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Poll: Who Will Win The NL West?

By | at March 24, 2026 3:01pm CDT

With Opening Day just around the corner, the offseason is more or less complete for MLB’s 30 clubs and teams. Until the playoffs begin, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. In the run-up to the start of the season, we will be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. The Blue Jays came out on top in the AL East, and the Tigers did the same in our poll on the AL Central. Yesterday, MLBTR readers overwhelmingly voted (66%) to predict the Mariners would win the AL West. Today, we’ll be moving on to the National League, starting with the NL West. All teams are listed in order of their 2025 regular season record:

Los Angeles Dodgers (93-69)

The Dodgers may have not even qualified for a playoff bye last year, but their dominant performance during the postseason quelled any doubt about the club being the class of the National League. Los Angeles did not rest on its laurels this offseason, adding two more superstars: outfielder Kyle Tucker and closer Edwin Diaz. That duo levels up a roster that already sports Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Mookie Betts among many other high-end players. As has become the norm, the Dodgers enter 2026 as the overwhelming favorite to win the division, although their aging and injury-prone core will surely start showing cracks at some point. Will this year be that year?

San Diego Padres (90-72)

On paper, the Padres might look to some as if they’re more likely to miss the playoffs entirely than overtake the Dodgers in the NL West. The silver living for San Diego, then, is that this was also true headed into the 2025 season. Despite that narrative, the Padres managed to spend much of the summer in a virtual tie with Los Angeles, and they were in sole possession of first place as late as August 23. This year, they’ll look to defy the odds once again with a patchwork rotation that offers little certainty outside of Nick Pivetta and a lineup that wasn’t substantially improved over the offseason. The biggest additions to San Diego relative to last year, in all likelihood, will be full seasons from star closer Mason Miller and veteran outfielder Ramon Laureano.

San Francisco Giants (81-81)

After a splashy trade for Rafael Devers last June, the Giants ended up selling at last year’s trade deadline. Their efforts to get back in the playoff hunt for 2026 this winter were more complementary than impactful. Tyler Mahle and Adrian Houser join a rotation that lost Justin Verlander. The lineup added a glove-first outfielder in Harrison Bader and a bat-first infielder in Luis Arraez. Still, the team looks solid on paper. Those additions leave the San Francisco offense without many obvious holes, and the rotation sports one of the game’s best starters in Logan Webb plus a former Cy Young winner in Robbie Ray. Perhaps the biggest question facing the Giants this year is in the bullpen. San Francisco traded Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval last July and lost Randy Rodriguez to Tommy John surgery in September. None have been replaced. That could leave the club bleeding runs in the late innings without big steps forward from players like Erik Miller and Jose Butto.

Arizona Diamondbacks (80-82)

Just about everything that could go wrong on the pitching side did so for the Diamondbacks last year. Zac Gallen had the worst season of his career. Corbin Burnes, Justin Martinez, and A.J. Puk all underwent elbow surgery. Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez had seasons to forget. Their team is weaker on paper headed into 2026 than it was in 2025, as their big offseason additions were reunions with Gallen and Merrill Kelly, plus additions at the infield corners (Carlos Santana and Nolan Arenado) won’t match the offensive output of those positions’ previous occupants (Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez). Even so, Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll are legitimate superstars. Geraldo Perdomo might be one as well. If the team’s veteran pitchers can turn things around, perhaps the Diamondbacks could ride their strong offensive nucleus back into the postseason.

Colorado Rockies (43-119)

Following a 119-loss season in 2025, Colorado made some small moves under new front office boss Paul DePodesta but nothing that would truly move the needle. Jake McCarthy, Edouard Julien, Willi Castro, Michael Lorenzen, and Jose Quintana have certainly all had their fair share of success in the past, but each profiles as a complementary player at the best of times. Perhaps those moves working out plus steps forward from key pieces like Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar could help the Rockies avoid another 100-loss season, but a division title or Wild Card berth are both pipe dreams.

Who do MLBTR readers think will win the NL West? Have your say in the poll:

Who will win the NL West in 2026?

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Offseason In Review: Baltimore Orioles

By | at March 24, 2026 10:57am CDT

After back-to-back excellent seasons in 2023-24, the 2025 Orioles stumbled to a last place finish. They responded with their biggest offseason of Mike Elias’ tenure running baseball operations.

Major League Signings

2026 commitments: $73.5MM
Total future commitments: $213.5MM

Option Decisions

Trades and Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Notable Losses

On the heels of back-to-back playoff appearances, the 2025 Orioles were 15 games under .500 by the end of May. They fired manager Brandon Hyde seven weeks into the season. The team played better under interim skipper Tony Mansolino, but they’d dug themselves a hole from which they never had much chance to crawl out.

Before making any significant roster moves, the O’s needed to decide on a manager. Guardians associate manager Craig Albernaz has been viewed as a manager in waiting for a few seasons. The O’s hired the 43-year-old to his first MLB managerial job, though he’d previously held the position at the lower levels of the Rays’ farm system.

Albernaz also has minor league playing experience and had worked on big league staffs in San Francisco and Cleveland over the past few years. Managerial changes frequently come with coaching staff adjustments. This was no exception. The O’s brought in Donnie Ecker as bench coach and Dustin Lind as hitting coach, though they stayed the course on the pitching side. Drew French is back for his third season as pitching coach; assistant pitching coach Mitch Plassmeyer and pitching strategy coach Ryan Klimek are also holdovers.

The focus then turned to the roster. President of baseball operations Mike Elias hinted at the possibility of a big offseason, saying they were open to pursuing free agents who had declined qualifying offers. Starting pitching was the natural target with the team not having replaced Corbin Burnes at the top of last year’s rotation. The O’s would be tied to Framber Valdez and Ranger Suárez as frequently as any team throughout the offseason.

They didn’t come away with either pitcher, though they reportedly did offer Suárez a five-year deal in the $125MM range. Baltimore’s biggest free agent splash would instead come on the position player side. The O’s were involved on the top power bats available both in free agency and trade.

Kyle Schwarber and Pete Alonso were the preeminent free agent sluggers. The Orioles pursued both, with Schwarber seemingly their top target. They reportedly offered him a five-year, $150MM deal around the Winter Meetings. Unfortunately for Baltimore, Schwarber preferred to return to Philadelphia if all else was equal. The Phillies matched, and last year’s NL MVP runner-up will spend another five years in the City of Brotherly Love.

Undaunted, the Orioles moved quickly to Alonso. One day after Schwarber’s agreement with Philly, the O’s hammered out a five-year deal to slot Alonso into the middle of the order. He signed for $155MM — it’s probably not a coincidence that his camp topped Schwarber’s deal by $1MM annually — and will be the everyday first baseman. Alonso was not eligible for the qualifying offer, so he didn’t require draft pick forfeiture. He rebounded from a slightly down 2024 season to hit .272/.347/.524 with 38 homers in his final season as a Met.

The deal raised some eyebrows around the league. It’s a lot of money for a player in his 30s whose game is built almost entirely around his bat. (The same can be said for the Schwarber deal, to be clear.) Alonso is as durable as any player in the game and will surely upgrade the offense. His first base defense has never been great and has declined over the past two seasons — to the point that the incumbent Mets were seemingly only interested in bringing him back on a shorter term that involved more work as a designated hitter.

It’s easily the biggest investment of the Elias era. They’d made nine-figure offers to other players — the ones to Burnes, Schwarber and later Suárez have all been publicly reported — but this is the organization’s first nine-figure signing since the Chris Davis extension a decade ago.

Alonso was one of seven right-handed hitters who hit at least 35 homers last season. He’s one of two whom the Orioles acquired over the winter. Taylor Ward popped a career-high 36 longballs with a .228/.317/.475 slash over 157 games for the Angels.

Ward was entering his final season of arbitration and felt a little superfluous to a Halos team loaded with right-handed power bats and lacking starting pitching. That arguably describes the Orioles as well, but the teams nevertheless lined up a one-for-one trade. Baltimore gave up four years of control over Grayson Rodriguez for one year of Ward, who’ll make $12.175MM.

It’s frankly difficult to imagine the O’s would have made that move if they had any faith in Rodriguez staying healthy. Formerly the top pitching prospect in the entire sport, Rodriguez pitched at a mid-rotation level between 2023-24. He has battled shoulder and elbow injuries over the last two seasons and didn’t pitch at all in ’25. Rodriguez was healthy at the time of the trade and has shown mid-90s velocity this spring, but a “dead arm” will again send him to the injured list to begin his Angels tenure.

The Ward trade preceded the Alonso signing by a couple weeks. Yet even at the time, it made for a bit of an odd roster fit. Baltimore’s top free agent signee of the previous offseason, Tyler O’Neill, is a right-handed hitting left fielder with huge power and modest on-base skills. O’Neill’s first season in Baltimore was a disaster, as he landed on the injured list three times and didn’t perform over 54 games when he was able to play. He made the obvious call to forego an opt-out and wasn’t going to be easy to trade with two years and $33MM remaining on his contract.

Baltimore presumably hopes to salvage something from the O’Neill investment, but the corner outfield picture is cluttered. He and Ward each fit best in left field. Dylan Beavers had a huge year in Triple-A and is coming off an impressive 35-game MLB showing. He should get regular playing time in right field, at least against righty pitching. Colton Cowser is coming off an injury-plagued season and stretched defensively up the middle, but they’ll need to play him in center field to get him regular playing time.

In the O’s defense, it’s not as if there were a ton of alternatives in center field. They were never likely to outbid the Yankees on Cody Bellinger. After that, Harrison Bader was the best of a middling group in free agency. The trade market was led by Luis Robert Jr., a reclamation candidate who’ll play the 2026 season on a $20MM salary.

The Orioles made a pure depth add at the position by signing Leody Taveras to a $2MM deal. He has been a capable defender for most of his career but hasn’t hit at all in the past two seasons. He’s a fourth/fifth outfielder who’ll round out the bench.

The glut of corner bats extends to the infield. Baltimore’s catching tandem of Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo are going to take a lot of at-bats at designated hitter. They haven’t found playing time for former top corner infield prospect Coby Mayo. Meanwhile, Ryan Mountcastle’s rough 2025 season and near-$7MM arbitration salary made him a clear non-tender candidate on paper. The Orioles opted to retain Mountcastle for his final year of arbitration, an odd decision in November that seemed particularly regrettable when they signed Alonso two weeks later.

Baltimore dangled Mountcastle in trade talks into Spring Training. There was unsurprisingly a limited market for a moderately expensive first baseman coming off a .250/.286/.367 season, even though the O’s managed to secure a club option over him for the 2027 campaign. It’s always possible an eleventh-hour trade will come together. If not, he’ll enter the season without much of a path to playing time as a right-handed bench bat.

Camp injuries opened a greater opportunity for Mayo, if only because he’s nominally capable of playing third base. Jordan Westburg has battled an oblique injury and, more ominously, has a partial UCL tear in his throwing elbow. He’s trying a platelet-rich plasma injection in the hope of avoiding surgery. He’ll miss at least the first month of the season.

Mayo will open the year as the primary third baseman. The defense is a concern, but he’s yet another potentially impactful right-handed power hitter. Mayo hasn’t shown a whole lot in 340 scattered big league plate appearances, but he has been a consistent 20+ homer bat in the minors. He’s also coming off a huge Spring Training performance.

The injuries extended to the other side of the infield. Second baseman Jackson Holliday suffered a right hamate fracture during batting practice early in camp. He underwent surgery and will begin the season on the injured list. The O’s had serendipitously made a trade to fortify their infield depth just one day before Holliday suffered that fracture.

Baltimore acquired utilityman Blaze Alexander from the Diamondbacks for reliever Kade Strowd and a pair of minor leaguers. Alexander is a righty hitter with a little bit of power and some defensive versatility. He should be a serviceable stopgap at second until Holliday is healthy. He can then work in a multi-positional role or push Mayo off third base if necessary (depending on Westburg’s progress).

The O’s made a number of minor transactions on the position player side, largely in claiming players off waivers and trying to run them through waivers themselves a week or two later. They added corner infielder Bryan Ramos and outfielders Weston Wilson, Jhonkensy Noel and Will Robertson to the organization that way. They also traded out-of-options third catcher Alex Jackson to Minnesota for non-roster infielder Payton Eeles, a 5’5″ utility player with minimal power but strong on-base numbers in the minors.

