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Tyler Stephenson To Begin Season On Injured List

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Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson has been diagnosed with a low-grade oblique strain and will open the 2025 season on the injured list, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. He underwent an MRI yesterday after experiencing discomfort in his back and side, and the imaging has revealed a strain. The team has not yet provided an expected timetable for Stephenson’s return, though it’s not uncommon for players to require around a month to recover from even Grade 1 oblique strains.

It’s a tough blow for the Reds to start the season. After a down season in 2023, Stephenson delivered a nice rebound effort in 2024, slashing .258/.338/.444 while popping a career-best 19 home runs. That marks four times in parts of five MLB seasons that the now-28-year-old former first-round pick has been comfortably above average at the plate. He’s a career .267/.343/.427 hitter, which is solid production for any position but especially for a catcher, where the majority of his peers are below-average bats with a more defensive-minded approach to the game.

With Stephenson headed to the injured list, the door will open for offseason trade acquisition Jose Trevino to begin the season as Cincinnati’s starting catcher. The Reds picked up Trevino in a trade sending reliever Fernando Cruz to the Yankees.

While the 32-year-old Trevino isn’t much of a threat at the plate — career .236/.275/.362 batting line — he’s a premium defender who won a Platinum Glove as recently as 2022. The veteran’s throwing was uncharacteristically below-average in 2024, as he thwarted just 18.6% of stolen base attempts after sitting at 25.6% and 33.3% in the two prior seasons, respectively. However, Trevino is a plus framer who draws consistently excellent marks for his ability to block pitches in the dirt. He’ll probably hit at the bottom of the Reds’ order while Stephenson is on the mend.

Stephenson and Trevino are currently the only catchers on the Reds’ 40-man roster, so they’ll have to make a move to add a backstop before the season begins. Veteran Austin Wynns, who appeared in seven games for Cincinnati last year, is in camp as a non-roster invitee and stands as the favorite to come up to the roster. Catchers Will Banfield and Michael Trautwein have been in big league camp as well. It’s also possible that the Reds will scoop up a veteran backup option who opts out of a minor league deal elsewhere or grab a catcher off waivers, should anyone hit the wire as teams set their rosters in the latter stages of camp.

Rays Will Not Move Forward With Plans For New Ballpark

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As the Rays continue to deal with the lasting impact of damages to Tropicana Field during Hurricane Milton, owner Stu Sternberg announced this morning that his club will no longer be moving forward with the previous tentative plans to construct a new ballpark in St. Petersburg. The team’s statement reads as follows:

“As we all recover from impacts of the hurricanes, we are incredibly grateful for the support from our fans and the wider Tampa Bay community. … After careful deliberation, we have concluded that we cannot move forward with the new ballpark and development project at this moment. A series of events beginning in October that no one could have anticipated led to this difficult decision.

Our commitment to the vitality and success of the Rays organization is unwavering. We continue to focus on finding a ballpark solution that serves the best interests of our region, Major League Baseball and our organization. The City of St. Petersburg is currently advancing plans to restore Tropicana Field for the 2026 season. We are thankful for their efforts and are excited to return to our home field next spring.”

Major League Baseball issued the following statement in the wake of the Rays’ announcement:

“Major League Baseball remains committed to finding a permanent home for the Club in the Tampa Bay region for their fans and the local community. Commissioner Manfred understands the disappointment of the St. Petersburg community from today’s announcement, but he will continue to work with elected officials, community leaders, and Rays officials to secure the club’s future in the Tampa Bay region.”

[Related: Rays Are “Not For Sale,” St. Petersburg Mayor Says “Bridge Has Been Burned”]

Last summer, the Rays reached a tentative agreement to construct a new $1.3 billion stadium — part of a larger $6.5 billion redevelopment project in the historic Gas Plant District site near the existing Tropicana Field. The closed-roof, 30,000-seat stadium was set to open in 2028, and the development plan had been agreed upon by the Rays, Pinellas County and the City of St. Petersburg. The city council and county commission still needed to sign off on the plan, and various benchmarks needed to be hit along the way to ensure the stadium plans would remain on track.

