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Yoervis Medina Passes Away

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Former major league pitcher Yoervis Medina has passed away. Reports out of his native Venezuela indicate that authorities believe Medina suffered a heart attack while he was driving, leading to a fatal car accident. He was 37 years old.

Medina pitched for the Mariners and Cubs from 2013-15, working 146 innings across an identical number of games. He posted a 3.08 career ERA with a 23.1% strikeout rate along with a 12.4% walk rate. Most of his success came in his first two seasons, as Medina pitched to a 2.81 ERA with a 24.3% strikeout rate and 12.6% walk rate in 125 innings for the Mariners from 2013-14. In that span, he ranked 34th out of 109 qualified relievers in ERA and ranked 21st with a 53.5% ground ball rate.

He was traded to the Cubs in May 2015 for Welington Castillo and pitched in five games for them with a 7.00 ERA, but he wound up spending most of the season in the minors. That was followed by brief stints in the Pirates and Phillies organizations in 2016, neither of which resulted in a big league call. Medina then pitched in the Venezuelan winter league from 2016-20 before moving to the Italian Baseball League in 2023 and the Czech Baseball Extraliga in 2024.

Medina was teammates in Seattle with Jesús Montero, who was tragically killed in a motorcycle crash earlier this month. We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Medina’s family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.

Bryce Miller Expected To Avoid Elbow Surgery

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Seattle right-hander Bryce Miller is not expected to need elbow surgery this offseason, reports Adam Jude of the Seattle Times. Miller had multiple stints on the injured list this past season due to elbow inflammation. He returned for the final six weeks of the regular season and made three starts in the playoffs. “I finished the year the best I felt all year — three good starts, I felt like,” Miller told Jude. “My body and my arm feel good, so just get better, get fully healthy and be ready to go from Day 1 next year.”

Miller was diagnosed with a bone spur in his elbow and received a PRP injection in early June. He relayed to Jude that he has an upcoming appointment to determine the next steps in treatment. Miller said the likely route is a gel cortisone injection early this offseason, and potentially another one at the start of spring training. “Now that we know how to deal with the bone spur, we can figure out what we need to do exactly with it and go from there,” Miller told Jude. He added that he’d be “surprised” if the appointment led to an invasive procedure.

The elbow injury seemed to derail the early portion of Miller’s 2025 campaign. He struggled to a 5.22 ERA through his first eight starts. The control was the biggest red flag. After posting a solid 6.4% walk rate in 2024, Miller nearly doubled that mark to 12.1% over his first 39 2/3 innings. He hit the IL on May 14, though it was a minimum stint. Miller returned at the end of May, but only lasted two starts. He was hammered for eight earned runs over nine innings and headed back to the IL.

The results following Miller’s second absence weren’t much better. He closed the regular season with a 5.62 ERA over eight starts, but there were encouraging signs heading into the playoffs. Miller’s fastball velocity improved by nearly one mph. He cut his walk rate to 6.3%. Miller was mostly done in by a massive 24.5% home run to fly ball rate, which should be expected to regress over a larger sample.

Miller put everything together in the postseason. He limited the Tigers to two runs over 4 1/3 innings in Game 4 of the ALDS. Miller then came through with six dominant innings in a win over Toronto to kick off the ALCS. He returned in Game 5 with four innings of one-run ball, though Toronto’s bullpen couldn’t hold a late lead. Miller’s fastball velocity topped out at 98.1 mph in his second start against the Mariners.

The uneven 2025 season was a disappointing follow-up to a tremendous 2024 for Miller. He built on a solid rookie year, putting together 180 1/3 innings of a sub-3.00 ERA and nearly a strikeout per inning last season. Miller’s 3.85 xFIP and 3.80 SIERA suggested he might not have been as good as his 2.94 ERA, but he looked like a fixture in a talented rotation.

After a remarkably healthy 2024, Seattle’s starters were hampered by injuries this past season. Logan Gilbert spent all of May and part of June on the IL with an elbow flexor strain. George Kirby missed the first two months of the season with shoulder inflammation. Bryan Woo went down with a pectoral injury in September. He was available for just 4 1/3 innings in the playoffs.

