Astros To Select Christian Vázquez
The Astros are going to open the season with Christian Vázquez as their backup to catcher Yainer Diaz, manager Joe Espada tells Matt Kawahara of The Houston Chronicle. He had been in camp on a minor league deal. César Salazar has been informed he won’t make the team. Since Salazar is out of options, he’ll need to be removed from the 40-man, which means he’ll be traded or placed on waivers in the coming days.
Vázquez, 35, has over a decade of big league experience under his belt. He’s probably not going to provide much offensively at this point in his career. He has had some good performances with the bat before but has a combined .215/.267/.311 line dating back to the start of the 2023 season. That’s why he had to settle for a minor league deal coming into 2026. He was playing for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic at the time of that pact. He put up a flat .250/.250/.250 line in that tournament and then slashed .222/.364/.222 in 11 spring plate appearances with the Astros.
But he is considered one of the better defensive catchers in the game. He’s been credited with 64 Defensive Runs Saved since the start of 2014, his debut season. Only three other catchers are ahead of him in that category. One of them is Buster Posey, who retired long ago and is now running the Giants’ front office. Another is Roberto Pérez, who hasn’t played in the majors since 2023. The other is Austin Hedges. Vázquez generally ranks near the top of framing leaderboards as well.
The Astros are known as an organization that values catcher defense, as they have often rostered glove-first guys like Jason Castro and Martín Maldonado. They acquired Vázquez at the 2022 deadline and went on to win that year’s World Series, after which Vázquez signed a three-year, $30MM deal with the Twins. That deal didn’t really pan out the way the Twins hoped due to the aforementioned decline in his offense but Vázquez still has enough of a reputation to get back to the majors with Houston.
Rostering Vázquez means the Astros may be ending their relationship with Salazar. He has appeared in 36 games for the Astros over the past three years, putting up a .232/.318/.268 line in 67 plate appearances. He was considered a strong defender as a prospect but has only been able to log 143 2/3 innings behind the plate as a big leaguer.
As mentioned, he is out of options, meaning he can’t be sent to the minors unless he first clears waivers. It’s possible some other club could be interested. He does have the aforementioned strong defensive reputation. He hasn’t hit much in the majors yet but has a .238/.369/.389 line and 113 wRC+ at the Triple-A level dating back to the start of 2024. If any club were to pick him up, he could be controlled for another five seasons and is also two years away from qualifying for arbitration.
If he were to clear waivers, the Astros could keep him as non-roster depth. He doesn’t have three years of service time and doesn’t have a previous career outright, so he wouldn’t have the right to elect free agency. The Astros would probably be happy if that happened, as they don’t have any other catchers on their roster. Carlos Pérez is their only non-roster backstop with big league experience.
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Brewers Acquire Jake Woodford
The Brewers have acquired right-hander Jake Woodford from the Rays, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. It had been reported by Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times that Woodford had triggered the upward mobility clause in his minor league deal with Tampa. The Rays receive right-hander K.C. Hunt in return. Milwaukee placed outfielder Akil Baddoo on the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Woodford, per McCalvy.
Woodford, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Rays in November. It was recently reported that the deal contained an upward mobility clause. When such a clause is triggered, a player has to be offered up to the other teams in the league. If any of them are willing to give the player a roster spot, the signing club must either trade him or add him to their own roster. In this case, it seems the Brewers were willing to add him, while the Rays preferred a trade to holding on.
The righty’s best seasons to date came in St. Louis. Over the 2021 and 2022 campaigns, he gave the Cardinals 116 innings, allowing 3.26 earned runs per nine. His 15.4% strikeout rate wasn’t good but he induced grounders on 45.8% of balls in play and limited walks to a 7.5% clip.
The past three years have been a struggle, with Woodford finishing all three with an ERA above 6.00. Unsurprisingly, he had to settle for a minor league deal this winter. He threw 7 1/3 innings in camp for the Rays, allowing one earned run while allowing four hits, two walks, hitting one batter while striking out five.
For what it’s worth, his velocity has ticked up slightly. He had mostly been around 92 miles per hour with his four-seamer and sinker in his career. With the Diamondbacks last year, he got both pitches above 93 mph. He’s been around 94 mph in spring training this year.
