JJ Wetherholt To Make Cardinals’ Opening Day Roster
Infield prospect JJ Wetherholt has made the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster. President of baseball operations Chaim Bloom passed the news along to reporters, including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. Infielders Thomas Saggese and José Fermín as well as outfielder Nathan Church will also break camp with the club, though outfielder Nelson Velázquez will be assigned to Triple-A Memphis. A corresponding move will be necessary to open a spot for Wetherholt.
The news on Wetherholt is notable but not surprising. It has seemed all winter long as though the Cards had planned for him to get a shot in the big leagues. They cleared out their roster this winter by trading guys like Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan. Those trade were partly for cost savings but also to open some playing time for younger players as the Cards are rebuilding and need to assess their young guys in a major league environment.
Wetherholt was one of the main guys who needed some room. The seventh overall pick of the 2024 draft, he climbed to the cusp of the majors last year. He split his time between Double-A and Triple-A, making 496 plate appearances in total. His 14.5% walk rate was excellent and almost as high as his 14.7% strikeout rate. He produced a combined .306/.421/.510 batting line, which translated to a 154 wRC+. He stole 23 bases on the year. His defense at shortstop was considered good enough for him to stay there as a big leaguer but he also played some second and third base.
As the 2026 season drew closer and the annual top 100 lists came out, Wetherholt was in the top 10 of most of them. But at the beginning of the season, the Cards had a fairly crowded infield. Masyn Winn is one of the best defensive shortstops on the majors and is controlled for another four seasons. They had Arenado at third. Donovan could bounce around the diamond but played second base more than any other spot.
As mentioned, the Cards clarified their roster picture over the winter and opened a spot for Wetherholt, though Wynn’s glovework is so strong that he never seemed at risk of being unseated at short. It felt likely that Nolan Gorman would take over at third, with Wetherholt the favorite for the second base gig. In camp, Wetherholt hit two home runs and also drew walks in 20.5% of his 44 plate appearances. Though he was held back by a .200 batting average on balls in play, he still produced a .212/.386/.394 line and 115 wRC+.
That performance was enough to solidify the expected plan, so the Cards will indeed open the season with Wetherholt on the roster. By giving him an Opening Day spot, they will keep the Prospect Promotion Incentive on the table. Since Wetherholt is a consensus top 100 guy, if he spends enough time on the big league roster to earn a full service year this season, he could net the Cards an extra draft pick by winning Rookie of the Year or finishing top three in MVP voting during his pre-arbitration seasons.
That will be a secondary concern. For the Cards, the focus is on putting together a core that can get them back to contention. Ideally, Wetherholt will be a big part of that in the long run, though sometimes even the best prospects don’t find immediate success. The Cards are in a position to let him get a lot of reps in order to maximize the chances of him getting acclimated to the big leagues.
As for the other moves, the Velázquez decision is perhaps the most surprising. In the offseason, the Cards had been looking to add a right-handed complement for their outfield, as Lars Nootbaar and Victor Scott II are both lefties. They didn’t sign any such player to a major league deal but brought Velázquez into camp as a non-roster invitee. As of a week ago, it seemed likely that Velázquez would be getting a spot, especially with Nootbaar slated to start the season on the injured list.
Velázquez put up a monster .357/.449/.667 line in spring training but that evidently wasn’t enough. Perhaps that’s due to roster concerns. As mentioned, the Cards need to open one 40-man spot for Wetherholt. Nootbaar is going to start the season on the 10-day IL but there hasn’t been anything to suggest he will need a move to the 60-day IL. Hunter Dobbins is still rehabbing a torn ACL from last year. It’s unclear how much longer it will take for him to be game ready.
Unless Dobbins ends up on the 60-day IL, the Cards will have to remove someone to make room for Wetherholt, whether that’s a trade or designating someone for assignment. Adding Velázquez would have meant another such move. It doesn’t appear Velázquez has any kind of opt-out in his deal, so the Cards will send him to the minors and keep him around without using a roster spot.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Thairo Estrada Granted Release After Opting Out Of Orioles Deal
Veteran utilityman Thairo Estrada has been granted his release, the team announced. He had an opt-out provision in his minor league contract with Baltimore and is once again a free agent. The O’s also reassigned catcher Maverick Handley and outfielder Jhonkensy Noel to minor league camp. Both were non-roster invitees this spring.
