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Cardinals Designate Matt Koperniak For Assignment

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The Cardinals announced that outfielder Matt Koperniak has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding 40-man move for right-hander Dustin May, whose signing is now official.

Koperniak, 28 in February, has been with the Cards since signing with them as an undrafted free agent in 2020. From 2021 to 2023, he produced pretty solid results as he climbed the minor league ladder. Across those three seasons, he stepped to the plate 1,399 times. His 10.1% walk rate and 16.1% strikeout rate were both solid figures. He produced a combined line of .293/.375/.441, which translated to a wRC of 112, indicating he was 12% better than league average at the plate.

He seemed to find a new gear in 2024, his first full season at Triple-A. He hit 20 homers and slashed .309/.370/.512 for a 128 wRC+. That may have been a bit fluky, as he got some help from a .351 batting average on balls in play, but the Cards seemed to believe in him. They added him to the 40-man roster in November of that year to keep Koperniak out of the Rule 5 draft.

He spent 2025 back at Triple-A on optional assignment and his results backed up. His home run tally dropped to 14, despite taking 23 extra plate appearances. His BABIP dropped to a more average-ish .283. He finished the season with a .246/.317/.382 line and 85 wRC+.

The Cards are rebuilding and will be giving playing time to younger players in 2026 but Koperniak wouldn’t have been at the front of the line after that performance. He’s instead been bumped off the roster and into DFA limbo. The Cards will now see if there’s any trade interest in him. If not, he’ll be put on waivers. He does still have a couple of options remaining and is considered a strong defensive outfielder, with experience at all three spots. If some club out there likes him, they could acquire him and keep in Triple-A as depth as they hope for a bounceback at the plate.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Athletics Sign Mark Leiter Jr.

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December 17th: The A’s have officially announced their signing of Leiter.

December 11th: The Athletics have reportedly reached an agreement with right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. on a one-year, $2.85MM contract. The signing is still pending a physical. Leiter is a client of VC Sports Group.

Leiter, 35 in March, made his big league debut back in 2017 but didn’t fully establish himself at the big league level until joining the Cubs in 2022. He served as a swing man and long reliever for Chicago that year, with a 3.99 in 67 2/3 innings of work in that role, but moved to a short relief role full-time in 2023. In 100 2/3 innings of work for the Cubs over the next two seasons, Leiter pitched to a 3.75 ERA with a 3.12 FIP while striking out 30.9% of his opponents and walking 8.8%.

Those exciting peripherals were enough to convince the Yankees to swing a trade for the right-hander at the 2024 trade deadline, but he struggled in New York even as his peripheral numbers remained strong. In 70 innings of work for the Yankees over parts of two seasons with the club, Leiter posted a 4.89 ERA despite a 4.07 FIP. In 2025, Leiter struck out 24.7% against a 7.8% walk rate while generating grounders on 45.5% of his batted balls allowed. Unfortunately for the righty, the results weren’t there enough for the Yankees to tender him a contract last month, and he wound up reaching free agency a year earlier than anticipated.

Headed into 2026, the A’s can expect Leiter to be a solid middle relief arm at least. His 4.15 ERA over the past four seasons is exactly league average (100) by ERA+, and the right-hander’s impressive splitter actually makes him particularly effective against left-handed batters. In 104 2/3 innings of work against lefties the last three years, Leiter has posted a 2.49 ERA and 2.57 FIP with a 32.1% strikeout rate. With league average results overall and elite numbers against lefties, Leiter has a much higher floor than a typical non-tendered middle relief arm, which is surely why he was able to command a solid guarantee even coming off a tough year in New York.

Leiter hasn’t managed to play up to his peripherals throughout his career, but if he can do so he could wind up a valuable setup man for the A’s this year. The righty’s 3.13 SIERA over the past three seasons ranks 13th among relievers with at least 150 innings of work since the start of the 2023 season, and that puts him on a similar level to well-regarded late-inning arms like Luke Weaver. Leiter’s .359 BABIP and 66.5% strand rate over the past two years indicate extremely poor fortune when it comes to batted balls and sequencing; if those numbers experience enough positive regression to get within spitting distance of league average, Leiter’s a good bet to be impactful at the back of the A’s bullpen next year.

