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Astros Notes: Melton, Rotation, McCullers

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The Astros placed top prospect and rookie outfielder Jacob Melton on the 10-day injured list due to a right ankle sprain over the weekend, but he’ll apparently be out a fair bit longer than the 10-day minimum. General manager Dana Brown has said since Melton’s IL placement that he expects the 24-year-old to require around four weeks to recover from the sprain (link via Chandler Rome of The Athletic). That could keep Melton out through the All-Star break.

Houston’s second-round pick in 2022, Melton has appeared in 11 big league games so far and batted .241/.290/.310 with a strikeout rate just under 39%. It’s not a good start to what the Astros hope will be a lengthy big league career, but it’s hardly uncommon to see even well-regarded prospects struggle like this in their first exposure to major league pitching. Melton missed some time with a back injury early in the season but played in 17 Triple-A games prior to his promotion, hitting .254/.371/.508 with a huge 15.5% walk rate against a 21.1% strikeout rate (11 walks, 15 punchouts in 71 plate appearances).

With Melton now joining Zach Dezenzo and Yordan Alvarez on the injured list, Houston’s outfield depth is again being tested. The ’Stros have Jose Altuve in left, Jake Meyers in center and Cam Smith in right. Altuve has hit well but struggled with the defensive transition from second base to left field, logging ugly grades from metrics like Outs Above Average (-3) and Defensive Runs Saved (-8). Smith has held his own, producing league-average offense overall (despite a recent slump) and taking nicely to his own move from the infield to the outfield (4 OAA, 9 DRS). Meyers, always a quality defender, is once again playing well in center field while also enjoying a career year at the plate.

So long as that trio holds up, the Astros should be able to weather the injury storm, but the depth options at this point are thin. Cooper Hummel is back in the big leagues in a reserve capacity. Pedro León, Chas McCormick and Taylor Trammell are all on the injured list at the moment. Trammell is currently on a rehab stint in Triple-A and could soon be an option, but León was pulled from his own rehab stint earlier this month due to a knee issue. McCormick landed on the IL at the end of May due to an oblique strain and has not yet been cleared to play in rehab games.

Shay Whitcomb and Kenedy Corona are the only two position players in the minors who are on Houston’s 40-man roster. Both can play in the outfield, but Whitcomb has spent more time in the infield this season and Corona isn’t hitting well at all in Triple-A.

The outfield isn’t the only area of Houston’s roster being put to the test, of course. The Astros’ rotation still has its two stars atop the staff, Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez, but the rest of the group isn’t nearly as accomplished. Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski have already undergone Tommy John surgery. Spencer Arrighetti is working back from a broken thumb on his pitching hand. Cristian Javier (2024 Tommy John surgery), Luis Garcia (2023 Tommy John surgery, plus multiple setbacks) and J.P. France (2024 shoulder surgery) are all still months from being factors.

Lance McCullers Jr.’s return has been a boon. Outside of one awful start, he’s been a steadying presence to held patch things over, but now he’s sidelined by a foot sprain. The Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara writes that manager Joe Espada has expressed hope that McCullers can return after the 15-day minimum, but Kawahara characterized that as nothing more than “initial optimism.” The Astros are notoriously opaque when it comes to health updates on their injured players, so it’s hard to get a clear sense for when McCullers might come back.

In the meantime, rookie Ryan Gusto stepped up with a nice effort yesterday, and (per Kawahara) recently recalled righty Jason Alexander will start today’s game. Alexander is a journeyman waiver claim, but he’s pitched well in Triple-A since the Astros claimed him from the Athletics. If he handles himself well against his former A’s teammates, he could stick around a bit longer, particularly given the lack of healthy depth options. Righty AJ Blubaugh is on the 40-man roster but is sitting on a 7.66 ERA in Triple-A. No other starters are on the Astros’ 40-man in the upper minors; they have several relief arms on the 40-man and could add prospect Miguel Ullola, although his sharp 3.33 ERA in Triple-A belies a more problematic 15.2% walk rate.

