RSS Braves Team Notes

[Atlanta Braves]

Ha-Seong Kim Out Four To Five Months Following Hand Surgery

The Braves announced this afternoon that infielder Ha-Seong Kim suffered a hand injury while in South Korea and underwent surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right middle finger. The procedure was performed today in Atlanta and the expected recovery time is 4 to 5 months, per the announcement. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports that Kim suffered the injury after falling on ice.

It’s a brutal revelation for the Braves, who claimed Kim off waivers from the Rays back in September in hopes of luring him to Atlanta for the 2026 season as well. While he opted out of his player option for the 2026 campaign, he eventually re-signed with the Braves on a one-year, $20MM deal back in December. Bringing Kim back into the fold was one of their biggest splashes this winter, alongside the addition of Robert Suarez to the back of the bullpen. Kim also figured to address perhaps the biggest weakness of their entire roster; the team’s 54 wRC+ at shortstop last year was dead last in the majors, and their 0.4 fWAR at the position bested only the Guardians and Rockies. When healthy, Kim is a reliable three-to-four win player thanks to his roughly league average bat and phenomenal defense.

Unfortunately, “when healthy” is becoming an increasingly key phrase when discussing Kim’s career. He suffered a torn labrum in his right shoulder in August of 2024 that brought his time with the Padres to an abrupt end, leaving him sidelined for the stretch run and the Padres’ efforts to get past the eventual World Champion Dodgers in a hotly contested NLDS that San Diego ultimately lost in five. The Rays had enough faith in his talent to sign Kim to a two-year guarantee last winter, even knowing that he would miss the first few months of the season while rehabbing from surgery on his aforementioned torn labrum. That gamble did not pay off. Kim didn’t make his Rays debut until after the All-Star break last year as recovery from surgery took longer than expected, and and wound up heading back to the injured list multiple times due to back and calf injuries.

Kim seemed like a lock to pick up his 2026 player option when he was claimed off waivers by Atlanta, but a solid showing in 24 September games with the Braves convinced him to test the market. That proved to be a savvy decision, as the Braves ultimately brought him back on a higher salary than he would’ve made had he simply accepted his $16MM option. While the deal cost Atlanta an extra $4MM, it was easy to see why they’d be willing to make that bet on a player with Kim’s talent, particularly given their needs at shortstop and the thin market around the rest of the roster. Kim could certainly help to rejuvenate what was a sluggish offense last year by providing a massive upgrade over incumbent shortstop Nick Allen, who was traded to Houston earlier this winter.

They’ll now have to wait to feel that impact until near the end of the first half, at the earliest. The early end of Kim’s recovery timeline would put him back on the field in mid-May, but he well might need extra time to ramp up after missing all of Spring Training and spending much of last year on the injured list as well. In the meantime, the Braves have utility man Mauricio Dubon to turn to as their everyday shortstop. Dubon is miscast as an everyday regular but should be a decent enough fill-in option. Losing his versatile glove from the bench puts pressure on the rest of the roster, and an Atlanta offense that looked generally complete this morning could now clearly use another addition, even if that player is just a depth option.

Bringing someone like Isiah Kiner-Falefa into the fold would certainly help stabilize things, but after the Braves scaled their payroll up by nearly $50MM this winter (according to RosterResource) with the additions of Kim, Suarez, and Mike Yastrzemski it’s hard to say if there’s room in the budget for even that sort of mid-level signing. The market for shortstop help is exceedingly thin at this point, but perhaps a depth signing like Jorge Mateo could help fill out the roster until Kim returns. Of course, president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos is known for his creativity and could look to explore the trade market for help. Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner has been widely discussed in trade rumors this winter, particularly after the club’s recent signing of Alex Bregman, and has played shortstop well in the past. The Mets have a cadre of infield talent that’s been squeezed out by the Bo Bichette deal, but it’s unclear if the team would be willing to trade someone like Ronny Mauricio or Luisangel Acuna within the division.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026...ur-to-five-months-following-hand-surgery.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Braves Sign Jorge Mateo

The Braves announced today that they have signed utility player Jorge Mateo to a one-year deal. The Movement Baseball client gets a $1MM guarantee, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. Atlanta opened a 40-man roster last week when José Suarez was put on waivers and claimed by the Orioles. This move gets them back to a full 40-man roster.

It is probably not a coincidence that Atlanta is signing a shortstop-capable player one day after the unfortunate Ha-Seong Kim news. Atlanta announced yesterday that Kim hurt his hand, reportedly from slipping on ice, in South Korea. He underwent surgery in Atlanta to repair a torn tendon in his right middle finger. He is expected to miss four to five months, meaning he will be out for a decent chunk of the first half of the upcoming season.

Kim was previously slated to be the club’s everyday shortstop, with Mauricio Dubón in a multi-positional bench role. Kim’s injury suddenly vaulted Dubón up to being the club’s everyday shortstop, which would be a bit of a stretch for him. He has played the position in 107 games in his career, logging 721 innings, but last year’s 33 contests were a career high. He’s been credited with 13 Outs Above Average at the spot in his career but Defensive Runs Saved has him one below par.

The depth behind him was also lacking. Nacho Alvarez Jr. is on the roster and has shortstop experience in the minors but Atlanta kept him at second and third base last year. Even if he were a viable shortstop, he hasn’t hit much in his big league career yet. Aaron Schunk was signed to a minor league deal but his shortstop experience is also fairly limited and his offensive numbers are even worse than Alvarez’s to this point.

Going into the season with that kind of group would have been unacceptable for a team hoping to contend, so responding in some way was inevitable. Mateo isn’t a guarantee to help, as he is coming off a couple of injury-marred seasons, but there also wasn’t much else out there on the market. With Bo Bichette heading to the Mets, the top shortstop free agents are veteran utility types like Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ramón Urías.

Atlanta is taking a cheap bounce-back flier on Mateo, with a deal barely above next year’s $780K minimum salary. As mentioned, Mateo is coming off a few challenging seasons. In July of 2024, he was playing second base for the Orioles when he and Gunnar Henderson both slid for a ground ball. They collided and Mateo suffered a subluxation of his left elbow. He underwent surgery in August, prematurely ending his season.

Inflammation in that elbow put him back on the injured list in June of 2025. While on a rehab assignment, he suffered a hamstring strain which kept him on the shelf for July and August. Due to all those injury challenges, Mateo only played 111 games over the past two years combined. He also produced a lowly .214/.253/.362 line in that time. Baltimore made a fairly easy call to turn down a $5.5MM club option for 2026, sending Mateo to free agency.

Atlanta probably isn’t expecting much from Mateo offensively, as that has never been his forte. His career batting line is just .221/.266/.363, which translates to a wRC+ of 75, indicating he’s been 25% below league average overall. If healthy, he will surely provide value from a speed-and-defense perspective. He topped 30 steals in both 2022 and 2023. Over the past two years, despite the injury absences, he still swiped 28 bags. In 2025, he stole 15 bases even though he only got into 43 games.

With the glove, Mateo has 2,320 1/3 innings at shortstop, more than three times as many as Dubón. Mateo has been credited with 13 Defensive Runs Saved and six Outs Above Average in those. He also has experience at second base, third base and all three outfield positions.

Adding Mateo gives Atlanta a bit more depth and flexibility to cover for Kim’s absence. Dubón is a better hitter than Mateo, though he’s not exactly a slugger. His career .257/.295/.374 batting line translates to an 85 wRC+, ten points ahead of Mateo but 15 below par. Mateo has the edge in terms of speed. Defensively, OAA likes Dubón but DRS leans to the more-experienced Mateo.

Both players hit from the right side and have traditional splits, with better career numbers against lefties, so a platoon isn’t likely. Atlanta can perhaps have the two battle for shortstop playing time in spring training. Both have extensive experience at other positions as well, so a utility role is possible for either or both. Once Kim returns, he should push them both to the bench, though it’s entirely possible other injuries pop up around the roster between now and then.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/01/braves-sign-jorge-mateo.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones Elected To Hall Of Fame

The Baseball Writers Association of America announced that Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones have been elected to the Hall of Fame. They’ll be inducted into Cooperstown alongside Jeff Kent, who was elected by the Era Committee, on July 26. Beltrán appeared on 84.2% of ballots, while Jones got to a 78.4% vote share.

Beltrán gets the honor in his fourth year. The switch-hitting outfielder was the only player who fell between 70% and 75% on last year’s ballot. His positive trend lines made it a near lock that he’d surpass the 75% threshold this winter.

The Royals drafted Beltrán, a native of Puerto Rico, in the second round in 1995. He reached the big leagues as a September call-up three years later and ranked as one of the sport’s top prospects going into his first full season in 1999. Scouting reports projected him as a potential five-tool center fielder, and Beltrán lived up to that billing immediately.

He hit .293/.337/.454 with 22 homers and 27 stolen bases during his debut campaign. Beltrán was the runaway choice for American League Rookie of the Year, the first of many accolades he’d accrue over the next two decades. Injuries and a sophomore slump limited his playing time in 2000, but Beltrán reestablished himself as one of the sport’s best outfielders the following year. He’d hit above .300 in two of the next three seasons, earning his first top 10 MVP finish behind a .307/.389/.522 showing in 2003.

