Rockies Select Valente Bellozo
The Rockies announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Valente Bellozo and optioned him to Triple-A Albuquerque. To open a 40-man spot for him, they placed right-hander RJ Petit on the 60-day injured list. Petit underwent Tommy John surgery recently and will miss the entire 2026 season.
More to come.
Luis F. Castillo Signs With Diablos Rojos De México
Right-hander Luis F. Castillo has signed with the Mexican League’s Diablos Rojos De México, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. The righty is represented by A & F Sports Agency.
Castillo, 31, is a journeyman depth starter. Last year, he briefly shared a roster with his namesake, the much more well known Luis Castillo. The lesser known Castillo began his big league career with three appearances for the Tigers in 2022.
He then went overseas for two years, pitching in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He was with the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2023 and the Orix Buffaloes in 2024. Over those two seasons, he tossed 143 1/3 innings with a 3.01 earned run average.
He returned to North America by signing a minor league deal with the Mariners ahead of the 2025 season. He was added to the roster in early April and made two starts, allowing six earned runs in seven innings. He was then optioned to the minors. In May, he was designated for assignment and flipped to the Orioles but spent most of the remainder of the season on the minor league injured list. He was outrighted off the 40-man in the summer and became a free agent at season’s end.
Once again, he is heading to another country for an opportunity. Most deals for guys heading to Mexico have clauses that allow them to depart if they get an offer from an affiliated club, so it’s possible that could happen with Castillo. In the meantime, he’ll face the challenge of pitching in one of the most hitter-friendly environments. The league-wide slash line in the Mexican League was .295/.378/.465 last year.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images
Astros Notes: Hader, Peña, Extensions
Astros closer Josh Hader opened the season on the 15-day injured list after experiencing biceps tendinitis during spring training. Fans hoping for a minimum stint will have to wait a bit longer than that. General manager Dana Brown told the team’s beat today that the target is for Hader to begin facing hitters at some point in mid-April (link via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). He’d presumably then need to make at least a couple appearances on a minor league rehab stint before rejoining the club. A return in late April seems like a best-case scenario, speculatively speaking.
Hader missed the final seven weeks or so of the 2025 campaign after suffering a capsule strain in his left shoulder. There’s no indication the shoulder is still bothering him at this stage. He’s one of four Houston relievers to open the season on the shelf, joining fellow lefty Bennett Sousa and righties Enyel De Los Santos and Nate Pearson. Sousa is dealing with an oblique strain. De Los Santos was slowed by a knee strain during camp. Pearson had offseason elbow surgery.
With Hader sidelined to begin the season, closing duties will fall to Bryan Abreu, who’s been one of the best (if not the best) setup men in baseball in recent seasons. Bryan King and Steven Okert had strong 2025 seasons and will serve as key setup men. It’s a patchwork group behind them. Rule 5 pick Roddery Munoz made the Opening Day roster. Ryan Weiss, who signed a big league deal after a breakout in South Korea, will make his MLB debut the first time he gets into a game. Christian Roa was a minor league signee. Kai-Wei Teng was acquired in a trade after being squeezed off the Giants’ roster. He has a 7.30 ERA in 40 2/3 MLB innings. AJ Blubaugh was tagged for a 5.27 ERA in 19 Triple-A starts last year.
The ‘Stros did get at least some good injury news recently Star shortstop Jeremy Peña managed to avoid an IL stint to begin the season despite suffering a small fracture in his finger during WBC exhibition play. He’s not in the Opening Day lineup, however. A team spokesperson tells Chandler Rome of The Athletic that Peña is getting some live at-bats over at the Astros’ Triple-A complex in Sugar Land this morning. The implication seems to be that while Peña won’t be out for a full 10 days, he needs a few more reps and/or a bit more healing before the team is comfortable plugging him into the big league lineup.
