Giants Option Bryce Eldridge
The Giants optioned rookie first baseman Bryce Eldridge, the team informed reporters (including Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). San Francisco also optioned second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald and outfielder Grant McCray.
Eldridge will open the season in the minors after finishing the ’25 season on the MLB roster. The 21-year-old top prospect made his big league debut in September. He played in 10 games and took 37 plate appearances, batting .107 without a home run. Eldridge took seven walks but struck out 13 times.
More to come.
Astros’ Bennett Sousa To Begin Season On Injured List
Astros reliever Bennett Sousa will begin the season on the 15-day injured list, manager Joe Espada tells reporters (including Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). The southpaw suffered a left oblique strain last week and is back in Houston for testing.
It certainly seems like it’ll be more than a minimal injured list stay. Espada declined to specify a timeline but noted it’d be “a while.” Sousa is shut down entirely until he’s able to throw without pain. He’ll join Josh Hader as key bullpen arms starting the season on the shelf.
Losing Sousa obviously isn’t as impactful as beginning the season without Hader, but it’s nevertheless a real blow to Espada’s relief corps. A waiver claim at the end of the ’23 campaign, Sousa quietly developed into a key bullpen piece last year. He fired 50 2/3 innings of 2.84 ERA ball while striking out almost 30% of batters faced. By the second half, no Houston pitcher was being called upon in higher-leverage situations on average.
Sousa has struggled to stay healthy over the past few years. He missed the entire 2024 season due to thoracic outlet surgery. Sousa came back stronger than ever but went down at the end of August with elbow inflammation — ultimately ending his season. He had tossed three innings of one-run ball this spring.
Hader’s absence means Bryan Abreu will begin the season as the primary closer. Bryan King and Steven Okert still give the Astros a pair of quality left-handed setup arms. The bullpen is much less imposing from the right side, especially if they’re reluctant to use Abreu earlier in games.
Enyel De Los Santos, himself questionable for Opening Day after battling a right knee issue, could be set for important innings. Rule 5 pick Roddery Muñoz has had a fantastic Spring Training and should break camp. AJ Blubaugh and Kai-Wei Teng could pitch multiple innings if they make the team, while Ryan Weiss will either be part of a six-man rotation or in long relief. Minor league signee Christian Roa has pitched very well (8 2/3 innings of one-run ball with 12 strikeouts) and seems to have a clear path to an Opening Day roster spot.
Grayson Rodriguez May Begin Season On Injured List
Angels right-hander Grayson Rodriguez may begin the season on the injured list. Manager Kurt Suzuki told reporters, including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com, that Rodriguez has a “dead arm” and will be slowed down. With Opening Day now just a week away, that makes it possible Rodriguez starts the season on the 15-day injured list, depending on how things progress in the coming days.
At this point, it doesn’t appear to be a major issue. Rodriguez isn’t even being shut down, with Fletcher noting that he still threw today, but it’s concerning nonetheless. Injuries have been in the spotlight for Rodriguez in recent years. He made 43 starts for the Orioles in 2023 and the first half of the 2024 season. He hasn’t made an official start since July of 2024, primarily due to shoulder issues.
He underwent elbow debridement surgery in August of last year. He was flipped to the Angels early this offseason in a one-for-one-trade for outfielder Taylor Ward. After that deal, Rodriguez spoke about his health and seemed optimistic. He said that he had been dealing with bone spurs in his elbow for three or four years. He believed this was adding stress to his shoulder and causing his numerous problems with that part of his arm.
For Rodriguez to now be dealing with arm problems once again is less than ideal. Perhaps it will remain a fairly minor issue but the Angels don’t have a lot of margin for error. They came into camp with a rotation projected to include José Soriano, Yusei Kikuchi, Reid Detmers, Alek Manoah and Rodriguez. Soriano and Kikuchi are fine but the group is fairly questionable after that.
Detmers had a 3.96 ERA in relief last year but a 6.70 ERA as a starter the year prior. He has a 7.27 ERA in spring training so far. Like Rodriguez, Manoah is looking to bounce back after a lengthy injury absence, but he has a 9.39 ERA this spring.
If Manoah gets optioned or Rodriguez needs to spend some time on the IL, that could open a spot for Jack Kochanowicz. He’s having a good spring but posted a 6.81 ERA in the big leagues last year. Fletcher suggested yesterday that Ryan Johnson has a chance to earn a spot, getting an aggressive Opening Day nod yet again. The Angels gave him a spot in their bullpen to begin last season even though he hadn’t yet played a game as a professional. He posted a 7.36 ERA through early May, at which point he was optioned down to High-A.
