Braves Designate Brett Wisely For Assignment
The Braves designated infielder/outfielder Brett Wisely for assignment Wednesday upon setting their 40-man roster, as first indicated on the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’s out of minor league options and didn’t make Atlanta’s Opening Day roster.
Atlanta also placed catcher Sean Murphy and shortstop Ha-Seong Kim on the 10-day injured list, as expected. Pitchers AJ Smith-Shawver, Danny Young, Hurston Waldrep, Spencer Strider and Daysbel Hernández are all opening the year on the 15-day IL. Smith-Shawver and Young both had UCL surgery last year, while Waldrep had surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow earlier this spring. All are potential 60-day IL candidates next time the Braves need to open a 40-man roster spot.
Wisely, 26, has appeared in each of the past three MLB seasons, including a four-game cameo with Atlanta last year, wherein he tallied nine plate appearances. He’s a left-handed hitter with a lifetime .214/.265/.319 batting line in 466 major league plate appearances and has played all four infield spots as well as left field and center field. He has roughly average contact skills and a history of drawing walks in the minors. Wisely is a versatile infield defender who can handle all of shortstop, second base and third base at an least an average level.
Wisely bounced around the waiver circuit this winter and could get scooped up by a team looking for a left-handed bat who can play multiple infield additions and perhaps serve as a fifth outfield option. He’s a career .275/.372/.433 hitter in Triple-A. Since he’s out of minor league options, he’ll have to be added directly to the major league roster of any club that claims him or acquires him in a trade. Atlanta can trade Wisely or place him on waivers at any point in the next five days, and waivers themselves are a 48-hour process. The outcome of his DFA should be known within the next week.
Astros Finalize Opening Day Roster
The Astros finalized their Opening Day roster, most notably announcing that shortstop Jeremy Pena will avoid a season-opening trip to the injured list. Catcher César Salazar was designated for assignment, clearing a 40-man roster spot for Christian Vázquez, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Sugar Land. Houston also selected right-hander Christian Roa‘s contract and opened a 40-man spot by placing lefty Brandon Walter on the 60-day IL while he recovers from UCL surgery. Houston also optioned outfielder Zach Cole to Triple-A, while prospect Brice Matthews makes the cut.
Outfielder Zach Dezenzo will open the season on the 10-day IL due to a right elbow sprain. Righty Ronel Blanco (recovering from Tommy John surgery), left-hander Josh Hader (biceps tendinitis), righty Enyel De Los Santos (right knee strain), lefty Bennett Sousa (oblique strain), right-hander Nate Pearson (recovering from elbow surgery) and right-hander Hayden Wesneski (recovering from Tommy John surgery) are all opening the year on the 15-day IL. Blanco and Wesneski will be 60-day IL candidates whenever Houston next needs a 40-man roster spot.
Pena’s status was up in the air after he suffered a fracture on the tip of his finger while fielding a grounder during an exhibition contest earlier this spring. He resumed hitting earlier this week, however, and has been deemed healthy enough to break camp with the club.
Vázquez’s selection to the big league roster was already known, as was the fact that Salazar wouldn’t make the team. Today’s DFA doesn’t necessarily mean that the ‘Stros won’t be able to find a trade partner. He can still be swapped out to another club within the next five days if another team is willing to put him on its 40-man roster.
Salazar, 30, has 67 MLB plate appearances to his name and has batted .232/.318/.268. He spent the bulk of the 2025 season in Triple-A, where he hit .213/.353/.353. He’s regarded as a solid defender but not the same extent as the veteran Vázquez, so Houston — as they’ve done in the past with Martin Maldonado — will opt for a plus defender as their backup catcher even if it means rostering one of the lightest-hitting players in the game.
Roa, 26, made his MLB debut with Miami last season and tossed three shutout innings. He’s a former Reds and Marlins farmhand who had a dominant spring with Houston after signing a minor league deal in December. He tossed 9 2/3 innings of one-run ball during Grapefruit League play and punched out 36% of his opponents without issuing a walk. Between that and last year’s 2.83 ERA in 60 1/3 Triple-A frames, he could be a nice under-the-radar pickup for the Astros.
Cole looked to be in strong position to make the club entering camp, but Houston reacquired Joey Loperfido to give them another lefty option in the outfield. Cole slashed .200/.340/.400 in 50 spring plate appearances, and the alarming contact issues that plagued him last year weren’t any better in March. After going down on strikes in 35% of his minor league plate appearances and 38.5% of his big league plate appearances in 2025, Cole punched out in 20 of his 50 turns at the plate this spring (40%).
