Elmer Rodriguez serving as 27th player vs. Yankees

Suzuki was given one season at the helm for the Angels, a season in which they fired essentially their entire pitching department mid-way through the year, and he will not be given another chance. The former catcher went 62-100 while leading a team that likely never had much of a chance to be competitive. He has apparently been offered a position with the organization as a special assistant, and the Angels will now look for another person to captain a ship that has been lost at sea for over a decade.

Bloss had a difficult 2026 season. He had Tommy John surgery at the end of the 2025 season and then suffered a shoulder strain this past summer while working his way back. He’s been good so far in the Arizona Fall League, with a 2.70 ERA in 6 2/3 innings. In this outing, he touched 96 mph with his fastball and showed off a solid sweeper. He could be an option for Toronto in 2027 if he puts together a strong spring training.

Williams is coming off a mediocre 2026 season that also saw him play through a wrist injury. The 22-year-old hit .233/.340/.384 with nine home runs, 21 steals, and a 79/47 K/BB ratio in 81 games at Triple-A. He’s now hitting .188 with a .597 OPS and five steals in early AFL action. It was not a great first season for the two prospects the Brewers got back in return for Freddy Peralta, but the trade arguably didn’t work out any better for the Mets.

O’Dowd was a light-hitting prospect at the University of Texas and went undrafted. However, he hit .307/.383/.564 with 23 home runs and 91 RBI in 107 games across three levels in his first professional season. He’s also now hitting .313 with a 1.103 OPS, four home runs, and nine RBI in the Arizona Fall League while playing primarily first base and catcher. He should begin next season at Double-A.

In the same press conference, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that he doesn’t anticipate offseason surgery for any Yankees player, which would include Judge. Cashman added that “We feel like we’re in a good place. He can take advantage of the rest of the winter and be ready to go when Spring Training starts.” While it does seem like Judge will be healthy heading into 2027, the bigger question is whether or not the Yankees will utilize the DH spot to take some stress off his body during the season and help him remain healthy for the full season as he gets older.

Boone also didn’t rule out third base as an option either. One of the Yankees’ biggest challenges heading into 2027 is finding a defensive home for Garcia Jr. Ben Rice will likely be the starting first baseman, and the Yankees likely need to keep designated hitter open for Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge, especially if they want Judge to remain healthy throughout a full season. That means Garcia needs somewhere else to play. Unfortunately, the Nationals had to move him off of second base because he was such a poor defender, and he has no MLB experience at third base. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the offseason, but Garcia Jr. getting multi-position eligibility back would be great for his fantasy value.

On a conference call, Cashman told reporters that he and the Yankees had agreed on a new deal, but they are “just hammering out the final details.” Despite the Yankees being a perennial contender and advancing to the AL Divisional Series again this season, the fanbase has grown a little frustrated by the lack of World Series titles this century. Cashman has held the job since 1998 and has led the Yankees to 29 consecutive winning seasons, six pennants, and four World Series, but the Yankees have not won a title in 17 years and have only one championship in the last 26 seasons. For a franchise that is used to being at the top of the sport, the recent performance allowed some fans to believe the Yankees wouldn’t simply run it back again in 2027. That appears to be exactly what they’re doing.

Woodruff is hoping to be included on the Brewers’ World Series roster after missing the last 4 1/2 months with a shoulder injury. His velocity apparently is back close to the 91.8 mph he averaged with his fastball in nine starts before going down this season. Still, it seems like something of a long shot that he’ll be activated.

Sandridge, a 27-year-old reliever, opened the season on the Orioles’ 40-man, but he gave up six runs in 5 1/3 innings in six appearances for Triple-A Norfolk and then missed the rest of the year. The left-hander has made one career major league appearance, giving up two runs in two-thirds of an inning for the Yankees in 2025.

Medick, 35, spent the last four years in the Yankees’ system, serving as a Triple-A pitching coach this year. He had a very brief career in the minors in the Diamondbacks’ system, posting a 1.17 ERA in 30 2/3 innings as a Rookie-ball reliever in 2014. That wasn’t enough to keep him around, though, and he finished his pitching career in indy ball in 2018.