Mother nature, of course, had other intentions. Hurricane Milton wrought immense damage on Tropicana Field, leaving the Rays without a place to play for at least the 2025 season while they evaluated the cost of repairing Tropicana Field’s shredded roof. The Yankees agreed to allow the Rays to host their home games at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field — home of the team’s Class-A affiliate — for the upcoming 2025 campaign. That plan remains in place.

Even a short-term move to a location outside of Pinellas County rankled some on the county commission, however. The time needed to sort out logistical nightmare stemming from the hurricane damages, coupled with November election cycles that changed the composition of the boards set to approve the necessary bonds to move forward with the project, led to delays in what was already a tightly scheduled development plan for the new facility. Those delays also eventually led to a contentious back-and-forth between the Rays (Sternberg and president Matt Silverman) and Pinellas County that has played out over the offseason. Sternberg acknowledged back in November that relocation was a possible outcome in light of renewed squabbles with local government.

The abandonment of the exiting plan for the 2028 stadium and surrounding development comes against the more recent backdrop of reported pressure from not only other owners but also MLB commissioner Rob Manfred for Sternberg to sell the franchise. Evan Drellich of The Athletic wrote over the weekend that Major League Baseball hopes to keep the Rays in Florida, with a focus on either remaining in St. Petersburg or constructing a new facility in Ybor City near downtown Tampa — a location the Rays have previously explored. Orlando has also been mentioned as an alternative, per Drellich.

At this juncture, the team’s focus is clearly on returning to Tropicana Field for the 2026 campaign. That seems a short-term solution, at best, however. The Rays’ lease at their longtime home originally ran through the 2027 season, though the expiration date was pushed back one season after the Rays were rendered unable to play there in 2025.. The now-scrapped construction of their new Gas Plant District home was set to dovetail with the original expiration of their lease at Tropicana Field. Both Drellich and ESPN’s Jeff Passan have reported within the past week that there are potential buyers lining up in the event the franchise is put up for sale, but Sternberg has in the past made clear that he does not intend to sell the club.

“If it was (for sale), people would know it,” Sternberg told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times last month. “I’ve always been, and I will continue to be, pretty transparent about our intentions. And pretty — not pretty — but very honest about them. And I have been.”

Cubs Have Reportedly Had Talks With Lance Lynn

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The Cubs and veteran righty Lance Lynn are in talks on a potential one-year deal, reports USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, who adds that the Cubs are eyeing some further rotation depth. That said, Lynn could potentially emerge as a bullpen piece. The right-hander told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal earlier in the offseason that his agent had gotten calls from teams curious about using Lynn out of the bullpen, and he sounded open to the idea at the time.

Lynn, 37, spent the 2024 season with his original club, the division-rival Cardinals. He made 23 mostly solid starts, logging a 3.84 ERA with a 21.3% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate in 117 1/3  innings. The righty averaged only five innings per appearance and had a pair of 15-day IL stints due to discomfort and inflammation in his right knee.

Even with the limited workload, it was a bounceback effort for the 13-year veteran, who’d been torched for a 5.73 earned run average in 183 innings between the White Sox and Dodgers the year prior. Lynn was baseball’s most homer-prone starter that year, serving up an average of 2.16 long balls per nine frames. He trimmed that to a far more manageable 1.23 in his return effort with the Cardinals.

If the two parties to come to terms, Lynn would be a fairly surprising addition. Chicago already has Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon and Matthew Boyd locked into rotation spots. Presumptive fifth starter Javier Assad will open on the injured list due to an oblique strain but isn’t expected to be sidelined long-term. In the meantime, swingman Colin Rea could step into the rotation after signing a one-year, $5MM contract earlier in the winter.

The Cubs also have several young arms who are on the cusp of MLB readiness. Ben Brown, Jordan Wicks and Caleb Kilian are all already on the 40-man roster, as is journeyman Cody Poteet. Prospects Cade Horton and Brandon Birdsell aren’t yet on the 40-man but have both reached Triple-A. Horton, in particular, is generally ranked among the sport’s top 100 prospects.

Any of those arms might need to be relied upon in the early stages of the season anyhow, as at this point it’s hard to imagine Lynn would be ready to jump into a big league rotation or bullpen with domestic Opening Day just two weeks out. The Cubs’ season, of course, starts next week during their Tokyo Series showdown against the Dodgers.

