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Pirates Move Roansy Contreras To Bullpen

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The Pirates are moving right-hander Roansy Contreras to the bullpen, Derek Shelton told reporters after tonight’s Spring Training contest (X link via MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf). While the Pittsburgh manager left open the possibility of giving Contreras another rotation look down the line, he’s viewed as a reliever for the moment.

At this time last year, the 24-year-old looked like one of the more promising starting pitchers in the organization. The Bucs had made him the arguable centerpiece of their 2021 trade return from the Yankees for Jameson Taillon. Contreras was viewed as a fringe Top 100-caliber prospect before turning in a solid ’22 campaign as a rookie. Contreras held a spot in the Pittsburgh rotation for a good portion of that season. He tossed 95 innings of 3.79 ERA ball with a strikeout and walk profile that wasn’t far off league average.

That showing earned him a spot in last year’s rotation. Contreras’ raw stuff and results all backed up, though, and he was tagged for 6.59 earned runs per nine innings. His strikeout rate dropped nearly three percentage points, sitting at a middling 18.8% clip. His walk rate went slightly up. The average velocity on his four-seam fastball ticked down from 95.8 MPH to 94.6 MPH. Contreras’ slider remained an effective offering, although he even lost a few percentage points on that pitch’s swing-and-miss rate.

As the struggles mounted, the Bucs first kicked him to the bullpen and eventually back to the minors. He made eight appearances in Triple-A, where he had an ERA just below 5.00 in a hitter-friendly league. The Pirates even assigned him back to their Florida complex for a few weeks to work through his mechanics outside of a game setting.

Those paths aren’t on the table this year. Last season burned Contreras’ final minor league option. The Pirates can no longer send him down without first exposing him to waivers, where he’d very likely be claimed. If they don’t want to risk losing him, they need to keep him in the majors. Yet Contreras’ performance this spring has been far from encouraging.

He has started three of five outings in exhibition play but only gotten through 12 1/3 innings. Contreras has issued 13 walks against nine strikeouts while allowing nine runs. His fastball velocity has sat in the 94-95 MPH range, but the inability to find the strike zone is alarming. It would’ve been difficult to justify giving him a spot in the MLB rotation coming off that kind of performance. A relief role will afford Shelton some flexibility in keeping Contreras out of high-leverage spots while he tries to recapture the form that he’d shown through 2022.

In other Bucs news, the team announced they’ve optioned Nick Gonzales to Triple-A Indianapolis. That takes him out of the mix in the camp battle for the Opening Day second base job. The former #7 overall pick had a middling spring, hitting .235/.278/.412 over 36 plate appearances. Liover Peguero and Jared Triolo are the top options to start at the keystone. They’ve each hit well in camp. Peguero has a .292/.370/.458 line in 11 games, while Triolo has turned in a .344/.432/.469 mark over 12 contests.

Bowden Francis Makes Blue Jays’ Season-Opening Rotation

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Blue Jays manager John Schneider told the team’s beat this afternoon that right-hander Bowden Francis will be in the season-opening rotation (relayed by Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet). He’s tentatively scheduled to take the ball in the fourth game of the year at Tampa Bay.

That will be Francis’ first start at the major league level. Initially a seventh-round pick by the Brewers in 2017, Francis landed with the Jays in the 2021 deal that sent Rowdy Tellez to Milwaukee. He made it to the majors for one relief outing the following season but was sent outright from the 40-man roster not long after. Francis finished 2022 with a 6.59 ERA in Triple-A.

Needless to say, it didn’t seem at that time that he’d be only a season away from breaking camp in the Toronto rotation. Francis broke through with a very strong performance last year. After an early-season stint on the minor league injured list, he posted impressive numbers over 27 innings with Triple-A Buffalo. Francis turned in a 2.67 ERA while punching out more than 37% of batters faced at the top minor league level. That earned him another shot on the 40-man roster and his first extended stretch in the majors as a multi-inning reliever.

