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NL West Notes: Ohtani, Gomber, Birdsong

By Nick Deeds | April 5, 2025 at 10:05pm CDT

The Dodgers have been taking things slowly with superstar Shohei Ohtani as he prepares for his return to pitching. After just over a month off from regular bullpen sessions, Ohtani resumed throwing last weekend and threw another bullpen session earlier today. As noted by Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, Ohtani threw 26 pitches, and for the first time this year he included his splitter in the bullpen session. This came after what Plunkett described as a “light” bullpen session on Thursday. While that’s a noticeable ramp-up in activity, it shouldn’t be mistaken for the Dodgers accelerating Ohtani’s timeline back to the big league mound.

According to Plunkett, manager Dave Roberts indicated that the club hopes to replicate something akin to the schedule Ohtani will have when he returns to the big league mound as a starter by having him throw off the mound twice a week: once with a lighter bullpen session on Thursday followed by a full session on Saturday. Despite the superstar now getting back on the mound somewhat regularly, Plunkett notes that there’s still a long way to go before he’ll be ready to pitch in a big league game for the Dodgers. He relays that, per Roberts, the next step for Ohtani would be to incorporate his entire arsenal into his bullpen sessions rather than exclusively fastballs and an occasional splitter.

It won’t be until Ohtani is using his full arsenal that facing live hitters in simulated games, which the Dodgers plan to use in lieu of a rehab assignment to get Ohtani up to game speed while still allowing him to continue serving as their everyday DH in the lineup, is on the table. He’ll surely need several of those outings before he’s ready to get into games, and Plunkett suggests that at this point a realistic timeline for Ohtani’s pitching debut with the Dodgers would be sometime in June “at the earliest.” In the meantime, the Dodgers are utilizing a rotation of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, and Dustin May. Both Clayton Kershaw and Tony Gonsolin could also return from the injured list before Ohtani is ready to pitch, giving the Dodgers a host of potential options for the rotation.

More from around the NL West…

Rockies southpaw Austin Gomber began the season on the injured list due to soreness in his left shoulder, and while he was sent out for a rehab assignment just after Opening Day with an eye towards returning after just the first couple of weeks of the season, he was scratched from his next rehab start due to shoulder inflammation. That paved the way for Colorado to promote Chase Dollander to the big leagues, and Thomas Harding of MLB.com spoke to Gomber in more detail about the situation today. According to Harding, Gomber wasn’t able to pitch at maximum effectiveness during his rehab start even after receiving an anti-inflammatory injection in his shoulder. As a result, Gomber noted that the plan now is for him to have a slower and “more traditional” rehab process. He won’t throw for another week while the inflammation calms down, and will likely not return to the mound for another two or three weeks after that.
While the Giants initially planned to use young right-hander Hayden Birdsong as a long reliever and piggyback starter after he lost out on the fifth starter job to Landen Roupp, it appears that may no longer be in the cards. As noted by Justice delos Santos of Mercury News, manager Bob Melvin told reporters today that the club is now treating Birdsong as a “true reliever” after his limited usage to begin the season. Birdsong has appeared just once in the Giants’ first week of games, making a two-inning appearance that saw him throw just 27 pitches. With Birdsong no longer stretched out as a starter for the time being, Melvin suggested that a one-inning appearance for the righty could be on the table. Birdsong pitched exclusively as a starter in the majors last year, with a 4.75 ERA in 16 starts, and hadn’t made a relief appearance in the major or minor leagues at the Double-A level or higher at any point in his career prior to his 2025 debut.

Braves Notes: Strider, Murphy, Allen

By Nick Deeds | April 5, 2025 at 8:02pm CDT

It’s been a tough start to the season for the Braves, who only won their first game of the season last night. On top of their struggles in the standings, the lineup lost Jurickson Profar when he was hit with an 80-game suspension for a positive PED test while the rotation will be without right-hander Reynaldo Lopez for the foreseeable future as the hurler is scheduled to undergo shoulder surgery. Brutal as the start of the season has been for fans in Atlanta, however, there is light at the end of the tunnel. MLB.com notes not only that right-hander Spencer Strider is scheduled to make a rehab start at Triple-A this coming Thursday, but that it could be his final outing before he returns to the majors.

