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Poll: Should The Mets Trade Kodai Senga?

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After missing the playoffs this year, the Mets are poised to aggressively shake up their pitching staff this winter. Their starters posted a 4.13 ERA this year, good for just 18th in baseball, and that’s in part due to the cautious approach they took to building their staff last year.

After spending a massive amount to lure Juan Soto to Queens, president of baseball operations David Stearns seemed reluctant to engage the top free agent starters too aggressively and wound up focusing on mid-level and bounceback arms instead. Clay Holmes converted from the bullpen to the rotation, New York took a flier on Frankie Montas after a weak 2024, and the big addition was a reunion with Sean Manaea. The strategy did not work out. Holmes did fine, turning in a solid mid-rotation performance, but Montas barely pitched and turned in atrocious results when he did, while Manaea was limited to just 15 appearances and was moved to the bullpen late in the year amid his own struggles.

On paper, the Mets head into the offseason with a full rotation for 2026: Holmes, Manaea, and right-hander Kodai Senga are all under contract, and controllable arms like David Peterson, Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Brandon Sproat give the team more than enough arms to fill out a rotation. McLean is widely viewed as a front-of-the-rotation caliber arm, but relying on him to be an ace after just eight MLB starts would be risky. Tong and Sproat are even less established with lower ceilings, and each of Holmes, Manaea, and Peterson fit better in the middle to back of a team’s rotation.

Aside from McLean, Senga has the highest ceiling of all the club’s starting pitching options. In 52 starts with the Mets over the past three years, he’s pitched to a 3.00 ERA and a 3.82 FIP with a 26.8% strikeout rate. Those are generally quite impressive numbers, and on paper it might seem like the Mets can count on McLean and Senga as a potential front-of-the-rotation duo for next year.

That only appears to be the case on paper, however. After a strong rookie season in the majors, Senga missed all but one start in 2024 due to shoulder and calf issues. He returned to the mound in 2025 and looked like his old self early on, with a 1.47 ERA and 3.24 FIP across 73 2/3 innings of work through mid-June. He missed a month due to a hamstring strain that brought that stretch to an end, however, and when he returned he looked like a shell of himself. He pitched to a 5.90 ERA with a 5.76 FIP across his final nine appearances of the year, struck out just 20.6% of his opponents, and walked 12.7%. He pitched into the sixth inning just once in that time, and failed to finish the fifth inning in six of those starts.

Things got bad enough for Senga that he was optioned to Triple-A in early September, a move that he consented to. Even at the club’s Syracuse affiliate, he struggled to a 4.66 ERA across two starts before his season came to a close in mid-September. Last month, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo indicated that the Mets don’t know what to expect from Senga in 2026. Even if they had made the playoffs, Senga would’ve only been activated to the playoff roster if the club suffered multiple injuries to the rotation. It’s harder to know if a pitcher who will be 33 in January will bounce back than it would be for a younger arm, as well. Stearns’s postseason words on Senga weren’t exactly a vote of confidence, either:

“Kodai has had two very inconsistent, challenging years in a row,” Stearns said, as relayed by DiComo. “We know it’s in there. We know there’s potential. We’re going to do everything we can to help get it out of him. But look, can we put him in ink as making 30 starts next year? I think that would be foolish.”

So, with more starting pitchers than they have spots for and a desire to bring in more surefire options, would the Mets entertain a trade for Senga? It’s possible that a change of scenery could make sense for both sides. Senga could prefer to get a fresh start in 2026 with a club that can offer him a more reliable rotation spot than the Mets might be able to, and New York might see a trade as a way to bolster their pipeline of young talent during an offseason where they might look to get aggressive on the trade market to improve the rotation.

The Mets haven’t been a team concerned with posting sky-high payrolls under Steve Cohen, but if they do have a desire to cut payroll to a less extreme level this winter, then parting with a $15MM hit in luxury tax dollars could be attractive as well. On the other hand, Senga’s potential would be hard to part with. He’s clearly shown himself capable of being a front-of-the-rotation caliber arm as recently as the first half of this season. If the right-hander manages to get back on track elsewhere, it would be a tough pill for the Mets to swallow.