The roster around Beltrán was not nearly as strong. A small-market Kansas City franchise was unlikely to re-sign him, making him a top trade chip as he entered his final season of club control. The Royals dealt Beltrán, a first-time All-Star, to the Astros midway through the ’04 season. He appeared on the National League roster — Houston was then an NL team — and finished 12th in MVP balloting despite spending the first three months in the American League. Beltrán hit .258/.368/.559 with 23 homers in 90 regular season games for Houston.

His introduction to the postseason couldn’t have gone any better. Beltrán batted .435 with eight homers in 12 playoff games, helping Houston to within one game of a trip to the World Series. The Astros would go on to win the pennant one year later, but Beltrán had moved on in free agency by that point. He signed what was then a franchise-record deal with the Mets: seven years and $119MM.

Beltrán’s first season in Queens was a bit of a disappointment, but he rebounded with arguably the best season of his career in 2006. He hit a career-best 41 home runs and drove in a personal-high 116 runs with a .275/.388/.594 slash line. Beltrán won his first Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards while finishing fourth in MVP voting. Baseball Reference credited him with eight wins above replacement, the best mark of his career. He remained a force into the playoffs, batting .278 with a .422 on-base percentage over 10 games.

For the second time in three years, Beltrán’s team lost the seventh game of an NLCS battle with the Cardinals. The ’07 Mets famously melted down in September to squander the NL East title to the Phillies. They wouldn’t return to the playoffs during Beltrán’s tenure, yet there’s no doubt they got their money’s worth from the free agent investment. Beltrán played in 839 games while hitting .280/.369/.500 with 149 homers over six and a half seasons in a Mets uniform.

The club also netted a top pitching prospect named Zack Wheeler when they traded the impending free agent to the Giants in 2011. He raked down the stretch with San Francisco, but they narrowly missed the postseason between their World Series wins in 2010 and ’12. Beltrán signed a two-year deal with the Cardinals the following year. He hit .282/.343/.493 over his time in St. Louis, but his impact again was brightest in the postseason. Beltrán was a stellar playoff performer in both years.

Beltrán signed a three-year contract with the Yankees over the 2013-14 offseason. He remained an above-average hitter over his time in the Bronx, albeit without the defensive value he’d had for the majority of his career. He made it back to the playoffs in 2016 after being dealt to the Rangers at the deadline. Beltrán finished his career on a one-year contract to return to the Astros.

The final season in Houston wound up leaving Beltrán with a complicated legacy. He was an integral part of the team’s sign-stealing operation that wasn’t publicly revealed until a few seasons thereafter. Beltrán wasn’t much of an on-field contributor at age 40, but he collected his first World Series ring when the Astros won their first title in franchise history.

Beltrán’s role in the sign-stealing scandal became public over the 2019-20 offseason. He had just been hired by the Mets as manager a few months earlier. He stepped down and forfeited his salary once the operation became public. Beltrán has remained involved in the game in less prominent roles, working as a television analyst with the YES Network and spending the past few seasons as a special assistant in the Mets’ front office. He’s also in charge of building the roster for the Puerto Rican national team at the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

The sign-stealing scandal probably delayed Beltrán’s entry to Cooperstown. His statistical résumé made him a very strong candidate to get in on the first ballot. He finished his playing days with a .279/.350/.486 batting line. He hit 435 home runs, stole 312 bases, and drove in nearly 1600. Baseball Reference valued his career at 70 WAR, which doesn’t even account for his playoff excellence. Jay Jaffe’s JAWS metric has him as a top 10 center fielder of all time. Whatever trepidation some voters may have had about honoring him within the first couple years on the ballot, the end result is that he’s headed to Cooperstown to cement his legacy as one of the best center fielders to play the game.

That’s also the case for Jones, who ranks 11th among center fielders by the same JAWS calculation. He gets in on his ninth year on the ballot, one season after receiving 66% of the vote. A native of Curacao, Jones signed with the Braves as an international amateur and flew through the minor leagues. He was the #1 prospect in the game when he reached the majors in the second half of the 1996 season. Jones stepped seamlessly onto a loaded Atlanta roster that was midway through their run of dominance in the National League. They were coming off a championship and would head back to the Fall Classic in ’96.

A 19-year-old Jones embraced the big stage, hitting .345 with a trio of home runs in October. That included a two-homer showing in Game 1 against the Yankees, and he remains the youngest player ever to hit a World Series home run. The Braves won the first game but wound up dropping the series in six.

Jones played mostly right field during his first full season. He hit .231 with 18 homers in 153 games and finished fifth in NL Rookie of the Year balloting. He really took off the following year, kicking off a decade-long run as the sport’s best defensive outfielder and a premier power threat. Jones hit 31 homers while batting .271/.321/.515 and earning his first Gold Glove in 1998. That was his first of seven 30-homer campaigns and, more remarkably, the start of a streak of 10 consecutive Gold Glove awards.

He’d start all 162 games for the Braves in 1999, playing elite defense while batting .275/.365/.483 with 26 homers and 35 doubles. The Braves made it back to the World Series after losing the NLCS in the prior two seasons. They were again knocked off by the Yankees, this time in a sweep. Jones didn’t have great playoff numbers over that stretch but remained one of the league’s best players in the regular season. He hit 36 homers in a 2000 season which Baseball Reference valued at eight wins above replacement, a career high that ranked fourth in MLB among position players.

Jones earned an eighth-place MVP finish in 2000 and very likely would have finished higher had today’s defensive metrics been around at the time. He reeled off another three 30-plus homer seasons after that, narrowly dropping below that cutoff with a 29-homer showing in 2004. He rebounded with his most impressive offensive performance in ’05, as he slugged an MLB-best 51 longballs and led the National League with 128 runs batted in. Jones won a Silver Slugger for the first and only time and finished as the MVP runner-up behind Albert Pujols. It was a narrow split, as Pujols received 18 first-place votes against Jones’ 13. (Third-place finisher Derrek Lee received the other one.)

The righty hitter remained an impact run producer the following season, as he slugged 41 more home runs with a career-high 129 RBI. That was his last impact season, as his rate stats dropped in 2007. The Braves let him depart in free agency at season’s end, and he was essentially finished as an everyday player at age 31. Jones played parts of five more seasons between the Dodgers, Rangers, White Sox and Yankees. He didn’t record more than 64 hits in any of his final five campaigns.

While it was a precipitous decline, Jones had one of the more impressive peaks in baseball history. He hit 368 home runs with a .263/.342/.497 batting line between his debut and the end of his age-30 season. Retroactive defensive metrics come with significant error bars, but FanGraphs estimates he was roughly 134 runs better than an average defender during that stretch. That’s 25 runs clear of the second-place finisher at any position (Adrian Beltré) and certainly aligns with both his impressive accolades and scouting evaluations that consider him among the best outfield defenders in MLB history. Jones is one of six outfielders to win 10 Gold Gloves. He’s alongside Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Al Kaline and Ichiro in that company and now, in Cooperstown.

Jones finished his career as a .254/.337/.486 hitter. His 434 homers place him one behind Beltrán for sixth among center fielders and tied with Juan González for 49th regardless of position. He nevertheless had a lengthy stay on the ballot as some voters struggled with his lack of production after he left Atlanta. Others may have withheld a vote on moral grounds, as Jones pleaded guilty to domestic battery charges and paid a fine after his wife alleged that he put his hands around her neck in December 2012. That came after the end of Jones’ MLB career, though he subsequently played two seasons in Japan to finish his professional playing days.

While Jones will certainly go into the Hall as a Brave, Beltrán had a nomadic enough career to consider a few options for his plaque. The Hall of Fame has final say but works with the player to choose which cap they’ll don. Beltrán tells Bob Nightengale of USA Today that while no decision has been finalized, he’s likely to go into Cooperstown as a Met.

Looking further down the ballot, Chase Utley’s 59% vote share was the highest among the candidates who were not elected. That’s up 20 points relative to last winter. It puts Utley, who has been on the ballot for three years, on track for eventual enshrinement — with an outside chance that he gets in as soon as next year. No other candidate appeared on more than half the ballots.

Of this year’s first-time candidates, only Cole Hamels (23.8%) received more than the 5% necessary to remain under consideration. All but one player who fell off the ballot was up for consideration for the first time. The lone exception is Manny Ramírez, who drops off after coming up short in his 10th year. Ramírez’s history of performance-enhancing drug use (including a failed test) made him a non-starter for many voters, and he appeared on fewer than 40% of ballots in his final year. His only path to enshrinement is via the Era Committees, and their decision last month on Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens makes it difficult to see a scenario where Ramírez ever gets in.

Next year will be the final consideration for Omar Vizquel, who has no chance of jumping from 18% to induction. Buster Posey and Jon Lester headline a class of first-time candidates that’ll also include Ryan Zimmerman, Kyle Seager, Brett Gardner and Jake Arrieta. Posey seems likely to get serious consideration for first-ballot induction, while Lester should easily have enough support to get more than 5% and remain on the ballot for future seasons.

Full voter breakdown courtesy of BBWAA. Respective images via USA Today Sports.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/01/carlos-beltran-andruw-jones-elected-to-hall-of-fame.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Braves Sign Tayler Scott, Tristin English To Minor League Deals

The Braves signed right-handers Javy Guerra and Blayne Enlow to minor league contracts (h/t to Baseball America’s Matt Eddy). They also added first baseman Tristin English and reliever Tayler Scott on minor league deals last month, according to the MLB.com transaction log.

