Twins Notes: Lewis, Rotation, Bradley
The Twins have been hit hard by the injury bug already this spring but dodged their latest bullet, it seems. The team announced that third baseman Royce Lewis‘ recent MRI came back clean. Via Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune, Lewis will be off today after experiencing some tightness in his right side while running the bases yesterday but is expected to return to normal workouts this weekend.
Lewis, 27 in June, looked to be on the cusp of stardom back in 2023. The former No. 1 overall pick returned from a torn ACL to hit .309/.372/.548 with 15 homers in only 239 plate appearances. The Twins won the AL Central that year, due in no small part to that production from the longtime top prospect, and Lewis erupted with four home runs in only 26 plate appearances that postseason, helping the Twins past the Blue Jays in the Wild Card round before falling to the Astros in four games during the ALDS.
Injuries have continued to set Lewis back, however. In addition to a pair of ACL tears in the same right knee, he’s had major league IL stints for an oblique strain, a quad strain (twice), an adductor strain and a hamstring strain (twice). Since showing that glimpse of his true upside in ’23, he’s taken 728 turns at the plate in two seasons and posted a pedestrian .235/.288/.416 batting line while oscillating between the active roster and the injured list due primarily to that slew of lower body injuries.
Getting Lewis back to 2023 form — or at least something within arm’s reach of it — will be pivotal for the Twins in 2026. Ownership and the front office continue to broadcast a desire to compete this season, but the Twins tore down the bullpen at last summer’s deadline, lost Pablo López to UCL surgery already this spring, and made only marginal additions to the roster over the winter.
Of course, it’s still possible that further additions could be on the horizon. There’s a handful of interesting bullpen arms still on the market (e.g. Danny Coulombe, Michael Kopech, Justin Wilson) in addition to two of the more prominent starters in free agency this winter: Lucas Giolito and Zack Littell. With López lost for the season and young righty David Festa shut down due to shoulder troubles, one would imagine the Twins present a good landing spot for a yet-unsigned starter, whether it be Giolito, Littell, Tyler Anderson or Patrick Corbin — if only to give the club some bulk innings amid the mounting injury concerns.
“Hopefully we’ll stay healthy the rest of the way but we’ll evaluate all the options out there from an external perspective and the rest of our internal options,” general manager Jeremy Zoll said yesterday (link via Matthew Leach of MLB.com). “…We want to figure out how we can do everything we can to supplement that [internal] group that we still like a lot. We see a lot of upside and we’ll use spring to see what’s going on everywhere. Usually you see a lull in action for a bit as teams settle in, want to make sure they’re staying healthy. We’ll keep evaluating.”
The Twins have Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and out-of-options righty Simeon Woods Richardson more or less locked into the first three rotation spots. Righties Taj Bradley, Zebby Matthews and Mick Abel are competing for the final two spots on the staff, and the upper tiers of their farm system include prospects such as Connor Prielipp, Kendry Rojas and Andrew Morris. Prielipp is generally regarded among the game’s top 100 prospects but has been hobbled by injuries throughout his professional career thus far.
With a clear opportunity to seize a rotation spot in front of him, Bradley has made the decision to withdraw from the upcoming World Baseball Classic, per Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The 24-year-old righty informed manager Derek Shelton of the decision this past weekend. He’d been slated to pitch for Team Mexico.
“He stated new manager, new staff to some extent, new catcher in terms of (Victor) Caratini, and he just felt like the best use of his workload during spring training was going to be in our camp,” Shelton explained.
Though he’s younger than Woods Richardson, Matthews and Festa, Bradley has the most major league experience of the bunch. He’s accrued 2.097 years of service time with the Rays and Twins, totaling 385 1/3 innings as a big leaguer. The former fifth-round pick quickly broke out as one of the sport’s most promising pitching prospects, climbing as high as the game’s No. 20 overall prospect at MLB.com (36th at FanGraphs, 44th at Baseball America) heading into the 2023 season.
Bradley has shown potential at times but has yet to put it all together in the majors. He has a career 4.86 ERA due primarily to his susceptibility to home runs (1.49 HR/9). His 25% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 41.1% ground-ball rate all make for a solid profile; metrics like SIERA (4.00) and FIP (4.38) feel he’s already been better than his ERA would indicate, and there’s further breakout potential with the hard-throwing righty. Bradley averages better than 96 mph on his heater and has generated plenty of whiffs with both his splitter and cutter. He’s under club control with Minnesota through the 2029 season.
The Opener: Lewis, Hoglund, Team Debuts
Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on headed into the weekend:
1. Lewis sidelined:
Twins third baseman Royce Lewis has been through the wringer over the years when it comes to injuries, and he’s now dealing with another scare. As noted by Dan Hayes of The Athletic, Lewis was scratched from yesterday’s lineup due to side tightness he suffered while running the bases prior to the game. Hayes added that the Twins view Lewis’s removal from the lineup as purely precautionary, but for a player who participated in a career-high number of games last year at just 106, any sign of returning injury woes is concerning. Lewis will be looking not only for better health in 2026, but also more effectiveness at the plate. He hit a paltry .237/.283/.388 in 403 trips to the plate for Minnesota last year. Ryan Kreidler, Kody Clemens, Tristan Gray and Eric Wagaman are all on the 40-man roster and have experience at third base, and the Twins also have veteran Gio Urshela back in camp on a minor league deal.