While Senga’s deep struggles and uncertain future might make the Mets willing to listen to offers on Senga, his potential might lead them to keep the asking price for his services quite high. Perhaps there’s a deal to be worked out with a team willing to bet on Senga and surrender a controllable position player at an area of need for the Mets, like first base or center field. The Red Sox stand out as one intriguing fit given Triston Casas’s own uncertain future and high upside, not to mention the rumblings that have connected Boston to Mets slugger Pete Alonso in free agency.

How do MLBTR readers think the Mets will approach Senga this offseason? Will they look to keep him in the fold, even as he approaches his mid-30s with no guarantees he’ll bounce back? Or could they look to move him this winter to bolster the roster in other areas and avoid that risk? Have your say in the poll below:

The Opener: Rockies, Silver Sluggers, Top 50 Chat

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On the heels of free agency’s quiet period coming to a close yesterday, here are three things for MLBTR readers to watch out for today:

1. Rockies get their man:

After a lengthy and tumultuous search for their next front office head, the Rockies went outside the box to land former Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta, who had spent the past decade working for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns. DePodesta’s first task now that he’s in place will be deciding what to do with the Rockies’ managerial chair. Warren Schaeffer served as interim manager after Bud Black was fired earlier this year, and now it will be up to DePodesta whether Schaeffer is retained or if he’ll search for his own managerial hire. Plenty of possible candidates remain available even after the recent round of hirings, including former MLB skippers like John Gibbons, David Ross, Brandon Hyde, and Don Mattingly.

2. Silver Sluggers announced:

In all of the hubbub surrounding yesterday’s offseason news and transactions, the NL’s Silver Slugger awards were quietly announced. Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman, Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte, Padres third baseman Manny Machado, Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll, Mets outfielder Juan Soto, Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker, and Dodgers DH Shohei Ohtani all took home the awards at their respective positions, while the award for a utility player went to Cardinals first baseman/outfielder Alec Burleson. The Dodgers, meanwhile, were named the NL’s team of the year. With the NL awards already announced, the AL’s awards are expected to be announced later today. Who will win these same awards in the junior circuit this year?

3. Live Chat On MLBTR’s Top 50 MLB Free Agents:

MLBTR released its Top 50 MLB Free Agents List, complete with contract projections as well as landing spot predictions. If you have any questions about those projections, then you’re in luck: MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes and Steve Adams will be available at 9am central time for a live chat with readers centered around this year’s Top 50. If you miss the live chat, a transcript will be available so you can read through the conversation after the fact. Also, don’t forget to enter the MLBTR Free Agent Prediction Contest, where you can make your own attempt to predict player landing spots in what is sure to be a busy and unpredictable offseason.

Blue Jays Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Blue Jays announced a series of roster moves this morning. Right-handers Nick Sandlin, Bowden Francis, Yimi Garcia, and Angel Bastardo were all activated from the 60-day injured list. Meanwhile, the Jays outrighted right-handers Dillon Tate, Robinson Pina, and Ryan Burr off their 40-man roster. Tate and Burr both elected free agency, while Pina will qualify for minor league free agency this evening as a player with seven years of experience. Additionally, Toronto has selected the contract of catcher Brandon Valenzuela.

Pina, 27 later this month, made his big league debut earlier this year as a member of the Marlins. His time in Miami lasted just one appearance, as he surrendered a solo home run but allowed no other traffic in his lone inning of work before being designated for assignment. Pina was traded to the Blue Jays just a couple of days later in exchange for minor league hurler Colby Martin, but once again made only one appearance for Toronto in 2025 with a 6.75 ERA in 1 1/3 innings of work. Despite his struggles in the majors in an extremely small sample, Pina did pitch to a respectable 3.58 ERA in 65 1/3 innings of work at Triple-A between his two organizations this year.