Baltimore remained active in the free agent starting pitching market even after the Alonso signing. It’s likely that their offer to Suárez came towards the end of the winter, as he didn’t sign his $130MM deal with the Red Sox until late January. Valdez was unsigned into February, as were reported mid-tier targets Justin Verlander, Lucas Giolito and Chris Bassitt. (Giolito, of course, remains unsigned.)

The O’s eventually added Bassitt on a one-year, $18.5MM deal as Spring Training got underway. The veteran righty has started 30+ games in each of the last four seasons, typically allowing around four earned runs per nine with a league average strikeout/walk profile.

There are some similarities to late-career signings that haven’t worked for the O’s in past years (e.g. Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano, Kyle Gibson), but Bassitt is at the higher end of that group. They got him for one year in an offseason when Merrill Kelly commanded a two-year deal from the Diamondbacks at the same age and with a similar profile. He should raise the floor in the middle of the rotation.

On the opposite end of the risk-reward spectrum, the Orioles made their biggest rotation add via trade. Baltimore packaged four prospects and a 2026 Competitive Balance draft pick (No. 33 overall) to the Rays for Shane Baz. The righty is entering his age-27 season and under arbitration control for three years. Baz is a former top prospect who still has plus stuff. He averages 97 mph on his fastball and has a trio of secondary pitches (knuckle-curve, cutter and changeup) that can miss bats.

There’s a path for Baz to become a high-end No. 3 starter who can slot behind Trevor Rogers and Kyle Bradish in the top half of the rotation. There’s work to do if he’s to reach that ceiling, however. Baz had seven scoreless starts last year; he also had 10 outings in which he allowed five or more runs. The O’s are chalking up some of the inconsistency to Baz’s struggles at Tampa Bay’s 2025 temporary home field, where he had a near-6.00 ERA and allowed 18 of his 26 home runs. Baz had a 3.86 ERA over 84 innings on the road.

They paid a hefty prospect cost to take the swing. The headliners of the return, Caden Bodine and Slater de Brun, were respectively selected 30th and 37th overall last summer. They parted with a similarly high pick in the upcoming draft. It’s also a bet on Baz to stay healthy, as last year was his first full season at the MLB level. Baz had undergone Tommy John surgery at the end of the 2022 campaign and was sidelined for nearly two years.

The new additions will respectively land third and fourth in Albernaz’s rotation. The Orioles round out the group by bringing back Zach Eflin on a one-year, $10MM deal. The righty had a nightmare of a 2025 season, allowing a near-6.00 ERA over 14 starts. He went on the injured list three times due to lat and back injuries. Eflin underwent a season-ending lumbar microdiscectomy in August but will be ready for Opening Day. The O’s are placing a moderate bet that he’ll return closer to the mid-rotation form he showed between 2023-24.

Baltimore’s three rotation moves pushed right-hander Dean Kremer to Triple-A to begin the season. He’s overqualified for a sixth starter in Triple-A, though an injury is sure to reopen a rotation spot before long. The Orioles will use Tyler Wells out of the bullpen. He can work in long relief but might be needed more often in leverage situations given the uncertainty in the late innings.

The Orioles lost Félix Bautista to rotator cuff surgery as the 2025 season was winding down. It was a massive blow to an already thin bullpen. Baltimore responded by making a pair of high-leverage pickups early in the offseason. They reacquired setup man Andrew Kittredge from the Cubs, picking up a $9MM team option that Chicago evidently wasn’t going to exercise. Kittredge is effective when healthy but missed time last season with a knee injury and will start this year on the 15-day IL due to shoulder inflammation.

Baltimore’s bigger relief add came in the ninth inning. The O’s dipped into a robust free agent closing market to sign Ryan Helsley to a two-year, $28MM guarantee that allows him to opt out after one season. A two-time All-Star with the Cardinals, Helsley has a triple digit fastball and a wipeout slider that can make him one of the best relievers in the game. The end to his 2025 season couldn’t have gone any worse though.

Helsley was rocked for a 7.20 ERA over 22 appearances after being traded from St. Louis to the Mets at last year’s deadline. His strikeouts dropped, the walks increased, and his home run rate skyrocketed. It’s believed that Helsley was tipping his pitches and unable to correct the issue in-season. The Orioles clearly agree, betting on the track record and stuff over the most recent results. Helsley had an encouraging spring, firing six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts against three walks.

Yennier Cano will get some high-leverage assignments, as will Kittredge and Keegan Akin once they’re healthy. Baltimore restructured their contract with lefty Dietrich Enns, who missed a decent number of bats after being acquired from the Tigers in a minor deadline trade. They took a flier on former supplemental first-rounder Jackson Kowar, who is out of options and trying to win a middle relief role.

It was the busiest offseason of Elias’ eight years running baseball operations. It didn’t take the form many expected, as the Orioles emphasized adding power bats over a clear top-end starter. They invested a lot of trade capital and a decent amount of money to build out the middle of the rotation, hoping that’ll be enough to support a high-powered lineup. Can they follow the path of the 2025 Blue Jays in going worst to first in the AL East?

How would you grade the Orioles' offseason?

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Poll: Who Will Win The AL West?

By | at March 23, 2026 1:35pm CDT

With Opening Day just around the corner, the offseason is more or less complete for MLB’s 30 clubs and teams. Until the playoffs begin, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. In the run-up to the start of the season, we will be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. The Blue Jays came out on top in the AL East, while our readers overwhelmingly (58%) voted for the Tigers in our poll on the AL Central. Today, we’ll be moving on to the AL West. All teams are listed in order of their 2025 regular season record:

Seattle Mariners (90-72)

Powered by an MVP-caliber season from star catcher Cal Raleigh, the Mariners surged ahead of the pack in the AL West last year and fell just one game short of reaching the World Series. Eugenio Suárez and Jorge Polanco departed via free agency, but the rest of that team is more or less intact. A rotation led by Logan Gilbert and Bryan Woo figures to once again be among the very best in baseball, and they’ll be backed up by a bullpen that added lefty Jose A. Ferrer to pair with Andres Munoz and Matt Brash in high-leverage situations. The big addition to the offense is utilityman Brendan Donovan, who’ll primarily play third base and help lengthen a lineup featuring Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, Josh Naylor, Randy Arozarena and breakout slugger Dominic Canzone. The offense could improve even more if young second baseman Cole Young and/or top prospect Colt Emerson prove they can be impact players in 2026, but it’s easy to make the argument that Seattle remains the most well-rounded team in the division even without those improvements.

Houston Astros (87-75)

The Astros missed the postseason for the first time since 2016 last year, and the team was not as aggressive as one might have expected this winter. That’s not to say the Astros were inactive. They replaced Framber Valdez at the top of the rotation with Tatsuya Imai and brought in Mike Burrows from the Pirates to add further depth to a rotation that was often held together by duct tape and bubblegum last year. Houston will bring back a nearly identical offense, only swapping Mauricio Dubon for Nick Allen and Jesus Sanchez for Joey Loperfido while going to internal backup Cesar Salazar as a replacement for Victor Caratini. The Astros explored trades of infielder Isaac Paredes and tried to get another left-handed bat, but they’ve come up empty to date. The uncertain health of closer Josh Hader only adds to the question marks facing Houston as they look to return to the top of this division.

Texas Rangers (81-81)

After a second consecutive disappointing season, the Rangers moved on from second baseman Marcus Semien, outfielder Adolis Garcia, and catcher Jonah Heim. Semien was traded to the Mets for outfielder Brandon Nimmo, who will take over right field following Garcia’s non-tender. Heim, also non-tendered, will be replaced by catcher Danny Jansen. Nimmo and Jansen should be upgrades over Heim and Garcia, though the team lost some positional depth by forcing Josh Smith into the everyday role at second base. The addition of MacKenzie Gore to an already talented rotation should allow the Rangers’ starters to once again be among the best in baseball, but they’ll need better health from Corey Seager and more production from Joc Pederson and Josh Jung if they’re going to compete for the division title this year.

The Athletics (76-86)

While it’s been a busy and exciting offseason for fans of the A’s, that excitement has mostly been focused on extensions. Long-term deals for Tyler Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson are encouraging for the long-term health of the franchise but don’t move the needle in 2026. The A’s added Jeff McNeil to help the offense at second base, and a full season of Nick Kurtz in the majors won’t hurt. Strong as the offense looks, the club’s lack of pitching additions for a roster that struggled to prevent runs even before losing Mason Miller at the trade deadline creates plenty of concern. They’ll need a lot to break right, particularly in the bullpen.

Los Angeles Angels (72-90)

As is often the case with the Angels, it’s not impossible to squint and see the bones of a solid team. Mike Trout was healthier last season than he’s been in a very long time. Jo Adell slugged 40 homers in 2025. Jorge Soler remains a potential middle-of-the-order force when healthy. Josh Lowe was a high-upside addition, and it’s not impossible to imagine any of Nolan Schanuel, Reid Detmers, and Christian Moore following in the footsteps of Zach Neto to become high quality regulars. Unfortunately, fans in Anaheim know that the club has been in this situation virtually every year for the past decade. They’ve seen far too many potential-laden teams undercut by a lack of depth before finishing the season underwater and failing to reach the playoffs. Perhaps this year will be different, but Angels fans have earned their skepticism, especially following an offseason where Lowe, Kirby Yates, and Grayson Rodriguez (the latter of whom is already injured) were the club’s biggest additions.

How do MLBTR readers think the AL West will shake out this year? Will the Mariners continue to reign supreme? Will the Astros find a way to reestablish themselves as the class of the AL? Was the Rangers’ roster shakeup enough to get them back to the playoffs? Or could the A’s or Angels surprise with a big season? Have your say in the poll below:

Who will win the AL West in 2026?

  • Seattle Mariners 66% (3,469)
  • Houston Astros 11% (553)
  • Texas Rangers 8% (444)
  • The Athletics 8% (441)
  • Los Angeles Angels 6% (329)

Total votes: 5,236

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Offseason In Review: Houston Astros

By | at March 21, 2026 12:11pm CDT

Houston’s front office had a difficult task this offseason: acquire multiple starters despite limited payroll flexibility and one of the sport’s weakest farm system. They pulled that off, albeit at the cost of subtracting from an already thin outfield. They weren’t as successful in balancing a heavily right-handed lineup or figuring out how they’ll divide playing time in a crowded infield.

Major League Signings

2026 commitments: $21.45MM in salary plus $9.975MM posting fee
Total future commitments: $57.95MM plus posting fee

Trades and Claims

Option Decisions

  • None

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

For the second straight offseason, the Astros faced an expected free agent departure of one of their core players. They made a six-year offer to Alex Bregman in 2024, but they seemingly made little or no effort to bring back Framber Valdez. Houston made the southpaw a qualifying offer to pick up a draft choice after the fourth round once Valdez inevitably signed elsewhere.

The rotation depth behind Hunter Brown was an issue even with Valdez on the team. Another elbow surgery for Luis Garcia brought an unfortunate end to his time in the organization, as the Astros had no reason to tender him a contract for his final arbitration season. Adding at least one mid-rotation arm was the main priority for GM Dana Brown and his staff. It’d be a challenge with owner Jim Crane reportedly looking to keep the team’s luxury tax number below the $244MM base threshold.

That pointed to the trade market as the priority. Acquiring affordable starting pitching comes at a significant cost in young talent. Houston dangled center fielder Jake Meyers in what they thought might be a sell-high situation after a career year. Teams had enough skepticism about Meyers’ bat that he wasn’t going to lead the return for a mid-rotation arm, however.

Houston and the Rays had conversations about righty Shane Baz at the Winter Meetings. It didn’t result in a deal but set the stage for the rotation move the Astros would make. Chandler Rome and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported at the time that the Rays were particularly keen on pitching prospect Anderson Brito as part of the Baz return. Tampa Bay would land Brito and the Astros would get their controllable starter two weeks later — just in a more circuitous way.

The Pirates had entertained trading a starter for offense. Pittsburgh was never going to move Paul Skenes and was highly unlikely to give up Braxton Ashcraft or Bubba Chandler. Right-hander Mike Burrows was the best fit for that kind of move. He looks like a solid third or fourth starter and has less than a year of service time. He’s the kind of player who has significant appeal on the trade market but wouldn’t be as difficult for Pittsburgh to relinquish than any of their potential top-of-the-rotation arms.

Meyers wasn’t the kind of bat the Pirates needed. Isaac Paredes might have been, but he’s more valuable to the Astros than to Pittsburgh. The righty-hitting Paredes taps into every ounce of his middling raw power by pulling the ball in the air. He’s a perfect fit for Houston’s Daikin Park and its short left field porch. For Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, the toughest in the league for right-handed home run hitters? Not so much.