Scott, 33, is a well-traveled righty who made 24 appearances between the Astros and Diamondbacks last year. He struggled to a 7.90 earned run average over 27 1/3 innings. The South Africa-born pitcher is only a year removed from firing 68 2/3 frames of 2.23 ERA ball with Houston. He carries a 5.51 mark with a 21.2% strikeout percentage and 12.2% walk rate over parts of five MLB campaigns.

Guerra returns to affiliated ball after two seasons in Japan. The 30-year-old infielder turned reliever was employed by the Hanshin Tigers from 2024-25. Guerra pitched to a 1.55 ERA across 59 appearances two seasons ago. He nevertheless spent most of last year with the Tigers’ minor league affiliate, only pitching 4 2/3 innings at the NPB level. The Panamanian-born Guerra has a big arm but has struggled to throw strikes since making the mid-career move to pitching.

English, a 28-year-old first baseman, played seven games for the Diamondbacks last year. He went 2-22 with a walk and eight strikeouts. English had a good season for Arizona’s Triple-A affiliate, batting .324/.368/.524 with 16 homers across 428 plate appearances. That was better than average production even at a hitter’s paradise in Reno. English has good contact skills and reasonable power, but he’s prone to expanding the strike zone. The deal with the Braves is a homecoming for the Georgia Tech product, who’ll likely open the season at Triple-A Gwinnett.

Enlow, 27 in March, is a former third-round pick who was once a well-regarded prospect in the Minnesota system. The 6’3″ righty pitched well through Double-A but hit a wall at the Triple-A level. Enlow signed a minor league deal with the Giants going into 2024 but suffered a season-ending injury after two starts, then missed all of last season. He’s a pure depth add for the rotation who is still looking to reach the majors for the first time.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026...tt-tristin-english-to-minor-league-deals.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Braves Sign Sean Reid-Foley To Minor League Deal

The Braves have signed right-hander Sean Reid-Foley to a minor league contract, as first indicated on the MLB.com transaction log. There’s no invitation to major league camp on the righty’s deal.

The 30-year-old Reid-Foley was a second-round pick by the Blue Jays back in 2014 and ranked as a well-regarded pitching prospect for a couple years early in his pro career. He’s shown huge swing-and-miss ability but also persistent command troubles — all amid ongoing injury problems. Most notably, he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2022, which wiped out more than a calendar year. Reid-Foley also had multiple stints on the injured list due to a shoulder impingement in 2024.

In 131 2/3 innings at the major league level, Reid-Foley has posted a 4.10 earned run average while punching out 25.6% of his opponents. His strikeout numbers spiked in 2023-24, in particular, as he fanned nearly one-third of his opponents (backed by a 13.5% swinging-strike rate) — albeit in a small sample of 29 1/3 innings. His workload during those two seasons was cut short by that Tommy John rehab and the subsequent shoulder impingement.

Reid-Foley split the 2025 season between the D-backs and Mets organizations, pitching exactly 14 innings for each club’s Triple-A affiliate. He struggled considerably. In last year’s 28 frames, Reid-Foley was roughed up for a 7.07 ERA thanks to a glut of both home runs and walks.

Command has long been an issue for Reid-Foley. Even as he’s piled up big strikeout totals and rates in prior seasons, he’s struggled to keep runners off base due to his lack of precision. The 6’3″, 230-pound righty has walked a bloated 14.2% of his major league opponents and had similar struggles in parts of six seasons at Triple-A, where his career 13.7% walk rate is only marginally better than his major league rate.

With Atlanta, Reid-Foley doesn’t have a clear path to the majors — and wouldn’t even if he had a big league invite on his deal — given the Braves’ crowded, very veteran bullpen. He’ll be slated to open the season with Triple-A Gwinnett and could emerge as an option later in the year if the Braves incur injuries in the majors and/or if he can bounce back from last year’s dismal Triple-A results.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/01/braves-sign-sean-reid-foley-to-minor-league-deal.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Braves, Luke Williams Agree To Minor League Deal

The Braves reunited with utility player Luke Williams on a minor league contract, according to the MiLB.com transaction log. He had elected minor league free agency upon being outrighted off Atlanta’s roster at the end of the season.

Williams is back for what’d be his third full season with the organization. The Braves claimed him off waivers from the Dodgers halfway through the 2023 season. They shuttled him on and off the MLB roster over the next couple years. He has generally been the last man off the bench, working as a multi-positional substitute and their usual position player pitcher in mop-up spots.

A former third-round pick of the Phillies, Williams has played parts of five seasons in the majors. He got into 39 contests last year but was only penciled into the starting lineup four times. He batted .129 with a couple doubles in 31 at-bats. The righty-hitting Williams is now a .212/.270/.280 hitter over 349 MLB plate appearances. He owns a .255/.334/.400 slash over five years in Triple-A.

The Braves clearly appreciate Williams’ willingness to play any role off the bench. They signed Jorge Mateo to a $1MM deal to work as a backup infielder behind Mauricio Dubón while Ha-Seong Kim is on the injured list. Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin will split the catching duties. Fifth outfielder Eli White is out of options. If the Braves don’t want to expose him to waivers, they’d have one bench spot available. Nacho Alvarez Jr. has the inside track as the only other backup position player on the 40-man roster.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/01/braves-luke-williams-agree-to-minor-league-deal.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Braves Claim José Suarez, Designate George Soriano For Assignment

The Braves have claimed left-hander José Suarez off waivers from the Orioles, according to announcements from both clubs. The southpaw was designated for assignment by Baltimore last week when they claimed infielder Weston Wilson. Atlanta designated right-hander George Soriano for assignment today as a corresponding move for this claim.

It was less than two weeks ago that Atlanta put Suarez on waivers, which is when Baltimore claimed him. It might seem odd for a team to put a player on waivers and then claim him right back shortly thereafter. Simultaneously, it might be strange to see a club claim a guy and then put him right back on the wire so quickly. In these instances, the teams are hoping to be the one to get the player through waivers unclaimed, which would allow them to keep him in a non-roster capacity. Atlanta and Baltimore are two of the most aggressive clubs at attempting this manoeuver.

This appears to be the sixth time in this offseason that one club has claimed a player from the other. Atlanta claimed both Carson Ragsdale and Josh Walker from the Orioles in November, though Ragsdale was later non-tendered and signed in Japan. Walker was put back on waivers in December, when the Orioles reclaimed him. Baltimore passed him through waivers unclaimed in January. Atlanta then claimed Soriano from Baltimore, before Baltimore claimed Suarez from Atlanta. Now Atlanta has claimed Suarez back again.

Suarez, 28, has appeared in the past seven big leagues seasons. He spent most of that time as a swingman for the Angels but also appeared with Atlanta in 2025. For his career, he has thrown 396 big league innings, allowing 5.30 earned runs per nine.

His 2025 season was mostly spent in the minors. He only made seven big league appearances for Atlanta. He had a strong 1.86 ERA but that was in a small sample with strong indications it would not be sustainable. His 51.9% ground ball rate was good but his 19.8% strikeout rate and 12.3% walk rate were both subpar. He was fortunate to allow a .259 batting average on balls in play while posting an 84.7% strand rate.

His Triple-A results were more impressive, despite the fact that his 3.53 ERA was higher. He struck out 27.6% of batters faced at that level while only giving out walks 5% of the time. He averaged around 93 miles per hour with both his four-seamer and sinker last year, while also featuring a slider, curveball and changeup.

At the end of the season, he and Atlanta avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $900K salary for the 2026 season. He is out of options and but it seems the club was hoping to get him to the minors by passing him through waivers. Baltimore intervened in their first attempt but Atlanta has snagged him back. He has a roster spot for now but perhaps Atlanta will make another attempt to get him through waivers in the future.

Soriano, 27 in March, is in a somewhat similar position. He pitched for the Marlins over the past three years but exhausted his options in the process. Now that he’s out of options, it seems there’s a small battle as these clubs hope to be the one to pass him through waivers unclaimed, therefore keeping him as non-roster depth in the minors. The Marlins put him on the wire in November, when he was claimed by the Orioles. Baltimore put him back on waivers about three weeks ago but Atlanta claimed him.

He hasn’t yet found major league success but is coming off a good year on the farm. He has a 5.95 ERA in 118 major league innings. He tossed 42 2/3 innings in Triple-A last year with a 2.32 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 55.7% ground ball rate. He averages about 96 mph with his four-seamer and sinker while also featuring a slider and a changeup.

Now that he has been designated for assignment again, he is in DFA limbo and can be there for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the club could hold him for the next five days while exploring trade interest, but they could also put him back on the wire sooner if they so choose.

Photo courtesy of Denis Poroy, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026...-designate-george-soriano-for-assignment.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Braves Interested In Lucas Giolito, Chris Bassitt

The Braves have made offseason additions in the bullpen, the infield and the outfield thus far, bringing in veterans Raisel Iglesias, Robert Suarez, Ha-Seong Kim, Mauricio Dubon, Jorge Mateo and Mike Yastrzemski via free agency or trade. (Kim suffered a hand injury after signing and will miss several months of the season.) The rotation, however, remains untouched as January nears its conclusion.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports on MLB Network (video link) that Atlanta is in the market for some form of rotation upgrade, however, specifically listing right-handers Lucas Giolito and Chris Bassitt as free agents of interest. Neither pitcher received a qualifying offer, so neither would require any draft forfeitures. The Braves are over the luxury tax threshold, per RosterResource’s estimates, but they weren’t tax payors in 2025 so the penalty for signing either veteran would be minimal.