Cole has obvious power and speed but will need to make more contact if he’s to carve out a a lasting role. Add in a handful of lefty opponents for Houston early in the season, and the right-handed-hitting Matthews will get the nod to begin the year. Matthews is a former first-round pick who slashed .250/.400/.417 this spring. He struggled in a brief MLB debut last year but hit .260/.371/.458 in Triple-A. While Matthews was drafted as a shortstop, the Astros’ glut of infielders has pushed him into outfield duty.
Twins Designate Alex Jackson For Assignment
The Twins announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Cody Laweryson and opened a spot on the 40-man roster by designating catcher Alex Jackson for assignment. They’d been shopping the out-of-options Jackson in recent days but didn’t find a taker. They can continue to explore trades for five days before they’ll have to place him on waivers. Minnesota also placed righties Travis Adams and David Festa on the 15-day IL due to a triceps strain and shoulder impingement, respectively.
Jackson, 30, came over from the Orioles in a November trade sending minor league infielder Payton Eeles to Baltimore. At the time, the Twins’ ownership situation was somewhat in flux, leaving the front office uncertain as to what sort of budget they’d have throughout the winter. Jackson was acquired and signed to a $1.35MM deal, avoiding arbitration and giving the Twins a glove-first backup catcher with some power but immense strikeout and OBP concerns.
The Twins eventually introduced a trio of new minority stakeholders and shuffled up the ownership hierarchy, with Tom Pohlad stepping in as the new control person in place of his younger brother, Joe. That shift came with the apparent green light for some modest investments in free agency, which led to Minnesota signing Victor Caratini on a two-year deal. Caratini became the new backup to starting catcher Ryan Jeffers, leaving Jackson with no path to a 26-man roster spot. Since he can’t be optioned, he’s been designated for assignment and will spend up to a week in limbo waiting to learn his next steps.
Jackson was once a top-10 draft pick and ballyhooed top prospect, but he’s never found his stride in the majors. He’s taken 440 plate appearances dating back to his 2019 MLB debut but mustered only a .153/.239/.288 slash. He’s slugged 11 homers but fallen victim to a strikeout in a disastrous 40.7% of his plate appearances. Jackson draws good marks for his pitch framing and throwing, but his anemic offensive profile makes him better suited to be a third or fourth catcher on any team’s depth chart.
It’s possible he’ll stick with Minnesota in just that role. Jackson’s lack of production, lack of minor league options and $1.35MM salary create a good chance that he’ll pass through waivers unclaimed. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment to the minors but not enough service to do so while retaining his guaranteed salary. As such, if he clears, he’ll surely accept an assignment to Triple-A and open the season over in St. Paul.
Laweryson, 27, made his big league debut with the Twins last season. He held opponents to a run on four hits and no walks with seven punchouts — a nice follow-up to the 2.86 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate he logged across 44 Triple-A innings. The Twins tried to pass him through waivers in the offseason, only for the Angels to claim him.
The Halos designated Laweryson for assignment in February and released him, at which point he returned to the Twins on a minor league pact. He’s allowed one run on five hits and a walk with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 spring innings.
Astros’ Peter Lambert Granted His Release
Astros righty Peter Lambert was granted his release after triggering an out clause in his minor league deal, manager Joe Espada tells reporters (link via Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle). The team told Lambert over the weekend that he wouldn’t make the roster.
Lambert, 29 next month, had a solid spring showing and at one point looked to be in legitimate contention for a bullpen spot. He pitched 12 1/3 innings with the ‘Stros and held opponents to four runs on 16 hits and five walks with eight punchouts. That came on the heels of a decent season in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball last year, where he tossed 116 1/3 innings with a 4.26 ERA for the Yakult Swallows.
Lambert has pitched in parts of four MLB seasons, all coming with the Rockies, who originally selected him 44th overall in the 2015 draft. He’s been tagged for an unsightly 6.28 ERA in 243 2/3 MLB frames, battling myriad injuries and the inherent rigors of pitching at altitude in Denver.
This spring, Lambert’s average fastball clocked in at 95 mph — way up from the 93.3 mph he averaged with the Rox from 2019-24. That velocity bump, coupled with a solid (albeit small-sample) swinging-strike rate of 11.4% suggest Lambert could probably be counted on for a better mark than the ugly 14.8% strikeout rate he posted this spring.
