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Jason Heyward Announces Retirement
After spending parts of 16 seasons in the majors, outfielder Jason Heyward is calling it a career. The five-time Gold Glove winner and 2016 World Series champion announced the end of his playing career this morning in an appearance on MLB Network (video link).
“After 16 major league seasons, I’m going to announce my retirement,” Heyward said. “I’m glad and happy to be stepping to the other side of the game. I look forward to being a potential mentor to any of the young players coming up — anybody that’s in the game right now. I feel like the game is in good hands. I look forward to being a fan and seeing what other ways I can give back. … Thank you to everybody that’s been there to support [me]. The fans, teammates, coaches, staff, ownership groups — thank you for allowing me to live out my dream.”
A Georgia native selected by Atlanta with the No. 14 overall draft pick back in 2007, Heyward debuted for his hometown Braves as a 20-year-old back in 2010. He entered that season ranked by Baseball America as the Game’s No. 1 overall prospect and wasted little time announcing his presence in the big leagues; with two men aboard in the first at-bat of his career, Heyward deposited a 2-0 fastball from Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano into the Braves’ bullpen and circled the bases with the first of his 186 major league home runs (video link).
Heyward hit .277/.393/.456 as a rookie and spent the next four seasons starring in his home state as a key force in the middle of the lineup. With Atlanta rebuilding in 2015 and Heyward only a year from free agency, the Braves flipped him to the Cardinals in a deal bringing young right-hander Shelby Miller to Atlanta.
That swap worked out nicely for both clubs. Heyward posted one of his best seasons with St. Louis in 2015, slashing .293/.359/.439 with elite defense. He rejected a qualifying offer following the season, and the Cardinals netted a compensatory draft pick. The Braves, meanwhile, got an All-Star season out of Miller before trading him to the D-backs for Dansby Swanson and Ender Inciarte.
Heyward went on to sign an eight-year, $184MM contract with the Cubs — a record deal for the team that still stands as the largest contract in franchise history. Though he’s credited for rallying the team during his now-infamous rain delay speech during Game 7 of the World Series, that eight-year commitment certainly didn’t pan out as the Cubs envisioned. He hit .230/.306/.325 in year one of the contract, and while his 2018-20 numbers were solid (.261/.347/.419), Heyward was released as the contract’s seventh year drew to a close. He won a pair of Gold Gloves in Chicago but batted only .245/.323/.377 in 2836 plate appearances as a Cub.
A 2023 pairing with the Dodgers brought about a resurgent season. Heyward, still playing out the eighth year of that Cubs contract (but in a different uniform) slashed .269/.340/.473 and popped 15 homers in 377 plate appearances with the Dodgers. He re-signed in L.A. but struggled, finishing the season with the Astros and eventually signing a one-year deal with the Padres ahead of the 2025 season. San Diego released him after 95 unproductive plate appearances.
Though Heyward never developed into the offensive force most expected, he finished his career with a lifetime .255/.306/.408 batting line — about four percent better than league-average production, by measure of wRC+. He swatted 186 home runs, swiped 126 bases and tallied 306 doubles, 41 triples, 879 runs scored and 730 runs batted in.
It’s often easy to understate just how excellent Heyward was with the glove. He won five Gold Gloves in his career and very arguably should have won more. He has the sixth-most Defensive Runs Saved (159) of any player at any position since the stat was introduced.
Thanks to his superlative defensive acumen, solid overall offense (looking at his career as a whole) and positive contributions on the basepaths, Heyward retires with 34.8 wins above replacement, per FanGraphs, and 41.2 WAR by Baseball-Reference’s version of the stat. Not including his draft bonus, Heyward took home more than $211MM in salary. Focusing solely on his level of performance relative to the expectations associated with his free agent contract undersells the quality of Heyward’s play throughout his 16-year career. Few players ever achieve this level of accolade and production. Congratulations to Heyward on a very fine tenure in the big leagues, and best wishes in whatever the game has in store for him in the future.
8 Young Players Auditioning At New Positions
The 2026 season has gotten underway for all but six teams. The A's, Blue Jays, Braves, Royals, Rockies and Marlins will kick off their seasons today. The return of meaningful games has revealed or confirmed some usage plans.