Estrada, 30, went just 2-for-25 with a pair of singles and nine strikeouts this spring. It wasn’t the camp performance he was hoping for after a 2025 season in which he hit only .253/.285/.370 with the Rockies. Injuries limited Estrada to just 165 plate appearances a year ago. He missed time due to a broken wrist, a sprained thumb and a strained hamstring during a snakebit season.
From 2021 to 2023, Estrada slashed .266/.320/.416 with the Giants (105 wRC+). He eventually found himself upgraded from a utility role to the team’s starting second baseman. He combined that slightly above average bat with a strong glove to become a valuable player for San Francisco for a few years.
Things began to turn the wrong direction in 2024 — a season in which a left wrist sprain limited Estrada to just 96 games. He hit a paltry .217/.247/.343 (68 wRC+) even when he was healthy enough to take the field. The Giants cut him loose, and a one-year deal with the Rockies didn’t help him right the ship.
With Estrada being cut loose, the Orioles’ options for the final spot on Craig Albernaz’s bench include Jeremiah Jackson, Bryan Ramos and Weston Wilson. Jackson and Ramos are both on the 40-man roster. Jackson is hitting .333/.353/.545 in 34 spring plate appearances but has minor league options remaining. Ramos is hitting .297/.366/.459 in 41 plate appearances and is out of minor league options. Wilson has hit .241/.405/.448 and has the most outfield experience of the group.
Non-roster invitee Luis Vázquez had been in the running for a utility role as well, but Albernaz revealed this afternoon that Vázquez suffered a broken thumb yesterday when he was hit by a pitch (link via Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner). There’s no timetable for his return, but the ill-timed injury obviously takes him out of the running for a roster spot. He’ll stick with the O’s as a depth option and rehab the injury in their system.
Carson Benge To Make Mets’ Roster
Outfield prospect Carson Benge is going to break camp with the Mets, reports Mike Puma of The New York Post. He will be the starting right fielder on Opening Day, per Chelsea Janes of SNY. The Mets will need to open a 40-man spot in order to officially select Benge’s contract.
The move is notable but not shocking. During the offseason, president of baseball operations David Stearns consistently said that Benge would have a chance to break camp with the club. The 19th overall pick from 2024, he mashed his way through High-A and Double-A last year.
He seemed to stall out at Triple-A, with a .178/.272/.311 line in 24 games to finish the year, but there were reasons to not worry about that too much. His 18.4% strikeout rate was good and his 8.7% walk rate around average. His .188 batting average on balls in play was tiny. It seemed more like fluky bad luck than a young hitter being overmatched.
The Mets, as mentioned, wanted to leave a path open for him to reach the big leagues. They did bring in some contingency plans. They signed Mike Tauchman to a minor league deal. MJ Melendez got a 40-man spot but still has an option. It felt like the right field job would be Benge’s to lose and he didn’t do anything to lose it. He hit .366/.435/.439 in Grapefruit League action. That line got some help from an unsustainable .469 BABIP but the Mets were trending towards giving Benge the job as long as he didn’t look overwhelmed.
Melendez was optioned to the minors last week. The Mets were perhaps trending towards rostering both Benge and Tauchman, but the latter tore the meniscus in his left knee a few days ago. That only gave Benge a firmer hold on the job.
There’s always risk in handing a job over to a prospect, as even some very talented young players struggle when first called up, but Benge has shown he deserves a shot. Even including his Triple-A swoon, he hit a combined .281/.385/.472 last year for a 150 wRC+. He stole 22 bases. His defensive abilities are considered strong enough for him to be a plus corner outfielder and maybe even a decent center fielder. He’ll begin the season in right but it’s not out of the question that he eventually spends a decent amount of time in the middle spot with center field manned by the oft-injured Luis Robert Jr..