Tate, 31, spent most of the year at the Triple-A level. In 39.1 innings there, he pitched to a 2.06 ERA while getting ground balls at a 48.1% rate. He did walk 12.0% of opposing hitters though, and his 4.55 xFIP in the minors suggests that he benefited from good luck. Tate only made it into six big-league games for the Blue Jays in 2025, allowing three earned runs in 6 1/3 innings while striking out eight. His overall body of work is solid and includes a 3.05 ERA with just a 5.5% walk rate as recently as 2022 with the Orioles. He’ll get looks from other organizations as a depth piece.

Burr, 31, underwent season-ending surgery in July to repair a capsule injury in his right shoulder and was therefore seen as a non-tender candidate. He also missed time earlier in the year with shoulder inflammation, which led to him making just two appearances at the big-league level. In 32 2/3 innings for the Blue Jays in 2024, Burr had a middling 4.13 ERA but struck out 33.6% of hitters while walking 8.6% and posting strong peripherals. He’ll find opportunities elsewhere if and when he is recovered from his surgery.

Turning now to the IL activations, these are largely procedural moves. Teams place players on the 60-day IL during the regular season to free up a spot on the 40-man roster. However, they must be added back during the offseason. Sandlin had been out with right elbow inflammation since early July, while Francis went down in June with a right shoulder impingement. Garcia underwent season-ending elbow surgery in August and is expected to be ready for spring training. Bastardo missed the year while recovering from Tommy John surgery. All four are controlled through at least 2026.

As for Valenzuela, the 25-year-old catcher was rated as a top-30 prospect for the Padres in 2024 before being traded to Toronto this past July. He batted a roughly average .229/.313/.387 in 87 games at Double-A but struggled with Toronto’s Triple-A team, with just a 76 wRC+ and a 30.5% strikeout rate in 105 plate appearances. Toronto, of course, has Alejandro Kirk entrenched as their starting catcher, so Valenzuela is likely a depth option behind him and Tyler Heineman.

Valenzuela would have been eligible for minor league free agency as a seven-year minor leaguer if he weren’t added to the 40-man roster. Toronto evidently didn’t want to let him get away for nothing. He still has a full slate of minor league options and can spend the next few seasons in Triple-A, but he’s the clear #3 catcher on the depth chart at the moment.

Braves Decline Club Option On Tyler Kinley

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The Braves have declined their club option on right-hander Tyler Kinley, according to a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Kinley will receive a $750K buyout and head into free agency rather than collecting a $5.5MM salary for the 2026 season.

The move to decline Kinley’s option is something of a surprise. The right-hander pitched to a 3.96 ERA with a 3.69 FIP in 72 2/3 innings of work overall in 2025, but those solid yet unspectacular overall results don’t tell the whole story. After being traded away from Coors Field to Atlanta at the trade deadline, Kinley flourished. He posted a microscopic 0.72 ERA in 25 innings of work, striking out 23.4% of his opponents with a 6.4% walk rate. That drop in free passes was especially notable given that he’s walked 11.1% of his opponents throughout parts of eight seasons in the majors, the majority of which came as a member of the Rockies.

Between Kinley’s big step forward in Atlanta, the club’s decision to trade for him at the trade deadline in an non-competitive year in the first place, and a bullpen that already stands to lose Raisel Iglesias in free agency this winter, the $4.75MM decision to keep Kinley in the fold seemed like an easy one for the Braves to pounce on. That’s not the path they’ve chosen, however, and Kinley will now head into free agency to become one of a vast pool of interesting middle relief arms available.

