Nick Lodolo To Open Season On Injured List
The Reds will place starter Nick Lodolo on the 15-day injured list to begin the year, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer. The southpaw joins Hunter Greene in starting the season on the shelf.
Greene will miss most or all of the first half after undergoing surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow. Lodolo’s issue is far less concerning. He’s dealing with a blister on his index finger, which forced him out of his start on Sunday after 10 pitches. A season-opening IL stint can be backdated by three days, meaning he’ll be eligible to return 13 days into the regular season.
It’ll probably be close to a minimal stint, though it’s nevertheless frustrating for Lodolo to miss at least one or two turns through the rotation. Lodolo has a history of blister issues. This will be the third consecutive season in which one sends him to the injured list. He had a minimal absence in 2024 and missed around three weeks last August.
Andrew Abbott makes his first career Opening Day start opposite Garrett Crochet and the Red Sox on Thursday. Lodolo had been slated to start the second game of the season, followed by Brady Singer in the series finale. They’ll now likely bump Singer up to Saturday and have Rhett Lowder take the ball to close the Boston series. Chase Burns and Brandon Williamson round out the starting five and can open next week’s series against the Pirates.
Manager Terry Francona announced last week that Lowder, Burns and Williamson had all made the team. The Reds weren’t planning a six-man rotation but could have used Burns and Williamson as tandem starters or swing options. They’ll instead work as more traditional starters until Lodolo is healthy, which will open a spot in the bullpen. Kyle Nicolas was their most recent bullpen cut and could be brought back up. Julian Aguiar or Chase Petty are other possibilities for a long relief role.
Angels To Sign Joey Lucchesi
The Angels are going to sign left-hander Joey Lucchesi, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Heyman adds that the CAA Sports client is expected to be on the Opening Day roster, suggesting it’s a major league deal. That would mean the Halos would need a corresponding 40-man move. They have some candidates to move to the 60-day injured list, with Anthony Rendon being an obvious one, but they may also need spots for Adam Frazier and Jeimer Candelario if they plan to roster those guys.
Lucchesi, 33 in June, was in camp with the Giants on a minor league deal as of a few days ago. He was granted his release, which may or may not have involved him triggering an opt-out in that deal. Regardless, he was back on the open market and the Halos have scooped him up.
The southpaw has been a starter or swingman for most of his career. 2025 was his first big league season where he pitched exclusively as a reliever. He averaged just under 93 miles per hour with both his four-seamer and his sinker while also throwing a low-80s splitter and high-70s curveball. He gave the Giants 38 1/3 innings over 38 appearances, allowing 3.76 earned runs per nine frames. His 18.8% strikeout rate was subpar but his 7.3% walk rate was good and he induced grounders on 53% of balls in play.
The Giants could have retained Lucchesi for 2026 via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a $2MM salary. Instead, they non-tendered him and then re-signed him to a minor league deal that would have paid him $1.5MM in the majors. As mentioned, they released him from that pact a few days ago.
The Angels signed Kirby Yates, Jordan Romano, Drew Pomeranz and Brent Suter to free agent deals this offseason. No one in that group can be optioned to the minors. Chase Silseth is out of options. Guys like Ryan Zeferjahn, Sam Bachman and Walbert Ureña seemed to be trending to Opening Day jobs but all three can be optioned. Perhaps one of them will get bumped to the minors to make room for Lucchesi, though knocking out Silseth could be a way for the club to open a 40-man spot.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Orioles Sign Elvis Peguero To Two-Year Minor League Deal
The Orioles announced that they have signed right-hander Elvis Peguero to a minor league deal covering the 2026 and 2027 seasons. He has been assigned to the Triple-A Norfolk Tides, though his current health status is unclear.
Two-year minor league deals are normally signed when a pitcher is facing a lengthy injury absence, often due to a notable procedure such as Tommy John surgery. These types of deals allow the pitcher to rehab using a team’s facilities while collecting a paycheck. For the team, they know they will get little or no return on that investment in the near term but the hope is that the deal pays off when the pitcher is healthy in the second year.