By carrying Benge on the Opening Day roster, the Mets will open up the possibility of the Prospect Promotion Incentive. He’s a consensus top 25 prospect in the league. If he stays in the majors for enough of the campaign to earn a full year of service, he could net the Mets an extra draft pick by winning Rookie of the Year or with a top three finish in MVP voting during his pre-arbitration seasons.
If things don’t go well with Benge, then the Mets will have to turn to some backup plans. Tauchman has an opt-out in his minor league deal but presumably won’t trigger it while hurt, so he’ll be back in the mix whenever he’s healthy again. Melendez will be on optional assignment in Triple-A, alongside Jared Young and Nick Morabito. Brett Baty is going to be in a super utility role now that Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien are at third and second base respectively. Tyrone Taylor will be on the bench as a glove-first fourth outfielder. The Tauchman injury might also allow Vidal Bruján to stick on the bench in a utility role.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Mitch Alcala, Imagn Images
Nationals To Select Cionel Pérez
Left-handed reliever Cionel Pérez has been informed that he’s made the Nationals’ Opening Day roster, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. Pérez is in camp as a non-roster invitee, so the Nats will need to open a 40-man roster spot in order to formally add him to the club.
Pérez, 29, signed a minor league deal back in February and has had a terrific spring. The veteran southpaw has pitched six innings and held opponents scoreless on only two hits and a walk with five strikeouts. He’s kept a hearty 53.3% of batted balls against him on the ground and sat 95.7 mph with his four-seamer and 95.5 mph with his sinker.
Originally signed by the Astros after defecting from Cuba, Pérez struggled through several seasons in Houston and Cincinnati before breaking out with the Orioles in 2022. A then-26-year-old Pérez fired 57 2/3 innings with a pristine 1.40 ERA. For three seasons, Pérez was a largely reliable arm in Baltimore, compiling 164 2/3 innings with a 3.12 ERA, 57 holds and six saves.
In 2025, Pérez stumbled badly out of the gate and never managed to find his footing. He opened the season with 21 2/3 innings of 8.31 ERA ball, including five runs in his final appearance, before being designated for assignment. He went unclaimed on waivers and spent the rest of the season in Triple-A Norfolk, where he posted a 6.65 ERA in 22 1/3 innings.
Pérez’s undoing last season was a sudden erosion of his already sub-par command. Even during his three quality seasons with the O’s, he walked 10-11% of his opponents. In 2025, he walked more than 16% of the batters he faced both in the majors and in Triple-A. He also lost a mile per hour off his four-seamer and a half-mile off his sinker.
Pérez will reportedly earn $1.9MM on his deal now that he’s made the roster. He can pick up another $700K worth of incentives. He has just under five years of big league service, meaning if he gets back on track, the Nats can control him through 2027 via arbitration. Pérez instantly becomes the most experienced reliever in the rebuilding Nationals’ bullpen and could even find himself in high-leverage spots, given the team’s lack of established relievers.
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.
Guardians Outright Nolan Jones; Hunter Gaddis, George Valera Likely Starting Season On IL
TODAY: Jones accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A, according to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
MARCH 20: The Guardians outrighted outfielder Nolan Jones off the roster, reports Zack Meisel of The Athletic. That indicates the Guards passed him through waivers in recent days. Their 40-man count drops to 39. Jones has the right to elect free agency but likely won’t do so because he would have to forfeit his $2MM salary. Meisel adds that right-hander Hunter Gaddis and outfielder George Valera are highly likely to begin the season on the injured list.
Jones, 28 in May, seemed to have a breakout season with the Rockies in 2023. He had a 20-20 season that year in just 106 games. His .297/.389/.542 batting line translated to a 137 wRC+. He got some help from a .401 batting average on balls in play but it would have been a strong campaign even with more neutral luck in that department. On the whole, FanGraphs considered him to be worth 3.7 wins above replacement that year.
He has been far less productive since then. His offense cratered in 2024. The Rockies traded him back to the Guardians, his original organization, ahead of the 2025 season. Returning to Cleveland didn’t help him get back on track. He has a .218/.307/.311 line and 71 wRC+ since the start of the 2024 season and his defensive metrics have also declined. Despite the diminished production and the fact that Jones is out of options, the Guards tendered him a contract this winter. Jones and the club avoided arbitration with a $2MM pre-tender deal in November.