The decision to decline Kinley’s option could suggest some financial limitations facing Atlanta’s front office. Last winter saw the Braves kick off the year by shedding salary in some surprising ways, dumping Jorge Soler’s contract in a trade with the Angels and declining catcher Travis d’Arnaud’s club option while restructuring a number of contracts to provide more short-term financial flexibility. Those efforts allowed Atlanta to add Jurickson Profar to their outfield mix last year, and it’s not impossible to imagine the decision to decline Kinley coming from a desire to make sure that Atlanta has the resources available they’ll need to pursue their goals this winter. It seems likely the Braves will add at least one starter to their rotation, and they’ve made no secret of their desire to retain shortstop Ha-Seong Kim after they claimed him off waivers from Tampa back in September.

Checking those boxes on the offseason to-do list will come with significant price tags, but finding another quality relief arm for the Braves’ bullpen might be possible to do for less than the $4.75MM they’re saving by parting with Kinley. It’s not uncommon for teams to turn waiver pickups and minor league signings into stalwart bullpen pieces who wind up getting crucial outs in high leverage situations. The Dodgers uncovered a gem in that manner a few years ago when they brought Evan Phillips into the fold, while teams like the Cubs, Rays, and Brewers typically construct nearly their entire bullpen using this method. That strategy has not been one the Braves have employed in the past, instead happily investing significant dollars into contracts for players like Iglesias, Joe Jimenez, Pierce Johnson and Aaron Bummer. After a disappointing 2025 season that wound up being the worst of Alex Anthopoulos’s tenure in the organization, however, it’s worth wondering if the decision to part with Kinley could suggest a change in approach.

Don Mattingly Will Not Return As Blue Jays’ Bench Coach In 2026

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10:37am: The Phillies have discussed the possibility of hiring Mattingly to serve as bench coach under manager Rob Thomson, according to a report from Jim Salisbury of PHLY Sports.

10:19am: Don Mattingly is leaving the Blue Jays following their heartbreaking loss to the Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series last week. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that Mattingly won’t return to the Jays organization in 2026 after serving as their bench coach for the past three seasons. Notably, Heyman adds that Mattingly is not leaving the Jays with the intention of retiring from baseball and would be open to “the right job” if the opportunity presents itself.

That could include a managerial gig, which would be the third of Mattingly’s career. The 2020 NL Manager of the Year has 11 years of managerial experience between his time with the Dodgers and Marlins. He’s made the postseason four times as a manager and has a career 889-950 record in the dugout. The Padres have yet to settle on their next manager after Mike Shildt stepped down last month, and the Rockies have left interim manager Warren Schaeffer’s fate undecided while they focus on a search for the next leader of their front office.

That leaves two plausible places where Mattingly could land as a skipper this winter, though it’s unclear if either team actually has interest in him for the role. San Diego has reportedly already settled on a group of finalists and could be nearing a decision, while the Rockies’ preferences in the dugout won’t be known until there’s a new head of baseball operations who can be tasked with making that decision.

Even as Heyman specifically notes Mattingly would have interest in managing, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the only job that would hold appeal to the longtime veteran of the game. In addition to his lengthy career as a coach, Mattingly also has 14 years in the majors (including an MVP award in 1985) with the Yankees as a player. Mattingly’s resume and decades of baseball experience should make him someone who would be a valuable addition to almost any club in one role or another.

While Mattingly is currently seeking his next job in the game, this winter could prove to be a busy one for him. The 64-year-old is one of eight players who is on this year’s Hall of Fame Era Committee ballot. If at least 12 out of 16 panelists give Mattingly the nod, he’ll enter Cooperstown next summer. The results of that vote will be announced just over a month from now on December 7.

As for the Blue Jays, manager John Schneider will need to find a new bench coach for the 2026 season. That’s assuming that Schneider himself is returning to the Jays next year. He, like Mattingly, is on an expiring contract this winter. There’s little reason to expect that Schneider wouldn’t return to the Jays after their phenomenal 2025 campaign, however. Clarity on the specifics of the Jays’ coaching staff and any other changes that will be made aside from Mattingly’s departure could come later today, as team president Mark Shapiro and GM Ross Atkins are set to make themselves available to the media for an end-of-season presser later today.

