Diamondbacks Designate Grant Holman For Assignment
The Diamondbacks announced they’ve designated reliever Grant Holman for assignment. They also placed righty Cristian Mena (shoulder strain) and left-hander Blake Walston (rehabbing Tommy John surgery) on the 60-day injured list. They needed to clear three 40-man roster spots for Joe Ross, Jonathan Loáisiga and Ildemaro Vargas — all of whom have officially been selected onto the MLB roster.
They placed four more players on the injured list, as expected. Adrian Del Castillo (left calf strain), Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (recovering from ACL tear), and Tyler Locklear (rehabbing elbow/shoulder surgeries) all hit the 10-day IL. Merrill Kelly lands on the 15-day injured list with intercostal nerve irritation. Those placements are retroactive to March 22.
Arizona claimed Holman off waivers from the Athletics early in Spring Training. The 25-year-old righty has pitched parts of two seasons with the A’s, allowing a 4.66 ERA across 38 2/3 innings. He has fanned a below-average 18.8% of opponents against a lofty 10.2% walk rate. Holman made just one appearance this spring before being optioned, working around a walk to toss a scoreless inning.
The Diamondbacks will likely try to run him through waivers this week. Holman has just over one year of MLB service and still has a couple minor league options remaining. He works in the 94-95 mph range with his fastball while using a splitter and slider as his offspeed pitches.
Diamondbacks To Add Jonathan Loaisiga, Joe Ross To Opening Day Roster
10:05PM: Right-hander Joe Ross is also making the team, as per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The Diamondbacks will have to create another 40-man roster spot before selecting Ross, who inked a minor league contract last month. The numbers haven’t been there for Ross this spring, but Piecoro writes that Ross’ ability to pitch multiple innings gave him an advantage in the bullpen competition.
10:47AM: The Diamondbacks are adding right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga to their Opening Day roster, according to a report from Jorge Castillo of ESPN. Arizona’s 40-man roster is full, so a corresponding move will be necessary to officially select Loaisiga’s contract.
Loaisiga, 31, is joining a new club for the first time after spending his first eight MLB seasons with the Yankees. Signed by the Giants out of Nicaragua back in 2013, Loaisiga made just 13 starts for San Francisco’s Dominican Summer League affiliate before suffering injuries that sidelined him for the next two years. He was released by the organization in 2015 and caught on with the Yankees ahead of the 2016 season, where he continued to climb the minor league ladder as a starter and actually began his MLB career in a swing role.
The right-hander didn’t convert to short relief full-time until 2021, but looked utterly dominant once he did. Loaisiga turned in a 2.17 ERA with a 2.58 FIP and 3.01 SIERA in 70 2/3 innings of work for the Yankees that year. He struck out a respectable 24.4% of his opponents while walking just 5.7% and generating ground balls at a 60.9% clip. That dominant showing was enough to push Loaisiga into New York’s high leverage mix, and headed into 2022 it was easy to dream on him as the next dominant Yankees reliever. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out that way. His 2022 campaign was a struggle and saw him post below league average results (4.13 ERA) with only slightly better peripheral numbers (3.57 FIP, 3.76 SIERA). In the three years since then, he’s managed just 50 total appearances at the big league level due to a laundry list of injuries.
Those 50 appearances work out to a combined 3.51 ERA that’s decent enough, but his grounder rate has dropped to 52.0%, his strikeout rate now sits at a concerning 15.2%, and the righty’s 5.13 FIP (4.09 SIERA) both suggest those solid run prevention numbers are the result more of good luck on batted balls and sequencing than his underlying performance. With so many health and performance related red flags, it wasn’t a shock that Loaisiga needed to take a minor league deal this offseason. The one he landed with the Diamondbacks figured to give him a strong shot to make the roster, however, as the majority of their late-inning mix is set to start the season on the injured list.
