Giants To Re-Sign Joey Lucchesi
The Giants have agreed to bring left-hander Joey Lucchesi back on a minor league deal, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports. The CAA client will head to big league camp and be paid $1.55MM if he makes the roster. He has another $300K available via incentives.
Whether the Lucchesi signing was already in the works when fellow left-hander Reiver Sanmartin suffered an injury or whether this signing comes in response to that injury isn’t clear. However, via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, Sanmartin’s recent MRI revealed a severe hip flexor strain that’s expected to sideline him for at least three months. Sanmartin, Erik Miller and Matt Gage were the only left-handed relief options on the Giants’ 40-man roster, and Miller has been slowed by a back injury in camp.
Lucchesi, 32, was effective for the Giants in a middle relief role last season. He appeared in 38 games and tossed 38 1/3 innings of 3.76 ERA ball. His 18.8% strikeout rate was well below average, but Lucchesi’s 7.3% walk rate was strong and his 53% ground-ball rate was excellent. In 433 big league innings between the Padres, Mets and Giants, Lucchesi has a 4.07 ERA with roughly average strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates. He worked primarily as a starter before last year’s bullpen success. The Giants chose to non-tender him in November.
Sanmartin, 29, came to the Giants via waiver claim back in November. He’d spent his entire big league career with the Reds, appearing in parts of four seasons from 2021-25. In that time, Sanmartin pitched to a 5.66 ERA with plenty of grounders (53.6%) but a strikeout rate, walk rate and average fastball that were all worse than league average.
Despite that modest track record, Sanmartin was one of the Giants’ only bullpen additions of the offseason. San Francisco signed relievers Jason Foley, Sam Hentges and Rowan Wick to major league deals knowing none were likely to be healthy for Opening Day. Sanmartin was claimed off waivers, and the Giants signed Michael Fulmer to a minor league deal. Outside of that, their bullpen had gone largely untouched this winter — despite trading Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers back in July and losing Randy Rodriguez to Tommy John surgery in September.
Assuming the Lucchesi deal is finalized soon, he should have enough time to build up and be a candidate to break camp in a similar single-inning relief role to the one he had last year.
Latest On Padres’ Bullpen Outlook
Padres right-hander Jason Adam has been targeting the Opening Day roster as he finished off his rehab from last year’s torn tendon in his quadriceps. The right-hander said three weeks back that team doctors hadn’t told him “no” on the possibility yet, and Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Adam could get back into games soon. He’s been ahead of schedule in camp and is slated for one final simulated game this week before a likely Cactus League debut on the weekend.
The 34-year-old Adam is a major piece of a deep San Diego bullpen. Over the past four seasons, he’s worked to a 2.07 ERA with 92 holds, 24 saves, a 29.2% strikeout rate and an 8.4% walk rate across 256 2/3 innings between the Rays and Padres. If healthy, he’d join Adrian Morejon and Jeremiah Estrada as one of closer Mason Miller‘s top setup options.
A healthy Adam also leads to a relatively crowded bullpen that could force the Friars into some tough decisions. Miller, Estrada, Morejon and Adam would be locks for bullpen spots. That’s presumably true of righty David Morgan (2.64 ERA, 47 1/3 innings in 2025) as well. Lefties Wandy Peralta and Yuki Matsui are pitching on multi-year contracts and can’t be optioned.
That group accounts for seven of the Padres’ eight bullpen spots. Right-hander Ron Marinaccio is out of minor league options. Right-hander Bradgley Rodriguez has multiple option years left but has excelled in camp after impressing in a brief look last year. Righty Matt Waldron might start the season on the injured list, but he’s out of minor league options as well and would need to be added to the big league roster or designated for assignment. Bryan Hoeing is shut down with an elbow issue right now but gives the Padres a third out-of-options relief candidate whenever he’s cleared to return.
Having more talented relievers than bullpen spots available is obviously a nice problem to have, all things considered, and depending on the injury timetables of Adam and a couple teammates, the Friars might be able to kick any 40-man decisions down the road a bit for the early portion of the season. At some point, something will have to give on one of the players who can’t be sent down (whether due to contract or lack of minor league options.