Justin Turner Becomes Free Agent

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Infielder Justin Turner is headed into free agency after his mutual option with the Cubs was declined, according to an announcement by the Major League Baseball Players Association this morning. It’s not clear who between Turner and the Cubs declined their end of the option, but either way Turner will be paid a $2MM buyout rather than a $10MM salary for 2026.

Turner, 41 later this month, had his first below-average season in over a decade in 2025. The veteran hit just .219/.288/.314 with a wRC+ of 71 in across 80 games and 191 plate appearances. He was largely a bench player for the Cubs this past season, with his primary role in Chicago being to serve as a platoon partner for the lefty-swinging Michael Busch at first base.

In that specific role, Turner actually did reasonably well for himself. He slashed .276/.330/.429 (112 wRC+) in 109 plate appearances against left-handed pitching. That’s a perfectly solid number, but it’s belied by atrocious numbers against same-handed pitching. Righties limited Turner to a slash line of just .141/.232/.155 with a wRC+ of just 16 in 82 trips to the plate. That’s the worst production against right-handed pitching among hitters with at least 70 trips to the plate against righties this year, and it left Turner with negative WAR according to both Fangraphs and Baseball Reference this year.

As Turner nears his 41st birthday, he hasn’t indicated one way or another what his plans are for the future. If he looks to continue his playing career, it’s not hard to imagine a team valuing his experience and leadership in the clubhouse enough to give him an invitation to Spring Training and allow him to compete for a bench role despite his rough 2025 campaign. With that being said, a big league guarantee on the level he received last offseason is hard to imagine, and he’d mostly only fit on a roster that struggles badly at the plate against southpaws.

As for the Cubs, they’ll be looking to largely overhaul their bench mix this winter. Turner and Willi Castro are both headed into free agency, while Reese McGuire is a potential non-tender candidate. A platoon partner for Busch may not be quite as necessary as it seemed this time last year after his breakout 2025 season where he posted a 140 wRC+ and even managed to post a 143 wRC+ against southpaws from July 1 onward. That’s a sample of just 52 plate appearances, however, and if the Cubs do want some insurance they could turn to someone like Wilmer Flores, Ty France, or Connor Joe.

The Opener: Top 50 Free Agents, Qualifying Offers, 40-Man Roster Moves

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As one of the busiest days of the offseason gets underway, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. MLBTR’s Top 50 MLB Free Agents List:

With the 2025-26 class of free agents on the verge of being mostly set in stone this afternoon, we here at MLBTR are excited to unveil our annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list later today. Some outlets have already published theirs, but we like to wait until Qualifying Offer decisions have been revealed because they can have such a significant impact on a free agent’s market. This makes us a little bit late to the party, but allows us to provide a bit more analysis and (hopefully) more accuracy. It’s our biggest post of the year and you should keep an eye out for it later today! Shortly after that comes out, we will also launch our annual prediction contest, where you can do your best to try and predict the events of an unpredictable offseason.

2. Option, QO Decisions Come Due:

We’re now five days out from the end of the World Series. That means that, later today, free agents will be free to negotiate with all other teams and that any outstanding option decisions will need to be made today. Some of those option decisions could be a catalyst for talks about a larger deal, as was the case for the Colin Rea extension reported by MLBTR’s Steve Adams earlier today.

Also due today are each clubs’ decisions on whether or not to give their outgoing free agents a Qualifying Offer. For those unfamiliar, the QO is a one-year, $22.025MM contract that a club can offer to outgoing free agents who began the year with the team and haven’t previously received one. If that offer is declined, the free agent will enter the market tied to draft pick compensation. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco previewed the upcoming QO decisions for both pitchers and position players last month.

