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Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast
On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners, though it’s been a long time. Due to a busy offseason with lots to talk about, we haven’t asked our listeners for questions since October.
Now that camps have been open for about three weeks, the newsflow has slowed, so it’s time to open up the mailbag for the first time in months. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.
Do you have a question about something that happened over the winter? A camp battle? The upcoming season? If you have a question on those topics or anything else baseball-related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.
Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.
In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Padres’ Blake Hunt Shut Down Due To Oblique Injury
The Padres recently shut down catcher Blake Hunt due to an oblique injury, as reported by Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Hunt’s exact timeline for return to action isn’t currently known, but he figures to be sidelined for the foreseeable future.
The 27-year-old was a second-round pick by the Padres back in 2017 but was traded to the Rays as part of the Blake Snell deal while he was still in A-ball. In the years since then, Hunt has bounced between the Rays, Orioles, and Mariners organizations. He was called up to the majors for the first time in July of 2024 but has never made an appearance in the big leagues. In 2025, he performed quite well for the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, slashing .272/.368/.452 (108 wRC+) with eight homers and 15 doubles in just 68 games. Following the 2025 season, Hunt elected minor league free agency and returned to the organization that drafted him on a minor league pact.
Entering Spring Training, Hunt was a non-roster invitee who appeared likely to serve as Luis Campusano‘s primary competition in camp this year. Hunt has long been on the periphery of the majors at this point and is perhaps overdue for a shot at the highest level, and while the out-of-options Campusano entered Spring Training with the advantage of having a 40-man roster spot already, it would’ve been understandable for him to face some pressure head of Opening Day. The 27-year-old appeared in just ten games at the big league level last year and went hitless in those 27 plate appearances. While he did manage to hit an extremely impressive .336/.451/.595 (149 wRC+) at Triple-A last year, he’s a career 88 wRC+ hitter in the majors with lackluster defensive marks behind the plate and has slashed just .211/.276/.336 (75 wRC+) with -0.8 fWAR and -1.1 bWAR when looking at just the last two years.
That lack of production makes it hard to trust Campusano headed into 2026, and his 2-for-12 showing during camp so far hasn’t exactly set the world on fire. Freddy Fermin figures to serve as San Diego’s primary catcher entering the year, but Hunt’s injury could wind up giving Campusano more of a leash as the team’s primary backup. Ethan Salas doesn’t figure to be ready for the majors anytime soon, and the only other catcher in camp at the moment with experience even at Triple-A is 28-year-old Rodolfo Duran. If Hunt’s injury is severe enough to sideline him long-term, it’s plausible that the Padres could look to add some external catching depth to provide further insurance behind their current tandem. Veterans Tom Murphy and Christian Vazquez are still available in free agency, but it’s also possible that veterans on minor league deals in other camps could opt out as Opening Day approaches or that catching depth on the fringes of another organization’s roster could be made available in a minor trade if the Padres were sufficiently motivated to get a deal done.
The Opener: Valdez, Extensions, Free Agents
Here are three things we’re keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Valdez to make Tigers debut:
Tigers fans will get their first glimpse of newly-signed southpaw Framber Valdez on the mound for Detroit, as he’s set to start the club’s Spring Training game against the Braves later today. At 1:05pm local time in at the Tigers’ spring complex in Lakeland, Valdez will face off against Atlanta righty Bryce Elder. The soon-to-be 27-year-old Elder is a one-time All-Star but has struggled badly over the past few years, and is coming off a 2025 campaign where he posted a 5.30 ERA in 28 starts. Valdez, of course, has been one of the top starters in the AL for several years now. Last season was one of his weaker campaigns, but he still posted a solid 3.66 ERA with a 3.37 FIP.
2. More extensions on the way?
Over the weekend, the Cardinals extended manager Oli Marmol on a two-year deal that includes a club option for the 2029 season. There will surely be additional extensions over the coming weeks, both for players and personnel. MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk took a look at the managers and top front office executives on expiring contracts back in January, and while a few (including AJ Preller of the Padres and Pat Murphy of the Brewers) have already reached new deals since then, many are still on lame duck contracts. As for players, extension rumors have been fairly quiet to this point in the winter but, as Chris Sale‘s recent extension with the Braves showed just last week, these sorts of deals can come together very quickly.