It’s worth reiterating that there’s still nothing to indicate Rodriguez is dealing with any kind of major issue. He may still avoid the IL if he feels better in the coming days. Even if he lands on the shelf, Opening Day IL stints can be backdated three days, so he could be back in less than two weeks.
But the Angels are going into a season where they hope to contend but need a lot of things to go right in order to that to be possible. They went 72-90 last year and didn’t make strong moves to upgrade the roster this winter. The Playoff Odds at FanGraphs give them just a 4.9% chance of cracking the postseason. The PECOTA Standings at Baseball Prospectus are even more pessimistic, giving the Halos just a 0.1% chance.
A minor setback for a club’s fourth starter wouldn’t always be a cause for worry but it looms larger for the Angels than with other clubs since any setback can further diminish already-slim those odds.
Photo courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images
Hayden Birdsong To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
The Giants announced that right-hander Hayden Birdsong will undergo Tommy John surgery next week. He will miss the entire 2026 season and part of the 2027 campaign as well. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to pass the info along.
The news is not surprising but is awful for Birdsong and the Giants regardless. It was reported a few days ago that Birdsong had an elbow issue and would be getting a second opinion. He was then diagnosed with a forearm strain and a sprain of his ulnar collateral ligament. He took a few days to consider his options but it seems he is destined for the surgeon’s table.
Prior to this injury, Birdsong was slated to be one of the club’s top depth starters. They project to start the season with a starting five of Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Tyler Mahle, Adrian Houser and Landen Roupp. Due to injuries, teams usually need about a dozen starters to get through a full season. The Giants have Carson Seymour, Carson Whisenhunt and Blade Tidwell as optionable depth starters. Birdsong would have been in that group but has now been subtracted.
Birdsong should end up on the 60-day injured list whenever the Giants need a spot on the 40-man roster. The one silver lining of that outcome is that Birdsong will get a full year of service time and pay, more than if he spent the year as a healthy but frequently-optioned depth arm.
The typical recovery timeline for Tommy John surgery is usually 14 months or more. That means Birdsong won’t be available until about midway through the 2027 season, even in a best-case scenario. Ray and Mahle are both scheduled for free agency after 2026, so two rotation spots are potentially opening up. Those could be filled internally if guys like Seymour, Whisenhunt or Tidwell step up. The Giants could also make notable trades between now and then, in addition to potentially signing free agents next winter.
Time will tell what shape the rotation is in when Birdsong is again healthy but he should be a key part of the group regardless. He only has a 4.77 earned run average in his career so far but is only 24 years old and comes with some prospect pedigree. FanGraphs has been especially bullish, as they gave him the #42 overall spot at one point during the 2024 season. Birdsong posted a 2.51 ERA on the farm that year but then had a 6.23 ERA in Triple-A in 2025 and now he’s dealing with this lengthy rehab process.
Photo courtesy of Eakin Howard, Imagn Images
Poll: Who Will Win The AL East?
With Opening Day just around the corner, the offseason is more or less complete for MLB’s 30 clubs and teams are now focused on the incoming season and being the final team standing to raise the Commissioner’s Trophy. Until the playoffs begin, however, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. In the run-up to the start of the season, we will be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. That series starts today with the AL East. All teams are listed in order of their 2025 regular season record:
Toronto Blue Jays (94-68)
The Blue Jays only narrowly won the AL East last year, with the division coming down to a tiebreaker. They made a much more convincing case for themselves as the top dog in the division come the postseason, however, as they easily dispatched the Yankees in the ALDS and went on to make it all the way to Game 7 of the World Series before losing that final game against the mighty Dodgers by just a hair. They went on to have an aggressive offseason in their efforts to stay at the top of the totem pole. The Jays lost Bo Bichette and Chris Bassitt to free agency, but managed to retain Max Scherzer while adding Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce to a rotation that already boasts Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, and Trey Yesavage. Their efforts to improve on the pitching side didn’t ignore the bullpen either, as Tyler Rogers was brought in to support Jeff Hoffman and Louis Varland in the late innings. Losing Bichette certainly hurts for Toronto’s offense, but Kazuma Okamoto figures to be an able replacement as a right-handed bat in the middle of the order, and the team also bolstered their outfield depth with the addition of Jesus Sanchez. Will that be enough to maintain control in the East, or will Toronto brass regret missing out on Bichette and Kyle Tucker this winter?