The Astros, unsurprisingly, plan to target starting pitching ahead of next month’s trade deadline. For now, they’ll proceed with Valdez, Brown, Gusto, Colton Gordon and Brandon Walter. The latter three are all rookies. Neither Gusto nor Gordon had pitched in the majors prior to 2025. Walter, who’ll turn 29 in September, is a former Red Sox prospect who signed a minor league deal this past offseason and has looked excellent through his first three starts.

Astros Place Lance McCullers Jr. On IL With Foot Sprain

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The Astros have placed right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. on the 15-day injured list due to a right foot sprain, retroactive to June 13th. Fellow righty Jason Alexander has been recalled to take his place on the active roster. McCullers was scheduled to start today’s game but Ryan Gusto will get the ball instead. Chandler Rome of The Athletic was among those to relay the info.

To this point, the Astros haven’t provided any information about how the injury occured or how long they expect McCullers to be out of action. In his most recent start, he tossed 96 pitches over five innings. Up until this announcement of his IL placement, he was listed as the starter for tonight’s game in West Sacramento.

More information will presumably be forthcoming but it’s a notable development regardless. For McCullers personally, he’s looking to get back on track after a lengthy absence. He missed all of 2023 and 2024, and most of 2022, due to elbow issues. He was reinstated from the IL about six weeks ago for his first major league action in over two years. He has since made seven starts with a 4.91 earned run average, though most of the damage came in his second start when he allowed seven earned runs to the Reds while only recording one out.

Now he’s set for another injury absence. On the bright side, it has nothing to do with his elbow, though it’s a setback nonetheless. Perhaps it will turn out to be a fine reset. Since he has thrown so little over the past few years, he wasn’t going to suddenly throw 200 innings in 2025. Ideally, this will be just a minor issue that will let him catch his breath before he picks things back up.

But it will be a situation to monitor given his history and the club’s larger pitching situation. McCullers is now the seventh starter on Houston’s injured list, with the others mostly facing lengthy absences. Both Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski required Tommy John surgery in the past month. Luis Garcia has been struggling to get healthy since his own Tommy John surgery in 2023. Cristian Javier had his TJS in June of last year and could perhaps be an option later in the year. J.P. France is recovering from last year’s shoulder surgery with an uncertain timeline. Spencer Arrighetti has a fractured thumb and also has a murky path forward.

Despite all of those injuries, the Astros have been performing well, with a 41-30 record that puts them 4.5 games up in the American League West. Without McCullers, the challenge of keeping the rotation in viable shape will grow.

The Astros have Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown as two strong performers at the front of the rotation, though it now appears that three very inexperienced arms will be backing up that duo. Colton Gordon, Brandon Walter and Gusto have thrown a combined 120 2/3 innings in the majors between the three of them.

Gusto was originally planned to start tomorrow’s game but will now bump up to today. The Astros have TBA listed as tomorrow’s starter, with Valdez still listed for Wednesday. Perhaps that means there will be some kind of bullpen game tomorrow with Alexander factoring in heavily. He has been starting at the Triple-A level and could cover multiple innings.

It’s already been reported that the Astros will be looking for starting pitching help prior to next month’s trade deadline. The McCullers injury, whether it proves to be serious or not, should only add to that desire.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea, Imagn Images

Astros Claim Jason Alexander From Athletics

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The Athletics announced that right-hander Jason Alexander has been claimed off waivers by the Astros.  Alexander was designated for assignment by the West Sacramento club earlier this week.

Signed to a minor league deal back in November, Alexander had that contract selected to the A’s roster in April, and he struggled to an 18.00 ERA over four appearances and six innings with the team.  The grim results included 2 1/3 innings of nine-run ball in the Athletics’ 19-2 loss to the Dodgers on Thursday, and Alexander was sent to DFA limbo the next day.

This brief run with the A’s marked Alexander’s first MLB action since his 2022 rookie season, when he had a 5.40 ERA across 71 2/3 innings (starting 11 of 18 games) with the Brewers.  A shoulder injury kept him shelved for a good chunk of the 2023 season, and he spent the 2024 campaign in Boston’s minor league system.