3. Big league deals still on the table for free agents?
We’re now into the month of March, and Opening Day is just a few weeks away. By this point in the calendar, most veterans lingering on the free agent market are likely to wind up signing minor league contracts. That won’t be the case for all of them, of course; both Lucas Giolito and Zack Littell have the track record and platform season necessary to earn a meaningful big league deal even this late in the year. There’s less certainty on that front for the rest of the remaining free agents, but over the weekend veteran outfielder Starling Marte landed a big league deal with the Royals. That Marte, who is 37 years old and has been more of a part-time player in recent years, was able to get a big league deal could offer reason for optimism for other players still on the market. Who will be the next to sign?
Cardinals Extend Oli Marmol
The Cardinals and manager Oli Marmol have agreed to a two-year contract extension, according to a report from Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Marmol was entering the final year of his contract but is now set to remain in St. Louis for the 2027 and ’28 seasons, with a club option for 2029. The Cardinals have subsequently announced Marmol’s new deal.
It’s the second extension Marmol has signed with the Cardinals. The 39-year-old initially took over as manager in St. Louis following Mike Shildt’s dismissal in October of 2021. Marmol’s first season as manager saw the Cardinals romp to a division title with a 93-win season thanks primarily to MVP-caliber performances from both Paul Goldschmidt (who won the award in the NL) and Nolan Arenado (who finished third). Unfortunately, the Cardinals were delivered a quick exit by the Phillies in the Wild Card round that year and went home that October without winning a single playoff game.
The end of the 2022 campaign also marked the end of longtime franchise face Yadier Molina‘s playing career, and Molina’s departure ushered in a transitory period in Cardinals baseball. While the club added an impactful bat behind the plate in Willson Contreras, pitchers in St. Louis struggled to adapt to life after getting so used to working with the nine-time Gold Glover. Meanwhile, both Goldschmidt and Arenado regressed in a big way, and injuries to key players like Brendan Donovan and Tyler O’Neill left the Cardinals tumbling from the top of the NL Central all the way to the bottom with a 91-loss campaign. 2024 saw the franchise get just barely back over .500 with an 83-79 record that left them tied for second place in the NL Central standings, but the team fell right back below .500 in 2025.
Difficult as Marmol’s tenure in St. Louis has been, management and ownership clearly do not lay the organization’s struggles at his feet. They signed him to a two-year extension prior to the 2024 campaign, and even after John Mozeliak retired and new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom took over, both Bloom and team ownership have expressed confidence in Marmol in the run-up to today’s extension.
It’s understandable why the team would choose to stick with Marmol despite a lack of on-field success. The Cardinals have saddled Marmol with a stagnant and aging roster for the majority of his time with the organization. Outside of deals for Contreras and Sonny Gray (both traded to the Red Sox this offseason), St. Louis has made relatively minimal efforts to improve the roster via trades and free agency in recent years, instead banking on internal developments that haven’t come to fruition. That lack of internal development has been attributed to the organization by the team’s decision to reallocate funds that once were used for player development into fortifying the big league payroll, and over the past two years the team has started to move towards a rebuilding phase where they plan to scale back spending and return their focus to building from within.
Given the current state of the organization, it’s understandable that the Cardinals would look to keep someone they had enough confidence in to install as MLB’s youngest manager at the time of his hire. Now headed into his fifth season as a big league manager (with a decade of coaching experience prior to that), Marmol has plenty of experience handling young players and veterans alike. His work with last year’s Cardinals team, which lacked the win-now expectations of most seasons in St. Louis, will surely prove informative for the difficult task of rebuilding into a contender that the organization now faces.
Latest On Merrill Kelly, Corbin Carroll
The Diamondbacks have already had to deal with an unwelcome number of injury scares to key players, though Sunday’s news brought some optimism that Merrill Kelly and Corbin Carroll could both still be a part of the Opening Day roster.