A solid showing this spring further sealed the deal, as Loaisiga posted a 3.86 ERA in seven outings with seven strikeouts against just two walks. That’ll be enough to earn him a spot in the Diamondbacks bullpen to open the year, and he should have every opportunity to earn a high leverage role. Paul Sewald, Ryan Thompson, and Kevin Ginkel are among the other arms who will be vying for late inning roles as the season begins, though both A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez are expected back in the mix at some point this year.
Diamondbacks To Sign Jonathan Loáisiga To Minor League Deal
The Diamondbacks and right-hander Jonathan Loáisiga have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Jorge Castillo of ESPN. The Ballengee Group client will be in big league camp with the Snakes in spring training.
Loáisiga, 31, has shown big potential in his career but has often struggled to stay healthy. His best season was in 2021, when he gave the Yankees 70 2/3 innings with a 2.17 earned run average. He averaged around 98 miles per hour with his four-seamer and sinker while also throwing a cutter, curveball, slider and changeup. He struck out 24.4% of batters faced, limited walks to a 5.7% clip and induced grounders on 60.9% of balls in play. He racked up five saves and ten holds for the Yanks that year.
The following season, he missed about six weeks due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. He finished the year with a 4.13 ERA in 48 innings. His ground ball rate held fairly steady but he only punched out 18.2% of opponents and his walked rate climbed to 9.4%. Various elbow issues limited him to just 17 2/3 innings in 2023. He eventually underwent surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament in April of 2024. He began 2025 on the injured list while still recovering from that surgery but was activated in the middle of May.
He tossed 29 2/3 innings last year with a 4.25 ERA, 18.5% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 50.5% ground ball rate. His average fastball velo was down below 97 mph. He hit the IL in August due to back tightness. He was rehabbing from that minor issue when he suffered a lat strain, preventing him from returning late in the year. The Yanks turned down a $5MM club option on Loaisiga’s services for 2026.
Both the Diamondbacks and Loáisiga will be hoping for better health and a bounceback in 2026. Arizona definitely needs bullpen help. Their 2025 relief corps was supposed to be headlined by A.J. Puk and Justin Martínez but both of those two required UCL surgeries in the first half. The Snakes finished the year with a collective bullpen ERA of 4.82, better than just three other big league teams.
Upgrading for 2026 is going to be a challenge as the club is likely going to be operating with a lower payroll, especially when adding to the rotation and outfield could still be priorities for the remainder of the offseason. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports reports that the club will likely be making more bullpen additions in the coming days. For now, Loáisiga adds a bit of upside without taking up a roster spot. If he does get added to the roster later, it’s unclear what his salary will be but it’s presumably not too onerous.
Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst, Imagn Images
Yankees To Exercise Club Option On Tim Hill, Decline Club Option On Jonathan Loaisiga
The Yankees are exercising their club option on Tim Hill, according to a report from ESPN’s Jorge Castillo. Hill will return to New York on a $3MM salary in 2026. Castillo also reports that the Yankees are not picking up their club option on right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga. Loaisiga will head into free agency rather than collecting what would have been a $5MM salary next year.
Neither of these decisions are especially surprising. Hill, 36 in February, has turned in excellent production for the Yankees over the past two seasons with a 2.68 ERA in 111 innings since being acquired from the White Sox midway through the 2024 season. His peripheral numbers took a big step back in 2025 thanks to eight home runs surrendered that coincided with the highest barrel rate of his career (7.9%). That jump wasn’t helped by the fact that Hill has never been a strikeout artist, and his 13.9% punch out rate this year was actually his best since 2021.
Even so, Hill continues to generate ground balls at some of the highest rates in the league. That makes keeping him in the bullpen at a $3MM price tag something of a no-brainer, and he’ll enter the year as the club’s top left-handed relief option barring an external addition that supplants him on the depth chart. That could leave him in the mix for some high leverage opportunities next year, while David Bednar and Camilo Doval shut things down from the right side.
