Cubs Place Justin Steele On 60-Day IL, Designate Jack Neely For Assignment
The Cubs announced that left-hander Justin Steele has been placed on the 60-day injured list and right-hander Jack Neely has been designated for assignment. Those moves open two 40-man spots for outfielder Michael Conforto and infielder/outfielder Scott Kingery. It had been reported in recent days that Conforto would make the team, with Kingery likely being added as well.
Steele is working back from last April’s UCL surgery. He has advanced to facing hitters in live batting practice sessions, according to the MLB.com injury tracker. The Cubs apparently don’t feel he’ll be ready for major league action within the first two months of the season, though. Steele could go on a minor league rehab assignment towards the end of April with an eye to making his season debut in late May.
Neely, a 25-year-old reliever, made six appearances late in the 2024 season. He gave up six runs in as many innings. A former 11th-round pick of the Yankees, he was traded to the Cubs just before his MLB debut as part of the return for Mark Leiter Jr. Neely spent all of last season in the minors, struggling to a 6.23 ERA across 30 1/3 innings.
The righty has a sinker-slider combination that misses bats but which he struggles to command. Neely struck out 28% of opponents while issuing walks at an untenable 19% rate in Triple-A last season. He’s likely to wind up on waivers this week. Neely has one minor league option year remaining and wouldn’t need to be on the MLB roster if another team takes a flier on the stuff.
Conforto and Kingery secure the final two position player jobs, beating out fellow non-roster invitee Chas McCormick in that role. Matt Shaw and backup catcher Miguel Amaya fill out Craig Counsell’s four-man bench.
Orioles Designate Jackson Kowar For Assignment
The Orioles finalized their Opening Day roster, announcing that right-hander Jackson Kowar and infielder Bryan Ramos were designated for assignment. (Ramos’ DFA was originally reported last night.) Baltimore also placed Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg on the 10-day IL. Holliday is recovering from a hamate fracture, and Westburg is attempting to rehab a UCL tear. Righties Andrew Kittredge (shoulder inflammation) and lefty Keegan Akin (groin strain) open the season on the 15-day IL.
Outfielder Dylan Beavers will avoid an IL stint after dealing with a knee issue late in camp. He’s on the Opening Day roster. Utilityman Jeremiah Jackson also grabbed an Opening Day spot. Righties Yaramil Hiraldo and Anthony Nunez won bullpen spots, as did southpaw Grant Wolfram. Righty Albert Suarez, who had an opt-out in his minor league deal, was assigned to Triple-A Norfolk, so it seems he’ll forgo that opt-out and agree to open the season with the Orioles’ Triple-A club.
A hard-throwing former first-rounder with experience in parts of three MLB seasons, the 29-year-old Kowar allowed one run in six spring frames for the O’s. He walked four and struck out four. The former Florida Gator has an ERA north of 8.00 in 91 MLB frames, though he posted a 4.24 mark in 17 innings with Seattle last year. He’s still looking for his first real opportunity post-Tommy John surgery and has been regularly bounced around the waiver/DFA circuit dating back to last season.
Jackson had been in a battle for the final bench spot with several others, but he’s increasingly seemed like the favorite. Baltimore granted veteran Thairo Estrada his release a couple days ago, shortly after infielder Luis Vázquez suffered a broken thumb. Jackson and Ramos looked like the final two candidates for that spot, so when it was reported last night that Ramos was being DFA, Jackson’s spot looked all but secure barring a last-minute acquisition.
The 25-year-old (26 tomorrow) isn’t going to sustain the .365 BABIP that led to last year’s .276/.328/.447 debut effort, but he’s a versatile right-handed bat who can back up at multiple infield and outfield spots. With Holliday and Westburg beginning the season on the injured list, the Orioles are entrusting third base and second base to Coby Mayo and Blaze Alexander, respectively. Neither has much big league experience — not that Jackson does either — so sensible to have another capable option at each spot.
Suarez reportedly drew interest from other clubs but will seemingly stick around as a depth option. It’s a nice luxury for the O’s to have. The 36-year-old righty has given Baltimore a 3.59 ERA in 145 1/3 frames across the past two seasons but was non-tendered in the November after a flexor strain ended his 2025 season. He returned on a minor league pact and will presumably open the year in Norfolk.