It’s been a quiet offseason for the A’s so far, though there’s certain reasons for optimism regarding the club’s future. Nick Kurtz emerged as a potential superstar this year, and he’s backed by a core of exciting positional talent like Brent Rooker, Shea Langeliers, Jacob Wilson, and Lawrence Butler. The club’s pitching staff needs plenty of work if the team is going to contend in 2026, but adding Leiter to a bullpen that already houses respectable arms like Hogan Harris and Michael Kelly should be a small step towards accomplishing that goal. Jeffrey Springs and Luis Severino remain in the fold as solid back-of-the-rotation veterans, though it remains to be seen how much A’s ownership is willing to spend in order to augment that group. Whether the A’s are facing significant budget constraints or not, however, bringing Leiter into the fold as a reliever with possible late-inning upside on a relative bargain can only be a good thing for the club.

Robbie Hyde of Foul Territory first reported the agreement. Janie McCauley of The Associated Press reported the $2.85MM guarantee, after ESPN’s Jesse Rogers first noted it would close to $3MM.

Cardinals Sign Dustin May

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December 17th: The Cards officially announced May’s signing today. May will make $12.5MM in 2026 and the mutual option is worth $20MM, per Passan. It’s a $12MM salary and a $500K buyout on the option, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat.

December 13th: The Cardinals are expected to sign right-hander Dustin May, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. It’s a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2027. May spent last season split between the Dodgers and Red Sox.

May was sent to Boston at the trade deadline for James Tibbs and Zach Ehrhard. After scuffling through 19 appearances with L.A., he battled injuries and poor performance with the Red Sox. May set career highs in innings (132 1/3) and games (25) last season, but posted an unsightly 4.96 ERA with an xFIP and SIERA in the mid-4.00s.

St. Louis was in desperate need of rotation depth after trading Sonny Gray to Boston and watching Miles Mikolas hit free agency. The club also lost swingman Steven Matz, who signed with Tampa Bay. May is set to join holdovers Andre Pallante and Michael McGreevy in the rotation. May’s former teammate on the Red Sox, Richard Fitts, will likely be in the mix after coming over in the Gray trade. The Cardinals are considering converting Kyle Leahy into a starter to round out the staff.

The Dodgers spent a third-round pick on May in 2016. He emerged as one of the top pitching prospects in a system typically stocked with elite arms. May made his MLB debut in 2019, working largely out of the bullpen. He spent the majority of the shortened 2020 campaign in the rotation, making 10 starts. It would be the only time he would reach double-digit starts until this past season. Injuries capped May to just 20 games from 2021 to 2023. He missed all of 2024 due to flexor tendon surgery.

May stayed healthy for the first time in 2025, making 19 appearances for the Dodgers. He stumbled to a 4.85 ERA over 104 innings. Despite the performance, May still netted LA an intriguing prospect in Tibbs, a first-round pick in 2024 (by San Francisco). The veteran righty made just six appearances with the Red Sox before right elbow neuritis cut his season short.

The Cardinals are betting on May pairing the flashes of solid production he’s shown in prior seasons with the improved health from 2025. The 28-year-old recorded a sub-3.00 ERA in 2020, 2022, and 2023, albeit in abbreviated campaigns. While he did go down with the elbow issue in September, he still destroyed his previous career bests in terms of workload. May had totaled 101 innings over four seasons before putting up 132 1/3 frames last year. It was the first time in his six-year career that May showed the ability to stay on the mound for any kind of extended stretch.

May has a perplexing pitching profile. He has a GIF-worthy arsenal headlined by a high-spin sweeper and a fastball in the mid to upper-90s. Oddly, the repertoire hasn’t generated whiffs or strikeouts for much of his career. May spiked a 37.6% strikeout rate over five games in 2021, but he’s been at best an average strikeout pitcher in every other season. He posted a middling 21.1% mark between L.A. and Boston last year. May has a modest 8.8% swinging-strike rate for his career. None of his five pitches has a standout whiff rate.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post was first to report that the contract was for one year. MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo was first to note the deal included a club option for 2027.

Photo courtesy of Paul Rutherford, Imagn Images

Orioles Sign Albert Suárez To Minor League Deal

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The Orioles announced that they have signed right-hander Albert Suárez to a minor league deal. The righty will presumably receive an invite to big league camp in spring training, though the O’s didn’t explicitly say so.

