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Twins Acquire Kody Clemens From Phillies

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TODAY: The trade has been officially announced, with the Phillies receiving cash considerations in exchange for Clemens.

APRIL 25: The Phillies are trading infielder Kody Clemens to the Twins, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Philadelphia had designated him for assignment earlier in the week. Minnesota adds infield depth within an hour of losing rookie second baseman Luke Keaschall to a broken arm.

It’s the second DFA infield pickup for the Twins in as many weeks. They made a similar move to bring in corner bat Jonah Bride from Miami. Clemens, a left-handed hitter, has 402 MLB plate appearances under his belt. He owns a .197/.244/.367 slash over parts of four seasons. The Texas product has been far more productive in Triple-A. Clemens has hit .259/.331/.507 in nearly 1300 plate appearances at the top minor league level.

Clemens spent two-plus seasons in Philadelphia. He was included as part of the Gregory Soto/Matt Vierling trade during the 2022-23 offseason. They’d shuttled him on and off the active roster for the first two seasons, but he has now exhausted his minor league options. Philadelphia couldn’t get him back to Triple-A without running him through waivers. While he broke camp as a result, Clemens wasn’t playing enough to make that a worthwhile use of a roster spot. He didn’t start a single game and had come off the bench for just six plate appearances.

There should be a better path to at-bats in Minnesota. The Twins recently lost Willi Castro to the injured list as well. Clemens and Bride are multi-positional infielders off the bench. Neither can really play shortstop, but Clemens could factor at any of the other infield spots and in the corner outfield. He could play some second base when the Twins want to use Edouard Julien as the DH.

They’ll open an active roster spot by placing Keaschall on the injured list. They created a 40-man roster spot by running minor league catcher Diego Cartaya through outright waivers this afternoon.

Cubs Backed Out Of Offseason Luzardo Trade After Medical Review

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The Cubs pulled out of an offseason trade agreement with the Marlins that would have sent Jesús Luzardo to Chicago after a review of the lefty’s medical records, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Luzardo spent time on the injured list last season with both elbow inflammation and a lumbar stress reaction in his back; the latter injury kept him from pitching after late June. Specifics on the return that the Cubs would have sent to Miami remain unreported.

It stands to reason the trade would have occurred in the middle of December. Rosenthal writes that the Luzardo talks took place after the team’s two-year agreement with Matthew Boyd on December 2. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported on December 14 that the Cubs had shown interest in Luzardo. Bruce Levine of 670 The Score reported two days later that the Cubs were pushing to get a deal done. By December 19, Levine had reported that talks were essentially dead.

Miami pivoted quickly, trading Luzardo to the Phillies on December 22. Philadelphia sent prospects Starlyn Caba and Emaarion Boyd to their division rivals while also acquiring minor league catcher Paul McIntosh. The Cubs aimed lower in their rotation pursuit. They signed swingman Colin Rea to a one-year, $5MM deal in January. Rea began the season as the sixth starter but has drawn into the rotation after Chicago lost Justin Steele to season-ending UCL surgery.

In his first session with Philadelphia media around the New Year, Luzardo said he’d “felt 100% the whole offseason.” He noted that the back injury had impacted him for most of the ’24 season before becoming something through which he could no longer pitch. He said in December that he felt it was “all figured out” and “back to normal.”

The Phillies were clearly comfortable with their review. It’s not unheard of for teams to have differing evaluations on a player’s medicals. The Yankees pulled out of a Jack Flaherty deadline deal before he was traded to the Dodgers last summer. The Braves and Orioles each backed out of free agent agreements with Jeff Hoffman prior to his three-year deal with the Blue Jays. They’re not completely analogous — free agent signees go through a physical examination, while teams usually just review the medical records of their trade targets — but this isn’t unique.

Luzardo has gotten out to a fantastic start with the Phils. He’s averaging just over six innings per appearance and owns a 2.08 earned run average through 30 1/3 frames. He has fanned 30% of opponents while averaging 96.4 MPH on his fastball — a tick above last season’s 95.2 mark. None of that guarantees that he’ll stay healthy, of course, but the Phillies are surely pleased with the early returns.