Chicago’s payroll currently sits at an estimated $194.6MM, per RosterResource, while their estimated CBT number checks in at $214.5MM. That places them $26.5MM away from the luxury tax threshold. Signing Lynn on what would surely be an affordable one-year deal would still leave the Cubs with more than $20MM in space between their current levels and that CBT barrier, providing ample room for in-season dealings as the front office sees fit.

Lucas Giolito To Begin Season On Injured List

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Red Sox righty Lucas Giolito will begin the 2025 season on the 15-day injured list, manager Alex Cora announced this morning (link via Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe). Giolito exited his Grapefruit League debut earlier this week after one inning due to tightness in his hamstring. A subsequent MRI revealed a low-grade strain, the right-hander himself revealed to the team’s beat this morning (link via MassLive’s Sean McAdam). While Giolito isn’t being shut down from throwing entirely, it seems they’ll back off enough that Opening Day won’t be realistic.

Giolito, 30, signed a two-year, $38.5MM contract with the Sox in the 2023-24 offseason but has yet to throw a regular season pitch for them. A partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow last spring led to an internal brace procedure that wiped out his entire 2024 campaign. His elbow was healthy enough to get back on the mound this week and put him in position to break camp in the rotation, but the hamstring issue will prevent that from happening. The team hasn’t put forth a specific timetable for his return, though it’s relatively encouraging that it’s being termed “low-grade” and that Giolito is still throwing.

The Red Sox will now open the season with three starting pitchers on the injured list. Giolito joins Brayan Bello (shoulder) and Kutter Crawford (knee) in that regard. That leaves the Red Sox with a group including Garrett Crochet, Tanner Houck, Walker Buehler and two of Quinn Priester, Richard Fitts, Cooper Criswell and Josh Winckowski in the rotation.

Giolito tells Rob Bradford of WEEI that he doesn’t feel the IL stint is necessary but acknowledged that it’s the team’s call. “If I were in charge, I would like to throw a ’pen tomorrow,” says Giolito. “I don’t know they want me to do that.” The right-hander notes that he felt 100% after playing catch this morning and is hoping it’ll be a minimum stay on the injured list.

With two starters already shelved, it seems the Sox will opt for the extra cautious route despite some ostensible protest from Giolito himself. The team can ill afford to see Giolito go down with a more severe strain that’d sideline him for a lengthier period. If he’s out for only a minimal stay, he could be reinstated just 12 days into the 2025 campaign, as Opening Day IL placements can be backdated by the maximum three days.

Jeff McNeil To Begin Season On Injured List Due To Oblique Strain

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Mets infielder Jeff McNeil has been diagnosed with a strained right oblique that will sideline him for Opening Day, manager Carlos Mendoza announced to the team’s beat this morning (via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). He’ll be shut down entirely for seven to ten days, and the expectation is that McNeil will be out a total of three to four weeks.

McNeil, 33 in April, is coming off a .238/.308/.384 performance in 472 plate appearances last year. He popped 12 homers, tallied 26 doubles and went 5-for-6 in stolen base attempts while continuing to display excellent bat-to-ball skills (14.4% strikeout rate). He played his customary brand of solid defense in more than 800 innings of work at second base and also chipped in nearly 200 frames of corner outfield work, where he drew average grades from Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average alike.

Over the past two seasons, McNeil has turned in a roughly average .257/.323/.381 batting line (99 wRC+) with 22 homers in 1120 plate appearances with solid defense at three spots on the diamond. It’s a far cry from the combined .307/.370/.458 slash (130 wRC+) posted by McNeil through the first five seasons of his career in 2018-22, but an average hitter and defender with plus contact skills is still a nice contributor on any club. His injury subtracts a reliable if unspectacular bat from the lineup and will likely prompt the Mets to lean on a younger option with less track record in the majors.

New York has plenty of infield options, but McNeil’s injury could pave the way for Luisangel Acuña to get the Opening Day nod at the position. He could face competition from Brett Baty (though he’s more of a third baseman) or non-roster invitees in camp like Donovan Walton and Luis De Los Santos. Infielder Ronny Mauricio has yet to play in a spring game while finishing off his rehab from last spring’s ACL tear, but at last check the Mets said he was targeting mid-March for his Grapefruit League debut. Just based on his lack of reps so far, he feels like a stretch. Outside of Baty, none of the options in camp have performed particularly well in their small sample of spring plate appearances.