There are a few veteran players who are known to be changing their primary positions this season -- in some cases sliding back to spots they've previously played. Brendan Donovan is moving over to third base to begin his Mariners tenure. The Marlins will play Christopher Morel at first base, while the Giants are giving Luis Arraez another chance to play second base. The Blue Jays are moving Andrés Giménez to shortstop after letting Bo Bichette walk. Mike Trout was back in center field for the Angels last night.
Positional movement is even more common for young players breaking in at the MLB level. Some well-regarded prospects are blocked at their natural positions and need to debut elsewhere. Others are moving down the defensive spectrum after struggling at their previous spots.
We'll run through some first- or second-year players taking on new defensive assignments to begin the year. They'll be worth monitoring to see how they take to unfamiliar spots on the diamond. For those who play fantasy baseball, this may also be an opportunity to get an early jump on players whose positional eligibility should expand within the first couple weeks of the season.
Jordan Lawlar, Diamondbacks, LF/CF
Lawlar was a full-time outfielder this spring, playing 14 games in center field and three in left. He made his regular season outfield debut as a left fielder last night. The D-Backs kept incumbent Alek Thomas in center, though they'll probably get Lawlar work up the middle as well. The 23-year-old made a nice play at the wall in his debut, taking a double away from Freddie Freeman in the process.
Throwing accuracy issues pushed Lawlar off third base at the end of the 2025 season. Arizona acquired Nolan Arenado to play alongside Geraldo Perdomo in what should be an excellent left side of the infield defensively. They need more offensive production out of the two outfield spots to the left of Corbin Carroll. Lawlar, a former No. 6 overall pick and .328/.414/.576 hitter in his Triple-A career, is going to get plenty of run out there.
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Yankees, Luis Garcia Agree To Minor League Deal
The Yankees and former Astros righty Luis Garcia are in agreement on a minor league contract, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. It’s presumably a two-year minor league pact, as Garcia underwent his second career Tommy John surgery back in October.
That latest surgery marked another setback in what’s become a grueling stretch of injuries. From 2021-22, Garcia looked to be breaking out as a cornerstone in Houston’s rotation. The 6’1″, 240-pound righty started 28 games and turned in a mid-3.00s ERA in each of those two seasons, combining for 312 2/3 frames with a 3.60 earned run average, a 25.4% strikeout rate and a 7.5% walk rate. Garcia was never a flamethrower, averaging 93.6 mph on his four-seamer even in that two-year peak, but he had good command and generated big whiff rates on his cutter, slider and changeup alike, helping him to an overall 13.2% swinging-strike rate that sat a couple percentage points north of average.
It was more of the same to begin the 2023 season. Garcia notched a flat 4.00 ERA through his first five starts. He punched out 26.4% of his opponents against an 8.7% walk rate. He leaned more heavily on that cutter, his best pitch, through those first 27 innings and posted a career-best 14.5% swinging-strike rate.
Garcia’s sixth start of the 2023 season, however, lasted only one batter. He left with a trainer after eight pitches, citing elbow discomfort. The right-hander was quickly diagnosed with a UCL tear and underwent Tommy John surgery in early May. Astros fans braced for an absence of 12 to 14 months — standard practice for UCL reconstructions of this nature. Garcia’s rehab has since proven anything but standard.
The Astros deemed Garcia “ahead of schedule” in April 2024. He was throwing off a mound about 11 months out from surgery, and things appeared to be tracking well. Garcia set out on a minor league rehab stint in June 2024, but the Astros scaled him back after he struggled to recover between starts. Manager Joe Espada noted in July that Garcia’s elbow was a bit sore, and the team was proceeding with caution. A shutdown of his throwing program lingered into August, and on the 19th of that month the team announced he would not return in 2024, instead shifting his focus to the 2025 season.
The following January, the Astros announced that Garcia would not be ready for Opening Day. He’d continued throwing but was building up very cautiously following the 2024 setbacks. Two months later, Garcia was shut down with renewed elbow discomfort. He opened the season on the 15-day IL. After receiving a second opinion on his elbow, he was diagnosed with inflammation and shut down for another month.
