RosterResource Chat – 9/4/25

Jason Martinez: Welcome to the RosterResource chat! 25 days left in the regular season. Thanks to some very frustratingly inconsistent teams like the Mariners, Dodgers, Padres and Mets, we still have some playoff spots that are up for grabs. And I wouldn’t blame any of you who wanted to look ahead with some offseason questions. Ask away …

Hazmat Corntail: Is there any realistic scenario where Spencer Jones makes the Yankees out of spring next year?

Jon Becker: Not sure it’s super realistic, but sure. If Bellinger and Grisham both sign elsewhere then Jasson and Judge are starting in the corners with CF open, so it’s not inconceivable that in such a scenario they’d sign a veteran who can start or come off the bench (just to throw a name out there, Cedric Mullins?) and give Jones every chance to win the role. But based on how Jones has played lately I doubt they go that route.

Tyler: Why is Ben Brown still on the Cubs’ 28-man roster? With Civale and Assad both there to serve in the 5th starter/long relief role, BB coming in during a 1-run game for multiple innings just isn’t necessary with his form this year.

Jason Martinez: Taillon and Brasier are about to begin rehab assignments and Eli Morgan and Soroka could also return later this month. So he’s probably back in AAA very soon. He has good stuff so I can see why he could be valuable out of the bullpen. But probably not in a close game. Not this season.

Michael V.: Any other top pitching prospects getting called up for the stretch run?

Jon Becker: I could see Painter coming up for a start or two just to see what he’s got ahead of making playoff rotation decisions, though it’s not as if he’s dominating Triple-A by any means. The Blue Jays just moved Yesavage to the bullpen because they want to limit his innings a bit and that’s where he’d pitch if on the postseason roster, so he could come up for a relief audition, too.

Oaktown Blues: Will the A’s add Junior Perez to the 40-man this off-season? He’s been maddeningly inconsistent as a prospect but suddenly he’s raking in AAA as a 23 year old (in a small sample)

Jason Martinez: Probably not but he’s making a strong case since his promotion to AAA. I think there’s been maybe one Rule 5 position player (Liam Hicks) to make any kind of impact over the last few seasons. I think the last OF to stick for the entire season was Akil Baddoo. Difficult to carry a position player in a part-time role. Hitting is so difficult for any player. But especially for a rookie who doesn’t play often. Defensive versatility and speed can only help so much when you can find optionable players to fill that role.

Alec: What do you expect the Tigers infield to look like next season? Assuming McGonigle is in competition for a roster spot, is there room for him/Sweeney/Baez/McKinstry/Vierling? Would his ascension and the crowded infield rule out Gleyber returning in 2026, or would you anticipate Detroit looks to move any of these players to make room?

Jon Becker: Báez and McKinstry should both stick around thanks to their versatility and overall solid or better performances this year, but I do think moving on from Vierling is a strong possibility. He’s barely been around this year and they’ve got plenty of other guys who can fill his lefty-mashing role, so he’s more than a little redundant. As for Gleyber, they seem to really like him there so they could still make a play to bring him back and go with a McKinstry-McGonigle-Torres-Torkelson infield with Keith DHing and filling in at 3B/2B/1B, or add another power bat for DH and have Keith play 3B or 2B. A lot of permutations they could go with.

Chris: Is there a point at which the Yanks have to consider a QO for Grisham?

Jason Martinez: Pretty sure he’s getting one. Haven’t seen him play much this season so no idea if the poor defensive metrics match up with the eye test. But he’s a CF (and at least a previously above-average defender) who can hit 30+ homers. That’s getting you a multi-year deal that should be more than enough $ for him to decline the QO.

He was bad from 2022-24 so he picked a good time to have his best season. But that’s the way free agency goes. He’s gonna get paid and some fanbase is probably going to want to run him out of town at some point during the contract.

Sam: What should Phillies do with Aaron Nola?

Jon Becker: I think they basically have to keep running him out there and see if he can figure it out; their 5.5-game lead in the division (90.3% chance of winning it) gives them the luxury to do that. He’s not the type of pitcher whose stuff you’d expect to play up in the bullpen so if he’s not in the playoff rotation he’d only be on the roster as a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency arm.

WadeH: Do you think the union advocating for more roster spots would be reasonable and/or good for the game in 2027?

Jason Martinez: I think the goal of both sides should be to stop incentivizing the current approach of pitchers to try and strike everybody out. Too many injuries. Still not enough balls in play. I’d like to see more roster spots but I’m not sure if there is a way to do it with that goal in mind. And as things stand, I don’t think teams have been very creative with their current 4-man bench. Maybe it’s the team I watch regularly (Padres — see Schildt currently/Melvin in 2022-23) more than others but I’ve seen very little outside-the-box thinking in recent years.

