Nats promote No. 1 pick Eli Willits to Double-A

All three are left-handed hitters, but unfortunately for a Phillies team that would like to have a power bat to put in between Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, there just aren’t any right-handed equivalents out there. The Phillies apparently see Sato as a right fielder if they do sign him. They have third base open, and Sato has considerably more experience at the hot corner than in the outfield. Still, the popular consensus seems to be that he’d be more helpful as an outfielder.

Following one year in Japan, Espada got into one game with the Orioles each of the last two seasons, throwing a total of four scoreless innings. He had a 2.77 ERA and a 49/27 K/BB in 48 2/3 innings for Triple-A Norfolk last season.

They’ve also checked in on Alex Vesia and Tim Hill, according to The Athletic’s Will Sammon. Raley, 38, had a 1.96 ERA in 45 appearances for the Mets before being traded to Philadelphia at the deadline. There, the double agent gave up four homers posted a 7.94 ERA in 11 1/3 innings and then was left off the Wild Card roster.

After getting off to a tough start with the Mets, the 38-year-old Kimbrel was decent in stints with the Rays (3.86 ERA in 18 2/3 innings) and Royals (3.65 ERA in 12 1/3 innings) last season. That he has just one save the last two years means his dream of getting to 500 is dead; he’s currently 59 away. He’s just doing it for the love of the game at this point.

Toronto’s payroll has doubled over the last five years, jumping into the top five in the league the last two. The Jays will need to go far higher still to land Skubal, but they did gain some room with the long-term deals of Kevin Gausman and George Springer now off the books. Skubal is also currently slated to meet with the Mets, Dodgers and Padres.

Martin originally intended to retire following the 2025 season, but he opted to re-sign with the Rangers for his age-40 campaign, which turned out to be a bust. Martin battled shoulder issues and had a 9.00 ERA in 14 innings before being released in August and finishing the year out of the league. Martin often had issues staying healthy, didn’t make his MLB debut until his age-28 season in 2014, spent 2016 and ’17 in Japan, but he wound up making 434 major league appearances with a 3.53 ERA and a 409/55 K/BB ratio. He never walked more than eight batters in a season, and in fact, both of his seasons with eight walks had three of those being intentional. Martin also had a 1.88 ERA in 16 postseason appearances and helped the Braves win the World Series in 2021. His 3.3 percent walk rate is the lowest among all pitchers to throw 400 innings since 1920.

Atkins would not commit to Miles being a member of the rotation or bullpen, but it’s noteworthy that he mentioned growing Miles’ workload after the 26-year-old pitched 95 2/3 innings this season. It would seem that the only real way to grow that workload would be a move to the rotation. Miles posted a 2.73 ERA and 1.10 WHIP across his innings this season, but that came with just a nine percent swinging strike rate and a 17.6 percent strikeout-minus-walk ratio. He has a four-pitch mix that would work in the rotation, but his strikeout rate was much higher against righties, so he may need to tweak some of his approach if he’s going to be a meaningful fantasy starter.

Jeffers was extended a qualifying offer at the beginning of the month, but the Twins would like to bring Jeffers back on a multi-year deal. The team is “allowing Jeffers to see what else is out there” on the free agent market, but they hope to be able to match or beat what he is offered. While the Twins would like to bring Jeffers back, it’s hard to see them giving him too many years after they selected Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey with the third pick in the 2026 draft and then used their second-round pick on Carson Tinney. The Twins also acquired catching prospects Eduardo Tait and Enrique Jimenez at the 2025 trade deadline, so they have plenty of catching prospects in their pipeline.

Ausmus will be returning to Houston, where he played 10 years across two different stints. Houston may have a fondness for Ausmus as a player, but his managerial track record has not been as successful. The 57-year-old had a 386-422 (.478) record in his five seasons with the Tigers and Angels. He has made the playoffs once, in his first year in Detroit.

Ayers had a breakout season in 2026, hitting .289/.403/.526 with 25 home runs and 13 steals across 125 games split between Double-A and Triple-A. He did hit just .247/.365/.356 in 49 games at Triple-A, but he posted an over 15 percent walk rate and continued to make consistent contact despite the low batting average. Amaya has battled injuries in his career and has never topped 363 plate appearances in a season, so Ayers would be a name to watch if he does indeed land the backup catcher job.