As for Loaisiga, the right-hander’s eighth year with the Yankees looks likely to be his final one. At one point in his career, the hard-throwing righty looked like a future closer as he posted a 2.50 ERA with a 3.03 FIP between the 2020 and ’21 seasons. Things have unraveled for Loaisiga since, however. He was only pedestrian in 2022 and then missed nearly two full seasons due to injuries. He did manage to make 30 appearances for the Yankees this year, but his 97 ERA+ was just below average and a 5.83 FIP suggested even that figure was aided by some good fortune. His season was cut short by a flexor strain, and he appears likely to enter the market this winter on the hunt for a minor league deal.
With Bednar, Doval, Fernando Cruz, Jake Bird, Ian Hamilton, and Mark Leiter Jr. all in the mix for next year, the Yankees look to be reasonably well set up in the bullpen on the right side. An addition beyond that group can’t necessarily be ruled out, however, as the departures of both Devin Williams and Luke Weaver in conjunction with shaky performances down the stretch from both Bednar and Doval could create a desire to bring in a more surefire closing option.
Jonathan Loáisiga Done For The Year
Yankees right-hander Jonathan Loáisiga has a flexor strain and won’t return this year. However, he is unlikely to require surgery, which perhaps bodes well for next year. Manager Aaron Boone provided the news to reporters including Chris Kirschner of The Athletic and Greg Joyce of The New York Post.
Loáisiga, 30, is a talented pitcher but he has often been held back by injuries. In 2023, he underwent surgery to remove a bone spur from his elbow and only pitched 17 2/3 innings that year. In April of 2024, he required internal brace surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow.
He reached free agency and the Yankees decided to sign him for 2025, even though he was still recovering from that surgery at the time. Before all the injuries popped up, Loáisiga had put up some good numbers. Over 2020 and 2021, for instance, he logged 93 2/3 innings with a 2.50 earned run average, 23.8% strikeout rate, 6% walk rate and 58.4% ground ball rate.
The Yanks were surely hoping that a clean bill of health could get him back to that level but it didn’t play out that way. He was reinstated from the injured list in mid-May but landed back on the IL due to mid-back tightness. He started a rehab assignment shortly thereafter but then suffered the flexor strain which has now ended his season. Around those injuries, he gave the Yankees 29 2/3 innings with a 4.25 ERA, 18.5% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 50.5% ground ball rate.
The Yankees bolstered their bullpen ahead of the deadline by trading for David Bednar and Camilo Doval, adding those two to a group that already included Devin Williams, Luke Weaver and others. They recently welcomed Fernando Cruz back from his own IL stint. The relief corps has a 4.88 ERA in August but there’s lots of talent in there and they have a chance at righting the ship down the stretch and into the postseason. Getting a healthy Loáisiga in there could have helped but that won’t happen now.
The Yankees will have to make a decision about next year. Loáisiga’s $5MM deal came with a $4.5MM salary and $500K signing bonus, plus a $5MM club option for 2026 with no buyout. They were willing to place a $5MM bet on him last offseason but it’s possible his subpar performance this year pushed them away from doing so again. This injury presumably makes it even less likely they trigger the option. But they clearly like the player and he’s unlikely to require surgery, so perhaps they could re-sign him at a different price point.
Boone also relayed, per Kirschner, an update on lefty Ryan Yarbrough. The southpaw will likely be working out of the bullpen when he comes off the IL. He gave the Yanks some good results in a swing role earlier this year, making eight starts and eight relief appearances with a 3.90 ERA. Unfortunately, a right oblique strain put him on the IL in mid-June.
While Yarbrough has been away, Luis Gil returned from his own IL stint to retake a spot in the rotation. Also, Cam Schlittler came up from the minors and has been really good through his first eight starts. The rotation now features those two alongside Max Fried, Carlos Rodón and Will Warren.