Guardians Designate Johnathan Rodríguez For Assignment
The Guardians have designated outfielder Johnathan Rodríguez for assignment, per Zack Meisel of The Athletic. That opens a 40-man spot for first baseman Rhys Hoskins. It was reported a few days ago that the Guards would be selecting Hoskins to the Opening Day roster.
Rodríguez, now 26, was a third-round draft pick out of Puerto Rico back in 2017. He went unselected in the 2022 Rule 5 draft but then had a strong 2023 season, hitting 29 home runs in the minors. Cleveland didn’t want to risk exposing him in the Rule 5 again, so they added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2023.
Since that time, he has continued putting up huge numbers in the minors but hasn’t translated it to the majors. In 117 big league plate appearances, he has a dismal .176/.282/.304 line. His 12.8% walk rate is strong but he also struck out at a 30.8% clip.
At the Triple-A level over the past two years, he has stepped to the plate 881 times with 45 homers, a 12.1% walk rate, 24.3% strikeout rate, .305/.393/.529 line and 143 wRC+. His scouting report from Baseball America suggests this is a Pedro Cerrano situation. Rodríguez struggles against spin so big league pitchers just don’t throw him fastballs, which accounts for the big split in his major and minor league numbers.
He now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Guards could take five days to explore trade interest. Rodríguez does still have one option remaining, so he could appeal to clubs looking for some outfield depth. If he is eventually put on waivers and clears, he would stick with Cleveland as non-roster depth. He doesn’t have three years of service time nor does he have a previous career outright. That means he wouldn’t have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of electing free agency.
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Braves Designate Brett Wisely For Assignment
The Braves designated infielder/outfielder Brett Wisely for assignment Wednesday upon setting their 40-man roster, as first indicated on the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’s out of minor league options and didn’t make Atlanta’s Opening Day roster.
Atlanta also placed catcher Sean Murphy and shortstop Ha-Seong Kim on the 10-day injured list, as expected. Pitchers AJ Smith-Shawver, Danny Young, Hurston Waldrep, Spencer Strider and Daysbel Hernández are all opening the year on the 15-day IL. Smith-Shawver and Young both had UCL surgery last year, while Waldrep had surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow earlier this spring. All are potential 60-day IL candidates next time the Braves need to open a 40-man roster spot.
Wisely, 26, has appeared in each of the past three MLB seasons, including a four-game cameo with Atlanta last year, wherein he tallied nine plate appearances. He’s a left-handed hitter with a lifetime .214/.265/.319 batting line in 466 major league plate appearances and has played all four infield spots as well as left field and center field. He has roughly average contact skills and a history of drawing walks in the minors. Wisely is a versatile infield defender who can handle all of shortstop, second base and third base at an least an average level.
Wisely bounced around the waiver circuit this winter and could get scooped up by a team looking for a left-handed bat who can play multiple infield additions and perhaps serve as a fifth outfield option. He’s a career .275/.372/.433 hitter in Triple-A. Since he’s out of minor league options, he’ll have to be added directly to the major league roster of any club that claims him or acquires him in a trade. Atlanta can trade Wisely or place him on waivers at any point in the next five days, and waivers themselves are a 48-hour process. The outcome of his DFA should be known within the next week.
Mets Designate Vidal Bruján, Bryan Hudson, Ben Rortvedt For Assignment
The Mets announced that infielder/outfielder Vidal Bruján, left-hander Bryan Hudson and catcher Ben Rortvedt have been designated for assignment. All three are out of options and had to be bumped off the 40-man roster if not on the active roster. Left-hander Richard Lovelady and infielder/outfielder Jared Young will get Opening Day roster spots, per Mike Puma of The New York Post. Rortvedt always seemed likely to be squeezed out as the third catcher behind Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens.
Bruján, 28, was once a prospect of note with the Rays but he has struggled to produce in the majors. That has led to him exhausting his options, therefore pushing him to fringe roster status. He played for the Cubs, Baltimore and Atlanta last year. Over the winter, he rode the transaction carousel some more, going to the Twins via a waiver claim and then the Mets via a small trade. He came into camp and hit .273/.400/.273 in 40 spring plate appearances.