The Brewers will take a flier on him to see if that helps him unlock a new gear. Milwaukee has a huge amount of flexibility on the pitching staff. Prior to this deal, Brandon Woodruff and Rob Zastryzny were the only guys on the 40-man who can’t be optioned to the minors. The latter is going to begin the season on the injured list.
Woodford is out of options, so he will be on the active roster, perhaps holding a spot as other arms are shuttled on and off. The club has a reputation for helping pitchers find the best versions of themselves. If they can do that with Woodford and he holds a spot all year, he can be retained for next season via arbitration, though Woodford will obviously have to put up some good numbers before that becomes a consideration. If the club wants to remove him from the 26-man roster at some point, he’ll also have to be removed from the 40-man.
Hunt, 25, spent last year as a starter at the Double-A level. He made 26 starts and logged 121 1/3 innings with a 4.45 ERA, 23.8% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 45.7% ground ball rate. FanGraphs ranked him the #51 prospect in the system a few months ago, projecting him as likely to end up as a depth starter. The Rays presumably feel it’s a decent outcome to turn a veteran on a minor league deal into a somewhat notable prospect, even if he doesn’t project to be a future star.
Baddoo was signed to a major league deal this offseason but he suffered a left quad strain a little over a week ago. It’s evidently a pretty bad strain, as this transaction rules him out until at least late May. The Brewers will start the season with Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick and Garrett Mitchell in the outfield. Christian Yelich will be out there occasionally, when he’s not the designated hitter. Brandon Lockridge will be on the bench. Blake Perkins has been optioned to Triple-A and will likely be the first man up if someone gets injured.
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Parker Mushinski Re-Signs With Rockies
March 24: The Rockies announced Tuesday that Mushinski has re-signed on a new minor league contract. He’ll presumably open the season with their Triple-A club.
March 22: Left-hander Parker Mushinski was in camp with the Rockies on a minor league deal but is now heading back to free agency. Thomas Harding of MLB.com reports that the southpaw has been informed that he won’t break camp with Colorado and will now opt out of his deal.
Mushinski, 30, had a camp of extremes. He racked up some strikeouts but also saw a lot of runs cross the plate. In 8 2/3 innings, he struck out 12 opponents but allowed ten earned runs via 11 hits and four walks. His .391 batting average on balls in play and 41% strand rate point to some poor luck in that small sample.
The Rockies had an awful pitching staff in 2025 and certainly had room for some new arms but they couldn’t find a spot for Mushinski. They’ll go into 2026 with Brennan Bernardino as the only lefty in their bullpen. Luis Peralta and Welinton Herrera are on the 40-man roster but will begin the season on optional assignment.
Mushinski’s major league track record consists of 33 innings pitched for the Astros over the 2022 through 2024 seasons. In that time, he has a 5.45 earned run average, 17.4% strikeout rate, 8.1% walk rate and 45.2% ground ball rate. He spent the 2025 season with the Guardians on a minor league deal. He tossed 50 Triple-A innings with a 3.78 ERA, huge 29.6% strikeout rate and strong 47.9% ground ball rate, but an ugly 14.8% walk rate.
He’ll head to the open market to see what opportunities await him now. There’s a ton of roster shuffling happening this week as clubs make their final decisions before Opening Day. As some guys get released or head to waivers, some clubs may find themselves light on lefty relief.
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Tigers Sign Connor Seabold, Transfer Beau Brieske To 60-Day IL
6:27pm: Seabold will break camp, manager A.J. Hinch tells Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press.
5:00pm: The Tigers announced that they have signed right-hander Connor Seabold to a split contract worth $800K at the big-league level. It hasn’t been reported what he would make if sent to the minors. To open a 40-man spot for Seabold, fellow righty Beau Brieske has been placed on the 60-day injured list with a left adductor strain.
Seabold, 30, quickly finds a new landing spot. He was in camp with the Blue Jays on a minor league deal but triggered a release clause in that deal and was cut loose a couple of days ago. Now he has landed a new deal and also gets a roster spot, at least for the moment.