New York Yankees (94-68)
The Yankees only lost the East by a hair last year. Their plan for this season appears to be running back last year’s squad and hoping that the return of Gerrit Cole can push them over the edge. Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, Amed Rosario, Trent Grisham, and Paul Blackburn are all returning via free agency. With that being said, the team didn’t make any significant additions aside from bringing back the old guard when it comes to free agency. Their lone major addition to the roster this offseason was a trade with the Marlins that brought back southpaw Ryan Weathers, who has never thrown even 100 innings in a season but does sport a solid 3.74 ERA across his last 24 outings. That addition to the rotation mix is matched by a substantial loss in the bullpen, however, as both Devin Williams and Luke Weaver eschewed the Bronx in favor of Queens during free agency. Perhaps the additions of Cole (as he returns from a season lost to Tommy John surgery) and Weathers will make up for those losses, but the Yankees will also have to contend with the injury bug; Cole, Carlos Rodon, and Anthony Volpe are all starting the season on the injured list, while Clarke Schmidt is already lost for the year to elbow surgery.
Boston Red Sox (89-73)
The Red Sox certainly had a busy offseason, but it’s not exactly the ones fans were expecting. Alex Bregman is suddenly a Chicago Cub. Both Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu remain with the Red Sox. While the team’s elite outfield remains intact, the infield looks somewhat suspect. The addition of Willson Contreras at first base should provide some reliability that former top prospect Triston Casas has not been able to so far in his career, but the Red Sox will be banking on another solid season from Trevor Story after his bounce-back in 2025 while turning to Marcelo Mayer at second base and Caleb Durbin at third base. All three of those players have the opportunity to be solid, but only Mayer has a ceiling comparable to the impact Bregman offered and fans in Boston need not be reminded of the risks associated with handing the keys to a young player at second base after Kristian Campbell‘s rookie year. On the other hand, the team’s pitching looks better than ever. Garrett Crochet nearly won the Cy Young award last year, and this season he’ll be supported by both Ranger Suarez and Sonny Gray to give the Red Sox one of the more impressive potential playoff rotations in the game. Will that be enough to win the AL East this year, given the club’s lack of impact hitting additions?
Tampa Bay Rays (77-85)
The Rays are coming off back-to-back seasons where they finished just a bit below .500. After the rest of the division spent the offseason loading up on talent for the 2026 campaign, a lot will need to go right for the Rays to improve this year. Junior Caminero is a superstar at third base but the losses of Brandon Lowe and Pete Fairbanks figure to be a tough blow this year. In typical Rays fashion, the club’s additions aren’t necessarily impactful on paper. None of Jake Fraley, Gavin Lux, Cedric Mullins, Steven Matz, and Nick Martinez had impact seasons last year but they’ve all shown themselves to be more than capable of being effective major leaguers in the past. Additionally, young pieces like Ryan Pepiot and Carson Williams could plausibly take the sort of step forward Jonathan Aranda did last year, therefore joining Aranda and Yandy Diaz as strong pieces of Caminero’s supporting cast. Will all that be enough to overcome the Rays’ high-spending rivals?
Baltimore Orioles (75-87)
The Orioles had a disaster of a 2025 season but they resolved to fix their flaws in this offseason and made a strong effort to do just that. Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward brought in reliable, right-handed power that a lineup stacked with upside but lacking in floor desperately needed. A revamped rotation featuring not just a healthy Kyle Bradish but also a reunion with Zach Eflin plus the additions of both Shane Baz and Chris Bassitt certainly offers more upside than last year’s group, even if they failed to sign the surefire ace they entered the season widely expected to target. That improved rotation is also being supported by a bullpen that brought back Andrew Kittredge after dealing him away at the trade deadline and added Ryan Helsley in order to replace injured closer Felix Bautista. The bones of a very deep and talented team are clearly present in Baltimore but whether they can rise from fifth in the division all the way to first will surely depend on the health and performance of their core pieces like Jackson Holliday, Jordan Westburg and Adley Rutschman. Gunnar Henderson remains a good bet to earn himself MVP votes but will the rest of that elite group of youngsters be able to start to catch up to him?
After a busy offseason all around the AL East, which team is most likely to come out on top this year? Will the Blue Jays hold on after their near-miss at a championship last season? Will the Yankees be able to get better results with the same roster? Will the Red Sox or Orioles be able to make an unorthodox offseason into a success despite notable misses on some stated goals for the winter? Or will the Rays once again work the magic that’s made them so successful in the past and surprise the league? Have your say in the poll below:
Who will win the AL East in 2026?
Braves Outright Ian Hamilton
The Braves announced that right-hander Ian Hamilton has been sent outright to Triple-A Gwinnett. There wasn’t any previous indication he was on waivers but it appears he was quietly passed through unclaimed in recent days. The move drops Atlanta’s 40-man roster count from 39 to 38.
Hamilton was non-tendered by the Yankees after the 2025 season. Atlanta gave him a roster spot in December. Hamilton’s deal has a non-guaranteed $1.05MM salary, per the Associated Press. By cutting him from the roster before Opening Day, Atlanta will only owe him 45 days’ prorated termination pay, or about $254K.