It’s always feasible that veterans in these situations will re-sign with the same team on a new minor league deal — perhaps with better minor league pay and/or more additional opt-out dates that grant them some flexibility. The Astros seem to like Lambert’s arm, but he’s also out of minor league options, which makes him a tough fit for a Houston club that currently has four relievers (Bryan Abreu, Enyel De Los Santos, Steven Okert, Roddery Munoz) who can’t be optioned — plus another two (Josh Hader, Nate Pearson) rehabbing on the injured list.
Yankees Trade Zack Short To Nationals
The Yankees have traded infielder Zack Short to the Nationals in exchange for cash, per announcements from both clubs. Short, who’d been a non-roster invitee to Yankees camp, will head to Triple-A Rochester with his new organization for the time being.
Short, 30, signed a minor league deal with New York back in December and hit .278/.480/.333 in 25 spring plate appearances. He’s played in parts of four major league seasons between the Tigers, Mets, Red Sox, Braves and Astros, tallying a total of 594 plate appearances. In that time, he’s slashed .172/.271/.296 with 15 homers, 10 steals, a stout 11.8% walk rate and a bloated 29% strikeout rate.
The Nationals are relatively thin on infield depth, and Short has experience at second base, shortstop and third base in the majors — more than 300 innings at each position (including 784 at shortstop). He hasn’t posted especially strong defensive grades, but he’s a versatile right-handed bat with modest pop and solid on-base skills. His low batting averages persist even in Triple-A, where he’s batted just .216 in six seasons, but he also sports a .353 on-base percentage in that time.
Looking around the Nationals’ infield, CJ Abrams is the lone established player. Former first-round pick Brady House will get another look at third base, while Nasim Nunez and Luis Garcia Jr. look like options at second base and first base. Infielder Jorbit Vivas also came over from the Nats in a more notable trade and is out of minor league options, so he’ll mix in to some extent, as will righty-swinging first baseman Andres Chaparro.
Twins Make Several Roster Decisions
The Twins announced Tuesday that they’ve granted right-hander Matt Bowman his release. He triggered an opt-out clause in his contract over the weekend. Minnesota also reassigned non-roster players Dan Altavilla, Orlando Arcia, David Bañuelos and Trent Baker to minor league camp. As Dan Hayes of The Athletic notes, that positions right-handers Cody Laweryson and Zak Kent to take the final two bullpen jobs, barring any outside additions. Matthew Leach of MLB.com did suggest earlier today that Minnesota could make another move or two regarding its patchwork bullpen.
Bowman, 34, had a nice spring, tossing 7 1/3 shutout innings. He allowed six hits and a pair of walks while punching out seven hitters. The journeyman right-hander has pitched in parts of seven major league seasons, compiling a 4.38 ERA over the course of 240 2/3 frames. He tossed 24 2/3 innings for Baltimore in 2025 but was tagged for a 6.20 earned run average.
Laweryson, 27, made his big league debut with the Twins last offseason. He held opponents to a run on four hits and no walks with seven punchouts — a nice follow-up to the 2.86 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate he logged across 44 Triple-A innings. The Twins tried to pass him through waivers in the offseason, only for the Angels to claim him.
The Halos designated Laweryson for assignment in February and released him, at which point he returned to the Twins on a minor league pact. He’s allowed one run on five hits and a walk with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 spring innings. Since he was in camp as a non-roster invitee, Laweryson will require the Twins to clear a 40-man roster spot to add him to the Opening Day roster. They’ve been shopping out-of-options catcher Alex Jackson but have no shortage of fringe players on their 40-man roster after last summer’s sell-off.
Whether there are any forthcoming moves or not, a year will make quite a difference for the Twins. They entered the 2025 season with what looked like one of the sport’s best bullpens on paper. Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Brock Stewart, Danny Coulombe, Justin Topa and Cole Sands gave the club a very strong top end. When the Twins shifted to sell mode at the deadline, that group was near wholly dismantled. Duran, Jax, Varland, Stewart and Coulombe were all traded for younger and/or more controllable players.
Heading into 2026, the Twins have what looks like one of the game’s worst bullpens by a wide margin. They added left-hander Anthony Banda after he was designated for assignment by the Dodgers and picked up righty Eric Orze in a small trade with the Rays. Left-hander Taylor Rogers, now 35, is back on a one-year deal that guarantees him $2MM. Kent was claimed off waivers after spring training was already underway.
