RosterResource Chat – 3/5/26

Jason Martinez: Welcome to the RosterResource Chat! A lot to discuss. We’ll try to answer as many questions as possible over the next hour. Here we go …

Jon Becker: And before I grab this question, a new feature alert! Happy to answer any questions here or in the comments of the post.

Toxic Avenger: Do you expect Christian Scott to win a spot in the NYM starting rotation?

Jon Becker: I don’t. The starting six is set as Peralta, McLean, Holmes, Manaea, Senga, Peterson in some order, and Mendoza already said Myers is on the roster one way or another, so I’d have to think he’s the first man up if there’s a pre-season injury and he’s still stretched out. So barring a very late trade(s) or multiple injuries I’d strongly anticipate Scott and Tong starting in Triple-A.

YNWA: I’ve seen Miggy Vargas as a sleeper in a couple of columns now. Is he locked in a full time role in CHW? Where is he projected to bat in that line up. Thoughts on a end of year line for him?

Jason Martinez: This is probably his make-or-break season to prove he’s an above-average regular. Off to a great start in camp. Showed flashes in 2025. Clear path for everyday at-bats. And he’s one of the only right-handed batters in a lefty-heavy lineup. So I can see him anywhere from 2nd-5th in the lineup as long unless he doesn’t slump. Projected stats have him at .730 OPS with 18 HR, 29 2B in 600 PA. I think he’ll be better. Maybe closer to the .775 OPS range with 22 HR and 35 2B.

mike: Luke Keaschell, he of the often injured arm, is playing OF today. The Twins have 5-6 OF on the MLB roster, and three top OF prospects in AAA. Why? Why isn’t he playing first or second full time?

Jon Becker: I wouldn’t read too into one spring training lineup, especially since he has past experience in the OF. I see it just as the Twins trying out different defensive alignment because Clemens and Outman are out of options but they’ve also got Gray (who’s an infielder-only) hitting really well in camp. Also possible they can find a taker for Larnach before Opening Day and might want Keaschall in LF at least occasionally in that event.

dannyb: The Braves and probably the Phillies suddenly need OF depth. Who will fill in the shoes of Profar and Rojas?

Jason Martinez: Keep in mind that there will likely be some interesting non-roster invitees available later in camp who can either opt out of their MiLB deal or be acquired for cash. Here’s a list of NRIs in camp …

https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/opening-day-tracker?status=n…

With that said, I’m not sure if either team will do too much more than that. Phillies are probably fine just giving Crawford more opportunity to play every day (vs RHP and LHP). They have Pedro Leon and Bryan De La Cruz as current options if they want someone to platoon in CF.

Once Sean Murphy and Kim return from the IL (both could be back by early May), the Braves will be in decent shape and one of the catchers will get most of the DH at-bats. And I think Dom Smith is perfectly fine vs RHP for now. Someone like Mike Tauchman, if he doesn’t make the Mets, would be a great fit.

Todd Bonzalez: Who’s rostered instead of Greene if he starts the year on the IL?

Jon Becker: Burns or Lowder, whichever one of the two wouldn’t have won a spot if Greene was healthy and they only had one spot instead of two. They’ve both looked great this spring so there is a silver lining if Greene has to miss some time, however minimal that missed time may be.

Sgt. Kabukiman: Is David Hamilton in the lead for the MIL 3B job?

Jason Martinez: My assumption is that Rengifo has the edge, despite his poor 2026, because of his track record and experience at 3B. Hamiton hasn’t hit in the majors and hasn’t really played much 3B. He’s intriguing because of his speed but I don’t think he’ll get much playing time unless Rengifo struggles vs RHP. There is a chance of that, though.

Current projection: https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/depth-charts/brewers

Guest: How Effective has Drew Anderson been in Spring Training and what do you see his role being with DET

Jon Becker: So far, two really good outings, totaling five scoreless innings with five hits, a walk, and six Ks. I think he’s been up around 97 mph, too. But if everyone’s healthy there’s no starting spot for him, so I could see him in something of a “high-leverage long-relief” role, i.e., pitching multiple innings in close games where the starter doesn’t get very deep and they can’t go straight to Vest/Finnegan/Jansen, or if at least one of the three has the day off.