The righty has at least three years of service time, meaning he has the right to elect free agency. Since he has fewer than five years of service, he would have to forfeit any remaining salary commitments on his deal by exercising that right. It’s unclear what kind of salary he would be paid as a minor leaguer, which would impact his decision.
Hamilton had some good seasons in the Bronx. He gave the Yanks 95 2/3 innings over 2023 and 2024, allowing 3.10 earned runs per nine. His 10% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 27.4% of batters faced and induced ground balls at a 50.4% clip. His results backed up last year, as he posted a 4.28 ERA. His 25.3% strikeout rate was still good but a drop of a few ticks. He also saw his ground ball rate fall to 37.8% as his walk rate climbed to 13.3%. He was optioned to the minors for the final two months of the season.
That exhausted his final option year, so he will now be out of options going forward. That probably contributed to him getting pushed off the Yankee roster. He could have been retained for 2026 via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a $941K salary, barely above this year’s $780K minimum. The Yankees decided to non-tender him instead, sending him to free agency.
Atlanta now has a couple of roster spots to play with. They are likely to use one on Dominic Smith, whose path to playing time was opened by the Jurickson Profar suspension. The club might also select Martín Pérez or JR Ritchie to the roster. Atlanta also has several candidates to move to the 60-day injured list, with Joey Wentz, AJ Smith-Shawver, Hurston Waldrep and Danny Young all possibilities. With that flexibility, this Hamilton move was probably less about opening a 40-man spot and more just a reflection of the fact that he wasn’t going to crack the Opening Day active roster.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Mets Option Ronny Mauricio
The Mets announced a series of roster cuts today. Most notably, infielder Ronny Mauricio has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. They also optioned right-hander Joey Gerber while non-roster pitchers Brandon Waddell and Mike Baumann were reassigned to minor league camp.
The Mauricio move might be a clue about some other moves the Mets will make to round out their Opening Day roster. Joel Sherman of The New York Post reports that third baseman Bo Bichette will play shortstop tomorrow with the possibility of the Mets beginning the season without a backup shortstop on the bench.
Bichette had been a shortstop for his entire career until recently. He finished the 2025 season on the injured list and missed the beginning of the Blue Jays’ playoff run. The Jays activated him for the World Series even though he clearly wasn’t fully healthy, then had him split his time between second base and designated hitter.
Even before that knee injury, Bichette wasn’t considered a strong defensive shortstop, so a move off the position felt inevitable. The Mets signed him this winter to get his bat in the lineup, even though they already had Francisco Lindor and Marcus Semien as their middle infield tandem. Bichette is going to be the regular third baseman but could perhaps serve as the de facto backup shortstop. Lindor is recovering from hamate surgery but is expected to be ready for the Opening Day roster.
Perhaps the Mauricio demotion is a sign that the Mets are indeed comfortable with that arrangement. The domino effect of that stance is that they could be able to promote prospect Carson Benge and also keep Mike Tauchman.
The Mets seem to have three of four bench spots locked up. Backup catcher Luis Torrens will have one. Corner infielder Mark Vientos should have another. Tyrone Taylor projects as the fourth outfielder. All three of those guys are out of options. Mauricio made sense as the fourth guy on the bench but he’s now out.
All offseason, president of baseball operations David Stearns has said that Benge would have a chance to make the team. As a safety net, they signed Tauchman to a minor league deal and MJ Melendez on a split deal. Melendez has an option and was sent down earlier this week. Benge has done his part to earn a spot, having put up a .406/.472/.500 line this spring. Tauchman has been making the team’s decision tough, putting up a .280/.419/.520 line.
Tauchman can opt out of his deal on March 25th if he’s not on the roster. Given his track record, he would likely trigger that clause and find a job elsewhere. If the Mets want to keep him around, then going with this shortstop plan would be a way to do that. Simultaneously, they could give Benge the regular right field job on Opening Day, keeping the possibility of the Prospect Promotion Incentive on the table.
If that’s the route they go, that could have impacts on others. Utility player Vidal Bruján is on the roster but out of options. The Mets could give him the final bench spot now that Mauricio has been sent down but that would mean letting Tauchman slip away. It’s possible Bruján gets nudged off the roster in the coming days.
As for Mauricio, he was once a notable prospect but his progression has been slowed a bit. He missed the entire 2024 season due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He was back on the field in 2025 but was in a bench role for most of the year. He got into 61 big league games and produced a tepid .226/.293/.369 line.
