-unspectacular work at the plate with plus defense at three infield positions (shortstop included) and high-end baserunning. There’s nowhere to go but up from here, and he’s still only 30 years old (31 in a few weeks). A club could sign him to a cheap one-year deal or even a minor league contract and hope for a rebound as he further distances himself from that 2024 shoulder procedure.

Is the Class Thin Enough…?

Jazz Chisholm Jr. (29)

I’m not going to pretend this is a good idea or particularly likely, but when the market presents next to no options, teams might think outside the box. Chisholm hasn’t played shortstop since 2021. He didn’t grade well there early in his big league tenure, though that amounted to all of 330 innings. The Marlins had Chisholm split time between the two middle infield spots in 2021-22 before moving him to center field in 2023. By 2024, he was back at second base. The Yankees put him at third base for a while but he’s been back at second since July of 2025.

Chisholm has typically graded as a solid or better defender at second base. This year’s -6 showing in Defensive Runs Saved is his lone negative mark in that regard, and Statcast (13 OAA) thinks he’s actually been quite good. He’s not coming off his best season offensively but could still pop 20 homers and swipe 40 bags. He’s one of the most talented players in this year’s class, but he’s missed time due to injury and hasn’t been as strong overall at the plate as in recent seasons.

The strong likelihood is that Chisholm will sign somewhere to play second base, but we’ve seen stranger things happen. No one expected a team to sign Luis Arraez to play second base last winter — and certainly no one expected Arraez to post high-end defense in his age-29 return to second base after spending several seasons as a first baseman/designated hitter. This would be a larger risk — the kind a team might take if Chisholm were open to a one-year or opt-out-laden deal to bet on himself and return to the market next winter. We’ll probably look back at the fact that this was even written and say, “Remember when MLBTR got really weird and riffed on Chisholm as a shortstop option … in 2026-27?!” But in the tiny event that this actually happens and somehow works out, I reserve the right to call myself prescient and completely disregard the fact that this scenario was presented in overwhelmingly skeptical fashion.

Depth Options

Orlando Arcia (32), Paul DeJong (33), Kyle Farmer (35), Nick Madrigal (30), Jorge Mateo (32), Brendan Rodgers (30), Ramón Urías (33)

Option Decisions

Bo Bichette (29): Can opt out of remaining two years, $84MM (would receive $5MM buyout for opting out; contract allows Bichette to opt out next winter as well)

Bichette’s awful start to the season is still weighing down his numbers, but he’s been productive dating back to early June. In just over 400 plate appearances, he’s batting .289/.335/.441 with a dozen homers, 18 doubles, two triples, a 6.7% walk rate and a 19.3% strikeout rate. That’s very close to the career .294/.337/.469 line he carried into the season but is also well shy of last season’s career-best pace at the plate.

Despite how poorly his season started, there’s a case for Bichette to opt out and earn more than the net $79MM he’d leave on the table in doing so. However, he might not clear that sum by all that much, and Bichette certainly wouldn’t be pulling in $42MM next season if he opted out and signed elsewhere. The smarter play is probably to forgo this opt out, collect next year’s $42MM salary and hope for a big year. In that scenario, Bichette could opt out next season, collect the $5MM buyout, and then “only” need to top $37MM to come out ahead. With a big rebound, he could even reposition himself for another nine-figure deal.

Whether any team views Bichette as a viable option at shortstop, of course, is another question entirely. The Mets have given him some run there this year while Francisco Lindor has been unavailable, but it’s hard to think many clubs would be excited about plugging him back in as a full-time shortstop. It seems pretty likely that he’ll forgo his opt-out clause anyhow, rendering this all a moot point.

Mariners Place Andres Munoz On 15-Day IL

Charlie Wright — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 02:03:06 +0000

Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz is headed to the 15-day IL with right knee inflammation, the team announced. The club recalled right-hander Troy Taylor to replace Muñoz in the bullpen.

Muñoz hadn’t pitched since Sunday. Seattle waited as long as it could to make the move, but it appears his condition didn’t improve. The club’s elimination from playoff contention on Thursday could’ve contributed to the decision.

It’s a disappointing end to an underwhelming season for Muñoz. He recorded 28 saves, but also blew 10 chances, which is tied for the league lead. The two-time All-Star posted a career-worst 4.24 ERA across 61 appearances. Muñoz allowed a solo homer to Hunter Goodman on Sunday before being removed from the game. That’s been a theme this year. After giving up 10 homers combined over the past three seasons, Muñoz was taken deep nine times this year.

The underlying numbers suggest Muñoz deserved better results. He notched a 2.32 xFIP and a 2.40 SIERA over 57 1/3 innings. The righty had a strong 37.1% strikeout rate supported by a massive 18% swinging-strike rate. Muñoz’s 118 Stuff+ is in line with his previous norms. A career-worst 23.1% home run to fly ball rate significantly contributed to the poor campaign.

Muñoz will have plenty of time to recover for 2027, assuming the knee issue isn’t serious. Seattle will likely pick up his $8MM club option for next season. It’s a more than fair price for an established closer. The Mariners hold a $10MM club option on Muñoz for 2028.

The Mariners have a handful of options to turn to in the ninth inning for the final weekend of the regular season. Trade acquisitions Seranthony Dominguez and Jose A. Ferrer both have closing experience. Gabe Speier and Eduard Bazardo have chipped in saves this year. Bazardo finished out Sunday’s game after Muñoz left.

Taylor has pitched in parts of the past two big-league seasons with the Mariners. This will be his first stint in the majors in 2026. The righty posted a 5.05 ERA in 57 innings at Triple-A this year. Command has been an issue, as Taylor has had a walk rate above 13% in back-to-back seasons with Tacoma.

Photo courtesy of Christopher Hanewinckel, Imagn Images

Guardians Outright Connor Brogdon

Charlie Wright — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:51:38 +0000

Right-hander Connor Brogdon cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Columbus, per Tim Stebbins of MLB.com. Brogdon was designated for assignment on Wednesday. He’ll head to Cleveland’s “stay ready” camp since the minor league season is over.

Brogdon broke camp with the Guardians and spent the first six weeks of the season in the major league bullpen. He was DFAed in May and has spent most of the year in the minors. The righty missed a chunk of the minor league season due to injury.

Brogdon posted a 5.06 ERA across 16 innings with the Guardians. He trimmed his walk rate to a career-best 4.3%, though his called + swinging-strike rate slipped to an underwhelming 22.3%. Brogdon wasn’t much better with the Clippers, recording a 6.35 ERA over 12 appearances.

The 31-year-old Brogdon has pitched for four teams over his seven-year MLB career. The majority of his opportunities in the majors have come with the Phillies. Cleveland grabbed him on a one-year, $900K deal over the winter after a rough 2025 with the Angels. He’ll head back to free agency this offseason.

Cleveland has had one of the top bullpens in baseball this season. Led by All-Star closer Cade Smith, the club’s relievers have the best SIERA and the fourth-best xFIP in the league. Manager Stephen Vogt will likely lean heavily on the unit in the postseason. The Guardians are a game up on the White Sox in the AL Central heading into Friday.

Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images

Yankees Select Alexander Cornielle

Charlie Wright — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 23:15:51 +0000

Before Game 2 of today’s doubleheader, the Yankees signed right-hander Alexander Cornielle to a major league deal and selected his contract, per a team announcement. When Cornielle gets into a game, it’ll be his MLB debut. He’ll replace righty Brendan Beck in the bullpen. Reliever Fernando Cruz was moved to the 60-day IL to clear a 40-man roster spot.

Beck started Game 1 this afternoon. He was tagged for seven earned runs over five innings. Cornielle will be an option to cover multiple innings behind Ryan Yarbrough in the nightcap. New York is locked into the top AL Wild Card spot and will look to get through the final two games of the season without leaning on pitchers who will contribute in the postseason.

Cornielle was signed by the Brewers as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2019. He’d spent his entire pro career in Milwaukee until this season. Cornielle topped out at Triple-A with the organization. He hit minor league free agency over the winter and inked a deal with the Yankees. The righty will get his first look in the majors in the final weekend of the season.

The 25-year-old Cornielle pitched well across three minor league levels this season. He compiled a 3.39 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning in 21 appearances (20 starts). Cornielle posted a hefty 13% walk rate this season, but a 0.85 home runs per nine innings mark helped limit the damage of the extra baserunners.

Cornielle sits in the low-90s with his four-seamer and sinker. He has a mid-80s cutter. Cornielle’s breaking ball is a sweeper that averages about 81 mph. The arsenal helped him post a strong 12.1% swinging-strike rate this season.

The 60-day IL placement ends Cruz’s comeback attempt. He was trying to pitch through a partially torn UCL. Cruz hit the 15-day IL in late August with what was initially deemed right elbow discomfort. Imaging eventually revealed the partial tear. His attempt to make it back for the postseason was a long shot. Surgery is on the table this offseason.

Beck wraps up his first taste of the majors with an ugly 9.95 ERA over four appearances. He struggled to keep the ball in the yard, permitting six home runs in just 12 2/3 innings. Pete Alonso took him deep to start the scoring this afternoon. Dylan Beavers delivered the decisive blow with a grand slam in the fourth inning. Beck had a strong showing at Triple-A this year. He’ll be a depth option in 2027.

Photo courtesy of Dan Powers of USA Today via Imagn Images

Chris Bassitt Discusses Future

Darragh McDonald — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 22:48:17 +0000

Right-hander Chris Bassitt is wrapping up his age-37 season and he will turn 38 before the next season begins. He’s also an impending free agent. That naturally leads to some questions about what comes next and Bassitt addressed his future with reporters this week. He acknowledged that he would have to consider his family but also clearly expressed a desire to keep playing.

“I’ve got a 7-year-old at home, I’ve got a 3-year-old at home and a wife that wants me to be home. So yeah, we’ll cross that bridge when we do,” Bassitt said, per Jake Rill of MLB.com. “But I mean, overall, I still have a lot of fire in me to definitely do something. I’m gonna have to win the wife over, I’ll tell you that. But yeah, there’s a lot of fire still in me. I know I still can play this game at a really high level.”

Bassitt has generally been a workhorse in recent seasons but he was slowed down this year. From 2019 to 2025, he made at least 27 appearances and logged at least 144 innings in each campaign. He also made 11 starts and threw 63 innings in the shortened 2020 season. This year, back discomfort put him on the injured list for over two months from early June to mid August. He has made 20 appearances, 18 of those officially being starts, and chucked 102 innings.

The results were passable, though not overwhelming. He allowed 4.59 earned runs per nine frames. His 16.1% strikeout rate was subpar but his 8.3% walk rate was right at league average for a starter this year and his 44.6% ground ball rate was three ticks better than par.

The time off to rest his back may have helped, as he had a 5.27 ERA before the IL stint and a 3.74 after. That’s a pretty small sample size of 12 appearances before and eight appearances after, but he only had a 14.2% strikeout rate in the former section and 18.6% after. His velocity was better later in the year as well. His four-seamer averaged 90.4 miles per hour in June but has been at 93.3 mph in September.