Seattle’s rotation led the league in ERA in 2024. The staff slipped to 13th this past season. With Miller managing his elbow injury without surgery, and an offseason for Woo to get back to full health, the rotation should once again be among the best in the league next season. The unit will be key in getting the team back to the postseason in 2026.

Offseason Outlook: Seattle Mariners

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The 2025 season was another heartbreaker for the Mariners. Thankfully, they have a lot of good things in place for the future.

Guaranteed Contracts

  • Julio Rodríguez, CF: $162MM through 2034 (deal contains complicated option structure beginning after 2028)
  • Cal Raleigh, C: $94MM through 2030 (deal includes 2031 vesting option)
  • Luis Castillo, RHP: $45.5MM through 2027 (deal includes 2028 conditional club option/vesting option)
  • J.P. Crawford, SS: $11MM through 2026
  • Víctor Robles, OF: $5MM through 2026 (includes $500K buyout on $9MM club option for 2027)

Option Decisions

  • IF Jorge Polanco has $6MM player option with $750K buyout
  • Club has $7MM option for RHP Andrés Muñoz, plus two more club options for 2027-28
  • Mitch Garver, C/DH: $12MM mutual option with $1MM buyout

2026 guarantees (assuming Polanco and Garver become free agents): $76.5MM
Total future commitments: $326.25MM

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projected salaries courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

Non-tender candidates: Thornton, Saucedo, Raley, Santos, Kowar

Free Agents

In many ways, it was a fantastic season for the Mariners. They got a historic performance from catcher Cal Raleigh. They won the American League West for the first time since 2001 and made it to the ALCS for the first time since that same season.

But the dream ended there. It seemed they were on the cusp of their first World Series appearance when they went up 2-0 on the Blue Jays in the ALCS. The Jays tied the series up 2-2 but the Mariners managed to win Game 5, putting them one victory away. Seattle lost Game 6 but had a 3-1 lead in Game 7, until George Springer's home run put the Jays over the top.

So often in recent history, the Mariners have been a strong team but not quite strong enough. In 2021, they finished two games back of a playoff spot. They made it to the playoffs in 2022 and survived the Wild Card round, before getting swept out of the ALDS in agonizing fashion. The third game went 18 innings with the Mariners unable to score, losing 1-0 to the division-rival Astros. In both 2023 and 2024, they missed the playoffs by a single game. In a sense, 2025 was a step forward, but it was yet another case of getting so close that the final blow was all the more crushing.

Though the pain is fresh for many fans, there's a lot to feel good about in the future. The division is wide open. The Angels haven't been good in years. The A's are on the rise but still have lots of question marks. The Astros and Rangers have some veteran talent but are starting to feel a bit old and creaky, with both clubs facing budget crunches. The Seattle roster, meanwhile, is loaded with talent. A few guys are set to depart via free agency but the M's have payroll space and one of the best farm systems in baseball.

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Mariners Notes: Naylor, Polanco, Suarez

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The Mariners have not exactly been shy about their desire to re-sign first baseman Josh Naylor as he heads into free agency this winter. For a club that seemingly does not have much financial flexibility this offseason, that could take up the majority of Seattle’s budget space, and would seemingly make reunions with second baseman Jorge Polanco and third baseman Eugenio Suarez unlikely. Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times offered some additional perspective on the club’s trio of pending free agent infielders yesterday that suggests things may not be that simple, however.

While Naylor has been emphasized as the club’s priority, Divish suggests that it’s possible Polanco actually winds up being the one most likely to sign. That’s in part due to Naylor’s age, with Divish noting that he’s likely to seek a deal longer than three years in free agency. That’s the sort of contract that has typically fallen outside of Seattle’s comfort zone under Dipoto in free agency, although it’s not hard to imagine that the Mariners might view Naylor as an exception to that. After all, the club has been willing to go far beyond the two years and $24MM Mitch Garver deal that remains Dipoto’s largest expenditure in free agency when it comes to extensions. Luis Castillo extended on a five-year deal in his age-29 season, while Cal Raleigh’s six-year extension came in his age-28 campaign.