The southpaw will take the ball at Wrigley Field tomorrow opposite Ben Brown in the second game of a weekend set. He’s making $6.225MM this season and will likely earn something in the $10-12MM range for his final arbitration trip in 2026. Luzardo will hit free agency in advance of his age-29 campaign two years from now.

Phillies Notes: Sanchez, Suarez, Johnson

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The Phillies had a bit of an injury scare on Tuesday, as left-hander Cristopher Sánchez departed his start against the Mets after two innings. Sánchez was working with diminished velocity, and the club announced postgame that he’d dealt with forearm soreness.

Despite that ominous initial word, the Phillies downplayed concern on Wednesday. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters (including Lochlahn March of The Philadelphia Inquirer) that Sánchez felt normal this morning. While the southpaw will hold off on playing catch until Friday, the Phillies don’t plan to send him for imaging. They’ll wait to see how he feels when he resumes throwing in a couple days.

Sánchez made his first All-Star Game and finished 10th in NL Cy Young voting a season ago. He worked 183 1/3 innings of 3.32 ERA ball in his first full season as a starter. He’s pitching just as well this year, allowing 3.42 earned runs per nine over 26 1/3 frames. He’s getting grounders at a typically excellent 55.1% clip while striking out 29.2% of opponents. The start before yesterday was one of his best. He recorded a career-high 12 punchouts across seven innings of three-run against the Giants.

The Phils have had the same five starters all season: Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Jesús Luzardo, Taijuan Walker and Sánchez. Nola has had a rough start, allowing a 6.43 ERA on nearly two home runs per nine while working with diminished velocity. Nola’s fastball tends to pick up life over the course of the season, and he’s obviously going to get a long leash based on his track record. The other four starters have ERA’s comfortably below 4.00.

Ranger Suárez has been out all season after experiencing back stiffness late in Spring Training. He has made a trio of minor league rehab appearances, including five scoreless frames at Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Tuesday. Matt Gelb of The Athletic writes that Suárez is expected to make one more start for the IronPigs on Sunday before returning to the big league rotation next week.

If Sánchez avoids the injured list, the Phils will need to decide between a six-man rotation or bumping someone to the bullpen. Walker, who would have begun the season in long relief if Suárez were healthy, would presumably be the odd man out. The veteran righty is pitching well, though, turning in a 2.29 ERA over 19 2/3 innings through his first four starts. His 19.3% strikeout rate is still a couple points below league average, but he has added a tick of velocity after last year’s dismal season.

One pitcher who is definitely making that role change: Seth Johnson. Dombrowski told reporters (including The Philly Inquirer’s Scott Lauber) that the righty is moving to the bullpen in Triple-A. Johnson has been a starting pitcher through his five seasons in the minors. He also started his lone major league appearance, a 2 1/3 inning start last September. Philadelphia acquired Johnson from the Orioles in last summer’s deadline deal that sent Gregory Soto to Baltimore.

A former top 40 draft choice, Johnson ranks as the #6 prospect in the Phils’ system at Baseball America. His fastball is averaging north of 95 MPH in Triple-A. That could tick up in shorter stints, while Johnson draws praise for his cutter and curveball. His subpar command always pointed to a possible bullpen future that has now come to pass. Jonson carries a 3.98 ERA over 20 1/3 innings in Lehigh Valley this year. He has punched out 27% of opponents while issuing walks nearly 15% of the time.

Phillies Designate Kody Clemens For Assignment

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The Phillies announced Wednesday that they’ve designated infielder/outfielder Kody Clemens for assignment. Fellow infielder/outfielder Weston Wilson has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list and will take Clemens’ spot on the active roster. Clemens is out of minor league options and thus couldn’t simply be sent down to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Philadelphia now has 39 players on its 40-man roster.