That’s especially true if the Padres want to consider breaking camp with any non-roster invitees on the big league club. Veterans Walker Buehler, Marco Gonzales and Triston McKenzie are among that group, but manager Craig Stammen has been talking up the chances of a different former big leaguer for a potential bullpen job: right-hander Logan Gillaspie.
“He just goes out there, competes his tail off, lot of energy and enthusiasm, throws a ton of strikes and gets a lot of outs,” manager Craig Stammen told MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell when asked about Gillaspie. He noted that Gillaspie could be used in a multi-inning role, providing some length early in games if necessary.
The 28-year-old Gillaspie has pitched in each of the past four major league seasons, including 18 innings for San Diego across the 2024-25 campaigns. He’s had pedestrian results overall, but Gillaspie is a familiar hand for many Padres coaches and is in the midst of a strong spring training (7 2/3 shutout frames, 8-to-2 K/BB ratio). Cassavell suggests that Gillaspie is viewed as having a real chance to make the club, particularly if the Padres open the season with multiple veterans on the injured list.
The Opener: World Baseball Classic, Littell, Giolito
Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. WBC pool play continues:
Pool play in the World Baseball Classic remains underway, with Samurai Japan (3-0) and Korea (2-2) both having advanced out of the pool stage of the tournament. Those two clubs will be the quarterfinalists from Pool C. In Pool A, the favorites to advance are Puerto Rico and Cuba, both of which have 2-0 records. The same can be said for the Dominican Republic and Venezuela in Pool D given their own 2-0 records. The most interesting pool at the moment is Pool B, where each of the United States, Italy, and Mexico have perfect 2-0 records. The winner of tonight’s game between Team USA and Team Mexico will be an overwhelming favorite to secure a spot in the quarterfinals. The U.S. will send reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes to the mound against former Orioles right-hander Manny Barreda.
2. Littell contract to be finalized:
The Nationals and right-hander Zack Littell have reportedly agreed to one-year contract that includes a mutual option for 2027. That deal was pending a physical, however, and the exact dollar amount of the deal has not yet been reported. Financial details figure to become available at some point in the near future, and the deal should be finalized quickly in the interest of getting the righty into camp with the Nats; there are just over two weeks until the regular season begins. The Nationals will need to make a 40-man roster move to accommodate the addition of Littell, and the club has no obvious 60-day IL candidates after already transferring Trevor Williams and DJ Herz earlier this spring.
3. Giolito stands alone:
Now that Littell has a deal, right-hander Lucas Giolito stands alone as the final member of MLBTR’s top 50 free agents list who has yet to land a deal somewhere. MLBTR’s Steve Adams took a look at a handful of teams that remained plausible candidates to add a starter like Giolito to the mix back in February, and many of those teams still make some sense for his services. Clubs like the Braves and Phillies that look like plausible fits on paper have indicated a lack of interest in the right-hander to this point.
Of course, the nature of pitcher injuries (particularly in Spring Training) is such that any given pitch thrown by a player expected to be in the rotation mix for their team could lead to an injury that creates an opening for Giolito. That’s been all too apparent in Atlanta, where injuries to Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep at the start of camp have more recently been compounded by an injury to Joey Wentz. Wentz was carted off the field with an apparent right knee injury sustained while covering the bag on a grounder to first. Initial reports were that Wentz seemed to have avoided a major injury, but he was still being sent for imaging. If he’s forced to miss some time, perhaps losing a third rotation option would push the Braves to consider some external additions.
Mariners Add Jacob Nottingham To Minor League Coaching Staff
March 9: Nottingham was brought in as a player on a minor league deal but will actually be converting to coaching, according to a report from Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times. It’s unclear what Nottingham’s exact role in the Mariners organization will be. The news presumably ends Nottingham’s playing career, and we at MLB Trade Rumors wish him all the best in his upcoming move to coaching.