Garcia began another rehab assignment in August 2025, more than two years removed from his surgery. He finally returned from the injured list in September and quickly looked like his old self. His first MLB action in 28 months produced six innings wherein he allowed three runs on just three hits and no walks with six punchouts. His next start lasted only 1 2/3 innings, and Garcia headed straight back to the IL due to elbow discomfort. Less than a month after making that return, he underwent Tommy John surgery again.
By the time he’s healthy enough to even be an option in 2027, Garcia will have made just two MLB appearances in a span of nearly four years. There’s no doubting that he’s a major league-caliber arm, but that lengthy injury layoff makes him a pure wild card for the Yankees moving forward. He’s a nice piece to stash for future depth and an intriguing name for Yankees fans to keep in the back of their mind — even if he won’t factor into the plans this season.
The Opener: Opening Day Part 3, Hoerner, Team Debuts
With the 2026 season now underway, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. Opening Day Part 3:
Most teams have already had their first game of the season, but a handful of clubs are only just now getting the Opening Day experience. The season begins today for fans of the A’s, Blue Jays, Rockies, Marlins, Royals, and Braves. The game between Kansas City and Atlanta is particularly exciting, given the impressive pitching matchup between a pair of excellent left-handers: Kansas City’s Cole Ragans and Atlanta’s Chris Sale. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15pm local time in Atlanta. Both Ragans and Sale missed time last year to injury, but the former has a 3.52 ERA in his last 45 starts while Sale has been even more impressive with a 2.46 ERA in 50 appearances.
2. Hoerner extension details incoming:
The Cubs and second baseman Nico Hoerner got together on a six-year extension last night. It’s the second six-year extension they’ve signed this week after star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong agreed to a $115MM deal. The financial details of Hoerner’s contract aren’t yet known but should come to light in short order. Hoerner would’ve been among the top free agents in this year’s class had he tested the open market after this season. It does bring about questions about the future of Matt Shaw on the Cubs’ roster, as Hoerner and new third baseman Alex Bregman are now both locked into the Chicago infield for the foreseeable future, leaving Shaw without a position.
3. Starters suiting up for new teams:
A pair of starters will be making their debuts with their new teams Friday. Tigers fans will get their first look at southpaw Framber Valdez, who’ll take on right-hander Michael King and the Padres. King is coming off an injury-marred 2025 season but is one of the most effective arms in the sport when healthy, while Valdez posted a 3.66 ERA with a 3.37 FIP in 192 innings of work last year.
Fans of Valdez’s former club in Houston will be getting their first look at right-hander Mike Burrows, who came to the ‘Stros from the Pirates in the three-team trade that sent Jacob Melton to Tampa Bay and Brandon Lowe to Pittsburgh. Burrows, 26, made 23 appearances (19 starts) for the Pirates last year and posted a 3.94 ERA, 24.1% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate in 96 innings. He’s gearing up for his first full big league season and will get started with tonight’s game against Yusei Kikuchi and the Angels.
A’s Gunnar Hoglund Diagnosed With Lumbar Spine Strain
The Athletics officially announced their Opening Day roster on Thursday morning. They enter the season as one of the healthiest teams in the league. Their only player beginning the year on the injured list is right-hander Gunnar Hoglund, whom the A’s announced is dealing with a lumbar spine strain.
Hoglund was a lock to open the season on the shelf, as he didn’t pitch at all this spring. He was hampered by a right knee injury early in camp. Martín Gallegos of MLB.com reported a couple weeks ago that a back injury had also arisen, though there wasn’t a specific diagnosis until today. The spine injury is apparently the bigger concern than the knee.
The A’s haven’t announced a return timeline. Hoglund’s IL placement is backdated to March 22, so he could theoretically return after 12 games. Given his lack of Spring Training work, he’ll certainly need more time than that. The A’s 40-man roster is at capacity, and Hoglund would be their only candidate for a 60-day IL move if they want to make any waiver claims or select the contract of anyone from within the farm system.