Clemens, 28, came to the Phillies in the 2022-23 offseason alongside Gregory Soto in a trade that sent Matt Vierling, Nick Maton and Donny Sands back to the Tigers. He’s been an up-and-down utilityman for two-plus seasons but lost some of that flexibility in 2025 due to that lack of minor league options. He’s hitless through seven plate appearances in a limited role this year and carries a .220/.265/.394 batting line over the course of 275 plate appearances with the Phils.

The son of legendary pitcher Roger Clemens, Kody hasn’t yet put it together in the majors but does possess a nice minor league track record. In parts of four Triple-A seasons, he’s a .259/.331/.507 hitter with 63 homers, 50 doubles, 19 triples and 22 steals through 287 games. He’s a left-handed hitter and versatile defender who has ample experience at every infield position other than shortstop and in both outfield corners.

The Phillies can trade Clemens or place him on outright waivers at any point in the next five days. Waivers take 48 hours to process, meaning he can be in DFA limbo for a maximum of one week. Any club that swings a trade for Clemens or claims him would have to plug him directly onto the big league roster.

Wilson, 30, has been a productive, late-blooming bench piece for the Phillies over the past two seasons. He debuted in 2023 at 28 years old and has turned in a stout .288/.375/.490 slash in his first 120 major league plate appearances. Nearly all of his production has come against left-handed pitching; he’s tattooed southpaws at a .241/.412/.614 pace in the majors but has limped to a .227/.277/.364 line against fellow righties.

Poll: Will Alec Bohm Turn Things Around?

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The Phillies have enjoyed a solid enough start to their season to this point. Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Nick Castellanos are all off to hot starts, the starting pitching has largely looked as strong as ever despite the absence of Ranger Suarez, and the late-inning dominance of both Jose Alvarado and Matt Strahm has made the losses of Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez look manageable. Despite those positives, however, Philadelphia has fallen behind the Mets in the early going. Much of that is due to New York sporting the best pitching staff in baseball to this point in the year. While in theory the Phillies’ superior offensive numbers should help to balance that out, hot starts by most of the lineup’s key players have been negated in part by the deep struggles faced by outfielder Brandon Marsh and third baseman Alec Bohm.

Marsh was placed on the 10-day injured yesterday after going without a hit through the first two and a half weeks of April, but there’s no evidence of a physical explanation for Bohm’s struggles. The 28-year-old has slashed just .193/.211/.261 with a wRC+ of 30 that indicates he’s been 70% worse than league average at the plate so far this year. Those numbers have come in 90 plate appearances. It’s not a sample size at which most offensive stats have stabilized, but a month of production is still a significant chunk of the season. Adding fuel to the concerns surrounding Bohm is the fact that the infielder fell off a bit in the second half last year after strong early-season production. He slashed just .251/.299/.382 in 204 plate appearances after the All-Star break last year. Putting those two stretches together, Bohm is left with a set of nearly 300 plate appearances where he’s posted a lackluster 71 wRC+.

That sort of performance would not be acceptable for an everyday third baseman on a playoff contender. That’s especially true of Bohm given that he’s neither a top-notch defender nor a meaningful contributor on the bases. While some defensive metrics liked Bohm’s work at third base last year as demonstrated by his +5 Outs Above Average, there’s plenty of reason to view that figure as a bit of an outlier. Bohm’s been one of the worst defenders in baseball this year with -3 OAA already, and he’s been below average in every season of his career outside of 2024. Meanwhile, he’s never stolen more than five bases in a season or produced positive baserunning value in a full campaign according to Fangraphs’ BsR metric.

With so much emphasis on Bohm’s bat, the silver lining here is that there’s some encouraging signs in his underlying production this year. Specifically, Bohm’s batted ball metrics look quite good despite the complete absence of results. His 51.4% hard-hit rate is nearly seven points higher than his career average and six points above last year’s mark. He’s also sporting an 8.3% barrel rate that’s well above his career norms and in line with what power hitters like Josh Naylor and Randy Arozarena offered last year. The only noticeable flaw in Bohm’s batted ball data is that he’s hitting it on the ground too often; his 50% groundball rate would be his highest since 2021, leaving him with a career-worst 20.8% line drive rate and a flyball rate down nearly four points from last year.