That’s the extent of the team’s bullpen additions this winter. They’ll head into the season with Rogers, Banda, Sands, Topa, Orze, Kent, Laweryson and Kody Funderburk comprising new manager Derek Shelton’s relief corps. There’s no clear closer. Rogers is the only Twins reliever with experience in that role, but he’s been relegated to middle relief work with the Giants, Reds and Cubs in recent seasons. Rogers, Banda, Topa and Sands are the only Twins relievers with even a year of major league service.
As the season wears on, the Twins will surely hope for some young arms to step up and secure roles. Prospects like Connor Prielipp, Marco Raya, Ryan Gallagher and John Klein could eventually emerge as relief options. Starting pitchers who don’t carve out footholds in the rotation could get a look here, too; Zebby Matthews, David Festa, Kendry Rojas and Andrew Morris are among the possibilities. For now, the early iteration of the group looks about as bleak as any team in the game.
Phillies, Oscar Mercado Agree To Minor League Deal
The Phillies are bringing veteran outfielder Oscar Mercado, who spent the 2025 season with their Triple-A club, back on a new minor league deal, MLBTR has learned. Mercado was with the D-backs this spring but was released yesterday. He’s represented by Excel Sports Management.
Mercado had a solid season with the Phillies’ Triple-A club in Lehigh Valley last year, his age-30 campaign. In 115 games and 477 plate appearances, he slashed .249/.369/.373 with 11 homers, 40 steals and more walks (14.5%) than strikeouts (14.3%). After a .242/.265/.333 showing in 34 spring plate appearances with the D-backs, he’ll now re-up with the Phils and head back to Lehigh Valley to begin the season.
It’s only natural to see Philadelphia bring in some familiar outfield depth. They’re going with top prospect Justin Crawford in center field to begin the season. Touted as he is, the 22-year-old has never taken a major league plate appearance and hasn’t had an especially impactful spring, batting .250/.291/.346 in 55 turns at the plate. Johan Rojas, one fallback option for Crawford, will miss the first half of the season after receiving an 80-game PED suspension.
The Phillies had utilityman Dylan Moore in camp as a non-roster invitee and have since signed him to a major league deal. He has 105 career innings in center but has been more of a corner option when playing on the grass. Left fielder Brandon Marsh has plenty of center field experience but is considered a below-average defender there. Waiver claim Pedro León gives the Phillies another 40-man option in center field, though he has only 21 major league plate appearances and hit .241/.312/.422 in 22 Triple-A games last year. Injuries limited him to 25 games overall.
Mercado hasn’t played in the majors since 2023 and was never really able to follow up on a strong rookie showing in 2019, when he batted .269/.318/.443 with 15 homers and 15 steals in 115 games with Cleveland. In 491 MLB plate appearances since that time, he’s slashed .206/.262/.334. Mercado has a solid Triple-A track record though, and he’ll give the Phillies some speed and depth across all three outfield spots.
Braves Claim Osvaldo Bido
Yankees right-hander Osvaldo Bido has been claimed off waivers by the Braves, per announcements from both clubs. Atlanta placed left-hander Joey Wentz on the 60-day IL to create a spot on the 40-man roster. Wentz suffered a torn ACL midway through spring training and is expected to miss the 2026 season.
This marks the second time since last season concluded that Atlanta has acquired Bido. They also plucked him off waivers from the A’s back in early December. That claim set off a series of transactions in what went on to become one of the most whirlwind winters any player has experienced in recent memory. Bido went from the A’s, to the Braves, to the Rays, to the Marlins, to Angels, to the Yankees in a dizzying sequence of DFAs and waiver claims. Hopefully for his sake, today’s return to an Atlanta organization in dire need of innings is the last move for some time.
Bido has had a solid spring with the Yankees, tossing seven innings and holding opponents to a run on five hits and three walks. He’s been working one-inning stints with New York but has worked as a starter and swingman in recent seasons with the Pirates and Athletics.
Bido spent seven seasons in the Pirates system before making his MLB debut as a 27-year-old in 2023. He’s spent the past two seasons with the A’s. Listed at a wiry 6’3″ and 175 pounds, he’s pitched 193 2/3 innings in the majors and pitched to a 5.07 earned run average. It’s been a roller-coaster run, with poor numbers in ’23, strong output in ’24 and more struggles in ’25. Overall, metrics like SIERA (4.60) and FIP (4.67) view him a bit more favorably, but Bido has typically pitched like a swingman or sixth starter.