Suárez, now 36, signed a minor league deal with the Orioles ahead of the 2024 season. At that time, he had spent a number of years pitching in Japan and South Korea. The deal worked out well for Suárez and the O’s last year. He was added to the roster in April and gave Baltimore 133 2/3 innings as a swingman with a 3.70 earned run average.

Unfortunately, 2025 wasn’t as pleasant. A subscapularis strain in his throwing shoulder put him on the shelf after just one appearance. He came off the injured list in September and made four appearances before going back on the IL, this time due to right elbow discomfort. The team announced in October that Suárez had a mild flexor strain and would avoid surgery.

Suárez crossed three years of service time in 2025, qualifying him for arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for just $900K, barely above next year’s $780K league minimum. The O’s decided not to tender him a contract after his injury-marred season. That sent him to free agency without being exposed to waivers, allowing them to re-sign him in a non-roster capacity.

Assuming he’s healthy in the spring, he can try to earn his way back onto the roster. Baltimore’s current rotation mix includes Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, Cade Povich, Tyler Wells, Chayce McDermott and Brandon Young. The O’s are expected to add to that group before the offseason is out. As the season goes along, injuries will surely pop up and Suárez may be needed for a spot start or a long relief role.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images

Royals Sign Lane Thomas

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December 17th: The Royals have officially announced their signing of Thomas.

December 11th: The Royals and outfielder Lane Thomas are reportedly in agreement on a one-year contract. The Wasserman client receives $5.25MM with another $1MM available via incentives. Kansas City has a couple of open 40-man spots and won’t need to make a corresponding move once the deal is official.

Thomas and the Royals will be looking for a bounceback season, as he just suffered through an injury-marred 2025 campaign with Cleveland. Early in the season, he missed about a month due to a right wrist bone bruise. In the latter months of the season, he went on the injured list a couple of times due to plantar fasciitis in his right foot. He required surgery in September with a projected recovery time of three to four months. Around those IL stints, he got into 39 games and hit just .160/.246/.272.

Prior to that, he had a solid run as a decent regular in the bigs, suiting up for the Cardinals, Nationals and Guardians. From 2021 to 2024, he got into 510 contests, hitting 67 home runs and stealing 66 bases. He produced a .248/.313/.426 line over that four-year span, which translated to a 103 wRC+, indicating he was 3% better than league average.

He was slightly better in the second half of that stretch. Over 2023 and 2024, he hit 43 home runs and stole 52 bases. His combined .255/.312/.439 line in those two seasons translated to a 105 wRC+. FanGraphs credited him with 4.3 wins above replacement, a bit better than two wins per year.

His defense has been more of a question mark. Outs Above Average has given him a minus-16 ranking for his career, but oddly considered him league average in center and subpar in the corners. Defensive Runs Saved has put a minus-18 mark on him, but most of that due to an odd minus-13 grade in 2024 alone.

He clearly has some wheels, as his sprint speed has been ranked in the 93rd percentile or above since he became a regular. With a bit of pop in the bat as well, he has been able to engineer some decent results when healthy.

The Royals have been struggling for years to get production from their outfield. In 2025, they got a collective .225/.285/.348 line from the grass. That resulted in a 73 wRC+, the worst such mark of any team in the majors.

Obviously, upgrading the outfield was going to be a priority this winter. It was recently reported that the club would be looking to add one outfielder via trade and another via free agency, with a right-handed hitter who can play center field being a specific target. The Royals currently project to have an outfield consisting of Jac Caglianone, Kyle Isbel and John Rave. All three hit from the left side. Caglianone was a top prospect coming into 2025 but he didn’t hit at all in his first 232 plate appearances in the big leagues. Rave has just 175 big league plate appearances without much success either. Isbel has more experience but is a glove-first center fielder. They picked up Kameron Misner, another lefty, from the Rays in a trade a few weeks ago.

Thomas has pretty strong platoon splits in his career. He has been punched out in 28.2% of his plate appearances against righties with a .220/.287/.383 line and 84 wRC+. With the platoon advantage, his strikeout rate drops to 19.3%. He has a .292/.359/.500 line against southpaws for a 135 wRC+.