He is out of options and can’t be easily sent to the minors. If he were to be passed through waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency since he has a previous career outright. However, he doesn’t have enough service time to both elect free agency and keep his salary commitments in tact. Since this is a split deal, it’s possible the minor league salary is notable enough that Seabold wouldn’t want to walk away from it.
Seabold’s track record to date isn’t especially impressive. He has thrown 119 innings, allowing 7.79 earned runs per nine. However, a decent chunk of that sample was at Coors Field, as Seabold pitched 87 1/3 innings for the Rockies in 2023.
It’s possible the Tigers are betting on a recent velocity spike. As reported by Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet, the Jays were hoping to have Seabold serving in a multi-inning kind of role this year until his velo ticked up early in camp. He has averaged 92 to 93 miles per hour in his big league career but was suddenly hitting 96, with good induced vertical break to boot, so the Jays pivoted to considering him for a bullpen gig. The Jays also helped him add a slider. He faced 33 batters during official spring action and struck out 13 of them, a 39.4% clip.
It’s obviously a small sample and Seabold also walked four batters, hit three more and posted a 6.75 ERA. The Jays weren’t impressed enough to give him a roster spot even though they could have made it work. But perhaps there’s something to be unlocked with the extra life. If not, the Tigers are only committed to paying him barely above the league minimum for as long as he holds a roster spot.
As for Brieske, injuries wiped out most of his spring training. He was initially held back by some rib cage tightness. He overcame that issue and got back on the mound about two weeks ago but then a groin strain pulled him off again.
His exact timeline isn’t clear but his adductor strain is evidently serious enough that the Tigers don’t expect him back before late May. Since he effectively missed spring training, only making three appearances, he will presumably take some time to ramp up once he is healthy. Exceptions are sometimes made for guys recovering from UCL surgery but rehab assignments for pitchers are usually capped at 30 days.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Rockies Release John Brebbia
The Rockies announced that right-hander John Brebbia has been released from his minor league deal. It’s unclear if he triggered an opt-out or was simply let go. In either case, he’ll head to free agency in search of his next opportunity.
Brebbia has some good seasons on his track record but is coming off a couple of rough campaigns, which is why he had to settle for a minor league deal with Colorado, no pitcher’s first choice for a landing spot. He was looking to bounce back but his results in camp were mixed. On the one hand, he struck out 11 of the 37 batters he faced, a strong 29.7% clip. He hit one batter but did not issue a walk. On the other hand, he allowed three home runs. That led to seven earned runs crossing the plate in nine innings.
That evidently wasn’t enough for him to earn a spot with the Rockies, so he’ll be looking for opportunities elsewhere. The interest he receives will mostly be based on his past results. As mentioned, his recent work hasn’t been great. Since the start of 2024, he has a 6.41 earned run average. From 2017 to 2023, he logged 299 2/3 innings with a 3.42 ERA, 25.5% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate.
Since his past two seasons have been such a challenge, he’ll surely be limited to minor league offers in the coming days. He may even circle back to the Rockies on a new deal. Those kinds of reunions are fairly common when guys get cut just before Opening Day.
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JJ Wetherholt To Make Cardinals’ Opening Day Roster
Infield prospect JJ Wetherholt has made the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster. President of baseball operations Chaim Bloom passed the news along to reporters, including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. Infielders Thomas Saggese and José Fermín as well as outfielder Nathan Church will also break camp with the club, though outfielder Nelson Velázquez will be assigned to Triple-A Memphis. A corresponding move will be necessary to open a spot for Wetherholt.
The news on Wetherholt is notable but not surprising. It has seemed all winter long as though the Cards had planned for him to get a shot in the big leagues. They cleared out their roster this winter by trading guys like Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan. Those trade were partly for cost savings but also to open some playing time for younger players as the Cards are rebuilding and need to assess their young guys in a major league environment.
