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Jackson Holliday To Begin Season On Injured List Following Hamate Surgery

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Feb. 12: Holliday had successful surgery today to address his fractured hamate bone, according to multiple reports, including from Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun. The second baseman is expected to be sidelined several weeks beyond Opening Day.

Feb. 11: Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday will open the 2026 season on the injured list after suffering a fractured hamate bone in his right hand during live batting practice on Feb. 6, president of baseball operations Mike Elias announced to the team’s beat this morning (link via Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner). He’ll likely miss the first several weeks of the season.

Elias also added that infielder Jordan Westburg suffered an oblique injury three weeks ago while training but is only expected to miss the first few games of Grapefruit League play (via MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko). The team isn’t concerned about his Opening Day status at this juncture. Righty Colin Selby, meanwhile, is dealing with inflammation in his right shoulder and is expected to open the season on the injured list (per Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun).

The Holliday injury is the most notable of the bunch. The former No. 1 pick and top prospect had been in line to open the season at second base after hitting .242/.314/.375 with 17 homers and 17 steals in his age-21 season with the O’s last year. Second base will now presumably fall to some combination of trade acquisition Blaze Alexander and utilityman Jeremiah Jackson. Alternatively, Baltimore could play Westburg at second base and give Coby Mayo some run at third base to begin the season.

Many fans on social media were quick to jump to the conclusion that the Holliday injury was a driving factor behind Baltimore’s acquisition of Alexander in last week’s trade with the Diamondbacks. However, the timing was a matter of happenstance; Holliday actually suffered the fracture in his hand/wrist the day after the Alexander trade was completed. Perhaps there was some modest concern about Westburg’s oblique at the time, but Holliday’s injury didn’t have any impact on that swap.

Hamate fractures are relatively common. Stars Francisco Lindor and Corbin Carroll are currently in similar boats at the moment. The resulting surgery typically sidelines players for anywhere from four to eight weeks. Hand injuries of this nature can often have a lingering impact on a player’s power output even after he’s cleared to return to the field, though every case is unique unto itself, of course. Assuming Holliday indeed hits the injured list, this will the first major league IL placement of his young career.

As for Selby, there’s less certainty on his outlook at the moment. The Orioles acquired him from the Royals in a July 2024 swap sending cash back to Kansas City. He spent the rest of that year and the majority of the 2025 season in Triple-A, but the 28-year-old righty was effective in 14 big league frames in 2025. Those 14 innings came over the life of 11 appearances and saw Selby hold opponents to five runs (3.21 ERA) on 16 hits and just two walks with 14 strikeouts. Selby also tossed 25 2/3 innings of 2.45 ERA ball at the Triple-A level, fanning 31.5% of his opponents there.

Selby’s IL placement opens up some space in the team’s Opening Day bullpen competition, which could create an easier path for lefty Grant Wolfram, righty Yaramil Hiraldo or out-of-options right-hander Rico Garcia. Right-hander Chayce McDermott, too, could find himself in that mix. He’s been a starter in the past, but Elias said today that the 27-year-old righty will be used as a reliever in the upcoming season (via Kostka). Righty Tyler Wells, meanwhile, will build up as a starter. There’s currently no clear rotation opening for him, but stretching out in camp will create some insurance for rotation injuries. Wells could open the season in a long relief role in the ’pen or in the rotation with Triple-A Norfolk; he still has two minor league option years remaining.

Phillies Release Nick Castellanos

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The Phillies have released outfielder Nick Castellanos, per a club announcement. He’s now a free agent who can sign with any club for the league minimum.

Castellanos was slated to report to camp in the next few days. He’ll now stay at home and wait to learn where his next opportunity will come. He’s entering the final season of a five-year, $100MM contract that calls for a $20MM salary in 2026. The Phillies will remain on the hook for the entirety of that sum, minus the prorated portion of the league minimum paid to him by any other club  who picks him up for even a portion of the season.

Today’s release should come as no surprise. Castellanos stood as an obvious trade or release candidate at season’s end, even before early-November reporting suggested that the Phils would cut ties with him. Earlier this week, it became clear that an inflection point was fast approaching. The Phillies weren’t able to find a taker for even a portion of Castellanos’ salary, it seems, so he’ll now head back to the open market and see if there’s interest from another team as a league-minimum player or minor league/non-roster player in camp.