2. Hoglund to meet with doctors:
A’s right-hander Gunnar Hoglund is headed for testing due to a knee issue that’s been bothering him throughout camp, per Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. The former first-round pick, acquired in the Matt Chapman trade with Toronto, made his MLB debut last year. His six-start cup of coffee didn’t go especially well, but the 26-year-old entered camp hopeful of earning another look in the rotation or at least in the bullpen. Injuries have been a persistent issue for Hoglund, who missed the second half last season due to hip surgery and underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021 just prior to being drafted. More details about should be available in the coming days, but if he’s unable to pitch the A’s have a deep group of young arms to work with in the rotation that includes Jack Perkins, Braden Nett, Henry Baez, Joey Estes, and Luis Morales.
3. Offseason additions making team debuts:
As the first weeks of Spring Training continue, impact players around the league are making their first game appearances for their new ball clubs. Three such players are set to start for their clubs today: Orioles right-hander Shane Baz, who will face off against Mitch Keller of the Pirates at 1:05pm local time in Florida; Mets right-hander Freddy Peralta, who will pitch opposite Cardinals southpaw Quinn Mathews at that same time; and Cubs righty Edward Cabrera, who is scheduled to pitch opposite Guardians southpaw Logan Allen at 1:05pm local time in Arizona later in the day. All three hurlers will slot in towards the front of their new rotations.
Out Of Options Players To Watch This Spring
The final few days of Spring Training always come with a significant amount of roster shuffling. Prospects play their way onto the team. Veterans on minor league deals trigger opt-out or upward mobility clauses that force teams to decide whether to select their contracts or let them go. Each of those unexpected promotions costs someone else an active roster spot.
For players who still have minor league options remaining, that's less likely to spur roster movement. They can be sent down without going on waivers, so they'll only be designated for assignment if they're the final player on the 40-man roster. Teams face a tougher call when deciding on a fringe player who is out of options. Do they shoehorn them onto the bench or in a low-leverage relief role? If not, there's a decent chance they're losing that player via waivers or a trade for a minimal return.
We've already seen a number of players whose out-of-options status has pushed them around the league. Although it's not technically an offseason consideration, an out-of-options player is more likely to be DFA over the winter if the team thinks they'll inevitably be squeezed off the roster at the end of Spring Training.
Jack Suwinski, Vidal Brujan, Ben Rortvedt, Andy Ibáñez and Marco Luciano are among the players who have changed teams at least once (often multiple times) because of their out-of-options status. The Yankees finally succeeded in getting Luciano through waivers unclaimed. The other four players remain on their clubs' respective 40-man rosters, though with the possible exception of Ibáñez, they're all facing uphill paths to avoiding another DFA a month from now.
We'll run through a few more who could be playing for their jobs this spring. This isn't our annual exhaustive list of every out-of-options player on a 40-man roster. That'll also be published soon and will include a number of names (e.g. Edward Cabrera, Jo Adell) who obviously aren't getting cut. This exercise will set aside any players like those aforementioned who have already changed teams this offseason and plenty more who seem most likely to clear waivers and remain with their current clubs in a non-roster capacity.
- Luis Matos/Jerar Encarnacion (Giants)
The Giants are unlikely to have room on the roster for Matos and Encarnacion. There's a decent chance they both end up squeezed off the roster. They're each right-handed bats with limited defensive value. Matos has played some center field but should be limited to the corners. Encarnacion is a corner outfielder/first baseman.
Matos has the better shot of the two to win a bench job. He's four years younger and not too far removed from being one of the organization's better prospects. Matos has had flashes of capable offense built around his plus bat-to-ball skills, but an aggressive approach has limited his consistency. The 24-year-old owns a .231/.281/.369 batting line with 15 home runs across 593 MLB plate appearances over the past three years. He's a .287/.345/.505 hitter at the Triple-A level.
Encarnacion hasn't produced much in 54 big league games over the past two seasons. His '25 campaign was repeatedly interrupted by injuries. Encarnacion has mashed in Triple-A when healthy and has obvious power upside in a 6'4", 260 pound frame.
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Nationals Notes: Wood, Cavalli, Williams
Spring Training is a time for players to work at different positions in low-stakes settings. Perhaps the most interesting development from the first week of Nationals camp is that All-Star outfielder James Wood has made a couple starts in right field. Two of his first three Spring Training appearances have come at the position.
The 23-year-old has not played right field in a regular season MLB game. Wood had a little over 400 innings there in the minor leagues. He has been exclusively a left fielder or designated hitter over his season and a half in the majors.
Nats manager Blake Butera hasn’t made any declarations about a position change. There’s no harm in reintroducing Wood to the position even if they intend for him to see the majority of his regular season work in left. The Nationals didn’t get him any action in right field during Spring Training 2025.
