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The Opener: Roster Expansion, Alvarez, Heaney

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on throughout the day today:

1. Roster Expansion:

It’s September 1, which means MLB rosters are expanding from 26 players to 28 players. Each team in the league will be able to add one position player and one pitcher to their roster today. Various organizations will take different routes to filling those roster spots. Some will use the opportunity to promote a prospect, as the Nationals are with today’s starter Andrew Alvarez. Other clubs will dedicate those roster spots to a veteran who was available on waivers or in free agency, as the Cubs have opted to do by picking up Aaron Civale and signing Carlos Santana. While active rosters are expanding, 40-man rosters do not get extra spots in September. That means any players not already on the 40-man roster will need to be given a spot to be called up as part of today’s roster expansion.

2. Alvarez to debut:

As mentioned above, the Nationals are promoting lefty Andrew Alvarez to the big leagues for a start today. It will be the former 12th-round pick’s big league debut, coming against an as-of-yet unannounced Marlins starter. Alvarez, 26, has 25 starts at the Triple-A level this year with a 4.10 ERA and a 21.5% strikeout rate in 123 innings. The southpaw isn’t ranked within the Nationals organization’s top 30 prospects by either MLB Pipeline or Baseball America, but if Alvarez can maintain something close to his Triple-A numbers in the majors, he could join a number of young potential back-of-the-rotation arms like Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker, and Brad Lord that the Nationals will have competing for starts next year. The Nats will need to select Alvarez’s contract to the 40-man roster before he can make this afternoon’s start.

3. Heaney to sign in NL?

The other aforementioned way many clubs will use their expanded roster spots—bringing veteran players from outside the organization into the fold—stands to potentially benefit left-hander Andrew Heaney. Heaney was designated for assignment by the Pirates last week and released after he cleared waivers, making him eligible to sign with any of the league’s 30 clubs. Heaney’s 5.39 ERA in 120 1/3 innings of work this year isn’t exactly inspiring, but clubs in need of innings could still look to the southpaw as a legitimate option.

It’s therefore unsurprising that, according to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, one NL club is poised to bring him into the fold. While it’s unclear which team will be rostering the lefty, it’s not hard to imagine either a contending club in need of innings picking him up or even a non-contending club that wants to ease the burden on some of its young arms down the stretch. Heaney has spent the majority of his career in the AL, but has pitched for the Marlins and Dodgers previously in addition to his stint with the Pirates earlier this year.

Kenta Maeda Plans To Pitch In Japan In 2026

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In an appearance on TV Tokyo’s “Sports Real Live” show (Japanese language link from Yahoo Japan), Kenta Maeda said that he is leaving North American baseball behind at the conclusion of the 2025 season.  Maeda revealed that he initially made his decision after signing his two-year, $24MM deal with the Tigers that that would be his final contract with a Major League team, and he is hoping to continue his career in Japan with a Nippon Professional Baseball club in 2026.

Maeda (who turns 38 in April) began his pro career with eight seasons with the Hiroshima Carp before being posted for MLB clubs, and signing an incentive-heavy eight-year, $25MM deal with the Dodgers back in January 2016.  Maeda’s stint in North America has seen him suit up in nine Major League seasons, with the 2022 campaign missed entirely since he was recovering from a Tommy John surgery.

After struggling badly in the first year of his Tigers contract, a move to the bullpen didn’t change Maeda’s fortunes this year, and Detroit released the right-hander in early May.  He then joined the Cubs on a minor league contract before being released in early August, quickly landing with the Yankees on another minors deal.  Over 76 1/3 Triple-A innings this season, Maeda hasn’t shown any of his old form, posting a 6.25 ERA for New York and Chicago’s top affiliates.

During the TV Tokyo interview, Maeda said his family has been living in Japan during his year in the minors, in order to have some stability while Maeda has now bounced around to multiple teams.  His recent on-field results (or lack thereof) had no bearing on his decision, as Maeda stated that he would’ve returned to Japan after 2025 if he’d been a 20-game winner at the big league level.

Since it doesn’t look like the Yankees will be calling Maeda up in September, his MLB resume could be closed after 226 games (172 of them starts) with the Tigers, Twins, and Dodgers over parts of nine seasons.  Maeda has a 4.20 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate, and 7.8% walk rate over 986 2/3 career innings in the regular season, as well as a 3.24 ERA across 41 2/3 career postseason frames with Minnesota and Los Angeles.