Philadelphia’s signing of Castellanos always came as something of a surprise. They’d already signed Kyle Schwarber on a four-year, $79MM deal prior to signing Castellanos in the 2021-22 offseason. Both players profile as bat-first corner outfielders who are better suited for DH work, but the Phils opted to ink both to long-term deals, ensuring that one of the two would be in the outfield on a regular basis. That wound up being Castellanos more than Schwarber, and his annually poor glovework has only worsened over the course of his four seasons in Philly.

The hope for the Phils was that Castellanos’ bat would outweigh the negative contributions he’d made with his glove. He’d turned in a huge .309/.362/.576 slash with the Reds the season prior and was carrying an impressive .290/.345/.527 slash over the four years leading up to his Phillies deal.

Things didn’t pan out that way. Castellanos’ bat immediately went south in 2022. He hit just .263/.305/.389 in his first season of that five-year contract. He bounced back to an extent over the next two years (.263/.311/.454) but was barely above replacement level due to poor defense (-20 Defensive Runs Saved, -13 Outs Above Average). The 2025 season marked another step back. Castellanos hit .250/.294/.400 — about 10% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+ — and was dinged for -11 DRS and -12 OAA.

The Phillies might still have tried to coax something out of Castellanos in 2026 had tensions between the player and club not boiled over during the season. Castellanos was removed from a close game in Miami for defensive purposes and benched the next day after what manager Rob Thomson called an “inappropriate” comment. Matt Gelb of The Athletic reported after the season ended that Castellanos’ teammates and coaches were “disgusted” by what he’d said. The outfielder later took a shot at Thomson’s communication skills down the stretch in the final weeks of the season.

Castellanos himself addressed the “Miami incident,” as he termed it, in a post on Instagram today. He made no mention of the comment that apparently rankled so many of his teammates but admitted to bringing a beer into the dugout out of frustration after being lifted from the game by Thomson.

“After being taken out of a close ball game in front of my friends and family, I brought a Presidente into the dugout,” the Miami-area native wrote. “I then sat right next to Rob and let him know that too much slack in some areas and too tight of restrictions in others was not conducive to us winning.”

In his note today, Castellanos thanked his teammates for taking the drink from his hand before he actually took a sip, apologized to them and reiterated that he apologized to both Thomson and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski for letting his emotions get the better of him. He added that he was prepared to share the details of the incident with the media at the time it happened but was instructed not to by Phillies management.

The question now becomes one of which — if any — team will be willing to give Castellanos a fresh start in hopes that he can get back to his prior levels of offense. While he still hit for a decent average and knocked in 70-plus runs in each of the past three seasons in Philadelphia, much of that had to do with lineup placement and a strong cast ahead of him (e.g. Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, Schwarber).

Castellanos has never walked much and has turned in three of his four career-low walk rates since donning a Phillies uniform. The plus power he showed with the Tigers, Cubs and Reds prior to signing in Philadelphia has dwindled, too; he posted an ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average) north of .200 for six straight seasons prior to his Phillies tenure (.229 overall). He topped .200 just once with the Phillies, in 2023, when he logged a .204 mark. He’s lost two miles per hour on his bat speed over the past three seasons and posted below-average numbers against fastballs for the first time in his career in 2025, hitting .236 with a meek .368 slugging percentage versus four-seamers.

A club with DH at-bats to spare could well look into Castellanos, but it’s unlikely anyone would sign him to log significant time in the outfield. Teams will surely be wary of the manner in which his relationship with the Phillies deteriorated as well. For instance, Isaac Azout of Fish On First reports that the Marlins, despite lacking an obvious solution at designated hitter, aren’t interested in bringing Castellanos into the fold.

Dodgers Trade Anthony Banda To Twins

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1:17pm: The Twins sent $500K of pool space to the Dodgers in the deal, per Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. (International pool space must be traded in $250K increments.) For clarity’s sake, no actual money exchanged hands; rather, the Twins shrunk their league-allotted spending limit by $500K, while the Dodgers’ limit correspondingly increases by $500K.