Jones also hasn’t had a good spring, having hit .152/.222/.303 in 36 plate appearances. Given the downward trend with his performance, his out-of-options status and his salary, it’s unsurprising that no club claimed him via waivers.
Players with at least three years of service time have the right to reject outright assignments in favor of electing free agency. However, if they have less than five years of service, they have to walk away from their remaining salary commitments in doing so. Jones has three years and seven days of service. If he were to elect free agency, he would have to leave $2MM on the table. It seems highly likely that he’ll head to Triple-A and look to get back on track at that level.
As for the injuries, Meisel didn’t provide specifics but both players have been slowed by minor issues in recent weeks. Gaddis made just one in-game appearance this spring, which was back in late February. He then experienced some forearm tightness and underwent imaging, which came back clean, per Tim Stebbins of MLB.com. His timeline still isn’t clear. A season-opening stint on the 15-day IL can be backdated three days, so he could be back less than two weeks into the season, though that scenario is obviously dependant on him building back up to readiness in that time frame.
Gaddis has been a key setup arm for the Guards in recent years, with 68 holds since the start of 2024. He posted a 3.11 earned run average last year while striking out 26.6% of opponents and limiting walks to a 7.7% clip. For whatever time Gaddis misses, guys like Shawn Armstrong and Erik Sabrowski will move up to leverage roles in front of closer Cade Smith.
Valera was diagnosed with a mild left calf strain about a week ago, per Stebbins. Assuming he hits the 10-day IL to start the year, that subtracts him from the Opening Day outfield mix. If the injury proves to be mild, perhaps he could be back a week into the season with the three-day backdating, but his timeline from a health perspective isn’t clear.
Meisel notes that Steven Kwan will play at least some center field this year. He had primarily been a left fielder in recent seasons, with just one inning in center since 2022. Time will tell how often they’ll put Kwan in the middle spot but that should give them greater flexibility to work in other guys. Valera will be in that outfield rotation when he’s healthy. For now, Chase DeLauter, Ángel Martínez, C.J. Kayfus and Daniel Schneemann appear to be jockeying for the outfield playing time. Petey Halpin was optioned today, per Meisel, so he’ll start the season in Triple-A.
Photo courtesy of David Richard, Imagn Images
White Sox Re-Sign Lucas Sims
The White Sox have re-signed right-hander Lucas Sims to a new minor league contract, according to 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine. Sims was released after exercising an opt-out clause in his previous minors deal with the Sox two days ago, but he has quickly rejoined the fold and will even pitch in tonight’s Spring Training game against the Mariners.
A veteran of nine MLB seasons, Sims didn’t see much big league action in 2025, as he was rocked to the tune of a 13.86 ERA over 12 1/3 innings out of the Nationals bullpen. Though Sims signed a one-year, $3MM free agent deal with Washington last winter, his struggles were so extreme that the Nats released him in May. Sims caught on with the Phillies on a minors deal but didn’t perform well at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, delivering a 5.56 ERA across 34 innings.
Control has always been an issue for Sims, but things reached a point of absurdity last year when he issued 43 walks (against 49 strikeouts) over his 46 1/3 total innings at the Major League and Triple-A levels, as well as eight wild pitches and 16 hit batters. Sims issued three free passes during his five innings of Cactus League work with the White Sox this spring, though he’d also recorded seven strikeouts in those five scoreless frames.
This lack of command has inevitably led to volatility in Sims’ results, but he has always been able to miss bats. At his best, Sims was able to overcome his control problems to deliver some quality results during his days with the Reds, including a 3.10 ERA across 61 innings. Sims appears to be ticketed for Triple-A Charlotte to see if he can finally harness his control at least enough to manage a return to the majors, and the White Sox could turn to Sims at some point if a need develops in their bullpen.
