RosterResource Chat – 9/3/26

Jason Martinez: Welcome to the RosterResource chat! This will be our last of the 2026 regular season and then we’ll return in early October. While it’s never too early for us to discuss the offseason, we’ll wait until at least a majority of teams are done for the year before looking too far ahead. Of course, you can always ask me and Jon questions via Twitter, BlueSky, or the rosters at fangraphs dot com email account. So you don’t have to wait until the next chat.

Here we go …

scottsjunk1981: Travis Sykora was a HS draftee in 2023. Under the current CBA rules, wouldn’t he be R5 eligible in 2027 and not this year?

Jon Becker: Normally, high school players are eligible the fifth R5 draft after they’re drafted and not the fourth, you’re right. But the cutoff is actually based on age and not high school vs. college, and Sykora, unlike most high school draftees, was 19 on the June 5 preceding his signing, which means he only gets four years; I believe he was held back a grade at some point or started a year late, something like that. Regardless, they’ll have to add him to the 40 this offseason.

Christopher: If Jones keeps improving (last night notwithstanding) is there a chance he supplants Grisham when Judge returns (and someone like Rosario is DFAd?) Iirc he has a pretty good rep as a defensive CF, no? I guess the path to least resistance is usually the likeliest, but they surprised me before with GLJ over Volpe.

Jason Martinez: Always a chance they just stick with the hot hand and it sounds like we’ll have at least another week before Judge returns. Keep in mind that Grisham can be one of the worst hitters in the league and then can get really hot all of a sudden. He was so bad at the end of 2022 that the Padres benched him in favor of Jose Azocar. He was unplayable. And then he returned to the lineup and had a decent playoff run with 3 HRs and some big hits.

I think it will take a lot to trust Jones down the stretch and in the post-season, especially since they’ll be facing mostly really good pitching. He needs to be very good and show he’s capable in CF.  But, like I said, Grisham has so much experience and can be very good. My guess is they’ll stick with the guy who has a track record.

glenn kenney: Fisher in MIL, Susana in WAS. 2027 outlooks?

Jon Becker: I’m like 80% sure that they’ll both at least debut next year. I think Fischer’s pull-air-happy approach could be easily exploited by MLB pitching but a version of Fischer that succeeds might be the best power they’ve had in the lineup since peak Yelich, and there should be playing time for him at 3B/1B at some point. I have to think Susana’s innings will be very carefully monitored next year but besides health and staying on schedule he doesn’t really have much else to prove in the minors, though it’s worth noting that only Triple-A uses the same baseball as MLB, so TBD on how his stuff looks with the different ball.

smoothio: Did the Padres start Salas’ clock too early?  Now that he’s a major leaguer, he won’t get any offseason coaching development during a lockout and there’s a chance the timeline to free agency will be shorter.  And Campusano has been really good this year.

Jason Martinez: I’d have no problem if they decided to be patient and call him up in late April/early May. Then he’d be under team control thru 2033 instead of 2032. But I’m pretty sure they view him the same way as Tatis and Merrill. Not many elite prospects make it to SD before they’re traded. And the two that weren’t traded made the Opening Day roster and got long-term extensions early in their careers. So holding them back in order to keep them an extra year didn’t affect those decisions at all. I’d assume the same will happen with Salas.

Calling him up now (instead of Opening Day 2027) became more likely once Sheets and Rengifo went on the IL. The need for another lefty bat, especially one with a good idea of the strike zone, sped up his timeline.

richwp01: Does the minor league CBA (which goes through 2027 I think), even address the MLB CBA at all? Will the minors play while MLB and MLBPA work on the Major League CBA?

Jon Becker: The MiLB CBA is separate from the MLB CBA, even though there is of course going to be a lot of switching going on as to who’s represented by each CBA. I believe that by the letter of the law it’s just 40-man players under the MLB CBA, so they’re the ones the owners would/will be locking out. There’ll be an MiLB season for non-40 man players if there are missed MLB games, but I don’t know where the union stands on older players with MLB experience signing minors deals and playing in the minors.

Zachary Bergman: What are the Cardinals doing at catcher next year and beyond?

Jason Martinez: Bernal’s 1-month audition should play a big part in their decision. Crooks was also a top prospect but he hasn’t hit a lick in the majors. Not much of a window with Bernal right behind him but it might make sense if he gets a change of scenery in 2027. He probably still has some decent trade value.

Wouldn’t surprise me if Bernal is their primary catcher in 2027 with Pages in the backup role and, unless he’s traded, Herrera could play there occasionally while still getting a majority of his at-bats as the DH. But my guess is that they view Bernal as their guy for the next several seasons (and beyond).

Zachary Bergman: Are any of the Giants recently called up young players in line for real at bats next year?

Jon Becker: If we assume that Chapman, Adames, Schmitt, Devers, and Eldridge are all healthy, that blocks off all the infielders, and Lee has a spot in the OF, either CF or RF. Even if Bader is healthy I would think he’ll have to re-earn trust in the team, so that leaves two OF spots. Gilbert probably has a leg up for one because he’s been up basically all year and performing pretty well, and based on how Hill/Cox are both performing in small samples this year, entirely possible they just end up platooning next year too. But most of the guys they’ve called up are just “ah crap, EVERYONE got hurt” filler.

Jason Martinez: We’re going to call it quits for today so Jon can work on some RR-related technical issues. We will return from our hiatus on either 10/8 or 10/15 so you’ll have about 5 weeks to get your offseason questions ready.

Enjoy the rest of the regular season!