Blue Jays Acquire Tyler Fitzgerald
The Blue Jays and Giants have each announced that utilityman Tyler Fitzgerald has been traded to the Jays in exchange for cash considerations. Fitzgerald has been optioned to the Jays’ Triple-A affiliate. Toronto has an open spot on its 40-man roster, so no corresponding move was necessary.
San Francisco designated Fitzgerald for assignment earlier this week, and today’s deal officially ends a tenure that began when the Giants made Fitzgerald a fourth-round pick in the 2019 draft. He made his MLB debut in the form of 10 games in 2023, and seemingly had a breakout in 2024 when he hit .280/.334/.497 over 341 plate appearances. Fitzgerald also hit 15 homers and stole 17 bases in 21 attempts, and he finished the season with a 132 wRC+ and 3.0 fWAR.
Perhaps the key statistic, however, was Fitzgerald’s .380 BABIP. Reality may have sunk in last season, as Fitzgerald’s BABIP fell to a more standard .299, and his offensive production cratered. Fitzgerald hit .217/.278/.327 over 243 PA in 2025, translating to a 72 wRC+. The Giants used Fitzgerald as their regular starting second baseman in the early part of the season, but he was optioned to Triple-A in June, and played in only 15 MLB games after June 29 after being repeatedly called up and sent back down to the minors.
A left rib fracture sent Fitzgerald to the 10-day injured list for a little over two weeks at the start of May, which ended up being the demarcation line of his season. Fitzgerald was hitting a respectable .284/.341/.432 in 90 PA before the IL trip, so he was never the same after his rib issue.
The Giants’ offseason signing of Luis Arraez to play second base assured that Fitzgerald would be a bench option at best in San Francisco this season. The team started him at Triple-A to begin the season, and then decided to move on entirely via the DFA route.
The big majority of Fitzgerald’s MLB playing time has come at shortstop, but he has seen time at every position on the diamond except catcher. This versatility makes him a useful depth option for a Blue Jays club that doesn’t really have a true backup infielder on their current 26-man roster. Toronto has a set everyday infield of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ernie Clement, Andres Gimenez, and Kazuma Okamoto. Davis Schneider and Addison Barger can respectively play second or third base when they’re not in the outfield, and Clement can be a backup shortstop if Schneider is at second base.
After the out-of-options Leo Jimenez was traded to the Marlins, Rafael Lantigua and prospect Josh Kasevich (both at Triple-A Buffalo) became Toronto’s top utility infield options, though neither player is on the 40-man roster. Fitzgerald’s addition gives the Jays a player they can move back and forth between Triple-A and the bigs, as Fitzgerald has one more minor league option year remaining.
Rockies Claim Sammy Peralta From Brewers
The Rockies have claimed left-hander Sammy Peralta off the Brewers’ waiver wire, Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Colorado has officially announced the move, and shifted right-hander McCade Brown to the 60-day injured list to create space for Peralta on the 40-man roster. Peralta has been optioned to the Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate.
The Brew Crew designated Peralta for assignment earlier this week to open up a 40-man roster spot for the newly-acquired Luis Matos. Peralta’s tenure with the Brewers will end after two Triple-A appearances and zero big league games, as Milwaukee just claimed Peralta off waivers from the Angels last October.
Appearing in each of the last three MLB seasons, Peralta’s resume in the Show consists of 30 appearances and 45 2/3 innings with the White Sox and Angels from 2023-25. He has a 5.12 ERA, 17.3% strikeout rate, and 11.2% walk rate, and Peralta has averaged only 89.3mph on his fastball during his brief time in the majors.
Peralta drastically cut back on his fastball in 2025 and also cut back on his changeup usage, instead incorporating a sinker a third of the time and boosting his slider up to a 49% usage rate, without any real change in results. While his ERA jumped from 4.80 in 2024 with the Sox to 7.59 with the Angels in 2025, Peralta’s underlying metrics didn’t change much, so his change in pitch repertoire didn’t have any impact on his performance either under the hood or in terms of bottom-line results.
Peralta routinely pitches multiple innings in relief, making him a useful depth option for the Rockies’ bullpen. Brennan Bernardino is also the only left-hander in Colorado’s current relief mix, which could give Peralta some extra opportunity to stick with the team if and when he is eventually called up from Triple-A.