Yarbrough has been rehabbing lately and has been getting stretched out. His third and most-recent outing saw him toss 4 2/3 innings. But there’s not really a spot for him in the rotation, so the Yankees will seemingly put him in a long relief role. They also have Paul Blackburn doing long relief work and could cut him, though rosters expand in September, which will perhaps allow the club to roster both of them.
Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst, Imagn Images
Jonathan Loaisiga Headed For Second Opinion With Likely Flexor Strain
Jonathan Loáisiga appears to be in for another significant absence. Yankees manager Aaron Boone tells reporters (including Brendan Kuty of The Athletic) that the oft-injured reliever is believed to have suffered a flexor strain. A more specific diagnosis and treatment plan will be known after the righty goes for a second opinion.
Loáisiga was already on the 15-day injured list due to mid-back tightness. That was a relatively minor issue, and the Yanks sent him on a rehab assignment after just two weeks on the shelf. He sustained the more significant forearm injury during an appearance with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre over the weekend. It’s now difficult to imagine Loáisiga pitching again this season. Depending on the results of the second opinion, it’s possible his ’26 season could be impacted.
Arm injuries are unfortunately nothing new for Loáisiga. He lost most of last season to a flexor repair that kept him from making his season debut until May. Loáisiga had previously undergone a full Tommy John surgery while he was in the minor leagues. He’d spent time on the IL with shoulder problems in 2019, 2021 and ’22. A pair of elbow-related IL stints kept him to 17 games in 2023.
Loáisiga has generally been effective when he has been healthy enough to pitch. That hasn’t so much been the case this year. He carries a 4.25 earned run average through 29 2/3 innings. He has only fanned 18.5% of opponents while giving up more than two home runs per nine innings. It might’ve put him on the fringe of the Yankees’ playoff roster had he been healthy, assuming the team gets to the postseason.
The Yankees hold a $5MM option on Loáisiga for next season. His inconsistent performance made it look likelier than they’d decline that even if he were healthy. A season-ending forearm injury would make it a formality that the team cuts him loose at the beginning of the winter.
Yankees Activate Luis Gil From 60-Day Injured List
The Yankees announced this morning that they have activated right-hander Luis Gil from the 60-day injured list. To make room for Gil’s return to the 40-man roster, New York placed right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga on the 15-day injured list with mid-back tightness.
Gil, 27, suffered a high-grade lat strain before the season began and has been sidelined ever since. The AL Rookie of the Year last year turned in a solid season with a 3.50 ERA and a 4.14 FIP in 29 starts, but walked a whopping 12.1% of his opponents against a 26.8% strikeout rate and faded into a less effective version of himself down the stretch, Those later season struggles were understandable given the lack of volume Gil had thrown over the years. The righty actually made his big league debut back in 2021 but a variety of injuries left him able to make just seven starts in the big leagues across his first two years in the majors and cost him the 2023 campaign in its entirety.
That checkered injury history made it somewhat unsurprising when Gil once again missed significant time this year, but it was no less disappointing for the Yankees given that they’ve been without both Gil and Cole all year to this point and also saw Clarke Schmidt miss time early in the year before requiring Tommy John surgery shortly before the All-Star break. Those hits to the club’s rotation depth led the Yankees to view adding starting pitching help as a top priority heading into the trade deadline, but the club was unable to get a deal for a starter done in a year where few rotation pieces ended up moving. They fortified both the lineup and bullpen instead, hoping that a relief corps with four closers (Devin Williams, David Bednar, Luke Weaver, and Camilo Doval) will be enough to make up for those starting pitching deficiencies.
Even if that plan works out, the Yankees are banking on help from Gil and the eventual return of Ryan Yarbrough (as well as the efforts of rookies Will Warren and Cam Schlittler) to help piece together production behind Max Fried and Carlos Rodon. It’s a significant gamble that demonstrates plenty of faith in Gil, who offers plenty of upside but has not yet demonstrated much consistency at the big league level. The righty struggled to a 5.65 ERA across four rehab outings at the Double- and Triple-A levels in preparation for his return to the majors, but his 4 1/3 innings of one-run, seven-strikeout ball his last time out for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre offers some reason for optimism as he heads into today’s start against the Marlins and right-hander Edward Cabrera, against whom the Yankees are hoping to avoid getting swept after dropping the first two games in the series.