It seemed there was a chance for him to stick on the roster to start the year. The Mets optioned Ronny Mauricio not too long ago, seemingly content to roll into the season with Bo Bichette as the de facto backup to shortstop Francisco Lindor. That would allow the club to keep Mike Tauchman on the bench and prevent him from triggering his opt-out. But then Tauchman suffered a meniscus tear, taking him out of the running for a roster spot.
The Mets have decided to give that spot to Young, which has bumped Bruján into DFA limbo. Back in November, Bruján and Atlanta avoided arbitration by agreeing to a deal that pays him $850K in the majors and $500K in the minors. If the Mets put him on waivers in the coming days and he goes unclaimed, he would have the right to elect free agency since he has at least three years of service time. But since he has less than five years, he would have to walk away from that money in exercising that right, meaning he would most likely decide to stay in the minors with the Mets.
It’s a similar situation for Rortvedt. He and the Dodgers avoided arbitration back in November by agreeing to a contract worth $1.25MM. He then went to the Reds, back to the Dodgers, and then to the Mets via waivers this winter.
For the Mets, they already had Alvarez and Torrens on hand but Rortvedt gave them a fallback plan if one of those two suffered a spring injury. They stayed healthy so Rortvedt stayed in the #3 spot on the depth chart. Since he’s out of options, he has been pushed into DFA limbo today. Like Bruján, Rortvedt would have the right to elect free agency if he clears waivers but probably wouldn’t since he would have to leave his money on the table.
Hudson, 29 in May, gave the Brewers 62 1/3 innings with a 1.73 earned run average in 2024. He struck out 26.8% of batters and limited walks to a 7.4% clip. He got some help from a .148 batting average on balls in play and 94.2% strand rate but his 3.60 FIP and 3.22 were still good marks. But in 2025, he struggled and got sent to the minors, later going to the White Sox via waivers. He finished the season with a 4.80 ERA in 15 innings.
The Sox designated him for assignment in February and flipped him to the Mets for cash. He didn’t have a good spring, allowing six earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. He exhausted his final option season last year and therefore had a tenuous grip on his roster spot. The Mets are going with Lovelady instead, bumping Hudson off the roster.
Unlike Bruján and Rortvedt, Hudson hasn’t qualified for arbitration. He wouldn’t have the right to elect free agency if he clears waivers in the coming days. If some other club does acquire him, he can be retained for five full seasons.
Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images
Diamondbacks Designate Grant Holman For Assignment
The Diamondbacks announced they’ve designated reliever Grant Holman for assignment. They also placed righty Cristian Mena (shoulder strain) and left-hander Blake Walston (rehabbing Tommy John surgery) on the 60-day injured list. They needed to clear three 40-man roster spots for Joe Ross, Jonathan Loáisiga and Ildemaro Vargas — all of whom have officially been selected onto the MLB roster.
They placed four more players on the injured list, as expected. Adrian Del Castillo (left calf strain), Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (recovering from ACL tear), and Tyler Locklear (rehabbing elbow/shoulder surgeries) all hit the 10-day IL. Merrill Kelly lands on the 15-day injured list with intercostal nerve irritation. Those placements are retroactive to March 22.
Arizona claimed Holman off waivers from the Athletics early in Spring Training. The 25-year-old righty has pitched parts of two seasons with the A’s, allowing a 4.66 ERA across 38 2/3 innings. He has fanned a below-average 18.8% of opponents against a lofty 10.2% walk rate. Holman made just one appearance this spring before being optioned, working around a walk to toss a scoreless inning.
The Diamondbacks will likely try to run him through waivers this week. Holman has just over one year of MLB service and still has a couple minor league options remaining. He works in the 94-95 mph range with his fastball while using a splitter and slider as his offspeed pitches.
Astros Finalize Opening Day Roster
The Astros finalized their Opening Day roster, most announcing that shortstop Jeremy Pena will avoid a season-opening trip to the injured list. Catcher César Salazar was designated for assignment, clearing a 40-man roster spot for Christian Vázquez, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Sugar Land. Houston also selected right-hander Christian Roa‘s contract and opened a 40-man spot by placing lefty Brandon Walter on the 60-day IL while he recovers from UCL surgery. Houston also optioned outfielder Zach Cole to Triple-A, while prospect Brice Matthews makes the cut.