12:27pm: The Twins have acquired veteran left-hander Anthony Banda from the Dodgers, per announcements from both clubs. Minnesota is sending international bonus space back to L.A. in return. Banda had been designated for assignment by the Dodgers last week. Righty Jackson Kowar has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Banda.

The Dodgers originally acquired Banda, now 32, in a cash deal early in the 2024 season. He quickly emerged as a quality bullpen option for them and spent the next season-plus as a frequently used southpaw for manager Dave Roberts. From 2024-25 in L.A., Banda logged a tidy 3.14 ERA with a 23.3% strikeout rate, 10.9% walk rate and 41.6% ground-ball rate. He averaged 96 mph on both his four-seamer and sinker while recording a 13.2% swinging-strike rate that suggests he could have a few more punchouts in the tank. Banda tallied 19 holds and two saves in 114 2/3 innings as a Dodger.

Banda’s 2025 season, however, wasn’t as sharp as his 2024 campaign. He lost a percentage point off his strikeout rate while his walk rate climbed by four points, from 8.6% to 12.7%. He still notched a 3.18 ERA in a career-high 65 innings, but his rate stats understandably gave the Dodgers some cause for concern.

The discrepancy between the bullpens in Los Angeles and Minnesota is underscored by the fact that this trade came together. The Dodgers deemed Banda expendable and jettisoned him and his $1.625MM salary. The Twins, meanwhile, traded some actual value to acquire him and will now count him among the most reliable arms in a bullpen that was torn all the way down at last year’s trade deadline. Minnesota traded five relievers — Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Brock Stewart and Danny Coulombe — dismantling what had been one of the league’s top relief units in order to scale back payroll and bring in some more controllable and affordable young talent in the process.

Where Banda was near the bottom of the pecking order in the L.A. bullpen, he now figures to be an option in high-leverage spots. That’s all the more true given his familiarity with new Twins skipper Derek Shelton, who managed Banda as a member of the Pirates back in 2021-22.

If Banda pans out in Minnesota, he can provide value to the Twins for multiple seasons. He currently has 4.135 years of MLB service, meaning he’ll be controllable through the 2027 season. He’ll be eligible for a raise in arbitration next winter, but his modest $1.625MM salary for the 2026 season means he won’t break the bank regardless of how well he pitches in what’ll be his debut campaign for Minnesota.

Banda joins the re-signed Taylor Rogers, Justin Topa and Cole Sands as the only members of the Twins’ bullpen with even three years of major league experience. The Twins also picked up righty Eric Orze in a small trade with the Rays early in the winter, and they got good work out of southpaw Kody Funderburk following that July fire sale in the bullpen (0.75 ERA, 28-to-10 K/BB ratio in 24 innings).

Veterans Liam Hendriks and Julian Merryweather joined up on minor league deals just yesterday and could factor into the group, as could any young starters who don’t crack a relatively crowded rotation picture. Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and out-of-options Simeon Woods Richardson all seem like rotation locks, health permitting. Former top prospects Taj Bradley, David Festa, Zebby Matthews and Mick Abel are among the candidates who’ll vie for the fifth spot (and possibly the fourth, if Woods Richardson is outpitched and heads to the bullpen himself).

Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll has been on the lookout for bullpen help throughout camp, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him further add to a perilously thin group of relievers in the days or weeks to come.

Kowar, 29, was claimed off waivers from the Mariners just eight days ago. The former first-round pick and top prospect has been derailed by injuries in his career but sits in the upper 90s with his four-seamer and sinker. He’s shown the ability to miss bats at times but struggles with sub-par command and too much hard contact allowed.

In parts of four MLB seasons (91 innings) between the Royals (his original club) and Mariners, the former Florida Gators star has been rocked for an 8.21 ERA. He posted a more palatable 4.24 ERA in 17 innings with Seattle last year, however, and notched a sharp 2.81 ERA in an additional 16 innings of Triple-A ball.