A healthy and effective return to the big league rotation would be a game changer for the Braves, particularly after Lopez’s recent injury. While reigning AL Cy Young award winner Chris Sale and young righty Spencer Schwellenbach are both excellent starters, beyond that duo the club is currently relying on converted reliever Grant Holmes and a pair of youngsters with hit-or-miss track records as big leaguers in AJ Smith-Shawver and Bryce Elder. A more established pitcher would be very welcome, and Strider is more than simply established after he finished as the runner-up in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2022 before earning an All-Star appearance and a fourth-place finish in NL Cy Young award voting the following season.

Strider’s career 3.47 ERA is merely above-average (123 ERA+), but it belies his otherworldly 36.9% strikeout rate and 2.56 FIP, both of which place him among the very best pitchers in the entire sport. It would be unreasonable to assume that Strider will be able to provide that peak production this year given the number of players who have struggled while shaking off the rust of a long layoff. Nonetheless, even a somewhat diminished Strider is likely a front-of-the-rotation caliber, and the hurler’s 46.7% strikeout rate and 1.08 ERA through two rehab outings certainly don’t reveal any obvious signs of rust.

Strider isn’t the only notable player who could be returning to the roster soon for Atlanta. Catcher Sean Murphy is scheduled to make a nine-inning rehab appearance at Triple-A tomorrow. According to Bowman, that could be his final rehab outing if all goes well, with Murphy returning to the Atlanta lineup on Tuesday against the Phillies. It would be a huge boost to the Braves if Murphy were able to return so quickly after suffering a fractured rib last month. While his 2024 season was derailed by injury and saw him struggle when healthy enough to take the field, Murphy is not far removed from being considered the game’s best catcher and would be a huge boost to a struggling Atlanta lineup if he were to hit to even his career .233/.329/.429 slash line, to say nothing of the star-level offense he posted during the 2022 and ’23 seasons.

The return of Murphy to the lineup will likely spell the end of top catching prospect Drake Baldwin’s first stint in the big leagues, as he’s gone just 2-for-22 with three walks and five strikeouts through six games in the majors. While that’s not a sample size worth drawing any conclusions from, it would hardly be a shock if the club decided Baldwin was best served getting regular at-bats at Triple-A and opted to use Chadwick Tromp as their backup catcher going forward. With that being said, the club did recently add catcher Jason Delay to their 40-man roster in a trade with the Pirates and could therefore designate Tromp for assignment and still have a third catcher in the fold even if he were to depart via waivers or free agency. That could at least leave the door cracked open for Baldwin to backup Murphy in a larger role similar to the one Travis d’Arnaud held last year.

In other Braves news, The Athletic’s David O’Brien recently suggested that there could be a shakeup at shortstop coming down the pipeline for the club. Nick Allen was initially acquired to serve as a bench bat, but he’s hit a solid .333/.375/.400 so far while playing strong defense to this early point in the regular season. That strong early showing in conjunction with a lackluster spring from Orlando Arcia and his dreadful (2-for-13 with five strikeouts) start to the season could create an opening for Allen to seize a larger role with the club, particularly if the club’s early season struggles continue for longer than the season’s first week.

Red Sox Notes: Crawford, Rotation, Campbell

By Nick Deeds | April 5, 2025 at 5:50pm CDT

The Red Sox opened the season with something of a patchwork rotation after the club lost three of its regular starters to the injured list to open the season. While Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito are both working their way back to the majors on rehab assignments, with Bello in particular scheduled to make his second of what MassLive’s Christopher Smith suggests could be three total rehab starts tomorrow, righty Kutter Crawford appears to be well behind the other two as MassLive’s Chris Cotillo writes that Crawford has not yet advanced to facing live hitters.