If Bassitt decides to come back for 2027, he will surely be able to secure a deal. He got $18.5MM from the Orioles for 2026 but his earning power will be less this time, since his results declined both in terms of quality and quantity.

But veteran starters capable of competent results can still get paid. Last winter, Justin Verlander got $13MM for his age-43 season, though with heavy deferrals. Jose Quintana got $6MM from the Rockies for his age-37 campaign. Max Scherzer got an incentive-laden $3MM deal for his age-41 season and eventually unlocked another $2MM via those bonuses.

The Orioles won’t be making the playoffs, so Bassitt will be going into offseason mode in a few days. He can spend some time with his family and figure out whether he’s coming back for another season in the show. If he is unsigned on December 1, he might get a lot of time to think about things, as the league is widely expected to lock out the players when the collective bargaining agreement expires. How long that lockout lasts it anyone’s guess.

Photo courtesy of David Butler II, Imagn Images

Previewing The Upcoming Third Base Class

Leo Morgenstern — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 22:06:00 +0000

As the regular season nears an end, MLBTR is taking a position-by-position look at the 2026-27 free agent class. Next up are the third basemen. It’s not the deepest group, but the headliner is an NPB slugger who could be the most sought-after bat on the market.

Player ages are for the 2027 season, and names within each tier are listed alphabetically, not “ranked.” Normally, only players who appeared in MLB (or on major league 60-day injured lists) this year are included, but an exception has been made for the top name in this post.

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

Top of the Class

Teruaki Sato (28)

Sato has blossomed into the best hitter in Nippon Professional Baseball. In 2025, he led the league with 40 homers and 102 RBI. This year, his .313 batting average is at the top of the leaderboard. Over the past two seasons, his 191 wRC+ suggests he’s been nearly twice as productive as the average NPB hitter. It’s numbers like those that earned him the number two spot on MLBTR’s latest Free Agent Power Rankings.

It’s always hard to predict how foreign league bats will adjust to MLB pitching, and Sato is no exception. Strikeouts are a big part of his game, and his swing-and-miss tendencies could scare MLB teams off this winter (much like how the same concerns hurt Munetaka Murakami last offseason). That said, Sato’s tremendous upside should still generate plenty of interest, especially considering the lack of impact players at his primary position.

Defense isn’t Sato’s strong suit, and it doesn’t sound like he’ll be an asset at third base or in right field. However, he has played 100-plus games at the hot corner in each of the last four years. That’s most likely where he’ll play if he comes to MLB next year, even if his long-term home is across the diamond at first base.

Everyday Options

Alec Bohm (30)

I debated whether or not to include Bohm in this category. On the one hand, he has a meager .707 OPS and 93 wRC+ this year. His defensive metrics at third base (-8 DRS, -5 FRV) are poor as usual, and he has played first base almost exclusively since the trade deadline.

On the other hand, he has been an everyday player for years, qualifying for the batting title in each of the last five seasons. What’s more, there aren’t many true third basemen in this year’s free agent class. You could argue whether Bohm himself deserves that label, but he has more experience at the position than almost anyone else on this list.

Bohm has found consistent success against southpaws, and he makes enough contact to get by against righties. It all adds up to a league-average bat that has flashed the potential to be a little something more. Ultimately, his career numbers say he’s closer to a platoon bat than the All-Star he was in 2024. Still, he could be an everyday third baseman in 2027 for a team that’s willing to stomach subpar defense.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. (29)

Chisholm is primarily a second baseman, but he played about 600 innings at the hot corner in his first two seasons with the Yankees. If he were still hitting the way he did in New York in 2024 and ’25 (.816 OPS, 127 wRC+), I doubt anyone would care what position he played; Chisholm would be entertaining offers this winter to play second, third, and probably even the outfield. The problem, of course, is that he isn’t hitting the way he did in his first year and a half with the Yanks.

Through 138 games, Chisholm owns a 100 wRC+. His numbers in all three triple-slash statistics are close to league average, while his xBA, xSLG, and xwOBA are all well below average. He is still producing on the basepaths (41 steals in 50 attempts), but overall, he’s been a far less valuable offensive player – and that means his defense is a more important part of his profile.

Chisholm can play third base, but it would be risky for a team to offer him an everyday job at a position where he’s played less than 80 games in his career. That’s a risk that would be much easier to take if his bat were less of a question mark itself. From Chisholm’s perspective, he might prefer to sign a contract that will let him test the market again next offseason. In that case, he’d want to do everything he could to put his best foot forward in 2027 – and that would mean playing second base.

J.P. Crawford (32)

Crawford reportedly asked the Mariners to let him play some third base this year. They obliged, giving him his first reps at the position since 2018. It was a smart suggestion on Crawford’s part, considering he has posted career-worst defensive numbers in half a season of games at shortstop. So far, he has shown he can handle third base (0 DRS, 0 FRV in 254.1 innings), and that will only help him in free agency.

Unfortunately for Crawford, his league-average offensive numbers would look a lot better coming from a full-time shortstop. Over his first three qualifying seasons in Seattle, he hit for a 102 wRC+. Then he exploded for a 136 wRC+ in 2023. Since then, he owns a 104 wRC+ over his last three campaigns. It’s pretty clear that the 2023 of Crawford’s bat was the outlier, and the league-average version is the norm. He has good contact skills and great plate discipline, but he lacks the power to be a legitimate threat at the plate. Even in 2023, his bat speed and hard-hit rate were mediocre, and he only hit 19 balls out of the yard.

Crawford won’t be the most exciting free agent, but his floor is relatively high. He’s a lefty batter without huge platoon splits who can play a passable shortstop and, from what we’ve seen in a limited sample, a capable third base. In fact, among free agents who can fill an everyday role, Crawford might be the strongest third base defender available – especially if Chisholm prefers to play second base.

Part-Time Bats

Yoán Moncada (32)

Moncada looked like an All-Star the last time he played a full, healthy campaign. But that was in 2021. This year, Moncada only made it to mid-May before a knee injury ended his season. Before then, he was putting up some of the worst offensive numbers of his career: a .189 batting average, a .269 xwOBA, and a 78 wRC+.

Yet, Moncada is only one year removed from hitting 12 homers with a .783 OPS and 119 wRC+ over half a season for the Angels in 2025. Over the last three years, he has a .784 OPS and 121 wRC+ in 402 PA against right-handed pitching. No team should be counting on him to play a regular role in 2027, but when he isn’t injured, there’s no reason to think he can’t be a useful righty masher off the bench.

Eugenio Suárez (35)

Suárez hit 49 home runs in 2025 and entered the offseason as one of MLBTR’s top 20 free agents. Then, he failed to generate much interest on the open market and settled for a one-year deal with the Reds. Last month, when Cincinnati placed him on waivers, no one put in a claim. There’s no question his fall from grace has been steep.

This offseason, Suárez will try to find a team to bet on him bouncing back. That might be difficult. Even in his 49-homer season, his overall batting line wasn’t exactly elite (.824 OPS, 125 wRC+), and his career .788 OPS and 112 wRC+ are more good than great. As he enters his age-35 season, it’s also fair to ask how much work he can handle at third base. He has been worth -4 DRS and -6 FRV in just 49 games at the hot corner in 2026.

Multi-Position / Utilitymen

Miguel Andujar (32)

In the 74 games he managed to play for the Padres this year, Andujar was mostly a DH. However, third base and left field are his primary positions. He isn’t likely to repeat his surprisingly strong 2025 (.822 OPS, 122 wRC+), but the righty batter has posted a wRC+ above league average in each of the last four seasons. For his career, he owns a 116 wRC+ with the platoon advantage and a 101 wRC+ without.

As for Andujar’s defense, his metrics have always been poor, whether he’s working an infield corner or an outfield corner. In other words, he’s not the kind of bench player who gets much work as a defensive replacement. Still, his versatility is an asset; it gives his teams more ways to get his capable bat in the lineup.

Mauricio Dubón (32)

If you read MLBTR’s second base preview from earlier this week, you already saw each of these next five names, so I’ll try to keep things brief. Dubón hasn’t played much third base, but given his success at every other position he’s taken on, he’d probably do just fine in a more regular role at third. For what it’s worth, he has +1 DRS and +2 FRV in 57 career games at the hot corner. It’s believable a team could sign him to be the short side of a third base platoon, while he fills a superutility role against right-handed pitching.

Over the last four years, Dubón owns a .689 OPS and a 91 wRC+, including a .720 OPS/100 wRC+ against lefties and a .676 OPS/88 wRC+ against righties. Combine that with his strong defense at several positions, and you get a quality role player for a contending team.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa (32)

Kiner-Falefa is a worse hitter than Dubón. He strikes out more and hits for even less power. If you’re looking for a righty-batting, glove-first utility player, Dubón is the cream of the crop. Yet, if you’re looking for a third baseman, Kiner-Falefa might be the better choice.

IKF has played a handful of games at third base in almost every season of his career, adding up to 1,864 innings at the position. That’s the equivalent of about a season and a half of work. In those innings, he has an incredible +33 DRS and +23 FRV. That’s a Ke’Bryan Hayes-caliber performance. In other words, it’s the kind of defense that can make up for a well-below-average bat. Kiner-Falefa shouldn’t have trouble finding a bench role on a team that knows it’s going to need some help at third base.

Luis Rengifo (30)

Rengifo found a way to consistently outperform his xStats with the Angels from 2022-24. His wOBA was at least 15 points higher than his xwOBA in each of those seasons, and accordingly, he looked like a solid role player. His glove didn’t stand out at any one position, but he played second base, third base, shortstop, and the outfield capably enough while producing above-average numbers at the plate.

Over the last two years, regression has come for Rengifo. He posted a .622 OPS and 75 wRC+ in his last year with the Angels. He continued to struggle in 2026, producing a .636 OPS and 82 wRC+ in 95 games for the Brewers and Padres, before a torn ACL ended his season.

So, a major league deal will be hard for Rengifo to come by this winter. Recovery from his ACL surgery could keep him out until next June, and he hasn’t been a productive bat since 2024. That said, he was starting to turn things around with San Diego before his injury. As a switch-hitter who has played every position except pitcher and catcher, a healthy Rengifo should eventually find a new job on a big league bench.

Amed Rosario (31)

Rosario always graded out as a poor defensive shortstop, and his overall numbers haven’t looked any better as a utility player. However, he can wear a glove at third base, second base, or an outfield corner, and that has let his teams put his right-handed bat in the lineup. Over the first nine years of his career, he was a reliable run-producer against left-handed pitching; he posted above-average numbers every year, with an overall .800 OPS and 120 wRC+.

In 2026, his splits have reversed. Unfortunately for Rosario, I don’t think that means any teams are going to view him as a more well-rounded hitter. Rather, his success against righties just looks like a bit of good batted-ball luck in a small sample. On the flip side, his dreadful performance against lefties is a concerning sign that his carrying skill is in decline. Rosario’s track record and flexibility can still land him another bench job, but he’ll have to prove in 2027 that his lefty-mashing talents haven’t disappeared.