Kowar is out of minor league options. The Twins will hope to pass him through waivers and retain him as bullpen depth who’d be invited to big league camp and potentially stashed in the upper minors. If another club claims him, Kowar would need to stick on that team’s 40-man roster or else once again be exposed to waivers. The Twins can trade Kowar or place him on waivers at any point in the next five days. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so within a week’s time, we’ll know the outcome of Kowar’s DFA.

Dan Hayes of The Athletic first reported the trade and the Kowar DFA.

Dodgers Re-Sign Kiké Hernández

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1:10pm: The Dodgers have formally announced the deal. Phillips was indeed moved to the 60-day IL to open roster space.

12:06pm: The Dodgers are bringing Kiké Hernández back for the 2026 season. The utilityman first announced the agreement on social media. It’s a one-year, $4.5MM deal for the Wasserman client, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The Dodgers will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster once the signing is final, though they can do so by placing newly re-signed reliever Evan Phillips on the 60-day injured list.

Hernández has spent the past two and a half seasons in L.A. He sandwiched a few seasons in Boston in between but has spent the majority of his career with the Dodgers. Hernández was a high-end utility player earlier in his career, playing plus defense everywhere on the diamond while hitting left-handed pitching well. His offensive production has tailed off over the past few years, but the Dodgers love him as a clubhouse presence and he remains a versatile defender.

The 34-year-old Hernández is coming off a .203/.255/.366 showing across 256 regular season plate appearances. He popped 10 home runs in 93 games but struck out at a career-high 26.6% clip. Since returning to L.A. at the 2023 trade deadline, he’s a .228/.279/.382 hitter in a little over 800 trips to the plate. His .220/.278/.393 line against left-handed pitching is well below what he did against southpaws earlier in his career.

Hernández does have a strong postseason track record, compiling an .826 OPS over 103 games in October. That didn’t really materialize last season, when he hit .250/.290/.359 with one homer in 69 plate appearances. He nevertheless clearly had the trust of skipper Dave Roberts, who penciled Hernández into the lineup for every game of their World Series run. He played mostly left field as the Dodgers lost faith in the slumping Andy Pages. That ended in triumph with the third World Series of his career, as he was also part of the 2020 and ’24 clubs.

There’s no room in the starting lineup entering the season. They signed Kyle Tucker to play right field, pushing Teoscar Hernández to left. Kiké Hernández can take some center field reps but hasn’t been a regular there since 2022. That’ll probably fall to Pages and potentially Tommy Edman, depending on how the Dodgers feel about him covering a lot of ground coming off ankle surgery. Hernández will available off the bench and can take a few at-bats from Max Muncy at third base against left-handed pitching. He’ll offer a more defensively minded alternative to Teoscar Hernández as a late-game substitute.

Hernández and Miguel Rojas are locks for bench roles, as is a backup catcher (very likely Dalton Rushing). That’d leave one spot which will probably go to Hyeseong Kim if Edman is ready for Opening Day. Should Edman require an IL stint, Kim will draw in at second base and there’d be one spot available for Alex Call, Ryan Ward or Alex Freeland.

The Dodgers are taxed at a 110% rate as third-time payor with a CBT number above $304MM. RosterResource calculates their luxury tax payroll above $400MM. The Hernández signing will cost them $9.45MM between his salary and the accompanying $4.95MM tax bill.

Image courtesy of Michael McLoone, Imagn Images.

A’s Trade Mitch Spence To Royals

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The Athletics have traded right-hander Mitch Spence to the Royals in exchange for minor league righty AJ Causey, per announcements from both clubs. Spence was designated for assignment by the A’s earlier this week. Kansas City placed righty Alec Marsh on the 60-day IL to open a roster spot for Spence.

The 27-year-old Spence didn’t have to wait long to find a new home after getting DFAed on Tuesday. He’ll head to Kansas City as a depth option behind a fairly set rotation. Marsh had labrum surgery in November and is set to miss the 2026 season. His placement on the 60-day was a formality.

The Athletics added Spence as a Rule 5 pick from the Yankees ahead of the 2024 season. He emerged as a mainstay in the rotation that year, piling up 151 1/3 innings across 35 appearances (24 starts). Spence posted an ERA in the mid-4.00s with subpar strikeout numbers. He did well to limit walks and got ground balls at an above-average clip.