Daylen Lile was the primary right fielder after he came up in May. Lile hit the ground running offensively, batting .299/.347/.498 through his first 91 MLB contests. It was a different story on the other side of the ball. Lile was among the worst defensive outfielders in the league. He’s a good athlete with plus speed but turned a handful of easy outs into hits with poor routes or questionable decisions to let catchable balls drop in front of him.
Lile made 21 starts in left field and 52 in right. He didn’t grade well at either position. Wood has also had poor defensive metrics, albeit not to the same extent. If the Nationals feel he’s the better corner defender of the two, they could prefer to have Wood in right field against lineups that skew left-handed. They’ll each get a decent amount of DH work as well.
Dylan Crews can play anywhere in the outfield, though he doesn’t have much left field experience in pro ball. Jacob Young is easily the team’s best outfield defender. He’ll be in center whenever he’s in the lineup but fits best in a fourth outfield role because of his light bat.
However the outfield sorts itself out, those four players all go into camp with spots on the MLB roster secured. That’s not true of many players on the pitching staff. Free agent signees Miles Mikolas and Foster Griffin join Cade Cavalli and Josiah Gray as likely members of the season-opening rotation. Gray missed all of last season recovering from July 2024 internal brace surgery. Cavalli came back from Tommy John surgery of his own last year. He made 10 starts late in the season, pitching to a 4.25 ERA across 48 2/3 innings.
Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner wrote about the pitchers’ respective rehab processes this week. President of baseball operations Paul Toboni told reporters that Cavalli is “full go” this spring. That might also include a repertoire adjustment.
The 27-year-old righty said he worked with pitching coaches Simon Mathews and Sean Doolittle to incorporate a sweeper. Cavalli’s primary breaking ball is an 86 mph knuckle-curve that has more of a vertical shape. A sweeper would give him something with an east-west profile that he can run away from right-handed hitters. Cavalli tossed two scoreless innings in his exhibition debut this week.
Gray has yet to get into a Spring Training game, though he’s expected to be fully built up by Opening Day. If he secures the fourth starter role, that’d leave one spot available for a group including Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker, Brad Lord, Andrew Alvarez and Jake Eder.
Veteran right-hander Trevor Williams is midway through his own surgical rehab. He underwent an internal brace procedure last July and figures to be out at least through the All-Star Break. As Mark Zuckerman of Nats Journal wrote recently, Williams paused his throwing program and went for precautionary imaging after feeling some elbow soreness last weekend. It’s common for pitchers to have pauses along the way in their return from elbow ligament procedures. Butera downplayed the team’s concern on Saturday, though the Nationals haven’t provided any specifics on the MRI results.
Marlins Notes: Mack, Ramírez, Junk
The Marlins have three catchers on their 40-man roster. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that the club would prefer to open the season with Agustín Ramírez and Liam Hicks in the big leagues, with Joe Mack optioned to Triple-A, though it’s possible Mack could win a job.
Ramírez has shown a lot of promise with the bat but was arguably the worst defensive catcher in the majors last year. In 605 2/3 innings, he was behind the plate for 19 passed balls and 36 wild pitches. In terms of the passed balls, Ramírez lapped the field, with no other backstop allowing more than nine. Four catchers were present for a larger totals of wild pitches but they all had larger samples of playing time.
Modern analytics also agree. Ramírez was credited with minus-14 Defensive Runs Saved last year. The only guy worse was Salvador Perez at minus-15, in a larger sample of innings. Fielding Run Value had Ramirez at -12, worse than everyone except for Edgar Quero. Statcast ranked Ramírez as one of the worst catchers in terms of blocking and controlling the running game, though his framing was well regarded.
It feels inevitable that Ramírez will get moved to designated hitter or first base, where he has spent some time in the minors. The Fish don’t really have a slam-dunk first baseman standing in the way, as they’re going into the season with a hodgepodge group consisting of Hicks, Christopher Morel, Connor Norby, Griffin Conine and Graham Pauley. But the Marlins are apparently not quite ready to make that move. Jackson reports that they still want to give Ramírez a shot to show some improvement behind the plate and potentially stick as a viable backstop.
That could leave Mack trapped at Triple-A for a while longer, even though he feels like the long-term answer behind the plate. The 31st overall pick from the 2021 draft, Mack played 112 games last year, 99 of those at the Triple-A level. His 27.9% strikeout rate at that level was a bit high but he hit 18 home runs and slashed .250/.320/.459 for a 107 wRC+. That’s great production for a catcher, especially one with a strong defensive reputation like Mack. The Marlins added him to their 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.
Going into 2026, Mack is a consensus top 100 prospect, which means the prospect promotion incentive factors in. If the Marlins were to carry him on the roster early enough to get a full year of service time, he could net them an extra draft pick by playing well enough to garner awards consideration. If they don’t call him up that early, he could earn a full year of service retroactively with a top two finish in Rookie of the Year voting.
If Mack ends the 2026 season with a full year of service, he would be on pace for free agency after the 2031 season. If the Marlins hold him down long enough to not get a full year of service and he doesn’t get one retroactively, then that schedule would be pushed into the future by a year.