Brown started the season on Colorado’s 15-day IL due to shoulder inflammation, and the move to the 60-day IL ensures that his 2026 debut won’t come until at least the last week of May. 2025 marked Brown’s first taste of the big leagues, as he posted a 7.36 ERA over 25 2/3 innings and seven starts for the Rockies.
White Sox Return Jedixson Paez To Red Sox
White Sox Rule 5 right-hander Jedixson Paez has cleared waivers and been returned to the Red Sox, per Gabrielle Starr of The Boston Herald. Chicago designated Paez for assignment earlier this week, and since Paez cleared waivers without being claimed, the White Sox had to offer him back to the Red Sox for a $50K fee.
Paez had never pitched beyond the high-A level before he made his Major League debut for the Southsiders on March 26. Unfortunately for Paez, his first taste of the Show didn’t go smoothly, as he was charged with three runs in two of his three outings. The end result was an 18.00 ERA over three total innings of work, with two homers and two walks allowed without any strikeouts.
Rebuilding teams like the White Sox often view the R5 as a way of taking fliers on young talent, and Chicago’s addition of Shane Smith in the 2024 Rule 5 Draft is a prime example of how much selections can pay off in a big way. The much more common result, of course, is that players taken from the lower minors like Paez often struggle after the big jump up to facing MLB talent. Since Rule 5 picks must stay on their new team’s active roster for the entire season in order for their rights to be officially secured, the White Sox felt giving Paez more opportunities over the next six months wasn’t going to help his development.
Paez now returns to Boston’s organization, and is likely ticketed for high-A ball or Double-A. The 22-year-old is still an interesting prospect to keep an eye on down the road, as Paez has shown outstanding command while posting a 3.22 ERA over 307 2/3 career minor league innings.
Dodgers, Andy Pages Haven’t Yet Discussed Contract Extension
Former top-100 prospect Andy Pages established himself as an everyday player in his second Major League season, batting .272/.313/.461 with 27 homers over 624 plate appearances for the Dodgers in 2025. Now settled in as the regular center fielder, Pages’ spot in the team’s plans has yet to truly extend into their longer-term future, as The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya reports that the Dodgers “have not broached any extension talks with” Pages and his reps at PRIME.
Pages is controlled through the 2030 season already, so he’ll be 30 when he is eligible for free agency in the 2030-31 offseason. There’s no rush for Los Angeles to necessarily lock Pages up already, though since he is on pace to achieve Super Two status and an extra year of arbitration eligibility, an extension would allow the Dodgers to gain some cost certainty over what might be a sharply increasing price tag through Pages’ four arb years.
Then again, money isn’t exactly a pressing concern for the big-budget Dodgers. This same willingness to spend is also a potential reason to forego an extension, as L.A. might want the flexibility to pivot to another top free agent or trade target in the outfield. For instance, the outfield wasn’t necessarily a huge area of need for the club this winter, yet the Dodgers still broke the bank for a four-year, $240MM deal with Kyle Tucker (with $30MM in deferred money and two opt-out clauses).
If Pages “only” continues his 2025 level of production going forward, that still means the Dodgers have a 4.1 fWAR player who contributes above-average (113 wRC+) offense and decent glovework in center field. That doesn’t mean Los Angeles couldn’t move Pages into a corner outfield role if a star center fielder becomes available, or if Tucker opts out or if Teoscar Hernandez isn’t retained when the guaranteed portion of his contract is up after 2027. The Dodgers also have a long list of highly-touted outfield prospects in the pipeline, so any or all of Josue De Paula, Zyhir Hope, Eduardo Quintero, James Tibbs III, or Mike Sirota could soon be on the radar for big-league duty.
This being said, the Dodgers haven’t been shy about locking up players they view as key roster pieces. It could be that the team wants to see one more full year of production from Pages before exploring an extension, just to give the team a little more data. Not that the Dodgers would put more weight on the small sample size of the postseason over the longer sample of regular-season play, but L.A. might also want to see how Pages rebounds from a dreadful .211 OPS over 55 playoff plate appearances in 2025.
Royals Considering Temporary Role Change For Carlos Estevez
Carlos Estevez‘s 2026 season has started in about as rough a fashion as possible, as the Royals closer was charged with six runs (including Dominic Smith‘s walkoff grand slam) in Saturday’s 6-2 loss to the Braves. If the blown save wasn’t painful enough in a figurative sense, Michael Harris II also hit a hard comebacker on Saturday that deflected off Estevez’s left ankle, leaving Estevez with a contusion.