That’s where the Rays reenter the picture. Pittsburgh wasn’t interested in flipping Burrows for prospects. Tampa Bay, on the other hand, is constantly balancing the present and future while focusing on maximizing asset value. Houston parted with two of the better prospects in a weak farm system, sending outfielder Jacob Melton alongside Brito to Tampa Bay. The Pirates got slugging second baseman Brandon Lowe, fourth outfielder Jake Mangum, and a hard-throwing bullpen flier in Mason Montgomery from the Rays. Houston landed Burrows.

The 26-year-old righty is coming off a 3.94 ERA over 96 innings in his first real look at the big league level. Burrows posted solid strikeout and walk marks with a four-pitch mix led by a 95 mph fastball. It took him a while to establish himself, largely because of a 2023 Tommy John surgery, but it’s reasonable to view him as an above-average starter who is at least two years from his first significant earnings.

Burrows slotted behind Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier as Houston’s third starter. The back end was still an issue. It initially seemed the Astros would piece it together internally and with very modest free agent additions. They added hard-throwing Nate Pearson on a $1.35MM deal at the beginning of the offseason. They brought in 29-year-old righty Ryan Weiss — who topped out at Triple-A in affiliated ball but pitched well with the KBO’s Hanwha Eagles last year — for $2.6MM.

Given the budget constraints, even the Houston front office surely didn’t anticipate landing one of the winter’s most discussed free agents. Tatsuya Imai was the top pitcher available from Japan via the posting system. The 27-year-old righty is coming off a 1.92 ERA with an NPB-leading 27.8% strikeout rate for the Seibu Lions. He averages around 95 mph with his fastball but is capable of running the heater into the upper-90s when he needs it.

Imai’s youth, velocity, whiff rates, and improving control all pointed to a potential nine-figure contract. That never materialized, as teams apparently had enough trepidation about the command and quality of his secondary stuff (particularly the changeup) to stay away from a long-term deal. Evaluators who are most bullish on Imai feel he fits into the middle of a big league rotation. The more pessimistic ones project him as a reliever — though whatever team won the bidding would only do so because they feel he’ll be a capable starter.

The depressed market allowed the Astros to jump in. As Imai’s 45-day posting window came to a close, he signed a three-year deal with Houston that included opt-outs after the first two seasons. It’s a $54MM guarantee that’ll pay him $18MM in year one (a $16MM salary plus a $2MM signing bonus). Imai will decide whether to pass on at least $36MM to retest free agency a year from now. The deal includes escalators that’d raise the price of the player options if Imai throws at least 80 innings this season.

Houston also paid a $9.975MM posting fee to the Lions. The fee is proportional to the contract’s $54MM guarantee and paid in full even if Imai opts out. There’s a decent chance the Astros are paying $27.975MM for one season. That’s a pretty sizable sum. That said, more than a third of that money is in the posting fee, which does not count toward the Astros’ luxury tax number. They kept the CBT commitment at $18MM without going beyond three years, an outcome few would have envisioned at the start of the offseason.

A front four of Brown, Javier, Imai and Burrows is solid. They’ll only need to patch together one rotation spot between Weiss, Lance McCullers Jr., AJ Blubaugh and Spencer Arrighetti. Minor league signee Peter Lambert has had a decent camp, while the Astros acquired swingman Kai-Wei Teng in a minor trade with the Giants. Pearson will build up as a starter as well, but he’s beginning the season on the injured list after experiencing elbow soreness this spring.

McCullers will probably open the season as the fifth starter based on his standing in the organization. He’s unlikely to have a long leash after turning in a 6.51 ERA over 55 2/3 innings. His fastball is back up to 93 mph this spring after landing closer to 91 last season, but various injuries have clearly taken a toll on his stuff and command.

Manager Joe Espada said this afternoon they’ll open with a five-man rotation but are likely to go to a six-man starting staff in the middle of April (relayed by Matt Kawahara of The Houston Chronicle). Imai is accustomed to pitching once a week, as all starters do in NPB. The Astros only have two off days between Opening Day and April 22. Assuming they eventually go the six-man route, Weiss or Arrighetti could pick up a few starts.

The front office did a good job getting the rotation into decent shape. It came at the cost of a few subtractions on the position player side. Trading Melton removed a left-handed hitter from the outfield. They also made a few downgrades to the bottom of the order and the bench in cost-saving moves.

Houston non-tendered second/third baseman Ramón Urías, who’d been projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz at $4.4MM for his final arbitration season. They traded utility player Mauricio Dubón to the Braves for glove-only shortstop Nick Allen. That wound up saving $4.7MM in the difference between their respective arbitration salaries.

Houston spent all offseason trying to move right fielder Jesús Sánchez, who disappointed after a deadline acquisition from the Marlins. They lined up a deal in Spring Training that sent Sánchez to the Blue Jays for Joey Loperfido, a move that saved another $6MM.

They’re plenty familiar with Loperfido, whom they drafted and developed before trading to Toronto in the Yusei Kikuchi deal at the 2024 deadline. He hit .333/.379/.500 in 104 MLB plate appearances last season, but a 27:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio puts a damper on those numbers. Loperfido was a league average hitter over a bigger sample in Triple-A (.264/.341/.401 in 373 PAs). He’s a better fit as a left-handed bench bat than an everyday player.

The Astros easily led the majors in plate appearances by right-handed hitters. They had a total of seven players who took at least 40 at-bats from the left side. Five of them are off the 40-man roster, four out of the organization entirely. Victor Caratini hit free agency and signed a two-year deal with Minnesota. Sánchez and Melton were traded. Taylor Trammell and Cooper Hummel were waived. The only ones returning are Yordan Alvarez and rookie outfielder Zach Cole.

Houston’s desire for more lineup balance was no secret, yet this was a lot less successful than the rotation pursuits. The Astros didn’t come away with a left-handed hitter either at second base or in the outfield (except Loperfido, who was acquired for the lefty-hitting Sánchez). Brendan Donovan, who would have been an ideal roster fit, landed elsewhere in the division with the Mariners. Houston’s lack of farm depth and expendable starting pitching limited their options in this regard.

That led to plenty of late-offseason chatter about flipping an infielder. They would’ve needed to eat money to deal first baseman Christian Walker, who is owed $40MM over the next two seasons and coming off a replacement level showing. Jose Altuve, Jeremy Peña and Carlos Correa obviously weren’t getting moved.

That left Paredes as the only infielder who was both a realistic trade candidate and had the ability to net a significant return. Dana Brown said in November that the Astros had “no interest” in moving the corner infielder, who was one of their best hitters on a rate basis. The front office softened that stance by Spring Training but nothing came together.

Houston enters the year with a lopsided position player group. They want Altuve playing mostly second base again after he struggled with last year’s left field experiment. Walker and Correa are the primary corner infield tandem. Peña will be the everyday shortstop with Alvarez working mostly as a designated hitter. That leaves Paredes as a dramatically overqualified bench bat on paper.

The situation should sort itself out before long. Correa and Alvarez have notable injury histories. Paredes himself is coming off a significant hamstring strain that cost him most of the second half. Altuve and Walker are in their mid-30s. There’s value in giving all those players rest days.

Peña will play essentially every day once he’s healthy. He broke his right ring finger during the World Baseball Classic and is questionable for Opening Day. The Astros could slide Correa to shortstop and pencil Paredes in at third base if Peña requires an injured list stint. That’d be a rough defensive infield, so they could also opt to live with Allen’s bat in the nine spot to play him at shortstop and keep Correa at the hot corner.

Trade rumors on Meyers quieted after the Astros dealt Melton. Meyers is now a key piece as the primary center fielder. Second-year outfielder Cam Smith should retake the right field job from Sánchez. Smith impressed defensively in his first year as an outfielder, but his bat wilted at the end of his rookie season.

Left field is wide open. Loperfido will get some work there, while Altuve and Alvarez figure to make occasional starts. Brice Matthews is a middle infielder by trade but has worked in the outfield this spring given the much clearer path to playing time on the grass. The Astros would love for Cole to stick on the roster as a left-handed power bat. He struck out at a 35% rate in the minors last season and has fanned 17 times in 44 plate appearances this spring. The swing-and-miss might push him off the active roster.

The Astros didn’t do much to replace Caratini, a high-end backup catcher. Yainer Diaz is the clear #1 option behind the plate. César Salazar is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. Houston brought back 2022 World Series champion Christian Vázquez on a minor league deal to compete with Salazar for a bench spot.

Houston was similarly quiet in addressing the bullpen. Their only MLB bullpen add was the selection of Roddery Muñoz in the Rule 5 draft. Some of their rotation depth pickups (e.g. Weiss, Pearson, Teng) could pitch in relief. That could have an indirect impact on the bullpen by giving the Astros the flexibility to use Blubaugh or Arrighetti in relief. Minor league signee Christian Roa, a Houston native and Texas A&M product, has had a great camp and is probably pitching his way onto the roster.

The Astros have already announced they’ll open the season without Josh Hader and Bennett Sousa. Hader has been bothered by a biceps issue after last year’s season-ending capsule injury in his shoulder. Sousa strained his oblique. They’re still well positioned from the left side with Bryan King and Steven Okert in the late innings. Plugging Bryan Abreu in as closer leaves their right-handed setup group rather thin.

It’s a top-heavy roster, one with a few obvious areas (left field, bullpen, left-handed bat) they’ll hope to address at the deadline. They’re estimated around $10MM below the luxury tax line, so they should have some flexibility for in-season maneuvering. There’s also the possibility that Crane reverses course and signs off on going past the threshold, as he did when Correa was available last summer.

The Astros are perennially in win-now mode. This season could be an inflection point for the organization after their first playoff miss in eight years. Espada and Dana Brown are entering the final years of their respective contracts.

Crane said in January they weren’t likely to discuss extensions until seeing how the 2026 season plays out. “I think we’ll go through this year like we always do, evaluate it and then make the decision at the end of the year,” the owner said. “We won’t probably do any extensions now. But I’m not saying that’s impossible. We haven’t talked about it yet. We’ve been focused on getting what we need to compete this next year.”

They got most of the way there, though they’re behind the Mariners on paper. Preseason projections from FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus have the Astros closer to the Rangers (and potentially the A’s) as the second or third-best team in the AL West than to Seattle at the top of the division. Can they overcome the odds to reclaim first place, or will they at least find themselves back in a crowded American League Wild Card picture?

How would you grade the Astros' offseason?

  • C 44% (411)
  • B 24% (227)
  • D 21% (193)
  • F 8% (72)
  • A 3% (28)

Total votes: 931

 

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2025-26 Offseason In Review Houston Astros MLBTR Originals

Poll: Who Will Win The AL Central?

By | at March 20, 2026 4:34pm CDT

With Opening Day just around the corner, the offseason is more or less complete for MLB’s 30 clubs and teams are now focused on the incoming season and being the team to raise the Commissioner’s Trophy. Until the playoffs begin, however, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. In the run-up to the start of the season, we will be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. The AL Champion Blue Jays came out on top in the AL East yesterday with 39% of the vote. Today, we’ll be moving on to the AL Central. All teams are listed in order of their 2025 regular season record:

Cleveland Guardians (88-75)

The Guardians managed to sneak their way into an AL Central title in the eleventh hour last year, overtaking the Tigers at the very end of the year thanks to a 20-7 September. They immediately got bounced from the playoffs by Detroit, however, and their response to that quick exit this postseason has left something to be desired. That seemed like a setup for a big offseason, but no such eventful winter occurred. Deserved as Jose Ramirez‘s latest extension may have been, it does nothing to improve the team for 2026. The only potential impact player the team has added anywhere on the roster is veteran first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who is in camp on a minor league deal but is all but certain to make the team. More or less running back a roster that won 88 games last year isn’t the worst idea in the world, but it’s easy to feel as though last year’s division champs may have been overtaken by their rivals who made bigger splashes over the offseason.

Detroit Tigers (87-76)

The Tigers took the Mariners to Game 5 of the ALDS before falling just short, and now they’ll be looking to make the most out of what is likely to be Tarik Skubal‘s final season with the organization. A reunion with Gleyber Torres was the only big move on offense (although the impending debut of top prospect Kevin McGonigle could still transform the team’s lineup this year), but the Tigers were very active in overhauling their pitching staff. Framber Valdez joins Skubal at the front of the rotation and helps cushion the blow of losing Reese Olson to shoulder surgery, while Justin Verlander provides some mid-rotation stability in his homecoming at 43 years old. In the bullpen, the addition of a second future Hall of Fame veteran in Kenley Jansen and a reunion with Kyle Finnegan should create a solid back of the bullpen for a Tigers team that had the second-worst bullpen in the AL by FIP last year. Those additions seem likely to be enough to make the Tigers the favorite to finally claim the AL Central crown for the first time since 2014, though that also seemed likely to be the case last year.