McNeil is the latest in a mounting number of injured Mets. He’ll join Francisco Alvarez (hamate fracture), Sean Manaea (oblique strain), Frankie Montas (lat strain) and Nick Madrigal (fractured shoulder) as spring training IL casualties. That set comes with a varying range of expected return timelines. Madrigal is out for the entire season. Montas will likely be sidelined into late May. Manaea and McNeil could return in mid-to-late April, assuming there are no hiccups in their recovery.

Offseason In Review: Arizona Diamondbacks

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The D-backs followed up their 2023 World Series appearance with a narrow playoff miss and responded by making the biggest free agent signing in franchise history. Now brandishing one of the best one-two starting pitching punches in the sport, they'll look to ride a powerhouse rotation back into October baseball.

Major League Signings

2025 spending: $46.35MM
Total spending: $216.35MM

Option Decisions

Trades and Waiver Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Notable Losses

Arizona's playoff hopes in the 2024 season stayed alive until the very end, but they ultimately watched from home after missing the postseason by the literal narrowest margin possible. It was a bitter pill for the club and its fans to swallow -- particularly since the offseason promised considerable turnover. Star first baseman Christian Walker hit free agency, as did slugger Joc Pederson on the heels of what was arguably a career-best season. Closer Paul Sewald and key role players like Randal Grichuk and Kevin Newman also returned to the open market.

That all left plenty of work to be done, and not a ton of payroll space to make it happen -- or so it seemed initially, anyhow. General manager Mike Hazen publicly stated in November that he anticipated a payroll in the same range as 2024's $173MM figure. With Jordan Montgomery exercising a $22.5MM player option on the heels of a down year, the D-backs lost plenty of flexibility. There was still a decent amount of room, but they ostensibly needed to replace their first baseman, designated hitter, closer and multiple bench pieces.

As he set those payroll expectations, Hazen also made clear that bolstering the back end of his bullpen was a key priority. For the first third or even half of the offseason, the general expectation was that Arizona would seek high-end bullpen help and perhaps a more affordable replacement for Walker, who seemed destined for multiple years with an average annual value in the $20MM range.

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Yankees Still Exploring Market For Right-Handed Bats

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The Yankees have been hit hard by injuries both in the lineup and the rotation this spring, creating new needs on top of the existing lack of a clear option at one of third base or second base. (Jazz Chisholm Jr. can play either spot.) Concern over both of Giancarlo Stanton’s elbows and a calf strain for DJ LeMahieu have subtracted a pair of veteran bats from the lineup.

That’s likely paved the way for Dominic Smith, who’s enjoying a productive spring, to potentially make the club despite entering camp as a non-roster invitee. Erik Boland of Newsday reports that Smith’s chances are indeed improving, but the Yankees are still scouring the market for a right-handed bat to add to the mix. SNY’s Andy Martino also wrote this week that the Yankees are in the market for a righty bat.

One potential candidate to fill that need, outfielder Everson Pereira, was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre yesterday. Pereira went 7-for-20 with a pair of homers during Grapefruit League play, perhaps making the decision to option him amid multiple injuries a bit surprising.

Pereira, 23, is coming off a solid .265/.346/.512 performance in 182 Triple-A plate appearances last season. The former top prospect missed the final two-thirds of the season recovering from Tommy John surgery, however. While his spring output was generally encouraging, Pereira did fan in seven of his 25 plate appearances (28%). That’s not a big enough sample to worry about in isolation, but for a player who punched out at a 32.4% rate prior to that elbow injury in Triple-A last year (and in nearly 29% of his plate appearances the year prior), it’s not ideal. Injuries could always push Pereira back into the big league equation early in the season, and he seems likely to get some major league looks this year at some point, but for now the Yankees will get him regular at-bats in minor league camp and plan for him to open the season with Scranton.

At this point, the free agent market is largely picked over. Veterans Whit Merrifield, Adam Duvall and switch-hitting Robbie Grossman are all unsigned but are all coming off poor years at the plate. (Grossman did at least hit well from the right side of the dish.) The Yankees have had some contact with J.D. Martinez, but he’s a tough fit unless the injury to Stanton proves long-term; both are DH-only players.