The Royals shouldn’t be done adding to their outfield. As mentioned, they have been looking to make two additions. This at least gives them a short-side platoon guy who can be slotted into any of the three outfield positions, while also perhaps coming off the bench for pinch-running opportunities. His health may be a bit of a question mark with the aforementioned surgery, but the estimated timeline should allow him to be healed up by spring training.

It’s a modest free agent add but the Royals apparently didn’t have much to spend. Owner John Sherman said a couple of months ago that the 2026 payroll would likely be similar to what they had in 2025. RosterResource currently projects them for a $139MM payroll in 2026. That’s already above where they finished in 2025, before even adding Thomas onto the ledger. Perhaps the next move will come on the trade market. There have been plenty of rumors suggesting the club may be looking to deal from its starting depth in order to get another bat.

Will Sammon of The Athletic first reported the Royals were signing Thomas. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com had the $5.25MM guarantee and $1MM in bonuses.

Photos courtesy of David Richard, Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images

Yankees’ Allan Winans Granted Release To Pursue Opportunity In Japan

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The Yankees have granted right-hander Allan Winans his release so that he can sign with a team in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. It’s not yet clear which team the 30-year-old righty will be joining. His release opens a spot on the Yankees’ 40-man roster, which is now down to 36 players.

Situations such as this one tend to benefit all parties. The Yankees will lose some depth, but Winans wasn’t a lock to last the whole offseason on their 40-man roster anyhow — particularly since he’s out of minor league options. Japanese teams typically pay a release fee of a few hundred thousand dollars to a player’s MLB club in order to facilitate the release. Winans, meanwhile, will earn far more pitching overseas than he would on a split big league deal that sees him oscillate between Triple-A and the majors.

Winans has pitched in each of the past three major league seasons, albeit sparingly. He’s totaled 49 1/3 innings between Atlanta and New York but been roughed up for a 7.48 ERA in that time. His track record in Triple-A is superlative, however. He’s spent parts of fours seasons between the Braves’ top affiliate in Gwinnett and the Yankees’ top affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, combining for a 2.79 ERA with a 23.1% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate in 355 1/3 innings.

Despite that success at the top minor league level, Winans has been hit quite hard in the majors. The flat 90 mph he’s averaged on his four-seamer in the big leagues is well below the average in today’s era of increased velocity but is more common in NPB, where the average heater sits closer to 91 mph. Given his sharp command and strong track record in the minors, Winans should command a rotation spot in NPB and could fare quite well.

It’s increasingly common to see pitchers thrive overseas and come back to North America on notable free agent deals, though most typically throw harder than Winans. Pitching well in Japan could also position him to re-sign on a more lucrative deal in subsequent seasons. There are plenty of former fringe 40-man players in the majors who’ve gone overseas and enjoyed lengthy, lucrative careers pitching in NPB, the Korea Baseball Organization and/or Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League.

Giants, Gregory Santos Agree To Minor League Deal

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3:30pm: Santos will make $1.3MM if he cracks the roster, per Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.

9:30am: The Giants have agreed to a minor league deal with right-handed reliever Gregory Santos, as first reported by Mike Rodriguez. He’ll be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee next spring.

The 26-year-old Santos returns to the club with which he made his major league debut back in 2021. While he originally signed with the Red Sox as a teenager back in 2016, Santos was flipped to the Giants organization a year later as part of the team’s return for infielder Eduardo Nuñez. Santos spent four-plus seasons in the Giants’ system before making brief appearances in the majors in both 2021 and 2022. He wound up pitching only 5 2/3 innings as a Giant before being traded again — this time to the White Sox in exchange for minor league righty Kade McClure.

Santos was a key late-inning arm for the Sox in 2023, totaling a career-high 66 1/3 innings with a 3.39 earned run average, five saves and six holds. He fanned a solid 22.8% of his opponents, walked just 5.9% of the batters he faced and kept a hearty 52.8% of his opponents’ batted balls on the ground — all while averaging a blazing 98.9 mph on his sinker.