There hasn’t been any public reporting about Peguero undergoing surgery recently. The White Sox did put him on the 15-day injured list in August due to a right elbow strain. He stayed there through the end of the campaign. He was outrighted off the roster in October and became a free agent shortly thereafter. Perhaps the Orioles will reveal more information about Peguero’s status soon.
Over the past five seasons, Peguero has pitched for the Angels, Brewers and White Sox. He’s essentially been a two-pitch guy with an upper-90s sinker and a low-90s slider. He has allowed 4.26 earned runs per nine innings. His 19.5% strikeout rate and 10.8% walk rate are both a bit worse than average but he has induced grounders on 54.3% of balls in play.
He exhausted his final option season in 2025, meaning he will be out of options going forward. If he can eventually earn a roster spot and hold it, he can be retained for several years via arbitration. His service time count is currently at two years and 136 days.
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images
Marlins To Sign Austin Slater To Major League Deal
The Marlins are in agreement with outfielder Austin Slater on a major league deal, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid. He just opted out of a minor league deal with the Tigers a few days ago. He’ll make $1MM plus bonuses, per Kevin Barral of Fish on First. The Marlins will need to open a 40-man roster spot but that should be as easy as transferring right-hander Adam Mazur to the 60-day injured list. Mazur underwent Tommy John surgery a few weeks ago and will miss the entire season.
Slater, 33, just had a strong camp with the Tigers. He stepped to the plate 36 times in 15 games and slashed .267/.389/.467. Detroit’s roster is fairly crowded, however. They are going to carry prospect Kevin McGonigle on the Opening Day roster and have bumped outfielder Wenceel Pérez to the minors.
The Marlins will take advantage of that roster crunch by scooping up Slater. In his career, he has generally combined solid defense in all three outfield slots with strong offense against left-handed pitching. His overall batting line is .248/.336/.384. That’s almost exactly league average, translating to a 101 wRC+. That includes a .267/.357/.430 line and 119 wRC+ against southpaws, compared to a .227/.311/.329 slash and 80 wRC+ otherwise.
That profile should fit well in the Miami outfield. The Marlins are slated to begin the season with Kyle Stowers on the injured list, which will leave Jakob Marsee, Owen Caissie and Griffin Conine in the outfield. All four of those guys are lefties, so Slater should have plenty of chances to slot in against southpaw opponents.
Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images
Astros To Select Christian Vázquez
The Astros are going to open the season with Christian Vázquez as their backup to catcher Yainer Diaz, manager Joe Espada tells Matt Kawahara of The Houston Chronicle. He had been in camp on a minor league deal. César Salazar has been informed he won’t make the team. Since Salazar is out of options, he’ll need to be removed from the 40-man, which means he’ll be traded or placed on waivers in the coming days.
Vázquez, 35, has over a decade of big league experience under his belt. He’s probably not going to provide much offensively at this point in his career. He has had some good performances with the bat before but has a combined .215/.267/.311 line dating back to the start of the 2023 season. That’s why he had to settle for a minor league deal coming into 2026. He was playing for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic at the time of that pact. He put up a flat .250/.250/.250 line in that tournament and then slashed .222/.364/.222 in 11 spring plate appearances with the Astros.
But he is considered one of the better defensive catchers in the game. He’s been credited with 64 Defensive Runs Saved since the start of 2014, his debut season. Only three other catchers are ahead of him in that category. One of them is Buster Posey, who retired long ago and is now running the Giants’ front office. Another is Roberto Pérez, who hasn’t played in the majors since 2023. The other is Austin Hedges. Vázquez generally ranks near the top of framing leaderboards as well.
The Astros are known as an organization that values catcher defense, as they have often rostered glove-first guys like Jason Castro and Martín Maldonado. They acquired Vázquez at the 2022 deadline and went on to win that year’s World Series, after which Vázquez signed a three-year, $30MM deal with the Twins. That deal didn’t really pan out the way the Twins hoped due to the aforementioned decline in his offense but Vázquez still has enough of a reputation to get back to the majors with Houston.