The offseason additions of Jeffrey Springs and Luis Severino squeezed Spence out of the rotation. He made 32 appearances with the club, mostly out of the bullpen. Spence briefly returned to the rotation in June. His performance as a starter (5.05 ERA, 11 home runs allowed) led to a demotion to the minors. Spence returned to the A’s in September. He was hammered for nine earned runs in 10 innings to close the season.

Spence will be built up as a starter with Kansas City, but the club likes that he has experience in both roles, notes Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The Royals currently have Bailey Falter penciled into the swingman spot.

Kansas City took Causey in the fifth round of the 2024 draft out of Tennessee. The 23-year-old right-hander began his pro career at High-A this past season. After 40 1/3 innings of a 1.56 ERA with Quad City, he made the jump to Double-A. Causey maintained a sub-2.00 ERA in 21 games with Northwest Arkansas. He compiled a 1.72 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning in 48 appearances across the two levels. Scouting grades laud Causey’s slider and changeup. His sidearm delivery helps his 90 mph fastball play up.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Brewers, William Contreras Avoid Arbitration

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The Brewers and star catcher William Contreras avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal with a club option for the 2027 season, per a team announcement. The Octagon client will earn $9.4MM in 2026, and the 2027 option is valued at $14.5MM, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Contreras’ camp had filed for a $9.9MM salary. The team filed at $8.5MM.

Contreras wasn’t eligible for free agency until the 2027-28 offseason, so the option doesn’t give the Brewers any additional club control. It does provide some potential cost certainty, however, while ensuring that this deal to avoid arbitration can’t be used as a data point in future arbitration cases; one-year arrangements with option years are considered multi-year deals for arbitration purposes and thus aren’t eligible to be cited as comps (by the Brewers or other clubs).

If Milwaukee ends up declining that option, Contreras would still be under club control. He’d simply be arbitration-eligible again. The Brewers declined a $12MM club option on Contreras for the upcoming season back in November. The two parties went back to negotiations, exchanged figures, and narrowly avoided a hearing.

Contreras’ $9.4MM salary lands just above the $9.2MM midpoint between the figures exchanged by team and player. If he has a big season and projects for a salary in the $14-15MM range, that 2027 option may end up being exercised, but if not, he’ll likely find himself in a similar boat next winter.

The 2025 season was a solid one but still a down year by Contreras’ lofty standards. After slashing .283/.363/.472 in three seasons from 2022-24, he hit “just” .260/.355/.399 in 659 trips to the plate this past season. Health was a factor, to be sure; Contreras played through a fracture in his left middle finger for the majority of the season — an injury originally revealed in May but not addressed in full until he underwent surgery following the season. In that sense, suiting up for 150 games, including 128 behind the plate, and delivering above-average offense is an impressive feat in and of itself.

The 2026 season will be Contreras’ penultimate year of club control. He’ll head into the year with a cleaner bill of health and look to get back to that 2022-24 form as the Brewers defend their NL Central crown. The general expectation is that Milwaukee will be in the thick of the division race — or at least the Wild Card chase — once again this season, even after trading ace Freddy Peralta and 2025 breakout rookies Isaac Collins and Caleb Durbin.

If that doesn’t come to pass, Contreras could well see his name surface in trade rumors this summer. Milwaukee tends to listen to offers on its best players as those players approach free agency. Josh Hader was traded at the deadline in his own penultimate season with the Brew Crew. This offseason, Peralta joined Corbin Burnes, Devin Williams and others as the latest Brewers star to be traded as his control window waned. It’s likelier than not that Contreras will stick in Milwaukee through the current season, but his name will assuredly pop up on the rumor mill next offseason, regardless of what happens with that club option.

Mets Sign MJ Melendez

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Feb. 12: The Mets formally announced Melendez’s signing. Right-hander Tylor Megill moves to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. Megill will miss most or all of the 2026 season following last summer’s Tommy John surgery.