Wetherholt was one of the main guys who needed some room. The seventh overall pick of the 2024 draft, he climbed to the cusp of the majors last year. He split his time between Double-A and Triple-A, making 496 plate appearances in total. His 14.5% walk rate was excellent and almost as high as his 14.7% strikeout rate. He produced a combined .306/.421/.510 batting line, which translated to a 154 wRC+. He stole 23 bases on the year. His defense at shortstop was considered good enough for him to stay there as a big leaguer but he also played some second and third base.
As the 2026 season drew closer and the annual top 100 lists came out, Wetherholt was in the top 10 of most of them. But at the beginning of the season, the Cards had a fairly crowded infield. Masyn Winn is one of the best defensive shortstops on the majors and is controlled for another four seasons. They had Arenado at third. Donovan could bounce around the diamond but played second base more than any other spot.
As mentioned, the Cards clarified their roster picture over the winter and opened a spot for Wetherholt, though Wynn’s glovework is so strong that he never seemed at risk of being unseated at short. It felt likely that Nolan Gorman would take over at third, with Wetherholt the favorite for the second base gig. In camp, Wetherholt hit two home runs and also drew walks in 20.5% of his 44 plate appearances. Though he was held back by a .200 batting average on balls in play, he still produced a .212/.386/.394 line and 115 wRC+.
That performance was enough to solidify the expected plan, so the Cards will indeed open the season with Wetherholt on the roster. By giving him an Opening Day spot, they will keep the Prospect Promotion Incentive on the table. Since Wetherholt is a consensus top 100 guy, if he spends enough time on the big league roster to earn a full service year this season, he could net the Cards an extra draft pick by winning Rookie of the Year or finishing top three in MVP voting during his pre-arbitration seasons.
That will be a secondary concern. For the Cards, the focus is on putting together a core that can get them back to contention. Ideally, Wetherholt will be a big part of that in the long run, though sometimes even the best prospects don’t find immediate success. The Cards are in a position to let him get a lot of reps in order to maximize the chances of him getting acclimated to the big leagues.
As for the other moves, the Velázquez decision is perhaps the most surprising. In the offseason, the Cards had been looking to add a right-handed complement for their outfield, as Lars Nootbaar and Victor Scott II are both lefties. They didn’t sign any such player to a major league deal but brought Velázquez into camp as a non-roster invitee. As of a week ago, it seemed likely that Velázquez would be getting a spot, especially with Nootbaar slated to start the season on the injured list.
Velázquez put up a monster .357/.449/.667 line in spring training but that evidently wasn’t enough. Perhaps that’s due to roster concerns. As mentioned, the Cards need to open one 40-man spot for Wetherholt. Nootbaar is going to start the season on the 10-day IL but there hasn’t been anything to suggest he will need a move to the 60-day IL. Hunter Dobbins is still rehabbing a torn ACL from last year. It’s unclear how much longer it will take for him to be game ready.
Unless Dobbins ends up on the 60-day IL, the Cards will have to remove someone to make room for Wetherholt, whether that’s a trade or designating someone for assignment. Adding Velázquez would have meant another such move. It doesn’t appear Velázquez has any kind of opt-out in his deal, so the Cards will send him to the minors and keep him around without using a roster spot.
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T.J. McFarland Announces Retirement
After over a decade in the big leagues, T.J. McFarland is hanging up his spikes. The left-hander announced his retirement on Instagram today, thanking his wife, parents, family, friends, teammates and the clubs who employed him for all their support throughout his time as a professional ballplayer.
McFarland wraps up a career of more than a decade. A relative soft tosser by today’s standards, his velocity topped out in the low 90s and he didn’t strike many guys out. But he had great control and was one of the best arms in the league when it came to inducing ground balls. His earned run average wobbled from year to year, as ground balls are less reliable than strikeouts since they need to be hit towards fielders who can regularly convert them into outs. McFarland had three seasons with an ERA under 3.00 and five above 5.00, but he was generally effective on the whole.