Giants Release Joey Lucchesi
The Giants have released left-hander Joey Lucchesi, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports. Lucchesi was non-tendered by San Francisco last November and then re-signed to a minor league deal a couple of weeks ago, but the recent signing of southpaw Ryan Borucki apparently made Lucchesi again expendable. Heyman wrote that Lucchesi was “granted his release,” so it could be that the team agreed to Lucchesi’s request to be let go, or the left-hander might have triggered an out clause in his contract if he learned he wasn’t making the Opening Day roster.
Lucchesi first landed in San Francisco on a minors deal last offseason, and posted a 3.76 ERA, 7.3% walk rate, and 18.8% strikeout rate over 38 1/3 innings out of the Giants’ bullpen after his contract was selected in mid-June. The bottom-line ERA was respectable and Lucchesi had a strong 53% grounder rate, but the Giants still decided to pass on tendering a contract rather than pay Lucchesi a projected $2MM arbitration salary.
2025 marked the first time in Lucchesi’s seven MLB seasons that he worked exclusively out of the bullpen, and he went longer than an inning in only seven of his 38 Giants appearances. Rather than acting as a swingman or even a true long reliever, Lucchesi could be settling into more of a traditional relief role, though it certainly can’t hurt that he looks capable of slightly longer stints. Left-handed hitters have rarely been able to do much against Lucchesi, as he has held lefty swingers to a .219/.296/.301 slash line over his career.
Lucchesi is out of minor league options, which adds another hurdle in his quest to land with a new team. Unless he sticks in the majors and delivers particularly solid results, Lucchesi could find himself in DFA/waiver wire limbo, as the proverbial 26th man on the roster. That said, teams are always in need of left-handed depth, so Lucchesi may not have to wait long before he finds another contract.
Braves To Include Didier Fuentes On Opening Day Roster
TODAY: The Braves are planning to send Fuentes down to Triple-A in a couple of weeks to stretch him back out as a starter, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman writes. It seems like Fuentes’ long relief role will last only through Atlanta’s season-opening 13-game stretch.
MARCH 21: Right-hander Didier Fuentes has won himself a spot on the Braves’ Opening Day roster, ESPN’s Jeff Passan writes. The 20-year-old Fuentes made his big league debut last season with four starts and 13 innings for Atlanta, and he’ll now return to the Show in what Passan says will be a relief role.
Fuentes’ bullpen assignment provides some more clarity to the Braves’ rotation picture. Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, Spencer Strider, and Grant Holmes have the top four positions, and Bryce Elder and Jose Suarez now appear to be the last two candidates for the fifth starter role. Fuentes is headed to the bullpen, top prospect JR Ritchie was assigned to the minor league camp yesterday, and minor league signing Martin Perez will remain in the organization but isn’t being included on the Opening Day roster.
With Spencer Schwellenbach, Hurston Waldrep, and Joey Wentz all felled by injuries, rotation depth has been one of the primary storylines of Atlanta’s spring. This opened the door for multiple pitchers to try and win a job, and while Fuentes isn’t being ticketed for rotation duty, he certainly caught the Braves’ attention with an incredible Grapefruit League performance. Over three appearances and nine spotless innings, Fuentes didn’t allow even one walk or a hit, while striking out 17 batters — one HBP was the only thing keeping Fuentes from an unofficial perfect game during his spring work.
It is certainly possible Fuentes could receive a proper starting assignment, depending on how exactly the Braves choose to line up their rotation through a busy opening to the season. Atlanta doesn’t receive its first off-day until April 9, so it is very likely that both Elder and Suarez (or Fuentes) could get starts if the Braves deploy a six-man rotation in the early going. Even if Fuentes may not start, his ability to eat multiple innings out of the pen should prove useful as the Braves navigate this stretch of 13 straight games.
Fuentes has started 48 of his 52 career games in the minors, and his 2025 season saw the righty pitch at three different minor league levels as well as his four-start cup of coffee with the Braves. It may have been too much too soon for Fuentes since he was torched for an 13.85 ERA in his first exposure to MLB hitters, but the Braves had to dig into their depth chart after a swath of injuries wiped out their rotation last summer.