BP: Do you think Grant Taylor ends up getting high leverage opportunities? Or more long relief?

Jason Martinez: Should be a multi-inning, high-leverage role. He won’t be in a traditional “long-relief” role where he enters in the 4th inning because the starter got knocked out of the game.

Sounds like Seranthony will get most of the save opportunities. How often those save chances get distributed will be dependent on how often the White Sox win. More wins, more need for high-leverage guys to pitch often, and more save chances for Taylor, Leasure, etc. I can see Taylor occasionally closing out games with a 5 or 6-out save. And if he’s just blowing hitters away and Dominguez/Leasure are underwhelming, I can see it happening much more often than not.

Nationals: Is Robert Hassell going to be the Nat’s 4th Outfielder this year?

Jon Becker: They’ve already got a fourth outfielder in Jacob Young who’s probably going to be starting in CF a lot, if not regularly, because Wood and Lile aren’t CF and Crews just hasn’t been healthy enough to get much of a look out there. I think if Hassell makes the team it would probably be to start in CF outright (at least against righties); I can’t imagine they’d want him sitting on the bench too much. Right now we’ve got Wiemer as the bench (and basically fifth) outfielder.

drplantwrench: Christian Moore seems decent at 3B by my eye test in spring.  how much time do you think he plays there? does grissom play 2B if he does move?

Jason Martinez: He’s a big part of their long-term plans so I don’t believe they’d move him to 3B unless they decided that’s where he was going to be permanently. As of now, Moncada is their 3B. Makes sense to see how Moore looks there now during Spring Training but there’s not really a scenario where a healthy Moncada isn’t their regular 3B.

If they’re not contending in July and they feel 3B is Moore’s best spot moving forward, he could get a couple months of experience there to close out the season and to give the Angels a better sense if that is the right move.

Dbacks Pen: Does Kade Strowd find time in the backend of the pen? Have to imagine the Dbacks are high on him if they traded Blaze away to primarily acquire him

Jon Becker: I think so, especially with how wide open that bullpen is until Martinez and Puk are back. Lovullo name dropped Thompson and Sewald as closing options but I don’t think he’s at all limiting himself to those two or declaring a closer. Stuff+ really likes most of Strowd’s offerings if I recall correctly, and I think he could get better results if he tweaks the distribution of pitches and/or sequences differently.

Wethead: I love Marsh in LF but i think the CF experiment should be over. Who could possibly play CF as backup for the Phillies?

Jason Martinez: Unless they add a right-handed hitting option or go with Leon or De La Cruz, I think the plan is to stick with Crawford as often as possible and Marsh would play there occasionally. And then Rojas would be back by July (assuming the suspension is upheld).

If there is any concern, I think they could still pick someone up by Opening Day. Someone like Suart Fairchild or Chas McCormick could fit well.

Barring Injury: Other than Paredes and Duran/Yoshida, what other situations are waiting to be resolved where a CLEAR starting caliber player doesn’t have a role right now?

Jon Becker: I view these two situations very differently. Paredes is a clear starting-caliber player who deserves to be playing more often than he’s slated to for the Astros, but Yoshida is just without a clear fit in Boston and as a lower-power primary DH, I don’t think any team would want him unless the Red Sox pay down a huge portion of his salary; he’s closer to, say, Castellanos’ situation with the Phillies. There’s no other situation like Paredes’ that comes to mind, and purely speculatively I do wonder if the Braves have called on him since Profar’s suspension.

Guest: Is Fitts a fit in the STL rotation?

Jason Martinez: Yes, but still odd man out on Opening Day. My guess is that 3 spots are up for grabs behind May and Liberatore. Pallante/McGreevy both threw 160+ innings last season and capable of a full season’s workload. Leahy pitched 88 innings out of the ‘pen but I think the Cardinals want to give him a good look as a starter before determining whether he’s a better fit out of the ‘pen. Once they send him back to the ‘pen, that’s likely where he stays.