The 27-year-old Francis continued to impress against big league hitters. He turned in a sparkling 1.73 ERA in 36 1/3 innings spanning 20 appearances. While he didn’t maintain his eye-popping whiff rates from Triple-A, Francis fanned an above-average 25.7% of MLB opponents against a tidy 5.9% walk rate.

He has carried that strong production into Spring Training. Francis has tossed 18 2/3 innings over five appearances (four starts), allowing eight runs with 15 strikeouts and four free passes. That was enough to solidify himself as the next man up in the event that any of Toronto’s top five starters spent time on the injured list. Alek Manoah will begin the season on the shelf after battling shoulder soreness. It’s not expected to be a long-term issue but has kept him out of Spring Training action since his exhibition debut on February 27.

Toronto will give the ball to José Berríos on Opening Day. He’ll likely be followed by Chris Bassitt, Yusei Kikuchi and Francis. Ace Kevin Gausman is a bit behind because he dealt with what seemed to be minor shoulder fatigue earlier this month. He has expressed confidence he’ll avoid the injured list, although the Jays could keep him at the back of the first trip through the rotation to buy him a few extra days to continue building up.

Once Manoah is healthy, Francis might find himself bumped back to relief. He still has an option remaining, so the Jays could send him back to Buffalo if they want to keep him stretched out as a starter. He’ll at least get a few turns through the rotation in April to try to stake his claim to a permanent starting spot, his first chance to do so at the major league level.

Reds’ Prospect Edwin Arroyo Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery

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The Reds informed reporters this evening that infield prospect Edwin Arroyo underwent surgery to repair a labrum tear in his left shoulder (via C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic). He’ll miss the entire 2024 season. Arroyo suffered the injury when he dove back to a base on a pickoff attempt while playing in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.

Cincinnati acquired Arroyo as the secondary piece in the 2022 deadline blockbuster that sent Luis Castillo to Seattle. The package was built around Noelvi Marte, but Arroyo was viewed as a borderline Top 100 caliber prospect in his own right. He spent most of last season at High-A Dayton, where he hit .248/.321/.427 with 13 home runs and 28 stolen bases. While not an overwhelming showing, that was respectable production for a 19-year-old.

Arroyo ranked among Cincinnati’s five to seven best prospects at Baseball America, ESPN and The Athletic. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel and The Athletic’s Keith Law each slotted him at the back half of the sport’s Top 100 minor league talents, calling him a potential regular as a switch-hitter with some power and a chance to stick at shortstop. While he’s certainly young enough to get to that point, the surgery deals a hit to his prospect stock and costs him a year of development reps. Arroyo had barely reached Double-A and was unlikely to impact the major league team this season, but he could’ve played his way to the upper levels with an eye towards a 2025 debut.

Instead, he’ll be faced with an extended rehab process before hopefully starting the ’25 season healthy in Double-A. Cincinnati will need to decide at the end of the 2025 campaign whether to add him to the 40-man roster or expose him to the Rule 5 draft.

Ohtani’s Interpreter Fired; Accused Of Theft And Illegal Gambling

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On Wednesday evening, the Dodgers announced they’d fired Ippei Mizuhara, who was working as Shohei Ohtani’s personal interpreter. Mizuhara has been Ohtani’s friend and interpreter dating back to before his signing with the Angels in 2017.

Gustavo Arellano, Adam Elmahrek, Nathan Fenno and Paul Pringle of the Los Angeles Times first reported the news, which comes amidst a probe into an alleged illegal gambling operation in Southern California. Attorneys for Ohtani told the L.A. Times that the two-way star “had been the victim of a massive theft.” While that statement did not specify who had committed that alleged theft, the evident implication is that Mizuhara did so.

ESPN’s Tisha Thompson reported that upwards of $4.5MM had been wired from a bank account in Ohtani’s name to the alleged gambling ring. Sports gambling remains illegal in California. A spokesperson for Ohtani initially told ESPN that the two-time MVP had wired the money to pay off gambling debts which Mizuhara had accrued. The spokesperson later retracted that and pointed to the attorneys’ statement concerning theft.