As for Loaisiga, Greg Joyce of the New York Post writes that the right-hander is headed back to the Bronx to be examined by the team’s doctor. Loasigia’s back issue has lingered in the days after his abbreviated outing on Friday where he hit a batter and allowed a hit before being pulled after recording just one out. Loaisiga has been dominant at times over the years but has struggled somewhat this year, with a 4.25 ERA and a 5.80 FIP in 29 2/3 innings of work this year. It’s unclear how long Loaisiga will be out, but the club’s recent reinforcements for the bullpen from trades prior to the deadline this past week should help make up for the loss.
Yankees Designate Tyler Matzek For Assignment
The Yankees announced that left-hander Tyler Matzek has been designated for assignment. That opens an active roster spot for right-hander Jonathan Loáisiga, who has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list. Their 40-man roster count drops from 39 to 38.
Matzek, 34, was selected to the big league roster a bit less than a month ago. He has since tossed 6 1/3 innings for the Yankees over seven appearances. He allowed three earned runs in that time, leading to a passable 4.26 ERA. However, he issued five walks in that span, a 14.3% rate.
That’s a fairly small sample but control has been a problem for Matzek in the past. He has an 11.7% walk rate in his big league career. His early-career stint with the Rockies was hampered by those control issues. He later revitalized his career in Atlanta but still worked around some fairly high walk totals. From 2020 to 2022, he posted a 2.92 with Atlanta despite walking 13.4% of batters faced. However, he also struck out 27.4% of opponents.
He wasn’t able to pitch much in the past two seasons. He required Tommy John surgery late in 2022, wiping out his 2023. Last year, further elbow troubles kept him on the shelf for much of it. He only got to pitch 10 innings in the big leagues.
The Yanks were able to get him on a minor league deal this winter and brought him up to the majors, but they appear to be quickly moving on. This will leave them a bit short on left-handed relief. Ryan Yarbrough has been working bulk innings, so Tim Hill as the only true southpaw reliever now that Matzek is gone.
DFA limbo can last as long as a week, though the waiver process takes 48 hours, meaning any trade possibilities would have to be explored in the next five days. Matzek’s recent track record isn’t much to go on but he at least has some past success. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.
As for Loáisiga, he’ll be looking to make a comeback from a lengthy injury absence. He had a really strong season in 2021, pitching 70 2/3 innings for the Yankees with a 2.17 ERA, 24.4% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate and 60.9% ground ball rate. But in 2022, he battled some shoulder troubles and posted a 4.13 ERA. In 2023, he was limited to just 17 appearances by elbow issues and eventually underwent UCL surgery early in 2024.
Though he was going to start the 2025 season on the injured list, the Yankees believed in him enough to bring him back. They signed him to a major league deal with a $5MM guarantee and a club option for next year. He’ll be a bargain if he can get back to that 2021 form. The early results have been good, as he threw seven innings on his rehab assignment with nine strikeouts and no walks, allowing just one earned run.
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images
Looking Ahead To Club Options: AL East
MLBTR wraps our division by division look at next year’s team/mutual option class with the AL East. Virtually all of the mutual options will be bought out by one side. Generally, if the team is willing to retain the player at the option price, the player will decline his end in search of a better free agent deal.
Previous installments: player options/opt-outs, NL West, AL West, NL Central, AL Central, NL East
Baltimore Orioles
- Andrew Kittredge, RHP ($9MM club option, $1MM buyout)
Baltimore signed Kittredge to a one-year, $10MM free agent deal over the winter. He’s making $9MM this season and has a matching club option or a $1MM buyout for 2026. Kittredge was supposed to be a key setup man in front of Félix Bautista, but he suffered a left knee injury early in camp and required a debridement surgery. He began a rehab stint at High-A Aberdeen on Sunday. While there’s plenty of time for Kittredge to turn things around, it hasn’t been the start to his O’s tenure that he envisioned.
