JJ Wetherholt To Make Cardinals’ Opening Day Roster
Infield prospect JJ Wetherholt has made the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster. President of baseball operations Chaim Bloom passed the news along to reporters, including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. Infielders Thomas Saggese and José Fermín as well as outfielder Nathan Church will also break camp with the club, though outfielder Nelson Velázquez will be assigned to Triple-A Memphis. A corresponding move will be necessary to open a spot for Wetherholt.
The news on Wetherholt is notable but not surprising. It has seemed all winter long as though the Cards had planned for him to get a shot in the big leagues. They cleared out their roster this winter by trading guys like Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan. Those trade were partly for cost savings but also to open some playing time for younger players as the Cards are rebuilding and need to assess their young guys in a major league environment.
Wetherholt was one of the main guys who needed some room. The seventh overall pick of the 2024 draft, he climbed to the cusp of the majors last year. He split his time between Double-A and Triple-A, making 496 plate appearances in total. His 14.5% walk rate was excellent and almost as high as his 14.7% strikeout rate. He produced a combined .306/.421/.510 batting line, which translated to a 154 wRC+. He stole 23 bases on the year. His defense at shortstop was considered good enough for him to stay there as a big leaguer but he also played some second and third base.
As the 2026 season drew closer and the annual top 100 lists came out, Wetherholt was in the top 10 of most of them. But at the beginning of the season, the Cards had a fairly crowded infield. Masyn Winn is one of the best defensive shortstops on the majors and is controlled for another four seasons. They had Arenado at third. Donovan could bounce around the diamond but played second base more than any other spot.
As mentioned, the Cards clarified their roster picture over the winter and opened a spot for Wetherholt, though Wynn’s glovework is so strong that he never seemed at risk of being unseated at short. It felt likely that Nolan Gorman would take over at third, with Wetherholt the favorite for the second base gig. In camp, Wetherholt hit two home runs and also drew walks in 20.5% of his 44 plate appearances. Though he was held back by a .200 batting average on balls in play, he still produced a .212/.386/.394 line and 115 wRC+.
That performance was enough to solidify the expected plan, so the Cards will indeed open the season with Wetherholt on the roster. By giving him an Opening Day spot, they will keep the Prospect Promotion Incentive on the table. Since Wetherholt is a consensus top 100 guy, if he spends enough time on the big league roster to earn a full service year this season, he could net the Cards an extra draft pick by winning Rookie of the Year or finishing top three in MVP voting during his pre-arbitration seasons.
That will be a secondary concern. For the Cards, the focus is on putting together a core that can get them back to contention. Ideally, Wetherholt will be a big part of that in the long run, though sometimes even the best prospects don’t find immediate success. The Cards are in a position to let him get a lot of reps in order to maximize the chances of him getting acclimated to the big leagues.
As for the other moves, the Velázquez decision is perhaps the most surprising. In the offseason, the Cards had been looking to add a right-handed complement for their outfield, as Lars Nootbaar and Victor Scott II are both lefties. They didn’t sign any such player to a major league deal but brought Velázquez into camp as a non-roster invitee. As of a week ago, it seemed likely that Velázquez would be getting a spot, especially with Nootbaar slated to start the season on the injured list.
Velázquez put up a monster .357/.449/.667 line in spring training but that evidently wasn’t enough. Perhaps that’s due to roster concerns. As mentioned, the Cards need to open one 40-man spot for Wetherholt. Nootbaar is going to start the season on the 10-day IL but there hasn’t been anything to suggest he will need a move to the 60-day IL. Hunter Dobbins is still rehabbing a torn ACL from last year. It’s unclear how much longer it will take for him to be game ready.
Unless Dobbins ends up on the 60-day IL, the Cards will have to remove someone to make room for Wetherholt, whether that’s a trade or designating someone for assignment. Adding Velázquez would have meant another such move. It doesn’t appear Velázquez has any kind of opt-out in his deal, so the Cards will send him to the minors and keep him around without using a roster spot.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Thairo Estrada Granted Release After Opting Out Of Orioles Deal
Veteran utilityman Thairo Estrada has been granted his release, the team announced. He had an opt-out provision in his minor league contract with Baltimore and is once again a free agent. The O’s also reassigned catcher Maverick Handley and outfielder Jhonkensy Noel to minor league camp. Both were non-roster invitees this spring.