X-rays were negative on Estevez’s ankle, though he was wearing a walking boot in the clubhouse today and is considered day-to-day as the Royals continue to evaluate his health. Kansas City has an off-day Tuesday but then has a game on each of the first 12 days of April, so the right-hander wouldn’t get much benefit from the schedule if a 15-day injured list stint is required to get him fully healed up.
The first order of business is to make sure Estevez is healthy, though manager Matt Quatraro told reporters (including the Kansas City Star’s Jaylon Thompson and MLB.com’s Anne Rogers) that the Royals could potentially move Estevez out of the closer’s job until he is entirely right. Beyond the ankle issue, Estevez’s velocity has been down both in Spring Training and in his regular season debut.
The decision to make a change at closer “will be more based on what we see, whether that velo is coming,” Quatraro said. “I mean, we’re not averse to putting him in a lower-leverage situation. We feel good about the rest of the options that we have, too. So I’m not going to say he wouldn’t do it, but I also think it would be probably smarter for us to try to build him a little bit in lower leverage first.”
A very hard thrower for most of his career, Estevez’s four-seamer velocity has gone from 97.5mph in 2022 to 97.1mph in 2023, 96.8mph in 2024, and then 95.9mph in 2025. The drop from 2024 to 2025 was the largest and perhaps the most concerning, even though Estevez still ranked within the 76th percentile of all pitchers in velocity in 2025.
On Saturday, however, Estevez averaged 91.2mph on the 15 four-seamers he threw against Atlanta. Even this modest number was up from the 89-90mph Estevez averaged over five Spring Training innings, Rogers noted. Obviously this was just one outing, and even Estevez’s spring work has the caveat of some time missed due to the World Baseball Classic — the reliever threw just one inning of work in one game for the Dominican Republic’s team.
It is also noteworthy that Estevez took a while to ramp up last spring and into the regular season as well, before delivering strong bottom-line numbers (2.45 ERA and 42 saves) in his first year with the Royals. His 4.43 SIERA was almost two full runs higher than his actual ERA, as Estevez benefited from a .234 BABIP to overwrite below-average strikeout and walk rates.
As he entered the final guaranteed season of his two-year, $22MM deal with the Royals, Estevez seemingly still held a firm hold on the closer’s job. Whatever role change could be in mind may just be until Estevez both has his velocity back, and has corrected some mechanical issues Quatraro says the staff has detected.
In terms of fill-in closers, Lucas Erceg might be the most logical candidate to get the call in the ninth inning, or K.C. could adopt more of a committee approach. Erceg, Matt Strahm, Alex Lange, or others could all get some save opportunities as the situation warrants, for however long it takes for Estevez to get on track. Estevez would still get regular usage in his lower-leverage role, as Quatraro said “this is the best practice to get out there in a game. So if we can get him 30 pitches in a game, you know, two innings or something like that to get those reps going and his body moving.”
MLBTR Live Chat
Mark P
- It’s the first Weekend Chat of the 2026 regular season! Plenty to discuss after a wild first few days of baseball, so let’s get down to business…
- …um, after I first put the actual chat link into the post. Whoops!
Guest
- When do you see the Pirates calling up Konnor Griffin?
Mark P
- Assuming he’s raking at Triple-A, probably around the first week or two of May?
As much as one has to factor in finances when discussing the Pirates, from a pure baseball perspective, I agree with the decision to keep Griffin in the minors. He hasn’t played much Triple-A ball, and his work in Spring Training still showed some holes in his game
Squints
- As a Brewer and White Sox fan, it was an interesting weekend. My question is do the Sox have any pitching to at least flirt with 70 wins?
Mark P
- Unlikely, though Murakami hitting (checks notes) 162 home runs should be a lot of fun!
Josh
- If the Diamondbacks start like 2-14 would they consider trading Ketel Marte before he gets his 10/5 rights in mid April?
Mark P
- Even a truly disastrous start isn’t going to prompt Arizona to make a throw-in-the-towel move like dealing Marte so early
- That’s the kind of trade that changes a team’s path for the next few years, and not something that should be done in knee-jerk fashion.
If the D’Backs were really that worried about Marte’s 10-and-5 rights, they wouldn’t dealt him months ago
Dave
- Looks like the Phillies are not hitting again. When is it going to be time to make some trades? Or sign some hitters?
D. Dombroski
- Should I trade Bohm by the deadline?