Mizuhara and other sources told ESPN that Ohtani does not gamble and that the wire transfers covered losses which the interpreter had racked up. An attorney for Matthew Bowyer, the alleged bookmaker, said in a statement to ESPN that “Mr. Bowyer never met or spoke with Shohei Ohtani.” ESPN reports that Mizuhara had placed bets with Bowyer on various sports, not including baseball, going back to 2021.

On Tuesday, Mizuhara told ESPN that he’d asked Ohtani to pay off his gambling debts. “Obviously, he wasn’t happy about it and said he would help me out to make sure I never do this again,” Mizuhara had said. “He decided to pay it off for me. I want everyone to know Shohei had zero involvement in betting. I want people to know I did not know this was illegal. I learned my lesson the hard way. I will never do sports betting ever again.” Mizuhara had stated that he and Ohtani sent multiple wire transfers to the bookmaker in installments; ESPN observed two transfers at $500K apiece in Ohtani’s name.

Mizuhara disavowed those comments this afternoon, telling ESPN that Ohtani was unaware of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money. “Obviously, this is all my fault, everything I’ve done. I’m ready to face all the consequences,” he said on Wednesday. He reiterated that he did not place any bets on baseball.

Needless to say, MLB players and team employees are prohibited from placing bets on baseball. They are allowed to place bets on other sports, although that obviously only applies in jurisdictions where sports gambling is legal.

“The Dodgers are aware of media reports and are gathering information,” the club said in a statement. “The team can confirm that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been terminated. The team has no further comment at this time.” An MLB official told Andy McCullough, Fabian Ardaya, Britt Ghiroli and Sam Blum of the Athletic that Ohtani is not currently facing discipline. A league source tells ESPN that their next step is to “gather facts,” although it’s unclear if they’ll launch an official investigation.

Yankees, Jordan Montgomery Have Reopened Discussions

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The Yankees are “back in contact” with Jordan Montgomery’s camp at the Boras Corporation, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Heyman adds that there’s still a gap between the southpaw’s asking price and the team’s comfort level.

Montgomery is the highest-profile player available in free agency. He’s not the last notable Boras Corp. client who remains unsigned — J.D. Martinez has also lingered on the market — but he is the final member of the top group that included Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman and Blake Snell. All of those players eventually moved to short-term guarantees (three years for the position players, two for Snell) that allow them to opt out next offseason.

The 31-year-old Montgomery has reportedly been less amenable to that kind of arrangement. Heyman wrote that Montgomery was looking for a seven-year pact as recently as March 8. Early in the winter, his camp had tried to beat the $172MM guarantee which Aaron Nola landed to return to Philadelphia. Neither mark seems especially plausible just a week before Opening Day.

Part of Montgomery’s aversion to a short-term pact could be the qualifying offer. Since he was traded from the Cardinals to the Rangers midway through the 2023 season, he was ineligible to receive the QO. He hit this year’s market unencumbered by draft compensation. Each of Snell, Bellinger and Chapman declined a QO. They’re all ineligible to receive the offer again, as the collective bargaining agreement prevents a player from being tagged more than once in his career.

Montgomery could still receive the QO in a future winter, which could make the possibility of retesting free agency in a year comparatively less appealing. As MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald explored this afternoon, one option would be to wait until after the start of the regular season to sign. Only players who are on the same team for the entire preceding season can receive a qualifying offer.

It’s not clear how much that’s a calculus in Montgomery’s decision. Perhaps he was simply the most patient of the group in hoping that a long-term pact would present itself. That was clearly what he envisioned when he hit the open market after helping Texas to the first World Series in franchise history. Montgomery is coming off a personal-low 3.20 ERA in the regular season. He has reached 30 starts while allowing fewer than four earned runs per nine in each of the last three years.

For many players, the market simply hasn’t materialized the way they’d anticipated. The Rangers have cited concern about their local broadcasting contract as a reason for a relatively quiet offseason. Texas took a reduced rights fee to keep their contract with Diamond Sports Group for another season. While their deal had previously paid a reported $111MM annually, Heyman reported yesterday that they’ll receive $90MM for this year. There’s still broad skepticism about Diamond’s viability beyond the upcoming season.