Optioning him to the minors would have the benefit of getting him some regular playing time, something he hasn’t had in a while. However, he has just one option season remaining. If he stays down for at least 20 days, he will be out of options in 2027.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Giants Notes: Whisenhunt, Rodríguez, Birdsong, Harber
The Giants also optioned left-hander Carson Whisenhunt and catcher Jesús Rodríguez to Triple-A Sacramento, per the club. Neither is particularly surprising, though both young players are ranked among the organization’s top 20 or so prospects.
Whisenhunt, 25, made his MLB debut last year and was tagged for a 5.01 ERA in 23 1/3 innings. He also logged a 4.43 ERA in 107 2/3 Triple-A frames. Formerly ranked among the sport’s top 100 prospects, Whisenhunt saw his strikeout rate plummet by nearly eight percentage points last season, checking in at 20.9%, though he did so with a career-best 7.7% walk rate that vastly outpaced 2024’s mark of 11.3%.
San Francisco signed Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle this offseason, adding that pair of veterans to a group of incumbents led by Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Landen Roupp. That quintet will open in rookie manager Tony Vitello’s rotation, with righty JT Brubaker providing a swing option in the ‘pen. Whisenhunt will be among the Giants’ first depth options in the event of an injury to a big league starter, with righties Blade Tidwell and Carson Seymour also in the mix.
As for Rodriguez, he was never going to supplant Patrick Bailey — the sport’s premier defensive catcher — as the starter. That he’s been optioned to Triple-A bodes well for backup Daniel Susac, who’s in camp as a Rule 5 pickup out of the A’s organization (though technically acquired via trade with the Twins). The 24-year-old Susac hit .303/.361/.455 in 36 plate appearances this spring and is poised to make his MLB debut as Bailey’s backup this year.
Rodríguez, 23, came to the Giants as part of the Camilo Doval trade with the Yankees last July. He had a huge spring (.353/.405/.559 in 37 plate appearances) but will head to Sacramento for additional development time. He’s coming off a strong .307/.393/.403 showing in 565 plate appearances spent mostly in Triple-A last year. Sending him to Sacramento will allow Rodríguez to get more regular at-bats than he’d have received as a backup to Bailey, and it also helps the team protect its depth by affording Susac a runway to a big league roster spot rather than placing him on waivers and having to offer him back to the A’s.
Turning back to the pitching side of things, righty Hayden Birdsong is still mulling his options after being diagnosed with a flexor strain and UCL sprain, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. He’s already had a second opinion from Dr. Keith Meister. Birdsong will miss the entire 2026 season if he undergoes surgery, although getting surgery earlier now would allow him to return sooner next year.
A spring standout last year, the now-24-year-old Birdsong was terrific out of the San Francisco bullpen to begin the 2025 season. He broke camp with the club and rattled off 20 1/3 innings with a 1.33 ERA, a 25.9% strikeout rate and a 9.4% walk rate. A move to the rotation didn’t pan out. Birdsong started 10 games for the Giants but was rocked for a 6.17 ERA with greatly diminished rate stats (21.8 K%, 13.7 BB%).
Whether he goes the surgery route or rehab route, Birdsong will be facing a substantial absence. Surgery would sideline him into summer of the 2027 season. Rehab would still presumably cost him months of the current campaign. The vast majority of UCL sprains result in Tommy John or internal brace surgery, though there are exceptions. Braves righty Grant Holmes, for instance, suffered a UCL sprain last summer but went the rest/rehab route and is healthy now, set to break camp as Atlanta’s fourth starter. More often than not, even pitchers who attempt the rehab route ultimately undergo surgery, but it’s not a foregone conclusion.
In other Giants injury news, the team announced that infield prospect Parks Harber will be sidelined for the next four to six weeks due to a Grade 2 hamstring strain. Harber was never going to break camp with the big club — he’s not on the 40-man roster and hasn’t played above High-A — but he’s had a big spring. In 33 plate appearances, he’s slashed .357/.424/.571. The 24-year-old split the 2025 season between the High-A affiliates for the Giants and Yankees (who traded him to San Francisco in that Doval swap), hitting a combined .323/.420/.550 in 343 turns at the plate.
Baseball America ranked Harber 16th among Giants farmhands entering the season, noting that his impressive 2025 campaign put him on the prospect map after going undrafted out of UNC in 2024. He’s a bat-first prospect who’s played all four corner positions — primarily the two infield spots (with a slight edge toward third base over first base). BA’s report touts his offensive prowess while noting that he still needs to work on pulling velocity, as all of his pull-side homers came on breaking pitches and all of his homers off heaters went to center or the opposite field.
Harber will likely open the season in Double-A. His primary positions on the big league club are largely blocked, especially if Bryce Eldridge can prove he’s ready to stick in the majors, but Harber could be a nice righty-swinging corner bat off the bench or perhaps a trade chip when the deadline or next offseason rolls around.