- Ramón Laureano, OF ($6.5MM club option, no buyout)
Laureano, who was non-tendered by the Braves, signed a $4MM contract with Baltimore in February. That came with a $6.5MM team option without a buyout, giving the Orioles an extra season of club control. Injuries to Tyler O’Neill and Colton Cowser have pressed him into everyday work, mostly in left field. He hasn’t provided much through his first 24 games. Laureano is hitting .185 with a .237 on-base percentage through 59 plate appearances. He has hit a trio of home runs but struck out 18 times while drawing only four walks. Laureano has generally been a below-average hitter since being suspended following a positive PED test in 2021. He’ll need much better production over the next few months for the Orioles to exercise the option.
Boston Red Sox
- Walker Buehler, RHP ($25MM mutual option, $3MM buyout)
Buehler signed a one-year, $21.05MM free agent deal to match the price of the qualifying offer — which the Dodgers had declined to issue when he hit the market. It’s a relatively expensive pillow contract. Buehler was coming off a dismal regular season, in which he’d posted a 5.38 ERA with a career-worst 18.6% strikeout rate over 16 starts. He finished his Dodger tenure on a high note, though, closing out the World Series while pitching to a 3.60 earned run average in 15 playoff innings.
An ace-caliber pitcher early in his career, Buehler hasn’t looked the same since undergoing the second Tommy John surgery of his career in August 2022. His stint in Boston has gotten out to a shaky start. While his 4.28 ERA through 33 2/3 innings is serviceable, he’s striking out just 20.7% of opponents while averaging a personal-low 93.5 MPH on his fastball. Shoulder inflammation sent him to the injured list last week. The mutual option was always an accounting measure designed to push the $3MM buyout to the end of the year rather than disbursing it throughout the season as salary. The team seems likelier to decline its end than the pitcher does.
- Lucas Giolito, RHP ($14MM club option, $1.5MM buyout)
Giolito signed a two-year, $38.5MM deal during the 2023-24 offseason. He negotiated an opt-out clause after the first season and hoped to retest the market after one strong year. Instead, Giolito’s elbow gave out during Spring Training and he required UCL surgery that cost him the entire season. The veteran righty made the easy decision to stick around for year two.
By exercising his player option, Giolito unlocked a 2026 option for the team. It’s valued at $14MM and comes with a $1.5MM buyout. If Giolito pitches 140 innings this year, it’d convert to a $19MM mutual option (still with the $1.5MM buyout). That’d give him a chance to test free agency if he wants. Giolito has an uphill battle to 140 frames. A hamstring strain cost him the first month of the season. He finally made his team debut last week, working six innings of three-run ball with seven strikeouts in a no-decision against Toronto. The Rangers tagged him for six runs on 10 hits in just 3 2/3 frames tonight.
- Liam Hendriks, RHP ($12MM mutual option, $2MM buyout)
The Red Sox added Hendriks on a two-year, $10MM deal over the 2023-24 offseason. They knew they wouldn’t get much in year one, as Hendriks had undergone Tommy John surgery the prior August. He attempted to make a late-season return last year but was shut down after a minor flare-up of elbow discomfort. Elbow inflammation shelved him for a couple weeks to begin this season, though he made his team debut in mid-April.
Hendriks allowed two runs on three hits in one inning during his first appearance. He has rattled off five straight scoreless outings since then, albeit with four walks in five frames. His 95 MPH average fastball is solid but below the 97-98 range at which he sat during his elite seasons with the White Sox.
Note: Jarren Duran’s arbitration deal contains a ’26 club option with an $8MM base salary. He’d remain eligible for arbitration if the Sox decline the option.