Naylor won’t turn 29 until next June, so committing to a player who has already spent time in the organization on a deal that takes him to his age-32 or -33 season is hardly unthinkable in a vacuum. Even so, it’s undeniable that Polanco’s contract is far more likely to fall into the Mariners’ typical comfort zone when it comes to free agents. Divish writes that Polanco is likely to command a contract “similar” to the aforementioned Garver deal and that he’s unlikely to receive a third guaranteed year on his next contract. There’s some logic to that assumption given the tough market Polanco found in free agency last winter, although he’s coming off a much stronger season in 2025 even has he heads into his age-32 campaign.

With that said, if the Mariners will attempt to wait out the market on their three infielders in order to try and bring one back at a relative bargain, Polanco standing as the most likely one to fall through the cracks due to his age, injury history, and previous struggles on the open market would make some sense. At the very least, that sort of scenario seems to be the kind of situation where Divish sees a reunion between the Mariners and Suarez as a possibility. Divish writes that, as Suarez heads into his age-34 season with his 35th birthday coming next July, a contract that keeps him in Seattle beyond one additional year seems “unlikely.” Coming off a season where he clubbed 49 home runs and made his second career All-Star appearance, it’s hard to imagine that Suarez won’t be able to get at least a two-year deal in free agency this winter barring a surprisingly cold market.

Given Seattle’s apparent financial limitations, it’s hard to imagine more than one of their trio of free agent infielders returning in 2026 unless a trade opens up additional payroll space this winter. RosterResource projects them for a $132MM payroll in 2025 as things stand, roughly $31MM below their stated target. While it’s at least theoretically possible that two of the three could fit within that budget without shedding salary, it would leave them with virtually no room to maneuver beyond that.

That would be a problem when other areas of the roster could use attention besides the infield, as Divish floats the possibility of bringing in relief help to fortify a bullpen that will lose Caleb Ferguson this winter or perhaps making an addition in the outfield, where Victor Robles and Dominic Canzone currently appear poised to platoon in right, as other possible avenues for the Mariners to upgrade this winter. Even if Robles and Canzone remain in place as the likely duo in right field, finding a platoon partner for Luke Raley at DH or upgrading the bench could be worthwhile pursuits to explore as well.

John Morris Passes Away

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Former big league pitcher John Morris passed away last week at the age of 84, according to an obituary posted to the Cape Gazette in Morris’s hometown of Lewes, Delaware.

A veteran of eight MLB seasons, Morris is perhaps best known as a member of the Seattle Pilots during the club’s lone 1969 season. Morris signed into the Phillies organization for his age-18 season in 1960 but spent the first several years of his career in the minors before making his big league debut with Philadelphia in 1966. He threw just 13 2/3 innings of work in that brief cameo in the majors before returning to Triple-A for the 1967 season, where he dominated with a 1.54 ERA across 33 relief appearances.

He was traded to the Orioles ahead of the 1968 season and briefly returned to the majors in 1968 with Baltimore but once again was sent back to Triple-A for much of the 1969 campaign, though he did make it to Seattle and pitch 12 2/3 innings for the Pilots. When the Pilots franchise moved to Milwaukee the following year, Morris remained with the club and became a regular fixture of the Brewers’ bullpen for the 1970 and ’71 seasons. In 1970, Morris served as a swing man and pitched to a 3.93 ERA across 20 games, including nine starts.

The highlight of Morris’s career came on May 13 and May 19, 1970 as he threw complete games in back-to-back starts. Morris surrendered four runs on ten hits and three walks while striking out 11 batters across those two complete games, both of which ended in wins for the Brewers. Morris’s May 19 start against the Oakland A’s saw him out-duel All-Star and future Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter on the mound as Milwaukee won 6-3. Morris’s solid season a swing man earned him a full-time look in the Milwaukee bullpen for the 1971 campaign, and he posted a 3.72 ERA in 67 2/3 innings of work across 43 appearances for the team.