Right at the very start of Spring Training, Carroll underwent surgery to fix a broken hamate bone in his right hand, putting him out of action for roughly 4-to-8 weeks (the usual timeline following such procedures). Last weekend, Kelly was scratched from throwing a live batting practice session due to some back soreness, and the discomfort persisted even though both an MRI and CT scan came back clean. Officially, the diagnosis is intercostal nerve irritation, according to the D’Backs.
It was enough for Kelly to tell the media last Wednesday that he was likely going to be starting the season on the 15-day injured list, though his outlook was different today. Kelly told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert and other reporters that he received an injection of cortisone and lidocaine earlier this week, and had a pain-free session of catch today. While Kelly won’t act as the Diamondbacks’ Opening Day starter on March 26, the aim is for Kelly to now pitch at the back of Arizona’s rotation, which would line the righty up for his season debut during the team’s second series of the year.
The D’Backs begin the 2026 campaign with three games in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, and then after an off-day, return home for a seven-game homestand against the Tigers and Braves. Given the March 29 off-day, the Snakes could technically delay Kelly’s first start beyond the first five games, though that would leave the club essentially playing a man short until Kelly is ready to take the mound.
With more than three weeks to go until Opening Day, there is still time for Kelly to restart his throwing progression and get fully ready to go, assuming his good health persists. Even if Kelly is only built up to throw something like 50-60 pitches, the D’Backs could use a piggyback starter or lean on the bullpen during the veteran’s first start. On the flip side, Arizona could also simply place Kelly on the IL to give him extra time to heal up, and make sure he is ready to hit the ground running once he takes the mound.
As for Carroll, it has been a little under three weeks since his February 11 surgery, but he described his progress as “definitely ahead of schedule.” The outfielder told Gilbert and other reporters that he started catching fly balls (Carroll’s right hand is his glove hand) today, and he has started to hit with both hands on the bat.
“It’s very low intensity, like flips and tee [work]….I think some other guys that have gone through a hamate injury were happy to see where I am [given] how far I am out of surgery,” Carroll said.
Manager Torey Lovullo described Carroll’s process as “right up to that line of doing too much. He’s pushing as hard as he can and as far as he can, and we love that. So we’ll continue to get updates from [hand surgeon] Don Sheridan and our medical team about what the next steps are, but yeah, he’s doing really, really well.”
Being able to hit and catch normally without any discomfort is only part of Carroll’s path to recovery, as he’ll then have to try and make up for time lost during Spring Training. Carroll has been taking part in other baseball activities, so he won’t be starting from square one once he is fully cleared. It then becomes a question of how many Cactus League games Carroll may be able to play in before March 26, and how many he’ll need before he feels properly ramped up for the regular season.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Mark P
- The Weekend Chat is underway! Let’s kick off March by talking some baseball….
Desperate Yankees fan
- Is my optimism this year valid?
Mark P
- Sure. New York is bringing back largely the same roster that won 94 games last year, plus Gerrit Cole will be healthy.
John
- Is Starling Marte a good fit with the Royals?
Mark P
- If he can duplicate even his 2025 numbers, that’s a big step up from what the Royals got from most of their lineup last year. I doubt Marte will be physically able to play the outfield on the regular, but even from a DH slot, that’s not bad. Signing Marte raises the floor of the K.C. roster, if nothing else
McGonigle’s
- Chances I go north with the Tigers out of spring training.
Mark P
- It may not happen without a pre-career contract extension. Even if McGonigle doesn’t sign a deal or starts the year at Triple-A to get more seasoning, he’ll be in the bigs at some point in 2026
Brady
- Trade idea for you- Marsh plus prospects (say Dante Nori and Jean Cabrera) for Isaac Paredes and Jake Meyers, then Phillies move off Bohm. Thoughts?
Mark P
- This isn’t a fit, but I like the idea in general of the Phillies and Astros matching up on some kind of a trade to address their mutual needs.
“Moving off Bohm” may be a bit easier said than done at this point in the offseason, however, since a lot of teams have their 3B positions filled. Maybe a team like the A’s steps in, or maybe it’s a three-team trade from the jump.