Edmundo Sosa (31)

Sosa was one of the game’s better bench players over his first four seasons with the Phillies. From the trade deadline in 2022 through the end of the 2025 season, he hit 30 home runs, stole 15 bases, and posted a 104 wRC+. He also graded out as a plus defender at second base, third base, and shortstop, according to both DRS and FRV. His shortcomings against right-handed pitching limited him to a part-time role, but when he played, he was consistently productive at the plate, on the bases, and especially in the field.

In 2026, Sosa owns a .699 OPS and an 86 wRC+. Yet, strangely enough, his .330 xwOBA is the best he’s ever posted. What’s more, Sosa still has an impressive 125 wRC+ against left-handers. It’s a career-worst 35 wRC+ against righties that’s dragging down his overall numbers. His performance against righties is also the cause of the wide gap between his wOBA and xwOBA. Statcast will tell you he’s hitting same-handed pitching better than ever, but his actual batting average, slugging percentage, and wOBA against righties are all about 100 points worse than his expected marks.

Sosa will feel the effects of his poor walk year in his wallet, but he can search for a team to look past his surface-level 2026 performance to the well-rounded utility player underneath.

Depth Options

Orlando Arcia (32), Jeimer Candelario (33), Santiago Espinal (32), Kyle Farmer (35), Enrique Hernández (35), Andy Ibáñez (34), Nicky Lopez (32), Nick Madrigal (30), Dylan Moore (34), Josh Rojas (33), Luis Urías (30), Ramón Urías (33), Ildemaro Vargas (35)

Option Decisions

Bo Bichette (29): Can opt out of remaining two years, $84MM (would receive $5MM

Brewers Designate Lyon Richardson For Assignment

Darragh McDonald — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 21:40:28 +0000

The Brewers announced that right-hander Bryse Wilson has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list. Fellow righty Lyon Richardson has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. On the position player side, Andrew Vaughn has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to illness, retroactive to September 22. Outfielder Brandon Lockridge was recalled to replace Vaughn, who will be eligible for reinstatement prior to the NLDS. The Brewers have a secured a bye through the Wild Card round.

Since the Brewers have already clinched the top record in the majors, their priority now is keeping their players healthy for October. They called up Colton Gordon from the minors to make a start on Tuesday, giving their other arms some extra rest. Gordon was going to be unavailable for a few days after that, so he was optioned and Richardson was called up to add a fresh arm. Richardson didn’t pitch in the past two days but the Brewers evidently feel they don’t need him for the final contests of the regular season. Since he is out of options, he has been bumped off to make room for Wilson.

Since the trade deadline is long gone, Richardson will have to be placed on waivers. He has cleared multiple times this year and will probably do so again. If he does, he will have the right to elect free agency, because of those previous outrights. He might accept and wait around for the off-chance that a number of Brewers get injured in the postseason and his arm is needed. Richardson has a 6.48 earned run average in 58 1/3 career innings.

Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images

Details On Lockout’s Potential Impact On Broadcast Deals

Darragh McDonald — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 21:18:30 +0000

The current collective bargaining agreement expires on December 1 and it is widely expected that the owners will lock out the players at that time. A report today from Evan Drellich and Andrew Marchand of The Athletic provides some key details on how a lengthy lockout could impact the league’s broadcast deals.

The piece highlights that a key cutoff point will be if the lockout extends long enough to cancel at least 60 games of the 2027 season. If that comes to pass, the league would still be paid for 2027 as part of their national media deals. However, most of those deals would tack on another year for the broadcasters. The deals currently expire after 2028 but would push to 2029 if at least 60 games are missed in 2027. If the entire 2027 season is missed, the broadcasters would pay no fees at all for 2029. If a partial season is played, the networks would pay some fees. The specifics of a partial season fee aren’t mentioned but it is referred to as a “bargain rate” in the piece. The fees would presumably be relative to how much of the 2027 season is played.

With local deals, it’s more complicated, as those contracts are less consistent. Broadly, the piece points out teams would start losing money if they can’t play 125 to 145 games, depending on the specifics of those individual contracts. That means that, in some cases, teams would start losing local broadcast money if the season is shortened by even a few weeks.

On those national deals, the 60 days is a key pivot point. Even though the clubs could still be paid for the short term, giving away a full year of rights is a big deal. TV revenue is massively important for baseball economics. Per The Athletic, teams get about 26% of their revenues from the central fund, on average. That includes national broadcast deals along with other streams. Local broadcast revenue accounts for about 21% of team revenues, on average. Stadium revenue makes up about 39%, on average.

However, that local broadcast revenue figure is from 2023 and is likely lower now, as cable-cutting has led some teams to operate with no regional sports network contract. In some cases, MLB is handling local broadcasts for those clubs. Specific numbers for that model aren’t available but Travis Sawchik of MLB.com said in January that clubs generally get about 50% of what they previously made via RSNs. That only makes national revenue all the more important.

Playing the entire 2029 season with no national revenue or a diminished stream would be an unwelcome outcome. The league could try to renegotiate those deals in the future but wouldn’t be in an advantageous bargaining position. The broadcasters prepared for this scenario for a reason and won’t just let the league off the hook for nothing. The scenario also just delays the big payday the teams are hoping for. The league is planning on a big cash-in after 2028 and those revenue streams potentially wouldn’t start flowing until a year later.

For the local revenues, the pain for clubs could start even sooner. As mentioned, the contracts vary, but teams could start losing money with a relatively small number of missed games. Per the piece, some contracts would require a club to pay a rebate, with the amount depending on how many games are missed. Other deals would simply pay a team less, again depending on how many contests are missed.

During a lockout/strike, both sides will be feeling pressure from lost revenues. The players won’t be making their salaries. The teams won’t be getting any money from ticket sales, concessions, etc. These details therefore provide important context for what’s on the line in terms of broadcast revenues. The league will have some incentive to not lose 60 games and will also have incentive to at least play a partial season even if they go beyond that 60-game limit.

There has not been a labor dispute that has resulted in lost games since the 1994-95 strike. After that, there wasn’t a work stoppage until the 2021-22 lockout, which was resolved in March. The 2022 season was delayed but a full 162-game schedule was still played. As mentioned, another lockout is widely expected to begin roughly two months from now. The league is pushing for a salary cap/floor system, a model that the Players Association is opposed to. The eventual length of the lockout and the details of the next CBA will have significant ramifications down the line.

Photo credit Susan Tompor, Imagn Images

Mining the News (9/25/26)

Jeff Zimmerman — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 20:30:50 +0000

Going into offseason mode.

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Phillies’ Luis Arraez Diagnosed With Ankle Sprain

Charlie Wright — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 20:30:00 +0000

September 25: Per Lochlahn March of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mattingly says the club will monitor Arraez to see if he improves enough in the coming days to swing a bat. He has not been placed on the injured list as of now.

September 24: Phillies second baseman Luis Arraez was pulled from Thursday night’s game against the Brewers with a left ankle sprain, the team announced (h/t Matt Gelb of The Athletic). He had to be helped off the field and couldn’t put any weight on his left leg. Arraez was replaced by Edmundo Sosa.

The injury occurred on a ground ball to shortstop. Cooper Pratt fielded the ball and threw wide to first, forcing Jake Bauers to come up the line to catch it. Arraez tried to sidestep Bauers, but planted awkwardly and went down in a heap (video link via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com).

It’s obviously brutal timing, with the Phillies less than a week away from the Wild Card round. Arraez has been the everyday option at the keystone since coming over from the Giants at the trade deadline. He’s hit .283 with a pair of homers in the middle of Philadelphia’s lineup.

The Phillies reconfigured their defensive alignment after the Arraez trade. Bryce Harper went to the outfield for the first time since 2022. Primary second baseman Bryson Stott shifted to third base, with Alec Bohm heading across the diamond to first base. The adjustment allowed Arraez to stay at a position where he’s comfortable while keeping all of the primary Phillies bats in the lineup.

If Arraez is forced to miss time, Philadelphia could revert to its Opening Day setup in the infield. Bryan De La Cruz and Derek Hill would be candidates to pick up additional playing time in the outfield. The versatile Sosa could also just take over in the infield if the Phillies didn’t want to move everyone around again. He came in to play third base tonight, with Stott moving over to second base.

In more positive news, left-hander Jesus Luzardo completed a 30-pitch bullpen on Thursday. Interim manager Don Mattingly told reporters, including Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer, that the next step would be facing live hitters. Luzardo has been out since early September with left shoulder inflammation.

“He’s feeling good,” Mattingly said, as relayed by Zolecki. “He wasn’t shaking his shoulder during the bullpen or anything like that.”

Getting back on the mound puts Luzardo a step closer to being ready for the Wild Card round. Philadelphia hasn’t officially locked up a playoff spot, but could take care of it as soon as Thursday. The club would then turn its attention to the playoff roster. Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sanchez will likely start the first two games. Luzardo would be a candidate to start the final game, if needed, though he could also be used out of the bullpen.

“Whatever role they need me,” Luzardo said, per Lochlann March of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “If they need me one inning, two innings out of the bullpen, three innings. I could start. I could be the bat boy. Whatever they ask of me, I’ll do. I just want to win.”

The shoulder injury cut short a tremendous campaign for Luzardo. He pitched to a 2.87 ERA across 29 starts. Luzardo pushed his strikeout rate above 30% for the first time since his brief debut with the Athletics in 2019. He’s formed an imposing three-headed monster with Sanchez and Wheeler in Philadelphia’s rotation.

Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images

Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

Steve Adams — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 20:00:46 +0000

Steve Adams

Hello! As you may have noticed Monday, Anthony and I flipped our chats around this week. He’s off today, so you’re stuck with me heading into the weekend. Apologies in advance!
Speaking of advance, feel free to send questions in advance. We’ll get going at 3pm CT!
Hello all! Happy (almost) weekend and happy (almost) playoff baseball!
Let’s begin

Alex

The Cubs have all of Gausman, Holmes, Boyd, and Imanaga departing via FA this offseason. Other rotation options include tons of question marks (Steele, Cabrera, Ben Brown, Horton). How do you see them addressing the SP staff this offseason (maybe with some names you think make sense), and what would they have to do to make you feel confident about them as a threat for the division going into next season?

Steve Adams

Yeah, they (again) need to add pitching — both on the rotation and bullpen side of things. The market doesn’t have many candidates for long-term deals, which works in their favor, because the Cubs don’t love to go long-term on pitching deals. I doubt they’ll be on Tarik Skubal, just based on how they’ve operated in recent years. Probably not Trevor Rogers, either.Anyone from Gausman, Boyd, Holmes, Sonny Gray, Robbie Ray, Tyler Mahle makes some sense.Trade-wise, Drew Rasmussen’s one of the likeliest players to be moved this winter in my view. Reid Detmers will be out there again. Cubs liked him at the deadline. After years of speculation, I think the Mariners will be open to moving a starter … any of George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Emerson Hancock will probably be in play to some extent.
They have enough question marks that I think they ought to sign someone and trade for another rotation arm.

gordoj

Trevor Larnach and Bailey Ober appear to not have roles with Twins next year. Is there much trade value there?