His professional career began when he was a fourth-round pick of Cleveland in 2007, taken out of Amos Alonzo Stagg High School in Palos Hills, Illinois. He worked his way up the minor leagues as a starter. He was left unprotected in the 2012 Rule 5 draft. The Orioles took him and plugged him into their bullpen. He stuck on the roster all season long in 2013, throwing 74 2/3 innings over 38 appearances with a 4.22 ERA. His 17.5% strikeout rate was well shy of league average but he generated grounders on 57.8% of balls in play. He stuck with the Orioles in 2014 and dropped his ERA to 2.76 with fairly similar rate stats. But that ERA ticked up to 4.91 in 2015 and then 6.93 the year after.
He was released ahead of the 2017 season and landed with the Diamondbacks. His 5.33 ERA that year wasn’t especially impressive but he was back with the Snakes in 2018 and posted a flat 2.00 ERA over 72 innings. The seesaw nature of his career then flung him in the other direction, as he had a 4.82 ERA in 2019. That may have been related to the juiced balls in that season, as McFarland’s 17.1% home run to fly ball ratio was the highest of his career.
He was put on waivers after that campaign, getting claimed by the Athletics. He posted a 4.35 ERA for the A’s in that shortened season as the club won the American League West. He got to make his postseason debut, tossing two scoreless innings, though the A’s were knocked out by the Astros in the Division Series.
He became a free agent going into 2021. He was with the Nationals on a minor league deal for a while but then got back to the majors with the Cardinals. He gave them 38 2/3 innings with a 2.56 ERA. The Cards snagged a Wild Card spot, which meant a single-game playoff at that time.
Facing the Dodgers, the Cards would eventually fall with McFarland given the tough-luck loss. He was sent into a tied game in the bottom of the ninth. He got Albert Pujols and Steven Souza Jr. to line out then walked Cody Bellinger. Alex Reyes was brought in to face the right-handed Chris Taylor, who hit a walk-off home run. Since Bellinger was technically the winning run, the L went next to McFarland’s name in the boxscore.
Despite that bitter ending, the Cards clearly liked what McFarland gave them. They brought him back for 2022 via a $2.5MM deal, the largest of McFarland’s career. Unfortunately, he was dragged by one of his patented ERA swings. He was released in August with a 6.61 ERA and then re-signed with the Cards on a minor league deal. In 2023, he was mostly stuck in the minors, making just three appearances for the Mets midsummer.
Another bounceback came in 2024. He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers but was traded to the A’s just before Opening Day and given a roster spot. He made 79 appearances for that club’s final season in Oakland with a 3.81 ERA. He re-signed with that club, a one-year deal worth $1.8MM, going into 2025. His ERA jumped up once more, getting to 6.89 that year, before he was released in July.
Overall, McFarland appeared in 460 major league games and logged 546 1/3 innings with a 4.18 ERA. His 13.7% strikeout rate was well below average but his 7.3% walk rate was quite good and his 61.7% ground ball rate was elite. Among pitchers with at least 500 innings pitched from 2013 to 2025, only Clay Holmes and Framber Valdez induced grounders at a higher rate than McFarland. He had a 26-20 record and earned one save and 68 holds. Baseball Reference pegs his career earnings a bit north of $12MM. We at MLB Trade Rumors salute McFarland on his fine career and wish him the best with whatever comes next.
Photos courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Jeff Curry, Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images
Carson Benge To Make Mets’ Roster
Outfield prospect Carson Benge is going to break camp with the Mets, reports Mike Puma of The New York Post. He will be the starting right fielder on Opening Day, per Chelsea Janes of SNY. The Mets will need to open a 40-man spot in order to officially select Benge’s contract.
The move is notable but not shocking. During the offseason, president of baseball operations David Stearns consistently said that Benge would have a chance to break camp with the club. The 19th overall pick from 2024, he mashed his way through High-A and Double-A last year.
He seemed to stall out at Triple-A, with a .178/.272/.311 line in 24 games to finish the year, but there were reasons to not worry about that too much. His 18.4% strikeout rate was good and his 8.7% walk rate around average. His .188 batting average on balls in play was tiny. It seemed more like fluky bad luck than a young hitter being overmatched.