That both Bello and Giolito (who Smith notes is slated to start for Triple-A on Tuesday) are scheduled to make their second rehab starts this week is encouraging. The righties have both long been expected to rejoin the rotation at some point this month, and while Giolito’s exact timetable is still not yet fully clear the fact that Bello could return to the rotation after just three rehab outings means he could be back on the mound in Boston as soon as April 16 against the Rays in Tampa, assuming he maintains a schedule of regular rest and suffers no additional setbacks. Right-hander Richard Fitts and southpaw Sean Newcomb have been filling in at the back of the club’s rotation behind Garrett Crochet, Tanner Houck, and Walker Buehler, but it’s possible the club could opt for a six man rotation when the pitching staff is healthier.

That would potentially open up a path for either Fitts or Newcomb to continue starting for the Red Sox going forward while Crawford works his way back to the mound. Unfortunately, Cotillo suggests that’s still a ways away, writing that May or perhaps even June appear to be the most realistic timeline for the righty’s return to the majors. Crawford, 29, made all 33 of his starts for the Red Sox last year but pitched through knee issues last year that compromised his effectiveness in the second half and lingered into Spring Training. While Crawford told Cotillo that surgery is not currently on the table as a fix for his ailment, even the time he’s spent resting and treating the issue has served more to mitigate the pain rather than solve the problem entirely.

In other Red Sox news, Cotillo writes that club manager Alex Cora has indicated the club’s defensive plans for star prospect Kristian Campbell are changing. The versatile Campbell has split his time between second base and left field to this point in his brief big league career after playing the outfield, second base, third base, and shortstop in the minors. While no drastic changes to his usage are expected, with Campbell still remaining at the keystone on most days, Cora told reporters (including Cotillo) that the plan going forward is for Campbell to slide into center field on days where David Hamilton is in the lineup at second base.

Previously, Campbell had taken over left field with Jarren Duran shifting over to center on those days. The change comes as a result of Campbell’s comfort in center, where more than 80% of his minor league innings on the outfield grass have occurred, as well as Duran’s ability to handle the unusual left field situation in Fenway Park, which requires fielders to play balls off of the iconic Green Monster that tend to ricochet at atypical angles. Campbell has so far played just one game in left this year, but the amount of time he spends on the grass appears likely to be impacted primarily by the performance of Rafaela and Hamilton in the early days of the season and potentially the eventual call-ups of his fellow top prospects. If top infield prospect Marcelo Mayer makes it to the majors first, that would surely increase Campbell’s time spent in the outfield, while he’d likely spend even more of his time on the dirt if Mayer is beaten to the big leagues by top outfield prospect Roman Anthony.

Diamondbacks Place Ketel Marte On 10-Day IL, Promote Tim Tawa

By Mark Polishuk | April 5, 2025 at 4:54pm CDT

4:54pm: Manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (as well as team pregame and postgame radio host Steve Zinsmeister) today that Marte is expected to miss “weeks instead of days” due to his ailing hamstring. A more specific timetable for Marte’s return to action won’t be available until he meets with team doctors back in Arizona.

12:07pm: As expected, the Diamondbacks officially placed Ketel Marte on the 10-day injured list, a day after the second baseman suffered a left hamstring strain while running the bases in Friday’s 6-4 win over the Nationals. Infielder Tim Tawa was called up from Triple-A Reno in the corresponding move.

Tawa will be making his Major League debut the first time he appears in a game. Garrett Hampson figures to get most of the playing time at second base in Marte’s absence, and Tawa will essentially take Hampson’s spot as a utilityman. Over his five minor league seasons, Tawa has played primarily as a second baseman and at all three outfield positions, while also logging some time at the other three infield spots.

An 11th-round pick for the Diamondbacks in the 2021 draft, Tawa took a step closer to the big leagues when Arizona added him to its 40-man roster last November in advance of the Rule 5 Draft. Beyond his defensive versatility, Tawa has also posted some increasingly strong numbers at the plate during his minor league career, including a .317/.388/.665 slash line and 13 homers over 183 plate appearances at Triple-A Reno.