Kansas City Royals (82-80)

The Royals had a middling season last year where they remained on the periphery of playoff relevance but never quite cracked the top tier of contenders. They wound up finishing just barely above .500, but will enter 2026 with hopes of a return to the postseason. Better health from Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic should go a long way for the club, as could the ascension of top prospect Carter Jensen as the heir apparent to franchise catcher Salvador Perez. In terms of external additions, the outfield will now feature Isaac Collins, Starling Marte, and Lane Thomas in addition to incumbents Jac Caglianone and Kyle Isbel, while Matt Strahm was brought in to fortify a high-leverage relief mix that already included Carlos Estevez and Lucas Erceg. With a handful of solid (if unspectacular) additions and an exciting young talent coming up from the minors, it’s not hard to imagine the Royals having a better year in 2026. Will that be enough to win the division?

Minnesota Twins (70-92)

2025 was a tough year for the Twins, as the organization was unable to lock down the sale both ownership and fans were hoping for off the field, while the team on the diamond struggled badly and wound up getting blown up at last summer’s trade deadline. Minnesota was saved from the basement of the AL Central by the lowly White Sox, but this offseason a change in control person, the hiring of a new manager, and the sudden departure of team president Derek Falvey led to instability at the top of the organization without much movement on the roster to show for it. Josh Bell and Victor Caratini are both solid complementary additions to the lineup, but neither makes up for the loss of Carlos Correa. A rotation that looked like the team’s strength lost Pablo Lopez before the season even began, while Taylor Rogers and others will be asked to save the bullpen after the losses of Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, and Louis Varland. There’s plenty of interesting young talent (Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee, Luke Keaschall, Taj Bradley) on the roster, but a whole lot would have to go right for the Twins to fight their way back to the top of the AL Central this year.

Chicago White Sox (60-102)

The White Sox are still in the midst of what figures to be a lengthy rebuilding process, but more optimism can be found in the organization than has been the case for quite a while now. Young, impactful players like Shane Smith, Colson Montgomery, and Kyle Teel are beginning to establish themselves at the big league level, and the White Sox put in some effort to supplement that budding young core with external additions. Munetaka Murakami is the big addition who could easily add 40 home runs to the White Sox lineup if he pans out, but Anthony Kay, Sean Newcomb, and Seranthony Dominguez could all prove to be savvy additions to the roster as well on he pitching side. It would be a shock if these moves were enough to pull Chicago all the way to the top of the AL Central, but it seems possible that their days of losing 100 games a year are coming to a close.

Who do MLBTR readers think will win the division when all is said and done? Will the Guardians manage to come out on top for the third straight season despite virtually no additions? Will the Tigers finally break through in Skubal’s final season before free agency? Will the Royals’ busy offseason be enough to help them take a leap forward? Or will the Twins or White Sox shock the baseball world? Have your say in the poll below:

Who will win the AL Central in 2026?

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Chicago White Sox Cleveland Guardians Detroit Tigers Kansas City Royals MLBTR Originals MLBTR Polls Minnesota Twins

Offseason In Review: Texas Rangers

By | at March 20, 2026 10:10am CDT

The Rangers tried to walk the line of remaining competitive while simultaneously scaling back payroll. It led to a pair of major trades and a chunk of small free-agent and waiver acquisitions.

Major League Free Agent Signings

2026 spending: $17.95MM
Total spending: $27.45MM

Option Decisions

Trades and Waiver Claims

Extensions

  • None yet

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

The Rangers entered the offseason with a hefty slate of impending free agents. As many as four viable big league rotation arms (Merrill Kelly, Tyler Mahle, Jon Gray, Patrick Corbin) and four quality relievers (Shawn Armstrong, Phil Maton, Hoby Milner, Danny Coulombe) hit the market at season’s end. Texas created further holes on the roster by non-tendering right fielder Adolis Garcia, catcher Jonah Heim and another solid middle reliever, Jacob Webb.

Despite all the departures on the pitching side of things, it seemed early that reimagining an offense that had grown stagnant and regularly struggled against fastballs and velocity was a goal. Texas had tried to do that the prior offseason by parting with Nathaniel Lowe and bringing in Joc Pederson and Jake Burger to reshape the heart of the order. It didn’t work out. Pederson and Burger had career-worst seasons. Texas hit .234/.302/.381 as a team. The resulting 92 wRC+ was tied for fifth-worst in baseball. Rangers hitters ranked 18th in home runs but just 22nd in runs scored. They were 26th in each of batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

That prompted a second and more aggressive shuffle of the offense. The Rangers found no takers for Garcia and Heim at their projected arbitration prices and ultimately non-tendered the pair, losing two key contributors from their 2023 World Series roster for nothing. Three days later, Texas dumped the final three seasons of Marcus Semien’s contract on the Mets, taking on the final five seasons of Brandon Nimmo’s eight-year contract in return.

Nimmo walked at a career-low 7.7% rate in 2025 and struck out more often than Semien, but he was a far more productive hitter overall in 2025. He’s also two years younger. Nimmo may have been traded straight up for Semien, but he’s effectively stepping into the roster spot created by Garcia’s non-tender. He can be reliably counted on for more walks and an on-base mark 40 to 50 points higher than Garcia. At least in 2025, he hit for more power as well. Nimmo makes the Rangers younger (relative to Semien) and provides a higher floor than had been the case with the whiff-prone Garcia.

The only other addition of note to the lineup this winter came in yet another attempt to solidify the team’s struggling catching corps. After Heim regressed in 2024, the Rangers signed Kyle Higashioka to a two-year contract last winter. That contract worked out reasonably well, but Higashioka will be 36 in a month and has never topped last year’s 327 plate appearances or logged even 700 innings behind the plate. With Heim out the door and no immediate heir-apparent coming from the farm, the Rangers needed some form of addition.

The free agent market was thin behind the plate — as is typically the case — but Texas scooped up one of the market’s better options when signing Danny Jansen to a two-year contract. Jansen draws poor framing grades but posted a solid 24.1% caught-stealing rate last year and typically receives good marks from Statcast for his ability to block balls in the dirt. He also draws walks at a high rate each season (12.5% in ’25, 10.8% since ’20) and has above-average pop. Jansen is strikeout-prone but not egregiously so. Although both Jansen and Higashioka hit from the right side, Jansen has better career splits in right-on-right matchups, while Higashioka has more conventional platoon splits. They probably won’t be used in a strict platoon, but Jansen will get more starts versus righties and generally see a larger workload than Higashioka.

Beyond Nimmo and Jansen, the Rangers’ lineup will remain mostly unchanged. They’ll rely on better health for Corey Seager and better performances from names like Pederson, Burger and Josh Jung, each of whom disappointed relative to expectations and projections in 2025. It’s certainly a risk, given that this lineup has a similar structure to the one that’s fallen flat in each of the past two seasons, but the Rangers were clearly working with a limited budget and did their best to make some changes where they could.

One final addition will likely be former NL MVP Andrew McCutchen. He signed a minor league deal after spring training was already underway. Cutch and the Pirates reunited in 2023 and he spent three seasons with his original organization, but the Buccos were hunting bigger fish this winter and opted to move on after McCutchen’s bat fell to about league-average over the past two seasons (slightly below that in 2025). At 39 years old, McCutchen isn’t going to dial things back to his peak form, but he can still hit lefties, which makes him a nice complement for Pederson. And, if Pederson can’t right the ship after last year’s calamitous .181/.285/.328 batting line (76 wRC+), Texas could move on entirely and turn DH reps over to McCutchen. Even if he’s “only” a league-average bat, that’d be a substantial improvement over Pederson’s 2025 output.

The other big change in the lineup isn’t due to a new acquisition but rather a change in role. Josh Smith has been a utility player for his first four seasons with Texas but is now in line for regular at-bats at second base, in place of Semien. Smith has posted a .254/.336/.380 line in semi-regular work over the past two seasons. It’s unremarkable production, but Smith had a strong four-month run to begin the ’25 season before a largely BABIP-driven swoon weighed down his production late in the year. He was hitting .277/.354/.420 through his first 380 plate appearances but batted only .195/.293/.252 in his final 183 plate appearances — all while experiencing a drop of more than 60 points in his average on balls in play.

Smith has never had a set, everyday role. He played seven different positions last year (in addition to a handful of DH appearances). Sam Haggerty‘s presence on the bench gives him a right-handed platoon partner if the Rangers prefer to go that route. They probably should, given that Smith is a career .223/.309/.322 hitter versus lefties to Haggerty’s .280/.362/.446. (Haggerty is a switch-hitter, but he’s delivered only a .202/.277/.279 slash as a left-handed hitter.)

As has typically been the case in recent years, the pitching staff was a prominent focus — both the bullpen and the rotation. Texas got nice performances from Robert Garcia and Cole Winn in 2025, and they brought Chris Martin back for one more go-around even though he’d previously hinted at retirement.

The Rangers had success building nearly an entire bullpen from small-scale free agent deals last winter and will try to replicate the strategy in 2026. It’s a clear risk, as relievers are the game’s most volatile performers on a year-to-year basis. The Texas farm is light on impact arms, however, particularly after dealing six minor league pitchers to acquire Merrill Kelly, Phil Maton and Danny Coulombe in separate trades.

Last offseason, Texas brought in Martin, Shawn Armstrong, Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb and Luke Jackson (in addition to trading for Robert Garcia, who’s controlled through 2029). This winter it was more of the same. Martin is back on another one-year deal, and he’s joined by Jakob Junis, Jalen Beeks, Tyler Alexander and Alexis Diaz, although the former will have to earn his way back onto the roster.

Diaz inked a $1MM contract after being non-tendered by the Braves but was designated for assignment and passed through waivers when Texas signed Beeks earlier this month. It’s at least possible that was the plan from the jump; we increasingly see teams sign experienced players to low-cost, one-year deals and then pass them through waivers to stash as Triple-A depth, knowing they won’t reject the outright assignment to the minors because doing so means forfeiting any guarantees on the contract (for players with fewer than five seasons of service anyhow). Even if that wasn’t the initial intent, Diaz didn’t do himself any favors by allowing eight runs with four walks and a hit batter in 1 2/3 frames this spring.

As was the case last spring, the Rangers’ bullpen looks shaky on paper. All of Martin, Beeks, Junis and Alexander have had success at times but lack consistency (hence being available on short-term contracts). Garcia’s performance was strong but less than elite. Winn posted a pristine 1.51 ERA, but metrics like SIERA (4.13) and FIP (3.90) aren’t buying it because of the former top prospect’s mediocre 21.6% strikeout rate and sub-par 10.5% walk rate.

There are other potential upside plays in the mix. The Rangers claimed righty Michel Otañez off waivers from the division-rival A’s, selected righty Carter Baumler from the from the Orioles in the Rule 5 Draft (by way of a trade with the Pirates), and signed veterans Ryan Brasier and Josh Sborz to minor league contracts. Baumler was an over-slot ($1.5MM) fifth-rounder who posted a 2.04 ERA with a 29% strikeout rate between High-A and Double-A last year. Otañez sits upper 90s with his heater and misses bats in droves but also has a career 14% walk rate in the majors. Sborz was a key bullpen piece for much of 2023 but has been hampered by injuries since. Brasier has a nice track record but is 38 years old and has had a tough spring.

Perhaps the Rangers can defy the odds again, but this is a tough way to build a bullpen with any sort of regularity. Relievers are inherently volatile, and that volatility often necessitates going out and adding help at the deadline if the club is in contention. That could lead to trading away some potential down-the-road bullpen arms, creating a bit of a vicious cycle.

The other side of the pitching staff, once again, proved a core focus for the Rangers. Since being installed as president of baseball operations, former big league right-hander Chris Young has repeatedly focused on deepening his pitching staff. That’s in part due to the old adage that there’s no such thing as “too much” pitching — which a former pitcher understands keenly — and also in part due to difficulty in developing homegrown arms.

Former No. 2 overall pick Jack Leiter was a bright spot in 2025, but fellow top prospect Kumar Rocker couldn’t get off the ground floor. Winn was once a top-tier rotation project who’s fizzled out in a rotation role and is now in the ‘pen. Other prominent Rangers pitching prospects like Owen White, Hans Crouse, Dane Dunning and Brock Porter (to name a few recent examples) have largely plateaued — if not before reaching the majors then not long after.

