Twins Option Zebby Matthews, Finalize Rotation Plans
The Twins announced Friday that they’ve optioned right-hander Zebby Matthews to Triple-A St. Paul. They didn’t formally say it, but that effectively sets Minnesota’s rotation heading into the season, barring a late injury or trade.
Minnesota did, however, formally name Joe Ryan the Opening Day starter today. That was a foregone conclusion after Pablo López was lost for the season due to UCL surgery early in camp. Right-handers Bailey Ober and Simeon Woods Richardson were more or less locks entering spring training. Ober had a rough stretch last summer while trying to pitch through a hip injury but has been a steady third/fourth starter in Minnesota for several seasons otherwise. Woods Richardson has been up and down between Minneapolis and St. Paul over the past two seasons but had a strong finish in ’25 and is out of minor league options.
The rest of the rotation looked less certain following López’s injury. Matthews and fellow righties David Festa, Taj Bradley and Mick Abel were vying for the final two spots. All four were ranked as top-100 prospects prior to their major league debuts, but none has fully solidified himself in the majors yet. Festa went down early with a shoulder injury that isn’t expected to necessitate a long-term absence but will send him to the injured list to begin the season. Matthews, Bradley and Abel were in a three-man competition for the final two rotation spots. With Matthews now optioned, it’ll be Bradley and Abel rounding out the staff.
Bradley came over from the Rays in exchange for Griffin Jax just minutes before the trade deadline last summer. He’s had some success at times in the majors but lacked consistency. However, he’s celebrating his 25th birthday today, so he’s plenty young and still has four seasons of club control remaining. Bradley has had a good spring showing. His 4.50 ERA in 14 frames is unremarkable, but he’s punched out a huge 32.2% of opponents against a solid 8.5% walk rate. His fastball velocity is up nearly a mile per hour this spring, sitting at an average of 96.9 mph, and he’s sporting an above-average 12.5% swinging-strike rate.
Abel, 24, is another deadline pickup for Minnesota. He came to the Twins from the Phillies in last July’s Jhoan Duran swap. Abel is a former first-round pick who for years ranked as a top-100 prospect. He was leapfrogged in the Phillies’ system by Andrew Painter, and a shaky 2024 season in the minors caused Abel to fall off of national prospect rankings. He bounced back in a big way in Triple-A last year, posting a pristine 2.20 ERA, 28.6% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate in 98 1/3 innings. The 6’5″ righty matched that production through his first four MLB starts with the Phillies but struggled thereafter, allowing nine runs in his next 4 2/3 innings before being shipped to Minnesota.
Abel has looked dominant this spring. In 18 innings, he’s held opponents to a flat 2.00 ERA with a 34.8% strikeout rate against just a 4.5% walk rate and kept 53.8% of batted balls against him on the ground. In this spring’s small sample, Abel has upped the usage of his slider and changeup while scaling back how frequently he uses his two-seamer. The results, clearly, have been quite strong.
Matthews, 25, has pitched in parts of two seasons with the Twins already. He’s logged very good strikeout and walk rates (24.7%, 6.6% respectively) but been far too susceptible to home runs. He’s a pronounced fly-ball pitcher who has seen nearly 15% of his fly-balls leave the yard; that’s led to an average of 1.77 homers per nine innings pitched.
Matthews sat better than 96 mph with his heater last season, pairing it with a plus slider and plus command. He’s yet to find an average third offering, as his changeup has been hit hard. If he can dial in a third pitch to help keep lefties off balance, he could yet emerge as a mid-rotation starter. Righties are flummoxed by that slider, but lefty hitters have turned in a huge .316/.372/.572 slash against him in the majors. Obviously, that won’t cut it.
The Twins will send Matthews to Triple-A to continue working on rounding out his arsenal. It’s possible that he and/or Festa could eventually emerge as bullpen options, particularly if Bradley and Abel can carry their spring performances into the regular season. The Twins have a number of interesting upper-level arms on the cusp of MLB readiness beyond that pair, including Kendry Rojas, Andrew Morris, Dasan Hill, Marco Raya (who’s moving to the bullpen full-time this season) and top prospect Connor Prielipp.
Twins’ Liam Hendriks Granted His Release
Veteran right-hander Liam Hendriks has been granted his release by the Twins, per Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He can now sign with any club.
As an Article XX(b) free agent (i.e. six-plus years of service, finished last season on a major league roster/injured list) who signed a minor league deal in free agency, Hendriks had uniform opt-out dates written into his contract: one a week before Opening Day, a second on May 1 and a third on June 1. When a player triggers an out clause of that nature, the team has 48 hours to either add him to the 40-man roster or release him back into free agency. The Twins opted for the latter route.
Hendriks, 37, was originally signed by the Twins out of Australia back in 2007. He made his MLB debut as a Twin in 2011 but was never able to settle into a rotation role. He eventually found himself designated for assignment and passed around the league via a series of waiver claims and small trades. From 2013-15, Hendriks bounced from the Twins, to the Cubs, to the Orioles, to the Blue Jays, to the Royals and finally to the A’s, with whom he’d eventually break out.
Even in Oakland, Hendriks took years to pan out. At one point, the A’s passed him through waivers unclaimed and outrighted him off the 40-man roster. But in 2019, a 30-year-old Hendriks emerged not just as then-skipper Bob Melvin’s closer but as one of the best relievers in baseball. From 2019-22, Hendriks pitched 239 innings with a 2.26 ERA, a mammoth 38.8% strikeout rate and a tiny 5.1% walk rate. He signed a three-year, $54MM deal with the White Sox ahead of the 2021 campaign and was excellent there for two years before health troubles arose.