March 8: The Mariners have re-signed catcher Jacob Nottingham to a minor league deal, as noted in the transactions tracker on Nottingham’s MLB.com profile page. It’s unclear if the deal includes an invite to big league camp for the 30-year-old.
Nottingham is a veteran of four MLB seasons but hasn’t appeared in the majors since the 2021 season. A one-time top-100 prospect who was initially drafted by the Astros, he was involved in the 2015 Scott Kazmir swap between the Astros and A’s before being flipped to the Brewers in the Khris Davis deal ahead of the 2016 season. Nottingham lost his prospect shine during his time in Milwaukee and served mostly as an up-and-down catcher for the Brewers from the time of his MLB debut in 2018 until 2021, when he was claimed off waivers by the Mariners. He returned to the Brewers via trade shortly thereafter but was eventually DFA’d by Milwaukee and plucked off waivers by Seattle for a second time later in the year.
Then 26 years old, Nottingham ended the 2021 season with a career .184/.277/.421 slash line across 130 plate appearances in 54 MLB games, which remains his career slash line in the big leagues to this day. Since being outrighted off the Mariners’ roster in 2021, he’s bounced between the Mariners’, Giants’ and Nationals’ minor league systems and also enjoyed a 44-game stint in the independent Mexican League back in 2024. In 293 career minor league games, Nottingham owns a .235/.321/.415 slash line line that’s generally solid by the standards of a catcher. Those numbers are somewhat inflated by years spent in the Pacific Coast League, however, and Nottingham’s 2025 campaign left much to be desired. He appeared in just 17 games in Tacoma for the Mariners organization last year, and in those limited opportunities he struggled to the tune of a .193/.277/.298 slash line.
Given Nottingham’s limited playing time last year and struggles when he did take the field, it’s hard to imagine him being a significant part of the backup catcher conversation for Seattle. Cal Raleigh is, of course, the undisputed top catcher in not only the organization but all of baseball. The Mariners are planning on having Andrew Knizner back Raleigh up this year, although Jhonny Pereda is also on the 40-man roster while Mitch Garver, Brian O’Keefe, and Jakson Reetz are all in camp as non-roster invitees. Some of those depth options figure to have opt-outs in their contracts and could look for greener pastures elsewhere in the likely event they don’t make the MLB club. That’s where Nottingham could come into the picture as a depth piece who is familiar with the organization and can serve as a veteran mentor for pitchers at Triple-A.
Nationals To Sign Zack Littell
The Nationals have signed right-hander Zack Littell to a one-year, Major League contract that includes a mutual option for the 2027 season. Financial teams of the contract aren’t yet known. The deal will become official when Littell passes a physical, and when Washington makes a corresponding move for the CAA Sports client to create space on the 40-man roster.
Littell ranked 35th on MLB Trade Rumors’ list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents, and was predicted to earn a two-year, $24MM deal. He’ll have to settle for just a one-year pact, and the righty could be on the move again relatively soon if the rebuilding Nationals move him at the trade deadline.
Littell, 30, is a veteran of eight big league seasons but spent most of that time in a bullpen role. In the first five seasons of his MLB career, Littell posted a 4.08 ERA (104 ERA+) with lackluster peripherals in 169 2/3 innings of work. After the 2022 campaign, Littell rode the DFA and waiver claim carousel throughout the 2022-23 offseason. He eventually wound up with the Red Sox to start the season, but he made just two appearances in the majors before being once again designated for assignment. That led him to the Rays, with whom he managed to transform himself from a fringe member of the 40-man roster into a solid mid to back of the rotation arm.
Upon arriving in Tampa, Littell moved into a swing role for the remainder of the 2023 campaign. He posted a 3.93 ERA with a nearly matching 3.99 FIP in 87 innings split between 14 starts and 12 relief appearances. Littell’s 19.8% strikeout rate in those outings was hardly exciting, but he made up for it with pinpoint command that allowed him to post a 2.5% walk rate and an 8.2% barrel rate.
