RosterResource Chat – 5/14/26

Jason Martinez: Welcome to the RosterResource chat! We’re trying out a new system where you’re required to log in to FanGraphs to ask a question during the chat. You don’t need to be a Member, but you do need to have an account. Please let us know if you have any issues.

Here we go …

baseballer8489: Help me understand the Brewers lineup construction. Today they’re batting three RHHs (Contreras, Sanchez, Vaughn) in a row followed by three straight lefties (Mitchell, Frelick, Hamilton). I’m not one to doubt Pat Murphy or the brewers but feels like they’re making it too easy on opposing managers to find lanes in the pen.

Jon Becker: I take lineup construction on a case-by-case basis. I think as a manager you certainly do want to consider to what extent you can alternate left-right-left as often as possible, but you also want to have your better hitters get more plate appearances. I don’t think I’d want any of those RHH hitting lower than they are in today’s lineup knowing how the three lefties have all struggled lately. Having a LHH break up a righty just for the sake of alternating doesn’t solve a ton if the lefty isn’t much of a threat.

Broken Bat: Laureano of Padres… was 2025 an outlier year? ROS 4×4, Church or Lauraeno?

Jason Martinez: Tough to say. It was very close to what he did in 2019 so it’s not like he’s never had that type of season before. But then he had the PED suspension in 2021 and wasn’t very productive again until 2024. He looked great early in this season and now he looks terrible. Padres are going to give him every chance to break out of it because they don’t really have any other options. So I’d stick with him over someone like Church, who will have to battle for playing time with Victor Scott II and Lars Nootbaar when he returns from the IL in the next few weeks.

BP: Think Mason Montgomery can grab the closer role eventually?

Jon Becker: Gregory Soto’s got that locked down for this year, it seems (though his command can become unplayable at any point) but I can absolutely see Montgomery getting the job next year if/when Soto signs elsewhere in free agency. Dennis Santana entered the season as the presumptive closer but his stuff has really backed up and he’s already over 30, so not sure the extent to which the stuff will reappear.

Alex Remington: Mauricio Dubon is quietly having a really nice season for Atlanta, with an OPS 60 points higher than his career norm, while playing all over the field as is his wont. Could he be this year’s Zach McKinstry or David Fry, the supersub who spends a year looking a bit like a superstar?

Jason Martinez: Yep, but I think “this year’s” is a very important part of that prediction. We see a lot of Ben Zobrist-like seasons from super-utility guys. We don’t see a lot of Ben Zobrist-like consistency from year to year. And Dubon will be an interesting case since he’ll be heading into free agency. He’s older (31) so he’s not going to break the bank and he doesn’t have the power/speed combo that will get him a huge payout. But he could get a much higher-than-expected salary if he’s a .750 OPS guy who can play every position.

Seuss2004: Is the reason Phillies kept three catchers once J.T. came back because Stubbs is out of options, so he’d have to clear waivers again? If so, seems like an unsustainable solution to have both backup catcher with no options.

Jon Becker: It was pretty curious to me, because Stubbs has a split contract (i.e., one that pays him at a lower rate in the minors) and there’s a pretty good chance he’d have cleared waivers anyway. They eased Realmuto back in when he first came off the IL but now he’s back to his usual “almost no days off” regimen, so I don’t think that roster is too long for three catchers. Both Marchán and Stubbs are out of options, so it’s a question of what they prefer between Marchán’s glove and switch-hitting ability (not that he’s been good from either side this year) or Stubbs’ positional versatility and great clubhouse reputation. (That’s not to say Marchán has a bad reputation or anything, we just know that Stubbs is beloved in the clubhouse.)

Jasper Francisco: The A’s just DFA’d Junior Perez, a toolsy OF prospect with a 45 FV, yet they continue to protect middling arms like Estes, Basso, and Kelly. What gives?

Jason Martinez: Optionable pitchers have value and I don’t think either of those 3 you mentioned would clear waivers. In the case of Perez, he’s having a bad season in AAA but, regardless, Henry Bolte’s breakout has pretty much buried him on the RHH OF depth chart. Between Denzel Clarke, Colby Thomas, and Zack Gelof, they are covered in that area. Will be interesting to see if Perez makes it thru waivers. My guess is that he clears and gets outrighted to AAA.

Aaron Orheim: What can the Rays do at CF? Haven’t we reached the point (20 wRC+ after 141 PAs) where they have to call it quits on Mullins (or a least stop playing him every day)?

Jon Becker: Yeah, as evidenced by the Chris Paddack DFA last week, we’re officially in the part of the season where there’s enough of a sample size to think about cutting bait on a bad one-year deal, and that’s unquestionably what Mullins has been. They’d probably love to have Jacob Melton to call up right now but he’s out with an ankle injury in Triple-A. Even without him as an option, though, I think they’d be able to get plenty of production by having DeLuca in CF every day with Simpson in left and Fraley/Vilade in right.