With Peña out, the oft-discussed Astros infield “logjam” has sorted itself out for at least Opening Day. Carlos Correa gets the nod at shortstop, while Isaac Paredes slots in at the hot corner. Jose Altuve and Christian Walker are on the right side of the infield, and Yordan Alvarez is at designated hitter. The team hasn’t indicated when Peña might return to the lineup, but with Houston facing lefties in three of their next four starts (Yusei Kikuchi tomorrow, Reid Detmers on Saturday, Ranger Suárez on Monday), they’ll hope to have their shortstop back in the fold; Peña is a career .302/.343/.469 hitter (128 wRC+) against left-handed pitching.
Both Peña and the aforementioned Abreu are nearing free agency. Abreu is in his final year of club control and will reach the open market at season’s end. Peña is controlled through 2027, as is Paredes. Ace Hunter Brown is controlled through 2028. Asked about the possibility of an extension for anyone on the roster, Brown said this morning that the club has had only internal discussions about potential long-term deals (via Chron.com’s Michael Shapiro).
“We haven’t really discussed at length with any of our players,” he said when asked to clarify whether any of those internal talks have extended into talks with various players’ representatives.
Brown has often voiced a desire to sign various core players to long-term arrangements, but since he was hired as general manager, right-hander Cristian Javier is the lone player to do so. There have surely been other efforts to come to terms with some of Javier’s teammates, but owner Jim Crane tends to shy away from long-term contracts in general. The six-year deals given to Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve are the longest in Crane’s 15 years owning the team. Alex Bregman, whose original Astros extension was $100MM over five years, is the only other Houston player to sign a nine-figure deal in that time. Hader’s $95MM deal is quite close, obviously, and the Astros have made nine-figure offers to keep both Bregman and Correa in free agency. Both found larger deals elsewhere.
Of course, not all of the listed players would necessarily command $100MM+. Abreu, good as he is, would fall shy of that. The Astros have talked more about trading Paredes than extending him. But to have any hope of signing Peña or Brown to a long-term deal — be it via extension or simply re-signing them in free agency — Houston would need to stretch well beyond Crane’s prior comfort levels.
Padres Notes: Sale, Gores, Payroll
It seems the process of selling the Padres is making good progress and could be completed in relatively short order. Dennis Lin and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic report that there are four groups still in the bidding. It was known that Jose E. Feliciano, Dan Friedkin and Joe Lacob were leading three of the groups. They report that Tom Gores, owner of the National Basketball Association’s Detroit Pistons, is leading the fourth. The report also suggests the bidding is hot and should push well beyond $3 billion, perhaps even getting beyond $3.5 billion. The next and final round of bidding is expected to take place in early to mid-April with an agreement potentially in place before that month is over.
Gores, 61, is the founder of Platinum Equity. Gores and that company bought Palace Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of the Pistons and their former arena, in 2011 for $325MM. He later bought out the company’s stake to become the sole owner. His other sports ventures have included attempting to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to Detroit and purchasing a 27% stake in the NFL’s San Diego Chargers. Forbes currently pegs his net worth at $10.1 billion.
It’s not currently known if any of the four groups is considered a favorite over the others but it seems as though more clarity should be forthcoming soon, giving the reported timeline. If the reports on the potential sale price come true it will shatter a record. The highest sale price to date for an MLB franchise is the $2.4 billion Steve Cohen paid for the Mets in 2020.
Lin and Rosenthal point out that such a big price could impact the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association. The MLBPA could point to the sale as a sign that the economics of the game are strong even without a salary cap. The league is expected to push for a cap this winter during the anticipated lockout. On the other hand, Lin and Rosenthal point out that the San Diego market is unique and that other clubs such as the Twins and Nationals struggled to get around $2 billion when pursuing sales not too long ago.
The Seidler family announced in November that they would be pursuing a sale of the franchise. At that time, it appeared some squabbling within the family could hamper those efforts but reporting in February indicated that some of the legal bumps had been smoothed out and that five prospective buyers had submitted bids. The field has now been whittled down to the four aforementioned groups.