That control and command style was enough to earn him a full-time rotation job headed into the Rays’ 2024 season, and he rewarded the team with a career year. In 29 starts for the Rays in 2024, Littell posted a 21.5% strikeout rate against a 4.7% walk rate while pitching to a 3.63 ERA (110 ERA+) with a 3.81 FIP. His 156 2/3 innings of work made him just one of just 71 pitchers to throw more than 150 innings that year, and only 15 of those pitchers surrendered fewer runs than Littell.
Littell remained generally effective in terms of run prevention last year as he posted a 3.81 ERA (111 ERA+) in a career-high 186 2/3 innings of work across 32 starts for the Rays and Reds. Unfortunately, those solid results were not paired with similar peripherals. A look under the hood reveals Littell’s strikeout rate plummeted to just 17.1%, while his barrel rate jumped to 9.8% as he allowed the second-most homers in all of baseball last season. Perhaps some of that can be explained by Littell pitching his home games at the hitter-friendly Steinbrenner Field and Great American Ballpark, but a 4.88 FIP with a 4.40 SIERA suggested that Littell was more of a back-end starter than his results may have indicated.
The result was a soft free agent market for Littell this offseason, with minimal interest in his services being reported. A reunion with the Rays once seemed to be on the table, but Tampa Bay instead brought in Steven Matz and Nick Martinez. No other clubs were publicly connected to the right-hander’s services for most of the winter, though plenty of pitching-needy teams like the Braves and Athletics emerged as speculative fits.
The Nationals were the ones to ultimately bring Littell into the fold, with some past connections possibly helped complete the deal. New president of baseball operations Paul Toboni formerly worked in the Red Sox front office, new manager Blake Butera spent years managing in Tampa’s farm system, and new pitching coach Simon Matthews was the Reds’ assistant pitching coach in 2025, so all three have direct familiarity with Littell’s work.
D.C. is unlikely to compete for a playoff spot this year as they reboot their rebuilding efforts under Toboni. As such, the team has pursued just short-term and relatively inexpensive veteran signings like Littell and Miles Mikolas, and made another move for the future in trading MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers. The Gore trade diminished an already questionable Washington rotation, so Littell will reinforce a starting five that seems set to include Mikolas and another new signing in Foster Griffin. The last two spots in the rotation figure to go to some combination of Cade Cavalli, Brad Lord, Josiah Gray, Jake Irvin, and Mitchell Parker.
ESPN.com’s Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan were the first to report the agreement between the two sides, with Joel Sherman of the New York Post reporting that Littell had signed a guaranteed contract. The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka (multiple links) had the details about the one-year term and mutual option, and Littell needing to pass a physical.
Inset photo courtesy of Joe Puetz — Imagn Images
Make Or Break Year: Alec Bohm
Players highlighted in the “Make Or Break” feature normally fall into one of a few familiar categories. Sometimes it’s a former star prospect running out of chances to prove they belong in the majors, or perhaps it’s an established star trying to bounce back after a down year or two, or maybe it’s a veteran trying to get their career on track after an extended injury absence.
Alec Bohm doesn’t exactly fit any of these models. In fact, one could argue Bohm has already been “made” in the sense that he was an All-Star in 2024, and is coming off four seasons as the Phillies’ top choice at third base (as well as a part-time first baseman), with 8.0 fWAR to show for his 560 games and 2352 plate appearances from 2022-25. He has an above-average 105 wRC+ at the plate over those four seasons, and Bohm’s third base glovework has improved from terrible to at least palatable, and even pretty good depending on the metric of choice.
This is the track record of a solid, Major League-caliber player, and it’s a resume that Bohm is rightfully proud of achieving. “You look at it in the grand scheme of things, out of all the players, a very small number that have ever played in the big leagues, there’s not a lot of them that get to arbitration,” Bohm recently told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. “Then the list gets even smaller of those who get to arbitration, get to free agency. Then the list gets even smaller when you talk about guys who get to 10 years and beyond.”