The Mets, as mentioned, wanted to leave a path open for him to reach the big leagues. They did bring in some contingency plans. They signed Mike Tauchman to a minor league deal. MJ Melendez got a 40-man spot but still has an option. It felt like the right field job would be Benge’s to lose and he didn’t do anything to lose it. He hit .366/.435/.439 in Grapefruit League action. That line got some help from an unsustainable .469 BABIP but the Mets were trending towards giving Benge the job as long as he didn’t look overwhelmed.
Melendez was optioned to the minors last week. The Mets were perhaps trending towards rostering both Benge and Tauchman, but the latter tore the meniscus in his left knee a few days ago. That only gave Benge a firmer hold on the job.
There’s always risk in handing a job over to a prospect, as even some very talented young players struggle when first called up, but Benge has shown he deserves a shot. Even including his Triple-A swoon, he hit a combined .281/.385/.472 last year for a 150 wRC+. He stole 22 bases. His defensive abilities are considered strong enough for him to be a plus corner outfielder and maybe even a decent center fielder. He’ll begin the season in right but it’s not out of the question that he eventually spends a decent amount of time in the middle spot with center field manned by the oft-injured Luis Robert Jr..
By carrying Benge on the Opening Day roster, the Mets will open up the possibility of the Prospect Promotion Incentive. He’s a consensus top 25 prospect in the league. If he stays in the majors for enough of the campaign to earn a full year of service, he could net the Mets an extra draft pick by winning Rookie of the Year or with a top three finish in MVP voting during his pre-arbitration seasons.
If things don’t go well with Benge, then the Mets will have to turn to some backup plans. Tauchman has an opt-out in his minor league deal but presumably won’t trigger it while hurt, so he’ll be back in the mix whenever he’s healthy again. Melendez will be on optional assignment in Triple-A, alongside Jared Young and Nick Morabito. Brett Baty is going to be in a super utility role now that Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien are at third and second base respectively. Tyrone Taylor will be on the bench as a glove-first fourth outfielder. The Tauchman injury might also allow Vidal Bruján to stick on the bench in a utility role.
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Phillies Shopping Garrett Stubbs
The Phillies are going to start the season with Rafael Marchán as J.T. Realmuto‘s backup catcher. That will squeeze out Garrett Stubbs. Marcus Hayes of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Phils will try to trade Stubbs to another club before Opening Day rosters need to be set on Wednesday.
Realmuto has taken the majority of the playing time behind the plate in Philadelphia for seven seasons now. He became a free agent after last year’s campaign but re-signed with the Phils on a new three-year deal.
Stubbs and Marchán have both served as his backup in recent years, often with the other getting regular playing time in the minors. Marchán exhausted his final option season in 2024 and Stubbs exhausted his final option last year. Going into 2026, push would have to come to shove if all three were healthy at the end of camp.
If seems that the Phils will keep Marchán going forward, which is understandable. He is 27 years old, whereas Stubbs will turn 33 in May. Marchán also comes with an extra year of club control, as he can be retained through 2028, while Stubbs is slated for free agency after 2027. Marchán has also fared better with the bat, with a .245/.308/.394 line and 93 wRC+ in his career, compared to a .215/.293/.310 line and 70 wRC+ for Stubbs. Marchán’s defense also grades out a bit better than Stubbs.
The Phils will see if there’s another club out there in need of catching help with interest in Stubbs. Market forces might be working against them as Stubbs isn’t the only out-of-options catcher available right now. The Twins are shopping Alex Jackson. The White Sox aren’t going to roster Korey Lee, so he should be available as well. It seems like Andrew Knizner might get cut loose by the Mariners. The Mets will probably have to put Ben Rortvedt on waivers this week.
It’s possible that Stubbs ends up on waivers and sticks with the Phils in a non-roster capacity. As a player with at least three years of big league service time, Stubbs would have the right to elect free agency after clearing outright waivers. However, since his service clock is under five years, he would have to forfeit his remaining salary commitments by heading to the open market.
Stubbs and the Phils avoided arbitration in November by agreeing to a deal that pays him $925K in the majors and $575K in the minors. That latter figure is pretty close to the major league minimum, which will be $780K this year, and well north of the $36K Triple-A minimum. Given the numbers on that deal, it seems there would be a decent chance he sticks around in the event he clears waivers. If he does end up elsewhere, the top depth options for the Phils will be Mark Kolozsvary and René Pinto, who have both been signed to minor league deals.