Feb. 8, 4:25pm: The deal is a split contract that will pay Melendez a lesser salary for time spent in the minors, as per Will Sammon and Tim Britton of The Athletic.  The Mets view Melendez as primarily an outfielder, but with the potential to chip in at first base, and act as an emergency catcher.

2:47pm: The Mets have agreed to a one-year deal with MJ Melendez, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. It’s a $1.5MM pact that includes $500K in incentives. Melendez is a Boras Corporation client.

Melendez broke camp with the Royals last season, but was sent to Triple-A midway through April. He spent another week with the big-league club in July, and finished his 2025 season with just five hits in 65 MLB plate appearances. Kansas City non-tendered Melendez after the season rather than pay him a projected $2.65MM in arbitration, and he wraps up his time in the organization with an 88 wRC+ over 1652 PA across parts of four seasons — a disappointment for a player once considered one of the Royals’ top prospects.

The 27-year-old Melendez did well to garner a guaranteed deal after the rough showing in not just 2025, but for the bulk of his big league career. The Mets are likely intrigued by his numbers at Omaha last season (.261/.323/.490 with 20 homers and 20 steals over 480 plate appearances) and his past top-100 prospect pedigree. Melendez is also arbitration-controlled through the 2029 season, due to Super Two status.

While the Royals were ready to part ways with Melendez, there is some change-of-scenery potential as he heads to Queens. For a relatively inexpensive one-year deal, it’s a risk the Mets are willing to take, though it should be noted that Melendez’s overall price tag is boosted by New York’s luxury tax overages. Because the Mets have exceeded the top tax threshold in each of the last four seasons, Melendez will really cost the team $3.15MM, between Melendez’s salary and then the 110% tax bill.

On paper, Melendez provides some outfield depth for a team planning to give star prospect Carson Benge a full shot at the everyday left field job. Benge has yet to make his Major League debut, so having another experienced outfielder like Melendez on hand gives the Mets some coverage if Benge isn’t yet ready for the Show. That said, Melendez (a converted catcher) has been a subpar defender as a left fielder, so he remains a question mark with both his glove and his bat.

Diamondbacks To Sign Paul Sewald

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The D-backs are bringing right-hander Paul Sewald back to Arizona on a one-year, $1.5MM contract, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. The agreement is pending a physical. Sewald is represented by ISE Baseball.

Sewald, who’ll be 36 in May, spent the second half of the 2023 season and all of the 2024 season in Arizona after coming over in a deadline trade that shipped outfielder Dominic Canzone, infielder Josh Rojas and infielder Ryan Bliss back to the Mariners. The veteran right-hander battled unusually shaky command but posted solid results down the stretch in ’23 before seeing his overall production take a step back in a 2024 season that was truncated by oblique and neck injuries.

After becoming a free agent following the 2024 campaign, Sewald signed a one-year, $7MM deal in Cleveland. He pitched only 15 1/3 innings for the Guardians, this time due to a shoulder strain. The Tigers picked him up in a small deadline deal despite the fact that he was on the injured list, and he pitched 4 1/3 innings for Detroit late in the year.

Sewald was a tenth-round pick by the Mets back in 2012 and had an unremarkable four-year stint in Queens, pitching to a 5.50 ERA in 147 1/3 innings. He was a minor league free agent gem for the Mariners, however, signing with Seattle ahead of the 2021 season and quickly emerging as a go-to reliever. In two-plus seasons as a Mariner, Sewald pitched 171 2/3 innings with a 2.88 ERA, 52 saves, 24 holds, an enormous 35% strikeout rate and a solid 8.1% walk rate.

We’re now a few years removed from that peak. Sewald’s average fastball sat at just 90.4 mph last season, down 2.1 mph from its peak, and he’s posted a 4.40 ERA over his past 59 1/3 MLB frames. That said, he’s still fanned more than one quarter of his opponents while posting a strong 6.5% walk rate in that time. His slider still grades out as at least an average pitch, if not slightly better, and it’s possible that improved health could add a bit more life back to his heater or bring some additional whiffs back on that breaking ball.