Bucs: What does a Skenes extension look like? How much over how many years gets it done? Does the deal get steeper every year? If I’m the Pirates ownership, I want him out there every 5 days for the next decade+. He’s the most marketable star the Bucs have had since prime Cutch

Jon Becker: Ballparking extensions for players who are still pre-arbitration can be a little tough, but we can use Strider’s record setting pre-arb extension as a ballpark for those years, and he got $46M for his three arbitration years and then $22M for his first FA year, the only guaranteed year in the deal. Skenes is tracking to set the first-year-arb record for pitchers, which is still Dallas Keuchel’s $7.25M from back in 2016. So let’s say Skenes goes something like $9M-$19-$28M for his arb years (again, a very rough estimate) and then would be looking to get $40M/year in FA. So… 8y/$256M which includes five FA years at $40M per?

drplantwrench: angels have some young arms coming up with Dana, Bremner, Klassen (and other guys like Aldegheri, Farris etc) and probably 3 spots in the rotation next year.  do they all make it to the big leagues? or do they need to sign some FA SP?

Jason Martinez: This is the way I’d look at it, assuming the goal is to be a legitimate playoff contender in 2026. You have 3 spots up for grabs after Kikuchi and Soriano. You need at least 8 starters to get you through 162 games in decent shape. I don’t know if any of the current group of youngsters can be penciled in. But there is enough talent to assume one can step up and claim the No. 5 spot with Dana the leading candidate. So the goal would be to add 2 reliable starting pitchers to the roster (hopefully a frontline starter) and possibly another veteran or two on MiLB deals for depth.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands: What might the Orioles 1B/DH mix look like next year? If they still view Adley as a true every day player and Mountcastle continues to get regular playing time, it would really limit ABs for Basallo and Mayo, to say nothing of DH days for Tyler O’Neill

Jon Becker: Basallo’s going to play just about every day, though the positional usage remains up in the air. I’m sure they’d love to trade O’Neill but I don’t see that happening at his salary, so I think they’ll look to move Mountcastle instead. That’d leave Mayo mostly playing 1B, Basallo mostly DH, and Rutschman mostly C, with the ability to still give Adley and O’Neill DH days, Basallo plenty of time behind the plate (and maybe some 1B, too).

Tacoby Bellsbury: Would you rather field an all-time team of Jasons, Martinezes, or Jons and Beckers?

Jason Martinez: Martinez roster would be stacked. Not even close, in my opinion. We have Pedro and Edgar. Also have El Presidente (Dennis) and Tino. And guys with cool names like Carmelo and Tippy. I’d also include Reginald Martinez Jackson on the team.

Jon Becker: Unfortunately there is not a rich history of Beckers in MLB, nor have a lot of guys done Jon without the H. I should take a closer look at this and see if I can manage to cobble together a team that’d lose fewer than 100 games.

Opifijikl: What baseball games are you hoping to catch this weekend? It looks like Astros-Rangers may have the most playoff implications

Jon Becker: I always watch four games at once on MLB dot TV and that’ll definitely be one of the series I’m watching since both teams are in the playoff hunt. To that end I’ll also watch Mets/Reds, Blue Jays/Yankees, Guardians/Rays, and Cardinals/Giants, even with the teams in the latter two matchups very much on the periphery. Don’t love when there’s five interesting games for four slots, though!

Guest: who gets the most 2026 starts in CF for Arizona?

Jason Martinez: Probably Alek Thomas at this point, although I think the Dbacks are probably ready to consider other options. They have a few in-house. Blaze Alexander can hit and he’s starting to play CF. If Jordan Lawlar is the 3B in ’26, Alexander is either a valuable super-utility guy or he’s good enough to be the everyday CF. Tommy Troy (1st Rd pick in ’23) has started playing some CF in AAA this season. Kristian Robinson has put up good numbers in AAA. Not sure if they’d consider moving Corbin Carroll to CF to open up a corner spot for a prospect like AJ Vukovich or Ryan Waldschmidt.

Doc Estes: What young arms can you see stepping in to high leverage bullpen roles next year?

Jon Becker: Mason Montgomery was going really well to start the year and then faded quickly, but I’m not going to give up on a lefty who throws 100 with a great slider. Also a fan of Grant Taylor, Clayton Beeter, Zach Maxwell (he seems to be throwing enough strikes!), and Craig Yoho. If you want a real dark horse, I wonder if the Tigers would consider keeping Melton in the bullpen since he’s taken to it so well.

Alec: Which rosters do you expect to change the most between now and the beginning of the 2026 season? Any particular teams you think will have a wave of youth coming through or projected big free agency spenders?

Jason Martinez: If any of the teams currently locked into a playoff spot don’t make the playoffs, that’s my top choice because it would’ve been quite the late-season implosion. Enough to call for major changes.

Picking the Rockies or Pirates is more wishful thinking because there is so much to do and so many holes to fill. But we haven’t seen much sense of urgency. Orioles are probably the biggest disappointment. They have a lot of young talent but I can see them making some bigger changes in response.