Offseason In Review: Washington Nationals
The reloaded rebuild officially got underway in D.C., as the MacKenzie Gore trade signaled that the Nationals are still years away from contention.
Major League Signings
- Zack Littell, RHP: One year, $7MM (includes $4MM buyout of a mutual option for the 2027 season)
- Foster Griffin, LHP: One year, $5.5MM
- Miles Mikolas, RHP: One year, $2.25MM
2026 spending: $14.75MM
Total spending: $14.75M
Trades And Claims
- Acquired five minor leaguers (SS Gavin Fien, RHP Alejandro Rosario, 1B/OF Abimelec Ortiz, IF Devin Fitz-Gerald, OF Yeremy Cabrera) from Rangers for LHP MacKenzie Gore
- Acquired C Harry Ford and RHP Isaac Lyon from Mariners for LHP Jose A. Ferrer
- Acquired RHP Andre Granillo from Cardinals for RHP George Soriano (Nats claimed Soriano off waivers from Braves earlier in the offseason)
- Acquired RHP Luis Perales from Red Sox for LHP Jake Bennett
- Claimed OF Joey Wiemer off waivers from Giants
- Claimed LHP Ken Waldichuk off waivers from Rays
- Claimed RHP Paxton Schultz off waivers from Blue Jays
- Claimed RHP Gus Varland off waivers from Diamondbacks
- Selected RHP Griff McGarry from Phillies in Rule 5 Draft
Option Decisions
- None
Notable Minor League Signings
- Cionel Perez, Matt Mervis, Sergio Alcantara, Trevor Gott, Drew Smith, Zach Penrod, Warming Bernabel, Tres Barrera, Levi Jordan, Bryce Montes de Oca
Extensions
- Cade Cavalli, RHP: One year, $870K (includes $7.5K buyout of $4MM club option for 2027)
Notable Losses
- Gore, Josh Bell, Paul DeJong, Jorge Alfaro, Ryan Loutos, Zach Brzykcy, Konnor Pilkington, Erick Mejia, Sauryn Lao
Acquiring young players is a key plank of any rebuild, but the Nationals took it a step further by also beginning a youth movement off the field. Newly-hired president of baseball operations Paul Toboni is only 36 years old, new general manager Anirudh Kilambi is 32, new manager Blake Butera is only 33, and most of Butera’s new coaching staff are also under age 40. (Bench coach Michael Johns is the relative greybeard of the group at age 50.)
This wasn’t an entirely intentional goal for Toboni or Nats ownership, as more experienced names like Brandon Hyde, Rocco Baldelli, and interim manager Miguel Cairo also drew interest in the managerial search. The end result, however, is clear — the Nationals have brought a lot of fresh perspectives into the overhauled organization, following the 19-year tenure of former PBO Mike Rizzo and longtime manager Davey Martinez.
The Rizzo/Martinez era was highlighted by the Nationals’ 2019 World Series title, but the team has now posted six straight losing seasons since that championship year. Heading into 2025, Washington had some buzz as a darkhorse playoff contender, as it seemed like the team’s young core was starting to gel and a full breakout might be in the offing. Instead, the Nats were 37-53 at the time of Rizzo and Martinez’s firing in early July, and they finished with a 66-96 record.
Given the circumstances, it was never likely that Toboni was being hired to win in 2026. The only question was how active Toboni might be in tearing the roster down, or standing pat to take 2026 as something of an evaluation year for the organization (similar to Scott Harris’ quiet first offseason as the Tigers’ president of baseball ops). While Washington didn’t go into full fire-sale mode or anything, the decision was made to move one of the team’s more obvious trade candidates in Gore.
As Toboni plainly told the media after Gore was dealt to the Rangers, “we lost 96 games last year. To turn it around in one year and make the playoffs….not to say it can’t be done, but it’s a challenge. What we want to do is make sure we build this really strong foundation, so when we do start to push chips in, we can win for an extended period of time.”
Gore is only arbitration-controlled through the 2027 season, thus making him superfluous to a Nats team that doesn’t look like it will be trying to compete within the next two years. As one might expect, a controllable, 27-year-old southpaw who has shown some front-of-the-rotation upside drew a lot of interest, as reports indicated that up to half of the league checked in on Gore’s availability. The Orioles, Royals, and Yankees were all publicly mentioned as Gore suitors, but it was Texas who sealed the deal with a five-prospect trade package.
The preseason top-100 prospect rankings from Baseball America and MLB Pipeline didn’t include any of the five players from the Gore trade, with Gavin Fien (the 12th overall pick of the 2025 draft) ranked highest of the group by both outlets as the fifth-best prospect in the Nats’ farm system. According to ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, Toboni was very high on Fien last summer when Toboni was still working as the Red Sox assistant GM and running Boston’s draft room, except the Rangers took Fien just before Boston could make the 15th overall selection.
