MLB Player News

Walston ascended to the majors earlier this year and has pitched well for Arizona with a 2.84 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and 11/9 K/BB ratio across 12 2/3 innings (three appearances, two starts). No word yet on how long the 22-year-old lefty will be sidelined, but he figures to miss at least a couple weeks, even in a best-case scenario.

Robert has been largely ineffective the last two years and has quite the injury history, but he’s 28, he’s a legit center fielder and he has a career 111 OPS+. This is definitely worth a shot for the Mets, who will be responsible for paying $22 million for one year or $40 million for two. They’ll presumably handle him better than a White Sox organization that mostly expected position players to play through injury. Tyrone Taylor had topped the Mets’ depth chart in center, but now he’ll serve as the fourth outfielder he’s meant to be. He’ll presumably be on the short side of a platoon with Brett Baty in left initially, assuming the Carson Benge now starts off in Triple-A. With Acuña, who was out of options, departing, Ronny Mauricio seems poised for a utility role.

This doesn’t seem like a sufficient return, but the White Sox obviously didn’t want to pay Robert $20 million this year. Acuña sort of held his own as a 23-year-old in the majors last season, hitting .234/.293/.274 in 193 plate appearances. He’s intriguing defensively at several key positions, he runs very well, he has decent plate discipline and he’s not entirely absent of power. It seems like a utility profile, but given that he’s just turning 24 in March, there’s some hope for him as a regular, perhaps in center field. He’ll probably battle Derek Hill, Tristan Peters and Everson Pereira for that spot in spring training. Pauley, a 2025 12th-rounder out of Harvard, allowed one run in four innings in his pro debut last season.

The Mets will take on Robert’s $20 million salary for 2026 and his $2 million buyout of his 2027 club option, also worth $20 million. In return, they’re getting a center fielder with plenty of upside, but one who has a .660 OPS while spending about one-third of the last two seasons on the IL. We’d still do this all day long if we were the Mets. Acuña is out of options and seems more like a very good utilityman than a solid regular. Pauley was the Mets’ 12th-round pick last year. That the White Sox would invest in Munetaka Murakami only to cheap out like this is a prime reason things need to change there.

Bichette will make $42 million per year, with opt outs after each season, and he gets a full no-trade clause. The Mets intend to deploy Bichette at third base, a position he’s never played before as a pro. That’ll likely result in Brett Baty logging outfield time, though he should remain very much a part of the Mets’ plans. Bichette is a little weaker of a fantasy bet in Citi Field than he would have been in Philly or back in Toronto, but hitting next to Juan Soto in the top-third of the order is still pretty nice. He’s a borderline top-10 fantasy shortstop.

Bickford split last year between the Triple-A affiliates of the Cubs and Phillies, finishing with a 3.52 ERA and a 53/17 K/BB in 46 innings out of the pen. He has a 4.62 ERA in 189 innings as a major league reliever since debuting with the Brewers in 2020.

Beltrán, who hit .279/.350/.486 with 435 homers and 312 steals over 20 big-league seasons, most likely would have been a first-ballot HOFer if not for the cheating scandal that arose his world championship season with the Astros in 2017. As is, the nine-time All-Star had to wait until his fourth year of eligibility, receiving 84.2% of the vote. Jones, who topped the 75% threshold with 78.4% of the vote, is getting in on his ninth try after barely clinging to the ballot with 7.3% and 7.5% percent of the vote in his first two years. Jones won 10 straight Gold Gloves with the Braves from 1988-97 and finished his career with a .254/.337/.486 line and 434 homers in 17 seasons. Beltran and Jones will be officially inducted alongside Jeff Kent in Cooperstown on July 26. Among those falling short of the 75% needed for induction this year were Chase Utley (59.1%), Andy Pettitte (48.5%), Felix Hernández (46.1%) and Alex Rodríguez (40.0%). Manny Ramírez got 38.8% in his final year of eligibility. Cole Hamels was the only ballot newcomer who will remain in play next year, having debuted at 23.8%. Next year’s top newcomers will be Buster Posey, Jon Lester, Ryan Zimmerman and Brett Gardner.

Fitzgerald clears waivers his second time through, as no front office decided it was worth sticking it to the Dodgers by stealing him away. He’ll be in camp as a non-roster player, though it would probably take a couple of injuries in front of him for him to make the team.

Realmuto is guaranteed $15 million per season under the terms of his three-year deal with the Phillies, so he’ll be fine. However, the bonuses that would get him to a maximum of $20 million per season will be tough to reach. He’d earn $2 million each for finishing in the top 10 of MVP balloting or being voted to start the All-Star Game. He’d make $1 million each for an All-Star selection, a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger, up to a maximum of $5 million in total. None of Realmuto’s last three seasons would have qualified him for any of these bonuses. He was last an All-Star in 2021, though he would have collected $4 million in 2022 for finishing seventh in the NL MVP balloting and winning both a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger. That was his lone top-10 MVP finish to date.

Junis passed his physical after agreeing to terms on Sunday. The 33-year-old finished with ERAs of 2.69 for the Brewers and Reds in 2024 and 2.97 for the Guardians last season, even though his velocity and strikeout rates have both dropped. It would have been interesting to see him as a full-time starter a few years back, but middle relief is where he belongs now.

Hamel, 26, was claimed on waivers from the Orioles on the next-to-last day of the 2025 season. The former Mets prospect had a 5.32 ERA in 11 starts and 20 relief appearances for Triple-A Syracuse last season.