Hendriks missed time after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He thankfully went through chemotherapy and came away cancer-free, but he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow not long after and wound up requiring Tommy John surgery. He inked a two-year deal with the Red Sox, planning to rehab the first year and join their bullpen the second. It didn’t go as well as hoped. Hendriks pitched 13 2/3 innings with a 6.59 ERA last season.
The return to the Twins this winter had the makings of a potential full-circle homecoming, but it seems Hendriks will ultimately land elsewhere. He’s had a decent spring, allowing three runs in seven innings, but Hendriks allowed nine hits, walked five batters, plunked another and only totaled five strikeouts. He averaged 93.9 mph on his four-seamer, which would be his lowest mark since he moved from the rotation to the bullpen back in 2015. He averaged 94.9 mph in Boston last year.
Hendriks can now sign anywhere. Time will tell whether his showing with Minnesota this spring will earn him a big league deal with another club. As for the Twins, they’ll likely be on the lookout for bullpen help themselves on the late spring waiver/opt-out market. Minnesota has Taylor Rogers, Cole Sands, Anthony Banda and Kody Funderburk more or less locked into spots. Trade acquisition Eric Orze and veteran Justin Topa have had poor showings this spring but entered camp as favorites to hold bullpen spots. Veteran Andrew Chafin has pitched decently as a non-roster invitee and has a chance to make the club, though he had the same opt-out clause Hendriks took yesterday. It’s not clear whether he’s exercised it, but if he did, the Twins will have until tomorrow morning to make a decision.
Offseason In Review: Texas Rangers
The Rangers tried to walk the line of remaining competitive while simultaneously scaling back payroll. It led to a pair of major trades and a chunk of small free-agent and waiver acquisitions.
Major League Free Agent Signings
- Danny Jansen, C: Two years, $14.5MM (includes buyout of 2028 mutual option)
- Jakob Junis, RHP: One year, $4MM (includes buyout of 2027 mutual option)
- Chris Martin, RHP: One year, $4MM (includes deferred $2MM signing bonus)
- Jalen Beeks, LHP: One year, $1.6MM
- Jordan Montgomery, LHP: One year, $1.25MM
- Tyler Alexander, LHP: One year, $1.1MM
- Alexis Diaz, RHP: One year, $1MM (later outrighted to Triple-A)
2026 spending: $17.95MM
Total spending: $27.45MM
Option Decisions
- DH Joc Pederson exercised $18.5MM player option
Trades and Waiver Claims
- Acquired LHP MacKenzie Gore from Nationals in exchange for INF Gavin Fien, RHP Alejandro Rosario, 1B Abimelec Ortiz, INF Devin Fitz-Gerald and OF Yeremy Cabrera (all minor leaguers/prospects)
- Acquired OF Brandon Nimmo from Mets in exchange for 2B Marcus Semien
- Acquired RHP Carter Baumler from Pirates in exchange for minor league RHP Jaiker Garcia and cash (Baumler was selected from the Orioles in the Rule 5 Draft)
- Claimed C Willie MacIver off waivers from Athletics
- Claimed RHP Michel Otañez off waivers from Athletics
- Claimed RHP Zak Kent off waivers from Cardinals (eventually landed with Twins via waivers)
- Claimed OF Dairon Blanco off waivers from Royals
Extensions
- None yet
Notable Minor League Signings
- Andrew McCutchen, Mark Canha, Ryan Brasier, Cal Quantrill, Austin Gomber, Josh Sborz, Nabil Crismatt (out for season due to UCL surgery), José Herrera, Anthony Veneziano, Jonah Bride, Tyler Wade, Declan Cronin, Nick Pratto, Patrick Murphy, Andrew Velazquez, Richie Martin
Notable Losses
- Marcus Semien, Adolis Garcia (non-tendered), Jonah Heim (non-tendered), Merrill Kelly, Tyler Mahle, Jon Gray, Shawn Armstrong, Phil Maton, Jacob Webb (non-tendered), Patrick Corbin, Hoby Milner, Danny Coulombe, Rowdy Tellez, Dylan Moore, Dom Hamel (lost on waivers), Dustin Harris (outrighted, elected free agency) Billy McKinney (outrighted, elected free agency)
The Rangers entered the offseason with a hefty slate of impending free agents. As many as four viable big league rotation arms (Merrill Kelly, Tyler Mahle, Jon Gray, Patrick Corbin) and four quality relievers (Shawn Armstrong, Phil Maton, Hoby Milner, Danny Coulombe) hit the market at season’s end. Texas created further holes on the roster by non-tendering right fielder Adolis Garcia, catcher Jonah Heim and another solid middle reliever, Jacob Webb.
Despite all the departures on the pitching side of things, it seemed early that reimagining an offense that had grown stagnant and regularly struggled against fastballs and velocity was a goal. Texas had tried to do that the prior offseason by parting with Nathaniel Lowe and bringing in Joc Pederson and Jake Burger to reshape the heart of the order. It didn’t work out. Pederson and Burger had career-worst seasons. Texas hit .234/.302/.381 as a team. The resulting 92 wRC+ was tied for fifth-worst in baseball. Rangers hitters ranked 18th in home runs but just 22nd in runs scored. They were 26th in each of batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
That prompted a second and more aggressive shuffle of the offense. The Rangers found no takers for Garcia and Heim at their projected arbitration prices and ultimately non-tendered the pair, losing two key contributors from their 2023 World Series roster for nothing. Three days later, Texas dumped the final three seasons of Marcus Semien’s contract on the Mets, taking on the final five seasons of Brandon Nimmo’s eight-year contract in return.