Turning to the 2026 team, the Friars yesterday put Yu Darvish on the restricted list. That came as a surprise since Darvish was expected to land on the injured list, as he is going to miss the entire 2026 season while recovering from elbow surgery. That he was instead placed on the restricted list suggests he is away from the team for some non-baseball reason.
Darvish’s contract had him slated for a $15MM salary this year but players on the restricted list are not paid, so the move led to speculation the Friars could perhaps redirect some savings towards a free agent. Lucas Giolito is the top unsigned guy and the Padres have rotation questions, so it was fair to wonder about a match there.
However, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune says that framing of the situation is not accurate. Acee says the club knew about Darvish’s situation for months and it had already been factored into their offseason, indirectly helping them sign players like Michael King, Miguel Andujar and Griffin Canning.
Photo courtesy of Lon Horwedel, Imagn Images
Poll: Who Will Win The NL East?
With the first game of the 2026 season already in the rearview mirror, the offseason is now complete for MLB’s 30 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 have been 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, and the Mariners were predicted to win the AL West. In the NL West, the Dodgers predictably came out on top, while the the Cubs won a plurality (42%) of the votes in the NL Central. Today, we’ll round out this series of polls with a look at the NL East. All teams are listed in order of their 2025 regular season record:
Philadelphia Phillies (96-66)
The Phillies won the NL East in dominant fashion last year, but repeating that feat figures to be a much taller order in 2026. That’s because Philadelphia’s biggest offseason moves were focused on the same core that they’ve used for the last several years. Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto re-signed. Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo signed extensions. But none of that meaningfully pushes the ball forward relative to 2025. There were some external additions of note, like Adolis Garcia and Brad Keller, but the Phillies seem very comfortable banking on youngsters like Justin Crawford and Andrew Painter to pick up the slack left by departing All-Stars Ranger Suarez and Nick Castellanos. Will that be enough to keep them at the top of the NL East?
New York Mets (83-79)
The Mets completely overhauled their entire organization this offseason after missing the playoffs by a hair in 2025. Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz, Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte, and Jeff McNeil (among others) are gone. Marcus Semien, Jorge Polanco, Bo Bichette, Devin Williams and Luis Robert Jr. (among others) have arrived to replace them. The result is a completely overhauled lineup that offers the potential for a very impressive offense on paper but comes with real defensive questions as Bichette and Polanco are set to be tasked with learning new positions. With that said, the team’s biggest addition of the winter is surely Freddy Peralta, who will lead a rotation that also stands to get a full season from Nolan McLean this year. It was an unorthodox retool of the roster in Queens this offseason, but this year’s team built around Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor certainly has a chance to be a lot stronger than the one they leaned on last season.
Miami Marlins (79-83)
The Marlins surprised baseball fans in 2025 by nearly making it all the way back to .500, but that wasn’t enough to convince president of baseball operations Peter Bendix to call off the rebuild early. Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers were shipped out the door, while the team’s additions were fairly modest. Owen Caissie joined the team as part of the Cabrera trade return and could be a 30-homer bat in right field, mirroring 2025 All-Star Kyle Stowers in left once the latter is healthy, but a team relying on Christopher Morel at first base and Chris Paddack to be your big free agent additions to the lineup and rotation doesn’t offer much reason for optimism about the club’s division chances. Pete Fairbanks was a strong addition to the bullpen, but Miami will need a big rebound from Sandy Alcantara plus significant steps forward from youngsters like Connor Norby, Max Meyer, and Agustin Ramirez if they’re going to compete for the East.
Atlanta Braves (76-86)
No team in baseball had a more disappointing season last year than the Braves. Virtually everything went wrong in Atlanta last season, as the entire roster struggled with injuries and under-performance outside of a few bright spots like Drake Baldwin and Matt Olson. The good news for Atlanta is, they still have a very talented core on paper. Ronald Acuna Jr. is a superstar with an MVP award on his mantle. Chris Sale is a future Hall of Famer. Spencer Strider and Austin Riley are certainly capable of bouncing back. Additions like Robert Suarez and Mike Yastrzemski should be helpful, though Ha-Seong Kim is starting the season on the injured list after signing on to be their starting shortstop. The bones of a great team are certainly present, but it’s anyone’s guess whether Atlanta can perform up to that level this year.