Estrada, 30, went just 2-for-25 with a pair of singles and nine strikeouts this spring. It wasn’t the camp performance he was hoping for after a 2025 season in which he hit only .253/.285/.370 with the Rockies. Injuries limited Estrada to just 165 plate appearances a year ago. He missed time due to a broken wrist, a sprained thumb and a strained hamstring during a snakebit season.
From 2021 to 2023, Estrada slashed .266/.320/.416 with the Giants (105 wRC+). He eventually found himself upgraded from a utility role to the team’s starting second baseman. He combined that slightly above average bat with a strong glove to become a valuable player for San Francisco for a few years.
Things began to turn the wrong direction in 2024 — a season in which a left wrist sprain limited Estrada to just 96 games. He hit a paltry .217/.247/.343 (68 wRC+) even when he was healthy enough to take the field. The Giants cut him loose, and a one-year deal with the Rockies didn’t help him right the ship.
With Estrada being cut loose, the Orioles’ options for the final spot on Craig Albernaz’s bench include Jeremiah Jackson, Bryan Ramos and Weston Wilson. Jackson and Ramos are both on the 40-man roster. Jackson is hitting .333/.353/.545 in 34 spring plate appearances but has minor league options remaining. Ramos is hitting .297/.366/.459 in 41 plate appearances and is out of minor league options. Wilson has hit .241/.405/.448 and has the most outfield experience of the group.
Non-roster invitee Luis Vázquez had been in the running for a utility role as well, but Albernaz revealed this afternoon that Vázquez suffered a broken thumb yesterday when he was hit by a pitch (link via Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner). There’s no timetable for his return, but the ill-timed injury obviously takes him out of the running for a roster spot. He’ll stick with the O’s as a depth option and rehab the injury in their system.
T.J. McFarland Announces Retirement
After over a decade in the big leagues, T.J. McFarland is hanging up his spikes. The left-hander announced his retirement on Instagram today, thanking his wife, parents, family, friends, teammates and the clubs who employed him for all their support throughout his time as a professional ballplayer.
McFarland wraps up a career of more than a decade. A relative soft tosser by today’s standards, his velocity topped out in the low 90s and he didn’t strike many guys out. But he had great control and was one of the best arms in the league when it came to inducing ground balls. His earned run average wobbled from year to year, as ground balls are less reliable than strikeouts since they need to be hit towards fielders who can regularly convert them into outs. McFarland had three seasons with an ERA under 3.00 and five above 5.00, but he was generally effective on the whole.
His professional career began when he was a fourth-round pick of Cleveland in 2007, taken out of Amos Alonzo Stagg High School in Palos Hills, Illinois. He worked his way up the minor leagues as a starter. He was left unprotected in the 2012 Rule 5 draft. The Orioles took him and plugged him into their bullpen. He stuck on the roster all season long in 2013, throwing 74 2/3 innings over 38 appearances with a 4.22 ERA. His 17.5% strikeout rate was well shy of league average but he generated grounders on 57.8% of balls in play. He stuck with the Orioles in 2014 and dropped his ERA to 2.76 with fairly similar rate stats. But that ERA ticked up to 4.91 in 2015 and then 6.93 the year after.
He was released ahead of the 2017 season and landed with the Diamondbacks. His 5.33 ERA that year wasn’t especially impressive but he was back with the Snakes in 2018 and posted a flat 2.00 ERA over 72 innings. The seesaw nature of his career then flung him in the other direction, as he had a 4.82 ERA in 2019. That may have been related to the juiced balls in that season, as McFarland’s 17.1% home run to fly ball ratio was the highest of his career.
He was put on waivers after that campaign, getting claimed by the Athletics. He posted a 4.35 ERA for the A’s in that shortened season as the club won the American League West. He got to make his postseason debut, tossing two scoreless innings, though the A’s were knocked out by the Astros in the Division Series.
He became a free agent going into 2021. He was with the Nationals on a minor league deal for a while but then got back to the majors with the Cardinals. He gave them 38 2/3 innings with a 2.56 ERA. The Cards snagged a Wild Card spot, which meant a single-game playoff at that time.
Facing the Dodgers, the Cards would eventually fall with McFarland given the tough-luck loss. He was sent into a tied game in the bottom of the ninth. He got Albert Pujols and Steven Souza Jr. to line out then walked Cody Bellinger. Alex Reyes was brought in to face the right-handed Chris Taylor, who hit a walk-off home run. Since Bellinger was technically the winning run, the L went next to McFarland’s name in the boxscore.