3. 40-man Roster Housekeeping:

As the offseason gets fully underway today, MLB’s 30 teams are faced with a handful of other, smaller moves that need to be made independent of free agency. The 60-day injured list goes away during the offseason, so teams must activate all players currently on the 60-day IL and get their 40-man rosters down to 40 players or less today. That likely means that a number of players will be exposed to waivers today, though it’s also possible teams with excess 40-man roster space could look to work out small trades with teams that need to clear space. The Rays have already participated in two such trades this winter as they landed outfielder Ryan Vilade from the Reds and shipped right-hander Joey Gerber to the Mets.

Cubs Not Expected To Pursue Top Free Agent Relievers

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The Cubs are going to need to overhaul their bullpen this winter after trading Andrew Kittredge to the Orioles yesterday while Brad Keller, Drew Pomeranz, and Caleb Thielbar are all ticketed for free agency. Despite those four departures draining their entire high-leverage relief mix outside of Daniel Palencia, however, Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic reports that Chicago’s front office is not expected to be involved in the markets of this winter’s top free agent relief arms.

That’s not especially surprising, as the Cubs have generally eschewed high-dollar multi-year deals for relievers over the years. There have been some rare exceptions to that rule, such as the three-year deal the Cubs signed Craig Kimbrel to in 2019 while Theo Epstein was in charge and the team’s pursuit of southpaw Tanner Scott in free agency under Jed Hoyer last offseason, but the Cubs have long preferred to build their bullpen on a budget. That includes last year’s group. Keller was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training, Pomeranz was acquired from the Mariners in a minor trade back in April, and Thielbar’s big league deal guaranteed him just $2.75MM total. Those three pitchers posted ERAs of 2.07, 2.17, and 2.64 respectively while combining for 177 1/3 innings across 192 appearances.

Sharma suggests that trying to find value on the margins of the market with minor league deals and reclamation projects figures to be the club’s goal once again this winter, though he does leave the door open for the possibility that the Cubs could jump into the market on a bigger name relief arm if their expected market doesn’t materialize and they linger into January and February. Otherwise, it seems as though the Cubs won’t be adding a top tier closer this winter. Sharma specifically names Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez, and Devin Williams as players who aren’t likely to be in the cards for Chicago at this point.

That doesn’t mean they won’t add any veterans who can offer some more certainty towards the back of the bullpen, of course. Sharma notes that the club brought in Ryan Pressly via trade this past offseason in an effort to provide that sort of certainty. Pressly was on the last year of his deal, and it seems likely that if the Cubs do add a bullpen veteran on a notable deal, it would be a similar one-to-two year arrangement. That could come via either free agency or trade; perhaps the Rays would make Pete Fairbanks available on the trade market ahead of his final year under club control, or the team could try and pursue a one-year deal with a veteran closer like Kenley Jansen.

It’s possible the club could be banking on some internal improvements to their relief corps, as well. Any number of young arms might be able to take a step forward similar to the one Palencia made this past season, and with the Cubs seemingly likely to pursue starting pitching additions this winter, that could make converting a young rotation arm like Ben Brown into relief full-time a viable option. Brown is held back as a starter by a lack of a quality third pitch, but he did strike out 28.6% of his opponents with a 2.97 FIP after moving into a bullpen role to open the month of August. Porter Hodge and Luke Little are among the other arms in the club’s relief corps who have shown flashes of dominance at the big league level but have yet to put it all together consistently.

Braves To Exercise Club Option On Chris Sale

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The Braves are exercising their club option on left-hander Chris Sale, according to a report from Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Sale will make $18MM in 2026.

The call to pick up Sale’s option for the 2026 campaign is surely one of the easiest option decisions any team will make this offseason. Sale, 36, is one of the best pitchers of his generation and won the NL Cy Young award in 2024. He was on track to compete for the award again this year, with a 2.52 ERA and 2.71 FIP through 15 starts, but he found himself sidelined for ten weeks over the summer due to a ribcage fracture. He looked just as dominant as ever when he returned, however, with a 2.72 ERA and 2.58 FIP across six starts in August and September. His stuff looked just as good as ever down the stretch, and he struck out an eye-popping 36.4% of his opponents in his 36 1/3 innings of work.

