Phillies Re-Sign Tim Mayza To MLB Deal, Return Zach McCambley To Marlins, Re-Assign Lou Trivino
4:47PM: The Phillies also re-assigned right-hander Lou Trivino to Triple-A. Like Mayza, Trivino is an Article XX(B) player with an opt-out in his minors contract this weekend. It isn’t yet clear if Trivino will trigger his clause and enter free agency, or if he’ll bide his time at Triple-A until his next opt-out date on May 1.
9:21AM: The Phillies announced this morning that left-hander Tim Mayza was re-signed to a major league contract after the lefty exercised his opt-out clause in his minor league deal and was granted his release by the organization yesterday. To make room for Mayza on the 40-man roster, right-handed Rule 5 selection Zach McCambley was returned to the Marlins. McCambley was evidently place on (and successfully cleared) waivers at some point prior to the move to return him to Miami.
Mayza, 34, is entering his ninth major league season. He’s spent the majority of his career to this point as a member of the Blue Jays, and after an uneven start to his career when he made his major league debut in 2017 through the end of the 2019 season, he emerged from a 2020 campaign lost to injury to become one of Toronto’s more steady relief arms. From 2021 through 2023, Mayza turned in high quality results for the Jays with a 2.67 ERA and a 3.20 FIP in 155 innings of work. Of course, it should be noted that those strong numbers came with a major platoon split. While his ERA against southpaws was just 0.67, his numbers against right-handers were far more pedestrian: he sported a 4.19 ERA, a 3.96 FIP, and a 24.7% strikeout rate across those three seasons.
Even factoring in those lesser numbers against righties, however, Mayza’s fall from grace in 2024 was a shocking one. Across 50 appearances, the lefty’s ERA ballooned all the way up to 6.33, and while his 4.50 FIP suggests some of that was due to poor fortune on batted balls and sequencing he still struck out a paltry 14.4%. Ugly as those season long numbers are, however, Mayza did show some signs of returning to form after he was shipped to the Yankees midway through the season; in 18 innings of work with the Bombers, Mayza turned in a 4.00 ERA with a 3.94 FIP, though his strikeout rate still sat at a well-below average 16.2%.
That left Mayza in an uncertain place headed into 2025, and while he landed a big league deal with the Pirates he spent most of the season on the injured list due to a lat strain. He pitched just 15 total innings in the majors last year between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia (who claimed him off waivers from the Pirates midseason). In that time, he posted a 3.78 ERA and 4.16 FIP that’s more or less in line with his work as a member of the Yankees. His strikeout rate did tick back up to a more respectable 20.3%, however, and that was enough to convince the Phillies to give him another shot on a minor league pact entering camp. Mayza’s 5.40 ERA in 8 1/3 spring innings isn’t exactly inspiring, but the big news from camp is that the strikeouts appear to be back. He’s punched out 27.0% of his opponents this spring, and that was enough to convince the Phillies to put him back on their roster for the 2026 season.
As for McCambley, the righty was a third-round pick by the Marlins back in 2020. Initially drafted as a starter, McCambley converted to relief during the 2022 season and climbed the rest of the minor league ladder as a reliever. He split the 2025 season between Triple-A and Double-A, and in that time posted a combined 2.90 ERA with a 33.1% strikeout rate in 62 innings of work. That was enough to catch Philadephia’s attention in the Rule 5 draft, but he walked (six) more hitters than he struck out (four) in his 7 1/3 innings of work with the Phillies during Spring Training. That lack of control was enough for the Phillies to decide to move on from McCambley, who now returns to the Marlins as a non-roster piece who could nonetheless be called upon to contribute out of the bullpen at some point this year.
Guardians To Select Rhys Hoskins’ Contract
Rhys Hoskins will break camp with the Guardians, as the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports that Cleveland will be selecting the first baseman’s contract prior to Opening Day. The Guards will have to make a corresponding move to create space for Hoskins on the 40-man roster.