Giolito, 31, started 26 games for the Red Sox in 2025 after missing the 2024 season due to a UCL procedure. He pitched well enough to convert his 2026 club option into a mutual option, which he declined in order to return to the open market. Giolito started the season in rocky fashion (6.42 ERA through seven starts) before rebounding to the tune of a 2.51 ERA in his final 19 starts and 111 1/3 innings. His 20.3% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate over that dominant run of 19 starts don’t support such a strong earned run average, and metrics like SIERA (4.67) and FIP (3.97) were much more bearish. Still, Giolito performed like a capable midrotation arm at the very least.

Were it not for a late elbow injury, Giolito’s market might have been more aggressive. (Although, had he been fully healthy, Boston may also have given more consideration to extending a qualifying offer.) Giolito’s surgically repaired ulnar collateral ligament received a clean bill of health at the time, but September testing on the right-hander revealed some irritation in his flexor tendon and a bone issue in his elbow that required some downtime. He missed the Red Sox’ postseason run as a result, but by November he was viewed as “fully healthy” and ready for a normal offseason.

A former first-round pick and top prospect, Giolito has had a roller-coaster tenure in the big leagues. He struggled greatly in his first 45 MLB appearances from 2016-18 (5.48 ERA) before settling in as a durable No. 2 starter with huge strikeout numbers for the White Sox. From 2019-21, he pitched 427 2/3 innings with a 3.47 ERA, 30.7% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate. Giolito stayed healthy and kept missing bats from 2022-23, but home run troubles inflated his ERA to 4.88 over 63 starts between those two seasons. He signed a two-year deal with the Red Sox covering the 2024-25 seasons and affording him the opportunity to opt out after ’24. A spring UCL injury that year wiped out his 2024 campaign and naturally led him to pick up his ’25 player option rather than test the market last winter.

Despite the up-and-down nature of his results, Giolito carries a respectable 4.30 ERA in his career — and that number dips to a flat 4.00 if you set aside the struggles he experienced from ages 21 to 23 back in ’16-’18. Last year’s career-low strikeout rate is a concern, but Giolito’s 93.3 mph average four-seamer is an exact match for his career levels, so it’s not as though he came back from surgery working with dramatically reduced stuff. Clubs aren’t going to view him as the clear playoff-caliber starter he was during his three-year peak with the ChiSox, but it’s not out of the question that he can get back to pitching at that level. Even last year’s level of output would make him a third or fourth starter in a good rotation.

As for Bassitt, he’s considerably older but has been more durable and more consistent. The 36-year-old righty (37 next month) ranks seventh in the majors in games started and eighth in innings pitched over the past six seasons. During that time, he’s pitched to a combined 3.57 earned run average with a 22.7% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and a 44% ground-ball rate. All of those are right at the league average, if not slightly better.

Bassitt has made at least 30 starts and pitched at least 170 innings in four straight seasons. His 2025 campaign featured 170 1/3 frames with a 3.96 ERA and rate stats right in line with his overall marks from the past six seasons. Bassitt also shined with the Blue Jays in the postseason, shifting to a relief role without missing a beat. He fired 8 2/3 innings of one-run ball and allowed only three hits and two walks while punching out 10 in that time.

If there are any red flags with Bassitt, they’re not as much with his recent performance as they are simply with the aging process of any pitcher. He’ll pitch all of the upcoming season at 37. Last year’s results were strong, but it’s worth noting that his 91.5 mph average fastball was the lowest of his career by a decent margin. His prior career-low was 2023’s 92.4 mph. He bounced back slightly with a 92.6 mph average in 2024 but lost about a mile per hour off that heater in ’25. That said, it didn’t have an impact on his ability to miss bats; Bassitt’s strikeout rate and swinging-strike rate were both better in 2025 than in 2024.

Though the Braves currently have a talented rotation, there are plenty of question marks regarding both health and workload among the bunch. Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach, Reynaldo Lopez and Hurston Waldrep rank among the best quintets in the sport from a pure talent level. However, Sale was limited to 20 starts due to fractures in his ribcage. Strider made 23 starts but posted a 4.45 ERA with diminished rate stats in his first season back from UCL surgery. Schwellenbach started only 17 games due to a fracture in his elbow. Lopez made only one start due to shoulder surgery. Waldrep, a former first-rounder and top prospect, looked very good in nine major league starts but had shakier numbers in Triple-A and has just 63 1/3 big league innings under his belt.

Atlanta has some depth options in the form of Bryce Elder, Joey Wentz, Grant Holmes and Didier Fuentes, the latter of whom has garnered some top-100 prospect love this offseason. Still, given the plethora of injury troubles Atlanta faced, Sale’s age/injury track record and Strider’s downturn in results, augmenting the current group would be wise. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently argued as much at greater length in a recent piece for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.

The Braves’ current cash payroll of $262MM would already be a franchise record, while their $258MM of luxury tax obligations are the second-highest in franchise history. Bringing in either Bassitt or Giolito would surely bump Atlanta into the second tier of luxury penalization but would leave them shy of the third tier — the point at which a team’s top draft pick is dropped by ten spots. The Braves will owe a 20% tax on the next $6MM or so spent ($1.2MM) and a 32% tax on the next $20MM. If we presume Bassitt is targeting something similar to the two-year, $40MM deal signed by fellow 37-year-old starter Merrill Kelly, he’d come with about $5.7MM of taxes for the Braves, on top of his actual salary.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/01/braves-interested-in-lucas-giolito-chris-bassitt.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Braves, Martín Pérez Agree To Minor League Deal

The Braves and left-hander Martín Pérez have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. The Octagon client will presumably be in major league camp in spring training.

Pérez, 35 in April, is coming off a mostly lost season due to injury. He signed a one-year, $5MM pact with the White Sox to serve as a veteran innings eater on the rebuilding club. That didn’t work out as the southpaw was on the injured list by mid-April for inflammation in his throwing elbow. Shortly thereafter, he was diagnosed with a flexor strain and it was questionable whether he would make it back from the IL.

The veteran did eventually come back in August but landed back on the IL in September due to a shoulder strain. Around the IL stints, he gave the White Sox 56 innings with a 3.54 earned run average, 19.3% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 39% ground ball rate.

For most of his career, Pérez has been a finesse lefty. His fastball has never averaged more than 94.2 miles per hour and has usually been a tick or two below that. He was in the 91-92 mph range in 2023 and 2024. He dropped down below 90 in 2025 but the injuries may have played a part in that. He has a six-pitch mix with a four-seamer, sinker, cutter, slider, curveball and changeup.

He has mostly been able to provide passable results. In his 1,631 2/3 career innings, he has a 4.41 ERA despite striking out just 16.3% of batters faced. His 8.3% walk rate is around average and his 48.4% ground ball rate is a few ticks better than par. He managed to get his ERA down to 2.89 with the Rangers in 2022, and parlayed that into a $19.65MM qualifying offer for 2023, which he accepted. But that campaign looks like a clear outlier, as he was back in the 4.50 ERA range for the next two seasons.

Atlanta has a good rotation on paper but with question marks all throughout the group. Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo López, Hurston Waldrep and Grant Holmes are likely the top six options right now. Sale won a Cy Young in 2024 but has generally been pretty injury prone in the seasons around that and will turn 37 soon. Schwellenbach missed the final three months of 2025 due to an elbow fracture. Strider missed most of 2024 due to ulnar collateral ligament surgery and posted a 4.45 ERA in his return last year. Shoulder surgery limited López to one start last year. Waldrep had a strong 2025 but still has fewer than 65 big league innings under his belt. Holmes has a partially torn UCL and is trying non-surgical rehab but will be a question mark until he ramps up in camp.

Given all that uncertainty, depth will be important. Bryce Elder is on the roster but posted an ERA north of 5.00 in each of the past two seasons. Prospect Didier Fuentes was rushed to the majors in 2025 and looked overmatched, allowing 20 earned runs in 13 innings.

Atlanta was connected to free agents Lucas Giolito and Chris Bassitt earlier this week, so perhaps a significant move will be forthcoming soon. For now, Pérez gives them a bit of extra depth without taking up a roster spot. He’ll look to pitch his way onto the roster. His chances of succeeding will naturally depend on his own performance but also on the team-wide health situation as things develop in the coming months.

Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/01/braves-martin-perez-agree-to-minor-league-deal.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Nationals Claim George Soriano, Designate Tsung-Che Cheng For Assignment

The Nationals announced that they have claimed right-hander George Soriano off waivers from the Braves. Atlanta designated him for assignment earlier this week when they claimed José Suarez off waivers from the Orioles. To open a spot for Soriano today, Washington has designated infielder Tsung-Che Cheng for assignment.