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Pirates Finalize Pitching Staff
The Pirates finalized their Opening Day pitching decisions, with Jason Mackey of MLB.com covering the notable details. Carmen Mlodzinski will get a rotation spot while José Urquidy and Hunter Barco will start the season in the bullpen and Mike Clevinger will head to Triple-A. Alex Stumpf reports that Clevinger had an upward mobility clause in his minor league deal but it appears that didn’t lead to a roster spot with any of the 30 clubs in the league.
The Bucs went into the winter with loads of pitching and used that to bolster their position player group. They included Mike Burrows in the three-team trade that netted them Brandon Lowe and Jake Mangum, as well as reliever Mason Montgomery. They flipped Johan Oviedo to the Red Sox in a five-player trade, with the headliner for the Bucs being outfielder Jhostynxon García. They still have a strong front four consisting of Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft. By the end of camp, Mlodzinski, Urquidy, Barco and Clevinger appeared to be battling for the final spot.
Mlodzinski enters the season with a 3.25 earned run average in 185 2/3 innings as a swingman. He has struck out 21.7% of batters faced while giving out walks at an 8.2% clip, both fairly average marks. His 47.1% ground ball rate is a few ticks north of par.
There seems to be some belief he could find a new gear. Mlodzinski tells Mackey that he’s feeling much better now compared to a year ago thanks to the development of his splitter and curveball. He threw both of those pitches at the big league level for the first time last year. It’s hoped that the more diverse arsenal can help him find more success as he turns a lineup over. Mlodzinski has allowed a line of .214/.281/.294 when facing a lineup for the first time as a starter but a massive .381/.422/.607 line the second time through.
For what it’s worth, he had a great camp. Spring performances always need to be taken with a grain of salt but he posted a 2.92 ERA with a 25% strikeout rate, 3.6% walk rate and 56.8% ground ball rate. The Bucs will give him a chance to carry that forward into the regular season.
Jared Jones will be returning from his surgery at some point in the coming months and will need a rotation spot but other injuries will likely pop up between now and then. Mlodzinski does still have an option and could be sent to the minors but that’s also true of Ashcraft, Chandler and Jones. Time will tell how it all shakes out.
For now, there are domino effects for the other guys who were in the mix. Urquidy has had a decent career but missed most of 2024 and 2025 recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Bucs gave him a big league deal but he didn’t have a good camp, allowing 11 earned runs in 10 2/3 innings. He’ll seemingly start the season as a long reliever, presumably for mop-up duty.
As for Barco, it’s a bit of a surprise to see him on the Opening Day roster. He has options and is still expected to be a valuable starter in the long run, so there was an argument for having him stretched out in Triple-A.
Mackey suggests his path forward could mirror that of Ashcraft, who tossed 69 2/3 innings in the majors last year and 48 1/3 in the minors. The major league work was split between eight starts and 18 bullpen appearances, most of which were for more than an inning. Ashcraft went into 2025 having never thrown more than 73 innings in a season. He got to 118 last year, between his minor league starts and that big league hybrid role. That should put him in place to jump to something resembling a full starter’s workload in 2026.
Barco got to 102 1/3 innings last year between the majors and minors, a personal high for him. Ideally, he will push that up this year in order to keep building towards a full starter’s workload. For now, that will be in the big league bullpen. He has options and could be sent down for regular Triple-A work at some point or perhaps injuries will open a rotation role in the majors.
As for Clevinger, it’s been a few years since he was an effective starter in the big leagues, which is why he had to settle for a minor league deal this offseason. His velocity was up this spring, an encouraging sign, but the results weren’t enough to grab a roster spot. He struck out 25% of batters faced in spring games but also gave out walks at a 16.7% clip and posted a 5.02 ERA.
He’ll presumably be in the Triple-A rotation, staying ready for a potential call-up at some point. The fact that he’s not on the 40-man roster could work against him. Thomas Harrington and Wilber Dotel have 40-man spots and will also be making Triple-A starts while on optional assignment.
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