Steve Adams

Yeah I think they’re both goners. Larnach basically told the Star Tribune this week that he thinks he’s gone, too. With Buxton, Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Luke Keaschall, Alan Roden and some more prospects (e.g. Hendry Mendez), there’s just no good reason for the Twins to pay $7MMish to Larnach for his final year of arbitration. I think they could get a reliever or a low-end prospect there, but he’s slipped a lot since the deadline and doesn’t provide any real defensive value so I don’t expect a big return — and it’s possible he’s just non-tendered.
Ober is in a similar spot. Twins have Pablo Lopez coming back to join Joe Ryan, Taj Bradley and a smattering of other interesting arms (Mick Abel, Connor Prielipp, Zebby Matthews, Kendry Rojas)… they also traded an actual prospect for Dean Kremer at the deadline, and Kremer is in the same price range and service bucket as Ober. He’s pitched mostly well since the trade and has better stuff than Ober, whose fastball slipped under 90 mph this year.
As with Larnach, there’s a chance this just leads to a straight non-tender. But Ober has a decent track record as a fourth starter and could be shipped off to a team in need of innings to fill out a staff. If the Twins can get the Athletics’ or Giants’ No. 23 prospect or something in return, go for it?

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Rays Designate Jake Woodford For Assignment

Darragh McDonald — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 19:10:12 +0000

The Rays announced that right-hander Manuel Rodríguez has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list. Fellow righty Jake Woodford has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Tampa is clearly trying to control the workloads of the pitchers who will play key roles in the postseason. The Rays have already clinched the top spot in the American League, making the remaining contests fairly meaningless. A couple of days ago, they called up Mason Englert to start a game, allowing Ian Seymour to be pushed back. Englert was optioned the next day, with Woodford added to the roster. Seymour started yesterday but was pulled after just 58 pitches over five innings.

Woodford was put into the game after Seymour. The Rays were probably hoping that he could absorb a few frames, but that didn’t really go according to plan. He faced eight batters but only recorded four outs and was charged with three earned runs. Brody Hopkins and Steven Matz finished out the game.

The Rays have quickly moved on and have bumped Woodford off the roster to make room for the return of Rodríguez. Woodford will be placed on waivers since the trade deadline is long gone. He should clear and would then have the right to elect free agency, since he has been outrighted before.

He could accept an outright assignment in the hopes of getting called back up for the playoffs but he would be way down the list. Woodford has been an emergency innings eater for several years, bouncing around the league to whichever club wants to spare their other arms. Dating back to the start of 2023, Woodford has an ERA of 7.00 in 146 2/3 innings for seven different clubs.

Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images

162-Game Pace Stars to Draft: Jeremy Peña

Jack Dorfman — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 18:30:45 +0000

Full season stats won’t tell the full story for some players. We should consider them as elite.

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Pitchers Who Underperformed Their Projected Value Within the Top-200 Picks

Corbin Young — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 17:30:52 +0000

Pitchers drafted earlier tend to underperform their projected value. Let's highlight six starting pitchers who have been drafted within the top 200 picks and underperforming by $10 or more.

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Alec Burleson Open To Offseason Extension Talks With Cardinals

Steve Adams — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 16:20:29 +0000

Cardinals slugger Alec Burleson is enjoying the best season of his career in 2026. The 27-year-old first baseman (28 next month) is controlled by St. Louis for another two seasons but tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he’s “all ears” if the team wants to approach him about a contract extension. That hasn’t happened to this point, but Burleson tells Goold he’s hopeful the club will do so prior to the looming lockout this winter: “I would be 100% be open to being here and being with this group of guys.”

Burleson’s .279/.343/.464 batting line is nearly identical to the .290/.343/.459 slash he posted last season. It’s remarkable consistency, but this year’s output comes in a larger sample. He’s already taken 118 more plate appearances than he did in 2025 and still has three games left to play. Burleson is currently leading Major League Baseball with 113 runs batted in and is hopeful of adding to that total on the final weekend of the season as he looks to fend off Sal Stewart (110), Pete Alonso (110) and Pete Crow-Armstrong (107) for 2026’s top RBI total.

The 2026 season was Burleson’s first year of arbitration eligibility. He’s playing on a $3.3MM salary and ought to get a hefty raise this year after posting strong rate stats and piling up some of the top counting stats in the game. He’s due a raise this winter and one more following the 2027 season before reaching free agency in the 2028-29 offseason.

A look at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows there aren’t many recent comps that would be applicable to Burleson. The only first basemen in this service class who’ve signed extensions that bought out free agent years in the past half decade are Matt Olson (eight years, $168MM) and Yandy Diaz (three years, $24MM). Olson was coming off a 39-homer, five-WAR season — his second 30-homer campaign — while Diaz was entering his age-31 campaign and wouldn’t have been slated to become a free agent until his age-33 season. Olson was a more complete player, while Diaz knew an extension may have been his only chance at landing a notable multi-year deal, as teams typically aren’t keen on giving out long-term deals to players in their mid-30s.

Expanding the parameters to look at all position players who’ve signed an extension with between four and five years of service across the past five seasons shows a few more potentially relevant deals. Bryan Reynolds signed for seven years and $100MM with the Pirates in April 2023. Ryan McMahon signed for six years and $70MM in March 2022 (coming off that winter’s lockout). They’re closer in stature, but neither is a perfect comp.

Reynolds was a Super Two player who would’ve been arb-eligible four times instead of Burleson’s more typical three. He signed a two-year, $13.5MM deal covering his first two arb seasons, meaning he was negotiating from a higher starting point (salary-wise) and had some more leverage. McMahon had a lower starting point ($2.375MM in his first arb season) and a starkly different skill-set; he was also a 20-homer bat but a lesser overall hitter whose value was derived largely from elite defense at the hot corner. Burleson is a fine defensive first baseman but is clearly a bat-first player.

Burleson will probably earn somewhere in the vicinity of $15-18MM over his final two seasons of arbitration. The question for his reps at the Ballengee Group and for Cardinals brass would be one of how they value his free agent seasons. He’s not going to command an Alonso-level ($31MM) or Freddie Freeman-level ($27MM) annual value, but his 2025-26 numbers compare very favorably with what Josh Naylor did in 2025 before landing a five-year, $92.5MM free agent deal ($18.5MM AAV). If the Cards are confident that Burleson can sustain this offensive pace moving forward, something in the five-year, $75MM range would place a similar value on Burleson’s free-agent seasons.

There’s no real urgency for the Cardinals to extend Burleson, but there’s no clear first baseman of the future breathing down his neck in St. Louis, either. Ivan Herrera doesn’t have a clear position. He’d be an option at first base if the Cardinals permanently move him from behind the plate, but he’s only controlled for one season longer than Burleson and hasn’t shown as much with the bat. Young catcher Leo Bernal has played some first base, too, but manager Oli Marmol just this week told Goold that he believes Bernal has what it takes to be an everyday catcher in the majors. He might play some more first base when star catching prospect Rainiel Rodriguez is big league-ready, but the Cards will also surely be inundated with trade interest in their catching depth.

Of course, Burleson himself will draw trade interest this winter, too. There were clubs interested in him last winter and at this summer’s trade deadline. He’s down to two seasons of club control — the same juncture at which president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom traded Brendan Donovan last offseason. Outfielder Lars Nootbaar may have been traded last winter if healthy, but he was instead shipped out at the deadline with one-plus season of control left. Burleson is in this same window. The Cardinals could move him this winter, likely securing a nice package of prospects in return, sign him for the long haul or just go the arbitration route and see where they’re at next summer. The price of an extension would only increase if Burleson maintained his pace and the Cards were in contention, however.

Freddy Peralta: A Lost Season that Was Saved

Jack Martin — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 15:30:08 +0000

Following a recent revival in Tampa Bay, what can we look to expect from Freddy Peralta in 2027 as a fantasy asset.

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The Opener: Brewers, Clinches, Spence

Charlie Wright — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 13:37:33 +0000

White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery set an AL record on Thursday with 223 strikeouts in a season. He’s now tied with Mark Reynolds for the all-time mark.

1. Brewers hit century mark

Milwaukee cruised to a 5-1 win over Philadelphia on Thursday. Shane Drohan and four relievers limited the Phillies to a run on four hits. Andrew Painter was just as good on the other side, but an eighth-inning rally against the Philadelphia bullpen put the Brewers on top. The club reached 100 wins for the first time in franchise history. Milwaukee also locked up the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

2. Postseason picture comes into focus

The Brewers weren’t the only squad to clarify their playoff plans on Thursday. The White Sox, Cubs, and Guardians all clinched postseason berths. The Dodgers lost to the Padres but locked up a first-round bye since the Braves also lost. The White Sox and Guardians are still battling for the AL Central crown. Cleveland is currently one game up on Chicago. The playoff bid completes a remarkable turnaround for the White Sox. The team had lost 100+ games in each of the past three seasons.

3. Spence carries Astros

The tightest postseason race is the fight for the AL West title. The Astros and Rangers are dead even with identical 79-80 records. Texas cruised to a win yesterday afternoon. In the evening, Houston got down early to the Athletics, but rookie Lucas Spence came through with a massive performance. The outfielder blasted his first career home run to get the Astros on the board. Spence then delivered a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning. He tacked on another solo shot in the ninth inning for good measure. Spence is the third player in MLB history to hit the first three home runs of his career in one game, joining Joshua Baez earlier this year and Seby Zavala in 2021 (h/t Sarah Langs of MLB.com).

Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images

Starting Pitcher Chart – September 25th, 2026

Paul Sporer — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 13:03:18 +0000

The final weekend kicks off with a host of doubleheaders set up to avoid potential weekend weather issues

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Roto Riteup: September 25, 2026

Vlad Sedler — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 11:30:43 +0000

My final Roto Riteup of the season!

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Starts and Sits - All Starting Pitcher Matchups for Fantasy Baseball (September 21 - September 27)

Nick Mariano — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 11:06:13 +0000

Welcome to your final test before cementing your fantasy squad into the history books, which we'll ace thanks to our […]

Giants Claim Camilo Doval

Darragh McDonald — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 04:59:14 +0000

The Giants announced that they have claimed right-hander Camilo Doval off waivers from the Pirates. Doval had been designated for assignment by Pittsburgh earlier this week. The Giants transferred righty Blade Tidwell to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for the move. Tidwell was recommended for UCL surgery this week, so he is certainly done for this year and likely all of next year as well.

It’s a fascinating reunion. Doval was the Giants’ closer not too long ago but some struggles, mostly with control, pushed him to the trade block. He was flipped to the Yankees at last year’s deadline, with the Giants netting prospect Jesús Rodríguez, Trystan Vrieling, Parks Harber, and Carlos De La Rosa in the swap. Doval struggled through a year in the Bronx before getting traded again, this time to the Pirates. Pittsburgh fell out of contention and put Doval on waivers this week to try to save a small amount of money, roughly $98K, per MLBTR contributor Ethan Hullihen.