Despite that bitter ending, the Cards clearly liked what McFarland gave them. They brought him back for 2022 via a $2.5MM deal, the largest of McFarland’s career. Unfortunately, he was dragged by one of his patented ERA swings. He was released in August with a 6.61 ERA and then re-signed with the Cards on a minor league deal. In 2023, he was mostly stuck in the minors, making just three appearances for the Mets midsummer.
Another bounceback came in 2024. He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers but was traded to the A’s just before Opening Day and given a roster spot. He made 79 appearances for that club’s final season in Oakland with a 3.81 ERA. He re-signed with that club, a one-year deal worth $1.8MM, going into 2025. His ERA jumped up once more, getting to 6.89 that year, before he was released in July.
Overall, McFarland appeared in 460 major league games and logged 546 1/3 innings with a 4.18 ERA. His 13.7% strikeout rate was well below average but his 7.3% walk rate was quite good and his 61.7% ground ball rate was elite. Among pitchers with at least 500 innings pitched from 2013 to 2025, only Clay Holmes and Framber Valdez induced grounders at a higher rate than McFarland. He had a 26-20 record and earned one save and 68 holds. Baseball Reference pegs his career earnings a bit north of $12MM. We at MLB Trade Rumors salute McFarland on his fine career and wish him the best with whatever comes next.
Photos courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Jeff Curry, Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images
Andrew McCutchen Makes Rangers’ Roster; Kumar Rocker Named Fifth Starter
Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young announced today that veteran outfielder/designated hitter Andrew McCutchen has made his club’s Opening Day roster (link via Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News). McCutchen will earn a reported $1.25MM base salary and can double that amount via incentives. He and Ezequiel Duran will have spots on the team’s bench.
In the rotation, right-hander Kumar Rocker has won the fifth starter’s job over lefty Jacob Latz, who’ll head to the bullpen (link via Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports). Non-roster veterans Cal Quantrill and Austin Gomber have been informed they did not make the team. McCutchen is not on the 40-man roster and will thus need to have his contract selected for the move to become official.
McCutchen signed midway through camp but quickly hit his way into the Rangers’ plans. He turned 39 last October but wasn’t showing his age during Cactus League play. It’s only 24 plate appearances, of course, but McCutchen went 8-for-18 with three doubles, a homer, six walks and five strikeouts in official spring games. He’ll give the Rangers a right-handed complement to lefty swinging designated hitter Joc Pederson, and McCutchen can still mix into the outfield corners on occasion as well. If Pederson’s anemic 2025 performance carries into the 2026 season — it’s carried over into spring training already — then McCutchen could eventually find himself in a larger role.
After all, McCutchen is coming off a season where he hit .239/.333/.367 in 551 plate appearances. It’s below-average production overall, but he was slightly above average in 2023-24. And given the depths of last year’s struggles from Pederson (.181/.285/.328), even slightly below-average offense would be a sizable improvement out of the DH slot.
Rocker, 26, had a rocky go of it in his first extended look in the majors last year. The former top-10 draft pick and top prospect pitched 64 1/3 innings but was knocked around for a 5.74 ERA with a below-average 19.5% strikeout rate and a solid 8% walk rate. Rocker pitched better in 19 minor league innings but also missed considerable time with a shoulder impingement.
This spring, Rocker has looked more formidable. He’s pitched 12 2/3 innings in Cactus League play, holding opponents to six runs (4.26 ERA) on 13 hits and three walks with 14 strikeouts. His velocity on his sinker is up about a half mile per hour, and the velocity on his cutter is up more than two miles per hour. Rocker has also been using his slider more than twice as often as he did in 2025, on a rate basis. Perhaps that’s more indicative of him working on the slider during camp than it is a sign of a new approach to his pitch selection in ’26, but the new trendlines are relatively intriguing.
Latz entered camp hoping to land the final rotation spot but will settle for a bullpen role to begin the year. He’s coming off a season in which he pitched 85 2/3 innings of 3.98 ERA ball, but Latz was torched for 14 earned runs in 15 1/3 innings this spring. The Rangers could keep the left-hander stretched out in a multi-inning role, which would allow him to be first up in the event of an injury elsewhere in the rotation.