Bido averages 94.7 mph on his four-seamer and sinker alike. He’s only a bit worse than average in terms of strikeout rate (20.9%) and walk rate (9.6%), but home runs were a major issue in 2025. Bido is an extreme fly-ball pitcher, and a 2024 season spent pitching home games in the cavernous Oakland Coliseum during the Athletics’ final season there treated him well; conversely, a move to West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park, which played like an absolute launching pad, did Bido no favors. He served up 13 big flies in only 44 1/3 home innings this past season, compared to just six on the road (35 1/3 innings).
The Braves entered camp thin on rotation depth and have seen their limited stock of arms ravaged by injury. In addition to Wentz’s ACL tear, right-handers Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep both required elbow surgery to remove loose bodies. Fellow righty Spencer Strider was diagnosed with an oblique strain just this week and will open the season on the injured list.
Atlanta will open the season with Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez and Grant Holmes locked into rotation spots. Lopez pitched only once last year due to shoulder surgery. Holmes suffered a UCL tear last summer and rehabbed without surgery. Sale’s injury history is well known.
Righty Bryce Elder and lefty José Suarez are both out of minor league options and both expected to fill out the rotation, though the team hasn’t formally said as much. Non-roster veteran Martín Pérez seems to at least still be under consideration. Bido, like Elder and Suarez, is out of minor league options. He’s now in strong position to break camp in a swing role, giving Atlanta a bit of extra depth.
Yankees To Option Luis Gil; Rule 5 Pick Cade Winquest Makes Roster
The Yankees will option right-hander Luis Gil to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, per Greg Joyce of the New York Post. They have four off days in the first 12 days of the 2026 season, so they’ll be able to skip the fifth starter spot a couple times. Gil will head to Scranton to continue working on regular rest and will presumably be summoned when the Yanks first need a fifth starter (or if there’s an injury elsewhere in the rotation). Optioning Gil also frees up an extra bullpen spot, which will be filled by Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest, per the Post’s Jon Heyman.
Gil, 27, was the American League Rookie of the Year in 2024 but pitched just 57 innings last year due to a lat strain. He posted a 3.32 ERA during those 57 healthy frames but did so with diminished velocity and strikeout and walk rates that were nowhere close to his 2024 levels. Gil punched out 26.8% of opponents against a 12.1% walk rate in ’24 but fanned only 16.8% of batters faced with a 13.5% walk rate in ’25.
This is Gil’s final minor league option year, although if he’s recalled within the first 20 days of the season, the option won’t technically have to be used. He’s under club control for three more seasons, through 2028, and would need to spend fewer than 99 days on the roster to push that free agent trajectory back by a season. He’s pitched in six games this spring, totaling 19 1/3 innings with a 4.66 ERA and terrific strikeout and walk rates of 29.6% and 6.2%, respectively. However, he’s also been rocked for six homers (2.79 HR/9) in that time, so his command within the strike zone clearly could use a bit of refinement.
As for Winquest, he’ll make his first big league roster after allowing eight earned runs on 13 hits and four walks with eight punchouts in 10 spring innings. He sits 94-96 mph with a heater that tops out around 98 mph. A 2022 eighth-round pick by the Cardinals, he’s worked primarily as a starting pitcher in the minors and should be able to give the Yankees a long relief option as a result. If they manage to navigate the entire season with Winquest on the roster, he’ll become optionable and can give the Yankees an interesting depth option in the rotation or bullpen for years to come.
Prior to Winquest’s selection back in December, it had been more than a decade since the Yankees even made a pick in the Rule 5 Draft, let alone broke camp with said pick on their roster. Technically, the last Yankees Rule 5 pick to survive spring training was righty Brad Meyers back in 2011, though he was on the team’s injured list due to a shoulder issue that popped up during spring training. He missed the entire season and was sent back to the Nationals the next winter. The last Yankees Rule 5 pick to actually play a game was first baseman Josh Phelps, way back in 2007.
It’s only natural that the Yankees, a perpetual win-now club with immense payrolls, hasn’t carried a Rule 5 pick — or even made a Rule 5 selection — since 2011. It’s easier for rebuilding and/or small-market clubs to acquiesce to the roster restrictions inherently associated with Rule 5 pickups. Such clubs have an easier time carrying an inexperienced player who can’t be sent to the minor leagues, and those teams also aren’t likely to fill out the roster with veteran free agents in the same manner as clubs of the Yankees’ ilk.
Kevin McGonigle Makes Tigers’ Roster; Wenceel Pérez Optioned
12:43pm: The Tigers announced that infielder/outfielder Wenceel Pérez, infielder Jace Jung and outfielder Trei Cruz have all been optioned to Triple-A Toledo. Center fielder Parker Meadows has made the Opening Day roster.