Though his final act in Detroit didn’t go well, Maeda was generally a very effective pitcher in the majors.  He had a 3.87 ERA during 589 innings in L.A., with the Dodgers using Maeda both as a starter and as a reliever, though Maeda made it known that he preferred rotation work.  A trade to the Twins prior to the 2020 season gave Maeda a full-fledged starting job, and he responded with a runner-up finish in AL Cy Young Award voting, posting a 2.70 ERA in 66 2/3 innings during the pandemic-shortened season.  He wasn’t as effective during a 2021 campaign that was cut short by his Tommy John procedure, though Maeda returned in solid form (4.23 ERA in 104 1/3 IP) for Minnesota’s AL Central-winning team in 2023.

Cubs To Call Up Kevin Alcantara, Option Owen Caissie

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The Cubs will replace one outfield prospect for another on Monday, as ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports that Kevin Alcantara will be called up from Triple-A Iowa and Owen Caissie is being sent back to Triple-A.  No further transaction is needed since Alcantara is already on the 40-man roster.

Alcantara made his Major League debut last September, appearing in three games for the Cubs right at the very end of the 2024 season and getting one hit in 10 plate appearances.  This remains Alcantara’s only big league exposure, as he has spent the entirety of the 2025 campaign in Iowa.  After hitting well in 35 Triple-A games in 2024, Alcantara has kept it going this year, with a .266/.349/.470 slash line and 17 home runs over 430 plate appearances this season.

A regular on top-100 prospect lists for a few years now, Alcantara was 71st on Baseball America’s preseason ranking and 90th on MLB Pipeline’s list.  Despite his solid numbers this year, Alcantara actually dropped out of both outlets’ midseason top-100 updates, though both BA and Pipeline each still have the outfielder ranked fifth within the deep Chicago farm system.  The biggest red flag is his 29.8% strikeout rate at Triple-A, as his power potential and hard contact ability is mitigated by the large amount of swing-and-miss in his game, and evaluators also note that Alcantara is only really productive against fastballs.

It seems likely that Alcantara would’ve received a longer look in the majors by now if he wasn’t on a team so deep in outfielders.  Between Kyle Tucker, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, and Seiya Suzuki (as a part-time OF and regular DH) all staying healthy and productive, only four other players have received any time in the Wrigleyville outfield during the 2025 season.  Utility players Willi Castro, Jon Berti, and Vidal Brujan each got a handful of games in the outfield, and Caissie made seven appearances on the grass during the 11 overall games of his first Major League call-up.

Caissie received 25 PA, and hit .208/.240/.375 while starting six of his 11 games.  The lack of playing time wasn’t a surprise given the crowded nature of Chicago’s outfield, yet the rather quick demotion adds to the question about why exactly Caissie was even called up in the first place.  Alcantara brings more defensive versatility since he can play center field, whereas Caissie is a corner outfielder.

Using top prospects as bench depth isn’t exactly ideal, though the Cubs are somewhat stuck (if that’s the correct term) between their twin desires of having their minor leaguers play every day, and also having the best active roster possible.  As limited as these cameos have been, giving Alcantara or Caissie some experience in the big leagues could be beneficial in advance of their possible inclusion on a playoff roster, or if an injury did arise to one of the Cubs’ outfield regulars.

MLBTR Chat Transcript

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Mark P

  • Am I tempting fate by starting a live chat when teams could very easily still be making moves on the eve of the roster expansion?  I sure am! What might be an interrupted edition of the Weekend Chat begins now!

Tigers

  • Odds Kevin McGonigle gets called up tomorrow?

Mark P

  • Basically zero.  The Tigers’ GM already said it isn’t happening, and calling McGonigle up past Triple-A entirely doesn’t seem realistic.

bmcferren

  • Ketel Marte the top target to bat cleanup for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2026?

Mark P

  • I find it unlikely that Marte will be dealt anywhere, let alone to a Pittsburgh team that will find his contract too pricey

Mike Trout

  • Poll: Do I get to 400 HR’s this season?

Mark P

  • He only has 20, so Trout surely won’t hit 380 home runs in just a month.  Not even Judge or Jakob Marsee could do that.