Ryan M.
- What are the chances the Phillies fire Rob Thompson this year early on? Like what happened to Girardi.
Mark P
- Philly fans are not super impressed by their team’s start, judging by this sampling of the many submissions wondering of the Phillies are doomed.
As I’ll surely be saying many times tonight….it’s early. Far too early to immediately hit a panic button or talk about firing Thomson.
- Though I do kinda think they should’ve moved on from Bohm last winter, either via trade or even a non-tender
Blotto
- New owners tend to cut back expenses. How will the Padres new owners do that?
Mark P
- We’ll have to learn who the new owners will be, before starting the speculation about trimming payroll. The Padres have already cut back on spending over the last couple of years, plus there’s this unusual situation with Darvish’s contract and possibly retirement that could represent some unexpected savings for the team.
- There’s also the next CBA to determine how baseball’s financial structure may or may not change, which also factors into how the Padres and the other 29 teams will approach future spending
Marlins Acquire Leo Jimenez
7:23PM: The trade has been officially announced by both teams, and the Marlins announced that right-hander Garrett Acton was designated for assignment to create 40-man roster space for Jimenez. Acton has a 10.80 ERA over 6 2/3 innings and seven career big league games — six with the Athletics in 2023 and one with the Rays in 2025, with the 2024 season a wash due to a Tommy John surgery.
Acton is no stranger to DFA limbo, as he has now been designated three times in less than six months. The Rockies claimed the righty after the Rays designated Acton after the season, and Miami then claimed Acton off waivers in Januray following another DFA.
5:30PM: The Marlins are set to acquire infielder Leo Jimenez in a trade with the Blue Jays, according to Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. Francys Romero reports that the Jays will receive minor league infielder Dub Gleed and $250K in international bonus pool money in return. Miami’s 40-man roster is full, so some sort of corresponding move will have to create room for Jimenez before the trade is officially announced.
Jimenez is out of minor league options, so the Jays had to designate the infielder for assignment when he wasn’t included on the Opening Day roster. It didn’t seem likely that Jimenez was going to sneak through waivers and remain with the Blue Jays via an outright assignment, and the Marlins indeed stepped up with a trade offer to bring the 24-year-old into their organization.
Making his MLB debut in 2024, Jimenez posted a respectable 101 wRC+ over his first 210 plate appearances, hitting .229/.329/.358 with four home runs. Bo Bichette‘s injury woes that season opened the door for Jimenez to receive a good chunk of playing time, but with Bichette back in 2025 and other players (i.e. Andres Gimenez, Ernie Clement, Addison Barger) all becoming bigger parts of the infield picture, Jimenez became the odd man out.
Injuries also didn’t help Jimenez’s case, as he played in only 44 total games between the majors and minors in 2025. Over 18 games with the Blue Jays, Jimenez had just a .301 OPS to show for 32 trips to the plate, though he hit better in the minors. Jimenez has a .260/.404/.380 slash line and seven homers over 374 career PA at the Triple-A level.
While it seems like power will never be a big part of Jimenez’s game, his ability to collect hits and draw walks against big league pitching will determine whether or not he can be a regular in the majors. Defensively, there seems to be little question that Jimenez’s glove is ready for primetime, whether as a shortstop or as a second baseman. Jimenez’s arm strength has been seen as a potential barrier to sticking at shortstop, and the Jays used him more regularly at second base over the last couple of years, though that could’ve been more due to Bichette’s presence at shortstop.
Jimenez now gets a fresh start on a new team, playing behind Xavier Edwards at second base and Otto Lopez at shortstop. Miami’s incumbent middle infield duo are both strong defenders and good speed threats, though both Edwards (95 wRC+) and Lopez (86 wRC+) had subpar offensive numbers overall. There’s room for Jimenez to potentially earn himself some playing time, though for now he’ll join a position-player mix that has been depleted by IL stints for Christopher Morel and Kyle Stowers.
Miami already signed Austin Slater to help fill in for Stowers in the outfield, and now Jimenez will bolster the infield depth chart. With Morel out, the Marlins have used Connor Norby and newly-recalled Deyvison De Los Santos at first base, with Graham Pauley and super-utilityman Javier Sanoja at third base. The Fish are expected to mix and match at least until Stowers is back in a few weeks’ time, giving Jimenez some opportunity to play in the field as others are rotated into the DH spot.