The Giants helped the Pirates out by making this claim. For San Francisco, it has nothing to do with 2026. They are playing out the string on a lost season, currently sporting a 65-94 record. Even if Doval makes an appearance or two before the season is done, they will be meaningless games. Presumably, the Giants grabbed Doval because they either plan to tender him a contract for 2027 or try to trade him in the offseason.

Doval is making $6.1MM this season and can be retained for next season via arbitration. He won’t be able to get a huge raise based on this year’s 4.30 earned run average, but should be able to get into the $7-8MM range.

It would make sense for the Giants to take a flier on Doval, even with his recent struggles. The San Francisco bullpen was not good this year. The relievers currently have a collective 4.18 ERA on the season. Most of the arms currently in the bullpen are inexperienced. Sam Hentges and Jason Foley are the only guys back there with at least three years of service time, and those two are coming back from notable injury absences.

President of baseball operations Buster Posey has admitted that the club will be looking to make more concrete upgrades to the bullpen for next year. That could involve free agent signings and/or trades but they are adding one arm ahead of schedule by grabbing Doval from the wire.

Doval’s best stretch was with the Giants. From 2021 to 2023, he logged 162 1/3 innings with a 2.77 ERA, 30.2% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 53.4% ground ball rate. He took over the closer’s job and racked up 27 saves in 2022 and 39 the year after.

As mentioned, his control has slipped in recent years. He still has elite stuff, with an upper-90s cutter and sinker, in addition to a slider and changeup. Those pitches just haven’t been over the plate often enough. From the start of 2024 to the present, he has a 4.23 ERA with a huge 13% walk rate. His 55.3% ground ball rate is still great and his 26% strikeout rate also better than par but the walks are problematic.

The Giants will seemingly try to get him back on track next year but, as mentioned, entertaining trade offers in the winter is also a possibility. For now, it’s a very low-cost pickup that gives them some options going into 2027. If they change their mind about tendering him a contract for next year, they can walk away by cutting him on non-tender day in November.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Twins Part Ways With Assistant GM Daniel Adler

Charlie Wright — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 04:30:12 +0000

The Twins and assistant general manager Daniel Adler agreed to part ways, reports Aaron Gleeman of AaronGleeman.com. Adler had been with the organization since 2017. Gleeman adds that it’s unclear whether Minnesota will find a replacement for Adler. The organization still has three assistant GMs: Alex Hassan, Sean Johnson, and Josh Kalk.

A Harvard Business School grad, Adler got his start with the Twins as Director of Baseball Operations, per the team directory. He was moved to an assistant GM role in 2019. Adler was bumped up to Vice President in 2021, then became Executive VP in 2025.

Dan Hayes of The Athletic shed more light on Adler’s final title with the team, and what happened to it when the top executives shifted. Adler was originally hired by former team president Derek Falvey and former general manager Thad Levine. Falvey promoted Adler to a hybrid VP role last season that included having a hand in baseball and business operations.

Falvey departed the organization in January. GM Jeremy Zoll stepped into his role. After Falvey left, Adler was no longer part of business operations, per Hayes. Those responsibilities went to new team chairman Tom Pohlad. Adler was put in a reduced role on the baseball side.

The Twins went to the playoffs in three of Adler’s first four seasons in the organization. That included a 101-win season and back-to-back division titles. The club has struggled in recent years. Minnesota has missed the playoffs in three straight seasons.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Willson Contreras Dealing With Lingering Hand Pain

Charlie Wright — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:21:25 +0000

Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras is still dealing with pain in his right hand. He explained to reporters on Thursday that he’s been unable to swing the past two days due to lingering discomfort. Contreras has been out for a week after he was hit by a Jakob Junis sinker last Thursday.

Contreras had additional imaging done Wednesday. The scan didn’t reveal a fracture, he told reporters, including Christopher Smith of MassLive.com.

Boston has wrapped up a Wild Card spot and will begin postseason action on Tuesday. Contreras will have three more chances to suit up in the regular season before the playoffs. He said he’s unlikely to play in tomorrow’s doubleheader. Contreras added that he’d be open with the team about whether he could play in the first round of the playoffs.

“I’m an honest guy,” Contreras said, as relayed by Smith. “And if I don’t feel confidence in my hand to be able to play either Sunday or Tuesday, I’ll be completely honest with the team. I don’t want to hurt the team in any way.”

If Contreras is unable to make the postseason roster, it’ll continue to be Nick Sogard and Mickey Gasper handling first base. Utility players Andruw Monasterio and Isiah Kiner-Falefa could chip in as right-handed hitting options. Sogard moved to first base when Contreras was knocked out of the game against the Rangers. He’s started six straight games at the position.

Missing Contreras for the Wild Card round would be a major loss for the Red Sox. The 34-year-old has a career-best 152 wRC+ this season. Contreras paces the Red Sox in home runs, RBI, and OBP.

The Red Sox did get one key contributor back in the lineup on Thursday. Outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela returned after leaving early on Wednesday. Rafaela had an MRI on his hamstring that came back clean, per Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. The hamstring injury occurred in Rafaela’s first game back after missing a couple of weeks with a quad strain.

Rafaela is wrapping up the best offensive season of his young career. After three seasons with a sub-.250 batting average, the outfielder was hitting .284 heading into tonight’s action. Rafaela has a solid 109 wRC+. He’s continued to provide Gold Glove-caliber defense in center field.

Boston also shared an update on injured starter Garrett Crochet. The left-hander is scheduled to face hitters on Saturday, per Tim Healey of the Boston Globe. He’ll do so in Florida, with rough weather coming to Boston. Healey adds that a decision on Crochet’s postseason roster spot will come after the live batting practice session.

Crochet has been sidelined since late April with shoulder inflammation. His recovery was delayed by a lat strain. He’s expected to operate as a reliever if he can make it back to the Red Sox.

Photo courtesy of Raymond Carlin III, Imagn Images

Don Cooper Passes Away

Charlie Wright — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:02:28 +0000

Longtime White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper passed away earlier this week, the team confirmed on Wednesday. Cooper was 70 years old.

Cooper coached in the White Sox organization for 33 seasons. He served as the big-league pitching coach for 18 years. Cooper was at the helm of some of the best pitching staffs of the 2000s. The foursome of Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia, Jon Garland, and Jose Contreras carried the White Sox to a 2005 World Series victory.

“He fixed Jose Contreras,” former White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski told the Chicago Sun-Times. “He helped Mark Buehrle become a borderline, arguably a Hall-of-Famer. Jon Garland, he made better. Brandon McCarthy, helped have a long career. Freddy Garcia, he helped with stuff. Bobby Jenks, he fixed, Cliff Politte, Neal Cotts. The list goes on and on of people that he helped, not only on the field, but off the field.”

Cooper was also there for the beginning of future Hall of Famer Chris Sale’s career, which included five All-Star selections and four top-five Cy Young finishes. Sale came into the league as a reliever with big strikeout upside and questionable control. By the time his White Sox tenure ended, he was one of the most dominant starters in the sport.

“I wouldn’t be here without him,” Sale said after his start on Wednesday, as relayed by Mark Bowman of MLB.com.

While he’s best-known for his work as a coach, Cooper also spent four seasons pitching in the big leagues. He was drafted by the Yankees in 1978. After two years in the organization, Cooper was taken by the Twins in the Rule 5 draft. He pitched to a 4.30 ERA across 27 appearances as a rookie in 1981. Cooper appeared in six games the following season. He would close his playing career with brief stints with the Blue Jays and Yankees.

Cooper wrapped up his time in the majors after the 1985 campaign. He received his first coaching job in 1988 at Single-A in the White Sox organization. Cooper worked his way up the ladder, briefly serving as the big-league pitching coach in 1995. He’d get the gig for good in 2002, holding the role through 2020.

MLBTR sends our condolences to Cooper’s family, friends, and loved ones.

Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images

Phillies’ Luis Arraez Removed With Ankle Injury

Charlie Wright — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:33:00 +0000

Phillies second baseman Luis Arraez was pulled from Thursday night’s game against the Brewers with a left ankle sprain, the team announced (h/t Matt Gelb of The Athletic). He had to be helped off the field and couldn’t put any weight on his left leg. Arraez was replaced by Edmundo Sosa.

“He’s feeling good,” Mattingly said, as relayed by Zolecki. “He wasn’t shaking his shoulder during the bullpen or anything like that.”

Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images

Astros Place Daulton Varsho On Injured List

Darragh McDonald — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 23:30:48 +0000

The Astros announced that they have placed outfielder Daulton Varsho on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to September 23, with left wrist inflammation. Fellow outfielder Jorge Barrosa has been selected to take Varsho’s place on the roster. To open a 40-man spot for Barrosa, right-hander Jason Alexander has been designated for assignment.

Varsho has been dealing with issues in that left wrist all year. He also had an IL stint due to inflammation while with the Blue Jays back in June. Per Chandler Rome of The Athletic, Varsho has two cysts in his wrist which have gotten worse of late.

Perhaps the wrist problems offer some explanation for his downturn in production. Last year, Varsho hit 20 home runs in just 271 plate appearances. This year, in a larger sample of 526 plate appearances, he has just 12 home runs. He had a .238/.284/.548 line and 123 wRC+ last year but is down to a .221/.281/.355 line and 78 wRC+ this year. Things have been even more grim lately, as Varsho has hit just .172/.224/.311 since being traded to Houston at the deadline.

Given that production, this IL placement isn’t a huge loss for the Astros, but they were surely hoping for more and their fallback plans aren’t great either. They have been trying to add a nice lefty bat to their outfield since trading away Kyle Tucker before the 2025 season. Jesús Sánchez, Dustin Harris, Daniel Johnson and many others have been thrown into the mix without much success. The Varsho experiment looks like another whiff, at least for now. Varsho will miss the Wild Card round but could return by the ALDS if the Astros are still alive at that time.

For now, they still have to secure a playoff spot. They are half a game back of the Rangers in the American League West but hold the tiebreaker, so they just need to be even by Sunday night. With Varsho out, Lucas Spence might be the top option to cover the position, even though he has just 45 plate appearances with a .150/.244/.175 line. He is starting there tonight. Taylor Trammell could be moved from left to center at times, with LaMonte Wade Jr. taking more time in left, but Trammell is stretched defensively up the middle. Jake Meyers and Brice Matthews are also on the IL.

Barrosa will also be in the mix but he’s a glove-first guy and likely to be on the bench for late-game defensive substitutions. He has a .179/.244/.301 batting line in his career but five Defensive Runs Saved and 12 Outs Above Average in 647 2/3 innings on the grass. He was outrighted off the roster this week but has quickly been added back. He won’t be eligible for the postseason because he was claimed off waivers from the Diamondbacks September 6, after the September 1 eligibility cutoff. He can help out for now but he’ll be left behind if Houston makes it into the postseason.

Alexander, 33, was claimed off waivers from the Athletics in May of last year. That was a solid pickup for the Astros last year, as Alexander went on to log 71 1/3 innings over 14 appearances with a 3.66 earned run average. His 19.9% strikeout rate was subpar but his 7% walk rate and 45.8% ground ball rate were both good figures. He got some help from a fortunate .273 batting average on balls in play and 79.8% strand rate but his 4.65 FIP and 4.19 SIERA suggested he was pitching pretty well for a depth guy grabbed from the waiver wire.