The usual caveats apply about the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League environment, yet it is easy to see why the D’Backs wanted to retain a multi-position player with these kinds of numbers. While Tawa’s time on Arizona’s roster likely isn’t going to last beyond Marte’s IL stint, the 26-year-old infielder will get a prized opportunity to show what he can go at the MLB level.

Mariners Designate Cody Bolton For Assignment

By Nick Deeds | April 5, 2025 at 3:26pm CDT

The Mariners announced this afternoon that they’ve designated right-hander Cody Bolton for assignment. Bolton’s 40-man roster spot will go to right-hander Jesse Hahn, whose contract has been selected from the minors. Left-hander Tayler Saucedo was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Hahn’s addition to the active roster.

Bolton, 27 in June, was a sixth-round pick by the Pirates back in 2017 and made his big league debut with Pittsburgh in 2023. That first stint in the majors did not go especially well, as the righty posted a lackluster 6.33 ERA (72 ERA+) with a 20.6% strikeout rate against a hefty 14% walk rate in 21 1/3 innings of work. While he pitched better at Triple-A Indianapolis, with a 3.86 ERA and a more reasonable 9.2% walk rate, that still wasn’t to convince the club to keep Bolton on their 40-man roster throughout the winter; in early November, the club traded Bolton to the Mariners in a cash deal.

Bolton’s time in Seattle went better than his time in Pittsburgh, but still left something to be desired. The right-hander pitched impressively for the Mariners at Triple-A Tacoma, with a 3.07 ERA in 29 1/3 innings of work that’s made all the more impressive by the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League. Strong as that work was, however, the righty still posted a below-average 4.34 ERA (85 ERA+) with a 20.5% strikeout rate and a 10.8% walk rate that were largely reminiscent of his time with the Pirates. While Bolton stuck with the Mariners on the 40-man roster throughout this past offseason, a rough start to the 2025 campaign at Triple-A where he’s surrendered three runs in two innings of work was evidently enough for Seattle to pull the plug. The club will now have one week to either trade Bolton or attempt to pass him through waivers. Should he clear waivers successfully, the Mariners can outright him to the minor leagues as a non-roster depth option going forward.

The departure of Bolton makes room for Hahn, whose debut with the Mariners will be his first MLB appearance since 2021. A sixth-rounder drafted by the Rays back in 2010, the 35-year-old hurler made his debut with the Padres back in 2014 and enjoyed an impressive rookie campaign where he posted a 3.07 ERA in 73 1/3 innings spread between 12 starts and a pair of relief appearances. His 10.5% walk rate was a bit elevated, but he largely made up for it with a strong 22.9% strikeout rate to post solid results in line with those expected of a #4 starter.

Hahn was included by the Padres in an offseason trade with the A’s that sent catcher Derek Norris to San Diego, and his first year in Oakland saw the righty continue to fill the role of a potential mid-rotation arm with a 3.35 ERA and 3.51 FIP in 16 starts. Unfortunately, much of Hahn’s 2015 season was wiped out by a flexor tendon injury, and when he came back to the mound in 2016 he no longer looked like the same pitcher. The righty posted a lackluster 5.59 ERA in 116 innings of work for the A’s over the next two seasons before being traded once again, this time to the Royals in a trade that brought back reliever Ryan Buchter.

Hahn did not appear in the majors for the Royals until 2019 due to a UCL injury that eventually required surgery, and when he came back late in the 2019 season it was as a reliever. The right-hander ultimately made just 29 appearances for the Royals over parts of three seasons, with a 4.62 ERA (105 ERA+) and a 4.81 FIP in 25 1/3 innings of work. Hahn hit the injured list due to shoulder issues back in 2021 and didn’t pitch again professionally at any level until 2024, when he latched on with the Dodgers on a minor league deal. He’s thrown 51 1/3 solid innings for the Dodgers and Mariners at Triple-A since then, and now appears poised to make his comeback to the majors. He was released from his minor league deal with Seattle just a couple of weeks ago ahead of Opening Day, but evidently re-signed with the club on a fresh minor league deal since then.