The 26-year-old Pérez is the most notable among the cuts. He was a key contributor in Detroit last year, giving Hinch a defensively versatile switch-hitter who could be deployed at various spots in both the infield and outfield. Pérez played exclusively in the outfield last year but has more than 1800 minor league innings at both middle infield slots and another 259 at third base. In 383 MLB plate appearances, he slashed .244/.308/.430 (103 wRC+) with 13 homers, 17 doubles, four triples and eight steals. Pérez will surely get a long major league look this year as injuries and/or poor performance elsewhere on the roster dictate, but for now he’ll open in Toledo.
Pérez didn’t help his case with a dismal .158/.238/.158 showing in 46 spring plate appearances. With better production, he might’ve edged out Meadows, who struggled at the plate in 2025 and batted only .222/.314/.289 in 52 spring plate appearances. Meadows, however, is a plus defender in center field. Given that he nominally outperformed Pérez with the bat and has a clear defensive edge with the glove, he’ll get the nod for an Opening Day roster spot and look to get back to his 2024 form at the plate (.244/.310/.433).
11:28am: It’s official. The Tigers announced Tuesday that infielder Kevin McGonigle, the consensus No. 2 prospect in baseball, will make their Opening Day roster. The 21-year-old will likely begin the season as Detroit’s shortstop after a spring in which he batted .250/.411/.477 with two homers, two doubles, a triple, two steals and more walks (11) than strikeouts (9) in 56 plate appearances. McGonigle is not on the Tigers’ 40-man roster, so they’ll need to make a corresponding transaction when they formally select his contract.
Selected with the No. 37 overall pick in the 2023 draft, McGonigle has raced through the minors relative to most high school picks. He’s raked at every level from Rookie ball up through Double-A last season despite being one of the youngest players in the league at the most recent stops on his minor league journey. McGonigle totaled 397 plate appearances across three levels in 2025 and slashed .305/.408/.583 with 19 homers, 31 doubles, two triples, 10 steals and more walks than strikeouts.
Scouts rave about McGonigle’s preternatural feel for hitting. He’s never punched out in more than 12.6% of his plate appearances at any minor league stop, and his overall strikeout rate of 10.6% in 908 professional plate appearances speaks volumes about the advanced nature of that hit tool — especially considering his age. McGonigle only turned 21 in mid-August. He’ll play the vast majority of his rookie season before even celebrating his 22nd birthday.
Some scouting reports express skepticism about his ability to stick at shortstop, though he’s continued to get reps there this spring and could yet develop into a quality option at the position. Even if a move to another position — second base, third base, outfield — becomes a necessity somewhere down the line, McGonigle’s bat is so highly regarded that it doesn’t matter. He’s viewed as a fixture in the top half of the Detroit lineup for the foreseeable future, regardless of his ultimate defensive home.
Since he’s breaking camp with the club and is a consensus top prospect, McGonigle could net the Tigers some future draft considerations via the league’s Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) program. A Rookie of the Year win in 2026 or a top-three finish in MVP voting in any of McGonigle’s pre-arbitration seasons would net the Tigers an extra draft selection after the first round the following season. (Prospects can only net their team one bonus pick overall.)
Assuming McGonigle sticks on Detroit’s roster all season, he’ll accrue a full year of service and be under club control through the 2031 season. He’d be eligible for arbitration following the 2028 season as things stand. Of course, those timetables are subject to change.
McGonigle will have a full slate of three minor league option years upon being formally added to the roster, and Detroit could always look to extend its window of club control with a long-term deal, be it early in his MLB tenure or during subsequent springs, when McGonigle is still years from the open market. It’ll take a hefty offer to do so in all likelihood, as McGonigle is currently slated to reach free agency ahead of his age-27 season, which would put him in line for a mammoth contract if he reaches his ceiling (or anything close to it).
In addition to his work at shortstop, McGonigle also saw time at third base this spring. Detroit doesn’t have set starters at either position, so he could bounce between both spots. McGonigle, Javier Baez and Zach McKinstry are all capable of playing short and third base. Colt Keith can play third base, second base or first base. Matt Vierling is capable of playing third base or the outfield. Manager A.J. Hinch will have no shortage of matchup-based options with that contingent on hand, but regardless of which defensive spot he occupies on a given day, McGonigle should be expected to be in Hinch’s lineup.