Santos spent only one season with the South Siders, who sold high and flipped him to the Mariners in exchange for a pair of prospects (outfielder Zach DeLoach and righty Prelander Berroa) as well as a Competitive Balance draft pick (used to select high school lefty Blake Larson). Santos spent parts of two seasons with the Mariners but only tallied 14 1/3 innings in the majors, as injuries repeatedly shelved him for extended periods of time. A significant lat strain, biceps inflammation and knee surgery combined to just 26 2/3 innings total — majors and minors combined — during his two seasons with the M’s, who non-tendered Santos last month.

If Santos is back to full health this spring, he’s a nice flier with a bit of upside to add to the bullpen competition. He won’t turn 27 until next August and was still sitting 98 mph with his sinker this past season, even amid the ongoing injury woes. Santos doesn’t miss bats at a plus level like one might expect from someone with his huge velocity, but he’s shown the ability to limit walks and rack up grounders at a high clip. If he’s added to the big league roster at any point, Santos still has a minor league option remaining and is under club control via arbitration for at least three more seasons.

Guardians Acquire Justin Bruihl, Designate Jhonkensy Noel For Assignment

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The Guardians have acquired left-hander Justin Bruihl from the Blue Jays in exchange for cash considerations, according to announcements from both clubs. The Jays had designated the lefty for assignment earlier this week. To open a 40-man spot, the Guards designated outfielder Jhonkensy Noel for assignment.

Bruihl, 29 in June, signed a minor league deal with the Jays ahead of the 2025 campaign. He eventually earned a roster spot and had a decent season, in some ways. His 5.27 earned run average in the majors doesn’t look nice, but that came in a small sample of 13 2/3 innings. He also had a strong 27.7% strikeout rate and 46.2% ground ball rate in that time. His 10.8% walk rate was a bit high but he was really held back by a .459 batting average on balls in play. ERA estimators such as his 4.16 FIP and 3.42 SIERA were far more optimistic.

His minor league numbers look more like those latter metrics than his big league ERA. He tossed 42 innings for Triple-A Buffalo with a 3.43 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate, 9.1% walk rate and 58.4% ground ball rate.

Bruihl doesn’t throw especially hard. His two-seamer averaged just 90.2 miles per hour this year. He also mixed in a cutter at 87.5 mph and a 78.4 mph slider. He nonetheless managed to punch guys out and avoid hard contact. The Jays sent him between Triple-A and the majors this year but he was enough of a factor to be on their ALDS roster against a lefty-heavy Yankee lineup. He wasn’t carried on the roster for subsequent rounds.

Despite some intriguing numbers this year, he got squeezed off Toronto’s roster this week. He exhausted his final option in 2025 and will be out of options going forward. With the Jays also having lefties Brendon Little, Mason Fluharty and Eric Lauer on the roster, they designated Bruihl for assignment.

The Guards are intrigued enough to bring him aboard. Their southpaw relief contingent is currently headlined by Erik Sabrowski and Tim Herrin but those two each walked more than 15.5% of batters faced in 2025. Joey Cantillo could be in the mix but he’s more of a long reliever. With Bruihl’s option status, he’ll have to perform but there’s a path for him to earn a job in the Cleveland bullpen. He has under two years of service time, meaning he hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration and can be controlled for five full seasons if he can hold a roster spot.

The unfortunate side effect of adding Bruihl is that the Guards have cut “Big Christmas” from the roster barely a week before the holiday he’s named after. Noel has shown some big power in his career but also has a poor approach at the plate. In his 351 big league plate appearances, 32.8% of them have ended in a strikeout while he has only drawn a walk 4.8% of the time.

Despite hitting 19 home runs, his .193/.242/.401 batting line translates to a 79 wRC+. He’s not a good defender nor is he a burner on the basepaths, so he really needs to hit to provide value. The homers help but the overall offense has been lacking.

Like Bruihl, he exhausted his final option season in 2025. That was going to make it harder for the Guards to keep him on the roster, especially with guys like Chase DeLauter and George Valera reaching the big leagues this year.

He’ll head into DFA limbo and see if the Guards can line up a trade or if anyone wants him on waivers. If he lands somewhere else, he can be controlled for five full seasons. Since he has less than three years of service and doesn’t have a previous career outright, he will not have the right to elect free agency if he is passed through outright waivers unclaimed.

