Cody Ponce Diagnosed With ACL Sprain
5:22pm: The Jays have officially placed Ponce on the 15-day IL and recalled Estrada, per a club announcement.
3:25pm: Blue Jays manager John Schneider provided an update on right-hander Cody Ponce, who departed yesterday’s game with an injury. Ponce has a sprain of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He has avoided a full tear and it’s still to be determined whether surgery will be necessary. Even if he does avoid surgery, he will miss “significant time” regardless, though the Jays are holding out hope he can pitch later in the year. Hazel Mae of Sportsnet and Mitch Bannon of The Athletic were among those to relay the information.
Time will tell exactly how it plays out as the Jays are still gathering medical opinions but it seems like Ponce is likely to miss a few months even in a best-case scenario. It’s a brutal blow for Ponce and the team. Ponce had spent the past few years overseas. He had an excellent 2025 season in Korea, giving the Hanwha Eagles 180 2/3 innings with a 1.89 ERA.
He parlayed that into a three-year, $30MM deal with the Blue Jays but that deal has begun in one of the most agonizing ways possible. Ponce was making his team debut last night when he tried to field a grounder in the third inning. He fell to the ground in obvious pain and was later carted off the field. The team initially announced his injury as right knee discomfort. It now appears he will miss the majority of the 2026 campaign, meaning his triumphant return to the majors will have to wait.
For the Jays, this adds another layer to the challenges they have been facing with their rotation depth. Each of Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber and José Berríos began the season on the injured list. The Jays were able to start the season in decent shape even without those guys, having a five-man group consisting of Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Eric Lauer, Ponce and Max Scherzer.
Now that Ponce is out, the Jays will have an opening, at least for the short term. Yesavage, Bieber and Berríos are all throwing and could potentially be back in the mix in the near future. Yesavage seems to perhaps be the closest, as he is expected to throw 45 innings over three innings in a simulated game this week.
Until one of those three is ready to return, the Jays will need a fifth starter. Per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com, the Jays don’t plan to use their off-days to run a four-man rotation, so they’ll need someone to take Ponce’s spot on Sunday. Ricky Tiedemann won’t be an option since he is also injured at the moment. The same goes for Bowden Francis, who will miss all of 2026 due to Tommy John surgery. Jake Bloss is recovering from last year’s surgery. Schneider listed Lazaro Estrada, Adam Macko, CJ Van Eyk and Chad Dallas as possibilities to start Sunday’s game.
Estrada seems likely to be recalled today, as Francys Romero of BeisbolFR reported last night. Multiple reporters, including Bannon, noted today that Estrada has a locker in the clubhouse. Ponce hasn’t been officially placed on the IL but it seems like Estrada will be recalled when that does happen. Whether Estrada is available to pitch on Sunday perhaps depends on if he is needed to log any innings between now and then. He made two appearances for the Jays last year, allowing seven earned runs in 7 1/3 innings. He also posted a 5.73 ERA in Triple-A last year.
Macko is another option already on the 40-man, although he hasn’t yet made his major league debut. He had a 5.06 ERA at Triple-A last year, pitching in a swing role. He pitched two innings of relief for Buffalo on Friday.
Van Eyk and Dallas are not on the 40-man roster, though that shouldn’t be an issue. The Jays already have two vacancies with Leo Jiménez and Angel Bastardo getting designated for assignment last week. They effectively have two more open spots since Anthony Santander and now Ponce are candidates to be moved to the 60-day injured list. Van Eyk had a 4.79 ERA in 126 Triple-A innings last year. Dallas had a strong 2023 on the farm, posting a 3.65 ERA. However, his ERA spiked to 6.21 in 2024 in a season that was cut short by injury, ultimately requiring Tommy John surgery. He just pitched three innings on Sunday, his first official game action since July of 2024.
The Jays will hope that whoever takes the spot in the coming days will be bumped out after a few turns, making it a short-term issue. The Ponce injury could also impact them in the long term. Each of Gausman, Bieber, Scherzer and Lauer are slated for free agency after this season. Berríos can opt out of his deal, though that seems unlikely at the moment. That means the 2027 rotation currently projects to include Cease, Yesavage, Ponce and Berríos, with some of the aforementioned young guys potentially stepping up.