    Real answer: Trout has 398 career homers, so despite the major slump he’s currently in, he’ll surely go yard twice more before the year is out.

Padres and Preller

  • Padres look to be going with what they have. SS and starting pitching huge holes and no moves when better options available. Has ownership told AJ to go with what he had and no more $ available for roster improvement?

Mark P

  • There’s still some time for Preller to add a player (and interrupt my chat) before the 11pm CT deadline, and he could still make adds after today for players who just wouldn’t be playoff-eligible.

    Kiner-Falefa really seemed like the kind of player that would be a good fit in San Diego, however.  Would’ve been an easy fit into shortstop with Bogaerts out.

romorr

  • So the Orioles just signed Basallo, and now have a hot Trevor Rogers to consider. What does that contract look like at the end of the year?

Mark P

  • Rogers is eligible for free agency after the 2026 season, making him a very interesting extension candidate for Baltimore.  Don’t forget — Rogers pitched poorly and battled injuries from 2022-24, making his impressive numbers this year all the more spectacular.

    This could make Rogers more open to signing a long-term deal and locking in some money now while his value is at its highest.  He might have an eye towards a very lucrative free agent deal next offseason, but the possibility of a lockout could make Rogers prefer getting some security now rather than deal with the added obstacle of labor unrest when he’s a free agent.

  • Now that the O’s have finally gotten the ball rolling on contract extensions, it opens up a whole new line of intriguing possibilities for future expenditures.

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Royals To Promote Carter Jensen

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With rosters expanding to 28 players tomorrow, the Royals have already announced the moves they “anticipate” making, as per the club’s wording.  First baseman/outfielder Jac Caglianone will be activated from the 10-day injured list, righty Luinder Avila will be called up from Triple-A, and catching prospect Carter Jensen’s contract will be selected from Triple-A.  Kansas City will need to subtract someone from the current 26-man roster to make space for the entire trio, but the Royals already have 40-man roster space available to accommodate Jensen.

Freddy Fermin was traded to the Padres at the deadline, and the Royals have since been using veteran Luke Maile as the backup catcher behind Salvador Perez.  Because Perez will get his share of DH days to keep his bat in the lineup, Jensen should get a decent amount of playing time behind the plate in his first taste of MLB action.  The expanded September roster allows the Royals some flexibility in keeping three catchers around, and Maile’s playing time is probably going to diminish since Jensen is a bigger future priority.

Jensen hit well enough (.292/.360/.420 in 308 PA) in Double-A ball to earn his first promotion to Triple-A earlier this summer, and he has taken it up a notch since arriving in Omaha.  Jensen has hit .288/.404/.647 in 184 Triple-A plate appearances, with already 14 home runs to show for his brief time at the top rung of the minor league ladder.  This kind of performance is hard to overlook, and it has earned the Kansas City native a late-season look with his hometown team.

A third-round pick for the Royals in the 2021 draft, Jensen is ranked 69th on MLB Pipeline’s list of baseball’s best prospects, and he sits 88th on Baseball America’s top-100 ranking.  Evaluators like Jansen’s ability to get on base, and his 2025 numbers suggest he has started to tap into his raw power.  Jensen has a good eye at the plate, but it is worth noting that his strikeout rate has shot upwards during his brief time at Triple-A.  As a catcher, Jensen has a plus throwing arm and his framing ability has been improving, and both Pipeline and BA feel he can be a solid defender.

The Royals will surely exercise their $13.5MM club option on Perez for 2026, but that will also be Perez’s age-36 season, so the longtime face of the franchise will have to slow down at some point.  Beyond Jensen, Blake Mitchell is another top-100 prospect who just advanced to high-A ball this season, and Ramon Ramirez is another young backstop in the system playing at the A-ball level.

Unsurprisingly, rival teams checked in on these young catchers prior to the trade deadline, but K.C. instead pivoted by moving Fermin.  Jensen is the first of this trio to make it to the Show, so he’ll get the first crack at trying to establish himself as a big leaguer.  He’ll retain rookie eligibility heading into 2026, and thus due to Prospect Promotion Incentive eligibility, the Royals could earn an extra draft pick if Jensen stays on the active roster for the entire 2026 campaign.