Nimmo walked at a career-low 7.7% rate in 2025 and struck out more often than Semien, but he was a far more productive hitter overall in 2025. He’s also two years younger. Nimmo may have been traded straight up for Semien, but he’s effectively stepping into the roster spot created by Garcia’s non-tender. He can be reliably counted on for more walks and an on-base mark 40 to 50 points higher than Garcia. At least in 2025, he hit for more power as well. Nimmo makes the Rangers younger (relative to Semien) and provides a higher floor than had been the case with the whiff-prone Garcia.
The only other addition of note to the lineup this winter came in yet another attempt to solidify the team’s struggling catching corps. After Heim regressed in 2024, the Rangers signed Kyle Higashioka to a two-year contract last winter. That contract worked out reasonably well, but Higashioka will be 36 in a month and has never topped last year’s 327 plate appearances or logged even 700 innings behind the plate. With Heim out the door and no immediate heir-apparent coming from the farm, the Rangers needed some form of addition.
The free agent market was thin behind the plate — as is typically the case — but Texas scooped up one of the market’s better options when signing Danny Jansen to a two-year contract. Jansen draws poor framing grades but posted a solid 24.1% caught-stealing rate last year and typically receives good marks from Statcast for his ability to block balls in the dirt. He also draws walks at a high rate each season (12.5% in ’25, 10.8% since ’20) and has above-average pop. Jansen is strikeout-prone but not egregiously so. Although both Jansen and Higashioka hit from the right side, Jansen has better career splits in right-on-right matchups, while Higashioka has more conventional platoon splits. They probably won’t be used in a strict platoon, but Jansen will get more starts versus righties and generally see a larger workload than Higashioka.
Beyond Nimmo and Jansen, the Rangers’ lineup will remain mostly unchanged. They’ll rely on better health for Corey Seager and better performances from names like Pederson, Burger and Josh Jung, each of whom disappointed relative to expectations and projections in 2025. It’s certainly a risk, given that this lineup has a similar structure to the one that’s fallen flat in each of the past two seasons, but the Rangers were clearly working with a limited budget and did their best to make some changes where they could.
One final addition will likely be former NL MVP Andrew McCutchen. He signed a minor league deal after spring training was already underway. Cutch and the Pirates reunited in 2023 and he spent three seasons with his original organization, but the Buccos were hunting bigger fish this winter and opted to move on after McCutchen’s bat fell to about league-average over the past two seasons (slightly below that in 2025). At 39 years old, McCutchen isn’t going to dial things back to his peak form, but he can still hit lefties, which makes him a nice complement for Pederson. And, if Pederson can’t right the ship after last year’s calamitous .181/.285/.328 batting line (76 wRC+), Texas could move on entirely and turn DH reps over to McCutchen. Even if he’s “only” a league-average bat, that’d be a substantial improvement over Pederson’s 2025 output.
The other big change in the lineup isn’t due to a new acquisition but rather a change in role. Josh Smith has been a utility player for his first four seasons with Texas but is now in line for regular at-bats at second base, in place of Semien. Smith has posted a .254/.336/.380 line in semi-regular work over the past two seasons. It’s unremarkable production, but Smith had a strong four-month run to begin the ’25 season before a largely BABIP-driven swoon weighed down his production late in the year. He was hitting .277/.354/.420 through his first 380 plate appearances but batted only .195/.293/.252 in his final 183 plate appearances — all while experiencing a drop of more than 60 points in his average on balls in play.
Smith has never had a set, everyday role. He played seven different positions last year (in addition to a handful of DH appearances). Sam Haggerty‘s presence on the bench gives him a right-handed platoon partner if the Rangers prefer to go that route. They probably should, given that Smith is a career .223/.309/.322 hitter versus lefties to Haggerty’s .280/.362/.446. (Haggerty is a switch-hitter, but he’s delivered only a .202/.277/.279 slash as a left-handed hitter.)
As has typically been the case in recent years, the pitching staff was a prominent focus — both the bullpen and the rotation. Texas got nice performances from Robert Garcia and Cole Winn in 2025, and they brought Chris Martin back for one more go-around even though he’d previously hinted at retirement.
The Rangers had success building nearly an entire bullpen from small-scale free agent deals last winter and will try to replicate the strategy in 2026. It’s a clear risk, as relievers are the game’s most volatile performers on a year-to-year basis. The Texas farm is light on impact arms, however, particularly after dealing six minor league pitchers to acquire Merrill Kelly, Phil Maton and Danny Coulombe in separate trades.
Last offseason, Texas brought in Martin, Shawn Armstrong, Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb and Luke Jackson (in addition to trading for Robert Garcia, who’s controlled through 2029). This winter it was more of the same. Martin is back on another one-year deal, and he’s joined by Jakob Junis, Jalen Beeks, Tyler Alexander and Alexis Diaz, although the former will have to earn his way back onto the roster.
Diaz inked a $1MM contract after being non-tendered by the Braves but was designated for assignment and passed through waivers when Texas signed Beeks earlier this month. It’s at least possible that was the plan from the jump; we increasingly see teams sign experienced players to low-cost, one-year deals and then pass them through waivers to stash as Triple-A depth, knowing they won’t reject the outright assignment to the minors because doing so means forfeiting any guarantees on the contract (for players with fewer than five seasons of service anyhow). Even if that wasn’t the initial intent, Diaz didn’t do himself any favors by allowing eight runs with four walks and a hit batter in 1 2/3 frames this spring.
As was the case last spring, the Rangers’ bullpen looks shaky on paper. All of Martin, Beeks, Junis and Alexander have had success at times but lack consistency (hence being available on short-term contracts). Garcia’s performance was strong but less than elite. Winn posted a pristine 1.51 ERA, but metrics like SIERA (4.13) and FIP (3.90) aren’t buying it because of the former top prospect’s mediocre 21.6% strikeout rate and sub-par 10.5% walk rate.