The Yankees have no such concern about their television contract, as they’re very well positioned as co-owners of the YES Network. Their major spending deterrent is the luxury tax. New York is beyond the $297MM figure that marks the fourth tier of penalization. They’ve paid the CBT for two consecutive seasons, subjecting them to the highest penalties. The Yankees would owe a 110% tax on the average annual value of any additional signing.

That has evidently kept them from addressing a rotation that looks tenuous. Gerrit Cole will be out into May or June after experiencing elbow inflammation. New York parted with Michael King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez and Drew Thorpe in the Juan Soto trade. Their only significant rotation acquisition this offseason has been a two-year deal for Marcus Stroman.

New York announced that Nestor Cortes will take the ball on Opening Day. He’ll be followed in the rotation by Carlos Rodón, Stroman and Clarke Schmidt. The fifth spot could fall to swingman Luke Weaver or a young pitcher like Clayton Beeter, Luis Gil or Will Warren. That’s already a risky group and there’s not much proven depth if anyone else from the top four suffers an injury.

Montgomery probably wouldn’t step into the Opening Day rotation given his lack of competitive Spring Training work, but he has been incredibly durable since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2018. There’s a clear on-paper fit for a return to the Bronx. While Montgomery had some parting shots for the front office after being traded to St. Louis at the ’22 deadline, Stroman had also publicly criticized the Yankees before signing his deal. Montgomery has been loosely linked to the Red Sox and Mets in recent weeks, yet neither franchise seems keen on making a significant investment at this point of the offseason.

Reds Acquire Santiago Espinal

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The Reds acquired infielder Santiago Espinal from the Blue Jays for minor league righty Chris McElvain, both teams announced. Cincinnati has a full 40-man roster but did not immediately reveal the corresponding move.

Acquiring an infielder a week before Opening Day probably wasn’t what the Reds anticipated entering camp. For most of the offseason, it seemed likelier that Cincinnati’s infield depth would lead them to trade someone away. That was particularly true after they added corner infielder Jeimer Candelario on a three-year free agent pact.

Things have changed rather quickly. Top prospect Noelvi Marte was suspended for 80 games after a positive test for the performance-enhancing substance Boldenone. That cleared everyday third base reps for Candelario, who had previously been ticketed for action between both corner spots and designated hitter. Perhaps even more alarming than the Marte suspension was today’s announcement that expected second baseman Matt McLain received an MRI on his injured left shoulder.

The team hasn’t provided a timeline on McLain, but manager David Bell told reporters this evening that he wouldn’t be ready for the start of the season. Bell had rather ominously left open the possibility that McLain could require surgery this morning, although the team hasn’t announced anything on that front. The UCLA product is headed for a second opinion before there’ll be an official timetable.

That the Reds went outside the organization for another infielder wouldn’t seem to point towards them expecting McLain’s return in short order. While they await official word on his injury, they add a quality defender who can serve as a depth piece at any of second base, third base or shortstop.

Espinal, 29, rode a surprisingly strong first half to an All-Star selection in 2022. His overall track record suggests he’s more of a high-end utility player than a regular on a contender, though. Espinal has plus contact skills with below-average power. His career .273/.331/.367 batting line is right around league average, as measured by wRC+, but he’s coming off a down year.

The righty-hitting Espinal turned in a .248/.310/.335 slash with two homers over 254 plate appearances last season. He lost a couple weeks to right hamstring inflammation but otherwise spent the year as a versatile infielder off the bench. Espinal saw most of his action at second and third base. He has graded as an above-average to plus defender at both spots in the eyes of public defensive metrics. He’s capable of playing shortstop but wasn’t asked to do so often in Toronto, where Bo Bichette has been an everyday lineup fixture for three years.