A former top prospect in his own right, Caglianone will return after a left hamstring strain cost him about five weeks on the injured list.  Caglianone hit only .147/.205/.280 in his first 161 PA in the majors, so this IL stint can perhaps act as a refresh for the outfielder’s rookie year.  It remains to be seen how many at-bats Caglianone will receive for a Royals team that is fighting for a playoff berth, since deadline acquisition Mike Yastrzemski has stepped into Caglianone’s right field spot and been on a tear since arriving in Kansas City.

Brewers Sign Luis Urias To Minor League Contract

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The Brewers have signed infielder Luis Urias to a minor league deal, according to Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  Urias will report to Triple-A Nashville for what will be his second stint in the Brewers organization.

The veteran signed a $1.1MM free agent deal with the Athletics last winter, and Urias banked an extra $300K in bonus money by making at least 300 plate appearances in an A’s uniform.  In 330 PA, Urias hit .230/.315/.338 with eight home runs while getting mostly regular action at second base, with a handful of starts at third base as well.

Since the A’s are well out of playoff contention and wanted to give playing time to younger talent, the team opted to designate Urias for assignment last week and then released him after he cleared waivers.  There is only around $180K remaining on Urias’ salary, and the A’s will cover whatever remains of that total, minus the portion of the prorated MLB minimum salary that will be paid by the Brewers for however much time Urias spends on the active roster.

While he’ll start his Brewers return in Nashville, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Urias back up in Milwaukee before too long.  Joey Ortiz is expected to return from his hamstring strain pretty soon, but a veteran like Urias may be a preferable depth option over rookie Anthony Siegler on the Brew Crew’s bench.  Urias could also get some time at third base in place of Caleb Durbin, even though Durbin has been reinforcing his spot in the lineup with some hot hitting as of late.  Bringing Urias back before September 1 makes him eligible for the postseason, and the league-leading Brewers certainly are already thinking about October roster plans.

A veteran of eight MLB seasons, Urias enjoyed his two best years as a regular with Milwaukee in 2021-22.  He hit .244/.340/.426 over 1042 plate appearances while getting close to everyday playing time as a third baseman and shortstop in 2021, and then in more of a utility role at those two positions plus second base in 2022.  A dropoff at the plate in 2023 led the Brewers to trade Urias to the Red Sox at the deadline, and his bat didn’t fare much better during his time in Boston or with the Mariners in a part-time role in 2024.

Astros To Activate Luis Garcia From 60-Day IL On Monday

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After well over two years on the sidelines, Luis Garcia is finally ready to return to the majors.  Astros manager Joe Espada told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart and other reporters that Houston will activate Garcia from the 60-day injured list tomorrow so the right-hander can make the start against the Angels.  A corresponding move will need to be made to create space for Garcia on the 40-man roster, but Garcia’s spot on the active roster will be addressed because the roster expands to 28 players on September 1.

Garcia’s last big league game was on May 1, 2023, as a Tommy John surgery ensured that Garcia would be out of action until the latter part of the 2024 season at the absolute earliest.  It wasn’t entirely unusual, then, that Garcia didn’t pitch last year due to some renewed elbow soreness while he was pitching on a minor league rehab assignment, yet unfortunately those elbow issues continued into 2025.

It wasn’t until the first week of July that Garcia made his season debut in an outing with the Astros’ rookie ball affiliate.  He has now made nine appearances while working his way up the minor league ladder, with four of his last five starts coming with Triple-A Sugar Land.  In his last start on August 26, Garcia tossed 75 pitches over six innings while allowing just one run, and he has thrown at least 75 pitches in each of his last three outings.

While on-field results may not matter as much as pitch counts and general comfort and health during rehab assignments, Garcia’s 2.60 ERA over 17 1/3 Triple-A innings provides some evidence that he is ready to roll.  What he can provide against MLB hitters after such a lengthy absence is anyone’s guess, yet it’s certainly helpful to the Astros to get a rotation arm back for the stretch run and into October.

Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez are locks as Houston’s top two starters in the regular season and in a hypothetical playoff rotation.  While there isn’t a ton of true certainty beyond Brown and Valdez, the Astros would seem to have enough rotation depth to help in their pursuit of the AL West crown and what the team hopes is another deep playoff run.