In a perfect world, Ponce would have had a strong 2026 and established himself as a legit MLB arm going into 2027. If he ends up missing most or all of the remainder of the schedule, he will still be a question mark going into next season.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Sousa, Imagn Images
Injury Notes: Murphy, Kittredge, Lodolo, Canning, Pushard
Braves catcher Sean Murphy will be with High-A Rome tomorrow, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com. It’s not yet determined if he will begin a rehab assignment or simply take live batting practice. Either way, Bowman suggests that Murphy could be trending towards a return before the month of May. Rehab assignments for position players can last as long as 20 days.
Murphy has been hobbled by injuries the past two years and slashed .197/.293/.384 since the start of 2024. That was a notable drop from the .240/.336/.441 line he had in his career at the end of the 2023 season. Ideally, his return from September hip surgery will get him back on that previous track. Murphy was expected back at some point in May but this latest update suggests he could beat that target.
When he gets back, it could impact other players on the roster. Jonah Heim is currently backing up Drake Baldwin. It’s expected that the club will use the designated hitter spot to give regular at-bats to both Murphy and Baldwin. Perhaps they could cut Heim from the roster or keep him as a third catcher. Dominic Smith is getting time in the DH spot for now and he has performed well, though in a small sample size of two games.
Some more injury notes from around the league…
- Orioles right-hander Andrew Kittredge is set to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk tomorrow, per Jake Rill of MLB.com. He missed most of spring training due to shoulder inflammation and started the season on the IL. He posted a 3.40 earned run average last year with a 30.8% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 49.2% ground ball rate. Baltimore has Ryan Helsley in the closer’s role. Once Kittredge is off the IL, he’ll jump into a setup role alongside guys like Yennier Cano and Tyler Wells.
- Reds left-hander Nick Lodolo is set to make a rehab start on Thursday, per Charlie Goldsmith of Charlie’s Chalkboard. A blister sent the southpaw to the IL to start the year. Goldsmith suggests Lodolo could rejoin the club for their series in Miami next week, implying Lodolo would only need to make the one rehab start. Cincinnati is also without Hunter Greene to start the year, so it would be great to get Lodolo back sooner rather than later. The rotation is currently manned by Andrew Abbott, Brady Singer, Rhett Lowder, Chase Burns and Brandon Williamson.
- Padres right-hander Griffin Canning tossed three innings in a simulated game yesterday, per Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune, and will begin a rehab assignment on Saturday. Rehab assignments for pitchers can last as long as 30 days, so it seems Canning is trending towards a return in April or perhaps in early May. It was reported a few weeks ago that late April would be possible but that May or June would be more likely. Perhaps Canning is now on a path for the more optimistic end of that window.
- The Cardinals today placed right-hander Matt Pushard on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to March 30th, due to right knee patellar tendinitis. Fellow righty Gordon Graceffo was recalled as the corresponding move. It’s unclear how long Pushard is expected to be out. As a Rule 5 pick, he has to spend at least 90 days on the active roster this year or else the Rule 5 restrictions will carry over into the 2027 season.
Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images
Mets To Hire J.D. Martinez As Special Advisor
The Mets are going to hire J.D. Martinez as a special advisor to baseball operations, reports Tim Healey of The Boston Globe. Though there’s no mention of retirement, Martinez is now 38 years old and hasn’t played in the big leagues since 2024, so this seems to signal that he is moving into his post-playing days.
Martinez had a long stretch as one of the best hitters in the majors but it didn’t always seem like it would play out that way. He was drafted by the Astros with a 20th-round pick back in 2009. He made it to the big leagues in 2011 but didn’t immediately flourish. By the end of the 2013 season, he had taken 975 trips to the plate but had produced a tepid .251/.300/.387 line. That resulted in an 87 wRC+, indicating he was 13% worse than league average. Martinez was a corner outfielder without much speed, so it was hard for him to provide value when he wasn’t hitting. The Astros gave up, releasing Martinez in March of 2014.
He was scooped up by the Tigers, who signed him to a minor league deal. That allowed Detroit to benefit from Martinez breaking out offensively. He hit ten home runs in 17 Triple-A games to begin the season and was up in the majors three weeks into April. He hit 23 more home runs in the big leagues that year, slashing .315/.358/.553. He added two more long balls in the postseason, though the Tigers were eliminated by the Orioles in the ALDS.