Fuentes has shown a knack for recording strikeouts and limiting walks in the minors, and some bad batted-ball luck might be why his 3.73 ERA over 202 2/3 minor league innings doesn’t exactly stand out. Still, there’s some obvious potential here even at Fuentes’ young age, and his huge spring numbers indicate that Fuentes might thrive as a reliever. While the Braves’ hand with Fuentes may have been forced by injuries last year, the team hasn’t been shy about quickly promoting prospects they feel can provide immediate help.
Phillies Re-Sign Tim Mayza To MLB Deal, Return Zach McCambley To Marlins, Re-Assign Lou Trivino
4:47PM: The Phillies also re-assigned right-hander Lou Trivino to Triple-A. Like Mayza, Trivino is an Article XX(B) player with an opt-out in his minors contract this weekend. It isn’t yet clear if Trivino will trigger his clause and enter free agency, or if he’ll bide his time at Triple-A until his next opt-out date on May 1.
9:21AM: The Phillies announced this morning that left-hander Tim Mayza was re-signed to a major league contract after the lefty exercised his opt-out clause in his minor league deal and was granted his release by the organization yesterday. To make room for Mayza on the 40-man roster, right-handed Rule 5 selection Zach McCambley was returned to the Marlins. McCambley was evidently place on (and successfully cleared) waivers at some point prior to the move to return him to Miami.
Mayza, 34, is entering his ninth major league season. He’s spent the majority of his career to this point as a member of the Blue Jays, and after an uneven start to his career when he made his major league debut in 2017 through the end of the 2019 season, he emerged from a 2020 campaign lost to injury to become one of Toronto’s more steady relief arms. From 2021 through 2023, Mayza turned in high quality results for the Jays with a 2.67 ERA and a 3.20 FIP in 155 innings of work. Of course, it should be noted that those strong numbers came with a major platoon split. While his ERA against southpaws was just 0.67, his numbers against right-handers were far more pedestrian: he sported a 4.19 ERA, a 3.96 FIP, and a 24.7% strikeout rate across those three seasons.
Even factoring in those lesser numbers against righties, however, Mayza’s fall from grace in 2024 was a shocking one. Across 50 appearances, the lefty’s ERA ballooned all the way up to 6.33, and while his 4.50 FIP suggests some of that was due to poor fortune on batted balls and sequencing he still struck out a paltry 14.4%. Ugly as those season long numbers are, however, Mayza did show some signs of returning to form after he was shipped to the Yankees midway through the season; in 18 innings of work with the Bombers, Mayza turned in a 4.00 ERA with a 3.94 FIP, though his strikeout rate still sat at a well-below average 16.2%.
That left Mayza in an uncertain place headed into 2025, and while he landed a big league deal with the Pirates he spent most of the season on the injured list due to a lat strain. He pitched just 15 total innings in the majors last year between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia (who claimed him off waivers from the Pirates midseason). In that time, he posted a 3.78 ERA and 4.16 FIP that’s more or less in line with his work as a member of the Yankees. His strikeout rate did tick back up to a more respectable 20.3%, however, and that was enough to convince the Phillies to give him another shot on a minor league pact entering camp. Mayza’s 5.40 ERA in 8 1/3 spring innings isn’t exactly inspiring, but the big news from camp is that the strikeouts appear to be back. He’s punched out 27.0% of his opponents this spring, and that was enough to convince the Phillies to put him back on their roster for the 2026 season.
As for McCambley, the righty was a third-round pick by the Marlins back in 2020. Initially drafted as a starter, McCambley converted to relief during the 2022 season and climbed the rest of the minor league ladder as a reliever. He split the 2025 season between Triple-A and Double-A, and in that time posted a combined 2.90 ERA with a 33.1% strikeout rate in 62 innings of work. That was enough to catch Philadephia’s attention in the Rule 5 draft, but he walked (six) more hitters than he struck out (four) in his 7 1/3 innings of work with the Phillies during Spring Training. That lack of control was enough for the Phillies to decide to move on from McCambley, who now returns to the Marlins as a non-roster piece who could nonetheless be called upon to contribute out of the bullpen at some point this year.