Cristian Javier has logged four starts since returning from his own Tommy John rehab, and Spencer Arrighetti has done well in his last couple of starts after a broken thumb sent him to the 60-day IL earlier this year.  Jason Alexander has pitched well since stepping into the rotation but would ideally work best as a swingman during the playoffs.  Rookie Brandon Walter was excellent in nine starts before elbow inflammation sent him to the 60-day IL, and he isn’t eligible for activation until late September.  The struggling Lance McCullers Jr. was recently moved to the bullpen, opening up room for Garcia in the rotation mix.

Garcia joins this group in what is now his fifth MLB season.  Emerging as a rotation regular in 2021, Garcia finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting en route to posting a 3.48 ERA over 155 1/3 innings for an Astros team that won the AL pennant.  Garcia followed up with a strong sophomore season of 157 1/3 frames of 3.72 ERA ball in 2022 to help Houston bring home the World Series.  While Garcia has a 5.79 ERA across 23 1/3 career postseason innings, he has had his share of big playoff moments, including 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball in Houston’s clinching game of the 2021 ALCS over the Red Sox.

Phillies Sign Walker Buehler To Minors Contract

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5:07PM: The Phillies have announced the signing, with the added detail that Buehler has inked a minor league contract and will report to Triple-A.

4:45PM: The Phillies have signed right-hander Walker Buehler, The Athletic’s Matt Gelb reports.  The deal will become official once Buehler (who is represented by Excel) passes a physical, and Buehler is eligible for inclusion on a playoff roster because he is joining the Phillies before September 1.  Gelb reported Philadelphia’s interest in Buehler earlier today.

It was just two days ago that the Red Sox released Buehler, bringing an early end to their partnership after Buehler signed a one-year, $21.05MM free agent deal last winter.  Roughly $3.4MM remains on that contract, but the Sox will remain responsible for most of that money, as the Phils will owe Buehler just the prorated portion of the MLB minimum salary.

The signing is a flier to see if Buehler can bounce back in Philadelphia after a rough year in Boston.  Buehler has struggled to a 5.45 ERA, 16.5% strikeout rate, and 10.8% walk rate over 112 1/3 innings this season, and opposing batters have taken him yard 22 times.  The numbers aren’t far removed from Buehler’s regular-season performance over 75 1/3 innings with the Dodgers in 2024, when Buehler was returning to action after missing the entire 2023 campaign due to Tommy John surgery.

That was the second TJ procedure of Buehler’s career, and given how shaky he has looked in the aftermath, it remains to be seen if the righty can ever return to his past All-Star form.  However, Buehler showed some flashes of his old self during the Dodgers’ playoff run in 2024, throwing 10 shutout innings over his last three appearance to help Los Angeles capture the championship.  Most notably, Buehler even picked up the save to close out the clinching Game Five.

As Gelb notes, the Phillies are probably viewing Buehler as a bullpen contributor again for the playoffs given how the team already has its postseason rotation set.  While losing Zack Wheeler for the season blew a big hole into the Phils’ pitching plans, there’s still plenty of starting options available in Cristopher Sanchez, Ranger Suarez, Jesus Luzardo, Aaron Nola, and Taijuan Walker.  The Phillies were considering a six-man rotation for September when Wheeler was still available, so Buehler could potentially make a start or two just to help ease the innings burden on the other starters, and then slide into a relief role in October.

With a healthy 6.5-game lead over the Mets in the NL East, the Phillies have some breathing room to use September as a bit of a laboratory to figure out their optimal playoff roster.  If Buehler’s struggles continue, the Phils could just leave him off a postseason roster entirely, with no cost to the team apart from his minimal salary.

A bigger-picture look at Buehler’s free-agent future should wait until his 2025 season is actually over.  Buehler is still just 31 and probably wants to keep trying to re-establish himself as a starter, so he’ll likely sign another one-year deal (worth far less than $21.05MM) with a team in need of rotation help.  Should Buehler pitch well as a reliever in Philadelphia, however, it might add an interesting wrinkle to the situation, as exploring a full-time role change would add more interest to Buehler’s market.

Red Sox Extend Aroldis Chapman

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TODAY: The Sox officially announced Chapman’s extension.  The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier also has the salary breakdown, starting with a $1MM signing bonus for the closer.  Chapman will earn $12MM in 2026, and the 2027 mutual option is for $13MM with a $300K buyout.  If Chapman pitches at least 40 innings in 2026 and he passes a post-season physical, he’ll lock in a $13MM salary for 2027.