The struggles to develop homegrown pitching have led the Rangers to routinely go outside the organization to get it. They did so again this winter, bringing former trade acquisition and 2023 rotation savior Jordan Montgomery back on a one-year deal that’ll potentially plug him into the rotation once he’s recovered from UCL surgery. The larger move, of course — arguably their signature move of the offseason — was the trade for Washington’s MacKenzie Gore.

Texas sent a five-player package, headlined by 2025 first-rounder Gavin Fien, to Washington to pry Gore loose. The package notably lacked a consensus top-100 prospect, though the Nats presumably have Fien in that group on their internal rankings. One would imagine the Nationals at least asked about names like Sebastian Walcott and Caden Scarborough and were rebuffed. Washington had a thin system that badly needed depth, however, so diversifying their risk by acquiring a bushel of prospects rather than one or two higher-end names is a reasonable approach.

In that sense, the trade worked out for both parties. The Nats add a smattering of talented young players to their system, including last summer’s No. 12 overall pick (Fien). The Rangers added two years of Gore without surrendering the very best their system has to offer.

Gore will spend the next two seasons in Texas. He’s a former No. 3 overall pick who once ranked as the sport’s top pitching prospect. Injuries and poor performance stemming from mechanical issues delayed his arrival in the majors, but he’s started 89 games over the past three seasons now and done so with a respectable 4.15 ERA. Gore looked to finally be breaking out in full last summer. He made the All-Star team and entered the break with a terrific 3.02 ERA, 30.5% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate. A brutal four-start stretch saw him rocked for 23 runs over his next 15 2/3 innings. He then rebounded with a 3.74 ERA down the stretch.

Gore now joins Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Leiter to form an impressive quartet. The depth thereafter isn’t great, in part because the Rangers shipped out three nearly MLB-ready starters for Kelly last summer. Lefty Jacob Latz is the favorite for the fifth spot on the starting staff. Rocker, Jose Corniell and David Davalillo are depth options on the 40-man roster, and Young brought in veterans like Cal Quantrill and Austin Gomber on minor league deals. Both Montgomery and southpaw Cody Bradford could be ready to return from the IL early this summer.

It’s a talented but top-heavy group, and the Rangers are at some risk of that depth being exposed if deGrom and/or Eovaldi run into further injury troubles. Eovaldi hasn’t started 30 games since 2021. DeGrom made 30 dominant starts last season but combined for 35 starts in the four seasons prior.

The Rangers have the makings of a solid veteran core on both the offensive and pitching side of things. Their defense should be good but perhaps not to the extent of last season, given the subtraction of Semien’s all-world glove at second and Garcia’s quality glove in right field. The bullpen will need several things to break right, and the bench and minor league depth options are a bit lacking.

Better health from Seager and center fielder Evan Carter, rebounds from Burger/Pederson, and a step forward from standout left fielder Wyatt Langford — who has superstar potential — would go a long way toward pushing the Rangers back into the postseason mix.

How would MLBTR readers grade the Rangers’ offseason? Have your say in the poll below:

How would you grade the Rangers' offseason?

  • C 48% (356)
  • B 31% (229)
  • D 12% (92)
  • F 5% (35)
  • A 4% (27)

Total votes: 739

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2025-26 Offseason In Review MLBTR Originals Texas Rangers

Poll: Who Will Win The AL East?

By | at March 19, 2026 3:34pm CDT

With Opening Day just around the corner, the offseason is more or less complete for MLB’s 30 clubs and teams are now focused on the incoming season and being the final team standing to raise the Commissioner’s Trophy. Until the playoffs begin, however, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. In the run-up to the start of the season, we will be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. That series starts today with the AL East. All teams are listed in order of their 2025 regular season record:

Toronto Blue Jays (94-68)

The Blue Jays only narrowly won the AL East last year, with the division coming down to a tiebreaker. They made a much more convincing case for themselves as the top dog in the division come the postseason, however, as they easily dispatched the Yankees in the ALDS and went on to make it all the way to Game 7 of the World Series before losing that final game against the mighty Dodgers by just a hair. They went on to have an aggressive offseason in their efforts to stay at the top of the totem pole. The Jays lost Bo Bichette and Chris Bassitt to free agency, but managed to retain Max Scherzer while adding Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce to a rotation that already boasts Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, and Trey Yesavage. Their efforts to improve on the pitching side didn’t ignore the bullpen either, as Tyler Rogers was brought in to support Jeff Hoffman and Louis Varland in the late innings. Losing Bichette certainly hurts for Toronto’s offense, but Kazuma Okamoto figures to be an able replacement as a right-handed bat in the middle of the order, and the team also bolstered their outfield depth with the addition of Jesus Sanchez. Will that be enough to maintain control in the East, or will Toronto brass regret missing out on Bichette and Kyle Tucker this winter?

New York Yankees (94-68)

The Yankees only lost the East by a hair last year. Their plan for this season appears to be running back last year’s squad and hoping that the return of Gerrit Cole can push them over the edge. Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, Amed Rosario, Trent Grisham, and Paul Blackburn are all returning via free agency. With that being said, the team didn’t make any significant additions aside from bringing back the old guard when it comes to free agency. Their lone major addition to the roster this offseason was a trade with the Marlins that brought back southpaw Ryan Weathers, who has never thrown even 100 innings in a season but does sport a solid 3.74 ERA across his last 24 outings. That addition to the rotation mix is matched by a substantial loss in the bullpen, however, as both Devin Williams and Luke Weaver eschewed the Bronx in favor of Queens during free agency. Perhaps the additions of Cole (as he returns from a season lost to Tommy John surgery) and Weathers will make up for those losses, but the Yankees will also have to contend with the injury bug; Cole, Carlos Rodon, and Anthony Volpe are all starting the season on the injured list, while Clarke Schmidt is already lost for the year to elbow surgery.

Boston Red Sox (89-73)

The Red Sox certainly had a busy offseason, but it’s not exactly the ones fans were expecting. Alex Bregman is suddenly a Chicago Cub. Both Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu remain with the Red Sox. While the team’s elite outfield remains intact, the infield looks somewhat suspect. The addition of Willson Contreras at first base should provide some reliability that former top prospect Triston Casas has not been able to so far in his career, but the Red Sox will be banking on another solid season from Trevor Story after his bounce-back in 2025 while turning to Marcelo Mayer at second base and Caleb Durbin at third base. All three of those players have the opportunity to be solid, but only Mayer has a ceiling comparable to the impact Bregman offered and fans in Boston need not be reminded of the risks associated with handing the keys to a young player at second base after Kristian Campbell‘s rookie year. On the other hand, the team’s pitching looks better than ever. Garrett Crochet nearly won the Cy Young award last year, and this season he’ll be supported by both Ranger Suarez and Sonny Gray to give the Red Sox one of the more impressive potential playoff rotations in the game. Will that be enough to win the AL East this year, given the club’s lack of impact hitting additions?

Tampa Bay Rays (77-85)

The Rays are coming off back-to-back seasons where they finished just a bit below .500. After the rest of the division spent the offseason loading up on talent for the 2026 campaign, a lot will need to go right for the Rays to improve this year. Junior Caminero is a superstar at third base but the losses of Brandon Lowe and Pete Fairbanks figure to be a tough blow this year. In typical Rays fashion, the club’s additions aren’t necessarily impactful on paper. None of Jake Fraley, Gavin Lux, Cedric Mullins, Steven Matz, and Nick Martinez had impact seasons last year but they’ve all shown themselves to be more than capable of being effective major leaguers in the past. Additionally, young pieces like Ryan Pepiot and Carson Williams could plausibly take the sort of step forward Jonathan Aranda did last year, therefore joining Aranda and Yandy Diaz as strong pieces of Caminero’s supporting cast. Will all that be enough to overcome the Rays’ high-spending rivals?

Baltimore Orioles (75-87)

The Orioles had a disaster of a 2025 season but they resolved to fix their flaws in this offseason and made a strong effort to do just that. Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward brought in reliable, right-handed power that a lineup stacked with upside but lacking in floor desperately needed. A revamped rotation featuring not just a healthy Kyle Bradish but also a reunion with Zach Eflin plus the additions of both Shane Baz and Chris Bassitt certainly offers more upside than last year’s group, even if they failed to sign the surefire ace they entered the season widely expected to target. That improved rotation is also being supported by a bullpen that brought back Andrew Kittredge after dealing him away at the trade deadline and added Ryan Helsley in order to replace injured closer Felix Bautista. The bones of a very deep and talented team are clearly present in Baltimore but whether they can rise from fifth in the division all the way to first will surely depend on the health and performance of their core pieces like Jackson Holliday, Jordan Westburg and Adley Rutschman. Gunnar Henderson remains a good bet to earn himself MVP votes but will the rest of that elite group of youngsters be able to start to catch up to him?

After a busy offseason all around the AL East, which team is most likely to come out on top this year? Will the Blue Jays hold on after their near-miss at a championship last season? Will the Yankees be able to get better results with the same roster? Will the Red Sox or Orioles be able to make an unorthodox offseason into a success despite notable misses on some stated goals for the winter? Or will the Rays once again work the magic that’s made them so successful in the past and surprise the league? Have your say in the poll below:

Who will win the AL East in 2026?

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Offseason In Review: Washington Nationals

By | at March 19, 2026 1:41pm CDT

The reloaded rebuild officially got underway in D.C., as the MacKenzie Gore trade signaled that the Nationals are still years away from contention.

Major League Signings

2026 spending: $14.75MM
Total spending: $14.75M

Trades And Claims

Option Decisions

  • None

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Notable Losses

Acquiring young players is a key plank of any rebuild, but the Nationals took it a step further by also beginning a youth movement off the field.  Newly-hired president of baseball operations Paul Toboni is only 36 years old, new general manager Anirudh Kilambi is 32, new manager Blake Butera is only 33, and most of Butera’s new coaching staff are also under age 40.  (Bench coach Michael Johns is the relative greybeard of the group at age 50.)

This wasn’t an entirely intentional goal for Toboni or Nats ownership, as more experienced names like Brandon Hyde, Rocco Baldelli, and interim manager Miguel Cairo also drew interest in the managerial search.  The end result, however, is clear — the Nationals have brought a lot of fresh perspectives into the overhauled organization, following the 19-year tenure of former PBO Mike Rizzo and longtime manager Davey Martinez.

The Rizzo/Martinez era was highlighted by the Nationals’ 2019 World Series title, but the team has now posted six straight losing seasons since that championship year.  Heading into 2025, Washington had some buzz as a darkhorse playoff contender, as it seemed like the team’s young core was starting to gel and a full breakout might be in the offing.  Instead, the Nats were 37-53 at the time of Rizzo and Martinez’s firing in early July, and they finished with a 66-96 record.

Given the circumstances, it was never likely that Toboni was being hired to win in 2026.  The only question was how active Toboni might be in tearing the roster down, or standing pat to take 2026 as something of an evaluation year for the organization (similar to Scott Harris’ quiet first offseason as the Tigers’ president of baseball ops).  While Washington didn’t go into full fire-sale mode or anything, the decision was made to move one of the team’s more obvious trade candidates in Gore.

As Toboni plainly told the media after Gore was dealt to the Rangers, “we lost 96 games last year. To turn it around in one year and make the playoffs….not to say it can’t be done, but it’s a challenge.  What we want to do is make sure we build this really strong foundation, so when we do start to push chips in, we can win for an extended period of time.”

Gore is only arbitration-controlled through the 2027 season, thus making him superfluous to a Nats team that doesn’t look like it will be trying to compete within the next two years.  As one might expect, a controllable, 27-year-old southpaw who has shown some front-of-the-rotation upside drew a lot of interest, as reports indicated that up to half of the league checked in on Gore’s availability.  The Orioles, Royals, and Yankees were all publicly mentioned as Gore suitors, but it was Texas who sealed the deal with a five-prospect trade package.

The preseason top-100 prospect rankings from Baseball America and MLB Pipeline didn’t include any of the five players from the Gore trade, with Gavin Fien (the 12th overall pick of the 2025 draft) ranked highest of the group by both outlets as the fifth-best prospect in the Nats’ farm system.  According to ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, Toboni was very high on Fien last summer when Toboni was still working as the Red Sox assistant GM and running Boston’s draft room, except the Rangers took Fien just before Boston could make the 15th overall selection.