Ray Darwin: Who has a better chance of affecting the Twins this year – Sabato or Fedko?

Jason Martinez: Had to think Fedko’s best chance would be now with Wallner getting optioned, Emmanuel Rodriguez and Alan Roden hurt, and Gabriel Gonzalez not hitting much. But they went with Kreidler so it sounds like they’re mostly gonna ride with Martin/Outman in RF for now. Later in the season, you figure there will be a logjam with all those aforementioned names probably in the mix. Not sure he’ll get much of an opportunity in 2026.

Also not sure there is room for Sabato anytime soon with Bell, Clemens, and Caratini sharing most of the 1B/DH at-bats. Bell and Caratini will probably be traded at the deadline, though, which could open some at-bats. If he continues to hit, I’d imagine he’ll get a look in August/September. If he continues to put up a .950 OPS, though, he could force their hand to move sooner.

David Wiers: Is this Julio snapping his trend of slow starts to the season, or is he making The Leap and he’ll find another gear in the late summer?

Jon Becker: Maybe both! This is definitely the best start he’s ever had to a season and the thing I notice most is that he’s pulling the ball in the air more than he ever has (about 19% of BIP, his previous career high was something like 16.5%), and that’s a great place to do damage. That said he’s also chasing as much as usual and swinging less on pitches in the zone, so his batted ball distribution needs to stay really good for the results to be buoyed because he’s just not ever going to be a great K:BB ratio guy.

Conrad Berris: Do you think the padres dfa Waldron to activate Giolito? Surprising he’s still on the roster. Also, are there any players in AAA who could help the big league team soon. Bryce Johnson and Nick castellanos don’t seem like major leaguers and any offensive help is needed

Jason Martinez: Yes. I don’t think there’s any way Waldron gets picked up on waivers and, if the Padres think it’s worth it, they can continue to work with him on his repertoire in AAA. Can’t imagine any team would know what to do with him on the MLB roster in the middle of the season. Maybe in the offseason, a team would think the knuckleball is interesting enough to work with him.

Padres roster is weirdly constructed. I think Bryce Johnson will eventually be the odd man out when they have to make a move. They really need a right-handed hitting 2B so Tatis can always play RF and Castellanos can never play OF. Castellanos is fine as a pinch-hitter/occasional DH. But they also really need another left-handed bat.

Samad Taylor (right-handed hitter) can play 2B and OF. He can run. So I think he might a better fit than Johnson. Jase Bowen is interesting but he would struggle in a part-time role. I don’t think he’d get the call unless someone got hurt and he was in line for regular at-bats.

bill furlong: Who is the next impact call-up for the Mets?

Jon Becker: Jack Wenninger or Jonah Tong whenever they need a starter for whatever reason. Wenninger’s been far better but Tong continues to strike guys out while figuring out what a viable third pitch is for him (and that’s still TBD) and he’s also got a 40-man spot already. But it wouldn’t be hard to move someone to the 60-day IL to open up a spot for Wenninger and I’m not sure how much longer they want to roll with the Peterson+bullpen games every fifth game.

Brian Martin: i submitted an incomplete question by accident sorry!  Here is my corrected version: Do most MLB teams have typical righty lineups and lefty lineups? Does FanGraphs track batting order deployment that way?  And on a more specific level, where should Tyan Waldenschmidt bat in the DBack lineup? Thanks!!

Jason Martinez: We have several lineup tools, including the platoon lineups page, Lineup Trackers. You can find them all here …

https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/lineup-tracker/padres

“Where should someone hit” is not really our concern with what we do. With our lineup features, you can see actual lineups, shown in different formats, and you’ll see a projected lineup vs RHP/LHP, which I update daily. You can see the trends to know why it’s projected that way. Being able to see “Last 6 lineups” will tell you why the projection is currently what it is. They change a lot. Hope that answers your question.

dan999999: Has Volpe’s call up after Cabalero’s injury changed his arbitration or free agency timeline?

Jon Becker: Volpe came into the season with exactly three years of service, having never been sent back down since he made the Opening Day roster in 2024. He got MLB service time when on the IL, and would get the full year if he accrues 172 days of service of the 187 days in the season this year. He’s of course on pace to do that now since he’s back in the majors but the Yankees already re-committed to Caballero as the starting SS when he’s back from his minor injury and it’s not hard to see Volpe getting stuck back in the minors for a month-plus, pushing his FA back to the conclusion of the 2030 season instead of 2029.

strawman86: Who do you see as the closer for Cincy at this point?