Espinal still has a pair of minor league options, so the Reds can move him to Triple-A Louisville, but they presumably would not have parted with a pitching prospect if they didn’t anticipate him being on the major league roster. He’ll back up Jonathan India, Elly De La Cruz and Candelario while Marte and McLain are out. His acquisition doesn’t bode well for the chances of non-roster invitee Erik González breaking camp. The Reds also had Josh Harrison and Tony Kemp on minor league deals this spring. Both players opted out and returned to free agency after being informed they wouldn’t make the team.

In January, the Jays and Espinal agreed on a $2.725MM salary to avoid an arbitration hearing. That’s a fully guaranteed deal which Cincinnati agreed to absorb. RosterResource calculated their payroll around $102MM before the trade; they’re up to roughly $105MM after the deal. Espinal has a little under four years of major league service. Cincinnati can control him via arbitration for another three seasons.

Toronto offloads a few million dollars from a payroll that had been projected around $236MM. Their luxury tax number sat around $249MM. That’ll also fall by $2.725MM. As second-time tax payors, they owe a 30% fee on spending between $237MM and $257MM. Shedding Espinal’s salary also saves them around $818K in tax commitments.

Moving Espinal clears a path for the out-of-options Ernie Clement to secure a spot on the Opening Day roster. As a contact-oriented righty hitter with infield versatility, he offers a similar profile to Espinal. The Jays feared that Clement would be claimed off waivers if they tried to send him to Triple-A, particularly on the heels of a huge showing this spring.

They’ll add McElvain as a flier to the lower levels of the system. An eighth-round pick out of Vanderbilt in 2022, he worked as a starter between two A-ball levels last season. McElvain pitched to a 3.75 ERA through 96 innings, albeit with a slightly below-average 21.1% strikeout rate and a walk percentage just south of 10%. He was not among Cincinnati’s top 30 prospects at Baseball America and didn’t receive a mention on Keith Law’s analysis of the system for The Athletic.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Brandon Williamson To Begin Season On Injured List

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Reds starter Brandon Williamson will begin the season on the 15-day injured list, manager David Bell informed the Cincinnati beat on Tuesday (relayed by Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer). The left-hander departed his Spring Training start over the weekend with shoulder soreness.

There’s no indication it’s expected to be a long-term issue, but the team didn’t provide a timeline for his return. Williamson held a spot in the Reds rotation for much of last season. He started 23 games and worked 117 innings as a rookie. After being hit hard through his first eight starts, Williamson settled in as a decent back-of-the-rotation contributor. He finished his debut campaign with a 4.46 ERA, a respectable figure for a rookie pitching in one of the league’s most hitter-friendly home environments.

That came with middling peripherals, but the TCU product still had a shot of securing a season-opening rotation spot if he were healthy. With Williamson on the shelf, Bell said that fellow lefty Andrew Abbott will get a starting job. The Reds had previously been noncommittal on that, even though Abbott had a strong rookie campaign. Over 21 starts, he worked to a 3.87 ERA while punching out 26.1% of opposing hitters. The overall numbers were impressive, but Abbott’s production fell off dramatically down the stretch. He carried a 2.35 ERA into August before allowing more than six earned runs per nine in each of the final two months.

Abbott rounds out a season-opening rotation that’ll be fronted by offseason pickup Frankie Montas. The Reds announced that the hard-throwing righty will get the nod on Opening Day for his team debut. He’ll be followed in some order by Hunter Greene, Graham Ashcraft, fellow free agent signee Nick Martinez, and Abbott. Martinez has plenty of experience as both a starter and reliever. He’ll take at least one turn through the rotation but would be an option to move back to the bullpen once Nick Lodolo is ready for his season debut. The Reds have targeted the second week of April for the left-hander, who lost most of the 2023 season to a stress fracture in his left tibia.

Cincinnati was hit with bigger injury news over the weekend, as center fielder TJ Friedl was diagnosed with a fracture in his right wrist. He’ll be out for quite some time. At this stage of the offseason, there aren’t any MLB-caliber center fielders still available in free agency. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com writes that the Reds seem likely to turn to the combination of Will Benson and Stuart Fairchild to cover center field if they can’t find help outside the organization.