Despite the lack of production at the big league level, Alexander has some decent numbers in the minors, including a 1.27 ERA in 21 2/3 innings with Triple-A Las Vegas this year.  The grounder specialist has a 63.6% groundball rate to show for his minor league work in 2025, and Alexander has routinely topped the 50% mark in grounder rates over his minors career.  At the cost of a 40-man roster spot, there’s little risk for the Astros in seeing what the 32-year-old can do as a depth arm.

Athletics Option Osvaldo Bido, Designate Jason Alexander For Assignment

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The A’s made a few moves on the pitching staff before tonight’s series opener in San Francisco. They selected relievers Anthony Maldonado and Matt Krook into the big league bullpen. They’ll take the roster spots of righties Osvaldo Bido and Jason Alexander. Bido was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas, while Alexander was designated for assignment. They only needed to open one 40-man roster spot, as they still had a vacancy after returning Rule 5 pick Noah Murdock to Kansas City last week.

The pitching staff took a beating yesterday. The Dodgers put up 19 runs. Bido and Alexander took most of the damage. Bido started the game but was unable to escape the second inning, allowing six runs. Alexander was the first man out of the bullpen. He had an even tougher time, allowing nine runs on seven hits (including a trio of homers) and four walks across 2 1/3 frames. Mitch Spence took the next three innings before backup catcher Jhonny Pereda got a mop-up frame.

Bido has operated as Mark Kotsay’s fifth starter all season. He’d pitched well in a swing role last year, turning in a 3.41 ERA through 63 1/3 innings. This year has been a struggle. Bido has allowed 5.82 earned runs per nine over 43 1/3 frames. His strikeout rate has plummeted from a solid 24.3% mark to this year’s 14.6% clip. He has surrendered 10 home runs, more than two per nine innings. Bido has yet to complete six innings and has allowed four or more runs in all but one of his last five starts.

That kind of production clearly isn’t cutting it. The A’s don’t have an off day until Memorial Day. They’ll need to find another starter to operate behind Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, Gunnar Hoglund and JP Sears. That might be J.T. Ginn, who has been out for three weeks with elbow inflammation. He tossed 64 pitches in a rehab start in Las Vegas on Wednesday and might make his next start in the big leagues.

Alexander loses his 40-man roster spot entirely. The A’s had signed him to an offseason minor league deal and selected his contract two weeks into the season. He has given up 13 runs (12 earned) in six innings over four MLB appearances. Alexander has been far better over five Triple-A starts: a 1.27 ERA with a 23.6% strikeout rate and massive 63.6% grounder percentage across 21 1/3 frames.

Maldonado and Krook were offseason acquisitions who’ll be in line for their team debuts. The 27-year-old Maldonado debuted with 19 innings of 5.68 ERA ball for the Marlins last year. The A’s claimed the righty off waivers early in the offseason and ran him through waivers a few months later. He has been excellent for Las Vegas, reeling off 12 1/3 frames of one-run ball with 17 strikeouts. Maldonado leans most heavily on a mid-80s breaking ball and has a low-90s sinker.

Krook, 30, is a left-hander who has five career big league innings. He signed a minor league deal over the winter. Krook has allowed six runs (five earned) over 14 innings with the Aviators. He has racked up 21 strikeouts but has walked eight batters and hit another. He has gotten an impressive combination of whiffs and ground-balls throughout his minor league career, but that has been undercut by well below-average command.

Athletics Select Jason Alexander

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The Athletics announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Jason Alexander. In corresponding moves, righty Joey Estes was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas while left-hander Brady Basso was placed on the 60-day injured list.

Alexander, 32, is known for inspiring many George Costanza GIFs to be shared on social media but is also a baseball player. His major league track record is fairly limited. In 2022, he tossed 71 2/3 innings with the Brewers over 11 starts and seven relief appearances. He allowed 5.40 earned runs per nine, struck out 14.3% of batters faced, issued walks to 8.7% of opponents and got grounders on 50.2% of balls in play.