For now, Rocker will break camp in the rotation alongside his college co-ace at Vanderbilt, Jack Leiter. The “Vandy Boys” will join Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and trade acquisition MacKenzie Gore in a rotation that has the potential to be one of the best in baseball but also has plenty of injury risk with both Eovaldi and deGrom being in their late 30s and having lengthy injury histories in recent years.
Padres Nearing Deal With Jose Leclerc
The Padres are close to a deal with veteran reliever José Leclerc, as first reported by journalist Mike Rodriguez. It’ll be a minor league deal for the Munger English Sports Management client once it’s complete, Jon Heyman of the New York Post adds.
Leclerc missed the bulk of the 2025 season after suffering a severe lat strain and eventually requiring shoulder surgery. He threw a bullpen session for interested clubs a couple weeks ago and was said at the time to be targeting a return around July. The Padres will hope his recovery goes well in the next few months, thereby allowing him to bolster their pitching staff midseason.
It’s a buy-low move for the Padres, who are known to be working under some budgetary restraints. The past few offseasons have seen them mostly stick to modest contracts. Even when they have splurged a little bit, such as their deals for Nick Pivetta and Michael King, they have backloaded the money in order to lower the near-term hit.
Leclerc is just over a year removed from earning a $10MM deal from the A’s. That was somewhat surprising at the time but he did have some intriguing stuff on his track record. From 2018 to 2024, he tossed 299 2/3 innings for the Rangers, allowing 3.24 earned runs per nine. His 11.8% walk rate was quite high but his 31.8% strikeout rate was very strong.
In that time, he had worked both as a closer and a setup guy, earning 41 saves and 58 holds. He mixed in six different pitches, with his four-seamer and sinker sitting in the mid-90s as he also threw a high-80s cutter and changeup, a low-80s slider and a curveball in the high-70s.
His 2025 season was mostly lost. He only made ten appearances for the A’s before the aforementioned lat injury put him on the shelf. He will still be recovering from his surgery for another few months. It hasn’t been reported what salary he will make if selected to the Padres’ roster but it is presumably well below $10MM.
The Padres have a strong bullpen, even though they let Robert Suarez walk in free agency. Mason Miller is one of the best closers in the game and he’ll be joined by Adrián Morejón, Jeremiah Estrada and David Morgan. Perhaps Jason Adam can be healthy by Opening Day but he’ll be back in there at some point regardless.
Over a long season, pitcher injuries are inevitable and the outlook will change. As Leclerc is potentially getting back in game shape in July, the Padres will ideally be looking to bolster their roster ahead of the August 3rd trade deadline. If Leclerc looks to be in good form by then, perhaps that will subtract one item from their shopping list.
Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images
Carson Benge To Make Mets’ Roster
Outfield prospect Carson Benge is going to break camp with the Mets, reports Mike Puma of The New York Post. He will be the starting right fielder on Opening Day, per Chelsea Janes of SNY. The Mets will need to open a 40-man spot in order to officially select Benge’s contract.
The move is notable but not shocking. During the offseason, president of baseball operations David Stearns consistently said that Benge would have a chance to break camp with the club. The 19th overall pick from 2024, he mashed his way through High-A and Double-A last year.
He seemed to stall out at Triple-A, with a .178/.272/.311 line in 24 games to finish the year, but there were reasons to not worry about that too much. His 18.4% strikeout rate was good and his 8.7% walk rate around average. His .188 batting average on balls in play was tiny. It seemed more like fluky bad luck than a young hitter being overmatched.
The Mets, as mentioned, wanted to leave a path open for him to reach the big leagues. They did bring in some contingency plans. They signed Mike Tauchman to a minor league deal. MJ Melendez got a 40-man spot but still has an option. It felt like the right field job would be Benge’s to lose and he didn’t do anything to lose it. He hit .366/.435/.439 in Grapefruit League action. That line got some help from an unsustainable .469 BABIP but the Mets were trending towards giving Benge the job as long as he didn’t look overwhelmed.
Melendez was optioned to the minors last week. The Mets were perhaps trending towards rostering both Benge and Tauchman, but the latter tore the meniscus in his left knee a few days ago. That only gave Benge a firmer hold on the job.
There’s always risk in handing a job over to a prospect, as even some very talented young players struggle when first called up, but Benge has shown he deserves a shot. Even including his Triple-A swoon, he hit a combined .281/.385/.472 last year for a 150 wRC+. He stole 22 bases. His defensive abilities are considered strong enough for him to be a plus corner outfielder and maybe even a decent center fielder. He’ll begin the season in right but it’s not out of the question that he eventually spends a decent amount of time in the middle spot with center field manned by the oft-injured Luis Robert Jr..