Washington Nationals (66-96)
The Nationals enter 2026 with little reason for hope in the short-term. James Wood looks like a budding superstar, but MacKenzie Gore has been traded and CJ Abrams could follow suit later this year. Offseason additions like Zack Littell and Miles Mikolas in the rotation should help to eat innings but neither offers substantial upside. Fans in D.C. could hope for big years from players like Wood, Abrams, Cade Cavalli and Brady House, but even with those things going right, the best case scenario would be convincing newly-minted president of baseball operations Paul Toboni to try and make a more substantial effort to compete next year. It would take a minor miracle to get the Nationals into the postseason for 2026, much less as the champions of the NL East.
How do MLBTR readers think the NL East will play out this year? Will the Phillies hang on to win it again despite running it back? Will the Mets’ massive retool work out? Or will a team like the Marlins or Braves surprise and take the crown for themselves? Have your say in the poll below:
Who will win the NL East in 2026?
Mets, Tommy Pham Agree To Minor League Deal
The Mets and veteran outfielder Tommy Pham are in agreement on a minor league contract, reports ESPN’s Jorge Castillo. It’ll be the Vayner Sports client’s second stint with the organization. He’d earn a prorated $2.25MM upon being selected to the majors and has an April 25 opt-out date in the deal, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. He can tack on another $850K worth of incentives, Castillo adds.
Pham, 38, spent the 2025 season with the Pirates and turned in a slightly below-average .245/.330/.370 batting line (95 wRC+), though last year’s production was skewed by an awful start to his season. The well-traveled outfielder caught fire in mid-June and slashed .278/.363/.468 with 10 homers, 13 doubles, a triple, an 11.7% walk rate and a 17.2% strikeout rate over his final 273 turns at the plate.
Pham’s first stint with the Mets came back in 2023, when he signed a one-year deal in free agency and enjoyed a productive stretch before being traded to the Diamondbacks. He logged 264 plate appearances with the Amazins, hit .268/.348/.472, and was flipped to Arizona in a deadline deal netting teenage infield prospect Jeremy Rodriguez.
Now back with the Mets, he’ll ramp up in Triple-A in hopes of hitting his way onto the big league roster. The Mets broke camp with top prospect Carson Benge as their starting right fielder, and the hope is that he’ll hit the ground running, but one of New York’s top fallback plans, Mike Tauchman, is out for the foreseeable future after suffering a meniscus tear that will require surgery at the very end of spring training.
Pham gives the Mets another veteran option to consider in the event that Benge, who’ll make his big league debut with only 116 professional games under his belt, is overmatched against big league pitching early in the year. He also provides a potential righty-hitting complement to the left-handed Benge; Pham is a career .261/.368/.434 against lefties.
Back in November, Pham told The Athletic that he’s still hoping to play several more seasons. His past few years haven’t been especially productive, though he revealed in that November interview that he played through plantar fasciitis the past couple seasons. He’s since undergone a stem cell treatment that he feels can alleviate the issue and help him regain some value on the basepaths. Pham hit .256/.326/.448 with 16 homers and 22 steals (in 25 attempts) between the Mets and D-backs in 2023. He posted a .246/.317/.369 line and gone 12-for-18 in stolen base attempts in the two subsequent seasons.
Brewers Place Jackson Chourio On IL Due To Fractured Hand
Opening Day arrives on a sour note for the Brewers, who announced this morning that star outfielder Jackson Chourio has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a fracture in his left hand. Outfielder Blake Perkins is up from Triple-A Nashville to take his spot on the active roster. The early estimate for his return to game action is two to four weeks, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, who adds that a recent MRI detected a hairline fracture at the base of his third metacarpal. It’s believed that the injury dates back to a March 4 exhibition ahead of the World Baseball Classic.