This year, he has mostly been on optional assignment. He has only tossed 18 1/3 innings in the majors, allowing 19 earned runs in those. He also has an uninspiring 5.03 ERA in Triple-A, though with the caveat that he has been pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

Alexander is in his final option year, meaning he will be out of options going forward. That will reduce his appeal as a depth starter, so he has been squeezed off the roster. With the trade deadline long gone, he will have to be placed on waivers. He could perhaps be claimed by a club needing some innings to finish out the regular season. If he clears, he would have the right to elect free agency because he has been outrighted previously in his career.

Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images

Orioles Select Albert Suarez

Charlie Wright — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 23:07:16 +0000

Veteran swingman Albert Suarez is headed back to the Orioles. Baltimore selected his contract for the fifth time this season. Trey Gibson was optioned to the Spring Training complex to clear a big-league spot. Kyle Bradish was moved to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot.

The Orioles snuck in one last Suarez transaction before the end of the regular season. He’ll provide some innings for the club in the final series against the Yankees. The right-hander has been designated for assignment on five occasions this year. He’s always found his way back to the organization, either through accepting an outright assignment or signing a new minor league deal.

The arrangement has worked out well for both sides. Suarez is added to the roster whenever the club needs a fresh arm, is put through waivers when he’s no longer needed, goes unclaimed, then heads back to the minors to do it all over again. He gets the occasional MLB paycheck, and Baltimore gets what amounts to an extra man on the roster.

Suarez has pitched reasonably well in the majors. He’s notched a 4.12 ERA in 29 appearances. While he’s made some starts for the team in the past, he’s operated strictly as a reliever in the majors this season.

Gibson has been up and down several times this season. His first big-league campaign ends with a 6.13 ERA over nine appearances (eight starts). The young righty is one of the more highly-regarded pitching prospects in Baltimore’s system. He reached Triple-A at the end of last year and spent most of this season at the level.

The 24-year-old Gibson routinely posted big strikeout numbers in the minors, but his walk rate bordered on troublesome. The control problems were exacerbated at the highest level. Gibson posted a 14.6% walk rate in his 39 2/3 innings with the Orioles. He did end the season on a high note, firing 6 2/3 scoreless innings against the Blue Jays in the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader.

Bradish hit the injured list in mid-September with lower abdominal discomfort. The injury was later diagnosed as a sports hernia. The most recent update from the team was that Bradish was weighing surgery. If he goes that route, the typical recovery time would put him on track to be ready for Spring Training in 2027.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images

Braves Select Elieser Hernández

Darragh McDonald — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 23:00:40 +0000

The Braves announced that left-hander Martín Pérez has been placed on the 15-day injured list with low back inflammation, a move that was previously reported. Right-hander Elieser Hernández has been selected to take his place on the roster. To open a 40-man spot for Hernández, righty Hurston Waldrep has been recalled and placed on the major league 60-day injured list.

Atlanta and Hernández have been doing this dance all year. It’s a dance the club used to do with guys like Jesse Chavez and Carlos Carrasco. The steps are that the pitcher is added to the roster, used to soak up innings for a short time, then he is designated for assignment. After clearing waivers, he usually elects free agency and signs a new minor league deal, setting him up to start the process all over again. This is the fourth time this year that the club has selected Hernández’s contract.

The appeal is obvious for the team, as they effectively get a 41st man on their 40-man roster. They can turn to this extra arm whenever the rest of the staff is taxed, then cut him to bring in another fresh arm as needed. For the player, he would presumably prefer a more steady gig but the fact that he keeps clearing waivers indicates no club is willing to give him that. With this on-off cycle, at least he gets sporadic hits of big league pay and service time.

Around the transactions, Hernández has absorbed 11 innings over four appearances for Atlanta this year. He has allowed three earned runs and struck out 11 opponents but has given out six walks and hit a batter.

The team has little on the line for the next few days. Technically, a first-round bye is still possible, but not very plausible. They are four back of the Dodgers with four games to play. Atlanta holds the tiebreaker and could get in if they run the table as the Dodgers lose out the remainder, but the most likely situation is Atlanta having to play in the Wild Card round.

For the next few days, their priority will be keeping their pitchers healthy for that series. Tyler Mahle is scheduled to take the ball tonight with TBD after that. Hernández will step in to work some innings at some point and may be bumped off the roster right after.

As for Waldrep, it was reported in August that he would require Tommy John surgery. He will miss the remainder of this season and likely all of next year as well. Now that he has been called up and put on the major league IL, he will collect big league pay and service time for a few days. The IL goes away five days after the World Series, so he will need to be reinstated to the 40-man roster at that time.

Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

Yankees Place Clarke Schmidt On Injured List

Darragh McDonald — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 22:27:38 +0000

The Yankees announced that right-hander Clarke Schmidt has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to September 21, with right bicep neuritis. Fellow righty Bradley Hanner has been recalled as the corresponding move.

Schmidt had a good run as a member of the Yankee rotation but he has been a non-factor for a while. He underwent Tommy John surgery in June of 2025. He was just reinstated from the IL last week. He made one appearance, tossing two thirds of an inning last Wednesday. On Sunday, he was warming up to come into the game but experienced some biceps cramping and didn’t come in, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. It was thought to be a pretty minor issue but it seems he didn’t make progress in recent days and has been put on the shelf.

Schmidt hasn’t pitched in over a week but IL stints can only be backdated by a maximum of three days. He was under consideration for a spot on the postseason roster but that’s off the table now. His timeline will make him ineligible for the Wild Card round and the start of the ALDS. He could be in play for the ALCS if he gets healthy and the Yankees make it that far but he would still be a risky choice given his lengthy absence and continued arm issues.

Removing Schmidt from the equation will make things slightly easier for the club’s decision makers but they still have a lot in the air. Per Joel Sherman of The New York Post, the club is considering an unusually heavy lean towards position players to face the Red Sox in the Wild Card round, perhaps carrying as many as 16 position players to just 10 pitchers.

That decision would be about having a heavy mix of righty and lefty bats to play matchups. The Yankees have lefties Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger, Luis García Jr., Spencer Jones, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon on the roster right now. Trent Grisham is on the IL and trying to get healthy for the postseason. To complement that group, righty bats Heliot Ramos, George Lombard Jr., Amed Rosario, José Caballero, Paul Goldschmidt, Ali Sánchez and Anthony Volpe could be in the mix for spots. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are on the IL but both are trying to get into game shape before the playoffs begin.

If the Yanks take 16 guys from that group, it would mean relying heavily on their starting pitchers, with Max Fried, Cam Schlittler and Gerrit Cole expected to start the three games in some order. Carlos Rodón and Will Warren could be needed for long relief because, as Sherman points out, there’s no free runner in extra innings in the playoffs. A really long game is still rare but can happen, such as when Game Three of last year’s World Series went to 18 innings.

That would leave just five spots for traditional relievers. David Bednar, Brent Headrick and Paul Blackburn would have three of those. That would leave only two for a group consisting of John Schreiber, Michael Fulmer, Ryan Yarbrough, Tim Hill and and Luis Gil. Schmidt would have been in that group but is now out.

There are a couple of other wild cards in the mix as well. Ryan Weathers is on the injured list with a forearm strain but is trying to make it back. Then there’s Carlos Lagrange, who is also trying to come back from injury. He suffered a capsular strain in his throwing shoulder in July and is still trying to get built back up from that.

Lagrange still hasn’t made his major league debut but has electric stuff, with triple-digit heat. The Yankees view him as a long-term starter but moved him to relief this summer, just before that shoulder injury, in the hopes that he could be a late-season impact arm. It’s a risky gambit with clear upside, as Lagrange has always had big strikeout numbers in the minors but also with lots of walks. He has a huge 31.8% strikeout rate in his minor league career but also a 13% walk rate. He has made just one official game appearance since June, getting into a Triple-A contest last week.

Turning back to Schmidt, the Yankees will have to decide what to do with him for next season. He can be controlled for 2027 via arbitration before he’s slated for free agency. Since he missed essentially all of this year, it should be possible to retain him for the same $4.5MM salary he made this year. That’s a perfectly fine price for a guy who posted a 3.85 ERA over 323 innings from 2023 to 2025, as long as he is expected to be healthy next year.

However, the Yankees may not have a rotation spot for him. Their 2027 rotation projects to include Fried, Schlittler, Cole, Rodón, Warren, Weathers, Lagrange and others. Schmidt now has over five years of big league service time and can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent. It would be selling low to put him on the block after missing almost two whole years but he doesn’t currently have a great path to a spot in next year’s rotation.

Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images

Braves To Place Martín Pérez On Injured List

Darragh McDonald — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 21:30:15 +0000

The Braves are going to place left-hander Martín Pérez on the 15-day injust list with lower back inflammation, per Jesús Cano of The Athletic. The corresponding move hasn’t yet been publicly reported.

It’s an out-of-nowhere hit to Atlanta’s pitching staff, just before the start of the postseason. Pérez just pitched on Sunday and it didn’t appear anything was amiss. He tossed 4 1/3 innings, throwing 79 pitches in the process. Now he’s going to be unavailable for a while. Atlanta can backdate an IL stint to Monday but that will still prevent Pérez from being on the Wild Card or NLDS roster.

Pérez has been a staple in Atlanta’s rotation for most of this year. He has made 26 starts, and four relief appearances, posting a 3.04 earned run average over 142 innings. His 17.1% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate are worse than league average but his 45.7% ground ball rate is strong. He has gotten some help from a .253 batting average on balls in play and 79.7% strand rate but has also done a good job at avoiding damage. Statcast pegs his barrel rate in the 90th percentile of qualified pitchers, his hard hit rate 75th and his average exit velocity 67th.

His 4.31 FIP and 4.91 SIERA suggest he is due for regression but he has been a key part of the club’s rotation regardless and would have been in the mix for playoff appearances as well. Atlanta has Chris Sale and Tyler Mahle locked into two spots but things get murky after that.

Grant Holmes has a 3.47 ERA but, like Pérez, less impressive peripherals such as a 4.66 FIP and 4.72 SIERA. JR Ritchie has a rotation spot right now but with a 4.79 ERA. AJ Smith-Shawver has a 6.43 ERA this year and is currently in the bullpen. Bryce Elder and Reynaldo López are each trying to come back from IL stints right now. Hurston Waldrep, Spencer Schwellenbach and Spencer Strider are also on the IL but aren’t expected to return this year.

For the short term, the absence of Pérez won’t be too massive. The remaining regular season games are largely inconsequential. Technically, the club still has a chance to catch the Dodgers for a first-round bye, but it’s incredibly unlikely. They would have to win their final four games while the Dodgers lose their final four. Apart from that, they don’t have anything on the line for the next few days. In the best-of-three Wild Card round, they can go to Sale, Mahle and Holmes for those contests.