AUGUST 30: The Red Sox have agreed to an extension with left-hander Aroldis Chapman that will keep the star reliever in town for the 2026 season, according to a report from Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. Romero adds that the deal includes an option for the 2027 season, which Chris Cotillo of MassLive adds is a vesting/mutual option. Cotillo goes on to report that Chapman is guaranteed $13.3MM by the deal, and that if the Wasserman client throws enough innings to vest his 2027 option he’ll earn $26MM over two seasons.

It’s not often that a player gets a raise headed into his age-38 season, but the fact that Chapman’s salary will jump by roughly $3.5MM headed into 2026 is a testament to the sensational season the veteran closer has had during his first year in Boston. Signed to a one-year, $10.75MM guarantee last November, the eight-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion has turned back the clock to produce what is arguably the best season of his entire career and undoubtedly his most impressive performance in nearly a decade.

In 57 games for the Red Sox this year, Chapman has pitched to an otherworldly 1.04 ERA while striking out 38.7% of his opponents. That’s the lowest ERA in the majors among qualified relievers, and only Mason Miller has struck out batters at a higher clip this year. Chapman’s 2.02 SIERA, 1.83 FIP, and 2.2 fWAR are all also MLB-best totals. If the newly-unveiled Relief Pitcher of the Year award was in play for the 2025 season, Chapman would be a slam dunk to win it in the American League. As it stands, he’ll have to settle for closing out big games for what is extremely likely to be a playoff-bound Boston club down the stretch and into the postseason.

Early in Chapman’s career, it was hardly uncommon for his name to be in the conversation for the best relief arm in baseball at any given moment. The lefty made his big league debut back in 2010 as a member of the Reds and, over his first seven seasons in the majors, pitched to a dazzling 2.08 ERA with an even better 1.88 FIP and struck out 42.6% of his opponents faced. That includes a run of four consecutive All-Star appearances with Cincinnati from 2012-15 and a dominant 2016 season where he pitched to a 1.55 ERA with the Yankees and Cubs before throwing 15 2/3 innings for Chicago in the postseason en route to the first World Series championship of his career.

Upon returning to the Yankees in 2016, however, the then-29-year-old Chapman didn’t look quite as dominant. As he’s moved into his thirties, his numbers have remained strong overall but not quite reached the level he enjoyed in the first few seasons of his career. Across eight seasons from 2017 to 2024, Chapman pitched to a 3.17 ERA with a 2.94 FIP, struck out 37.7% of his opponents, and saw his walk rate creep up from 11.6% to 13.6%. After spending parts of seven years with the Yankees, Chapman bounced between the Rangers, Royals, and Pirates before returning to the AL East as a member of the Red Sox this year. Now that Chapman’s posting results in line with those he put up during his peak, his stretch of bouncing between teams every year and facing uncertainty every offseason has come to an end.

Impressive as Chapman’s 2025 campaign has been, it would hardly be reasonable for the Red Sox to assume this is what they’ll get from the lefty going forward. There’s plenty of year-to-year volatility for even the most elite relievers still in their prime, and that rings true all the more for a hurler with a middling 3.68 ERA over his last three seasons prior to this year who is now looking ahead to his age-38 season. Chapman’s age is surely why his extension is limited to just one guaranteed season. After all, even Kirby Yates’s dominant 2024 season with the Rangers wasn’t able to secure him more than a one-year guarantee from the Dodgers, while David Robertson had to wait until mid-season in order to land what he viewed as appropriate value for his services.

That aforementioned deal between Yates and Los Angeles is a particularly noteworthy comp for Chapman’s deal with the Red Sox, given that Chapman’s $13.3MM guarantee clocks in just $300K ahead of the guaranteed salary Yates is receiving from L.A. this year. While the agreement clocks in $2.7MM back of the $16MM guarantee the Phillies afforded Robertson last month, it must be noted that the deal between Robertson and Philadelphia comes with a notable asterisk: Robertson will only be paid a pro-rated portion of that deal from his signing in late July until the end of the season, which works out to just over $6MM he’ll actually be paid by the Phillies.