Morris was traded to the Giants following the 1971 season and was mostly relegated to work at the team’s Triple-A affiliate once again. He pitched for San Francisco in parts of three seasons and ended his career on a high note with a 3.05 ERA in 17 appearances for the 1974 Giants in his age-32 season. In all, Morris appeared in 132 games for the Phillies, Orioles, Pilots, Brewers, and Giants across his eight seasons in the majors. He pitched to a 3.95 ERA, struck out 137 batters, finished his career with a lifetime 11-7 record and picked up two saves along the way.

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Morris’s family, friends, and loved ones.

Mariners Aiming For Roughly $166MM In “Starting Point” Payroll In 2026

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The Mariners finished the 2025 season with a payroll within the range of around $165.2MM (as per calculations from Cot’s Baseball Contracts) to $166.2MM (according to RosterResource).  Either of these projections stand as the largest payroll figure in franchise history, topping the roughly $161.8MM that Cot’s estimated as Seattle’s season-ending budget for its 40-man roster in 2018.

It looks like the club will keep spending at at least this higher level in 2026, as president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto told the Seattle Times’ Adam Jude and other reporters at the season wrap-up press conference on Thursday.  When asked what the Mariners’ payroll would be for next season, Dipoto said “I would say similar to where we ended the year, as a starting point,” with the potential to boost spending during the season for trade deadline additions.

This is exactly what the M’s did at this past deadline, landing Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez in separate trades with the Diamondbacks and also bringing in left-hander Caleb Ferguson from the Pirates.  These swaps added roughly $9.5MM to Seattle’s payroll but the money was clearly worth it.  Naylor went nuclear during the remainder of the regular season and through the playoffs, Ferguson pitched well in the regular season, and Suarez was a little more inconsistent but had some big postseason moments (like his two homers in Game 5 of the ALCS).

The deadline spending was a notable step forward for a team that has largely kept its spending in check for the last two offseasons, owing largely to uncertainty over TV broadcasting rights.  Dipoto has long maintained that ownership would increase payroll as the team got deeper into regular contention, and while this wasn’t exactly the case following the Mariners’ playoff appearance in 2022, upper management did indeed step forward to approve a larger budget this summer.

“This was always the goal, to methodically build toward what we were doing,” Dipoto said.  “And I’m comfortable that the resources that we’re given, we’re going to have every ability to go out and put together a championship-quality team.  And like we have in recent years, when we get into the right position, I’m certain that we will be aggressive in doing the next thing.”

In terms of money on the Mariners’ books for 2026, RosterResource projects the team at slightly under $132MM in payroll, and Cot’s with a slightly higher total of roughly $132.4MM.  This would seemingly leave about $34MM in payroll capacity for Dipoto and GM Justin Hollander to work with this winter, and of course some more money could be freed up by non-tenders or trades.

Dipoto has stated multiple times that the M’s would love to re-sign Naylor in free agency, so assuming that happens, Naylor alone will take up a significant portion of available payroll space.  With Naylor as the stated top priority, the perception is that Suarez likely won’t be retained, while Jorge Polanco (who is expected to reject his player option and re-enter free agency) is a bit more of a 50-50 proposition.  Chances are that Seattle will focus its energies on Naylor first and then turn to Polanco, or potentially to other first base options should Naylor sign elsewhere.

As always, expect plenty of trade speculation about the possibility of the Mariners trading from their rotation depth.  The cost of keeping the starting five together is on the rise, as Logan Gilbert and George Kirby are due significant arbitration raises and Bryce Miller is now arb-eligible for the first time.  Dipoto wasn’t as adamant about not trading starting pitching as he was last winter, but it is fair to assume that it would take a huge offer to get the M’s to even consider moving any of their top five starters.