Josh: What do you see the Dodgers doing with Kershaw in the playoffs. Assuming health (lol), hes definitely not one of their top 4 SP, and can’t see him as a real reliever. Is he off the playoff roster? Mop-up guy, a la last year’s Brent Honeywell?

Jon Becker: That’s a really tough one, yeah. I know Ohtani’s stretched out for five innings and has faced as many as 20 batters in a start but I wonder if they’ve toyed with the idea of cutting him off at 18 and then turning it over to Kershaw for nine hitters, something like that. The bullpen has no real closer right now anyway and it would put a lot of pressure on the other manager to empty the bench when Kershaw comes in.

Guest: Yesavage in Jays ‘26 rotation?

Jason Martinez: At some point, yes. Projected rotation heading into the offseason will likely be Gausman, Berrios, Manoah, Lauer, Francis. I’d expect them to add at least one other MLB starter so last spot could be competition between Lauer, Francis/Yesavage/etc. Should be Yesavage’s spot by mid-season at the latest.

Jeff in Jersey: How much fun would it be for the Mets to run out three rookie starters in prominent roles in the postseason?

Jon Becker: Very, and they’re getting closer and closer to that becoming a reality. I know he just got his butt kicked but Peterson will be in the playoff rotation, and McLean’s already earned a spot barring catastrophe. That leaves two spots for Tong, Manaea, Megill, Senga, Sproat, and Holmes. Maybe there’s some piggybacking so more than two pitchers get spots but there’s a real chance of a rotation of Peterson-Sproat-McLean-Tong, in some order.

Nathan: Follow up on the Junior Perez question… it’s not about protecting him from the Rule 5 draft. He’s a Milb free agent at the end of the season.

Jason Martinez: Ohhh, my bad! Different situation since he’d have his MiLB options but still need to consider 40-man roster crunch. They have a full 40-man now and 6 players on the 60-Day IL. And only 2 free agents. So they have to clear four 40-man spots right off the bat. That should be pretty easy to do. But clearing a few more so they can add new players or keeping a potential MiLB Free Agent from leaving will be another challenge. The A’s will have add him within 5 days of the World Series ending or else he’d become a free agent.

Sean: Late to chat so you may have touched on this. Any concern with injuries riddling the Brewers bullpen? Or is the feeling they will be back by postseason (except Miller)? Or the Brewers can simply do what they’ve done and go next man up from their pool of prospects?

Jon Becker: I’m not 0% concerned but I think they’ll be fine, Megill was just throwing a bullpen session so I don’t think he’s too far off. And there’s a non-zero chance that Misiorowski ends up a big weapon out of the bullpen in October.

Guest: Pirates going to have someone better than Tommy Pham/Alexander Canario to play left field in 2026?

Jason Martinez: Will be difficult to find someone better than post-April version of Tommy Pham. He’s slashed .300/.374/.457 in 278 PAs. Upgrading from that production would be amazing. I see Pirates fans discussing whether they should bring him back (like it would be a done deal at $5MM or less again) and I guarantee that Pham, even at age-38 in 2026, thinks he deserves more than what the Pirates are willing to offer. But that doesn’t mean he’ll get better offers. See David Peralta’s numbers in 2024. One of the best hitters in baseball for a 2-month period and no viable offers in 2025.

My guess is that they’ll do whatever they can to address the offense via trade again. And if the owner somehow is on board (doubtful), maybe they’d look to add an impact hitter in free agency.

Sean: Will the Brewers trade their closer for the third year in a row and hand the reins to Uribe and/or Yoho?

Jon Becker: I lean no, since they traded Hader in his second-to-last trade deadline before FA, and Williams with just a year left before FA. So trading two full years of Megill would be aggressive even for them. But at the same time, you can never fully discount anything with the Brewers.

Ozzie: Are any of the top pitching prospects from the draft going to be making their minor leage debut this season?

Jason Martinez: Liam Doyle (STL) tomorrow. I think Cruz Schoolcraft (SDP) is going to pitch for Lake Elsinore before their season ends.

Sean: Barring yesterday, Cortes has been getting blistered the first time through the lineup and dominate the next couple times. How do you fix this? Is it just reacquainting or can you simulate the start of the game more realistically in warmups?

Jason Martinez: Not a lot of room for error so he can’t really afford to feel his way through starts until he locks in. He was getting rocked yesterday so he didn’t even have a chance to settle in. As is the case with Darvish, he’s coming back from an elbow injury so the command is not quite there and I’m not sure it will be consistently. Musgrove pitching thru his elbow injury last season was so crazy because he was getting better and better until it finally tore. I think it’s more common for pitchers who are dealing with some discomfort to battle with command from start to start. I’m not very hopeful. Need the 2024 version of Michael King to return for them to have any kind of chance to advance past the WC round.

Jason Martinez: That will do it for today. Thanks everyone! Have a great rest of the week.