This may well have been the ace up the Rangers’ sleeve in winning the Gore bidding, and since Fien just turned 19, he also fits into what seems to be a longer-term blueprint for Toboni. Abimelec Ortiz is the only player of the five who could conceivably reach the big league roster before 2028, and Ortiz may have a ceiling on his potential as a powerful but raw slugger who has struggled against lefties and may be limited to first base duty.
Given all of the interest in Gore, D.C. fans may have been a little dismayed that the team opted for a trade package that looks like quantity over quality, in terms of true blue-chip prospects. Ironically, many Mariners fans had similar feeling when top-100 list fixture Harry Ford was dealt to Washington for Jose A. Ferrer in early December, as the Seattle fanbase felt a highly-touted catching prospect should’ve brought back more than “just” a relief pitcher.
Ferrer is a hard-throwing left-hander who projects as another high-leverage arm for a Mariners team that is trying to win it all in 2026. Since he was controlled through 2029, Ferrer wasn’t viewed as an obvious trade candidate, yet Toboni may have been looking to sell high on a reliever who (despite impressive velocity) has shown to be more of a grounder specialist than a strikeout artist.
Ford was the 12th overall pick of the 2021 draft, but his potential as Seattle’s catcher of the future was quickly usurped by Cal Raleigh‘s rise to stardom. While Ford will begin his 2026 season with Triple-A Rochester, his path to future playing time in Washington isn’t nearly as crowded, even though Keibert Ruiz is still under contract through at least the 2030 season. Just three years removed from signing an eight-year, $50MM contract extension, Ruiz struggled both offensively and defensively in 2024-25, and the Ford trade may indicate that the writing on the wall about Ruiz’s status with Washington’s new front office.
Trading Ruiz will be difficult given his contract and lack of recent success, so even a decent first half (or however long it is before Ford to be called up) likely wouldn’t be enough to recoup much trade value. While Ruiz is probably not going anywhere, the same might not be true of Jacob Young or CJ Abrams, who each drew trade buzz this past winter but now look to at least make it to Opening Day in a Nationals uniform.
Young is a fantastic defensive center fielder who hasn’t yet hit at the MLB level, so the Nats could look to move him if the team feels Young’s bat just won’t come around. The Joey Wiemer waiver claim was probably more about adding outfield depth than the Nationals finding a potential Young replacement in center, but it does give D.C. an alternative if a center field-needy team suddenly came calling with a tempting offer.
Abrams and Gore were two of the principles in the blockbuster trade package the Nationals received from the Padres for Juan Soto in 2022, and like Gore, Abrams has been solid if not a true finished product yet at the big league level. Abrams’ last two seasons have seen him hit well in the first half before tailing off badly in the second half, plus his shortstop glovework is well below par.
Such teams as the Royals and Giants were linked to Abrams’ market this winter, with both of those teams surely viewing Abrams more as a second baseman than a shortstop. Since Abrams is arb-controlled through 2028, Washington isn’t in any kind of a rush to trade him immediately, and waiting a bit longer might be a preferable option for both the Nats and rival teams. A consistent 2026 campaign from Abrams would both make suitors more comfortable in making a solid offer for the infielder, and the Nationals more likely to land their desired asking price.
More future-focused moves came in the form of Griff McGarry’s selection in the Rule 5 Draft, and the trades that respectively brought right-handers Andre Granillo and Luis Perales from the Cardinals and Red Sox. Control problems stalled McGarry’s progress as a starter in the Phillies’ farm system, but the Nats could give him a look all year on the big league roster in order to evaluate the right-hander and fully secure his rights. Granillo also issued a good deal of walks during his time in the St. Louis farm system, but he is a big league-ready reliever with 21 innings of experience in the Show. Perales is a hard-throwing righty still working his way back from a Tommy John surgery, and Toboni is obviously quite familiar with Perales from their time in the Boston organization.
Since the Nationals still have a season to play in 2026, they also made some moves to more directly address the current roster. Any of Zack Littell, Miles Mikolas, or Foster Griffin could find themselves on the move at the trade deadline as rental pieces, but for now, they’ll reinforce a D.C. rotation that badly needed some stability.
Littell could be considered the de facto ace, given that he had a 3.88 ERA and an elite 4.2% walk rate over 186 2/3 innings with the Rays and Reds last season. However, Littell’s penchant for allowing home runs and his lack of velocity or strikeout power were all reasons why the veteran was still a free agent less than two weeks ago, and why he was available for a one-year, $7MM deal. That’s still quite a decent price for even just an innings eater, and Nationals Park should prove to be a little friendlier to Littell than his homer-happy home stadiums in 2025.