Making room for Hahn on the active roster is Saucedo, who served as a solid middle relief option for Seattle in each of the past two seasons with a 3.54 ERA and 3.79 FIP in 86 1/3 innings of work across 105 outings. Things have not gone well for the southpaw so far this year, however, with four runs allowed and more walks than strikeouts in his first three appearances. He’ll head to Tacoma to serve as optionable depth for the Mariners for the time being as he awaits his next big league opportunity.

Richard Lovelady Elects Free Agency

By Darragh McDonald | April 5, 2025 at 2:25pm CDT

TODAY: Lovelady has opted to reject the outright assignment and become a free agent, according to his MLB.com profile page.

APRIL 4: The Blue Jays have sent left-hander Richard Lovelady outright to Triple-A Buffalo, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment a few days ago.

Lovelady, 29, has the right to elect free agency but it’s unclear if he will do so. Players with at least three years of major league service time, such as Lovelady, have that right. However, a player needs at least five years of service in order to both elect free agency and retain whatever money is still owed to him on his contract. Lovelady is just barely over the three-year line, meaning he’d have to walk away from his current contract if he heads to the open market.

It’s unclear what sort of financial decision he’s weighing. He signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the winter and was added to the 40-man prior to Opening Day. His major league salary on that deal hasn’t been publicly reported.

If he reports to Buffalo, he’ll give the Jays some non-roster depth. His brief time on their major league roster didn’t go well, as he allowed four earned runs in 1 2/3 innings. But his career track record is better than that. Overall, he has 101 innings in the majors with a 21.2% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate. Both of those numbers are close to league averages but his 50.2% ground ball rate is a few ticks better than par.

This has all resulted in a 5.26 earned run average but perhaps with some bad luck in there. His .301 batting average on balls in play and 65% strand rate are both on the unfortunate side of normal. That’s perhaps why his 4.32 FIP and 4.04 SIERA look far nicer than his ERA.

The Jays currently have Brendon Little and Mason Fluharty as the lefties in their bullpen. Josh Walker is on the 40-man but on optional assignment. As the season rolls along, injuries will pop up or the bullpen will get taxed during busy parts of the schedule. If Lovelady accepts his assignment and he performs well in Buffalo, the Jays could call him back up at some point. If he decides to head to free agency, he will likely be limited to minor league offers from other clubs.

NL Central Notes: Gorman, Reynolds, Cubs

By Mark Polishuk | April 5, 2025 at 1:15pm CDT

The Cardinals placed Nolan Gorman on the 10-day injured list yesterday (retroactive to April 2), and called up infielder Thomas Saggese from Triple-A in the corresponding roster move. Gorman is suffering from a right hamstring strain that he suffered while running the bases in last Tuesday’s game, though Gorman told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other reporters that the strain is “super-mild.” While the injury prevents Gorman from fielding at the moment, he is still able to hit and catch, so he’ll be able to continue with baseball activities while on the IL.

Gorman has delivered four hits (including a homer and a double) in his first nine plate appearances of the season, as he enters what might be a pivot point in his young career. The former top prospect has shown flashes of his potential over his first three MLB seasons, but his production trailed off badly in 2024, to the point that the Cards optioned Gorman to Triple-A last August. The crowded nature of the Cards lineup also means that Gorman isn’t getting everyday playing time, and he’ll have to keep hitting in order to carve out more of a regular role. Missing time to an injury won’t help these endeavors, but it seems like Gorman might just miss the minimum 10 days.

Diamondbacks Notes: Marte, Pfaadt, Ballpark

By Mark Polishuk | April 5, 2025 at 9:56am CDT

Ketel Marte’s new contract extension came as a bit of a surprise, given that the star second baseman’s previous contract already gave the Diamondbacks control through at least the 2027 season, and likely through 2028 given a club option. However, Marte’s latest contract now keeps him in the desert through 2031 and puts an additional $64MM in his bank account, while also restructuring and spreading out the salary to give the D’Backs a bit of shorter-term payroll relief.