KC Pain
- Do you think we will see another early trade like we did with Priester last year? Teams like the Rays..and well the Brewers seem to have a large glut of arms that can’t possible all fit and have talent waiting in the minors.
Mark P
- It’s only March 1, so it would be unusual if there WASN’T at least one more prominent trade before Opening Day. All it takes is one injury to suddenly make a team more willing to shake up its roster
Jays
- I think the Scherzer signing by Jays was good as most of the salary is based on incentives. As a Jays fan, what do you think ?
Mark P
- I like the signing a lot, more for “you can never have too much pitching” reasons than thinking Scherzer can turn back the clock in 2026. If he covers some innings, posts something like a 4.30 ERA, and continues being a clubhouse leader, that’s more than worth it.
AA
- All the pitching concerns with Atlanta are a bit overblown. Will have players returning in second half of the season. Also, JR Ritchie has the opportunity to be a legitimate contributor to the team this season.
Mark P
- I mean, maybe? But, after Atlanta just had a season wrecked by pitching injuries, it’s obviously not great to have two starters already down less than a month into Spring Training.
Rangers Notes: Jung, Foscue, Church
A pair of injuries have hit the Rangers’ infield mix, as both third baseman Josh Jung and former top prospect Justin Foscue will be out of action for at least the next 10 days. Manager Skip Schumaker told reporters (including MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry) that an MRI revealed that Jung has a Grade 1 adductor strain, while Foscue has a right hamstring strain.
Neither injury is thought to be particularly serious, and Schumaker felt Jung in particular was going to be back on the field earlier than expected. In Foscue’s case, while his hamstring isn’t a major concern from a health perspective, the missed time is a setback in Foscue’s bid to win a spot on the Opening Day roster.
“It doesn’t change anything as far as [Foscue’s] chances,” Schumaker said. “He’s just gonna lose at-bats, which sucks for him. But…he’ll still have two weeks left of camp, really, to try to build up. He should get more at-bats.”
Jung is penciled in as the Rangers’ top choice at third base, and the former eighth overall pick is still looking to firmly establish himself as he enters his fifth Major League season. After making the All-Star team and helping Texas win the World Series in his 2023 rookie season, Jung was limited to 46 games due to a right wrist fracture in 2024. He was healthy last year, but struggled to a .251/.294/.390 slash line and 91 wRC+ over 511 plate appearances and was briefly demoted to Triple-A in July.
Now that Jung has become eligible for salary arbitration, the clock may be ticking to some extent on his future in Texas. He is earning a modest $2.9MM salary in 2026, but if Jung doesn’t take a notable step forward at the plate, he could be a non-tender candidate next offseason if the Rangers decide against giving him more chances at a higher price tag. Schumaker did praise Jung’s development in camp, and felt the third baseman’s work was “about to translate on the field.”
Foscue has only three hits over 53 PA at the big league level, translating to a .192 OPS for his brief MLB career. While a small sample size, the rather extreme nature of these struggles has already raised doubts about whether or not Foscue (also a former first-round draft pick, selected 14th overall in 2020) can eventually even hold his own against Major League pitching.
There have also been questions about Foscue’s ability to stick at second base, and the Rangers have been experimenting with Foscue as an outfielder this spring in an effort to increase his versatility. Being able to handle a corner outfield spot as well as first or second base would help Foscue’s chances of sticking on the 26-man roster, but everything will be on hold until he is healed up from his hamstring strain.
In other injury news from the Texas camp, Marc Church has been sidelined due to a teres major strain, but the right-hander is slated to throw a pair of live bullpen sessions this week, Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News writes. Assuming his throwing progression goes as planned, Church should probably get in some game action before Spring Training is over, and he might still have a chance to break camp as a member of the Rangers’ pen.
The teres major strain is another unwelcome setback for Church, as he has been limited to just 38 2/3 total innings (33 in the minors, 5 2/3 in the majors) over the 2024-25 seasons. He missed a big chunk of the 2024 minor league season due to a rotator cuff injury, and he dealt with elbow inflammation, lat problems, and an oblique strain in 2025. If he can finally get healthy, Church is an intriguing candidate for a relief role, as he has a plus slider and splitter to go along with a fastball in the mid-to-high 90s.