By carrying Benge on the Opening Day roster, the Mets will open up the possibility of the Prospect Promotion Incentive. He’s a consensus top 25 prospect in the league. If he stays in the majors for enough of the campaign to earn a full year of service, he could net the Mets an extra draft pick by winning Rookie of the Year or with a top three finish in MVP voting during his pre-arbitration seasons.
If things don’t go well with Benge, then the Mets will have to turn to some backup plans. Tauchman has an opt-out in his minor league deal but presumably won’t trigger it while hurt, so he’ll be back in the mix whenever he’s healthy again. Melendez will be on optional assignment in Triple-A, alongside Jared Young and Nick Morabito. Brett Baty is going to be in a super utility role now that Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien are at third and second base respectively. Tyrone Taylor will be on the bench as a glove-first fourth outfielder. The Tauchman injury might also allow Vidal Bruján to stick on the bench in a utility role.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Mitch Alcala, Imagn Images
Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Hello! We'll get underway at 2pm CT, but feel free to ask some questions in advance
- Let's begin!
Still an A
- With Didier Fuentes superior numbers to everyone he was battling 5th spot for, why is he still staying in the bullpen with Strider now on the IL?
Steve Adams
- Fuentes only threw 70 total innings last year between the majors and minors combined. I imagine he'll be in a multi-inning role in the 'pen early on. Given the injury risk associated with basically every starter in Atlanta, I would expect he'll get ample opportunity to start some games this year, probably with a pretty regular cap of five to six innings to keep his overall workload down.Whatever shape the Atlanta rotation takes on Opening Day is going to be more temporary than that of the average club.
Ditto
- Thanks for taking my question - does McGonigle make the Tigers? If so, what does a reasonable season stat wise look like? Same for J Lawlar, feels like he’s been around forever, but what is the stats look like there?
Cat_Herder
- Tigers start on Thursday. What are the chances we find out McGonigle's next playing location before then? They can't really send him to Toledo, can they?
Steve Adams
- I'd be extremely surprised if the Tigers sent McGonigle down -- far more so than I was with the Pirates sending Griffin down. McGonigle has been so impressive this spring, and they have no other shortstop options who inspire real confidence. Early in camp, I thought it felt like a longer shot, but as the spring has progressed it's felt increasingly likely and now feels borderline inevitable.
- Steamer and ZiPS have McGonigle hitting .255ish with a .330-.340 OBP and a slugging in the .415 to .440 range. I'll take the over across the board, but I understand that projection systems inherently just aren't going to forecast monster numbers for a 21-year-old who hasn't even played in AAA.I'm taking the significant over on Jordan Lawlar's projections (.235ish, .300ish, .370ish). I think he's going to hit for plenty of power. There'll probably be plenty of strikeouts, so the .235 to .240 average seems fair, but he's walked too much in the minors and has so much raw power. He's been really disciplined this spring, small sample notwithstanding. An OBP in the .330 range and a mid-.400s slugging with real 20-20 upside feels plausible.
No clue how the OF defense is going to look haha, but I think he'll hit.
buhlake
- With Joc Pederson’s struggles at the plate and in the field (specifically at first base), what do the Rangers do with him if the struggles translate into the regular season too?
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Poll: Who Will Win The AL 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, while our readers overwhelmingly (58%) voted for the Tigers in our poll on the AL Central. Today, we’ll be moving on to the AL West. All teams are listed in order of their 2025 regular season record:
Seattle Mariners (90-72)
Powered by an MVP-caliber season from star catcher Cal Raleigh, the Mariners surged ahead of the pack in the AL West last year and fell just one game short of reaching the World Series. Eugenio Suárez and Jorge Polanco departed via free agency, but the rest of that team is more or less intact. A rotation led by Logan Gilbert and Bryan Woo figures to once again be among the very best in baseball, and they’ll be backed up by a bullpen that added lefty Jose A. Ferrer to pair with Andres Munoz and Matt Brash in high-leverage situations. The big addition to the offense is utilityman Brendan Donovan, who’ll primarily play third base and help lengthen a lineup featuring Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, Josh Naylor, Randy Arozarena and breakout slugger Dominic Canzone. The offense could improve even more if young second baseman Cole Young and/or top prospect Colt Emerson prove they can be impact players in 2026, but it’s easy to make the argument that Seattle remains the most well-rounded team in the division even without those improvements.