Fitts only pitched 75 innings last season (MLB/MiLB) so he’s not going to be in the MLB rotation from April-September. I have him projected for 130 innings as of now. Would be easier to manage his workload in AAA and then let him start in the majors from May-September.

Jon: What contender is most pitcher-needy at the moment?

Jon Becker: Simplest way to answer this is to look at the WAR projections and sort ascending by projected pitching WAR. Not surprising to see the only four true non-contenders right up there, so your answer among contenders would be A’s, D’backs, Giants, Guardians as the pitching-neediest four. The D’backs don’t really have much more they can do after bringing Gallen back and I think they’re just going to hope to “beat” the projections and get returns from Puk/Martinez/Burnes, and the Guardians always seem to conjure up better-than-expected pitching. So if you’re looking for theoretical Littell-Giolito-Kopech-etc. fits, it’s the former Bay Bridge Series teams. Though what I will say is that the Giants seem to be getting good velo gains out of the minors depth like Seymour and Whisenhunt, so the A’s seem much needier to me.

Guest: Thoughts on how the TB OF shakes out for Opening Day, particularly as it relates to C. Simpson?

Jason Martinez: Simpson is 5-for-10 in official games and he walked 3 times against the Netherlands in yesterday’s game. And Melton, despite the loud tools, is still striking out too much. My guess is that Simpson had the edge coming in to be the starting LF and he’ll get every chance early in the season to prove he can be a solid big league regular. Melton will have to work on cutting down his K rate and, barring injury to Fraley or Mullins, he’ll probably be doing that in AAA.

Seems like they have room for 2 RHH OFs. I have DeLuca and Malloy there now. Vilade is also in the mix.

Peter: Who do yall think will be O’s primary set up with Kittredge out? Cano? Could Wells become high leverage?

Jon Becker: I’m going to take the easy way out and say that I’m not sure they’ll really have one while Kittredge is out — it’s going to be matchup-dependent. But I do like your Wells callout, he’s looked awesome this spring and his 6’8″ height clearly makes him an uncomfortable pitcher to face even though his extension is actually well below average. Even more so than Wells, Grant Wolfram has been their most impressive reliever this spring, so I think Albernaz could play the hot hand matchups and also factor in opposing handedness, of course.

Billy Ocean: RR has Carter Jensen taking the strong side of a DH platoon. Do you think that’s solely how he’ll be deployed, or will he catch a bunch, play against scrubby lefties, etc? Can you give more detail here?

Jason Martinez: Being only the strong-side platoon is already going to be 400+ PA, which is around what I have for Jansen. And he’d be splitting his time between DH and C in that role. But he also has the upside to be in the 500-600 range. I just don’t think the Royals will force that scenario onto a rookie catcher. But he might force their hand.

Guest: The Mets seem to have too many OF’s. Who do they end up keeping?

Jon Becker: Unless a team comes calling on Taylor — and I think he has value being a RHH platoon partner to whomever is starting in RF anyway — right now it looks like a pretty dead heat between Tauchman and Benge for one spot, with Melendez/Young/et al. on the outside looking in. Melendez has hit excellently in camp but he’s not nearly as good a defender as Tauchman or Benge, and that matters too.

One other option (assuming Lindor is healthy) is to have Mauricio down in AAA and a bench of catcher, Vientos, and two OF (so room on the roster for two of Tauchman, Benge, Melendez, instead of just one) since Lindor never takes days off and Semien or Bichette could slide over to SS in a pinch.

Al: What are your current feelings on Deyvison de los Santos?

Jason Martinez: A bit over-hyped after he hit 40 HR between AA/AAA in 2024. He’s struggled in AAA since Miami acquired him. But he’s only 22 and has a couple options remaining. So there’s still not a sense of urgency.

Doesn’t appear to be in the mix for the 1B spot in early 2026, despite it being unsettled and lacking any intriguing candidates. If I had to guess who gets the most starts there in 2026, I’d say Graham Pauley and he’s the guy that never gets mentioned when asked about 1B. So it’s a tough one to figure out.

A Boy Named Yu: When do teams generally make the first round of roster cuts?  Will it mostly just be prospects who were in camp for some experience?