That Sale is pitching well is hardly a surprise, as he’s put together a Hall of Fame-caliber resume over the years. A nine-time All-Star who placed in the top five for AL Cy Young award voting six times before winning the NL award last year, Sale’s career 3.01 ERA, 2.88 FIP, and 30.8% strikeout rate know few equals throughout the game. He’s seventh all-time in strikeout rate among starting pitchers, and his run prevention and peripheral numbers match up well with titans of the sport like Clayton Kershaw and Pedro Martinez despite some of his counting numbers being held back by a relative lack of volume.

Fortunately, that relative lack of volume also means a relative lack of mileage on his arm, as compared to other players in his age range. Even with his 37th birthday on the horizon in March, Sale figures to serve as the club’s ace once again in 2026. He’ll be at the front of an Atlanta rotation with a lot of exciting upside but precious little certainty. Spencer Strider has shown the capacity to be a Cy Young caliber arm in the past, but had a disappointing 4.45 ERA in 2025. Spencer Schwellenbach has a career 3.23 ERA but was sidelined after just 17 starts this past season. Reynaldo Lopez had a 1.99 ERA in 2024 but didn’t appear in a game after March 28th this year.

Adding at least one proven, reliable rotation arm to this group figures to be a priority for the Braves this offseason, though it’s possible they could look to do more than that given the group’s collective injury history and questions about Lopez’s ability to handle the workload of a starter long-term. Even with additions likely on the horizon, though, there’s little doubt that Sale will be making his seventh career Opening Day start (and second for the Braves) in 2026 as long as he completes Spring Training with a clean bill of health.

Yankees To Exercise Club Option On Tim Hill, Decline Club Option On Jonathan Loaisiga

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The Yankees are exercising their club option on Tim Hill, according to a report from ESPN’s Jorge Castillo. Hill will return to New York on a $3MM salary in 2026. Castillo also reports that the Yankees are not picking up their club option on right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga. Loaisiga will head into free agency rather than collecting what would have been a $5MM salary next year.

Neither of these decisions are especially surprising. Hill, 36 in February, has turned in excellent production for the Yankees over the past two seasons with a 2.68 ERA in 111 innings since being acquired from the White Sox midway through the 2024 season. His peripheral numbers took a big step back in 2025 thanks to eight home runs surrendered that coincided with the highest barrel rate of his career (7.9%). That jump wasn’t helped by the fact that Hill has never been a strikeout artist, and his 13.9% punch out rate this year was actually his best since 2021.

Even so, Hill continues to generate ground balls at some of the highest rates in the league. That makes keeping him in the bullpen at a $3MM price tag something of a no-brainer, and he’ll enter the year as the club’s top left-handed relief option barring an external addition that supplants him on the depth chart. That could leave him in the mix for some high leverage opportunities next year, while David Bednar and Camilo Doval shut things down from the right side.

As for Loaisiga, the right-hander’s eighth year with the Yankees looks likely to be his final one. At one point in his career, the hard-throwing righty looked like a future closer as he posted a 2.50 ERA with a 3.03 FIP between the 2020 and ’21 seasons. Things have unraveled for Loaisiga since, however. He was only pedestrian in 2022 and then missed nearly two full seasons due to injuries. He did manage to make 30 appearances for the Yankees this year, but his 97 ERA+ was just below average and a 5.83 FIP suggested even that figure was aided by some good fortune. His season was cut short by a flexor strain, and he appears likely to enter the market this winter on the hunt for a minor league deal.

With Bednar, Doval, Fernando Cruz, Jake Bird, Ian Hamilton, and Mark Leiter Jr. all in the mix for next year, the Yankees look to be reasonably well set up in the bullpen on the right side. An addition beyond that group can’t necessarily be ruled out, however, as the departures of both Devin Williams and Luke Weaver in conjunction with shaky performances down the stretch from both Bednar and Doval could create a desire to bring in a more surefire closing option.

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