Both players involved here have been riding the DFA carousel this winter. Soriano finished the 2025 season with the Marlins but has since gone to Baltimore, Atlanta and now Washington via waivers. Cheng was on the Pirates as of a few months ago but has gone to the Rays, Mets and Nationals via the waiver wire. For each of these two and many others this winter, it seems that several teams are hoping to pass the player through waivers, therefore keeping him as non-roster depth.

Soriano, 27 in March, hasn’t found major league success yet. He logged 118 innings for the Marlins over the past three years, allowing 5.95 earned runs per nine with a 22% strikeout rate, 10.3% walk rate and 38.7% ground ball rate. He exhausted his three option years in that time.

But he did just wrap up a strong season in the minors. He tossed 42 2/3 Triple-A innings last year with a 2.32 ERA. He struck out 28.8% of batters faced, gave out walks at an 8.8% clip and induced grounders on 55.7% of balls in play. He averages about 96 miles per hour with both his four-seamer and sinker while also featuring a slider and a changeup.

Teams are clearly intrigued by Soriano but seemingly prefer to have him aboard in a non-roster capacity. If he is passed through waivers at some point, he would not have the right to elect free agency since he has less than three years of service time and does not have a previous career outright.

Perhaps the Nats will put him back on waivers later but they could certainly use the arms. The Washington bullpen had a 5.59 ERA last year, worst in the majors. They subtracted from the group when they traded Jose A. Ferrer to the Mariners for catcher Harry Ford. If Soriano can hang onto his roster spot, he can be controlled for five full seasons.

Cheng, 24, still has an option remaining but his appeal is nonetheless borderline enough for him to be barely clinging to a 40-man spot. He appears to have a decent floor as a speed-and-defense infielder. Throughout his minor league career, he has played a bunch of the three infield spots to the left of first base, generally getting good reviews for his glovework. He’s been good for 20-ish steals per year in the minors as well.

The bat is more of a question. He hit well through Single-A but has struggled at the upper levels. Over the past two years, he has a combined .217/.319/.312 batting line on the farm, which translates to an 81 wRC+. He was also sent to the plate seven times in the majors and struck out three times without getting a hit.

It appears he has some appeal as a glove-first depth infielder but not enough for any club to put him firmly in their plans. The Nats will likely put him back on waivers soon. DFA limbo can last as long as a week but the waiver process takes 48 hours, so he should be back on the wire at some point in the next five days.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026...designate-tsung-che-cheng-for-assignment.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

MLB To Take Over Broadcasts For Six Additional Teams

4:37pm: Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal reports that the Tigers, Angels and Braves are all moving on from Main Street Sports as well. Friend writes that it’s likely that the Detroit and Los Angeles clubs will also turn their broadcasts over to MLB, although they haven’t closed the door on working out some kind of independent streaming deal on a different platform than MLB.tv.

Friend’s reporting is most interesting regarding the Braves. He writes that the team could launch its own network rather than turning distribution to the league. The Rangers went that route when their deal with Diamond collapsed last offseason. The Texas franchise created its own network that negotiated directly with distributors to set up cable, satellite and streaming deals on different platforms.

The Braves haven’t made anything official, though they’ve more or less confirmed they won’t be returning to Main Street. “The Atlanta Braves are aware of the reports regarding Main Street Sports Group,” the team said in a statement. “While disappointed with this development, we have been actively preparing for this outcome and are well on our way towards launching a new era in Braves broadcasting. … We look forward to sharing our path forward in the coming weeks.”

1:10pm: Major League Baseball will take over the broadcasts of six new teams in 2026, reports John Ourand of Puck. The six clubs are the Brewers, Marlins, Rays, Royals, Cardinals and Reds. That represents six of the nine clubs who terminated deals with Main Street Sports last month. That leaves the Braves, Tigers and Angels as the three clubs from that group of nine who still need to formalize broadcast plans for this year.

The company has seemingly been hanging by a thread for a long time. Cord cutting and streaming have been eroding the regional sports network (RSN) model for years. Previously known as Diamond Sports Group and operating under the Bally Sports logo, the company was in bankruptcy for most of 2023 and 2024. When they emerged from bankruptcy late in 2024, they changed the company name and switched to the FanDuel Sports branding. More trouble emerged recently as they reportedly missed payments to several teams, which is what prompted the nine teams to walk away last month.

In recent years, MLB has handled the broadcasts of several other clubs who saw RSN deals collapse. The Padres, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Twins and Guardians were with the league in 2025. In those instances, the league largely kept TV broadcasts the same, retaining most of the personnel. For fans, this arrangement worked better as it did not involve local blackouts. Customers without cable packages could buy streaming packages directly from the league.

For teams, this expanded viewership but the financial situation wasn’t as good. Instead of a guaranteed fee from the RSN, they instead got a fungible amount of money based on streaming numbers. Clear numbers haven’t been made available but the industry consensus is that teams bring in less money via this model than they did via the previous RSN system. Travis Sawchik of MLB.com says the new model only brings in about 50% of the previous RSN set-up.

This often has on-field implications. Some of those teams, particularly the Padres and Twins, saw their player payrolls decrease in recent years. The lower spending capacity seemingly had an impact on Juan Soto being traded from the Padres to the Yankees a couple of years ago and Carlos Correa getting traded from the Twins to the Astros last summer, among other moves.

It was reported in September that ESPN would be acquiring the local rights for those five teams for the next three years. It’s unclear how that will impact local customers who have been paying the league directly to stream games. Also in September, it was reported that the Mariners would also be moving to the league. Last month, the Nationals announced that they would be moving to the MLB model.

Assuming the league will still be selling streaming packages for the five teams it was handling last year, then the league will have at least 13 teams in its portfolio in the coming season. With three clubs still outstanding, it’s possible MLB could get to more than half the league.

Commissioner Rob Manfred has previously spoken of his desire to market a streaming package like MLB.TV but without local blackouts. Controlling the rights for roughly half the league will make that more viable. Expanding the portfolio even further will be challenging. Most of the larger-market clubs still have pretty healthy RSN situations and would have less interest in jumping into a pooled system with these clubs.

That is part of a broader league strategy that will come into play in the next few years. A large number of the league’s broadcast deals expire after 2028. Manfred’s hope is to maintain as much flexibility as possible until then, at which point he could try to sell companies packages of combined rights. As an example of how this might play out, ESPN’s deal recently fell apart but then MLB pivoted to split it up and sell it to various companies. ESPN bought back some bits and acquired some new ones, while Netflix and NBC/Peacock acquired other components.

It will take a few years to see how that all plays out. In the shorter term, it could impact the upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations. The current CBA expires December 1st of this year. Presumably, MLB doesn’t want those talks to lead to canceled games in 2027. Ratings and attendance have been up lately, with the faster pace of the pitch clock a possible explanation. Missed games due to a lockout would hurt that momentum, which wouldn’t help the league in selling rights the following year.

For fans of the teams involved in today’s news, new information about broadcast options should be forthcoming. The Cardinals already announced their streaming prices, which are $19.99 monthly or $99.99 for the full season. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald outlined the situation for Marlins fans today, with some more details still to be determined.

This could also impact player payroll for some clubs. Though the streaming model is a less certain source of revenue, these teams now at least have some clarity on what kind of money should be coming in this year. As of less than two weeks ago, the Reds were reportedly interested in players like Eugenio Suárez but reluctant to make more moves until they figured out the broadcast puzzle. They reportedly reached an agreement with Suárez yesterday.

Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/mlb-to-take-over-broadcasts-for-six-additional-teams.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Players Who Could Move To The 60-Day IL Once Spring Training Begins

Most of the clubs in the league currently have a full 40-man roster, which means that just about every transaction requires a corresponding move. Some extra roster flexibility is on the way, however. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series but comes back when pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

Most clubs have a slightly earlier report date this year due to the World Baseball Classic. Last year, the Cubs and Dodgers had earlier report dates because they were had an earlier Opening Day than everyone else as part of the Tokyo Series. Gavin Stone was the first player to land on the 60-day IL in 2025, landing there on February 11th. According to MLB.com, every club has a report date from February 10th to 13th this year.

It’s worth pointing out that the 60 days don’t start being counted until Opening Day. Although a team can transfer a player to the 60-day IL quite soon, they will likely only do so if they aren’t expecting the player back until late May or beyond. A team also must have a full 40-man roster in order to move a player to the 60-day IL.

There are still plenty of free agents still out there, including big names like Framber Valdez, Zac Gallen, Justin Verlander, Chris Bassitt, Lucas Giolito, and more. Perhaps the extra roster flexibility will spur some deals to come together. It could also increase the ability of some clubs to make waiver claims or small trades for players who have been designated for assignment. If a team wants to pass a player through waivers, perhaps they will try to do so in the near future before the extra roster flexibility opens up.

Here are some players who are expected to miss some significant time or who have uncertain recovery timelines from 2025 injuries.

Angels: Anthony Rendon, Ben Joyce

Rendon’s situation is unique. He underwent hip surgery a year ago and missed the entire 2025 season. He is still on the roster and signed through 2026. He and the club have agreed to a salary-deferment plan and he is not expected to be in spring training with the club. His recovery timeline is unclear, but general manager Perry Minasian said earlier this month that Rendon would be “rehabbing at home,” per Alden González of ESPN. If they were going to release him, they likely would have done so by now, so he seems destined for the injured list.