Jon Becker: There were a few last week, mostly injured players getting reassigned or super-obvious cuts like the sixth-string NRI catcher. But Keider Montero, who we (briefly) had on the projected roster, got optioned by the Tigers yesterday. So it’s starting to be that time where teams’ decision-making processes will actually affect ours!

Josh Hartnett: Does Kaelen Culpepper have a path to playing time this year? Is he the next man up at 3B with Royce Lewis being made of glass?

Jason Martinez: Not the next man up to fill in during an IL stint. And I’ll guess that his ETA is 2027. But I think he can position himself to be the next infield prospect called up if he puts up big numbers in AAA once he gets there (he might start in AA).

Whether it’s 2B or SS, I think there’s a spot for him because of Keaschall’s defensive versatility. Maybe that’s part of why they want to get him time in the OF.

millvillemeltdown: what’s gonna happen with atlanta’s outfield? platoon? late fa signing? what happens if (baseball gods forfend) acuña goes down?

Jon Becker: I lean towards sticking with what they’ve got, because they can’t option Eli White to the minors and I don’t think they’d be able to do significantly better than him by signing someone who opts out at the end of camp. I’d think Dubón gets plenty of OF time against LHP when Kim is back, too.

Catcher: Setting injuries aside, how much does Rushing play?

Jason Martinez: For his talent level, not nearly enough. But maybe more than you’d think. Will Smith, if not for the late-season IL stint, probably would’ve made around 105-110 starts last season. I think that’s going to be his ceiling and the Dodgers, very confident that they’ll be playing deep into October, are very likely to ease his workload. Getting Rushing more playing time is also part of that, though. It wouldn’t surprise me if he got 70-80 starts.

JoeS: What does the Yankees’ acquisition of Paul Goldschmidt mean for Ben Rice’s playing time at 1B? Or anywhere else?

Jon Becker: I think his overall playing time should be about the same, bringing Goldschmidt back just shifts some of that PT out from 1B to behind the plate. I don’t think it’s implausible that they start the season — or go through stretches — with Escarra in the minors and Wells and Rice as the only two catchers. They could start the season with Escarra but if Volpe is back and everyone’s healthy and someone like Grichuk is playing too well to cut, it’s nice to be able to send Escarra down and keep that flexibility.

Tacoby Bellsbury: What have been the most interesting on-field developments of spring training for the two of you so far (discounting injuries, of course)?

Jason Martinez: Not a huge surprise, but Kevin McGonigle appears to be on the fast track and could be in the Tigers’ Opening Day lineup. Maybe even leading off. In fact, I changed the projection last night … https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/depth-charts/tigers

The interesting thing would be how they shuffle the roster to make it work. I’m not sure what they’d do yet.

Guest: Is Cam Smith in line to get full time AB’s?

Jon Becker: The Astros infield is a mess because they’ve got five regulars for four starting spots, and the Astros outfield is a mess because they’ve got no set-in-stone regulars for the three spots. Meyers will be on the roster and figures to, at minimum, play against lefties, but from there any of the three of Cole, Loperfido, and Smith could play regularly, start the year in Triple-A, or somewhere in between. There’s also these questions: what do they think about Brice Matthews in center so far? How often will Altuve play LF? How about Yordan? So to circle back to your Smith question, I think it’s too early to tell.

will in vero: you’re Dave Roberts. do you find a consistent role for Tanner Scott in the 7th or 8th? or do you put him into an Andrew Miller type deal of letting the highest leverage situations dictate when he’s in?

Jason Martinez: My guess is that Roberts is going to utilize Scott as if he’s still one of the best relievers in baseball (see 2024 version), cross his fingers that he pitches that way, and adjust if he struggles again.

Between Vesia, Dreyer, and Wrobleski, I think they have enough lefty options who can pitch in high-leverage. Dodgers’ goal will be to get Scott on track by late season/playoffs. Dodgers bullpen completely imploding would be fun but that’s what happened in 2024 and they still won the division. i don’t see them over-reacting much to anything these days.

Jason Martinez: That will do it for today. Thanks for joining us. We’ll be back next Thursday. Enjoy the weekend!