If they manage to advance to the NLDS, that’s where the loss of Pérez could be more impactful as the club will likely need a fourth starter at some point in that series. Without Pérez, they may have to turn to Ritchie, López, Elder, Smith-Shawver or some creative arrangement. If they manage to survive into the NLCS and Pérez can get healthy, he could re-enter the club’s plans. If not, then they would have to continue being creative.

Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images

Offseason Outlook: Cincinnati Reds

Anthony Franco — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 20:33:55 +0000

The Reds plummeted down the standings after a strong April. They lost one of their top two starters to Tommy John surgery that’ll likely cost him all of 2027. Most of the rotation underperformed and the back half of the lineup was as bad as any in the league. There’s still elite high-end talent, but this year was a major disappointment for a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff series in three decades.

Guaranteed Contracts

Chase Burns, RHP: $103MM through 2033
Hunter Greene, RHP: $33MM through 2028 (including buyout of ’29 club option)
Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B: $29MM through 2029 (including buyout of ’30 club option)
Emilio Pagán, RHP: $10MM player option for 2027
Jose Trevino, C: $6.25MM through 2027 (including buyout of ’28 club option)

Option Decisions

RHP Emilio Pagán holds $10MM player option
Team, DH/3B Eugenio Suárez hold $16MM mutual option
Team, RHP Pierce Johnson hold $8MM mutual option ($1MM buyout)

Additional Commitments

Owe $3MM buyout to released Jeimer Candelario

2027 financial commitments: $43.75MM
Total future commitments: $185.25MM

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

Tejay Antone: (5.145)
Nick Lodolo (5.000)
Graham Ashcraft (4.130)
Tony Santillan (4.099)
Spencer Steer (4.035)
JJ Bleday (4.013)
Matt McLain (3.140)
Brandon Williamson (3.139)
Andrew Abbott (3.119)
Elly De La Cruz (3.118)
Oswaldo Cabrera (3.072)
Dane Myers (3.037)

Non-tender candidates: Ashcraft, Santillan, McLain, Cabrera

Free Agents

Brady Singer, Eugenio Suárez, Tyler Stephenson, Brock Burke, TJ Friedl (eligible for minor league free agency), Pierce Johnson, Will Benson (eligible for minor league free agency)

The Reds hoped that an 83-79 showing and a playoff berth in 2025 would be a stepping stone to more consistent success. That didn’t happen this year, as a few standout performances were spoiled by an underwhelming supporting cast. There are issues in all facets — offense, defense, starting pitching, bullpen — that’ll be hard to fix in one offseason.

The onus will remain on president of baseball operations Nick Krall, general manager Brad Meador, and their front office. Krall told Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer last week that he’s had conversations with ownership and doesn’t anticipate any significant leadership changes. Owner Bob Castellini confirmed that plan when speaking with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic this week. Future Hall of Fame skipper Terry Francona is also expected back for a third season, the final guaranteed year of his contract. The Reds hold an option on Francona for 2028; Krall’s contract length was unreported.

Cincinnati is limping to a last place finish in the NL Central. Only the Athletics and Rockies have a worse run differential this year. This is probably a bottom three team in the National League. Krall nevertheless said around the All-Star Break that he didn’t feel the organization needed a full rebuild. The focus would be on a return to contention in 2027.

Those comments came two weeks before they lost one of their top arms for potentially the entire ’27 season. Hunter Greene underwent the second Tommy John surgery of his career in the middle of August. That only makes a short-term return to competitiveness more difficult, but there’s nothing to suggest that’s not still the plan.

Cincinnati didn’t do anything notable at the deadline, shipping out impending free agent role players Nathaniel Lowe and Caleb Ferguson for minimal returns. (They also acquired former well-regarded second base prospect Juan Brito out of DFA limbo from the Guardians.) The Reds held impending free agents Brady Singer, Tyler Stephenson and Brock Burke — as well as every player who was under club control beyond this season.

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Rays Select Jake Woodford

Darragh McDonald — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 20:05:21 +0000

The Rays announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Jake Woodford. Fellow righty Mason Englert has been optioned to Triple-A Durham as the corresponding active roster move. The 40-man had a vacancy but is now full.

Woodford is still in his 20s, as he turns 30 next month, but is nonetheless a veteran journeyman at this point. Over the past few years, he has bounced from the Cardinals to the White Sox, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Cubs and now the Rays.

He doesn’t strike many guys out but he fills up the strike zone and can get some grounders, allowing him to be deployed as a serviceable swingman. The overall results aren’t great but he can chew up some innings when a club wants to spare other pitchers. From the start of 2023 to the present, he has made 64 appearances, logging 145 1/3 innings with a 6.87 earned run average, 14.7% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 43.5% ground ball rate.

For Tampa, they appear to be monitoring the workloads of their pitchers for the playoffs. Ian Seymour was scheduled to start yesterday’s game. Instead, the Rays recalled Englert to start, optioning Alex Cook as the corresponding move. Englert allowed eight earned runs in 3 2/3 innings, throwing 86 pitches in the process. He wasn’t going to be available for the next few days and wasn’t going to be in consideration for a postseason roster spot, so he has been sent down.

Woodford gives the Rays a fresh arm and one capable of eating multiple innings. He signed a minor league deal with Tampa in August after losing his roster spot with the Cubs. Since then, Woodford has made seven starts for Triple-A Durham with a 4.25 ERA. His last outing was a week ago when he went five innings.

The Rays have Seymour, Freddy Peralta and Griffin Jax listed as their starters for the next three games and TBD on Sunday. Since the club has already clinched the top spot in the American League and a bye through the Wild Card round, they don’t need to push their pitchers beyond whatever they think is best for preparing them for the ALDS. At some point, Woodford could be thrown in there while other guys sit down. Woodford is out of options and would need to be bumped off the 40-man if the Rays want to get another fresh arm in at some point.

Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images

Macro Trends in Reliever Value

Jonathan Vander Lugt — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:30:33 +0000

Back again to the bailiwick which is perhaps my least compelling at cocktail parties (and trust me, this is saying something): relief pitcher fantasy performance.

Source

White Sox Place Luis Castillo On Injured List

Darragh McDonald — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:01:46 +0000

Just prior to today’s game, the White Sox announced that right-hander Luis Castillo has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder impingement. Fellow righty Tyler Davis has been recalled as the corresponding move.

The move makes Castillo unavailable for the remainder of the regular season as well as the Wild Card round and ALDS. He could be reinstated for the ALCS and/or World Series if the White Sox make it that far and he gets healthy.

That could be a moot point, as Castillo hasn’t been trending in a good direction. After being acquired from the Mariners at the deadline, he posted a 7.52 earned run average in his six starts for the Sox. The club then tried pitching him behind an opener, which didn’t improve things. On September 12, he allowed three earned runs in 2 2/3 innings. The Sox then moved him to the bullpen more concretely. His first single-inning outing was scoreless but he allowed four earned runs in the second, which was on Tuesday.

With Castillo losing his spot in the regular season rotation, he certainly wasn’t going to get the ball in a shortened playoff rotation. Even sticking on the roster as a reliever would have been tricky, given his lack of experience in that role and shaky results of late.

The shoulder injury perhaps explains some of Castillo’s struggles, as his velocity has been dropping of late. He averaged 95-96 miles per hour on his four-seamer for most of the year but he was at 93.8 mph in September. It was even lower, at 93.2 mph, before he started pitching in shorter bursts as a reliever.

Castillo is still under contract for 2027, with a hefty $22.75MM salary. The Sox took on all of that in the trade, though they sent Seranthony Domínguez and his contract the other way in that swap. Dominguez will make $10MM next year, so the Sox added $12.75MM to next year’s payroll with the move.

The Sox were hoping Castillo would provide a stabilizing presence to their rotation for this year’s stretch run and also the 2027 campaign. The first part did not pan out. Perhaps Castillo can return to form next year if he puts this shoulder issue behind him. As recently as last year with the Mariners, he was able to make 32 starts with a 3.54 ERA, 21.7% strikeout rate, 6.2% walk rate and 41.3% ground ball rate.

Even if he is healthy next year, he shouldn’t be guaranteed a rotation spot. He posted a 5.06 ERA this year before the trade, so it’s not as though his struggles only just popped up recently. He would probably enter camp looking to compete for a spot. The Sox project to have Sean Burke, Davis Martin and Anthony Kay in three spots next year. Erick Fedde is an impending free agent. David Sandlin is currently getting an audition in Castillo’s former spot, though Sandlin has only 34 1/3 innings under his belt with a 6.29 ERA.

Castillo and Sandlin would be in the mix for the back-end roles alongside Drew Thorpe, Ky Bush, Jonathan Cannon and others, though the White Sox could also change that picture with offseason moves. For now, it appears the Sox will be trying to make a deep October run without him. Burke, Martin and Kay will likely be getting the starts in the postseason, with Fedde in the mix as well.

Photo courtesy of David Butler II, Imagn Images

Yankees To Play Anthony Volpe At Third Base

Charlie Wright — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:03:41 +0000

The Yankees have nearly locked up the top Wild Card spot, which has the club turning its attention toward the postseason roster configuration over the final week of the regular season. One area that could change heading into the playoffs is third base. Manager Aaron Boone told reporters, including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, that infielder Anthony Volpe will get a look at the hot corner.

“Trying to be as flexible as possible,” Boone said. “There’s a lot of different [roster] iterations and ways we could go in the Wild Card Series.”

Volpe was recalled in early September to be the primary second baseman, replacing an injured Jazz Chisholm Jr. With Chisholm activated this week, Volpe is back in a bench role. Rookie George Lombard Jr. has been the everyday shortstop since his debut in August.

Third base has been a sore spot for the Yankees all season. A group led by Ryan McMahon and Amed Rosario has combined for a .623 OPS, the fourth-lowest mark in the league. McMahon came over from the Rockies last July. He’s slashed .209/.287/.346 in 176 games with New York. Rosario, the right-handed complement to McMahon, is hitting .201 against lefties this season. He’s actually performed much better in a limited sample against righties.

Volpe hadn’t appeared anywhere but shortstop with the Yankees until this season. He’s now played 11 games at second base. He picked up three appearances at third base in Triple-A this year. It was his first time playing the position as a professional since Single-A ball in 2021. Volpe has routinely graded out as a plus defender at shortstop. The glove has been McMahon’s strong suit, but he’s posted -2 Defensive Runs Saved this season.

Getting Volpe’s bat in the lineup isn’t crucial for the Yankees, but he’s been better than the alternatives. The 25-year-old has an 88 wRC+ across 234 plate appearances. He’s stolen 11 bases in limited playing time. Volpe has taken a step forward in terms of plate discipline, trimming his strikeout rate to a career-low 22.2% while pushing his walk rate to 10.3%.

The Yankees have four chances left to get Volpe a couple of opportunities at third base, starting with the series finale against the Rays tonight. New York closes the regular season at home against the Orioles. As Boone mentioned, Volpe’s ability to handle the position could impact how the postseason roster shakes out.

Photo courtesy of Matt Blewett, Imagn Images

It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over

Chad Young — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 17:30:31 +0000

Four days is plenty of time to make something happen.