Hoglund is a former first-round pick of the Blue Jays whom the A’s acquired in the 2022 Matt Chapman trade. Injuries have kept him from establishing himself by his age-26 season. Hoglund was already midway through rehab from Tommy John surgery when he was traded. He battled a few setbacks and only threw 69 combined innings over his first two and a half minor league seasons. Hoglund’s stuff was down when he finally logged a full season in 2024.
Things seemed to be trending up early last year. Hoglund had an early-season velocity rebound and pitched well over six Triple-A starts. The A’s called him up and gave him six turns through the rotation last May. Hoglund struggled in his first crack at big league hitters, allowing a 6.40 ERA across 32 1/3 innings. He went down with a left hip injury. That was initially termed an impingement but later revealed to be a more serious labrum injury that required season-ending surgery.
Mike Tauchman Expected To Miss Six Weeks After Meniscus Surgery
Mets non-roster outfielder Mike Tauchman is expected to be out for six weeks after undergoing meniscus surgery on his left knee, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The team announced the operation last week but had not provided a timetable for his return.
The injury probably cost Tauchman a spot on the Opening Day roster. The 35-year-old was in camp on a minor league deal but had a solid path to breaking with the MLB club. The Mets were likely to call up top prospect Carson Benge as the everyday right fielder either way, but there was a depth spot for the taking. Tauchman’s left-handed bat would have fit well on a bench that leans to the right side. Jared Young made the team in that role instead.
Tauchman has been an above-average hitter in three consecutive years. He’s coming off a .263/.356/.400 showing across 385 plate appearances for the White Sox. Tauchman is a platoon player whose game is built around a patient approach that keeps his on-base percentage high. His spring numbers were similar, as he walked four times and was hit twice more in 35 trips to the plate.
It seems Tauchman will be back on the field sometime in the middle of May. He’ll presumably spend some time in Triple-A before the Mets reconsider whether to call him up. Young and MJ Melendez are the two left-handed hitting depth outfielders on New York’s 40-man roster.
Orioles Outright Jackson Kowar, Bryan Ramos
The Orioles announced this evening that reliever Jackson Kowar and infielder Bryan Ramos were outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk. Both players cleared waivers and will remain in the organization without holding a spot on the 40-man roster.
Kowar and Ramos were designated for assignment yesterday when Baltimore set their Opening Day roster. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so the O’s evidently began that before officially announcing the DFA. Both players are out of minor league options. They needed to hold an MLB spot or be dropped from the 40-man.
The Orioles added Ramos and Kowar late in the offseason. They acquired the former from the White Sox for cash, briefly lost him on waivers to the Cardinals, then claimed him back. The latter came over from the Twins in a cash trade at the beginning of Spring Training.
Ramos had a solid camp, batting .316 with a home run in 15 games. The righty-hitting corner infielder hasn’t hit much over 36 regular season contests, nor is he coming off a good year in the minors. Ramos batted .216/.309/.396 across 431 plate appearances with the White Sox’s top affiliate last year. The O’s opted for a more versatile defender, Jeremiah Jackson, as their final bench player to open the season.
Kowar, 29, has draft pedigree as a former supplemental first-round pick. He throws hard but hasn’t found much success at the big league level. The University of Florida product has allowed more than eight earned runs per nine with worse than average strikeout (20.3%) and walk (13.1%) rates over 91 MLB innings. Kowar had four walks and strikeouts apiece over six innings this spring. Yaramil Hiraldo and rookie Anthony Nunez secured Opening Day middle relief jobs, pushing Kowar off the roster.
Blue Jays Notes: Yesavage, Berrios, Bieber
Blue Jays personnel met with the media ahead of tomorrow’s season opener and provided updates on their injured starting pitchers. General manager Ross Atkins said that both Shane Bieber and José Berríos will be throwing from a mound this week, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, while Trey Yesavage had an encouraging showing in a minor league game recently. “Very encouraging in terms of stuff, velocity, recovery today, location,” manager John Schneider said of Yesavage, per Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet. Zwelling adds that Yesavage’s next outing could get to 45 pitches over three innings.
For the short term, the Jays appear light on rotation depth. They are beginning the season with a solid quintet of Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Max Scherzer, Cody Ponce and Eric Lauer but things could get dicey if anyone in that group gets hurt.