Outfielder Zach Dezenzo will open the season on the 10-day IL due to a right elbow sprain. Righty Ronel Blanco (recovering from Tommy John surgery), left-hander Josh Hader (biceps tendinitis), righty Enyel De Los Santos (right knee strain), lefty Bennett Sousa (oblique strain), right-hander Nate Pearson (recovering from elbow surgery) and right-hander Hayden Wesneski (recovering from Tommy John surgery) are all opening the year on the 15-day IL. Blanco and Wesneski will be 60-day IL candidates whenever Houston next needs a 40-man roster spot.
Pena’s status was up in the air after he suffered a fracture on the tip of his finger while fielding a grounder during an exhibition contest earlier this spring. He resumed hitting earlier this week, however, and has been deemed healthy enough to break camp with the club.
Vázquez’s selection to the big league roster was already known, as was the fact that Salazar wouldn’t make the team. Today’s DFA doesn’t necessarily mean that the ‘Stros won’t be able to find a trade partner. He can still be swapped out to another club within the next five days if another team is willing to put him on its 40-man roster.
Salazar, 30, has 67 MLB plate appearances to his name and has batted .232/.318/.268. He spent the bulk of the 2025 season in Triple-A, where he hit .213/.353/.353. He’s regarded as a solid defender but not the same extent as the veteran Vázquez, so Houston — as they’ve done in the past with Martin Maldonado — will opt for a plus defender as their backup catcher even if it means rostering one of the lightest-hitting players in the game.
Roa, 26, made his MLB debut with Miami last season and tossed three shutout innings. He’s a former Reds and Marlins farmhand who had a dominant spring with Houston after signing a minor league deal in December. He tossed 9 2/3 innings of one-run ball during Grapefruit League play and punched out 36% of his opponents without issuing a walk. Between that and last year’s 2.83 ERA in 60 1/3 Triple-A frames, he could be a nice under-the-radar pickup for the Astros.
Cole looked to be in strong position to make the club entering camp, but Houston reacquired Joey Loperfido to give them another lefty option in the outfield. Cole slashed .200/.340/.400 in 50 spring plate appearances, and the alarming contact issues that plagued him last year weren’t any better in March. After going down on strikes in 35% of his minor league plate appearances and 38.5% of his big league plate appearances in 2025, Cole punched out in 20 of his 50 turns at the plate this spring (40%).
Cole has obvious power and speed but will need to make more contact if he’s to carve out a a lasting role. Add in a handful of lefty opponents for Houston early in the season, and the right-handed-hitting Matthews will get the nod to begin the year. Matthews is a former first-round pick who slashed .250/.400/.417 this spring. He struggled in a brief MLB debut last year but hit .260/.371/.458 in Triple-A. While Matthews was drafted as a shortstop, the Astros’ glut of infielders has pushed him into outfield duty.
Phillies Select Christian Cairo, Designate Garrett Stubbs For Assignment
The Phillies announced they’ve selected outfielder Justin Crawford and infielder Christian Cairo onto the 40-man roster. Crawford will break camp as the everyday center fielder. Cairo will not be on the Opening Day roster, as Philly optioned him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. They opened a spot on the 40-man by designating catcher Garrett Stubbs for assignment.
Additionally, Philadelphia placed three pitchers on the 15-day injured list. Zack Wheeler (rehabbing thoracic outlet surgery), Orion Kerkering (right hamstring strain) and Max Lazar (left oblique strain) are beginning the season on the shelf. Those placements are retroactive to March 22.
Cairo signed an offseason minor league contract. Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports that the deal included an upward mobility clause. That required them to add him to the 40-man roster or let him go if another team were willing to give him a roster spot. He still has a full slate of minor league options, so they don’t need to carry him on the MLB club to keep him.
The 24-year-old Cairo has yet to play in the majors. He’s a slick-fielding middle infielder with a light bat. Cairo hit just .237/.338/.331 with two homers over 416 Triple-A plate appearances in the Cleveland farm system last year. He batted .194 with 15 strikeouts over 41 trips to the dish this spring. He’ll open the season in the minors with Edmundo Sosa and Dylan Moore holding utility roles on the MLB bench.
Philadelphia telegraphed the Stubbs move when they began shopping him on the trade market this week. They’re going with Rafael Marchán as the backup catcher behind J.T. Realmuto. Stubbs is out of options and is pushed out of the mix. The Phillies have five days to trade him or place him on waivers. He’s on a split contract that makes it likely he’d accept a Triple-A assignment if no other team carries him on the big league roster.