“When you kind of zoom out and look at it from a different perspective, I’ve done a lot of great things. I’ve had a pretty good career for myself, made it a lot further than a lot of people can say. I’m definitely proud of that, and want to keep building on it.”
Bohm’s issue, in some ways, is a matter of framing. Bohm can be described as a decent or okay player…or as “just a” decent or okay player. The Phillies haven’t really been hurt by having Bohm take a regular spot in their lineup, nor is he at fault for the team’s inability to get over the hump for a World Series championship. (Bohm’s .225/.327/.333 slash line over 150 postseason plate appearances isn’t good, but he is far from the only Philadelphia hitter to struggle in the playoffs.)
Because Bohm’s production has always evened out to roughly average, however, it creates the sense that the Phillies could do better at the hot corner. It also doesn’t help that Bohm’s perception that he was a top prospect and the third overall pick in the 2018 draft. Though Rosenthal notes that Bohm’s production has bettered a lot of other prominent names from that draft class, the infielder is (rightly or wrongly) a victim of the high expectations that come with being a top draft choice. In a sense, Bohm represents a larger issue clouding this otherwise successful run of Phillies baseball — the team hasn’t gotten much from its farm system, as the roster has been built most around free agents and trades.
Along these same lines, Bohm has been the subject of trade rumors for the better part of two years. Bohm’s 3.4 fWAR season in 2024 was the best of his career, as he had a 113 wRC+ from hitting .280/.332/.448 with 15 homers over 606 PA, and he also delivered +4 Outs Above Average as a third baseman. The down side of his career year was that Bohm slumped badly after the All-Star break, and the Phillies’ response to this breakout campaign was to shop Bohm to address other needs.
Such teams as the Athletics, Mariners, Royals, Angels, and White Sox were all linked to Bohm-related rumors in the 2024-25 offseason, with the idea being that the Phils would move Bohm and then sign one of Alex Bregman or Willy Adames to play third base. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was at least aiming high in shopping Bohm offers, and perhaps too high — reports indicated that George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Mason Miller, and Garrett Crochet were some of the players the Phillies wanted in return for trade packages involving Bohm.
There weren’t as many public reports about Bohm’s market this offseason, maybe in part because Bohm’s production dropped to a 105 wRC+ (.287/.331/.409 with 11 homers over 464 PA) and he was limited to 120 games due to a left rib fracture and shoulder inflammation. Philadelphia was again looking to upgrade at third base, coming just short of signing Bo Bichette in a scenario that would’ve turned Bohm into an obvious trade chip for the remainder of the winter.
Going forward, top prospect Aidan Miller is expected to make his MLB debut at some point in 2026, and then step into an everyday role at either second or third base in 2027. This puts pressure on second baseman Bryson Stott for one, but it’s a more direct threat to Bohm since he is slated to become a free agent next offseason. As Rosenthal puts it, “at this point, perhaps even more than before, Bohm is playing for the other 29 teams.” There’s even a non-zero chance Bohm could be dealt in-season depending on how the Phillies feel about Miller’s ability to immediately contribute in the majors.
For his part, Bohm hasn’t been worried about the trade speculation or his impending free agency, saying he is just concerned about playing. “I don’t really take any of it personally, think too far into it. It’s all out of my control. I can’t do anything to prevent it….I don’t stew over it. It’s just part of the business side of it,” Bohm said.
A midseason trade would make Bohm ineligible for the qualifying offer, so that would remove any draft compensation from his free agent case. Assuming Bohm remains a Phillie throughout 2026, a qualifying offer could be a moot point anyway, as it would probably take a huge jump in production for Philadelphia to even consider issuing Bohm a QO. If Bohm delivers his usual type of season, there’s a decent chance he’d just accept the offer and take a big one-year payday (this year’s QO was worth $22.025MM) rather than deal with both the vagaries of his own market, plus the added uncertainty of how the inevitable lockout will interrupt the 2026-27 offseason. Adding a $22MM-ish salary to an already hefty payroll likely isn’t in the Phillies’ interest, when Miller could just take over at third base for a minimum salary.