The Tigers’ competitive window closed, though Martinez continued to perform. He hit another 38 home runs in 2015 while putting up a .282/.344/.535 line. He was selected to his first All-Star team that summer and went on to win a Silver Slugger award. In 2016, he missed time due to an elbow injury and only got into 120 games but still hit another 22 home runs and slashed .307/.373/.535.
In 2017, Martinez was an impending free agent and the Tigers were in rough shape, as they would eventually lose 95 games that year. That made Martinez a logical summer trade chip, so he was flipped to the Diamondbacks for Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcántara and Jose King.
It was a tremendous pick-up for the Snakes, as Martinez went on a torrid power binge. He hit 29 home runs in just 67 games for Arizona down the stretch, including a four-homer game on September 4th, the 18th instance of a four-homer game in major league history. He helped the Snakes win 93 games and make the playoffs, though they were ultimately knocked out by the Dodgers in the NLDS.
He finished the season with 45 home runs overall and a combined .303/.376/.690 line, giving him a fantastic platform for free agency. The midseason trade also helped, as it meant he was ineligible to receive a qualifying offer. The Red Sox gave him a $110MM deal over five years to get him to Fenway, with opt-outs after the second, third and fourth years.
The deal paid immediate dividends for Boston. Martinez hit 43 home runs for them in 2018, helping mount a strong .330/.402/.629 line. The team won 108 games and then cruised through the postseason, never losing more than one game in a series. Martinez added three playoff home runs with a .300/.403/.520 line as the Sox won the World Series for the fourth time in the 15-year span which started in 2004.
Martinez continued hitting over the course of his deal, except in the shortened 2020 season, but never used his opt-outs. He played out the entirety of the five-year pact with Boston, launching 130 home runs with a .292/.363/.526 batting line.
He returned to free agency but was limited to short-term offers ahead of his age-35 season. He signed a one-year, $10MM deal with the Dodgers for 2023. He hit 33 home runs but saw his strikeout rate jump to 31.1%, four points above his previous career high. The Dodgers won 100 games but were defeated by the Diamondbacks in the NLDS.
Martinez then joined the Mets for the 2024 season via a one-year deal, signed late in March. That was technically worth $12MM but with notable deferrals. Martinez lowered his strikeout rate by a few ticks relative to the prior season but saw his home run total essentially halved to 16, in roughly the same number of plate appearances. The Mets won 89 games and progressed as far as the NLCS before losing to the Dodgers.
Shortly after the Mets were eliminated, Martinez revealed that he thought about hanging up his spikes when he remained unsigned deep into the 2023-24 offseason.“Here I am, the team’s breaking in five days, and I don’t even have a team yet,” he said. “Your brain goes into a weird mode, where you’re like ‘Am I playing? Am I not? Am I playing? Am I not? Is this it? Am I retired?'” Going into 2025, his name popped up in some rumors but he didn’t sign anywhere and sat out the season.
Now it seems Martinez is moving into the next phase of his career. Assuming his playing days are over, he finishes his career with 6,865 plate appearances in 1,642 games played. He racked up 1,741 hits, including 331 home runs. He scored 897 runs and drove in 1,071. He made six All-Star teams, won three Silver Slugger awards and one World Series ring. FanGraphs credits him with 32.1 wins above replacement, with Baseball Reference putting him a bit lower at 30.8 WAR. B-Ref pegs his career earnings just under $154MM. He had an incredible six-year peak from 2014 to 2019 during which he slashed .307/.373/.581. His 151 wRC+ for that span was topped only by Mike Trout, among hitters with at least 2,000 plate appearances.
We at MLB Trade Rumors salute Martinez on his excellent career and wish him the best as he pivots to the next phase of his life.
Photos courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Rick Osentoski, Kim Klement, Brad Penner, Imagn Images
Brewers, Cooper Pratt Reportedly Working On Extension
The Brewers and prospect Cooper Pratt are reportedly on the verge of finalizing an eight-year contract worth $50.75MM. There will also be two club options worth about $15MM per year, though the value of those options can increase via escalators. The Brewers will need to make a corresponding move to add the Boras Corporation client to their 40-man roster.
It’s a surprising out-of-nowhere extension. Pratt is 21 years old and hasn’t made it to the majors yet. He only just made his Triple-A debut a few days ago. He wasn’t even going to be eligible for the Rule 5 draft until December of 2027.