Chourio went for imaging at the time he was plunked by that pitch, but initial testing resulted in a diagnosis of a contusion. He played, presumably through a good bit of discomfort, for Venezuela during the WBC and for Milwaukee following the tournament and wound up delivering a solid spring line during Cactus League play (.267/.333/.400).
Milwaukee has five off-days in the next month, so it’s possible Chourio only winds up sidelined for around 10% of the team’s 162 games. Even a short-term absence from one of the roster’s most talented players stings, however, particularly in what most expect to be a tightly contested division.
Though Chourio is only 22 years old, he’s already entering his third big league season. He’s a .272/.317/.463 hitter (115 wRC+) through his first 279 major league games and has coupled that above-average production with plus baserunning and quality outfield defense. Chourio is better suited for corner work than center field, but he’s capable in all three spots and played primarily center last season. A healthy Garrett Mitchell could push him to the corners with more regularly this season, but for now his focus will shift to rehabbing his ailing hand.
With Chourio out, the Brewers’ outfield mix now includes Perkins, Mitchell, Sal Frelick, Christian Yelich, Jake Bauers and Brandon Lockridge. Frelick, one of the game’s top defensive players, will be locked into right field on a daily basis. Mitchell should handle center against right-handed pitching at the very least, and the switch-hitting Perkins is much better from the right side of the dish, making him a natural platoon pairing in center. The left-handed Bauers and righty-swinging Lockridge create a viable platoon in left field. Yelich can mix in some left field work but has been primarily a designated hitter in recent seasons.
That’s a tenable enough setup for the short term, but the Chourio injury already puts a strain on Milwaukee’s outfield depth. All of the outfielders on the Brewers’ 40-man roster are now in the majors. Milwaukee has begun getting former top prospect Tyler Black, a corner infielder, some reps in the outfield corners and could turn to him in the event of another injury. Current top prospect Jett Williams has plenty of outfield experience should the need arise, though he’s not yet on the 40-man.
The Opener: Opening Day Part 2, O’Neill, Mets
Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world as the 2026 season fully gets underway:
1. Opening Day Part 2:
While the 2026 season officially kicked off last night with the Yankees’ 7-0 romp over the Giants, most of the league will be starting its season today. Thursday’s games kick off at 1:15pm ET, when the Pirates take on the Mets in New York. Games will continue throughout the day before wrapping up with the Guardians facing the Mariners at 7:10pm PT in Seattle, nearly nine hours after the first game of the day. Just one matchup between division rivals is scheduled, as the Diamondbacks head to L.A. for a series against the reigning World Series Champion Dodgers.
2. Will O’Neill continue his streak?
Opening Day brings about many things each year: the start of a new baseball season, room for optimism for almost every fan base in the majors… and an opportunity for Tyler O’Neill to continue one of the wildest streaks in baseball. O’Neill has hit home runs on Opening Day for six consecutive years now, having started his streak as a member of the Cardinals in 2020 and carried through his trip through Boston and into his arrival with Baltimore. Today, he’ll look to continue that streak with the Orioles in their game against the Twins, which is scheduled for 3:05pm ET at Camden Yards. Twins ace Joe Ryan (3.42 ERA in 2025) will be on the mound for Minnesota and looking to build on his first All-Star campaign. Ryan surrendered homers on 12.1% of his fly balls both in 2025 and for his career so far, and gave up 26 total bombs last season. O’Neill is looking to rebound from an injury-wrecked season that saw him bat just .199/.292/.392 with nine home runs in 209 plate appearances.
3. Peralta to make first official Mets start:
Many fans already got a glimpse of right-hander Freddy Peralta in a Mets uniform during Spring Training, when he posted an impressive 2.70 ERA across ten frames. However, today’s matchup between the Mets and Pirates will be the first time Peralta starts a game that actually counts for his new club. His first assignment is a tough draw, as he’ll be battling reigning NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes (1.97 ERA in 2025) while trying to suppress a new-look Pittsburgh lineup. Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds return, but this time they’re surrounded by a supporting cast of offseason additions like Marcell Ozuna, Brandon Lowe, and Ryan O’Hearn. It’s a big test for the Pirates’ offense out the gate, as Peralta finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting last year after firing 176 2/3 innings with a 2.70 ERA and a 28.2% strikeout rate.