There are other potential upside plays in the mix. The Rangers claimed righty Michel Otañez off waivers from the division-rival A’s, selected righty Carter Baumler from the from the Orioles in the Rule 5 Draft (by way of a trade with the Pirates), and signed veterans Ryan Brasier and Josh Sborz to minor league contracts. Baumler was an over-slot ($1.5MM) fifth-rounder who posted a 2.04 ERA with a 29% strikeout rate between High-A and Double-A last year. Otañez sits upper 90s with his heater and misses bats in droves but also has a career 14% walk rate in the majors. Sborz was a key bullpen piece for much of 2023 but has been hampered by injuries since. Brasier has a nice track record but is 38 years old and has had a tough spring.
Perhaps the Rangers can defy the odds again, but this is a tough way to build a bullpen with any sort of regularity. Relievers are inherently volatile, and that volatility often necessitates going out and adding help at the deadline if the club is in contention. That could lead to trading away some potential down-the-road bullpen arms, creating a bit of a vicious cycle.
The other side of the pitching staff, once again, proved a core focus for the Rangers. Since being installed as president of baseball operations, former big league right-hander Chris Young has repeatedly focused on deepening his pitching staff. That’s in part due to the old adage that there’s no such thing as “too much” pitching — which a former pitcher understands keenly — and also in part due to difficulty in developing homegrown arms.
Former No. 2 overall pick Jack Leiter was a bright spot in 2025, but fellow top prospect Kumar Rocker couldn’t get off the ground floor. Winn was once a top-tier rotation project who’s fizzled out in a rotation role and is now in the ‘pen. Other prominent Rangers pitching prospects like Owen White, Hans Crouse, Dane Dunning and Brock Porter (to name a few recent examples) have largely plateaued — if not before reaching the majors then not long after.
The struggles to develop homegrown pitching have led the Rangers to routinely go outside the organization to get it. They did so again this winter, bringing former trade acquisition and 2023 rotation savior Jordan Montgomery back on a one-year deal that’ll potentially plug him into the rotation once he’s recovered from UCL surgery. The larger move, of course — arguably their signature move of the offseason — was the trade for Washington’s MacKenzie Gore.
Texas sent a five-player package, headlined by 2025 first-rounder Gavin Fien, to Washington to pry Gore loose. The package notably lacked a consensus top-100 prospect, though the Nats presumably have Fien in that group on their internal rankings. One would imagine the Nationals at least asked about names like Sebastian Walcott and Caden Scarborough and were rebuffed. Washington had a thin system that badly needed depth, however, so diversifying their risk by acquiring a bushel of prospects rather than one or two higher-end names is a reasonable approach.
In that sense, the trade worked out for both parties. The Nats add a smattering of talented young players to their system, including last summer’s No. 12 overall pick (Fien). The Rangers added two years of Gore without surrendering the very best their system has to offer.
Gore will spend the next two seasons in Texas. He’s a former No. 3 overall pick who once ranked as the sport’s top pitching prospect. Injuries and poor performance stemming from mechanical issues delayed his arrival in the majors, but he’s started 89 games over the past three seasons now and done so with a respectable 4.15 ERA. Gore looked to finally be breaking out in full last summer. He made the All-Star team and entered the break with a terrific 3.02 ERA, 30.5% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate. A brutal four-start stretch saw him rocked for 23 runs over his next 15 2/3 innings. He then rebounded with a 3.74 ERA down the stretch.
Gore now joins Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Leiter to form an impressive quartet. The depth thereafter isn’t great, in part because the Rangers shipped out three nearly MLB-ready starters for Kelly last summer. Lefty Jacob Latz is the favorite for the fifth spot on the starting staff. Rocker, Jose Corniell and David Davalillo are depth options on the 40-man roster, and Young brought in veterans like Cal Quantrill and Austin Gomber on minor league deals. Both Montgomery and southpaw Cody Bradford could be ready to return from the IL early this summer.
It’s a talented but top-heavy group, and the Rangers are at some risk of that depth being exposed if deGrom and/or Eovaldi run into further injury troubles. Eovaldi hasn’t started 30 games since 2021. DeGrom made 30 dominant starts last season but combined for 35 starts in the four seasons prior.
The Rangers have the makings of a solid veteran core on both the offensive and pitching side of things. Their defense should be good but perhaps not to the extent of last season, given the subtraction of Semien’s all-world glove at second and Garcia’s quality glove in right field. The bullpen will need several things to break right, and the bench and minor league depth options are a bit lacking.
Better health from Seager and center fielder Evan Carter, rebounds from Burger/Pederson, and a step forward from standout left fielder Wyatt Langford — who has superstar potential — would go a long way toward pushing the Rangers back into the postseason mix.
How would MLBTR readers grade the Rangers’ offseason? Have your say in the poll below:
How would you grade the Rangers' offseason?
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C 48% (356)
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B 31% (229)
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D 12% (92)
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F 5% (35)
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A 4% (27)
Total votes: 739
Giants Notes: Whisenhunt, Rodríguez, Birdsong, Harber
The Giants optioned left-hander Carson Whisenhunt and catcher Jesús Rodríguez to Triple-A Sacramento, per the club. Neither is particularly surprising, though both young players are ranked among the organization’s top 20 or so prospects.
Whisenhunt, 25, made his MLB debut last year and was tagged for a 5.01 ERA in 23 1/3 innings. He also logged a 4.43 ERA in 107 2/3 Triple-A frames. Formerly ranked among the sport’s top 100 prospects, Whisenhunt saw his strikeout rate plummet by nearly eight percentage points last season, checking in at 20.9%, though he did so with a career-best 7.7% walk rate that vastly outpaced 2024’s mark of 11.3%.