Extensions for players with no major league experience are becoming more common but this one feels even a bit more extreme than some of the others. Most pre-debut extensions have been for guys very close to cracking the big leagues. The Brewers themselves did one with Jackson Chourio just over two years ago, an $82MM guarantee, though that one was a bit less surprising. Chourio had finished the prior season at the Triple-A level and seemed highly likely to break camp with Milwaukee in 2024 as he was one of the top three prospects in the sport.
Pratt, on the other hand, mostly features on the back of top 100 prospect lists. Baseball America is the high outlet, putting him at #50. MLB Pipeline has him at #62, ESPN at #70, The Athletic at #99 and he’s not even on the FanGraphs list. He had an okay season at Double-A last year, with a .238/.343/.348 line and 107 wRC+, and only just cracked the Triple-A level to start this season.
Perhaps it speaks to the Brewers being quite high on Pratt’s future. Though his offense was middling last year, the plate discipline was clearly good. His 12.7% walk rate and 15.2% strikeout rate were both strong figures. He only hit eight home runs but could perhaps add more power in time. He stole 31 bags last year and is considered a solid defender at shortstop.
If the Brewers have faith in Pratt’s long-term future, there’s sense in locking him up now. That’s especially true with him being a Boras client. That agency isn’t quite as extension-averse as its reputation but the extensions they have done have almost always been for guys who have reached their arbitration years. According to MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, which has data going back to 2006, the Carlos González deal from back in 2011 is the only pre-arbitration extension for a Boras client.
In that context, perhaps the Brewers felt it was worth it to take a gamble on Pratt, even though he is still so early in his career. If they waited until he had been in the big leagues for a few years, the price would go up if he had any kind of success. From the perspective of Pratt, this is a chance for him to lock up some notable earnings and stave off any chance of a bust. Perhaps he will find himself underpaid if he becomes a star, but he’s not the level of surefire, can’t-miss prospect that Chourio was. He could play out this contract, including the options, and still reach free agency after his age-30 season.
What remains to be seen is how this impacts Milwaukee’s short-term plans. Even if Pratt is signed to a big league deal, he doesn’t need to be on the active roster, as he could still be kept in the minors on optional assignment. Joey Ortiz was their everyday shortstop last year. He put up a rough .230/.276/.317 line at the plate but stole 14 bases and was credited with 12 Outs Above Average. He is still in that job and has a massive .455/.500/.455 line so far this year but in a tiny sample of 12 plate appearances.
Ortiz is still under club control for many years but the club may pivot away from him at some point if he can’t post better offense over a sustained stretch of time. He does have options and could be sent to the minors, or perhaps be moved into a utility role since he has experience at second and third base. Pratt has fairly limited experience off the shortstop position but could presumably handle second or third if the Brewers asked him to. For now, Brice Turang is a strong option at the keystone. Third base is a bit more open, with David Hamilton and Luis Rengifo in the mix at the moment.
Looking further down the road, most of those guys still have lots of club control. Rengifo is on a one-year deal but Ortiz, Turang and Hamilton aren’t slated for free agency until after 2029. Prospects Jett Williams, Jesús Made and Luis Peña are generally considered top 100 guys who will be in the mix at some point. Williams has already played at the Triple-A level, Made at Double-A and Pena at High-A. At some point over the horizon, the infield could feel quite crowded, which could perhaps lead to a trade.
In the near term, the deal could have other notable impacts. With the deal in place, the Brewers may not worry about Pratt’s service time, since he would be under club control for the ten years regardless. The Prospect Promotion Incentive could also be interesting here. Pratt would be PPI eligible since he is on the aforementioned prospect lists. Even though he missed the first few games of the season, it’s still early enough for the Brewers to call him up for a full year of service time.
However, a player who signs an extension prior to his major league debut is not eligible to earn PPI picks for his team. Unless the two sides agree to the deal in principle and then don’t officially sign it until after Pratt’s debut, then PPI is off the table.
Altogether, it’s a surprising and curious extension, one that seemingly leads to more questions than it answers. Perhaps the coming days will provide some more clarity on the deal and what it means for all the other moving pieces in Milwaukee.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today first reported that the two sides were working on an eight-year deal worth more than $50MM, including those club options. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported the specific guarantee. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that there are escalators on the options. Photos courtesy of Dave Kallmann, Imagn Images.