Qualifying offer aside, Bohm is the type of mid-tier free agent we’ve seen get squeezed by the market in the past. Teams without much payroll room might feel they can more or less replicate Bohm’s production with a cheaper veteran or maybe two platoon options. Bigger-spending teams could take the Phillies’ approach and seek for more prominent names at third base, with Bohm then becoming a fallback option at most. Between the lockout and potential changes made in a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, teams may not be likely to make an early commitment to a mid-level player like Bohm until they know exactly how baseball’s business structure will change.
The easiest way for Bohm to change the narrative, of course, is to have a terrific 2026 season. He needs to hit better against right-handed pitching and keep more consistent over the course of a full year, and while this is naturally easier said that done, we’ve seen flashes of how good Bohm can be when he’s been in the midst of one of his hot streaks. Again, it isn’t as if Bohm is a bad player — his hard-hit ball rates are solid, and he is borderline excellent at making contact and avoiding strikeouts. Bumping his walk and barrel rates even up to average levels would make Bohm a more dangerous threat at the plate.
Bohm turns 30 in August, and he could benefit from a fairly thin class of free agent third basemen next winter. Teams have shown they’ll pay for star-level production or even star-level potential, but it’s a trickier free agent environment for players like Bohm who have a decently high floor but a seemingly limited ceiling. A two-year deal (maybe three years max) of roughly $10MM in average annual value seems plausible for the 2024 version of Bohm, so he’ll need to at least top those numbers to avoid fielding a slate of one-year, prove-it type of offers next winter.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Mark P
- The Weekend Chat is never late, nor is it early….regardless of daylight savings. We’ll take a minute for some questions to file in (or for you to remember to adjust your clocks) before we get underway.
Pirates guy
- Where do you see the pirates rotation falling in the NL Central? Is it the best
Mark P
- A good chunk of the Pirates’ rotation is still operating on potential more than proven MLB results, so I think I’ll still put the Cubs slightly ahead overall.
Terry Pendeldon
- I am crazy or can the marlins finish 2nd in the east (who knows who finish first) braves are cursed again, mets relying on a lot of young guys, phils 1 big injury. marlins have the bonus of zero pressure
Mark P
- While Miami did finish third in 2025, even matching that this year will be a quality feat. The Braves and Mets both had Murphy’s Law years, and even then, New York will finished ahead of the Fish.
- Not to say that the Marlins couldn’t have another solid season, but their lineup has a lot more question marks than any of their big three NL East rivals
Silky Johnson
- Did the Mets overpay for Peralta or did the Orioles underpay for Burnes? Seems like there’s a pretty big disparity in the prospect return
Mark P
- Peralta is earning only $8MM in 2026, while Burnes was earning over $15MM in his final year of team control. Peralta’s salary meant he had a wider field of possible suitors, since he could’ve fit into any team’s payroll. An argument can be made that Burnes also could’ve easily fit into payroll for just a one-year commitment, but still, the Brewers probably had a slightly tougher time finding trade partners
Tito
- I have the best rotation in the central and it’s not close
Mark P
- Hunter Greene’s elbow issue gives me pause about crowning the Reds’ rotation. But, it’s a testament to their depth that even if they did lose Greene for any extended amount of time, their rotation wouldn’t be devastated.
Atl
- What move can the Braves make if any now that Profar has been suspended?
Mark P
- Yastrzemski is already there, so the Braves have another quality everyday-ish type of outfielder who can take over left field. White or Mateo can spell Yaz against left-handed pitching if need be.
Gamel, Azocar, and Dominic Smith are all in camp on minors deals, so the Braves probably feel they have enough position-player depth for now to fairly account for Profar’s absence. (Now that I’ve jinxed it, watch AA swing a trade in the next ten minutes.) But since Atlanta now has a good chunk of payroll freed up by Profar’s suspension, investing that money into rotation depth might not be a bad idea
Krally
- Should the Reds have traded Greene in the offseason?
Mark P
- This question might have some 20-20 hindsight attached given what happens with Greene’s elbow, but I agree with the Reds’ decision to hang onto him.