San Francisco signed Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle this offseason, adding that pair of veterans to a group of incumbents led by Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Landen Roupp. That quintet will open in rookie manager Tony Vitello’s rotation, with righty JT Brubaker providing a swing option in the ‘pen. Whisenhunt will be among the Giants’ first depth options in the event of an injury to a big league starter, with righties Blade Tidwell and Carson Seymour also in the mix.
As for Rodriguez, he was never going to supplant Patrick Bailey — the sport’s premier defensive catcher — as the starter. That he’s been optioned to Triple-A bodes well for backup Daniel Susac, who’s in camp as a Rule 5 pickup out of the A’s organization (though technically acquired via trade with the Twins). The 24-year-old Susac hit .303/.361/.455 in 36 plate appearances this spring and is poised to make his MLB debut as Bailey’s backup this year.
Rodríguez, 23, came to the Giants as part of the Camilo Doval trade with the Yankees last July. He had a huge spring (.353/.405/.559 in 37 plate appearances) but will head to Sacramento for additional development time. He’s coming off a strong .307/.393/.403 showing in 565 plate appearances spent mostly in Triple-A last year. Sending him to Sacramento will allow Rodríguez to get more regular at-bats than he’d have received as a backup to Bailey, and it also helps the team protect its depth by affording Susac a runway to a big league roster spot rather than placing him on waivers and having to offer him back to the A’s.
Turning back to the pitching side of things, righty Hayden Birdsong is still mulling his options after being diagnosed with a flexor strain and UCL sprain, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. He’s already had a second opinion from Dr. Keith Meister. Birdsong will miss the entire 2026 season if he undergoes surgery, although getting surgery earlier now would allow him to return sooner next year.
A spring standout last year, the now-24-year-old Birdsong was terrific out of the San Francisco bullpen to begin the 2025 season. He broke camp with the club and rattled off 20 1/3 innings with a 1.33 ERA, a 25.9% strikeout rate and a 9.4% walk rate. A move to the rotation didn’t pan out. Birdsong started 10 games for the Giants but was rocked for a 6.17 ERA with greatly diminished rate stats (21.8 K%, 13.7 BB%).
Whether he goes the surgery route or rehab route, Birdsong will be facing a substantial absence. Surgery would sideline him into summer of the 2027 season. Rehab would still presumably cost him months of the current campaign. The vast majority of UCL sprains result in Tommy John or internal brace surgery, though there are exceptions. Braves righty Grant Holmes, for instance, suffered a UCL sprain last summer but went the rest/rehab route and is healthy now, set to break camp as Atlanta’s fourth starter. More often than not, even pitchers who attempt the rehab route ultimately undergo surgery, but it’s not a foregone conclusion.
In other Giants injury news, the team announced that infield prospect Parks Harber will be sidelined for the next four to six weeks due to a Grade 2 hamstring strain. Harber was never going to break camp with the big club — he’s not on the 40-man roster and hasn’t played above High-A — but he’s had a big spring. In 33 plate appearances, he’s slashed .357/.424/.571. The 24-year-old split the 2025 season between the High-A affiliates for the Giants and Yankees (who traded him to San Francisco in that Doval swap), hitting a combined .323/.420/.550 in 343 turns at the plate.
Baseball America ranked Harber 16th among Giants farmhands entering the season, noting that his impressive 2025 campaign put him on the prospect map after going undrafted out of UNC in 2024. He’s a bat-first prospect who’s played all four corner positions — primarily the two infield spots (with a slight edge toward third base over first base). BA’s report touts his offensive prowess while noting that he still needs to work on pulling velocity, as all of his pull-side homers came on breaking pitches and all of his homers off heaters went to center or the opposite field.
Harber will likely open the season in Double-A. His primary positions on the big league club are largely blocked, especially if Bryce Eldridge can prove he’s ready to stick in the majors, but Harber could be a nice righty-swinging corner bat off the bench or perhaps a trade chip when the deadline or next offseason rolls around.
Jurickson Profar’s 162-Game Suspension Upheld
Jurickson Profar‘s appeal of his 162-game suspension for a second positive PED test was unsuccessful, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Profar will serve the entire 162-game suspension, missing all of the 2026 season, and will be ineligible for postseason play if Atlanta qualifies. He will not be paid his $15MM salary this season, which means the Braves will also be spared the $3MM of luxury taxes they’d have paid on his contract this season.
Whether Atlanta plans to reinvest any of that $18MM in savings remains to be seen. There’s been little indication the Braves are actively seeking external additions to this point, though it’s certainly possible they were waiting for absolute certainty regarding Profar’s status before spending any additional funds. The Braves were already pushing a franchise-record payroll at the time of Profar’s suspension, and there was ample speculation that perhaps the team was at or near its budgetary limit, given the lack of urgency shown despite three notable injuries in their rotation this spring. Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep both had loose bodies removed from their right elbows, and left-hander Joey Wentz was lost for the season due to an ACL tear.
There aren’t many free agents of note for Atlanta to consider, although righty Lucas Giolito stands as one obvious exception. Southpaw Tyler Anderson also remains unsigned. The Braves could also look into any number of veterans who have the right to opt out of minor league contracts around the league over the next week. MLBTR recently profiled 33 such players. No one from that group would command significant money, but it at least gives Atlanta president of baseball operations some additional options to consider if he’s looking to augment his roster following Profar’s departure.
Profar is still under contract with the Braves through 2027, when he’ll be owed $15MM in the final season of what’s become a disastrous three-year, $42MM contract. It’s not yet clear how the Braves will proceed with him, though since he’ll spend the entire 2026 season on the restricted list, there’s no urgency for them to make the decision. With two PED suspensions under his belt, Profar is now one positive test away from becoming just the second player to ever receive a lifetime ban following three positive PED tests. He’d join right-hander Jenrry Mejia in holding that dubious distinction.