The 23-year-old Gleed was a ninth-round pick for the Marlins in the 2024 draft, and his first season of pro ball saw Gleed make it all the way to Triple-A, albeit for just one game. Gleed hit .252/.391/.347 over 275 plate appearances at four different Marlins affiliates, with most of his playing time coming at the A-ball and Double-A levels. Gleed primarily split time between the two corner infield positions, and also appeared in a game apiece as a second basema and as a catcher.
Royals Outright Drew Waters To Triple-A
The Royals announced that outfielder Drew Waters has been outrighted to Triple-A Omaha after clearing waivers. Waters was designated for assignment earlier this week, as since he is out of minor league options, Kansas City first had to expose Waters to waivers before sending him to Triple-A and removing him from the 40-man roster.
A former top-100 prospect during his time in the Braves’ farm system, Waters’ stock slipped after he had trouble hitting Triple-A pitching. In July 2022, Waters was one of three prospects sent to K.C. in exchange for the 35th overall pick in the 2022 draft (the Royals’ Competitive Balance Round A selection). Atlanta used that pick to select right-hander JR Ritchie, now a highly-touted prospect in his own right who should be making his MLB debut at some point in 2026.
Waters’ change of scenery woke up his bat at the Triple-A level, as he batted much better in Omaha than he did with the Braves’ top affiliate in Gwinnett. Waters also got his first call to the majors post-trade and hit .240/.324/.479 over his first 109 plate appearances in the Show, creating some hope that he would be part of Kansas City’s regular outfield mix in 2023.
Unfortunately for both Waters and the Royals, he has hit only .233/.296/.349 over 575 PA since Opening Day 2023. He might have received less playing time if it wasn’t for the Royals’ near-total lack of production from their outfielders as a whole over the last few years, so Waters kept getting chances.
Waters has less than five years of MLB service time and this is the first time he has been outrighted, so he didn’t have the ability to reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency. He can now choose to become a free agent if outrighted in the future, though the first step for Waters will be earning another selection back onto the Royals’ active roster. That opportunity might not arise unless an injury hits the current K.C. outfield, and even if Waters is selected as a replacement, he’ll face the DFA/waivers/outright carousel familiar to all out-of-options players whenever the Royals opt to send him back to Triple-A.
Orioles Acquire Johnathan Rodriguez From Guardians
The Orioles acquired outfielder Johnathan Rodriguez from the Guardians in exchange for minor league right-hander Carter Rustad, MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins. reports. The two teams have each officially announced the trade, and the Orioles optioned Rodriguez to Triple-A.
Rodriguez is a veteran of 44 big league games, all with the Guardians in 2024-25. A third-round pick for Cleveland in the 2017 draft, Rodriguez has been crushing minor league pitching for four years now, and he has a .301/.390/.535 slash line and 56 homers over 1083 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. In the majors, however, Rodriguez has hit only .176/.282/.304 with 36 strikeouts over his 117 PA in a Guards uniform, as his struggles with advanced spin rates have been highlighted against upper-level pitchers.
It was enough for the Guardians to designate Rodriguez for assignment in advance of Opening Day, and Baltimore stepped up with a trade offer to bring the 26-year-old outfielder into the organization. Rodriguez has a minor league option remaining, so he’ll provide the O’s with some depth at the very least, even if it remains unclear where exactly Rodriguez could fit onto their 26-man roster unless an injury arises.
Baltimore is already juggling Taylor Ward, Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Beavers, Leody Taveras, and utilitymen Jeremiah Jackson and Blaze Alexander as candidates for outfield duty. Jackson and Alexander will probably see more time on the infield with Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg still on the injured list, however, creating more need for an optionable outfielder like Rodriguez to be part of the mix at Triple-A. It could also be that the Orioles’ evaluators see Rodriguez as a project to be fixed, as his hitting potential and strong throwing arm make him an interesting player to watch if he learns how to handle movement.
Rustad is a few weeks away from his 25th birthday, and the righty was a 15th-round pick for Baltimore in the 2024 draft. The Mizzou product has worked almost exclusively as a reliever in pro ball, and he posted a 3.23 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate, and 10.1% walk rate across 53 total minor league innings in 2025, moving from A-ball to high-A to Double-A before the year was out.
2025-26 Offseason In Review Series
Opening Day has arrived, and MLBTR’s annual Offseason In Review series is finished. Find links to all 30 entries here.
NL West
NL Central
NL East
AL West
AL Central
AL East