Mariners Expected To Prioritize Josh Naylor In Free Agency

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The Mariners’ season ended with heartbreak in Game 7 of the ALCS versus the Blue Jays, and they’ll now turn their focus to an offseason aimed at building upon what was clearly a World Series-caliber roster (even if they fell just short). They’ll be faced with several key free agent departures — Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor and Jorge Polanco chief among them. Per both Daniel Kramer of MLB.com and Adam Jude of the Seattle Times, Naylor is the team’s top priority among all of its potential free agents.

The 28-year-old Naylor (29 next June) was outstanding after being acquired in a deal sending young pitchers Ashton Izzi and Brandyn Garcia back to Arizona. Already in the midst of a nice season with the D-backs (.292/.360/.447), Naylor found another gear in the Emerald City, erupting for a .299/.341/.490 slash (137 wRC+) and astonishingly stealing nearly as many bases (19) in 54 games as he had in his entire career prior (25).

In many ways, Naylor embodies the approach the Mariners have sought in recent offseasons where improving the club’s contact skills has been a goal (one that’s largely eluded them). He punched out in only 13.7% of his plate appearances this year (16.2% with the Mariners) and carries just a 15.2% strikeout rate dating all the way back to 2020. He’s not a traditional slugging first baseman, but Naylor is typically good for around 20 homers per seasons — he hit nine in his 54 games with the M’s — and does have a 31-homer campaign on his résumé with the 2024 Guardians.

Heading into his age-29 season and coming off a career-best year with no qualifying offer attached — he’s ineligible to receive one after being traded midseason — Naylor will be a hot commodity in free agency. In president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto’s nearly a decade running baseball operations in Seattle, he has only given out one multi-year deal to a free agent position player, that being Mitch Garver’s modest two-year, $24MM pact a couple offseasons ago. Clearly, that will need to change in order to retain Naylor.

That said, Dipoto told MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald on our podcast last month that the Mariners have definite interest in keeping Naylor long-term and believe the feeling is mutual. Dipoto noted that Naylor is “as good as anybody that’s played in the last handful of years at hitting [at T-Mobile Park]” — notoriously one of the most pitcher-friendly stadiums in the game. Naylor himself spoke about that to Jude’s colleague Ryan Divish last month, too, stating that as a visitor he “couldn’t wait” to come to T-Mobile Park and emphasizing how much he enjoys the stadium and the atmosphere created by the fan base. He used the word “awesome” multiple times in his more recent chat with Kramer and Jude about his experience in Seattle and the “ride-or-die” mentality of Seattle fans.

Even with mutual interest, the Mariners will have to extend well beyond their prior comfort levels in free agency to keep Naylor. At just 28 years old and coming off four straight seasons of well above-average offense, he should be in position to command a deal of at least four and possibly up to six years in length. In all likelihood, Seattle will need to more than triple and perhaps quadruple its investment to Garver in order to keep Naylor. Currently, the M’s have about $139MM on next year’s books (once Andres Munoz’s option is exercised), per RosterResource, though non-tenders and trades will surely impact that sum. They finished up the current season at about $166MM in payroll.

To be clear, the Mariners have signed players to lucrative long-term deals under Dipoto — just not specifically free agent position players. Left-hander Robbie Ray signed a five-year, $115MM deal in free agency following his Cy Young win back in 2021. The Mariners extended Luis Castillo on a five-year, $108MM deal after acquiring him from the Reds in a deadline swap. And of course, homegrown stars Cal Raleigh (six years, $105MM) and Julio Rodriguez (12 years, $210MM) signed nine-figure extensions to remain in Seattle for the long haul.

That the Mariners will prioritize Naylor over other free agents doesn’t necessarily make it a foregone conclusion that Polanco and Suarez will depart. Both Jude and Kramer suggest that with top prospect Colt Emerson and slick-fielding Ben Williamson in the mix at third base, re-signing Suarez on a weighty multi-year deal that covers his mid-30s is unlikely. However, both also note interest in retaining Polanco, who enjoyed a remarkable rebound campaign after re-signing on the heels of a 2024 season that was ruined by a knee injury.