Guardians Designate Doug Nikhazy For Assignment
The Guardians announced that they have selected left-hander Kolby Allard to the 40-man roster. To open an active roster spot, right-hander Colin Holderman has been optioned to Triple-A Columbus. In a corresponding 40-man move, left-hander Doug Nikhazy has been designated for assignment.
Allard, 28, bounced on and off Cleveland’s roster last year in a swing role. He tossed 65 innings over 33 appearances, including two starts, with an excellent 2.63 earned run average. Maintaining an ERA in that range was likely not possible. He benefited from a 79.2% strand rate with only 5.6% of his fly balls leaving the yard. His 5.3% walk rate was good but his 15.8% strikeout rate and 38% ground ball rate were subpar. His 4.41 SIERA suggested his ERA may have been almost two full runs to the lucky side.
The Guards outrighted him off the roster at season’s end but then re-signed him to a new minor league deal. Though it’s only a few days into the season, the Guardians are probably adding Allard in case they need some length to spare the bullpen. They are in Los Angeles for three games against a tough Dodger lineup, making it possible one of their starters gets knocked out early. On top of that, there’s some concern around Tanner Bibee. The righty departed his Opening Day start after five innings due to shoulder inflammation.
Parker Messick is starting the first game against the Dodgers tonight. Manager Stephen Vogt recently said Bibee could make his scheduled start in the second game, per Tim Stebbins of MLB.com. Gavin Williams is scheduled for the third game. If someone gets knocked out early or Bibee’s shoulder flares up, Allard could be called upon to eat some innings.
The move will cost Nikhazy his spot on the 40-man roster. The 26-year-old was a second-round pick in the 2021 draft. He generally posted solid numbers on his way up the ladder. From 2022 to 2024, he logged 328 innings over 70 starts and five relief appearances with a 3.90 ERA. His 26.8% strikeout rate was quite strong but his 14.5% walk rate was not.
The Guards added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2024, to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. His results backed up last year. He posted a 5.02 ERA at the Triple-A level. His 11.1% walk rate was an improvement but still a high figure, while his 22.5% strikeout rate was a drop from his previous seasons. He made his major league debut allowed six earned runs in four innings.
Nikhazy is now bumped into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Guards could take as long as five days to see if there’s any trade interest. Nikhazy is still optionable for another two seasons, which could add to his appeal for a club looking to add depth to the minor league system. Despite his underwhelming 2025, Baseball America still ranked him as the club’s #28 prospect coming into this year.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Diamondbacks Recall Jose Fernandez For MLB Debut
The Diamondbacks announced that infielder Jose Fernandez has been recalled to the active roster. He’ll be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. He will take the spot of first baseman Pavin Smith, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list with left elbow inflammation, retroactive to March 29th.
Fernandez, now 22, was an international signing out of Venezuela in 2021. Since then, he has climbed the minor league ladder. He never really hit much but he stole some bases and played all four infield positions.
He may have taken a step forward offensively last year. He got into 122 Double-A games and stepped to the plate 511 times. His 17 home runs more than doubled his previous high, which was the seven long balls he hit in the prior season. His .272/.321/.454 batting line was still not overwhelming, translating to a 98 wRC+. However, considering his speed and his defensive abilities, it was an intriguing jump.
The Diamondbacks gave him a 40-man roster spot in November, to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. In December, FanGraphs ranked him as the #42 prospect in the system. Arizona optioned him to the minors a few weeks ago, an unsurprising move since he had no Triple-A experience coming into this year. He does have one Triple-A game under his belt now but will quickly be thrust up to the show. He was perhaps chosen by default, as he was the only position player on the 40-man roster who wasn’t already in the majors or on the injured list.
The Snakes have a regular infield of Nolan Arenado, Geraldo Perdomo, Ketel Marte and Carlos Santana from left to right. With Smith out, they don’t really have a regular designated hitter. Utility guy Ildemaro Vargas is in that spot tonight. Fernandez gives the club a bit of depth all over and could perhaps serve as a pinch runner or defensive substitute. Given that every healthy position player on the 40-man is now on the active roster, another injury in the short-term will require Arizona to add a non-roster player.