This may well have been the ace up the Rangers’ sleeve in winning the Gore bidding, and since Fien just turned 19, he also fits into what seems to be a longer-term blueprint for Toboni.  Abimelec Ortiz is the only player of the five who could conceivably reach the big league roster before 2028, and Ortiz may have a ceiling on his potential as a powerful but raw slugger who has struggled against lefties and may be limited to first base duty.

Given all of the interest in Gore, D.C. fans may have been a little dismayed that the team opted for a trade package that looks like quantity over quality, in terms of true blue-chip prospects.  Ironically, many Mariners fans had similar feeling when top-100 list fixture Harry Ford was dealt to Washington for Jose A. Ferrer in early December, as the Seattle fanbase felt a highly-touted catching prospect should’ve brought back more than “just” a relief pitcher.

Ferrer is a hard-throwing left-hander who projects as another high-leverage arm for a Mariners team that is trying to win it all in 2026.  Since he was controlled through 2029, Ferrer wasn’t viewed as an obvious trade candidate, yet Toboni may have been looking to sell high on a reliever who (despite impressive velocity) has shown to be more of a grounder specialist than a strikeout artist.

Ford was the 12th overall pick of the 2021 draft, but his potential as Seattle’s catcher of the future was quickly usurped by Cal Raleigh‘s rise to stardom.  While Ford will begin his 2026 season with Triple-A Rochester, his path to future playing time in Washington isn’t nearly as crowded, even though Keibert Ruiz is still under contract through at least the 2030 season.  Just three years removed from signing an eight-year, $50MM contract extension, Ruiz struggled both offensively and defensively in 2024-25, and the Ford trade may indicate that the writing on the wall about Ruiz’s status with Washington’s new front office.

Trading Ruiz will be difficult given his contract and lack of recent success, so even a decent first half (or however long it is before Ford to be called up) likely wouldn’t be enough to recoup much trade value.  While Ruiz is probably not going anywhere, the same might not be true of Jacob Young or CJ Abrams, who each drew trade buzz this past winter but now look to at least make it to Opening Day in a Nationals uniform.

Young is a fantastic defensive center fielder who hasn’t yet hit at the MLB level, so the Nats could look to move him if the team feels Young’s bat just won’t come around.  The Joey Wiemer waiver claim was probably more about adding outfield depth than the Nationals finding a potential Young replacement in center, but it does give D.C. an alternative if a center field-needy team suddenly came calling with a tempting offer.

Abrams and Gore were two of the principles in the blockbuster trade package the Nationals received from the Padres for Juan Soto in 2022, and like Gore, Abrams has been solid if not a true finished product yet at the big league level.  Abrams’ last two seasons have seen him hit well in the first half before tailing off badly in the second half, plus his shortstop glovework is well below par.

Such teams as the Royals and Giants were linked to Abrams’ market this winter, with both of those teams surely viewing Abrams more as a second baseman than a shortstop.  Since Abrams is arb-controlled through 2028, Washington isn’t in any kind of a rush to trade him immediately, and waiting a bit longer might be a preferable option for both the Nats and rival teams.  A consistent 2026 campaign from Abrams would both make suitors more comfortable in making a solid offer for the infielder, and the Nationals more likely to land their desired asking price.

More future-focused moves came in the form of Griff McGarry’s selection in the Rule 5 Draft, and the trades that respectively brought right-handers Andre Granillo and Luis Perales from the Cardinals and Red Sox.  Control problems stalled McGarry’s progress as a starter in the Phillies’ farm system, but the Nats could give him a look all year on the big league roster in order to evaluate the right-hander and fully secure his rights.  Granillo also issued a good deal of walks during his time in the St. Louis farm system, but he is a big league-ready reliever with 21 innings of experience in the Show.  Perales is a hard-throwing righty still working his way back from a Tommy John surgery, and Toboni is obviously quite familiar with Perales from their time in the Boston organization.

Since the Nationals still have a season to play in 2026, they also made some moves to more directly address the current roster.  Any of Zack Littell, Miles Mikolas, or Foster Griffin could find themselves on the move at the trade deadline as rental pieces, but for now, they’ll reinforce a D.C. rotation that badly needed some stability.

Littell could be considered the de facto ace, given that he had a 3.88 ERA and an elite 4.2% walk rate over 186 2/3 innings with the Rays and Reds last season.  However, Littell’s penchant for allowing home runs and his lack of velocity or strikeout power were all reasons why the veteran was still a free agent less than two weeks ago, and why he was available for a one-year, $7MM deal.  That’s still quite a decent price for even just an innings eater, and Nationals Park should prove to be a little friendlier to Littell than his homer-happy home stadiums in 2025.

Mikolas has a similar resume as a low-strikeout pitcher with excellent control and the ability to cover innings, and he has a longer track record in rotations since Littell only became a full-time starter in 2023.  Mikolas has posted only a 4.98 ERA over 529 1/3 innings since the start of the 2023 season, and his pinpoint control has only been able to do so much to paper over the right-hander’s diminishing effectiveness.

After posting a 6.75 ERA over eight MLB innings with the Royals and Blue Jays from 2020-22, Griffin revived his career with a 2.57 ERA across 315 2/3 innings with the Yomiuri Giants over the last three seasons.  The 30-year-old represents an intriguing wild card for the Nationals, and Washington’s ability to offer Griffin a clear-cut rotation job might’ve helped the Nats win the bidding amidst multiple teams interested in Griffin’s market.

The free agent trio with join Cade Cavalli (tabbed as the Opening Day starter) and Jake Irvin in the Nationals’ starting rotation.  DJ Herz and Trevor Williams are expected to make midseason returns from elbow surgeries and could slot into an rotation spot opened up by a pre-deadline trade.  Any of Josiah Gray, Andrew Alvarez, Mitchell Parker, swingman Brad Lord, Jake Eder, or Perales could all end up getting starts before 2026 is out, either due to injuries, trades, or because the Nats want to audition as many starters as possible.

Evaluation is really the key word for this year’s District squad.  This is a very young Nationals roster without a lot of Major League experience, and the bullpen in particular will be very inexperienced unless a minor league signing like Cionel Perez or Drew Smith makes the team.  Among the position players, even the more seasoned members of that group (i.e. Ruiz, Luis Garcia Jr.) are probably more focused on trying to re-establish themselves as quality big leaguers than they are being relative mentors to their younger teammates.

While Washington is probably going to have one of the worst records in baseball, this chaos can be a ladder.  There is plenty of room here for youngsters to step up and become part of future plans, and to put a couple of building blocks in place for the Nationals’ next winning roster.  It will also be interesting to see how Butera (the youngest Major League manager in over 50 years) adjusts to being a skipper in the big leagues, and if he can become the latest ex-Rays staffer to find success in another organization.

How would you grade the Nationals' offseason?

  • C 33% (388)
  • D 33% (388)
  • F 18% (204)
  • B 13% (146)
  • A 3% (38)

Total votes: 1,164

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2025-26 Offseason In Review MLBTR Originals Washington Nationals

Offseason In Review: Los Angeles Angels

By | at March 19, 2026 12:16pm CDT

The Angels made a managerial change and overhauled the coaching staff. They otherwise did little to improve a 90-loss roster and again enter the season as one of the American League’s worst teams on paper.

Major League Signings

2026 spending: $18.2MM
Total future spending: $18.2MM

Trades and Claims

Option Decisions

  • None

Extensions

  • None

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

At the end of their 10th straight losing season, the Angels announced they were making a managerial change. Neither Ron Washington nor interim skipper Ray Montgomery — who took over in the second half while Washington recovered from bypass surgery — would be back. Montgomery remained in the organization in a front office role, while Washington would land in San Francisco as infield coach on Tony Vitello’s first MLB staff.

Albert Pujols was the early frontrunner. Talks fizzled out a couple weeks later, reportedly after Pujols and owner Arte Moreno couldn’t agree on coaches and financial terms. The Halos also interviewed longtime center fielder Torii Hunter before landing on former catcher Kurt Suzuki as their new manager. Suzuki was highly respected as a player and has spent three seasons with the organization in a special assistant role, though he has no prior coaching or managerial experience.

Suzuki signed a one-year contract, which is rare. Most teams tend to give their top front office personnel and their manager multi-year security. Suzuki evidently didn’t have that kind of bargaining power. There’s nothing inherently wrong with a one-year contract, but that didn’t lead to much optimism that Moreno would be willing to spend on a roster littered with holes — especially after talks had collapsed with the candidate whom they initially targeted.

General manager Perry Minasian is entering the final guaranteed year of his contract, which has a club option for 2027. Moreno may be keeping his options open for wholesale changes next winter. There’s also some thought that the owner may be averse to any kind of multi-year commitments when the ’27 season could be impacted by a lockout.

In the interim, the front office and coaching staff can only try to make the best of the situation. Suzuki made a handful of noteworthy coaching hires. He tabbed John Gibbons as bench coach. They hired well-respected pitching coach Mike Maddux away from the Rangers.

The boldest hire was to bring in three-time All-Star Brady Anderson as hitting coach. Anderson is a first-time hitting coach who hadn’t worked in affiliated ball since 2020, but he clearly has a wealth of playing experience from which to draw. Recently retired players Adam Eaton and Max Stassi also joined the staff as first base and catching coach, respectively.

They’re going to have their work cut out for them. The managerial process indeed foreshadowed a quiet offseason. Like many teams, the Angels found themselves with broadcast revenue uncertainty after their renegotiated TV deal with Main Street Sports collapsed. The Halos wound up creating their own network and streaming arrangement, but they’re no longer working with fixed rights payments. Their revenue will be tied to subscriptions.

That provided a simple justification to more or less eschew free agency. They spent a total of $18.2MM over six one-year contracts, none of which exceeded $5MM. That’s despite a pair of moves that created plenty of short-term cash savings.

The first, their most significant transaction of the winter, was the Taylor Ward trade. The Angels had one too many right-handed hitting corner outfielders. Playing Jo Adell as a regular center fielder isn’t viable. Mike Trout wanted to return to playing defense. Jorge Soler will get a rebound opportunity between DH and right field.

Trading one of Ward or Adell for starting pitching felt like a must. The Angels lined up a one-for-one swap sending Ward to the Orioles for righty Grayson Rodriguez. Once the top pitching prospect in MLB, Rodriguez pitched pretty well between 2023-24 before elbow and shoulder injuries threw his career off track.

The Angels control the 26-year-old Rodriguez for at least four seasons. He also has a pair of minor league options that give the team some flexibility if he struggles after a lost ’25 campaign. There’s risk given the health history, but this is the kind of upside play the Angels should be taking. They’ll need a lot of players to hit the higher end of their realistic range of outcomes to be competitive. Rodriguez has a ceiling that few of their internal arms possess. His command has understandably been erratic this spring, but he’s averaging 95 mph on the fastball and should open the season in the rotation.

It comes at a cost, of course. Ward hit 36 home runs a year ago. He has been an above-average offensive player in five consecutive seasons. Still, this was the one area of MLB depth the Angels could leverage in a trade. Ward’s general profile — a righty power bat with middling on-base marks — is also one the Angels had in abundance.

They ranked fourth in MLB last year in home runs and easily led the league with 188 homers from righty batters. No team struck out more often or had a lower batting average, while only the Rockies and Guardians had a worse on-base percentage. There’s something to be said for breaking up that redundancy, at least once the opportunity to acquire a talented starting pitcher with cost control presented itself.

They also cleared nearly $12MM between Ward’s final arbitration salary and Rodriguez’s pre-arbitration sum. They saved more money in the short term by closing the book on Anthony Rendon’s tenure. The Angels and Rendon negotiated a buyout to defer his $38MM salary at $7.6MM annually over the next five years. Rendon will still get paid in the long run, but the buyout reduces the net present value while shifting more than $30MM of the team’s commitments from this year to future seasons.

Tyler Anderson ($13MM), Kenley Jansen ($10MM), Evan White ($8MM), Luis Rengifo ($5.95MM) and Kyle Hendricks ($2.5MM) all came off the books as free agents. Some of those savings would be reallocated to raises among the arbitration class, but the Angels would have had a lot of spending capacity if ownership were willing to match last year’s level.

Instead, the rest of the offseason featured lower-ceiling moves. Alek Manoah’s third-place Cy Young finish in 2022 might make his signing seem like an upside play, but there’s not much reason for optimism he’ll get close to that level again.

Manoah’s stuff hasn’t returned since he battled elbow injuries that required Tommy John surgery in 2024. A fastball that once averaged around 94 mph is in the 91-92 range this spring. Pitching-starved clubs like the Rockies and Nationals passed on the chance to claim Manoah off waivers last fall. The Braves, whose lack of rotation depth decimated them last year and remains an issue, declined to tender him an arbitration contract in the $2-3MM range. Teams clearly don’t have much optimism.