Polanco underwent surgery last October and roared back into relevance this year with a .265/.326/.495 batting line (132 wRC+) and 26 homers during the regular season. He added three more postseason homers, including a pair of long balls against likely AL Cy Young winner (for the second consecutive season) Tarik Skubal.

The Mariners have a high-upside long-term option at second base in former first-round pick and top prospect Cole Young, but the 22-year-old Young hit just .211/.302/.305 in his first 77 MLB games this year. Even if Young is the long-term answer at second base — and some early struggles in fewer than 300 plate appearances hardly erodes the chances of that happening — Seattle could bring Polanco back as a primary designated hitter and part-time infielder. That’s the role he filled in 2025, tallying 88 games at DH, 38 at second base, five at third base and even one at first base.

As with Naylor, Polanco would require the Mariners to commit a multi-year deal, although not nearly on the same scale. Polanco will turn 33 early next July. A deal for him seems likely to be capped at three years, particularly when considering his recent injury troubles. He’d still require a more sizable commitment than the one made to Garver in free agency two years ago, but not by an especially large margin.

Mariners brass is set to talk with the media at an end-of-season press conference later this morning (1oam PT), and they’ll surely touch on this and a broad range of topics as they look ahead to the offseason, so there could be a fair bit of Mariners news emerging in the very near future.

Jesus Montero Passes Away

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Former big league catcher Jesus Montero passed away recently, according to a report from El Extrabase. The report indicates that Montero was part of a serious traffic accident on October 5 and passed following several days in the hospital. Montero was just 35 years old.

Montero is best known for having been one of the league’s most elite prospects in the early 2010s. Signed out of Venezuela by the Yankees as an amateur, Montero made his pro debut in 2007 at the age of 17. His second professional season saw him break out at the Single-A level, where he hit .326/.376/.491 with 17 homers and 34 doubles in 132 games. That strong performance earned Montero plenty of attention prior to the 2009 season, when he became a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport.

The youngster’s prospect star continued to shoot upwards from there. His 2009 season was cut short by a broken finger that limited him to just 92 games, but he raked when healthy and looked entirely capable in 44 games at the Double-A level. That was enough to get him promoted to Triple-A for the start of the 2010 season, at which point Montero was viewed as a consensus top-5 prospect in the sport. Baseball America went as far as to name him the sport’s #3 prospect, behind only future Hall of Famers Bryce Harper and Mike Trout. Montero did what he could to deliver on the hype at Triple-A in 2010, slashing .289/.353/.517 with 21 homers and 34 doubles in 123 games.

The next step for Montero was the majors, and after spending most of the 2011 season at Triple-A he finally made his big league debut with the Yankees on September 1 against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. While he did not record a hit in his first big league game, Montero was hit by a pitch in his first game and recorded a run scored. He went on to post incredible numbers down the stretch, with a .328/.406/.590 slash line across 69 plate appearances. He made the Yankees’ postseason roster and got into Game 4 of the ALDS against the Tigers, where he went 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI.

That would be Montero’s last appearance in a Yankees uniform. In January of 2012, he was traded to the Mariners in what at the time was viewed as a blockbuster deal. Montero and teammate Hector Noesi were shipped to Seattle in exchange for All-Star right-hander Michael Pineda and pitching prospect Jose Campos. Pineda didn’t live up to his sensational rookie campaign after being traded to New York, but did manage to post a solid 4.16 ERA in 89 starts from 2014 to 2017 with the Yankees after battling injuries in his first two seasons with the team. Neither Noesi nor Campos had much impact in the majors, though Noesi did manage to pitch in parts for six MLB seasons.

As for Montero, the star prospect split time between catcher and DH for the Mariners in 2012 as an everyday player. Unfortunately, his season did not go as either he or Seattle were surely hoping it would. Montero was solid enough at the plate but hit just .260/.298/.386 with 15 doubles and 20 homers. It was a roughly league average performance, but with Montero still in his age-22 campaign there was plenty of reason for optimism that he would be able to take off in the future. That did not come to pass, however, as Montero struggled early in the 2013 season before being sidelined by a torn meniscus and accepting a 50-game suspension as part of the Biogensis scandal.