Rostering Vázquez means the Astros may be ending their relationship with Salazar. He has appeared in 36 games for the Astros over the past three years, putting up a .232/.318/.268 line in 67 plate appearances. He was considered a strong defender as a prospect but has only been able to log 143 2/3 innings behind the plate as a big leaguer.
As mentioned, he is out of options, meaning he can’t be sent to the minors unless he first clears waivers. It’s possible some other club could be interested. He does have the aforementioned strong defensive reputation. He hasn’t hit much in the majors yet but has a .238/.369/.389 line and 113 wRC+ at the Triple-A level dating back to the start of 2024. If any club were to pick him up, he could be controlled for another five seasons and is also two years away from qualifying for arbitration.
If he were to clear waivers, the Astros could keep him as non-roster depth. He doesn’t have three years of service time and doesn’t have a previous career outright, so he wouldn’t have the right to elect free agency. The Astros would probably be happy if that happened, as they don’t have any other catchers on their roster. Carlos Pérez is their only non-roster backstop with big league experience.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images
Phillies Extend Cristopher Sanchez
For the second time in less than two years, the Phillies have announced a contract extension with Cristopher Sanchez. The left-hander’s previous extension in June 2024 gave the team control over Sanchez’s services through the 2030 season, but this new contract now locks Sanchez into the fold through at least the 2032 season for $88MM in new money. Sanchez is represented by Mato Sports Management.
The new deal keeps Sanchez’s $3MM salary in place for the 2026 season and adds a $6MM signing bonus. He’ll also earn the $6MM in 2027 and the $9MM in 2028 that was promised to him under the terms of his old extension. The Phillies previously held a $14MM club option on Sanchez for 2029 and a $15MM club option for 2030, but those option years have now been guaranteed under the new extension at those prices. Sanchez will then earn $27MM in each of the 2031 and 2032 seasons, though $10MM is deferred each year. Philadelphia holds a $32.5MM club option for the 2033 campaign. The value of that option can increase based on Cy Young voting from 2027 to 2032, with $2MM for a win, $1MM for second or third place, $750K for fourth or fifth and $500K for sixth through tenth. A buyout would also attach to the option by the same criteria. That becomes a $10MM club option if Sanchez spends 130 consecutive days on the injured list in 2031 or 2032. Sanchez can also earn up to $13MM extra via incentive bonuses over the course of the contract.
Sanchez’s four-year, $22.5MM extension from June 2024 had already proven to be a huge bargain for the Phillies, as the southpaw continued to produce throughout the 2024 campaign and then took a step forward by finishing second in NL Cy Young Award voting in 2025. It would’ve been easy for the Phillies to sit back and continue benefiting from the surplus value created by the extension, but president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski took the long view towards Sanchez’s future in Philadelphia.
“We kind of assumed years four and five were a no-brainer as far as we were going to pick those up,” Dombrowski told The Athletic’s Matt Gelb and other reporters. “So we couldn’t even imagine a scenario in which we wouldn’t. Now we start talking beyond that. And we thought that somebody of Cristopher’s stature, we’d rather get this done now, while he’s still at the age that makes sense for us.”
It naturally isn’t uncommon for teams to sign their stars to multiple extensions over the course of their careers, as we’ve seen recently with the Guardians and Jose Ramirez back in January or the Diamondbacks with Ketel Marte last year. Those deals weren’t quite the same as the Sanchez extension, however. Both Ramirez and Marte had more than a decade of MLB experience under their belt and had already played out significant portions of their initial team-friendly extensions. In addition, those teams had the motive of restructuring their star’s previous deal to include deferred money.
That’s not to say Sanchez is undeserving of his new payday, of course. After earning a trip to the All-Star Game in 2024, Sanchez cemented his ace status with a superb 2025 season. The lefty spun a 2.50 ERA with a 2.55 FIP in 202 innings of work, striking out 212 batters across 32 starts. He paired his 26.3% strikeout rate with a 5.5% walk rate and a 58.3% ground ball rate, giving him a lower SIERA than every qualified starter in the NL and the third-lowest in baseball behind Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet.