For making the team, Hoskins will now earn a $1.5MM salary for 2026, as per the terms of the minor league contract he signed last month. It’s a nice late birthday present for Hoskins less than a week after his 33rd birthday, though it was widely expected that Hoskins would be part of Cleveland’s roster. As an extremely quiet Guardians offseason comes to a close, Hoskins projects to be the only new offensive addition to a lineup that was one of baseball’s worst in 2025.
While the Guardians are primarily counting on such youngsters Chase DeLauter and Kyle Manzardo to generate more offense, the team will also see what Hoskins can bring in his ninth Major League season. Formerly a prominent power bat in the Phillies’ lineup, Hoskins hasn’t really been the same since missing the entire 2023 season due to a torn ACL.
Hoskins hit .223/.314/.418 with 38 homers over 845 PA with the Brewers over the last two seasons, translating to a 104 wRC+ and 1.1 fWAR. Hoskins’ 2025 campaign was better than his 2024, as he seemed to wear down in the last half of his return year. Last season, Hoskins was hampered by a sprained thumb that limited him to 90 games for Milwaukee.
Once a lefty-masher, the right-handed hitting Hoskins has had more modest numbers against southpaws in 2024-25, akin to his overall lesser production. Since Manzardo and C.J. Kayfus are both left-handed hitters, Hoskins provides cover for both players in the first base/designated hitter mix. Hoskins has never been known as a great defender, but 2025 was one of his best years with the glove, as per the public defensive metrics (+2 Defensive Runs Saved, +1 Outs Above Average).
White Sox Sign Reese McGuire
The White Sox announced that catcher Reese McGuire, has been signed to a one-year, $1.2MM contract. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers was the first to report the signing shortly before the club’s official announcement. No additional roster move was needed since the Sox had an open spot on their 40-man roster. McGuire is represented by Apex Baseball.
McGuire just opted out of a minor league deal with the Brewers yesterday and had 72 hours to explore the market for a new club. It took him about a day to land in a familiar location, as McGuire previously had a 53-game stint with the White Sox in 2022 (and he played on the other side of Chicago with the Cubs in 2025).
Signing a catcher didn’t seem any kind of priority for a Sox team that had Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero, and Korey Lee all lined up behind the plate, with Teel and Quero projected to get at-bats from both the catching position and the DH slot. However, Teel suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain during the World Baseball Classic that will keep him out of action for about 4-6 weeks, or roughly mid- to late April.
Teel told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin yesterday that he is “progressing fast,” and hoping to miss only about four weeks of time. Even with this positive update and the presence of both Quero and Lee, the White Sox apparently wanted to reinforce their catching depth, and perhaps retain the three-catcher plan they intend to deploy for the rest of the season. Lee is out of minor league options and sending either Teel or Quero down to Triple-A doesn’t seem to be in Chicago’s long-term interest (unless either is really struggling), so it creates an interesting question as to what will happen when Teel is healthy and the Sox are juggling four backstops.
For now, McGuire will suit up for his former team and look to provide his usual solid glovework. A top prospect back during his time in the Pirates’ farm system, McGuire has settled into a journeyman/backup type of career, playing for six different organizations during his career. McGuire has hit .248/.293/.374 with 25 homers over 1178 career plate appearances, with nine of those home runs coming last year with the Cubs (as part of a .226/.245/.444 slash line in 140 PA).
Mariners To Add Mitch Garver To Opening Day Roster
The Mariners are adding Mitch Garver to their Opening Day roster as their backup catcher, according to a report from Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. That seemingly leaves catcher Andrew Knizner without a spot on the club’s roster headed into the season. He’s on a $1MM contract for 2026 and cannot be optioned to the minors, so he’ll need to be traded or designated for assignment sometime before Opening Day if he isn’t making the team.