Most notably, $5MM of Marte’s $14MM salary for this season is deferred. GM Mike Hazen implied that money could be quickly reinvested back into the team in terms of trade deadline acquisitions.

“This gives us more room, in terms of this year, to see what happens as we go through the season,” Hazen told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert and other reporters. “We certainly made a big investment at the beginning of the year, and this will give us that added flexibility as we move through.”

There’s no doubt Arizona is in all-in mode for the 2025 season, with an estimated $194.7MM payroll that far surpasses the previous franchise high. Considering how many notable players (i.e. Zac Gallen, Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor, Merrill Kelly, Jordan Montgomery) on high salaries are impending free agents, the D’Backs will be getting some money off the books next winter, but for now are firmly focused on winning while the entire group is together. The Diamondbacks are off to a decent 5-3 start, though the club has been overshadowed by the red-hot performances of the other NL West contenders, and Marte now looks to be heading to the injured list due to a hamstring strain.

While Marte’s deal was his third long-term pact with the D’Backs, Brandon Pfaadt’s recent extension represented his first multi-year contract, as the right-hander is set to earn $45MM in guaranteed money over the 2026-30 seasons. Now firmly locked in as a big part of the Diamondbacks’ future, Pfaadt almost didn’t end up in the organization at all, due to what Hazen now views as something of a “lucky” turn of events.

As Hazen and assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, Pfaadt was one of three players the Snakes were considering with their fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft. That was the year the draft was shortened to only five rounds due to the pandemic, creating a crunch for both players in starting their pro careers, and for teams in making the most of a drastically reduced draft system. As always, clubs were still looking to maximize their draft pool budgets, and the D’Backs asked the three players on their radar whether or not they would sign for less than the $360.8K slot value attached to the 149th overall pick.

Two of the players balked, but Pfaadt agreed to take a $100K bonus and thus became part of Arizona’s organization. “I think there were 11 picks left after me. It was getting towards the end. We took the opportunity over any money amount,” Pfaadt said.

The decision has now paid off for Pfaadt in tremendous fashion, and now the D’Backs look wise in hindsight for finding a quality starter in the fifth round. Naturally, Hazen and Sawdaye didn’t name the other two players considered, though Sawdaye said that one didn’t make the majors and the other did, “but Pfaadt is better.” Sawdaye also said that if the other two players had also agreed to a below-slot price, the team might have gone with one of the others over Pfaadt, just because they had less scouting evaluation and background work on Pfaadt.

“Sometimes it works out in your favor and you get the right guys,” Sawdaye said. “Other times you look back and you kick yourself. You’re like, ’My god, we passed up on him just to save money?’ ”

In some off-the-field news for the Diamondbacks, a bill intended to re-direct sales taxes at Chase Field towards ballpark renovations continues to work its way through the state legislature. Arizona’s House of Representatives has already okayed the bill and it is now under review from the state Senate, with the finance committee also giving it a green light after an amendment. However, the mayor of Phoenix and Maricopa County officials in general have increased concerns over how much taxpayer money is involved in the bill.

The project still has a major supporter in Arizona governor Katie Hobbs, who said Wednesday in an interview with KTAR 92.3’s “Outspoken With Bruce and Gaydos” show (hat tip to Alex Weiner for the partial recap) that she would sign the bill “at this point.” Governor Hobbs acknowledged the tax implications and said “one thing that we want to make sure happens in the bill is that it doesn’t harm the taxpayers. That’s one of the things being worked out in the details.”

“I think everyone wants to do what we can to keep the Diamondbacks here in Arizona, keep Major League Baseball in Arizona and I think we’re very close to an agreement.”