Obviously we don’t know what exact offers might’ve been on the table for Greene, but it would’ve had to have a major return (or even a clear overpay) for the Reds to move a guy who has looked like a frontline starter when healthy. Having rotation depth is one thing, but purposely dipping into that depth to account for trading away your #1 is another thing altogether
He definitely is the player with the most upside in that trade right?NL East Notes: Wentz, Fulton, Miller
Joey Wentz and the Braves may have gotten relatively lucky after the left-hander was carted off the field with an apparent right leg injury during today’s game with the Rays. According to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, Wentz will undergo tests to determine the extent of the injury, but initial examinations indicate that Wentz likely isn’t dealing with anything too serious. Wentz hurt himself while covering first base on a bunt attempt in the fifth inning, and the cart ride may have been precautionary, as he was able to get to and from the cart without assistance or any overt discomfort.
While it seems like Wentz may be okay, his situation naturally drew concern given how Atlanta’s rotation depth has already been tested this spring. Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep each underwent surgery in February to remove loose bodies from their elbows, leaving both starters on the injured list for at least (and in a best-case scenario) the first two months of the regular season. These injuries created an opportunity for Wentz and other depth starters to compete for the fifth spot in the Braves’ rotation, and Wentz has helped his bid with a 3.18 ERA over 5 2/3 innings of Grapefruit League action. If this leg problem ends up sidelining Wentz for any decent amount of time, it could open the door for Bryce Elder or non-roster invite Martin Perez as the fifth starter.
More from around the NL East…
- Left-hander Dax Fulton was one of five players optioned to the Marlins‘ minor league camp today, though “he’s much closer than he was to be able to come up and really help us” in the majors, manager Clayton McCullough told MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola and other reporters. McCullough implied that Fulton could be called up to pitch out of Miami’s bullpen during the regular season, though the southpaw will continue to be stretched out as a starting pitcher in Spring Training. A second-round pick for Miami in the 2020 draft, Fulton was a well-regarded prospect before a UCL surgery cost him most of the 2023 season and the entirety of the 2025 campaign. Fulton returned to action in 2025 and posted a 5.38 ERA over 103 2/3 combined innings with the Marlins’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates, starting 22 of his 23 games. While the Marlins don’t want to close the door on Fulton’s rotation potential at age 24, allowing him to make his Major League debut as a reliever would perhaps help ease Fulton’s transition to the Show.
- Phillies top prospect Aidan Miller is still battling lower-back problems, and seems like a candidate to begin the season on the Triple-A injured list. Miller played through a similar injury at the end of the 2025 minor league season, and the back issue has kept him off the field this spring. Despite the lingering nature of Miller’s bad back and the fact that the prospect visited the Phillies’ medical staff in Philadelphia on Friday, manager Rob Thomson told The Athletic’s Charlotte Varnes and other reporters that the team isn’t too concerned about the injury, even though “we don’t have a timeline” as to when Miller might get back on the field. “I mean, he hasn’t swung a bat in two weeks. So, we just want to get him healthy, where there’s no pain, and get him back playing again,” Thomson said. A consensus pick as one of baseball’s top position-player prospects, Miller needs a bit more minor league seasoning (he played in just eight Triple-A games in 2025) but is expected to make his MLB debut at some point in 2026, with an eye towards a starting role in the Phillies’ infield by 2027.
Porter Hodge, Jordan Wicks Likely To Begin Season On Cubs’ IL
Right-hander Porter Hodge and left-hander Jordan Wicks are each dealing with arm problems and will probably start the season on the 15-day injured list, Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian). Hodge has a right flexor strain, while Wicks is dealing with radial nerve irritation in his left forearm.
Hodge hasn’t pitched since February 27, and he hasn’t looked right in any of his three Cactus League outings this spring, with a whopping 31.50 ERA to show for two innings of work. Counsell said Hodge’s flexor strain doesn’t appear to be serious in terms of a long-term absence, though the righty will be shut down for the next two weeks to heal up.