Garver, 35, is a veteran of nine MLB seasons and has spent the past two years in Seattle. The former Silver Slugger has spent much of his career on the injured list, but in his younger years often showed flashes of elite power when healthy coupled with a hefty dose of strikeouts. From 2019 to 2023, Garver appeared in 325 games (averaging just 65 per season) but in that time slashed a phenomenal .250/.346/.508 with 75 home runs, a 26.6% strikeout rate, and an 11.8% walk rate. Perhaps the most impressive of those five seasons was his 2023 campaign with the Rangers, where he made it into 87 games and clubbed 19 homers with a strikeout rate of just 23.8% against an impressive 12.8% walk rate.
It was a platform season strong enough that the Mariners decided to take a chance on Garver, signing him to the club’s first multi-year deal for a position player in years. Unfortunately, that contract did not go well. Garver’s offense has taken a big step back over the past two years as the strikeouts have returned while his power has dipped substantially. In 201 games with Seattle, he’s hit just .187/.290/.341 with a 29.6% strikeout rate and a wRC+ of 88, indicating he’s been 12 points worse than league average at the plate. He’s combined that with lackluster defensive numbers behind the plate, and the Mariners were widely expected to move on from the veteran this offseason.
Despite that, Garver re-signed with the club on a minor league deal at the outset of Spring Training. Contact has remained an issue for him this spring, as he’s gone just .182/.308/.227 with 11 strikeouts in 26 trips to the plate during camp. That lackluster performance both in Seattle and during camp this spring makes the decision to go with Garver as the backup a somewhat surprising one. That’s particularly true given that Knizner is not only on a major league contract but also has the five years of service time required to reject an outright assignment and retain his full salary even if he passed through waivers unclaimed following a DFA.
Of course, it should be remembered that Knizner is hardly an impact player in his own right. The veteran has appeared in parts of seven MLB seasons but is a career .211/.281/.316 hitter whose 2025 season was even less productive at the dish than Garver’s. Knizner is younger at 31 years old and has been viewed in some circles as a superior defender to Garver, but his metrics have actually been similar to Garver’s work in 2025 throughout much of his career. Given that Raleigh figures to play the overwhelming majority of games behind the plate, perhaps the Mariners are prioritizing bringing back a veteran leader from a club that fell just one game short of the World Series last year who Raleigh himself helped to bring back into the organization over the offseason.
Regardless of the reasoning, Garver now figures to serve as Raleigh’s backup, while Knizner is likely to be either traded or exposed to waivers before the season begins. If he goes unclaimed, he’ll have the opportunity to return to free agency and sign with any of the league’s 30 clubs. Given the dearth of catching depth around the league in recent years, Knizner could conceivably find a big league job somewhere, though it’s also possible he’ll have to settle for a minor league pact at this point and begin the season at Triple-A.
Nationals Designate Griff McGarry For Assignment
The Nationals announced today that they’ve designated right-hander Griff McGarry for assignment. The move clears a spot for Jorbit Vivas on the 40-man roster, whose previously reported acquisition from the Yankees is now official. McGarry was the Nationals’ Rule 5 draft pick back in December and now will be available to any of the league’s other clubs who are willing to claim him with Rule 5 stipulations attached. If he goes unclaimed, he must be offered back to the Phillies for $50K. If the Phillies pass on reacquiring McGarry, he can be outrighted off the roster into the Nationals’ farm system.
McGarry, 26, was a fifth-round pick by the Phillies back in 2021 and got some top-100 prospect attention earlier in his career. That was before his career took a turn for the worse in 2023, when he posted an ugly 6.00 ERA in 17 starts thanks to lackluster command. Those command issues caused the organization to move McGarry to the bullpen for the 2024 season, but his already-high 18.5% walk rate from 2023 ballooned to a whopping 24.0% when he moved into a relief role. That led the Phillies to return the right-hander to the rotation for 2025, and he turned in decent numbers across 21 starts, most of which were at the Double-A level. He still walked too many batters, with 13.9% of his opponents getting a free pass, but he managed to make up for that elevated walk rate with a sensational 35.1% strikeout rate.