For an Arizona club in dire need of bullpen help, it’s hard to fault the addition of an experienced, generally successful reliever at less than two times the $780K league minimum. Sewald probably won’t return to peak levels, but he doesn’t need to in order to benefit this version of manager Torey Lovullo’s bullpen. The Snakes are without A.J. Puk, Justin Martinez and Andrew Saalfrank, all of whom will open the season on the injured list. Saalfrank won’t pitch at all this year. Puk is probably out until at least June. Martinez may not be back until late in the summer.

At the moment, the Diamondbacks’ bullpen includes Kevin Ginkel, Ryan Thompson, trade acquisition Kade Strowd and another bargain pickup in righty Taylor Clarke. There’s no shortage of candidates to compete for the final few spots. Brandyn Garcia, Drey Jameson, Philip Abner, Juan Morillo, Andrew Hoffmann and non-roster invitees Jonathan Loaisiga, John Curtiss and Shawn Dubin are among the candidates. Sewald will add some low-cost stability — a veteran reliever who even as his numbers have taken a step back in recent seasons has at least remained serviceable. If things don’t pan out, the Snakes can cut him and move on, but the Sewald reunion is a sensible one, given the team’s lack of bullpen certainty and minimal capacity to further add to the payroll.

Rangers Top Prospect Sebastian Walcott To Undergo Elbow Surgery

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Rangers top prospect Sebastian Walcott, one of the most touted prospects in the entire sport, could miss the entire 2026 season due to an elbow injury that will require surgery, president of baseball operations Chris Young announced to the team’s beat this morning (link via Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports). Walcott could potentially get at-bats late in the season, and if he’s healthy, he’ll be a prime candidate to make up some lost reps in the Arizona Fall League and/or in winter ball. Young added that righty Nabil Crismatt, who’s in camp as a non-roster invitee, is also headed for elbow surgery (via Wilson).

Walcott appeared in last year’s Arizona Fall League, but his time there was cut short by elbow inflammation. Surgery was not recommended at the time. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes that Walcott spent the offseason rehabbing and felt strong entering camp, but he recently experienced renewed discomfort when throwing.

A consultation with renowned surgeon Dr. Keith Meister revealed “structural changes.” Walcott will have surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, it seems, but it has not yet been determined whether he’ll require a full Tommy John procedure (i.e. ligament reconstruction) or an internal brace procedure to repair/strengthen the existing ligament. The latter comes with a shorter timetable for recovery.

It’s a brutal blow to the Rangers and their farm. Walcott is only 19 years old (20 next month) but already appeared on the cusp of MLB readiness. The Bahamian-born shortstop spent the 2025 campaign in Double-A and hit .255/.355/.386 (110 wRC+) despite being the youngest player in the league.

In 552 plate appearances, Walcott hit 13 home runs, 19 doubles and two triples. He also went 32-for-42 in stolen base attempts, walked at a huge 12.7% clip and only struck out in 19.6% of his plate appearances. That’d be a productive season even for a more physically developed 23- or 24-year-old, but Walcott enjoyed that success in spite of being five years younger than the average Texas League player.

Virtually every prospect list one can find will include Walcott within its top 20. He’s currently No. 16 at Baseball America, 16th on Keith Law’s list at The Athletic,  seventh at MLB.com, and all the way up to fifth on Kiley McDaniel’s list at ESPN. Scouting reports laud him for possessing enormous, plus-plus raw power with good plate discipline, a feel to hit, plus speed and a plus arm. There’s some concern that he’ll outgrow shortstop — he’s already listed at 6’4″ and 190 pounds before turning 20 — but he has plenty of bat to stick at third base or in the outfield if such a shift is eventually needed.

It’s plausible that a healthy Walcott, with a big enough start to his season, could have emerged as an option in the majors for Texas. He’s not going to displace Corey Seager at shortstop, but third base, second base and (to a lesser extent) the outfield are all less settled in Arlington. All of that will be put on hold for the time being now, and Walcott’s debut will surely be pushed back into at least the 2027 season, as he’ll need to ease back into things as he rehabs from this health setback.