Joyce underwent shoulder surgery in May and missed the remainder of the 2025 season. His current status is unclear. In August, he told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that he didn’t know if he would be ready for spring training. He would only land on the 60-day IL if the Halos don’t expect him back before the end of May.

Astros: Hayden Wesneski, Ronel Blanco, Brandon Walter

All three of these pitchers underwent Tommy John surgery in 2025. Wesneski was first, with his surgery taking place on May 23rd. Blanco followed shortly thereafter in early June. They will likely be targeting returns in the second half. Walter’s procedure was in September, meaning he will likely miss the entire season. All three should be on the 60-day IL as soon as Houston needs roster spots for other transactions.

Athletics: Zack Gelof

Gelof underwent surgery to repair a dislocated shoulder in September, with the expectation of him potentially being healthy for spring training. At the end of December, general manager David Forst told Martín Gallegos of MLB.com that Gelof would be “a little bit behind” in spring. He would only land on the 60-day IL if the A’s think he’ll be out through late May.

Blue Jays: Jake Bloss

Bloss underwent surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow in May. He was on optional assignment at the time and stayed in the minors for the rest of the season. Going into 2026, the Jays could keep him in the minors but they could also call him up and place him on the major league IL. Doing so would open up a roster spot but would also mean giving Bloss big league pay and service time.

Braves: Ha-Seong Kim, AJ Smith-Shawver, Danny Young, Joe Jiménez

Kim recently fell on some ice and injured his hand. He underwent surgery last week, and the expected recovery time is four to five months. The shorter end of that window only goes to mid-May, so perhaps Atlanta will hold off on making a decision until they watch his recovery, especially since they have other guys with clearer injury timelines.

Smith-Shawver underwent Tommy John surgery in June, so he shouldn’t be back until the second half and is therefore a lock for the 60-day IL once Atlanta needs a spot. Young underwent the same procedure in May, so he should also be bound for the IL.

Jimenez is more of a question mark. He missed the 2025 season due to left knee surgery. He required a “cleanup” procedure on that knee towards the end of the season. His timeline isn’t currently clear.

Brewers: None.

Cardinals: None.

Cubs: Justin Steele

Steele will probably be a bit of a borderline case. He underwent UCL surgery in April but it wasn’t a full Tommy John surgery. The Cubs described it as a “revision repair”. Steele had undergone Tommy John in 2017 as a minor leaguer.

Since Steele’s more recent procedure was a bit less serious than a full Tommy John, the club gave an estimated return timeline of about one year, putting him in line to potentially return fairly early in 2026. Given his importance to the Cubs, they would only put him on the 60-day IL if his timeline changes and he’s certain to be out through late May.

Diamondbacks: Corbin Burnes, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., A.J. Puk, Justin Martínez, Blake Walston, Tyler Locklear

The Snakes were hit hard by the injury bug in 2025. Burnes, Walston and Martínez all underwent Tommy John surgery. Burnes and Martínez had their procedures in June, so they should be targeting second-half returns and be easy calls for the 60-day IL. Walston would be a bit more borderline because his surgery was around Opening Day in late March last year. Puk had the slightly less significant internal brace procedure in June, so he could also be a borderline case.

Turning to the position players, Gurriel tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in September. He required surgery which came with a return timeline of nine to ten months, so he should be out until around the All-Star break.

Locklear should be back sooner. He underwent surgery in October to address a ligament tear in his elbow and a labrum injury in his shoulder. The hope at the time of that procedure was that he would be game ready to go on a rehab assignment around Opening Day and would therefore miss only about the first month. He would therefore only hit the 60-day IL if he doesn’t meet that timeline for some reason.

Dodgers: Brock Stewart

Stewart underwent shoulder debridement surgery in September. His timeline for 2026 isn’t especially clear. He will likely start the season on the IL but it’s unclear if he’ll be out long enough to warrant landing on the 60-day version.

Giants: Randy Rodríguez, Jason Foley

Rodríguez underwent Tommy John surgery in September, so he’s a lock for the 60-day IL and might even miss the entire 2026 campaign. Foley’s status is a bit more murky. He underwent shoulder surgery in May while with the Tigers. Detroit non-tendered him at season’s end, which allowed the Giants to sign him. He is expected back at some point mid-season. The Giants may want to get more clarity on his progress during camp before deciding on a move to the IL.

Guardians: Andrew Walters, David Fry

Neither of these guys is a lock for the 60-day IL. Walters had surgery to repair his right lat tendon in June with a recovery estimate of eight to ten months. Fry underwent surgery in October due to a deviated septum and a fractured nose suffered when a Tarik Skubal pitch hit him in the face. His timeline is unclear. It’s possible one or both could be healthy by Opening Day, so relevant updates may be forthcoming when camps open.

Mariners: Logan Evans

Evans required UCL surgery just last week and will miss the entire 2026 season. He was on optional assignment at the end of 2025, so the Mariners could keep him in the minors. Calling him up and putting him on the big league 60-day IL would open up a 40-man spot but would also involve Evans receiving big league pay and service time for the year.

Marlins: Ronny Henriquez

Henriquez underwent internal brace surgery in December and will miss the entire 2026 season, so he’s a lock for the 60-day IL.

Mets: Tylor Megill, Reed Garrett, Dedniel Núñez

All three of these pitchers underwent Tommy John surgery late in 2025 and are likely to miss the entire 2026 season, making them locks for the 60-day IL. Núñez went under the knife in July, followed by Megill in September and Garrett in October.

Nationals: Trevor Williams, DJ Herz

Williams underwent internal brace surgery in July. That’s a slightly less serious variation of Tommy John but still usually requires about a year of recovery. Herz underwent a full Tommy John procedure in April. Since that surgery usually requires 14 months or longer to come back, both pitchers are likely out until around the All-Star break and therefore bound for the 60-day IL once the Nats need some roster spots.

Orioles: Félix Bautista

Bautista underwent shoulder surgery in August, and the club announced his recovery timeline as 12 months. He’s a lock for the 60-day IL and may miss the entire season if his recovery doesn’t go smoothly.

Padres: Yu Darvish, Jhony Brito, Jason Adam

Darvish underwent UCL surgery in November and will miss the entire 2026 season. Instead of going on the IL, he may just retire, but it seems there are some contractual complications to be ironed out since he is signed through 2028.

Brito and Adam could be borderline cases. Brito underwent internal brace surgery in May of last year. Some pitchers can return from that procedure in about a year. Adam ruptured a tendon in his left quad in early September. In November, he seemed to acknowledge that he wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day. As of now, a trip to the 60-day IL seems unlikely unless he suffers a setback.

Pirates: Jared Jones

Jones required UCL surgery on May 21st of last year. The Bucs announced an expected return timeline of 10 to 12 months. The shorter end of that window would allow Jones to return fairly early in 2026. If it looks like he’ll be on the longer end of that time frame, he could wind up on the 60-day IL.

Phillies: Zack Wheeler

Wheeler underwent surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome in September, with a timeline of six to eight months. As of now, it seems unlikely Wheeler would require a trip to the 60-day IL, but it depends on how his ramp-up goes. He’s also approaching his 36th birthday, and the Phils could slow-play his recovery.

Rangers: Cody Bradford

Bradford required internal brace surgery in late June of last year. He recently said he’s targeting a return in May. That’s a pretty aggressive timeline, but perhaps the Rangers will delay moving him to the 60-day IL until that plan is strictly ruled out.

Rays: Manuel Rodríguez

Rodriguez underwent flexor tendon surgery in July of last year and is targeting a return in June of this year, so he should be a lock for the 60-day IL.

Reds: Brandon Williamson, Julian Aguiar

Both of these pitchers required Tommy John surgeries late in 2024, Williamson in September and Aguiar in October. They each missed the entire 2025 season. Presumably, they are recovered by now and could be healthy going into 2026, but there haven’t been any recent public updates.

Red Sox: Tanner Houck, Triston Casas

Houck is the most clear-cut case for Boston. He had Tommy John surgery in August of 2025 and will miss most or perhaps all of the 2026 season. Casas is more borderline. He’s still recovering from a ruptured left patellar tendon suffered in May of last year. It doesn’t seem like he will be ready by Opening Day, but his timeline apart from that is murky.

Rockies: Jeff Criswell, Kris Bryant

Criswell required Tommy John surgery in early March of last year. With the normal 14-month recovery timeline, he could be back in May. Anything slightly longer than that would make him a candidate for the 60-day IL. Bryant’s timeline is very difficult to discern. He has hardly played in recent years due to various injuries and is now dealing with chronic symptoms related to lumbar degenerative disc disease. Updates will likely be provided once camp opens.

Royals: Alec Marsh

Marsh missed 2025 due to shoulder problems and is slated to miss 2026 as well after undergoing labrum surgery in November.

Tigers: Jackson Jobe

Jobe required Tommy John surgery in June of last year. He will miss most or perhaps even all of the 2026 season.

Twins: None.

White Sox: Ky Bush, Drew Thorpe, Prelander Berroa

These three hurlers all required Tommy John surgery about a year ago, Bush in February, followed by Berroa and Thorpe in March. Given the normal 14-month recovery period, any of them could return early in 2026, but they could also end up on the 60-day IL if the timeline pushes slightly beyond that.