Photo courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images
Brewers Acquire Luis Matos
The Brewers announced that they have acquired outfielder Luis Matos from the Giants in exchange for cash considerations. San Francisco had designated Matos for assignment last week when setting their Opening Day roster. To open a 40-man spot for him, Milwaukee has designated left-hander Sammy Peralta for assignment. Matos is out of options, so the Brewers will also need to open an active roster spot for him when he reports to the team.
Milwaukee is buying low on a former top prospect. Matos was a fairly high profile international signing out of Venezuela and he performed well against lower-level pitching. Going into 2022, Baseball America ranked him the #73 prospect in all of baseball. In November of that year, the Giants added him to their 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.
He hasn’t been able to click in the majors. Over the past three seasons, the Giants sent him to the plate 593 times. His 14.2% strikeout rate was quite low but he also drew a walk at a subpar rate of 6.1%. He hit 15 home runs but his 231/.281/.369 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 80, putting him 20% below league average. He may have been held back by a .247 batting average on balls in play but his batted ball data wasn’t popping off the charts. His defensive metrics have been quite poor, though he’s been better in the corners than in center.
His minor league offense has been better in that time. In 823 minor league plate appearances over the past three years, he has 33 home runs and a .290/.354/.495 line. Even though most of those numbers were put up in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, wRC+ still considered him to have been 19% above league average in that time.
As he was shuttled between Triple-A and the minors, he exhausted his option years. That made it harder for the Giants to keep committing a roster spot to him. They preferred to use their bench spots to keep the power bat of Jerar Encarnación and the speed of Jared Oliva.
The Brewers will take a shot on him. They have recently gotten good results from a few guys that other clubs gave up on, with Andrew Vaughn and Jake Bauers being a couple of examples. Perhaps they can get a similar post-hype breakout from Matos. He has under two years of club control, so he can be retained through 2030 if that pans out. He will qualify for arbitration at the end of this year as a Super Two guy if he holds his spot all year.
For now, he’ll have to find some playing time in the outfield. For the moment, Milwaukee has Jackson Chourio, Steward Berroa and Akil Baddoo on the injured list. That leaves them with Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, Brandon Lockridge and Blake Perkins, with Christian Yelich perhaps playing the field on occasion when he’s not the designated hitter. One of them could be optioned to the minors to open a spot for Matos. Perkins started the season on optional assignment and was recalled when Chourio got hurt, so perhaps he will be the move.
Matos is a righty bat and he has better numbers against southpaws, so perhaps he can carve out a short-side platoon role as Mitchell and Frelick are lefties. Matos has a .238/.302/.411 line against lefties in his big league career, compared to a .226/.267/.342 slash against righties.
Peralta, 28 in May, was just claimed off waivers from the Angels in October. He was optioned to Triple-A Nashville earlier this month and therefore hasn’t appeared in a big league game for the Brewers. He has 45 2/3 innings on his track record from the previous three seasons with a 5.12 earned run average, 17.3% strikeout rate, 11.2% walk rate and 40.8% ground ball rate.
The lefty tossed 70 2/3 Triple-A innings last year. His 4.33 ERA wasn’t especially impressive but that performance came in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. His 24.1% strikeout rate, 4.8% walk rate and 45.5% ground ball rate were all decent figures. He still has an option remaining and could appeal to a club looking for some pitching depth. DFA limbo can last as long as a week but the waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Brewers could take a maximum of five days to explore trade talks.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Giants To Acquire Dylan Smith
The Giants are acquiring right-hander Dylan Smith from the Tigers, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Detroit designated him for assignment when setting their Opening Day roster last week and will get cash considerations in return. San Francisco will need to make a corresponding move to open a 40-man spot for this to become official.
Smith, 26 in May, has a limited major league track record. The Tigers added him to their 40-man roster in May of last year. He spent most of the remainder of the seasons on optional assignment and was also on the minor league injured list for a while. His major league work consisted of 13 innings over seven appearances, allowing two earned runs while surrendering six hits, five walks, hitting three batters and striking out four opponents.