By measure of fWAR, Sanchez’s 2025 season was a top-20 campaign by a qualified starter since 2015, tied with Cy Young-winning campaigns by future Hall of Famers like Chris Sale (2024), Max Scherzer (2017), and Justin Verlander (2019). Sanchez ultimately finished second behind Paul Skenes in Cy Young voting last year, but nonetheless established himself as among the upper-echelon of starters in today’s game with that performance.
Clearly, the Phillies are betting on Sanchez to age well like those other elite arms did by signing him to a big-money extension for his mid-thirties. Philadelphia has been unafraid of signing players well past their prime years previously, as shown by the fact that Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola are under contract through their age-37 seasons, while Jesus Luzardo‘s new contract extension includes a club option for his age-34 campaign.
With this new contract, Sanchez joins Luzardo (2032 club option) and Trea Turner (contract guaranteed through 2033) as the only three players under team control beyond the expiration of Bryce Harper‘s contract in 2031. This restructured contract for Sanchez could be an interesting data point for Harper and agent Scott Boras, as the two-time MVP and future Hall of Famer has previously publicly expressed a desire to extend or restructure his contract with Philadelphia to keep him in town beyond the 2031 campaign. Of course, those previous attempts were before this past offseason’s comments from Dave Dombrowski critical of Harper that drew the superstar’s ire, prompting trade speculation that Dombrowski later firmly shut down.
Sanchez’s extension was first reported by FanSided’s Robert Murray. The Athletic’s Matt Gelb reported the total of money involved in the deal, while Francys Romero of Beisbol FR had the details about the performance incentives and Ronald Blum of The Associated Press provided all the financial details.
Inset photo courtesy of Bill Streicher — Imagn Images
Astros’ Peter Lambert Granted His Release
Astros righty Peter Lambert was granted his release after triggering an out clause in his minor league deal, manager Joe Espada tells reporters (link via Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle). The team told Lambert over the weekend that he wouldn’t make the roster.
Lambert, 29 next month, had a solid spring showing and at one point looked to be in legitimate contention for a bullpen spot. He pitched 12 1/3 innings with the ‘Stros and held opponents to four runs on 16 hits and five walks with eight punchouts. That came on the heels of a decent season in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball last year, where he tossed 116 1/3 innings with a 4.26 ERA for the Yakult Swallows.
Lambert has pitched in parts of four MLB seasons, all coming with the Rockies, who originally selected him 44th overall in the 2015 draft. He’s been tagged for an unsightly 6.28 ERA in 243 2/3 MLB frames, battling myriad injuries and the inherent rigors of pitching at altitude in Denver.
This spring, Lambert’s average fastball clocked in at 95 mph — way up from the 93.3 mph he averaged with the Rox from 2019-24. That velocity bump, coupled with a solid (albeit small-sample) swinging-strike rate of 11.4% suggest Lambert could probably be counted on for a better mark than the ugly 14.8% strikeout rate he posted this spring.
It’s always feasible that veterans in these situations will re-sign with the same team on a new minor league deal — perhaps with better minor league pay and/or more additional opt-out dates that grant them some flexibility. The Astros seem to like Lambert’s arm, but he’s also out of minor league options, which makes him a tough fit for a Houston club that currently has four relievers (Bryan Abreu, Enyel De Los Santos, Steven Okert, Roddery Munoz) who can’t be optioned — plus another two (Josh Hader, Nate Pearson) rehabbing on the injured list.
Yankees Trade Zack Short To Nationals
The Yankees have traded infielder Zack Short to the Nationals in exchange for cash, per announcements from both clubs. Short, who’d been a non-roster invitee to Yankees camp, will head to Triple-A Rochester with his new organization for the time being.
Short, 30, signed a minor league deal with New York back in December and hit .278/.480/.333 in 25 spring plate appearances. He’s played in parts of four major league seasons between the Tigers, Mets, Red Sox, Braves and Astros, tallying a total of 594 plate appearances. In that time, he’s slashed .172/.271/.296 with 15 homers, 10 steals, a stout 11.8% walk rate and a bloated 29% strikeout rate.