The Angels signed Manoah for $1.95MM, so it’s not as if the deal itself is going to cripple them. The problem is the Angels didn’t make any other moves to add a clearer upgrade at the back of the rotation. Manoah entered camp as the projected fifth starter. A rough Spring Training (16 runs with 14 walks over 15 1/3 innings) might push him back to Triple-A.

Manoah as a seventh or eighth starter would be fine. It doesn’t work as well for a team that was counting on him to win a season-opening rotation spot. José Soriano and Yusei Kikuchi return as the team’s top two starters, with the former tabbed for his first career Opening Day assignment. Reid Detmers is moving back to the rotation after a strong season in relief. He’s the third starter, likely followed by Rodriguez.

If they send Manoah down, the last spot falls to one of Jack Kochanowicz, Sam Aldegheri or an aggressive promotion for a prospect like George Klassen or Ryan Johnson. Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register wrote yesterday that Kochanowicz and Johnson appear to have pulled ahead.

Kochanowicz had a near-7.00 ERA across 23 MLB starts a year ago. Johnson, a 2024 second-rounder, broke camp as a reliever last season without previously pitching in a minor league game. He struggled and was demoted all the way to High-A in May. He built back up as a starter and turned in a 2.05 ERA with a near-30% strikeout rate across 57 1/3 innings. He’s a good prospect who is having an impressive spring, but he hasn’t started a game above A-ball.

Shaky as the rotation depth seems, the bullpen might be in worse shape. None of last year’s three best relievers are returning to the late innings. Jansen signed an $11MM free agent deal with the Tigers. Detmers is back in the rotation. They traded Brock Burke to the Reds in a three-team deal to acquire outfielder Josh Lowe from Tampa Bay.

The Angels added four veteran relievers via cheap free agent contracts. Kirby Yates, Drew Pomeranz, Brent Suter and Jordan Romano all signed one-year deals. Yates and Romano are former All-Star closers who are reclamation projects. The soft-tossing Suter had a career-high 4.52 ERA over 67 2/3 innings with Cincinnati. Pomeranz was easily the best of this group last year, tossing 49 2/3 innings of 2.17 ERA ball with a 28% strikeout rate for the Cubs. He’s also 37 years old, has an extensive injury history, and didn’t pitch in MLB between 2022-24.

That magnified the importance of getting Ben Joyce and Robert Stephenson back in high-leverage situations. Joyce underwent shoulder surgery last May and will open the season on the injured list, but he’s throwing bullpen sessions and could be back a few weeks into the year.

Stephenson’s first two seasons with the Halos were ruined by elbow issues and a bout with thoracic outlet syndrome. He seemingly entered camp healthy but unfortunately suffered yet another elbow injury last week. The team hasn’t announced a diagnosis, but the right-hander acknowledged the brutal news that he’s dealing with more ligament damage. He’s evaluating his treatment options and another season-ending surgery seems possible.

Suzuki suggested the Angels will open the season with a closer committee between Yates, Romano and Pomeranz. It’s less than ideal. They’ll hope for the flamethrower Joyce to take the job midseason. The middle relief group is wide open. Minor league signees Hunter Strickland and Nick Sandlin are competing with holdovers Ryan Zeferjahn, Chase Silseth and Sam Bachman.

There wasn’t a ton of turnover on the position player side. Lowe replaces Ward in the outfield mix, adding some balance by bringing in a lefty bat. Lowe has fought oblique issues for a couple seasons and is coming off a tough year, hitting .220/.283/.366 over 435 plate appearances. He had a 20-30 campaign with the Rays back in 2023 and is under arbitration control for three seasons. The Angels parted with a solid middle reliever in Burke and a mid-tier pitching prospect (Chris Clark) to see if they can get Lowe back on track.

Although Minasian said the Halos were comfortable using Lowe in center field, he’s better served replacing Ward in left. It certainly looks like Trout will be back in center. The Angels moved the three-time MVP to right field last year, hoping it’d reduce the physical toll he has taken. Trout sustained a bone bruise in his left knee by the end of April anyway. He missed a month and was a full-time designated hitter for the rest of the season.

Trout said last month he wants to return to center field. The Angels are open to the idea and have started him in center seven times this spring. He has played four games as a DH and twice in left field — a position he hasn’t played in the regular season since 2013. It seems safe to assume Trout isn’t starting 140 games as a center fielder, but he’ll be out there more often than not for as long as he’s healthy. They’ll have a corner pairing of Lowe and Adell while occasionally starting Soler in a corner and using Trout as a DH.

Two spots on the infield were locked in. Nolan Schanuel and Zach Neto will play almost every day at first base and shortstop, respectively. The Halos opted for stability at the hot corner, re-signing Yoán Moncada to a $4MM deal. The switch-hitter hasn’t topped 104 games in a season since 2022. He was reasonably productive when healthy last year, though, batting .234/.336/.448 in around half a season of playing time.

Moncada will begin the season at third base. There’s a decent chance they’ll need players to fill in there throughout the year given his injury history. Second base was wide open with Rengifo hitting free agency and certainly not coming back after a tough season.

The Angels took a flier on Vaughn Grissom, who is out of options. Grissom is a former highly-regarded prospect whom the Red Sox acquired from the Braves for Chris Sale. It turned out to be one of the most lopsided trades in years, as Grissom hit .190 without a home run in 31 games in a Boston uniform. He didn’t appear in MLB last season, batting .270/.342/.441 across 418 Triple-A plate appearances.

It’s a fine change-of-scenery move that echoes last summer’s deadline trade for Oswald Peraza. The prospect cost was minimal. They sent last year’s eighth-round pick, Isaiah Jackson, to Boston. Grissom is in his mid-20s and battled injuries throughout his Red Sox tenure. He had a pair of hamstring strains in 2024 and missed the final month last year with plantar fasciitis. He has been banged up again this spring, recently receiving a cortisone shot for a left hand issue.

The Angels already optioned Christian Moore, taking him out of consideration for the season-opening second base job. Peraza and Grissom each need to be on the MLB roster or injured list if the Angels don’t want to expose them to waivers. Adam Frazier, Jeimer Candelario and Chris Taylor are all in camp on minor league contracts. Frazier seems likeliest to make the team, largely because he’s a left-handed contact bat in a lineup that doesn’t have many of those.

Behind the plate, it’ll be a Logan O’Hoppe/Travis d’Arnaud combination for a second straight year. O’Hoppe’s performance on both sides of the ball took a major step back last season. There’s not much to do but hope for a rebound from the 26-year-old catcher, whom the Halos control for another three seasons.

As Spring Training got underway, Moreno met with the media to attempt to justify the quiet offseason. He pointed to the TV revenue drop as necessitating the payroll cut while rhetorically asking whether “one or two players substantially (changes)” the team’s record. It’s almost certainly true that the Angels are more than one player away from being competitive, but that’s in large part because Moreno’s own impatience has kept the team from building the kind of minor league pipeline needed for consistent success.

Ironically, those were Moreno’s less irksome comments. He also claimed that “winning is not in (fans’) top five” priorities when attending a game. That’s clearly not true of the entire fanbase, even if there are surely some whose only concern is a fun day at the park. It wouldn’t be a surprise if some players or coaches privately bristled at the comment as well.

It leaves the Angels in a similar spot as they’re in almost every year. They have a few talented players but one of the thinnest rosters in the American League. FanGraphs projects them for 72 wins with roughly 5% playoff odds. Baseball Prospectus is even more bearish, with a 66-win forecast that has them as the worst projected team in the AL (better only than the Rockies overall). They don’t look any closer to snapping an 11-year playoff drought.

How would you grade the Angels' offseason?

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2025-26 Offseason In Review Los Angeles Angels MLBTR Originals

33 Veterans With Looming Opt-Out Dates

By | at March 17, 2026 11:59pm CDT

The 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement implemented a series of uniform opt-out dates for Article XX(B) free agents who sign a minor league deal in free agency at least 10 days before the start of the regular season. That designation mostly falls on players with six-plus years of MLB service time who finished the preceding season on a major league roster or injured list. Some contracts for players coming over from a foreign professional league like Nippon Professional Baseball or the Korea Baseball Organization will also have language written into their contracts allowing them to qualify as a XX(b) free agent despite a lack of six years of service.

The three uniform opt-out dates on those contracts land five days before Opening Day, on May 1 and on June 1. With the regular season set to kick off next Wednesday, the Article XX(b) free agents who are in camp on minor league contracts will have the opportunity to opt out this weekend. (That presumably does not apply to Tommy Kahnle, who agreed to his minor league contract with the Red Sox eight days before the start of the regular season.) A player triggering one of these out clauses gives his club 48 hours to either add him to the 40-man roster or let him become a free agent.

There are other ways to secure opt-outs in contracts, of course. Many players who don’t qualify for XX(b) designation will still have opt-out opportunities negotiated into their minor league deals in free agency.

For this list, players with negotiated opt-out dates will be marked with an asterisk; all others are Article XX(b) free agents who have uniform opt-out dates on March 21, May 1 and June 1. Spring Training stats are through play on Monday, March 16.

Orlando Arcia, INF, Twins: The Twins don’t have a clear backup option for Brooks Lee at shortstop. Lee is making the move to shortstop full-time for the first time in his big league career. There are concerns both about whether he can hit well enough to handle the everyday gig and whether he can play a passable shortstop with the glove. Arcia has had a decent spring but has competition on the 40-man from slick-fielding/light-hitting utilityman Ryan Kreidler. Arcia had a nice run with the 2022-23 Braves but has hit .214/.263/.337 in 816 MLB plate appearances since.

Ryan Brasier, RHP, Rangers: Brasier’s average fastball is down more than a mile per hour this spring, per Statcast, and he’s fanned just two of his 34 opponents while yielding seven runs (six earned) in 7 1/3 frames. The 38-year-old hasn’t walked anyone yet. Brasier has missed time due to injury in each of the past two seasons, posting a combined 4.00 ERA in 54 frames between the Dodgers and Cubs. Texas had a pretty open bullpen mix earlier in the winter but has signed four free agent relievers (five, counting the since-DFA’ed Alexis Díaz) to big league deals this winter and made a Rule 5 pick. Brasier will have a hard time cracking the roster.

Walker Buehler, RHP, Padres: Buehler has had a middling spring but is one of the favorites for a spot at the back of an already thin Padres rotation that has been further whittled down by injuries and the poor performance of free agent pickup Germán Márquez. Outside of his 2024 World Series heroics, Buehler has produced below-average results since returning from his second Tommy John surgery a couple years ago. His last healthy, productive season was back in 2021. The Padres don’t have a ton of options though, so he has a good chance to crack the roster.

Andrew Chafin, LHP, Twins: Chafin is sitting in the upper 80s with his fastball this spring, but he’s held opponents to a couple runs in five innings after logging a 3.03 ERA over his past 267 1/3 MLB frames (including a 2.41 ERA in 33 2/3 innings in 2025). The Twins’ bullpen is in shambles after last July’s sell-off and an offseason neglecting the relief corps (and the roster in general). He should have a decent chance to crack the roster.

Michael Conforto, OF, Cubs: After a career-worst season at the plate with the Dodgers in 2025, Conforto took a minor league deal on a Cubs team that didn’t have a path to regular playing time. Seiya Suzuki is questionable for Opening Day after suffering a PCL sprain during the World Baseball Classic. That has cracked the door open for a depth outfielder, but the 33-year-old Conforto has logged a punchless .261/.320/.348 slash this spring. It’s a small sample of 25 plate appearances, of course, but he has competition from prospect Kevin Alcántara and fellow non-roster players Dylan Carlson and Chas McCormick.

Paul DeJong, INF, Yankees: DeJong made sense as a Yankees NRI, given that shortstop Anthony Volpe will open the season on the injured list while recovering from shoulder surgery. New York needed a backup shortstop for interim starter José Caballero and didn’t have many options. They’ve since traded for Max Schuemann and given Ryan McMahon some spring shortstop reps. Manager Aaron Boone has voiced comfort with McMahon playing the position in a regular-season game if needed. DeJong could back up at multiple infield spots, but that’s also true of Amed Rosario, who’s on the 40-man roster and who hits lefties much better than DeJong. There doesn’t seem like a real chance for DeJong to make the roster, barring injuries.