His minor league track record as a reliever is also fairly limited. After being drafted in 2021, the Tigers had him working as a starter for a while. Thanks to some injuries and some mediocre numbers, he was moved to the bullpen in 2025. Around his stints in the majors and his time on the IL, he tossed 39 2/3 minor league innings with a 2.27 earned run average. His 37.7% strikeout rate was massive and his 45.5% ground ball rate was also pretty good, though his 11.3% walk rate was on the high side. His four-seamer and sinker both averaged in the mid-90s while his splitter and slider both averaged in the mid-80s.
Due to his recent move to relief work and his subpar control last year, Smith may be a bit of a project. He got squeezed off the Detroit roster but San Francisco will be the beneficiary. Smith still has a couple of options, so they can shuttle him to the minors and back fairly freely as he tries to rein in his stuff. He has just a handful of service days and could stick with the club for years to come if he takes a step forward and continues to justify a roster spot.
The Giants don’t have a lot of certainty in their bullpen. They traded away Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval last year then lost Randy Rodríguez to Tommy John surgery. They added some guys via small deals but didn’t make any massive moves to upgrade the relief corps, so there’s room for some young guys to flourish.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
Rangers Outright Dairon Blanco
Outfielder Dairon Blanco has cleared waivers and will accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Round Rock, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. Blanco was designated for assignment last week when the Rangers added Andrew McCutchen to their Opening Day roster. Blanco had a previous career outright and therefore had the right to elect free agency but he’ll waive that right and look to work his way back to the majors with Texas.
Blanco, 33, has spent his entire big league career with the Royals thus far. He served as a useful bench piece thanks to his speed and defense. He stole 59 bases in 73 attempts. He logged 733 innings in the outfield and was considered a bit better than par by both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average. His offense wasn’t a significant drag either, as his .257/.312/.416 batting line translated to a 99 wRC+, just barely below league average.
Despite those contributions, he got nudged off the Kansas City roster when they signed Starling Marte about a month ago. The Rangers claimed him off waivers and held him for a little over two weeks but, as mentioned, needed a spot for McCutchen.
Each club passed on a chance to get Blanco off waivers in recent days, even though he has options remaining. Even if he elected free agency, he would have been limited to minor league offers. Instead, he’ll just report to the Express and try to work his way back to the majors.
The Rangers have Brandon Nimmo, Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford in their outfield, with McCutchen in the mix alongside utility guys Ezequiel Durán and Sam Haggerty. They could get Cody Freeman back from the injured list in a few weeks. Alejandro Osuna and Michael Helman are depth options on the 40-man, currently in Triple-A on optional assignment. Blanco joins Nick Pratto, Mark Canha, Tyler Wade and Richie Martin as non-roster guys with some major league experience.
Photo courtesy of Peter Aiken, Imagn Images
Cubs, Nico Hoerner Agree To Extension
The Cubs and infielder Nico Hoerner have agreed to a six-year contract extension. Hoerner was slated for free agency after this year, with 2026 being the final season of his previous extension. Hoerner will make $141MM as part of his new deal, which starts in 2027 and will cover Hoerner’s age-30 to age-35 seasons before concluding in 2032. The Apex Baseball client receives a $5MM signing bonus as part of the deal, which also includes a full no-trade clause.
He will make $23MM per year in 2027 and 2028, then $22.5MM per year from 2029 through 2032. $2.5MM of Hoerner’s annual salary in the 2029-32 seasons is deferred. The deferred money in the deal knocks the net present value down to $137.5MM.
Hoerner’s pact is in the range of free agent deals for middle infielders. Trevor Story and Javier Báez each got $140MM over six. Hoerner just barely goes past those two, while coming in a bit under Marcus Semien‘s $175MM, Swanson’s $177MM and Willy Adames‘s $182MM, which were all seven-year deals.
Hoerner, 29 in May, has been the a key part of the Cubs for several years now. He doesn’t have a ton of power but provides strong offense with a consistent contact approach. Dating back to the start of 2022, he has almost 2500 plate appearances. His 6.4% walk rate and 10.2% strikeout rate are both well below league average. He only has 33 home runs in that time. But the contact approach has resulted in a .284/.339/.389 line and 105 wRC+ for that span. He finished each of those four seasons with a wRC+ from 102 to 109.