MLB Mailbag: Braves Extensions, Injury Concerns, Rangers, Pirates
Happy Opening Night! Logan Webb and the Giants will host Max Fried and the Yankees at 7:05pm central tonight on Netflix. Until then, we've got a subscriber mailbag that gets into the Braves' series of core player extensions, which teams have the most concerning injury issues, outlooks for the Rangers and Pirates, and much more.
Matthew asks:
As a Mets fan, several years ago all I heard was how the Braves had built the foundation of their next dynasty by convincing multiple players to sign seemingly below-market deals. Acuña, Albies, Murphy, Riley, Olson, Harris, and probably several others I'm forgetting.
Obviously the team was besieged by injuries when they missed the playoffs last year, but looking back now, how are those contracts holding up? Albies and Riley have regressed, Harris was a tale of two halves last year, Acuña is coming off two serious knee injuries, and Murphy's banner year looks like an outlier.
Giving Acuña a pass because injuries are unpredictable (and he's still an MVP candidate when healthy), are there any of these contracts that you think AA would like a do-over on? Or, since they were seen as being below-market rates, are they still showing positive value?
Alex Anthopoulos has sat atop the Braves' front office for more than eight years now. He's done a whopping 21 extensions in that time.
The biggest extension went to Austin Riley, who signed for $212MM over ten years. Had the Braves not done this deal, Riley would've been a free agent this past offseason, theoretically coming off a couple of injury-related down years. But he'd still be a 29-year-old with a three-year, 16.1 WAR run on his resume, so he probably would've signed a high-AAV opt-out deal. As it stands, the Braves probably paid a bit above market value for Riley's arbitration years. That's not a big issue, but from this point forward it's as if they signed him to a seven-year, $154MM free agent deal with an eighth-year club option. That's not really the type of deal Riley would've signed this past offseason, but the $22MM AAV is low enough where there's room for profit if he bounces back in the next couple years.
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Nick Anderson Has Upward Mobility Clause In Athletics Deal
Right-hander Nick Anderson has an upward mobility clause in his minor league deal with the Athletics and plans to trigger it tomorrow, reports Ari Alexander. The reliever signed with the club in early November.
The Athletics have not released their Opening Day roster, but based on this development, it would seem Anderson has failed to make the team. By triggering the clause, the veteran will be offered to every other team in the league. If any club is willing to give him a roster spot, the A’s will have to do the same, or work out a trade. If all 29 teams pass on Anderson, he can be sent to the minors.
The 35-year-old Anderson posted an unremarkable 4.35 ERA across 10 spring outings, but did punch out more than a batter per inning. He was competing for a bullpen spot with fellow non-roster invitees Wander Suero, Brooks Kriske, and Joel Kuhnel, among others. The Athletics added veterans Mark Leiter Jr. and Scott Barlow to a young bullpen this offseason.
Anderson scuffled to a 6.14 ERA in a dozen games with the Rockies last season. He also spent time in the minors with the Mariners and Cardinals. Anderson has pitched for five MLB squads since he debuted with the Marlins in 2019.
Just four months into his big-league career, the Rays acquired Anderson at the trade deadline for outfielder Jesus Sanchez and right-hander Ryne Stanek. Trevor Richards also came to Tampa Bay in the deal. Anderson emerged as a weapon on a Rays club that won 96 games. He posted a ridiculous 52.6% strikeout rate in 21 1/3 innings down the stretch. Anderson was just as good in the shortened 2020 season, delivering a microscopic 0.55 ERA with a 44.8% strikeout rate.
Injuries took a toll on Anderson beginning in the 2020 campaign. He missed time with forearm inflammation, a lower back strain, a torn UCL, and plantar fasciitis over the next three years. Anderson bounced between seven different organizations after leaving Tampa Bay in free agency following the 2022 season.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images