Elias Díaz, C, Royals: Díaz is anywhere from third to fifth on the Royals catching depth chart. Salvador Perez and Carter Jensen will split duties to begin the season and aren’t in any danger of being displaced. Prospect Blake Mitchell and fellow veteran Jorge Alfaro were also brought to camp as non-roster invitees (though Alfaro has been playing with Colombia in the World Baseball Classic). Kansas City also signed Luke Maile (another XX(b) free agent) on a non-roster deal, but he left the club to deal with a personal issue before camp began. Bottom line: there’s a lot of competition for Díaz and no clear path to a spot.

Kyle Farmer, INF, Braves: Ha-Seong Kim was slated to play shortstop for Atlanta until he tore a tendon in his hand back in January. He’ll be back at some point — likely in May — but Kim’s injury prompted the Braves to sign Jorge Mateo to a big league deal and bring Farmer in on a non-roster deal. Utilityman Mauricio Dubón will start at short to begin the season. Mateo has the leg up on a bench spot, given that he’s on the 40-man roster, but Farmer has handily outperformed him this spring. Farmer can play all over the infield but does most of his damage against lefties. Mateo is one of the game’s fastest players and can play center field as well. Infielder/outfielder Brett Wisely, out of minor league options, is another bench candidate. He’s having a big spring as well. Farmer doesn’t have a great path to make the club.

Ty France, 1B, Padres: Back with the organization that drafted him, France is putting the ball in play and piling up singles in Padres camp. That’s what he’s done for the past three years, more or less. France had an under-the-radar run as a much stronger, middle-of-the-order bat from 2020-22 (.285/.355/.443), but he’s a righty-swinging platoon first baseman who lacks pop. That might still land him a bench job to platoon with Gavin Sheets early in the year, but he’ll need to fend off fellow non-roster righty first baseman Jose Miranda, who’s younger and having a better showing.

Adam Frazier, INF/OF, Angels: After Christian Moore was optioned to Triple-A, Frazier seems like the favorite to open the season as the Angels’ second baseman. He’s having a nice spring but hasn’t had an above-average season at the plate since 2021. From 2022-25, Frazier slashed .241/.302/.343. Former Yankees prospect Oswald Peraza is having a big spring and could push Frazier for second base reps, but the Angels have a thin enough roster that it’d be pretty easy to accommodate both.

Mitch Garver, C/DH, Mariners: It’s been a rough spring for Garver, who was always a long shot to break the roster with Cal Raleigh aboard and journeyman Andrew Knizner signing on a one-year, major league contract. Garver was a potent offensive force from 2018-23 between the Twins and Rangers (.254/.343/.488), but he had consecutive poor seasons with the Mariners in 2024-25 and is just 2-for-16 with nine strikeouts in 20 plate appearances this spring.

Randal Grichuk, OF, Yankees: The previously mentioned McMahon shortstop experiment could very well pave the way for Grichuk to make the roster. The Yankees’ bench will include catcher J.C. Escarra, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and aforementioned infielder Amed Rosario. There’s one spot up for grabs, and Grichuk’s track record as righty swinging outfielder who can handle all three spots and pummel left-handed pitching makes him a nice fit for a Yankees club needing a platoon partner for Trent Grisham.

Liam Hendriks, RHP, Twins: One of the best relievers in the game from 2019-22, the Aussie-born Hendriks has barely pitched in the three seasons since. That’s due both to Tommy John surgery and a frightening brush with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which he thankfully beat. Hendriks announced that he was cancer-free in Aug. 2023. He’s back with his original organization and trying to win a spot in a bullpen the Twins gutted at last year’s deadline when they traded five relievers. Hendriks struggled in Boston last year and has three walks (plus a hit batter) this spring against just two strikeouts. He’s 37, so he may not have much left in the tank, but the Twins have arguably the worst projected bullpen in the American League, so he could still have a chance.

Rhys Hoskins, 1B, Guardians: Hoskins has popped a couple spring homers with the Guards while punching out at a sky-high rate. The 33-year-old (as of today — happy birthday, Rhys!) was Cleveland’s only offensive addition of any real note this winter. He’s coming off a pair of disappointing seasons in Milwaukee after losing the 2023 campaign to a spring ACL tear. It’s not clear Hoskins can return to his previous heights as a 30-homer threat, but the Guardians’ anemic offense can certainly afford to find out.

Craig Kimbrel, RHP, Mets: Like Hendriks, Kimbrel is 37 years old and had a run as one of the sport’s top bullpen arms. The likely Hall of Famer was released by the Orioles in 2024 and only pitched a dozen MLB frames last year. He’s only allowed one run in four spring innings but has four walks and a pair of plunked hitters versus just two strikeouts. The Mets’ pitching staff already looks full. They have six starting pitchers, five relievers who can’t be optioned and two more with options but who’ve already been more or less declared to have made the team (Huascar Brazobán, Tobias Myers). It’s tough to see Kimbrel winning a spot, particularly when his fastball is sitting 92.6 mph, which would be a career-low by a wide margin.

Peter Lambert, RHP, Astros*: Lambert isn’t an XX(b) free agent, but Chandler Rome of The Athletic reported recently that his contract contains an opt-out clause. He’s allowed only one run in nine spring innings and has reportedly caught the eye of Houston brass with his performance and the quality of his stuff thus far. Houston’s roster is similar to that of the Mets: six starters and four set relievers who can’t be optioned (five once Josh Hader returns). Hader’s season-opening IL placement could create some room in the short-term, however.

Derek Law, RHP, Diamondbacks: Law had season-ending flexor surgery last July and is expected to be sidelined into April or May. He’s not going to take this opt-out and will spend the early portion of the season rehabbing with the D-backs, who signed him in free agency just six weeks ago.

Jonathan Loaísiga, RHP, Diamondbacks: The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro recently wrote that Loaísiga has the inside track for one of Arizona’s bullpen vacancies, and it’s easy to see why. From 2019-23, he posted a 3.30 ERA with an average strikeout rate, good command and a plus ground-ball rate. Injuries wiped out most of his 2024-25 campaigns, but he’s in camp with the Snakes this year and has held opponents to two runs in six innings with rate stats that look similar to his pre-injury levels. There’s a very good chance he makes the club.

Tim Mayza, LHP, Phillies: Mayza has generally been effective when healthy, but injuries limited him to 16 2/3 innings last year. He’s allowed five earned runs in 6 1/3 spring frames, albeit with a 6-to-1 K/BB ratio and a quality ground-ball rate. The Phillies have José Alvarado, Tanner Banks and trade pickup Kyle Backhus (five shutout innings, three hits, 6-to-1 K/BB this spring) penciled into the ‘pen. Mayza has a tough road barring a late injury.

Andrew McCutchen, OF/DH, Rangers: After a three-year run back where it all started in Pittsburgh, McCutchen voiced some frustration with the Pirates’ lack of communication before they ultimately signed Marcell Ozuna. Cutch signed a minor league deal with Texas and has hit the ground running (7-for-12, three doubles, five walks, three strikeouts). He’d make a right-handed complement for DH Joc Pederson and could see some time in the outfield, too. It’s likelier than not that he’ll make the team.

John Means, LHP, Royals: Means is still recovering from an Achilles rupture he suffered during his offseason workouts. He signed a two-year minor league deal with Kansas City. He’s not taking this opt-out. He’ll spend the year rehabbing with the Royals and try to win a spot on the 2027 staff.

Rafael Montero, RHP, Yankees: Montero’s arrival in Yankees camp has been slowed by visa issues. He’s not going to make the Opening Day roster at this point, but he could head to Triple-A once he sorts through the visa troubles.

Dylan Moore, INF/OF, Phillies: The versatile Moore has followed up a poor 2025 season (.201/.267/.374) with a rough showing in Phillies camp (.185/.281/.222 in 32 plate appearances). The suspension for outfielder Johan Rojas may still have opened a door for Moore to make the club as a right-handed bench bat.

Martín Pérez, LHP, Braves: Injuries to Spencer Schwellenbach, Hurston Waldrep and Joey Wentz have clearly opened the door for Pérez to potentially win the fifth starter’s spot in Atlanta. He’s had a nice spring, allowing four runs in nine innings with a 9-to-2 K/BB ratio and huge 58% grounder rate. Pérez was having a nice year with the White Sox in 2025 before a forearm strain wiped out most of his season. He has a 4.01 ERA over his past 705 MLB frames, dating back to 2020. Pérez, 35 in April, is a fourth/fifth starter but has a decent track record. The main thing working against him is that his primary rotation competitor, Bryce Elder, is out of minor league options. Atlanta could keep Elder in a swingman role, but doing so would mean jettisoning lefty José Suárez, who’s also out of minor league options. That seems like a plausible route, and Pérez should have a decent chance to make the club.

Brendan Rodgers, INF, Red Sox: Rodgers was competing for an infield job with the Red Sox but suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery.

Austin Slater, OF, Tigers: Slater and journeyman Jahmai Jones are effectively competing for the same role: righty-swinging backup outfielder who can platoon with Kerry Carpenter and/or Parker Meadows. Slater has a long track record of solid offense versus lefties (.267/.357/.430) and is having a far better spring than Jones (.250/.382/.464 to Jones’ .143/.294/.214). Jones is younger and already on the 40-man roster, however, and he also mashed at a .287/.387/.550 clip with seven homers in 150 plate appearances in this role for Detroit last year.

Dominic Smith, 1B, Braves: Jurickson Profar‘s 162-game PED ban has opened the door for Smith to potentially make the roster as the team’s top DH option against right-handed pitching. He gave the Giants 225 plate appearances of above-average offense last summer (.284/.333/.417) and has had a solid showing this spring.

Drew Smith, RHP, Nationals: The Nats have one of the worst on-paper bullpens in baseball, if not the worst. Smith has been sharp in a small sample of 3 1/3 innings this spring after missing the 2025 campaign due to UCL surgery. The former Mets setup man logged a 3.35 ERA, 26.2 K% and 10.2 BB% in 161 1/3 innings from 2021-24. His 93.2 mph average heater is way down from the 95.2 mph he averaged in 2021-24, but Washington’s bullpen is so bleak that Smith’s track record alone should earn him a spot as long as he’s healthy.

Hunter Strickland, RHP, Angels: Back with the Halos on a minor league deal, this would be Strickland’s third straight season as an Angel if he makes the club. He’s pitched to a 3.30 ERA in 95 1/3 frames in Anaheim since 2024 and has fired four shutout frames in camp. The Angels’ bullpen is rife with uncertainty, and the organization knows Strickland well (although he’d be working with a revamped coaching staff in 2026).

Mike Tauchman, OF, Mets*: Tauchman isn’t an XX(b) free agent but has a March 25 opt-out opportunity negotiated into his deal. The 35-year-old left-handed hitter is coming off a three-year run in which he’s slashed .255/.359/.381 with a huge 13% walk rate. Tauchman is competing with top prospect Carson Benge for a roster spot. The Mets have minimal bench flexibility (Luis Torrens, Mark Vientos and Tyrone Taylor can’t be optioned), so for Tauchman to make the club he’ll probably need to beat Benge for the right field job. Failing that, he should draw interest from clubs seeking outfield help. The Astros, in particular, are looking for a left-handed hitter on the grass.

Chris Taylor, INF/OF, Angels: Taylor has had a nice spring (.235/.395/.441, nine walks, seven strikeouts in 43 plate appearances) and can play all over the diamond. Is that enough to outweigh the grisly .196/.284/.301 slash he’s posted in his past 371 major league plate appearances? It seems somewhat doubtful.

Lou Trivino, RHP, Phillies: Trivino returned from a two-year injury layoff to pitch 47 2/3 MLB frames with a 3.97 ERA last season. His strikeout and walk rates weren’t close to peak levels, however, and his velocity was down more than a mile per hour. It’s more of the same this spring. Trivino has given up six runs, walked five batters and tossed two wild pitches in seven innings. The Phillies only have two bullpen spots up for grabs (assuming Rule 5 pick Zach McCambley is returned to Miami). Trivino would fill one of those two with a veteran reliever who can’t be optioned. It seems rather unlikely.

Christian Vázquez, C, Astros: Houston GM Dana Brown has said at multiple points in camp that he hopes to add another backup catcher option. César Salazar is the only catcher on the 40-man roster other than starter Yainer Diaz. Vázquez and the ‘Stros reunited on a minor league deal earlier this month. He’s been playing for his native Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic but will get a chance to win the job now that he’s back with his former teammates, with whom he won a 2022 World Series. Vázquez hasn’t hit at all over the past four seasons but remains a plus defender.

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