As we enter the latter stages of spring training, the market figures to change, however. Veterans who are non-roster invitees with other clubs will be released or opt out of their current deals to seek new opportunities. Others will make their teams’ respective rosters, forcing those clubs to clear space by way of small trades or DFAs. Either could produce some right-handed bench depth for the Yankees if the team wants to avoid further spending with budget near its limit. Then again, Gerrit Cole’s 2025 salary is partially covered by insurance. That won’t reduce the Yankees’ luxury tax number, but they’ll get some money from that policy which could be redirected to a low-cost bat to round out the roster if an opportunity to their liking presents itself.

Rangers’ MRIs On Mahle, Bradford Come Back Clean

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March 12: Mahle’s MRI came back clean, tweets Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. The plan will be for him to get back on the mound within the next few days.

Texas had another injury scare pop up when southpaw Cody Bradford reported elbow soreness, but he’s also received a clean MRI, president of baseball operations Chris Young announced this morning (via Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News). He’ll still be shut down from throwing for the next four to five days in hopes that the discomfort subsides, but the imaging seems to have ruled out a severe injury.

March 11: The Rangers scratched right-hander Tyler Mahle from today’s scheduled Cactus League start with what the team termed “forearm soreness,” per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The Rangers called the move precautionary, but forearm discomfort is always an ominous development for a starting pitcher — particularly one who’s still working toward his first full season since 2023 Tommy John surgery. At this time, the team has not planned an MRI, per Victory’s Jared Sandler.

Mahle, 30, started five games for the Twins in 2023 and pitched quite well before an elbow impingement and flexor strain prompted a four-week shutdown. Not even two weeks later, Minnesota announced that Mahle would require Tommy John surgery, ending his 2023 campaign.

Mahle became a free agent at season’s end, and the Rangers signed him to a two-year, $22MM deal. It’s a backloaded contract — $5.5MM in 2024, $16.5MM in 2025 — reflecting the idea that the hope was for Mahle to pitch a bit late in 2024 and be a full-fledged member of the 2025 starting staff. It was a heavier commitment than is typical for starters who sign two-year deals while they’re on the mend from UCL reconstruction in the first place, and the fact that Mahle pitched only 12 2/3 frames last year makes the commitment all the more substantial.

At his best, Mahle was an underrated mid-rotation arm with an air of further upside. Home runs plagued him frequently during his early days with the Reds, and it comes as no surprise that his splits away from the launching pad known as Great American Ball Park were far more encouraging than his output at home. Mahle showed plenty of ability to miss bats and posted roughly average walk rates for most of his career.

A healthy Mahle would slot into the middle of a boom-or-bust Texas rotation that’s rife with talented arms and even more packed with questions. Jacob deGrom was baseball’s most dominant arm until injuries derailed his mid-30s. He’s pitched 197 1/3 innings since 2021. Nathan Eovaldi was excellent in his first two seasons with the Rangers but has already had a pair of Tommy John procedures in his career. Jon Gray has been on the injured list in each of the past six seasons. Cody Bradford missed about half of the 2024 season with a back injury. Jack Leiter, who started in place of Mahle today, is a former No. 2 overall pick who has struggled immensely in the big leagues (8.83 ERA, 35 2/3 innings) and through much of his pro career in the minors. Former Vanderbilt teammate Kumar Rocker has surpassed Leiter in terms of prospect stature, but he’s less than two years removed from Tommy John surgery himself.

If Mahle ultimately needs some downtime, the Rangers can still go with a rotation including Eovaldi, deGrom, Gray, Bradford and one of Leiter/Rocker. Prospect Emiliano Teodo is also on the 40-man roster but the club intrigued by the possibility of him in a relief role, while non-roster candidates in camp include Adrian Houser, David Buchanan, Dane Acker and Caleb Boushley.

Rangers Sign Hunter Strickland To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers announced Wednesday that they’ve signed veteran right-handed reliever Hunter Strickland to a minor league deal with an invitation to big league camp. The All Bases Covered client will be reunited with his first big league skipper, Bruce Bochy, who managed him as a rookie with the 2014 Giants.

Strickland, 36, has had a rollercoaster run in terms of year-to-year performance recently, but he’s coming off a strong season with the Angels. Last year, the right-hander tossed a career-high 73 1/3 innings for the Halos and recorded a tidy 3.31 earned run average in that time.