Wheeler and Kerkering both pitched in minor league games toward the end of the spring. Lazar suffered a mild oblique strain while pitching for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic. All three pitchers should be back fairly early in the season.
Giants Select Caleb Kilian
The Giants announced their Opening Day roster moves today. Outfielder Jared Oliva and right-hander Caleb Kilian were selected to the 40-man. In corresponding moves, left-hander Reiver Sanmartin was placed on the 60-day injured list and outfielder Luis Matos has been designated for assignment. It had been reported yesterday that the Giants were likely to select Oliva and designate Matos. The Giants also announced that catcher Eric Haase has been released from his minor league deal and that Rule 5 catcher Daniel Susac has made the team.
Kilian, 29 in June, was signed to a minor league deal in the offseason. He had an impressive camp, tossing 9 1/3 innings while only allowing one earned run. He racked up 11 strikeouts while only issuing two walks.
That strong performance will allow him to make the roster of his original organization. Kilian was drafted by the Giants in 2019 but was flipped to the Cubs as part of the Kris Bryant trade in 2021. He only got to make eight appearances for the Cubs from 2022 to 2024. He was injured for most of 2025 and only made 11 minor league appearances.
Now that he appears to be healthy and pitching well, he’ll make it back to the big leagues. He is out of options and will have to be kept on the active roster or else removed from the 40-man entirely. He has less than a year of service time, so he can be retained for the long term if this season goes especially well.
The San Francisco bullpen has opportunities available because they traded Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval last year and then lost Randy Rodríguez to Tommy John surgery. Their moves to replace those losses were mostly injury reclamation projects, such as Kilian himself.
Sanmartin’s transfer is not a surprise. A waiver claimee from November, it was reported a few weeks ago that he had suffered a significant hip flexor strain that was going to keep him out of action for at least three months.
Behind the plate, the Giants have Patrick Bailey but the backup job was up for grabs. In December’s Rule 5 draft, the Giants got Susac via a trade. The Twins technically selected him from the Athletics fourth overall in that draft but then immediately flipped him to the Giants for minor league catcher Miguel Caraballo.
The fact that the Giants actually gave up a player in order to jump the Rule 5 queue suggested they felt good about Susac’s chances of being an impact guy for them. He helped his own cause by putting up a .350/.386/.550 line in spring training. That was helped by an unsustainable .400 batting average on balls in play but it was enough to get him the job regardless.
As a Rule 5 guy, he can’t be optioned to the minors and will have to stay on the active roster all year long for the Giants to fully acquire his rights. If they want to cut him at any point this year, he could be traded or put on waivers. Any claiming team would take on the same Rule 5 restrictions. If he were to clear waivers, he would have to be offered back to the A’s.
Susac getting the job squeezes out Haase, who had signed a minor league deal in January. He had a huge spring, slashing .286/.375/.536, but also struck out in 14 of his 32 plate appearances. That’s fairly reflective of his big league career, as he has 48 home runs in 1,224 plate appearances but has been punched out at a 30.7% clip. He’ll head out to the open market to see what opportunities are available this week as all clubs shuffle their rosters.
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Rangers Designate Dairon Blanco For Assignment
The Rangers announced that outfielder Dairon Blanco has been designated for assignment. That opens up a 40-man roster spot for Andrew McCutchen, whose contract has been selected. It had been previously reported that McCutchen would make the team.
Blanco, 33 in April, was just claimed off waivers from the Royals a few weeks ago. He made appearances for Kansas City in each of the past four seasons, essentially as a speedy depth outfielder. In 285 plate appearances, he produced a .257/.312/.416 batting line. His 99 wRC+ indicates he was just a hair below league average. He got solid grades for his glovework and stole 59 bases in 73 attempts.
The Rangers were intrigued enough to put in a claim but Blanco was ultimately squeezed off the roster. DFA limbo can last as long as a week but the waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Rangers could take as long as five days to explore trade interest. He still has options, so perhaps he could appeal to a club looking for a bit more outfield depth and speed.
Blanco has a previous career outright. That means that, if he passes through waivers in the coming days, he would have the right to reject another outright assignment in favor of electing free agency.
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