Wicks’ forearm issue was initially described just as irritation, with an MRI revealing no structural problems. Nerve problems can tend to linger, though the good news is that Wicks has been able to play catch, and Counsell is hopeful the southpaw will start throwing off a mound by the middle of March.
It was no guarantee that either pitcher was going to make the Cubs’ Opening Day roster, though today’s news means that both the rotation and bullpen depth charts have taken a hit. Wicks (the 21st overall pick of the 2021 draft) worked just as a reliever during his eight MLB appearances in 2025, though he has pitched mostly as a starter throughout the rest of his time in the majors and minors.
Despite his draft pedigree and some top-100 prospect attention during his time in the minors, Wicks has yet to establish himself as a big leaguer, with a modest 5.21 ERA, 18.5% strikeout rate, and 7.5% walk rate to show for 95 career innings with the Cubs. Past injuries haven’t helped (Wicks missed a big chunk of 2024 due to a forearm strain and an oblique strain), and Wicks spent 2025 being shuttled back and forth between Chicago and Triple-A Iowa with only sporadic usage in the majors.
Hodge burst onto the scene with a 1.88 ERA and 31.7% strikeout rate over 43 innings in his 2024 rookie season, albeit with the benefit of a .189 BABIP. Things didn’t go nearly as smoothly last year, as Hodge spent close to two months on the IL due to oblique and shoulder problems, and he posted only a 6.27 ERA over 33 innings of work. As per the SIERA metric, Hodge’s two big league seasons haven’t been too dissimilar (3.22 in 2024, 3.80 in 2025), and he remains an intriguing bullpen arm if he can stay healthy and figure out some control problems.
Rangers Claim Dairon Blanco
The Rangers have claimed outfielder Dairon Blanco off waivers from the Royals, according to Francys Romero of Beisbol FR. Blanco was designated for assignment by the Royals last week to make room for Starling Marte on the club’s 40-man. The Rangers transferred southpaw Jordan Montgomery to the 60-day injured list to make room for Blanco on their own 40-man.
Blanco, 33 next month, played in the Cuban National Series through his age-22 season but didn’t make it to stateside ball until he was 25 years old back in 2018. Then a member of the Athletics, he was traded to the Royals the following year and eventually made his big league debut during the 2022 season with a five game cup of coffee. The following year he got a much larger role with Kansas City, however, and over the next two seasons he slashed a solid .258/.316/.422 in 270 plate appearances across 157 games. That’s slightly above league average production at the plate, though the vast majority of his production comes against left-handed pitching. Blanco sports a 137 wRC+ for his career against southpaws, compared to a 70 wRC+ against right-handers. It’s also worth noting that he gets a lot of value from his work on the base paths, where he went 55-for-67 (82.1%) in stolen base attempts in 2023 and ’24.
That makes Blanco a useful bench or depth option to be sure, but he ultimately found himself squeezed off the Royals’ roster after the team brought in Marte and Isaac Collins during the offseason to shore up an outfield mix that had rated out as among the worst in the majors in recent years. The Royals already had a crowded bench mix, and Blanco has yet to prove he’s capable of handling more than part-time duties at the big league level. That’s unlikely to be as much of a problem with the Rangers, who are relatively thin on outfield depth (especially when looking for players who can play center field capably) and have plenty of lefties in the lineup like Evan Carter, Joc Pederson, and Josh Smith who could benefit from being spelled against fellow southpaws.
Of course, that isn’t to say Blanco is guaranteed a spot on the team’s bench entering the season. He’ll have stiff competition from veteran Andrew McCutchen for a spot as a right-handed bat, while Sam Haggerty, Michael Helman, and Ezequiel Duran all offer more versatility than Blanco. With that being said, Blanco does have options remaining and could simply start the season in the minor leagues before waiting to get an opportunity in the majors at some point this year. At the very least, Blanco’s wheels should give him a strong argument to join the team when rosters expand in September and perhaps into the postseason if Texas manages to make it that far.