That improvement was enough for the Nationals to roll the dice on McGarry back in December, but his signature command issues once again resurfaced during Spring Training. While he managed a decent 3.18 ERA in 5 2/3 innings of work, he walked (five) nearly as many batters as he struck out (six) in that time, leaving him with an 18.5% walk rate that would be difficult to justify carrying on a big league roster even for a rebuilding club. With optionable youngsters like Brad Lord and Ken Waldichuk capable of offering multi-inning relief with considerable upside and no Rule 5 restrictions, it’s not necessarily a surprising decision that the Nationals would opt for those arms rather than McGarry as they fill out their roster.
Should he go unclaimed on waivers, his upside is still considerable enough that it would be a surprise if the Phillies didn’t jump at the opportunity to reacquire him and continue his development throughout the 2026 campaign. Of course, it’s not impossible that he could be claimed; after all, McGarry was just the third-overall selection in the draft, meaning a number of teams later in the draft may well have considered drafting him themselves if he had fallen to them. Of course, it’s also a lot easier to draft a Rule 5 pick in December than it is to actually carry that player on their roster come March, so McGarry’s trip through the waiver wire will be one to watch over the coming days.
Dodgers Option Hyeseong Kim; Alex Freeland To Make Roster
The Dodgers announced a round of camp cuts today, headlined by their decision to option utility man Hyeseong Kim to Triple-A. Infielder Nick Senzel, outfielder Jack Suwinski, and catcher Seby Zavala were also re-assigned to minor league camp. That leaves the door open for infield prospect Alex Freeland to make the team’s Opening Day roster, and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic confirms that Freeland has been informed that he’s done just that.
Freeland, 24, was a third-round pick by the Dodgers in 2022 and made his big league debut last year. A consensus top-50 prospect in the sport last season, the infielder hit quite well at Triple-A with a .263/.384/.451 (115 wRC+) slash line across 106 games for Oklahoma City. Freeland swatted 16 homers and 30 doubles while walking at a whopping 16.3% clip and striking out 21.9% of the time. Those strong numbers didn’t translate to a 29-game cup of coffee with Los Angeles this last year, however, as he hit just .190/.292/.310 across 97 trips to the plate.
Despite that tough start to his MLB career, Freeland will round out a Dodgers bench that already includes Santiago Espinal, Dalton Rushing, and Alex Call. Call and Rushing figure to serve in pure bench roles, backing up the outfield and catcher Will Smith respectively. As for Freeland and Espinal, however, they appear likely to share playing time at second base with veteran Miguel Rojas to open the season, while also filling in for Mookie Betts and Max Muncy on the left side of the infield as needed. With both Enrique Hernandez and Tommy Edman on the injured list to open the season, there’s plenty of room in the club’s infield mix for Freeland to earn himself playing time in the early days of the 2026 campaign.
It’s at least somewhat surprising that opportunity won’t go to Kim. The 27-year-old hit a solid .280/.314/.385 (95 wRC+) across 170 trips to the plate in a bench role for the Dodgers last year while handling second base, shortstop, and center field as needed. It seems as though production during Spring Training didn’t factor into L.A.’s decision regarding their final bench spot, either; Kim slashed an incredible .407/.448/.519 in 30 spring plate appearances, while Freeland struggled during camp with a paltry .116/.286/.233 slash line across 56 plate appearances. Jack Harris of the California Post notes, however, that the Dodgers felt Freeland’s discipline (with 11 walks and 11 strikeouts) was impressive and that Kim struggled with his mechanics during and after his stint with South Korea in the World Baseball Classic.
It’s also plausible that the decision to roster Freeland is about getting him an opportunity while there’s a relatively clear shot at regular playing time. Edman is expected to begin the year on the injured list, and while his stay may not be very long it could still allow Freeland to get consistent MLB playing time for a couple weeks. That could be hard to come by on the club’s roster once Edman returns from the shelf, and the Dodgers have at times had prospects struggle to break through due to lack of opportunities in this past. If that’s the case, it’s not hard to imagine Kim being the next man up for a bench role in the event Espinal or Rojas either struggles or heads to the injured list. Whatever the Dodgers’ exact reasoning may be, Kim will open the season at Triple-A for the second season in a row and look to stay ready for when a big league opportunity eventually does arrive.