A combination of injuries, under-performance, and the aforementioned suspension left Montero limited to just 73 games in the majors between 2013 and 2015. In that time, he hit a disappointing .217/.255/.374 in 243 plate appearances. Prior to the 2016 season, the Mariners designated Montero for assignment. He went on to play in the minor leagues for the Blue Jays and Orioles throughout the 2016 and ’17 seasons and even found himself named to the Triple-A All-Star game during his time with Triple-A Buffalo, but was suspended for a second time for the use of a banned substance.

Montero played in the Mexican League in 2017 and 2018 before logging 29 games in Venezuelan winter league play. He played his last professional baseball game during the 2020-21 winter league season. In all, Montero made it into 226 MLB games across parts of five seasons and hit .253/.295/.398 with 28 home runs and 31 doubles.

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Montero’s family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.

Joey Loperfido Replaces Anthony Santander On Blue Jays’ Playoff Roster

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Major League Baseball has officially approved the substitution of Joey Loperfido for Anthony Santander on the Blue Jays’ playoff roster. Manager John Schneider told reporters (including Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet) this evening that Santander was dealing with back stiffness. His season is over.

Teams set their postseason rosters at the beginning of each series. They can only make changes mid-series in the event of an injury. A player removed midway through a series is ineligible for the following series if his team advances, so Santander could not participate in the World Series if the Jays come back to beat the Mariners.

Injuries essentially ruined Santander’s first season in Toronto. He was out between the end of May and the middle of September with a left shoulder issue. He didn’t return until the final week of the regular season. Santander has appeared in five of the Jays’ seven postseason games. He missed Game 2 of the ALCS with lower back soreness. Santander returned to the lineup for Game 3 but was replaced by Myles Straw as a defensive substitute in the fifth inning. He finishes his postseason with a 3-15 showing with a pair of runs batted in.

While Davis Schneider drew into the lineup when Santander was out for Game 2, it’s Isiah Kiner-Falefa who picks up the extra playing time tonight. He’s in at second base and batting eighth against Luis Castillo. That pushes Ernie Clement to third base and Addison Barger from the hot corner to right field.

The Jays have carried the same 13 position players for their Division Series and the ALCS. Loperfido had been inactive for both series despite hitting .333/.379/.500 across 41 games during the regular season. He was the only real candidate to join the roster as a left-handed bench bat in Santander’s place. Bo Bichette and Ty France are injured and weren’t ready to go for the beginning of the series. Leo Jiménez finished the season on the Triple-A injured list, leaving light-hitting outfielder Jonatan Clase (who spent the entire second half in Triple-A) as the only other healthy position player on the 40-man roster.

Mitch Bannon and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported that Santander would be removed from the roster. Nicholson-Smith was first to confirm that Loperfido would be the replacement.

MLBTR Podcast: Murakami To Be Posted This Offseason, Managerial Vacancies, And More!

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • Munetaka Murakami to be posted for MLB clubs this offseason (2:20)
  • Ten teams will go into 2026 with a new manager, with eight of those jobs currently vacant (18:50)

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Can the Mets get Tarik Skubal from the Tigers? (29:55)
  • Would Pete Alonso return to the Mets if they offered $150MM over five years? (38:20)
  • The White Sox have a lot of #4 or #5 starters. Which other teams might be interested in them? (40:00)
  • The Nationals have lots of outfielders, one of whom is 6’7″ tall, and no first baseman. Is it stupid to consider James Wood for first base? (44:20)
  • Will this finally be the Mariners’ year and can they keep Josh Naylor? (49:20)

Check out our past episodes!

  • Rockies’ Front Office Changes, Skip Schumaker, And ABS Talk – listen here
  • Mike Elias On The State Of The Orioles – listen here
  • The Tigers And Astros Try To Hang On, And Brewers’ Rotation Issues – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

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