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Free Agents
• Griffin Canning touched 93 mph in his showcase.
Considering his fastball was sitting 94 mph (touching 96.6 mph) last season, he’s still got a ways to go to be all the way back.
American League
Guardians
• Here is MLB.com’s projected rotation.
Starting Pitchers (5): Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee, Slade Cecconi, Logan Allen로건, Joey Cantillo
The rotation is expected to drop back down to five starters after the Guardians rode a six-man staff to the AL Central title in 2025. Someone will be the odd man out. Parker Messick made a strong impression down the stretch last year, and he’ll certainly factor in at some point. But he has Minor League options remaining and could open the season with Columbus. Cantillo has relief experience, though he was stellar over five starts in September (1.55 ERA in 29 innings). He’s out of options.
Of Cecconi, Cantillo, Allen, and Messick, Cantillo is the only one out of options. As long as he’s healthy, he should make the rotation while one of the other three will be relegated to AAA or the bullpen.
Rays
• Shane McClanahan will be ready by Opening Day, but his innings will be capped.
Rays fans have been waiting two years to see Shane McClanahan on a big-league mound. The electric lefty missed all of 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery, then lost another season to a nerve issue in his triceps. McClanahan is on track to be ready for the 2026 campaign, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, though the southpaw will likely have his workload capped in some fashion.
Red Sox
• Even after trading for Caleb Durbin, the team doesn’t know who will play second or third base.
Cora says Sox won’t commit yet to how they’ll handle 2B and 3B. They’ll figure out how they want to use Mayer, Durbin, and Kiner-Falefa (who offers SS protection for Story). “We’ve got enough.” Cora would like to have a stable 2B/SS combo.
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier.bsky.social) 2026-02-09T18:00:55.575Z
• Romy Gonzalez dealt with a setback in his shoulder rehab, but plans to be ready by Opening Day.
White Sox
• Andrew Benintendi will get some DH at-bats.
The White Sox still like Benintendi’s left-handed power bat, but Getz admitted Benintendi’s legs leading to him not being able to cover ground he once did has held him back. Benintendi feels good physically, per Getz, but will get at-bats at designated hitter.
The Benintendi at-bats will cut into the playing time of Edgar Quero and Lenyn Sosa at DH. If anyone on the White Sox isn’t playing every game, they won’t be fantasy relevant.
• Mike Vasil will be a multi-inning reliever.
The same goes for Vasil, although Getz said the right-hander will be working toward a multi-inning role.
“We’re still kind of open-minded on that,” said Getz of Vasil. “It is nice now that the Rule 5 handcuffs are off, so that allows us to be perhaps a little bit more creative with him.”
Yankees
• According to the manager, Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren, Ryan Weathers, and Luis Gil are in the Opening Day rotation.
The Yanks can’t wait to get those first two frontline pitchers back in the fold soon, but there will be no rush, according to manager Aaron Boone. The club’s rotation is in a pretty good spot as is.
“We’re talking about probably [Max] Fried, [Cam] Schlittler, [Will] Warren, [Ryan] Weathers and [Luis] Gil to start the season in the rotation,” Boone said Sunday on MLB Network Radio. “And you always have [Ryan] Yarbrough and [Paul] Blackburn there that can fill that role very capably.”
National League
Braves
• Hurston Waldrep might start the season in the minors because he is the only backend starter with options.
Where is Hurston Waldrep? The talented young hurler has the ability to be one of the team’s top starters. But Holmes, Bryce Elder and Joey Wentz are out of options. So, to protect the club’s depth, they would likely begin the season in the Majors, as long as they aren’t traded before Opening Day.
Cardinals
• Thomas Saggese could get some outfield reps for injured Lars Nootbaar.
And Saggese, who has been a utility infielder, could get some reps in the outfield this spring, especially since Nootbaar won’t be ready on Opening Day.
Marlins
• Lots of competition for the first base job with Christopher Morel, Griffin Conine, and Liam Hicks being mentioned.
Phillies
• Zack Wheeler will not be ready by Opening Day.
The Phillies do not expect Zack Wheeler to be ready by Opening Day.
It’s not a huge surprise as the ace continues his rehab from his Sept. 23 thoracic outlet decompression surgery. Still, manager Rob Thomson essentially confirmed as much for the first time on Monday afternoon.
“He’s doing well; I don’t think he’ll be ready for Opening Day,” Thomson said. “But it’s not going to be too far behind that.”
Reds
• TJ Friedl will leadoff with Elly De La Cruz batting third.
Now that the cleanup spot is figured out, Francona is trying to determine who might bat second behind TJ Friedl and ahead of De La Cruz.
“To me, that’s the biggest [question], because we want to have somebody break up Elly and TJ, so it needs to be somebody that bats right-handed. My first thought was [Noelvi] Marte, but he struggled so bad against lefties. We’ve got to figure some things out. We haven’t played a game. Those are things I think about.”
Rockies
• Chase Dollander reworked his mechanics this offseason to throw more strikes.
The ideas flowed when he described bad habits that crept into his motion, and the process of fixing things this offseason started with T.J. Galenti, a Tampa, Fla.,-based data scientist, certified strength and conditioning expert and baseball performance coach.
“I was a little bit more cross-body — I was pulling off everything,” Dollander said. “We figured out that I have a ton of external rotation in my hips, and that’s usually for guys that are more linear toward the plate. So I went to figure out what works. There were a bunch of different things we tried, with leg kicks, with setups, with thought processes. I think we found something that works.
“My fastball is in the zone more. My slider is in the zone more. I’m getting the ‘vert’ (induced vertical break) back on my fastball.”