Nationals To Acquire Jorbit Vivas
The Nationals are acquiring infielder Jorbit Vivas from the Yankees, according to a report from Andrew Golden of The Baltimore Banner. Pitching prospect Sean Paul Linan is headed back to New York in exchange for Vivas’s services.
Vivas, 25, made his big league debut with the Yankees last year. He hit .161/.266/.250 for the club across 66 plate appearances last year while splitting time between second and third base in a bench role for the club, though there’s reason to believe he’s a good bit better than that small sample might suggest. His xwOBA of .304 is much closer to league average, and a lackluster .190 BABIP surely limited his production in the majors last year. He hit quite well for the Yankees when at Triple-A last season as well, with a .270/.389/.364 (110 wRC+) line in 100 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The youngster is now headed to the Nationals, where he should have a much better opportunity to get playing time at the big league level. With Amed Rosario, Jose Caballero, Ryan McMahon, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. all on the roster, Anthony Volpe set to return from the injured list early in the year, and players like Oswaldo Cabrera and Paul DeJong at Triple-A, it seems likely that Vivas would have wound up buried on the Yankees’ infield depth chart this year. There’s no such fear with the Nationals, who are in the midst of a rebuild and will be relying on Brady House, Nasim Nunez, and Jose Tena to cover second and third base with CJ Abrams locking down shortstop.
In return for Vivas’s services, the Yankees pick up the right-handed Linan. The 21-year-old Colombia native signed with the Dodgers as an amateur back in 2022 and was acquired by the Nationals as part of the Alex Call deal at last year’s trade deadline. Linan had an up-and-down season with the Dodgers and Nationals in the minors last year, with a 3.03 ERA across three levels of the minors, but he finished well enough with five innings of one-run ball in the Arizona Fall League. Linan seems likely to begin the 2022 season at Double-A for the Yankees and has served mostly as a starter throughout his career, but the 27th-ranked prospect in the Nationals’ farm per MLB Pipeline lacks a second standout offering to pair with his elite changeup and struggled with control in brief looks at both Triple-A and the AFL. That could portend a move to relief in Linan’s future, which might be able to help him advance to the upper levels of the minors more quickly.
Guardians Select Codi Heuer, Re-Sign Pedro Avila To MiLB Deal
The Guardians announced this afternoon that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Codi Heuer and optioned him to Triple-A. The Guardians had space available on their 40-man roster, so a corresponding move was not necessary to complete the transaction. In addition, the club announced that they’ve re-signed right-hander Pedro Avila to a minor league deal.
Heuer, 29, was a sixth-round pick by the White Sox back in 2018. He made it to the majors with Chicago during the shortened 2020 campaign and impressed with a 1.52 ERA in 21 appearances, but struggled early in the 2021 season. He was ultimately shipped across town to the Cubs as part of the Craig Kimbrel/Nick Madrigal trade at the 2021 trade deadline, and seemed to regain some of his earlier success upon arriving in Chicago with a 3.14 ERA in 25 appearances down the stretch. Heuer was in strong position to be a key piece of the bullpen on the north side of Chicago as they entered their rebuild.
That wasn’t meant to be, however, as Spring Training 2022 set off a series of injury-marred campaigns for the right-hander. Heuer underwent Tommy John surgery in 2022 and followed that up by suffering a broken elbow midway through the 2023 season, while he was still rehabbing from surgery. He made just 15 appearances total from 2022-24 before finally returning to health as a member of the Rangers in 2025. Between the Rangers and Tigers organizations, Heuer posted a 3.14 ERA in 48 2/3 innings of work at the Triple-A level and struck out 30.5% of his opponents. The results at the major league level didn’t return right away, however, and the righty surrendered three runs, all earned across 4 2/3 innings in the majors last year.