In addition to Bohm’s struggles with elevating the ball to this point in the year, he’s suffered from a steep decline in plate discipline. Bohm struck out in just 14.8% of his plate appearances in each of the last two years, so this season that figure jumping to 17.8% is at least somewhat notable. More concerning than that, however is his shockingly low 1.1% walk rate. Bohm has draw just one walk to this point in the season; not only is that by far the fewest of any hitter with as many plate appearances as Bohm this year, just 15 other hitters in the whole sport with even half of Bohm’s 90 trips to the plate haven’t drawn at least two walks yet. A look under the hood suggests that Bohm is swinging at fewer strikes (65.7%) than ever before in his career while swinging outside the zone more often (27.5%) than he did last year.

Those numbers are both still relatively close to his career norms, so perhaps Bohm’s walk rate can get back to something closer to normal over a larger sample size. If he can do that and start elevating the ball a bit more often, it’s easy enough to see him rebounding to be a solid contributor this year. It remains an open question, however, as to whether or not he’ll get that opportunity. After all, Edmundo Sosa has plenty of experience at third base and has gotten off to a scorching start this year with a .414/.438/.552 slash line. That’s come in a sample of just 32 plate appearances and is heavily inflated by a massive .571 BABIP, but if the Phillies fall further behind the Mets in the standings while Bohm continues to struggle, making a switch is hardly unthinkable. There’s also the trade deadline over the horizon, where the Phils might have options to upgrade on Bohm, with Nolan Arenado rumors likely to ramp up again between now and then.

How do MLBTR readers think things will play out with Bohm? Will he still be the starting third baseman in Philadelphia at the end of the year? And will he have bounced back to put up numbers more in line with his career 101 wRC+? Have your say in the polls below:

Phillies Place Brandon Marsh On Injured List With Hamstring Strain

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The Phillies announced this morning that they’ve placed outfielder Brandon Marsh on the 10-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain. Outfielder Cal Stevenson was recalled to the MLB roster in a corresponding move.

Marsh, 27, has struggled badly to open his fourth season as a Phillie. Once a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport, Marsh found himself limited to part-time duties when he arrived in the majors with the Angels due to a crowded outfield mix that included Taylor Ward, Jo Adell, Mike Trout, and Justin Upton at the time. That eventually led the Angels to be comfortable dealing Marsh to the Phillies in exchange for well-regarded catching prospect Logan O’Hoppe. It’s a deal that’s generally worked out for both sides, as O’Hoppe has blossomed into one of the top young catchers in the sport with Anaheim while Marsh has been able to fill a vacancy in the Phillies outfield over the years.

From the moment he first suited up for the Phillies, Marsh has been a quality player for the club. When the 2024 season wrapped up, Marsh carried a career .266/.346/.440 slash line (116 wRC+) in a Phillies uniform. That’s strong production for an offensively inclined center fielder, and when looking specifically at his work against right-handed pitching Marsh has posted an even more impressive .281/.362/.489 (128 wRC+) over the years. Marsh has always come with his flaws, however. Notably, he strikes out more than 30% of the time and has never been much of an effective option against fellow southpaws, with a 70 wRC+ against same-handed pitching as a Phillie entering this year.

Unfortunately, things have taken a nose dive in the early going this year. Marsh has slashed just .095/.220/.167 in his first 17 games (51 at-bats) this year while striking out at a 31.4% clip. While he’s maintained a strong 13.7% walk rate, Marsh’s high strikeout rate, lack of power production, and .115 BABIP have combined to make him one of the least productive regulars in baseball this year. Marsh hasn’t recorded a hit since March 30, and given that protracted slump it’s hardly a surprise that the Phillies took the opportunity to get Marsh a bit of a reset when he tweaked his leg in the outfield earlier this week. He hasn’t played since that incident occurred on April 16, and now will sit down for at least another week. Once Marsh’s hamstring is feeling up to snuff, the 27-year-old will have the opportunity to get some reps in against Triple-A pitching on a rehab assignment before returning to the majors and looking to get his season back on track.