He hasn’t been in the big leagues since then. A shoulder injury hampered him throughout the first half of 2023. He started a rehab assignment in June but then the Brewers outrighted him off their roster in July. He had a 6.14 ERA in the minors that year and then elected free agency ahead of 2024. He signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox and logged 138 1/3 innings for their Triple-A club with a 4.42 ERA.

He also signed a minor league deal with the A’s ahead of this season. He tossed 9 2/3 innings over five spring appearances, allowing six earned runs. He then reported to Vegas and made one start, tossing 3 1/3 innings with one earned run allowed.

The A’s were in Denver over the weekend, which is always challenging for a pitching staff. Friday’s game went 11 innings with the A’s using five relievers. On Saturday, they used only three, but they all had pitched in Friday’s contest as well. Yesterday, Estes lasted only three innings, which led to Mitch Spence tossing 4 1/3 innings in relief. Overall, the relief group is fairly taxed and Spence is probably going to be unavailable for a few days, so Alexander is up to give them another arm capable of eating multiple innings.

Estes, meanwhile, will look for a reset in Vegas. He posted a 5.01 ERA last year and earned a rotation job out of camp this year. However, his first two starts have led to 12 earned runs allowed in seven innings, so he’s currently sitting on a bloated 15.43 ERA. His optional assignment opens a rotation hole but they may not need to fill it right away. The A’s have an off-day on Thursday and then another on Monday. They then play six in a row before another off-day on the 21st.

After that, they will play 16 straight games, but they can perhaps skate by with a four-man staff for now. It’s also possible that Spence could be given the gig, since he was kept in the majors while Estes was sent down.

As for Basso, he was shut down in early March due to a shoulder strain and started the season on the 15-day IL. His status is unclear but it seems the A’s don’t expect him back before late May, based on this transfer.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

A’s Sign Jason Alexander To Minor League Contract

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The Athletics have signed right-hander Jason Alexander to a minors deal, according to Alexander’s MLB.com profile page.  The contract presumably includes an invitation to the Athletics’ big league Spring Training camp.  Alexander returned to minor league free agency at season’s end after spending the 2024 campaign pitching with Boston’s Triple-A affiliate.

Alexander went undrafted in 2017 but signed with the Angels as a free agent, and the A’s now represent the fifth different organization the righty has played with during his seven pro seasons.  The resume includes one season in the majors, as Alexander posted a 5.40 ERA over 71 2/3 innings with the Brewers in 2022, working as both a swingman and reliever in his 18 appearances.

While not a standout performance, Alexander’s ability to generate grounders and work as a swingman made him a candidate for Milwaukee’s roster heading into 2023 Spring Training, but a shoulder injury kept him out of action until a minor league rehab assignment that June.  The Brewers outrighted him off their 40-man roster a month later and then moved on entirely after the season, leading to Alexander landing a deal last winter with the Red Sox.

Over 328 1/3 career innings at Triple-A, Alexander has a 5.04 ERA, 7.04% walk rate, and 18.85% strikeout rate.  Alexander is a grounder specialist who has regularly posted groundball rates north of 55%, though his lack of real strikeout power has limited his ceiling.

Still, the 31-year-old can eat innings and work in a variety of roles, giving him value as a depth arm for the A’s to evaluate at Triple-A, or perhaps consider for a look on the big league roster.  If he does make the team, it’ll be something of a homecoming for Alexander, whose hometown of Windsor, California is within a few hours’ drive from the Athletics’ temporary new home of Sacramento.

Red Sox Sign Jason Alexander To Minor League Deal

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The Red Sox have signed right-hander Jason Alexander to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The righty is a client of Apex Baseball.

Alexander, 31 on Friday, was able to make his major league debut with the Brewers in 2022. He tossed 71 2/3 innings over 11 starts and seven relief appearances. He posted a 5.40 earned run average in that time with a subpar 14.3% strikeout rate but a strong 50.6% ground ball rate and an 8.7% walk rate that was right around league average.