Turning to the pitching staff, right-hander Janson Junk suffered a right ankle sprain about a week ago and was in a walking boot for a while. It seems he is moving quickly past the issue. Per the MLB.com injury tracker, he was scheduled to throw 15 to 18 pitches off a mound yesterday. There hasn’t been word on him since, so he presumably threw without issue. He posted a 4.17 earned run average for the Marlins in a swing role last year. As of now, he will probably open the season as a long reliever but could earn a rotation job if injuries open a path for him.
Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images
Poll: Will Konnor Griffin Break Camp With The Pirates?
As Spring Training gets underway, many fans are watching top prospects. For the Pirates’ Konnor Griffin, however, it’s not just fans in Pittsburgh watching to see if he’ll be in the starting lineup on Opening Day; it’s the entire baseball world.
Griffin won’t celebrate his 20th birthday until the end of April. The ninth overall pick in the 2024 draft opened eyes all around the sport with his performance in his first professional season last year, slashing .333/.415/.527 in 122 games across three levels, topping out in Double-A. That was enough to make him the consensus top prospect in the sport. The Athletic’s Keith Law called Griffin “the most exciting prospect in the minors since Mike Trout” last month, while FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen described Griffin as “a franchise-altering entity whose talent rivals that of Bobby Witt Jr.”
It’s hard to get much more impressive than comparisons to Trout and Witt. Between the hype prospect evaluators of all stripes are heaping onto Griffin and his unbelievable start to his pro career, it’s understandable that he would be in the conversation to start the season with the Pirates on Opening Day, even though he’ll still be a teenager.
For now, the Pirates are saying all the right things. Every indication has been that the team will give Griffin the opportunity to earn his way onto the roster. The players currently standing in his way, Nick Gonzales and Jared Triolo, aren’t the sort of slam-dunk regulars that would normally give a club pause when it comes to pushing one of them into a bench role. That open avenue toward a roster spot is great news for Griffin, and so far he’s made the most of the opportunity he’s been handed during camp with two homers in his first ten plate appearances this spring.
There are other factors to consider as well. The most obvious is that Griffin is extremely inexperienced as a professional. He’s played only 122 professional games. Elite prospects have been getting called up more quickly since Trout made his debut 15 years ago, but even by more recent standards Griffin would be among the fastest to reach the show. Witt had 161 games in the minors before his big league debut, and Juan Soto‘s short stint in the minor leagues lasted 122 games, the exact amount Griffin logged last year.
The Pirates are entering a year where they’re clearing trying to win, more than in other recent seasons. They added Ryan O’Hearn, Brandon Lowe, and Marcell Ozuna to help bolster a stagnant offense and added Gregory Soto to the bullpen as well. That quartet cost around $60MM in total, which is a notable chunk of change by the Pirates’ typical standards.
Reigning Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes is under club control for just four more seasons before he’ll reach free agency and could see his arbitration price explode by 2027 or 2028. The Pirates are acutely aware of that, and getting the most out of Griffin they possibly can while Skenes is still in town should be the team’s top priority.
Service time is another factor the Pirates will need to consider, and that cuts both ways when it comes to the Griffin decision. Holding Griffin down for even just three weeks to start the year could unlock a seventh year of team control over Griffin by ensuring he doesn’t earn a full year of MLB service in 2026. The counter to that, of course, is Skenes himself. The Pirates didn’t promote Skenes until May 2024, but he was still dominant enough once he arrived to win the NL Rookie of the Year Award and earn himself a full year of service anyway. Had they simply brought Skenes up on Opening Day, the Pirates would’ve been able to secure an extra draft pick thanks to his Rookie of the Year win.
Another wrinkle in the service time conversation is Griffin’s apparent willingness to consider an extension with Pittsburgh. If the sides were to reach a deal either this spring or in the early days of the 2026 campaign, that would negate the service time concerns. While explicitly holding a player down due to service time considerations or promoting them only if they agree to an extension is frowned upon, it has happened. The prospect promotion incentives added in the 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement have somewhat lessened the frequency with which such situations occur, but they’ve also prompted some teams to wait until late August with prospects who otherwise look ready, so as to preserve their rookie status (and potential PPI gains) the following season. The Pirates didn’t call Bubba Chandler up until Aug. 22 last year. If they do agree to an extension, the Bucs would be incentivized to not finalize it until after Griffin’s debut. A player who signs a pre-debut extension is not eligible to earn a PPI pick for his team.
How do MLBTR readers think Griffin’s candidacy for a spot on the Opening Day roster will play out? Will he make the team, or start the year in the minor leagues? Or, perhaps, could his status on the MLB roster be determined by how extension talks between the sides go this spring? Have your say in the poll below:
Will Konnor Griffin break camp with the Pirates?
Offseason In Review: Seattle Mariners
The 2025 Mariners were a game away from the World Series. Their two-decade playoff drought and status as perennial runner-up increasingly feels like a thing of the past. They enter the 2026 season as the AL West favorite in projections at both FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus after a winter that featured multiple upgrades.