Yankees: Clarke Schmidt, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Anthony Volpe

Schmidt is the only lock of this group. He required UCL surgery in July of last year and should miss the first half of the 2026 season. Cole is recovering from Tommy John surgery performed in March of last year. His target is expected to be late May/early June, so he has a decent chance to hit the 60-day. However, given his importance to the club, the Yankees probably won’t put him there until it’s certain he won’t be back by the middle of May.

Rodón had surgery in October to remove loose bodies in his elbow. He’s expected to be back with the big league club in late April or early May, so he would only hit the 60-day IL if his timeline is pushed. Volpe required shoulder surgery in October. He’s not expected to be ready by Opening Day, but his timeline beyond that doesn’t seem concrete.

Photo courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026...-60-day-il-once-spring-training-begins-2.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Braves, Kyle Farmer Agree To Minor League Deal

The Braves have agreed to a minor league contract with infielder Kyle Farmer, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com. The BHSC client will be in camp as a non-roster player this spring, where he’ll compete for a bench job.

More to come.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/braves-kyle-farmer-agree-to-minor-league-deal.html

 

[JJ]

Man the Braves are really loading up on depth pieces here and I gotta say, it's the smart play given all the question marks they got going into the season. Kyle Farmer is exactly the kind of guy you want in camp - veteran presence, can play multiple infield spots, knows how to handle himself at the plate even if he's not gonna wow you with the numbers.

Look at that rotation situation though - Sale's getting up there in age and has the injury history, Strider coming off Tommy John, Schwellenbach missed three months with that elbow fracture, López only threw ONE start last year because of shoulder surgery. That's your top four guys and every single one of them has legitimate health concerns. Then you add in Ha-Seong Kim falling on ice and needing hand surgery?? Are you kidding me?? That's the most Atlanta Braves injury I've ever heard of.

The Pérez signing makes total sense too. Finesse lefty who can eat innings if needed? Yeah you're gonna want that guy around when inevitably one of your starters goes down for a few weeks.

What I'm really curious about is this broadcast situation. The article mentions they might launch their own network like the Rangers did instead of going through MLB. That would be a pretty bold move but honestly might work out better for them in the long run. The RSN model is dying and everyone knows it. At least controlling your own destiny gives you some flexibility.

The real question is whether they're gonna make a bigger splash before the season starts. They were connected to Giolito and Bassitt - I think they NEED to add at least one more proven arm to that rotation. You can't go into the season hoping everyone stays healthy. That NEVER works out!

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Braves Place Spencer Schwellenbach On 60-Day Injured List

The Braves opened camp this morning with an unwelcome update on talented young righty Spencer Schwellenbach. He’s been placed on the 60-day injured list due to inflammation in his right elbow, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com.

The team’s hope is that the 25-year-old is dealing with bone spurs and not something more nefarious. Regardless, since the “60-day” term begins on Opening Day (and can only be backdated a maximum of three days), Schwellenbach will miss at least two months of action to begin the season. His IL placement should open space on the roster for catcher Jonah Heim, who agreed to a one-year deal with Atlanta earlier today.

Injuries to the pitching staff were the hallmark of Atlanta’s 2025 season, and their 2026 campaign isn’t starting out much differently. The Braves have already been on the lookout for rotation help — perhaps already knowing that Schwellenbach would be sidelined — with reported interest in Chris Bassitt and Lucas Giolito, among others. Atlanta has already had to make one late-offseason pivot, signing Jorge Mateo and Kyle Farmer (the latter on a minor league deal) after Ha-Seong Kim suffered a torn tendon in his hand when he slipped on some ice and fell in a fluke off-field injury. He’ll need four to five months to recover from the subsequent surgery. Schwellenbach’s injury seems to set the stage for another late addition.

The Braves had already been facing workload and health concerns in the rotation. Chris Sale missed significant time with a ribcage fracture last season and has a lengthy injury history. Spencer Strider’s return from UCL surgery produced results that were nowhere close to his star-caliber performance prior to injury. Schwellenbach missed months due to an elbow fracture. Reynaldo Lopez only made one start last year due to shoulder surgery. Promising young righty AJ Smith-Shawver was shelved after a handful of starts due to his own Tommy John procedure.

Entering the year, the Atlanta rotation figured to include Sale, Strider, Schwellenbach, Lopez and one of Hurston Waldrep, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder, Didier Fuentes or an external addition such as Giolito or Bassitt. The Braves are down to three established veterans (Sale, Strider, Lopez), none of whom is coming off a peak season in terms of both health and performance. There ought to be a fair bit of urgency to add another starter to help keep pace in a perennially competitive National League East.

How much space the Braves do or don’t have to make that rotation addition happen isn’t fully clear. RosterResource projects an actual cash payroll around $268MM and a CBT payroll about $10MM less than that. That puts the Braves around $6MM shy of the second tier of luxury tax penalization. They’d owe a 20% tax on any dollars up to the $264MM luxury mark and a 32% tax on anything from $264MM to $284MM. That’s presumably the point at which Atlanta would prefer to halt its spending, given that crossing the $284MM third-tier threshold is the point at which a team’s top draft pick is dropped by 10 places.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/braves-spencer-schwellenbach-60-day-injured-list-elbow.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Rays Trade Brett Wisely Back To Braves

The Braves announced they’ve reacquired infielder Brett Wisely from the Rays for cash. Atlanta placed reliever Joe Jiménez on the 60-day injured list with what they termed a “left articular cartilage injury” to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Atlanta had traded Wisely to Tampa Bay a month ago.

Wisely finished the ’25 season in Atlanta. The Braves had claimed him off waivers from the Giants with a couple weeks remaining in the season. He appeared in four games, starting three of them at second base, and went 0-6 with three walks. The rest of Wisely’s MLB work came in San Francisco, where he hit .217/.263/.324 across 457 plate appearances spanning three seasons.

The lefty-hitting infielder has a better minor league track record. He’s a .275/.372/.433 hitter in more than 800 Triple-A plate appearances. Wisely has shown decent contact skills and a reasonable plate approach but doesn’t have much power in a 5’9″ frame. His exit velocities are at the lower end of the league and he has seven home runs in 168 career games.

Wisely is stretched defensively at shortstop but has logged nearly 300 career innings there. He has experience throughout the infield and in both left and center field. Second base is his most natural position, and both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average have graded him well in a little more than 700 innings.

The 26-year-old is out of minor league options, meaning the Braves need to keep him on the big league club or send him back into DFA limbo. They designated him for assignment a month ago and flipped him to the Rays, the team that initially drafted him back in 2019. Tampa Bay squeezed him off the roster when they traded for outfielder Victor Mesa Jr. last week.

The intervening acquisition of utility player Ben Williamson in the Brendan Donovan trade made it unlikely Wisely would break camp. There’s a better opportunity in Atlanta with Ha-Seong Kim beginning the season on the injured list. That pushed Mauricio Dubón into the starting shortstop spot. Jorge Mateo is their top utility option, but Wisely could push Nacho Alvarez Jr. for the final bench spot.

The corresponding move confirms that Jiménez is in for another extended absence. The big righty missed the entire 2025 season after undergoing surgery to repair cartilage damage in his left knee the previous November. President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos announced early this offseason that Jiménez required another procedure. Anthopoulos called that a “cleanup” but didn’t provide any kind of return timeline.

Jiménez evidently isn’t going to be available before the end of May at the earliest. He’s making $9MM in the final season of a three-year free agent contract that started promisingly but has been beset by the injuries. The Braves also placed starter Spencer Schwellenbach on the 60-day IL this morning after revealing that he experienced elbow inflammation during his preparation for Spring Training. AJ Smith-Shawver, Danny Young and Kim are 60-day IL candidates themselves, so the Braves will probably be busy on the waiver wire and potential DFA trades over the next few weeks.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/rays-trade-brett-wisely-back-to-braves.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Dylan Lee Wins Arbitration Hearing Over Braves

Lefty reliever Dylan Lee has won his arbitration hearing over the Braves, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He’ll earn the $2.2MM salary sought by his representatives at PSI Sports Management as opposed to the team’s $2MM filing figure.

Lee is quietly one of the better lefty setup arms in MLB. He owns a 2.82 ERA in just shy of 200 career appearances. That includes a 3.29 mark across a career-high 68 1/3 innings a season ago. Lee fanned almost 29% of batters faced against a tidy 5.3% walk percentage. He paced Atlanta pitchers with 19 holds and collected a pair of stray saves, although Raisel Iglesias held the closer role all year.

The Braves will enter the season with Lee and Aaron Bummer as their top two left-handers in front of what they hope to a lethal back-end duo of Iglesias and Robert Suarez. Lee has just under four years of service time and will be eligible for arbitration twice more. He made $1.025MM last season after qualifying for early arbitration as a Super Two player.

This was Atlanta’s only arbitration case that went to a hearing. Players have had a strong year in aggregate in the process, winning seven of the first nine outcomes that have been announced.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/dylan-lee-wins-arbitration-hearing-over-braves.html

 

[JJ]

Oh boy here we go again with the Braves and their injury curse!! I called it in my last post - you CANNOT go into a season hoping everyone stays healthy and look what happens literally days later. Schwellenbach on the 60-day IL with elbow inflammation before the season even starts?? And now Jimenez is done until at least June with more knee issues?? This is absolutely brutal.