Cubs Claim Ben Cowles
The Cubs have brought Ben Cowles back to Wrigleyville, as the team announced that the infielder has been claimed off waivers from the Blue Jays. In a corresponding move, right-hander Shelby Miller was moved to Chicago’s 60-day injured list. Miller underwent UCL and flexor surgery last October and will miss the 2026 season.
Miller’s two-year, $2.5MM deal with the Cubs was officially announced on February 15, and Cowles was designated for assignment to create roster space. The Jays claimed Cowles off the waiver wire, but the infielder now quickly finds himself back in the Cubs organization. There hadn’t been any indication that Toronto had DFA’ed Cowles, but the Blue Jays needed to open up a spot on their 40-man roster now that Max Scherzer is returning to the team.
A tenth-round pick for the Yankees in the 2021 draft, Cowles first came to Chicago at the 2024 trade deadline, when Cowles was one of two prospects dealt to the Cubs for Mark Leiter Jr. Cowles was DFA’ed last September and claimed off waivers by the White Sox, but the Cubs brought Cowles back from their local rivals in January on another waiver claim.
Throughout all of these comings and goings, Cowles has yet to make his Major League debut. The 26-year-old posted decent numbers in the lower minors but has hit only .235/.299/.368 over 536 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. The lack of offense has surely contributed to Cowles’ apparent status as 40th-man type, though he has speed (70 steals in 92 attempts in the minors) and has plenty of experience as a shortstop, second, and third baseman, plus a couple of cameo appearances in the outfield.
It wouldn’t be a shock to see Cowles again land in DFA limbo the next time the Cubs need to create a 40-man opening, but the team clearly sees some value in the infielder’s skillset. Whether this translates into any time on the active roster remains to be seen, as Cowles might only get considered for a call-up if an injury arises to an infield regular.
Padres Shut Bryan Hoeing Down With Elbow Discomfort
Padres right-hander Bryan Hoeing is likely to miss the start of the season, according to a report from Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Per Acee, Hoeing is dealing with some discomfort in his throwing elbow and has been shut down by San Diego as a result. Acee added that pitching coach Ruben Niebla expressed some early optimism about the severity of the injury.
“We don’t think it’s as serious (as it could be), but we have to be conscious and take a look at it and be able to make the right assessments,” Niebla told reporters, as relayed by Acee.
More details on Hoeing’s status and timeline for return will surely be available in the coming days, once the team has had the opportunity to get Hoeing’s elbow looked at. In any case, it makes sense for the Padres to be extremely cautious with Hoeing at this point given how damaging a severe elbow injury can be to a player’s career. That’s especially true for the 29-year-old Hoeing, who pitched just eight innings in 2025 due to shoulder issues that left him sidelined for much of the 2025 season.
Despite that injury-plagued campaign last year, Hoeing figures to be firmly in the Padres’ bullpen mix if healthy. He enjoyed a breakout campaign with the Marlins in 2024 that got even better after being traded (alongside Tanner Scott) to San Diego at that year’s trade deadline. The righty sports a 2.34 ERA in 61 2/3 innings of work since the start of the 2024 season, and has posted a sterling 1.99 ERA in 25 appearances as a member of the Padres. While he’s not much of a strikeout pitcher, with a measly 19.5%, a 50.3% ground ball rate more than makes up for the lack of whiffs. That in combination with a manageable walk rate has led even more advanced metrics like SIERA (3.77) to be generally impressed with his work over the past two years in spite of their general favor for pitchers with high strikeout rates.
Of course, in a stacked Padres bullpen that likely left Hoeing in position to receive only middle relief work, as the late innings are set to be handled by a combination of Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam, and David Morgan. Hoeing could theoretically work his way into that mix with another big year like 2024, but for now seems more likely to handle the middle innings alongside Yuki Matsui when the pair are healthy. Matsui has also been sidelined of late due to an adductor strain, but Acee suggests the 30-year-old southpaw is more likely to be ready for the start of the season than Hoeing. Comments from Niebla seem to corroborate that, as the team’s pitching coach actually suggested Matsui could start throwing off the mound later this week.