Major League Free Agent Signings
- Josh Naylor, 1B: Five years, $92.5MM
- Rob Refsnyder, OF: One year, $6.25MM
- Andrew Knizner, C: One year, $1MM
Option Decisions
- Team declined $12MM mutual option on C Mitch Garver (paid $1MM buyout)
- Team exercised $7MM club option on RHP Andres Munoz
- INF Jorge Polanco declined $8MM player option
Trades and Waiver Claims
- Acquired INF/OF Brendan Donovan from Cardinals in three-team trade also involving Rays; Mariners sent SHP Jurrangelo Cijntje, OF Tai Peete, Competitive Balance pick (Round B) to Cardinals, 3B Ben Williamson to Rays
- Acquired LHP Jose A. Ferrer from Nationals in exchange for C Harry Ford, minor league RHP Isaac Lyon
- Acquired RHP Yosver Zulueta from Reds in exchange for minor league RHP Dusty Revis
- Acquired minor league LHP Robinson Ortiz from Dodgers in exchange for minor league RHP Tyler Gough
- Acquired minor league RHP Alex Hoppe from Red Sox in exchange for minor league C Luke Heyman
- Acquired RHP Cooper Criswell from Mets for cash
- Acquired C Jhonny Pereda from Twins for cash
- Acquired LHP Josh Simpson from Marlins for cash
- Acquired RHP Cole Wilcox from Rays for cash
- Claimed RHP Ryan Loutos off waivers from Nationals
Extensions
- None yet
Notable Minor League Signings
- Mitch Garver, Dane Dunning, Connor Joe, Casey Lawrence, Randy Dobnak, Guillo Zuñiga, Patrick Wisdom, Michael Rucker, Jhonathan Diaz, Brian O’Keefe, Jakson Reetz, Will Wilson, Brennen Davis
Notable Losses
- Eugenio Suarez, Ben Williamson, Harry Ford, Caleb Ferguson, Luke Jackson, Tayler Saucedo (non-tendered), Gregory Santos (non-tendered), Trent Thornton (non-tendered), Jackson Kowar (claimed by Twins)
When fans think of the Mariners, the dominant starting rotation is often the first thing that comes to mind. The 2025 season, Seattle’s best since 2000-02, played out in somewhat uncharacteristic fashion, however. The rotation was solid but not elite. Mariners starters barely cracked the top half of baseball in terms of ERA, due in part to injuries up and down the staff. Seattle’s bullpen ranked top-10 in ERA, however, and the lineup finished tenth or better in runs scored, home runs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and wRC+. Cal Raleigh, the AL MVP runner-up, played a huge role in the Mariners’ offensive eruption, but the Seattle lineup was a strong unit top to bottom.
Seattle’s deadline acquisition of Josh Naylor from the D-backs played a big part in that. Naylor hit the ground running in the Emerald City and immediately looked at home, slashing .299/.341/.490 with nine homers in 210 plate appearances. The 5’10”, 235-pound Naylor even delighted baseball fans (not just Seattle fans) by somehow going 19-for-19 in stolen base attempts despite sitting in the third percentile of big leaguers in terms of average sprint speed, per Statcast. Naylor entered the season with 25 career steals in 598 games. He played 54 games as a Mariner.
President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto made it known before season’s end that keeping Naylor was not just a priority for the Mariners but the offseason priority. Appearing on the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, Dipoto told host Darragh McDonald that Naylor was “as good as anybody that’s played in the last handful of years at hitting in this ballpark” while voicing a strong desire to keep the 28-year-old slugger.
True to his word, Dipoto wasted little time in making an aggressive push to keep his newly acquired first baseman. Naylor, who also raved late in the season about how much he loved playing in Seattle, was one of the first major free agents off the board, coming to terms on a five-year, $92.5MM deal two weeks after the World Series wrapped up.
Naylor’s deal is the largest contract the Mariners have given to a free-agent position player since Dipoto began running baseball operations for the Mariners more than a decade ago — and not just barely, but by a magnitude of nearly four times. Dipoto has been open about his desires to avoid building a roster through free agency, and his affinity for working the trade market is well known. That Naylor nearly quadrupled the $24MM guarantee paid to Mitch Garver underscores how strongly the Mariners felt about keeping him. Prior to the Naylor signing, Garver was the only free agent position player to sign a multi-year free agent deal with Seattle in ten years.
While Naylor was the priority, the Mariners remained open to re-signing veterans Jorge Polanco and Eugenio Suarez, both of whom hit in the middle of the lineup down the stretch and into the playoffs. Polanco was always deemed more likely, but the Mariners apparently balked at matching or topping the two-year, $40MM deal he received from the Mets. That $20MM average annual value was steeper than nearly any pundit or fan thought Polanco would command.
The veteran Polanco’s departure left the Mariners in a familiar position. As was the case the offseason prior, the M’s had openings at both second base and third base. Dipoto and GM Justin Hollander spent most of the 2024-25 offseason working the trade market to find an option at one or both positions before ultimately re-signing Polanco to one-year deal that turned out to be a raucous bargain.
For much of the current offseason, it looked as though things might play out similarly. The Mariners engaged with the Cardinals on Brendan Donovan early, but interest in the utilityman extraordinaire was robust. Dipoto and Hollander kept in touch with Suarez’s camp, were at least loosely involved in the market for star NPB third baseman Kazuma Okamoto, spoke to the D-backs repeatedly about Ketel Marte and inquired on the Cubs’ Nico Hoerner. There were surely other trade and free agent targets whose names didn’t become public.