While Marsh is out of the picture, everyday duties in center field will fall to Johan Rojas. The 24-year-old is off to a hot start in a part-time role this year, slashing .345/.406/.414 over his first 12 games. He hit quite well in a limited look during his debut year of 2023 but struggled when given an expanded role last year, hitting just .243/.379/.322 in 120 games. Marsh’s injury will provide Rojas with the opportunity to prove himself capable of performing as a regular in the outfield, though the lefty-swinging Stevenson was promoted to the majors as a potential backup option should it be necessary. The 28-year-old has just 47 games of big league experience under his belt between Oakland, San Francisco, and Philadelphia but posted league average numbers in a brief 18-game stint with the Phillies last year. Stevenson has struggled at Triple-A this season, however, with a .192/.328/.289 slash line that suggests he’ll most likely be limited to a pure depth role for the time being.

Phillies Re-Sign Buddy Kennedy To Minor League Deal

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Infielder Buddy Kennedy is sticking with the Phillies after being designated for assignment last week. The Phils announced that he went unclaimed on waivers. Kennedy elected free agency in lieu of accepting an outright assignment but promptly re-signed with Philadelphia on a minor league contract. He’ll head to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Kennedy landed in Philadelphia last June in a DFA trade with the Tigers. He appeared eight times in the big leagues, going 2-11 with a couple walks. Kennedy played very well with the IronPigs, hitting .294/.400/.500 with 10 homers and nearly as many walks as strikeouts across 67 games. He held his 40-man roster spot all winter but entered a crucial Spring Training. Kennedy is out of options, so he needed to break camp or go on waivers.

The 26-year-old’s spring numbers weren’t good. Kennedy hit .150 over 22 exhibition games. He connected on three homers with a solid 10:12 walk-to-strikeout ratio, but he only managed six hits in 40 at-bats. The Phils opted for Edmundo Sosa and Kody Clemens, each of whom was also out of options, as their backup infielders.

No other team was willing to carry Kennedy on the major league roster. This is his second career outright, which gave him the ability to elect free agency. He chose that path but only to rework his deal with the Phils. It’s relatively common for players to do that, as it’s possible the new contract contains a different minor league salary or opt-out chances that he would not have gotten had he simply accepted the outright assignment. The former fifth-round pick returns to Triple-A, where he has a .281/.392/.435 slash in 300 career games.

Phillies Claim Brett de Geus

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The Phillies announced that they have claimed right-hander Brett de Geus off waivers from the Malins and optioned him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He was designated for assignment by the Fish a couple of days ago. The Phils don’t need to make a corresponding move because they had an open 40-man spot after designating infielder Buddy Kennedy for assignment when setting their Opening Day roster.

de Geus, now 27, has 61 1/3 innings of big league experience. Most of that came as a Rule 5 pick in 2021, though he was also in the bigs last year. His career 7.48 earned run average is obviously not inspiring. His 16.6% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate are both subpar, though he’s generated ground balls at a strong 52.5% clip.

Despite those rough major league numbers, de Geus has been popular in transaction logs. Going into 2024, he signed a minor league deal with the Mariners. They added him to their big league roster in early April. He was designated for assignment in August and has since gone to the Marlins, Blue Jays, Pirates, Marlins again and now the Phillies on waiver claims.

Last year, he averaged 98 miles per hour on his four-seamer and 96.4 mph on his sinker. He also mixed in a splitter, knuckle curve and cutter. His 39 Triple-A innings last year still resulted in a fairly unexciting 5.31 ERA and 15.6% strikeout rate but he got grounders at a 56.6% clip.

Even though he hasn’t quite put it all together yet, teams clearly think there are enough ingredients where he could click. Since the Phils had an open 40-man spot and de Geus has options, there’s little harm in taking a flier to see how things go with the IronPigs. He’ll give the club some extra bullpen depth and could be in the majors if he performs well and a need arises.

Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images

Phillies Notes: Realmuto, Turner, Suarez

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X-rays were negative on J.T. Realmuto’s left foot after he fouled a ball off himself in Saturday’s 11-6 win over the Nationals.  The Phillies took Realmuto out of the game, and the catcher also didn’t play today “more a precaution than anything,” manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer).  Realmuto will likely be back in action tomorrow when the Phillies have their home opener, though Trea Turner could miss a third straight game as he recovers from back spasms.  Thomson said Turner was available off the bench today and might play Monday, though the Phils’ off-day on Tuesday would allow Turner to get a full four days of recovery time if he is held out of Monday’s lineup.

In other Phillies injury news, Ranger Suarez threw a 26-pitch bullpen session on Saturday, and an up-and-down bullpen is now slated for Tuesday.  If all goes well, Lauber writes that Suarez will make at least one minor league rehab start before being activated from the 15-day injured list.  Suarez was bothered by a bad back during Spring Training, and the Phils decided to put him on the IL to give him more time to heal up and them finish his spring preparations in advance of his 2025 debut.

Poll: Who Will Win The NL East?

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Opening Day has finally arrived, and teams all around the league are gearing up for another pennant chase in hopes of being crowned this year’s World Series champion. Of course, there’s still another seven months to go before someone raises the Commissioner’s Trophy. Until the playoffs begin, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. We’ll be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. That series already covered the NL West, where the Dodgers were viewed as an overwhelming favorite, and the NL Central, where the Cubs narrowly beat out the reigning division champs in Milwaukee. Now, the series continues with a look at the NL East. Teams are listed in order of their 2024 record.

Philadelphia Phillies (95-67)

After the Phillies fell to their division-rival Mets during the NLDS, it appeared the club may consider making some considerable changes as they put Alec Bohm on the market and searched for outfield help rather than rely on internal options like Brandon Marsh and Josh Rojas. Ultimately, however, the club’s additions this winter were fairly modest. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski swung a trade for a big-name pitcher in need of a bounce-back in Jesus Luzardo. The signings of Jordan Romano and Max Kepler should help out as well but both are coming off down seasons due to injuries. With Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez departing, the bullpen is arguably weaker than last season.

The Phillies will mostly rely on the same core players they trotted out last year. Fortunately, that’s the same core that allowed them to sail into the postseason with a bye through the Wild Card series last year. Zack Wheeler remains one of the very best pitchers in the entire sport, and a rotation featuring Luzardo as the likely fifth starter behind Cristopher Sanchez, Aaron Nola, and Ranger Suarez when fully healthy is in the conversation for the sport’s best. In the lineup, meanwhile, Bryce Harper returns as one of the sport’s most talented hitters, and his supporting cast of battle-tested veterans like Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and J.T. Realmuto all figure to contribute with the same consistency they’ve offered in previous years. It was more than enough to win the division last year, but will the same be true in 2025?

Atlanta Braves (89-73)

This past offseason was a relatively quiet one in Atlanta, as the club’s winter was defined more by the departures of franchise stalwarts like Max Fried, Charlie Morton, and Travis d’Arnaud than any major additions, even as Jurickson Profar profiles as a substantial upgrade over last year’s platoon of Jarred Kelenic and Adam Duvall in left field. Other relatively marginal additions like Alex Verdugo, Nick Allen, and Hector Neris should help out somewhat as well, but the main thing Atlanta has going for it in 2025 is hope for better health. The Braves’ core was ravaged by injuries last year, with Ronald Acuna Jr. and Spencer Strider both missing virtually the entire season while Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies, Sean Murphy and Michael Harris II all also missed significant time.

While health is never guaranteed, the club is all but certain to get more out of its two superstars in Acuna and Strider this year, and is overall unlikely to run into the same rash of injuries on the positional side even as Murphy is already out for the start of the season due to a cracked rib. The team that led baseball in runs scored in 2023 has brought in even more talent on offense since then while also building an impressive bullpen anchored by Raisel Iglesias and Aaron Bummer. All of that is before even considering that the club will once again enjoy the services of reigning NL Cy Young award winner Chris Sale, as well as Reynaldo Lopez as he tries to follow up on a 1.99 ERA campaign in 2025. In some ways, 2024 looked like a floor for the Braves’ talented floor. Will a bounce back be enough to win a tough division in 2025?