All of that is to say Chapman’s deal falls more or less in line with expectations for an aging closer coming off a dominant season. The specific innings threshold Chapman has to meet in order to vest his 2027 option is not known, and where that threshold ultimately falls will determine how realistic that option vesting truly is. A threshold of 50 innings, for example, would be very easy for Chapman to reach given that he’s cleared that benchmark in every full season of his career except for 2022. A 60-inning threshold would be a much taller order, as while Chapman’s 52 innings of work to date suggest he’ll have a real chance to cross that benchmark for the second consecutive season this year, his 2024 season was the first time he threw that many innings in the regular season since 2015.

Regardless of whether Chapman is sticking around for 2027 or not, his continued presence in the late-inning mix for 2026 should be huge for the Red Sox. Chapman can continue to serve as a veteran presence in a bullpen that figures to be quite young next year, with arms like Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten pairing with Chapman in the late-inning mix. One other potential x-factor is Jordan Hicks, who has at times been a dominant closer over the years but has struggled badly this year after opening the season in the San Francisco rotation. Perhaps the Red Sox hoped he could step into the closer role in 2026 when they acquired him as part of the return for Rafael Devers back in June, but Hicks has continued to struggle badly since joining the Red Sox and seems more likely to fight to hold onto his roster spot next spring than for a late-inning role. Bringing Chapman back into the fold should help lessen the club’s reliance on Hicks to bounce back, and if he does turn things around he’d form a lethal back-of-the-bullpen duo with the veteran lefty.

Photo courtesy of Brad Penner — Imagn Images

Reds To Promote Sal Stewart

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The Reds are calling up top infield prospect Sal Stewart, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports.  The transaction will presumably be made official prior to Cincinnati’s game with Toronto on Monday, and corresponding moves might not be necessary since rosters are expanding and the Reds have an open spot on the 40-man roster.

Stewart was the 32nd overall pick of the 2022 draft, and he’ll be making his big league debut whenever he first appears in a game.  Beyond just the regular pressure of playing in the majors for the first time, Stewart is also joining a Reds team that is desperately trying to stay in the wild card picture.  The Reds’ win over the Cardinals today was only Cincinnati’s second victory in its last 10 games, as the Reds have dropped to a 69-68 record and four games behind the Mets for the last NL wild card slot.

If anything, Cincinnati fans would’ve preferred to have seen Stewart in the Show weeks ago, given how the lineup has been struggling and Stewart has been crushing minor league pitching.  The infielder has a combined .309/.383/.523 slash line over 494 plate appearances in Double-A (329 PA) and Triple-A (165 PA) this season, which marked the first time Stewart had played above A-level ball.  It has been a rapid rise for a player who is just 21 years old, and it is possible he might’ve made it to the majors even sooner if a wrist injury hadn’t limited him to 80 games in 2024.

MLB Pipeline’s midseason update of its top-100 prospects list ranked Stewart 31st in all of baseball, while Baseball America has Stewart 86th on its top 100.  Both pundits give Stewart a 60-grade for his hit tool, and both cited the fact that Stewart has nearly as many walks (184) as strikeouts (216) over the course of his 1378 career PA in the minor leagues.  Stewart is very skilled at making hard and consistent contact, and he has upside in the power department — with 20 homers in the minors this year, Stewart is already showing signs of developing that pop.

Stewart has mostly played third base during his career, while also seeing some time as a second baseman and playing in his first two pro games as a first baseman while at Triple-A.  Evaluators aren’t sure about his defensive future and first base might ultimately end up being his ideal position down the road, but for now, Stewart could help out at multiple spots within the struggling Reds infield.

Cincinnati has stayed in the playoff mix despite getting negative-bWAR production from first base, second base, and third base.  Ke’Bryan Hayes was acquired at the trade deadline to at least stabilize third base from a defensive standpoint, but the Reds have stuck with Spencer Steer and Matt McLain at the other two infield spots despite subpar offense.  Stewart could easily be given some at-bats at the expense of Steer or McLain, with second base probably being the likelier landing spot since Stewart is still relatively inexperienced as a first baseman.

Due to the late call-up, Stewart will retain his rookie status heading into 2026.  He would also therefore qualify under the Prospect Promotion Incentive rules, so he could earn the Reds a bonus draft pick if he remains on the MLB roster for the entire 2026 season.

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