Through it all, the Mariners were cited as one of the top suitors and front-runners for Donovan, who entered the offseason as a veritable lock to be traded by the rebuilding Cardinals. It may have taken longer than fans hoped, but the Mariners eventually got their man on Feb. 2, parting with top pitching prospect Jurrangelo Cijntje, outfield prospect Tai Peete, young third baseman Ben Williamson and a Round B Competitive Balance draft pick (No. 68 overall) in a three-team deal that brought Donovan their way. Seattle’s interest in the former Gold Glove winner dated back to last season, meaning the three-team swap capped off more than a yearlong pursuit of the versatile infielder/outfielder.
Donovan indeed feels like a perfect fit for the M’s. He’s a quality defender at either third base or second base, meaning the Mariners can see which of Cole Young and Colt Emerson stand out the most this spring. The hope is that Emerson is the team’s long-term third baseman — or perhaps shortstop, if J.P. Crawford departs in free agency next winter — and that Young is the second baseman of the future. Donovan’s ability to play either spot lets the Mariners take a flexible approach to their infield alignment. And if both players eventually force their way onto the roster, Donovan can split time between those two positions, the outfield corners and designated hitter.
While Seattle paid a steep price to acquire Donovan in terms of the talent they surrendered, they’re getting him for just $5.8MM this season and can control him through the 2027 campaign. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the two parties eventually talked extension. Donovan was open to a long-term deal in St. Louis even as the Cards embarked on a rebuild.
Time will tell whether he feels similarly about his new surroundings, but at the very least he doesn’t appear to be dead-set on testing free agency 18 months from now. Recent extensions for Tommy Edman and Ryan McMahon paid that pair of comparably aged infielders $70MM total; Donovan might command a bit more, but a five-year deal in that general range (beginning with next year’s final arbitration season) feels like something that could work for both sides, speculatively speaking.
Even if no extension comes to fruition, Donovan will be hitting at or near the top of a deep Mariners lineup for the next two seasons. He’s the sort of versatile, high-contact bat the Mariners coveted several years ago when trying to reshape their offensive identity after years of ranking at or near the top of the league in strikeouts. With Donovan (career 13.5% strikeout rate) and Naylor (career 16%) now helping to anchor the lineup, the M’s have a bit of a different feel than the all-or-nothing bunch to which we’d grown accustomed earlier this decade.
The Donovan trade may have been the Mariners “signature” trade of the offseason, but it wasn’t the only swap of consequence for Dipoto, Hollander & Co. One of the Mariners’ first moves post-Naylor was to address the lack of reliable left-handed relief in their bullpen, swinging a trade for Nationals southpaw Jose A. Ferrer. Many fans were shocked to see the Mariners part with top catching prospect Harry Ford to acquire a reliever, but Ford was blocked by Raleigh with no clear path to playing time in Seattle. That doesn’t mean he can be swapped out for any old bullpen arm, but what Ferrer lacks in name recognition he makes up for in extremely intriguing underlying numbers.
Ferrer’s 4.15 ERA over the past two seasons (4.48 in 2025) isn’t going to garner much attention. However, that mark came playing in front of a porous Nationals defense that rarely did the flamethrowing sinker specialist help. The 25-year-old Ferrer (26 next week) averages a blazing 97.7 mph on a sinker that’s helped him post a gargantuan 61% ground-ball rate dating back to 2024 — fifth highest in all of baseball (min. 100 innings pitched).
In 2025, Ferrer upped his strikeout rate from the prior year’s 19.4% to a nearly league-average 21.9%. His swinging-strike rate rose to a slightly above-average 11.5%. Ferrer has only walked 4.9% of his opponents the past two seasons. That blend of plus command and plus-plus ground-ball tendencies, coupled with even average bat-missing abilities (and a competent defense behind him) gives Ferrer immense breakout potential. Metrics like SIERA (2.97) and FIP (2.95) already feel he’s great, and the Mariners’ track record in coaxing breakouts from unheralded relievers (e.g. Paul Sewald, Gabe Speier, Drew Steckenrider, Justin Topa) shouldn’t be overlooked. Ferrer is controlled for four more seasons and has two minor league option years remaining. Adding him to a bullpen anchored by Andres Munoz and Matt Brash could make for a lethal trio.
Most of the remaining moves were more on the margins of the roster. Rob Refsnyder and his lifetime .281/.383/.443 line against lefties (.302/.399/.560 in 2025) gives manager Dan Wilson a big platoon bat to pair with lefty-swinging outfielder/designated hitter Dominic Canzone, who’s coming off a breakout .281/.358/.481 showing in 268 plate appearances. Canzone more than held his own against lefties, so he’ll still get some left-on-left looks, but all of his power was against righties. Only two of his 22 extra-base hits (one double, one homer) came versus southpaws.