Source

Cubs Notes: Steele, Bregman, Gausman

Charlie Wright — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:59:36 +0000

Weather issues have complicated the final stretch of the regular season for the Cubs. A three-game set against the Red Sox has been moved up due to a pending storm in Boston. With a doubleheader now on Friday, Chicago will have four games in three days, starting with an afternoon matchup against the Marlins today.

The condensed schedule could force the club into some interesting decisions as it tries to line up the rotation for the playoffs. The Cubs have nearly secured a playoff berth, but there isn’t much clarity on the exact position. Chicago is tied with Philadelphia for the No. 2 Wild Card spot. The teams are a game behind San Diego. Matthew Boyd will start on Thursday, with David Peterson and Clay Holmes likely going on Friday.

One candidate to cover some innings against the Red Sox is Justin Steele. The lefty hasn’t pitched in the majors since April 2025 as he recovers from elbow surgery. A setback during the recovery process led Chicago to shift Steele to a relief role. Manager Craig Counsell didn’t sound overly enthused about Steele’s status, but noted he could be in the mix versus Boston.

“He’s an option, I guess, is the best way to say it,” Counsell told reporters earlier this week, including Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. “The plan is for him to be an option this weekend, possibly. We’ll just kind of see what this weekend has in store for us, what this weekend gives us.”

Steele has pitched in four games with Triple-A Iowa. He’s been scored upon in all but one outing, though he does have 11 strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings. Steele has maxed out at two innings and 36 pitches. He could be a left-handed piggyback to a right-handed long reliever like Colin Rea or Javier Assad.

One consideration with activating Steele from the 60-day IL would be the corresponding 40-man roster move. Chicago’s 40-man is currently full. It might not be worth making a move just to bring Steele back for a couple of innings. He’s unlikely to factor into the club’s postseason plans.

Here are a couple of additional injury notes for the Cubs…

Third baseman Alex Bregman is likely to return as a DH in the postseason, at least initially. He’s working his way back from facial fractures suffered after taking a foul ball to the face. “I would, frankly, lean towards DH off the bat, just because it’s less,” Counsell told reporters (h/t Mooney). “I’m sure Alex has the goal of playing third base, and we want him to play third base, but I would probably at the start think he’d be a DH.” Bregman was not placed on the IL. He was scheduled to hit off the Trajekt machine Wednesday and is progressing toward defensive work.
Right-hander Kevin Gausman hurt his left shoulder during the final play of his outing on Wednesday. He dove to tag Heriberto Hernandez, who was trying to go first to third on an infield single. Gausman told reporters he’s still sore today and is getting treatment on his shoulder (h/t Bruce Levine of 670 The Score). The veteran righty isn’t scheduled to pitch again in the regular season. He should have at least a week to rest up before the Wild Card round.

Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images

Mets Hire Derek Falvey For Front Office Role

Charlie Wright — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:05:48 +0000

Sept. 24: The Mets have officially announced the hiring of Falvey, as relayed by Sammon, among others. His title is senior advisor. New York also promoted Kris Gross to an assistant GM position. He’d previously been the club’s vice president of amateur scouting.

Sept. 23 at 2:18 pm: There’s still no official word on Falvey’s title, but Anthony DiComo of MLB.com added a bit of extra detail, reporting that Falvey will not serve as general manager. He’ll step into a different front office position.

11:27 am: The Mets are closing in on hiring Derek Falvey to a front office position, reports Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic. Falvey was most recently the president of baseball operations with the Twins. He worked with current Mets POBO David Stearns in Cleveland.

It’s unclear what Falvey’s exact gig will be. Rosenthal and Sammon note he’ll have a “significant role” in team decisions. Falvey served as co-director of baseball operations alongside Stearns with the Guardians starting in 2011. He took over as chief baseball officer in Minnesota following the 2016 season.

While he’s stood by Stearns this year, Mets owner Steve Cohen told reporters recently that he’d be looking to add to the front office this offseason. Cohen described the approach as a collaborative effort.

“We’re going to try to add certain voices into the front office that I think will be helpful, and I know (president of baseball operations) David (Stearns) supports that, and I’m looking forward to when we make those decisions, announcing it,” Cohen said, as relayed by Steve Berman of The Athletic.

Falvey unexpectedly departed the Twins organization in January. The sides described the split as a mutual parting of ways. Further reporting detailed a difference in opinion between Falvey and executive chair Tom Pohlad. The team seemed headed toward a rebuild after a mass selloff at the 2025 trade deadline, but Pohlad was outspoken about competing in 2026 heading into the campaign.

The out-of-nowhere departure for Falvey was the latest move in a tumultuous stretch for the organizational structure. After the 2024 season, general manager Thad Levine stepped down. Former chairman Joe Pohlad began exploring a sale of the franchise. President and CEO Dave St. Peter was next to step down. Those moves led to Falvey taking over the business side of the operation, in addition to his baseball duties. The Twins sale ultimately never came to fruition. Tom Pohlad took over as the executive chair, which soon led to Falvey leaving just a year after his promotion to the dual president role. GM Jeremy Zoll was promoted to the top position.

The Twins made the playoffs four times with Falvey at the helm. The club never made it beyond the ALDS. Falvey’s tenure did include a 101-win season in 2019. It was the organization’s first time reaching triple-digit wins since 1965. Minnesota was swept by the Yankees in the ALDS that year.

Minnesota finished fourth in the AL Central in each of the last two seasons. The team will finish third or fourth in the division this season. The Twins were a game over .500 heading into August. They added pitching at the trade deadline, bringing in relievers Jeff Hoffman and A.J. Minter along with starter Dean Kremer. Those acquisitions have proved beneficial, but not enough to stay in contention. Minnesota went 10-17 in August and fell behind in a crowded AL Wild Card race.

Falvey will head to a Mets organization that fell short of expectations this season, but is finishing the year on a high note. New York has been above .500 since the beginning of August. The lineup has gotten healthier, which has boosted offensive production. Only three teams have outscored the Mets so far in September. Rookies Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing look like fixtures for years to come. The offseason focus will likely be on sorting out the infield and narrowing down the rotation.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Twins Outright Alex Jackson

Steve Adams — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:45:04 +0000

Sept. 24: Jackson cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A. The Triple-A season is over, but the assignment is largely a formality. Jackson will surely accept rather than elect free agency, as accepting him entitles him to the remainder of this year’s $1.35MM guaranteed salary. Once the season concludes, he’ll be eligible to become a minor league free agent (unless he’s quickly re-added back to the 40-man roster).

Sept. 21: The Twins designated catcher Alex Jackson for assignment Monday, per a club announcement. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to first baseman Aaron Sabato, whose previously reported promotion from Triple-A St. Paul has now been made official by the club.

It’s the third DFA of the season for Jackson. He’s cleared waivers on both prior occasions and accepted outright assignments to the minor leagues. That’s to be expected, as he’s earning a $1.35MM salary with Minnesota this season and would forfeit the remainder of that salary if he rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

The 30-year-old Jackson is a former No. 6 overall draft pick and top prospect who has never settled in as a big league regular but has accrued nearly four years of service in journeyman fashion. He’s played for six big league teams across seven partial seasons at the MLB level, hitting .175/.254/.305 with a massive 39.6% strikeout rate along the way.

Jackson obviously hasn’t provided much with the bat — though he does sport a .256/.312/.444 batting line (112 wRC+) in 173 plate appearances between the Twins and Orioles across the past two seasons. That solid-looking output belies a 35.3% strikeout rate and has been buoyed by a .376 average on balls in play that he’s not going to sustain over a larger sample. He’s a quality defender behind the plate, particularly when it comes to controlling the run game.

Minnesota’s handling/usage of Jackson has been peculiar. The team designated him for assignment ten days after the trade deadline but immediately re-selected him to the majors a few days later when he passed through waivers unclaimed. As longtime Twins scribe Aaron Gleeman points out, the Twins carried Jackson on the roster for 44 games dating back to Aug. 1 but gave him only five plate appearances in that time. He was their third catcher behind Ryan Jeffers and Victor Caratini and a backup option at first base but was generally kept around as an insurance policy while manager Derek Shelton operated with an effective 25-man roster.

In all likelihood, Jackson will once again clear waivers and accept an outright assignment. He has about $50K remaining on his guaranteed salary that he’s not going to forfeit to elect free agency a week before season’s end. If another club is looking for some affordable, glove-first catching depth, they could place a claim on Jackson — but he’d be owed a modest raise on this year’s $1.35MM salary in arbitration this winter, making him a clear non-tender candidate.

If Jackson goes unclaimed on waivers and accepts his assignment to St. Paul, he can become a minor league free agent at season’s end — as is true of all players with three-plus years of major league service who are removed from a 40-man roster and not added back to the roster prior to the offseason.

Mets To Designate Xzavion Curry For Assignment

Steve Adams — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:49:10 +0000

The Mets are designating right-hander Xzavion Curry for assignment. The team hasn’t formally announced the move, but it’s listed on their transaction log at MLB.com. New York also hasn’t announced yesterday’s reported claim of left-handed reliever Philip Abner from the Giants — also listed on their transaction log — so it seems safe to presume a formal announcement of that claim and Curry as the corresponding move is forthcoming.

Curry, 28, has appeared in nine games with the Mets this season. He’s pitched 21 1/3 innings and been dinged for a 5.48 ERA: 13 runs on 22 hits (seven homers) and nine walks with 15 punchouts. The former Guardians prospect signed a minor league deal back in May after opening the season with los Tigres de Quintana Roo in the Mexican League.

Prior to the 2026 campaign, Curry had pitched in parts of four MLB seasons — primarily with Cleveland but also briefly with Miami. He was a decent swingman with the Guardians in 2023-24, logging a combined 137 2/3 innings with a 4.25 ERA in 14 starts and 43 relief appearances. Overall, the right-hander has pitched 171 1/3 innings in the majors, during which he’s posted a 4.52 ERA with a tiny 15.6% strikeout rate and a solid 7.5% walk rate. Although Curry’s 10% homer-to-flyball rate is a couple percentage points shy of average, the sheer volume of fly-balls he gives up is so large (50.3% fly-ball rate, 28.7% ground-ball rate) that he’s still averaged an ugly 1.47 homers per nine innings in the big leagues.

Curry sat 92.5 mph on his four-seamer during his best season with Cleveland (2023) but is averaging just 90.8 mph on the pitch this year. He’s added a new splitter and sinker that he hasn’t used in the past, though the results obviously haven’t been favorable in the majors. Down in Triple-A, he’s notched a shiny 3.36 earned run average across 72 1/3 innings, although he’s shown the same problematic blend of low strikeouts (13.7%), good-but-not-elite command (6% walk rate) and tons of fly-balls (29% ground-ball rate, 42.9% fly-ball rate, 28.1% line-drive rate).

Since he’s been outrighted in the past, Curry will have the choice to reject a minor league assignment if he clears waivers. He’ll very likely be a minor league free agent in the offseason and will look to latch on as a depth option, whether back with the Mets or elsewhere.