Ketel Marte Likely Headed To IL With Left Hamstring Strain

By Anthony Franco | April 4, 2025 at 11:39pm CDT

The Diamondbacks announced that Ketel Marte sustained a left hamstring strain in this evening’s win over the Nationals. The star second baseman pulled up lame as he ran out a first-inning double. He left the game immediately and was replaced by pinch-runner Garrett Hampson.

Manager Torey Lovullo suggested postgame that Marte was likely headed to the 10-day injured list (h/t to Megan Plain of Fox 10 Phoenix). The team will presumably have a better idea of how long he’ll be out as he goes through testing over the next couple days. Any absence is a significant blow on the heels of Marte’s first top-three MVP finish.

The two-time All-Star drilled 36 home runs with a .292/.372/.560 slash en route to a Silver Slugger award last season. Marte had been out to a strong start this year. Today’s double pushed him to 9-26 on the young season. He has drawn six walks while only striking out four times. The injury comes two days after Marte signed an extension that added four years and $64MM while deferring a decent chunk of salary to give the team more payroll flexibility in the short term.

Hampson is the only backup infielder on the active roster. He’s a light-hitting utility player who posted a .230/.275/.300 line over 113 games for the Royals last season. Blaze Alexander has been down since February because of an oblique strain. Grae Kessinger and Tim Tawa are on the 40-man roster if the D-Backs want to promote a backup infielder while drawing Hampson into the lineup at second base.

The higher-upside play would be to promote top prospect Jordan Lawlar, who hasn’t appeared in the majors since a late-season call in 2023. Lawlar missed most of last season to injury. There wasn’t a path to everyday playing time behind Marte, Geraldo Perdomo and Eugenio Suárez, so the D-Backs optioned him back to Triple-A Reno to begin the season. He’s hitting .273 without a home run through his first six games. Primarily a shortstop, Lawlar made his third start of the season at second base in Reno’s game tonight. He has also made one start at third base and three at shortstop.

Reds Approached Matt McLain About Extension Before Opening Day

By Anthony Franco | April 4, 2025 at 9:37pm CDT

The Reds floated a preliminary extension framework to Matt McLain before Opening Day, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer. Talks didn’t get far, as the 25-year-old infielder told Wittenmyer that the numbers “just didn’t line up” with what his camp was seeking.

McLain missed all of last season recovering from shoulder surgery. The former first-round pick tore the labrum and damaged cartilage in his left (non-throwing) shoulder during Spring Training 2024. He was targeting an August return but suffered a stress reaction in his ribcage a week before he would have begun a minor league rehab stint. Cincinnati decided it wasn’t worth pushing him to get back in September, as it had become clear they weren’t going to make the playoffs.

It was an unfortunate follow-up after McLain’s strong rookie season. The righty-hitting infielder finished fifth in NL Rookie of the Year balloting back in 2023. He hit .290/.357/.507 with 16 homers and 14 steals across 403 plate appearances. He’s a potential All-Star second baseman if healthy. Last year’s injury could have made it difficult to align on an extension, though. It adds some risk to the long-term profile, but McLain presumably would not want to feel like he’s negotiating at a low point in his value. He told Wittenmyer there are no conversations ongoing while pointing out that he didn’t play last season.

There’s plenty of time for the teams to reengage down the line. McLain has yet to reach two years of service time. He should qualify for early arbitration as a Super Two player next offseason. He’ll go through the arbitration process four times and is not slated to hit free agency until the 2029-30 offseason. McLain is on track to get to free agency in advance of his age-30 season. He has connected on three homers in the early going this season, though he has also punched out in 11 of his 30 trips to the plate.

The Reds did get one extension done this spring, retaining backup catcher Jose Trevino on a two-year deal with $11MM in new money. General manager Brad Meador tells Wittenmyer the team has had “very preliminary and early” extension conversations with a number of players. It doesn’t seem anything has gotten close. Extensions are most common during Spring Training, but a lot of those discussions have carried beyond Opening Day around the league. Brandon Pfaadt, Garrett Crochet, Jackson Merrill, Kristian Campbell and Ketel Marte have all signed extensions within the past eight days.

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