Andrew Knizner was brought in on a moderately surprising big league deal to be the backup to Raleigh. He’s earning just $1MM, so it’s a minimal commitment if Knizner doesn’t pan out. He’s a career .211/.281/.316 hitter whose defensive marks have improved in a small sample over the past two seasons. Notably, he was one of the best catchers in Triple-A last year when it came to challenging pitches under the incoming ABS system, which could have factored into the decision. Catching depth in general was a priority though, as they also reunited with Mitch Garver on a minor league deal and picked up Jhonny Pereda from the Twins in a cash swap.
Assembling a deep collection of optionable arms also proved to be a priority this winter. The Mariners acquired a whopping six optionable young relievers via either small trades or waivers. The current big league bullpen doesn’t have much flexibility — Ferrer and Brash are the only optionable arms, and neither is being sent down anytime soon — so it’s possible something will shake loose later in camp with the Mariners moving on from an out of options arm like Casey Legumina. The Mariners added Yosver Zulueta, Josh Simpson, Cole Wilcox, Alex Hoppe and Robinson Ortiz via trade and claimed Ryan Loutos off waivers. They’ll have plenty of options to evaluate when injuries inevitably crop up among the more experienced members of the bullpen.
The starting pitching lacks that same level of depth, particularly after sixth starter Logan Evans suffered a UCL tear that’ll require season-ending surgery. The Mariners’ top quintet of Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo, George Kirby, Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller is among the most talented in the game, but the top options behind him are now out-of-options swingman Cooper Criswell, former prospect Emerson Hancock (who’s struggled in the majors thus far) and non-roster veteran Dane Dunning. Finding an optionable rotation candidate or bringing in one more low-cost or non-roster veteran would arguably still be prudent, but even if they opt to do so, it’s not likely to be one of the top names available.
By and large, the Mariners’ heavy lifting is wrapped up. Naylor, Donovan and Ferrer are quality headline additions, but the M’s have done plenty of work to round out the margins of the roster with improved depth to position them for the rigors of a long season. They’ll head into 2026 as a popular pick to win their division at the very least, and better health from their top starters could make Seattle one of the favorites in the broader American League overall.
How would you grade the Mariners' offseason?
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B 52% (1,142)
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A 29% (639)
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C 14% (305)
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D 3% (60)
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F 2% (50)
Total votes: 2,196
Diamondbacks Notes: Kelly, Pfaadt, Mena
The Diamondbacks rotation is an early focus in camp. Right-hander Merrill Kelly was slated to be the Opening Day starter but a back issue has scuttled those plans, even though an exact diagnosis has proved elusive. Manager Torey Lovullo tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that Kelly still has enough time to be stretched out for Arizona’s second series of the season.
The Snakes begin their season on March 26th with three games in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. They then have an off-day before starting a seven-game homestand with Detroit coming to town for three and Atlanta for four. Though Kelly won’t take the ball for Opening Day, it would be nice to get him in there at some point fairly early in the schedule.
That will presumably be contingent on his body cooperating. He has been subject to a number of recent tests, including an MRI and a CT scan, without anything conclusive being discovered. While it’s encouraging that the tests keep coming back negative, Kelly has still been experiencing pain while throwing.
Time will tell how things play out with Kelly. If he does eventually require some time on the injured list, then the rotation jobs should go to Zac Gallen, Eduardo Rodríguez, Brandon Pfaadt, Ryne Nelson and Michael Soroka. Pfaadt is also under the microscope somewhat, as Piecoro relays that he had some kind of issue with his side during the offseason. He appears to be fine now but the club is slow-playing his progression a bit.
Beyond that group, the depth is lacking in experience. Cristian Mena, Yilber Díaz, Kohl Drake, Mitch Bratt and Dylan Ray are on the 40-man roster. The latter three haven’t yet cracked the majors. Díaz has just 31 1/3 innings while Mena has only 9 2/3.
Mena is also unlikely to be available anytime soon. He didn’t pitch after June last year due to a strain of the teres major in his throwing shoulder. Per Piecoro, Mena has re-aggravated that teres major injury recently. His timetable isn’t exactly clear but he has been shut down from throwing for the time being.
If everything goes well, Soroka could end up in a long relief/swingman role, ready to jump into the rotation as soon as someone gets hurt as Kelly, Gallen, Rodríguez, Pfaadt and Nelson make starts. But Kelly’s status is up in the air and Pfaadt is being monitored closely. The depth was already on the light side and now Mena has been subtracted from it, at least for now. Non-roster guys with big league experience include Joe Ross, Thomas Hatch and Bryce Jarvis.
If the Snakes want to add to the group, there are still starting pitching free agents available. Lucas Giolito and Zack Littell are the two most notable ones but Patrick Corbin, Tyler Anderson and a few others are also out there. The club may be reluctant to add more money to the ledger, however, as they already stretched beyond their plans when grabbing Gallen a couple of weeks ago.
Photo courtesy of Rob Schumacher, Imagn Images
Athletics Have Made Extension Offer To Nick Kurtz
2:30pm: Kurtz tells Tyler Kepner of The Athletic that he is “Definitely open and interested” in a long-term deal but added that “It’s just about timing.”
1:10pm: The Athletics have made an extension offer to first baseman Nick Kurtz, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post. No specifics of the offer have been reported and it’s unclear how likely it is for the two sides to reach an agreement.