New York Yankees
- Tim Hill, LHP ($3MM club option, $350K buyout)
Hill finished last season with the Yankees after being released by the White Sox in June. He’d allowed nearly six earned runs per nine with Chicago but managed a tidy 2.05 ERA over 44 frames for New York. He’s out to a similarly productive start to the ’25 season. Hill has surrendered five runs through 17 1/3 innings (2.60 ERA).
While the soft-tossing lefty has managed just 11 strikeouts, his game has always been built around ground-balls. He’s getting grounders at a massive 81.6% clip thus far. Only nine of the 40 batted balls he’s allowed have been hit into the air. It’s easily the highest grounder rate in the majors. The Yankees value this skillset as much as any team, and the $2.65MM option decision is a drop in the bucket for them.
- Jonathan Loáisiga, RHP ($5MM club option, no buyout)
Loáisiga is still working back from last April’s elbow surgery. The righty has generally been a productive reliever when healthy, but he’s only once managed even 50 MLB innings in a season. He’s on a rehab stint with Low-A Tampa and will need another few weeks before he’s built into MLB game shape. Loáisiga is making $5MM this season. The option has a matching base value and could climb by another $500K if the Yankees exercise it. He’d earn $100K each at reaching 50, 55, 60, 65 and 70 innings in 2026.
Tampa Bay Rays
- Pete Fairbanks, RHP ($7MM club option, $1MM buyout)
Fairbanks is in the final guaranteed season of the three-year, $12MM extension that he signed before the 2023 campaign. That includes a $1MM buyout on a club option that comes with a $7MM base value. That’s a bargain for a quality high-leverage reliever, but the deal includes various escalators that could push the option price above $12MM.
The option value would climb by $500K if he gets to 125 combined appearances between 2023-25 and another $1MM apiece at 135, 150 and 165 combined outings. Fairbanks made it into 95 games over the first two seasons. He’d trigger the first $500K escalator at just 30 appearances this year and would max it out if he makes it into 70 games. He can boost the option price by another $2MM based on this year’s games finished total: $500K apiece at 25, 30, 35 and 40.
Fairbanks has never reached 50 appearances in a season because of various injuries, but he’s already at 14 games through this season’s first six weeks. Fairbanks has finished 11 of those contests while working as Kevin Cash’s primary closer. He has recorded 13 strikeouts against six walks while allowing three runs over 13 1/3 innings. The option price should remain solid value, though the escalators might eventually push it to an area where Tampa Bay would rather explore deadline or offseason trades rather than having a reliever projecting as one of the highest-paid players on the roster.
- Danny Jansen, C ($12MM mutual option, $500K buyout)
Jansen seemed to be pulling away from the rest of a weak free agent catching class early last season. His production tanked from June onwards, leaving him to sign an $8.5MM pillow contract with Tampa Bay. He’s making an $8MM salary and will collect a $500K buyout on a $12MM mutual option at year’s end. Last summer’s offensive drought has carried into 2025. Jansen has only one home run with a .147/.301/.221 batting line through 83 plate appearances. He remains a very patient hitter, but the Rays would have an easy decision to decline their end of the option if he doesn’t find the double-digit home run power he showed during his best seasons in Toronto.
- Brandon Lowe, 2B ($11.5MM club option, $500K buyout)
Lowe has had a rare extended run with a Tampa Bay team that is almost always willing to trade any player. He’s in his eighth big league season and in year seven of the extension he signed in Spring Training 2019. Lowe collected $24MM for what would have been his standard six seasons of team control. The Rays exercised a $10.5MM option for this year and can retain him once more at an $11.5MM price. It’s an $11MM decision after accounting for the $500K buyout.
While injuries have been a recurring issue, Lowe has been one of the better offensive middle infielders in the sport when healthy. His 39-homer season in 2021 is an outlier, but he has tallied 21 longballs in each of the past two seasons. He’s out to a much slower start this year, batting .203/.258/.305 with four homers across 128 plate appearances. The batted ball metrics are still solid, but his career-worst 20.1% swinging strike rate is the fifth-highest among hitters with at least 50 PAs.