Their optionable depth starters are Ricky Tiedemann, Adam Macko and Lazaro Estrada. Tiedemann has been batting injuries for years, including during this year’s spring training. Macko has no big league experience yet. He was recently with the Canadian team in the World Baseball Classic and isn’t stretched out at the moment since that club used him as a reliever. Estrada has just two big league appearances and posted a 5.73 ERA at Triple-A last year. Bowden Francis will miss 2026 due to Tommy John surgery.
Thankfully for the Jays, it seems like their three injured guys aren’t too far off. Yesavage had a shoulder impingement a few weeks ago but is healthy now. He is just a bit behind schedule. The fact that he could soon get up to three innings and 45 pitches suggests that he could be in line for a fairly minimal stay on the IL.
The situations with the other two are a bit more murky. Bieber was back on the mound in 2025 after his 2024 Tommy John surgery. He experienced some forearm fatigue in the playoffs last year and in the offseason, so the Jays decided to slow-play his build-up in 2026. Now that he’s getting on a mound, he’s effectively at the beginning stages of a typical spring training ramp-up. Perhaps he’ll be in game shape in a month or so, though the team hasn’t put a specific timeline on him.
Berríos finished 2025 on the injured list due to elbow inflammation. He appeared to be healthy in spring training, tossing 10 2/3 innings over three appearances. But an issue then came up in an unusual way. He was planning to join the Puerto Rican team in the WBC and underwent a physical for insurance purposes. Though Berríos wasn’t experiencing any discomfort, that physical found some inflammation. Further testing revealed a stress fracture in his elbow about a week ago. Despite that ominous-sounding diagnosis, the club’s hope was that Berríos could start building back up after a bit of rest. That still seems to be the plan, based on this update.
The overall picture will be a situation to monitor in the coming weeks. As mentioned, the rotation feels a bit thin for now. If Yesavage, Bieber and Berríos can all get healthy in a month or two, it would theoretically lead to some tough decisions. Presumably, Lauer would get bumped to the bullpen, as that was the plan until it was clear Yesavage would start the season on the IL. Beyond that, it’s unclear how the Jays would handle it if they had more than six healthy starters, though that would be a good problem to have considering where things stand right now.
Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images
Rockies Select Valente Bellozo
The Rockies announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Valente Bellozo and optioned him to Triple-A Albuquerque. To open a 40-man spot for him, they placed right-hander RJ Petit on the 60-day injured list. Petit underwent Tommy John surgery recently and will miss the entire 2026 season.
Bellozo, 26, signed a minor league deal with Colorado in the offseason. When a team adds a player to the 40-man roster and immediately options him, it’s usually a sign that the deal had some sort of opt-out or upward mobility clause. Going this route prevents the player from getting away but also doesn’t require the team to bump anyone else off the active roster.
The righty didn’t have an especially strong camp, allowing 11 earned runs in 15 2/3 innings, but the Rockies presumably like his larger track record. He spent the past two years working in a swing role for the Marlins, tossing 150 innings over 45 games, including 19 starts. He allowed 4.20 earned runs per nine. His 15.2% strikeout rate was subpar but he limited walks to a 6.8% clip. The Rockies also might like his arsenal, as he has thrown six different pitches in his career, something the organization is seemingly trying to prioritize this year.
Miami outrighted him off the roster at the end of last season and he elected free agency, which led to his deal with the Rockies. Colorado’s pitching was historically bad last year. They have tried to make it more respectable for 2026 by signing Michael Lorenzen, Jose Quintana and Tomoyuki Sugano. Those three are joining Kyle Freeland and Ryan Feltner in the rotation to start the season. Chase Dollander is beginning the campaign in long relief.
The optionable rotation depth includes Carson Palmquist, Gabriel Hughes and Tanner Gordon. Now Bellozo will jump into that mix. Teams generally need 10 to 15 starters to get through an entire season these days, so Bellozo and those other guys should have opportunities throughout the year.
As for Petit, the Rockies selected him with the first pick in last year’s Rule 5 draft. Due to his surgery, he’ll spend the entire year on the IL. The IL goes away five days after the World Series. If he sticks on the roster through the offseason, the Rule 5 restrictions would carry over until he has spent 90 days on the active roster.
Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images