Trey Yesavage To Begin Season On Injured List
Blue Jays righty Trey Yesavage will open the 2026 season on the 15-day injured list due to a right shoulder impingement, manager John Schneider announced to the team’s beat (via Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet). Yesavage reported to camp with the injury and has been built up slowly as a result. He tossed 35 pitches in a minor league game this week and felt good, but he won’t have enough time to finish ramping up before the season begins. He’ll throw again on March 25, but the Jays are not putting a formal timetable on his potential return.
Yesavage becomes the third Jays starter ticketed for the IL to begin the season. He’ll join righties Shane Bieber (forearm fatigue) and José Berríos (right elbow stress fracture) on the shelf. That’ll leave Toronto with a season-opening rotation of Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce, Max Scherzer and Eric Lauer.
The 22-year-old Yesavage was set to enter 2026 as one of the favorites for American League Rookie of the Year honors after an eye-opening debut late last year. The former No. 20 overall pick made three regular-season starts and notched a 3.21 ERA in 14 innings before breaking out as a postseason hero. In six playoff appearances (five starts), Yesavage logged a 3.58 ERA, a 35.8% strikeout rate and a 10.1% walk rate.
Those postseason numbers are a bit skewed from one rough start against the Mariners (five runs in four innings), but Yesavage pushed Toronto into a 3-2 World Series lead when he held the Dodgers’ star-studded lineup to one run over seven frames while piling up a dozen strikeouts at Dodger Stadium. The Jays couldn’t close things out in the final two games back home, but Yesavage’s electric Game 5 performance emphatically thrust him into the national spotlight. He’s still a clear Rookie of the Year candidate, but the shoulder issue clouds those chances a bit. He’ll miss at least a couple starts to begin the year, and we don’t yet have a sense for when Yesavage will rejoin the rotation.
Despite the slate of injuries, there are some silver linings for the Jays. Toronto has thus far resisted trading any starting pitching despite signing Cease, Ponce and Scherzer — a trio of signings that pushed them to eight starters for five spots. More importantly, there’s no indication that any of the current injuries are particularly severe. While Bieber’s forearm fatigue and especially Berríos’ stress fracture sound alarming, the actual prognoses are less troublesome. Bieber is throwing from flat ground and expected to be on a mound soon, Schneider said this morning (via Zwelling). Berríos is symptom-free and only discovered his injury when undergoing a physical for World Baseball Classic purposes. He’s currently expected to resume throwing within a matter of days.
Though none of the injuries currently point to monthslong absences, the Jays’ depth is already being tested. They can scarcely afford even another minor injury, especially with depth starter Bowden Francis out for the year following Tommy John surgery and prospects Ricky Tiedemann and Jake Bloss still working back from injuries of their own.
Swingman Yariel Rodríguez could be summoned back to the 40-man roster after previously clearing waivers, but options beyond him are lacking. Righty Lazaro Estrada has just 7 1/3 MLB innings under his belt. Prospect Adam Macko and Rule 5 pick Spencer Miles have yet to pitch in the majors. Non-roster options beyond Rodriguez include Connor Seabold and Michael Plassmeyer. Seabold has had a shaky spring and has never found big league success. Plassmeyer is a 29-year-old lefty with 11 major league innings under his belt.
MLB Mailbag: Mets, Reds, Skenes, Braves
I'm pinch-hitting for Tim Dierkes on this week's MLB Mailbag while he has some other commitments. In this week's installment, we'll get into the Mets' bullpen, the Reds' defense and lineup, Paul Skenes' looming arbitration eligibility, the Braves' rotation and Jurickson Profar (among various other tangents and side topics).
Sandy asks:
The Mets lineup seems solid and deep and their rotation is possibly top 5. That leaves the pen and defense. The D is probably average, maybe slightly below but serviceable. What is your take on their pen? Thanks!
The Mets' bullpen is close to set at this point. They have six starters entering the season (Freddy Peralta, Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes, David Peterson, Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga), which leaves them seven bullpen spots. None of Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, Brooks Raley, Luis García or Bryan Hudson can be optioned. The Mets have already indicated that righty Huascar Brazobán will have a spot as long as he's healthy, and they similar indicated Tobias Myers would be in the group several weeks ago (before Myers posted a 1.86 ERA and 12-to-4 K/BB ratio in his first 9 2/3 spring frames).
The one spot that's up for grabs seems to be that of Hudson. The journeyman lefty was outstanding for the Brewers in 2024 but struggled in the majors both in 2023 and 2025. The Mets picked him up from the White Sox for cash last month. He's pitched 2 1/3 spring innings and allowed three runs on four hits (one homer) and a walk. It's not an especially compelling showing, particularly when factoring in last year's 4.80 ERA in the majors and 5.97 mark in Triple-A.
Beyond Hudson, candidates for that final spot who are still in major league camp include Richard Lovelady (who's on the 40-man roster), Craig Kimbrel (a non-roster invitee) and perhaps Austin Warren (also on the 40-man). There hasn't been much talk of Warren making the club among the Mets' beat, and he has an option remaining, so he's a long shot. Kimbrel has allowed two runs in five spring innings but also has five walks, two hit batters and only two strikeouts. The Mets seem to habitually acquire Lovelady and jettison him just as frequently; their recent waiver claim of the southpaw was the fifth time they've acquired him in the past calendar year. They clearly like him, but not enough to just give him a dedicated roster spot.
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Rays Notes: Melton, Williams, Woodford
The Rays have optioned top prospects Jacob Melton and Carson Williams to Triple-A Durham to begin the season, the team announced. Melton entered the season with two option years remaining. Williams has a full slate of three option years.