On the plus side, Walcott’s meteoric rise through the system means that youth is still very much on his side. He could miss the entire 2026 season, play well in the AFL and winter ball, open next season back at Double-A and still push to make his MLB debut during his age-21 season. The injury is a clear development setback, but for a player who has accomplished so much at such a young age, the outlook remains quite bright.

As for Crismatt, the upcoming elbow procedure scuttles any hope of cracking the big league roster. It’s not yet clear what type of procedure he’ll require. He’d been slated to pitch for his native Colombia in the World Baseball Classic, but those plans are obviously dashed as well.

The 31-year-old Crismatt spent part of the 2024 season with the Rangers’ Triple-A club and returned on a minor league deal this winter. He pitched in the majors with the D-backs last year and recorded a 3.71 ERA, 16.3% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate in 34 innings. Crismatt has suited up for four clubs across parts of six MLB seasons and carries a lifetime 3.71 ERA, 20.6% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate in 211 innings — most of them coming in relief.

Dodgers, Max Muncy Agree To Extension

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The Dodgers announced Thursday that they’ve agreed to a one-year contract extension with third baseman Max Muncy. He’s now guaranteed an additional $10MM in the form of a $7MM salary in 2027 and a $3MM buyout on a $10MM club option for the 2028 campaign. Muncy is repped by Hub Sports Management.

As can be seen in a quick look at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, this is the fourth extension of the past six years between the two parties. Muncy signed a three-year. $26MM contract covering his arbitration years back in 2020 and gave up control over his first free-agent season via a club option in that process. In Aug. 2022, he agreed to a new deal that saw his 2023 club option picked up in advance, with the Dodgers tacking on another year of control via a club option for the 2024 season. Following the 2023 campaign, the Dodgers renegotiated a two-year, $24MM deal with a $10MM club option for the 2026 season, which the club exercised back in November.

The new deal now covers Muncy’s age-36 season (2027) and gives the Dodgers a net $7MM decision on his age-37 campaign. With this contract, he’s effectively locked into spending an entire decade with L.A., as he made his Dodgers debut in 2018 after being cut loose by the A’s and signing a minor league deal.

Muncy will go down as one of the best minor league pickups in recent memory. He immediately broke out in Los Angeles, slashing .263/.391/.582 with 35 home runs in his debut Dodger campaign. He’s been a well above-average offensive performer in each of his eight seasons with L.A. so far, save for the 2020 campaign when his .192/.331/.398 slash checked in a bit shy of average overall (98 wRC+).

Injuries have hobbled Muncy in recent seasons, but he’s remained a threat in the batter’s box whenever healthy. He was limited to 100 games last season thanks to a bone bruise in his knee and an oblique strain, but Muncy still delivered a .243/.376/.470 slash with 19 home runs and a massive (career-high) 16.5% walk rate in the 388 plate appearances he was able to take. He’s averaged just 111 games per season over the past four years and regularly hits for a low average, but his impeccable patience and well above-average power continue to make him a productive player.

Muncy will reach 10 years of major league service on the 145th day of the 2026 season. At that point, he’ll gain 10-and-5 rights (10 years of service, the past five with the same team), granting him full veto rights over any potential trade scenario. Today’s extension all but locks him into third base at Dodger Stadium for the next two seasons. Muncy hasn’t been an option at second base in years now, and across the infield Freddie Freeman is signed through the 2027 season. Shohei Ohtani, of course, will continue to take the team’s at-bats at designated hitter.

Muncy’s glovework has always drawn mixed reviews, and that’s been no different in recent seasons. Defensive Runs Saved has pegged him as an above-average third baseman in each of the past two seasons, while Statcast felt he was average in 2024 and a fair bit below average in 2025. The Dodgers, clearly, are comfortable with any defensive concessions they’ll need to make to keep Muncy’s perpetually excellent on-base percentage and plus power in the lineup — at least against right-handed pitching.

While Muncy crushed fellow lefties early in his career, his numbers in left-on-left matchups have gone south recently. He still held his own against southpaws in 2024 but was well below average in 2023 and again in 2025, when he hit just .157/.250/.314 in 80 plate appearances. Platoon options at third base for the Dodgers include veteran Miguel Rojas and switch-hitting top infield prospect Alex Freeland.

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