New York Mets (89-73)

For as talented as the Phillies and Braves are, it was the Mets who made the deepest run into the 2024 postseason of the NL East, getting all the way to Game 6 of the NLCS before falling to the eventual World Series champion Dodgers. Steve Cohen and David Stearns weren’t content to rest on their laurels this winter and made the biggest splash of any team when they signed Juan Soto to a record-shattering $765MM deal that will land him in Queens for the next 15 years. None of the club’s other moves matched that level of flash, but the returns of Sean Manaea, Jesse Winker, and Pete Alonso as well as more modest additions like Clay Holmes and A.J. Minter leave the Mets looking like a stronger club overall than they were this time last year.

Impactful as pairing Soto with Francisco Lindor at the top of the lineup figures to be, however, that won’t necessarily make the club a clear division favorite with many of the issues that made the Mets such underdogs last season still lingering. A rotation that featured little certainty on paper entering Spring Training is already getting tested by a number of injuries, and the club will rely on Mark Vientos avoiding a sophomore slump in order to lengthen a lineup that looks softer at the bottom than its counterparts in Atlanta and Philadelphia. Still, a lineup featuring two MVP finalists, two other 30-homer sluggers, and Brandon Nimmo looks impressive on paper, and a late-inning mix of Edwin Diaz, Minter, and Jose Butto should be able to preserve late leads. Will that be enough to overtake their rivals?

Washington Nationals (71-91)

The Nationals showed some signs of development last year, but ultimately sold at the trade deadline and fell well short of playoff contention when all was said and done. Still, an emerging core of James Wood, MacKenzie Gore, Dylan Crews, and CJ Abrams inspired enough confidence for the Nationals to make some modest buy-side additions this winter. Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Bell should provide a notable upgrade over Joey Meneses and Joey Gallo at first base, while Paul DeJong and Amed Rosario offer the sort of depth on the infield that was sorely lacking last year.

With three juggernauts at the top of the division, the path to a division title in D.C. is a murky one. With that being said, every member of that aforementioned core is young, talented, and capable of breaking out before even considering the potential impact other young pieces like Brady House, Cade Cavalli, and Robert Hassell III could offer at some point in the year. The addition of Michael Soroka to a rotation that already featured solid youngsters like Gore and Jake Irvin should also offer plenty of upside. Steep as the climb to the summit of the NL East would be, it’s certainly not impossible to imagine the Nationals being the surprise of the NL this year.

Miami Marlins (62-100)

Things were bleak in Miami last year as they lost 100 games for the first time since 2019. And unfortunately for fans, there’s little reason for optimism about the potential for better days in 2025. The club made virtually no additions this winter, and moves to ship out solid pieces like Luzardo and Jake Burger figure to be far more notable than the additions of minor pieces like Matt Mervis and Cal Quantrill. The return of stalwart ace Sandy Alcantara from Tommy John surgery provides a nice story early in the year, and young phenom Eury Perez could return later this season as well. Even the club’s vaunted collection of arms seems unlikely to be enough to get them back to the playoffs given a lineup that will rely on players like Jesus Sanchez and Connor Norby to carry its run production this year, and it would likely take a miracle for them to actually come out on top in such a tough division.

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The Phillies, Braves, and Mets all have strong cases to be the NL East’s best team after making the postseason last year. Philadelphia stands as the reigning champion, while Atlanta featured the best team in all of baseball just two years ago. New York, meanwhile, made a deep run in the postseason just last year and added arguably the most talented pure hitter in baseball over the winter. Meanwhile, D.C. is continuing to quietly assemble a young core that could break out and compete in its own right. Even with Miami deep in the trenches of a rebuild, it figures to be a deeply competitive division in 2025. Who do you think will come out on top? Have your say in the poll below:

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