This one can still go a few different ways. If Lowe hits like this all season, he’d be bought out. If he finds something like his 2023-24 form (.238/.319/.458), then $11MM is reasonable. It’d keep him as one of Tampa Bay’s highest-paid players, though, so there’s a decent chance he’ll be traded at some point this year. The 16-18 Rays look like fringe Wild Card contenders for a second consecutive year. They could again try to walk the line between buying and selling come deadline season.
- Jacob Waguespack, RHP ($1.5MM club option, no buyout)
The Rays signed Waguespack to a restructured deal early last offseason. He’s making $1.3MM this season and has a $1.5MM club option for next year. That’d escalate to $2MM if he reaches 20 “points” this season. Waguespack would receive one point for each MLB relief appearance and two points per big league start. He has spent the ’25 season to date on optional assignment to Triple-A Durham.
Working as a pure reliever for the Bulls, Waguespack has reeled off 14 innings of two-run ball. He has fanned 15 hitters against three walks while getting ground-balls at a lofty 60% clip. It hasn’t earned him a major league call yet, but he should be up before too much longer if he keeps performing at that level. Waguespack spent the 2022-23 seasons with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan. He made four MLB appearances with Tampa Bay last year but lost a good portion of the season to a rotator cuff injury.
Note: Taylor Walls’ arbitration deal contains a ’26 club option with a $2.45MM base salary. He’d remain eligible for arbitration if the Rays decline the option.
Toronto Blue Jays
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Yankees Place Eight Players On Injured List
The Yankees announced eight injured list placements on Wednesday afternoon. Clarke Schmidt (rotator cuff tendinitis), JT Brubaker (rib fractures), Clayton Beeter (shoulder impingement), Ian Hamilton (virus), Scott Effross (hamstring strain) and Jonathan Loáisiga (rehab from elbow surgery) all landed on the 15-day injured list. As position players, Giancarlo Stanton (elbow epicondylitis) and DJ LeMahieu (calf strain) went on the 10-day IL. All placements were retroactive to March 24, the earliest date for 10-day or 15-day stints.
None of the moves come as a surprise. Loáisiga has been rehabbing last April’s UCL procedure and will be out at least into May. Stanton didn’t participate in Spring Training and faces an uncertain recovery timeline because of injuries to both elbows. Beeter has been throwing side sessions but didn’t see any game action in camp due to the shoulder issue. LeMahieu, Schmidt, Brubaker and Effross all suffered injuries in Spring Training. Hamilton isn’t hurt but didn’t make his Spring Training debut until last Thursday after being delayed by illness. He needs a couple weeks to continue his build-up.
The only surprise is that the Yanks did not place Jake Cousins on the 15-day IL this afternoon. He was delayed by a forearm strain and did not pitch in games this spring. Cousins has been throwing side sessions but it seems unlikely that the team would throw him directly into regular season action without any Spring Training appearances. It’s possible they’ll make another move when they officially set their Opening Day roster tomorrow.
One player who’ll certainly be on that roster: catcher J.C. Escarra. The Yankees announced over the weekend that the 29-year-old (30 next month) made the team, providing social media video of manager Aaron Boone informing him of that decision. Escarra secures the backup job behind Austin Wells and will make his major league debut once he gets into a game. The Yankees placed him on their 40-man roster at the beginning of the offseason so he wouldn’t reach minor league free agency.
A left-handed hitter, Escarra combined for a .261/.355/.434 line with nearly as many walks as strikeouts across 493 minor league plate appearances last season. The Yankees cleared a path for him to grab the backup job by trading Jose Trevino and Carlos Narváez over the winter. The spot was Escarra’s to lose entering camp, and he solidified it by hitting .302 with three homers in 19 games. Escarra was playing in the independent ranks and in Mexico as recently as 2023. Two years later, he’s breaking camp with an MLB team.