As a left-handed hitter, Benson would be in position for the stronger side of a possible platoon arrangement. The Reds kept him away from southpaws last season, limiting him to 44 plate appearances. Benson was excellent when put in favorable platoon situations. He hit .297/.389/.549 in a little under 300 trips versus righty pitching. That kind of production was always going to warrant a lot of play in the Cincinnati outfield. The bigger question is whether he’s capable of handling an up-the-middle position. Benson only has 88 major league innings in center field. Statcast and Defensive Runs Saved have each graded him as a roughly neutral defender in the corners.

Fairchild appeared in 97 games a year ago, hitting .228/.321/.388. He’s out of minor league options and was already set to break camp, but the Friedl injury pushes him into a more important fourth outfield role. The 28-year-old has posted roughly average offensive numbers against pitchers of either handedness in his major league career. He owns a more impressive .275/.371/.507 slash line over parts of three Triple-A campaigns.

Brown: Astros “Not Actively” Pursuing Starting Pitching

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There was a time late last week when it seemed as if Blake Snell might become an Astro. On Friday evening, reports emerged that Houston was making a push for the defending NL Cy Young winner. Ultimately, the team balked at paying upwards of $30MM per season, and Snell signed a $62MM guarnatee with the Giants. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that the Astros’ offer was for two years at less than $50MM.

Houston general manager Dana Brown now tells Chandler Rome of the Athletic that while the front office won’t rule out adding a starter, they’re “not actively doing anything” on that front. Brown made similar comments about the team’s comfort with the rotation before their late effort to land Snell, so that doesn’t rule out a move. At the same time, the GM suggested Snell was something of a unique case.

“It’s a different guy. If we have a bunch of guys that are similar to the other guys that are available, why go after them? Why pay more money for the same production? We feel like if we get Snell, that’s a huge piece, so you have to be on the market for a guy that’s a huge piece like that,” Brown said. “But the other guys that are available, they compare to all of our guys that we have depth with. I wouldn’t want to pay more money and we (already) got a guy right around the minimum or a little bit more. That wouldn’t be smart.”

That’s not really true of Jordan Montgomery, who is coming off a 3.20 ERA and has allowed fewer than four earned runs per nine in each of the past three seasons. Still, there hasn’t been any indication that Houston has had substantive interest in the southpaw at any point this offseason. It’s more debatable whether they’d get an upgrade from any of the other unsigned starting pitchers, a group led by Michael Lorenzen and Mike Clevinger. Yet even if someone like Lorenzen isn’t a marked improvement over Houston’s in-house starters, there’d be some merit to bringing in another pitcher to cover against early-season injuries.

The Astros entered camp knowing that Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. wouldn’t be factors until midway through the season. Justin Verlander is a couple weeks behind schedule due to shoulder soreness and will start the year on the injured list. That’s now also true of José Urquidy, who was diagnosed with a muscle strain in his forearm yesterday.

While forearm strains can be precursors to more serious injuries, Urquidy provided reporters with a positive update this afternoon. The righty said that multiple evaluations indicated his UCL was fully intact and that imaging mainly revealed muscular inflammation in his forearm (link via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com). Urquidy expressed his hope he could begin a throwing program within 10-14 days.

That won’t keep him off the injured list but addresses any fear the team might’ve had about Urquidy possibly needing surgery. Brown told Rome that the Astros expect Urquidy will be out of action for a little more than a month all told. Houston’s season-opening starting staff should be led by Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Hunter Brown and J.P. France. Right-handers Brandon Bielak and Ronel Blanco are the top options for the #5 role if the Astros don’t go outside the organization.

Dodgers Place Four Pitchers On Injured List

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The Dodgers finalized their roster for the Seoul Series this evening. Los Angeles didn’t make any 40-man transactions but did place four pitchers on the 10-day injured list: Walker Buehler, Emmet Sheehan, Brusdar Graterol and Blake Treinen.

None of those is all that unexpected. The Dodgers announced early in camp that they’d start Buehler on the IL so as not to push him too quickly after missing last season working back from his second Tommy John procedure. The team announced Sheehan’s injury as forearm inflammation. That’s a little surprising at first glance, considering they’d previously said he was dealing with shoulder discomfort. Fortunately, Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic reports (on X) that this isn’t a new injury and Sheehan is throwing to hitters.