Houston Astros (87-75)
The Astros missed the postseason for the first time since 2016 last year, and the team was not as aggressive as one might have expected this winter. That’s not to say the Astros were inactive. They replaced Framber Valdez at the top of the rotation with Tatsuya Imai and brought in Mike Burrows from the Pirates to add further depth to a rotation that was often held together by duct tape and bubblegum last year. Houston will bring back a nearly identical offense, only swapping Mauricio Dubon for Nick Allen and Jesus Sanchez for Joey Loperfido while going to internal backup Cesar Salazar as a replacement for Victor Caratini. The Astros explored trades of infielder Isaac Paredes and tried to get another left-handed bat, but they’ve come up empty to date. The uncertain health of closer Josh Hader only adds to the question marks facing Houston as they look to return to the top of this division.
Texas Rangers (81-81)
After a second consecutive disappointing season, the Rangers moved on from second baseman Marcus Semien, outfielder Adolis Garcia, and catcher Jonah Heim. Semien was traded to the Mets for outfielder Brandon Nimmo, who will take over right field following Garcia’s non-tender. Heim, also non-tendered, will be replaced by catcher Danny Jansen. Nimmo and Jansen should be upgrades over Heim and Garcia, though the team lost some positional depth by forcing Josh Smith into the everyday role at second base. The addition of MacKenzie Gore to an already talented rotation should allow the Rangers’ starters to once again be among the best in baseball, but they’ll need better health from Corey Seager and more production from Joc Pederson and Josh Jung if they’re going to compete for the division title this year.
The Athletics (76-86)
While it’s been a busy and exciting offseason for fans of the A’s, that excitement has mostly been focused on extensions. Long-term deals for Tyler Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson are encouraging for the long-term health of the franchise but don’t move the needle in 2026. The A’s added Jeff McNeil to help the offense at second base, and a full season of Nick Kurtz in the majors won’t hurt. Strong as the offense looks, the club’s lack of pitching additions for a roster that struggled to prevent runs even before losing Mason Miller at the trade deadline creates plenty of concern. They’ll need a lot to break right, particularly in the bullpen.
Los Angeles Angels (72-90)
As is often the case with the Angels, it’s not impossible to squint and see the bones of a solid team. Mike Trout was healthier last season than he’s been in a very long time. Jo Adell slugged 40 homers in 2025. Jorge Soler remains a potential middle-of-the-order force when healthy. Josh Lowe was a high-upside addition, and it’s not impossible to imagine any of Nolan Schanuel, Reid Detmers, and Christian Moore following in the footsteps of Zach Neto to become high quality regulars. Unfortunately, fans in Anaheim know that the club has been in this situation virtually every year for the past decade. They’ve seen far too many potential-laden teams undercut by a lack of depth before finishing the season underwater and failing to reach the playoffs. Perhaps this year will be different, but Angels fans have earned their skepticism, especially following an offseason where Lowe, Kirby Yates, and Grayson Rodriguez (the latter of whom is already injured) were the club’s biggest additions.
How do MLBTR readers think the AL West will shake out this year? Will the Mariners continue to reign supreme? Will the Astros find a way to reestablish themselves as the class of the AL? Was the Rangers’ roster shakeup enough to get them back to the playoffs? Or could the A’s or Angels surprise with a big season? Have your say in the poll below:
Who will win the AL West in 2026?
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Seattle Mariners 66% (3,469)
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Houston Astros 11% (553)
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Texas Rangers 8% (444)
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The Athletics 8% (441)
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Los Angeles Angels 6% (329)
Total votes: 5,236
Phillies Shopping Garrett Stubbs
The Phillies are going to start the season with Rafael Marchán as J.T. Realmuto‘s backup catcher. That will squeeze out Garrett Stubbs. Marcus Hayes of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Phils will try to trade Stubbs to another club before Opening Day rosters need to be set on Wednesday.
Realmuto has taken the majority of the playing time behind the plate in Philadelphia for seven seasons now. He became a free agent after last year’s campaign but re-signed with the Phils on a new three-year deal.
Stubbs and Marchán have both served as his backup in recent years, often with the other getting regular playing time in the minors. Marchán exhausted his final option season in 2024 and Stubbs exhausted his final option last year. Going into 2026, push would have to come to shove if all three were healthy at the end of camp.