Let me just run through this disaster real quick:
- Schwellenbach - 60-day IL, elbow inflammation (hoping it's just bone spurs but come on)
- Kim - torn tendon from SLIPPING ON ICE, out 4-5 months
- Jimenez - another knee procedure, 60-day IL
- Smith-Shawver - Tommy John
- Sale - coming off ribcage fracture, extensive injury history
- Strider - still trying to find himself post-TJ surgery
- Lopez - one start last year due to shoulder surgery

That's your core right there and EVERYONE has question marks!! At this point Anthopoulos HAS to go get Bassitt or Giolito. There's no other option. You can't roll into the season with Sale, a diminished Strider, Lopez coming off major surgery, and then hope one of Waldrep, Holmes, Elder or Fuentes figures it out. That's insane in the NL East where the Mets and Phillies are loaded.

The Wisely move is fine I guess - cheap depth play and he can actually play defense at second. But that's rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic if they don't address the rotation.

Good for Dylan Lee winning his arb case though. Dude has been quietly excellent and deserves every penny of that $2.2M.

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Braves Sign Jonah Heim

3:59 pm: The Braves have officially announced the deal. As expected, Heim will take the vacated roster spot opened up after Spencer Schwellenbach hit the 60-day IL. Heim’s deal is for $1.5MM, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

9:11 am: Veteran catcher Jonah Heim is at Braves camp this morning, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. The team hasn’t formally announced a deal, but MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports that the two parties are in agreement on a one-year, major league contract. Heim is represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council.

Heim, 31 in June, was a key factor in the Rangers’ World Series victory during the 2023 season, breaking out with a .258/.317/.438 batting line (107 wRC+) and swatting 18 home runs. He coupled that better-than-average offense — particularly relative to his position — with top-of-the-scale defensive grades; Heim nabbed 29.3% of the runners who attempted to swipe a base against him (well above that season’s average 20.6%), was solid in terms of blocking balls in the dirt, and was the fourth-best catcher in the sport in terms of pitch framing, per Statcast.

Given that the league-average catcher tends to be about 10-12% worse than the league-average hitter at the plate, having a plus defender behind the dish with 15- to 20-homer pop and better-than-average rate stats is immensely valuable. Heim rated as a plus defender in both 2021 and 2022, and his offensive improvements in ’23 looked to have thrust himself into the conversation for one of the most valuable all-around catchers in the game.

Instead, all aspects of his skill set have taken a step back in the two seasons since. He’s drawn league-average framing grades since 2023 and seen his throwing drop off considerably, with just a 13.7% caught-stealing rate in 2024-25. His pop time behind the plate has crept north of two seconds, and his average velocity on throws to second base dipped from 81.1 mph in ’23 to 79.5 mph in ’25.

Heim’s offensive decline has been even more glaring. He’s taken 924 plate appearances since that standout 2023 campaign but turned in an awful .217/.269/.334 batting line that checks in about 29% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+. His strikeout rate hasn’t changed much at all, but he’s lost a couple percentage points off his walk rate and seen declines in terms of average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard-hit rate. He’s also seen his line-drive rate fall a couple percentage points while his grounder rate and infield fly rate have crept north.

None of the changes in those key offensive rate stats are particularly large on their own, but a couple ticks in the wrong direction for that many rate stats has a significant cumulative effect. That’s especially true for a player who was only a bit above average with the bat in the first place. The Rangers, looking to scale back payroll, non-tendered Heim in November after failing to find a trade partner willing to take him on at his expected arbitration price. (MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $6MM salary for the 2026 season.)

Heim now joins a Braves club looking for a short-term backup to reigning NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin. Baldwin and veteran Sean Murphy looked locked in as Atlanta’s catching tandem last summer — until Murphy required surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip. A timetable for his return remains a bit murky. Bowman suggests that Murphy is hoping to be ready at some point in May, though it’s not clear whether that’s early in the month or closer to Memorial Day weekend. The team figures to provide one in the near future with pitchers and catchers reporting to camp this week (today, in the Braves’ case).

Baldwin and Murphy are the only catchers on Atlanta’s 40-man roster at the moment. With Murphy expected to be sidelined to begin the season, backup options for Baldwin have included non-roster invitees Chadwick Tromp, Sandy Leon and Jair Camargo. Heim adds a higher-upside option and, after signing a big league deal, is the immediate front-runner for the backup job to Baldwin.

Heim has more than five years of major league service time, so once Murphy is ready for activation, Heim cannot be optioned without his consent. Those five years of MLB service also are enough that he can reject an outright assignment to Triple-A Gwinnett and retain any remaining guaranteed money on his contract.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/braves-sign-jonah-heim-catcher.html

 

[Atlanta Braves]

Braves Notes: Jimenez, Holmes, Alvarez

It’s been more than a year since right-hander Joe Jimenez pitched in a big league game. The now-31-year-old righty was terrific for the Braves in 2023-24, pitching to a combined 2.81 ERA and compiling 40 holds and three saves while fanning 30.1% of opponents against a 7.2% walk rate. Jimenez missed the entire 2025 season after undergoing surgery to repair cartilage in his left knee and underwent a second “cleanup” procedure this past November.

Atlanta transferred Jimenez to the 60-day injured list as soon as camp opened — thereby clearing a roster spot for the reacquisition of infielder Brett Wisely — but it sounds like the team is bracing for a potential absence much longer than two months. Manager Walt Weiss told the team’s beat yesterday that Jimenez is dealing with a “very complex injury” while explaining that he’s not sure whether Jimenez will be available at all during the upcoming season (link via Mark Bowman of MLB.com).

Obviously, there’s no timetable for Jimenez’s return at present. His absence is both a notable loss in the bullpen — where he’d be join Robert Suarez as a key setup arm for closer Raisel Iglesias — and a weight on the club’s payroll. Jimenez signed a three-year, $26MM contract immediately following the 2023 season. He gave Atlanta one excellent year in 2024 but could now miss the entirety of years two and three on that contract. He’s being paid $9MM this year for a Braves club that’s about $20MM over the luxury threshold, per RosterResource. Jimenez will become a free agent at season’s end.

There’s better news on the health front when it comes to righty Grant Holmes. The 29-year-old was diagnosed with a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow last July and opted to rehab the injury rather than the more commonly taken route of UCL surgery (be it Tommy John surgery or an internal brace procedure).

Chad Bishop of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that Holmes is full-go in spring training and hasn’t had any setbacks in his recovery. He expects to build up as a starting pitcher but said he’ll be open to whatever role the organization has in store for him. President of baseball ops Alex Anthopoulos tells Bishop that Holmes had a “normal” offseason and called his progression a “significant change” relative to where things stood back in July.

Holmes’ health will be all the more pivotal in the wake of continued elbow troubles for fellow righty Spencer Schwellenbach, who’s already been placed on the 60-day IL due to bone spurs in his elbow and implied this week that he will likely require an arthroscopic procedure.

A former first-round pick, Holmes joined the Braves as a minor league free agent back in 2022. He’s since re-signed on a pair of minor league deals and eventually pitched his way onto the big league roster. He hasn’t looked back. Holmes broke out with a 3.56 ERA and terrific rate stats through 68 1/3 innings with the ’24 Braves and followed up with 115 frames of 3.99 ERA ball out of the rotation last season. His results and his command eroded over his final few starts, however, prompting the team to take a look at his elbow and discover the damage. If he’s back to full strength, he’ll give the Braves a rotation option alongside Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo Lopez, Hurston Waldrep and others; Atlanta is also actively exploring the market for veteran starters.

Elsewhere in camp, infielder Nacho Alvarez Jr. is adding a new and unexpected skill to his repertoire. In a separate piece, Bishop writes that the 22-year-old third baseman (23 in April) quietly began working out as a catcher during the Arizona Fall League. He’s still only acclimating to the position and isn’t going to be a catching option come Opening Day, but Alvarez said he views the experiment as a means of putting “an extra tool in the toolbox” as he looks to carve out a big league role.

“It’s a nice piece to have, for us, and for (Alvarez) — for his career, really,” Weiss tells Bishop. “We look at him as an infielder, first, but we’re just introducing it to him and he’s handling it well so far.”

Alvarez is clearly blocked at the hot corner by Austin Riley, who’s entering the fourth season of a ten-year, $212MM contract. He’s played plenty of shortstop in the minor leagues, but the Braves used him exclusively at third base and second base last season despite lacking an obvious big league answer at short, likely indicating they don’t feel he can be a real option there.

In 240 big league plate appearances, Alvarez carries a tepid .216/.277/.298 batting line. The 2022 fifth-rounder shot quickly through the minor leagues, however, and is still younger than most big leaguers when they make their debut despite already having 66 games under his belt. In the 82 games he’s played at the Triple-A level, Alvarez touts a stout .288/.399/.440 slash with 11 homers, 12 doubles, a triple, 10 steals and nearly as many walks (48) as strikeouts (60), so it’s easy to see why Atlanta is eager to expand his versatility and find additional ways to mix him in at the big league level. There’s no telling when or even whether he’ll be even an emergency catching option in the majors, but it’s nonetheless notable that the team is embarking on the experiment.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026...-jimenez-miss-2026-nacho-alvarez-catcher.html