The Nationals are relatively thin on infield depth, and Short has experience at second base, shortstop and third base in the majors — more than 300 innings at each position (including 784 at shortstop). He hasn’t posted especially strong defensive grades, but he’s a versatile right-handed bat with modest pop and solid on-base skills. His low batting averages persist even in Triple-A, where he’s batted just .216 in six seasons, but he also sports a .353 on-base percentage in that time.
Looking around the Nationals’ infield, CJ Abrams is the lone established player. Former first-round pick Brady House will get another look at third base, while Nasim Nunez and Luis Garcia Jr. look like options at second base and first base. Infielder Jorbit Vivas also came over from the Nats in a more notable trade and is out of minor league options, so he’ll mix in to some extent, as will righty-swinging first baseman Andres Chaparro.
Twins Make Several Roster Decisions
The Twins announced Tuesday that they’ve granted right-hander Matt Bowman his release. He triggered an opt-out clause in his contract over the weekend. Minnesota also reassigned non-roster players Dan Altavilla, Orlando Arcia, David Bañuelos and Trent Baker to minor league camp. As Dan Hayes of The Athletic notes, that positions right-handers Cody Laweryson and Zak Kent to take the final two bullpen jobs, barring any outside additions. Matthew Leach of MLB.com did suggest earlier today that Minnesota could make another move or two regarding its patchwork bullpen.
Bowman, 34, had a nice spring, tossing 7 1/3 shutout innings. He allowed six hits and a pair of walks while punching out seven hitters. The journeyman right-hander has pitched in parts of seven major league seasons, compiling a 4.38 ERA over the course of 240 2/3 frames. He tossed 24 2/3 innings for Baltimore in 2025 but was tagged for a 6.20 earned run average.
Laweryson, 27, made his big league debut with the Twins last offseason. He held opponents to a run on four hits and no walks with seven punchouts — a nice follow-up to the 2.86 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate he logged across 44 Triple-A innings. The Twins tried to pass him through waivers in the offseason, only for the Angels to claim him.
The Halos designated Laweryson for assignment in February and released him, at which point he returned to the Twins on a minor league pact. He’s allowed one run on five hits and a walk with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 spring innings. Since he was in camp as a non-roster invitee, Laweryson will require the Twins to clear a 40-man roster spot to add him to the Opening Day roster. They’ve been shopping out-of-options catcher Alex Jackson but have no shortage of fringe players on their 40-man roster after last summer’s sell-off.
Whether there are any forthcoming moves or not, a year will make quite a difference for the Twins. They entered the 2025 season with what looked like one of the sport’s best bullpens on paper. Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Brock Stewart, Danny Coulombe, Justin Topa and Cole Sands gave the club a very strong top end. When the Twins shifted to sell mode at the deadline, that group was near wholly dismantled. Duran, Jax, Varland, Stewart and Coulombe were all traded for younger and/or more controllable players.
Heading into 2026, the Twins have what looks like one of the game’s worst bullpens by a wide margin. They added left-hander Anthony Banda after he was designated for assignment by the Dodgers and picked up righty Eric Orze in a small trade with the Rays. Left-hander Taylor Rogers, now 35, is back on a one-year deal that guarantees him $2MM. Kent was claimed off waivers after spring training was already underway.
That’s the extent of the team’s bullpen additions this winter. They’ll head into the season with Rogers, Banda, Sands, Topa, Orze, Kent, Laweryson and Kody Funderburk comprising new manager Derek Shelton’s relief corps. There’s no clear closer. Rogers is the only Twins reliever with experience in that role, but he’s been relegated to middle relief work with the Giants, Reds and Cubs in recent seasons. Rogers, Banda, Topa and Sands are the only Twins relievers with even a year of major league service.
As the season wears on, the Twins will surely hope for some young arms to step up and secure roles. Prospects like Connor Prielipp, Marco Raya, Ryan Gallagher and John Klein could eventually emerge as relief options. Starting pitchers who don’t carve out footholds in the rotation could get a look here, too; Zebby Matthews, David Festa, Kendry Rojas and Andrew Morris are among the possibilities. For now, the early iteration of the group looks about as bleak as any team in the game.
Poll: Who Will Win The NL West?