Strickland’s 19.4% strikeout rate was lower than average and the 22.2% mark he carried into the 2024 campaign, but he turned in a solid 8.2% walk rate and did a nice job avoiding hard contact. Opponents averaged 88.9 mph off the bat against him and logged a 35.5% hard-hit rate. Strickland has long been adept at inducing harmless infield flies, and that continued in 2024 when 16% of his fly-balls were of the infield variety. That’s a good bit higher than the league-average 10% and generally tracks with Strickland’s career rate dating back to 2017 (15.7%).

While Strickland has had some rough seasons throughout his career, he’s been good far more often than he’s been ineffective. He touts a 3.40 ERA in his career and a 3.61 mark across the past three seasons. His heater has dropped a good bit from the 98 mph he averaged early in his career, sitting at 94.5 mph in Anaheim last year, but Strickland has generally remained a solid middle relief arm.

The Rangers have completely overhauled their bullpen this offseason, bidding farewell to Kirby Yates, Jose Leclerc, Andrew Chafin and, presumably, David Robertson. While Robertson remains unsigned, the Rangers are about $4.5MM shy of the luxury tax threshold, per RosterResource, and ownership appears loath to cross that mark once again.

In place of that departed quartet, Texas has acquired Robert Garcia from the Nationals (in exchange for Nate Lowe) and signed free agents Chris Martin, Hoby Milner, Shawn Armstrong, Jacob Webb and Luke Jackson to small big league deals ranging from $5.5MM guaranteed (Martin) to $1.25MM (Webb, Armstrong).

Strickland will compete with fellow non-roster vets like Jesse Chavez and JT Chargois as he vies for a spot in Bochy’s bullpen. He’s an Article XX(b) free agent (i.e. six years of service, finished the prior season on a major league roster/injured list), meaning that his minor league deal will have three uniform opt-out dates included by default: five days before Opening Day (March 22), May 1 and June 1.

White Sox Sign Travis Jankowski To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox announced this morning that they’ve signed veteran outfielder Travis Jankowski to a minor league contract. The Excel Sports client will head straight to big league camp. He’d been with the Cubs on a minor league pact for the early portion of spring training. While the Cubs didn’t make any formal announcement about Jankowski’s release or him opting out of that deal, he’s clearly parted ways with Chicago’s north-side squad as they travel to Tokyo for next week’s series against the Dodgers.

Jankowski, 33, had a solid year with the Rangers in 2023 as the fourth outfielder on their World Series-winning roster. He appeared in 107 games, tallied 287 turns at the plate and delivered a respectable .263/.357/.332 batting line (97 wRC+) to go along with quality baserunning and glovework. He wasn’t able to follow up on that in a return effort with Texas in 2024; Jankowski played in 104 games last year but hit just .200/.266/.242 in 207 plate appearances.

Dating back to his 2015 MLB debut in San Diego, Jankowski has appeared in parts of ten straight big league seasons, suiting up for the Padres, Reds, Phillies, Mets, Mariners and Rangers along the way. He’s a lifetime .236/.319/.305 hitter with good speed who can handle all three spots in the outfield.

Jankowski will give the White Sox some outfield depth at a time when at least two members of their expected Opening Day roster are now slated for the injured list. Left fielder Andrew Benintendi suffered a broken hand when he was hit by a pitch earlier in Cactus League play. That injury will keep him off the field through at least the end of camp and possibly into mid-April. He’ll then need a rehab assignment. Reserve outfielder Austin Slater, who inked a one-year deal in free agency, is dealing with an oblique strain suffered last week. The Sox estimated he’d be out of game action for two to three weeks, leaving a season-opening IL placement a real possibility.

Jankowski is a known commodity for new White Sox skipper Will Venable, who was on the Rangers’ coaching staff for each of the past two seasons. He’ll compete for at-bats in left field or off the bench. Luis Robert Jr. is slated to man center field, with offseason signee Mike Tauchman in right. The ChiSox also signed Michael A. Taylor as a glove-first option off the bench. Other outfielders on the 40-man roster include Dominic Fletcher and Oscar Colas. Joey Gallo, Corey Julks and Cal Mitchell are among the other non-roster outfielders in camp.

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