Both players made their big league debuts in 2025 — Melton with the Astros. He came to Tampa Bay by way of the three-team trade sending Brandon Lowe and Mason Montgomery to Pittsburgh and Mike Burrows to Houston. A strong showing this spring might’ve put Melton in position to win a spot in the Opening Day lineup, but he struggled to a .161/.212/.387 showing with a dozen strikeouts in 33 plate appearances.
The rocky spring numbers have little to no impact on Melton’s status as a potential major contributor for years to come. He enters the season ranked 70th on Baseball America’s ranking of the game’s top 100 prospects. The 25-year-old is was a second-round pick in 2022 who saw his stock dip with a middling 2024 season but who rebuilt much of the fanfare surrounding him with a terrific minor league run in 2025.
Melton missed nearly two months last year with a high ankle sprain but hit .286/.389/.556 with a huge 14.7% walk rate in Triple-A prior to being called to the majors. Big league pitching proved to be a challenge the Oregon native, as Melton was stymied for a .157/.234/.186 slash in a small sample of 78 major league plate appearances. He still played good defense and went 7-for-9 in stolen base attempts. However, last year’s rough MLB cameo and this spring’s shaky showing suggest that he could use a bit more seasoning in the upper minors.
At some point, Melton should get a look this season. Tampa Bay’s outfield isn’t exactly composed of established stars. Left fielder Chandler Simpson is the fastest player in baseball but has bottom-of-the-scale power and needs to improve his outfield reads if he’s to become even an average defender. Cedric Mullins signed a one-year deal in free agency and will be hoping for a rebound after a dismal 2025 season. Jake Fraley was non-tendered by the Rays and re-signed to a cheap one-year deal. Jonny DeLuca, Ryan Vilade and Justyn-Henry Malloy give the Rays some right-handed complements to that entirely left-handed outfield slate, but none of the three righties is an established contributor himself.
Williams, meanwhile, was sent down despite strong results this spring. He went 6-for-22 with a pair of doubles and a stolen base (albeit with two other unsuccessful attempts). As with Melton, he’s a touted prospect who struggled considerably in his first exposure to MLB pitching last summer. The 2021 first-rounder appeared in 32 games and took 106 plate appearances but batted only .172/.219/.354. He popped five homers but struck out in an alarming 41.5% of his plate appearances.
Williams has mashed his way through the lower and middle levels of the minors, but he’s been a below-average hitter in Triple-A and in his tiny major league sample. He hit .213/.318/.447 with a 34% strikeout rate in Durham last year. Strikeouts are always going to be an issue for the 22-year-old, but he has above-average speed, plus power and a plus glove at shortstop. Williams typically draws plenty of walks, so the hope will be that he can be something of a three-true-outcome slugger who happens to play a plus shortstop as well. That’d make him an easy regular and lock him in as a fixture with the Rays, but there’s still some work to be done.
For now, it seems likely that Taylor Walls will open the season at shortstop. Trade acquisition Ben Williamson is expected to get some looks there as well (in addition to time at third base and second base).
One other recent cut for the Rays was veteran righty Jake Woodford, who was a non-roster invitee but was reassigned to minor league camp two days back. The 29-year-old right-hander had a nice showing, tossing 7 1/3 innings and holding opponents to a run on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts and a nice 45% ground-ball rate.
MLBTR has learned that Woodford has an upward mobility clause in his contract on Friday. Effectively, that clause will make him available to all 29 other clubs. If another team is willing to put Woodford on its 40-man roster, the Rays have to either select him to their own 40-man roster or let him go to the club that’s willing to do so. Since Woodford is out of minor league options, he’d need a team willing to carry him on the major league roster to step up.
The No. 39 overall pick back in the 2015 draft, Woodford has pitched in parts of six major league seasons between the Cardinals, White Sox, Pirates and D-backs. He has a career 5.10 ERA with a very low 14.9% strikeout rate but strong walk and ground-ball rates (7.6% and 45%, respectively).
Woodford has pitched both out of the bullpen and out of a rotation. He’s totaled at least 21 major league innings each season dating back to 2020. The right-hander logged a 6.44 ERA in 36 innings with Arizona in 2025 and spent the rest of the season in Triple-A with the Yankees and Cubs, combining for a 4.55 earned run average in 61 1/3 innings there. A club that’s incurred some injuries in the rotation this spring and is looking to bring in some length for the bullpen could take a look once that clause triggers on Friday.
José Berríos Diagnosed With Stress Fracture In Elbow
Blue Jays righty José Berríos has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right elbow and will not be ready for Opening Day, manager John Schneider announced to the team’s beat (via Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet). Berríos is somewhat remarkably pain- and symptom-free. The current hope is that after a bit of down time, he’ll be able to pitch through the issue. It’s not clear exactly how long that’ll be, but for now he’ll take a few days off from throwing altogether.
Berríos had been pitching throughout the spring and only learned of a possible issue in his elbow when he was taking his physical prior to joining Puerto Rico’s team for the World Baseball Classic. An MRI conducted as part of that exam revealed inflammation in his elbow, which caught Berríos by surprise, as he said that he had not experienced any discomfort. Still, the inflammation scuttled his hopes of pitching for Puerto Rico and prompted the Jays to schedule a visit with Dr. Keith Meister to further evaluate the veteran righty’s elbow.
Entering the fifth season of a seven-year, $131MM contract, Berríos had been hoping for a rebound effort. He’s coming off one of his weaker seasons but was still plenty serviceable last year. In 166 innings, he posted a 4.17 ERA, 19.8% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate. The right-hander’s 93 mph average four-seamer was a career-low, and his 92.2 mph average sinker was the second-lowest of his career. That walk rate, while solid, was the second-highest of his career in a full season and a notable step up from the 6.7% he’d logged from 2017-24.