Graterol and Treinen were each banged up in spring. Graterol has been delayed by hip tightness and inflammation in his throwing shoulder. The Dodgers announced the latter injury as the reason for the IL placement. Treinen suffered a bruised lung when he was hit by a comebacker in a Spring Training game on March 9.

None of the injuries seem all that serious, as the Dodgers appear to be playing things cautiously with this series. The placements could afford an opportunity for righty Landon Knack to make his major league debut. He’ll get a spot in the season-opening bullpen after the Dodgers selected his contract over the winter.

Knack, 26, was a senior sign out of East Tennessee State in 2020. The former second-round pick has posted strong numbers in his minor league career. He turned in a 2.51 ERA over 22 starts between the top two minor league levels last season.

Of course, L.A.’s more anticipated first big league outing will come on Thursday. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is tabbed to start the second game of the season opposite Joe Musgrove. It’ll be Yu Darvish and Tyler Glasnow kicking things off on Wednesday.

Padres Select Jackson Merrill, Tyler Wade

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The Padres announced their active roster for the upcoming Seoul Series against the Dodgers. As was previously reported, San Diego officially selected the contracts of prospects Jackson Merrill and Graham Pauley. The Friars also added minor league signee Tyler Wade to their 40-man roster, which is up to 39 players.

San Diego placed a trio of players on the injured list. Infielder Tucupita Marcano landed on the 10-day IL. He tore his ACL last August and is nowhere near ready. Pitchers Luis Patiño and Glenn Otto each went on the 15-day injured list. Otto has a teres major strain in his throwing shoulder; Patiño is battling elbow inflammation. San Diego also optioned reliever Woo-Suk Go to Triple-A El Paso. He won’t be on the roster for the team’s series in his home country after allowing six runs in 4 1/3 innings this spring.

Merrill, 20, will open the year as San Diego’s starting center fielder. The top prospect earned that assignment with a .351/.400/.595 showing in 13 Spring Training contests. Merrill hit .277/.326/.444 with 15 homers in 511 plate appearances between High-A and Double-A a season ago. That’s impressive production given his youth, and Merrill was regarded as one of the better pure hitters in the minors.

There’s nevertheless plenty of risk with the move. Merrill didn’t log a single inning in center field in his minor league career and has yet to play above Double-A. San Diego hasn’t been afraid of aggressively promoting its top minor league talents in recent years. Merrill should slot between Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jurickson Profar in the Opening Day lineup. San Diego is still looking into the possibility of a left field upgrade, as they were reportedly in contact with Tommy Pham over the weekend.

Wade, 29, gets back to the majors for what’ll be the eighth straight season. The lefty-hitting utilityman has primarily worked off the bench over his career with the Yankees, Angels and A’s. He appeared in 26 games with Oakland last season, hitting .255/.309/.314. Wade has a middling .217/.293/.300 batting line in just over 700 major league plate appearances.

He earned a season-opening roster spot with an impressive showing this spring. Wade hit .294/.351/.471 over 14 exhibition contests. The Padres aren’t counting on him to make much of an impact offensively, but he provides a speed and defense element off the bench. Wade can play virtually anywhere aside from catcher. He’ll offer a complement to Pauley at third base and Merrill in center field late in games. Wade is out of options, so now that he secured a 40-man spot, the Padres would need to expose him to waivers if they wanted to take him off the major league roster.

Rule 5 pick Stephen Kolek nabbed a spot in the Opening Day bullpen. He should soon get an opportunity to make his major league debut, perhaps against the team that drafted him. Kolek was an 11th-round pick of the Dodgers in 2018. L.A. dealt him to the Mariners for cash early in the 2021 campaign. Kolek turned in a 3.76 ERA over 69 1/3 innings of relief between the top two minor league levels last season. He tossed 5 2/3 scoreless frames this spring, albeit with four walks.

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