Last year, he was shut down in the spring due to a shoulder strain and began the year on the 60-day injured list. He was activated off the IL in July but then optioned to the minors. A few weeks later, he was outrighted off the 40-man. He tossed 55 1/3 innings at Triple-A last year with a 5.86 ERA, 13.8% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate and 46.1% ground ball rate. He was not added back to the roster at season’s end and was able to elect free agency.

The righty’s performance in recent years has largely resembled his previous body of work. He’s never racked up tons of strikeouts but has avoided walks and kept the ball on the ground. He has a 4.75 ERA in 407 1/3 innings minor league innings in his career overall. He has only punched out 19.3% of batters faced but has only walked 6.4% of them while getting heaps of ground balls.

The Red Sox posted a team-wide ERA of 4.52 last year, a mark that was better than just nine other clubs. They came into this winter looking to upgrade the pitching staff but haven’t done too much. They signed Lucas Giolito to take a spot in their rotation but also traded Chris Sale to Atlanta. They’ve also made marginal additions, adding guys like Cooper Criswell, Greg Weissert and Isaiah Campbell.

Alexander will be looking to earn his way onto the roster alongside other non-roster players like Joely Rodríguez and Lucas Luetge. If Alexander is added at any point, he still has a couple of options and less than a year of service time.

Brewers Outright Jason Alexander; Raimel Tapia Elects Free Agency

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The Brewers have sent right-hander Jason Alexander outright to Triple-A Nashville, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. There had not been any previous indication Alexander had been removed from their 40-man roster, so their count drops to 39 in that department. Hogg also relays that outfielder Raimel Tapia, who was designated for assignment on the weekend, cleared waivers and elected free agency.

Alexander, 30, first cracked the big leagues last year when the Brewers selected his contract at the start of June. He worked as a swingman, making 11 starts and seven relief appearances. He finished the year with a 5.40 earned run average in 71 2/3 innings, along with a 14.3% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 50.6% ground ball rate.

He was set to serve as rotation depth in Milwaukee this year but suffered a shoulder injury in February that was expected to keep him out of action until May, which led the club to quickly place him on the 60-day injured list. He began a rehab assignment in June and was optioned to the minors after being activated from the 60-day IL in July. He’s thrown 31 innings in the minors this year with a 5.23 ERA, still getting solid amounts of grounders but with a strikeout rate of just 12.6%.

It appears he wasn’t in Milwaukee’s plans for the near future, so they’ve bumped him off their roster and through waivers. Since he has less than three years of major league service time and this is his first career outright, he won’t have the ability to elect free agency. He’ll stick with the organization as depth but without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.

Tapia, 29, began the year with the Red Sox but was released in June and landed with the Brewers. He got into 20 games with Milwaukee but hit just .173/.267/.288 before getting designated for assignment when the club promoted Sal Frelick. Since Tapia has more than five years of major league service time, he has the right to reject outright assignments while retaining his full salary, which he has done here.

He’ll now look for his next opportunity. The Red Sox remain on the hook for his $2MM salary, allowing any other club to sign him for the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox pay. He’s a career .273/.317/.388 hitter in 626 games, amounting to a wRC+ of 80. He’s also stolen 61 bases and provided average-ish left field defense with the ability to play the other spots on the grass as well.

Brewers Sign Justin Wilson

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The Brewers announced that left-hander Justin Wilson was signed to a one-year contract with a club option for the 2024 season.  Since Wilson underwent Tommy John surgery last June, it isn’t known whether or not he’ll be able to pitch this season, but Milwaukee will retain control over his services when he is healthy.

The ACES client will make $850K in 2023 and the option is valued at $2.5MM with a $150K buyout; it’s a $1MM guarantee overall. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, Milwaukee placed righty Jason Alexander on the 60-day injured list after he suffered a shoulder strain. He’ll be out until the end of May at the earliest.