He returned to the open market this offseason and caught on with the Guardians on a minor league deal. He struggled this spring, with a 9.00 ERA in eight innings of work, but did strike out 11 against five walks. It was an intriguing enough performance to Cleveland that they decided to add him to their 40-man roster before the season begins, though Heuer will still begin the year at Triple-A as an up-and-down depth option rather than as part of the Opening Day roster. If Heuer can produce at a level similar to what he offered at Triple-A last year, it seems like a safe bet to expect to see him in the majors with the Guardians sometime this year.
In other Guardians bullpen news, right-hander Pedro Avila is returning to the club on a minor league pact after previously being released by the club to pursue other opportunities when he did not make the roster. Avila evidently decided that his best opportunity to make it back to the majors is with Cleveland on a minor league pact, and so he’ll head to Triple-A alongside Heuer and wait for a big league opportunity as a non-roster veteran. Avila has five years of major league experience under his belt, mostly with the Padres, but joined the Guardians during the 2024 season and posted a solid 3.25 ERA across 50 appearances for the club. He spent 2025 with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yakult Swallows before returning to the Guardians on a split contract back in December. He pitched solidly in Spring Training, with a 3.24 ERA across 8 1/3 innings of work, but his paltry 11.8% strikeout rate likely stopped the Guardians from including him in their Opening Day roster mix.
Kyle Stowers, Esteury Ruiz To Open Season On Injured List
Marlins fans received tough news regarding their outfield mix today, as Christina De Nicola of MLB.com was among those to relay that star outfielder Kyle Stowers will open the season on the injured list. Stowers has been diagnosed with a grade 1 hamstring strain, an injury that comes with a timeline of between three and four weeks. Meanwhile, Craig Mish of SportsGrid reports that outfielder Esteury Ruiz is also headed to the injured list. Mish notes that Ruiz is suffering from an oblique strain and figures to be shelved for longer than Stowers.
It’s a brutal blow to Miami’s outfield depth, at least for the start of the season. Stowers’s diagnosis leaves open the possibility that he could be back on the field with the Marlins as soon as mid-April, but it could be longer than that if his recovery is on the longer end of that 3-4 week timeline and he winds up requiring a rehab assignment. Ruiz doesn’t have an exact timeline, but from Mish’s description of the situation it seems unlikely he’d be available to play in Miami before May at the earliest.
While Stowers will be back sooner, losing him is undoubtedly the bigger blow for the Marlins. The outfielder was the breakout star of the Marlins’ 2025 campaign as he hit .288/.368/.544 with a 149 wRC+ in 117 games. While a 27.4% strikeout rate is certainly cause for concern, Stowers’s big time power and 10.5% walk rate were more than enough to make him a middle-of-the-order threat for Miami last year. The club will need a similar performance from him this season if they’re going to have any hopes of making it to the postseason in a crowded NL East division, and this latest injury news will put even more pressure on him to perform when he does return to action.
As for Ruiz, the 27-year-old was acquired from the Dodgers in trade over the offseason and is a career .241/.296/.343 hitter in the majors, and a middling defender in the outfield. Ruiz’s most notable tool is his speed. He turned in a 67-steal campaign for the A’s in 2023, but any hopes of racking up big stolen base totals with the Marlins this year are now put on hold indefinitely. He seemed likely to be part of Miami’s Opening Day roster in a bench/platoon capacity, offering a right-handed complement to the team’s lefty-heavy outfield mix.
With both Stowers and Ruiz out of commission, the Marlins’ Opening Day roster will look very different in the outfield. Youngsters Jakob Marsee and Owen Caissie were already poised to start in center and right field on Opening Day, respectively. Those two will now be joined by Griffin Conine in the outfield as Conine returns from a 2025 season mostly lost to injury. The now 28-year-old outfielder has an above average slash line of .261/.320/.435 for his career in the majors, though that amounts to just 54 games thanks to various injuries. This unproven outfield trio will be backed up by utility man Javier Sanoja, outfielder Heriberto Hernandez, and perhaps first baseman Christopher Morel, who has spent time in center field with the Cubs and left field with the Rays in the past despite poor defensive numbers.