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Dennis Lee, Imagn Images

Rockies Unlikely To Trade Brenton Doyle

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Despite coming off a down season at the plate, Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle has drawn interest from several clubs — the Yankees, Mets, Padres and Phillies among them. However, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the newly remade front office, led by president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and GM Josh Byrnes, is likely to hang onto Doyle rather than sell low after a rough year in the batter’s box.

Doyle, a premium defender in center field, is eligible for arbitration for the first time as a Super Two player this winter and is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $3.2MM next season. The 27-year-old connected on 23 homers and swiped 30 bags in 2024 while slashing .260/.317/.446, but those rate stats dipped to .233/.274/.376 in 2025. It bears mentioning that Doyle’s production at the plate improved considerably in the final few months of the season and that he and his family went through a grueling tragedy early in the season that surely impacted him on the field. From July onward, he batted .281/.308/.452 with nine of his 15 home runs and 10 of his 18 steals.

Even as hit bat slumped, Doyle remained a quality defensive player at a premium position. His defensive grades in 2025 weren’t quite as strong as in the two preceding seasons, but Doyle has nonetheless tallied 3357 big league innings in center field and been credited with 29 Defensive Runs Saved and 34 Outs Above Average. He’s never posted a negative grade in either statistic. Statcast credits him with 91st percentile range, 97th percentile arm strength in the outfield and 99th percentile overall arm value. Doyle is already a two-time Gold Glove winner (despite playing only 126 games in his rookie campaign), and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he at some point took home a Platinum Glove.

Given Doyle’s age, remaining club control, plus defense and blend of power/speed — to say nothing of a paper-thin market for center fielders this winter — it’s plenty understandable that rival clubs in need of center field help (or outfield help in general) would look into the possibility of acquiring him. The Rockies know they’re not going to be competitive next season and figure to at least hear out offers on virtually anyone.

Matt Gelb of The Athletic suggests that the Phillies didn’t have (or weren’t willing to part with) the type of young, controllable pitching the Rockies would understandably seek in any deal for their center fielder. Philadelphia president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has since indicated that top prospect Justin Crawford will get an opportunity to be his team’s primary center fielder.

There’s no urgency for the Rockies to move Doyle at this time. His strong performance in July and August give some hope for a turnaround at the plate this coming season, and Doyle’s four remaining years of club control mean that a rebound would create immense trade value, be it ahead of the 2026 deadline or in subsequent offseasons.

Rays, Shane McClanahan Avoid Arbitration

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The Rays announced that they’ve signed left-hander Shane McClanahan, who’d been arbitration-eligible, to a contract for the 2026 season. The new deal avoids an arbitration hearing for the two parties. He’ll be paid $3.6MM, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

McClanahan, 28, hasn’t pitched in either of the past two seasons due to injury but was one of the game’s brightest young arms prior to undergoing Tommy John surgery in Aug. 2023. The former first-rounder carries a career 3.02 ERA, 28% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate in 404 2/3 innings. His 2022 campaign, in particular, was dominant. McClanahan was on a Cy Young trajectory, with a 2.20 ERA and a strikeout rate north of 30% through 24 starts before missing four starts due to a shoulder impingement. He returned to allow 11 runs in his final 19 frames, bumping his ERA up to 2.54. That injury layoff and rocky finish caused him to “fall” to sixth in the voting. (Justin Verlander won that year’s AL Cy Young Award.)

McClanahan had hoped to return from that 2023 UCL procedure this past season, but a nerve injury in his pitching arm halted his minor league rehab assignment over the summer. There was originally hope that he could still make it back to the mound late in the season, but in August it was announced that he’d require season-ending surgery.

Players who miss an entire season due to injury typically just repeat the prior season’s salary in arbitration. The Rays bought out the first of McClanahan’s four arbitration seasons (he’s a Super Two player) on a two-year, $7.2MM deal that paid him $3.6MM annually. Accordingly, MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $3.6MM salary for the upcoming 2026 season.

The obvious hope will be that following a two-year layoff, Tampa Bay will have its top starter back in the rotation for Opening Day 2026. The Rays still haven’t given a firm timetable for the southpaw’s recovery, though they also haven’t indicated that Opening Day is in jeopardy, either. McClanahan will surely be on some kind of limited workload in 2026 even if he’s able to make it back to the mound. The Rays control the left-hander through the 2027 season.

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