He combines that offense with strong attributes in other facets of his game. He has stolen 123 bases in that four-year span, with at least 20 in each season. Defensively, he is considered to be good enough to handle shortstop but has been bumped to the other side of the bag by the presence of Dansby Swanson. That has made him one of the best defensive second basemen in the league. Dating back to the start of 2023, the year he moved to second base, he has 32 Defensive Runs Saved and 35 Outs Above Average. The DRS total is behind only Andrés Giménez and Brice Turang, while the OAA number is behind only Giménez and Marcus Semien.
The combination is a valuable one. FanGraphs has credited him with a little more than four wins above replacement per year for a total of 17.4 fWAR since the start of 2022. He didn’t finish any of those four seasons lower than 3.8 fWAR.
Three years ago, the Cubs and Hoerner agreed to their first extension, a three-year deal worth $35MM. That was a bit of an odd deal, as it bought out Hoerner’s two arbitration seasons and then just one free agent year. Hoerner delayed his path to the open market for a relatively modest price.
As that deal played out, Hoerner became a plausible trade candidate for a few reasons. For one, he was getting closer to free agency, which often leads to increased trade speculation with many players. The Cubs also had some infield prospects pushing towards the majors, with Matt Shaw making his major league debut last year. The Cubs could have traded Hoerner to address another area of the roster, then put Shaw at second base. Given that another club could have put Hoerner at shortstop, perhaps that would have increased the trade return.
Instead, the Cubs are locking in another piece of their core. Third baseman Alex Bregman is signed through 2030 and Swanson through 2029. They agreed to a long-term deal with Pete Crow-Armstrong just a few days ago, so he’s going to be signed through 2032. Assuming this Hoerner deal starts in 2027, it will also run through 2032.
After 2026, the Cubs were facing a potentially huge amount of roster turnover. Hoerner, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Hoby Milner, Dylan Carlson, Michael Conforto and Tyler Austin are all impending free agents. Matthew Boyd, Hunter Harvey, Carson Kelly and Caleb Thielbar all have mutual options for 2027 but those are almost never picked up by both sides, so they should all be considered impending free agents as well. That is still something the club will have to plan for but locking in Hoerner takes one thing off the to-do list.
One player who could be impacted by this deal is Shaw. He played third base last year but the Bregman signing bumped him into a utility role for 2026. With Hoerner’s impending free agency, it was possible to imagine that being a one-year arrangement, as Shaw could then take over at the keystone starting in 2027. That’s no longer possible.
Shaw is going to be playing some outfield this year, so perhaps he could take over a corner next year with the impending departures of Happ and Suzuki, though that depends on him proving viable on the grass. He is still under club control for six seasons, so it’s also possible to imagine him being a future trade chip, if he could find a better path to infield playing time with another club.
Hoerner would have made for a fascinating free agent case. Second basemen normally don’t get massive paychecks in free agency but Hoerner could have marketed himself as a shortstop and perhaps some clubs would have viewed him as one. Teams also normally pay more for power than contact. A speed-and-defense profile can get paid but it’s also risky since those attributes fade over time. It would have been a unique free agency test case but that’s moot now.
The 2026-27 free agent class is particularly light in terms of hitters. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently took a look at the group in a post for Front Office subscribers. While recent offseasons have had clear standout bats like Corey Seager, Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto and Kyle Tucker, the upcoming winter doesn’t quite have that kind of star power. Franco highlighted Bo Bichette, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Trent Grisham, Daulton Varsho and Hoerner as the top position players in the class.
Hoerner certainly would not have been the best hitter in that bunch but the speed and defense put him up there in terms of overall value. Teams looking for middle infield help next winter will have to cross one name off what was already a somewhat flimsy list.
As of this writing, the numbers on the deal have not been reported. That makes it difficult to assess the long-term impact for the Cubs. What can be said is that they do have a good amount of payroll space available in the future. As mentioned, they have long-term commitments to Swanson, Bregman and Crow-Armstrong but that’s essentially it. Phil Maton and Shelby Miller are the only other players with guaranteed deals for 2027. By 2028, it’s just Bregman, Swanson and Crow-Armstrong.
Photos courtesy of Michael McLoone, David Banks, Imagn Images
Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation was first to report that Hoerner and the Cubs had an agreement in place. Jesse Rogers of ESPN reported that the deal was for six seasons, while Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the $141MM guarantee. Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that there was deferred money in the deal, while Joel Sherman of The New York Post first reported the contract breakdown. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was first to report that the deal includes a full no-trade clause.