Wilson will remain in the NL Central, as he had been a member of the Reds organization since he was dealt from the Yankees as part of a deal prior to the 2021 trade deadline.  Wilson ended up posting a 2.75 ERA over his 19 2/3 total innings with Cincinnati, but his elbow problems limited him to only 3 2/3 innings of work in 2022.  Wilson averaged 67 games and 61 innings per season from 2013-18, though he missed significant time in 2019 due to elbow soreness and then in 2021 due to a hamstring.

Through 11 MLB seasons, Wilson has a 3.41 career ERA, a solidly above-average 25.9% strikeout rate, and a subpar 10.7% walk rate.  The free passes are the only real weak link on Wilson’s resume, as the southpaw has done well to induce grounders and limit hard contact over his career.  The 35-year-old also has roughly identical career splits against both left-handed and right-handed batters.

This solid performance hasn’t prevented Wilson from bouncing around the league, as he has seen big league action with six different teams over the course of his career.  The Brewers are certainly hopeful of being the seventh, perhaps as early as this summer if Wilson is on the short end of the usual 14-16 month recovery period for Tommy John patients.  On the plus side, Wilson won’t require as much arm build-up since he’ll be working out of the bullpen, so it would seem like there’s a decent chance that he’ll be able to get on the mound before the 2023 campaign is over.

Hoby Milner is the only left-hander projected for Milwaukee’s Opening Day bullpen, and Alex Claudio, Thomas Pannone, and Robert Gasser are the southpaws in camp as non-roster invitees.  Aaron Ashby might have also factored into the Brew Crew’s relief plans if he wasn’t kept stretched out as rotation depth, but Ashby is now going to be out of action for several months due to shoulder inflammation.  While Wilson doesn’t provide any immediate help to the bullpen, he at least represents some left-handed relief depth down the road, while the Brewers figure out their plans for the start of the season.

Brewers’ Jason Alexander Out Until May Due To Shoulder Injury

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Brewers righty Jason Alexander is expected to miss more than a month to begin the season, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com (Twitter link). The 29-year-old righty experienced discomfort in his shoulder when he was ramping up for spring training last month, and he’s likely to be sidelined into the second half of May. Alexander becomes the second Brewers pitcher who’ll miss substantial time due to shoulder trouble; left-hander Aaron Ashby will miss at least two months due to shoulder trouble of his own.

Alexander made his big league debut in Milwaukee last season, tossing 71 2/3 innings for the Brewers over the course of 11 starts and another seven relief appearances. He posted a strong 3.21 ERA over his first five starts before beginning to falter, ultimately finishing out his rookie campaign with a 5.40 ERA and a lowly 14.7% strikeout rate. Alexander’s 8.7% walk rate was generally solid, however, and he induced grounders at a strong 50.6% clip. The lack of punchouts and a susceptibility to home runs (1.51 HR/9) worked against him, but the righty had posted a 2.84 ERA in 63 1/3 Triple-A frames before being called to the big leagues.

Neither Alexander nor Ashby was guaranteed a rotation spot heading into 2023, but their absences will thin out Milwaukee’s depth a fair bit. It’s not clear whether the Brewers knew the full extent of either player’s shoulder issues when signing Wade Miley to a one-year deal last month, but what was once at least a somewhat surprising deal for a pitching-rich club could now prove pivotal. Regardless of whether Miley’s addition was made with the knowledge that Ashby and Alexander were ailing or whether it’s mere serendipity, the Brewers are surely glad to have the veteran southpaw on the staff.

The Brewers’ rotation heading into 2023 will feature Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta, Eric Lauer and the aforementioned Miley. Righty Adrian Houser, a rotation staple the past couple seasons, is still on hand as a sixth option, but both Ashby and Alexander would’ve also been starting candidates in the event of injuries elsewhere on the staff. Trade acquisition Janson Junk, prospect Ethan Small and DFA reclamation Bryse Wilson give Milwaukee further depth, though Wilson is out of minor league options and isn’t necessarily a lock to make the Opening Day roster.

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