Jason Martinez: I currently have Ashcraft as the guy … https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/closer-depth-chart/reds

Initially, I had Santillan/Ashcraft as the co-closers when Pagan went on the IL. Both had disastrous outings right away and then Pierce Johnson picked up a save the next day (or the day after). So I reluctantly had Johnson as the closer for 1-2 days before changing my mind and just listing Ashcraft. Santillan continues to struggle while Ashcraft has looked good for 3 consecutive games.

warpath: What do you make of the mess that is the Twins bullpen right now? Does really any guy have a clearly defined role?

Jon Becker: Not really, it’s as messy of a bullpen situation as there is in the whole league and really as messy of one as I can remember in a while (at least before some non-contending bullpens get decimated at the trade deadline). Topa and Orze are generally leverage guys but not exclusively, and Rogers has ping-ponged to and from leverage and even got seven outs once. You’d think that at some point somebody is going to emerge but there’s not a really obvious candidate there.

Ray Darwin: Does Josh Stephan get a shot in the Bigs this year?

Jason Martinez: Looking that way. Not sure they’d move Latz back to the rotation since he’s been their best reliever, but Tyler Alexander and Cal Quantrill are capable of filling in for a start or two. But if one of their starters had to miss at least 3-4 weeks because of injury, Stephan might be next in line. They don’t have much SP depth, especially with Bradford and Montgomery still working their way back from injury. If anything, I think he could get a look out of the ‘pen later in the season. For now, he needs to be ready to start when called upon.

doughboy: If the Tigers continue to stumble into July…….lets envision Skubal has had a healthy month of June……what’s the return gonna look like if moved at the deadline?

Jon Becker: If he comes back looking exactly like himself then he’d get a pretty huge return (he’d be the best rental SP traded in a long time) but I don’t think it’d be franchise-altering for a few reasons:

1. He’s a pitcher, so you’re only trading for 10-12 starts plus the playoffs, and I think you have to be darn sure that you’re making/going deep in the playoffs to really extract added value there
2. It’s possible (likely?) that he and Boras could set limits on his usage because it’s a walk year, i.e., I don’t think he’s going to go 2008 CC Sabathia Mode and pitch every four days down the stretch
3. Even if he comes back looking exactly like himself, there’s still the “this guy just had surgery” cloud hanging over him. That might dissipate by his free agency but after only a month back, maybe not.

war2d2: Do you have any particular thoughts about the Giants’ catching situation? It seems weird that in the fallout of the Bailey trade almost all of the reporting seems to indicate that Buster was mostly disappointed with Bailey’s defense…which…what? I still like the trade for the Giants because I feel that at the point they’re at a lotto ticket prospect and a first-round pick are more valuable to them than a guy that helps improve a team on the margins. Going forward do you think they’ll put all their eggs in the Susac basket or do they have someone in the minors that will be more to Buster’s liking?

Jason Martinez: I’m not sure what’s true about his feelings on Bailey’s defense. But I can’t imagine it could’ve reached a level of greatness that made Buster Posey think it was fine to be that bad of a hitter. There was no way that would continue unless the Giants’ 1-8 in the batting order were so good that No. 9 didn’t matter.

I think they’ll roll with Susac/Haase (can’t have 2 rookie catchers so I’m assuming Haase is staying) for most of this season and allow Rodriguez to get some starts occasionally if they keep him as a utility player. I don’t believe they have a “catcher of the future” in their system.

NicklePickers: Gage Workman hit another homer today. Can he break out of platoon mode and become an everyday guy?

Jon Becker: Don’t think so, and I think his status as a platoon starter on this roster mist not last too long either. Once Gleyber is back (I haven’t seen anything on just how bad his oblique strain is) he’s locked into a starting infield spot with McGonigle, Keith will play against RHP, and Torkelson at absolute minimum against LHP. So they’d have to figure out how to work Workman in along with McKinstry and eventually Báez (who could beat Torres back to the roster).

David: What do the A’s do with Lawrence Butler?  He’s really struggling, not playing particularly often, and Bolte was just promoted (and his early showing is favorable).  Does he get sent to AAA?  Or do you foresee a comeback once the weather heats up and more games are played in Sacramento?

Jason Martinez: Wouldn’t surprise me either way, but I think there’s an opportunity to continue giving him, Bolte, and Cortes semi-regular at-bats in what could be an unofficial audition for who gets the majority of starts in CF and RF. Once Denzel Clarke returns from the IL, they’ll also have to decide whether he goes to AAA, starts in CF, or is a platoon/4th OF guy. How those other 3 perform until then will be a factor.

Person: looks like only members can chat now, kinda a problem for work hours lol

Jason Martinez: Like I said, we’re just trying this out for today so thanks for the feedback. You can also send a note to support@fangraphs.com if you have any questions or concerns.

Jason Martinez: Thanks for joining us today! We’ll be back next Thursday.