Mikolas has a similar resume as a low-strikeout pitcher with excellent control and the ability to cover innings, and he has a longer track record in rotations since Littell only became a full-time starter in 2023. Mikolas has posted only a 4.98 ERA over 529 1/3 innings since the start of the 2023 season, and his pinpoint control has only been able to do so much to paper over the right-hander’s diminishing effectiveness.
After posting a 6.75 ERA over eight MLB innings with the Royals and Blue Jays from 2020-22, Griffin revived his career with a 2.57 ERA across 315 2/3 innings with the Yomiuri Giants over the last three seasons. The 30-year-old represents an intriguing wild card for the Nationals, and Washington’s ability to offer Griffin a clear-cut rotation job might’ve helped the Nats win the bidding amidst multiple teams interested in Griffin’s market.
The free agent trio with join Cade Cavalli (tabbed as the Opening Day starter) and Jake Irvin in the Nationals’ starting rotation. DJ Herz and Trevor Williams are expected to make midseason returns from elbow surgeries and could slot into an rotation spot opened up by a pre-deadline trade. Any of Josiah Gray, Andrew Alvarez, Mitchell Parker, swingman Brad Lord, Jake Eder, or Perales could all end up getting starts before 2026 is out, either due to injuries, trades, or because the Nats want to audition as many starters as possible.
Evaluation is really the key word for this year’s District squad. This is a very young Nationals roster without a lot of Major League experience, and the bullpen in particular will be very inexperienced unless a minor league signing like Cionel Perez or Drew Smith makes the team. Among the position players, even the more seasoned members of that group (i.e. Ruiz, Luis Garcia Jr.) are probably more focused on trying to re-establish themselves as quality big leaguers than they are being relative mentors to their younger teammates.
While Washington is probably going to have one of the worst records in baseball, this chaos can be a ladder. There is plenty of room here for youngsters to step up and become part of future plans, and to put a couple of building blocks in place for the Nationals’ next winning roster. It will also be interesting to see how Butera (the youngest Major League manager in over 50 years) adjusts to being a skipper in the big leagues, and if he can become the latest ex-Rays staffer to find success in another organization.
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Paul DeJong Not Planning To Opt Out Of Yankees Deal
Infielder Paul DeJong does not plan to opt out of his minor league deal with the Yankees this week, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post. He will stick with the Yanks and try to earn a roster spot. If he doesn’t get a spot on the Opening Day roster, he’ll report to Triple-A.
DeJong is one of several veterans with opt-out chances this week. Article XX(B) free agents, which is a designation applying mostly to guys with at least six years of service who finished the previous season on a major league roster, get three uniform opt-out dates in any minor league deal signed at least ten days prior to Opening Day. Those chances are five days before Opening Day, May 1st and June 1st.
The 32-year-old DeJong had to settle for a minor league deal after a frustrating season in 2025. He signed a $1MM major league deal with the Nats and started out as their third baseman but got hit in the face by a Mitch Keller fastball a few weeks into the season. He suffered a broken nose and was on the injured list for almost three months. He finished the season with a .228/.269/.373 line.
He didn’t get a major league roster spot this winter but is in a relatively decent spot to get one in the future. In the short term, the Yankees are fairly light on the left side of the infield. Anthony Volpe is recovering from shoulder surgery and is going to start the season on the injured list. José Caballero will cover that shortstop with Ryan McMahon at third. Amed Rosario is the backup infielder. Rosario has shortstop experience but only played two innings there last year. It seems possible that McMahon is effectively the backup shortstop.
Oswaldo Cabrera is on the roster but the Yanks might decide to send him to the minors, either on optional assignment or as part of a rehab assignment. Cabrera missed most of last season due to an ankle injury that required surgery. He is healthy now and has played in five Grapefruit League games so far. He could be on the big league bench but there’s also an argument for getting regular reps in the minors after so much missed time. Max Schuemann is on the roster but has options and hit .197/.295/.273 last year, so he’s likely ticketed for a depth role. Jorbit Vivas is also on the 40-man but he’s out of options and may get squeezed off.
Until Volpe gets healthy, DeJong has a chance to position himself to be the first man up if something happens to Caballero, McMahon or Rosario. Zack Short, Braden Shewmake and Jonathan Ornelas are also in the organization on minor league deals but DeJong has a far longer track record than any one of them.
It’s possible things change in the next few weeks. As mentioned, Cabrera is already back on the field. Volpe is expected to be back in the mix fairly early in the season. If a month of the campaign passes and DeJong feels he has been pushed down the depth chart, perhaps he would give more thought to opting out on May 1st.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images