A trip to the injured list is a rarity for Berríos. He’s been a starter every year of his major league career — one of the most durable and consistent of the past decade. Dating back to 2018, he leads Major League Baseball in both games started (234) and innings pitched (1367 2/3). Berríos started a full slate of 12 games during the shortened 2020 season and has started 30 or more games in each other season dating back to 2018.
The Jays still owe Berríos $66MM over the next three seasons. He can opt out of the final two years of his contract following the 2026 campaign, but based on last year’s relative down performance, that looked like a long shot even before news of this elbow issue popped up.
Berríos finds himself in something of an odd spot with the Jays, though perhaps this injury will help sort things out organically. Toronto signed Dylan Cease, Max Scherzer and Cody Ponce in free agency this offseason. Rookie Trey Yesavage is also locked into a rotation spot after a dominant late-season debut and postseason run. The Blue Jays have Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Cease, Yesavage, Ponce, Scherzer, Berríos and Eric Lauer on the roster, giving them eight viable starting pitchers for five spots.
Bieber is opening the season on the injured list due to some forearm fatigue. Berríos will join him there for an undetermined period of time. If neither misses much time, the Jays could soon have some tough decisions to make with regard to eight veteran starting pitchers — assuming the other six remain healthy. Lauer has voiced a desire to pitch out of the rotation — he’s a free agent next winter, after all — but said he’ll pitch in whatever role he’s asked. There’s been some trade speculation surrounding him, but with two starters already on the shelf, Toronto may not be keen on further thinning the staff.
Williamson, Lowder, Burns Make Reds’ Roster
The Reds will open the season with six starters on the major league roster, manager Terry Francona announced (via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com). With Hunter Greene out until midseason, Cincinnati had three rotation locks: Opening Day starter Andrew Abbott, fellow lefty Nick Lodolo and veteran right-hander Brady Singer. Lefty Brandon Williamson and righties Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder have all secured roster spots as well. The Reds won’t use a straight six-man rotation but will deploy the Burns/Lowder/Williamson trio in a to-be-determined capacity.
Charlie Goldsmith of FOX 19 writes that the Reds have labeled the setup as a “condensed” six-man rotation. Abbott, Lodolo and Singer will start the first three games. A decision has yet to be made on which of Burns, Lowder and Williamson will start games four and five for the Reds. Whichever isn’t given a start will be available in long relief or tandem/piggyback fashion for the other two. Abbott will be back on the bump for Cincinnati’s sixth game of the season.
“You’ll see (Williamson) either potentially come in after Burns, or maybe even start a game and have Lowder do it (out of the bullpen),” Francona said (via Goldsmith). “I don’t think we feel the need to say it ahead of time as far as strategy goes. That’s kind of where we’re sitting. You’ll see (Williamson) pitch one of those two days (Game 4 or 5 of the season).”
Williamson, 28 next month, entered camp as a particular long shot to make the club. He’d pitched only 30 2/3 innings over the past two seasons combined — none in 2025. He missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery that was performed late in the 2024 campaign.
A former second-round pick by the Mariners, Williamson came to the Reds in the 2022 Eugenio Suárez/Jesse Winker trade. He’s pitched 131 1/3 big league innings with a 4.39 ERA to date but was a fairly well-regarded prospect with a solid minor league track record. Now healthy, Williamson has opened eyes in camp. He’s pitched 11 innings and held opponents to just two runs on only six hits and a pair of walks with 13 strikeouts (1.64 ERA, 31 K%, 4.8 BB%). He has a career 92.8 mph on his four-seamer but has been sitting 94.1 mph this spring (obviously not working as deep into games as he would in a regular season setting).
Burns and Lowder — particularly the former — seemed like much stronger rotation bets. Burns, the No. 2 overall pick in 2024, debuted last summer less than a year after being selected out of Wake Forest. The 6’3″ flamethrower obliterated minor league opposition, notching a 1.77 ERA, 36.8% strikeout rate and 5.4% walk rate in his first 13 pro starts before being summoned to the big leagues. Burns’ 4.57 ERA in 43 1/3 MLB frames last year, but much of the damage against him came early on. Burns was shredded for seven runs in just one-third of an inning against Boston in his second career start. He bounced back with a 3.32 ERA, 37.3% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate over his final 38 major league innings.
Lowder was the No. 7 overall pick just a year prior to Burns. Like Burns, he’s a Wake Forest product who made his MLB debut just a year after being drafted, in 2024. Lowder turned in a powerhouse 1.17 ERA in his first six MLB starts but did so with an underwhelming 17.2% strikeout rate and hefty 10.9% walk rate. His minor league work was terrific, however.
Both Burns and Lowder have had nice springs overall, though the Reds recently slowed Burns down a bit after he reported some range-of-motion issues to the club. Both promising young righties are viewed as critical long-term pieces in the rotation. It’s not entirely clear how this six-man setup will be resolved long-term. Francona told Goldsmith it’s a very short-term setup that probably won’t even last into late April. All three of Burns, Lowder and Williamson have multiple minor league option years remaining.
Francona also confirmed that reliever Connor Phillips and outfielder Will Benson have made the roster. Both have a minor league option remaining that, at least for now, won’t be used. The 24-year-old Phillips has had a rough spring, allowing seven runs in seven innings with an 18.8% walk rate, but he posted a 2.88 ERA while punching out nearly one-third of his opponents in 25 major league innings last year.
Benson has absolutely raked this spring, popping four homers and a double with as many walks as strikeouts (seven apiece) in 40 plate appearances. The 27-year-old is hitting .250/.400/.656 in 13 games. There’s no clear path to regular playing time with TJ Friedl, Noelvi Marte, JJ Bleday and Dane Myers also on the roster, but he’ll mix in as an occasional starter versus right-handed pitching and a lefty bat off the bench.