Cubs To Add Michael Conforto To Opening Day Roster
Veteran outfielder Michael Conforto has been informed he will be on the Cubs’ Opening Day roster, according to Patrick Mooney of the Athletic. In related news, outfielder Seiya Suzuki will not be ready for Opening Day, according to manager Craig Counsell (link via Mooney). The club has not decided if Suzuki will start the year on the injured list, though it is increasingly likely, per Mooney.
Conforto, 33, had been in camp on a minor-league deal with a big-league Spring Training invite. On the heels of a rough 2025 season with the Dodgers, both offensively and defensively, he seemed like a long shot to make the big-league roster in Chicago. Center field was never an option. The North Siders have one of the game’s best defensive center fielders in Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Conforto has not played up the middle since 2019. That left the two corner outfield spots, DH, and the bench as potential landing spots, though he seemed blocked by the presence of Suzuki, Ian Happ, Moises Ballesteros, and Tyler Austin.
With the recent injury to Austin and today’s update on Suzuki, Conforto may get some outfield reps in the early going. Austin was brought in on a one-year, $1.25MM deal this offseason to shore up the bench, though he’ll now miss several months following knee surgery at the end of February. That leaves Matt Shaw, who was forced out of a starting spot by the Alex Bregman signing, as the main infield backup on the roster. In the outfield, Conforto and Dylan Carlson are projected as the backups according to RosterResource. With Suzuki currently injured, the team may use Conforto and Carlson in a right field platoon in the short term.
Conforto enters 2026 with 11 years of big-league experience. His peak came with the Mets from 2017-20. In that time, he batted .265/.369/.495 and graded out 33% better than average by wRC+. His 24.4% strikeout rate was less than ideal, but he compensated through a combination of power and on-base ability. Conforto hit 97 home runs in that four-year span and only once posted an isolated slugging percentage below .200 (.193 in the pandemic season). Meanwhile, he got on base regularly thanks in part to an excellent 12.7% walk rate.
His performance fell off from 2021 onward. He was roughly average (104 wRC+) in his final year with the Mets. He underwent shoulder surgery in April 2022 while still a free agent, knocking him out for that campaign. In 391 games from 2023-25 with the Giants and Dodgers, Conforto was average overall, but inconsistent from year to year. In 2023, his strikeout, walk, and power numbers were only slightly down from 2021, resulting in a 99 wRC+. The following year saw him bounce back to 12% above average. The Dodgers bought into that rebound with a one-year, $17MM deal for Conforto in December 2024. Unfortunately, despite a roughly average hard-hit rate, Conforto’s power and contact were diminished, and he finished the year with a career-worst 83 wRC+.
Though he has a 121 career wRC+ against right-handed pitchers, the lefty-swinging Conforto has actually shown reverse platoon splits from 2024-25. In that time, he has been 11% worse than average against righties, compared to 35% better than average against southpaws. That could make for an interesting platoon with the switch-hitting Carlson. The latter has been a poor hitter overall since the start of 2023, although he performed significantly better against righties (85 wRC+) than lefties (49 wRC+) in 2025. Starting Conforto against lefties and Carlson against righties wouldn’t be a perfect fit, but it could be the temporary arrangement until Suzuki is ready to return.
Conforto’s deal came with a $2MM base salary if he made the big-league roster. RosterResource has the Cubs’ 2026 payroll at $231MM, with a projected luxury tax payroll of $243.999MM. That is just barely below the first threshold of luxury tax penalization. Since the club dipped below the threshold in 2025, they would be treated as first-time payors in 2026. As such, the addition of Conforto’s salary will cost the team an additional $400k, barring any changes to payroll over the course of the season.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images