With Opening Day just around the corner, the offseason is more or less complete for MLB’s 30 clubs and teams. Until the playoffs begin, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. In the run-up to the start of the season, we will be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. The Blue Jays came out on top in the AL East, and the Tigers did the same in our poll on the AL Central. Yesterday, MLBTR readers overwhelmingly voted (66%) to predict the Mariners would win the AL West. Today, we’ll be moving on to the National League, starting with the NL West. All teams are listed in order of their 2025 regular season record:
Los Angeles Dodgers (93-69)
The Dodgers may have not even qualified for a playoff bye last year, but their dominant performance during the postseason quelled any doubt about the club being the class of the National League. Los Angeles did not rest on its laurels this offseason, adding two more superstars: outfielder Kyle Tucker and closer Edwin Diaz. That duo levels up a roster that already sports Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Mookie Betts among many other high-end players. As has become the norm, the Dodgers enter 2026 as the overwhelming favorite to win the division, although their aging and injury-prone core will surely start showing cracks at some point. Will this year be that year?
San Diego Padres (90-72)
On paper, the Padres might look to some as if they’re more likely to miss the playoffs entirely than overtake the Dodgers in the NL West. The silver living for San Diego, then, is that this was also true headed into the 2025 season. Despite that narrative, the Padres managed to spend much of the summer in a virtual tie with Los Angeles, and they were in sole possession of first place as late as August 23. This year, they’ll look to defy the odds once again with a patchwork rotation that offers little certainty outside of Nick Pivetta and a lineup that wasn’t substantially improved over the offseason. The biggest additions to San Diego relative to last year, in all likelihood, will be full seasons from star closer Mason Miller and veteran outfielder Ramon Laureano.
San Francisco Giants (81-81)
After a splashy trade for Rafael Devers last June, the Giants ended up selling at last year’s trade deadline. Their efforts to get back in the playoff hunt for 2026 this winter were more complementary than impactful. Tyler Mahle and Adrian Houser join a rotation that lost Justin Verlander. The lineup added a glove-first outfielder in Harrison Bader and a bat-first infielder in Luis Arraez. Still, the team looks solid on paper. Those additions leave the San Francisco offense without many obvious holes, and the rotation sports one of the game’s best starters in Logan Webb plus a former Cy Young winner in Robbie Ray. Perhaps the biggest question facing the Giants this year is in the bullpen. San Francisco traded Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval last July and lost Randy Rodriguez to Tommy John surgery in September. None have been replaced. That could leave the club bleeding runs in the late innings without big steps forward from players like Erik Miller and Jose Butto.
Arizona Diamondbacks (80-82)
Just about everything that could go wrong on the pitching side did so for the Diamondbacks last year. Zac Gallen had the worst season of his career. Corbin Burnes, Justin Martinez, and A.J. Puk all underwent elbow surgery. Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez had seasons to forget. Their team is weaker on paper headed into 2026 than it was in 2025, as their big offseason additions were reunions with Gallen and Merrill Kelly, plus additions at the infield corners (Carlos Santana and Nolan Arenado) won’t match the offensive output of those positions’ previous occupants (Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez). Even so, Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll are legitimate superstars. Geraldo Perdomo might be one as well. If the team’s veteran pitchers can turn things around, perhaps the Diamondbacks could ride their strong offensive nucleus back into the postseason.
Colorado Rockies (43-119)
Following a 119-loss season in 2025, Colorado made some small moves under new front office boss Paul DePodesta but nothing that would truly move the needle. Jake McCarthy, Edouard Julien, Willi Castro, Michael Lorenzen, and Jose Quintana have certainly all had their fair share of success in the past, but each profiles as a complementary player at the best of times. Perhaps those moves working out plus steps forward from key pieces like Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar could help the Rockies avoid another 100-loss season, but a division title or Wild Card berth are both pipe dreams.
Who do MLBTR readers think will win the NL West? Have your say in the poll:
Who will win the NL West in 2026?
-
Los Angeles Dodgers 66% (2,924)
-
San Diego Padres 12% (523)
-
Colorado Rockies 10% (449)
-
San Francisco Giants 9% (403)
-
Arizona Diamondbacks 3% (138)
Total votes: 4,437