If seems that the Phils will keep Marchán going forward, which is understandable. He is 27 years old, whereas Stubbs will turn 33 in May. Marchán also comes with an extra year of club control, as he can be retained through 2028, while Stubbs is slated for free agency after 2027. Marchán has also fared better with the bat, with a .245/.308/.394 line and 93 wRC+ in his career, compared to a .215/.293/.310 line and 70 wRC+ for Stubbs. Marchán’s defense also grades out a bit better than Stubbs.
The Phils will see if there’s another club out there in need of catching help with interest in Stubbs. Market forces might be working against them as Stubbs isn’t the only out-of-options catcher available right now. The Twins are shopping Alex Jackson. The White Sox aren’t going to roster Korey Lee, so he should be available as well. It seems like Andrew Knizner might get cut loose by the Mariners. The Mets will probably have to put Ben Rortvedt on waivers this week.
It’s possible that Stubbs ends up on waivers and sticks with the Phils in a non-roster capacity. As a player with at least three years of big league service time, Stubbs would have the right to elect free agency after clearing outright waivers. However, since his service clock is under five years, he would have to forfeit his remaining salary commitments by heading to the open market.
Stubbs and the Phils avoided arbitration in November by agreeing to a deal that pays him $925K in the majors and $575K in the minors. That latter figure is pretty close to the major league minimum, which will be $780K this year, and well north of the $36K Triple-A minimum. Given the numbers on that deal, it seems there would be a decent chance he sticks around in the event he clears waivers. If he does end up elsewhere, the top depth options for the Phils will be Mark Kolozsvary and René Pinto, who have both been signed to minor league deals.
Photo courtesy of Jonathan Dyer, Imagn Images
Cubs To Place Seiya Suzuki On Injured List, Option Javier Assad
The Cubs are placing outfielder Seiya Suzuki on the 10-day injured list to begin the season, manager Craig Counsell confirmed to reporters Monday (link via Patrick Mooney of The Athletic). He’s been slowed by a sprained posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. The Cubs were already planning to select the contract of non-roster Michael Conforto with Suzuki ailing, but it wasn’t yet clear whether he’d require a stint on the IL or just be unavailable for the first series of the season or so.
On the pitching side of the roster, the Cubs optioned righty Javier Assad to Triple-A Iowa, where he’ll continue to work as a starter. He’d been in consideration for a bullpen role but will stay stretched out in Des Moines. Right-hander Ben Brown has nabbed the final bullpen spot behind Daniel Palencia, Phil Maton, Hunter Harvey, Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb, Caleb Thielbar and Colin Rea.
Suzuki, 31, played in a career-high 151 games last season and slashed .245/.326/.478 with a career-high 32 home runs in 651 plate appearances. It was the former NPB star’s fourth above-average season at the plate in four years since coming over from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He’s entering the final season of a five-year, $85MM contract and will once again be a free agent following the 2026 season.
With Suzuki shelved, the Cubs will turn to Conforto and perhaps a combination of non-roster invitee Dylan Carlson and/or former top prospect Kevin Alcantara. Both are still in camp and are candidates for a bench mix that has yet to be finalized by the team. Conforto and Carlson signed minor league deals hoping to rebound from career-worst performances with the Dodgers and Orioles, respectively, in 2025. Alcantara has long ranked among the top prospects in Chicago’s system, but his stock has slipped in recent years as he’s shown a huge penchant for strikeouts in Triple-A.
Assad, 27, missed more than half the 2025 season with a severe oblique strain. He pitched only 37 MLB frames and worked to a 3.65 ERA with a poor 15% strikeout rate but quality walk and ground-ball rates of 7.8% and 47.8%. Since making his MLB debut back in 2022, Assad has bounced between the rotation and the bullpen, combining for a 3.43 ERA. He’s typically posted strikeout and walk rates a bit worse than league average. Assad is being paid a guaranteed $1.8MM this season and is controllable for two more years via arbitration. This is the second of the Cubs’ three minor league option years on Assad.
Brown, 26, was hit hard in 106 1/3 innings last year, yielding a 5.92 ERA. Brown showed slightly better results as a reliever (4.99 ERA) than as a starter (6.30 ERA), but his rate stats out of the bullpen were vastly superior. Most notably, he fanned 23.8% of opponents as a starter but 30.5% as a reliever. He also allowed far fewer home runs working out of the bullpen. Brown has one minor league option remaining and is controllable for five more seasons.