The A’s have been busy on the extension front in recent years. It appears there is a dual motivation at play, connected to their ongoing move from Oakland to Las Vegas, with a stop in West Sacramento in between. Reportedly, they wanted to increase their spending in order to avoid a grievance from the MLBPA, so as to not risk losing their revenue-sharing status during the move. Also, it seems the club wants to have an exciting and consistent young core in place to help them build a fanbase when they get to Vegas, currently planned for Opening Day 2028.
About this time last year, they got two extensions done. They signed outfielder/designated hitter Brent Rooker to a five-year, $60MM pact, then inked Lawrence Butler to a seven-year, $65.5MM deal. They have continued down that road this offseason. It was reported on Christmas Day that they had agreed to a seven-year, $86MM deal with outfielder Tyler Soderstrom. That was followed by a seven-year, $70MM deal for shortstop Jacob Wilson about a month ago.
Kurtz is another sensible target. He just made his debut last year at the age of 22. His 30.9% strikeout rate was on the high side but he drew walks at a strong 12.9% clip and hit 36 home runs in only 489 plate appearances. He was the unanimous choice for American League Rookie of the Year, even though he wasn’t called up until late April.
Even though he missed part of the season, Kurtz was retroactively awarded a full year of service time for that award win, as part of the prospect promotion incentive rules. That means the A’s currently control him for another five seasons instead of six. He is going into his age-23 season and is slated for free agency after his age-27 season.
If the A’s want to sign him for longer than that, it makes sense to do it sooner rather than later. Players generally get more earning power as they approach free agency. The record guarantee for a player with one year of service time or less is Julio Rodríguez, who got $210MM from the Mariners. For guys with two years of service, Fernando Tatis Jr. got $340MM and Bobby Witt Jr. got $288.8MM. For guys who have pushed into their arbitration seasons, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has the record at $500MM.
That doesn’t mean that getting something done now would be easy, as MLBTR’s Anthony Franco examined in detail earlier this month in a post for Front Office subscribers. For one thing, Kurtz is represented by Excel Sports Management, an agency with even less of a track record of early-career extensions than the Boras Corporation.
Kurtz also shouldn’t be desperate for cash in the short term. He got a $7MM signing bonus after being drafted fourth overall in 2024. He also would have added around $2MM in 2025. The league minimum salary was $760K last year and Kurtz earned just under $1.3MM via the pre-arbitration bonus pool.
Considering those factors, as well as Kurtz’s prospect pedigree and rookie season, Franco concluded that it would probably take $150MM or more to lock up Kurtz now. He’s in a similar position to Rodríguez when he signed his $210MM deal with Seattle, though Rodríguez had more earning power as a strong defensive center fielder, whereas Kurtz is farther down the defensive spectrum as a first baseman. The $150MM range would get Kurtz beyond Roman Anthony, who only had a couple of months of big league experience and was one year further from free agency than Kurtz when he signed his $130MM deal.
Getting to that range would require the A’s to effectively double their franchise record, which is currently held by the $86MM deal for Soderstrom. The long-term books aren’t totally clean, as the four aforementioned extensions are there. However, none of those deals has an average annual value of even $13MM. The salaries do increase over time but none of the guaranteed seasons even reach $20MM.
If the A’s wait, they run the risk of Kurtz continuing to perform, which would gradually nudge his earning power closer to that of Guerrero. Even if they can’t get a deal done, they can control Kurtz through 2030. If they open in Vegas in 2028 as planned, they could still potentially have Kurtz for their first three campaigns in their new home.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
Twins Claim Zak Kent
The Twins announced Thursday that they’ve claimed righty Zak Kent off waivers from the Cardinals, who’d designated him for assignment a few days ago. Righty Pablo López, who underwent an internal brace procedure yesterday and will miss the entire 2026 season, was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Kent joins his third team since spring training opened and his fourth of the offseason. The 28-year-old (as of Tuesday) finished the 2025 campaign on the Guardians’ roster but has since bounced to the Cardinals, Rangers, back to the Cardinals, and now to the Twins following a series of DFAs. There’s fortunately no cross-country journey for him this time around, as the Twins and Cardinals both play their spring games in Florida’s Grapefruit League.
The 2025 season saw Kent make his big league debut with Cleveland, tossing 17 2/3 innings with a 4.58 ERA, 21.1% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate. Most of his season was spent with the Guardians’ top affiliate in Columbus, where Kent notched a 2.84 ERA and set down a gaudy 31.4% of his opponents on strikes — albeit against an ugly 13.2% walk rate. Kent isn’t an especially hard thrower, sitting 93.1 mph with his four-seamer in 2025, but he missed plenty of bats in the upper minors thanks to the quality of his mid-80s slider and low-80s curveball.
Kent is entering his final minor league option year. He’s actually already exhausted the standard three option years allotted to players, but teams can be granted fourth option years based on a player’s minor league injury history and/or the speed with which they burn through those original option years. He’ll give the Twins another option to consider in a wide-open bullpen mix that has only Cole Sands, Anthony Banda, Taylor Rogers and Justin Topa locked into spots. In parts of four Triple-A seasons, Kent carries a 3.74 ERA, a 26% strikeout rate and a 12% walk rate.